Above the Great Dao

"Fugui? Surnamed Liu? A child from the Liu family?"

Chen Shi felt the name was somewhat familiar, suddenly his mind thundered, and he stared wide-eyed at the frail boy in front of him.

He remembered San Wang had mentioned that the last child who went missing was from the Liu family, named Fugui!

And this child here was called Liu Fugui!

Could there be two Liu Fuguis in this village?

Probably not!

That frail boy named Liu Fugui started walking toward the village, and seeing that Chen Shi hadn't moved, he quickly waved him over, smiling, "Chen Shi, come over here. I'll introduce you to some good friends!"

Chen Shi hesitated for a moment, then followed him toward the village.

He had originally thought he would gain a living friend, but now it seemed this friend might not be so living.

"Talisman Master Chen!" San Wang shouted loudly.

Chen Shi turned a deaf ear and continued following Liu Fugui. Black Pot hurriedly caught up with Chen Shi, his heart filled with trepidation.

The frail boy walked quickly, and the other villagers seemed not to see him at all, letting him jog all the way to the center of the village. The houses in Huangyang Village, like those in other villages, were also built in concentric circles around a center, forming concentric circular structures.

Chen Shi looked ahead and saw an ancient palace at the center of the ruins, and standing amid it was a temple.

The temple was probably built later, although it was already very ancient, it seemed much younger compared to the ruins.

Inside the temple, there was a copper statue of a deity sitting cross-legged, the period it was from unknown. The statue depicted a peculiar spirit with indigo skin and fanged mouth, even sitting, it was over six feet tall. If it stood up, it would probably be over a dozen feet tall.

It was the spiritual guardian of Huangyang Village.

Chen Shi followed Liu Fugui into the temple, only to see the front of the statue piled with various offerings, chickens, ducks, geese, fish, shrimps, crabs, melons, pears, and peaches, a bountiful array.

Behind the offerings sat a chubby man with a plump face, one hand holding a bony chicken, stuffing large bites into his mouth, grease dripping all around, while his other hand clutched a melon, his beady eyes darting around, fearing someone would snatch his offerings.

This round, plump man must be a godly figure formed by extraordinary power.

Chen Shi looked toward the corner of the temple, where a few children were hiding and talking to Liu Fugui.

"He is called Chen Shi, his nickname Little Ten, and he can see me!"

Liu Fugui was quite excited as he spoke to the other children, "Neither mom nor dad can see me, nor can anyone in the village, but he can see me! He surely can see you all too!"

Immediately, the children turned to look at Chen Shi, expressions of hope on their faces.

"Little Ten Brother, my mother has been searching for me so much she is almost going mad, she has cried for a long time!"

One child came over to Chen Shi's side, and as he spoke, tears began to roll down his cheeks, he choked up, "I see mom crying, and I want to cry too, I hold her legs and tell her, mom, I'm here, but she just can't hear, can't see! Can you help me find my mom?"

Another child's eyes reddened, "My mom and dad can't see me either!"

The child behind said, "My mom's eyes are almost crying blind!"

Chen Shi's heart sank, these four children must be the four missing children.

They had already become ghosts, meaning he was still too late.

All four children had died.

"As the spiritual guardian revered by the villagers, shouldn't you have the responsibility to protect the villagers?" Chen Shi turned around and looked at the fat man engorged on the offerings.

The fat man stopped feeding himself, turned his head with a fierce look.

Black Pot quickly rushed in front of Chen Shi, baring his teeth and growling.

The fat man hummed, "I am only responsible for driving away evil spirits; everything else has nothing to do with me! Lad, on the face of Chen Yindou, I will spare you this time! Speak disrespectfully to me again, and I'll eat you up. Even Chen Yindou wouldn't dare squeak!"

He turned back and continued to gorge himself.

Chen Shi was slightly taken aback, "If other matters have nothing to do with you, then…the one who killed these four children, wasn't an evil spirit?"

The village's spiritual guardian was responsible for driving away evil spirits, but if the perpetrator was not an evil spirit, then the guardian had no obligation to act, unless the villagers offered sacrifices.

Chen Shi had earlier heard about the disturbances by evil spirits during the day, and found it strange.

Grandfather had said that evil spirits only appeared at night because of a strange power in the moonlight.

Evil spirits appearing during the day was extremely rare.

The fat man made no response to his words, ignoring him.

Chen Shi asked, "Fugui, how did you die?"

Liu Fugui jumped, timidly said, "Little Ten Brother, am I... dead?"

"You don't be afraid, think carefully, how were you taken away?"

"I was urinating, then suddenly everything spun around, and I knew nothing, I must have fallen asleep. I don't know how long I was asleep before I woke up. Then I heard my mom and dad calling my name..."

Chen Shi's spirit lifted up upon hearing this, hearing mom and dad calling meant the place of the incident wasn't far!

Liu Fugui continued, "I climbed over the wall, saw mom and dad looking for me and told them I was here, but they couldn't hear, couldn't see me. Little Ten Brother, am I really dead?"

Chen Shi puzzled, "You climbed over a wall? Whose wall did you climb?"

"The deserted house in the village that no one lives in."

"The Tian Family's deserted house?"

Liu Fugui nodded, "Yes, that family is surnamed Tian. I met them there too." He pointed to the other children.

Chen Shi looked at the other children and suddenly said, "You four, come with me, let's go to the Tian Family's deserted house."