Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Chapter 582 - 284: The Mysterious Tai Sui Village! Dragon and Tiger Tomb, Zhang Family Tomb_2

"But I can’t trust you based on a few words; let me leave a mark on you."

Rumble...

As Meng Qiwu’s Primordial Spirit trembled, it finally arrived in Zhang Fan’s Primordial Spirit Inner Scenery, where darkness encroached, and the Great Night descended. The surroundings were confused and vast, like a majestic abyss and a glorious universe.

"Great Night is not bright..."

Meng Qiwu’s eyes widened with a deep sense of despair rising in her heart.

Such despair is not comparable to defeat in magical combat; it’s the swaying of the immortal path, the cutting off of future prospects, the fading of the red dust cultivation, the sudden turning into smoke of once cherished memories.

"No... No..."

Meng Qiwu’s body trembled, her voice quivering and hard to calm.

"Enter my spirit, and you shall witness the long night!"

At this moment, Zhang Fan’s voice echoed eerily from all directions, seeming to be everywhere, evident at every turn.

Within this Primordial Spirit Inner Scenery, he is both god and immortal.

The darkness surged, like thick ink, suddenly condensing, the Dao perishing, fate severing dust... The essence of the Great Night was concentrated in that drop of thick ink, slowly seeping into Meng Qiwu’s Primordial Spirit.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

Meng Qiwu’s wretched cries echoed violently within Zhang Fan’s Primordial Spirit Inner Scenery, gradually being swallowed by the intense dark night.

"What did you do to her?" Bai Yujing asked Zhang Fan, looking at him.

"Words are the weakest promises; I have to leave some means of restraint over her." Zhang Fan replied calmly.

Not to mention, Qin Ergou is now his person, stationed at Zhongnan Mountain. If Meng Qiwu harbors other thoughts, he truly would be caught in a dilemma.

But now it’s different.

The present Zhang Fan is no longer his past self, especially with the great gains from this journey to Toad Treasure Mountain, not only mastering the Fifth Layer Primordial Light but also devouring the White Bone Relic and refining Toad Dragon Treasure Qi.

The Great Night is not bright, seen by everyone as a monstrous flood, yet he can utilize it, turning tribulation into a seal, imprinting it into Meng Qiwu’s Primordial Spirit. With just a thought, she would instantly succumb to the Great Night, her entire cultivation lost, Primordial Spirit reduced to silence, completely becoming an ordinary person.

"You can truly wield such means?"

Bai Yujing scrutinized Zhang Fan up and down with a strange expression.

Ever since reaching the Great Master Realm, Primordial Light mystically growing, Zhang Fan’s Primordial Spirit seemed different, even able to use the tribulation of the Night is not bright with some mastery—such mystery is hard to fathom.

"You seem..." Bai Yujing hesitated.

"Seem like what?"

"You seem different from your father." Bai Yujing murmured softly, then shook her head: "Let’s go; if the sky brightens, we’ll miss our chance."

Once the chance is missed, seeking another opportunity of the sun and moon converging, nearing Tai Sui would be difficult.

"Ergou, follow me." Zhang Fan instructed, turning back.

"Alright!"

Qin Ergou nodded heavily, following closely behind Zhang Fan.

At this moment, he regarded Zhang Fan as his sole reliance in this world.

Bai Yujing led the way up front, the group continued probing forward guided by shadows.

Suddenly, a peach grove appeared ahead, stretched out before them, with no other trees within hundreds of steps, fresh grass, and falling blossoms.

"Winter hasn’t receded, yet there’s such a large peach grove in full bloom here?" Zhang Fan asked in wonder.

Moving forward again, they saw a small hill with a narrow opening that seemed lit.

The three entered through the narrow opening, initially cramped, just wide enough for a person.

"Is this the entrance to Tai Sui Village? How so..."

As Zhang Fan walked, his astonishment grew, and he felt increasingly peculiar, stirring a recollection of a classical Chinese text studied in junior high.

Following the narrow opening, taking a few dozen steps, it suddenly opened up. A dense fog spread before them, vaguely flickering with lights, alongside a high-hanging bright moon, where the sounds of chickens, dogs, cicadas, and birds permeated, carrying the scent of fields, reminiscent of the village before streetlights in childhood.

"This is Tai Sui Village!" Bai Yujing announced solemnly.

She had been a Si Snake for nearly twenty years, but had returned only a few times.

Dense fog reduced visibility drastically.

Looking ahead, Zhang Fan saw an ancient stone tablet not far away, covered in moss, with two peculiar but indistinguishable characters inscribed upon it.

"This is Wuwei Sect’s Daoist script..." explained Bai Yujing.

Qi Delong had stated that in ancient times, each sect’s Daoist Skill was transmitted secretly, and to prevent scripture leakage, each had its own writing.

Thump... Thump... Thump...

At this moment, strange sounds came from afar, like the stomping of some creature.

"Don’t speak; wait before entering."

Bai Yujing’s face slightly tensed, raising a hand signaling silence.

Zhang Fan widened his eyes, seeing silhouettes pass through the mist, with crimson eyes glowing like light bulbs, casting an eerie glow amid the dark night.

A moment later, those strange silhouettes finally moved away.

Bai Yujing then heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing this.

"What were those?" Qin Ergou asked unable to restrain himself.

"Mo Ti!"

"Mo Ti? What’s that?" Zhang Fan asked curiously.

Such a creature wasn’t documented in the Dao Secret Record, making it unfamiliar to him.

"It’s an ancient Exotic Beast, common deep in the mountains, said to bring misfortune to those who see its hoofprints—from severe illness to complete ruin." Bai Yujing explained.

For this reason, Mo Ti is sometimes regarded as a plague deity, worshipped in many mountain regions.

As for its true form, no one has seen it, only knowing its hoofprints are distinctive.

"Is it that mysterious?" Zhang Fan was taken aback.

Even as a cultivator, such Exotic Beasts seemed like mere legends, practically nonexistent now.

"Tai Sui Village harbors many Exotic Beasts from ancient times; they’ve lived here for generations..." Bai Yujing said matter-of-factly.

"Had I known, I’d have scrutinized it earlier." Zhang Fan pondered, looking toward where the strange silhouettes vanished.

"Mo Ti feeds on Primordial Spirits." Bai Yujing spoke firmly.

"..."

Hence, I said even if Daoist Sect people truly find this place, it’s useless; they can’t leave this fog. Even if possible, who knows the hazards hidden in this village." Bai Yujing’s face darkened, and as a Si Snake, her knowledge of this mysterious ancient village was merely an iceberg’s tip.

"Let’s go!"

Bai Yujing gestured, leading the group beyond the ancient tablet, into the sprawling fog.

Swoosh...

Upon entering the village’s threshold, dazzling flames lit up ahead not far away, night winds howled, swirling and raising paper money into the sky.

"Is someone burning paper?" Qin Ergou was caught off guard.

Zhang Fan focused ahead, seeing within ten steps a tomb mound lit with candles, with incense burning, and paper money fluttering across the sky.

Most crucially, the tomb mound stood over three meters tall, uniquely shaped, built like a mountain—in fact, a mountain Zhang Fan had seen before...

"Dragon Tiger Mountain!?"

Zhang Fan’s eyebrows rose, floating a deep suspicion.

At Tai Sui Village’s entrance stood a tomb, built in the form of Dragon Tiger Mountain’s shape, paper money swirling, incense wafting.

Which proper village erects a large tomb at its entrance?

But then again, Tai Sui Village doesn’t seem like any ordinary village.

"Aunt Bai, what is this?" Zhang Fan inquired.

"This is..."

Before Bai Yujing could finish, she halted abruptly.

"This is the Dragon and Tiger Tomb, Zhang Family Tomb..."

Just then, a cold voice echoed from afar.

Lowering his gaze, Zhang Fan discovered an elderly man seated beneath the large tomb, frail and emaciated, with one hollow leg and a cane at his side.

This was the first living person Zhang Fan encountered in Tai Sui Village, most importantly a person of flesh and blood rather than a Primordial Spirit.

"Dragon and Tiger Tomb, Zhang Family Tomb, filled with dead, with no soul in the dead’s orifices, soul-less, spirit-less, becoming immortal..."

The crippled old man burned paper money, grinned, and cast a haunting gaze toward Zhang Fan.

"Heh heh, after all these years, the Zhang Family has come again!!"