Chapter 1 The Ominous Scene

This bizarre and brutal scene filled Huang Jun and Luan Lihui with a sense of foreboding, which quickly turned into reality.

Huang Qi, beaten and bruised all over, lay on the ground gasping for breath for a long time. Finally, he slowly got up, wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand, knelt before the Zhusheng Niangniang (Child-Giving Goddess), and carefully held his stomach with both hands.

"Thank... thank Zhusheng Niangniang for the gift, this humble one, Huang Qi, is blessed!" Huang Qi was overjoyed, his face covered in blood and mud.

"Don't be happy too soon. Whether you can be the last one blessed, return to your family, and be accepted by the Wang family depends on your future performance." The village chief was very indifferent at the moment.

"This humble one understands... This humble one will definitely prove that I am stronger than my brother and can bear offspring for the Wang family!" Huang Qi kowtowed, his words extraordinarily firm.

Hearing this, the village chief's thick face twitched, and the corners of his mouth stretched into an ugly grin, as if he were smiling. "Good, then let me ask you, who is your brother, and where is he?"

"Answering the village chief, my brother's surname is Huang, given name Jun, and like this humble one, he is from Cangzhou. Now... hehe, now he is right here!"

As the last word fell, the woman disguised as Huang Qi suddenly turned her head to look at the dumbfounded Huang Jun. Immediately, everyone present, including the village chief, Elder Sun, and others, also twisted their necks, looking at Huang Jun in a strange posture.

"I... I don't know her!" Huang Jun was terrified. He didn't know how this suddenly involved him, and... and no one told him that there was such a thing in the Blood Niangniang Shehuo (Blood Goddess Village Play).

But no one paid attention to Huang Jun's explanation. The strong woman who had slapped Huang Qi earlier walked over with a gloomy face and slapped Huang Jun. "Damn thief of a man, how dare you stand and talk to the village chief? Didn't your woman teach you manners?"

Huang Jun, who was already confused, was stunned by this slap. It was extremely heavy, and blood was flowing from the corners of Huang Jun's mouth and nostrils.

As she spoke, the strong woman grabbed Huang Jun's arm and dragged him like a dead dog to the sedan chair, throwing him on the ground.

"Do as that person did before, your younger brother Huang Qi!" Yao Shunyu lowered his voice to warn as Huang Jun was dragged past him.

With another shout of "Dasheng le! (Give birth!)", Elder Sun and the other four once again swung their arms and beat Huang Jun over the head and face, while the onlookers cheered and threw stones.

Huang Jun covered his head and rolled around on the ground, but all he got in return was more brutal beating. The aloof village chief snorted coldly; Huang Jun's actions seemed to have angered these people.

"Hold your stomach, protect your stomach!" Luan Lihui also saw the trick at this time. These crazy women were just like the wealthy families in feudal society, only caring whether a woman could give birth, except that in this ghostly place, the positions of men and women were reversed.

As Huang Jun protected his stomach, the movements of Elder Sun and the others became much lighter. Otherwise, Huang Jun's thin physique would probably be beaten to death.

At this point, Yao Shunyu also saw the trick. The strange customs of this Blackwater Village did not seem as simple as he thought; there also seemed to be some shadows of so-called "pai xi (happiness beating)".

Pai xi was also a bad habit in remote areas, referring to the husband inviting several men in the village with the most children to hold sticks and come to the door to beat his wife on a full moon night if the woman did not become pregnant within two years of marriage. While beating, they would ask questions like whether she could give birth or whether she was complete, until the wife was beaten unconscious, or the husband came out to stop them.

It is said that people at that time believed that this kind of beating could stimulate female fertility or drive away evil spirits that prevented fertility from the woman's body.

However, Yao Shunyu knew that these were all lies. It was just an excuse. As far as he knew, many women were beaten to death simply because their husbands had new lovers and found them annoying. But more often, it was still a matter of fertility, which was the original sin.

What was even more vicious was that this kind of rumor would not only affect one person. If there were two women in the family who had not given birth, the matter would be even more serious. This showed that the family's prestige was unfortunate, and it would evolve into a scene like today.

The two women would be beaten in turn until one of them could not hold on any longer or was beaten to death. In this way, the remaining woman would be considered to have received the blessing of her ancestors, and the chances of her becoming pregnant and giving birth in the future would greatly increase.

There was also a saying that the woman who survived in this way would seize the fortune of the other dead woman.

However, Huang Jun finally survived. After learning Huang Qi's movements and thanking the Zhusheng Niangniang, Huang Jun gritted his teeth and walked back with a limp. Yao Shunyu's eyebrows jumped when he saw that one of Huang Jun's hands was always inside his clothes.

Outsiders thought he was protecting his stomach, but Yao Shunyu knew that Huang Jun's hand was probably clutching the fuse of the explosives. If he was beaten too much to bear, he was prepared to drag these bastards to hell with him.

Huang Jun's eyes were bloodshot, and he spat a mouthful of bloody saliva on the ground, showing that he had also been angered.

"Don't get angry. A small impatience will ruin a big plan." Luan Lihui comforted him in a low voice. If he detonated the explosives here, he and Yao Shunyu would also be affected.

After this farce, the team moved forward again, leaving nothing behind except traces of struggling and some bloodstains.

But Yao Shunyu knew that this crisis had just begun.

In a trance, he suddenly noticed a resentful gaze. This gaze was not from the direction of the Zhusheng Niangniang, but from behind.

Yao Shunyu quickly turned his head and saw a short figure behind the team, about ten meters away from him, completely hidden in a raincoat and wearing a bamboo hat, instantly lowered his head.

…

On the other side, Li Bai and the others finally arrived at the Blackwater River after going around a big circle. It wasn't that they were slow, but the road was too difficult to walk, and the most important thing was that a thin mist had risen nearby not long ago.

The fog came strangely. Li Bai directed everyone to get closer. She was worried about encountering something similar to what happened before, so she walked in front to clear the way.

At this moment, there was no saying about men and women not being able to touch each other. Wu Qiang grabbed Li Bai's clothes from behind, and Lü Zhangyuan grabbed Wu Qiang. The three advanced in a column.

Arriving at the river, before they could observe carefully, someone emerged from the mist. "Oh dear, why are you people so late? Can you afford to delay the Zhusheng Niangniang's good day?"

The leader of this group was a dark-skinned woman with a strong physique and a rough voice. Li Bai looked at her and felt that she was familiar. She must have seen her in the village. She was definitely a villager from Blackwater Village.

"What are you looking at me for? Don't dawdle, hurry up and build the bridge!"

Following the direction of the woman's finger, the thick fog dissipated slightly, revealing a stone bridge spanning the river.