Since all these rules and superstitions are outdated, what's wrong with me indulging in some me

"Did you go and hire someone to kill Mr. Success?"

The next second, Chen Shan raised his arm without warning!

“Pah!”

The black leather whip tore through the air with a sharp whistling sound, striking Xiaolian's thin body hard!

That force was extremely strong; it was definitely not the kind of force used to discipline a child!

Xiao Lian's thin cotton jacket was instantly ripped open, her skin and flesh rolled back, and a glaring bloodstain immediately appeared.

Xiao Lian let out a muffled groan, her small body suddenly lunging forward, almost falling over. But she managed to brace herself with her hands and kneel down, her eyes filled with resentment.

Chen Shan's face remained completely unmoved, as if he were not whipping his own granddaughter, or even a living being.

With a flick of his wrist, the whip rose again like a venomous snake.

"Slap!" "Slap!" "Slap!"

A series of rapid and fierce whipping sounds echoed in the silent stone house, each strike landing squarely on Xiaolian's body.

The cotton coat quickly became tattered, and the fair skin underneath was crisscrossed with hideous bloodstains. In some places, the skin was even torn open, and the blood soaked through the tattered fabric, dripping onto the ground and accumulating into a small dark red puddle.

Throughout the entire process, apart from the initial muffled groan, Xiaolian made no other sound. Her body convulsed violently with each lash, her fingernails dug deep into the soil, and her lips were bitten until they bled.

Those once clear eyes were now filled with pain, resentment, and a deep-seated fear.

Chen Shan, from beginning to end, had an icy expression like a stone carving, his eyes calm and unwavering, only his arm wielding the whip was steady and powerful, as if he were performing a sacred and solemn ritual.

Lu Changsheng, Cheng Caijun, and An Zhiyu were all stunned by this sudden and extremely cruel scene of domestic violence.

"That's fine."

Cheng Caijun couldn't help but speak up to stop her. Although he knew Xiaolian was going to find someone to kill him, he still couldn't bear to see such a scene of child abuse.

Chen Shan stopped what he was doing.

Xiao Lian had collapsed to the ground, her breath faint.

Chen Shan casually tossed the blood-stained whip aside, as if discarding a useless tool.

He then turned back to Lu Changsheng and the other two.

"The management was lax, and the guests have had a bad time. Are they still satisfied?"

His voice remained calm, as if the cruel scene had never happened.

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the three of them. On his stone-carved face, an extremely rare and stiff smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"On the seventh day, there will be a funeral in the village. Everyone is welcome to attend."

funeral?

Lu Changsheng was startled. Inviting them to a funeral at this time? Whose funeral was it?

Cheng Caijun also realized what was happening and asked in confusion:

"Funeral? Whose funeral?"

Chen Shan's voice was flat and even, yet it resounded like thunder in the ears of the three:

"It is I, Chen Shan, who has been in charge of this village for eighty years. My life is coming to an end, and I shall return to dust. My 'funeral' will be in four days."

He bowed slightly, making a very standard, old-fashioned gesture for inviting guests. Combined with his expressionless face and the pool of blood on the ground, it looked incredibly eerie and terrifying.

"We look forward to welcoming all our guests at that time."

Chen Shan's words were like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, creating silent ripples in the quiet stone house. Even the flame of the oil lamp seemed to freeze for a moment.

"Your...funeral?"

Cheng Caijun repeated it, wondering if he had misheard.

Who would invite someone to their own funeral four days in advance, in such a calm and eerily calm tone? And under these circumstances, no less?

Chen Shan seemed oblivious to the surprise and wariness in the three men's eyes, and continued speaking in his flat, monotone voice:

"After the funeral, your 'visit' to this village will be complete. At that time, please leave the village immediately and return to the way you came."

He paused, then added, his tone still cold, but with an undeniable air of authority:

"It's getting dark. The village has many rules, and it's dangerous at night. You guests are new here, so you should leave soon."

"If any villagers offend any of you guests, please feel free to come to me and I will punish them."

"The village chief's hospitality is too kind; we should certainly attend."

Knowing he wouldn't get any useful information from the village chief, Lu Changsheng nodded and left.

"it is good."

Chen Shan nodded and said no more.

He sat down again, not even glancing at Xiao Lian on the ground.

Lu Changsheng and his two companions turned and left, arriving at a secluded place.

"What on earth is going on? The village chief is going to hold his own funeral? And he wants us to leave after we attend?" Cheng Caijun lowered his voice, his face full of disbelief and lingering fear. "And Xiaolian, Chen Shan was too cruel to her! She's his own granddaughter!"

"His own granddaughter?" An Zhiyu sneered, her tone icy. "Chen Shan never said that Xiaolian was his own granddaughter."

Lu Changsheng's expression was solemn.

"The 'funeral' is most likely real. We must find out the truth and find a way out before the funeral!"

"Let's go back first!"

Seeing that it was getting late, the three returned to their residence.

When the three returned to the temporary inn, it was already completely dark, and the thick night had soaked into the village like ink.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, they sensed that something was wrong.

Kevin and Mark stood guard beside Leo inside the house, their expressions wary.

On the other side of the earthen bed, Yamamoto Ichiro lay stiffly in an extremely strange posture, his face ashen, his eyes tightly closed, and his body twitching violently from time to time, as if he were trapped in some kind of extreme pain or nightmare.

Even more bizarrely, a very faint, almost imperceptible gray-black mist seemed to shroud his body. The mist writhed slowly like a living thing, vaguely forming some twisted, rope-like or tentacle-like shapes that tightly bound him.

Park Bo-soo, still looking shaken, huddled in the corner. When he saw Lu Changsheng and the others return, he rushed over as if they were his saviors.

"You're finally back!" Park Bo-soo's voice trembled, the tiny scar at the corner of his eye quivering rapidly. "Yamamoto-kun... he's in trouble!"

"What happened? Where's Emily?"

As Lu Changsheng quickly walked over to Yamamoto to check on him, he asked a question.

"Emily hasn't come back yet," Kevin said in a deep voice. "Yamamoto and Mr. Park Bo-soo came back a little earlier than you, and Mr. Yamamoto was like this as soon as he got back."

An Zhiyu stepped forward and reached out to probe Yamamoto's forehead. She immediately felt a cold and eerie aura emanating from him.

She frowned and looked at Park Bo-soo:

"Explain clearly, what happened to you?"

Park Bo-soo swallowed hard, trying to calm himself, and said rapidly:

"We went to the area around the shaman's courtyard. We didn't intend to get too close, but... but we saw Ivan coming out of the shaman's courtyard from afar!"