Chapter 99: Chapter 80: Sheltering from the Rain in the Abandoned House

The heavy rain had pooled into puddles on the ground, with pale, swollen arms occasionally breaking the surface.

Liu Tianyou casually tied the donkey cart to the side and hurriedly ran up the moss-covered stone steps with the others to take shelter from the rain under the eaves of the Ming Mansion.

Kou Yushan craned his neck to look at the sky, “This isn’t just a passing cloud burst; I fear it will last for quite a while.”

Saying this, he along with everyone else turned to look at the tightly shut door behind them.

“Tonight, I fear we will have to spend the night here.”

“Mother~ I’m scared!” He Shou’an shrank into Qin Fangru’s arms, while He Shouhui tightly clutched the strap of her bag, anxiously surveying the surroundings.

Sang Que held Xia Chan, and Xuan Yu snuggled in Xia Chan’s embrace, comforting her not to be afraid.

The few people from Shihe Village were rather bold, with the leader Shi Yong saying, “Well, it’s better than spending the night outdoors. Let’s settle here for tonight and continue our journey tomorrow. There’s plenty of time, come, let’s go inside.”

After speaking, Shi Yong reached out to push the door, only to be stopped by the Song brothers beside him.

The people of Black Mountain Village all looked towards Kou Yushan, and He Baosheng said, “Let’s not rush, before entering the abandoned house for the night, we must first ask permission from the owners; proper etiquette cannot be neglected.”

Kou Yushan proficiently took out three incense sticks, lit them, and raised them to his forehead.

“We were caught by a sudden downpour and have nowhere to go. We humbly beseech the owners to permit us to spend the night here. If there’s any offense, we apologize in advance.”

After this, Kou Yushan bowed three times towards the door.

Everyone watched intently as the three incense sticks in Kou Yushan’s hands burned, and Sang Que turned to look at Liu Tianyou. Before Liu Tianyou could speak, Skinny quietly explained to Sang Que.

“If the owners disagree, the incense will break. If it doesn’t break, it means they agree.”

Sang Que was left a bit speechless; under normal circumstances, how would the incense break on its own? If it indeed broke inexplicably in one’s hand, who would dare go in?

This method… is quite logical!

After Kou Yushan finished bowing, the three incense sticks continued burning steadily without breaking, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they watched Kou Yushan holding the incense, reach out to push open the slightly ajar door.

Creeeeak—

The sound of old door hinges echoed through the silent abandoned house, resonating far away, while a ghastly draft howled from inside. A potent, intoxicating aroma of wine, mixed with dust, rushed out to meet them.

“Cough, cough, cough! As expected from a brewing family, the scent remains strong after so many years.”

Blood crows took flight, circling and cawing.

As the door opened wider, everyone saw the courtyard inside, with a welcoming screen mostly collapsed and thick with moss, wild grass pushing up through the seams of the flagstone, giving it a chaotic and broken look.

Surrounding them were many large bell-shaped red flowers, much bigger than those of common lilies, hanging in clusters cherry-sized, vividly blood-red, swaying in the wind and rain, while the potent aroma of wine spread out.

On closer inspection, Sang Que noticed each small flower resembled a grimacing face screaming; long narrow leaves swayed in the wind, revealing beneath them the decayed corpses of mice and small animals, which sent shivers down the spine.

“Xuan Yu, be careful of those flowers.”

Meow!

Sang Que reminded him, taking out two square cloths from his bag to cover the nose and mouth of both Xia Chan and himself, to avoid inhaling too much of the strange scent.

Kou Yushan inserted the three incense sticks into the rotted seams of the threshold and covered his mouth and nose in the same way, leading the way across the incense.

Everyone followed his example, filing in one by one through the entrance, bypassing the courtyard’s screen wall to enter the reception hall.

The ground was covered with dead grass, overturned and broken furniture coated in dust and cobwebs, and the walls were stained with layers of damp marks.

Under the eaves, tattered red lanterns still swayed in the wind and rain; it seemed that when something happened here, a wedding celebration was underway.

On the ground, there lay a broken and burnt old plaque, with an unburnt campfire beneath it, suggesting that others had once spent the night here too.

The reception hall was large, with four pillars inside. Although the walls were now devoid of any decorative paintings, the scale of the house, the ornate carvings on the pillars, and the scattered porcelain fragments still depicted the Ming family’s opulence from fifty years ago.

In the front yard, there were two smaller doors on each side, leading to different parts of the Ming Mansion. Similarly, there were two small doors on the left and right inside the reception hall, leading to the main courtyard of the Ming Mansion.

But at the moment, all four doors were tightly closed, and no one had any intention to explore further.

Sang Que recalled Skinny saying that the Ming Mansion had been destroyed by a mountain fire, yet here there were no traces of burning.

Kou Yushan said to everyone, “Let’s set up a fire here and rest overnight. If anything happens tonight, everyone must act in pairs; don’t leave alone. Being together is the safest, and try to avoid going elsewhere.”

Only then did everyone lay down their backpacks and look around for things to burn to start a fire.

Just then, the urgent sound of horse hooves came from outside.

Soon after, three burly men with brutish faces, carrying swords at their sides, wearing cloaks and raincoats, stormed in.

They lifted their feet and kicked the incense off the threshold, rushing straight through the courtyard, stepping into the reception hall, bringing with them a chill and dampness.

Everyone was on full alert, retreating to the corners, shielding the women and children behind them, watching the three people warily.

The burly man in the lead took off his bamboo hat, revealing a full beard, with a knife hilt wrapped in red thread visible at his waist, the top carved with a ghostly face, exuding a sinister aura that generated considerable pressure.

He quickly scanned the crowd, then pulled out a relatively courteous smile, “Just seeking shelter from the rain for the night, feel free, don’t mind us three.”

After speaking, he led the other two to another corner, casually picking up a broken Taishi chair, and with a few deft moves of the knife at his waist, chopped the chair into firewood for a fire.

As soon as the leader drew out his jet-black straight blade, Sang Que could see a misty dark red aura on the blade, Xuan Yu whimpered softly, and Xia Chan trembled all over, gripping Sang Que’s arm with her head lowered.

Kou Yushan quietly reminded everyone not to lower their guard, those three were clearly from the Green Forest Road, carrying many lives on their hands, naturally exuding an evil qi that even evil spirits wouldn’t dare to approach easily.

Sang Que thought, this might be what the negative Heart Lamp manifests as—killing and bloodstains evoking fear in many people, transforming the blood aura into an evil aura, which can be displayed through their murder weapons.

Yan Daozi’s notes had mentioned such things before, where one slaughters a family just to forge a Sha Bing.

Sang Que and the others still had men gathered outside, women in the corners, and two fires burning.

Everyone took out a piece of dry cake and handed it to Shi Yong’s wife from Shihe Village, Mrs. Zhao, asking her to warm them up before eating.

The men gathered around the fires, drying their rain-soaked outer robes, chatting casually.

“Liu Sanlang, why are you sitting so far away? Come over and warm up,” Skinny beckoned to Liu Tianyou, who was huddled with a bundle at the base of the wall.

Liu Tianyou, soaking wet and shivering pale, smiled and shook his head, indicating he didn’t want to get closer to the fire.

Skinny and the others thought they were rough people, while Liu Tianyou was a scholar, concerned with etiquette, and had little in common to chat about, so they didn’t insist.

Sang Que too leaned against another wall alone, using the “Recovery” ability to mark the current time point, remaining on guard for any unknown contingencies that might arise here.

Afterwards, she quickly calculated how many items she still had to handle unexpected situations.

She had only used the Exorcism Red Candle once, four Ghost Soldier Talismans left, twelve Exorcism Talismans, a Hunting Bow, iron sword, ink bucket, soul lamp, Corpse Mud, Mask Seal, the Yin Pig Killing Knife and Corpse Worm each usable once more, as well as two keys.

The Dao Bell had already failed, she had chain armor, Copper Coin Armor was temporarily worn by Xia Chan, and she had bought Xia Chan a chopping knife at the inn.

Then there was the Yin Child and Yansheng coin, with five trigrams still intact on the Yansheng coin.

Calculating all this, Sang Que felt rather wealthy, and also having Xia Chan and Xuan Yu, who matched her strength, nearby.

Thinking of all this, Sang Que felt quite assured.

“Miss Mulan, here’s a cake for you, careful, it’s hot.”

Mrs. Zhao, looking shrewd and capable in her early twenties, had finished warming the dry cakes, holding them in her clothes to hand them out to everyone. Sang Que nodded in thanks, taking the cake.

Xia Chan by her side was blowing and eating, rushing as if she hadn’t eaten for a long time, though Sang Que had fed her plenty along the way.

Seeing this, Sang Que handed her cake directly to Xia Chan.

“Eat slowly, don’t choke.”

“Mhm, mhm, you’re so nice, sister!” Xia Chan replied with a mouthful, eating with both hands, her cheeks puffed up.

Sang Que was almost certain that Xia Chan’s long black hair consumed food, her real appetite was bigger than an adult man’s. As long as she was full, she would become strong. When hungry, her hair was limp and weak.

In the past years, she had never been full.

“Ah!”

Mrs. Zhao suddenly let out a scream, drawing everyone’s attention to her, even the three burly men in the far corner turned to look.

“What happened?” Shi Yong stood up, asking with concern.

Mrs. Zhao was trembling all over, glancing at everyone.

“The cake is missing one!”

No one understood, looking at the half-eaten cakes in their hands.

“None are missing, we’re all eating them.”

“Yes, there were sixteen adults and one child, I just counted seventeen cakes for you.”

Mrs. Zhao’s face went pale, “But I don’t have it!”

As soon as she spoke, everyone present suddenly realized, it wasn’t that a cake was missing, but among them…

There was an extra person!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep