Chapter 133. Liúshuǐ People (9) It’s Bustling and Lively.

     While the 12 tourist adventurers, who had trespassed into the clan’s forbidden land, were undergoing emergency treatment, Ye Mo, in contrast, had already found the burial mound’s core array point. Together with Wang Xue and the mountain village residents, they completely dispelled the burial mound’s yin array.

     Because the ghosts undead in the mass grave were not willing to sacrifice, they were forced to sacrifice alive, and the villagers suffered more severe backlash from the forbidden spell.

     From infants to the elderly, everyone was forced to have their lifespan reduced. The normally healthy, long-lived elders in the village were now bedridden, their condition only slightly improved by the recently acquired ghost tears.

     In addition to the ghost tears, every household brought out all the treasured artifacts they possessed that could resist yin energy

     At this very moment, the mountain’s yin energy had tripled compared to before, becoming a paradise for the dead. Most of the insects in the mountain, unable to escape in time, were on the verge of death, and some yang-natured plants were showing severe signs of withering.

     Even Wang Xue felt a slight discomfort, which only disappeared when she grasped her wood-element crystal core. She said, “Let’s strike while the iron is hot and take down the next forbidden area, completely resolving this matter before any more complications arise.”

     Ulangda and Ganlan looked at each other. Ganlan said, “The last forbidden area may not be that simple.”

     The forbidden land at the foot of the mountain was established during the Western Zhou Dynasty, more than 900 years BC, with a history of nearly 3,000 years. It was jointly built by the descendants of the Yin Shang and the descendants of Chi You, marking the first official cooperation between the two clans and laying the foundation for a thousand years of friendship.

     This means that this forbidden area was established in the twilight era of the Witches, and its power is self-evident.

     It was this forbidden area that turned this sacred mountain into a Yin mountain. The forbidden areas behind it were just a supplement to the thin spiritual energy. This is the real key.

     The Shui Scripture’s information about this forbidden land is also very simple. Besides the living sacrifice ritual, the ban-yang array, and the ghost sealing technique, the note for the clan members is very straightforward—those who enter the forbidden land shall die!

     Since the establishment of the forbidden area, it has become a real forbidden area. The ghost master records that some tribesmen have entered the entrance of the forbidden area, but few people have come out alive.

     Ye Mo, nonetheless, took a tour around the forbidden land at the mountain’s foot. Her spiritual power allowed her to locate the entrance to the forbidden land faster than Ulangda and Gan Lan. It was a mountainside cliff, and the method to enter the forbidden land began with excavating an opening

     Standing before the cliff face, with both her HawkEye and spiritual power engaged in detection, Ye Mo discovered that a considerable section of the cliff was solid rock. Bypassing the solid area, when her senses reached the pitch-black cave, both her HawkEye and spiritual power encountered some resistance.

     Although the yin energy within the cave was not comparable to the River Styx in Northern Europe, it was nearly as dense as the air above the River Styx. Furthermore, an unknown maze-like array was present, capable of blocking both her HawkEye and spiritual power detection

     In that case, we really need to take our time and plan this out carefully.

     We need to prepare a lot more things, at the very least some wood-light elemental magic items, wood-light elemental magic circles, and wood-light elemental energy sources. Ye Mo kind of misses the days in the Nordic world when he could use resources in abundance.

     ……

     Although the matter of the forbidden land was temporarily delayed, Ye Mo and Wang Xue did not return immediately. They hid in a tree and observed the situation not far away.

     Not far from the foot of the mountain lies a village primarily focused on tourism, composed of several ethnic groups. It features orderly cobblestone streets, rows of wooden buildings, and vibrantly colored traditional clothing.

     It’s bustling and lively.

     The commotion here isn’t just due to the collective poisoning of the 12 adventurers, it’s also because an increasing number of animals from the mountain are fleeing downhill. Nearly 99% of the mountain’s animals have either died or escaped, with the remaining 1% being dark-elemental creatures.

     A considerable number of animals have mistakenly entered this village.

     If they accidentally encounter animals like red pandas, foxes, squirrels, or rabbits, they would exclaim how cute they are, want to pet them, feel it’s worth it, and take photos or videos to upload. If it’s animals like pythons, venomous snakes, poisonous spiders, or toads, they would scream, run away, and hide, while still taking photos or videos to upload.

     After these animals leave the dense Yin Qi environment, they will return to normal after half an hour of fainting. Therefore, this village has frequently seen poisonous snakes attacking people, which makes the 120 and 110 phones busy tonight.

     There are rumors on the Internet that Yunnan is about to have a major earthquake, and the mass poisoning of tourists in Yunnan has been brought to the hot search. The information that mushrooms cause hallucinations has been popularized by many netizens a hundred times again.

     The local police, forestry bureau, and earthquake bureau believe that the possibility of an earthquake is not high.

     The animals’ collective abnormality was due to something other than an earthquake, as other mountains and their animals were behaving normally. Only the animals on this mountain were reacting intensely. Moreover, after the animals left the mountain, they returned to their normal behavior within half an hour, which is not typical of earthquake-induced phenomena.

     The Unnatural Phenomena Investigation Bureau has already begun debunking the rumors online. Regarding debunking, the online department is quite skilled, employing experts, specious dialectics, trending searches, celebrity gossip to divert attention, and so on…

     Wang Xue held her forehead: “When is the national team coming?”

     Ye Mo replied, “You should be glad you’re on a road trip. Otherwise, your cover would have been completely blown.”

     The name Wang Xueqin, combined with her 1.8-meter height, would immediately expose her as soon as she appeared in the official spotlight.

     The two returned to the mountain village; they still had some matters to discuss with Mo Shenpo and the others.

     …

     The national team’s actions are really very fast.

     It takes two to three hours for agents from the Unnatural Phenomena Investigation Bureau to fly from Beijing to Yunnan, but they have the authority to borrow personnel from other departments. In critical moments, the People’s Armed Police, soldiers, and police officers can all be their people.

     The Unnatural Phenomena Investigation Bureau also has a department dedicated to collecting anomalous phenomena from various places online and in reality, and has a professional team to analyze them 24 hours a day. The dispute between the fans and netizens of a certain million-follower ghost-seeing livestreamer in Yunnan initially caught their attention.

     Mushroom poisoning causing hallucinations?

     It seemed like there was no problem.

     They overlooked it the first time

     The second time, the reason for the Unnatural Phenomena Investigation Bureau to transfer information related to the Miao Village into the Paranormal Archives was still the local animal disturbance problem and the national treasure-level golden-thread nanmu artifacts from the Miao Village.

     They still understand the value and function of golden-thread nanmu sunken wood, it’s practically a netherworld magical treasure!

     It’s worth mentioning that the archives, containing domestic and international materials, now number over a hundred, and to date, not a single case has been fully resolved. 

     So, the hospital files immediately went through the emergency process and entered the Bureau of Investigation. The various poisoning information on it confirmed their guess that they were likely not poisoned, but rather afflicted by “gu”

     Agent Team Leader: “Spiritual energy has revived, so the existence of Miao gu is entirely possible. Report this to the Deputy Director immediately.”

     Upon receiving the report, Zhang Qihua quickly dispatched two excellent survivors, Yuan Yuan and Guo Lei, to take primary responsibility for the case. They, along with approximately 30 other survivors and regular agents, boarded a military transport plane and flew directly from Beijing to a key location in Yunnan Province.

     At the same time, a special task force was also set up locally.

     The special task force participated in this matter because they had a better understanding of local customs and people, and because the real world was changing too fast.

     Although the task force also learned about the revival of spiritual energy for the first time, they were all elites. No matter how excited they were, they remained calm on the outside and made an emergency plan in an orderly manner.

     Therefore, within more than two hours after the poisoning incident, a team of the local special task force had rushed to the county hospital, accompanied by professional psychiatrists and psychologists, to talk with the 12 adventurers.

     Key words: green spider, colorful toad, headless ghost, ghost on back, red-dressed female ghost…

     “Are ghosts real?”

     “What role does the red-dressed female ghost play in it?”

     “Gu? Ghost? Corpse-driving?”

     The 12 adventure tourists were genuinely terrified, likely to be traumatized for a long time, possibly for life. Their speech and behavior were incoherent, almost like the effects of a hallucinogen.

     The task force’s current information is limited to the above. They sent the data to Yuan Yuan and Guo Lei on the plane.

     …

     At the same time, the cars of the village chief, village cadres, and police returning to the village were stopped by another team of the task force.

     Go with them and explore some information.

     The police at the police station were a little puzzled, and the village cadres also had the first time to contact such a “task force”.

     Among the three people, the team naturally focused on questioning the village chief of the village. Their attitude was friendly but a little defensive.

     The content of the village chief’s reply remained unchanged, hiding Li Jing, Wang Xue, witchcraft, ghost magic, and the dead, and describing the villagers’ process of going down the mountain as briefly as possible.

     During this period, the village chief’s face suddenly turned pale, a lot of white hair appeared on his head, and a few more wrinkles on his face. The careful task force still discovered this change and wrote it down.

     One of the female police officers asked with concern: “Village chief, are you okay?”

     “No, no, I’m old. I’ve been working so hard in the middle of the night. I’m a little tired.” The village chief rubbed his temple and said, “I’ll be fine after going back to the village for a good sleep.”

     The village cadre glanced at the investigation bureau and said emotionally: “You didn’t say you were tired until the people were out of danger. You are the best example of a village chief in our town. You must be rewarded at the next village meeting.”

     The special investigation team: “…”

     The village cadre spoke with righteous indignation, rambling on: “What mountain god? There might be wild beasts on the mountain, or genetically mutated king cobras, or some kind of poisonous plant…”

     He is really a very enthusiastic village official. When the village chief answered, he kept helping to answer, and gave his own very scientific guesses, severely criticizing the young people of today for not doing anything.

     The the mountain village chief is really grateful to their people’s cadres. With him, the atmosphere in the car is much better.

     Special task force: “…”

     When they returned to the foot of the mountain, the migration of animals had entered the final stage of insect migration.

     The first thing the task force did was, of course, to clean up the scene. They used the excuses that the village cadres had given them, and after a comprehensive analysis, they decided that it was dangerous, so they sent other tourists and villagers to a safe area.

     Then they waited for the arrival of the special agents of the Bureau of Investigation.

     When the special agent team arrived, it was already past 5 a.m., and the night was about to pass.

     When countless rays of sunlight finally shone on the earth, the ghost undead on Qingshan were surprised to find that they could now stay in places other than tombs or golden nanmu pillars for more than half an hour.

     But in the eyes of the people at the foot of the mountain, the green mountain was shrouded in a very obvious layer of black fog, and it was very clearly a dark mountain.