Chapter 1 A Terrible Conjecture

A terrifying conjecture took shape in everyone's heart: whatever left those footprints... carried the coffin away!

The temple wasn't large. Chen Hao quickly circled around inside, searching for Pang Xiaofeng's body. Unfortunately, he couldn't find it. "Chen Hao," Jiang Cheng said coldly, extending his hand to him, "take a look at this."

Chen Hao walked over and took a small object from Jiang Cheng's hand. It was a rhinoceros horn, the kind distributed by the night watchman, but this one had burn marks.

"I found it on the ground," Jiang Cheng said calmly, looking at him. "Right in front of the incense burner."

Without a doubt, the person who burned the rhinoceros horn here last night was Pang Xiaofeng. He must have encountered something terrifying, clutching the rhinoceros horn. Chen Hao looked at the incense burner.

A stick of incense, only a small half remaining, stood in the incense burner. The incense had long been extinguished.

And the candle the night watchman mentioned had also burned out, leaving only an empty candlestick.

At that moment, Jiang Cheng and Chen Hao looked up, both focusing their attention on the statue. The statue was no different from last night, still in that fluttering pose, but the two of them saw something amiss.

Before they could speak, Yu Chengmu, stroking his beard, walked over with an affected gait. "You two young brothers have also spotted the problem, haven't you?"

"Although I don't know as much as the old gentleman, this statue is too realistic," Chen Hao replied truthfully.

"Hehe, this isn't a simple statue, but a ghost altar deliberately built," Yu Chengmu's voice changed, becoming somewhat sinister. "In other words, this... is a ghost temple."

"Do you know who the woman on top is?" Yu Chengmu sized up Chen Hao and Jiang Cheng with a playful look, especially Jiang Cheng. He was very interested in this person.

But before he could continue showing off, Jiang Cheng walked forward. Beneath the statue was a stone platform, surrounded by a circle of white cloth curtains.

Jiang Cheng reached out and lifted the white cloth. Chen Hao's expression suddenly changed. The stone platform under the white cloth was carved with countless waves, overlapping and rolling, biting at each other. At first glance, it gave people a boundless feeling, a sense of unstoppable, overwhelming power.

And above the endless waves, the goddess statue rode the waves.

"The Dahe Niangniang (River Goddess)," the name immediately appeared in Chen Hao's mind.

Jiang Cheng lowered the white cloth and looked up at the goddess statue in front of him. "This temple should be called Dahe Niangniang Temple. I just wonder what good deeds this Dahe Niangniang has done for the villagers, that they commemorate her with such gratitude and build a temple for her."

Yu Chengmu, feeling marginalized, couldn't help but lose face. He was the one showing off, but this kid Jiang stole the spotlight. "Hehe, young brother Jiang has sharp eyes, but you only know one thing, not the other." Yu Chengmu curled his lips, his gaze wandering around the temple. "The origin of this ghost temple is strange. Judging from the surrounding layout, a master must have set up a formation here, intending to suppress the resentment of this fierce ghost."

Jiang Cheng didn't know any of this, but his expression remained unchanged.

Yu Chengmu looked at him, his eyes narrowed. He seemed to see through everything, but in reality, he was also feeling uneasy. He couldn't see through Jiang Cheng more and more, only feeling that he was dangerous.

Before long, another gong sound came from outside. There were no more clues in the temple. The three turned around and left, heading outside to rejoin the others.

Upon learning that the temple was dedicated to a ghost, everyone's expressions became interesting.

Following the strange footprints, everyone left the mansion. The immediate priority was to find the whereabouts of the coffin, and preferably Pang Xiaofeng's body. But as they walked, they found the village eerily quiet, as if everyone in the village had disappeared. This was not a good sign.

Moreover, the direction the footprints led to was actually the direction where the gong sounded.

Upon hearing the third gong sound, they crossed a relatively high hill, and their vision suddenly opened up. A large river appeared in front of them, and hundreds of people were densely gathered on the river bank.

Judging by their clothes, they were the missing villagers.

Seven coffins were neatly placed on the river bank, the coffin lids lifted aside. The corpses inside were gone.

The old man they had seen last night was holding a black gong in his hand, standing in front of the coffin. Because the distance was far, they couldn't see his expression clearly.

Among the crowd, there were people wearing white mourning clothes kneeling not far from the coffin. A cold, damp wind blew, and a woman's low, hoarse sobbing could be faintly heard, as if mourning.

The group was discovered as they approached. The old man, holding the gong, walked over supported by a young man. His steps were trembling. Upon seeing Jiang Cheng and the others, he couldn't hold back his emotions any longer. "Masters, our village is sorry for you. One of you lost his life for nothing!"

Zhang Junyu frowned upon hearing this, looking around, but he didn't see Pang Xiaofeng's body. He couldn't help but ask, "How do you know that one of us is dead?"

Could it be that someone else was in the mansion last night besides them?

The night watchman?

The old man's eyes were red, and his voice was hoarse. "Masters, see for yourselves." The old man turned sideways, pointing to the river surface with a trembling finger.

The river surface was very wide, the entire river surface faintly presenting a black color. The visibility was very poor. The location the old man pointed to was near the middle of the river, where there was a subtle whirlpool.

And inside the whirlpool, something was floating up and down.

Holding their breath and looking intently, Du Moyu, whose eyesight was good, suddenly frowned. He saw a pale, bloodless face. "It's Xiaofeng!"

"Yes, it's one of you," the old man said, looking very guilty. He couldn't help but sigh. "I only heard about it this morning, and then I hurried over."

"Who discovered the body first?" Yu Chengmu looked at the old man.

The old man waved, summoning a dark-skinned, bare-chested man, and introduced him to everyone. "It's him. You can call him... call him Su Da."

"Su Da," Yu Chengmu said. "What time did you discover the body?"

"When the sky was just getting light, I saw something floating up and down in the whirlpool. Later, I looked closely and saw it was a person." Su Da looked very honest, his voice muffled.

Zhou Qing sneered. "The sky was just getting light. What were you doing by the river? And now that it's broad daylight, we can barely see the body clearly. Tell me, how could you see it clearly when the sky was just getting light?"

The old man explained upon seeing this, "Masters, don't be angry. It's like this. Su Da is arranged by the village. Every day, as soon as it gets light, we arrange for someone to patrol the Dahe. Today, it just happened to be his turn."

Speaking of this, a trace of bitterness appeared on the old man's face, and he sighed deeply. "Masters are the benefactors of our village. I dare not hide it from you. For some time now, people in the village have been disappearing from time to time at night, but as long as someone disappears, their bodies will float in the Dahe before long, and every time it's nearby."

The old man glanced at the river surface with some dread, and said in a low voice, "It's... it's the whirlpool you saw."

"The corpses in the coffin too?" Du Moyu asked.

The old man nodded. "Yes, all of them."

Chen Hao looked around, then turned his gaze back to the old man. "Do these villagers still have anything to do here? If not, let them go back. We still have some things we need to ask you about."

The old man looked at Su Da. "You heard what the masters said, right? Go, tell them all to go back." Before Su Da could leave, the old man stopped him again. "Wait, tell them not to worry. With the masters here, the village will be fine!"

Su Da nodded his big head and agreed in a muffled voice.

But this last sentence made Jiang Cheng and the others frown. What did he mean by "with us here, the village will be fine?" Was the ghost not killing the people in your village, but killing us instead?

Everyone knew in their hearts that they were probably being used as scapegoats again.

The immediate priority now was to find out what had happened in the village, and what connection this fierce ghost had with the village.

When everyone had left, Yu Chengmu smiled and took the old man's hand, dragging out his words, "Village Chief, what is enshrined in that temple we went to guard last night?"

Yu Chengmu clearly felt the old man's hand tremble.

Yu Chengmu squeezed his hand tighter, not giving him a chance to escape. He brought his face, like a piece of withered tree bark, closer, with a smile on his face, but his two eyeballs were staring at the old man's face. The next second, he suddenly said, "It's Dahe Niangniang, isn't it?"

"Ah!" Upon hearing these words, the old man was so frightened that the gong in his hand fell to the ground, and the color drained from his face.

Realizing what had happened, the old man's legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground with a thud, saying in a tearful voice, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, masters. I didn't mean to hide it from you, but I really... really didn't dare to tell you. In the past, the masters we hired would run far away as soon as they heard this name, and they wouldn't come no matter how much money we offered."

Lei Mingyu was furious. He raised his leg and kicked the old man to the ground. "You tricked us into coming because others wouldn't come? You old bastard, your lives are lives, but our lives aren't?"

Worried that Lei Mingyu would do more, Du Moyu stepped forward and pulled him back. Lei Mingning glared at the old man, with an air of threatening to throw him into the river if he didn't confess honestly today.

Jiang Cheng calculated that it was about time and stepped forward to help the old man up, dusting off the dirt on his body. "We can let go of what happened before, but now you have to explain to us what this Dahe Niangniang is all about, and what connection it has with the strange events in the village."

The old man was out of breath from Lei Mingyu's kick. He sat on a large rock for a long time before finally opening his mouth. "You're right, that temple is called... it's called Dahe Niangniang Temple. We built it for the Wu family's eldest daughter."

"That mansion, the one you stayed in last night, is the former Wu family mansion."

"This is a long story," the old man shook his head slightly, his eyes slowly becoming empty. "You may not believe it, but 10 years ago, our village was the wealthiest village in the vicinity. The village was backed by mountains, and most importantly, it was also close to this Dushui River, which was considered our lifeline."

"But suddenly one late night, the Dushui River flooded like crazy. The flood washed away the river embankment and poured into the village. Many people were drowned, and many others were swept away by the river, and their bodies couldn't even be found."

"Originally, we thought it was because the river embankment had been in disrepair for years, so we started to reinforce it. Moreover, such a thing had never happened since the village was built, so we just assumed it was a bad year."

"But unexpectedly, this was just the beginning." The old man's voice rose and fell, and his expression became fearful. "Following the flood, more and more strange things happened in the village. The Dushui River, which used to be full of fish, couldn't even catch a single fish overnight."

"Some people didn't believe in this evil and contacted more than a dozen fishing boats to jointly set up a giant net, wanting to see what was going on in the water."

"But after waiting for a long time, there was no movement at all."

"Seeing that the sun was about to set, everyone prepared to pull up the net, but when they pulled it, they realized something was wrong. The net was very heavy, especially heavy, as if it had hooked onto something at the bottom of the water."

"Having fished in the river for a long time, everyone had experience. No matter how they pulled, the thing at the bottom of the water wouldn't move. It must be a dead object, and a very large one."

"Experienced old people analyzed that it might be a strangely shaped large stone exposed after the flood washed away the riverbed, and the stone hooked the fishing net."

"With this said, no one dared to pull hard anymore. After all, the fishing net was their livelihood, and it would be terrible if it was damaged. So, someone suggested taking advantage of the fact that it wasn't dark yet, to send someone down to feel the situation underwater."

"A man with good swimming skills volunteered, took off his clothes, and plunged into the water."

"He was down there for a long time, so long that everyone was worried that he had encountered danger, but with a series of bubbles, the man finally emerged from the water."

"According to the man, the net was tangled on a large stone underwater, and he couldn't solve it alone."

"Having figured out the situation, two more men took off their clothes and went into the water without saying a word, but after a while, the three of them floated up one after another, urging to come a few more people. The situation underwater was more complicated than imagined."

"At this time, it was already half dark. The old man in charge on the boat looked at the sun, with only the last bit of afterglow remaining, and had an ominous premonition. You can see that the villagers grew up by the river, but as long as the sun sets, no one will go down the river. This is the rule."

"But some people couldn't bear to part with their own fishing nets and planned to take advantage of the fact that it wasn't dark yet to quickly get the net back, as long as they moved quickly. So, ignoring the old man's obstruction, 4 more people jumped into the water with a plop, plop."

"This time, 7 people floated up, and then they still needed people to go down to help, right?" Hearing this, Du Moyu had already roughly guessed the direction the story would take.

The old man nodded with a painful expression upon hearing this. "That's right, it was like this, but this time, it was completely dark, and the people left on the boat also realized something was wrong."

"They refused to go into the water and told the people in the water to hurry up and get on the boat. The fishing nets and everything else could wait until tomorrow when it was light."