Chapter 196: Statue of King Yama

After entering the village.

Wu Xian and Sun Qian were warmly welcomed.

More than fifty people surrounded the two of them, men and women, old and young, welcoming them along the way; children ran around holding windmills and rattles, and beautiful village girls sent them flirtatious glances.

But the two of them didn't feel flattered; they only felt a chill in their hearts.

Where there is something extremely strange, there must be a ghost.

They weren't leaders, so why were they worth such a welcome from the villagers?

Even Sun Qian saw the clues.

The ruddiness on these people's faces was clearly makeup for corpses, and the Tang suits on their bodies were burial clothes.

He suddenly understood what Wu Xian had just said; it wasn't that Shi Ji disappeared, but that the two of them disappeared... this village might not exist at all, and all the villagers were dead people.

The two of them had unknowingly fallen into a gloomy ghost realm!

Although the identities of the villagers were easy to guess.

But before their identities were exposed, they didn't make things difficult for Wu Xian and the others.

All the villagers surrounded the two to a courtyard; people with higher status in the village stayed to chat with them, while the rest waited outside the courtyard, and the women started a fire to cook for the two.

An old man with white hair and beard, the oldest-looking elder, introduced the history of Luo Wang Island to the two.

The history of this island was very long.

It is said that in a certain dynasty, there was a powerful dynasty, and two princes were fighting for the throne.

One was Zao Wangye Feng, and the other was Zao Wangye Luo.

In the fierce struggle for the throne, Zao Wangye Luo was defeated and exiled to this isolated island, never allowed to leave for life.

The villagers of Luo Wang Island were the descendants of that Zao Wangye Luo.

They lived on this island for generations, avoiding many disasters on the mainland, avoiding who knows how many years, but they still remembered the glory of their ancestors.

Therefore, there was a legend on the island.

A new Luo Wang would sooner or later be born on Luo Wang Island, carrying the mandate of heaven to take back what belonged to the Luo Wang lineage.

Regarding this legend, Wu Xian didn't feel surprised at all.

After a former high-ranking person stepped down, their descendants found it difficult to accept this contrast, so they would want to take back the glory of their ancestors; this kind of thing kept repeating in history.

So many generations had passed, didn't Murong Fu still want to restore the Great Yan?

But decline is decline.

Seeing that these villagers didn't intend to show their fierce faces for the time being, Wu Xian took the opportunity to inquire about information.

"Do you know the Yan family?"

Wu Xian had always felt that the Yan family was the key to this Fudi, but some things couldn't be asked from Yan Ting.

"The Yan family..."

The village chief immediately stopped talking.

On the contrary, other villagers around talked all at once, introducing the magic of the Yan family.

After being exiled to Luo Wang Island, the imperial court did not allow the descendants of Luo Wang to use their original surnames, so there were three families on Luo Wang Island: the Yan surname, the Qin surname, and the Chu surname.

And the Yan family had always claimed to be the orthodox Luo Wang.

There were often ghost events on the island.

Dirty things like Great Immortals, water monkeys, asking for titles, dead people returning to their souls, and children losing their souls, but these things had never harassed the Yan family.

On the contrary, the Yan family often stepped forward to settle things for the other two families.

What made the villagers most convinced of the Yan family's ability.

Was a great plague that occurred a while ago; others in the village who caught the plague would definitely die, and only the head of the Yan family, Yan Jiye, was an exception.

He caught the plague several times and recovered several times, which made the villagers believe that the Yan family had the protection of their ancestors.

A while ago...

Yan Ting did indeed mention the plague, but that was at least several generations ago.

Additionally, Wu Xian also noticed.

All the villagers praised the Yan family, but five people frowned slightly when they heard everyone boasting about the Yan family.

While Wu Xian was thinking.

Two pots of food were placed on the table, with incredible speed.

On one side was pickles and white rice, with three sticks of incense inserted in the rice; this was for Wu Xian.

The other side was much richer, with chicken legs, shredded meat, and other dishes in a ceramic pot; this was for Sun Qian.

Wu Xian's mouth twitched.

Sun Qian swallowed his saliva; because Wu Xian left too hurriedly just now, he was still carrying his meal and hadn't eaten, and he was indeed a bit hungry now.

But he didn't dare to eat this food either!

But all the villagers present were staring at the two of them, their faces becoming paler, and a ghostly green appearing in the bottom of their eyes.

The white-haired villager smiled without smiling: "Simple tea and light rice, not treating you well, but this is our heart; I hope the two of you can do us the honor of tasting it."

The subtext of his words was that not eating was looking down on them.

Then it was uncertain what would happen.

Therefore, Wu Xian and Sun Qian could only show expressions like eating shit, biting the bullet and taking a bite; after watching the two swallow the food, the atmosphere at the scene eased a lot.

An old man said to Wu Xian.

"We have something we want to talk to you about alone; can we ask your companion to move away for a while and go play with the children?"

Sun Qian's face turned pale instantly.

Wu Xian grabbed Sun Qian's arm and said seriously: "This is my younger brother; we haven't been separated since we were young, and once separated, there will be disaster, so let's talk face-to-face if there's anything; I won't hide anything from my brother."

Eating is one thing.

But separation is absolutely not allowed!

The whole village is full of dead people; once separated, they might never meet again; Wu Xian at least has some self-preservation ability, but Sun Qian would definitely die.

In such matters, Wu Xian doesn't mind pulling Sun Qian along.

Hearing that the two were unwilling to separate, the expressions of most people around became ugly, and only the five people just now were actually a bit happy.

This gave Wu Xian a bit of a bottom line in his heart.

Then, during the chat, Wu Xian inquired about the identities of the five people; they were:

Qin Fuer, a woman with children and grandchildren.

Chu Changshou, the oldest in the village, whose hair had already turned white.

Qin Baolu, the village chief who was beating drums and welcoming Wu Xian and the other just now.

Chu Axi, who had just gotten married, wearing a black top and red bottom with a big red flower on her chest.

And Qin Dafu, the richest man in Luo Wang Village, with a big belly and clothes a cut better than others.

They disagreed with other villagers on many behaviors, but due to face, they wouldn't directly refute other villagers.

And Wu Xian and the other didn't have the opportunity to communicate with these five people.

While chatting.

They talked about the topic of gods.

The villagers said that everyone in the village had a common faith and actively took Wu Xian and the other to worship the gods.

The residual incense in Wu Xian's hand was just enough for one deity worship, so he and Sun Qian obediently followed the villagers to the ancestral hall in the village.

There were no ancestral tablets worshipped in the ancestral hall, only a black-faced, red-robed, big-bearded deity statue.

Written under the deity seat: Eighteen Hells King Yama!

The incense burner in front of the deity statue was offering many burning residual incense.

Wu Xian really wanted to pluck all these residual incense, but he was afraid of being beaten by the villagers, so he held back.

King Yama...

The legend of King Yama was also widely circulated in the real world, but the deity statue had no prefix, and Wu Xian didn't know what kind of reward worshipping this deity would give.

Wu Xian hesitated for a while and dismissed the idea of worshipping the deity here.

There were so many ghosts watching here; worshipping the deity rashly might not necessarily trigger what kind of chain reaction.

He turned his head and saw that the expressions of the five people before were very ugly; clearly, they didn't recognize this King Yama statue; they had other beliefs...

Up to here.

Wu Xian felt that the information had been plucked enough, and it was time to find a way to slip away.

So he asked the village chief cautiously: "We have been in the village for a while, and our companions are anxious; we won't bother you anymore and will take our leave first?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 197 =====