“Why have you summoned me? Do you have something to say?” Illusion YaoGuai maintained an air of arrogance, clearly presenting himself as above the villagers before him.
When the elder saw Illusion YaoGuai appear, she became visibly emotional. Summoning him successfully was a hopeful sign that their village still held favor. However, she could not discuss everything in front of the villagers, so she focused on asking about the children.
“Honored immortal, do you happen to know where the children of our village have gone? Just yesterday, three of our children vanished without a trace, and we’ve yet to find any sign of them.”
Illusion YaoGuai seemed surprised by the old woman's words—he hadn’t heard of anything like that. How could children simply vanish without cause? Perhaps some creature had taken them? But this village was under his and the other YaoGuai’s protection; no creature should dare harm its people.
“Very well. I will investigate at once,” Illusion YaoGuai replied, closing his eyes and moving his hands as though calculating some mystical insight. Liu Hai, watching this performance, could tell Illusion YaoGuai was simply pretending. He knew that the entity before them was a YaoGuai, but the villagers couldn’t distinguish between a YaoGuai and an immortal—they only cared that this being before them could grant their wishes.
Liu Hai felt utterly frustrated, if Zhang Nu were here, he could expose the true nature of this YaoGuai. But alone, Liu Hai had to remain cautious. Once they descended the mountain, he would relay everything to Zhang Nu, hoping he could devise a plan to handle this situation.
“Those children have already met a tragic fate. If you wish to recover their bodies, you may find them at the foot of the mountain.”
The old woman was struck by these words, struggling to accept the reality. The children had only gone missing the night before; how could their lives have been taken so swiftly? What was happening here? Who could have done such a thing?
“Honored Immortal, might you tell us who committed this terrible act? The children were so young, yet they met such a fate,” the old woman implored.
Illusion YaoGuai hesitated. He didn’t wish to be entangled in this matter, but the first village leader had bound them to a pact. As long as the Tree of Life stood, they were compelled to protect this village. Only when the Source of Life vanished would they be free from their obligations. But over the centuries, the Source of Life had only grown stronger, revealing that they had been deceived by that initial village leader. Yet, bound by the curse, they couldn’t further their cultivation without assisting the villagers.
“This was done by the evil spirits of the mountain. If you wish to rid yourselves of them, you must seek a Daoist yourselves,” Illusion YaoGuai replied and, with that, he vanished.
Seeing Illusion YaoGuai disappear, the old woman collapsed to the ground in shock. So, it truly had been the mountain’s malicious spirits behind the children’s disappearances—it had nothing to do with Zhang Nu or Liu Hai. Regret washed over her, and she hoped that Zhang Nu and Liu Hai wouldn’t resent them for having wrongly accused them.
“Since that’s the case, let’s go down to the base of the mountain and retrieve the remains of the children,” Liu Hai said solemnly. The others nodded, feeling a sense of defeat. They had climbed the mountain with such determination, only to find that the children had already perished, their bones lying at the mountain’s base. Had they known sooner, they wouldn’t have needed to climb so far.
When they reached the foot of the mountain, they searched until they found the remains of the three children. Wild animals had stripped the bodies down to bare bones. The old woman’s eyes filled with tears at the sight, deeply saddened by the grim discovery. Liu Hai, equally troubled, realized that if the evil spirits in the mountains were truly responsible, dealing with them would come at a great cost. Perhaps this would be the perfect reason to bring Zhang Nu back here.
However, Liu Hai knew this wasn’t the time to discuss such matters. It could wait until they returned to the village. Soon, they headed back to the village with the remains of the children, where the anxious parents waited at the entrance, hearts heavy with hope and dread.