Chapter 45: Strange

We didn’t know anything about this place. We had no idea where we were going, and then suddenly we heard this sound, which meant that someone was coming. No matter what their purpose was, it gave us a direction to follow.

So, I led everyone to stand on the wooden bridge and wait quietly.

The sound was getting louder and louder, and it was getting closer and closer. With this sound, I saw a group of people coming out of the gap in the mountains.

This sudden glance made me a little strange, but when I looked more closely, I realized that they had come out from behind, indicating that there was a valley hidden behind the mountains.

No wonder such a strange village is unknown. It turns out that it is extremely hidden from the terrain.

There were only ten people in the group, a few of them sitting on the wooden cart pulled by a horse, one person pulling the cart, and a few people wearing conical hats following on foot. They were not moving fast, but because it was flat land, they quickly reached us and then stopped about ten meters away.

At first glance, I was a little surprised to see these people. The few people wearing conical hats were fine, but the man pulling the cart was a middle-aged man wearing a sheepskin coat. Apart from his expressionless face and indifferent eyes, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about him. What surprised me were the people in the cart.

They were dressed in Taoist robes, just like when I first met my master. At first glance, it was impossible to tell their age. They looked like middle-aged people, but also like old people. They were called middle-aged because the signs of age were not too obvious, and they were called old because the vicissitudes of life were evident in their eyes. At first glance, it was clear that they were not people of a young age.

But unlike my master, these people seemed to be very concerned about their appearance. Although their robes were not new, they were still vaguely luxurious and very clean. Their hair was tied up in a bun, which is the standard hairstyle for Taoist priests. Modern Taoist priests rarely dress like this, but these people had their hair tied up in a bun with meticulous care, as if they had just applied hair oil.

These people are very strange. They look familiar at first glance, but you can’t quite remember their faces. This is either because they have common faces, or because their skills have reached a very high level, in harmony with heaven and earth, so they appear without being abrupt or out of place. They make you feel both familiar and elusive like floating clouds.

While I was looking at these people, they were also looking at us. Only the Taoist priest sitting in the middle half-closed his eyes and didn’t look at us.

The atmosphere was very quiet. We didn’t know what to say to these people who had suddenly appeared, and they didn’t say anything either. It was just that the way they looked at us was so strange that I couldn’t describe it.

After a dozen seconds, the Taoist sitting in the middle suddenly opened his eyes and his gaze fell on me.

Just from that glance, I felt an inexplicable and enormous pressure, and I found that I dared not look into his eyes… In addition to the tremendous pressure, I felt that this person seemed to see through everything. Something that came out of his eyes was not something that ordinary people could possess, making people feel that this was not a person at all, but… rather an old monster that had lived for a long time.

My forehead was inexplicably covered with fine beads of sweat, and the stubbornness that had always been in my bones was also rapidly disintegrating. I had an intuitive feeling that I had no resistance to this Taoist priest, and I should even give him a little respect. I didn’t even know where this emotion came from.

“Chen Chengyi.” The Taoist priest spoke inexplicably.

“Ah?” I subconsciously let out a meaningless exclamation, and when I looked up, I inevitably met the Taoist priest’s, or rather, the old Taoist priest’s gaze. My mind was like an electric shock. How did he know my name was Chen Chengyi?

“Are you the successor of the Shan Zi School?” The old Taoist had a strong and inexplicably simple way of speaking, not giving any explanation, but just asking directly what he wanted to ask…

I swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and behind me, everyone’s breathing became a little heavy. I’m afraid everyone felt the pressure.

“Yes.” I don’t know why I answered directly. I felt a vague sense of humiliation in my heart. I subconsciously clenched my fists and kept breathing in to myself. Finally, I had the courage to look at him and asked, “How do you know my…?”

I originally wanted to say how you knew everything about me, but for some reason, my voice got smaller and smaller, so that my courage was not enough to support me to finish the sentence.

“Calculation.” Unexpectedly, the old man gave me an answer. Although the answer was only two words, it already made everything clear.

Calculate? I suddenly remembered all the terrible things in that town. Could it be… could it be… him?

This thought made me involuntarily look up, looking at the old Taoist with some trepidation. He also looked back at me calmly, but his eyes had a great attraction. I only looked at him once, but I couldn’t move my eyes away freely.

“You’re very good, and you have the courage to ask me questions.” I couldn’t speak anymore. The people behind me, who were also a group of proud and stubborn people, couldn’t make any sound either. But the old Taoist calmly opened his mouth.

I couldn’t tell the context or the mood of what he said, and I couldn’t tell whether he was praising me or whether I had offended him. In any case, in the deep autumn weather, my back was wet with sweat.

Many people may not understand how I feel, but I can’t help but think of Jiang Yi. Everything about him is like this. He has a news anchor’s voice and hides his emotions very deeply. Compared to this old man, he seems deliberately pretentious, while the old man naturally hides everything.

I still looked at him, because I simply couldn’t take my eyes off him. He continued, “The choice is yours. Stay in this village and become a part of it. Follow me. Stay in this village and become a sacrifice after a certain period of time. Choose.”

At this moment, my fine sweat had accumulated into beads of sweat, rolling down the edge of my forehead. The old man spoke without any nonsense, to the point where there were no more conjunctions or transitions, but I still understood what he meant. To live, was to follow him and become an existence that “helped the wicked”. To die, was to be sacrificed here.

And apart from these two options, there is no hint of any other meaning in his words.

My clenched fist was also sweating. I had faced death many times, and even when I had narrowly escaped death, I had never felt such pressure. But in the face of absolute power, even though I would feel fear and weakness, what could not be changed or erased was my soul.

I can’t forget those poor old people, their protection and persistence, and even the glimmer of light they sacrificed their lives for… How can I use the path they paved with their lives to get here, and then become another ‘executioner’ who ‘slaughters’ them?

“People always have a bottom line.” My master’s words echoed in my head. What he didn’t say was that even if this bottom line has to be protected at the cost of one’s life.

“Morality, morality, morality and righteousness are linked, and righteousness is the greater righteousness!” The master once lectured Xiao Chengqian’s elders, that is, Wu Liyu, who disappeared with my master.

I could not forget these words. Under pressure, my breathing became difficult, and sweat poured down my body like I had just been pulled out of the water. But an inexplicable courage welled up within me, allowing me to look at the old Taoist master and say, word for word, “I will not choose to follow you.”

“Good.” The old Taoist didn’t even ask the meaning of the second time, but instead looked at the people behind me and asked, “You guys?”

There was no sound coming from behind me, but I subconsciously looked back and saw that everyone was shaking their heads in unison. They might not have been able to say anything under pressure, but they had chosen to stand with me without hesitation. This made me feel at ease, but not moved, because we had gone through life and death together and understood each other. Isn’t this a matter of course?

“Very good.” The old Taoist squinted again, and the atmosphere became silent again. But as he closed his eyes, I felt the pressure suddenly decrease, and I was finally able to breathe smoothly.

At this moment, I didn’t notice that one person was even more relaxed than me, and that was Tao Bai. He inexplicably resisted this pressure…

After another ten seconds, the old man still didn’t open his eyes, but he spoke again: “Xiao Chengqian, bring him over. Also, that one, interesting, bring him over.”

He was pointing at Tao Bai. Why did he single out Xiao Chengqian?

This holy village… I feel like I’m already in a deep quagmire, and I can’t see clearly around me anymore.