A Compendium of One Hundred Demons: My Path to Immortality in a World of Demons and Monsters

Old village chief?

Xu Yuan was taken aback. What were they doing here so late?

As the door opened, a hunched figure stood in the moonlight, clutching a well-worn peach wood cane. It was none other than Xu Laogen, the old village chief of Shuangshan Village.

The old man is over seventy years old this year, and he has become skin and bones since the famine, but his eyes are unusually bright in the dark.

"Village chief, what's going on here..." Xu Yuan stepped aside to let the old man into the house.

Xu Laogen entered the house leaning on his cane, but instead of sitting down, he stared at Xu Yuan for a long time before suddenly saying, "The strength you used to subdue Zhao San today wasn't ordinary, was it?"

Xu Yuan was startled, but remained calm on the surface: "Village chief, you're joking. I'm just a little stronger than him because I ate meat."

"Stronger?" Xu Laogen shook his head. "Zhao San used to hunt when he was young. He could strangle wild dogs with his bare hands. Even if he's been starving for months now, he's not someone that an ordinary person can easily subdue."

His cloudy eyes stared intently at Xu Yuan for a long time, then he made a hoarse sound in his throat, as if he had made a great decision, before finally speaking:

"You... went into the back mountain, didn't you?"

Xu Yuan's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained impassive: "What makes you say that, Village Chief?"

"You have..." Xu Laogen leaned closer, his nose twitching, "a musty smell on you. This isn't the smell of the front mountain. The soil there is dry, the grass is withered. The soil on the back mountain is damp and cold, and it even has a... eerie quality!"

Xu Yuan remained silent; this old man was indeed extraordinary.

Seeing that he did not deny it, Xu Laogen suddenly knelt down with a "plop"!

"Village Chief! What are you doing!" Xu Yuan was taken aback and quickly reached out to help him.

Xu Laogen stubbornly insisted on kneeling down, his withered hands gripping Xu Yuan's arm tightly with a strength far beyond that of a seventy-year-old: "Yuan boy... no, Xu Yuan! These old bones of mine won't live for many more days, I only have one thing to ask of you... just one thing!"

He raised his head, tears streaming down his face, the wrinkles on his face as deep as if etched by a knife: "My son... my son Xu Changming's remains are still in the back mountain... Twenty years! A full twenty years!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan was visibly shaken.

Twenty years ago?! Wasn't that the legendary time when a dozen or so young men from the village went into the mountains, and only one madman came back?

"My son... was one of those who went into the mountains that time." Xu Laogen's voice was terribly hoarse, each word sounding like it was being ripped from his chest. "That year there was a famine, and the village really couldn't survive. Changming was the best hunter in the village, and he said he couldn't just watch the whole village starve to death. No matter how strange the back mountain was, he had to go and try it..."

"Sixteen of them went, all the strongest young men in the village. They agreed to just wander around the outskirts, find some wild vegetables and fruits, and then come back." Tears rolled down the old man's cheeks, dripping onto Xu Yuan's sleeve. "They didn't come back on the first day, but I wasn't worried. I thought they might have gone too far."

"But they still hadn't returned by the second day... the third day... the fourth day..." His hand gripping Xu Yuan's arm trembled. "By the seventh day, we were almost in despair when suddenly there was movement at the village entrance!"

"It's Li Ergou! The Li Ergou who's usually the most timid! He crawled back, covered in blood, his clothes torn like rags, and all he could say was, 'They're eating people...they'..."

Xu Yuan was shocked. He never expected that Li Ergou, who was usually crazy, would have such a past.

"After that, Li Ergou went completely mad." Xu Laogen wiped his face. "He would hide from people whenever he saw them, and he would talk nonsense all day long, saying things like red eyes and black shadows... I wanted to ask him where Changming and the others were, but as soon as he heard the words 'back mountain,' he would scream and run away as if he had seen a ghost."

"So... your son's remains have never been found?" Xu Yuan asked in a deep voice.

Xu Laogen shook his head, his eyes filled with the torment of the past twenty years: "I've secretly gone to the foot of that mountain a few times, but every time I get close to that forest, I feel a chill run down my spine and my heart races... I know I'm old and don't have many days left to live. Now I have only one thought: to go into the mountains to find Changming's remains, to collect his body, so he won't become a wandering ghost."

Xu Yuan quickly dissuaded him, saying, "Village Chief, the back mountain is too dangerous; you can't go!"

"I knew it was dangerous!" Xu Laogen interrupted, tears streaming down his face. "You've been in Shuangshan Village for over a month now. Although you're usually thin and pale from hunger, you've never acted recklessly. When you hunt, you always take care of the women and children first, then others. Today, Zhao San provoked you, and although you have the strength, you acted with restraint, only intimidating them and not harming their vitals—you're not an ordinary person, much less a bad one!"

"So... I beg you! If I don't come back... could you please help look after these old people and children in the village, especially Li Ergou? Even though he's insane, it's because he went into the mountains with Changming back then..."

The old man choked up again: "If you really have great abilities, if you have the chance in the future... please collect my and Changming's bodies, so that we can be reunited in the afterlife..."

"Village chief, please wait a little longer," Xu Yuan said solemnly. "Give me some time; perhaps I can go into the mountains to search for you!"

With the Hundred Ghosts Diagram in his possession, Xu Yuan did not believe that his strength would stop there. He would definitely go to the back mountain again, but not now.

Xu Laogen shook his head, wiped away his tears, and stood up: "It's enough that you have this intention..."

Watching the old man's unsteady figure as he walked away, Xu Yuan remained silent for a long time.

Li Ergou!

It turns out that Li Ergou, who spent his days basking in the sun at the village entrance, acting crazy and grinning at everyone he met, had such a cruel past hidden behind him.

"Red eyes...black shadow..." Xu Yuan repeatedly chewed on these words, and suddenly remembered the great battle on the back mountain last night—weren't the ghost's scarlet eyes and the dark shadow a perfect match?

The next morning, Xu Yuan took the few pieces of pheasant meat left over from the previous night and headed towards the dilapidated mud house at the east end of the village.

Li Ergou lived there.

The older generation in the village felt sorry for him and took turns bringing him food every day. Although it was just thin soup and water, at least he didn't starve to death.

The door to the earthen house was ajar, and rustling sounds could be heard from inside.

Xu Yuan pushed open the door and was immediately hit by a pungent musty smell.

The room was dimly lit, with only a small window letting in a sliver of light. A disheveled figure huddled in the corner, head down, muttering to himself, wrapped in a tattered cotton-padded coat whose color was no longer discernible.

"Uncle Er Gou?" Xu Yuan called softly.

The man slowly raised his head—it was Li Ergou.

He looked to be only in his forties or fifties, but his hair was completely white, his face was filthy, and his eyes were cloudy and lifeless with unfocused pupils.

Xu Yuan slowly approached, took out the piece of pheasant meat wrapped in leaves from his pocket, and the aroma immediately spread throughout the musty-smelling room.

Li Ergou's nose twitched, his unfocused gaze instantly sharpened, and he stared intently at the piece of pheasant meat, making a "ho ho" sound in his throat.

"Uncle Er Gou, have some meat." Xu Yuan handed over the meat.

Li Ergou hesitated for a moment, then snatched it and began to wolf it down, even chewing the bones before swallowing them.

After finishing his meal, he licked the oil off his fingers, and his eyes seemed to clear up a little.

Xu Yuan crouched down, trying to make his voice sound gentle: "Uncle Er Gou, do you still remember... Xu Changming?"

"Changming... Changming..." Li Ergou tilted his head, repeating the name over and over again.

Suddenly, he trembled, his eyes widening in terror, "Run...run fast...Changming, run...run with a smile..."

Running away laughing? Xu Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "What did you see in the back mountain?"

"The back mountain...the back mountain..." Li Ergou murmured. The next moment, he suddenly looked up and stared intently at Xu Yuan's face.

At this moment, his eyes were no longer unfocused, but filled with an extreme fear, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

"A ghost...you're a ghost!!!"