Penglai Immortal Village (Ghost King Gong) - Discovery of Qin Xu Nü (19)

"So why did you choose me to come here?" If the "god" in the village was Xie Tu, then Shen Yu being chosen was also Xie Tu's intention.

Xie Tu actually thought seriously for a moment before replying: "In the past, those I chose were villagers. They would kneel and pray before my stone statue, hoping I would help them. But I wasn't the one who made this village like this. As for you... well... you are from the outside world, yet you make me want to stay here and help them out whenever the time is right."

Xie Tu's eyes indeed held a clear, pure gaze. "But after you arrived, I wanted you to come here and look at me. Yet they felt it was because you were too beautiful, thinking I wanted to choose you as my new bride. Although they weren't wrong in their guess, I won't do anything to make you unhappy."

"When can I go back?" Although Shen Yu didn't plan on leaving immediately, he still wanted to know if he could leave this place.

Xie Tu leaned in slightly, a hint of loneliness in his eyes: "Anytime."

"Can I walk around here?" The temple was quite large, and Shen Yu hoped to find some clues here.

Xie Tu nodded generously: "Of course!"

——

Although the temple was built grandly, it had an indescribably eerie feeling. The corridors of varying heights caused the wind to swirl, sometimes loud and sometimes soft, like the tragic wails of ghosts, occasionally whispering in Shen Yu's ear, occasionally echoing in a dark corner.

The temple had been renovated. It seemed to have been abandoned for some time, but during the reconstruction, they had clearly spent a lot of effort and money.

There weren't many rooms in the temple, but they were spacious. Unfortunately, except for the main hall which displayed hundreds of candles and the stone statue, the other rooms were empty.

Shen Yu walked around all morning but failed to find any useful clues.

Xie Tu was always elusive, having disappeared to who-knows-where long ago. The entire vast temple was left with only Shen Yu and the bedridden Old Priest.

Shen Yu felt it was too quiet. Thinking back, he realized this place lacked natural sounds—no birds chirping outside, no movement of wild beasts on the mountain. There was absolutely nothing.

Until Shen Yu accidentally walked to the backyard of the temple. Calling it a backyard, it could also be described as an abandoned area. The back was overgrown with weeds, and even though it was winter, the ground was still covered in wild thorns. Shen Yu carefully avoided them, but his right ring finger was still nicked by a thorn.

Shen Yu curled his finger slightly, raising his hand to look at the bloodstain on it. It spread like ink, forming a red flower.

Passing through the thorns, he walked inside the abandoned room.

Shen Yu pushed the rotting wooden door with his hand, but it didn't budge, as if blocked by something behind it. He raised his foot and kicked the door open—or rather, the door had been eaten away by termites, so his kick didn't just open it but shattered it.

Only then did Shen Yu see that the room was piled with old, ruined sacrificial items, and the thing blocking the door was a stone statue. It was less than half the size of Xie Tu's statue, and...

Shen Yu stepped over the threshold, went behind the statue, and reached out to prop it up. It was a statue of a woman.

The woman had a kind face, gentle eyebrows, and a smiling mouth. Although a corner of her eye was broken, the divinity radiating from her entire body was not small.

Compared to Xie Tu, they were two completely different extremes. Xie Tu's gaze was condescending, contemptuous as if looking at ants, his face cold and ruthless, showing absolutely no divinity.

Shen Yu thought for a moment and began to search the room. Most of the items here had rotted, with only this stone statue remaining relatively intact.

Shen Yu still couldn't find any more clues, not even knowing who this stone statue represented.

He bent down, planning to clear a clean space for the statue. Unexpectedly, he saw a wooden board almost completely eaten by termites. Originally, there must have been many words on it, but now only one or two characters could be vaguely distinguished.

Among them, the three characters "Qin Xu Nü" were the most eye-catching.

It was her again, the "dead god" in Xie Tu's words.

Out of suspicion, Shen Yu cast his gaze upon the statue in front of him.

The more he looked, the more pitiful she seemed. Those eyes, kind to all living beings, hid a deep sorrow. Shen Yu stared at her eyes until he noticed something abnormal: the statue's eyes began to bleed dark red blood, pouring from the corners of her eyes, and her mouth also dripped blood. The statue became eerie.

Shen Yu immediately went into a defensive stance and left the room. But just as he stepped out, he heard the sound of a nursery rhyme echoing from inside—it was that very same nursery rhyme.

If Shen Yu's guess was correct, this statue must be Qin Xu Nü.

Inside, there were also quite a few offering bowls for the statue, at least more than ten. They had once worshipped this deity, until later, along with Qin Xu Nü, she was hidden away or discarded in this dark, damp room that never saw the light of day.

"Who killed Qin Xu Nü on her way back home?" The final line of the nursery rhyme drifted out melodiously from an unknown source.

But in this desolate place, it felt all the more chilling.

The villagers knew they were kneeling to a ghost, yet they had discarded the true god. Therefore, just as Shen Yu thought, the deity the villagers had always believed in was worse than a ghost, or rather, the village's god... was dead.

Combined with that nursery rhyme, it wasn't hard to guess that the god had indeed died, and moreover, was killed. Someone in the village had killed the deity.

If the Old Priest wasn't the breakthrough point, then was the next breakthrough point finding the person who killed Qin Xu Nü?

Who could have such great capability to kill a god?

These clues all indicated that they had thought wrongly from the very beginning. The god still existed, and the Old Priest wasn't the mastermind behind everything.

Perhaps finding the person who caused Qin Xu Nü's death was the correct path.

Thinking this, Shen Yu suddenly understood what he should ask the Old Priest. He left the area, almost running straight to the door of the Old Priest's room.

He knocked, letting the person inside know he wanted to enter.

Pushing the door open, the same pungent, unpleasant odor rushed out. Shen Yu frowned, walking expressionlessly to the Old Priest's bed. The Old Priest lay on the bed, seemingly sensing someone's arrival, and slowly opened his heavy eyelids, revealing a tiny slit.

"Are you well, Lord Old Priest?" Before Shen Yu could catch his breath, he couldn't help but call out to the man on the bed.

The Old Priest swept a glance at him, speaking with difficulty: "You're here again..."

"Yes, I have something to ask you!" Shen Yu made no attempt to hide his purpose.

The Old Priest closed his eyes, straining to speak: "Ask what?"

"Was our village's previous god named 'Qin Xu Nü'?" Shen Yu closely watched the Old Priest's expression. This old man had lived for over two hundred years. If he intended to hide something, he could easily mislead Shen Yu. Shen Yu didn't expect to hear any reliable words from his mouth, so he only wanted to know what status Qin Xu Nü held in his heart.

Sure enough, the Old Priest's eyelids twitched slightly, but they didn't open. "He told you?"

"He?" Shen Yu didn't understand.

Hearing Shen Yu's confusion, the Old Priest finally opened his eyes and said, "Tu."

"Xie Tu?" Shen Yu asked back.

"So that is his name now." The Old Priest sized up Shen Yu. "You are not wrong. Our village's previous god was indeed called 'Qin Xu Nü'."

"Who killed her?" Seeing that he wasn't hiding it, Shen Yu hurriedly pressed.

The Old Priest let out a dazed laugh, the sound from his throat incredibly unpleasant. "Who killed her? Who indeed..."

"Qin Xu Nü, Qin Xu Nü, is a beautiful fairy in the sky."

"Qin Xu Nü, Qin Xu Nü, is rotting and decaying in the ground."

...

The Old Priest began to hum that nursery rhyme.

He knew the nursery rhyme. Did that mean the villagers knew it too?

The Old Priest didn't even intend to hide or lie in response to Shen Yu's question; he directly chose to play dumb.

His voice was ancient, and singing this nursery rhyme carried an indescribably eerie feeling.

Shen Yu couldn't get any more clues, so he had no choice but to leave the room.

It seemed his guess was correct. "Qin Xu Nü" was indeed the village's former god, but someone had killed her.

And what they needed to do now was to find the culprit who killed Qin Xu Nü.

He had first suspected the Old Priest. Two hundred years ago, the Old Priest was still very young, and he had lived for two hundred years in such a state, perhaps as a consequence of deicide.

But after just a brief conversation, Shen Yu felt that it might not be the Old Priest.

If there was someone else behind this, they had to find a way to uncover that person. Such important clues naturally had to be brought back to the others.

But Xie Tu wasn't there, or rather, Shen Yu didn't know the way to leave this place. Helpless, Shen Yu could only stay here for the night. The Old Priest's room was freezing, and so were the other rooms; Shen Yu couldn't find a place to sleep.

Even the main hall where the stone statue was worshipped was warmer than the living quarters. Thus, Shen Yu dragged a soft cushion to the side of a pillar, leaning close to a burning candle. He pulled his clothes tight, closed his eyes, and prepared to sleep.

When Xie Tu returned from outside, he saw Shen Yu quietly leaning against the pillar, fast asleep. He had changed out of that wedding robe, wrapped in a black feather coat that made him look extremely slender.

Xie Tu had no concept of warmth, but he remembered a long time ago, someone had told him that this place was a bit cold, telling him to get some blankets so he could sleep well at night.

Later, he had someone arrange blankets, but he still didn't feel any warmth, and he never had the chance to ask that person if it was warm enough.

Shen Yu would rather sleep here than go sleep on the bed; it seemed that bed wasn't warm either.

A look of heartache appeared between Xie Tu's brows. He bent down and scooped Shen Yu into his arms. He became even gentler, Xie Tu thought.

"What time is it..." Shen Yu didn't sleep very soundly; the slightest movement would wake him. Moreover, Xie Tu had come in from outside, carrying the coldness of frost and snow. Leaning close to Shen Yu immediately woke him up.

Xie Tu replied softly, "Past eleven. Sleep in peace, I'll watch over you."

Shen Yu opened his eyes, looked at Xie Tu's face, and reached out his warm hand to rub Xie Tu's wind-chilled face, saying, "It's so cold here. How do you sleep at night?"

"I don't sleep. I only want to sleep when I'm with you," Xie Tu replied honestly.

Shen Yu smiled, "Am I a sleeping pill?"

"No, because being with you makes me happy." Shen Yu was joking, but Xie Tu answered seriously.

Shen Yu wrapped his arms around Xie Tu's neck, "Then carry me back to sleep. You're warm. I'll make you happy, let's sleep together."

"Alright!" Xie Tu nodded, carrying Shen Yu as he turned toward the backyard.

The frost and snow didn't touch him, and Shen Yu didn't feel cold either. "Are you too hot?"

He mumbled drowzily.

——

The next day, Shen Yu woke up in Xie Tu's arms. Xie Tu was still asleep, holding Shen Yu, his chin resting on the top of Shen Yu's head. His body was like a furnace, so warm that Shen Yu was reluctant to let go.

He nuzzled into Xie Tu's chest, smelling his faint scent.

Unfortunately, as soon as he moved, the person holding him woke up.

"When did you wake up?" Xie Tu lowered his head and asked.

"Just now. Do you want to sleep a bit longer?" The dialogue between the two was extremely like an old married couple of many years.

Xie Tu said calmly, "No. There's no food here. I've already told them to come pick you up early."

Shen Yu was puzzled: "Who? The people who brought me here?"

"Yes." Xie Tu nodded. "I, well, sent a dream to tell them that I don't want you to be my bride, and told them to take you back."

Shen Yu sat up abruptly, "Sent a dream? So when we didn't meet, you also came into my dreams to see me?"

"If you want to see me, I will find you." Xie Tu paused, adding, "Sending a dream also requires me to enter your dream. In a dream, it's not truly seeing you; it's a meaningless dream."

Shen Yu's expression unconsciously softened a lot. "Who taught you to say such things? You're so sweet-tongued."

Xie Tu also sat up, saying righteously, "No one taught me. I thought of it all myself!"

"Alright, alright, I know." Shen Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It turned out Xie Tu was such an earnest person. He smiled and kissed Xie Tu's forehead.

Xie Tu seemed to really enjoy Shen Yu's way of coaxing him, like a large dog having its fur stroked.

"Let's go. They're about to arrive. Taking you back early means you can have a good breakfast." As Xie Tu spoke, he picked up the clothes on the edge of the bed, intending to dress Shen Yu.

Shen Yu didn't refuse either, extending his arms to let Xie Tu help him dress.

"Oh, right. Yesterday when you weren't here, I went to see the Old Priest again." Shen Yu suddenly remembered this and proactively told Xie Tu.

Xie Tu's hand, which was adjusting Shen Yu's cuffs, paused. His brows and eyelashes drooped, preventing others from seeing the expression in his eyes. "Is that so? What did he say?"

"I was the one who looked for him. Shouldn't you ask what I asked?" Shen Yu felt Xie Tu was a bit strange.

Xie Tu then said, "He probably wouldn't tell you too much about 'Qin Xu Nü'."

"Yes, you guessed right. He indeed didn't say much to me, but he did tell me something else," Shen Yu said mysteriously.

Xie Tu looked up: "What?"

He still looked as calm and indifferent as usual, but only he knew what he was thinking.

Shen Yu noticed his abnormality. "What's wrong? Afraid he said something he shouldn't have?"

"He doesn't have the courage," Xie Tu said almost instinctively.

Shen Yu: "Oh—are you really hiding something from me?"

Although he had long known Xie Tu was hiding secrets from him, Shen Yu still asked this intentionally.

"!" Xie Tu suddenly looked into Shen Yu's eyes, "Are you going to be angry?"

"Huh?" Shen Yu didn't react in time.

Xie Tu added, "I, I told you before, this secret cannot be spoken. I didn't mean to hide it from you. Don't be angry."

Shen Yu remembered. It was that time at the Alfred Hospital, when he acted a bit spoiled, and Xie Tu held him and cried for a long time. At that time, they had talked about "secrets."

He quickly reached out to pinch Xie Tu's fingers: "I'm not going to be angry. Everyone has secrets more or less. You have them, I have them. I won't force you to tell me, okay? This isn't a barrier between us."

He spoke to reassure Xie Tu, fearing he would be sad because of this.

Hearing these words, Xie Tu indeed smiled. "Shen Yu, is that really what you think?!"

"Mm-hmm." Shen Yu looked at him smiling, and his own mood improved significantly.

Xie Tu pulled him into his arms, filled with joy.

The matter of the Old Priest mentioning Xie Tu's name was also thrown to the back of Shen Yu's mind.

——

The people who came to pick Shen Yu up were still the same group. They showed no remorse, only bowing respectfully to Xie Tu.
Shen Yu sat in the bridal sedan, and the sedan swayed as it departed.

To deceive others, their sedan still took a detour, creating the illusion that they had come out from the entrance of the temple in the south of the village. Shen Yu curled his lips. He wasn't stupid; what was the point of such deception?

When they reached the entrance of the temple, he heard two birds chirping again. Looking toward the sound, he saw two black crows on a branch preening each other's feathers. The larger one pressed down on the smaller one, pecking off two of its feathers and putting them in its mouth...

Such a scene seemed to have appeared somewhere before—

Shen Yu felt as if he were in a dream, yet also felt like it was yesterday.

But he couldn't remember clearly.

The bridal sedan brought him back to the entrance of Youshen Building. He was helped down, and Secretary Cao spoke to him gently: "Now you know the location of the temple, but the temple is not a place just anyone can visit. Therefore, I hope you can keep this a secret. To compensate for yesterday's rudeness and in return for your willingness to keep it quiet, you and your friends will not have to pay any accommodation fees during your stay at Youshen Building."

Since he didn't know what the limits of the so-called accommodation fees were, with such an offer presented before him, Shen Yu had no reason not to accept.

"Alright, I will keep it a secret." Shen Yu smiled gently.

"Thank you." Secretary Cao nodded to him, then turned and waved to the sedan, leaving with the others.

Shen Yu was about to enter Youshen Building, but was rubbed against his leg by the little yellow dog at his feet—

He remembered!

Those two black crows, he had seen them one morning, and yesterday morning too! The exact same action, seen three times and repeated three times—it was too much of a coincidence.

Could it be a loop? Is this village looping every day?

But the idea was quickly dismissed, because he still clearly remembered that outside the door, except for the lady selling steamed buns, all the other street vendors had changed, both positions and people had changed.

So it wasn't a loop.

Then why did such a scene appear? The crows repeating that action? Could it really be a coincidence?

Obviously, Shen Yu himself didn't believe it.

Full of thoughts, he walked into Youshen Building. The voice that reached his ears belonged to Yu Chengyi. He was on the fourth floor, but Shen Yu could hear him even from the first floor.

"I can't take it anymore! I must go find Shen Yu! It's been a day and a night, and there's no sign of him!"

"Brother Yu, wait a moment. We have to believe in Brother Shen." The voice stopping him from behind was Wang Jiaxin.

Yu Chengyi was extremely frustrated. "This is so annoying! Aren't you the one most worried about his safety? Why are you just standing by and watching him go without returning?"

Wang Jiaxin immediately retorted: "I am worried about his safety, but I also believe in him!"

The two were on the verge of an argument.

Shen Yu rubbed his temples and walked upstairs.

Reaching the door of Yu Chengyi's room, the argument continued: "Brother Shen said we could only act after two days have passed. There's still half a day left, isn't there?"

"Move aside, I don't want to talk to you," Yu Chengyi said, looking at Wang Jiaxin who was blocking him.

"I..." Before Wang Jiaxin could finish, Shen Yu's voice came from outside the door: "What are you arguing about?"

"Arguing..."

"?!" Yu Chengyi processed these words for a moment, then his eyes lit up, looking toward the door. Wang Jiaxin, however, had already reacted, looking at Shen Yu.

"Shen Yu! Damn, you really came back?!" Yu Chengyi's eyes instantly turned red as he saw Shen Yu leaning against the doorframe, alive and well. His tears shamelessly fell.

He indeed regarded Shen Yu as his best brother. Shen Yu had saved him more than once, and this friendship alone was enough for the loyal Yu Chengyi to remember for a lifetime.

"What's wrong? Think you're dreaming?" Shen Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry at Yu Chengyi's tears.

"Shen Yu, how did you get back?! Did the god at the temple not make things difficult for you?" Lu Cheng, who had been standing silently by the side, suddenly asked.

Shen Yu looked at him and shook his head, "No, and I also made a huge discovery."

"Brother Shen, sit down and rest for a bit. I'll go call the others over." Wang Jiaxin knew Shen Yu had something to say, and she was good at handling this kind of thing.

Shen Yu didn't refuse either, nodding to Wang Jiaxin: "Alright, thank you for your hard work."

Wang Jiaxin nodded in response, then turned and quickly left, knocking on the doors of nearby rooms.

——

"There is indeed a deity existing in this village." The first sentence Shen Yu said to them was this.

Everyone couldn't help but sigh in relief.

But Shen Yu followed up with something even more shocking: "Furthermore, that deity is already dead."

The sound of sharp intakes of breath grew even louder.

Shen Yu told them everything he had discovered at the temple, including the nursery rhyme, only hiding some matters related to Xie Tu.

"I understand. What Shen Yu means is, if we want to escape, we must find the person who killed that deity... which means the murderer of 'Qin Xu Nü'?" Wang Xiaolong summarized.

Every sentence Shen Yu said to them was astonishing.

Just that nursery rhyme alone was enough to send chills down their spines.

"Perhaps that is the case. At least we know something is guiding us to investigate. From the village having no god to having a god, and from having a god to having a dead god, everything seems to have been set up by someone, waiting for us to jump in," Shen Yu nodded, analyzing step by step.

"Then we'll just follow that person's lead. Whatever he wants us to know, we'll go investigate," Zhao Yunlou snapped his fingers and said.

Shen Yu looked at him and nodded.

Wu Bin stroked his chin, "It's just that this murderer, is there really no clue at all?"

"I don't think so. Perhaps we can use that nursery rhyme as a breakthrough point," Li Yao said calmly.

Shen Yu also agreed, saying, "Let's analyze the lyrics first."

Wang Jiaxin then brought paper and pen from behind, handing them to Shen Yu.

Xie Tu uncapped the pen and wrote down the first two lines.

"Qin Xu Nü, Qin Xu Nü, is a beautiful fairy in the sky."

"Qin Xu Nü, Qin Xu Nü, is rotting and decaying in the ground."

"The 'beautiful fairy in the sky' is easy to explain, meaning she was originally a beautiful fairy in heaven," Wang Xiaolong took the paper and pen, annotating the first line.

"But I don't understand the second line, 'rotting and decaying in the ground'. Does it mean she is dead?" Wang Xiaolong returned the paper and pen to Shen Yu.

Shen Yu then continued to write down the next two lines.

"We gave her precious things, yet she still rotted."

"We gave her favorite things, yet she still decayed."

"'Precious things' and 'favorite things', I still can't figure it out. Since they gave 'Qin Xu Nü' these two things, why did she still 'rot and decay'?" Hearing Yu Chengyi's tone, it seemed he had also thought about this himself beforehand. Moreover, the four of them were the only ones who had heard the nursery rhyme, so it was hard for Yu Chengyi not to be curious about it.