In the pitch-black night, only the middle-aged man's voice echoed.
His numb voice carried profound despair. Together with his desolate, vacant expression, it made the scene incomparably bleak and cold.
Shen Bai frowned and walked over to stand before the middle-aged man.
This was not simple. Especially after the middle-aged man abruptly spoke those words, Shen Bai felt that this village was hiding a great secret.
"Can he communicate?" Wuhua stepped forward two paces, extended his right hand, and grasped the middle-aged man's wrist.
The middle-aged man did not resist. He merely stared foolishly at Wuhua, still muttering under his breath.
"Beasts. Not a single good person among them. They're all beasts..."
A glow rose from Wuhua's right hand, as though it had been draped in a layer of golden sunlight, especially dazzling amidst the darkness.
Shen Bai had rarely encountered the circle of cultivators. The last time had been when he met Cheng Shuang, so he found everything immensely fascinating.
Yet when he sensed that golden radiance, he inexplicably felt a strange familiarity.
After thinking carefully, Shen Bai recalled the divine art known as the Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist.
"Buddha light."
The Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist was itself a Buddhist divine art, and Wuhua was likewise of the Buddhist faith. Naturally, the two shared similarities.
But Shen Bai felt that Wuhua's Buddha light was not as pure as his own.
If Wuhua's Buddha light was a layer of gold lacquer, then Shen Bai's Buddha light was golden through and through, from within to without.
A moment later, Wuhua lowered his hand and sighed.
"Benefactor Shen, this man has suffered an immense shock. His soul has been damaged, and there is no saving him."
Shen Bai nodded and asked the middle-aged man, "The beasts you mentioned just now—were you referring to this place?"
This middle-aged man had clearly been mad for a long time. That he could not be saved was only natural.
Shen Bai had said it merely as an instinctive attempt, without holding much hope.
Yet after Shen Bai finished speaking—especially when he uttered the word "beasts"—a trace of life suddenly appeared in the middle-aged man's vacant eyes.
"The ancestral hall... the ancestral hall..."
"They're all beasts. Building an ancestral hall can't change that."
"They only want peace of mind, but with guilty consciences, they can never be at peace."
"Hahaha... heeheehee..."
"They're all evil people, an evil village, evil hearts!"
The middle-aged man spewed those chaotic words. In the pitch-black night, they carried a hair-raising chill.
Just imagine it: nighttime, a madman, idiotic ramblings—the eerie feeling multiplied severalfold.
After saying all that, the middle-aged man seemed to have exhausted every last bit of strength. He collapsed limply onto the ground and stared foolishly at the black clouds overhead.
Shen Bai rose to his feet and turned around. "It seems all the problems stem from the ancestral hall."
Among the middle-aged man's words, the only useful clue had been the ancestral hall.
Shen Bai thought that perhaps the ancestral hall was the breakthrough.
Since they were going to deal with the enormous sophora tree and obtain Killing Intent, they needed to settle this village near Liuyun Lake first, lest it produce uncontrollable consequences.
Wuhua nodded. "The two of us should go take a look."
Neither said more. Under cover of the pitch-black night, they moved quietly through the village in search of it.
Huaixi Village was not large, so the ancestral hall's style of construction naturally stood out starkly from the rest.
Shen Bai did not spend much time before finding its location.
The moment he saw the ancestral hall, a thought arose in his mind.
"This ancestral hall rivals those of great and wealthy families."
In the darkness not far away stood a magnificent ancestral hall.
The entire hall had been built from fine bricks and tiles. Even its various wooden decorations had been coated in expensive vermilion lacquer.
The wooden ornaments had also been meticulously carved. At a glance, one could tell that those relief carvings had cost a fortune.
"Though the village is wealthy, the expense of such an ancestral hall is still beyond what a single village can bear."
Wuhua whispered, "An ancestral hall can be used to worship one's forebears and protect one's descendants. Perhaps the people of this village committed some evil deed and spent heavily to build it in hopes of praying for peace."
Combined with what the middle-aged man had said, the answer was not difficult to guess.
"It seems there are people inside the ancestral hall," Shen Bai said.
Though the surroundings were dark, they could still make out densely packed shadows moving within the hall.
The two needed no further discussion. Together, they silently approached the ancestral hall and found a concealed spot.
Once they were closer, Shen Bai saw what was happening inside.
Within the ancestral hall, Village Chief Yang was surrounded by numerous villagers.
Low voices drifted out from the hall.
"Village Chief, are we really keeping those two outsiders?"
"That's right. If they discover what's happening in the village, all of us will lose our heads."
"Why not slaughter the two of them tonight?"
Shen Bai and Wuhua exchanged glances.
If they had not guessed wrong, the villagers were discussing how to deal with them.
"Keep watching," Shen Bai said.
Village Chief Yang stood surrounded by the crowd and heavily tapped his cane against the ground.
The villagers around him immediately stopped talking.
"Nonsense!"
Village Chief Yang shouted, "If we could slaughter them, would I need to go through so much trouble?"
"If those two have family or friends outside, their sudden disappearance will only make it easier for the village to be exposed."
A villager gathered his courage and said, "But even if we dispel their suspicions, we cannot guarantee that we'll erase them completely. There is still risk."
Village Chief Yang chuckled. "How could I not know that? The weather turned rainy today, and a torrential storm will arrive tomorrow. It is not suitable for travel."
"Today, I deliberately mentioned the Sophora Spirit. They have already become interested. Tomorrow, we can bring them there. Surely Lord Guiding Guest will have a way."
"If we can make them believe in the Sophora Spirit, then everything will be worry-free."
At the mention of the words "Sophora Spirit," all the villagers present shut their mouths, as though those two words carried irreplaceable weight.
"More importantly, we must deal with that madman Liu Feng as soon as possible."
Village Chief Yang tightened his grip on his cane. "If Lord Guiding Guest had not said that the Sophora Spirit would need living blood food later on, I would have buried him long ago."
Below him, a villager spoke out angrily.
"He simply can't stand seeing the village prosper!"
"For the sake of an outsider woman, he actually turned against us. He even claimed that the Sophora Spirit was evil. I think that woman bewitched him!"
"He should have been killed long ago!"
Village Chief Yang nodded. "When blood food is needed later, his death will naturally come."
"The matter of that woman must not be spoken of either."
"After all, she was a disciple of Hundred Healers Valley in Maple Forest Province. We deceived her into coming under the pretense of treatment, dismembered her, and hid her within the Sophora Spirit to nourish it. No one must learn of this."
"Not to mention that you lot violated her while she was helpless after we ambushed her. If word gets out, Huaixi Village will be finished."
The villagers all nodded in unison, not daring to say another word.
Village Chief Yang licked his lips. "Still, women from great powers are indeed wonderful. Her skin was tender enough."
"She could only be blamed for being too naive. What bullshit about a healer's benevolent heart? The moment she heard we were ill, she enthusiastically came to treat us. Her naivety killed her."
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