Chapter 326: Wild Flower, Farewell and Morning Training

Late night, granary.

Bright moonlight seeped faintly through the cracks in the door, sprinkling a layer of silver frost on the ground.

Dongshu stood in place, and the silver-white moonlight from outside the door sprinkled on his thin body.

He didn't have any particularly big movements.

But the slightly trembling arms and the boots that occasionally lifted and fell in place already showed his surging heart.

"Lily'ai, you really... really can't stay in the village anymore!"

The clear eyes unique to a young man were now red, and his voice even carried a hint of crying.

And in stark contrast to this was the girl standing quietly in the shadows before Dongshu, who was bathed in moonlight.

A plain white linen dress was like a wild flower wilted by rain in the mud.

Her appearance was not outstanding, and her not-so-exquisite facial features could only see blurred outlines under the shadow covering her cheeks.

Only those crystal-clear eyes reflecting the moonlight, incomparably calm, were particularly eye-catching.

"Dongshu." Different from the boy's urgency and irritability, her voice was as soft and clear as the evening breeze, "I understand your heart, but..."

"Running away is useless and meaningless."

"How can it be meaningless!?"

Dongshu's tone was excited, and his hands subconsciously reached out to grab the other party's shoulders, but just as they were raised, they stiffened for a moment as if realizing something, and instead gently held the other party's forearm and wrist.

"We can go together, River Valley Town, Niumu... anywhere is fine! I can hunt, I can do hard labor, I can protect you, I swear!"

"As long as you leave the village, you can, you can..."

Looking at those eyes that were always calm and without any wavering, Dongshu, who was forcibly suppressing the emotions in his heart, had a voice that became more and more urgent, and in the end, it was even like some kind of low, hoarse roar:

"Is it possible that you must use your own life to exchange for that so-called peace and tranquility!?"

"That's all a lie!"

"It's made up by the village chief and the others..."

"Dongshu." The girl named "Lily'ai" interrupted the other party's words, her tone still steady and calm, and the depths of her eyes were filled with moonlight.

"'Ritual' needs sacrifices. This is a tradition from the ancestors. If my sacrifice can exchange for the stability of the village for the next few years, let the children grow up safely, and let the hunters return fully loaded, then it... is worth it."

"Worth it? Even if the price is a life that shouldn't have passed away?" Dongshu's voice trembled because of despair, "I don't believe it!"

"Yes, Mr. Xia Nan, that powerful adventurer lives in the village... I will go and ask him for help! Even if I am his servant for the rest of my life, I will..."

"And then?"

The female voice was soft and waveless, but it seemed to contain some kind of unquestionable power, interrupting the other party again.

"Let him use force to control the whole village, and even confront the existence in the canyon? Let foreign power trample on the traditions we have believed in for generations?"

"What's more, that gentleman is an adventurer, not a believer serving the God of Justice. Why should you let him step into this muddy water? Just rely on these moldy and rotten empty houses in the village?"

Lily'ai raised her head slightly, her eyes filled with moonlight looking straight at the other party, making Dongshu subconsciously move his gaze away, not daring to look at her.

"Dongshu, even if I agree to leave with you today, what about later? What will happen to the village?"

"Who will bear the anger of that existence in the canyon? How will other villagers look at my family, how will they look at you?"

She gently broke free from Dongshu's hands and took a step back, letting the last trace of moonlight at the tip of her nose be completely swallowed by the shadows.

"This is my destiny, Dongshu."

"From the moment I was born in Mist Lamp Village, it was already destined."

"I accepted it."

"Please don't do stupid things, live well."

The girl looked at Dongshu deeply one last time, and the complex emotions hidden in the depths of her eyes, those concerns, farewells... at the moment of turning her body, in the fluttering and swaying white skirt, withered and ended.

Her footsteps were steady, and her figure disappeared into the darkness.

As if drained of strength, Dongshu fell to his knees beside the haystack, his hands deeply embedded in the grass stems, his shoulders shaking violently.

The granary was empty and cold, leaving only the suppressed, broken sobbing like a wild beast, echoing faintly.

Standing quietly in the depths of the shadows, Xia Nan looked at the curled figure in front of him, didn't speak, and didn't intend to reveal his existence.

He couldn't help but recall the conversation with the village chief and Aspen during the day, and he already had an idea in his mind.

"Ritual, sacrifice, canyon, Lily'ai, no wonder..."

Looking at it this way, the sacrifice for the sacrificial ritual that the village chief specifically requested him to stay in the village for two days to wait for, was most likely this girl named Lily'ai.

"However, is it actually a living sacrifice?"

Xia Nan thought in his heart.

In this fantasy world with various gods, it is not strange.

To some extent, it can even be said to be common.

After all, when the power of an individual is enough to override the group, and there is no order supervision, distorted desires will expand wantonly like a balloon, and such events will only increase and not decrease.

But on the other hand, this matter reveals strangeness everywhere.

From the content revealed when the girl named "Lily'ai" argued with Dongshu, it can be judged that the purpose of Mist Lamp Village holding the sacrificial ritual is to appease "a certain existence in the canyon" in order to obtain the other party's protection for the next few years.

But to be honest, if the other party is really some kind of terrifying and powerful evil god, putting the target on a remote small village like "Mist Lamp Village"... it is a bit too shabby.

And the long time interval between sacrificial rituals, and the sacrifice is just an ordinary human girl who does not possess any supernatural power, it is hard to imagine that it can play any practical role in the improvement of that level of existence.

"Still need to observe carefully, collect information, and see if there can be any additional discoveries."

Regarding the action plan for the next two days, Xia Nan needs to have a deeper understanding of the village he is currently in, as well as the canyon he is about to enter in two days.

His gaze stayed slightly on Dongshu, who was trembling and sobbing beside the haystack, and then looked in the direction where Lily'ai left.

He turned around and disappeared into the shadows.

Perhaps because it is located in a depression, Mist Lamp Village in the morning is particularly damp, and even thin mist like the Mist Forest has condensed in the air.

Staying outdoors for a long time, one can clearly feel the sticky and damp feeling on the skin surface.

If one lives in this environment for a long time, for ordinary people, it is easy to cause some respiratory and skin diseases, making joint inflammation worse. ===== CHAPTER 327 =====