Chapter 711: Extra Chapter 2: Desolate Village

Xiao Jiu wants to check our family genealogy going back several generations, which means there are two possibilities.

One, she suspects that the person who borrowed my yin lifespan is one of my ancestors.

Two, the cause of death for several generations of my ancestors might all be related to borrowing yin lifespan.

These two possibilities might be only one of them, or both could be true.

"Check the genealogy?" Li Qingying said, "If I remember correctly, the area where Wanwan's family village is located is within my jurisdiction, right? I'll have someone look into it right away."

Li Qingying made a phone call, and Xiao Jiu took over driving for her.

Not long after, news came.

Li Qingying turned her head to look at me and asked, "Wanwan, did your family move to Da Liu Village later?"

I said uncertainly, "No one has ever specifically mentioned this to me, but at least since my great-grandfather's generation, we've already been living in Da Liu Village."

Xiao Jiu asked, "Qingying, what's wrong?"

"My people couldn't find Wanwan's family genealogy," Li Qingying said. "This shows that Wanwan's family moved from elsewhere to Da Liu Village starting from her great-grandfather's generation, but even if they had moved there, the City God Temple should have a record, yet there isn't any."

Xiao Jiu said, "In other words, Wanwan's great-grandfather seems to have appeared out of nowhere in Da Liu Village? How could that be possible?"

Li Qingying said thoughtfully, "It's also possible that someone deliberately erased this part of the record."

"Deliberately erased?" I wondered, "Who has the ability to erase the personnel records of the City God Temple?"

Xiao Jiu said, "Such a thing shouldn't happen, but the original City God Temple in our area is the one on Mount Junzhu, which is already a place of foul miasma, so anything could happen there."

That's also true.

Li Qingying said, "Even if the City God Temple on Mount Junzhu was chaotic at first, to erase this record without anyone knowing would require absolutely formidable ability."

Xiao Jiu turned the steering wheel, and the upcoming road began to get bumpy: "No matter what, let's first go to the original site of the village to see if we can find any clues."

For now, there's no other option.

Time flies, over a hundred years have passed.

I thought the original village must have long disappeared; even if this area isn't developed, every household should have built small houses with cement roads leading to their doors.

But I didn't expect the car to get bumpier the further we went.

At first, after turning off the main road, there was a stretch of gravel road, but soon the surface became pitted and uneven.

Going forward a few hundred meters, everywhere was mixed trees and grass, and faintly one could see several broken limbs and remnants; there was no sign of human habitation anymore.

The car stopped at the side, the three of us got out and stood in front of the car, gazing into the distance.

Li Qingying asked, "Wanwan, are you sure your family used to live here?"

"We need to go a little farther ahead," I said. "You wait here; I'll go forward and take a look."

Having said that, I leapt up and raced straight toward the distance.

But soon, two figures appeared beside me.

Xiao Jiu and Li Qingying both caught up.

One of them is a Nirvana Phoenix, the other is a jiao that has leaped over the Dragon Gate; both can fly.

In contrast, I am the weakest of the three.

After passing through that mixed tree grove and moving forward, a strong wave of yin and killing energy hit us, and all three of us stopped at once.

Xiao Jiu said, "The yin energy is really strong; there's indeed a foul stench. Wanwan, Qingying sister, stay here. I have Nirvana Fire, which I fear least of this sort of thing, so I'll go check it out first—wait for my signal."

I wanted to go with Xiao Jiu, but Li Qingying grabbed me and said, "Wanwan, listen to Xiao Jiu."

Xiao Jiu flashed and transformed into her true Nirvana Phoenix form, spread her wings and soared high, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

My eyes kept fixed on the Nirvana Phoenix's silhouette, watching her circle back and forth in a certain direction, and my eyes gradually narrowed.

In my memory, that direction is……our village's graveyard?

In the past, when people died, they were buried in the earth, and a village's burial ground was always gathered together as much as possible.

After all, auspicious feng shui spots are few, and burial grounds are those examined by feng shui masters, the most suitable places for villagers to be interred.

Could it be that our village's graveyard has a problem?

At that moment, a burst of colored light exploded in midair, and Li Qingying immediately said, "Xiao Jiu sent a signal; Wanwan, let's go over."

I immediately caught up.

Not long after, we arrived beside Xiao Jiu.

Following Xiao Jiu's gaze, I saw a small temple.

That small temple isn't big, roughly the same as a typical local earth god shrine.

The surroundings had long been desolate, with hardly any of the old grave mounds visible, yet this small temple, hidden among the mixed trees and grass, still gave off a scent of incense.

Li Qingying stepped forward, pushed aside the weeds, and revealed the temple's full appearance.

I first saw that in the offering basin before the temple there was recently burned paper ash, and on the earth in front of the basin there were the burnt-out stalks of yellow incense.

"It looks like someone came to make offerings at this small temple not long ago," I voiced my doubt, "but we flew all the way here and saw no trace of anyone having walked here—could the person making the offerings also fly?"

I seriously analyzed, then looked up and saw Xiao Jiu and Li Qingying both staring at me, their expressions complex.

My heart skipped a beat: "How……what's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

Li Qingying said, "Wanwan, we're just asking: could it be possible that all of this is your offering?"

"Impossible!" I firmly denied, "I've been staying at the pawnshop lately, and you, Qingying sister, know that best—I couldn't possibly run over here to burn incense and paper."

Xiao Jiu said, "You not being here doesn't mean you didn't make the offering, right?"

I suddenly understood: "You mean that when I burned incense in the west room earlier, it was actually an offering to this small temple? But I didn't burn any paper money at the time."

"What's burned in that basin isn't necessarily paper money," Xiao Jiu said. "It could also be your birth date and time, or something like that."

Just as I was stunned, Li Qingying suddenly let out a cry.

I and Xiao Jiu looked up, and saw that Li Qingying, at some point, had taken a branch and lifted the dark red curtain hanging in front of the temple's offering table.

At this moment I no longer had the leisure to wonder why there was a curtain hung before the temple's offering table.

Because I saw behind the cloth curtain, the offering table in the small temple was filled with black spirit tablets.

Those spirit tablets were crammed tightly on the offering table, and the two at the very front bore my parents' names!

At that moment, my entire Soul Body froze.

I should have floated over immediately to check, but I felt as if something had immobilized me, and I couldn't move an inch.

Li Qingying reached out to pick up the spirit tablet to have a look, but Xiao Jiu shouted, "Sister Qingying, don't move!"

But it was already too late.

Li Qingying's hand retracted before it even touched the spirit tablet.

But her right-hand fingers still felt as if something had bitten them, and the tips turned black...