Establishing a Clan in the Eastern Wilderness: A Daily Divination, Cultivating Longevity in a Grotto

As the sun set, Akabane circled once above a dense forest before slowly descending.

"Brother, it's getting dark. It looks like we won't be able to reach the Zhuo family today." Li Changle jumped off Chi Yu's back, looked up at the last rays of the setting sun sinking below the horizon in the west, and said, "The evil spirits should be coming out soon. Let's find a place to stay for the night."

Li Changsheng nodded and put the red feather into his spirit beast bag.

He looked around—it was a hilly area with sparse trees, and wisps of smoke could be seen rising in the distance, indicating there should be a village there.

"Let's go take a look over there."

The brother and sister walked along a dirt road.

On both sides of the road were abandoned fields, overgrown with weeds, with no indication of what crops had ever grown there. The air was filled with a damp, musty smell, mixed with a faint scent of paper ash.

"Why does this place feel so eerie?" Li Changle shrank his neck and subconsciously moved closer to his brother.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the outline of a village appeared ahead.

Li Changsheng stopped and squinted to examine the object carefully.

This village is quite different from ordinary villages—it is surrounded by high walls, more than two zhang high, made of bluestone, thick and sturdy.

The most striking feature is the surface of the city wall.

The bluish-gray stone wall was densely covered with dark red runes. These runes were drawn with some kind of special liquid, and in the twilight, they faintly glowed with a red light, like dried blood.

"Brother, this village..." Li Changle's face turned slightly pale.

Li Changsheng extended his divine sense toward the city wall.

The rune glowed slightly, as if it had been touched by something, but quickly returned to calm.

Just as the brother and sister stopped to look around, they suddenly heard a "gurgling" sound behind them.

Li Changsheng turned around and saw an old man pushing a wheelbarrow, struggling to walk along the dirt road.

The car was piled high with paper effigies—red, white, and yellow, adorned with paper flowers and painted with bold, colorful faces. When the wind blew, the sleeves of the paper effigies swayed gently, as if they had come to life.

Li Changle stepped forward and reached out to hold the handlebars of the wheelbarrow.

"Grandpa, let us help you push."

"Outsider?" The old man's voice was hoarse, as if he had a mouthful of sand in his mouth.

Li Changle nodded: "My sister and I are merchants passing through. We missed our lodging and would like to find a place to stay for the night. Old man, what's the name of that village over there? We'd like to ask if it's alright to stay the night?"

"No." The old man suddenly stopped, shook his head, and said in a harsh tone, "You can't enter the village. Hurry up and leave before it gets dark. There's a town twenty miles east where you can stay."

"Grandpa, it's already dark," Li Changle said softly.

The old man looked up at the sky, remained silent for a moment, and then sighed heavily. He looked Li Changle up and down, then suddenly reached out and picked up a man's garment from the wheelbarrow, handing it to her.

"Change into your clothes." The old man's tone left no room for argument. "Dress as a man. Once you're in the village, don't look around, don't wander around, and most importantly, don't speak. If anything happens, even I can't protect you."

"Grandma, what exactly happened in the village?" she couldn't help but ask.

The old man didn't answer, but just shook his head, signaling her to change quickly.

Li Changle glanced at her brother. Li Changsheng nodded slightly. She bit her lip, took her clothes, walked to the tree by the roadside, and quietly changed.

Upon reaching the city gate, the old man stopped, glanced up at the runes on the city wall, cleared his throat, and shouted something towards the gate. The voice didn't sound like human speech, but rather like the low growl of some kind of beast—short syllables and a strange tone; Li Changsheng couldn't understand a single word.

The city gates opened with a loud rumble.

Behind the door was a narrow street paved with bluestone slabs, the surface wet as if it had just rained. On both sides of the street were rows of low houses, with gray bricks and tiles, their doors and windows tightly shut. In front of each house hung a white lantern. The lantern paper was as thin as a cicada's wing, and a white candle burned inside; the flickering candlelight cast the lantern's design on and off.

The pattern was a strange symbol—a circle with a twisted cross inside, and a small dot at each of the four ends of the cross. Li Changle had never seen such a symbol before and couldn't help but take another look.

"Don't look!" The old man's voice was extremely low, filled with panic. He grabbed Li Changle's sleeve and pulled her forward quickly.

Li Changle dared not ask any more questions, and followed closely behind the old man with his head down.

The entire street was deserted.

Every household had its doors and windows tightly shut, with only white lanterns swaying gently in the night breeze.

Li Changle's palms were sweaty.

The old man led them through the entire street to a courtyard at the end of the village.

The courtyard gate was half-closed, and a white lantern hung on it. The candle had burned out, and the oil dripped onto the threshold, congealing into white tear stains.

The old man pushed open the courtyard gate, stepped aside to let Li Changle and his sister in, and then quickly closed the gate and bolted it shut.

The courtyard was piled high with paper effigies.

Some leaned against the wall, some lay on the ground, and some stood in the courtyard, supported by bamboo poles. In the dim light of night, the paper figures looked just like real people—old and young, men and women, dressed in colorful paper clothes and with heavily painted faces. When the wind blew, they swayed in unison, as if waving to people.

Li Changle swallowed hard, forcing himself not to look at the paper figures.

The old man led them through the courtyard and into the main room.

There were no white lanterns in the main room, only an oil lamp with a weak flame that barely illuminated the small space. The old man took two bowls of thin porridge and a dish of pickled vegetables from the stove and placed them on the table.

"Eat," the old man said wearily. "After you finish eating, go back to your room and sleep. No matter what noise you hear, don't come out."

"Thank you, sir," Li Changsheng said in a steady voice. "We siblings have troubled you."

The old man waved his hand, turned around and walked into the room filled with paper effigies, closing the door behind him.

Li Changle stared at the tightly closed door and whispered, "Brother, this village is so eerie. Those white lanterns, those runes, those paper effigies... what's going on?"

Li Changsheng did not answer, but simply gestured for her to be quiet.

His divine sense was released silently, passing through the walls, the courtyard, and the tightly closed door, and probing into the room where the old man was.

The room was filled with paper effigies. The old man sat amidst them, with a paper figure about half his height in front of him—his hair was tied in a bun, he wore a red wedding dress, and his makeup was like that of a bride. The old man's lips were moving, as if he were talking to someone.

But there was no one else in the room.

"We shouldn't have brought them back." The old man's voice was very soft, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he were confiding in the paper effigy. "But it's already dark. If we don't bring them back, the evil spirits will come out, and they won't survive."

The paper effigy did not respond.

The old man sighed and continued, "This year's bride, in order, is the village chief's. The village chief's daughter is eighteen, in the prime of her life. As long as we send the bride off, the village will have a year of peace. Why are you meddling, old man? Those two outsiders can be sent away first thing tomorrow morning."

The paper effigy remained silent.

The old man stood up, walked to the window, pushed it open a crack, and looked outside. The pale moonlight shone on the paper figures in the courtyard, giving them a silvery sheen.

"This year's bride... I hope Hades will be satisfied," the old man murmured.

The words had barely left his mouth—

Suddenly, the sound of music and drumming came from afar.

The sounds of suona horns, gongs, and bells drifted in and out, sometimes high-pitched, sometimes low, indistinguishable as joy or sorrow. They wafted in the night breeze, growing ever closer and clearer, clearly directed towards this courtyard.

The old man's expression changed drastically.

He turned around abruptly, rushed out of the room, and went to the main hall.

"Quick! Get into the cellar!" His voice was urgent and left no room for argument.

Before Li Changle could react, the old man had already lifted a wooden board in the corner of the main room, revealing a dark hole underneath.

"Little girl, quickly hide inside!" The old man grabbed Li Changle's arm. "I'll explain to you after dawn. Hurry!"

Li Changle looked at her brother. Li Changsheng nodded slightly, and the two siblings climbed down the wooden ladder. The old man covered it with a wooden board and then moved a table on top of it.