Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Leaving the village was easier than expected; the villagers didn’t try to stop them much, and instead warmly saw them off.
Song Yu was initially a little skeptical but seeing that the villagers did not stop them from leaving, he became even more uncertain. On the way down the mountain, he was still saying to Jiang Lan, “I still feel that these villagers don’t seem to have anything to do with the ancient Wa people.”
If Jiang Lan hadn’t witnessed the human head sacrifice at the holy site with his own eyes, he probably would have had the same question.
These villagers were too normal. Apart from the bizarre head sacrifice last night, they always seemed warm and harmless.
But facts spoke louder than words. No matter how normal or harmless the villagers seemed, Jiang Lan still believed the scene he had witnessed.
He shook his head, thinking that Song Yu was about to leave, so he didn’t say anything more to him, only reminding him to pay attention to the cell phone signal.
When the two reached the halfway point of the mountain, Song Yu’s cell phone signal finally showed a faint bar, but it quickly dropped back to zero.
He excitedly raised his phone and exclaimed, “It looks like there’s a signal!”
Jiang Lan stopped in his tracks, stood still, and gestured with his chin at him: “Try walking a little further ahead.”
“Okay.” Song Yu obediently walked forward, holding his phone high. He looked at the screen and announced in real time, “Got it! Got it…”
“Oh no, it’s gone again!”
“The signal in the mountains is really unstable.”
Song Yu walked forward for quite a while, and the weak signal finally stabilized, no longer fluctuating back and forth, and stopped steadily at the position of one bar of signal.
“Finally, it’s stable.” He breathed a sigh of relief, turned to Jiang Lan, and said, “We have a signal now. I’ll call the station first—”
His voice stopped abruptly when he saw that the mountain road behind him was deserted.
Jiang Lan, who should have been waiting behind him, had vanished without a trace. He could still clearly see the protruding rock where Jiang Lan had just stood from where he had been…
A chill ran up from the soles of his feet, and Song Yu swallowed hard, suppressing the tingling sensation on his scalp.
“Jiang Lan?”
He tried calling out, and his voice echoed through the mountains, producing several more echoes, but there was no response from Jiang Lan.
After hesitating for a moment, Song Yu first called the bureau to explain the situation, then gripped his phone tightly, took a deep breath, and walked back the way he came.
One step, two steps… ten steps… a hundred steps…
This time, Song Yu learned his lesson and slowed his pace considerably, checking his phone signal every few steps. However, even after he reached the rock where Jiang Lan was standing, and even walked nearly a kilometer beyond the rock, his phone signal remained a weak but stable single bar.
Jiang Lan was still nowhere to be found.
Song Yu had no choice but to stop and wait for the main force from the branch office to arrive before turning back with them to search for the village.
….
Jiang Lan stood cautiously in place without moving.
He watched Song Yu walk away step by step with his phone in hand, muttering to himself whether he had a signal or not. Seeing that he was about to disappear from sight, Jiang Lan decided to follow him for a while longer.
But as soon as he took a step, Song Yu suddenly disappeared from sight.
He either gradually disappeared, or he reached a certain limit and simply vanished into thin air. There were no restrictions or fluctuations of spiritual energy, nor any strange or terrifying signs.
Song Yu simply vanished as if he had dissolved into the air, disappearing in an ordinary and unremarkable way.
Jiang Lan cautiously walked forward a short distance, carefully observing the spot where Song Yu had disappeared, but found nothing.
He was worried that if he went any further, he would leave the space like Song Yu, so he could only stay where he was and wait as agreed.
After the agreed hour had passed, he waited another hour but did not see Song Yu return. He became even more certain that entering and exiting this space was highly random, and if he left, it would be difficult to find the entrance again.
He could only memorize the location where Song Yu had disappeared and then return to the village.
Although Song Yu left the village early in the morning, the two of them had been traveling for quite a while, so it was already noon when Jiang Lan returned to the village.
The villagers had already eaten lunch, and dinner was still a long way off, so they sat in twos and threes chatting at their doorways. Jiang Lan noticed that there were a few more young men in the village, and they were all familiar faces that he had seen in the holy land last night.
He greeted them with a smile, “Everyone’s back from work?”
These strong men greeted him: “You’re the one who stayed at the old lady’s house, right?”
Jiang Lan smiled and nodded, continuing his conversation with them: “Yes, my friend just went down the mountain because of some family matters. But I need to do some field research, so I’ll have to stay in the village for a few more days.”
He then casually asked, “When will you go down the mountain to work again? I’ll go with you next time.” He complained, “The village is too remote, and the mountain path is difficult to walk. It’s safer to go in groups.”
“We can’t say for sure when we’ll go down the mountain again. It depends on when Muyiji[1] gives us another order.” One of the men said, “If you want to go down the mountain, just don’t leave in the evening. There won’t be any danger at other times.”
Jiang Lan’s eyes flashed, and he pressed, “Why can’t we leave at dusk? Is it dangerous at dusk?”
The man said, “Some other villages have grudges against us. If you leave at dusk, you might run into them. Since you’re staying in our village, you’re considered one of us. If you encounter a village that has a grudge against us, you might face retaliation.”
Jiang Lan feigned fear and asked, “Are there other villages in the mountains? How will they retaliate?”
“You can’t tell outsiders about this.” The man stopped talking and waved his hand, saying, “Just remember what I said, don’t go out after evening.”
Jiang Lan lowered her eyes, smiled, and said, “Okay, thank you, I won’t go out.”
….
Jiang Lan seemed to have listened to the villagers’ advice. He wandered around the mountains during the day but returned before evening.
Compared to yesterday, the village was much quieter and more silent today. Many households had closed their doors and windows as soon as it got dark, and some didn’t even turn on their lamps. Urged by the family he was staying with, Jiang Lan washed up and went back to his room. After pretending to fuss for a while, he pretended to go to sleep and turned off the oil lamp.
He lay on the bed for a while, and when it was completely dark and there was no sound outside, he locked the door from the inside and quietly climbed out the window to leave.
He transformed into his original form and nimbly ran and leaped among the tree branches— he had scouted the area during the day and confirmed that this was another space, so he had no more worries.
His original form was faster; he ran quickly while searching the forest, trying to find the shadowy figure that had appeared yesterday.
He actually suspected that the shadowy figure from yesterday was Ya Zi.
However, his attention was drawn to the human head sacrifice yesterday, so he was distracted and couldn’t see clearly. He only vaguely saw a black shadow flash by. Connecting it with the group photo that flashed in the video, he felt that the group photo was most likely Ya Zi, so he came out to look for him again tonight.
—As long as Ya Zi is confirmed to be in this space, he will turn this mountain upside down to find Ya Zi.
Jiang Lan kept his eyes peeled and his ears open, searching from the eastern side of the Great Mountain to the western side, but found nothing.
They found neither a shadowy figure resembling Ya Zi nor encountered any headhunting Wa people.
He landed on the riverbank, scratched the ground a couple of times with his paws in a bit of dejection, but quickly calmed down and started thinking about where to look next.
Thinking makes you hungry, and when you’re hungry you want a midnight snack. Jiang Lan took out a handful of gems from his storage ring, and the huge Taotie sat listlessly by the river, crunching on its midnight snack while swaying its tail as it pondered its next move.
However, before he could figure it out, he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye that a figure with a well-concealed aura was hiding in the dense canopy of trees behind him, spying on him.
Jiang Lan tossed two more gems into his mouth, pretending to be oblivious, but his tail swayed faster unconsciously— the other’s gaze did not bring a sense of danger, but rather a long-lost sense of familiarity.
Jiang Lan’s heart started racing a little— he had to find a way to confirm the identity of the shadowy figure.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to search for gems in his storage ring, he quickly glanced to his left and right— the shadowy figure was partially obscured by the tree canopy, but the half-face visible and the short sword held in its mouth were enough to confirm its identity.
It was Ya Zi.
Jiang Lan suddenly turned around and pounced towards where Ya Zi was hiding.
However, Ya Zi reacted quickly. His dark golden pupils narrowed into thin lines, and he turned and ran, his figure as swift as lightning.
Jiang Lan chased after him angrily, calling out, “Seventh Brother! Ya Zi!”
However, Ya Zi ran away very fast, without even turning his head back.
Jiang Lan was furious and chased him for half a mountain. However, he was fast, but Ya Zi was not slow either. The two always kept a distance between them. Ya Zi could not shake off Jiang Lan, and Jiang Lan could not catch up with Ya Zi.
In a brief moment of running, Ya Zi glanced back and roared threateningly at Jiang Lan, seemingly expressing his dissatisfaction. His gaze towards Jiang Lan was unfamiliar.
He looked around a few times, and when he saw the valley in front of him, his eyes lit up. He mustered all his strength and rushed towards the valley. As he ran, he let out a high-pitched and sharp roar, which echoed in the sky above the mountains and forests, prompting another roar full of anger and resentment.
The roar shook the heavens and the earth, and the entire mountain seemed to tremble.
Jiang Lan was startled and looked warily towards the valley. Seeing this, Ya Zi took the opportunity to flee quickly into the distance. Once he was sure Jiang Lan couldn’t catch him, Ya Zi stopped far away, barked triumphantly at him, and looked on with a gloating expression, as if waiting to watch the show.
“…”
That smug look of his was very familiar.
Jiang Lan remembered that Ya Zi had this same expression when he used to bully those powerful demons who came to the Dragon Palace to cause him trouble.
It was both contemptuous and provocative, utterly infuriating.
Those powerful demons who used to come to the Dragon Palace to cause him trouble were all beaten up and left with a belly full of anger. From then on, they never dared to mention causing trouble for Jiang Lan again and all avoided the Dragon Palace.
Jiang Lan felt so relieved back then, but now, looking at it, he just wanted to drag Ya Zi back and beat him up!
But the reality clearly didn’t allow him to do that.
A roar filled with anger and resentment echoed through the valley, reverberating between heaven and earth, making even the air seem to tremble. Jiang Lan could only temporarily set aside Ya Zi and remain vigilant about what was in the valley.
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[1] The Muyiji Holy Valley (木依吉神谷) in Ximeng County, Yunnan, is a sacred site dedicated to the supreme creator deity of the Wa people. It represents their deep spiritual connection to nature, featuring ancient banyan trees, rock paintings, and sacrificial altars where the Wa traditionally worship and pray for prosperity.
