He sat where he was, took out some food and water, and began to fill his stomach and replenish his strength.
As time passed.
It grew late. The sun sank toward the west, and the clouds on the horizon were blood-red.
The sky gradually darkened.
Seeing this, Hu Long, who had been lying on a rock with his eyes closed, basking in the sun, abruptly opened them. He picked up his backpack and headed down.
"Slow down!"
"All right, no need to see me off!"
"Cough, cough..."
Xue Hai waved a hand and walked out of the house.
Reeking of alcohol, he had half a cigarette dangling from his mouth. The white lab coat he wore was stained with grease and glimmered in the dim light.
With his hands behind his back, he staggered over to his front door.
He turned the key several times before the door opened.
The house was quiet, and there were no lights on.
"Wife! Wife!"
Seeing this,
he called out twice, but no one answered.
He was used to this by now.
He muttered something indistinctly, then locked the front door from the inside.
Turning around, he headed for the kitchen.
A brick-and-stone stove stood in the kitchen, with a pile of dry firewood and straw haphazardly stacked in one corner.
He crouched down, pushed the dry grass aside, and hooked his finger through a heavy iron ring.
—Clang!
A square iron plate was lifted, revealing a pitch-black opening.
Below was a steep earthen staircase. The moment the entrance opened, a damp, frigid chill wafted up.
It made him shiver.
Then he bent down and went inside.
However, he failed to notice that, just after he went down,
a figure had appeared silently to one side, gazing thoughtfully at the staircase below.
The cellar was a sizable space.
A cold chill mingled with a faint, rancid stench, drifting silently through the air.
White candles set into the walls burned brightly. Their flickering flames illuminated the entire space in a yellow glow, while the shadows cast upon the walls stretched and shrank, long and short, in a strange, unsettling dance.
After Xue Hai ducked down into the cellar, he rounded a corner. A few steps later, his gaze swept over the figure sitting cross-legged in the center.
Several bleached bones lay scattered around the figure. In the candlelight, they shimmered faintly with phosphorescence, creating an indescribably eerie sight.
"You went drinking again?"
The old woman meditating heard the noise, lifted her eyelids, and saw Xue Hai's disheveled appearance. Then, smelling the alcohol clinging to him, she furrowed her brows.
"Well, I have the title of village chief to uphold. How can I turn down all those social obligations? I have to drink."
Xue Hai waved a hand and came closer, studying the woman's face in the candlelight.
"Have you... made any progress?"
Liu's face was drained of color, almost deathly pale.
Hearing him, she slowly shook her head, her voice hoarse.
"I've gathered some yin energy and tried to draw it in, but no matter what I do, I can't absorb it into my body.
"According to the fragment of a scroll, this place is a perfect geomantic site for gathering yin.
"If I can't cultivate here, then I'm afraid... this path really is closed to me."
"If you ask me, you shouldn't push yourself so hard."
Xue Hai sighed, his tone softening.
"You've worked at it for so many years without making any progress.
"If you can't cultivate, then you can't. Aren't we doing all right as things are?
"Why not spend some time with the neighbors and have a chat? Wouldn't that be nice?
"And our son... hasn't he managed to win the favor of a rich family's daughter?
"There are plenty of good days ahead. Why insist on taking this dark road with no end in sight?"
"But I can't accept it!"
Liu's icy voice echoed through the cellar.
Seeing this,
Xue Hai's Adam's apple bobbed. In the end, he swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.
After decades of marriage, he knew her temperament all too well. Once she set her mind on something, not even nine oxen could drag her back.
Any more persuasion would only lead to an argument.
He sighed, braced himself on his knees as he stood, and held out a hand to her.
"That's enough. Let's go upstairs first. You haven't eaten dinner yet, have you? I'll warm up the food on the stove."
The candlelight cast their shadows upon the bone-strewn walls, stretching them into thin, twisted shapes.
Liu didn't take his hand. Bracing herself against the floor, she slowly got to her feet.
The two climbed the stairs one after the other.
They had just poked their heads out of the cellar entrance when—
Bang!
Before they could even draw a breath of fresh air, a sudden numbness struck the backs of their necks.
They fell straight to the floor.
Smack!
The white overhead light snapped on, bleaching the dim kitchen in harsh brightness.
Now Xue Hai and Liu could be clearly seen.
They looked to be in their fifties, their hair already gray. They were no different from most of the elderly people in the village.
At that moment, they hadn't actually passed out.
Instead, they curled up on the floor, writhing and twitching in pain, muffled moans escaping their throats in fits and starts.
Liu had struck her head against the hard floor when she fell, and blood was now gushing from her nose.
"Ah—!"
She had just tried to scream when her voice suddenly caught in her throat.
A cold dagger had silently pressed against her neck.
The blade touched her skin, its chill like a sharp sting.
"Shut up!"
A hoarse voice sounded beside them.
As Hu Long said this, he couldn't help feeling a little speechless.
He'd gone to all that trouble to prepare himself mentally, only to find that these two old folks were no different from ordinary people. One strike had taken them down.
Still, controlling the force well enough to knock someone unconscious was difficult—far harder than in the movies.
Even with his master-level Unarmed Combat, he was no different. He hadn't succeeded on his first try, and it wasn't because he couldn't find the right spot.
Everyone's body was different. Hit too hard, and you could kill someone; hit too lightly, and they wouldn't pass out.
"Now, I'll ask, and you'll answer. If either of you dares to shout or lie to me—"
He paused and gave a cold laugh.
"I'll send you both on your way."
The threat of death clamped around Liu's throat like an invisible hand.
Her eyes widened. Blood dripped from her nose onto the floor, but she didn't dare make another sound.
Xue Hai had frozen as well, barely daring to breathe.
Only then did the two of them get a good look at the person standing in the dim light.
He was a stranger, with a thick, unkempt beard and a cold gaze. He clearly wasn't someone to mess with.
"F-friend... let's talk this out..."
Xue Hai's voice trembled as he stammered.
"You want money, right? We'll give it to you. All of it..."
Bang!
Before he could finish, the back of his neck went numb, and he fell face-first to the floor, passing out on the spot.
"Looks like I still didn't hit hard enough."
After kicking him and getting no response, Hu Long finally withdrew his hand and looked over at Liu, whose nose was still bleeding.
"Liu Lingge, I'll ask you a question, and you'll answer it."
He slowly crouched down, meeting the fear in her eyes.
"I know far more than you think. Don't try to fool me. If you tell even one lie... heh."
Hearing this,
Liu's body trembled as she stared at Hu Long in terror.
Liu Lingge was her original name. She had used the name Liu for the more than twenty years she'd been here. As for her real name,
even the two people closest to her, Xue Hai and Xue Wu, didn't know it.
Then she seemed to realize something.
It was as though all the life had been drained from her. Her face instantly turned colorless.
"You're here for that thing, aren't you? I never thought you'd find it, after I'd hidden it for so long."