Battle Through the Heavens: It turns out I'm actually the patriarch of the Xiao family!

Chapter 65 Playing the Fool, Xiao Chen Makes His Move

The older woman, her eyes still red, was startled at first upon seeing Qinglin, this beautiful girl with exotic features. She then sighed and whispered, "Girl, are you from out of town? No wonder you didn't know; this is releasing 'disaster-averting lanterns.'"

"A warding-off-disaster lamp?"

"well----"

The woman's voice lowered, filled with fear.

"For the past two weeks, Shuiyun Mountain has been anything but peaceful!"

"At first, strange noises would often come from the mountains, scaring away birds and beasts that dared not approach."

"Then—then something happened in the river too!"

"The boy from Old Li's family at the village entrance, a few days ago he was fishing in the river when something dragged him into the water, and he's nowhere to be found, dead or alive."

"Since then, the river has often surged for no reason, and at night you can hear a sobbing sound, like—like a drowning person crying!"

"Several of those who went into the mountains to chop firewood have also mysteriously disappeared."

"The village elders all say that either the river monster has awakened, or an old demon from the mountains is about to abduct people—if we don't offer sacrifices soon, disaster may befall us!"

"These lanterns are to send the wronged souls who fell into the water to rest in peace, and also as a sacrifice to the gods of the river and mountains, begging them to accept the offerings and spare our village—"

Qinglin's face paled slightly upon hearing this, and a hint of seriousness flashed in her blue eyes.

She subconsciously looked at Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen listened in silence, his gaze passing over the weeping and praying crowd, landing on the deep night of Shuiyun Mountain in the distance, and then slowly moving to the river in front of him, which was flowing with countless lights.

The candlelight flickered in the river, its reflection mingling with the shimmering water, creating an ever-changing, shimmering effect.

At that moment, his gaze suddenly sharpened.

The next instant, Xiao Chen and Qing Lin vanished into thin air.

The woman was immediately startled.

"Hurry up, hurry up, everyone go home. No one, no matter who it is, is allowed to go out tonight!"

"Even if you hear any noise, you must not open the door or go outside, otherwise you will surely be eaten by ghosts!"

Just then, on the distant riverbank, a gaunt old man shouted at the top of his lungs.

Soon, the villagers all scattered.

The night was deep, and in this remote mountain area, the roars of wild beasts could be heard from afar.

This is a grave overgrown with weeds.

The pale moonlight appeared and disappeared intermittently, adding to the eeriness of this land where nameless bones were buried.

Two figures were gradually approaching each other.

Only when they got closer could they see clearly that it was a boy of thirteen or fourteen years old and a girl of five or six years old.

The boy was dressed in patched coarse cloth clothes, his face was pale, his body was thin, and a wood-chopping knife was stuck at his waist.

The girl had two messy braids, wore similarly worn but relatively clean clothes, and was thin and pale.

She stood close to the boy, holding a small cage simply woven from withered grass in her small hands, filled with some wild fruits.

Half an hour later.

The boy and the little girl stopped in their tracks.

Two figures appeared silently on the high ground not far away; they were Xiao Chen and Qing Lin.

Upon seeing the two figures, Qinglin looked puzzled.

The boy deftly used a machete to chop away the weeds and repaired the lonely grave. Then he took out incense, paper money, and a plate of steamed buns from the cloth bag at his waist.

He lit incense and candles, offered steamed buns in front of the grave, then knelt down and said, "Mother, my sister and I have come to see you."

The boy knelt upright, his back ramrod straight.

The little girl silently knelt down beside him, carefully placing the grass basket filled with wild berries next to the dish of steamed buns, and added in a soft voice, "Mother, my brother and I brought some fruit, fresh and sweet—"

As she spoke, she pushed the grass cage toward the grave with all her might, her small gesture filled with childlike eagerness.

The night wind howled through the mountain valley, stirring up the ashes of the paper money and bringing with it a faint, muffled, eerie sound from the distant mountains.

The sound made the little girl flinch slightly, and her little hands involuntarily clenched the hem of her brother's tattered clothes.

Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she screamed in terror, "Brother, a ghost!"

The little girl's scream shattered the deathly silence of the graveyard.

She pointed her little finger to the other side of the nearby solitary grave, her eyes filled with pure terror.

The boy reacted quickly, standing up instantly and pulling his sister behind him with a sudden burst of strength in his wrist.

He drew the woodcutter's knife from his waist; the blade gleamed faintly in the pale moonlight.

He looked in the direction his sister was pointing, and his muscles tensed instantly.

In the darkness, a single, eerie green will-o'-the-wisp flickered, and a figure in flowing white robes could be vaguely seen appearing and disappearing.

"Walk!"

The boy was so frightened that cold sweat broke out on his back. He immediately grabbed his sister's hand and turned to run away.

But halfway there, the boy suddenly stopped.

Not far away, a writhing shadow, like a vine, sprang up, eerily emanating from it and billowing black smoke, lunging towards the boy and girl.

The boy's expression changed drastically. He suddenly grabbed his sister and turned to run away in another direction.

But soon, a figure in flowing white robes appeared in that direction, blocking the way.

This time, the boy finally saw clearly that the woman in white was a female ghost with disheveled hair and a pale, translucent face.

Swish!

The white-clad female ghost pounced, moving with incredible speed.

The boy and girl had no time to dodge.

In this critical moment, the boy gritted his teeth, stepped in front of his sister, and shouted, "Sister, run! Run!"

'

As he spoke, he gripped the machete tightly with both hands and swung it forward with a sudden chop.

Click!

The machete shattered, and the boy was sent flying.

The white-clad female ghost didn't even glance at the boy, and pounced straight at the little girl.

"Brother—save me!"

The little girl fell to the ground like a leaf in the wind, her petite body curled up in terror, her hands covering her head, and she let out a heart-wrenching scream, her tender voice piercing the deathly silence of the night.

Seeing this scene from afar, the boy felt a surge of heat rush to his head, his eyes widened in horror, and his heart felt like it was being torn apart.

Since his parents passed away suddenly, his young sister has become his only family in this vast world!

Just as the little girl was about to be pounced on by the white-clad female ghost, a cold snort suddenly rang out: "Playing tricks, courting death!"

The sound was like thunder, filled with immense divine power.

Immediately afterwards, a flash of blue light appeared, piercing the inky night, dazzlingly bright.

boom!

Before the "white-clad female ghost" could even dodge, her figure suddenly exploded like paper.

The boy and the little girl were both stunned.

The next instant, a figure appeared in their field of vision like a god descending to earth.

The figure was tall and slender with a handsome face. He was surrounded by azure light and exuded an inexplicable aura of power.

It was Xiao Chen.

In the eyes of the boy and girl who had just escaped death, Xiao Chen was now no different from a god.

At this moment, Qinglin walked out from the darkness of the night, toying with a badly damaged emerald bead in his hand.

She didn't know what it was.

Just now, when Xiao Chen saw that wriggling, vine-like ghost, he ordered Qing Lin to command the two-headed fire spirit snake to kill it. This bead fell from inside that ghost.

According to Xiao Chen, the white-clad female ghost was actually a person, while the wriggling, vine-like ghost was a strange race from the Dou Qi Continent.