Zhang Caifeng rushed directly towards Ling Tian and hugged him, a move that broke the hearts of the surrounding Dragon Tiger Mountain disciples.
Many of them had thought that the sect leader's statement about Zhang Caifeng having a boyfriend was just an excuse to stop them from bothering her.
But now, with their own eyes, they saw their junior sister so intimate with a man, which was a heavy blow to them.
"Don't worry, Caifeng. With me here, your father will be fine. Hurry and take me to see him!"
Zhang Caifeng nodded, but at this moment, she noticed the unusual behavior of the other Dragon Tiger Mountain disciples.
"Huh? What's going on?" Caifeng asked in surprise.
Ling Tian pointed at Zhang Xiujian, who was slumped on the ground, and told Zhang Caifeng the whole story from beginning to end. Upon hearing this, Zhang Caifeng's eyebrows shot up, and her almond-shaped eyes widened!
"Zhang Xiujian, you've gone too far! You actually used talismans to harm innocent people without distinguishing right from wrong. Have you forgotten all the sect rules?
Just you wait, this matter is not over. I will definitely tell my father about this!"
Zhang Xiujian's gaze towards Zhang Caifeng became desperate, even resentful!
"Junior Sister, my love for you is as clear as the sun and moon..."
"Shut up! I've told you more than once that I already have a boyfriend. Ling Tian is my boyfriend, and I will only marry him in this lifetime. Give up on this idea!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiujian trembled with anger.
"Junior Sister, what makes this man worthy of winning your heart!"
"Heh, I like him, and that's enough!
Zhang Xiujian, give up on this idea. In terms of character or martial arts, you are far behind Ling Tian!
Wake up from your daydream!"
After speaking, Zhang Caifeng grabbed Ling Tian's hand and pulled him directly into the mountain gate.
With the eldest daughter personally leading the way, no one dared to stop them!
On the way into the mountain, Zhang Caifeng told Ling Tian everything about her father Zhang Daoyun's recent experiences.
Xijiang Province, where Dragon Tiger Mountain is located, is rugged, with numerous mountains and harsh natural environments.
Since ancient times, there has been a saying that remote and desolate places breed unruly people. Even today, there are many secluded mountain villages in this province where people live a primitive life, and some places even have very ancient mystical inheritances.
More than 300 kilometers south of Dragon Tiger Mountain, near the border with the neighboring province, lies a mountain range. Within the mountains, there is a village called Hantan Village.
This village is very remote, with only a dozen households. The road leading to the village is extremely rugged, passable only by motorcycles.
In a valley behind the village's mountain, there is a pool of water covering dozens of mu. No one knows how deep this pool is.
The water temperature in this pool remains below 5 degrees Celsius year-round. It is precisely because of the existence of this pool that even in summer, when the outside temperature reaches 40 degrees Celsius, the temperature around the pool and in the entire valley does not exceed 30 degrees Celsius.
Hantan Village is thus named.
According to the village elders, there is a sea eye beneath the Hantan, from which spring water continuously gushes out. It is this water that keeps the temperature of the Hantan so low.
As the constantly rising water reaches a certain level, it flows through several small streams into a reservoir in front of the village.
Surprisingly, while the water in the Hantan is very cold, the water in the reservoir a few kilometers away is almost the same temperature as other reservoirs.
Most of the households in this village consist of left-behind children and the elderly, as the young people have gone out to work. It is estimated that in a few decades, this village will cease to exist.
In fact, there are thousands of such villages on the verge of extinction in China today. Urbanization is a double-edged sword, and the ever-increasing scale of towns and cities is not necessarily a good thing.
Although this village is remote, its resources are abundant. There are various mountain products on the mountains, and the reservoir is rich in aquatic products. Furthermore, due to the presence of the Hantan, the climate of the entire village is very good, described as warm in winter and cool in summer, which is also an important reason why the remaining villagers are reluctant to leave.
However, a few months ago, strange events began to occur in the village.
First, a child playing by the reservoir suddenly disappeared. The entire village was mobilized to search around the reservoir, but to no avail.
The next day, the child's bloated body floated to the surface.
Initially, everyone believed it to be an isolated incident, as many teenagers drowned while playing by reservoirs every year.
However, strange things began to happen. Within a month, six children drowned in the reservoir, with the circumstances of each incident being identical.
Even more peculiar was that two of the children were found drowned in the water the next morning, having been asleep in their homes the night before.
The incidents did not stop there. A few days later, two women who were washing clothes by a small river next to the reservoir were found drowned.
It was then that the villagers began to feel that something was amiss. The events were too strange, and what's more, the drowned individuals all had dark marks on their ankles, as if they had been bound by something.
At first, the villagers thought they had been entangled by water plants in the water, but they discovered that the places where their ankles were bound were the same for almost every victim!
At this point, the villagers panicked. They were afraid to go near the riverbanks and reservoirs, and dared not wash clothes or fetch water from the river.
The village chief, nearly seventy years old and experienced, believed that there was something unclean in the water. Therefore, the villagers pooled their money and hired a "master" from outside, who was said to be highly skilled and adept at exorcising demons.
Upon arriving at Hantan Village, the master pretended to search for a long time with a compass and then told the chief that there was indeed something unclean in the water, but that it usually appeared at night. He stated that he would perform a ritual at night to slay the malevolent entity.
So, the master set up a tent by the reservoir and asked the villagers to bring him good wine and food, claiming that he would use these items for the ritual to invite the gods.
In reality, all the food and wine went into his stomach. He planned to go through the motions, collect his payment from the village, and then leave.
After all, this master roamed all over the country, and even if the villagers wanted to find trouble with him, they wouldn't be able to.
As a result, the next morning, when the villagers came to the master's tent to inquire about the ghost-exorcising ritual, they found the tent empty.
A few hours later, people discovered the master's bloated body in the reservoir!
The master's face was contorted with extreme ferocity and terror.