Who's Lying?

The night sky was the same as the first day they had entered the instance, covered in clouds, gloomy and somber, without any moonlight.

Fortunately, rain only started to fall the night after. Nothing big happened on the first night. For now, they could take a breather.

The night passed with everyone's heart in their throats.

What happened before the sky darkened was exactly the same as the last round.

This time, under everyone's watch, Lao Qiang's body wasn't hung on the tree. Instead, it rather intelligently switched to hanging on a roof. Of course, there was no change in the terrible appearance of the corpse as well as its manner of death.

Xu Sen was stunned, "This corpse is this intelligent? It even knows whether people are staring at it?"

Towards this, Zong Jiu could basically confirm an idea of his through this incident.

The team from the mud house was still fine. Everyone had eaten, which had lessened their earlier feelings of panic and nervousness.

Most of the time, people had to get their courage and confidence from external sources. Even without mentioning anything else, the Magician, who seemed like he was omnipotent and wasn't ruffled by anything, gave them a great amount of confidence.

After Lao Qiang's incident, there was nothing else that required special attention tonight.

Zong Jiu told everyone to sleep well. They had to save up enough energy for tomorrow. Not only did they have to save that woman, but they also had to confront the villagers. That wasn't something simple.

Xu Sen raised his hand, "Then tomorrow, what will we do exactly?"

Zong Jiu stroked his chin, "We'll guard outside the house. When we see the woman, we'll first bring her away before anything else."

"As soon as we get her, we will immediately retreat into the woods. No tarrying."

Everyone had no objections to this plan.

They knew that there were only two breakthrough points. One was the woman, and the other was Grandma Yin from the temple.

No one knew what had really happened on the night the mission failed. What they could do now was only to quickly gather clues to avoid the tragedy of another restart happening.

Morning the next day, when the sky hadn't even brightened, everyone had already gotten up.

From this, it could be seen that Zhuge An's Talli Eight Trigrams was truly a good item, with capabilities ranging from attacking and defending to small things like lighting fires.

At 4:45 am, the trainees were all ready and filed out of the mud house.

Standing outside the mud house, the veterans, who had also learned from them and lit up a campfire, watched them come out one by one, their eyes shining with vigilance.

After experiencing what happened, Zong Jiu wasn't willing to offer any sort of help or assistance. Right now, the atmosphere between the two teams could be described as a sword that could be drawn with the slightest stimulation. The veterans felt that the newcomers had bad attitudes; they weren't even willing to help.

"Be stealthy, we'll stand watch around Wang Shou's house."

Zong Jiu turned his head back around, letting Zhuge An lead the newcomers and leave first.

Then he turned his head around and walked towards the other team.

Anthony and the rest revealed hostile expressions.

"Why so nervous? I'm not here to find you guys. I'm here to find senior No. 4."

Zong Jiu purposely put extra emphasis on the words "No. 4", nodding towards Black-Robed Azan, "Senior, can we talk somewhere else?"

Black-Robed Azan silently accepted his proposal, turning around and walking away.

Originally, the veteran team was very loose and divided. Although Black-Robed Azan stood on the same side as them, he was a loner who did what he wanted. He also wasn't someone who was vengeful and shallow-minded. He didn't really take the words Zong Jiu said at the entrance of the village to heart. Thus, the other people couldn't justify stepping in.

[Ah, they're going to talk in private! Ugh, why is this instance's broadcasting mode public ah.]

[Yeah, we also want to know what the two great masters talk about in private. wuwuwu]

[I feel that the S-rank seniors are all pretty easy to talk to. In the past, I always thought that Black-Robed Azan, who raises ghosts and shaves his head bald, was very scary. Who knew that he was actually a super good person?!]

After walking a distance, Black-Robed Azan opened his mouth first, "What do you need me for?"

Zong Jiu, "It isn't anything big. I just have a guess."

"Senior had said before that bodhisattva soil in front of the temple has extreme Yin properties?"

"That's right."

Black-Robed Azan nodded his head, "That villager had said before that any plant transplanted over there was unable to survive because that soil had heavy Yin properties. However, this type of Yin isn't formed by the existence of supernatural beings. Rather, it is a substance naturally formed with Yin."

Things that naturally had Yin properties were the same as things that naturally had Yang properties; they were extremely rare. If he didn't personally see the bodhisattva soil in Tongbai village, Black-Robed Azan wouldn't have believed that there was soil with such pure and unadulterated Yin in this world.

"If anything…"

He offered a vague hint, "It really is very similar to something done by the immortals or gods because it is impossible for such soil to be naturally formed in this world. Even the Netherworld River Soil inevitably has some impurities or defects."

Of course, the reason why he came to this conclusion was based more on the Budda's halo that Black-Robed Azan felt enshrouding the temple. Otherwise, he wouldn't dare to jump to conclusions.

Zong Jiu pondered, "Then if there are plants that could grow on this type of soil, how can that be explained?"

Black-Robed Azan answered, "Only a plant of pure Yang could be unaffected by the heavy Yin and grow in that environment."

The chance of this was the same as mentioned before, so rare that it was negligible.

Zong Jiu decided to temporarily skip over this topic.

"I still have another question. If normal people ate this kind of soil for a long time, would there be any effects?"

Black-Robed Azan frowned deeply, "Humans are classified as Yang, and that soil is classified as Yin. If someone ate it for a long time, there would definitely be serious damage to their bodies. If it is complemented by external forces… there's a high chance that they'll gain a half-Yin physique. Even forcibly opening the Yin-Yang eye isn't impossible."

"I see."

Zong Jiu let out a long sigh, "Thank you for explaining, senior. After hearing about all these antecedents, what does senior think of the phrase I mentioned before about human hearts giving birth to ghosts?"

Zong Jiu already had a guess from a long time ago.

First, he saw that the pupils of the villagers would turn black every now and then. Every time, it was only for an instant before turning back.

Secondly, that time when he and Yi Ruisi encountered a ghost in Tongbai village, that ghost obviously maintained enough consciousness to logically think rather than directly becoming a fierce ghost with no awareness.

Finally, ghosts being from human hearts wasn't something without precedence. Similar classic stories had been recorded in ancient and modern folktales or urban legends in both China and foreign countries. Maybe it was as Black-Robed Azan had said; the conditions were too harsh.

Now, the most demanding condition had already been inadvertently achieved.

"If they consumed the bodhisattva soil for a long time and then it was supplemented by evil thoughts, it is indeed very possible."

Black-Robed Azan frowned and thought, "However, that requires extremely terrible evil thoughts. Not only do they have to be scary and terrible, but they also have to be huge in scale."

Halfway through his words, he stopped talking.

He had seen how evil the people in this village were. Just their hobby of eating human meat was already enough to make people's hearts feel cold.

As for why Black-Robed Azan said that the Tongbai villagers had the hobby of eating human meat rather than saying that it was because they were desperate and had turned to eating human meat, it was because he had found fresh human meat soaked in fresh blood in the water tanks of every household.

Although some villagers still had some food left, they also had a water tank with human meat. When he went to observe the butcher's house, he found out that the butcher's shed was filled with frozen stiff corpses. Even the bits of meat attached to the bones were removed completely. They weren't willing to waste any bit of it.

The only thing worth rejoicing was that there wasn't any resentment on these bodies. They were likely all normal people who had starved to death by the road and then had their bodies picked up. Then their meat was cut up and hung up for sale. They hadn't gotten to the point of killing people and then cutting off their meat.

If they were killing people and then cutting off their meat, Black-Robed Azan would've probably been able to sense it as soon as he entered this village. There was no reason for it to have been dragged out for this long.

It could be seen from this that the people in the village had gotten addicted to eating human meat. There were still many trees with bark in the woods at the back of the village, and with the addition of being able to eat bodhisattva soil, they clearly had a choice.

Even if the people in this village had some evil hobbies and had the bodhisattva soil to act as a catalyst, in all honesty, Black-Robed Azan believed that it hadn't reached the requirement for birthing ghosts from human hearts.

Zong Jiu didn't debate with him on this issue.

Changing the topic, he asked, "More evidence or tangible signs are indeed needed to validate it. However, since there's this possibility, we should prepare for the worst. What does senior think?"

Black-Robed Azan's expression eased, "Naturally."

If it was really the worst case scenario, this village's situation would be more complicated and tricky.

Black-Robed Azan knew better than anyone else how difficult to deal with ghosts born from human hearts were. The scarier thing was that ghosts being born from human hearts wasn't completed in one go. Ghosts would hide in human hearts and only break out of the body when things had accumulated to a certain point. Having their hearts and souls being devoured by an endless amount of evil thoughts, they would become evil ghosts wearing human skin.

After getting the information that he wanted, Zong Jiu rushed without stopping towards the mud house in the north of the village.

In the last round, when the sky had just brightened, Wang Shou had rushed out with injuries. Since they knew all the essential information, they obviously couldn't dilly-dally.

When Zong Jiu had rushed to the front of the mud house, Xu Sen, who was guarding the door, quickly reported to him quietly, "We haven't discovered any movements yet."

Towards this, everyone else also felt that it was a bit strange.

According to what they knew, the woman should've secretly entered the house this morning before the sky brightened, most likely because she wanted to see if her daughter was still here. But she encountered Wang Shou and, in desperation, stabbed Wang Shou once before escaping in a rush.

So everyone was lying in wait. The best solution was to get here before the woman and stop her before she entered the mud house. This way, they could avoid engaging with the villagers head on, leaving a chance for peaceful resolution and discussion.

"Continue to keep watch. It should be around this time."

Zong Jiu raised his head, glanced at the color of the sky, and then also squatted by the corner of the wall.

Over a dozen people surrounded the village head's house tightly. As long as someone rushed out or entered, they wouldn't be able to escape from their watch.

After about ten minutes, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from the woods behind the mud house.

All the trainees exchanged a glance and then walked over there.

Once they had gone over, a few trainees had already subdued the person.

In order to not let anyone in the village hear anything, they could only block the woman's mouth with a strip of cloth first and bring her somewhere far away from the mud house.

Walking in the other direction, the scarlet red top of the temple could be vaguely seen through the covering of the trees.

Once they had reached a glade in the woods, they untied the strip of the cloth and formed a circle.

Not only was Zong Jiu's team there, the other team obviously also had the same goal as them. Seeing them subdue the woman, they followed along.

The woman's face was filled with panic. Opening her mouth, she yelled, "Help! Help! You leechers!"

"Auntie, we don't have any malicious intent."

Xu Sen quickly went forward to comfort her.

However, obviously the other person was very agitated. Not only was she agitated, but she also tried to break through the encirclement.

This havoc continued for almost a stick of incense's time before the woman finally quieted down a little.

"You all really didn't lie to me? You all really weren't sent by Wang Shou, that bastard?"

Seeing her attitude finally easing, everyone let out a breath of relief, "We really aren't."

It seemed that the woman believed it now. She suspiciously looked at the trainees, "Then you all step aside first. I need to find my daughter."

Speaking of this, everyone was silent for a moment.

"Yesterday, your daughter had already been...

After a while, someone had just opened their mouth. yet Zong Jlu directly interrupted their words.

"Auntie, we found you to ask one thing. If you are willing to tell us, naturally, we'll send you back without any harm."

The woman sneered, "I just knew you all weren't good people."

Towards her accusation, the white-haired young man completely treated it as if he didn't hear it.

He stared closely at the woman's eyes, "Three years ago, the elderly woman living in the back of the old locust tree, just how did she die?"

The woman's expression slightly changed, "Wh-what did you say? I don't understand."

"Don't understand?" Zong Jiu laughed, "Your daughter is already six or seven. It should have already been three or four years since you got married and came here. How could you not understand?"

He continued to say, "These few days, villagers who mysteriously died in violent ways have already appeared in the village. As someone who came here from your maternal family's side, you should've at least heard something about it. The other people have said that that elderly woman has come back to seek the lives of all of you."

Once he had said this much, the fluctuation of emotions was more obvious on the woman's face.

In this round, the other team's trainees also saw that something wasn't right.

Because her expression didn't contain any other emotions, except avoidance mixed with obvious fear.

Clearly, the woman was really scared that the fierce ghost mentioned by Zong Jiu would come to seek her life.

With one look, everyone knew that this was promising. This was clearly the reaction of someone who did something against their conscience.

She opened her mouth, "If that elderly woman really came back, what use is it to tell you all?"

This time the one who opened their mouth was Black-Robed Azan.

"If you didn't do anything against your conscience, you would naturally not be afraid of a ghost coming to knock on your door. If you did do something against your conscience… if you have a sincere and repentant heart, maybe the ghost would let you go."

Those words were like giving the woman a calming pill. Thus, after hesitating for a while, she was finally willing to talk about it.

"Three years ago, at that time, I had just brought my daughter and married into this village not for too long."

The woman was originally the neighboring village's widow. She was beautiful, but her husband unexpectedly died early, and she became a widow at a young age.

Her husband's family didn't have a lot of money. A widow wouldn't have a good time in the village. Her mother's side of the family more so wouldn't care about a woman who had already been married out of the family.

Thus, her days became more and more difficult.

It just so happened that Tongbai village's head was also a widower. His previous wife died of difficult childbirth after birthing him a son.

However, after she married over, the woman's stomach didn't match up to expectations. She was unable to conceive even after a long time, and her position in her husband's family became lower and lower, only being able to receive cold snorts from the village head as she lived her days. In addition, Wang Shou often yelled at her and hit her.

In Tongbai village, it was what the village head said that went. Coincidentally, the famine started that year. People weren't able to make a living, and she more so wasn't able to receive any food.

"That elderly woman was also someone with no sons or daughters, and her husband left early. However, her age was up there, so she lived alone in that old mud house."

The elderly woman believed in Buddhism.

The woman said that before the appearance of the bodhisattva in Tongbai village, only the elderly woman believed in Buddhism in the village.

Before then, no one cared about the bodhisattva soil in front of the temple. The temple was also short and run-down, its original appearance indistinguishable.

"Only that elderly woman believed in Buddhism, taking care of that bodhisattva soil day after day, sprinkling water day and night. She even often went to the temple with a broom to clean."

Speaking up till this point, the woman slowly said, "Not only this, but she also had the hobby of eating bodhisattva soil."

"However, she was a kind-hearted person. During the famine, she herself would eat dirt, and she would give her remaining food to other people in the village. It's just that the fact that she would eat first was found out by the people in the village. So the people in the village also took soil back and copied her in eating it."

"There was originally only a thin layer of that bodhisattva soil, not a lot at all. If everyone in the village ate it, she wouldn't have enough to eat. Because of this, she had a huge fight with everyone, complaining that the other people ate the food she gave yet still came to vie with her for soil."

"Then, after that, there wasn't enough bodhisattva soil, so she starved to death in that old mud house."

Her gaze flickered, "The people in the village only found out after over ten days. By then, the corpse was already rotten."

"For this, although the people in the village weren't very honorable, when there's a famine, who cares about what's right or wrong? Everyone only thinks of how to survive. We did indeed wrong the elderly woman and treated her badly; no one sent food to her. Maybe it's because of this that she carried resentment in her heart, causing the current… sigh."

The woman's gaze contained a bit of anger, "However, afterwards, the village also raised funds to make a memorial tablet for her. If she still wants to kill everyone after this, that's a bit too much."

Many trainees revealed expressions of understanding, as if it now made sense.

Only Zong Jiu and Black-Robed Azan were still frowning.

"That's enough. You all wanted me to say it, and I have already told you all. Now you can let me go, right?"

Zong Jiu indifferently said, "Okay, let's go."

After speaking, he signaled to Xu Sen and them to loosen the ties and leave with him.

The latter couldn't make heads or tails of it, but after these few days, he had already become accustomed to obeying Zong Jiu's instructions. Thus, he didn't ask anything and directly followed the white-haired young man who was walking out of the woods.

In contrast, Anthony's team of veterans obviously still wanted to get more information from the woman. They didn't interfere or stop them; rather, they coldly watched the newcomers leave.

It was worth mentioning that Black-Robed Azan quietly muttered a few sentences and then also left the veterans' team by himself.

Zong Jiu didn't have the intention of wasting time. He led the newcomers straight towards the temple at the back of the village.

Xu Sen quietly asked, "Brother Jiu, isn't there something wrong with what that woman said just now?"

They weren't like Zong Jiu, who had heard the conversation between the village head and Grandma Yin; they weren't able to reason out the contradictions between the narratives. In fact, if he hadn't gathered any other information before, then the words of the woman could roughly resolve all points of uncertainty.

"The elderly woman turning into a ghost and coming back to take revenge on the village, that's not impossible."

Xu Sen pondered out loud, "Whether it's the timeline or the reason why the villagers were scrambling to eat bodhisattva soil, they all match up, but…"

He remembered the scratch marks that covered half of the old mud house's wall and felt that there was something amiss. As for what exactly felt wrong, Xu Sen couldn't figure it out.

"There is something wrong. Of course, there's something wrong."

Zong Jiu shrugged, "She's lying. It couldn't be more obvious."

"As for why it's hard for you guys to tell, it's because her lies were extremely well constructed. It wasn't fabricated all the way from beginning to end. Rather, truth and lies were mixed together."

[Fuck, I knew that she was lying.]

[That's right. Since that woman said that she cared about her daughter so unabashedly, then why did she not bring her daughter with her when she ran away?]

[Sigh, it's too hard. They finally found a trail of clues, but it turned out to be fake. Even until now, there still aren't any particularly useful clues. It's really driving people insane.]

When the woman was talking a while ago, Zong Jiu was carefully observing her expression.

When a person lies, their expression would have certain changes, not to mention that she obviously hid some extremely important things.

"Thus, my guess is that she not only lied but is possibly one of the accomplices too."

"Okay, this clue has already been obtained by us. Since the living people can't provide any more information, then… next would be finding dead people to obtain information."

Hearing him say this, the other people remembered that Grandma Yin from the temple had said before that she would try to enter the nether world in a few days.

Entering the nether world was Yin walking, also referred to as crossing through the nether world or descending. Roughly, it meant to traverse into the nether world from the mortal world.

There were two methods of Yin walking. One method was the Yin walker entering the nether world alone, finding the specified ghost, and then inviting the ghost to possess them, allowing the living person who missed the dead person to communicate with them.

The other method was similar to Guan Luo Yin. They would bring a living person and enter the Yin world together. However, this method was extremely difficult and had high risks. Unless they were a Taoist with exceptionally high strength, people normally wouldn't even attempt it.

Zong Jiu was very certain that the present situation in Tongbai village was definitely not the elderly woman transforming into a fierce ghost and coming back to take revenge on the villagers.

Since the elderly woman didn't transform into a ghost, then it was possible to use Yin walking to try and find the elderly woman's soul.

The villagers' words were filled with lies, and they did things against their conscience. It would be a lot simpler to ask the person in the midst of all of it.

Even Black-Robed Azan, who silently followed them, also nodded his head in agreement, believing that this method was feasible and holding the same view as him on this.

Maybe because the ruckus they caused before the sky had even brightened was too large, the village finally had signs of waking up.

Far off in the distance, the villagers, who all held hoes in their hands and had gathered in front of Wang Shou's house, were walking towards the woods.

Xu Sen was worried, "They seem to have found out. What do we do?"

"The sky has just brightened. Would the temple be open this early?"

"Who knows? I just know that if you guys don't hold onto your props properly, we might just drop dead right here."

Subconsciously, the large area filled with trees suddenly became quiet.

The trainees also realized something wasn't right. Caught off guard, they all pulled out their life-saving props at lightning speed, vigilantly surveying the surroundings.

In the cracks between the leaves, the shadows of phantoms flashed past.

Not far away, the other team of trainees was running like the wind. Behind them, a large group of villagers was gathered together, cursing and yelling.

Zong Jiu ordered, "Run!"