[Rain-Praying Village] The truth (III)

Once his head left his corpse, his power would vanish completely, and the evil spirits he had suppressed would emerge once more!

Back then, Ruan Kaihuang had kept this firmly in mind. Until the day he died, he never allowed anyone else near the Temple, and the monk's head never left his body.

That period was one of the few peaceful stretches the village had ever known.

However, once Ruan Kaihuang's son took over as village chief... those days ended.

He lacked authority and could feel the villagers' distrust.

Many people in the village actually knew what his father had done back then. After all, they had taken part themselves. But they feared Ruan Kaihuang's methods, and their own guilt left them unable to face the past, so no one ever brought it up again...

Only after Ruan Kaihuang died and his son, Ruan Xin, succeeded him as village chief did Rain-Praying Village's true nightmare begin!

To cow the villagers and hold on to his position, Ruan Xin actually went to the Back Mountain Temple alone and removed the monk's head!

With that, trouble struck the village again...

As people died one after another, Ruan Xin finally realized he had made a terrible mistake!

Terrified, he went up the mountain, hoping to reattach the monk's head. But when he entered the Temple again, something horrifying happened...

Ruan Xin saw that the monk's body, which should have been sitting in the center of the Temple... had vanished!

Now he panicked completely!

Originally, Ruan Xin had only wanted to get back at the villagers this way, to make them feel fear and remind them that it was his father who had brought them peace.

Who could have imagined that once he set this in motion, there would be no stopping it!

Desperate, Ruan Xin immediately sought out a villager and, following his father's example, sent him with money to seek help at that other temple again.

This time, however... he failed.

Decades had passed, and that temple had long since stopped receiving offerings. Some monks had died, and the rest had left. Only when the villager arrived did he discover that the temple had been deserted long ago!

The villager returned to Rain-Praying Village in despair. Terrible things continued to happen there, and, finally left with no other choice, the villagers prepared for the worst: leaving the village where they had been born and raised.

No one would willingly leave their homeland unless they had no other choice.

Especially when they barely had any money.

It was under these circumstances that a turning point came for the village.

A woman appeared.

First, she asked the villagers about the situation. After learning the full story, she made Ruan Xin an extraordinary offer: she could solve the village's problems for free, provided... he married her.

Of course, Ruan Xin did not know her exact reasons either.

But at that point, what choice did Ruan Xin have?

He refused to give up the power he held, so he could only agree. With nothing left to lose, he would give it a try and see what this woman could do.

He never expected that, shortly after he married her and brought her home, the village would truly... become peaceful.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last. Less than two years later, the woman died.

She died in childbirth.

But her child miraculously survived.

It was a girl.

That girl was the current Spirit Medium.

She had been clever from an early age, constantly studying the belongings her mother had left her. Her father also told her in detail what had happened all those years ago.

Eleven years later, Ruan Xin died of heart disease, and the Spirit Medium succeeded him.

By then, she already commanded considerable respect in the village.

But after taking over, she went even further than her father. Not only did she spread all manner of false rumors about the events of the past and slander the dead, she also ruthlessly forced the villagers to hand over money, possessions, and grain to build various temples. In reality, most of those contributions ended up in her own pockets!

Even so, villagers still died mysteriously from time to time.

Seeing the village's population steadily dwindle, the Spirit Medium knew this could not continue.

So she devised a plan... to use outsiders as sacrifices in place of the villagers!

That way, she could temporarily appease the resentment of the dead.

Starting that year, the village kept developing its tourism industry. They poured enormous amounts of effort and money into creating attractions, opening them to visitors each year when sacrifices were needed!

It had to be said that this method worked remarkably well.

Once tourism began to flourish... no one in the village died again.

Oh, of course, they did not consider those tourists who came to visit people.

They called them... sacrifices.

That was the whole truth behind Rain-Praying Village.

"These people were absolute beasts!"

"From top to bottom, from beginning to end, not one of them was any good!"

Liu Chengfeng cursed furiously, his eyes bloodshot.

Still not satisfied, he ran over and delivered a vicious kick to the ball of flesh that had been the Spirit Medium, breaking it apart and scattering fragments of flesh and bone across the floor.

The thick smell of blood filled the air. Feeling sick, the two men took the book and headed back.

"Never mind whether this method was morally abhorrent... it was like drinking poison to quench your thirst."

Ning Qiushui sighed.

"Think about it. As more and more people died unjustly in the village, their resentment would only keep growing. One day, when it finally became too much to contain, all of it would come crashing back on these villagers!"

"Remember what Sister Bai said? That Spirit Medium was already starting to suffer the backlash..."

Liu Chengfeng thought of the Red-Clothed Female Ghost they had encountered beyond the first Blood Gate and shuddered!

No wonder such a terrifying vengeful ghost had been born. Slaughtering everyone in one place had not been enough; she had gone elsewhere to continue her massacres!

"The Red-Clothed Female Ghost we met beyond the first Blood Gate must have embodied a century's worth of resentment from dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of people in Rain-Praying Village!"

"No wonder she was so vicious and slaughtered everyone in that entire villa complex!"

"Goddammit, now that I know what these bastards did, I don't even want to save them!"

Ning Qiushui said:

"We weren't trying to save them in the first place. Right now, we need to find a way to rescue Sister Bai, then help the monk find his head. I suspect he's the only one who can suppress Guang Xiu's resentment and that of all these people who died unjustly. But without his head, even he can't do anything."