Xu Muchan thought for a moment before saying, “Didn’t you just say there were also account books in the boxes? These letters all mention payments. Look through the account books and see if there are any records.”
When Wei Yao had briefly looked through the boxes earlier, there had indeed been one box filled entirely with account books.
“Wait. Let me take a look.”
Wei Yao went to rummage through the box containing the account books. After quite some time, he came out holding one and said in surprise, “There really are records.”
He opened the account book in front of the camera.
“They recorded everything pretty carefully. Which year, which month, which day, who was given how much money—everything’s there.”
“But I looked at the names recorded in these account books, and they don’t seem to match the ones in the letters.”
“Those letters were probably written but never sent. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been preserved,” Xu Muchan said. “Take pictures of the account book and send them to me first. Then send me the original by express delivery. I’ll give you the address.”
“Sure. But why are you suddenly looking through all this stuff?” Wei Yao asked curiously.
“Some things don’t make sense, so I need to look into them. It’s hard to explain everything right now.” Xu Muchan urged him, “I’ll treat you to a meal when we get back to school. I’m hanging up the video call. Send me photos of the account book first.”
“Deal. When we get back to school, I want a good meal.”
Wei Yao hung up the video call and photographed the account book page by page, sending the pictures over.
Xu Muchan opened the photos, zoomed in, and examined them one by one. Sure enough, just as Wei Yao had said, every expense was recorded in great detail. Not only were the dates, people, and amounts listed, but some names even had small notes beside them identifying their sects, taboos, and other information, clearly indicating that these were important people who needed to be treated with particular care.
Xu Muchan took out his tablet and made a table, organizing all of these people.
There were thirty-two people in total.
However, judging from the later records of lodging expenses at inns, not all thirty-two people who had received the letters had accepted the invitation to travel to the Wei family in Yundong. In the end, only twenty-one people came.
They came from all sorts of sects and schools. They arrived at the Wei residence in Yundong half a month before Wei Xilou’s ascension to immortality, but they did not stay at the Wei residence. Instead, they were arranged to stay at inns in the city.
According to the inn expenses, they remained in Yundong for nearly two months.
During those two months, the Wei family spared no expense in supporting these people. Yet the two times Xu Muchan had appeared at the Wei family’s old residence, he had never seen any of them.
But the Wei family had gone to great lengths and spent an enormous amount of money to summon such a large group of people from all over the country to Yundong. Obviously, it wasn’t to have them sit around as decorations. This group of people must have had some purpose.
Xu Muchan carefully examined the account book, thinking about the time when these people were most likely to have been useful.
After considering it from every angle, the only major event concerning the survival of the Wei family that could possibly have warranted such a massive mobilization was Wei Xilou’s ascension to immortality.
Preparations for the ascension had begun shortly after Wei Xilou was born.
Over all the years in between, the Wei family must have made countless preparations for it. These people had not come early or late, but had been summoned precisely before Wei Xilou’s ascension. This meant that they were most likely the Wei family’s contingency plan in case the ascension failed.
However, when Wei Xilou ascended, and afterward, Xu Muchan had never seen this group of people at the Wei residence. Nor had he ever heard his brother or Wei Ting mention them.
The only possibility was that these people had still been in the city at the time and had not yet been needed. They had most likely entered the Wei residence only after Xu Muchan was sent back.
Xu Muchan almost immediately remembered the period after he had become a ghost and been injured and lost consciousness because of the world’s rejection of him.
Although he had lost consciousness at the time, he could vaguely sense danger. Later, it should have been his brother who sent him back.
But he actually had no idea what had happened in between. And afterward, his brother had lost an arm and also lost the extremely important head of one of the Five Wuchang Gods…
Although his brother had been somewhat mentally confused at the time, with his strength, there should have been no one capable of injuring him.
Xu Muchan pressed his lips tightly together, already reaching a conclusion in his heart.
Perhaps when his brother sent him back, these Taoists and occult practitioners from different sects happened to enter the Wei residence as well. The two sides had clashed, and because his brother had to protect him, he had been stretched too thin and injured, ultimately resulting in the loss of the Five Wuchang God’s head.
Moreover, more than twenty Taoists and occult practitioners carefully selected by the Wei family, working together, really could have been capable of injuring his brother.
After figuring this out, Xu Muchan copied down the names and sects of these people and sent them to Yan He, asking him to help investigate their descendants and current whereabouts.
In the end, only Wei Ting, who knew nothing about what had happened, had escaped from the Wei family. The only people who could have come into contact with, or even imitated, the ascension ritual were these twenty-one people.
Yan He was part of the Religious Association and had a wide circle of acquaintances. Perhaps he could help determine what had happened to these people afterward and where they had gone.
Yan He quickly replied:
[There are a few families here that I know about. I’ll have to ask around about some of the others. Why are you suddenly investigating these people?]
There was no need to hide this, so Xu Muchan replied:
[I discovered a God Village in Panlong Ridge. There are a lot of strange things in the village, and I suspect someone is trying to ascend to immortality and create a god. I suspect these people may have something to do with God Village, but I’m not familiar with these sects, so I’d appreciate it if you could investigate them. For now, though, this is just a private investigation on my part, so please keep it confidential for the time being.]
Yan He:
[Got it. But it’ll probably take two or three days before I can give you an answer.]
Xu Muchan:
[No rush. I’ll treat you to a meal when I get back to Jiangcheng.]
After exiting WeChat, Xu Muchan finally collapsed onto the sofa. Looking at Wei Xilou beside him, he said, “Now we can only wait for the information.”
Wei Xilou lowered his eyes to look at him, his fingers reaching out to play with his hair.
Xu Muchan grabbed his hand and used it to pull himself upright. He studied him and said, “Brother, what exactly happened after you sent me back at the time?”
Wei Xilou remained silent, merely lowering his eyelids and playing with Xu Muchan’s fingers.
Other than being in human form now, he didn’t seem much different from when they had been at the Wei family’s old residence.
Xu Muchan shifted and lay down in another direction, resting his head on Wei Xilou’s lap. With his eyes half-closed, he mumbled, “Forget it. There’s no point asking you; you can’t explain it anyway. We might as well take a couple of days to rest. Let’s go out for dinner tonight.”
Wei Xilou looked down at him. His fingers moved through Xu Muchan’s black hair, and suddenly, he lowered his head and kissed him on the eyelid.
Xu Muchan’s eyelids flew open. He met Wei Xilou’s focused gaze, pressed his lips together, then looked away without making an issue of it.
After sending Huang Ying away, settling the remaining payment with the guide, and extending their stay at the guesthouse for another week, Xu Muchan spent the next two days wandering around town with Wei Xilou, eating and sightseeing.
After completely relaxing for two days, Yan He sent him a list on the third day.
Every person’s subsequent history was carefully noted.
Xu Muchan went through them one by one. Of these twenty-three people, fifteen had come from prestigious major sects. Despite experiencing all kinds of ups and downs, these sects had continued to pass down their traditions, and these fifteen people had eventually become ancestral masters enshrined by their respective sects.
However, records showed that twelve of them had died while handling matters in Yundong. Only three had survived, but because their foundations had been damaged, they all eventually died as well, some after only a few years and others after more than a decade.
Of the remaining eight, seven had not come from major sects. Given how much time had passed, no related traditions had been passed down, and no further information about them could be found. It was impossible to tell whether their lineages had died out or whether they had perished early on.
Only one other person had been singled out by Yan He, who sent over a voice message.
Xu Muchan tapped it open and heard Yan He say, “I initially thought this Ouyang Yuping was just someone with the same name, but after asking around, I discovered that he really was from the Ouyang family. The Ouyang family used to belong to the Zhengyi School. They had some ability, but they weren’t particularly powerful. Later, after all those things happened, and with the younger generation of the Ouyang family failing to keep up, the Ouyang family simply switched careers and went into politics and business. Ouyang Yuping’s grandson, Ouyang Zhen, is now in charge of the Religious Association. Your research institute also has his support.”
Xu Muchan’s thoughts stirred. He remembered Ouyang Mu, whom he had happened to see at the research institute last time. By that calculation, Ouyang Mu was Ouyang Yuping’s great-grandson.
“Is Ouyang Yuping still alive?” Xu Muchan asked.
Yan He said, “He is. People who practice cultivation place great importance on maintaining their health and cultivating their character, so those with some level of cultivation tend to have fairly long lifespans. But I estimate his health isn’t very good anymore. He rarely shows himself in public, and people of our generation can’t easily meet him.”
“You don’t suspect him, do you? The Ouyang family had already switched careers by Ouyang Zhen’s generation. Ouyang Mu is apparently pursuing a doctorate in biology now. Their family is probably better at science than occult studies these days.”
Xu Muchan said, “I was just asking.”
After ending the call and putting down his phone, Xu Muchan frowned in thought.
Of the twenty-three people from back then, the dead were dead, and there was no information about the rest. The only one whose whereabouts could be confirmed was Ouyang Yuping.
Just as he was thinking, his phone rang again. It was He Yunyi.
Xu Muchan answered, and He Yunyi’s voice came through.
“Xu Muchan, are you sure the coordinates you gave us are correct? After receiving your call last time, I sent people to investigate Panlong Ridge. They’ve now reached the vicinity of the coordinates you provided, but they haven’t found the God Village you mentioned.”
“They didn’t?” Xu Muchan said. “Are you sure they didn’t go to the wrong place?”
He Yunyi said, “They followed the route and coordinates you provided. There really wasn’t any sign of human or non-human activity. It’s just a forest covered in snow.”
After saying that, He Yunyi sent him a photo.
Xu Muchan switched out of the call and took a look. It was an actual photograph of the Snow Hollow.
How could it be gone?
Xu Muchan asked, “Are they still there?”
He Yunyi said, “They are.”
“Then have them stay there for another two days. I’ll head over there right now.”
Xu Muchan said decisively, “I’m absolutely certain that God Village exists.”
Hearing how certain he was, He Yunyi hesitated slightly before agreeing.
“Okay. I’ll have them remain there and wait. Get there as quickly as you can.”
Xu Muchan hung up and immediately began packing.
After going in and out twice, he had basically memorized the route. This time, he didn’t need to find another guide. After preparing the necessary equipment and supplies, Xu Muchan entered the mountains with Wei Xilou.
After traveling nonstop for two days and one night, Xu Muchan met up with the research institute’s people on the evening of the second day.
There were four people sent by the research institute to investigate this time, including Jin Qingqing, whom he had met before.
When she saw Xu Muchan, she greeted him and turned her computer screen toward him.
“While waiting for you these past two days, we searched the surrounding area as well. We didn’t find any living creatures other than wild animals.”
Xu Muchan glanced at the screen before turning to examine the surroundings.
The huge rock marking the entrance to God Village was not far in front of their campsite. Beyond it was a stretch of flat, snow-covered ground.
Xu Muchan strode forward and brushed away the snow covering the huge rock.
But the stone was completely bare. The three crookedly carved characters, “God Village,” that had been there before were nowhere to be seen.
Xu Muchan’s brows drew together even more tightly, and he continued forward.
The snowdrifts that had previously risen abruptly from the ground were gone. The imitation Ascension Tower and the huge cauldron buried underground had also disappeared without a trace.
Everything had been smoothed over by the heavy snow.
Not even the slightest trace of what had once been there remained.
Jin Qingqing followed beside him. Seeing his grim expression, she said, “Panlong Ridge is covered in snow, and everything is just a vast expanse of white. If people stay in an environment like this for too long, it’s easy to experience hallucinations because of the cold, the monotonous colors, or other factors.”
Xu Muchan shook his head and looked straight at her. “You forgot. I’m not human.”
Jin Qingqing was immediately speechless. But thinking about it carefully, it was true. Ordinary people might hallucinate in an environment like this, but Xu Muchan was the Ghost King. There was no reason for him to hallucinate.
“But we really didn’t find anything,” Jin Qingqing said helplessly.
Xu Muchan walked across the flat snowfield. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he took the dog-face mask off his backpack and put it on.
Ever since they had left Shuinan City, he had noticed that the dog-face mask seemed unaffected by illusion techniques and could see things closer to their true nature.
He put on the mask and wandered around the clearing.
Through the mask’s eyes, the scenery around them still appeared largely unchanged.
But after walking around the entire area, Xu Muchan noticed something unusual. He discovered that the scenery in one particular spot looked strange, carrying an eerie sense of incongruity. It was as if there were a mirror in front of them, reflecting the scenery beyond it.
“There’s something wrong here…”
Xu Muchan murmured as his hand transformed into a claw. He slowly reached out and touched the empty air. What should have been nothing but empty space instead met an invisible barrier beneath his palm.
“It’s a ghost domain.” Xu Muchan turned to Jin Qingqing and said with certainty.
The four people present all looked astonished. Clearly, none of them had expected Xu Muchan to discover a completely new ghost domain as soon as he arrived.
Jin Qingqing immediately informed He Yunyi, then looked at Xu Muchan. “Want to go in and take a look?”
Xu Muchan nodded.
He could sense that this ghost domain was extremely weak. He felt around with both hands, grabbed hold of the opening in the ghost domain, and forcefully tore it apart, creating a passage.
The four of them followed Xu Muchan inside, only to discover that they had returned to the area beside the enormous rock.
The surrounding scenery was exactly the same as before. However, this time, after the snow covering the boulder was brushed away, they could see the three crookedly carved characters on the stone:
God Village.
The group quickly took out their equipment and photographed everything for the record.
Xu Muchan looked toward the snow mounds that stood abruptly out of the snowfield. He noticed that all the skylights at the tops of those snow mounds were open.
He strode toward the nearest snow mound and found that it was indeed completely empty.
Every house was empty. The chicken-headed people in the village had disappeared.
“It looks like they left in a great hurry.”
Xu Muchan entered the largest snow house and picked up a kettle that had fallen onto the floor.
Although the chicken-headed people lived relatively primitive lives, their habits and way of life were still highly similar to those of humans. From what remained in the village, it was clear that they had left in an extreme hurry.
Only some crude furniture remained inside the snow house. The important belongings had probably all been taken away.
“There are so many snow houses here. If they really look the way you described them, where could such a huge group of monsters possibly hide?” Jin Qingqing asked, puzzled.
Her question was soon answered.
The five of them had only just emerged from the ghost domain when they received a call from He Yunyi.
He Yunyi said, “Panlin has come under attack. The local manpower is insufficient. The police are already helping evacuate the people, but the Religious Association personnel are still on their way. You need to head there immediately and provide support.”
Jin Qingqing’s expression turned serious. “Understood.”
He Yunyi immediately sent over another video. In a solemn voice, he said to Xu Muchan, “Xu Muchan, take a look. Are the things in this video the monsters you described?”
Once the video finished downloading, it began playing automatically.
Since it was already dark, the footage was somewhat blurry, but they could still clearly see a group of people, completely white and wearing no clothes, walking along the road.
A pair of enormous wings grew from their backs, while their heads looked remarkably similar to chicken heads. Their bizarre appearance quickly attracted a crowd of onlookers.
At first, the spectators clearly had no idea that these strangely shaped people were not actually human. They thought it was some kind of cosplay event, and one after another, they raised their phones—even turning on their flashes—to record the scene.
Compared with the relaxed attitude of the bystanders, the group of chicken-headed people surrounded by them appeared much more nervous.
The wings behind them spread open, and the fleshy combs atop their heads stood upright. They bared their teeth at the surrounding crowd in warning.
“Ugly mortals, why do you not kneel and worship when you see immortals?”
The spectators at the scene burst into laughter, treating it as nothing more than an actor’s line.
However, the laughter clearly enraged the group of chicken-headed people.
Xu Muchan saw one of the shorter chicken-headed people suddenly spread its wings. Its deformed fingers grabbed the nearest young man, and it widened its red eyes as it asked him, “What are you laughing at? Why are you laughing?”
The young man had not realized the danger at all. Even with his neck being squeezed, he continued grinning as he held up his phone and filmed the chicken-headed person.
He laughed. “Bro, your acting is pretty convincing. What did you make that headpiece out of? Nice craftsmanship. It looks pretty realistic.”
As he spoke, he boldly reached out to grab the other party’s “headpiece.”
But he did not manage to lift the other party’s “headpiece.”
Instead, he pulled off the feathers covering its face.
The chicken-headed person was clearly enraged by the provocative gesture. Its deformed fingers tightened, and with ease, it twisted the young man’s head off.
The severed head rolled across the ground with a gurgling sound, while blood sprayed out like a fountain, splattering the people nearby.
The young man whose head had been twisted off stared wide-eyed at the sky. His body lay several meters away, while the phone he had been using to record was still clutched in his hand.
After ten full seconds of silence, the crowd erupted into screams one after another, followed by a chaotic scramble to escape.
In the shaking camera footage, the group of chicken-headed people stood where they were, their deformed wings spread open while their heads turned around in confusion.
One of the chicken-headed people, apparently female, asked in a strange tone, “We are immortals. Why do they not kneel and worship when they see immortals?”
The chicken-headed person who had killed the man licked the blood from its fingers and exclaimed in wonder, “The blood of these mortals is sweeter than the animals in the mountains…”
The video abruptly ended there.
Everyone who had watched the video fell silent.
Someone standing behind Jin Qingqing blurted out, “What exactly are those things…?”
Jin Qingqing did not know either. She instinctively looked at Xu Muchan, feeling that he might have an answer.
Xu Muchan said, “They call themselves immortals, so naturally, they are gods and immortals.”
They were merely inferior imitations.
The person protested, “How could gods and immortals possibly look like that…?”
Xu Muchan gave a very faint laugh. “If you had ever seen a true god or immortal, you would understand. They are far more frightening than these chicken-headed people.”
The five of them did not have to wait long before a helicopter appeared overhead.
They climbed aboard via the rope ladder and then headed for Panlin.
Panlin was the city closest to Panlong Ridge. It was also the only city nearby with an airport and was an unavoidable stop for anyone traveling to Panlong Ridge. Its location at the foot of Panlong Ridge had also made it a popular tourist destination.
But now, because there were so many tourists, evacuating the crowds had become a major problem.
The armed police from the city itself and even the surrounding cities had all been mobilized. The streets where the incident had occurred were sealed off, while broadcasts repeatedly played:
“The police are currently pursuing criminals. We ask all members of the public to remain indoors and not go outside.”
“The videos are already all over the internet.”
Jin Qingqing lowered her phone and said, “It probably won’t be easy to contain the situation this time. The people in the public relations department are going to be cursing heaven and earth again.”
Xu Muchan looked outside through the helicopter window. “Where are they now?”
“The armed police have surrounded them. The two sides are currently confronting each other, and neither side dares to act rashly.”
As soon as the helicopter landed, someone came over to meet them.
Jin Qingqing greeted the person and, after learning the details of the situation, immediately drove over.
Strictly speaking, Xu Muchan, as an external member, did not actually need to follow them at a time like this. But first, the incident had happened so suddenly that they were seriously short-handed. Second, Xu Muchan was curious about these chicken-headed people as well.
So he went along.
When they arrived at the scene, they found that the chicken-headed people had been contained in front of the plaza of a large building. The entire surrounding area had already been cleared, leaving only armed police standing ready with their weapons.
Seeing Jin Qingqing and the others arrive, the officer in charge hurried over and quietly asked them what they planned to do.
Before Jin Qingqing and the others arrived, they had already exchanged fire with the group of monsters once.
But the bullets seemed unable to hurt these things.
For some unknown reason, the creatures had also refrained from attacking for the time being, so the two sides had ended up in a stalemate.
Xu Muchan looked at the surrounded chicken-headed people.
They were no longer surrounded by the ethereal aura of immortals they had displayed earlier. The feathers on their arms had been pierced by bullets, sticking out in a messy and disheveled fashion, exposing the deformed arms underneath.
But compared with the fear of being surrounded and hunted down, they seemed even more confused and bewildered.
Because they were too far away, ordinary people could not hear their conversation.
But Xu Muchan could hear them clearly.
They kept saying:
“Why don’t they worship when they see immortals?”
“Aren’t we immortals?”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Why…?”
Countless “whys” surrounded this group of deformed, bizarre monsters.
Their chicken-like faces were filled with genuine confusion and bewilderment, while their pale red eyes were faintly reddening from being driven into a desperate situation.
There was a helpless bewilderment in them, as though their inherent understanding and faith had been shattered.
And there was despair as well.
Thinking of the crooked words “God Village” carved into the stone at the entrance of the village, Xu Muchan was just about to say something when Jin Qingqing spoke.
“Let’s set up a formation first to prevent them from escaping. After that, you can try attacking them. Even if we can only delay them for a while, it’s better than nothing. The people from the Religious Association will arrive in half an hour.”
They were highly efficient.
As soon as Jin Qingqing finished speaking, the other four had already begun moving.
Meanwhile, the chicken-headed people at the center of the encirclement clearly had no intention of continuing the stalemate.
Xu Muchan heard the leader among them say, “We need to fight our way out first. These mortals have probably gone too long without seeing immortals, and they have already lost their reverence for the gods and immortals. Let’s teach them a lesson.”