Chapter 39

The village gate of Huaigu Village was wide open, and led by Liu Shan, almost all the villagers were waiting at the village entrance to welcome Wu Chang.

Wu Chang turned over and dismounted, and the palace lantern in his hand went out the moment he landed.

He put the remaining lamp oil into his portable space without a trace, and came to Liu Shan holding the lantern.

"I didn't disgrace the mission."

Liu Shan took the palace lantern and praised: "Hero Wu is truly a god-like man; a week's journey can be completed in less than two days."

Liu Liu Jinfu placed the palace lantern in the center of the valley's altar; nourished by the Year-Removing Array in the valley, the Four-Direction Year-Fire Lamp ignited a crimson flame without needing lamp oil.

As the Year-Fire ignited, the damp chill brought by the evil spirit in the valley weakened by a few points.

Because of Wu Chang's early return, the discussion about the Year-Removing Festival turned into a celebration banquet.

At the banquet, everyone was curious about why Wu Chang could come and go so fast, and whether he encountered the lantern-returning person from Chen Village on the way.

Learning that Wu Chang did not encounter the people from Chen Village, but traveled through several dangerous mountain areas, the villagers exclaimed repeatedly, praising his high skills and bold courage.

Some delicate-minded ones turned to persuade their own descendants not to imitate dangerous actions, and good children must not learn from Wu Chang.

Walking mountain roads like this, ten lives are not enough to lose.

Since Wu Chang traveled through the mountain roads normally, it naturally triggered the next question from everyone.

Liu Wei couldn't help it and asked first:

"Hero, did Chen Village encounter any difficulties, why return the lantern so late?"

Wu Chang sighed and recounted what he saw and heard in Chen Village with lingering fear.

When they heard that the monsters united to attack the village, slaughtered everyone in Chen Village, and even stored the dead as winter food, everyone's faces turned pale.

Some timid ones were even scared to tears by this description.

Although Chen Village had turned into a bandit stronghold, the two villages were family friends after all, and there was much interaction between the villagers, and they could even climb up to distant relatives.

Chen Village was gone just like that, making the originally festive atmosphere in Huaigu Village instantly cold.

The villagers confirmed it many times before they dared to believe this fact.

However, the villagers had no time to mourn for Chen Village, because the next ones to face the threat of monsters were themselves.

After eating, the villagers didn't even care about sleeping and gathered the whole village to prepare for the Year-Removing Festival.

The sound of labor rang all night.

Early the next morning, when Wu Chang opened his eyes, a giant bonfire and a wooden altar had been built in the center of the village.

He asked the villagers guarding the door for a basin of hot water to wash up, and Liu Shan rushed over, inviting him to take a tour of the village while explaining the Year-Removing Festival to him.

The Year-Removing Festival is the core that connects many problems in the dungeon plane; only by clarifying the process of the Year-Removing Festival can it be convenient for the next step of action.

He didn't know how many times he had recited the Year-Removing Festival, but he didn't know how it was actually carried out.

He only knew that there were many overlapping names with the New Year in reality, but the steps were more cumbersome, and he didn't know the details.

Seeing Liu Shan take the initiative to send the information to his door, how could he not accept it? Liu Wu had said before that when he saw the core of the Year-Removing Festival with his own eyes, he would know what the evil spirit was.

Originally, he was worried about how to fool Liu Shan to see the core of the Year-Removing Festival, but who knew that Liu Shan had no intention of hiding it at all.

The first stop of the tour of the Year-Removing Festival was the forbidden area of Huaigu Village, and also the core of the Year-Removing Festival.

The array of the Year-Removing Festival is arranged in the hollow mountain in the deepest part of Huaigu Village.

The name of the hollow mountain comes from a natural cave in the mountain, which occupies nearly 30% of the mountain's size, as if someone had hollowed out the mountain's heart when it was growing.

There is only one narrow mountain road that can accommodate three people walking side by side to enter and exit the cave, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and monsters are difficult to enter.

It is simply the most suitable to be used as a forbidden area.

In the center of the hollow mountain cave, there is a huge stone.

The stone is round and smooth, in the shape of a long trapezoid, with a full middle, without any carving, but it has a bit of human meaning. It is like a big-bellied Maitreya, and also like a woman waiting to give birth.

"This is?" Wu Chang asked suspiciously.

Liu Shan said: "This is the Stone Buddha Public. When Huaigu Village was established, when looking for a spring, someone found this Stone Buddha Public underground. Moving the Stone Buddha Public away, the spring water gushed out from the pit, and there was the small river passing through the valley now."

"The Stone Buddha Public has a certain ability by nature and is very effective. The warlock who arranged the array at the beginning used it as the cornerstone to suppress the evil spirit and the core to maintain the Year-Removing Festival array."

Wu Chang walked around the Stone Buddha Public twice, looking very carefully.

It's not that he believed Liu Shan's story, but that this Stone Buddha is strange.

When he approached the Stone Buddha, the poison of the mortal in his portable space moved.

It shows that the erosion core produced after the dungeon was polluted is nearby.

But what made the poison of the mortal feel induction was not the Stone Buddha Public in Liu Shan's mouth, but from below the Stone Buddha Public.

How deep it is, he couldn't perceive for the time being, but the distance would not be too shallow.

He stepped on the ground under his feet and said: "This mountain body steps empty, but is there any other arrangement underground?"

"There is a bottomless cave under the mountain, which was sealed when the Year-Removing Festival array was arranged. Hero, don't worry, as long as the Year-Removing Festival array is not broken, don't worry about the ground collapsing," Liu Shan said.

Wu Chang nodded without changing his expression, but secretly thought it was tricky in his heart.

The side mission he accepted required him to find the source of the evil energy in Huaigu Village.

The erosion core of the dungeon was formed in the cave; without thinking, he knew that the source of the evil energy in Huaigu Village must be inseparable from the cave.

But entering the cave would destroy the Year-Removing Festival array, which conflicts with the main mission.

At present, it seems that he can only find a way to complete the main mission first, and after the mission is completed, wait for the dungeon stay time to find a way to complete the side mission.

Liu Shan didn't know what Wu Chang was thinking, and took him to a small cave next to the Stone Buddha Public.

As soon as he entered the door, Wu Chang was startled by the scene before him.

There was a group of exotic beasts kept in the cave.

There were two big and five small exotic beasts, seven in total.

The big beast was about 1.6 or 1.7 meters long, with a slender body, like a tiger or a leopard, but covered in scales, majestic and extraordinary.

The small beast was only 70 or 80 centimeters long, still in its infancy, and very shy.

Seeing someone coming, the small beast hurriedly hid behind the big beast, while the big beast showed sadness and anger in its eyes.

Wu Chang had never seen a wild beast with such complex emotions and such humanity.

Seeing Wu Chang's surprised expression, Liu Shan was slightly proud and introduced it proudly.

"This beast is called the Mountain-Suppressing Beast; it is rumored to be a dragon species and only moves in the deepest part of the hundred-mile Baili Huaishan Mountains, which is very rare."

"It's a coincidence; the child that the village took in unintentionally before was born with the ability to communicate with wild beasts. Liu Wei took that child into the mountains to catch this nest of Mountain-Suppressing Beasts."

It must be said that the villagers of Huaigu Village really know how to use the village-guard teenager.

But what Wu Chang couldn't figure out was why the wealthy Huaigu Village was so stingy with a tool man who was so easy to use, not even giving him a cotton coat or a hot meal.

No matter how hard a cow or horse is, it will die if it is tortured like this.

"Why catch these Mountain-Suppressing Beasts?"

Speaking of this, it entered the main topic of Liu Shan taking Wu Chang to visit today.

"Hero Wu, the Year-Removing Festival is divided into four steps, and the first step—Welcoming the Year—requires the use of this Mountain-Suppressing Beast."

(End of chapter)