Chapter 208

Chapter 208

Not long after they ate, Aunt Song, whom they had met yesterday, arrived.

“The Village Head said you came to learn about our village’s Tree Deity culture. I’ll take you around the village today and show you the sights.”

Aunt Song cheerfully led everyone outside. Along the way, Cheng Miao paid particular attention to the villagers in each household.

“Aunt Song, is anyone in the village sick at the moment?” It was a slightly impolite question, but it was the best starting point.

Hearing the apology in Cheng Miao’s tone, Aunt Song waved kindly. “Not this year, thanks to the Tree Deity. But this is usually the season when people fall ill.”

Lin Zhu found that strange. He leaned forward to ask, “There’s a pattern to when villagers get sick?”

Aunt Song sighed as she walked. “It’s spring now. It ought to be the season when everything comes back to life, but it’s easy to get sick in spring. In past years, most people fell ill around this time.”

Cheng Miao’s heart sank. She had a bad feeling that illness would be the source of danger in this instance.

Aunt Song first took them to the Tree Deity’s shrine.

Although they called it a shrine, it was really just a small building. An incense burner stood at the entrance, and plenty of incense was burning.

“The shrine’s in there.” Aunt Song brushed dust from her trouser legs and pointed it out.

“We villagers come to worship early in the morning. You don’t believe in this, so you can go in and have a look.”

Fang Jing held on to Zhu Cong, unwilling to enter. “Temples are usually so creepy. Let them go.”

Watching Cheng Miao’s group enter the temple without any hesitation, Zhu Cong knew this was an important place. He had no choice but to call Ma Yang over.

“Stay with her. Fanzi and I will go in.”

“No! I don’t want them staying with me!” Fang Jing threw an unhappy tantrum, but she understood the situation perfectly well.

Zhu Cong was the strongest person on their team, and the one who would look after her.

She had to stay with him. If something happened, never mind whether those other two could protect her, they certainly wouldn’t bother.

Zhu Cong felt a headache coming on. He could only give the others a look, and Kong Fan and Ma Yang rolled their eyes and went inside.

“Aren’t you going in?” Standing beside the incense burner, Zu Gehan looked at Qin Musong, Lin Zhu, and Freckles, who were waiting outside.

Lin Zhu shook his head honestly. “It’s not big in there. Sister Miaomiao and the others can take a look.”

He steadied Mini Lin on his shoulder, then asked curiously, “You’re not going in either?”

Zu Gehan smiled. “No. Too crowded.”

Lin Zhu said nothing more. That was what it meant to be truly powerful: enter an instance alone, ignore the clues, and still get out unscathed.

Cheng Miao had gone in with Qiudong and Qi Jiajia. Yang Ke followed too, while the other groups each sent one or two people inside.

Shi Biao didn’t want to stay outside face-to-face with Zu Gehan, so he volunteered to go in with their strategist, Wang Yang.

With so many people suddenly packed into the little temple, it was rather crowded.

Cheng Miao looked up at the statue on the table. It was a two-faced deity, with a beautiful, captivating female face on one side and a masculine male face on the other.

She nodded inwardly. The older woman yesterday had said the Tree Deity had a thousand faces for a thousand people. Ultimately, though, those faces fell into male and female forms.

The statue was finely made. It had probably been commissioned outside the village and brought in to be enshrined.

Fresh fruit lay on the altar, which appeared to be cleaned regularly.

Cheng Miao noticed that the statue wore various ornaments made of grasses and wood, giving it an ethereal air.

After a circuit of the room turned up nothing, everyone came back out.

Once they confirmed that nothing had happened to those who went in first, the people who had originally waited outside went in for a look too.
Only Zu Gehan remained, still watching Shi Biao lazily, as though clearing the instance mattered less than keeping an eye on this man.

After coming out, Cheng Miao studied the couplet on the temple.

On the left it read, “With great mercy and compassion, ferry people across the boundless sea of suffering.” On the right, “With great joy and selfless giving, help the afflicted find release.” Across the middle were four large characters meaning, “Deliver all people.”

The two lines weren’t particularly well matched, but they showed how much importance the villagers placed on the Tree Deity.

Once everyone had looked inside, Aunt Song led them out of the village again.

“There’s a thousand-year-old tree here, with a really thick trunk. We all regard that tree as the Tree Deity’s true body.”

The mountain path was difficult. Qin Musong and Qiudong cleared the way up front, and after a little over ten minutes, they arrived.

Even ten people might not have been able to encircle the tree with their arms. Lush green branches weighed heavily on its crown, and its roots twisted and intertwined. It had stood here for many years.

Everyone was stunned by the magnificent sight for a moment before recovering their senses one after another.

After the instance involving Gejin, Cheng Miao was particularly alert to trees turning into spirits.

She looked this way and that, but couldn’t find anything unusual about this tree. Besides, as far as she knew, it was common for villages deep in the mountains to worship thousand-year-old trees.

Cheng Miao made a point of memorizing the route on the way back. By the time they finished touring the village, most of the day had passed.

Today, Qin Musong had helped villagers move things and received two fish and some fresh, green Chinese lettuce in return.

The others were envious, but they weren’t shameless enough to invite themselves to dinner. They scattered to find food of their own.

Cheng Miao and Qi Jiajia helped wash the vegetables, while Qiudong went to the stream to clean the fish.

A little stream ran behind the players’ courtyard. Hooking the two fish on his fingertips and holding a knife, Qiudong scraped their scales on a rock at the bank.

Rustle, rustle.

Someone came through the grass and stopped beside him.

“Haven’t seen you in a long time.” Zu Gehan sat comfortably in the weeds, watching Qiudong deftly remove the fish’s innards.

“I didn’t expect you to still be playing the righteous cop after all this time, either.” Qiudong answered coldly without turning around.

“Can’t help it. Other people might not think so, but people like us should all find the Survival Inn a pretty good place. A good place deserves to be protected.” With a blade of wild grass between his lips, Zu Gehan watched the distant clouds.

“This team you’ve found is interesting. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such an uncomplicated group.” After watching the clouds for a while, Zu Gehan seemed to make the observation on impulse.

“What did you see?” Qiudong finished scaling both fish, rinsed them clean, and turned around, looking utterly untroubled.

Zu Gehan chuckled and tapped beside his eyes. “No blood on their hands, and their minds are pure too. After so many instances, three of the four are still good-hearted people.”

“As for the other one…” Remembering the pretty little girl, he looked intrigued. “A strong smell of blood and little sense of morality. She ought to be someone who’d stop at nothing to get what she wants, yet even now, her hands are still fairly clean.”

“And she’s a lot less vicious around Cheng Miao. That’s rare.”

Having said his piece, Zu Gehan delivered his conclusion with enthusiasm.

Qiudong’s lips curved slightly. He stood, carrying the two cleaned fish, and started back.

After a couple of steps, he stopped. Without turning around, he asked casually, as though the thought had just occurred to him, “Are you still waiting for Chi Qing?”

Zu Gehan’s throat moved. He looked up at the sky, the grass in his mouth bobbing with the movement. “Yeah.”