"Thirty years ago? Or twenty-five?" Luo Peng thought for a moment, furrowing his brows, "I don’t really remember. Anyway, the place where the ancestor sleeps is just behind this village, a few mountains over."

"Let’s go." Tianmiao, carrying a bag, took the lead and walked ahead.

"Yes, let’s go quickly, or it’ll be dark soon. Tonight we’ll borrow a place to stay for the night, and look for it tomorrow morning." Wu Yihao said, even more eager than Liang Bing.

The winding muddy road could only accommodate two people walking side by side.

Before night fell, they saw a village.

At this time, wisps of smoke rose as each household prepared dinner.

As Tianmiao and the others entered the village, an old man stopped them at the entrance. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Where are you coming from?" The old man, with yellow teeth and an unfriendly look, sized up Cui Wenyan and the rest from head to toe, and said coldly, "We don’t welcome outsiders here. Leave immediately."

"Sir, we’re here for an expedition. We’ll stay one night and leave tomorrow. It’s already dark, and we have no place to go." Wu Yihao stepped forward to explain.

"I don’t care what you’re here for, what do you mean no place to go? Just head back the way you came." The old man replied gruffly, "I said we don’t welcome outsiders here. Can’t you understand?"

"We just want to borrow a place for one night, and we can pay you. We came by car and if we go back now, there are no cars available. We won’t reach the town by night..." Wu Yihao explained patiently.

"Go, go. Really, you’re full of nonsense running to such a godforsaken place for adventure, are you crazy!" The old man completely ignored Wu Yihao’s explanation, starting to usher them away.

"Sir, why are you like this?" Cui Wenyan and the others stepped back a few paces, suddenly recalling the driver’s mention of harsh mountains and waters. Why is this old man so unreasonable?

"Hey, Old Wu, what are you doing? Sending people off when a group arrives, what if they encounter wolves or bears on the road, that’s very dangerous." Just then, a couple saw them and approached to hold back the old man, then turned with smiling faces to Cui Wenyan and the others, saying, "Don’t mind him, Old Wu just has this bad temper, doesn’t like outsiders visiting our village."

"Do you want to stay at our home? We’ll change the sheets and blankets for clean ones, they’re surely clean although not new, I just washed them yesterday. It’s late already, haven’t had dinner yet, right? I’ll make wild vegetable pancakes, city folks surely like the authentic taste." The wife from the couple, seemingly in her fifties, was very enthusiastic and then changed the subject, "However, the price might be a little high..."

"Alright. There are six of us, staying one night, plus meals tonight and tomorrow morning, how much would that be?" Cui Wenyan replied.

"A hundred per person, so six hundred total." The woman happily rubbed her hands.

"Then let’s go." Wu Yihao, carrying his bag, rubbed his stomach, truth is he was already hungry.

The woman and her husband happily walked ahead to lead the way, occasionally turning back to check if they were following.

Old Wu stood in place, watching the backs of Cui Wenyan and his group, not moving for a long time.

Tianmiao glanced up at the sky above the village, where a piece of black aura, unseen by ordinary people, swirled.

She pressed down the brim of her hat and followed behind Cui Wenyan and the others.