boyutpedia Chapter 190 Night Sneak Peek
Chapter 190 Night Sneak Peek
Nie Lingfeng's eyes narrowed slightly. "Someone is calling him from inside the cave," "Many eyes are watching him"—how similar this was to the last message sent back by the missing field crew!
"Sister Alan, could you arrange for us to meet with that sick young man? We know a little about medicine, maybe we can help," Nie Lingfeng said gently.
Sister Alan looked at Xiao Yang hesitantly. Xiao Yang nodded: "Sister, Teacher Nie is an expert invited from above, here to deal with these strange things. Let him take a look, maybe he can find a solution."
"...Alright." Sister Alan finally nodded. "But his family might not allow it. That young man can't stand strangers these days; he'll make a scene as soon as they see him. I...I'll go talk to them first."
Sister Alan got up and left. Little Yang whispered to Nie Lingfeng, "Teacher Nie, what do you think..."
"Meeting them might yield more direct information," Nie Lingfeng said in a deep voice. "Furthermore, what Sister Alan mentioned earlier—'eerie green firelight' and 'drumming and chanting'—is also crucial. The other party may be frequently performing some kind of ritual."
After a while, Sister Alan returned, looking rather pale: "His family won't let us see it, saying they've already hired a sorcerer, and outsiders seeing it will cause even more harm. But... Aya is back, at her grandmother's house on the east side of the village. She heard you were here and wants to see you."
Aya is the informant Xiao Yang mentioned who married into the neighboring village but whose family is in Luodong Village.
"Okay, please lead the way, Sister Alan." Nie Lingfeng immediately stood up.
Sister Alan led Nie Lingfeng and Xiao Yang through the narrow stone-paved path of the village to an older stilted house at the east end of the village. The woman who opened the door was about thirty years old, also dressed in Miao ethnic clothing, with delicate features but a deep worry and weariness between her brows. It was Aya.
"Aya, this is Teacher Nie from upstairs. You should know Master Yang." After a brief introduction, Sister Alan tactfully left, clearly not wanting to get involved any further.
Aya ushered the two into the house, closed the door, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears: "Brother Yang, Teacher Nie, you've finally come! My mother... I was so worried!"
"Aya, don't rush, tell me slowly," Xiao Yang comforted her.
Aya wiped away her tears, her voice choked with sobs: "My mother lives alone in Luodong Village. I used to go back to see her every month, but for the past month or so, the village has been heavily guarded, and strangers can't easily enter. The last time I went back was about twenty days ago, and something was already off about the village then. My mother secretly told me that several old ghost masters in the village, especially Agong, seemed like completely different people. Their eyes were frightening, and they spoke strangely, spending all their time revolving around that Luodong Cave. They even demanded that every household in the village send a 'clean' daughter to serve the cave god..."
As she spoke, her body trembled slightly: "My mother said that some families in the village, either disbelieving in superstitions or reluctant to part with their daughters, secretly tried to send them away, but... the next day, someone in that family fell ill, or their livestock died. Everyone is terrified. A few days ago, I secretly asked someone to deliver a message to my mother, hoping to bring her out to stay for a few days, but the messenger returned saying that my mother told him to tell me never to go back, because the village... the village is being watched by 'something,' and we can't get out. She also said... she saw the ghost master Agong, who went into the cave alone at night, and when he came out, he was holding... holding something that was still jumping, bloody, like... like..."
Aya couldn't continue speaking; her face turned pale, and she covered her mouth, struggling to hold back from vomiting.
Nie Lingfeng and Xiao Yang exchanged a glance, both seeing the gravity in each other's eyes. The situation was more serious and...bloody than they had anticipated.
"Aya, do you know if three outsiders have recently entered the village? One is tall, one wears glasses, and one is a bit chubby?" Xiao Yang asked.
Aya thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes, about ten days ago, three outsiders went in, saying they were there to gather information and investigate local customs. They even asked my mother for directions. But later... they never came out. I asked my mother, and her face changed immediately. She told me not to ask, and said that those three people... 'went into the cave and never came out.'"
It's a "cave" again! The core of all the anomalies seems to point to that natural cave known as the "falling cave"!
"Aya, thank you for telling us all this," Nie Lingfeng said in a deep voice. "We'll try to get into the village and take a look. We'll also keep an eye on your mother's situation."
"Teacher Nie, you...you must be careful!" Aya's eyes were filled with tears and worry. "That cave...it's really eerie. When I was little, I heard the elders say that the cave was bottomless, connected to the underworld, and inhabited by man-eating monsters. Now...it's even more terrifying now."
By the time we left Aya's house, it was completely dark. A few scattered lights illuminated the village, appearing extremely faint against the thick night and the surrounding mountains. In the distance, the massive shadow of Moon Mountain, like a crouching beast, silently watched over this ancient land. And deeper in the mountain valley, Luodong Village and the eerie "Luodong" itself remained hidden in the boundless darkness and mist, exuding an ominous aura.
Back at the inn, Chen Duo was already awake, sitting by the fire pit, sipping the rice porridge that Sister Alan had heated for her. Seeing Nie Lingfeng return, she looked up, her emerald eyes clear and bright in the firelight.
"Nie Lingfeng," she asked softly, "is that village very scary?"
Nie Lingfeng sat down beside her, took another bowl of porridge from Sister Alan, and shook his head: "It's not scary, it's just that some people are misled by some bad things. Let's go and see tomorrow, drive away the bad things, and help the people there."
"Okay." Chen Duo nodded and said very seriously, "I'll help you."
"Okay." Nie Lingfeng smiled and ruffled her hair.
Outside the window, the mountain wind howled past, passing through the treetops and making a whistling sound, like some ancient and sorrowful sob.
The night is still long. And tomorrow, what awaits them is a mysterious and eerie Miao village, a twisted and fanatical faith, an unfathomable cave, and... something even more indescribable that may be hidden in the darkness.
Inside Sister Alan's stilted house, the embers of the hearth gradually dimmed, leaving only a layer of warm, grayish-white. The crackling of the burning firewood had long since ceased, and the night was so quiet that only the whistling of the mountain wind through the treetops and the occasional mournful cry of an unknown night bird in the distance could be heard.
Neither Nie Lingfeng nor Chen Duo were asleep. They lay fully clothed on the bed, eyes closed, regulating their breathing. Nie Lingfeng silently circulated the newly formed power, fused with the three divine artifacts, feeling the vast, seemingly inexhaustible energy flowing slowly through his meridians. He attempted to further tame and control this gift with the mindset of "Wuqiu Yijue" and the will of "Demon Heart Crossing." Each breath carried a strange rhythm, seemingly resonating subtly with the surrounding mountains and earth.
Chen Duo quietly hugged the panda plush toy, her inner energy of the Phoenix True Fire circulating subtly and precisely through her acupoints according to the methods passed down from the Queen Mother of the West. She could feel that after entering these mountains, there seemed to be a vibrant energy in the air that resonated with her phoenix bloodline, yet also carried a primal, wild aura, making the circulation of her True Fire smoother and more lively than usual. However, at the same time, an indescribable, subtle discomfort, as if she were being watched by countless hidden eyes, lingered. She wrinkled her little nose and buried her face in the plush toy's soft fur.
"Squeak—"
A very faint sound of a door opening came from downstairs, followed by deliberately light footsteps. It was Xiao Yang.
Nie Lingfeng opened his eyes, a fleeting flash of dark golden light passing through them. He gently rose, walked to the window, and lifted a corner of the heavy, hand-woven homespun curtain. Outside, the moonlight was obscured by thick clouds, the world shrouded in a hazy darkness, with only the indistinct outlines of distant mountains resembling the silhouettes of giant beasts. Xiao Yang's figure, like a raccoon blending into the night, silently slipped out of the stilted house, moving swiftly towards the edge of the village, towards the deeper forests.
"He went to scout ahead first," Nie Lingfeng said in a low voice. This was something they had agreed upon beforehand. Xiao Yang was familiar with the terrain, so he went to check the hidden path leading to Luodong Village to see if there were any sentries or traps.
Chen Duo opened her eyes, hugging her doll as she walked over, her emerald green eyes sparkling in the darkness: "When are we leaving?"
"Wait for his signal." Nie Lingfeng glanced at the special communicator on his wrist, where a green dot representing Xiao Yang was slowly moving. "If all goes well, we'll depart in half an hour. If not... we might have to leave earlier."
Time passed silently, second by second. The mountain wind outside seemed to pick up, making the cracks in the stilted house's wooden planks creak and groan, like something weeping. In the distance, towards Luodong Village, the deep, inky darkness seemed to possess a life of its own, slowly writhing and breathing, exuding an unsettling sense of oppression.
Suddenly, the communicator vibrated, and the green dot on the screen stopped at a certain position, flashed three times, and then went out. This was the agreed-upon signal that "it's safe, proceed as planned."
"Let's go." Nie Lingfeng no longer hesitated and gently pushed open the window. They didn't go through the main entrance, so as not to disturb Sister Alan's family.
Chen Duo nodded, naturally stuffing the panda plush toy into her backpack. Then, with a light touch of her toes on the windowsill, she floated downstairs like a feather, leaving no sound. Nie Lingfeng followed closely behind, landing silently.
Like two shadows blending into the night, the two stealthily made their way towards the denser, darker primeval forest behind the village, following the route Xiao Yang had described during the day and the coordinates recorded on the communicator.
The mountain path was rugged and slippery, covered with exposed tree roots and wet moss. But for Nie Lingfeng and Chen Duo, this was nothing. Nie Lingfeng incorporated the "Wind God's Movement" realm into his movement technique; his steps seemed casual, yet he always landed on the most stable spot, his figure ethereal as if walking on flat ground. Although Chen Duo's movement technique was not as refined as his, after receiving the Phoenix inheritance, her body was light and coordinated, and she was quite agile as she leaped through the forest. With Nie Lingfeng occasionally using air currents to prop her up, her speed was by no means slow.
The deeper they went, the taller and denser the trees became, their canopies intertwining to almost completely block out the already faint moonlight. The air was damp and chilly, thick with the smell of humus and a strange, faintly sweet, fishy plant scent. All around was deathly silent; not even the chirping of insects could be heard. Only the sound of their clothes rustling in the wind and the occasional snapping of a dry branch stood out sharply in the absolute stillness.
Chen Duo couldn't help but move closer to Nie Lingfeng, her emerald eyes warily scanning the twisted and grotesque shadows of the trees in the surrounding darkness. She could sense that something within those shadows seemed to be slowly shifting its "gaze" as they moved.
"Don't be afraid, they're just some plant spirits that have developed a little sentience due to the influence of abnormal energy. They're nothing to worry about," Nie Lingfeng reassured him in a low voice, while slowly spreading out a trace of his aura, which was infused with the majesty of the Qilin. The "gazes" that were hidden in the shadows and were filled with spying intent immediately receded like a tide, as if they had been frightened, and the oppressive feeling in the surroundings eased.
Chen Duo breathed a sigh of relief and muttered softly, "The trees here... they're all weird." (｡•ˇ‸ˇ•｡)