96: Chapter 96 Arrival at Qin Family Village

That night, Qin Family Village and Zhou Family Village were not peaceful either.

Inside the temple of Qin Family Village, the brow of the statue of Lord Qinling, with its lowered eyes, glowed continuously.

Qin Ling sat cross-legged inside the shrine, his divine sense already fully expanded.

Facing the evil spirits that had unveiled themselves, he did not know what would happen next.

Fortunately, after becoming a deity, he did not need to sleep at all, so he was perfectly capable of keeping watch through the night.

In the dead of night, he felt something moving deep beneath the village.

The sleeping villagers of Qin Family Village could not feel it, but the ground of the entire village was trembling slightly.

Similarly.

Qin Ling's Divided Soul in Zhou Family Village stood before the altar table in the temple, looking down at the ground.

In the gaps between those stone bricks, something was slowly, bit by bit, pushing its way upward.

The Divided Soul squatted down, reached out, and touched the gaps between the stone bricks with his fingertips.

A wave of evil aura rushed over him.

Realizing that the evil was underground, Qin Ling in Qin Family Village and his Divided Soul in Zhou Family Village both utilized Divine Technique: Exorcism.

The golden light at the brow of the statue grew from a single point into a ball, and from a ball into a broad sheet.

Until the golden light covered the entire statue, illuminating the whole temple brightly.

The golden light surged out of the temple, illuminating the entire village.

The things stirring beneath the ground were forced back by the golden light, retreating to deeper depths.

Discovering that the things underground had been forced back, Qin Ling's expression did not relax.

He knew that the things beneath the ground would break through the earth sooner or later.

But the night passed peacefully after all.

...

The next day.

On a dirt road outside Qin Family Village, two groups of people met head-on.

The leader of one group was Village Chief Wang Deshun; he was barefoot, and the wounds on the soles of his feet had already scabbed over.

Behind him followed the remaining villagers of Wangjia Village, about fifty or so.

There were women holding children, elderly people leaning on canes, and young people carrying bundles on their backs.

Every one of them was covered in dirt and grime, their eyes completely bloodshot.

They had walked all night, all the way from Wangjia Village to this place.

The soles of their feet were blistered and their calves were swollen, but not a single person called for a stop.

They didn't dare to stop; stopping would make them remember those roots that had burrowed out from underground.

They would remember their loved ones entangled by the roots, and those screams that had echoed through the darkness all night long.

The leader of the other group was Village Chief Sun Mancang, followed by the villagers of Sun Family Village, also numbering around fifty.

The two groups met at a fork in the road.

Village Chief Wang Deshun stopped, and Village Chief Sun Mancang stopped as well.

The two looked at the villagers behind each other.

Village Chief Wang Deshun spoke first.

"Which village are you from?"

"Sun Family Village."

Village Chief Sun Mancang replied.

"We are from Wangjia Village. Was your village hit too?"

Village Chief Wang Deshun guessed what had happened just by looking at the expressions of the villagers behind Village Chief Sun Mancang.

"Yes."

Village Chief Sun Mancang nodded.

The two groups merged and continued south along the dirt road.

"Where are you heading?"

Village Chief Sun Mancang inquired.

"To Qin Family Village."

Village Chief Wang Deshun said without hesitation.

"Is it true that Qin Family Village has a deity?"

Seeing that Village Chief Wang Deshun's destination was the same as his own, Village Chief Sun Mancang couldn't help but press further.

"I don't know. I only heard some women who married into Qin Family Village say that the village worships a Lord Qinling."

"They say this deity can protect the villagers, ensuring safe voyages, nets full of fish, and even going out to sea to slay dragons to protect the people."

Village Chief Wang Deshun answered, though he didn't actually know if it was true or false.

After all, these were all things heard from people returning from Qin Family Village to visit relatives.

A villager chimed in.

"My uncle is also in Qin Family Village. He said their village's boats haven't had a single accident since they received Lord Qinling's protection."

Another villager said.

"I heard that Qin Family Village's Lord Qinling even slew a dragon, killing it with a single strike of his sword."

The person who said this didn't quite believe it himself, but as he spoke, his voice grew louder, as if trying to bolster his own courage.

Although these villagers had all decided to head to Qin Family Village, they actually didn't have much trust in those rumors spoken by others.

It was just that under the current circumstances, they could only hope that it was all true.

That was why the remaining villagers of Wangjia Village and Sun Family Village had made the same decision to head to Qin Family Village.

When the entrance of Qin Family Village came into view, Village Chief Wang Deshun was so shocked he nearly couldn't stand.

He leaned against a withered tree by the roadside to steady himself, staring blankly ahead with his mouth agape.

The villagers behind him also stopped, standing behind him one after another.

No one spoke; there was only the sound of heavy breathing.

Qin Family Village was completely intact.

The roofs had not collapsed, the walls were not cracked, and the doors were not broken.

Fishing nets were still hanging to dry in the courtyards, and dried fish were still laid out on bamboo racks.

Chickens were scratching for food at the base of the walls, and dogs were lying on thresholds, dozing.

A few children squatted at the entrance of an alley playing with pebbles, their crisp laughter carried over by the wind.

Village Chief Sun Mancang's tears instantly welled up in his eyes.

He thought of his own village, remembering those roots that had burrowed out from underground.

Sun Family Village was gone!

If their village had also been protected by a deity, would everything have been different?

Village Chief Wang Deshun stood beside him, still cradling his child in his arms.

The child had already woken up, staring with round eyes at the children playing with pebbles at the alley entrance.

Village Chief Sun Mancang glanced down at her, then raised his head again to look at the village ahead.

He sniffled, shifting the child in his arms slightly higher, and said,

"We've arrived. This is Qin Family Village."

Beneath the Old Locust Tree at the entrance of Qin Family Village.

A man was squatting on the ground, his back hunched.

A tender willow branch was clamped in his mouth, its tip chewed to a pulp.

Some grilled fish from yesterday was stuck between his teeth, and it was driving him crazy not getting it out.

He wore a grayish-white, coarse-cloth short jacket, unbuttoned and wide open, revealing a sun-bronzed chest.

On his lower body was a pair of patched, wide-legged shorts, tied around his waist with a hemp rope.

The hemp rope had loosened, and the waistband had slipped down halfway, exposing half of his fair buttock, which was exceptionally conspicuous under the dark red sky.

Completely oblivious, he was solely focused on picking his teeth, rubbing up a mouthful of white foam that drooled down the corners of his mouth.

He heard some movement behind him, a chaotic mess of footsteps that sounded like many people, along with heavy breathing.

Thinking it was just the village children playing around again, he paid it no mind and continued picking his teeth.

Until the footsteps drew closer and grew more numerous, sounding not like three or five people, but rather thirty or fifty.

Wondering where so many footsteps could have come from, he turned his head, the willow branch still in his mouth—

A mouthful of white foam sprayed out.

A dense crowd of people stood behind him, only a few paces away.

There were men and women, young and old; some held children, some leaned on canes, and some carried bundles.

They were covered in dirt and grime, their eyes red, their clothes caked with mud, and some even had bloodstains on their garments.

This group of people stared blankly at the man, staring at the willow branch in his mouth, at his open chest,

and staring at his exposed, fair half-buttock.