CHAPTER 90: SITUATION DETERIORATES

As they passed one of the houses, Li Yanchu suddenly turned his head, only to see Old Man Lin, face twisted with rage, swinging a sharp cleaver straight down at him. He had been hiding behind them the entire time!

Bang!

Li Yanchu kicked him flying with one powerful strike, accompanied by the sickening crackle of breaking bones.

Snort!

The white horse broke free of its reins, or more accurately, the reins had been bitten through by Blackie. The black donkey galloped straight out from Lin's house, hooves pounding the earth. The villagers of Longmen Village didn’t seem the least bit interested in animals like this, and they only craved human flesh.

Seeing this, Bai Hongtu’s eyes lit up. With a graceful leap, he mounted the white horse in one fluid motion. Seated atop the horse, his hands moved swiftly, forming seals to send talismans flying out behind him and hold off the mad villagers in pursuit.

Li Yanchu, riding Blackie and still carrying the half-ruined body of Zhang Hai, charged forward at full speed.

And it had to be said that Blackie was fast. Even with two people weighing him down, he galloped like a beast possessed.

Villagers threw themselves at them in droves, whether they were old men, children, men, women. Each and every one had blood-red eyes and a look of crazed madness on their faces.

But just as Li Yanchu and Bai Hongtu broke past the edge of Longmen Village, the villagers all froze. All of a sudden, they all stopped at once. They just stopped without any sign or hesitation.

In that moment, Li Yanchu recalled the words of the white-haired elder in the Lin ancestral shrine, “Because the people of Longmen Village simply can’t leave this place.”

The two galloped on at full speed, only stopping after running for nearly the time it would take two incense sticks to burn.

At this time, Li Yanchu set Zhang Hai down carefully. Zhang Hai’s leg had been chewed off, and blood was still gushing from it. And yet, strangely, his life force didn’t seem to be weakening. He didn’t look like someone who had suffered fatal injuries at all.

“What the hell is going on here?” Li Yanchu asked grimly.

The mechanical, rigid expression on Zhang Hai’s face gradually faded. He spoke slowly, “At night, the people in this village go mad. They keep shouting that they’re starving. When I first arrived, things weren’t so bad. But later, I saw Lady Zhou actually start eating her own hair.”

“The old man in the Lin family ancestral hall told me that no one in the village could leave. So I decided to leave and return to Wei City to find someone capable of helping. But no matter how far I ran, I always ended up back in this village. After wandering aimlessly through the mountains for days, I suddenly found myself back at Lady Zhou’s house.”

Li Yanchu frowned. “You never made it back to Wei City?”

In response, Zhang Hai nodded. “That’s right.”

Bai Hongtu suddenly said, “But from what we know, you returned to Wei City three days ago. You strangled your wife with your own hands. We even saw you in prison, and you only died early this morning.”

“What!?” Zhang Hai’s face went pale with shock.

Bai Hongtu told him everything that had happened afterward.

Tears and snot streamed down Zhang Hai’s face as he turned ashen. “Impossible... No... why...”

He couldn’t accept the fact that he had killed the wife he loved with his own hands, and his emotions spiraled out of control.

Eventually, Zhang Hai’s body began to fade into a ghostly blur, until finally, he vanished completely.

Seeing this, Li Yanchu couldn’t help but let out a sigh. “I think I finally understand what’s going on here.”

Bai Hongtu furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”

Li Yanchu said slowly, “Zhang Hai probably died three days ago. It was his deep longing to see his wife again that drove him to make the journey back to Wei City.

“Humans have three souls and seven spirits. He must’ve lost one of his souls. What made it back to Wei City was just a fragment, enough to move his body, but not with clear consciousness. Losing a soul causes memory confusion, and all he knew was fear, which explains his strange behavior.

“The Zhang Hai we just saw was likely the soul he lost at Old Pine Ridge... dragged back to Longmen Village by some unknown force.”

Bai Hongtu’s expression grew solemn after hearing this. “So what you’re saying is, we never really left Longmen Village? That means we’ll have to go back sooner or later?”

Li Yanchu looked off into the distance, his voice heavy. “I’m afraid that’s exactly the case.”

Bai Hongtu took in a sharp breath. “This village is way too cursed. The villagers are already bizarre enough, but even after being killed, they reappear and return to where they started.”

Li Yanchu murmured, “No wonder there’s no deathly qi or yin qi clinging to them. I suspect the entire Longmen Village is something like a sealed formation. There must be some kind of power maintaining that boundary.”

Bai Hongtu let out a long sigh.

Li Yanchu continued, “According to what Zhang Hai said, the strange happenings in this village are getting worse and more deadly.”

The two of them spoke as they made their way forward.

And sure enough, before long, a village appeared before them. It was the very same Longmen Village they had fought their way out of earlier!

Seeing this, Bai Hongtu’s expression turned grim. “This place really is cursed. We actually came back.”

The two of them had clearly been moving in the opposite direction, yet somehow ended up right back in Longmen Village.

Li Yanchu’s eyes turned cold as he gave a faint smile. “Looks like unless we smash this place to pieces, we’re not getting out of here.”

Smash it... Bai Hongtu frowned. “Those villagers are freaky as hell. As soon as they’re killed, the whole scene just plays out all over again. I really don’t want to go back in there.”

Suddenly, Li Yanchu said, “Did you notice anything strange?”

Bai Hongtu asked, “Strange? Like what?”

Li Yanchu said, “That old man at the Lin family ancestral hall, he’s not like the rest of the villagers. He freezes up all of a sudden, just like the other Longmen villagers do. But those villagers can’t leave the village. That old man, though, seems to be bound to the ancestral hall specifically.”

Bai Hongtu gave him a look. “You’re saying the problem lies in the ancestral hall?”

Li Yanchu nodded. “Exactly. The ancestral hall is the most important part of a village. Those who know feng shui layouts well can use it to either bless a village or bring about its ruin. If Longmen Village really is some kind of sealed formation, then I think the ancestral hall could very well be the core and the formation’s focal point.”

Bai Hongtu gave a small nod.