It was midnight.
The hazy moonlight, veiled by dark clouds, seemed all the more beautiful.
The quiet village lay pitch-black, unusually still, no longer as bustling as it was by day.
At this hour, there was only the howling night wind, the croaking of frogs amid the fields, and the wolf howls drifting from the distant mountains and forests!
Just then.
A room within the village suddenly lit up.
After a rustling sound, a shadow emerged from the room and came to a door deep within the courtyard.
"Ancestor, the time has come!"
"Let's go!"
"Mm!"
A man's voice came from inside the room.
At the same time.
The door opened by itself. Under the hazy moonlight, one could vaguely make out a young man as gentle and refined as jade.
Shortly after.
Led by that figure, the young man continued toward the rear courtyard and entered a great hall where the ancestors were enshrined.
The shadow fumbled around inside for a while.
A faint creak sounded.
At that very moment!
Behind the ancestral tablets, the enormous statue automatically shifted to one side.
A pitch-black hole was revealed.
"Ancestor, please!"
As he spoke, the current mortal Cheng clan chief blew on a fire starter, and a spark fell onto a torch.
The burning torch illuminated the passage ahead.
Shortly after.
The mortal Cheng clan chief hurried forward to lead the way.
Seeing this.
Cheng Buzheng could not help but smile wryly. The old man was all aged arms and legs, yet he still did not know to be more careful. Cheng Buzheng followed after him and said with a smile:
"You're not young anymore!"
"Be careful—don't trip or bump into anything."
Upon hearing this.
The little old man slowed his pace considerably and said with a smile:
"Thank you for