The village chief and Liu Desheng finished offering their incense and left while chatting, and Chi Ling quickly followed in their footsteps.
After walking together for a short distance out of the ancestral hall, the two men parted ways, heading home in opposite directions.
Pondering for a moment, Chi Ling chose to follow the village chief.
He had a certain understanding of both Auntie and Liu Xizhao, but there was one person he knew absolutely nothing about up to this point.
He had only ever heard of him from other people’s mouths.
The unknown always sparks a stronger desire to explore.
The village chief’s house was not far from the ancestral hall, just a few minutes’ walk.
Taking advantage of the fact that the people here could not see him, Chi Ling openly followed the village chief right into his home.
It was a modest adobe house. In the main room, the village chief and his wife were discussing preparations for their son’s college entrance banquet.
It was mostly about where to host it, which guests to invite, how to hire a cook, and so on.
It was completely normal, practically as ordinary as could be.
So normal that Chi Ling did not hear a single piece of key information.
However, the conversation that followed immediately made Chi Ling’s heart leap.
“It is truly the ancestors’ blessing that Huiran managed to get into university this time. Just last night, the ancestors even came to me in a dream, telling me that I need to take Huiran to the back mountain to pay respects later. If you ask me, it is best if all three children go together; the ancestors will bless the children…” The village chief said joyfully, discussing the matter with his wife.
His wife was very agreeable as well, nodding repeatedly and even saying they should prepare plenty of paper money to burn for the ancestors.
Listening to this, Chi Ling furrowed his brows, pressing his right hand against his jaw with his index finger lightly tapping his chin.
Hiss! Whenever he heard the village chief mention ancestors now, it made his entire body feel uncomfortable.
Having settled the matter, the couple walked toward the room on the left side of the house.
They knocked on the bedroom door and only pushed it open after hearing a voice call out “come in.”
That voice sounded quite pleasant. Chi Ling felt a stir in his heart; the voice felt somewhat familiar, though he was certain he had never heard such a voice in his own memories.
Perhaps pleasant voices also shared some similarities?
Following the direction of the open door, a young man sat straight at a simple wooden desk. He possessed exceptionally striking looks, and just looking at his bearing, he did not seem like a child who could be raised by such a family. The entire room seemed to lose its color upon his appearance, as if everything else had become mere background scenery.
Hanging around his neck by a red string was a simple silvery-white ring. Chi Ling subconsciously clenched his palms.
The young man at the desk glanced toward the doorway without a particular intention. That single glance was as cold and freezing as solid ice, carrying a sense of aloofness that gave Chi Ling the illusion that he had been seen right through.
Chi Ling sidestepped almost instinctively, dodging the young man’s gaze. He confirmed with the system once again: “System, the people here really can’t see me, right?”
During side quests, villagers cannot see players.
Chi Ling felt slightly more at ease, yet he still did not dare to swagger right up in front of the young man, especially since the aura exuding from him was far too terrifying.
Chi Ling stopped outside the doorway and took a few steps to the right, ensuring that the young man’s gaze could not sweep over him, before concentrating on listening to the three of them talk.
The couple’s conversation was nothing more than asking for their son’s opinion, discussing how the banquet should be held, and the like.
However, they mentioned a crucial point in time: they decided to host the college entrance banquet for the children of the three families together in three days, and then take them up the mountain to pay respects to the ancestors.
Chi Ling pressed himself against the base of the wall, lowering his eyes.
Three days? It seemed this was a crucial time node.
Chi Ling silently turned away, heading toward Auntie’s house instead. The young Auntie was lively and clever, looking like a completely different person from the one Chi Ling saw twenty-five years later. Her interactions with her grandmother felt just like sisters. Chi Ling even caught sight of a young Father and Second Uncle, who were kept completely under control by Auntie.
Chi Ling was left between tears and laughter; no matter what, they were still happy right now.
Chi Ling then slipped over to Liu Desheng’s house. Grandma Wang and her daughter were sharing a warm moment; she was embroidering a sachet for her daughter while expressing her pride and instructing her on things to watch out for when going to university. Liu Xizhao held her mother’s arm, gently stroking her mother’s pregnant belly with a full smile on her face, clearly full of anticipation for the younger sibling about to be born.
What a pity that the sachet took twenty-five years to finally reach her daughter’s hands. What a pity that the unborn child in her belly left this world before ever seeing the light of day.
What a pity that some people have human faces but beastly hearts, some are shackled by feudal ideologies, some assist in committing outrages, and even worse evil ghosts meddle from behind the scenes.
What a pity that the ways of the world are ever-changing.
Chi Ling did not linger. There was nothing particularly unusual about Auntie and Liu Xizhao here; their auras were no different from ordinary people, so they likely were not the key to this task.
Chi Ling returned once more to the village chief’s house to observe Liu Huiran.
Compared to Liu Xizhao and Auntie, things were much more desolate here. The village chief and his mother did not spend much time keeping him company.
The thing he did most often was sit at that tiny desk, looking out the window in absolute silence, remaining seated like that for half a day at a time.
He looked like a genuine teenager, melancholy and aloof.
Although his actions showed no anomalies, the aura surrounding him was far too terrifying, so Chi Ling never let down his guard.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the village was exceptionally lively today. Dozens of banquet tables were set up in the open space in front of the ancestral hall. Villagers took their seats one after another, chatting about everything under the sun while waiting for the cooks to serve the dishes. Meanwhile, the village chief first took the three protagonists of the banquet into the ancestral hall to offer respects.
Chi Ling kept his heart hanging, paying close attention to the movements on the village chief’s side. Fearing a direct confrontation with Liu Huiran, Chi Ling did not step into the ancestral hall, choosing instead to stand right by the entrance.
However, Liu Huiran’s casual glance still made Chi Ling’s scalp crawl. Chi Ling instantly flashed out of Liu Huiran’s field of view, his retreating figure carrying a hint of panic.
Liu Huiran hooked the corners of his lips lightly as he followed the village chief to offer incense.
Finding the village chief’s preaching tedious, his gaze kept uncontrollably drifting toward the outside of the ancestral hall.
The village chief instructed them that after the meal, they would be taken together to the back mountain to pay respects to the ancestors. The three of them nodded perfunctorily, each harboring their own thoughts, their minds long since wandering away from this place.
Chi Ling was not too far from them. He watched the group finish offering incense together before walking out to take their seats. Most of the villagers had already arrived, but there were still plenty of empty spots, so Chi Ling directly chose an empty table and sat down.
Liu Huiran and the other two were seated at two tables separated by their elders, and Chi Ling could faintly overhear their conversation.
The village chief seemed to be telling the elders of the other two families about taking the children to the back mountain to pay respects after the meal.
Second Uncle immediately kicked up a fuss at that moment, raising his booming voice to declare there was nothing worth paying respects to and that they might as well go back to rest. Such a blatant display of disrespect infuriated the village chief to no end.
Curiously enough, Grandfather did not object to Second Uncle’s words either. In the end, only the village chief and Liu Desheng reached an agreement, deciding to take their respective children to the back mountain for the ritual.
In the end, only Auntie survived out of the three.
It seemed that going up the mountain to pay respects this time was very likely the cause behind the deaths of both Liu Huiran and Liu Xizhao.
However, would the cause of their deaths be linked to the reason behind the instance’s alienation?
Regardless, this had to be an important clue, and he definitely had to tag along.
Chi Ling sat absent-mindedly in his seat, his peripheral vision secretly tracking Liu Huiran and the other two.
The moment he saw the village chief make a move, Chi Ling stood up immediately. However, what the village chief brought up next was not about going to the back mountain for sacrificial rites, but rather about renovating the ancestral hall.
Chi Ling sat right back down on the spot; since it had nothing to do with his quest, he had no need to stand around accompanying the village chief.
The village chief stated that the ancestors had appeared in a dream expressing a desire to renovate the ancestral hall, which required everyone to pool together donations.
Many villagers also expressed having received similar dream visions, and immediately chimed in with agreement.
“Hmph,” Chi Ling sneered inwardly, feeling utter contempt.
What ancestors? Weren’t they probably just lonely wandering ghosts?
The people in the village certainly did not think that way, unanimously believing it to be a manifestation of ancestral grace.
In their eyes, having three university students emerge from the village was the best proof of ancestral blessing; they would rather believe in superstitious forces than give a single thought to the hard work put in by the individuals themselves.
From his perspective, Liu Xizhao was intelligent and lively, and Liu Xizhao was hardworking and meticulous. As for Liu Huiran…
Although Chi Ling did not know him well, many practice workbook exercise books were neatly stacked on his desk, something Chi Ling had seen clearly with his own eyes.
Yet these elders wiped away the hard work of all three individuals with just a few casual words, attributing it all to the ethereal manifestation of the ancestors.
A chill swept through Chi Ling’s heart.
The village chief had Liu Huiran and Liu Xizhao wait for him at the entrance of the ancestral hall while he went home to fetch numerous bundles of paper money.
The village chief and Liu Desheng walked ahead carrying two piles of paper money, with Liu Huiran and Liu Xizhao following closely behind.
Chi Ling was still familiar with this path. The previous two times, he had been running for his life trailing behind Liu Desheng’s corpse until he was completely exhausted; this time, he was finally walking behind them while they were still alive.
The lake surface halfway up the mountain rippled under the gentle caress of the breeze, looking less clear than it would twenty-five years later, yet brimming with vitality.
Previously, Chi Ling had only gone as far as this point, catching glimpses of the mounds of graves on the mountain through the gaps in the bamboo leaves.
This time, however, the village chief’s destination was clearly higher up. Unaccustomed to mountain paths compared to those who walked them daily, Chi Ling found himself somewhat out of breath as he followed along, his breathing growing hurried.
Liu Huiran happened to squat down to tie his shoelaces, and after standing back up, his pace slowed slightly as if afraid his laces would come undone again, causing the village chief to turn back and urge them on repeatedly, which finally bought Chi Ling a brief moment to catch his breath.
“Hah!”
Chi Ling felt his limbs growing numb from walking, losing all sense of the passage of time, yet they were indeed drawing closer to the mountain peak than before.
The temperature in the mountains was already low to begin with, and the mountain-full of bamboo formed massive patches of shade, surrounded by rows of grave mounds. A chilling, icy sensation surged straight from the soles of Chi Ling’s feet up to his crown, making him shiver involuntarily.
Since the villagers couldn’t see him anyway, getting a little closer should be fine, right?
Chi Ling quickened his pace, closing the distance between himself and the group. Having more people around should make things feel warmer, right?
Whether it was his imagination or not, after drawing closer to Liu Huiran and the others, Chi Ling felt the surrounding temperature rise slightly, making it less chillingly cold.
A pavilion faintly stood not far ahead, and the village chief quickened his pace once more, while Chi Ling felt a sense of relief and slowed his steps.
They were finally almost there.
As they drew closer, the pavilion appeared compact and somewhat exquisite in appearance, but the closer they got, the more pronounced and palpable that uncomfortable feeling became.
Chi Ling’s face turned pale. He pressed his lips tightly together, staring fixedly inside the pavilion, where a spirit tablet and a small portrait were placed.
The village chief introduced it, explaining that this was the spirit tablet of their founding ancestor, and not just anyone could come here to pay respects.
He demanded that the two of them pay their respects earnestly, burning all the paper money while kneeling and showing utmost sincerity.
Liu Xizhao immediately voiced that as long as the sentiment was conveyed, there was no need to be so bound by formalities, only to be scolded by Liu Desheng for it.
However, Liu Huiran also refused to comply, putting the village chief and Liu Desheng in a difficult spot. In the end, they could only compromise, going along with his wishes by saying that as long as the intent was there, it would suffice.
Chi Ling could not help laughing; this was getting a taste of one’s own medicine.
He watched from the sidelines as the village chief knelt in Liu Huiran’s stead, kowtowing while burning paper money and muttering incantations under his breath.
Once the rituals were concluded, the group headed back down the mountain the way they came.
Was that the end of it? Chi Ling found it hard to believe. What was the point of him following them all the way up then? Mountain climbing for physical exercise?
Chi Ling refused to believe it, yet the village chief and the others were indeed walking down the mountain. He had no choice but to follow them down, especially since he had already decided that the key to the task lay with Liu Huiran.
On the way down the mountain, Liu Huiran walked at the very front, followed by the village chief, Liu Xizhao, and Liu Desheng.
They were about to approach that lake once again.
A gust of wind swept past, whipping up numerous fallen leaves and driving them across the lake surface, causing the water to churn instantly.
Chi Ling’s heart flooded with unease once more.