Chapter 37: A Village of the Undead and Ruined Talismans

“Oh, you absolute imbecile!”

Su Qinghan simply couldn’t restrain herself, her finger jabbing at the charcoal-black remains, a surge of fury seizing her.

“You managed to char a fish beyond recognition; are you a little clumsy pig?”

Clutching the charred branch, Lu Hongzhuang’s face alternated between a deep flush and stark pallor, her lips parting and closing without uttering a single word.

Never in her life, not until this very moment, had anyone dared to point a finger at her and call her a pig.

Yet, she found herself utterly unable to refute the accusation.

For the fish, undeniably, had been charred by her own hand.

Su Qinghan snatched the other, as-yet-unmarred fish from Lu Hongzhuang’s grasp, then seized the branch from her hand, letting out an indignant huff.

“Out of the way, move aside! You’re so clumsy, I’ll handle this myself!”

She deftly re-skewered the fish, positioning it above the dancing flames. With one hand, she expertly rotated the skewer, while the other pinched a small amount of finely ground salt and spices from a nearby pouch, scattering them evenly over the fish’s surface.

Her movements were fluid and graceful, betraying the practiced ease of an old hand.

Lu Hongzhuang silently retreated to the side, settling into a squat, her arms wrapped around her knees, her gaze fixed on Su Qinghan’s profile, illuminated by the flickering firelight.

A knot tightened in her chest, accompanied by a peculiar, indescribable sensation.

Gradually, the sky began to darken.

The last vestiges of the sunset glow were swallowed by the encroaching darkness, leaving only the crackling bonfire to cast its warmth and dispel the surrounding chill.

At last, the savory aroma of cooked fish finally overpowered the lingering scent of char, wafting through the forest.

Su Qinghan tore off a piece of fish, perfectly crispy on the outside and tender within, blew on it gently, then popped it into her mouth, her eyes narrowing in pure satisfaction.

She then tore off a generous portion and offered it to Lu Hongzhuang, who had been watching with an expectant gaze.

“Go on, eat.”

Lu Hongzhuang accepted the fish, taking small, delicate bites, yet her eyes remained fixed on Su Qinghan.

Feeling distinctly uneasy under that unwavering gaze, Su Qinghan sighed, leaning back against her wheelchair and gazing up at the inky blackness of the night sky.

“It seems we’ll have to make do with spending the night out here in this desolate wilderness.”

No sooner had the words left her lips than—

“Rustle… rustle, rustle…”

From the nearby woods, a faint rustling sound emerged, as if someone were treading lightly on fallen leaves.

Though barely a whisper, the sound was unnervingly clear in the profound stillness of the night.

“Who’s there!”

Lu Hongzhuang instantly became vigilant, drawing her longsword with a sharp ‘clang’ and swiftly positioning herself in front of Su Qinghan’s wheelchair, her phoenix eyes fixed intently on the source of the sound.

The flickering firelight cast her shadow long and distorted across the ground.

A hunched figure, using a gnarled branch as a makeshift cane, slowly emerged from the shadowy depths of the forest.

It was an old woman, her hair a wispy white, her face a roadmap of wrinkles, and her body clad in coarse, patched clothing.

She seemed startled by the glinting blade of Lu Hongzhuang’s sword, halting her steps as her cloudy eyes swept over the two young women.

“Don’t be afraid, young ladies, don’t be afraid,” the old woman croaked.

The old woman’s voice was a dry, raspy whisper, akin to two pieces of sandpaper grating against each other.

“This old woman is a villager from Mudhead Village, just ahead,” she explained, “I came out looking for my lost ducks, and seeing your firelight, I simply came to investigate.”

As she spoke, she forced a smile that was more unsettling than a grimace of sorrow.

“By the looks of it, you intend to spend the night here? This desolate wilderness is treacherous after dark, teeming with wild beasts. If you don’t mind, you’re welcome to stay in our village for the night.”

From her deeply wrinkled face, the old woman’s eyes fixed unblinkingly on Su Qinghan, utterly devoid of expression, hollow and vacant, simply staring.

Lu Hongzhuang’s grip on her sword hilt tightened. She sensed, with chilling certainty, that something was profoundly wrong with this old woman.

Extremely wrong.

She did not bear the semblance of a living soul.

Before Lu Hongzhuang could even voice a refusal, Su Qinghan, from behind her, had already offered a bright smile and responded with a cheerful, clear voice.

“Alright then! We truly appreciate your kindness, Granny!”

The old woman’s lips parted in what might have been considered a smile, before she turned and began to shuffle deeper into the forest.

“Follow me,” she rasped.

Lu Hongzhuang sheathed her sword, then leaned in close to Su Qinghan, her voice barely a whisper.

“Are you mad? Couldn’t you tell there’s something utterly sinister about her?”

Su Qinghan nodded, her smile remaining fixed, though her voice, too, dropped to a soft murmur.

“Oh, I certainly noticed,” she confirmed.

“And that’s precisely why we must investigate,” she replied, as if stating the most obvious truth. “If there’s truly a significant problem, simply leaving it to fester along the road isn’t a viable solution.”

What if other travelers were to pass this way in the future? Wouldn’t they be left to suffer a terrible fate?

Exorcising malevolent spirits and safeguarding the righteous path is, after all, my inherent duty.

While she might currently be a mere ‘five-scum’ in terms of combat power, wasn’t there a formidable expert of the Condensing Aura Realm right beside her? And if it turned out to be a ghostly entity, that would be precisely their area of expertise.

Lu Hongzhuang found herself utterly bewildered by Su Qinghan’s convoluted logic, leaving her speechless.

A persistent feeling of unease nagged at her, yet she couldn’t quite articulate its source.

Ultimately, she could only sigh, then resignedly gathered the clothes that had been drying by the fire, proceeding to thoroughly bury and extinguish the embers with earth.

Afterward, she pushed Su Qinghan’s wheelchair, following the eerie old woman who shuffled ahead.

The village was small, perhaps twenty or thirty households at most.

Its adobe walls and thatched roofs, bathed in the pale moonlight, exuded an air of profound dilapidation and desolation.

The moment they crossed the village threshold, Su Qinghan felt it.

An icy, deathly stillness pervaded the entire village.

Along the roadside, a few villagers were mending farm tools by the faint moonlight, while women sat by their doorways, diligently patching clothes.

The instant the trio stepped further into the village—

“Swish—”

Every single person’s movements ceased in perfect unison.

More than a dozen heads, like clockwork puppets, swiveled in perfect synchronicity to face them.

A multitude of vacant faces, each pair of hollow eyes, stared fixedly, silently, and unblinkingly at Su Qinghan and Lu Hongzhuang.

The entire village plunged into an immediate, profound silence.

Only the mournful ‘woo-woo’ of the night wind rustling through the thatched roofs broke the oppressive quiet.

Lu Hongzhuang’s back instantly stiffened, her hand instinctively resting on her sword hilt.

Su Qinghan, conversely, behaved as if nothing was amiss, even cheerfully waving at the villagers.

“Hi there~ Good evening, everyone!”

No one responded.

The villagers merely stared blankly, their gazes unwavering, until the old woman led Su Qinghan and Lu Hongzhuang into an unoccupied dwelling.

“Creak—”

The wooden door creaked open, releasing a wave of long-stagnant, musty air.

The room was sparsely furnished, containing only a simple wooden plank bed and a table missing one of its legs.

“You’ll stay here for the night,” the old woman stated.

With those words, the old woman turned and departed, her rigid figure swiftly disappearing into the deepening night.

“Thud.”

Lu Hongzhuang immediately stepped forward, securely bolting the wooden door.

Turning back, her expression was etched with the utmost gravity.

“This entire village is profoundly disturbing!”

Su Qinghan remained silent.

From her seat in the wheelchair, she retrieved the damp clothes she had changed out of from within her robes.

Then, from a hidden pocket within the garment’s lining, she extracted a stack of items that had turned pale and slimy from the water, practically a wad of paper pulp.

They were her last reserves: over a dozen meticulously drawn talismans.

Now, they were utterly ruined.

Su Qinghan gazed at the pulpy mass in her hand, a profound silence falling over her.

After a long moment, she slowly lifted her head, meeting Lu Hongzhuang’s wary gaze, and forced a smile that was more unsettling than a tearful grimace.

“I have some bad news, and then some even worse news.”

“Which would you prefer to hear first?”

Lu Hongzhuang’s brow furrowed deeply. “This is no time for jokes! Just tell me!”

“The bad news is…” Su Qinghan gestured with the pulpy remains in her hand, “this entire village, from the eldest to the youngest, contains not a single living soul. Every one of them is a half-human, half-ghost entity.”

“And the even worse news is…”

She paused, then painstakingly squeezed out the latter half of her sentence, word by agonizing word.

“The talismans I rely on to deal with these creatures were all utterly ruined by your bathwater, you absolute imbecile!”

Growing increasingly furious with each word, Su Qinghan instinctively tried to lift her leg to kick Lu Hongzhuang’s posterior.

However, her legs merely twitched, then fell back to her side, utterly devoid of strength.

A profound sense of helplessness washed over her.

Gazing at Lu Hongzhuang’s face, a canvas of shock and bewilderment, Su Qinghan could only manage a long, drawn-out sigh.

“Alas…”

This time, they were in truly dire straits.

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