If you were asked to identify an item, would you choose to extract magical powers?

Chapter 32: Staying in the Village, Night Exploration

The village was gloomy, and under the moonlight, it seemed to be covered with a layer of silver.

But even the moonlight could not completely dispel the dead atmosphere.

Even an ordinary person entering the village can feel the atmosphere of an old man in his twilight years.

Not far from the village, as Shen Bai looked over, he saw a ragged middle-aged man squatting on the side of the road, staring blankly at the moon in the sky.

The man's clothes were not shabby, just a little old, but because they were draped in a messy manner, they gave off a sense of decadence and loneliness.

Especially those eyes, which were dull and lifeless, as if they had lost their spirit.

Shen Bai's gaze turned and stopped on the man's wrist.

On that muddy wrist, there were scars crisscrossing each other, looking hideous and terrifying.

From time to time, villagers passed by the man.

Some villagers even spat at the man.

There were also some children who were playing. When they passed by the middle-aged man, they grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and sprinkled it on the middle-aged man's head.

After careful observation, Shen Bai discovered that both the middle-aged man and the villagers, and even the children, had dense scars on their wrists.

"Donor Shen, the scars on their hands are from sharp weapons. Their steps are weak and their Qi and blood are deficient. They must have been bled recently."

Wuhua said in a low voice.

Shen Bai nodded and said, "That should be the case."

Recently, Shen Bai has been replenishing his qi and blood. In addition, he has sufficient qi and blood, so he has a better perception of qi and blood.

So he could see it at a glance.

"Let's go and take a look."

Something unusual happened as soon as he entered the village. In addition, the behavior of this down-and-out middle-aged man was completely different from that of the villagers, which piqued Shen Bai's interest.

The two men looked at each other, said nothing more, and walked towards the down-and-out middle-aged man.

But before the two of them got close, something unusual happened.

"You two, are you from outside?"

A voice sounded behind Shen Bai and Wuhua.

Shen Bai turned around and saw a white-haired old man walking slowly towards him with a cane in his hand.

"Yes, we are outsiders, passing by here. It's getting late, and we would like to stay overnight. What is your name, old man?"

The old man leaned lightly on his cane and said, "I am the village chief of Huaixi Village. My last name is Yang. You can just call me Village Chief Yang."

"You two, Huaixi Village doesn't normally receive outsiders, but today's Huailing offering is a great joyous event. If you two would like to stay overnight, you can rest in Huaixi Village for one night before leaving."

Huai Ling offers sacrifices?

Shen Bai touched his chin and asked, "Village Chief Yang, what is the Huai Ling offering?"

Village Chief Yang chuckled and said, "There is a huge locust tree in Huaixi Village. After being nourished by the Liuyun Lake in Huaixi Village, it has given birth to spirituality, which can ensure good weather and good harvests in Huaixi Village."

"Every once in a while, the villagers would go and offer sacrifices. Doing this three times would nourish the locust tree's spirit and make Huaixi Village more prosperous."

"Everyone, please look around. In the past, these were all dilapidated houses, but because of Huai Ling, the entire village has been transformed."

Shen Bai looked around and found that the village was indeed wealthy.

The buildings alone are much more prosperous than those in other villages.

Wuhua took two steps forward and asked, "Then why is this donor so destitute?"

The old village chief glanced at the downtrodden middle-aged man and sneered, "This man was originally a villager of my Huaixi Village, but he offended Huai Ling and ended up like this. He really deserves it."

"What kind of offense is it?" Shen Bai became even more curious.

Upon hearing this, Village Chief Yang seemed to open up and explained, "The Huai Ling itself protects the village and ensures good weather, but this guy said that we are harming ourselves by offering sacrifices to the Huai Ling. He said that the Huai Ling is evil and that he deserves this result." As he spoke, Village Chief Yang even spat at the middle-aged man.

After saying this, Village Chief Yang seemed to have thought of something and raised his hand to gesture.

"Two guests, let's not talk about this anymore. Come with me and I'll arrange accommodation for you."

Judging from his expression, Shen Bai knew that Village Chief Yang didn't want to say anything more.

He didn't ask any further questions and followed behind with Wuhua.

……

Village chief Yang took Shen Bai and the other two and found a house in the village.

"This is an empty house," said Village Chief Yang. "It was originally occupied by a villager, but that family moved to Maple Forest State, so it's now vacant."

"No one was cleaning the village originally, but today we are offering tribute to Huai Ling, so we cleaned the whole village."

Village Chief Yang stood at the door and said, "You two, although you can stay temporarily because of Huai Ling, you still have to hand over some money."

Shen Bai nodded, then took out some silver from the purse around his waist and put it in Village Chief Yang's hand.

There is no such plot as in the novels in this world. It is normal to charge some money for free food and accommodation in a place.

After taking the money, Village Chief Yang said to go to bed early and turned to leave.

Wuhua closed the door and turned around to say, "Shen Shishi, would you like to go out and take a look tonight?"

Shen Bai sat on the chair and tapped the table with his fingers: "Master Wuhua also discovered it?"

Wuhua nodded and said, "The locust tree is inherently strange, but they regard it as a locust spirit. This is an obvious problem."

Shen Bai stopped tapping on the table, retracted his hand, and said, "One more thing, Village Chief Yang told us too much."

"Oh?" Wuhua asked with interest, "Is there a problem with talking too much?"

Shen Bai nodded and said, "He was eager to explain the locust tree and the reasons behind the middle-aged man, just to make us think that everything here was the man's own fault and had nothing to do with them."

"Sometimes explaining too much can actually make you feel guilty."

"He could have refused our invitation, but because we saw that middle-aged man, he needed to keep us overnight. He also explained the reason and allayed our concerns."

Wuhua's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Donor Shen is not only powerful, but also very smart. I had never thought of this."

Shen Bai shook his hand: "I won't say anything more. I'll go out and take a look tonight."

The two of them were not in a hurry to find the huge locust tree, because if they wanted to go to Liuyun Lake, they had to pass through the village first.

But now the abnormality in this village must be resolved first.

Otherwise, if any changes occur at the giant locust tree, and it is because of the village, then they will be the ones who suffer.

……

Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye, the night grew deeper and deeper.

There were a few oil lamps lit in the village, but as time passed, the lamps gradually went out.

The door of the house opened from the inside, and Shen Bai and Wuhua walked out.

Outside the village, the moonlight had hidden in the clouds at this time, and only sporadic light could be seen.

Shen Bai identified the direction and walked towards the middle-aged man.

As I got closer, I could vaguely see the dilapidated figure of a middle-aged man.

As Shen Bai and Wuhua approached, the middle-aged man seemed to hear footsteps. He turned his head stiffly, looked in the direction of Shen Bai, and spoke dully and numbly.

"Beasts, they are all beasts!"

(End of this chapter)