Chapter 18 Han Zhen Tan

“The police initially suspected an organized prison break and sent people to watch the village, but we had no idea what was going on.”

“Finally, a merchant who had returned to Anping Town from out of town rushed to report the case, saying that he had seen many corpses hanging in the small woods not far from the town.”

“The corpses were bloody and mangled. At first, the merchant thought they were slaughtered livestock.”

“Were they the men from the prison?” Jiang Zhongyi's expression changed slightly.

The village chief's face was gloomy. After a long while, he nodded. “At first, it was the men from the prison. After everyone in the prison was dead, it was the village's turn.”

“She didn't let go of anyone who had contact with Zhao Xiangmei. The entire Qian Family Shop was almost wiped out by her.”

At this point, the village chief seemed to feel that he had lost his composure. He relaxed his tense body slightly, and his voice was no longer so hoarse. He briefly explained to everyone.

It turned out that the village chief of Xiaoshijian Village was surnamed Qian.

The Qian family was the largest family in the village. In those days, the power in some remote areas was firmly controlled by these large families.

So, the Qian family tacitly approved, or even supported, Zhao Xiangmei's actions back then.

But when faced with police inquiries, they pushed all the blame onto Zhao Xiangmei, which foreshadowed their later tragedy.

The Qian family was the first to suffer revenge. In just one month, the huge Qian family was torn apart, and few survived.

Some Qian family members who escaped the village were never heard from again.

The empty houses in front of them were mostly owned by the Qian family.

“Did no one really survive?” Li Lu hugged herself. She had not yet recovered from Ben Fu's death and was hearing such chilling news again.

“No,” the village chief shook his head.

Zhou Rong had excellent eyesight. He looked to the left, about a hundred meters away. There stood a temple-like building, but like the surrounding houses, it was very dilapidated.

From a distance, the door was wide open, and several paper windows were completely rotten, revealing a dark interior.

“What is that place?” Zhou Rong stopped and turned to look at the village chief.

Seeing the building, the village chief's eyes filled with reminiscence. He sighed and said, “That used to be the Qian family's ancestral hall. Later, after the Qian family declined, no one cleaned it anymore.”

Chen Xiaomeng looked at the Qian family's ancestral hall from afar, thinking that it wasn't just that no one dared to clean it; it seemed that no one in the village dared to approach it.

They walked and talked, and time passed quickly.

After the sun came out completely, the bluestone road disappeared, and they entered a valley.

The mountain road here was different from the one leading from the town to the village. This road was more rugged and tortuous, and some places required several people to help each other to pass.

The village chief explained that no one had come here for a long time, and the original road had been washed away by a flash flood, so they had to take another route.

“How… how much longer?”

Jiang Zhongyi's physical strength was actually not as good as Pei Qian and Li Lu's. After walking for a while, he was already panting, and a bloody taste kept rising in his throat.

Leaning on his crutches, the village chief, still supported by the dark-skinned man, took a few quick steps and suddenly said, “We're here.”

Pushing aside the obstructing branches, a very large space suddenly appeared in front of them.

A deep pool, like a silver river falling, lay flat between the mountain folds.

On both sides, the mountains overlapped, and countless giant trees rose into the sky, overlapping and contrasting, as if to strangle this deep pool between heaven and earth.

Pei Qian looked around, then gazed into the distance. The mountain ridges in the distance formed a line, boundless and endless.

“Strange…” he suddenly said.

Jiang Zhongyi was closest to him and heard Pei Qian's murmur. He looked at the latter and frowned, “What's strange?”

Pei Qian ignored him and turned to look at the village chief. “Village Chief Liu,” he asked, “When did the villagers discover this deep pool?”

“That was a long time ago,” the village chief pursed his dry lips and coughed twice, “It definitely wasn't in the last hundred years or so. It was earlier, but I don't know exactly how much earlier.”

Jiang Cheng carefully walked to the edge of the pool, chose a rock that didn't look too slippery, squatted down, and reached out to scoop up some water. He immediately felt the water was bone-chillingly cold.

In an instant, his whole body shuddered.

He had never imagined that water could be so cold, and… not frozen.

“The water is very cold,” the dark-skinned man appeared not far from Jiang Cheng. The fact that he had secretly stuffed him a steamed bun earlier had greatly increased the man's goodwill towards Jiang Cheng.

He reminded, “Be careful, if you fall in, you won't be able to be saved.”

Jiang Cheng retracted his hand and stared at the deep pool. After a long while, he suddenly asked, “Are there fish in this water?”

“Fish?” The man didn't seem to understand Jiang Cheng's meaning. His thick eyebrows were furrowed together.

This used to be the place where the village executed unfaithful women. In the past hundred years, there must be dozens, if not a hundred, corpses of people who died violently.

What's more, Zhao Xiangmei's bones were also in there.

Such an evil place, and he was wondering if there were fish in it?

“I don't know,” he swallowed and honestly replied, “Probably… probably not.”

The water here was extremely cold. Touching it would make you feel unwell for days. An old blind woman once came to the village, leaning on a snake-head crutch, saying that it had some secrets.

According to her, the water in the Han Zhen Tan (Cold Chastity Pool) carried the resentment of the dead women. As long as you went down, your hands and feet would be entangled by vengeful spirits, and you would never be able to get up again.

The dark-skinned man didn't understand these things. He only knew that this place was very dangerous. It was best not to come if you could avoid it, and if you did come, it was best to stay away from the pool.

This water… was ominous to touch.

“A'Da!”

The dark-skinned man suddenly heard the village chief calling him. He responded and immediately ran over, as he was very obedient to the village chief.

This area was relatively slippery. The village chief was probably going to take them to see the stone tablet with the curse written on it.

Jiang Cheng lowered his head, gazing at the pool of cold water.

The entire pool was about several hundred square meters. The water quality around it was relatively clear, but the closer it got to the center, the darker the color became. The central part was so dark that it seemed to swallow light.

After looking at it for a long time, Jiang Cheng even felt a little dizzy. Many strange images suddenly appeared in his mind, and he had an impulse to plunge into the pool.

He suppressed this impulse. In the moment he broke free, he saw a woman's face in the dark middle of the pool.

When he realized it and looked carefully again, it was still pitch black.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his feet. Through the reflection of the nearby pool water, he saw a figure standing behind him without him realizing it.

Judging by the figure, it was undoubtedly a woman.

The woman raised one foot, as if gathering strength.