After a few days of walking and following the path Meilin had guided him on, Xiao finally found the entrance to a large village.
"Finally, the village," Xiao thought, letting out a sigh of relief. "I can finally complete my quests, but first, I need some rest."
Xiao thought he would have to provide something to enter the village, but the gates were mysteriously open. It looked like he could just walk right in without any trouble, and no one seemed to be guarding the entrance.
So Xiao did exactly that. He wandered through the village, trying to find the nearest person for instructions. However, the place seemed strangely deserted, like a ghost town rather than a bustling village. He even knocked on several doors, but no one answered. Just when Xiao was about to give up and leave, he sensed something.
Turning his head to the right, he saw a man dart into an alley. Seizing the opportunity, Xiao sprinted after him and shouted, "Wait!"
The man stopped abruptly, turned around, and gasped. "What are you doing outside right now?"
Without giving Xiao a chance to respond, the man grabbed him and dragged him into the alley. Xiao, surprised by the man's strength, couldn't resist.
'Why is he so strong? He feels like a top qi condensation martial artist. What is someone like him doing in this village?' Xiao thought as the man sped down the alley.
The man stopped at a wall, did something with his qi, and moments later, the wall opened up. He rushed inside, performed the same qi maneuver, and the wall closed behind them. The man sighed in relief and finally released Xiao.
Xiao took in his surroundings—a pristine, ancient-looking building with a long hallway lined with countless doors, stretching endlessly.
"Why were you out there at this time?" the man asked with a frown. "Another minute, and you could've been another victim of that murderer."
"I just got here not too long ago," Xiao replied, shaking his head. 'Just my luck that something is wrong with this village.'
The man sighed. "My name is Zhao Ling. You can just call me Zhao," he said in a frustrated tone. "So many victims… that damn murderer is only growing stronger with each kill."
"Hey, Zhao, can you tell me what's going on? Why am I in danger?" Xiao asked, confused.
"Well, do you want the long or short version?"
"The short one," Xiao answered quickly, not eager to stay in the village any longer, knowing there was a murderer on the loose.
Zhao nodded. "Alright, the short version is that a murderer is stuck in this village, killing people to gain power."
"That's it? Why don't you just overpower him or leave the village?" Xiao asked, still confused.
"That would be in the long version. Are you willing to hear it?"
"Alright, let's hear it. But can we find a place to sit first?"
"My fault. Come over here." Zhao led Xiao to a random door in the hallway, performed a different qi move, and opened the door. Inside was a standard room with a bed, table, and two chairs.
"This will take a while, so sit down and prepare yourself." Zhao walked over to a cabinet and pulled out what appeared to be tea. "Do you want any?" he asked.
"Yes," Xiao replied instantly. He'd been thirsty from his travels, and although he'd survived on water he found along the way, he desperately wanted something else. He didn't even care if it was poisoned—he knew Zhao could've killed him any time if he had wanted to.
Zhao handed Xiao a cup of tea, then poured himself one and sat down.
"So, this is how it started," Zhao began. "This village was normal despite its strange name. We're a closed community, and we don't like to bring outsiders in. But two months ago, a man named Lin Jing came to the village. We didn't trust him at first since he was an outsider, but he consistently returned with offers to help us."
Zhao took a sip of tea before continuing. "We decided to trust him because he was a 4th stage qi condensation cultivator, and we thought his help could be useful for hunting animals. For the first month, everything was fine. Jing helped us hunt and provided food. But one day, he made a strange offer—he said he could help us gain immense power. The problem was that it required… sacrifices."
Xiao frowned. "Sacrifices?"
"Yes. Everyone in the village rejected the idea immediately. But that didn't stop him. When he went on hunts with others, he would always return alone, claiming the monsters were too strong. At first, we believed him. But after a while, we realized something was wrong. He never came back injured, and we should've taken him down then. But we were naive, wanting to trust an outsider again. We thought he was helping us progress. Instead, he used our trust against us."
Zhao's face darkened. "Then villagers started disappearing mysteriously."
"Why didn't you gang up on him?" Xiao asked, his brow furrowed.
"We couldn't. It's like he always knew what we were planning. That's why we can't leave either—every time we try, he's waiting for us."
"So why hasn't he killed everyone yet?" Xiao asked, trying to piece everything together.
"We don't know. Maybe he's planning something bigger, something that requires many sacrifices at once. But we're not sure."
Xiao sighed, thinking. "Alright, I'm going to leave now. I'll be back in the morning, and we'll figure out how to get you all out of here."
"Wait! Do you have a qi gathering pill I can buy?" Xiao asked, wanting to complete his quests quickly and ascend beyond being a mortal. He silently cursed himself for not asking Meilin earlier.
"I have one, but it's a weak pill, full of impurities." Zhao rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a small pill.
"That's fine," Xiao said. He pretended to dig into his bag while secretly opening his system inventory to pull out a low-grade spirit stone.
Zhao's eyes lit up with greed. 'Hah, this fool doesn't know the value of a low-grade spirit stone,' Zhao thought as he handed over the impure qi gathering pill.
"Alright, I'll be back in the morning," Zhao said, standing to leave.
"Okay," Xiao replied, trying to hide his amusement. As soon as Zhao left, Xiao opened up the system grinning to himself.