Carefree Path of Dreams

"These villagers...aren’t human?"

Chen Xin broke out in cold sweat. She replayed the happenings of the day in her mind, meeting the woodcutter, the village chief and Madam Donghua. She could not help but feel faint.

"How could they all be ghosts?"

"Amituofo...I don’t feel any ghostly aura emanating from them either. Could it be that all of them are malevolent spirits?"

Jiese was confused as well.

"Fang Yuan’s opinion might sound ridiculous, but the unease I feel in my heart right now tells me that this may very well be the case!"

Tantai Guihu continued to speak in a calm manner.

"Ghost Sealing Village...it is now a ghost village inhabited only by ghosts!"

"My god...we have fallen into a trap."

Chen He spat out the chunk of meat he was chewing on and retched. He was cross.

"Since we are aware that this place has a problem, why did we still come here?"

"Wait up!"

Fang Yuan shook his head.

"I only said that they were dead. I didn’t say that they were ghosts."

"My head hurts..."

Chen He looked very distressed.

"If they are dead, and can move about, what else can they be other than ghosts?"

"I can’t say for sure..."

Fang Yuan had gone silent. The people in the village were very strange indeed.

All of them seemed like they were enveloped in a mist as if their days were numbered. At the same time, they looked active and not at all like ghosts.

"We have a situation!"

They had realised that something was up.

"It is too quiet outside!"

A mountain village like this would have no lack of livestock. But now, night had fallen and there was a deathly silence outside.

It did not seem like it meant anything, but right now, they were feeling extremely uncomfortable.

Whoosh!

The oil lamps in the house flickered even though the flames were encased in glass. They all went out one by one.

"Strange indeed. This is worth an investigation!"

Tantai Guihu rubbed the mask he was wearing on his face.

"What do you all think?"

"No matter what, let’s look for this person before anything else."

Fang Yuan got to his feet and walked out of the house.

Dark clouds swam about in the night sky. A full moon was out and threw a cold light upon the landscape.

"Ah!"

As they inspected their surroundings, a piercing scream cut through the silence. It sounded like it was from a woman.

"It came from Madam Donghua’s house!"

Fang Yuan and Tantau Guihu rushed forward to the house and barged the door open.

Ping!

The few of them entered the house, holding an oil lamp between themselves and the darkness within.

"Madam Donghua?"

Chen Xin called out hesitantly, but no reply came.

"What is going on? She was here just now..."

She walked a few steps forward before the light from the oil lamp fell upon a figure. It was a little figure that hung above the ground.

"A corpse? It looks like her son, Goudan!"

Chen Xin could feel her voice begin to quiver.

"Tsktsk...this is sorcery!"

From the light of the oil lamp, Fang Yuan could clearly see that the child wearing red was hanging from the beam. He had been dead for some time and there was a pin stuck deep into his head.

"Amituofo, I’ve seen this set up before. The South Sea Sorcerer once used this method to acquired souls!"

Jiese rubbed his bald head.

"Could this be...the origin of the curse?"

Chen He was shocked.

"A sorcerer harming an entire village. What could his motive be? To acquire souls, or to derive a curse?"

Hey!

Chen He suddenly felt himself go numb. The hanging dead child had opened its eyes and was smiling at him.

"Ghost!"

Although Chen He was afraid, he was after all an elite exorcist and quickly sprayed amulet water upwards.

Ping!

The rope broke and this body fell to the ground with a thud.

"Boss, this child came alive for a moment!"

Chen He took a few steps back tentatively.

"I can’t sense anything..."

Tantai Guihu had an awful look on his face. He proceeded to cut open his palm and let his blood drip over the area.

"Go examine the boy’s body for clues."

"Alright!"

Chen He was confident in Tantai Guihu’s abilities and strode forward. He then turned the corpse over.

"Uhm...the corpse is cold. It has been dead for a while. The red clothes were put on it after its death. The pin on its head was hammered in by a person with experience."

He had some serious doubts. The killer must be human. If a spirit wanted to kill, it would not be such a sucker for details.

"Still...the most important concern is whether this sorcery was successful..."

Chen He stood up and dusted his hands.

"This is indeed a corpse and not a ghost in disguise. Even if there were ghosts around, they would have run away when Boss decided to use his blood, am I right? Haha..."

He had barely finished speaking when a stunned look came over his face. It was as if he had seen something incredible. Without any warning, he disappeared.

"Chen He?"

"Brother!"

...

Jiese and Chen Xin has looks of disbelief on their faces while Tantai Guihu could only stare at his hands blankly.

Blood continued to flow from the wound on his palm.

"I have been careless...I have underestimated the ’ghosts’ here. They do not even look like they are affected in the least by my measures!"

Tantai Guihu sighed deeply.

"I didn’t manage to find any clues either..."

Fang Yuan had lost the gleam in his eyes, but his excitement had not diminished.

’Another curse of the Strange Level?’

"The boy...the boy is gone!"

Chen Xin screamed.

At this point, Jiese and the rest suddenly realised that the corpse on the floor had disappeared.

"Brother..."

Chen Xin fell to the floor, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Everyone, especially Taitai Guihu, was aware of Chen He’s abilities. In the face of such a powerful curse, he had little or no chance of survival.

"Sigh..."

He thought for a moment before pulling Chen Xin’s palm closer to him. He then drew a talismanic symbol on it with his blood.

’Chen He is most probably dead. I cannot let his sister suffer the same fate."

"The most important thing to do right now is to seek out other people, or ghosts. We can barely make sense of all that is happening and we need to get to the heart of the matter!"

Just as he got to his feet, his sharp ears picked out a muted sound.

"Come with me!"

Ping!

In the next moment, Fang Yuan had rushed out of the room with Tantai Guihu and Jiese following close behind. Chen Xin also dried her tears and ran after the rest.

Behind the stove in the kitchen, among the firewood, Fang Yuan noticed a trembling figure in the dark.

"Madam Donghua?"

"Goudan is dead...I caused his death..."

Madam Donghua looked at them with unseeing eyes and muttered to herself.

"Back then...I should not have told him about that place and let him find out about that ’thing’!"

"What ’thing’?"

Chen Xin grabbed Madam Donghua’s wrist.

"Tell us! Don’t you want to avenge your son?"

"We can’t...hehe..."

Madam Donghua peered at Chen Xin in a frightening manner, then reverted back to her dreamy state.

"You will die! Everyone who knows about that ’thing’ will die!"

"If we find out...we’ll die?"

Tantai Guihu was alarmed. This was a Killer curse. It had far-reaching effects and was highly destructive. There was no way to counter it.

"Interesting. Now...tell me. Let it curse me!"

Fang Yuan stepped forward, warm blood surging through his veins. His gaze was tranquil and had a soothing effect.

"Tell me..."

"N...no!"

Madam Donghua went through an internal struggle before her expression went slack once more.

"...Don’t go...to the temple!"

"Temple? Seems like that ’thing’ is being worshipped?"

Having acquired this valuable piece of information, Fang Yuan attempted to ask for the location of the temple, but Madam Donghua would not speak anymore.

"This is a small village. Looking for a temple shouldn’t be too hard."

Tantai Guihu assured the rest.

"Really? I don’t think it’ll be that easy..."

Fang Yuan leapt onto the roof and began to scan the entire village. Every house in sight was enshrouded in darkness.

The buildings all looked similar and there were not any places that merited a second look.

"Be careful!"

As Fang Yuan descended from the roof, he issued a warning to the rest.

"It would be dangerous to split up now. Let’s go look around for that temple together...by the way, where is Madam Donghua?"

"She...she was just here. She just suddenly disappeared."

Chen Xin was palpitating.

"President...boss, will I die here?"

"No way, we’ll all be fine! And we’ll deactivate the curse too!"

Tantai Guihu tried his best to be encouraging.

"I’ve spent too much time and effort preparing for this. I won’t waste it all on dying."

"Amituofo, me neither!"

Jiese had a saintly air about him, and his body glowed.

The four of them exited the Donghua house and walked about aimlessly in the village.

It was disturbing that there was no one in sight. It was as if the entire village was devoid of life save for the four of them.

"Ehh?"

Jiese suddenly came to a halt. He had discovered something.

"That is..."

A building hidden behind the trees appeared before his eyes. Although it looked like most of the buildings in the area, there was no ignoring the chills it gave him.

"Here...so this is the temple?"

Jiese was so happy that he forgot himself and was poised to step forward before a cool hand pulled him back.

"This..."

Jiese then realised that the building ahead of him was but an illusion. If he had gone any further, he would have fallen into a ditch.

This village was a nightmare. It would be a miracle if they could get out alive.

"Thank you for saving me!"

Jiese shuddered as he thought about the fate awaiting him if Fang Yuan had not held him back in time.