Chapter 450: A Cow Trough Before the Grave, Severing the Bloodline

"It can't be that serious, can it?" Feng Minglong disagreed with Wang Shi. "What era are we in? Who still gets plagues?"

"We don't know when this village was abandoned, so it's better to be careful." Wang Shi hesitated a moment before continuing. "Years ago, I did field research in deserted villages for my writing. But before I went into the mountains, the local elders warned me off. Because those places lack human presence for so long, they hide a lot of sinister things alongside the wild beasts and plagues."

While Feng Minglong and Wang Shi talked, I stayed close behind the Double-Faced Woman and used Judging Eye to observe the village nestled in the mountain hollow.

Surrounded by mountains with no way out, the hollow continuously accumulated Yin energy. One glance was enough to tell it was a place that harbored filth and evil.

"A light?" Standing on the peak and gazing into the distance, I faintly noticed something flicker down in the village a few times. I just couldn't tell if it was candlelight or ghost fire.

"Stop arguing, you two. Get ready to enter the village." I checked the talismans on my body. Now that we were off the train, the Profound Truth Talisman should work normally.

"Shouldn't we think this over?" Wang Shi pointed at the Double-Faced Woman. "I suggest we don't act rashly. Let's see what her next move is first."

The Double-Faced Woman hadn't communicated with us at all during the journey. The fact that she had stopped at the outskirts of the deserted village explained a few things on its own.

"She's the one who led us to this village. If she has ulterior motives and is deliberately trying to set us up..." A sharp glint flashed through Wang Shi's eyes as he lowered his voice. "Why don't we strike first? We can restrain her and force her to enter the village with us. If we run into danger, we can leave her behind to buy us some time."

Wang Shi's plan was selfish and ruthless, but in this kind of environment, I had to admit it was a good idea.

"If she lured us here on purpose, what is her goal? Until we figure that out, I suggest we don't spook her." Feng Minglong interjected, looking at the Double-Faced Woman's back in the darkness. "Maybe we've misunderstood her. We all escaped from the train together; we should be sharing our burdens in times of trouble."

Feng Minglong and Wang Shi seemed born with Clashing Eight Characters; their opinions never aligned, so the decision fell into my hands once again.

"No rush. Let's wait and see."

After about two or three minutes, the Double-Faced Woman walked toward the mountain hollow alone. From beginning to end, she never said a single word to us.

"Follow her," I said, waving a hand. Wang Shi and Feng Minglong understood perfectly, and the three of us trailed behind the Double-Faced Woman in a triangular formation.

There were no stars or moon in the sky. Striding through the weeds and withered trees, our clothes snagged on unknown things in the darkness. My skin burned with an itchy pain, as if bitten by venomous insects.

There's a saying that seeing a mountain makes you run a horse to death. Even though I had spotted the deserted village early on, it took a full twenty or thirty minutes of walking down from the peak to finally approach it.

Standing on a jutting rock, the entire layout of the deserted village unfurled before my eyes.

It was of medium size, comprising over a hundred houses big and small. More than half were made of earth walls and wooden beams, with only a few small buildings constructed from stacked stone bricks.

The layout of the village was exceedingly bizarre—high on the outside and low on the inside. All the buildings were huddled at the lowest point of the hollow. From a distance, it looked like a caved-in grave mound. Even a feng shui layman like me felt something was wrong.

"Is this village actually deserted?" Now that we were closer, Wang Shi and Feng Minglong also noticed the scattered flickers of light. They were faint, but definitely there.

Just as we were about to enter the village, a bad premonition arose in my heart. I held up my phone and looked at the livestream. "Half-immortal, the feng shui of this place looks like a hollow grave. Are there a lot of dead people buried in this village? Will something happen to us if we go straight in?"

The way I questioned the livestream left Wang Shi and Feng Minglong somewhat speechless, but why would I care about their feelings?

Half-immortal Liu from Qingcheng Mountain: "Entering a family's grave tells you about its people. Little friend, you've asked the right person this time. The layout of this village is very interesting, and its feng shui is quite peculiar. It treats dwellings for the living as if they were tombs for the dead."

"Alright, could you just get to the point? This is urgent," I said, feeling a bit anxious as I watched the Double-Faced Woman about to step into the deserted village.

"The feng shui of a residence for the living focuses on the momentum of its origin and flow, the dragon fortune of the mountain layout, and the harmony of its sand and water. The backing mountain must be stable, with the Azure Dragon and White Tiger guarding it. The exterior layout is primarily based on the Six External Elements: mountains, buildings, rivers, roads, temples, and wells."

"The feng shui of a yin tomb is the exact opposite. Hidden at the bottom to absorb yin energy, it emphasizes the degrees and angles of the mountain layout and internal structure—how to draw in deathly energy and misfortune, aligning with polluted mountains and foul directions."

"This village doesn't cover a large area, but it actually has a Hidden Universe Inside. I can't make wild guesses just from the perimeter, but one thing is certain: with its uneven houses and grotesquely shaped eaves, anyone living here would surely be toyed with by ghosts and demons. Outside they'd cross paths with vile people, and at home they'd harbor hidden illnesses."

"The houses are built in an overall circular shape, much like a massive grave that locks in Yin energy. Observing the feng shui here is actually no different from inspecting a tomb."

"Bury a grave in a sunken pit, and it lacks mourners to pay respects. A cow trough before the grave, severing the bloodline and leaving no descendants. The back of the grave slowly sloping down, leading to sparse populations generation after generation."

"Just from its exterior, it isn't hard to understand why this village fell into ruin."

After Half-Immortal Liu finished speaking, another thought bloomed in my mind: 'The Half-immortal said the layout of this village resembles a grave and was built like a tomb for the dead. I heard Blind Liu say before that Jiangcheng is a massive grave too. Is there some connection between the two?'

Stepping back from the scene before me and letting my mind wander, I vaguely felt like I had grasped something, but it remained hazy and unclear.

While keeping an eye on the livestream's barrage, I observed the Double-Faced Woman. Her movements carried an intense sense of purpose; it was obvious this wasn't her first time here.

The closer we got to the village, the more uncomfortable I felt. I didn't know when, but faint red spots had broken out on the exposed skin of my hands and neck, itching and stinging. Looking at Wang Shi and Feng Minglong, however, the two of them were completely fine.

'Could it be because I'm a living person?' Stopping and starting, we finally arrived at the village entrance. A towering locust tree grew out of the weed-choked ground, its trunk so thick that two people couldn't wrap their arms around it. Its age was easily over three hundred years.

The locust tree's branches were lush with leaves, forming a stark contrast with the desolate surroundings. Its thick roots bulged out of the earth, some even burrowing into a nearby house.

"This is my first time seeing a tree this thick." Feng Minglong walked under the locust tree, looking tiny compared to its massive frame. Perhaps out of awe, he reached out to pat the trunk.

"Don't touch it!" The one who spoke wasn't me, nor was it Wang Shi. It was the Double-Faced Woman, who had been silent the entire time.

Hearing her voice, Feng Minglong froze. His hand hovered in midair, caught awkwardly between raising it further and pulling it back.

The Double-Faced Woman offered no explanation. Driven by curiosity, I walked over to the locust tree and shone my phone's light on it, only to realize that this tree was far from simple.

Hidden among the lush branches and leaves were slender white threads. Bugs unlike any I had ever seen dangled from the canopy and crawled along the trunk.

As the light hit them, the bugs scattered in a panic. The silk threads trailing behind them tangled together, looking just like women's hair. From a distance, an unknowing observer would have thought they were a bunch of hanged ghosts.

Horror flashed in the depths of Feng Minglong's eyes. If not for the Double-Faced Woman's warning, those bugs would probably be crawling all over him by now.

"That was close. Thanks." He thanked the Double-Faced Woman, but she didn't respond, merely continuing her trek into the village.

"What are you staring at? Hurry up and follow her," Wang Shi urged me and Feng Minglong. The minor incident by the locust tree made him realize the danger of this village, as well as the immense value the Double-Faced Woman held.

Leaving the locust tree behind, I walked at the very back of the group, casually snapping a few photos with my phone. Sweeping my gaze around, I discovered a Deep Well about a dozen meters away from the tree.

"A well?"

I still remembered the phone call from before the livestream task started. A very familiar-sounding voice had claimed he was in a well and wanted me to come save him. This was likely a hint too, but unfortunately, I still couldn't recall the person's identity.

'It shouldn't be such a coincidence.' I wanted to go over and inspect the well, but Wang Shi and the others had already walked far ahead. Seeing their silhouettes gradually blur, I quickly ran to catch up.

This village looked bizarre from the outside, and stepping into it only made it feel even more problematic. The doors directly faced one another, and none had thresholds. Some houses had their doors tightly shut, while others were deliberately left half-open. Shining my phone's light inside, I could clearly see coffins, both large and small, laid out in their courtyards.