Chapter 1247: Chapter 828: Hidden Ghost Cave (Part 2)
Surrounding was a haze that couldn’t be dispersed. Watching it for long felt eerie, oppressively so, and the remaining moon was also about to be swallowed by the mist.
This place was indeed a ghostly world.
Yang Xiao suddenly had a very bad premonition and looked around him; the surroundings were much darker than when he first arrived.
And once the moon was completely obscured, what would this world become?
Looking at the shadow on the ground, now it seemed much more blurred than before.
"I have to get out of here quickly!"
Yang Xiao stopped hesitating and quickened his pace, running towards the back mountain along the chosen path.
Just as he imagined, with the "moon" entirely blocked by mist, the originally silent village "came to life" at this moment.
Almost simultaneously, the tightly closed doors swung open, and stiff human shadows walked out.
The Ghost Village was completely into the night, and the shadows on the ground became blurry, even disappearing little by little.
To be precise, they didn’t disappear but merged into the darkness and became no longer visible.
In such a world, there was no light. Ghosts broke free from their shackles, their hollow and bloodthirsty eyes roamed in the darkness like wild beasts.
"Pat, pat"
"Pat, pat"
"Pat, pat"
The stiff legs moved, and shadow ghosts wandered aimlessly in the village. After a while, some ghost shadows began to deviate, heading towards outside the village.
Unfortunately, although Yang Xiao had been very careful, he was still discovered by a robust Hunter Ghost, who pursued him relentlessly, and this commotion attracted even more ghosts.
Yang Xiao kept running towards the back mountain, but his speed visibly slowed, severely exhausting his stamina.
It was as if his shoulder was frostbitten by a chill; grasping branches along the way with five-fifths his usual strength.
The most terrifying thing was that the chill on his shoulder also affected Yang Xiao’s mind, restricting his thinking, almost causing him to stumble onto the ground several times.
Fortunately, he had strong will, a real desire to survive, one could say.
In time, he’d surely be caught. Yang Xiao had no choice but to take out a candle, intending to save his life at the critical moment.
"Rustling"
Suddenly, Yang Xiao stopped, alertly looking forward, where a thick bush lay before him. The next second, a human figure darted out from behind the tree.
It was a short, stout middle-aged man full of sideburns, with dark skin, but his eyes were surprisingly bright in the night.
Yang Xiao instinctively wanted to light the candle but was stopped by the bearded man, "Don’t light it, come with me quickly, I know where your friend is!"
The bearded man reached into his bosom, pulling out a piece of clothing that Yang Xiao immediately recognized as Datou’s clothes. The bearded man flipped the garment, revealing a line written in blood on its blank side.
"Go with him, meet in the cave."
This text was written in blood, but since Yang Xiao and Datou weren’t too familiar, he couldn’t discern if Datou left it, but there was no time to think too much now.
The pursuers were closing in from behind, leaving Yang Xiao with no choice but to gritting his teeth and follow as the bearded man plunged back into the dense forest.
It seemed the bearded man was quite familiar with the terrain here. He led Yang Xiao in twists and turns, eventually shaking off the chasing ghosts.
"Who are you?" Yang Xiao asked through clenched teeth, his stamina nearing its limit.
"I... I don’t know either." The man didn’t turn his head but gave a very suspicious answer, "I just know I’m not from this village because the people here are odd. I don’t recognize them."
"I also forgot how I came here, maybe... maybe I got lost. I’ve been looking for the way out."
"How long have you been looking?" Yang Xiao probed.
"I can’t recall, a few days, a dozen days, anyway... anyway a long time." The bearded man’s tone was laden with despair.
Yang Xiao had a suspicion about the man’s identity in his heart, slowly moving closer to him and indeed catching a whiff of alcohol from the man.
"You drank?" Yang Xiao asked.
The man stopped, pulling out a wine pouch from his bosom, with a bitter face said, "You want a sip? Alcohol can bolster courage. I’ve been getting by these days just by drinking wine, or I’d be scared to death by those guys."
The "those guys" the bearded man referred to were naturally the ghosts in the village, and through this wine pouch, Yang Xiao guessed the man’s identity. He was the tavern owner who came to the village to deliver "poison wine."
Indeed, he didn’t escape afterward and was left here by the group of monks.
But what puzzled Yang Xiao was this guy seemed somehow different from the group of ghosts chasing from behind.
Yang Xiao did not reveal the man’s identity, deciding to watch and wait.
After a section of mountain road, the bearded man led Yang Xiao to a secret cave entrance, nearby strange-shaped stones were scattered, along with colored cloths without visible meanings.
The place gave Yang Xiao the feeling of a sacrificial site.
The cave was dark, ignoring the bearded man’s demand, Yang Xiao lit a candle, and the pair proceeded within.
The cave was damp and cold, according to the bearded man, another person was inside the cave.
The person he mentioned was Datou.
Only Datou.
The entrance wasn’t large, but the internal space was rather roomy, a hidden world within. Continuing dozens of meters into the cave, Yang Xiao found several bodies lying askew on the ground.
The bodies died in a ghastly manner, entirely soaked, all severely bloated, under them a pool of water stains.
All were Drowned Ghosts, judging by the state of the bodies they’d been soaking in water for a long time.
"Chu Xi?" Suddenly, a man’s voice emerged from the cave.
Yang Xiao instantly stopped, lighting the way with the candle, finding Datou slumped against the cave wall, legs splayed out, his face pale, clearly not in good shape.
Beside Datou’s hand was half a candle, currently unlit.
Datou tried his best to raise his neck, looking behind Yang Xiao, who understood what he sought. He shook his head, "Don’t look, there’s nothing here, just me."
Upon hearing this, Datou’s expression was visibly worse.
Through conversation, Yang Xiao learned Datou and his sister’s plight after landing separated at the dock.
The original plan was to reunite after shaking off Aisha, but luck wasn’t in their favor. Datou hadn’t yet entered the village when he stumbled upon a mountain hut, running into the Hunter Ghost inside.
From then on, they scattered, Datou by chance bumping into the bearded man, saved by him, who then took him here.
The bearded man also supplemented, saying he awoke in this cave but had amnesia, unable to recall how he ended up here.
He couldn’t even remember his name, his home, or how he came to the village.
"Why did you and Sopa separate immediately after disembarking?" Yang Xiao caught onto the key point.
Datou’s mouth grimaced, sighing, "Not the only ones who’re clever. We realized it, ghosts choose to chase larger groups first, or else how did Hafeez survive events several times?"
"Initially uncertain till Musa mentioned they’re working in pairs at departure, then it dawned on me."
Nodding, Yang Xiao understood vaguely, glancing to Datou’s legs, "What happened to your legs?"
"Caught by ghosts, distracted then." Datou used one hand on a wooden stick, laboriously standing, "No time for talk, come... come see this."
Datou moved ahead, Yang Xiao followed quietly, the pair traversing not long before reaching a peculiar entirely Black Stone altar.
A notch was on the altar, around it several broken chains.
Judging by the imprint, should have held a statue-like object, for reasons unknown wrapped heavily by chains.
"I found this nearby; the material’s akin to what’s hidden inside the Buddha Statue." Datou produced a piece of shattered stone, handing it to Yang Xiao.
