Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Welcoming the Year
The gate of Huai Valley Village was wide open, led by Liu Shan, almost all the villagers were waiting at the entrance to welcome Wu Chang.
Wu Chang dismounted, and at the moment he landed, the palace lantern in his hand just extinguished.
He discreetly put the remaining oil into his personal space and held the lantern before Liu Shan.
"Mission accomplished."
Liu Shan took the palace lantern and exclaimed, "Wu, the great hero, truly is extraordinary; a journey that takes a week can be completed in less than two days."
Liu Jinfu placed the palace lantern in the altar at the center of the valley, nourished by the array in the valley; it required no oil, and the Four-sided Age Fire Lamp erupted with crimson flames.
As the age fire ignited, the damp chill brought by the demons in the valley immediately lessened.
Due to Wu Chang’s early return, what was originally a discussion about the extermination ritual turned into a celebration feast.
At the feast, everyone was curious as to how Wu Chang managed to travel so quickly and whether he had encountered the lantern bearers from Chen Family Village halfway.
Upon learning that Wu Chang had not met anyone from Chen Family Village but had crossed several dangerous mountainous areas, the villagers exclaimed repeatedly, praising his skill and courage.
Some with delicate thoughts immediately turned to advise their own young ones that dangerous actions should not be emulated, and good children should definitely not learn from Wu Chang.
Traveling mountain roads like that, even ten lives wouldn’t be enough to lose.
Since Wu Chang traveled through normal mountainous paths, naturally it prompted the next question from everyone.
Liu Wei couldn’t resist, asking first:
"Hero, did Chen Family Village encounter some difficulties, why was the lantern sent so late?"
Wu Chang sighed, with a lingering fear, recounting the tales from Chen Family Village.
When they heard that demons had united to attack the village, slaughtering everyone in Chen Family Village, and placing the dead in storage to be used as winter provisions, everyone’s expression turned pale.
Some timid ones were even frightened to tears by this description.
Although Chen Family Village had become a lair of bandits, the two villages were, after all, longtime allies, with villagers having frequent contacts and even distant family ties.
The sudden destruction of Chen Family Village instantly dampened the celebratory atmosphere in Huai Valley Village.
After multiple confirmations, the villagers dared to believe this fact.
However, the villagers had no time to mourn for Chen Family Village, because next facing the threat from demons would be themselves.
After finishing the meal, the villagers didn’t even consider sleeping, calling together the entire village to prepare for the extermination ritual.
The sound of labor lasted throughout the night.
The next morning, when Wu Chang opened his eyes, a giant bonfire and a wooden altar had already been constructed in the village center.
He first asked the villagers guarding the door for a basin of hot water to wash up, and Liu Shan immediately came over, inviting him to take a walk around the village and explaining the extermination ritual.
The extermination ritual is the key to connecting various issues in the secondary plane; only by clarifying the process of the ritual will it facilitate the next action.
The extermination ritual had been mentioned countless times, but he really did not know how it proceeded.
He only knew that it shared many names with the real-world New Year, but the steps were much more complex, and he didn’t know the details.
Seeing Liu Shan proactively bringing information to him, how could he not accept it?
Liu Wu had previously said that once he sees the core of the extermination ritual with his own eyes, he will know what the demon is.
Originally, he was worried about how to cajole Liu Shan into seeing the core of the ritual, but unexpectedly, Liu Shan had no intention of hiding anything.
The first stop on the extermination ritual tour was the forbidden land of Huai Valley Village, also the core of the ritual.
The array for the extermination ritual was placed deep within Huai Valley Village in the Hollow Mountain.
The name Hollow Mountain comes from a natural cavern occupying about a third of the mountain’s size inside, as if someone dug out the mountain’s heart while it was forming.
There is only a narrow mountain path, just wide enough for three people to walk side-by-side, to enter and exit the cavern, making it easy to defend and hard to attack, with demons difficult to enter.
As a forbidden land, it couldn’t be more suitable.
In the center of Hollow Mountain cavern stood a giant stone.
The stone was smooth and elongated in shape, rounded at the belly, without any carving, yet somewhat resembling a human figure.
Like a Buddha with a big belly, or a woman about to give birth.
"What is this?" Wu Chang asked, puzzled.
Liu Shan said, "This is the Stone Buddha; when Huai Valley Village was first established, while searching for springs, someone discovered this Stone Buddha underground. Moving it aside, the spring water flowed from the pit, forming the small river now running through the valley."
"The Stone Buddha naturally possesses certain abilities, quite effective. The warlock who arranged the array used it as the foundation to suppress the demons, maintaining the core of the extermination ritual array."
Wu Chang circled the Stone Buddha twice, examining it closely.
It wasn’t that he believed Liu Shan’s story, but this Stone Buddha was peculiar.
When he approached the Stone Buddha, the Mortal Poison in his personal space reacted.
Indicating that the erosion core produced after contamination in the secondary plane was nearby.
But the object inducing the reaction of the Mortal Poison wasn’t the Stone Buddha proposed by Liu Shan, but from below the Stone Buddha.
How deep exactly, he couldn’t sense for now, but the distance shouldn’t be too shallow.
He stomped the ground, saying, "This mountain feels hollow; is there something arranged underneath?"
"There is a Bottomless Pit beneath the mountain, sealed when arranging the extermination ritual array. Don’t worry, as long as the ritual array is intact, there’s no concern of the ground collapsing," Liu Shan explained.
Wu Chang nodded indifferently, but internally felt it tricky.
The side task he accepted required him to locate the source of the Demon Qi in Huai Valley Village.
The erosion core formed in the pit of the secondary plane, and without a doubt, the source of Demon Qi in Huai Valley Village is connected to this pit.
But entering the pit means destroying the extermination ritual array, conflicting with the main task.
Currently, it seems he can only find a way to complete the main task first, and then, during the remaining time in the secondary plane post-task, find a way to complete the side task.
Liu Shan was unaware of Wu Chang’s thoughts and led him to a small cavern beside the Stone Buddha.
Upon entering, Wu Chang was startled by the sight before him.
Within the cavern, surprisingly, a group of Exotic Beasts were being reared.
Two large beasts and five small ones, a total of seven.
The large beasts were about one meter six or seven in length, with a slender physique, resembling tigers and leopards, yet armored with scales, exuding majesty.
The small beasts were just seventy to eighty centimeters long, still in their youth, very timid.
Upon seeing people coming, the small beasts hurriedly hid behind the large ones, while the large beasts displayed a mix of sorrow and anger in their eyes.
Wu Chang had never seen such complex emotions, such humane beasts.
Seeing Wu Chang’s surprised expression, Liu Shan proudly introduced them.
"This beast is called the Mountain Guardian Beast, rumored to be of dragon descent, only active in the deepest part of Huai Mountain and very rare to see."
"By chance, the young child inadvertently taken in by the village happened to have the ability to communicate with wild animals since birth, prompting Liu Wei to bring the child into the mountains and capture this group of Mountain Guardian Beasts."
It must be said, the villagers of Huai Valley Village truly know how to use the village guard youths.
But what Wu Chang couldn’t understand was, considering the usefulness of this tool, why was the prosperous Huai Valley Village so stingy that they wouldn’t even provide a cotton coat or a hot meal?
Even the toughest ox or horse would die under such strain.
"What’s the purpose of capturing these Mountain Guardian Beasts?"
At this point, they reached the main topic of today’s visit guided by Liu Shan.
"Hero Wu, the extermination ritual is divided into four steps, with the first step—Welcoming the Age—requiring these Mountain Guardian Beasts."