Deep mountain, an isolated village far from the world, sparsely populated.
Song Cheng stood in his courtyard and suddenly closed his eyes.
His Heart's Eye was still there; after closing his eyes, his perception got a certain enhancement.
The ink and white world returned in an instant.
Ding...
Ding-a-ling...
A metallic sound as faint as an auditory hallucination suddenly appeared.
Song Cheng felt as if he was pierced from behind by a sharp spike, and he twisted his neck fiercely toward the direction of the metallic sound.
The airflow from his neck's movement swirled heavily like quicksilver.
Both women stopped due to his movement.
Most of the surviving villagers reformed their families; wives paired with uncles, making do with life.
And young Mrs. Nan Hui, however, truly had nowhere to go and could only stay at Song Cheng's place every day, then built a side room next to the main house to live together.
She knew she had once had a man, and rumors spread in the village about her "climbing gray with her father-in-law," plus being pillaged by bandits, humiliated day and night. Though still attractive, she felt like withered flowers and fallen leaves and thus dared not entertain any thoughts of being involved with Song Cheng.
Of course, besides inferiority, she also felt a "disgust for men"... and now, her only wish was to survive.
She believed that only by staying close to Song Cheng would she have the greatest chance of survival, so she put down her pride and stayed here, ignoring her reputation.
After watching Tong Jia practice martial arts, Nan Hui took it upon herself to handle cooking, washing clothes, tending the medicine garden, and sewing and embroidery.
Honestly, she did these tasks better than Madam Tong.
Song Cheng and young Mrs. Tong discussed it; they could mostly guess her thoughts, so they let her be.
At this moment, seeing Song Cheng's tense face, Nan Hui also grew nervous.
The oppressive atmosphere made her want to speak.
Tong Jia gestured "silence."
Nan Hui hurriedly covered her mouth, yet she still looked at Song Cheng nervously.
After the auditory hallucination, Song Cheng made no discoveries, so he opened his eyes.
"What happened, Big Brother Song?" Nan Hui asked anxiously.
Song Cheng replied, "Gather the villagers, bring food and water, and we will stay at the foot of the mountain for two days."
After speaking, he added, "There might be something filthy."
...
...
Upon hearing Song Cheng mention something filthy, the villagers hurriedly packed and rushed out with their bags.
Nearly two hundred people reached the mountain foot by evening, each exhausted to death.
The bonfire quickly started, and a group of people gathered, looking toward the misty Tang River Village in the west, the murderous village.
Everyone shrank toward the east, asking Song Cheng questions.
"Lord Song, what filthy thing? Can you see it?"
"Old sister-in-law, there's no Lord Song here; no one will respond if you call for Lord Song."
"Hehe, Brother Cheng is good. Then this sister-in-law asks you, is there really something filthy?"
Everyone held their breath and looked at Song Cheng.
Song Cheng thought for a moment and said, "Everyone, honestly, I'm not sure. But I just feel something's off."
A man of considerable age said, "Brother Cheng, is it that rotting smell?"
Song Cheng nodded.
The man hesitated, saying, "Actually, yesterday afternoon, Er and I saw some animal corpses more than ten li south of our new village, and the smell should have come from there..."
Song Cheng was taken aback and suddenly became somewhat suspicious himself.
He was a martial artist, so maybe his sense of smell was more sensitive, making him feel the stench was strong?
After the man spoke, someone next to him said, "Uncle Fuhai, let's listen to Brother Cheng. Is there anyone more capable than Brother Cheng here?"
Song Cheng thought for a moment and said to the man, "Uncle Fuhai, maybe... let's forget it."
The villagers immediately started persuading him in various ways.
"Brother Cheng, spring plowing is about to start; everyone is preparing and can't leave the village."
"Brother Cheng, why not go and have a look first? Where else can we go? This village was hard to establish. We can't just leave before we see any sign of trouble."
"Brother Cheng..."
Listening to the many villagers' persuasion, Song Cheng pondered further.
After a long time, he still nodded.
Being stable and developing in the mountains, he naturally didn't want to venture out.
Besides, the old uncle had already checked. No need to panic like this. At least... a little investigation was warranted.
He liked it here, and the villagers put in a lot of effort; how could they easily give up when "the word hasn't even started to be written"?
Uncle Fuhai saw him nod and said with a smile, "Good, good."
...
Two days.
Nothing happened.
Song Cheng turned his head to look at Tang River Village in the west, where blood-red question marks floated, while the mountains showed nothing.
"Let's go back," Song Cheng decided.
...
The next day.
Song Cheng, Uncle Fuhai, and Er walked for almost an entire two hours along the mountain path to the place where the animal bones were buried, with Madam Tong and Nan Hui following.
Black mud wrapped around white bones, and the wet mist floated with a pungent smell of rot.
"Brother Song, is this it?" Er asked.
Song Cheng looked around.
Aerial roots hung, dry leaves piled up in layers, ancient trees reached skyward, and even the sunlight that fell was sparse, making both light and temperature exude a sense of gloom.
Young Mrs. Tong suddenly called, "Husband, husband, over here!"
Song Cheng walked over, following his wife's gaze.
It was a slope...
Perhaps due to flash floods or melting snow, a large piece of the slope had collapsed, revealing a cage of rusted black originally buried in the soil.
Uncle Fuhai said in surprise, "Why is there a cage here? In this deep forest, what's the point of placing a cage here?"
The old uncle spoke while walking over.
Song Cheng stared at the cage.
Suddenly, he recalled the metallic sound like an auditory hallucination from three days ago and quickly reached out to grab young Mrs. Tong's hand.
Seeing this, Nan Hui also instinctively held onto Song Cheng's clothes.
Uncle Fuhai took steps, step by step, forward, poking the ground a few times with his self-made hard wood hiking staff.
With each jab, the soil rattled down, revealing more of the cage.
A gray-white hollow, filled with a dead stillness, leaped from the cage, expanding silently...
Everything around began to morph into a bizarre, eerie illusion.
Yet, the group could not perceive a thing.
They held their breath and quietly watched.
The cage was large, clearly a trap for capturing wild animals.
Inside the cage, at a time unknown, sat a beast like a cross between a tiger and a cat, its fangs exposed, yet its eyes devoid of fierceness or spirit, only numbness and obedience remained.
"How about it, isn't my tigress nice?" A mustachioed man in a loose splendid robe approached with a smile, asking.
He smiled while clapping his hands, addressing the crowd around, saying, "Welcome, everyone, to my Extreme Joy World. After your long journey, you must want to see something fresh."
Saying this, he stepped onto the platform.
Nan Hui looked at the mustachioed man, swept her eyes over the densely gathered people around, and whispered, "Big Brother Song, what a lively scene."
Song Cheng nodded.
He hadn't noticed anything unusual; his mind offered no warnings or feelings of discord.
It seemed he seamlessly, naturally entered some scenario.
"Looks like this place is worth talking about; it was worth coming here specially."
The young Mrs. Tong beside him remarked, "Yes, husband, if we didn't have familiar folks co-signing, we couldn't have gotten in. What on earth is it?"
Song Cheng said, "Just watch."
He carefully observed, watching the man walk onto a platform covered with a heavy black cloth, hiding what seemed to be a cage underneath. It was quiet like a blind box with unknown contents.
The stack of cages beneath the platform formed rising and falling mountains, bulging...
He'd heard from familiar folks that this was the "Extreme Joy World," and the mustachioed man was the host. Anyone who came here could enjoy unprecedented excitement, something the mundane world couldn't offer.
The man in the sumptuous robe climbed to the mountain-like peak, looking down and saying with a smile, "Guests, guests, please wait a bit longer. Many others like you are arriving.
Good things take time; waiting for that joyful moment is part of the charm."
Some among the crowd laughed along.
Yet no one jeered; those who came here sought novelty and were all wealthy; no one had a lack of patience.
Before long, footsteps sounded from behind.
Song Cheng turned and saw many familiar faces.
"Miss Guan Xi," he called out.
The beautiful young woman quickly approached, laughing, "Didn't expect Mr. Song to enjoy such refined interest."
With that, she stood beside Song Cheng.
Song Cheng looked at the other familiar faces, calling them one by one, "Sister-in-law Caihua, Sister-in-law Baojin, Uncle Tian, Ding..."
The familiar faces all greeted in return, saying, "Brother Cheng's here too, huh."
More and more people gathered...
Song Cheng watched the mountain of black cloth cage with great interest, brimful with anticipation.
Everyone around him felt the same.
In their eyes flashed "desire," "indulgence," "curiosity," "pleasure"...
Everyone knew that once the heavy black cloth was lifted, the Extreme Joy World would arrive.
But just what the Extreme Joy World was, no one knew.
That's the curiosity!
The thrill!
Suddenly, Song Cheng felt an itch in his eyes and he rubbed them.
"Husband, what's the matter?" young Mrs. Tong asked.
Song Cheng replied, "Nothing."
Then he looked up again.
The mustachioed man on high, seeing everyone gathered, was about to speak when suddenly a commotion came from the west.
Everyone turned to look, seeing a group of fierce-looking rural bumpkins running over.
The person in the lead shouted, "A few people missing!"
After shouting, that person gave the mustachioed man no time to react, squeezing through the crowd to reach Song Cheng, saying, "You, come with me!"
Ziii...
Intense pain surged in Song Cheng's mind, as if his whole being was about to be torn apart.
He opened his eyes, recognized the man, and said in surprise, "Village Chief."
The lead man was indeed the Village Chief of Tang River Village.
The Village Chief said anxiously, "Come quickly! You're from our village, that wicked woman who failed to abide by her virtues, harming elders, should be punished at The place where those dishonest lovers were punished. You must come and see!"
Song Cheng suddenly clutched his head, the headache unbearable.
The Village Chief took hold of his hand, forcibly dragging him out of the crowd.
Young Mrs. Tong and the young Mrs. Nan Hui, who held onto Song Cheng's clothes, were also dragged out like logs, then quickly surrounded by that group of villagers, rushing west.
To the west, lay Tang River Village.
Song Cheng looked back slowly. Behind him, the thick black cloth was gradually being lifted, a striking red light exploded in his eyes.
It was an eye that seemed just awakened from a dream...
The illuminated blood-red pupil stared directly at the Village Chief, and also at him.
His heart pounded frantically like a drumbeat, chilling air crawled up his body, as if the cold, decayed, pale hands of the Dead Man brushed past, then followed his seven orifices, burrowing inside...
Illusionary Realm?!
No!
It was a reappearance!
When, when had he been ensnared?
Didn't know!
Didn't know at all!
On the other side, the Village Chief hooked him by the shoulder, running with him, shouting, "Hurry! The village is going to punish at The place where those dishonest lovers were punished! No time!"
Clutching Song Cheng, young Mrs. Tong and Nan Hui also began running, faster and faster.