1TWITF[C Chapter 73

Chapter 73

The unfolded painting depicted five immortals riding the clouds, beneath them were mountains shrouded in light mist.

Many villagers had been to the village chief’s house and seen this painting. Seeing Yan Guangyao specially displaying it, they looked at each other, wondering what mystery he was talking about.

“What to do? He’s discovered it,” An Xingyu said in a low voice.

Lu Yanli shook his head: “Let’s wait and see.” So what if he discovered it? These villagers could be used to scout the way.

Xie Ziqing was completely bewildered, not knowing what they were talking about, but seeing the solemn expressions on their faces, he couldn’t help but look intently at the painting.

However, no matter how he looked at it, it was just a rather ordinary landscape painting, with five immortals and mountains and rivers below, what else could there be?

Xie Ziqing stood up, looking blank.

He tried to construct the image in his mind, but failed. The other villagers were also like Xie Ziqing, unable to understand what Yan Guangyao was up to.

Only Lu Yanli and An Xingyu knew.

The white fairy, the hedgehog, lowered its eyelids, and after flipping the image, its gaze extended, landing on the tail revealed by the fox fairy’s skirt beside it.

After flipping the images of the other immortals as well, and turning their gazes into substantive straight lines, they all landed on the tail of the fox fairy. Extending the fox fairy’s gaze as a direction, the intersection with the direction indicated by the tail fell precisely on a certain place in the forbidden area.

For some reason, a word popped into An Xingyu’s mind.

This word was also spoken aloud by Yan Guangyao.

“Everyone should have seen it before, but didn’t notice the secret inside, right?” Yan Guangyao flipped the painting over, facing the sunlight. The not-so-thick paper showed the reversed image.

Now the villagers recognized it one by one.

“Isn’t this the forbidden area?”

“Doesn’t this look a bit like a map?”

…

“So, the painting hanging in the village chief’s room is a treasure map!”

This word immediately caused a commotion.

Treasure map?

Where is the treasure? What is it?

The villagers discussed animatedly, all looking at Yan Guangyao with hopeful eyes.

Xie Ziqing asked quietly: “Is it really a treasure map?”

Lu Yanli shook his head: “Who knows?”

He originally wanted to trick Luo Ying into trying, but now it seemed that having so many villagers was not bad either.

Even if there is a treasure… Ha, they can’t even protect their lives, why care about any treasure?

It was the same for Xie Ziqing, things from this world were difficult to bring to another world, he couldn’t take them away even if he got them.

The villagers looked at each other, one of them hesitated: “But, Lao Qian said, we can’t go in early.”

Lao Qian was the previous village chief.

“That’s because he hadn’t discovered the secret of the treasure map. Without finding the map, the forbidden area is of course a dangerous place for us. Now that we have the map, what are we afraid of?” Yan Guangyao said loudly.

“But…”

“But the village’s curse…”

“Foolish! You’re just going to die if you rush over there now!” The oldest old man in the village was lucky enough to survive. He was hard of hearing and couldn’t hear clearly, relying entirely on his old wife to explain it to him word by word. As soon as he finished listening, he couldn’t help but scold with his crutch.

“You don’t know, you don’t know what price we paid… to let you go out…” The old man trembled with anger, unable to catch his breath, and passed out.

Old Zhang’s wife’s expression changed drastically, her lips trembling: “You, what are you saying?”

Yan Guangyao said: “The truth of ancestor worship, dare you say it?”

A young villager was puzzled: “Isn’t it just offering incense and praying?” How could Yan Guangyao say it so seriously?

“How could you know?” She asked this sentence, and before she could get an answer, she also fainted.

Sixty years is a cycle… Lu Yanli took a deep breath.

According to the sexagenary cycle of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, sixty years is indeed a cycle.

So, what will happen at this year’s ancestor worship? What happened sixty years ago?

This feeling of being kept in the dark made him very uncomfortable, but what made him even more curious was, why did Yan Guangyao discover the secret in the painting?

A young man slowly raised his hand.

Then, another one.

One after another.

The young people who had only heard about the curse from the older generation almost all raised their hands.

An Xingyu asked: “Are we going?”

“Yes, of course we’re going,” Lu Yanli also raised his hand, “We have to go even if they don’t.”

Seeing this, An Xingyu and Xie Ziqing also raised their hands.

Suddenly, one of the highly raised right hands flew out, blood splattering.

The person himself didn’t seem to have reacted, and after a while, a scream erupted from the crowd: “Ah—”

People scrambled to escape.

Unexpectedly, at the other end of the square, a little girl in a red dress slowly walked in.

“Li…” One person widened his eyes, but before he could say a word, his head flew high.

The entire square was silent for a few seconds.

Although everyone was always saying that Lili no longer protected the village, the scene that actually happened before their eyes still caught them off guard.

This, this is Lili?

Why did she become like this?

With each step she took, the villagers retreated a step.

Yan Guangyao shouted: “Run!”

Only then did the villagers come back to their senses, and hurriedly fled in the other direction, pushing and shoving each other, with occasional desperate wails.

As early as the moment the little girl appeared, Lu Yanli had already sensed something was wrong, and dragged An Xingyu away with him. Sure enough, the screams of the villagers rang out behind them.

“Why did Lili suddenly become like this?” An Xingyu said as he ran.

How could Lu Yanli know? He had a feeling that the little girl who had just walked in was not right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it, and could only keep running.

The wails behind them became louder and louder.

Compared to Lu Yanli and An Xingyu, who exercised all year round, Xie Ziqing’s running speed was a bit slower. His only advantage was that he had seen a lot of strange things and was much faster than the villagers. He followed the two people in front of him, running continuously, and as he ran, a bloody head suddenly fell in front of him, almost tripping him.

Xie Ziqing subconsciously looked back, and was immediately scared out of his wits.

Not far behind the fleeing villagers, there were severed limbs and pieces of meat hanging everywhere, and the blood on the ground rushed towards them at an alarming rate as if it had a life of its own. An older person stepped into the blood, and the next second, he was completely submerged by the thick blood.

The originally bright sky gradually darkened, and in the end, layers of thick dark clouds completely covered the sun, almost no different from night. A cold wind howled, bringing waves of fishy stench.

They could still vaguely hear their cries.

Xie Ziqing looked back again.

The little girl was still walking unhurriedly. She was very small and didn’t walk fast, but the distance between her and the villagers who were constantly running was still getting closer and closer.

“Hehehehehe…”

In the silent night, there were only the wails of the villagers before their unfortunate deaths, and the little girl’s silvery laughter.

Many white paper dolls jumped out along the way, bouncing and playing in the blood pool.

Severed limbs, organs, soaked viscous black hair, skin… all became their playthings.

In front, Lu Yanli had already run to the entrance of the village and strode out.

But what made him feel cold all over was that as soon as he stepped out, the world spun before his eyes, and when he came back to his senses, the surroundings were dark and silent, and in front of him was… a familiar broken bridge.

“Catch fish for me… hurry… hehehehe…”

The little girl’s crisp voice rang out from all directions.

The next second, he found that he was already standing on the edge of the broken bridge, holding a fishing rod in his hand, with a small bucket placed at his feet.

Everything was pitch black, except for the corpses under the broken bridge, which surged up in layers like waves, the pale and bloated limbs entangled, still obvious even in the dark water.

No… the river water is not pitch black…

Lu Yanli tried hard to suppress his physiological discomfort.

This river… is a completely blood river.

The same was true in other places in the village.

Yan Guangyao ran desperately with the scroll.

As long as he ran to the forbidden area, as long as he got to the forbidden area… he would be safe…

He ran almost with all his strength. As soon as he ran out of the village entrance, the three people in front of him disappeared. Yan Guangyao didn’t have time to be afraid, and only ran wildly. He finally turned into the forest, and the next second, his eyes went dark, and he was back in the village chief’s house.

On the shrine, the statue of Granny Fox Three had been overturned.

The wind blew through, and the door closed.

In the last second before Yan Guangyao fell into darkness, he was still a little fortunate.

He didn’t bring the scroll back.

In the moment his eyes went dark, he threw the painting out.

Someone will always find it.

Lu Yanli didn’t know the situation of the others, but he guessed it wouldn’t be any better than him. The next second, a person appeared beside him.

It was An Xingyu.

He had also been brought to this place.

“Catch fish together… hehehehehehe… hurry up…”

The two couldn’t help but worry.

What made them uneasy was that after another half minute, Xie Ziqing, with a look of fear on his face, also appeared on the bridge.

“What to do? We can’t escape…” Xie Ziqing had already been frightened pale as soon as he saw the surrounding scenery. He held the fishing rod in his hand and looked at the other two for help.

Lu Yanli’s fishing rod moved.

A “fish” was hooked.

He didn’t know why, but he didn’t feel fortunate. A strong intuition that welled up from the bottom of his heart made him not reel in the fish, but wait quietly.

After a while, the fish swam away.

At the same time, all three of them heard the roar of wild beasts coming from the forest.

It was difficult to describe the roar that entered their ears, it had completely deviated from the range of wild beasts. Xie Ziqing looked blankly in the direction of the sound, and was quickly pulled aside by Lu Yanli, who’s face sank: “You go first, quickly!”

An Xingyu seemed to understand something.

After a while, the fishing rod in his hand also floated. He pulled it up gently, and when the fish floated to the surface of the water, his pupils shrank sharply and he released his hand.

His “fish” also swam away.

In the forest, a dog with half its body bones and half its body rotten flesh, as tall as two people, slowly walked out.

The reason it was said to be a dog was because it could still barely be seen to have some shadow of a dog. It walked out of the forest bit by bit, the black eye sockets where its eyeballs had fallen out stared directly at the three of them.

An Xingyu gritted his teeth: “No.”

As he spoke, Xie Ziqing’s fishing rod moved.

An Xingyu reached out to help him, and so did Lu Yanli. As soon as the latter took over, the former two immediately felt a lot easier. The three of them worked together, and a pale, swollen human body flew out of the river and landed on the bridge deck.

Xie Ziqing hadn’t noticed anything wrong. He gasped for breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Lu Yanli took out a jade pendant from his pocket and placed it beside the corpse.

The dog was getting closer and closer, lowering its head.

As he said that, his eyes suddenly widened.

What appeared before him was a scene that Xie Ziqing could never understand.

The corpse on the bridge deck… had actually turned into two?

Why? How could this be?

An Xingyu’s eyes also widened.

Lu Yanli didn’t plan to explain, and soon, he replicated a third corpse.

It was not until now that Xie Ziqing realized something was wrong.

“Wait a minute, these corpses.” He asked hesitantly, his voice dry, “Don’t you think they seem… they seem…”

The dog had already walked to the front and lowered its head.

Lu Yanli pushed hard, pushing one of the replicas out, rolling under the beast’s hot breath.

It sniffed and began to eat.

When it took the first bite, Xie Ziqing screamed, his thigh bitten off by something invisible, blood splattering everywhere.

He finally knew why the corpse looked wrong.

Because, that was himself.

Another scream, half of his body bitten off.

He was completely silent, unable to call out anymore.

An Xingyu closed his eyes, unable to bear to look any more, but the dog was obviously not satisfied with eating one corpse. He asked Lu Yanli in the midst of chewing sounds: “What do we do now?”

Lu Yanli said: “We can only feed it first, and then find a way to escape.” He turned to look at An Xingyu, his eyes with some meaning that the latter couldn’t understand. He thought Lu Yanli was going to say something, but the other party still didn’t say anything.

“We need to hurry.”

“Okay.” An Xingyu nodded.

He really wanted to ask what Lu Yanli was holding, but this was not the time to explain, so he had to stand by and look around vigilantly, and then, he dragged the other replicated corpses a little further away, trying to buy time.

Lu Yanli moved quickly, estimating the dog’s eating time, and quickly replicated corpses one after another.

Several people had also died by the reservoir before, and An Xingyu conveniently dragged their corpses over. Just when there were finally three corpses on the bridge deck, Lu Yanli pulled An Xingyu, the two looked at each other, and immediately ran away.

The village was already a scene of hell at this time.

A foul wind raged, countless pale paper dolls jumped and played, and almost every household heard the screams of humans.

Lu Yanli didn’t look at it, and only ran desperately. To An Xingyu’s surprise, he was also making phone calls while running, not knowing who he was calling.

“Who are you talking to?” An Xingyu kicked away a paper figure that was biting his trouser leg, beads of sweat seeping from his forehead.

Lu Yanli said: “Lin Chu.”

“What?! Lin Chu?” An Xingyu was shocked.

“She’s not dead,” Lu Yanli only explained this sentence.

What was both expected and made him uneasy was that the phone did not connect.

He dialed again, but it was still the same, not knowing which side was the reason. He turned and dialed Luo Ying.

“Listen, An Xingyu, that painting is very important. Without that painting, we may never be able to get rid of the curse.” Lu Yanli smiled bitterly, “We have to find that painting and then go to the forbidden area.”

Although An Xingyu had guessed this result, the lack of some clues made him unable to completely deduce the entire logical line. He murmured and asked: “Why?”

Lu Yanli bypassed a section of bloody human large intestine that had fallen from the tree branch ahead without changing his expression, and continued: “There is no ancestral hall in the village, no genealogy, and I have asked many people these days, they are all outsiders.”

Therefore, no villager expressed rejection of outsiders, they were enthusiastic and hospitable, hoping to keep these outsiders.

But An Xingyu and others had to participate in ancestor worship, and after ancestor worship, he would inevitably bear the curse.

As for the specific content of the curse, he didn’t know.

Although there were many tombstones, he believed that with the memory of himself, An Xingyu, and Lin Chu, they could quickly find some clues.

An Xingyu recited the name of the all-knowing god in his heart, nodding repeatedly: “Okay! Let’s escape as soon as possible.”

Perhaps it was because Lili was slaughtering other people in the village, in short, they escaped to the entrance of the village very smoothly.

Luo Ying rushed over from a distance.

She had already witnessed the chaos in the village. One of the calls Lu Yanli had just made happened to connect, although it was cut off after only a few seconds, but combined with the changes in the weather outside, it was enough for her to understand that a huge change had taken place in the village.

“Quick! Come out!” Luo Ying screamed.

And Lu Yanli had already seen the painting falling outside the entrance of the village.

“The scroll!” He shouted loudly.

At the same time, a pale little hand pierced through Lu Yanli’s chest from behind.

Fresh blood dripped down. Lu Yanli’s eyes widened, and he could no longer take a step. He slowly fell forward.

Behind him, the red-clothed girl stood quietly in place, holding a red heart that was still beating in her hand, blood dripping down.

An Xingyu had already stepped out of the entrance of the village. He subconsciously turned around and stared blankly at the scene before him.

Lu Yanli… died?

This jade pendant…

Just now, taking advantage of the moment Luo Ying turned around, Lu Yanli threw the Double Fish Jade Pendant to him.

He used his last few seconds to say a few words to him silently.

An Xingyu’s always calm brain was a little confused. He subconsciously clenched the jade pendant, stuffed it into his pocket, and did not tell Luo Ying.

Luo Ying picked up the painting and walked over quickly, her eyes sweeping over the boy in front of her, and suddenly condensed on his calf.