Ah Pin stepped forward, taking his father to one side, "Dad, they are my friends, you can’t treat them ." He hadn’t known his father would act this way, or he wouldn’t have brought Song Yan Ning and the others back. Now he really felt guilty.
"You don’t concern yourself with this." Ah Pin’s father said coldly. The reason he had kept Song Yan Ning and the others was actually to use their blood to sacrifice to Shuimu Lake. The ancestral notes stated that once Shuimu Lake absorbed the blood of cultivators, it would undergo a change, potentially allowing the seal at the lake’s bottom to be broken and its water supply to become inexhaustible. But he wouldn’t tell Ah Pin this.
Ah Pin’s father waved his hand to cut off Ah Pin’s next words, "I’m doing this for the good of our village." Having said that, he no longer paid attention to Ah Pin and walked towards Song Yan Ning and her companions.
Song Yan Ning saw that the villagers were beyond reason, her eyes flashed, and a white light shot out from them. She practiced spiritual power, which could control the thoughts of others.
Those blocking Song Yan Ning and her companions felt a wave of dizziness as a voice in their heads commanded them to step aside. Their feet moved uncontrollably to the side, quickly making way for Song Yan Ning and her companions.
"What are you doing?" Ah Pin’s father yelled in surprise as he saw the crowd making way.
Song Yan Ning swept Ah Pin’s father with a cold glance, then walked away with Qin Yushen and Elder Mie Yu.
Ah Pin’s father felt a chill run through him and thought to follow, but couldn’t muster the courage. It seemed Song Yan Ning and her companions differed from the cultivators mentioned in his ancestor’s notes.
Not long after Song Yan Ning and her companions left, the crowd came to their senses, realizing Song Yan Ning and the others were gone, all wearing puzzled expressions.
"Ah Pin’s dad, where are they?"
"They left," sighed Ah Pin’s father, shaking his head.
"How did we not see them leave?" the crowd asked in confusion. They had been there all along; could people just vanish into thin air?
Ah Pin’s father sighed again and slowly walked in the direction of the village.
Ah Pin stared in the direction where Song Yan Ning and her companions had left, then after a long while, retracted his gaze and picked up the bucket of water Elder Mie Yu had fetched earlier, and left.
Song Yan Ning and her companions wandered aimlessly, now without a map or divine sense, relying solely on intuition.
"Ah Pin’s dad really went too far! If it were like before, I would have definitely slapped him to death." Elder Mie Yu was still fuming. They had kindly helped him fetch water, and in the end, he treated them that way, even trying to keep them there forcefully.
"Don’t be angry, he’s not worth it," Song Yan Ning turned her head and looked at Elder Mie Yu with a smile. After visiting Earth, Elder Mie Yu had changed a lot. The past her was serious, never showing a smile, and regardless of how big the issue, she never got angry.
"But that man was really detestable," the more Elder Mie Yu thought, the angrier he became, wishing he could go back and give Ah Pin’s father a beating right now.
"I think Ah Pin’s father had another motive for keeping us, he must know some secrets about Shuimu Lake," said Qin Yushen.
"Mhm," Song Yan Ning nodded in agreement; she had been pondering this issue too. Ah Pin’s father had lived here for so many years; he should be used to the water fetching from Shuimu Lake. The scarcity was certain, but it wasn’t to the extent where they had to be kept there, and what’s more, to keep them, he even rallied the whole village to block them.