After being met with a firm rebuff, Zhang Dabiao's face darkened. With his usual fiery temper, he would have kicked down the door, but he restrained himself due to the presence of Village Chief Lin Lao Liu.
Furthermore, I had advised him to do so. After all, he still had to live in Xiaoliu Village, and any conflict with neighbors would surely affect his life. Moreover, judging by her actions, she was no easy person to deal with, perhaps even more so than our village's Widow Ma.
"Sister Zhuang, we mean no harm, we just wanted to..."
Lin Lao Liu still wanted to try, but I stopped him. Although I hadn't gotten a good look at Sister Zhuang's face earlier, I had seen her general appearance. She was the one who had cursed me while holding an urn on the bus. She probably recognized me, which was why she wouldn't let us in.
"How is it? Did you see clearly? Is that her you're talking about?"
I nodded. I had seen clearly. It was her I encountered on the bus, but I couldn't understand how she had gotten off.
Upon hearing this, Old Man Lin shivered, his hand that was knocking on the door involuntarily retracted. He even took a few steps back, wanting to distance himself from her house. But seeing me and Zhang Dabiao staring blankly at him, he forced an awkward smile, though his smile was more grim than a cry. Su Dan Novel Network.
Zhang Dabiao rolled up his sleeves, waved his hand, and the mountain-splitting saber appeared in his hand. "Brother, what do you suggest? Should we capture her first and force her to reveal the whereabouts of the corpse, or should we eliminate her directly to prevent her from harming others?"
I shook my head, indicating that neither option was viable.
"Why?" Zhang Dabiao and Lin Lao Liu both showed expressions of confusion.
"Have you ever seen a walking corpse that can move freely in the sun? Moreover, she is different from ordinary walking corpses; there's an extra breath within her. Without complete certainty, we cannot act against her for now. If she becomes malevolent, the entire village could be doomed."
After hearing my explanation, Lin Lao Liu's face turned as pale as a heavily powdered young girl, and he kept muttering about what to do. He urged me and Zhang Dabiao to quickly find a way to deal with her, as he didn't want to die before living enough.
Seeing his cowardly demeanor, I scoffed inwardly. If he didn't want to die, neither did I.
The only way now was to find out why she had become a walking corpse, and why she possessed an extra breath compared to other walking corpses.
Once the cause of the incident was found, dealing with it would be much simpler. If we were to confront her head-on, I didn't have that much skill.
"Village Chief Lin, you can't help much here. Go and collect the birthdates of everyone in the village, house by house. Then, see which families have roosters that are over six years old, and dogs that are eight years old. The dogs should preferably be black-furred. Make sure these items are prepared before dark."
Lin Lao Liu nodded, indicating he understood. He glanced at Sister Zhuang's tightly shut courtyard gate and, trembling, ran off quickly. As for the "etiquette" he had mentioned, it was completely forgotten.
"Brother, what do we do now?"
"Is there a peach orchard on the mountain?"
Peach orchard?
Zhang Dabiao was taken aback. "Yes, there is, but they're all of poor quality. The good ones were all made into heart-piercing nails by me."
I said it didn't matter. "We don't need the wood, but the yang peach roots from under the peach trees. People believe only heart-piercing nails made from peach wood can deal with walking corpses, but the roots are also effective. Trees grow by their roots, and the yang energy they absorb is no less than that of the trunk."
Knowing the purpose, Zhang Dabiao didn't delay and led me directly towards the peach forest on the mountain. As we left, I suddenly felt a chill down my spine, as if something was targeting me.
Looking back, the gate was still closed, but the feeling of being watched hadn't disappeared. Instead, there was a greater sense of resentment, and I saw a dark cloud appearing above Sister Zhuang's house.
On the way to the peach orchard, I didn't walk fast, deliberately dragging my steps. This made the impatient Zhang Dabiao urge me to hurry, lest we run out of time before dark and couldn't prepare everything.
I shook my head and smiled, saying, "Even if we flew there, it would be useless. Those things, believe it or not, have already been ruined."
"Ruined? What do you mean?" Zhang Dabiao looked at me with clear disbelief.
"Peach trees aren't anything special, especially wild peach trees on the mountain. They don't bear many fruits in a year, and no one pays attention to them."
I shrugged. "You'll know when we get there."
Climbing the mountain under the scorching sun was a difficult task, especially since Zhang Dabiao didn't believe my claim that the peach trees had already been dug up by the roots and kept urging me to hurry.
When we arrived, Zhang Dabiao was stunned to see the peach trees lying in disarray, all toppled over. What was even stranger were the roots; all the roots were gone, leaving only large pits in the ground.
"Holy cow, what's going on? Did we get robbed?" Zhang Dabiao's eyes widened, finding it hard to believe what he was seeing. He couldn't understand why anyone would do such a thing.
"You ask me? Who am I going to ask? Maybe someone likes eating tree roots, or perhaps they took them home to make root carvings?"
Although I said this to Zhang Dabiao, my eyes were scanning the surroundings. Only when I saw a patch of grass slightly moving did I breathe a sigh of relief.
"Root carvings? Do you think people here are like city folk, liking those strange and exotic things?"
"Alright, let's go! Since the peach trees are gone, we'll have to go back to Lin Lao Liu and see if he can find the rooster and dog blood."
Although Zhang Dabiao didn't understand what I was trying to do, he reluctantly followed me down the mountain. As for the thing that had been following us, he hadn't noticed it.
When we returned to his house, it was already close to noon. Before we even reached the house, we saw someone pacing frantically at the entrance, like a millstone-turning donkey, turning in anxious circles.
"Oh, you're finally back!" Lin Lao Liu ran over excitedly.
"Did you find the things I asked for?" Zhang Dabiao asked.
"Originally, Li Laotai's family had these things, but by the time I got there, the rooster had already been cooked. And the black dog had run off somewhere. I planned to buy them from the county town, but the round trip would take half a day. By the time I got back, it would be too late..."
Facing the anxious Village Chief Lin, I comforted him, "It's alright. If you can't find them, then forget it. You've been tired all day, go home and rest."
"If you don't find those things, how will you deal with Zhuang... the evil spirit?"
Looking at Lin Lao Liu's anxious face, I said sternly, "You don't need to worry about that. I have my own ways of dealing with it. I definitely won't let the village be in danger, so you can rest assured."
Although Lin Lao Liu was still somewhat skeptical, he had already done what he could. He couldn't help any further and could only follow my instructions and go home to wait for news.
"Brother, what exactly are you up to? First, you want a rooster and dog blood, then peach wood roots. What are you planning?"
"It's not me who wants to cause trouble, but the person hiding behind the walking corpse."