Ita Era

Chapter 160 Sanli Tomb

The third group consists of Confucian professions. The men refer to themselves as Xijiu Jushi (西就居士), or simply Xijiu (西就). The women refer to themselves as Dongcheng Jushi (东城居士), or simply Dongcheng (东城).

Everyone's curious gaze fell upon the fourth group. The first three groups were Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian practitioners specializing in true qi cultivation; what other strange beings were below them?

Sha Bi stood up: "I'm a wanderer of the martial world. If you're kind enough to call me Brother Bi, that's fine."

Ding Shi: "I am a road worker. You can just call me Ding Shi, Xiao Ding, or Xiao Shi."

The fifth group consists of a man and a woman who are a registered married couple. They were married before the beginning of the era. The man's name is Ji Shan and the woman's name is Ji Yue.

The sixth and last group also consists of a married couple, but from a later era. The man is named Yuan Shan, and the woman is named Yuan Yue.

After everyone finished introducing themselves, the way people looked at Sha Bi and Ding Shi changed. They were both a man and a woman, so why were they two men?

The tour guide said, "There's been a sudden incident. A tourist fell to his death near Tianmen Village three days ago. Unfortunately, he died on the spot, but fortunately, his soul was resurrected. Unfortunately, he lost his original memory. Fortunately, you all know this tourist."

Side Quest: Find Tourist Number 13 and say their name to awaken their memory. The format is: "Listen to me, your name is XX." Each person can only use this once per day.

Xiao Ni raised her hand: "Tour guide, do we all know this person?"

The tour guide nodded: "Whether you met before or after the beginning of time, you all know each other's real names. However, some people are more familiar with Number 13, while others are less so. Because Number 13 is no longer in your own body, you need to find Number 13 by observing the various habits of the villagers."

Ding Shi had a good idea of ​​what was going on. He guessed that number 13 was a resurrected player who had failed the resurrection mission and was given one last chance by the system.

According to Ding Shi's inventory, based on the timeline, all those associated with the Fire Seed can be ruled out. As for the period before the Ita Era, he knew many people. But everyone he cared about was dead; his parents and sister died in a traffic accident. His superior was dead. He never invested any emotion in the brothers of the Dragon Gang.

Conclusion: Whether No. 13 lives or dies is not of much concern to me. I'll do the side quests if I can, and I won't do them if I can't.

Yuan Yue excitedly whispered to Yuan Shan, "I actually know the same person as my idol."

Yuan Shan retorted, "Why are you so agitated? The person is right here, go up and talk to them."

Yuan Yue said angrily, "What do you mean?"

Motoyama replied: "Literally."

Tour guide: "Calm down, calm down."

Ding Shi stood up: "Tour guide, can you explain what 'kissing for ten seconds' means? Who do you want me to kiss for ten seconds?"

Sha Bi also stood up abruptly: "Exactly, isn't this pairing an insult to our dignity?"

Ding Shi agreed: "That's right, he's an ascetic and never has any intimate interactions with humans."

Sha Bi looked at Ding Shi and said, "Damn it!"

The two instantly engaged in combat, only to discover they couldn't use their Force or abilities on the bus. As a result, Sha Bi was unilaterally and thoroughly beaten by Ding Shi. To avoid being caught in the crossfire, Yuan Yue retreated to the side.

Yuan Shan was furious and pointed at Yuan Yue, shouting, "You, you, you! I'm not dead yet!"

Yuan Yue then realized that the person beside her was her idol, a Taoist priest, who was also seeking refuge from trouble. The Taoist priest smiled slightly, and Yuan Yue blushed. The monk, unable to bear it any longer, slapped the Taoist priest on the back of the head: "I hate sissies like you the most."

The Taoist nun kicked the monk: "What did the woman do to you? Why can't she act like one?"

Yuan Shan grabbed Yuan Yue's clothes to pull her back, but Yuan Yue slapped him away. The Taoist priest stopped him, and Yuan Yue and the Taoist priest started fighting. When the little nun saw the monk knock down the Taoist nun, she stepped forward to help the nun, scratching and biting her.

Ding Shi buried his head and beat up Sha Bi. He stood up and looked around: Why are they fighting? In this moment of carelessness, Sha Bi kicked him, so he pounced on him with his legs clamped together.

The tour guide turned the volume up to the maximum: "Calm down, calm down! Everyone calm down, listen to me."

System message: Main task correction.

Main quest: Stand still by the sacred tree for ten seconds.

Advanced Main Quest: Kiss Feng Qiniang for ten seconds under the Divine Tree. Only for humans, including villagers.

Everyone finally calmed down, returned to their seats, and tidied their appearance.

The tour guide said, "These are the village rules of Tianmen Village. Please take a look." He then handed out the booklets.

Tianmen Village Rules:
1. Tianmen Village has a complex ecosystem, which may allow conscious humans to enter hallucinations or those in a deep dream state. Please keep a clear head and find the flaws that defy common sense in order to escape from hallucinations and dreams.

Second: Do not be alone with someone who seems to be hallucinating, and especially do not make eye contact with them, otherwise you may be pulled into the hallucination.

Third: Hallucinations and dreams are not dangerous, because danger does not originate from hallucinations and dreams.

Fourth: The villagers of Tianmen Village are very hospitable. You can spend $3 per day to find a family to stay with. Except for a few villagers, they will not refuse. Each family can only accommodate a maximum of two tourists.

5. After sunset, it is recommended to stay at your accommodation.

Sixth: As a guest, it is best to help the villagers with whatever you can.

7. Do not eat offal, no matter what kind of offal it is.

8. Do not enter other people's homes without permission.

Nine: There are many obsessive ghosts.

Hmm? Ding Shi didn't quite understand the last point. "Many obsessive ghosts?" Obsessive ghosts were incredibly powerful; Ding Shi believed even the Ghost King and the Grim Reaper might not be able to defeat them. Their weakness was that they could only exist for seven days. "Many obsessive ghosts" meant that many people had recently died in Tianmen Village?
This makes choosing a place to stay interesting; you might end up with a haunted house. It's not that all the villagers in a particular household are dead, but rather that there might be a household with only one surviving villager. If you unknowingly check into such a household, something fun might happen that night.

In addition, there were hallucinations and dreams, which must have been triggered by something.

Everyone was thinking quietly when a horn sounded behind them. The bus pulled over, and a military truck from the Republican era drove by. Ding Shi could only see two masked soldiers sitting in the back of the truck. They were young, but their eyes were empty. Their eyes darted around and looked at the bus, which was creepy.

The tour guide announced, "There are public restrooms here. If you need to, you can use them. We'll depart in ten minutes."

Then everyone noticed a modern public toilet on the right.

Ding Shi was puzzled. They had only driven for ten minutes, so why were toilet services already available? Was Tianmen Village still very far away?
Ding Shi got off the bus and asked the female tour guide by the door, "Miss, how far is Tianmen Village?"

"1.5 kilometers."

This makes no sense at all. The monk stood by the roadside, gazing intently at a graveyard on the opposite hillside. Ding Shi approached the monk, looked at the graveyard for a while, then looked into the monk's eyes and noticed that the monk's eyes were rolled back. After a short while, the monk blinked, and his eyes returned to normal.

Ding Shi tried it out and found that he could use the Force, which meant that the monk had obviously used some kind of supernatural power.

Ding Shi added a question: why are there so many cemeteries in this mountain area? According to the information he had, Tianmen Village is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and there are many cemeteries. Could it be that the feng shui here is better?

When the monk couldn't find Ding Shi, he turned to the tour guide and asked, "Excuse me, what is the name of this place?"

The tour guide pointed to a dirt road a hundred meters away, leading to the cemetery, with a wooden sign at the entrance. The monk walked towards the sign, and Ding Shi made a cut and gave it to the tour guide, who accepted it with a look of disgust, saying, "Three-mile grave."

"Thank you," Ding Shi replied, then added, "Don't be a fool."

Sha Bi, standing behind Ding Shi, put away his sharp wooden stick, turned around, whistled, and walked away. Even facing a dungeon where resurrection was impossible, he was still a coward when facing Ding Shi.

However, he couldn't just walk away whenever he wanted. Ding Shi quickly found the dagger and got straight to the point: "500 daggers, and we'll reach a peace agreement in this instance. As long as you don't attack me, I won't attack you. Similarly, as long as I don't attack you, you can't attack me."

Foolish Dagger scoffed: "You? 100 stabs are enough."

Judging from his attitude and tone, anyone who didn't know better would think that Sha Bi was extorting Ding Shi.

Ding Shi: "400, not a single point less, you are definitely no match for me."

Sha Bi said, "Then show me how I'm no match for you."

Ding Shi made eight hand seals with his left hand, then the array characters on the soles of his feet spun around. It seemed that something was hidden in Ding Shi's left fist.

Silly Bone stared silently at Ding Shi, his mind reeling: Why does this guy know sorcery? What's the point of playing anything else? He's a tank, a warrior, and now he's even a mage. What's even more terrifying is that he himself is a ghost cultivator, while Ding Shi is very likely a sorcerer who can counter him.

Sha Bi gave a cold laugh and said defiantly, "300, not a penny more."

“Okay.” The two huddled together, and Sha Bi swiped three hundred daggers, which Ding Shi then transferred to his bank card.

After finishing, Sha Bi walked away arrogantly, seemingly having just bullied Ding Shi. Tears welled in his eyes: How did I end up matched with this jinx again? Couldn't I just buy it all out? No, just because I can't kill him doesn't mean I can't trick someone else into doing it. I can't kill him, but I can cheat him.

Hmm? Number 13 is someone both Ding Shi and I know. Besides Ding Shi's deceased superior, the only other people Ding Shi and I know are members of the Dragon Gang. Wang Meng? Thinking about it carefully, the Dragon Gang has over forty core members. It's hard to guess.

……

The bus continued on its way and soon came to the entrance of Tianmen Village, where the truck also appeared. The truck had already passed the village entrance and continued driving forward, quickly turning a corner and disappearing from everyone's sight.

When Ding saw the truck again, he didn't see the two soldiers sitting in the back.

The nun's voice came from the back seat: "Too soft."

Ding Shi turned to look at the Daoist nun: "What's lighter?"

The nun said, "My weight." After saying that, she ignored Ding Shi and walked to the front of the car, preparing to get off.

After the 12 people got off the bus, the driver opened the luggage compartment, and each person had a travel bag. Inside were a first-aid kit, two sets of clothes, two pairs of socks, a pair of shoes, a small umbrella, as well as toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a towel. The women also had toiletries.

Everyone put on their backpacks, and the female tour guide and the village chief, who was around fifty years old, chatted idly on the side. After seeing that everyone was ready, they called everyone over: "Let me introduce you, this is the village chief of Tianmen Village."

"Hello, village chief."

The village chief smiled憨厚ly, nodded, and said, "Welcome everyone. I heard you're all looking for the sacred tree?"

People responded.

The village chief said, "To be honest, I don't know anything about the divine tree, but some of you may know. I only know that there is a divine spring on the north mountain of Tianmen Village, and there are a few people in the village who like to make tea and only use the water from the divine spring to make their tea."

The Confucian man asked, "Is the Divine Water Spring far away?"

Village Chief: "It's not far, just a ten-minute walk after you enter the mountains. Alright, I've already told all the villagers about your visit. Now you can find your accommodations for the night. Some villagers are a bit withdrawn, so I hope you can understand. If you need anything, come find me at the funeral parlor."

Looking towards the funeral parlor near the intersection, one can see items such as funeral clothes, paper figures, and paper money inside, as well as two black coffins parked in the backyard of the shop.

This shop is quite large, with a storefront of 50 square meters and an even larger backyard. Judging from the area of ​​the surrounding wall, the backyard should be about the size of four basketball courts.

The village chief bid farewell to everyone, and instead of going straight back to the shop, he walked along the side of the wall. After walking halfway, he pushed open a gate and entered the walled area.

Sha Bi, standing next to Ding Shi, asked, "Opening a shop on the roadside, isn't that just doing roadside business?"

Ding Shi didn't kick away the silly dagger. He was also frowning and thinking: "I'm tired of driving. Should I get out of the car and buy some paper money to burn for fun? Or is it a ghost passing by?"

Ding Shi looked at Sha Bi and asked, "Is it possible that the customers in this shop aren't living people?"

Sha Bi felt a chill run down his spine and asked, "What do you mean?"

Ding Shi said, "The shop is open all night, and the customers are all sorts of wandering ghosts. Some of these ghosts accidentally wander into the village. This explains the village rule that there are many ghosts with lingering attachments."

Sha Bi didn't answer directly: "There's something wrong with opening a shop at an intersection."

While they were discussing, the other players had already headed towards the village 300 meters away.

Some villagers were indifferent, or even apathetic, to the tourists' presence; they did not initiate conversation with them.

The house closest to the village entrance had a boy of about six years old standing outside the gate, wearing a gray cotton-padded jacket, quietly watching tourists walk past their house.

The boy's face was expressionless, not at all like a child.

For a moment, Ding Shi forgot the village rule about the risks of eye contact. He observed the boy and made eye contact with him. When the boy met his gaze, Ding Shi's heart skipped a beat. He had been observing the boy because his expression didn't resemble that of a child, and it was only those who had entered the illusion who had abnormal expressions. According to the village rule, making eye contact with someone who had entered the illusion could pull him into it.

But since we've already seen it, why not take another look?

After a few seconds of eye contact, the boy gently shook his head from side to side. Ding Shi frowned in confusion. The boy looked up at the opposite side, at a house with red walls located on the west side of the stream. Although there were at least seven houses within the boy's field of vision, Ding Shi was very certain that the boy was looking at this particular house when he saw the red wall.

What does it mean? Does shaking one's head left and right mean not to go to the boy's house? Or does it mean not to go to the red-walled house?
Ding Shi looked away, then turned to look at the boy at lightning speed, and the boy's sinister smile froze on the spot.

The boy cursed inwardly: "Damn it, why don't you play by the rules?"
Ding Shi turned right and walked ten steps to the boy, grinning as he asked, "Little devil, is your mom... home?" He made no attempt to hide his smugness at seeing through the boy's ulterior motives.

(End of this chapter)