Dao Qi Wu Zang Guan Guan: I became a Daoist Master in the 1990s

Chapter 73 Yangliutun, escape is the priority!

Led by Zhao Tiezhu, the group spurred their horses and arrived at Yangliu Village at noon.

As soon as we left the city, the sky began to darken.

The sky was already a gray haze.

Dark clouds pressed down on the tops of the old elm trees at the entrance of the village, blocking out not a ray of light.

The village was eerily quiet; the sound of horses' hooves pounding on the dirt road was muffled and unsettling.

In the village, every household had its doors tightly shut, and the newly pasted funeral couplets on the doors were glaringly white, with ink characters that blotted out and turned black under the gloomy sunlight.

The paper money was swept up by the wind, skimming along the ground. The white and yellow pieces stuck to the damp clods of earth and the roots of withered grass, forming a thin layer that rustled when stepped on.

The village smelled of earth and the burnt smell of burning paper money; it was chilling to breathe in.

Zhao Tiezhu, familiar with the area, led Qi Yun straight to a relatively tidy courtyard in the center of the village. The courtyard gate was wide open, and the curtain facing the main house was rolled up high, revealing that it had been set up as a mourning hall.

Two white candles were lit at either end of the offering table, their flames short and their wax dripping, leaving the candlesticks in a mess.

Several sticks of incense were inserted into the rough pottery incense burner. The three dark red tips of the incense sticks rose straight up, appearing particularly clear in the gloomy room.

On the offering table were a few simple offerings of fruit.

In the center of the room, a dark, thin-skinned coffin rested on two long benches, its paint dull and faded.

The entire mourning hall was empty and deserted, with only the flickering candlelight reflecting the cold luster of the coffin.

Zhao Tiezhu gestured with his chin, and a constable dismounted, rushed into the courtyard, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Where are they? Where have they all gone!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the curtain of the side room was lifted, and an old man dressed in coarse white mourning clothes hunched over and shakily trotted out.

His hair was gray and sparse, and his eyes were cloudy. When he saw the several officers with swords in the courtyard, his face showed fear, and he hurriedly bowed and said, "Please forgive me, sir! Please forgive me, sir!"

This old man is hard of hearing and didn't know Your Excellency had arrived. My apologies, my apologies!

His voice was dry and hoarse.

Zhao Tiezhu reined in his horse, looked down at the village, and asked in a deep voice, "Are you the village chief of Yangliu Village?"

The old man shook his head and waved his hands repeatedly, bending his back even lower: "No, no, I'm just a farmer, my surname is Zhang, and everyone in the village calls me Zhang Laonian'er. How could I dare to be the village chief?"

Zhao Tiezhu frowned: "What about the village chief?"

Old Zhang's expression turned bitter, and his withered fingers trembled as he pointed to the black coffin in the main room: "Look...it's...it's lying inside."

Three days ago... three nights ago, I also... I also went there.

His voice was numb.

"Dead?" Zhao Tiezhu frowned even more, and subconsciously looked at Qi Yun.

Qi Yunduan, seated on his horse, glanced at the empty courtyard and the solitary coffin, and asked, "Since it is the village chief's recent death, why are there no filial sons or grandsons keeping vigil?"

The entire village of Yangliu was deserted, not a soul in sight even in broad daylight. Where were the villagers?

Old Zhang sighed deeply, as if he wanted to expel all the stale air from his lungs: "Sir, you don't know the truth."

Since a few days ago, people have been dying one after another in the village, and the way they died was all...so frightening. Everyone said it was a plague, and they panicked and wanted to run away.

Later, three officials arrived and forbade anyone from leaving the village, ordering the village chief to send able-bodied men to guard the village entrance.

But...who could have predicted that the three officials...would...disappear the very next morning!
The village chief managed to keep things under control for two days, but the villagers' morale had already collapsed, so how could he possibly maintain control?
The able-bodied men who were on night watch would run off with their families during the night.

The remaining people, seeing this, ran day and night even more frantically.

Three days ago, the village chief himself... also lay down.

His family hastily set up this mourning hall, gave this old man some copper coins and food, told me to keep an eye on things, and... they ran away too. People are cheap away from home, sir. This old man, with his neck buried in the yellow earth, has no children, only these old bones left. Where can I run to?

"Since I'm going to die anyway, I might as well stay here. At least I have food and water. And if I die... I can just be buried right here. It'll save me trouble."

The words were spoken in a plain tone, yet they conveyed a sense of resigned desolation.

After listening, Qi Yun asked in a deep voice, "Where did those three officials finally settle down?"

Old Zhang raised his hand and pointed to another courtyard not far away: "It's...it's the empty courtyard of Li Er's house next door, arranged by the village chief."

That morning, it was the old man who delivered the meal.

I called out at the door for ages but no one answered. I pushed the door open... and... it was empty. The bedding was still messy on the bed.

"Lead the way! Let's go now!"

Old Zhang nodded listlessly and led everyone to the courtyard. A rusty iron lock hung on the gate.

A constable stepped forward, drew his sword, and with a sharp clang, sparks flew as the chain snapped. The group dismounted and filed in.

The room smelled musty. Sure enough, the bedding on the kang (a heated brick bed) was piled up haphazardly, and there was half a bowl of cold porridge on the table.

The constables dispersed and began a thorough search.

Qi Yun also focused his mind to sense the presence of the Crimson Hunting Flame deep within his heart, which remained as still as stagnant water, showing no signs of movement.

Inside the house and in the yard, apart from the sounds they made, there were no other traces.

Everything was spotless, as if the three people had truly vanished into thin air.

Qi Yun's heart sank. He ordered, "Split up! Search every nook and cranny of this village! Pay special attention to anything unusual. After you're done, meet back at the village chief's house!"

Several constables responded, each choosing a direction, and quickly disappeared into the desolate village.

Qi Yun himself was also walking through the village.

He chose a house with its door tightly locked, and with a flash of his sword, he severed the bolt.

Pushing open the door, the room was a mess, with tables and chairs overturned, tattered clothes and jars scattered all over the floor, clearly a scene left behind during a hasty escape.

Apart from the chaotic signs of fleeing, there was nothing else unusual.

He visited several places, and they were all the same. The entire Yangliu Village seemed to have been drained of all its vitality.

Back in the village chief's courtyard, they waited for a good half hour, but the area outside remained deathly silent. Old Zhang squatted listlessly in the corner, his neck hunched, like a frightened old quail.

Qi Yun's heart pounded with excitement.

Finally, hurried footsteps sounded outside the courtyard!

Zhao Tiezhu ran back alone, his face ashen and the veins on his forehead throbbing.

He rushed into the courtyard, his voice filled with barely suppressed panic and anger: "Master Qi! Something's happened! Wang San, Li Si, Zhao Wu... they're all gone!"
I searched in the direction they went, but I didn't see a single soul! It's fucking creepy!

Upon hearing this, Qi Yun was shocked, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

Five living people just vanished silently right under our noses in broad daylight?

Yet, the Crimson Hunting Fire within his body showed absolutely no warning signs! This strangeness far exceeded his expectations.

Zhao Tiezhu gasped for breath, his eyes darting frantically across the empty courtyard and the dark coffin. His voice was strained: "Taoist Master! This place...this place is extremely inauspicious! You mustn't go near it!"
"We can't get involved! Now we've lost five more brothers... We... we must leave before it gets completely dark! We need to go back and report to Chief Chen, and then we can discuss this further!"

The meaning couldn't be clearer: escaping is the priority!

(End of this chapter)