What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

Old Hei smacked his lips, his expression turning somewhat serious: "It's hard to say."

When the news of Master Lan's death in Jiangcheng reached us, Grandpa Lan was furious.

It is said that in the Hundred Poison Forest behind their village, poisonous insects rioted all night, and several wild boars that went in to drink water died.

Not even bones were left.

Upon hearing this, Jin Wanliang's face paled instantly, and cold sweat began to pour from his forehead again.

"However..."

Old Hei changed the subject.

"Later, I asked a steward from the outer gate of the Lan family to pass on the message, and leaked the name of the item you wanted to send."

Grandpa Lan then relented and agreed to let you into the village.

Mr. Jin, you've really gone all out.

Grandpa Lan was a very eccentric man; he believed in reason but not in people.

But he is famously obsessed with treasures that possess the properties of yin and cold.

If this thing of yours really catches his eye, there's a high chance this matter can be settled.

"That's good, that's good..."

Jin Wanliang nodded repeatedly, as if trying to comfort himself.

I sat in the passenger seat, listening quietly to their conversation without interrupting.

There was a hidden meaning in the old black man's words.

Although he said the matter would most likely be resolved peacefully, his words couldn't conceal his awe and fear of that old man Lan.

The Gu Masters of Southern Xinjiang never act according to common sense.

Furthermore, it is not uncommon in the folk custom world for people to accept gifts and then turn their backs on them.

I turned my head slightly and looked out the window at the dark green forest receding into the distance.

As the car drove deeper into the night, the sky gradually darkened.

Darkness falls very quickly in the mountains. Just a moment ago, you could still see a glimmer of the setting sun, but now the entire mountain is as if it has been covered by a huge black cloth.

As night fell, a thin layer of white mist began to rise from the woods on both sides of the mountain road.

This fog wasn't ordinary water vapor; it carried an extremely cold and damp feeling.

It even had a faint, pungent smell of decaying leaves and fermented plants.

"Boss Jin, Brother Chen, roll up all the car windows."

Old Hei stubbed out his cigarette, casually pressed the window up button, and his tone became extremely serious.

"We've already entered the outer edge of the mountains."

The miasma in the mountains is starting to rise.

"If you inhale too much of this stuff, at best you'll experience dizziness, blurred vision, and hallucinations; at worst, you'll die right here."

Upon hearing this, Jin Wanliang hurriedly and frantically checked whether the car windows were properly closed.

As I looked out the car window at the white mist, the malevolent energy within me involuntarily accelerated its circulation.

"Brother Hei, how far are we from Lan Family Village?"

I asked in a calm tone, breaking the somewhat oppressive silence in the carriage.

Old Hei gripped the steering wheel with both hands and said without turning his head:

"It's still early! We definitely won't make it tonight."

Driving at night in these mountains is suicidal.

About 30 kilometers ahead, there's a rest stop called Luohuadong, which is also a transit point for us mountain runners.

We'll stay there tonight, and tomorrow at dawn, after another half-day's walk, we'll reach the Lan family's territory.

"Fallen Flower Cave..."

As I pondered the name, a strange sense of unease inexplicably crept into my mind.

In the legends of southern Xinjiang, "the woman from the Falling Flower Cave" is not a beautiful term.

That usually means a sacrifice chosen by a god or some kind of mysterious being.

"Okay, then I'll do as Brother Hei says."

I responded with a sound of agreement, and then closed my eyes.

The off-road vehicle bumped along the rugged mountain road for nearly an hour.

When the headlights pierced through the thick fog and shone on several huge cedar pillars riddled with wormholes, Lao Hei finally breathed a sigh of relief and slowly stepped on the brakes.

"We've arrived. This is Luohua Cave."

Old Hei turned off the engine, but didn't rush to get out of the car.

Instead, he first took out a packet of dark red powder from his pocket and sprinkled it around the car window.

Looking through the windshield, I saw a huge stilted building built against the mountain.

Almost half of the building is suspended in mid-air, supported by sturdy wooden pillars on a steep mountainside.

The wood has turned a deep black due to years of dampness.

As Lao Hei just mentioned in the car, the reason this place is called "Luohua Cave" is because there is a huge natural cave right behind the stilted building.

I looked up and saw countless vines hanging above the deep cave entrance.

A gentle breeze blows, and withered petals and leaves twirl and fall into the hole.

It was now completely night, and the stilted house was pitch black except for a dim yellow light coming from a window on the second floor.

"Boss Jin, Brother Chen, after you get off the bus, follow my footsteps. Don't look around or say anything out of line."

Old Hei said in a deep voice.

I pushed open the car door, and an extremely strong earthy smell hit my nostrils.

After getting off the bus with my backpack on, the aura within me spontaneously formed a thin protective layer on my skin, blocking the damp, cold air that tried to seep in through my pores.

At this moment, I was carrying not only a bag on my back but also two suitcases with gold in my hands, walking at the very back.

Jin Wanliang, on the other hand, held his silver briefcase tightly and followed closely behind Lao Hei.

As I climbed the creaking wooden steps of the stilted house, I keenly sensed that countless tiny compound eyes were watching us from those dark corners.

Those are mountain spiders and centipedes unique to southern Xinjiang.

They crawled densely in the cracks of the wooden pillars, but dared not approach because of the red powder that Old Black had just sprinkled.

Old Hei walked to the door on the second floor, where the firelight was flickering, and knocked three times rhythmically.

"Who is it...?"

An aged voice came from inside the house.

"Old Black, the mountain runner. Taking two friends to rest."

Old Hei responded in a deep voice.

A moment later, the door creaked open a crack.

An old woman with a black headscarf appeared at the door, carrying a dim oil lamp.

Her cloudy eyes lingered on the gold coins and the combination lock for a long time before finally settling on me.

In that instant, I felt a chilling aura trying to probe my true nature.

I lowered my eyes, presenting a peaceful expression.

I did not retaliate, but simply let that aura linger around me.

After a moment, the old woman seemed not to notice anything unusual, withdrew her gaze, and turned her body to the side.

"Come in."

The room was sparsely furnished, and the air was filled with the musty smell of old things.

The old woman arranged two adjacent side rooms for us. After accepting a thick stack of banknotes and a gold tael, she carried the lantern and shakily returned to her own room.

"Hey bro, let's just make do tonight."

The first thing Jin Wanliang did after entering the house was to close the windows tightly.

Then he took out a stack of strange yellow talismans from his suitcase and stuck them on the door cracks and windows.

While he was busy, he lowered his voice and said to me, "Old Hei is right, this Falling Flower Cave is very strange."

This old woman is the "cave keeper" of this area, and it is said that she was a formidable figure in her youth.

"We're safe here as long as we don't wander off."