Chapter 1 The Beginning

The silent mountain, the lingering mist, and the people in archaic clothes within the mist—everything seemed strange. The three policemen directly drew their guns, their faces full of vigilance, and Xuan Yi also held a talisman between his fingers.

A burst of hearty laughter broke the guardedness and fear.

"Are you the constables from the city that Chao Ge'er mentioned? Oh, right, they're called officers now, haha. I'm the village chief of this village. When Chao Ge'er called back yesterday, we all waited early on this mountain road for you distinguished guests."

A fifty-year-old man wearing Ming Dynasty clothing, but with leather shoes on his feet and a watch on his wrist, walked out.

Xuan Yi withdrew the talisman and sword, and said expressionlessly, "They are people from Dazhen Village."

The policemen trusted this special operations team leader, and slowly put away their guns, but there was still a hint of vigilance and curiosity in their eyes. Xuan Yi and the others followed the villagers of Dazhen Village back. The village chief was extremely talkative, but Xuan Yi noticed that the other villagers rarely had any expression.

The look on their faces was more like numbness than honesty.

Dazhen Village, due to inconvenient transportation, barely had electricity in this era. The villagers still drew water to drink, and still learned ancient language. Because there were many mosquitoes on this mountain, they simply wore thick clothing from the Ming Dynasty.

………………

The four people who came up the mountain this time had their own responsibilities.

Two of them were responsible for surveying the terrain and topography, and the other was a fire artillery expert.

From this mountain, with high-powered telescopes, they could clearly see the suddenly appearing mountain range, which was better for determining the parameters of the firearms. Xuan Yi was an inner disciple of the Weiming Sect, and came here to survey the Feng Shui trends, in order to determine the approximate location of the gathering of evil energy on the opposite mountain.

Then concentrate attacks with high-powered firearms.

Faced with monsters and ghosts, ordinary firearms, kinetic energy penetrating weapons, were difficult to play a role in. Ordinary people facing monsters also found it difficult to lock on to the target. But directly using a large-scale explosion and bright flames, even fierce ghosts and demon kings would lose a layer of skin.

The survey took about two hours to complete.

The information was directly transmitted back through personal equipment. They originally planned to go directly down the mountain, but the villagers of Dazhen Village were extremely enthusiastic and invited the four of them to have a meal before going down. Xuan Yi pondered for a moment and agreed. The village was three hours away from the nearest town, and there wasn't much available.

They were all mountain delicacies, and the meat was home-raised pork and chicken, with a rich taste, which was not bad.

The village chief at the table repeatedly urged them to drink. Xuan Yi used the excuse of cultivation taboos and avoided drinking. The others also said that they would be driving later. During the conversation, Xuan Yi noticed a woman serving the dishes on the table, and then leaving with some difficulty in her steps.

Xuan Yi, who was usually expressionless, frowned slightly, and said:

"That elder sister seems to have just given birth, why is she being made to work?"

The atmosphere at the table stagnated for a moment.

It seemed that someone muttered, anyway, she didn't give birth to one with a handle.

Xuan Yi raised his eyebrows, and anger appeared in the corners of his eyes. The village chief quickly smoothed things over, first scolding the person who spoke, and then smiling at Xuan Yi:

"Villagers do things their way, Daozhang, don't be offended. What era is this? It's the same whether you have a son or a daughter, the same, the same. It's just that our village has rules like this. Whenever there are guests, women don't sit at the table. If Daozhang insists on letting her come to the table, I'll go call her over."

This sentence contained a subtle rejection.

If Xuan Yi forced the woman to come over, there would probably be gossip after they left.

The young man, who had been practicing in the temple since he was young, looked a little ugly, but he didn't know how to refute, so he could only say a deep "no need." He was quite unhappy in his heart, and this banquet, which was not very rich to begin with, ended hastily. Xuan Yi and the others immediately got up to leave. Most of the villagers also felt embarrassed and surrounded them. The village chief still had a hearty laugh on his face, sending Xuan Yi and the others out.

When Xuan Yi came back to his senses, he saw the woman also gathering not far away, seemingly wanting to see him off.

But before she could get close, she was pulled away by another man.

Xuan Yi frowned. The village chief stopped him and explained with a smile, "Hey, it's a matter between husband and wife. They're having a fight because they couldn't have a son. Daozhang, don't worry, I'll definitely enlighten them later. Husband and wife, they quarrel at the head of the bed and make up at the foot of the bed."

It was indeed a matter of husband and wife, and he, as an outsider, especially a person beyond the mundane world, shouldn't interfere indiscriminately.

Xuan Yi became more and more unhappy in his heart, but he had no choice but to leave.

……………………/

It was night.

Dazhen Village.

A short, thin man was holding a leather whip, fiercely whipping the woman kneeling in front of him.

He whipped and scolded.

He scolded her for not being able to give birth to a son, what was the use of buying you back, how much money did you waste on me? He also scolded her for daring to reach out and scratch Chao Ge'er's daughter last time, making me worried for several months. People called you sister-in-law nicely, but you were so unwilling?!

"And what does this note say, 'save you'?!

"Are you looking for death?!"

Again, several heavy whips.

Tired from beating, he sat down to catch his breath.

He had always had conflicts with this bought wife.

Today, seeing this wife walking towards those policemen, he felt something was wrong. He pulled her back and saw that she was clutching a piece of paper tightly in her hand, with the words "save me" scrawled on it, and a line of phone numbers. Thinking of this, he became even more angry.

He tilted his head back and finished a bottle of Erguotou.

Using the excuse of drunkenness, he gave her more than a dozen fierce whips.

Finally, in front of the woman, he burned the paper with the phone number on it to ashes.

"You are my woman for the rest of your life!"

"Run, where can you run to?!"

The man was panting, and had also drunk alcohol. He sat on the chair, originally just wanting to rest for a while, but accidentally fell asleep. When he opened his eyes, it was already completely dark outside. He poked the woman's body with his toes, telling her to get up and cook quickly.

But he found that the woman's eyes were wide open, and she had already stopped breathing.

Alcohol gave him courage. After discussing it with the village chief, the man gritted his teeth and threw the woman directly down the mountain.

……………………

"Mom, I can take care of myself."

"Oh, don't worry..."

"Wait for me to go back to see you and Dad this year, I'm hanging up now."

Past memories slowly emerged, and then dissipated like phantoms.

My name is Dong Yu.

Twenty-three years old…

I was abducted.

Sold to the mountains.

Five thousand yuan.

This may be a college graduate's salary. I didn't expect that it could also represent all of a college student's future, love, marriage, having children, watching the children grow up, working, getting promoted, finding dreams, traveling.

All the dreams disappeared on the creaking wooden bed after a backpacking trip.

I was locked up.

A large iron chain.

I finally managed to ingratiate myself, and I was able to escape.

But I walked so far, so far, that my feet were blistered, and I still couldn't get out of this mountain. I saw a car, and I quickly stopped it. In my joy, I knelt down and begged them to take me out. They agreed. I got in the car with peace of mind, and fell asleep groggily.

That day I woke up in pain.

What I saw was a seemingly darker and lower wooden bed, and the man's angry, red eyes.

I understood...

It takes three hours to drive out of here, and everyone along the way is from this village.

I can't run away.

They said that I belong here. I didn't believe it, but when I looked in the mirror, I saw rough skin and wounds from being whipped. This wasn't me, I didn't believe it, but this was me… I seemed, I seemed to have given up…

………………

I saw the daughter of the person who drove the car that day.

Wearing very fashionable clothes, bright earrings, and perfume that I used to like very much.

She reached out her hand, her palm fair and tender, just like mine used to be.

She smiled at me and said, "Hello, sister-in-law."

I seemed to see my former self…

No, that's not right.

This is me, this is me!

You stole my original appearance, stole my appearance!!

I don't belong here, I shouldn't be like this, that should be my face, that should be my life!

Give it back to me, give it back to me!

I pounced on her, frantically tearing at that face. The girl was frightened, and the surrounding men and women rushed up to beat me. It hurt, it hurt so much…

The pain in my memory, the pain in reality, all surged up together.

But it was as if there was a layer of mist, not clear. The woman fell to the ground, her heart full of unwillingness, trying to get up, but unable to do so, but able to turn her head, and when she turned her head, she saw her own corpse.

Her heart was cold and desperate, her heart was as cold as ashes.

Ah… so, I'm already dead.

It rained at night.

But the mountain night rain, which used to sting her face, no longer felt anything.

An umbrella was held over her head.

Under the umbrella was a man, dressed in white, the umbrella covered his face, not very clear, but he said in a low voice:

"Skin, skin, saying one word about appearance, is not just about the external appearance… The art of witchcraft has been lost, but people's hearts are still the same as before, and can still take away a person's 'skin', giving you another 'skin'. The world is still a world that looks at 'skin' to this day."

Skin…

Dong Yu murmured, her face sad.

Yes, that's right.

The original identity, the life that should have been, that is the 'skin'.

My original skin was snatched away, and I was put on another skin…

The man leaned down and smiled, saying a sentence:

"Want revenge?"

"Take back your true 'skin'."