Chapter 23: The Gu Village (23)

Chapter 23 The Gu Village (a village associated with dark magic)

"Ah Shan, where are you?"

Tan Yue looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings, repeatedly calling Guan Shan's name, trying to find the lover who had vanished from his grip.

Just then, a rustling sound came from behind him, and a bright, melodic voice carried on the wind: "Tan Yue?"

Hearing the noise behind him, Tan Yue turned around in delight, but his smile instantly vanished. Instead of Guan Shan, Song Yu stood there.

Song Yu pulled Lin Qingxue forward, and the two of them stood together in front of Tan Yue. Tan Yue couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy: others were paired up, holding hands intimately, while he was forced to be separated from his lover.

He asked the young couple before him, "Have either of you seen my boyfriend? The one who’s strikingly handsome, with very fair skin, wearing all black."

Both Song Yu and Lin Qingxue shook their heads. They silently agreed that there must be something wrong with Tan Yue’s eyes—the beautiful young man he described bore no resemblance whatsoever to that monster shrouded in dark energy!

Even if love is blind, Tan Yue’s rose-tinted glasses were downright delusional.

Wang Yihan, who had been knocked unconscious earlier, heard the voices of Tan Yue and the others and emerged from the woods, dust-streaked.

He spotted Tan Yue right away, who was still searching around. "Brother Tan, do you know where we are?"

Tan Yue shook his head. "I don’t know."

With his sharp eye for detail, he tried to determine their location based on the surrounding buildings and scenery.

The Dragon God Temple should be nearby, but the structure and many details clashed with his memories. At first glance, it felt familiar, but upon closer inspection, it seemed like a similar building from somewhere else.

After all, Guan Shan’s beautiful little courtyard was missing, and the river had shrunk drastically, turning into a shallow stream you could step over.

The open space where he had been standing was now a meadow dotted with saplings.

Tan Yue was completely baffled by their current situation. The only thing he knew for sure was that his tall, sturdy boyfriend, whom he had been holding hands with just moments ago, had suddenly vanished.

But if the others were here, Guan Shan must be around too.

Perhaps the others had seen him. Tan Yue pushed on, "Have you seen Wang Jiaojiao and Li Dan? And that other girl whose name I don’t know."

Lin Qingxue answered, "Wang Jiaojiao, Li Dan, and Zhang Hongying."

"Qingxue, we’re here!" Zhang Hongying emerged from another direction in the woods, waving vigorously even before approaching.

Zhang Hongying seemed very different from her previously silent and withdrawn self—now, she appeared much more lively and cheerful.

Zhang Hongying and Li Dan soon helped Wang Jiaojiao, who was flanked by them, walk forward. The three girls stuck close together. Having just pushed through the bushes, they were a mess.

When Wang Jiaojiao woke up, the blood on her face had already dried, and her vision was somewhat impaired. She looked terrified, gripping Li Dan’s hand tightly as her glassy eyes flicked between them. She repeated emphatically, "I’m only here because of you guys! You absolutely cannot abandon me!"

Li Dan and Zhang Hongying soothed her, "Jiaojiao, we won’t leave you behind."

"Have any of you seen my *boyfriend*?" Tan Yue repeated his earlier question. As expected, the group shuddered and gave no positive answers.

"No, we haven’t seen him." At the mention of Tan Yue’s so-called "boyfriend," the others bit their tongues.

Whatever. I’ll find him alone," Tan Yue muttered. "If you see him, tell him to meet at this red building—the one that looks like the Dragon God Temple."

He planned to comb the village solo for his boyfriend, but since they might miss each other by going in opposite directions, they’d need a rally point.

Tan Yue ran from the back of the building to the front, and the group trailed after him wordlessly. They stuck to Tan Yue like shadows.

"The Dragon God Temple? This is also the Dragon God Temple?"

Tan Yue walked in and saw the plaque on the red house. The overall design of the building wasn’t much different from what he remembered, but many details had significant variations.

For example, the relief patterns above were rougher in linework, and the stones lacked the jade-like flecks, making it appear more simple and ancient.

Tan Yue decisively said, "This isn’t the Dragon God Temple of Black Dragon Village."

Honestly, the few who had stayed in the Dragon God Temple before had developed a deep unease toward such red houses. They only followed Tan Yue inside to investigate after seeing that nothing happened to him.

Wang Yihan quickly agreed, "Brother Tan is right. This isn’t the temple we stayed in before. This place is far more rundown."

After all, this was a temple built 800 years ago, and the materials used were rather ordinary. The villagers were poor, their own houses were dilapidated, and they couldn’t afford expensive materials—even the newly built temple wasn’t luxurious.

The Dragon God statue placed inside wasn’t the ferocious one they remembered either. It was a more common folk depiction of a dragon, golden in color but not gilded—just thinly coated with brass.

Having stayed in the Dragon God Temple for several days, the others knew its details better than Tan Yue, who had mostly stayed in Guan Shan’s small courtyard painting. Looking at the temple’s layout and furnishings, they all nodded in agreement.

After leaving the temple, Tan Yue walked outside. The village’s layout was quite similar to before, but the dirt paths between houses were in much worse condition. It must have rained recently, turning the yellow mud roads into a boggy mess, making each step a gamble.

Tan Yue, barefoot in wooden clogs, fared better since the soles were high. But those wearing sneakers saw their white shoes turn filthy, their socks splashed with mud.

Onward, they walked further out. In the distance, Tan Yue spotted a stone wall made of large bluestones. Though lacking the vibrant moss, it gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

He followed the path to the entrance. The village was eerily quiet, with no guards at the unguarded gate, wide open.

Beyond the gate, three large characters were inscribed on the village entrance. Straining his eyes, he made out traditional Chinese characters—*Golden Dragon Village*.

"*Golden Dragon Village*? Could this be the real village? Was Black Dragon Village fake?"

Tan Yue gazed at the undulating mountains outside. Though many details differed, the mountain ridges matched. After a few seconds of silence, his voice grew hoarse, "This is Black Dragon Village."

"This is also Black Dragon Village?!" "How can this be Black Dragon Village?!" "Doesn’t it say *Golden Dragon Village* right there?!"

The others following him blurted their disbelief.

Anyone with a bit of observation could spot the stark differences between the two Black Dragon Villages—not just the flora and waterways, even the roads and houses were noticeably distinct.

Wang Yihan hurriedly said, "Don’t rush to question him. Let’s hear what Brother Tan has to say."

Tan Yue explained, "This should be Black Dragon Village from another time—the past Black Dragon Village. It’s just called *Golden Dragon Village* now."

"Brother Tan, are you saying we’ve traveled through time?" If monsters existed in this world, time travel wasn’t out of the question—neither made scientific sense anyway.

Wang Yihan suddenly grew excited, "Since no one’s stopping us here, can’t we just leave by going down the mountain?!"

Tan Yue’s thick lashes dipped, "If this really is the past village, there won’t be a modern mountain road—only unfamiliar mountain trails."

The winding concrete mountain roads, though long, were smooth. But untamed mountains meant steep, dangerous paths.

Tan Yue elaborated, "Have you ever climbed mountains? Those steep steps are way more grueling than modern stairs. You might even encounter wild beasts or venomous snakes. Without a guide, the chances of dying on the way are much higher."

"Then what do we do? How do we get out of this damned place?"

Wang Jiaojiao slumped to the ground in frustration, "Nothing works! Just end this misery already."

Tan Yue ignored her defeatist rant. After waiting a while, they felt the air grow hotter, the ground beneath them drying until the mud hardened and cracked.

The silent village suddenly came to life, bursting with noise and life.

The village gate stood wide open, with villagers moving in and out. They all wore familiar clothing, but their faces were no longer pale—they were ruddy and healthy, brimming with life.

The elderly villagers were dark and thin, while the children had fairer complexions, though all of them sported a characteristic highland blush on their cheeks.

"Excuse me, do you know someone named Guan Shan?"

Tan Yue reached out to stop a kind-looking woman, but his hand went straight through her.

He spoke in the local dialect of the villagers, having picked up a bit of the language during his time with Guan Shan over the past few days.

He couldn’t handle anything too complicated, but with gestures and simple words, he could still communicate with the villagers.

The woman didn’t notice him at all, continuing excitedly to chat with others in the village.

The others with Tan Yue quickly mimicked his actions, trying to touch the villagers, only to find their hands going right through them as well.

Li Dan panicked: "What’s going on? Are we all dead?"

Wang Yihan rubbed the back of his head: "Probably not. I feel sore all over, and my head still hurts. Do ghosts even feel pain?"

He looked down at his feet—they were firmly on the ground. Closing his eyes, he tried walking through a wall like a ghost: "Thud."

His head hit the wall with a dull thump, just knocking some dirt loose. Clutching his head, he groaned, "We’re definitely not ghosts!" What kinda lame ghost would that be?

The noise caught the attention of the chatting villagers, but they glanced over and didn’t see them—clearly, they couldn’t perceive the outsiders.

"Look, those must be the Village Elders."

Tan Yue spotted familiar faces among the villagers: the small yet lively Village Elder, the clearly devoted couple Li Ang and his wife, and the eccentric Granny Li.

Li Ang’s wife wore loose clothing, her belly round with pregnancy.

Granny Li was full of energy, her hands no longer blackened but clean and neat.

Wang Yihan exclaimed, "Tan, you’re a freakin’ genius! This really is Black Dragon Village!"

Lin Qingxue asked, "Tan Yue, can you understand what they’re saying?"

Tan Yue replied, "Just bits and pieces. I didn’t learn much of the local dialect."

He frowned, straining to listen: "They seem to be talking about drought, food shortages... the Dragon God, begging for rain."

The river outside was now just a small stream—completely dried up. The sun beat down mercilessly, leaving the trees’ leaves parched and brittle, their green vitality reduced to tinder.

"No wonder it’s baking hot—we’re in a drought." Whatever Tan Yue said, Wang Yihan took at face value, given that Tan had saved his life.

Tan Yue searched the crowd for Guan Shan, then retraced his steps to Guan Shan’s house: "Stay here; I’ll be back."

Song Yu said, "Let’s test what we can actually do."

He saw clearly that Tan Yue didn’t care about them—understandable, since who would care about dead weight?

To prove his worth, he decided to experiment: "Let’s see what we can actually do—whether we can move things or touch the villagers."

The exact year didn’t matter. What mattered was finding a way out. If this was an escape game, they’d need to check certain boxes to win.

When Tan Yue returned after circling the village, he found Wang Yihan going to town slapping Granny Li while grumbling, "Take that for the bugs! And that’s for freaking me out!"

However, his rapid slaps only brought Granny Li a weird, chilly breeze—completely useless, just a way to make himself feel better.

Song Yu said, "We've tried. For now, there's no way to interact with the villagers, but we can't walk through walls or float either. We still follow the laws of physics. We can move objects in the village, but it's very difficult—it takes total focus, as if our strength has suddenly weakened by dozens of times."

"What about you? Did you find your boyfriend?"

Tan Yue shook his head gloomily. "No."

At this time, most of the village households left their doors open during the day so villagers could drop by anytime.

Tan Yue went through every house, spotting many unfamiliar faces, but his lover was nowhere to be found. Defeated, he turned back.

Fortunately, time in Black Dragon Village seemed to pass quickly. Before long, something new happened in the village.

The Village Elder called all the villagers to the square. "We haven't had rain in a long time. If we don't do something, we're all gonna die."

Tan Yue scanned the crowd carefully, then he felt crushed when he realized Guan Shan wasn't there.

But what came next made him wish Guan Shan wasn’t there.

To beg for rain, the village decided to offer sacrifices to the Dragon God. They picked sacrifices.

"The Dragon God wants sacrifices—lots of them."

The hunters had caught beautiful pheasants, wild boars, and goats, all picked by the Village Elder for the offering.

But animals weren’t enough. "We need a living sacrifice!"

"We’ll sacrifice Ah Shan."

Hearing Guan Shan's name, Tan Yue's ears perked up instantly.

The Village Elder soon brought out a young boy—dark-skinned and thin, but Tan Yue recognized him immediately. His fine features were hollow from starvation, barely recognizable.

"Ah Shan is a cursed child! He's the reason our village suffers this drought! Offer him to the Dragon God!"

"Kill him! Kill him!"

The other villagers shouted together, their faces twisted with the same fanaticism—ignorant and cruel.

A bad feeling twisted in Tan Yue’s gut, but powerless, he could only watch as the Village Elder began the sacrificial ritual.

A crowd filed into the Dragon God’s temple. Instead of a grand cauldron, there stood only a wide water vat over a meter across. A group of strong men carried the heavy vat into the temple and placed it before the Dragon God’s statue.

The Village Elder poured numerous poisonous critters into the vat—his own snakes, the villagers' insects, spiders, toads, geckos...

The villagers all raised venomous creatures, though not the mystical kind—just ordinary deadly pests.

The tied-up boy was thrown into the vat on the Village Elder’s command.

The boy struggled desperately, but his frail body was soon overwhelmed by the swarm of poisonous critters until only bones remained.

The Village Elder ordered the skeleton to be retrieved, then burned the remaining poisonous insects as an offering to the Dragon God.

"These bastards!" "How cruel!" "A bunch of ignorant fools!" "These monsters!"

Tan Yue wasn’t the only witness. Song Yu and the others watched in furious horror. Their own experiences only fueled their outrage.

After the ritual, rain suddenly poured down in the mountains—a heavy rain.

The villagers cheered with joy, celebrating Jinlong Village’s revival.

The skeleton, along with the ashes of the venomous insects, was buried several meters deep and sealed beneath the earth.

While the villagers celebrated, the others, soaked from the rain, hid under the eaves to keep from getting sick.

Tan Yue, however, rushed toward the burial mound in the pouring rain and frantically started digging.

As Song Yu and the others had said, it was difficult for him to interact with the soil—his strength felt like it had dwindled to a fraction. Even using all his strength, he barely managed to scoop out a handful of dirt.

The rain drenched the ground, slowly turning the hard soil into mud.

But Tan Yue threw himself into digging, tears rolling down his cheeks as he worked endlessly.

He dug until his hands were raw, completely oblivious to the passage of time, until finally, a glimpse of bone, white as jade, emerged from the pit.

Suddenly, Tan Yue felt a surge of strength and dug even harder.

Maybe his devotion moved fate itself, for the bones in the pit began to stir on their own.

The snow-white bones broke free from the soil and staggered upright from the hole.

"Ah Shan, Ah Shan!" Tan Yue cried out in excitement.

"Ah Shan..."

Not stopping to think, he rushed forward and embraced the eerie skeleton tightly, ignoring how he’d phased through things before. This time, he held the skeleton firmly in his arms.

Feeling the cold texture, the young man's tears fell in torrents.

He had always been independent since childhood, hardly ever crying, even when hurt.

Perhaps he had watched too many episodes of *Legal Report*, making him usually unmoved by tearjerkers.

But now, his tears fell uncontrollably, soaking his clothes, his eyes red, his nose flushed, and his long lashes damp. His crying turned ragged and broken.

He pressed his face against the bones, kissing them, his tears mingling with the rain as they splashed onto the skeleton.

The skeleton wobbled unsteadily, remaining silent for a long while before veins began weaving over its bones. Empty eye sockets filled with eyeballs, skin slowly formed over the bones, and flesh grew to fill out its form.

Tan Yue held his lover and wept for half an hour until the terrifying skeleton transformed back into the breathtakingly handsome boy from his memories.

"Hey, stop crying," Guan Shan's voice sounded a little grumpy—this was the first time the deity had experienced such complex emotions.

Hearing the voice, Tan Yue realized the sensation was different. He looked up and met the familiar face, asking in surprise, "Ah Shan, how did you suddenly change back?"

"This is all your fault!"

Tan Yue was both shocked and delighted but played along. "My fault? What did I do wrong?"

The deity declared matter-of-factly, "Isn't there a saying that love can regrow flesh like crazy? It was your tears that turned me into this!"

From the human memories he had absorbed, many short videos featured similar plots—scrawny, ragged stray cats being taken in by humans and transforming into chubby, shiny house cats.

He had merely regrown flesh over his skeleton, returning to the way Tan Yue remembered him, without even becoming more handsome. Was that so exaggerated? Not at all!

This wasn't actually the script written by the deity—his intended plot had only progressed halfway, with all the thrilling parts yet to unfold, before Tan Yue went off-script and ruined everything.

In his original script, Tan Yue and his group were supposed to endure much more—the villagers would've escalated to more killings, eventually giving rise to the Mountain Spirit possessing Zhang Hongying.

The vengeful resentment would have slaughtered all the villagers, trapping them eternally within the village. Golden Dragon Village would have transformed into Black Dragon Village, and the slain villagers would have turned from ordinary mountain folk into terrifying monsters of the supernatural world...

This script was adapted from real events, with nine parts truth and one part fabrication. The made-up part was: the tragic victim wasn’t the god Guan Shan, but rather the Mountain Spirit possessing Zhang Hongying.

Yet the god's carefully planned script had barely begun when it was shattered by his lover’s tears.

The deity had personally stepped in to perform, directing his first script—only for it to fail spectacularly, all because Tan Yue was such an ugly crier!

Of course, he had to blame Tan Yue—blame him for being so damn weird, for embracing and kissing a mere skeleton, ruining his carefully designed plot!

Despite his words, the deity was actually quite satisfied with Tan Yue’s reaction. He had used his divine power to rapidly regrow flesh and blood precisely because it's hard to emote with just bones.

Such excessively intense love was too much for a skeleton to bear—better grow some skin before getting all lovey-dovey.

"Alright, alright, stop crying now," Guan Shan wiped away Tan Yue’s tears, feeling each droplet strike his body like scalding fire, burning so hot it messed with his head. Unable to keep up the act, he changed his mind on the spot.

Tan Yue had already accepted that his boyfriend wasn’t human. If Guan Shan said it was all thanks to his tears, then so be it.

The young man happily kissed his lover’s soft cheek—kissing actual skin felt way better than bone.

Overjoyed, he declared proudly, "You’re absolutely right. This proves my love for you is testified by heaven and earth, unwavering even unto death—and I mean even if you were just a scary skeleton, I'd still love you."