The village began to lose living people.
The first one was An Laohu's youngest son.
That night, An Laohu had been drinking and playing finger-guessing games outside until the third watch of the night when he stumbled home in a haze.
He intended to check on his two sons first and then sober up with his wife.
Unexpectedly, upon entering the side room, he saw that only his eldest son was sprawled out on the kang bed, sound asleep, and the youngest son's quilt was empty.
Considering the recent disappearances of chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep in the village, An Laohu was so frightened that he sobered up significantly.
Now, there was no need to find his wife to help him sober up.
He first went to find the village head An Laoxiang, then summoned the men of the village, large and small, creating a mighty group that searched the whole night through.
The result was that the living were not seen, and the dead were not found.
One doesn't feel the pain until the blow strikes one's own head; at this moment, An Laohu, who had been out and about for a few years, came to his senses.
Something strange might be happening in their village.
The mortals in this world are not unaware of such things as gods, cultivators, demons, and ghosts.
The Great Xia Dynasty had no intentions of concealing it from them.
Moreover, it was made clear that worldly affairs were to be managed by the yamen while oddities were to be reported to the night watchmen.
In their short lifespans of a mere hundred years, they would occasionally hear legends like how Er Gou from some family's village was so smart that he was taken in as a disciple by a sect of immortals, or how an entire village was massacred by an evil cultivator passing by.
They never thought that this time, their own village might become one of those legends.
And it would be one of the bad ones.
Having realized this, An Laohu hurriedly took a few idlers to the yamen in Qian Deng Town, stuffing silver into hands and calling upon connections, begging the government officers to report to the night watchmen.
Save Da An Village, save his own son.
The government officers were quite obliging, as this was something that should be reported anyway, not to mention the added bonus of getting some silver. They assured An Laohu that the report would definitely reach Gusu City.
Perhaps because he accepted the silver, one government officer even added,
"Lately, the big shots in Gusu City are extremely short-staffed. If you're in an urgent need to save lives, you better find your own connections and spend money to hire a capable person."
Upon hearing this, An Laohu thought about returning to the village to have everyone chip in and hire a skilled person together.
However, the villagers were unwilling to do so, arguing that it was An Laohu's son who was missing, not theirs.
After waiting for two days, another child went missing from the village.
Now, the men and women, old and young of the village, could no longer stay calm. Which family didn't have a child? Then, under the leadership of An Laoxiang, they pooled together a large sum of money and invited a somewhat reputed old Taoist from Qian Deng Town to the village.
A capable person truly lived up to his reputation. Upon arriving in Da An Village, he surveyed the place and quickly identified the issue.
He declared, "The villagers have been frequently cutting down trees, causing the trees to harbor resentment."
"This has led to a tree spirit, fortunately with shallow cultivation. The problem is not too severe."
After saying this, he took his Peach Wood Sword and walked toward the mountain behind the village, where he chopped down an eucalyptus tree.
As the tree was split open, putrid blood poured out, along with a pile of domestic animal bones and other remains.
With eyes red, An Laohu frantically searched through the remnants for his youngest son's clothes and bones.
It was a short jacket embroidered with a little tiger head, stitched by the child's mother before he was born.
Although the outcome was tragic, having dealt with the demon, the villagers of Da An Village felt their anxiety lift.
Except for An Laohu and another household that had also lost a child.
That night, everyone warmly entertained the old Taoist, and indeed, nothing went missing in the village.
But the next night,
Another child disappeared from the village.
Frightened, An Laoxiang hurriedly led a few strong young men to call upon the old Taoist again.
But when they reached the Taoist temple, the junior Taoist on duty was puzzled to see them asking for his master once more.
With a confused face, he said,
"My master went out with you folks and never came back."
As soon as these words were spoken, An Laoxiang's back broke out in a cold sweat.
"So even the expert has gone missing!"
Upon learning this news, the villagers exploded in an uproar.
Those with children were thrown into a panic, and even the childless and singles started to fear, worrying that after the children were gone, it might be their turn next.
As a result, those with relatives fled to them. Those without relatives went back to their parental homes.
Some of the young and hot-blooded grabbed hoes and pitchforks, clamoring to go behind the mountain and dig up the trees.
But the old village chief wouldn't allow it.
Everyone else could run, but An Laoxiang couldn't, because he was the village chief.
So today, when he heard An Laoliu say that he had spotted a Taoist temple while up in the mountains collecting firewood, he quickly gathered some silver and came over in the middle of the night.
His original thought was to try the last ditch effort as if treating a dead horse as a live one.
But when he saw Jin Xu and the other two, he felt like there was hope for Da An Village!
That young Taoist looked even more like an immortal than the old Taoist!
...
At this moment, the four people on the mountain path were hurrying towards Da An Village.
Considering the journey wasn't far and not wanting to frighten the elderly,
Jin Xu didn't let Little White transform and carry them.
On the way, there was no trouble, and Jin Xu planned to ask An Laoxiang for details. Based on his current understanding of Yu Yaoer and Little White's brains, he figured he would likely have to solve this issue mainly on his own.
"Elder, do those missing children and the villagers who lost their chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep have anything in common?" Jin Xu asked, addressing An Laoxiang, who was leading the way for them.
"Anything in common?" An Laoxiang raised his hand to adjust his straw hat, indicating that he didn't understand.
"I mean, is there anything they all share?" Jin Xu explained, while pinching a pack of silver in his arms.
This was the silver that An Laoxiang insisted on stuffing into his hands back at the Taoist temple.
He couldn't refuse it.
"Yes, yes," An Laoxiang replied without hesitation.
Jin Xu's expression brightened upon hearing this.
"They all share the An surname!"
"Hmm....."
Jin Xu held the package of silver tucked in the black coin purse up to his eyes to take a closer look.
He told himself,
"I've taken the money, I've accepted the money!"
Without further conversation, the four of them arrived at the entrance to Da An Village.
At the entrance of Da An Village, under a large tree, stood a few people, with the leader having broom-like eyebrows, droopy eyes, not tall but very sturdy.
When he saw An Laoxiang returning with three people, he came up to greet them.
"Chief, who are these people?"
"These are the reclusive experts I've found!" An Laoxiang finished speaking to that person, then turned to Jin Xu and the others and said,
"This is An Laohu."
Jin Xu was willing to bet with the pack of silver in his hand that this person would also kneel down before him.
Indeed, after hearing the chief's words, An Laohu walked straight to Jin Xu and knelt on the ground.
"Young Taoist, I beg you, rid us of the demon and avenge my family. My life, An Laohu, will be yours from this day forward!" he said with red-rimmed eyes as he kowtowed several times on the ground.
It seems An Laoxiang holds great prestige in the village. Being so young, and after hearing his introduction, An Laohu came over to kowtow without any hesitation. Jin Xu pondered to himself.
"Hey, Laohu, what are you doing? Get up and speak, the young Taoist is a good person. He's already agreed to help us. All we need to do is offer more incense in the temple at Little Platform Mountain," An Laoxiang quipped.
"Cough cough." Jin Xu cleared his throat tactically.
Seeing An Laohu like this, An Laoxiang hurriedly went forward to help him up by the arm.
At this time, the few people standing under the tree also came over, and one of the younger ones spoke to the village chief.
"Uncle Xiang, after you left this afternoon, Laohu's wife and eldest son also disappeared," the young man said.