Ye Xisheng’s expression remained unchanged, as if he had anticipated this all along. “I knew it; Senior Brother is indeed perceptive.”
“What strange details has Senior Brother discovered?”
Song Lianzhou said, “First, Li Nianshang’s disappearance is very strange. Since Fanggu Village has been isolated from the outside world by array formations year-round and only recently re-opened, Li Nianshang could only still be within Qishan, and may not even have left this village at all.”
“Yet after all these years, the Li family, who have lived here continuously and dedicated themselves to finding their missing loved one, haven’t managed to find even a shred of clothing. If everything Li Yusheng said and did was true, then I now have a very terrifying conjecture…”
Ye Xisheng leaned in slightly, sandalwood mixing with the youthful, crafty aura rushing toward him. “She was intentionally hidden away by someone, wasn’t she?”
Song Lianzhou looked at him with admiration. “Ah Sheng, you understand me.”
Ye Xisheng’s gaze grew increasingly intrigued, almost impatiently pressing on, “Then what about the second?”
“The second point is whether everything Li Yusheng said was entirely true, and whether his words matched reality.”
Recalling the scene back then, Song Lianzhou pondered, “When Li Yusheng answered, there were some unconscious pauses, his eyes drifted, and he instinctively looked up at the sky. Although we cannot determine whether he was speaking the truth, at least he was not completely transparent with us.”
“Also, when you calculated the hex of the Pit, I saw Madam Li standing at the kitchen doorway eavesdropping, and the expression on her face… seemed to be panic.”
“So Madam Li definitely knows more inside information.”
Ye Xisheng noted, “Regarding Li Nianshang’s disappearance, we can pursue it. The circumstances of her disappearance are very similar to those of the missing maidens near Qishan; perhaps we can follow this vine to unearth the melon and discover the whereabouts of the other victims.”
Song Lianzhou gave a soft, affirmative hum. “Just like Li Nianshang, the missing persons near Qishan are all young women. We need to pay attention to this detail as well.”
“And I’m quite worried about Feiyi. Ever since she met Li Yusheng down the mountain, she has been receiving a bit too much attention, and after coming up the mountain, she has always…” Song Lianzhou carefully recalled those gazes, unconsciously furrowing his brow. “She has always been scrutinized.”
This included the members of the caravan, the villagers they met upon entering the village, the Li family, and the Fanggu Village chief. The very first thing everyone did upon seeing Feiyi was to size her up, after which they would display an inexplicable warmth and fondness.
“Senior Brother doesn’t need to worry too much; Senior Sister Feiyi is clever, quick-witted, and highly proficient in cultivation, so she will certainly be able to handle whatever comes her way,” Ye Xisheng reassured him.
Song Lianzhou nodded, though his tightly knitted brow failed to smooth out.
Judging that the time was about right, the two decided to head toward the village entrance first to wait.
Walking out of the Li family’s courtyard and making their way past a few household front yards, Song Lianzhou noticed that almost every family had a large water vat in their courtyard, with a few lotus plants growing inside.
Standing on the outer edge to inspect the lotuses, Song Lianzhou discovered that the lotuses of Fanggu Village were indeed unique: unlike the pink-and-white petals of ordinary lotuses, the edges of these lotus petals were blue, and intricate blue veins intertwined chaotically at the center of the petals, resembling spilled paint.
The fragrance of the lotuses was also one-of-a-kind. A rich, alluring scent washed over them immediately, even more cloying and intoxicating than the aroma on Yuling Chun’s person. Yet once the fragrance faded, the lingering tail note turned out to be a somewhat melancholy, fresh aroma.
Truly unique, Song Lianzhou thought to himself.
“This must be the lotus petals we saw on those two amnesiac rogue cultivators. Sure enough, only Fanggu Village has them.” Ye Xisheng leaned in close to Song Lianzhou’s ear and whispered, “They probably cultivated such lotus varieties due to year-round exposure to array formations and Qishan’s unique soil and water.”
Just as the two paused to observe, the owner of that courtyard returned and warmly greeted them upon seeing them: “You must be visiting guests from outside! Come on inside and sit for a while!”
“No need, no need, we still want to look around other parts of the village,” Song Lianzhou smiled and declined.
“Alright then, have fun! But what are you two looking at?”
“We were looking at this lotus flower; it’s very unique in appearance.”
“Huh?”
The villager looked genuinely and sincerely puzzled, leaning in to take a couple of looks as well. “What’s so unique about this? Aren’t all flowers like this? Haven’t you ever seen one?”
Song Lianzhou paused slightly. “By all flowers, you mean…”
“Well.” The villager pointed toward the surroundings—blue lotuses were planted outside the doorways of every household. “Look, these flowers are all the same. There aren’t many things in the village, and we raise these flowers to eat.”
“Could there possibly be other, different flowers in this world?”
Song Lianzhou: ……
Looking out over the village, aside from bushes and trees, Fanggu Village indeed possessed nothing else besides this type of lotus. Every single flower was identical.
So that was how it was.
Song Lianzhou offered a polite, smiling evasion and took his leave. Once they reached an isolated patch of open ground, he gently tugged on Ye Xisheng’s sleeve. “Ah Sheng, do you understand?”
Comprehending instantly, Ye Xisheng replied, “Is Senior Brother trying to say that Fanggu Village has been detached from the world below for too long, and we can no longer use our mindset to speculate about them?”
“Precisely,” Song Lianzhou said. “Moreover, since they are self-sufficient and live free of worries, they will naturally take it for granted that the village is the entire world much like a frog at the bottom of a well that has never seen the boundless sea.”
“Just as something we consider completely ordinary that flowers possess a thousand different shapes and forms is utterly incomprehensible in their eyes, because there is only one kind of flower in the village, and that is the only kind they have ever seen from birth to this day.”
“Or take another example: while we can divine fortune and misfortune through divination and hexes, they worship only their Holy Maiden.”
“Perhaps they appear no different from us on the outside, but their inner way of thinking has long since diverged from ours.”
Isolation and closure are often the starting points that plunge a place into ignorance and backwardness.
Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise no matter what kind of counter-intuitive or bizarre things they might do.