Seeing them still standing there, Village Chief Feng grew more anxious. “Get down from there, quick!”
Ye Yang and Shen Ming took another look at the base of the cliff. The water was deep, the cliff was high, and there were many sharp rocks below. Shen Ming kicked a stone down and watched it disappear into the sea before leading Ye Yang back down.
Ye Yang asked again, “Why aren’t there any guardrails? This is extremely dangerous.”
Village Chief Feng said, “How can you say there aren’t? I’ve had them installed four or five times just in my first year here, but they were torn down not long after!”
“They simply won’t allow them!”
Ye Yang looked back again. Looking closely, he could indeed see traces of where guardrails had once been installed—metal bases still remained in the ground.
Feng seemed to have strong feelings about this too. Without needing to be asked, he continued, “They barely have any arable land to begin with, so they won’t give up even this tiny strip by the cliff. Installing guardrails would inevitably take up land area. From the second time onward, they started watching the installation crews—tearing down sections as fast as they were put up. The city’s allocated funds ran out, and in the end, there was nothing to be done. We had to let them be.”
Ye Yang tentatively asked, “I nearly fell off this place myself. All these years, has there never been an accident?”
“How could there not be? There have been plenty! Just a few days ago, two old ladies fell off here, sigh!” Feng shook his head and let out a deep sigh. “And still they refuse to allow guardrails. Their vision is ridiculously narrow—all they can see is that little bit of land!”
Shen Ming seized the moment to interject, “That’s strange. Since someone just died, why haven’t we seen any funeral arrangements in the village? Not even a single ‘no taboos’ note anywhere along the way.”
Feng scratched his cheek. “That I don’t know. Hey, now that you mention it, I realize—I really haven’t seen any village funerals all these years, no banquet meals either. The cemetery is right next to the ancestral hall, but every time I get close, someone chases me off. I’ve never even seen what they look like.”
They walked a bit further when suddenly shouting arose up ahead, punctuated by occasional cries and sobs.
One voice sounded particularly vicious. Ye Yang could vaguely make out: “…disrespect the gods… take away… watch out!”
An elderly voice babbled something about “don’t” — Ye Yang couldn’t quite catch it.
Taking a few more steps forward, the group ahead noticed Ye Yang and the other two. They fell silent abruptly. Ye Yang saw a white-haired old man holding onto another old man’s arm, silently weeping. When he saw Ye Yang, his gaze seemed to want to say something, but he kept his lips tightly sealed.
The old man being held had already lost all signs of life—likely a natural death. His spirit had departed immediately for the underworld. Several middle-aged men were grabbing the corpse’s other arm and both feet. There was a cart beside them, as if they were about to take the body away.
Village Chief Feng rushed over, panic-stricken. “What’s happened? Another death?”
The people around all look very grim. The middle-aged man holding one of the corpse’s arms spoke up. “Just another accidental fall off the cliff. Nothing serious.”
Ye Yang: ?
What kind of talk is that? Someone dies and that’s “nothing serious”?
But he didn’t speak rashly. The middle-aged men were looking at him and Shen Ming with great vigilance and strong hostility.
Unexpectedly, Shen Ming directly charged in.
Before anyone could react, he rushed forward and flipped the corpse over, then flipped it back. The four men holding the body felt an immense force they were completely unable to resist—it nearly sent them all flying.
The white-haired old man reacted first. He stood up and shoved Shen Ming. “What are you doing!”
Of course, Shen Ming didn’t let himself be pushed. He calmly set the body back down and returned to his original spot. “Falling from a cliff that high, yet not a single injury on the body. With such big waves at the base of the cliff, how did you even retrieve him from the sea? And most importantly—whether he fell to his death or drowned, why is there not a drop of water on him?”
These questions left everyone terrified. They hemmed and hawed, unable to say a word. The faces of the three middle-aged men opposite them darkened. The one who had spoken first said viciously, “Why are you asking about this? None of your business. Get lost!”
He was very aggressive and spoke with a thick accent. Without Feng’s translation, neither Ye Yang nor Shen Ming could understand him.
Feng looked terrified too, constantly urging Ye Yang and Shen Ming to leave with him. “Stop asking! Don’t meddle in things you shouldn’t. We can’t afford to provoke those people.”
It wasn’t time yet to alert the enemy. Ye Yang and Shen Ming exchanged a glance, then silently followed Feng away.
In that last glance, Ye Yang saw the profound grief in the white-haired old man’s eyes.
·
For the rest of the walk, none of them brought up what had just happened. After going through the motions of collecting a few test tubes of seawater near the shallow beach, Ye Yang asked Village Chief Feng if there were any local legends about gods or ghosts.
The intelligence had mentioned that this clue was also very important.
Feng rubbed his chin. “I think I’ve heard there’s some kind of Dragon God here, and there used to be a temple…”
He thought for a moment, then said a little sheepishly, “I haven’t really heard people mention it much. Must have been a long time ago. That Dragon God Temple is long gone. At least, I’ve never seen it.”
After putting the items away, Shen Ming said, “We won’t trouble you any further, Village Chief Feng. We can find our own way back later.”
Feng hesitated. “Well… it might not be very convenient for you two to walk around the village alone. Maybe I should still escort you back.”
He phrased it tactfully, but the truth was he was genuinely afraid of Shen Ming. The man looked so refined and gentle—how could he be so recklessly bold? Wasn’t he afraid those people would kill him here?
Ye Yang was about to say something when Shen Ming, without any physical contact, tapped Feng’s brow from a distance. Feng suddenly went dazed for a moment, scratched his head, ignored the two in front of him, turned around, and started walking back, muttering to himself, “I should go back. I should go back.”
Ye Yang looked at Shen Ming. “Is this what divine power is meant for?”
Shen Ming blinked. “It’s more convenient this way. Besides, I don’t answer to the YCG.” The YCG’s rules didn’t apply to him, and his divine power was gentle—it wouldn’t harm humans like ordinary spiritual techniques would.
Ye Yang: “…Fair enough.” Completely irrefutable.
With Feng sent off and the tide now out, Shen Ming naturally took Ye Yang’s hand and led him down onto the exposed reef. “Come on, let’s go find that group from earlier.”
Am I really that delicate? Ye Yang wondered, a bit puzzled. But who could refuse a god’s meticulous care? Though he found it odd, he accepted it readily. Being led by Teacher Shen just felt incredibly safe.
After walking a short distance, Ye Yang suddenly thought of something. “Hey wait—if Village Chief Feng goes back alone and runs into other villagers, won’t they know we’re still in the village? Won’t that make them even more defensive?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve also placed a technique on Feng. Others will overlook him.”
Back when they encountered the villagers, Ye Yang and Shen Ming had tacitly each cast a tracking spell—Ye Yang on the fiercest-looking middle-aged man, and Shen Ming’s, even more powerful, had every single person there under his surveillance.
Not long after they left, most of the villagers had dispersed, leaving only the three middle-aged men, the corpse, and the white-haired old man clutching it. Ten minutes ago, Shen Ming sensed two of the middle-aged men moving with the corpse, while the third man and the white-haired elder went in another direction.
He told Ye Yang this. In unison, they said, “Let’s check the corpse first.”
The corpse was moving toward their location. The two concealed themselves and waited. Sure enough, before long, they saw the two middle-aged men pulling a cart with the corpse, sweating profusely, as they came into view.
One pushed, one pulled, struggling hard along the uneven, wet, muddy dirt road.
They continued until they reached the seaside and stopped. Then a middle-aged man they hadn’t seen before appeared. His face was no different from any other villager, but his body was exceptionally strong and tall. He carried ropes and a body bag.
Ye Yang could see clearly—it wasn’t just any bag. It was a genuine body bag, designed specifically for corpses.
They sealed the body inside, secured it with ropes to the burly man’s back, and continued on.
Feeling their way along the reefs near the shallows, they walked into the seawater. After about two hundred meters, they suddenly vanished.
Ye Yang and Shen Ming immediately followed. They discovered a turn—behind the reef was a hidden passage leading to a cave of unknown size.
The entrance was so concealed that it was impossible to detect without standing right in front of it.
The two exchanged a glance, both somewhat surprised.
This village was highly peculiar. Every time Ye Yang stepped into its bounds, his perception of the surrounding environment diminished, as if something were interfering with him—especially near the seaside, where the effect was even stronger. Even Shen Ming was affected. That explained why, despite being by the coast for so long, they hadn’t noticed such a place existed.
“Let’s go!” Ye Yang immediately moved to follow, pulling Shen Ming’s hand, but Shen Ming didn’t budge.
“It’s probably very narrow inside. Transform into your original form and stay in here.” He pointed to the pocket on his chest.
Ye Yang thought about it. Hey, his original form really would be more convenient. He happily agreed.
Shen Ming felt a soft, warm weight on his chest. Ye Yang nestled comfortably in the pocket, his head just peeking out. Both were thoroughly pleased.
The passage was rugged—sloping up and down, with some spots extremely narrow and others very low-ceilinged. At times, the men even had to remove the corpse to get through.
After walking four or five hundred meters, the three men were completely exhausted.
“Rest a bit,” said the burly man—his first words since appearing.
“Okay, big brother,” the other two immediately sighed with relief. Not caring about the damp cave floor, they plopped down heavily. Their clothes were already soaked through anyway.
They had been exhausted for a while, not wanting to speak the entire way, yet afraid to stop. Now that they were sitting, they finally chatted for a bit.
Ye Yang and Shen Ming quietly pricked up their ears.
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