NOVEL WEB Chapter 6: The Dry Well - Chapter 6: The Dry Well
Chapter 6: The Dry Well
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The Weaver Girl leaned against the doorframe. The night had passed,
but the sky was an eerie dark red, gloomy and oppressive.
Eight coffins were placed in the dilapidated courtyard, the double happiness characters on them faded, as if they had been there for a long time.
Decaying corpses lay scattered around, and crows with pitch-black eyes stared at the two figures at the door,
as if wondering where they had come from.
Lin Yao quickly stepped forward. This was the first time he had seen the outside world.
Unlike the lively chaos within the domain, the oppressive silence outside evoked a deep, soul-chilling fear.
“What happened here?”
Lin Yao stood by the door as the Weaver Girl rested her head on his shoulder and whispered,
“How about it, my dear? Why not stay with me in the domain and live a carefree life? The power the Rebirth Inn granted me is enough to sustain us for a thousand years.”
“Where is the Rebirth Inn?”
“What?”
The Weaver Girl was somewhat incredulous.
Lin Yao was just an ordinary man. No matter how strong his will, seeing such an extraordinary scene should have shaken him at least a little.
Yet all she sensed from him was calmness.
“His soul is intact. How can he remain so composed?”
But since things had come to this, the Weaver Girl said no more.
“Before we go to the Rebirth Inn, we need to prepare a few things. My celestial robe was given to someone else by that beast. Would you dare to accompany me, my dear?”
Lin Yao frowned, sensing that the Weaver Girl was hiding something.
However, after obtaining Weaving Fate, he could also sense that she wasn’t using it to create an illusion.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s a dry well in this manor. That’s our gateway.”
A dry well?
Lin Yao remembered the ox hide mentioning this place, but he hadn’t found it when he was in the ox pen earlier.
Now that the Weaver Girl suddenly brought it up, he grew more cautious.
“Where is the well?”
“It’s in the ox pen.”
Hearing this, Lin Yao frowned.
Was the Weaver Girl lying?
Why hadn’t he found the well when he was in the ox pen alone? But if she lied, she would have to pay the price of losing her divine power.
However…
Lin Yao didn’t show any signs of doubt. Since the Weaver Girl didn’t know how he had obtained the ox hide,
perhaps she was also unaware of what had happened in the ox pen.
“Let’s go take a look.”
The Weaver Girl waved her hand, and the eight coffins were instantly lifted, with human skins floating in mid-air.
Lin Yao was momentarily stunned by the sudden scene.
“Don’t be afraid, my dear. That place is quite eerie. Tonight is also the night of the Great Monk’s banquet, so we need to make some preparations.”
After saying this, the Weaver Girl began selecting from the human skins.
“These two look quite good. Let’s use these.”
Lin Yao stepped closer, somewhat puzzled, but he remained silent and waited.
The Weaver Girl gently draped the skin of a middle-aged woman over herself, and in an instant, she transformed into that woman.
“Put this on. If the Great Monk knows I’m coming, he probably won’t dare to hold the robe banquet.”
As Lin Yao touched the skin of a man, it felt like putting on a piece of clothing. When he looked in the bronze mirror, he saw that his appearance had changed.
“Is this… skin-changing?”
The other human skins shrank and were collected by the Weaver Girl.
“Unfortunately, my current divine power isn’t enough to change bones, only appearances. But it’s sufficient to deal with the Great Monk.”
The two of them arrived at the ox pen. Unlike when Lin Yao had left,
the pen was now dry and clean, with no corpses or even a trace of blood.
A dry well stood in the center of the ox pen.
Lin Yao glanced at the Weaver Girl beside him. This well was interesting—it only appeared when two people were present.
“Two people shouldn’t peer into a well together?”
“No wonder the Cowherd only dared to wait for me outside the ox pen.”
Thinking this, Lin Yao followed the Weaver Girl to the edge of the well.
Just as he was about to ask how to enter, the ox hide in his chest suddenly grew hot,
suppressing his desire to ask.
“I need to step out for a moment. This skin doesn’t feel quite right.”
The Weaver Girl looked at him but didn’t ask any questions, simply nodding gently.
Lin Yao walked outside the ox pen and took out the ox hide. New text had indeed appeared on it.
[Translator: sauron]
[I am Lin Yao. I am fortunate to have survived the bridal chamber.]
[The outside world feels strangely oppressive, unlike any place I’ve seen before.]
[I married the Weaver Girl. She truly became my bride.]
[But I don’t trust her.]
[She asked me to accompany her to the Great Monk’s banquet and retrieve her celestial robe.]
[We came to the ox pen and found the dry well.]
[She pushed me from behind!]
[The well’s entrance suddenly closed. Two people shouldn’t peer into a well together, and now only the Weaver Girl remains in the ox pen.]
[I don’t know why she did this.]
[I groped around in the well and heard what sounded like an argument ahead.]
[I approached and saw three young monks. Two of them were arguing, while the third was sharpening a knife.]
[When I walked over, they didn’t even notice me.]
[I asked them for directions, but to my surprise, the young monk suddenly attacked, swinging his knife at me.]
[I tried to dodge, but the other two monks grabbed me tightly.]
[They asked me what time it was and which of them should fetch water today.]
[I hesitated for just a moment, and the young monk’s knife pierced my body.]
[I couldn’t use Weaving Fate because one of them was deaf, one was blind, and the other was mute.]
The text on the ox hide ended, and Lin Yao put it away.
He wasn’t in a hurry to return.
After all, the dry well only appeared when two people were present.
“The Weaver Girl warned me not to be deceived by the ox hide, but in the bridal chamber, the ox hide didn’t mislead me.”
Lin Yao felt a headache coming on. The situation was urgent, and if he left this place, he had no idea where to go.
Moreover, after signing the marriage contract with the Weaver Girl,
they seemed to share a faint connection.
Though it wasn’t strong, it was enough to find each other.
If this led to the Weaver Girl hunting him down, he wasn’t sure how much resistance he could put up.
“Another unsolvable dead end.”
The three young monks were clearly not ordinary people, but how could Lin Yao know which of them should fetch water today?
Wait a minute…
The appearance of the three young monks suddenly reminded Lin Yao of the Buddhist concept of “not hearing, not speaking, not seeing.”
Who would send these three to fetch water?
Or was it just to keep some secrets?
Lin Yao smiled, turned around, and opened the ox pen door.
The well was still there, and the Weaver Girl stood at a relatively safe distance from its edge.
Lin Yao, however, acted as if he knew nothing and walked straight to the edge of the well, peering down.
“My dear, this well is so deep.”
“Yes, it is indeed deep.”
The Weaver Girl’s voice came from behind, followed by a sense of weightlessness as he fell.
As Lin Yao looked up at the well’s entrance, he saw her lips moving, as if saying,
“Don’t die.”
(End of Chapter)