Chapter 81

Chapter 81

The Black River tributary, the tide, ascension... numerous clues linked together like a tangled ball of yarn, and Xu Muchan, after witnessing the Black River tributary here, seemed to have vaguely grasped the thread.

Assuming Immortal Village was truly connected to the Ou family, then they might have been raising these Chicken-head people all along—either keeping them like cultivating gu to artificially create a deity for consumption, or... using them to locate Black River tributaries.

Or, to think even darker—maybe both were true.

Currently, only the Wei family and the first ancestor of the Wei family's handwritten records should have records on the Black River tributary, but the Black River's whereabouts were unpredictable, and the tributary probably wasn't easy to find either. By contrast, Black River tides had been spotted many times since the Republic of China era.

Tide... tributary... Xu Muchan was frowning, mulling over the connection between the two when he suddenly heard a sizzling sound emanating from the Chicken-head people standing in a circle. Then, their bodies began to melt like ice cream left in the sun, bit by bit turning into viscous black liquid that seeped into the ground, leaving only a few snow-white feathers on the ground.

The Black River tributary moving under the ground seemed triggered by something, suddenly burst through the ground and gushed out. The narrow tributary snaked toward the village like a mountain stream. Xu Muchan was about to chase after it when he heard a strange rustling sound, like paper scraping, from the other side.

That sound was burned into his memory, and he recognized it the instant it rang out.

Xu Muchan didn't pursue the tributary but instead hid himself carefully in the snowy woods, his black-red eyes scanning the woods from behind the Dog-face Mask.

In the snow-white forest, a very tall figure was moving fast.

From the front it looked human, but from the side it was paper-thin—a stretched body nearly two meters tall, swaying in the wind as it moved, looking seriously creepy.

The moment Xu Muchan saw it, his expression changed slightly.

It was a paper man.

Back when he was sold to Leigong Village and tried to run, Cui Tong had chased him down looking exactly like this, and that scene had haunted his childhood.

It wasn't until he met Cui Tong again later that he realized the paper man was just a special type of paper puppet.

But Cui Tong had long since sunk into the Black River's shallows along with Leigong Village.

Xu Muchan stared hard at the paper man's face. Even though it kept swaying, he recognized it—it was Ou Yangmu's face.

How did the Ou family know Cui Tong's secret technique?

Xu Muchan frowned as he thought back on Cui Tong's various deeds, realizing he'd missed a crucial detail—Cui Tong might have had someone pulling the strings.

Before, he'd only thought Cui Tong was a rogue Taoist who'd gone off the straight and narrow, and Yan He's assessment had backed that up. Plus, after Cui Tong died, he hadn't dug deeper into the man who'd changed his fate.

But now, thinking it over, he saw Cui Tong had plenty of cracks in his story.

Just the fact that he'd bought him and then sold him to Leigong Village, planning to raise him into a new Ghost King, was weird as hell.

But if he'd done all this on someone's orders, for a different purpose, it would make sense.

Xu Muchan's gaze shifted to the paper man still weaving through the woods, searching.

Luckily, the Chicken-head people had already melted into the Black River, and the tributary had left earlier, so the paper man searched the snowy woods for a while and found nothing.

It seemed annoyed, lingering there for a moment before heading back toward the village.

Xu Muchan followed it silently.

The paper man headed straight for the wooden tower.

No monsters had shown up tonight, and the whole village was dead quiet, including the wooden tower. The paper man peered around outside the tower for a moment before carefully stepping inside.

It circled the altar platform, then checked the murals on the walls, like it didn't want to leave empty-handed and was hoping to find some clue.

Just then, a faint "gurgle" came from inside the altar platform.

Xu Muchan's eyes narrowed, landing on the platform, where he saw the surface faintly bulging.

The paper man clearly noticed it too, sensed danger, and moved to leave right away.

Xu Muchan watched from the shadows, picked up a pebble, and just as the paper man was about to step out of the tower, he hurled it—

A pebble the size of a fingernail wasn't much of a threat—couldn't even tear the paper man—but the force of the throw sent it drifting backward, and by sheer bad luck, it toppled onto the altar platform.

The bulging on the platform's surface became obvious, with "gurgle, gurgle" sounds ringing out nonstop.

The paper man braced its arm to get up, but just as it took a step, a twisted long arm shot out from the platform, grabbed its neck, and yanked it back.

Against the monster, the paper man had no chance to fight back, only struggling desperately.

But by now, the monster had already crawled halfway out of the platform, and more arms reached out, grabbing the paper man, tearing him to shreds, then stuffing him into its drooling, gaping mouth.

Xu Muchan heard the brief scream from inside the wooden tower and then left, satisfied.

He went back to the earlier room, where Wei Xilou lay in bed in the same position, still showing no signs of waking.

Xu Muchan took off the Dog-face Mask, frowned, and put it over Wei Xilou's face, muttering, "Brother, where exactly did you go?"

The unconscious man on the bed gave no response. Xu Muchan felt a bit deflated, took the Dog-face Mask off and put it away, then lay down beside Wei Xilou. After a while, he turned over, pressed his forehead against Wei Xilou's arm, and finally stopped moving.

A long time passed before dawn broke.

Xu Muchan had only been dozing when the sound of the skylight opening beside him startled him awake, and he led Wei Xilou out of the wooden hut.

No one had come to harm that night.

The gloom hanging overhead finally lifted somewhat. Jin Qingqing said, "It seems that monster didn't come out last night."

"Did you all hear any knocking? I didn't hear it all night."

Chai Ming and the others shook their heads in turn: "We didn't hear anything either."

Xu Muchan also shook his head, his gaze subtly sweeping toward Ou Yangmu nearby. Ou Yangmu's face was somewhat pale, seemingly lost in thought, and hadn't heard Jin Qingqing's words.

It wasn't until Jin Qingqing asked again, puzzled, that he snapped back and shook his head, saying, "I didn't hear it either."

So everyone assumed the monster hadn't come out last night, and relieved expressions appeared on their faces.

Chai Ming said, "If the monster still doesn't come out tonight, we should go out and take a look. The days are getting shorter, and if we can't find a breakthrough, maybe we got it wrong from the start—the key lies at night."

Everyone else agreed with this proposal, and Xu Muchan thought it over and agreed as well. He recalled the altar platform in the wooden tower and said thoughtfully, "I think the altar platform is the key. We could try smashing it before the monster comes out—maybe that'll get us back."

After seeing the Chicken-head people and the Black River tributary in the forest last night, he had connected it to the pile of Chicken-head people corpses stacked on the altar platform in the ruined temple in the real world.

These Chicken-head people had likely summoned the Black River through self-sacrifice, forming this ghost domain. And whether in the real world or the ghost domain, there happened to be such an altar platform.

This platform might be the passage connecting the two worlds.

But some information he couldn't share with Jin Qingqing and the others, so he could only offer this suggestion.

Fortunately, with no better options, everyone agreed to treat it as a last resort and decided to head to the wooden tower before nightfall.

It was Ou Yangmu who gave Xu Muchan a meaningful look and said, "Student Xu, are you so sure that smashing the altar platform will get us back?"

Xu Muchan met his gaze, looking harmless: "Not sure, but we don't have any better options, so we might as well try it."

Ou Yangmu narrowed his eyes, then suddenly changed the subject, saying, "Did I use up my compass?"

"Oh, right—I almost forgot if you hadn't brought it up."

Xu Muchan took the compass out of his pocket and handed it to him, smiling, "Thanks. I tried it last night and found that this compass hasn't been working at all. But it looks a bit different from the one Taoist Master Yan He uses, so maybe it's not broken—perhaps it just has a different function we don't know about."

Ou Yangmu's gaze flickered, and he glanced at him again before taking the compass and putting it away.

Xu Muchan looked at him with concern: "Mr. Ouyang, you feeling okay? You don't look so good."

Ou Yangmu forced a smile: "I'm feeling a bit off. I haven't dared to get much sleep for the past few nights. If I keep this up, I'm gonna crash."

The others nodded in agreement at that.

Jin Qingqing said, "Since we've got a plan, let's not wander around during the day. We should get some rest and eat something to get ready for tonight."

She divided up the remaining food, and after everyone had eaten, they each found a place to rest.

Today, the Immortal Village seemed peaceful again, like it used to be. The Chicken-head people were busy in the sunlight, looking carefree, like a real paradise.

Night fell quickly.

The Chicken-head people in the village suddenly disappeared, and the lively village went dead silent, leaving only the group's tense breathing.

The group held their breath and cautiously approached the wooden tower.

As usual, the monster shouldn't be out yet at this hour, so they could smash the altar before it showed up and look for an exit.

On the way, Jin Qingqing and the others grabbed hoes that were leaning against the walls.

They stepped nervously into the wooden tower and saw the altar sitting there quietly. Xu Muchan was the first to swing his hoe. The hard hoe struck the altar, which should have produced a loud clang, but instead only a dull thud came out.

The hoe felt like it sank into a lump of soft flesh.

Xu Muchan's eyes shifted, and he put more force into it, yanking the hoe out with effort.

The broken pieces crumbled to the ground, revealing the altar's blood-red inside.

Seeing him start, Jin Qingqing and the others swung their hoes too. Working together, they smashed the altar in no time, revealing a big hole underneath that led who knows where.

"There's a hole."

Chai Ming crouched by the hole, peered down, then turned back and asked, "Should we go down?"