Chapter 489 - 219: Deserted Village

Chapter 489: Chapter 219: Deserted Village

After spending a day in a daze in the bamboo forest, he lifted his head and gazed in a certain direction...

...He was suddenly overcome by a strong urge to see the place where his master and the others had met with disaster.

’Disaster struck more than ten days after Master and the others left. With Qinghe and Xiao Jiu along, they wouldn’t have been traveling very fast. They might have still been within True Martial territory...’

Even though five years had passed, Qin Fang still wanted to go and look for it.

He stashed the large bundle he was carrying in the bamboo forest, then rose and flew off, following the direction his master and the others had taken all those years ago.

However, this was no simple task. He only knew the general direction his master’s group had headed when they left. No one knew if, or when, they might have changed course along the way.

The good news was that their starting point was Old Ox Back and their destination was clear: Prefecture City.

Therefore, Qin Fang only needed to search within a radius of a ten-day journey on foot along that route, and he would most likely find what he was looking for.

...After all, if they were to pass through that village, it must have been of a considerable size, not hidden away in the barren wilderness like Li Family Ao.

One day, two days, three days...

Qin Fang searched aimlessly.

He found a few potential villages, but they were inhabited. The presence of men and women, young and old, suggested they hadn’t moved in recently. Most were likely families who had lived there for generations; otherwise, there wouldn’t be any elderly residents.

In the blink of an eye, another month went by.

Qin Fang searched every day... In truth, he didn’t even know what he would do if he found the place.

’After all, the Path of Non-Birth has been eradicated, and Master and the others are most likely gone. What good would finding the place do now?’

And yet, he just had to find it.

It seemed that the very act of finding the village where the disaster occurred held a profound significance for him.

One day, it began to snow. Unwittingly, winter had arrived.

The heavy snow fell for three straight days before finally stopping. As far as the eye could see, the world was cloaked in a pristine blanket of white.

After finishing his meditation, Qin Fang rose into the air once more and flew forward aimlessly, his gaze idly scanning the landscape below.

At one point, his gaze suddenly froze. He stopped, hovering in mid-air. He looked down...

...and a village, buried in snow, abruptly came into view.

The village had clearly been deserted for many years. Most of the houses within it had collapsed.

A thick layer of snow covered the village paths, their surfaces pristine and white, devoid of any footprints.

Qin Fang hovered in the air, stunned for a moment. His heart began to beat faster. With a flicker of movement, he landed in the middle of the village.

He walked into one of the houses at random. It was completely empty. The structure had mostly collapsed, and a profusion of weeds grew within its walls.

He searched carefully, finding only weeds. What furniture remained was covered in a thick layer of mold... but there were no bodies.

He looked around the house. Cobwebs hung everywhere.

He moved on to the next house... The situation was identical.

In this house, however, he saw a table set with bowls and chopsticks. The pot on the nearby stove was also filled with black mold...

It had clearly once held food that was never cleared away. Over time, it had rotted and decayed into its current state.

’The porridge in the pot was still warm...’

He recalled Qinghe’s description.

’...but there wasn’t a single soul in sight...’

There really wasn’t.

Not even any bodies.

It was like...

’I’ve found it...’

Qin Fang stared blankly at the deserted village. He stepped onto the village path, the snow crunching under his feet.

...It was right here that his master’s group had run into danger. Here that something had wrapped around Qinghe’s neck, causing her to fall unconscious.

And then, she was refined into a Living Puppet...

’Were Master and the others also captured during this chaos and refined into Living Puppets?’

’Or...’

Qin Fang’s fists clenched tightly. He walked slowly toward the entrance of the village.

...He had taken part in the Sect’s subsequent investigation of Mist Rain Tower. He had seen many Living Puppets, but his master and the others were not among them.

The village wasn’t large. He soon reached its entrance. Gazing at the snow-covered world before him, Qin Fang looked back at the old, deserted village, his expression somber.

...After more than a month of searching, he had found it.

And yet...

His heart only grew heavier.

He stood quietly at the village entrance for an unknown amount of time. Finally, he let out a soft sigh, turned, and prepared to leave.

As he did, his gaze unintentionally fell upon a large tree at the entrance to the village. Beneath it was a dry well.

It was only a casual glance, but his brow immediately furrowed. He snapped his gaze back...

He had the vague feeling that something wasn’t right.

He looked at the tree. It was clearly old. Its branches were gnarled, and its bark, the grayish-brown of ages past, was cracked like dragon scales.

Its crown had long since withered, leaving only a few bare, twisted branches that stabbed at the lead-gray sky, exuding an air of desolation.

The rim of the dry well beneath it was made of rough, bluestone blocks. Its edges had been worn smooth by the wind and rain, and dark brown moss grew in the crevices.

The mouth of the well was pitch-dark and seemed bottomless.

It all looked quite ordinary, the kind of scene one might find in any village.

Yet Qin Fang felt something was off. Frowning, he scanned the scene back and forth.

After a moment, his pupils constricted. He had finally figured out what was wrong...

Clean.

It was too clean.

It had snowed for three consecutive days. The entire world was cloaked in a pristine blanket of white.

Yet this old tree, the ground in a ten-foot radius around its base, and even the rim of the dry well...

...were completely untouched by snow.

The gnarled trunk of the old tree revealed its dark wood. The ground was frozen, hard-packed earth, slick with moisture. The bluestone rim of the well was clearly exposed to the air.

This was clearly wrong!

Qin Fang immediately went on alert. A thought occurred to him, and a spiritual light flickered in his eyes. He activated his Void Spiritual Eyes and stared intently at the old tree and the dry well...

And as he looked, a look of astonishment dawned in his eyes.

"What... is that?"