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墨書 Inktalez
Human Sacrifice
In the Forbidden Area of Futu Ridge, it is rumored to be the dwelling place of the Snake Goddess. Whether she is a demon or a deity, we have yet to see.
What we do see is a Futu Stupa standing resolutely in the valley, surrounded by moss, a winding gorge, and the desolate village before us.
"How could there be a village here?" This was the question on all our minds.
From my childhood memories, the northern forbidden lands of Futu Ridge were filled with poisonous miasma and thickets, even home to half-meter-long centipedes and man-eating mountain gnomes. The adults repeatedly warned that it was an undeveloped wasteland, and I never imagined that people once lived here.
In this vast expanse of mountain village, almost all the houses had collapsed beyond recognition. Most of these houses were made of mud walls mixed with grass, topped with roofs woven from branches. Though they were in ruins, their outlines were still somewhat discernible.
"The number of people who lived here might not be less than those in Futu Ridge," Zhu Yaoguang remarked as he gazed at the desolation before him.
Mr. Chang said, "Futu Ridge has always been considered a wild land, but I never expected that such a place, deemed forbidden and untouched by anyone, would still harbor remnants of human habitation. If it weren't so desolate, it could very well be a paradise."
In the works of Eastern Jin writer Tao Yuanming's Peach Blossom Spring, he describes a person who accidentally stumbles upon a beautiful utopia where there are no classes or exploitation, no hunger or war—just a peaceful land. The inhabitants had fled from the chaos of the Qin Dynasty and found this sanctuary hundreds of years ago, living in self-sufficiency without ever leaving the valley.
Yet this desolate village before us is merely separated from Futu Ridge by a mountain, and despite the centuries that have passed for the villagers of Futu Ridge, there has never been any mention of a village within the forbidden area.
Could this place have once been a paradise too?
Chen Jixian observed, "The village here seems to be quite well-preserved; it hasn't completely collapsed under wind and sun. Perhaps this happened within the last hundred years."
I replied, "It can't have been within just a hundred years. Although on the surface it appears that the village has only suffered decades of decay, this is a forbidden area. The very reason it is called forbidden must indicate something unusual about it. The withered grass alone proves that much, and the mud-built houses reveal nothing about their architectural age."
"How can you be so sure this village has existed for over a hundred years? The Qing Dynasty imposed heavy taxes; in recent decades warlords have risen up, and we've endured the Anti-Japanese War. Perhaps back then, villagers sought refuge in this secluded place to escape conflict," Wang Cong suggested.
I countered, "If this had happened within just a hundred years, people from Futu Ridge would surely know about it—especially the older generations. I’ve followed an old man from the village who is over a hundred years old; if he knew there was a village inside the forbidden area, he would have told me."
Chen Jixian said thoughtfully, "Then what could possibly preserve this desolate village so intact?"
Suddenly Mr. Chang seemed to recall something. "I've heard such tales: in ancient times, there was a village where a scholar who ate at many homes became top scholar. The emperor rewarded him with a Wind Stabilizing Pearl. To repay his fellow villagers upon returning home in glory, he built a Wind Stabilizing Pagoda in the village and placed the pearl inside. For hundreds of years, no house collapsed; everything remained spotless both inside and out."
Chen Jixian looked down at the vast village surrounded by towering mountains. This area could be considered a basin; if heavy rains fell over many years, surely it would wash away those earthen houses below. Yet these villages have indeed survived. While they may not have had protection like Mr. Chang's Wind Stabilizing Pearl, their eerie tranquility deep within these mountains is undeniably strange.
"Boss, it seems like there's no one living here at all. In this desolate mountain area, we might not find anything in this Desolate Village. If we don't leave before dark, there could be unforeseen consequences," Wang Cong said.
Chen Jixian replied, "Guo Huaiyi and Jiang Cheng haven't been found yet. We need to see them alive or at least find their bodies."
After finishing his words, Chen Jixian headed down towards the Desolate Village. The rest of us exchanged glances and had no choice but to follow him.
I looked up at the position of the sun; it was around three in the afternoon. Futu Ridge would be dark after seven o'clock, so we had at most two hours to stay here. We needed to return within that time, or else once night fell, even if we applied Realgar on ourselves, we would likely encounter something sinister.
According to the rumors about Futu Ridge, no one who entered the forbidden area had ever come out unscathed. Perhaps it was curiosity that drove people to linger here for so long.
We followed Chen Jixian into a half-collapsed earthen house. Inside, the wooden bed had fallen to the ground, covered halfway by dirt. There were also some broken earthen bowls and a rice jar nearby, but nothing particularly special could be seen.
The scenes we encountered along the way were all similar. These earthen houses were simple, and the interior facilities were naturally rudimentary. Each house had traces of collapsed stoves at the entrance, indicating that people had indeed lived here before.
Mr. Chang said, "With so many houses around, there are no skeletons or signs of clothing, not even altars or ancestral tablets for worship. This doesn't look like a village at all; it resembles a temporary collective dwelling where everyone suddenly moved away."
I looked around the village and remarked, "There's no Ancestral Grave Forest either. Perhaps Mr. Chang is right; the people who lived here must have relocated temporarily. Otherwise, it's impossible for such a large village to be completely deserted. The ancients valued burial; when someone died, they would definitely be buried. We've never heard of any burials or other methods of disposing of the dead in this area."
Based solely on what we could see, it was impossible to deduce what had happened hundreds of years ago or even longer.
Just then, my stomach growled unexpectedly. I hadn't eaten since walking through the mountains since morning. As I reached for my belly, I remembered that I always carried the Zhou Compass with me.
The Zhou Compass has the ability to recreate past events; as long as I use it, I can see what happened in the past!
"Yang Hao has a compass too? What a strange compass; I've never seen one like this!" Mr. Chang exclaimed with surprise as I suddenly took out my compass.
"This compass is a family heirloom; only I can use it—no one else can," I said while adjusting the needle on the compass. "Let's first see what happened here over a decade ago with Liu Wei and his group. Earlier outside the forbidden area, my compass was affected by the Magnetic Field and couldn't be used, but its other functions remain unaffected."
As Light Shadow shifted and changed, the Light Shadow of Desolate Village moved forward through day and night until we saw Liu Wei and Lao Zheng's figures appear behind us, guns drawn and aimed at us.
Chen Jixian and the others were clearly startled; they stood frozen in place, watching as more than ten members of the Investigation Team stood around with their guns raised in caution.
"Come out!" Lao Zheng's Light Shadow shouted towards a certain direction.
We followed Lao Zheng's gaze towards Desolate Village but saw nothing unusual.
Suddenly, the ten members of the Investigation Team all changed their expressions dramatically, their guns aimed at the direction pointed by Lao Zheng's firearm.
They fired simultaneously, bullets passing through us and striking behind. I took a few steps back while holding Zhou Compass, and where the bullets passed, nothing was visible.
Then the ten of them began to shout, their eyes darting around. They fired while retreating, quickly running into the Gorge we had come from earlier.
"What on earth is happening? What did they see?" Wang Cong was clearly frightened by what he had just witnessed with the Light Shadow.
Chen Jixian said, "It's possible that everyone experienced an illusion. They seemed unharmed when they escaped from the forbidden area."
"Then let's get out of here too. Boss, this really isn't a place we should be," Wang Cong suggested.
"Let's take a look at what happened here in the past," I replied.
Since it was confirmed that this Desolate Village existed over a hundred years ago, I adjusted the compass needle to an unprecedented time scale, directly bypassing a century to see the previous Light Shadow. I could sense that several people had come here over the past hundred years; it could have been Old Scholar or Guo the Blind, but I couldn't determine exactly when they had arrived. That would take too much effort, and we didn't have that much time.
The Light Shadow from a hundred years ago largely overlapped with what we were seeing now; there wasn't much change. I moved the compass needle forward again and suddenly felt a bit fatigued, as if I were losing strength.
Although Zhou Compass is a Taoist Sacred Artifact, it isn't something an ordinary person can use to infinitely explore past events. If I pushed the needle further forward, I wouldn't know what era it would lead to.
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