57: Chapter 57 The Wrongful Deaths of Daishan

Mid-slope of Dai Mountain.

A gust of wind whipped by, and thick, inseparable ghost Qi slammed into them.

Wu Xi walked at the very front. His footsteps fell on the fallen leaves without making a sound, as if he were stepping on flat ground, and not a single muscle in his back relaxed.

Niu Fei followed in second place. The two-meter-tall man, with broad shoulders and a thick back, blocked the wind behind him completely. His fan-sized hands were clenched into iron fists, his knuckles cracking, and his eyes were wide open, scanning the surroundings for movement.

Behind him was Qiu Chuanxing.

His hand remained pressed against the hilt of his blade, and he walked as lightly as a leopard ready to pounce. His toes landed first, then he pressed down firmly, each step landing in the spaces between the fallen leaves without making a sound.

Ling Muxue walked in the middle of the group, Jiang Jiye followed by her side, and Jiang Yuehong was at the end of the line.

The six of them blended into the sparse crowd, shuffling step by step toward the depths of the mountain hollow.

There were men, women, young, and old in the crowd, each with unsteady footsteps and vacant eyes.

In the crowd, a young man named A-He was weaving back and forth.

He was in his early twenties, wearing a faded, coarse cloth jacket with his pant legs rolled up to his knees, revealing two lean legs. One moment he was supporting an elderly person who couldn't walk, the next he was helping a woman carrying a child with her luggage, his mouth never stopping for a moment.

"Uncle, Auntie, keep up, don't fall behind."

"Once we arrive, we won't have any more worries."

"Inside, there is endless food, endless firewood. You will never have to go hungry again, and you will never have to endure the cold looks of others. Rest assured, follow me, and you won't go wrong."

He said it over and over, persuading them again and again.

Upon hearing his words, those empty-eyed people would occasionally show a glimmer of light in their eyes, and their pace would instantly quicken. Like someone clutching a life-saving straw, they stared fixedly at his back, walking toward the Domain of Wrongful Death, which had been completely swallowed by ghost fog.

Qiu Chuanxing's face darkened instantly.

His right hand pressed firmly onto the hilt with a "swish," engaging his core, and the steel blade unsheathed by half an inch!

Just as he was about to open his mouth to call out and expose this nonsense, his wrist suddenly felt heavy.

It was as if it had been clamped by an iron pair of pliers, leaving no room for him to exert any force. The newly unsheathed blade was pressed directly back into its scabbard, fitting perfectly.

Wu Xi didn't turn his head, nor did he even stop his pace. His voice was extremely low, carrying an unquestionable weight: "Don't be impulsive."

"Brother Wu!" Qiu Chuanxing hissed, the veins on his forehead throbbing with anxiety, blood rushing to his head. "This son of a bitch is clearly luring these ordinary people to their deaths! Any further forward is the Domain of Wrongful Death; once you go in, you can never come out!"

"I know." Wu Xi applied slight pressure with his fingertips, gripping his wrist even tighter. "What's the use of berating him now? These people believe him, not you."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over A-He's busy figure, his voice lowering further: "Let's first see what he is actually trying to do, and see what kind of tricks are hidden in this Domain of Wrongful Death. Don't act rashly before we've figured out the information."

He knew Wu Xi was right. But watching the old, the weak, the women, and the children step by step toward the gates of hell, it felt like boiling oil was being poured over his heart.

Beside them, Ling Muxue suddenly scoffed, her tongue licking her sharp canine teeth, the interest in her eyes almost overflowing: "Interesting. I thought entering the Domain of Wrongful Death would mean hundreds of evil ghosts rushing out to kill, but I didn't expect them to feed people some kind of love potion first. However, I also want to pull this kid's tongue out early, to see how he can spout nonsense then."

"If you pull it out, who will lead the way for us?" Wu Xi replied calmly, his pace not stopping as he continued forward.

Niu Fei scratched the back of his head, his scalp making a sound, and asked in a muffled voice: "Brother, are we just going to follow like this? This kid is full of nonsense; my teeth itch just listening to him."

"Follow him." Wu Xi nodded, his gaze locked on A-He's back the entire time. "Let's see where exactly he is going to take these people."

Jiang Jiye sighed softly. Looking at those passersby with empty eyes, she tightened her grip on the amulet in her pocket and didn't say anything more.

She simply leaned closer to Jiang Yuehong, reached out to support her arm, which was shaking so much she could barely stand, and steadily transmitted the warmth of her palm, whispering to comfort her: "Yuehong, don't be afraid, just stay with us."

Jiang Yuehong's body shook even more violently, her head buried even lower, her voice as thin as a mosquito's, carrying an irrepressible sob: "Sister Jiye, here... it's so cold. I... I'm scared."

The crowd continued to shuffle forward mechanically.

Finally, they walked up to a boundary marker.

The boundary marker was pitch black, like an upright coffin standing at the edge of the ghost fog, with three crooked, blood-red characters carved into it: Domain of Wrongful Death.

The characters were red, like fresh blood, still oozing down the body of the monument.

The moment their feet crossed the boundary marker, the surrounding scenery changed abruptly.

The mountain scenery of Dai Mountain, which could still be seen just a moment ago, vanished without a trace.

All that remained was the thick, inseparable ghost fog, white and hazy, where you couldn't see your own fingers in front of your face; you could only see people a few steps away.

It was like countless ghost hands reaching out from the stomach, grabbing the internal organs and pulling them outward.

Their vision instantly went black, and saliva uncontrollably welled up. Only one thought remained in their minds: eat. No matter what it was—rotting meat, mud, stones—as long as it could be stuffed into their mouths to fill the void in their stomachs, they could swallow anything.

In the crowd, someone couldn't hold on anymore.

A middle-aged man made a wheezing sound in his throat, like a starved wild dog. His eyes were red enough to drip blood, and he shouted crazily, "Food... something to eat...", his pace getting faster and faster, rushing into the depths of the ghost fog like a madman.

A-He instantly gave chase, his hand resting steadily on the man's shoulder.

With just that touch, the crazed man instantly froze, as if all the bones had been drained from his body. His eyes returned to that empty state, and he obediently turned around to follow A-He and continue walking forward.

A-He remained in that gentle manner, patting the man's back and softly persuading him: "Uncle, don't run around. Follow me, we'll be there soon. Once we arrive, there will be food."

Seeing this scene, Qiu Chuanxing's hand tightened again on the hilt of his blade, his knuckles turning white.

The six of them walked side by side, looking out for each other, and were not separated by the ghost fog.

In this ghost fog, there was no Killing Intent, no malevolence intending to devour people, only an inseparable, aggrieved, and empty obsession.

It is said that the Domain of Wrongful Death is formed by the resentment of those who died unnaturally, and the ghosts inside are all filled with monstrous malevolence. Yet here, other than the ghost Qi being a bit heavy, there was not the slightest intention to attack or kill.

It was as if... someone had deliberately lured them in, not to kill them, but to make them see something.

They walked for several kilometers in the ghost fog.

The black mud under their feet slowly turned into a packed dirt road. Along the roadside, crooked adobe houses began to appear, with thatched roofs and yellow mud walls, like an old village from decades ago. The ghost fog also slowly dissipated a bit, and they could finally see the scenery in the distance.

A-He stopped, turned around, spread his arms toward the crowd, and shouted with a smile: "We're here! We've arrived at Xiqi Village! We're home!"

In the crowd, sparse sobbing instantly erupted, and some people were laughing like madmen.

There was finally a bit of life in those empty eyes, and one by one, they quickened their pace, rushing into the village like madmen.

The six of them stood at the entrance of the village and stopped in unison. They looked at each other and saw the astonishment in each other's eyes.

The expected ambush did not exist, the expected attack by evil ghosts did not exist, and the expected mountains of corpses and seas of blood were not even in sight.

There wasn't even the slightest trace of a fierce or malevolent aura.

The village entrance was clean, swept so thoroughly that not even a single fallen leaf remained. Red lanterns hung at the entrance; although the light from the lanterns was grayish, looking like it was covered in a layer of white frost from a dead person's face, they were hung neatly.

Trees were planted along the roadside, and although the leaves were black, they were lush and leafy; it was completely, in every way, a proper village living a normal life.

Just while they were stunned, the people from the village poured out.

They were villagers.

Men and women, young and old, all had smiles on their faces, their mouths stretched extremely wide, almost to their ears, revealing mouthfuls of yellow teeth.

They were overly enthusiastic. One after another, they swarmed up, their bone-chilling hands gripping the arms of the newly arrived passersby tightly, pulling them into the village, while muttering incessantly:

"You've arrived? Come in quickly! The village is performing juggling acts! It's so good to watch!"

"Xiqi Village is truly strange!"

"Come and watch! Ancestral folk oddities, if you miss it, it's gone!"

"Come in and sit, we are all our own people!"

Their hands were as cold as if they had just been fished out of an ice cellar, but their strength was astonishing. A thin, withered The Old Woman gripped a two-hundred-pound strong man as if she were carrying a chick, pulling him along as she walked.

Those newly arrived passersby, pulled one by one toward the center of the village, showed no resistance at all, following obediently like marionettes.

In the blink of an eye, several villagers surrounded the six of them.

The same enthusiasm, the same smiles, trying to pull their arms, while still muttering: "The six guests have arrived? Come in quickly! Come and watch the juggling acts! It's so good to watch!"

Qiu Chuanxing's hand instantly pressed onto the hilt of his blade again, his muscles tensing up instantly, and his steel blade let out a "hum" as it vibrated, ready to unsheathe.

Wu Xi, however, shook his head at him, took a step forward, avoided the hands extended by the villagers, nodded slightly, his voice calm without the slightest ripple: "Alright. Lead the way. We happen to want to see it."

The villagers smiled even more joyfully, their mouths stretching almost to the back of their heads, and turned to walk toward the center of the village, muttering incessantly: "Come quickly, come quickly! If you're late, you won't be able to get a good spot!"

Niu Fei scratched his head, leaned close to Wu Xi, and lowered his voice: "Brother, are we really going? How come I feel that this group of people's smiles are scarier than crying? There might be some kind of trap inside!"

"Since we're already here." Ling Muxue was the first to recover, raised her eyebrows and laughed, her tongue licking her canine teeth. With a swing of her red dress, she followed first. "It's just a juggling act, isn't it? What kind of scenes haven't I seen? It's just right to see what kind of tricks these juggling acts in this ghost den can play."

Jiang Jiye, supporting the heavily trembling Jiang Yuehong, also followed, saying in a low voice: "Let's follow and take a look. Once we understand the situation here, it will be easier to save those ordinary people who were dragged inside."

Jiang Yuehong buried her head even lower, her body shaking like a leaf in the autumn wind, yet she still gripped Jiang Jiye's sleeve tightly, nodded, and shuffled forward step by step.

The road beneath their feet grew closer, and the sound of gongs and drums from the center of the village could already be heard faintly.