Only after the swollen monster had gone far away did Wei Xilou wrap an arm around Xu Muchan and jump down from the beam.
Xu Muchan approached the altar. He had noticed earlier that after the monster left, the divine altar seemed to have transformed into a huge, bottomless well.
At that moment, the faint sound of waves lapping against a shore came from the opening.
Xu Muchan placed his palm against the edge of the altar and leaned forward to look inside.
It was filled with flowing black water.
He did not know whether the black water was contained within this well or flowing into it from somewhere else. At that moment, its surface was anything but still. It surged like living water, shimmering faintly beneath the night sky.
“Black River again…”
Xu Muchan murmured softly, yet he could not understand why the Black River would appear inside the ghost domain of these chicken-headed people.
The black water in the well seemed alive.
He straightened up and suddenly noticed that Wei Xilou beside him was also motionless, leaning over and staring at the Black River gathered inside the divine altar. His ink-black brows were knitted together, and his expression was somewhat strange.
“Gege, what’s wrong?”
Xu Muchan reached out to touch him, only to see Wei Xilou’s body suddenly go limp and pitch forward toward the well.
“Gege!”
Xu Muchan cried out in alarm and reacted quickly, catching him.
But he discovered that the black water at the bottom of the well had suddenly begun to boil.
It seemed to possess a consciousness of its own as it climbed upward along the walls of the well. Some of it had even already reached Wei Xilou’s lowered face.
Xu Muchan’s heart tightened, and he pulled him back with all his strength.
The black water, splashing upward like living creatures, fell back into the bottom of the well, still churning unwillingly like boiling water.
But the person lying in his arms had already lost consciousness.
Xu Muchan was worried and anxious, but at that moment, a sudden disturbance came from outside the wooden tower.
Holding the unconscious man in his arms, he turned his head to look outside.
He saw the swollen, deformed monster pushing its bloated head through the narrow skylight.
A moment later, it emerged while biting a person.
The person’s entire upper body was clamped inside the monster’s mouth. His appearance could not be seen clearly, but his pained, terrified cries for help could be heard.
Even from such a distance, Xu Muchan recognized him immediately.
It was Zhu Zhicheng.
The monster had caught its prey. Holding the limp body in its mouth, it turned around, maneuvered past one wooden house after another, and slowly moved back toward the wooden tower.
Xu Muchan realized that it was probably going back into the tower.
But Gege was unconscious at this moment.
He helped the man upright and glanced back at the divine altar, only for his pupils to suddenly contract—
The bottom of the deep-well-like altar was completely empty.
The black water that had been surging moments earlier had vanished without a trace.
Xu Muchan’s brow throbbed, but the monster’s approaching “squelch, squelch” sounds were getting closer and closer.
He had no choice.
He hoisted the unconscious man onto his back and, taking advantage of the cover of night, left the wooden tower and entered the nearest wooden house.
After placing the unconscious man on the bed, Xu Muchan did not lock the skylight. Instead, he pushed it open slightly and observed the outside through the narrow gap.
Just as expected, the monster slowly shuffled into the wooden tower.
Its enormous, swollen body gradually squeezed into the hollow divine altar.
After a long time passed, the divine altar slowly returned to its original appearance.
And at that moment, a sliver of light appeared in the pitch-black sky.
At the transition between night and day, the entire Immortal Village was as silent as a graveyard.
The transition was extremely brief. Within a very short period of time, the darkness switched into daylight.
Xu Muchan was just about to go outside when he saw a figure hurrying toward the wooden tower.
It was Ouyang Mu.
His movements were fast, yet extremely cautious. He did not make the slightest sound.
Only after reaching the vicinity of the wooden tower did he slow down. Carefully avoiding getting too close, he took an instrument resembling a compass from his pocket, as though he were surveying or detecting something.
Xu Muchan did not reveal himself. Instead, he hid in the shadows and watched.
About ten minutes later, the others seemed to have realized that dawn had arrived and that the danger had passed. One after another, they pushed open their skylights.
At the wooden tower, Ouyang Mu quickly put away the compass. Then he casually walked over to the side of a wooden house, as though he had just come out of it.
Having learned from yesterday’s experience, everyone quickly retreated outside the village as soon as they emerged from their wooden houses, in case they were spotted by those chicken-headed people again.
Xu Muchan likewise carried Wei Xilou out of the wooden house on his back.
However, he deliberately slowed his movements, his gaze constantly watching the inside of the wooden tower.
He saw the chicken-headed people appear one after another out of thin air on the divine altar, lying peacefully on it like corpses.
But in the next instant, the corpses sat upright, rubbing their eyes and yawning, and walked out of the wooden tower alive and well.
Xu Muchan did not stay for long. Before the chicken-headed people could discover him, he left with Wei Xilou.
Because they had evacuated in time, no one was trapped by the chicken-headed people this time.
However, the expressions on everyone’s faces were hardly pleasant.
Chai Ming said, “Zhu Zhicheng is gone.”
Because no one knew why Sun Qing had inexplicably opened the skylight and let the monster in before, everyone had continued hiding separately last night for safety rather than gathering together.
So, just like with Sun Qing, the reason Zhu Zhicheng had opened his skylight also became a mystery.
Both of the people who had met with trouble had been brought by Ouyang Mu.
The only other person left by his side inevitably became somewhat emotionally overwhelmed. He anxiously rubbed his face and said,
“When exactly are we going to be able to leave this damned place?”
No one could answer him.
Only Ouyang Mu quietly offered a few words of reassurance.
Xu Muchan’s gaze casually swept over Ouyang Mu before he withdrew it again.
He spoke of what he had discovered inside the wooden tower:
“I saw that monster.”
Those words immediately caught everyone’s attention, and they all turned toward him.
Xu Muchan glossed over the black water inside the divine altar and Wei Xilou’s sudden loss of consciousness, instead telling them about what he had discovered in the wooden tower.
“That monster should be these chicken-headed people.”
These chicken-headed people had lost their memories from before their deaths. During the day, they lived quiet and peaceful lives, just as they had once done on Panlong Ridge. But when night came, whether it was because of the black water beneath the divine altar or because of the heavy resentment they carried after death, they transformed into grotesque and twisted monsters.
“That monster only returns to the wooden tower after eating its prey. It returned to the wooden tower, and not long afterward, dawn came. And I noticed that nightfall came earlier…” Xu Muchan paused before slowly voicing his guess. “I suspect that if we continue staying here, the nights will become longer and longer. If the monster doesn’t find prey, it won’t return, while at night, we can only hide inside the wooden houses and do nothing. If this continues, we’ll fall into a vicious cycle.”
They would be trapped here forever, until the monsters lurking in the night found them one by one and ate them.
His words made the atmosphere even heavier.
Yet at that moment, the chicken-headed people who should have been busy with their own activities inexplicably gathered around them again.
Although there was no “roasted lamb” this time, their strange gazes still made everyone’s scalps tingle.
Everyone instinctively stepped backward.
Jin Qingqing swallowed and did her best to maintain her composure as she asked, “Is there something you need?”
The chicken-headed people surrounding them did not answer.
Numerous red animal-like eyes stared motionlessly at everyone, with faint hostility and a fleeting trace of hunger in them.
The group was examined like a flock of helpless lambs.
Then, just as silently as they had come, those strange-looking chicken-headed people quietly dispersed.
This time, however, no one could ignore how bizarre it was.
The chicken-headed people returned to their respective positions—some dyeing cloth, some weaving cloth…
But no matter what they were doing, their pale-red eyes would always glance at the group seemingly unintentionally.
Those gazes were cold and sharp, no longer carrying the friendliness of the first day.
An oppressive atmosphere spread through the group.
Someone finally could not stand being watched by the chicken-headed people any longer, and the group could only retreat again, all the way to the village entrance.
Jin Qingqing said, “Looks like Xu Muchan’s guess is correct. The longer we drag this out, the more dangerous it becomes.”
Chai Ming irritably scratched his hair.
“This place is impossible to figure out. If it comes down to it, let’s just fight them head-on. Tonight, we’ll go straight to the wooden tower and wait for that monster. As long as the monster dies, the ghost domain will naturally collapse.”
Jin Qingqing glanced at him.
“We haven’t even seen what that monster really looks like. Are you confident we can beat it?”
Chai Ming spread his hands.
“It’s better than being slowly dragged to death.”
Jin Qingqing looked at Xu Muchan.
“You’ve seen that monster. Do you think we have a chance of winning?”
Xu Muchan thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“I don’t think it can be killed.”
“What do you mean?”
Xu Muchan could not explain it clearly.
He thought of the Black River beneath the divine altar. That monster was very likely connected to the Black River. Perhaps they had crawled out of it.
He had once seen monsters swallowed by the Black River. In the end, they all merged with the Black River.
But these chicken-headed people were different.
They had not been assimilated by the Black River. Instead, they had transformed into even more terrifying monsters.
In the end, he shook his head.
“It’s just a feeling.”
With Sun Qing and Zhu Zhicheng dead, eight people remained in the group.
Of those eight, only Jin Qingqing and Chai Ming had directly confronted these supernatural entities. The others were merely ordinary people.
Xu Muchan was the strongest among them.
Since even Xu Muchan said they could not do it, everyone immediately looked dejected.
Ordinary people always seemed so fragile and insignificant before these supernatural creatures.
Just as the atmosphere was growing completely stifling, Ouyang Mu’s gaze suddenly fell on Wei Xilou behind Xu Muchan.
He asked with concern, “What happened to your brother?”
Xu Muchan lifted his eyes and glanced at him.
“My brother isn’t quite right in the head. I was afraid he’d make some noise at night and attract the monster, so I knocked him unconscious. He still hasn’t woken up.”
Ouyang Mu looked surprised, clearly not expecting such an answer.
Xu Muchan narrowed his eyes slightly and counterattacked unexpectedly.
“I came out early when dawn broke and saw Mr. Ouyang looking for something in front of the wooden tower. Did you find anything?”
His tone was purely curious.
Everyone’s attention immediately shifted to Ouyang Mu.
The corner of Ouyang Mu’s eye twitched slightly before he gave a bitter smile.
“I originally wanted to get closer to the wooden tower and see if I could find any clues. Unfortunately, I came out too late. The chicken-headed people had already woken up, so I had no choice but to give up.”
Xu Muchan gave an “Oh.”
Then he continued asking curiously, “I saw that you had a compass in your hand at the time. What was that for?”
Ouyang Mu’s expression stiffened slightly, but in an instant it returned to normal.
He smiled and took the compass from his pocket.
“You mean this? My grandfather passed it down to me. He said it was something my great-grandfather had passed down before him, and that it could detect yin energy. But our family stopped having anything to do with these things starting with my grandfather’s generation, so I don’t really know how to use it.”
The compass in his palm was extremely intricate, carrying the heavy patina of history. At a glance, it was clearly a valuable object.
Jin Qingqing leaned over to take a look.
“This measures yin energy?”
Ouyang Mu answered vaguely, “I don’t really understand it either. But I tried it in front of the wooden tower, and there was no reaction. Maybe it’s been sitting around for too long and has stopped working.”
“Can I borrow it for a moment?”
Xu Muchan suddenly interrupted.
The fingers gripping the compass twitched almost imperceptibly.
Ouyang Mu looked at Xu Muchan with a smile.
“I suppose you can. But this is a family heirloom, after all, so be careful when you use it.”
Xu Muchan took the compass from his hand without any hesitation and smiled faintly.
“I won’t break it.”