The door opened, and a foul odor wafted out.
It smells like sandalwood from a temple, mixed with other pungent spices, creating a unique, heavy, dusty aroma.
The room was airtight, dimly lit only by a faint fire on the wall, and a golden statue of a two-headed infant was placed in a niche.
Su Cheng glanced at the infant statue and vaguely saw a two-headed baby, its body bluish-black, curled up and fast asleep, which was extremely eerie.
She slowed her breathing and quickened her pace as she walked into the inner room.
The moment Su Cheng entered the room, her heart pounded, and a boning knife appeared in her hand.
The inner room was also lit by only one candle, its dim light casting shadows on the walls and illuminating a row of menacing, beast-faced human figures.
And three "people" were standing upright at the three corners of the bed!
All three were dressed in black and red funeral clothes, their heads bowed, their hair loose and obscuring their faces, their hands hanging at their sides pale with sharp black nails.
Lifeless, half-dead and half-alive.
Zombies.
These two words flashed through Su Cheng's mind.
Her appearance was not the switch that awakened the three zombies; only Daochenzi could control them.
Daochenzi actually kept a zombie next to his bed?
Su Cheng walked lightly to the bedside, wary of the zombies as she reached for the bedside table. When she glanced to the side, her gaze froze. She frowned as she looked at the short zombie in the corner of the bed and approached it.
Upon seeing the other person's face clearly, Su Cheng's previously composed expression changed drastically.
The female zombie had a face exactly like her Third Aunt's!
How is that possible?!
She moved closer, but reason told her she wasn't wrong.
The female zombie was emaciated, covered in lividity, with only a layer of dry skin clinging to her bones.
Her eyes were closed, her facial muscles were stiff and withered, making her cheekbones appear prominent, and her fangs protruded slightly from her lower lip.
Even though his facial features were sunken due to the loss of flesh, his identity could still be vaguely discerned from his eyebrows and eyes.
Third Aunt was Su Cheng's mentor in starting her career as a Daoist priest, and even though it had been some time since their last meeting, she would not easily forget her.
This is my Third Aunt!
Su Cheng murmured to herself.
The Soul Heart Lotus dungeon and the Coffin Keeper dungeon are in the same world!
This discovery left Su Cheng with mixed feelings. The probability of different instances appearing in the same world is extremely low, let alone encountering the same person in two instances.
She didn't know how her Third Aunt had ended up in such a state, but she was certain that Daochenzi had turned Third Aunt into this.
The white Qi flowed into Third Aunt's body, but it slipped away like sand through a sieve. Third Aunt's body was like an empty shell, her broken soul sleeping within her body with only a last shred of willpower.
Su Cheng's fingers tightened slightly as she examined the faces of the other two zombies one by one.
It was a strange man and a strange woman; Song Qingya was not among them.
Song Qingya always carried her luggage and followed behind her Third Aunt. Since her Third Aunt had been persecuted to this extent by Daochenzi, her situation was probably not optimistic.
Su Cheng felt a lump in her throat and turned to rummage through Daochenzi's bedside table again.
Apart from some bottles and jars, no items related to the zombies in front of them were found.
She couldn't let Daochenzi manipulate her Third Aunt's body like a tool any longer, but to save her Third Aunt, she had to get the item to control the zombie from the latter.
"He suddenly stopped chasing me and walked towards the house. You need to leave quickly!" Mu Ling shouted in her mind.
Without delay, Su Cheng quickly closed the drawer and left the room.
As she stepped across the threshold, the three zombies' eyelids twitched, and they all opened their pale eyes in unison.
Su Cheng quickly scaled the wall and left the ancestral hall along the same route.
Not long after she left, Daochenzi rushed back.
He pushed open the door and looked at the dry well in the center of the courtyard. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the talisman and iron chain on it had not been moved.
Daochenzi followed Mu Ling halfway, but seeing that she only dodged and did not attack, he suddenly realized that something was wrong and then decisively turned back.
Although the source of the suddenly appearing Vengeful Ghost is still unclear, what's more important is the well in his yard!
Three zombies in the bedroom tilted their heads back and sniffed the air.
"Ha! Someone actually dared to sneak into my house... You'd better remember their scent!" Daochenzi said sinisterly.
He glanced at the soot under the door; whenever the door was pushed, it would inevitably leave a mark.
"Roar..."
The zombie groaned in its throat as it wandered around the house, trying to catch the traces of human presence left behind by the uninvited guest.
Daochenzi's gaze fell on Third Aunt, a smug chuckle in his eyes. " Third Aunt Third Aunt, even with all your wisdom, you couldn't have predicted the existence of the Heavenly Dao in this village! Now that you're in my hands, I'll definitely refine you into the most powerful zombie."
After Su Cheng left the courtyard, she met up with Mu Ling. Mu Ling returned to the bracelet. "What did you find? You look terrible."
Su Cheng shook her head; a light drizzle was falling outside.
She looked up at the sky, where dark clouds and black mist mingled together, with countless red lines appearing and disappearing.
Although she didn't find the key items in Daochenzi's room, she finally managed to sort out the situation in this instance.
Now she needs to meet with the others to finalize the information.
The drizzle fell on her hair and face, cold and with a hint of stench.
This foul stench was exactly the same as the smell in the muddy pond.
There wasn't a single villager in sight on the road; the rain seemed to foreshadow something, and everyone went back inside to take shelter from the rain.
Su Cheng took out an umbrella and quickly returned to the courtyard.
Li Ren was the only person in the courtyard; he was wearing a raincoat and drawing water from the well.
Hearing the sound, she put down the bucket she was holding. "You're back? How was it? Did you find anything?"
"Yes, has anyone else come back?"
"After I came back, no one else came back to the yard. You're the second."
Li Ren was very relaxed, and as he carried water toward the house, there was a barely perceptible smile in his eyes, completely different from his state in the morning.
He didn't hide his good mood.
Su Cheng immediately realized that he had obtained some important clues.
"I've figured out the key points to completing the mission. I'll hold a short meeting to share them when the others get back. Do you want to come?"
Li Ren raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise in his eyes, and lowered his chin slightly. "Of course, but I also know some key information, and I don't know if it's the same as what you know."
In Li Ren's mind, Su Cheng's direction of exploration was to leave Red Lotus Village, and the information she obtained might not be true or valid.
But he wouldn't make any definitive statements; it's always good to leave room for maneuver in everything.
Hao Ruoxue and Yaya returned to the courtyard together.
"I discovered..." Hao Ruoxue couldn't wait to speak as soon as she entered the courtyard, but then realized that the environment wasn't secluded enough.
Su Cheng opened her bedroom door. "Come in and let's talk."
Although not everyone has arrived, we can't wait any longer.
The door closed, Hao Ruoxue continued what she hadn't finished saying, "While Village Chief Bai was out, I sneaked into his house. I saw Aunt Jin secretly drinking fish soup in his kitchen. Aunt Jin seemed to be mentally unstable."
Furthermore, one room in his house reeked of blood, and contained human skin and bones! It was practically a dismemberment room!
Then it started raining, and he suddenly came back, carrying a bucket, which was probably filled with fish. He almost spotted me, but luckily I ran into Yaya, and Yaya distracted me so I could get out safely.
Hao Ruoxue took a breath. "The boatman might be right."
Yaya frowned, "Boatman?"
Hao Ruoxue glanced at Su Cheng before recounting the whole story they had learned from the boatman.
Su Cheng looked at Li Ren, whose expression remained calm, "Do you know any other details?"
Li Ren nodded slightly. "That's right."
He hesitated for a few seconds before continuing, " Village Chief Bai's full name is Bai Yaozu. He was the first college student from Red Lotus Village five years ago, and his girlfriend, whom he murdered, was named Li Yueli."
Whether it was a misperception or not, a cold wind swept past them when Li Ren uttered the name Li Yueli.
A note from the author:
none
Chapter 116
" Li Yueli, now a vengeful spirit, brings death to all the villagers who have offended her. Ironically, the murderer, Bai Yaozu, escapes thanks to a lucky charm and even seeks help from a master he met in the city."
"The rest of the story is just as you said: a wise man summoned the river god to Protection the village," Li Ren added in a low voice.
Su Cheng continued, "That master Daochenzi. He lives in the ancestral hall. He is not a righteous person and, like the other villagers, is trapped in the village by the red thread."
There's a sealed-off dry well in the backyard of the ancestral hall; I suspect it contains the remains of Li Yueli.
"Hiss..."
The group was both surprised and delighted; the location of Li Yueli's remains was a major discovery.
Su Cheng: "I think the River God is either a decoy, or it is Li Yueli. Daochenzi couldn't kill Li Yueli back then, and the Grand Ceremony of Sacrifice to the God was just a ritual to reinforce the suppression!"
Li Ren pursed his lips slightly. "The offerings for the Grand Ceremony of Sacrifice to the God are red lotus seeds nourished by the blood and flesh of tourists. The villagers then offer these red lotus seeds to the river god."
This was the most crucial information Li Ren learned from Yulian.
He didn't want to say it easily, but Su Cheng's unreserved speculation made him seem narrow-minded and petty if he kept it to himself.
Su Cheng affirmed, "The villagers prayed to Li Yueli for her life by offering her the finest red lotus."
Rather than being worshipped as a "river god," Li Yueli would certainly prefer revenge. However, its remains are in Daochenzi's hands, and the sacrificial ceremony forcibly establishes a "worship- Protection " relationship between it and the village.
In this way, it must not harm the villagers, and may even protect the village so that it may prosper.
Yaya clutched the hem of her clothes tightly. "Then how can we complete the mission?"
Su Cheng: "Cultivate the lotus seeds, complete the ritual procedures, and survive the Grand Ceremony of Sacrifice to the God."
This is the method for completing the basic task.
"So far, we've been on the right track. Once the lotus seeds bloom, we'll be close to completing our mission."