Mythology Returns! Starting with Folklore and Strange Tales

Zhang Wei knew the silhouettes were messy, but the sheer messiness was still somewhat unexpected.

Dogs dig up corpses on the mountain, cannibals roam below.

The desolate mountains are devoid of birds and beasts, and there is no human habitation for miles around.

This is the current situation that Zhang Wei and his team saw after walking all night.

Not to mention the strange and bizarre sights she encountered along the way, such as the piles of white bones by the roadside and various evil plagues. Before she came across this deserted village, she hadn't encountered any other strange things, and An Yixi hadn't been able to complete her Easter egg mission.

They didn't look at the demon on the altar, created by An Yixi and trembling slightly under the scorching of the divine fire, gradually being burned to ashes.

The man was emaciated, pale and thin, looking like a starving person suffering from chronic malnutrition.

But if it's just hunger, that's easy to solve. Although Zhang Wei and his group didn't bring much with them, they did have plenty of simple, quick-heating, high-energy meals.

Of course, the food needed by two people for a month is definitely not enough to save one person after another, but it doesn't hurt to occasionally do good deeds.

Unfortunately, he couldn't eat anymore, and he didn't need to eat anymore!

Looking at the man's empty clothes and smelling the faint, bloody stench in his nostrils, Zhang Wei shook his head. Seven or eight tenths of his flesh and blood had been given to the demons. The reason he was still able to cling to life was only because of a stubborn obsession and the eerie atmosphere of the Great Wilderness that the silhouette itself created.

Perhaps at this moment, or perhaps at the next, his willpower will give way and he will die.

"Brave warrior... no, sir!"

"Thank you, sir, for giving my old mother a quick death~ Waaaaah!"

After his initial hesitation and reluctance, Da Niu came to his senses and watched as his mother, who was no longer as kind and gentle as before, gradually turned into ashes scattered on the offering table under the raging fire. He breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he felt all the strength in his body being rapidly drained away.

Pfft!

His legs buckled, and he knelt on the ground, the sound of his bones hitting the ground ringing out crisply.

He was panting heavily as he looked at the young man standing in the sunlight at the doorway, dressed in a red robe, with a handsome face and a hazy glow emanating from him.

"My mother has passed away, and my health is failing me. I beg you two gentlemen to have a change of heart and burn this ancestral hall down so that my mother and I can have a proper burial!"

"I have no way to repay your immense kindness and virtue. I wish that in my next life, I could serve you as my ox or horse to repay your kindness!"

"Hey, wait a minute!"

Seeing the man who had lost all spirit, whose face was rapidly turning black and who looked like he was about to breathe his last, Zhang Wei quickly stopped him: "There's no need to be treated like a slave, just point us in the direction of human habitation!"

Although the other party just mentioned that there is a Cai Town to the east, this simple statement is as empty and absurd as saying that there is a Beihe River to the east of the Taihang Mountains!

"what?"

"Leaving the ancestral hall and heading east, after crossing three mountains, you'll see a river in the distance. Following the river downstream for half a day will take you to Cai Town. From Cai Town, it's two days' walk north to the border, but you have to cross the Yellow River first. I wonder if the boatmen on the riverbank still offer to ferry people across these days!"

"Ugh!"

"Please take care, my benefactor!"

"..."

A moment later, just as the two left the ancestral hall, the sound of overturned stoves came from behind them, and soon a raging fire broke out in the ancestral hall.

The fire grew larger and larger, quickly spreading throughout the ancestral hall. Even An Yixi, who was standing outside the courtyard, was forced to take two steps back by the raging flames.

"Brother Zhang, that's a real shame!"

Seeing An Yixi approaching, Zhang Wei nodded.

There's no other way; a person lives on their willpower!

When the son couldn't find anything to eat, he cut off a piece of meat to eat with his meal.

But reality is not as perfect as it is written in the stories, or perhaps the situation during the Great Famine was different from that in normal times.

Similar locusts swarm together and become a locust plague, while starving people who eat white meat will transform into red-haired, red-eyed, sharp-toothed demons.

The initial choice was wrong, and all subsequent measures were merely a temporary fix. Once he dies, the demon will still emerge and search for food. At that time, it will be hard to say whether he will be filial or evil!

Of course, he didn't really have many options.

A disgusting silhouette.

What a disgusting world.

"call!"

Letting out a long sigh, Zhang Wei turned his back to the burning ancestral hall, glanced at the sun overhead, and then gazed eastward: "Let's go. While it's still early, let's hurry to Cai Town and find the root of the problem with the silhouette as soon as possible. Eliminating those demons will allow the bureau to intervene sooner!"

Although it was supposed to be breakfast, Zhang Wei felt that this silhouette trip was unlikely to go as planned.

大旱

荒年

Late Qing Dynasty

And being in the Taihang Mountains, it was hard for Zhang Wei not to think of the Dingwu Wilderness!

Of course, the scope of the Dingwu Wilderness was too wide. If it were to appear as a silhouette, even if it wasn't the highest-level dynasty, it would have to be a massive entity at the state level to support such terror.

Just a silhouette of a town?

They're not even worthy to carry the shoes of this momentous event!

Zhang Wei is more inclined to believe that this is merely a microcosm of the Taihang region during the late Qing Dynasty.

But is there still a shadow of the Yellow River in the silhouette of a town?

Seriously?

Well, your situation isn't much better than the Dingwu Famine!

Yellow River?

Mother River.

The elbow strikes the Mother River, which has traversed five thousand years of Chinese history and made dynasties cry out for their mothers, right?

What's this? This time, instead of elbowing the dynasty, you're elbowing him instead?

The more he thought about it, the more his head ached and he got angrier. Even Ya Zifa, who followed Zhang Wei's emotional fluctuations, seemed a little anxious.

Under the blazing sun, where there was no wind, the red robe fluttered in the wind, and in a daze, it seemed as if a ferocious beast opened its blood-red maw and roared at the sky!

In reality, as An Yixi walked, she noticed that the originally scorching sunlight had turned gloomy, and a gentle breeze was blowing around her. Although the heat in the air was still very uncomfortable, the breeze and shade were enough to comfort An Yixi, who had been suffering from the drought.

Just as they were feeling carefree, they suddenly looked up and saw a dark, reddish cloud layer, stretching over a hundred meters high, rolling and swirling, blocking out the intense heat of the sun.

The swirling edges of the clouds resembled the gaping mouths of countless giant beasts, gathering wind and clouds as they swirled and sucked in the air. Even evil spirits from miles away were swallowed up by this cloud layer, tumbling and rolling within it before transforming into a flurry of goose-feather snowflakes that fell gently onto the roadside and fields!

The pitch-black snowflakes exuded a chilling cold!

Visibly, many lonely ghosts and spirits hiding by the roadside and underground were fleeing in a hurry, abandoning their homes. The newly formed bone demon (white bone spirit) was trying to emerge from its cocoon despite the scorching sun. An Yixi looked further into the distance and saw an old monk with a novice monk across the mountain. Their faces were pale as they met his gaze, and they seemed to be muttering something to themselves.