Judge of Souls - Chapter 91

This group of people all bore injuries to varying degrees, disheveled and looking utterly wretched.

The women were relatively better off, with their hair tied back, though their skin had grown rough. The men’s beards almost completely covered their faces.

The age range was quite broad. The youngest looked like they hadn’t reached adulthood yet, while the oldest appeared to be over fifty.

“Did you bring anything with you? Clothes, food, toiletries…” a female voice asked softly. “We’ve been living here for three years. Every time we tried to find something to eat, it was so difficult. We haven’t had a proper bath in three years.”

Everyone unanimously pulled out their phones and power banks. These were the only things they carried with them.

The girl across from them: “……”

More chaotic footsteps came from upstairs, then a woman walked down.

Huang Yu asked, “How many people are there here exactly?”

“Can’t remember clearly. People have been coming and going quite a bit. Some were tourists from outside who passed by here and accidentally got pulled in. Some were trafficked here—usually children and women. Others were local villagers,” the male said. “Many came, many died. In the end, only about a dozen of us remained.”

Huang Yu: “How did they all die?”

The male curled his lip corner sarcastically. “Who could stand living in this godforsaken place? But once we entered, we might have to live here for a lifetime. Some people wouldn’t listen to warnings and insisted on going out, only to be killed by ghosts. Others couldn’t bear it and were driven nearly insane, so they committed suicide. At the very beginning, most starved to death. Later on, when going out to find food, there was also the possibility of meeting with disaster. Anyway, this cursed place has nothing good about it. We’ve managed to survive until now because there are many of us and we can support each other. Otherwise, we would have died long ago.”

He paused, his expression darkening. “The five of us were originally just passing through. The villagers warmly invited us to stay overnight. They fed us something unknown, and we all passed out. Yu Huan and I woke up early and heard commotion outside, so we hid. After dark, we climbed down from the window. Then something happened—we don’t know what—and we fell into this place. The other three never made it in… Later, villagers who came in said they had been sold.”

Huang Yu: “What about those villagers? You didn’t kill them, did you?”

“They usually stay in that corner room. They find their own food; we don’t care about them.” The male’s face couldn’t hide his resentment. “After doing so many unconscionable things, we’re being generous by not throwing them out. Do they still expect us to take care of them?”

Jiang Feng asked, “So where do you usually go to find food?”

“We can’t eat things from the illusion randomly, but sometimes accidents happen. There’s a place that can switch to reality, and inside we can find food. We discovered it by accident when we went out to scout the situation. Although it’s only a small circle of space, and walking in makes you go in circles endlessly, when reality disappears we return to this place, and the pattern of its appearance isn’t very stable. But we’ve survived by digging tree bark and eating wild grass. Sometimes we can catch some insects and frogs to eat.” The male said, “To ensure we don’t miss it, someone must be stationed there at all times. Now it’s Yu Huan’s turn.”

Jiang Feng: “Is it a certain section of the mountain path going down?”

The male nodded. “Right.”

Just like with the little Mountain God, the illusion would interact and connect with reality.

The reason they couldn’t get out before was probably this.

This mountain area was scenically beautiful, majestic and magnificent. Perhaps like the little Mountain God, it had once awakened spiritual intelligence, but hadn’t reached the level of transformation. Originally it might have had an opportunity, but then the villagers’ evil deeds led to vengeful spirits running rampant, affecting the Mountain God’s nature and interrupting his cultivation, which was how things became as they were today.

Jiang Feng could no longer sense any spiritual creature’s divine power. The Mountain God’s consciousness had perhaps already dissipated, and this place probably wouldn’t last much longer.

Jiang Feng felt great regret.

Although during spiritual creatures’ transformation, there were always similar reasons leading to cultivation failure—which was a major reason why so few spiritual creatures successfully transformed—every time he heard of such cases, he couldn’t help but sigh.

Huang Yu went to that corner room to investigate. There were indeed traces of human habitation, reeking terribly. A cowering old man was inside, looking at her fearfully.

Huang Yu grabbed the person with one hand and dragged him back to the center of the group.

“Why are you all standing? Come on, sit down.” Huang Yu gestured, while pressing the person in her hand to the ground. “Tell us about the village situation properly. We’re not in a hurry—let’s chat slowly.”

That old man had clearly not been living well in the illusion. He was skeletal, his spirit withered. After walking just this short distance, he couldn’t stop coughing. Huang Yu was afraid something might really happen to him, so she quickly loosened her grip.

He looked up at her, muddy tears rolling from his turbid eyes. His raised hand trembled violently in an unnatural way. He used his sleeve, which had lost its original color, to wipe his eyes and said, “I want to go home…”

Shanyuan Village was originally just a very ordinary village. Because of its high geographical position and poverty, villagers were called “mountain-top people” by outsiders.

Most people here hadn’t received education and couldn’t leave, so they were trapped here for life like prisoners. They didn’t want to leave, nor would other women want to marry into this place.

This led to serious preference for sons over daughters among the villagers. Female children born here were generally used for exchange with others to obtain wives for the brothers in the family.

No one knew how long this lifestyle had continued, but everyone considered it natural and right.

Later, television appeared, then computers. Through the internet, they saw the outside world. Like everywhere else, young people began yearning for the outside world, and gradually only a group of elderly remained in the village.

However, no matter how prosperous the outside world was, it wasn’t suitable for everyone. Countless people left with great ambitions, only to return battered and defeated.

Shanyuan Village remained peaceful.

Finally, one day, a bold person began illegal activities.

This person was like a virus. Using the temptation of profit, he frantically spread his evil to other villagers, leading them into another world.

Oh, so money could be made this way.

The feeling of effortless profit was addictive. Having glimpsed and enjoyed its wonder, they forgot about consequences and possible punishment.

For the first time, they knew they could stand at the top of the food chain. They could watch noble women who had once sneered at them now cling to their legs begging for mercy. They had money and could buy many things. They no longer had to work from dawn to dusk just to earn enough food to fill their stomachs. Despite doing the hardest work, they couldn’t even afford to buy a few ounces of meat throughout the year.

They had had enough.

Their initial moral persistence was quickly abandoned, and those who refused to cooperate were driven out of Shanyuan Village.

They weren’t the only ones like this. Those with higher education also wallowed in the mire of profit, and more people indulged in it, providing convenience for their filthy business.

They grew bigger and bigger, with different segments, different businesses, different bases. They learned there was something called the dark web in this world, learned that people like them weren’t few, learned that human trafficking could extend to foreign countries, and learned that human flesh had such high value.

They developed human trafficking like it was some great enterprise…

“Buying and selling involves both parties, right?” the old man said. “Those buyers—many are successful, wealthy people. Where are there so many righteous things in this world? Didn’t you say it yourselves? Without buying, there’s no killing. You were the ones with the demand first.”

Huang Yu lit a fire in the middle and threw a pile of white clothes into it to burn, then clapped her hands.

The scene fell quiet for a moment. Most of the people present had nearly become victims or were already victims. They were now forcibly suppressing their emotions, appearing calm, but if the old man said one more word, they could completely explode.

After sitting and talking for a while, suddenly a clamorous sound came from outside—a group of people screaming shrilly in terror.

Huang Yu immediately stood up. “They’re here!”

A boy asked in confusion, “Who?”

Huang Yu: “The village’s creditors.”

Hadn’t they just burned those clothes?

Everyone pushed through the door to go outside. Sure enough, they saw a group of people scattering and fleeing in the middle of the road. A circle of wandering souls around them were all gnashing their teeth as they looked at them, blocking their escape routes. Some, excited and out of control, had already rushed forward.

“What is this place? What is this place?! Help! Who did this?!”

“Have you forgotten?” a ghost said in a sinister tone. “People from your village killed innocents indiscriminately and committed many evil deeds. The dead wanted to come back to seek revenge on you, so you found a Taoist priest to help. That Taoist priest didn’t know the truth and helped you establish a cenotaph to escape disaster, but it still couldn’t suppress the vengeful energy of the wronged souls seeking revenge.”

Because of the commotion here, malevolent ghosts from afar were also attracted.

The unique sound waves of ghost souls vibrated in the air, their shrill voices piercing deep into the ears, making heads ache painfully.

Kong Su and the others covered their ears and, at Huang Yu’s signal, hid back in the house and closed the door.

From the wailing cries of the group of ghosts, Huang Yu learned the aftermath of events—things the villagers didn’t know.

After the Taoist priest came to Shanyuan Village, whether using sealing, suppression, subjugation, or banishment, he couldn’t completely remove the malevolent energy from the village. This group of vengeful ghosts seeking revenge seemed relentless, even more formidable than ordinary malevolent ghosts.

He had the villagers prepare offerings and conducted three sacrificial rituals to Heaven, with minimal effect. The nearby deities and spirits were unwilling to bless this place. The Taoist priest finally sensed something strange about Shanyuan Village and began to doubt the villagers’ account, so he secretly investigated the village’s hidden secrets.

The Taoist priest’s actions weren’t concealed, and with the repeated failures of the sacrificial rituals to Heaven and the priest’s dramatically changed attitude toward them, the villagers feared their deeds would be exposed and decided to drive him away. Just then, young people who had left the village returned. Knowing the consequences were serious, they decided to eliminate the threat entirely. They instigated everyone and plotted to capture and bury the Taoist priest alive.

That Taoist master was, after all, a cultivator with considerable magic power. Using him as a sacrifice to remedy Shanyuan Village’s feng shui, the village’s situation indeed improved significantly.

What they didn’t know was that because Shanyuan Village’s residents had traditionally been simple-minded, few in number, and rarely committed evil deeds, the villagers had always devoutly worshipped the Mountain God in the ancestral hall. With abundant spiritual energy nearby and the mountain forests fortunately remaining undamaged, over the long years, a Mountain God who had awakened spiritual intelligence but hadn’t completed cultivation had gradually formed.

After the Mountain God’s consciousness dissipated, a divine realm shell still remained.

Before dying, the Taoist priest finally discovered the village’s horrifying trafficking. Feeling both guilt and resentment, not wanting to let them continue harming people, and thinking he could save even one person, he used his flesh and blood as sacrifice and took the opportunity to bring the wronged souls and several humans into the Mountain God’s illusion.

The little ghost who had led them earlier angrily threw her own head over.

A villager, seeing something flying toward him, instinctively waved his hand to push it away, only to be bitten hard by the other party’s open mouth. When the villager looked closely, he immediately burst into tears and looked up cursing. “Are you crazy? What is this place? Let me out quickly! This is murder! Murder!”

Huang Yu squinted her eyes from exertion. “Damn, my ears are about to go deaf. Jiang Feng! Help me bring this group of villagers into the house for shelter. You all came in with live streams running. If they all die here, everyone will be in trouble—so many lives can’t be explained! At least we need to keep them breathing so they can go back and give testimony to prove everyone’s innocence!”

Jiang Feng thought she made sense, but this was the Mountain God’s illusion where Taoist spells were suppressed. He couldn’t summon underworld soldiers or spiritual power, and with only his physical divine power, there was really little he could do.

More importantly, there were simply too many little ghosts. If he tried to stop them one by one, he didn’t have that many hands.

Jiang Feng tried to suppress, placing both hands above the villagers and saying in a deep voice: “Stand aside!”