After Su Tang left, Lu Chuan and the others rested outside the village for the night before entering Wuyin Village.
The village was larger than they had imagined. Houses stood in a single line along the riverbank, stretching for miles.
It was morning, and the village bustled with life.
Yet Lu Chuan could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Such a broad Wuyin River flowed past the village, its surface wide and its current gentle.
By rights, the villagers ought to have made their living by fishing.
Yet as far as the eye could see, there was not a single boat by the river, nor even the shadow of someone fishing.
"Looks like there really is something wrong with this river," Huang Rong said under his breath.
They had already changed into plain clothes, their weapons hidden in their packs, posing as traveling merchants.
The moment they reached the village entrance, every villager who saw them stopped what they were doing.
Women washing clothes stood frozen with their paddles raised; men hoeing the fields held their hands suspended in midair. Even the children stopped playing.
Dozens of eyes fixed on them in unison.
There was no curiosity in those gazes—only wariness, and in many eyes, naked hostility.
Huang Rong stepped forward first, clasping his hands in greeting as he piled the habitual smile of a merchant onto his face.
"Please don't be alarmed. We are merchants who have come from afar, and we came to your village this time hoping to purchase some medicinal herbs..."
Before he could finish, a voice cut him off.
"We have no medicinal herbs to sell here!"
It came from a man standing in a doorway, his face dark and swarthy, his eyes bulging round as he spoke.
"Go back where you came