Chapter 326 - 319: Village Tidings, the Bizarre Skin Pouch

Song Ciwan heard a strange noise, but she didn’t get up to investigate herself.

She simply shifted her eyes, and the Eye of Cyan Nether she wore in her left eye activated.

At the same time, Song Ciwan’s Spiritual Sense extended outwards. Gradually, layer after layer of walls seemed to dematerialize before her eyes. Wherever her Spiritual Sense passed, everything in its path flooded into her perception.

The Ancient Gu Mansion in Gu Family Village was practically a country estate, with two main courtyards and twenty-four rooms of green brick and tile.

Besides the Ancient Major Sect’s own family of five, the large residence also housed his three younger brothers and their families—eighteen people in all. Adding in the Ancient Major Sect’s parents and three unmarried sisters, the twenty-four green-brick-and-tile rooms were filled to the brim with twenty-eight people.

Considering that some rooms had to be set aside for firewood, cooking, and a main hall, the Gu Family’s house couldn’t exactly be called spacious.

Of course, compared to some families that crammed a dozen or more people into just two or three rooms, the conditions at the Ancient Gu Mansion were still considered excellent.

This was the countryside, after all. To own such a residence made the Gu Family a truly respectable household.

Song Ciwan was staying in the room that the Ancient Major Sect’s three sisters had vacated for her.

The Gu family had to shuffle things around. The three sisters moved in with Lady Gu, while Old Gu spent the night with his eldest grandson, who had his own room. With that, everything was settled.

Song Ciwan didn’t want the Gu family to be out of pocket, so she offered ten taels of silver as payment for her stay.

To the present-day Song Ciwan, this amount of silver was practically nothing, but to the common folk, it was still a fortune.

The Gu family accepted the silver, both nervous and thrilled, and began treating Song Ciwan with even greater reverence as an honored guest.

Everything had been perfectly fine. But now... what did Song Ciwan see?

Through the extended perspective of her Spiritual Sense, the Gu family’s rear courtyard appeared before her, blanketed by moonlight as if by frost.

It was worth noting that the opera troupe brought back by the Ancient Major Sect was staying in an old residence by Qingshui Creek, in Gu Family Village.

The old residence consisted of five earthen-brick houses and was originally inhabited by a family with the surname Liao, who weren’t from the village. For unknown reasons, the family later moved away to make a living elsewhere, leaving the old house vacant.

Since then, a few other families had come and gone. The pattern was always the same: nothing happened during a short stay, but if anyone lived there long-term, disaster was certain to strike—

The people living inside would either break a leg or fall into the river. They might trip on flat ground for no reason, or nearly choke to death on a simple sip of water.

In short, they would suffer all sorts of misfortunes. Eventually, no one dared to live in the old house for any extended period.

Only occasionally, when visitors from other villages arrived, would they be put up in the old house for a short stay.

The village chief had reported the matter to the Lantern Hanging Department in the nearest city. The Department dispatched a Demon Slayer Guard to investigate, but the investigation yielded no results.

According to the Demon Slayer Guard, there were no ghosts and no demons. Their advice was to "deal with it."

’Deal with it’... What else could they do?

Just let it be, then!

Since the esteemed members of the Demon Slayer Guard said there were no ghosts or demons, there was no reason to worry about it.

Now, the members of the opera troupe had been housed in the old Liao Family residence. No one thought there would be a problem; after all, the house had never caused trouble for short-term guests.

It is worth noting that the old residence was about a hundred meters from the Gu family’s home.

Song Ciwan’s Spiritual Sense extended, easily crossing the Gu family’s rear courtyard before settling its focus on the old Liao Family residence in the distance.

A mere hundred meters. In the vision of her Spiritual Sense, it was no different from being right before her eyes.

Enhanced by the Eye of Cyan Nether, Song Ciwan could see clusters of dark, gloomy gray gas floating above the very residence the Demon Slayer Guard had dismissed.

A figure in white appeared outside the residence. It was small, thin, and agile. Dragging a limp leather pouch, it scaled the back wall of the old Liao Family residence with incredible speed and scrambled onto the roof.

He squatted on the roof and carefully opened the leather pouch. Once it was open, a strange fluctuation began to emanate from its dark, deep interior.

After a moment, the gray gas clouds floating above the old Liao Family residence began to stir. They slowly changed direction and started drifting down toward the leather pouch.

The bluish-gray leather pouch was like a person of the same color, opening a cavernous mouth to slowly devour the gray gas.

Indeed, despite its wide opening, the pouch devoured the gray gas at a very slow pace.

To Song Ciwan, it seemed as if the gray gas on the roof were a pond, and the leather pouch was a tiny hole secretly drilled into its floor.

Wisps of gray gas trickled downward. At this rate, it would likely take three days and three nights for it all to drain away.

The figure in white clearly couldn’t see the gray gas. He could only judge the pouch’s absorption rate by how much it was bulging.

He kept peering inside, trying to get a good look, but unfortunately, the pouch’s interior was pitch-black, revealing nothing.

Meanwhile, the outside of the pouch remained just as limp. The figure in white checked it countless times, but its deflated state hadn’t changed in the slightest.

The figure in white gradually grew impatient. He wrung his hands beside the leather pouch. If it weren’t so difficult to pace on a rooftop, he would have been running back and forth to express his agitation.

Another moment passed, and then a person crept out of the Gu family’s rear courtyard.

This person, a woman, wore her hair in a slanted bun, a peach-colored shirt, and a grayish-green skirt. She moved with furtive, bird-like steps toward the old Liao Family residence a hundred meters away.

She started at a walk, then broke into a run, reaching the area behind the old Liao Family residence in no time.

"Meow... meow..."

The woman hid under a large tree behind the old residence and, pinching her throat, began to imitate a cat’s call.

The meowing startled the figure on the roof, making him jump. He shot up, glaring angrily in the direction of the sound while grinding his teeth and stamping his foot lightly in frustration.

"Meow meow..."

The meowing continued. With a sigh of resignation, the figure in white had to leave the leather pouch on the roof. He turned and carefully leaped down.

The figure in white was remarkably light on his feet, making almost no sound as he landed. He did a quick roll, scanned his surroundings to make sure no one in the house had been woken, and only then did he hurry over to the tree.

The woman’s eyes lit up from behind the tree. The figure in white grabbed her, hissing in a low, breathy voice, "What are you doing? Didn’t we agree we wouldn’t meet until after everything is done tomorrow?"

Song Ciwan recognized the woman from during the day. She was the wife of the Ancient Major Sect’s second brother, known to the villagers as Little Yao Family. She was also the niece of the Ancient Major Sect’s mother, Yao Family.

By day, the Little Yao Family whom Song Ciwan had seen was plain and demure. But now, under the moonlight, her face was flushed and her gaze was flirtatious.

Her gaze seemed to latch onto the figure in white like a hook. "I’m scared," she said in a soft, low voice. "After... that thing tomorrow... if First Brother and his wife find out it was me, what am I going to do?"

...

’The plot thickens, it seems? What is this Little Yao Family up to?’

Even a tiny village has its strange and twisted affairs. Song Ciwan watched from afar, a slight arch to her eyebrow.