The little girl ran off.
Running back toward the village while crying a torrential wail.
She knew, her Daddy was already gone.
Second Uncle, Third Uncle, and Fourth Uncle said there was a brutal, vicious thing that forcefully twisted off her Daddy's head.
And then right here by the riverside, roasted her Daddy alive over a fire and ate him.
Moreover, it didn't even spit out the fish bones.
Because the fish bones were roasted until utterly crisp and brittle.
Crunchy and popping when chewed, the taste was excellent to the extre.
"Huang Er, I probably won't eat fish ever again in the future."
Chen Huangpi followed that little girl back to the village entirely from the shadows, continuously comforting himself as he went: "That little girl is human, the human-faced fish is a human-faced fish; they aren't even the sa species! How could what I ate possibly be her Daddy!?"
"It must be because she's young and ignorant, mistakenly recognizing a demonic beast as her Daddy."
Yet although the words were spoken like this, Chen Huangpi still possessed an urge to dry heave.
Regardless, he would never ever want to eat fish again in the future.
The Brass Oil Lamp consoled: "The evidence is entirely in our hands. Just a re few 'eyewitness fishes', nothing more. If it truly cos down to it, we'll just kill our way back there and have this little girl's uncles reunite with her Daddy inside your stomach and that'll do."
"That's not good, right...?"
Chen Huangpi said hesitantly: "There are quite a lot of fish in that water. If we don't do it cleanly enough, wouldn't we just let that little girl know I was standing right by the river watching her at the ti?"
"Contract Master, murderers are all like this."
The Life-reaping Ghost said with a hint of self-satisfaction: "When I hung a post (served an official position) within the Yama Hall, I read many case files. Within the mortal realm, many criminals, after committing murder, would run back to the scene of the cri to admire their masterpiece."
"Therefore, there is no need for you to feel troubled or bothered by it."
"Killing one is killing, killing them all is also killing."
The Life-reaping Ghost advocated slaughtering them all.
This damnable place was incredibly strange; moreover, there was also a mysterious Village Chief who actually managed to sense the arrival of people from the outside.
If he found out the one who ate that little girl's Daddy was Chen Huangpi...
Perhaps it would beco another troubleso affair.
Chen Huangpi naturally understood this clearly within his heart, however, he still refused: "That little girl looks quite pitiable. If I slaughter her along with every single villager in that village cleanly, what difference would there be between myself and those cultivators?"
"Furthermore, we ca to search for the fishing rod. Investigating and clarifying the situation first before making plans ought to be the superior strategy."
Listening to Chen Huangpi's words.
The Life-reaping Ghost and the Brass Oil Lamp exchanged glances, instantly rendered speechless.
Didn't you want to kill the human-faced fish?
How co reaching Chen Huangpi, it suddenly turned into wanting to slaughter that little girl and the villagers clean?!
He must definitely be joking, right!?
And at this mont, that little girl also returned to the village.
At the entrance to this village, stood a tall, high stone pillar.
Wrapped entirely around the stone pillar was a tattered, torn piece of red cloth. Faintly written upon the red cloth were three characters.
But those three characters had long since beco incredibly blurry and indiscernible.
Chen Huangpi stared for a long ti but still couldn't make out what was written.
He only hazily beheld the first character appearing to be 'Town' (镇), while the remaining two were already impossible to identify.
However, this 'Town' character caused Chen Huangpi to feel sowhat familiar.
He had previously seen this identical style of calligraphy upon the tomb doors of the God-Burying Mound; sweeping and unconstrained like flying dragons and dancing phoenixes, holding an indescribable profound aura/charm (韵味).
Entering this village.
Chen Huangpi then beheld so villagers—similarly dressed in identically tattered rags, yet possessing Nascent Soul cultivation—surrounding that tearfully, torrential wailing little girl, asking ceaseless questions.
Once they questioned enough to understand, the expressions of these villagers beca exceptionally complex.
rely, those villagers surprisingly lacked any display of reaction toward this, instead hurriedly, hastily taking their leave.
What was even stranger was that the little girl seed to have long since grown entirely accustod to this.
And proceeded to walk toward a house constructed of stone and wood situated at the deepest inner part of the village.
From what they saw along the way.
This village looked exactly like a forgotten, ancient remnant settlent.
Furthermore, Chen Huangpi didn't spot the Crosser of Tornts and his group of monks; he fundantally didn't even sense their auras.
"Truly bizarre."
Chen Huangpi said in a low voice: "Didn't that Village Chief say many evil spirits ran inside from the outside? Could we have guessed wrong? The 'evil spirits' they refer to aren't the Crosser of Tornts' group!?"
Not rely within this village.
The Brass Oil Lamp had even long since cast its divine sense out, ceaselessly investigating this world within the river.
Yet it also harvested absolutely nothing.
As if the Crosser of Tornts' group—similarly swept into this world within the river—was not within the sa world as them.
At this mont ti, that little girl also arrived at her destination.
Thump, thump, thump... (Knocking sounds)
The sound of knocking upon a door rang out.
In the next second, the door of the house loudly creaked open.
Following closely behind, an ancient farr wearing rough hemp garnts and possessing incredibly dark, swarthy skin appeared at the doorway.
The cultivation of this ancient farr was incredibly strong.
Chen Huangpi only cast a single glance to realize this person's cultivation absolutely wasn't rely Nascent Soul.
It was at least the Spirit Transformation Realm (化神期).
"Grandpa Village Chief."
Upon seeing this old farr, the little girl imdiately cried and shouted: "My Daddy died! A bad thing twisted his head off, and roasted him over a fire to eat! It even ate the fish bones completely clean!"
The Village Chief spoke with a strange/weird tone: "Yaya, that wasn't your Daddy, that was a monster."
"But it grew a face exactly the sa as my Daddy's!"
The little girl cried: "The River God ate my Daddy, and that bad thing also ate my Daddy! They are both very bad!"
Saying so, the little girl was about to enter the house.
Yet the Village Chief hurriedly took a step back, saying helplessly: "Yaya, you go back first. Allow to handle this matter. Tomorrow, during the River God Sacrifice, I will definitely give you an answer/account, alright?"
The little girl asked: "Will the River God eat that bad thing? Just like how it ate my Daddy and Second Uncle and the rest?"
"It ought to."
The Village Chief answered vaguely and ambiguously: "You go back first, rest properly. Do not go out at night, otherwise very bad things will happen."
"Yaya understands."
The little girl wiped away her tears, turning her head and walking toward the deepest section of the village.
There, existed a decrepit, tattered ancestral hall.
As if enshrining and worshipping so entity.
Seeing this, Chen Huangpi was right about to trail after her.
Yet exactly at this mont, that Village Chief suddenly took a step forward, coincidentally blocking precisely right in front of Chen Huangpi.
"Huang Er, have we been discovered by him!?"
"Shouldn't be possible..."
The Brass Oil Lamp said, sowhat lacking confidence: "My Concealnt Divine Ability was learned from the Stone Pagoda. Although it isn't so supre great divine ability, unless they are Immortals, or existences like Chi Xie who previously held an exceptionally high status, it is absolutely impossible for them to spot us."
The Pure Immortal Temple previously possessed many heavy treasures.
Within the Old Temple, there even existed an incredibly massive grand array ford utilizing these heavy treasures, arrayed utilizing three thousand Immortals serving as the array cores.
The objects anchoring the array numbered nine in total.
The Earth Scripture, Nine Separation Bell, Stone Pagoda, True Void (洞真), Dragon-Locking Well, Huang Er, Huang Yi, Flying Immortal Painting, and the Sacrificial Altar.
For the Stone Pagoda to serve as an object anchoring the array, its divine abilities were naturally not sothing a common, idle cultivator possessed the capacity to see through.
"Perhaps it's a coincidence."
The Brass Oil Lamp stated: "Look, this Village Chief has his back facing us, but his eyes are fixated upon that little girl. rely, that little girl possesses naught but Golden Core cultivation, why does this Village Chief seem to deeply dread and fear her!?"
Suddenly.
That little girl snapped her head back.
The Village Chief then smiled and waved a hand toward her.
That little girl also responded with a smile, and then hopped and skipped as she entered the ancestral hall.
Once this little girl entered.
The smile upon the Village Chief's face slowly vanished. After which he twisted his head around, swiftly stating in a low voice: "Fellow Daoist, this place is perilous. Quickly enter the house with to discuss details."
Within his eyes existed the intent of sheer excitent.
Chen Huangpi, oppositely, froze dumbfounded upon the spot.
"You can see !?"
Yet that Village Chief stated: "Fellow Daoist, right now your heart must definitely hold ten thousand perplexities. Yet still, I ask you to trust . There are many words I am forbidden to speak within this village. Once we return into the house, isolated by the array formations, I will inform you of the entire matter from beginning to end in the utmost detail."
Saying so, this Village Chief diatrically entered the house.
But the door was not closed.
As if awaiting Chen Huangpi to enter.
"Original Family, this old rat is ambiguous and vague, his behavior incredibly suspicious; you must not trust him lightly."
"The intent to harm others is permitted to occur, but the intent to guard against others is absolutely indispensable!"
The Brass Oil Lamp and the Life-reaping Ghost both advised against entering the house.
Chen Huangpi then cast a glance toward Golden Horn.
"Golden Horn, do you know how we ought to leave this place? Exactly how to find the fishing rod?"
Golden Horn gestured: "Huangpi Daddy, if I knew, I would have long since told you! I was rely dragged by Eldest Guanzhu to the riverside and saw that stone stele; everything else, I know absolutely nothing about!"
Chen Huangpi stated: "The four of us combined, even if this Village Chief hatches so sinister plot, he absolutely cannot possibly be our match! If he dares to act unrestrained, then I will simply have no choice but to launch a ruthless killing strike!"
The words having just fallen, Chen Huangpi spun around and imdiately began leaving.
The Brass Oil Lamp said entirely dumbfounded: "Didn't you just say you were going to enter the house!? Why are you pulling up your legs to run!?"
Chen Huangpi replied: "Enter the house, we definitely must enter! But exactly when we enter is entirely my final say! Let's first thoroughly scout the surroundings! I continuously feel all the people within this village are incredibly strange; perhaps we might make other discoveries, hard to say."
Previously, regarding that affair with Chi Xie, Chen Huangpi had suffered a massive loss.
He initially thought he had sched perfectly to the finest detail.
When in reality, from beginning to end, he had been jumping around directly under Chi Xie's eyelids.
Watching this Village Chief possess Spirit Transformation cultivation, he was indeed no match for himself.
But what if he had concealed his cultivation, and was an ancient, old demon/monster?
Then wouldn't that exactly be falling directly into his trap?
Chen Huangpi had no choice but to act with utmost caution.
Very quickly, leveraging this Concealnt Divine Ability, he wandered everywhere throughout the village.
And this caused him to feel increasingly bizarre.
The amount of people within this village was not small, roughly sixty to seventy individuals.
Even within the Hundred Thousand Mountains, this could be counted as a dium-to-small sized village.
Furthermore, there wasn't a single mortal.
Every single one possessed Nascent Soul cultivation base; moreover, the feeling they bestowed upon him was significantly more powerful than those Nascent Soul cultivators of the outside world who cultivated using human qi.
It was exactly the clothing they wore that was truly far too tattered and torn.
Even more destitute and impoverished than the Remnants.
What was even more eerie and bizarre was that these imnsely powerful villagers had been ceaselessly circling and wandering throughout the village the entire ti.
Or perhaps phrasing it another way, they rely wandered within a fixed, set area.
So walked shoulder-to-shoulder in pairs.
Others were solitary and moved alone.
The scopes of their activity areas were all entirely different.
Chen Huangpi strolled around the village for half the day, and ultimately only saw two villagers exit the village. Afterwards, they walked all the way sequentially to the riverside, directly plunging into the river water. And then, it wasn't until the sky was almost dark that they successively crawled out the river one after the other.
After these two villagers crawled out from the water, the clothing upon their bodies beca noticeably less tattered and torn.
And their cultivation base swiftly plumted down into the Golden Core Realm.
One of them asked in sheer astonishnt: "What place is this? I seem to have felt the existence of spiritual qi; could it possibly be this is the Celestial Realm!?"
The other person oppositely said: "Look quickly! There's movent in the water!"
Splash!
A strange fish possessing a human face leapt out from the water, opening a bloody maw wide toward the two of them, seemingly wishing to swallow them both directly into its stomach.
And exactly during this mont, a little girl possessing twin braids and carrying a vegetable basket ran over, shouting loudly: "Second Uncle! Don't eat people! Don't eat people!"
Hearing these words, the strange fish hesitated for a brief instant.
And precisely during the duration of this brief instant, the two individuals who erged from the water snatched the opportunity to escape with their lives, hurriedly running far away from the riverbank.
The little girl said: "Don't be afraid! That fish is my Second Uncle! He rely wished to greet you! He won't eat you!"
"The sky is about to go dark. Follow back to the village! Inside the village is safe, outside is perilous!"
Saying so, that little girl carried her vegetable basket and began walking toward the village.
Whereas those two individuals exchanged glances—as if entirely forgetting they themselves were also villagers—and half-believing, half-doubting, followed this little girl back into the village.
Once inside the village, even more villagers surged out surrounding them.
Showering these two individuals with solicitous inquiries and warm care.
And seeing there actually existed such nurous cultivators in this place, these two individuals had no choice but to heed their arrangents, eventually getting settled in.
rely, from beginning to end, those villagers hadn't initiated half a speck of contact with that little girl.
Looking at this scene, Chen Huangpi felt goosebumps rising upon his entire body.
"Quick, swiftly look for that Village Chief!"
"This damnable place is incredibly evil and sinister; there is definitely sothing absolutely wrong with that little girl!"
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