534 Backtracking (1/2)
Around them, the wind blew gently and the skies were clear.
”Is this another timeline?”
He looked around him and saw that Jiese and Tantai Guihu were nowhere to be seen.
Just a short while ago, the curse had altered its nature when it was clear that the ghost swarm was no match for Fang Yuan.
”Specifically, the curse has placed us in different timelines so that it can deal with us separately…”
The village of a year ago, or even the village the day before would be an entirely different one from the village of the present. Any alliance, however strong, would be rendered useless if the curse were to isolate its members.
Fang Yuan suspected that Chen He, who had disappeared right at the start, had been thrown into one of these alternate timelines. Given his abilities, he was probably dead by now.
Except that with regards to this curse, death was not the way out. In fact, death would be the beginning of a nightmare!
”I wonder which timeline I'm in…”
In one swift motion, he arrived at the entrance of Ghost Sealing Village.
”Papa...someone's here!”
A few bare-bottomed children were playing in the mud by the millstone. One of them caught sight of Fang Yuan and ran screaming towards the village.
The children looked scrawny and were hollow-cheeked. Life must have been tough in this village.
”This little rascal…”
Fang Yuan narrowed his eyes.
”Is this the village chief as a child?”
Fang Yuan could see that the child bore an uncanny resemblance to the village chief. But the tell-tale sign was the unique quality of his soul.
”There is indeed someone!”
Before Long, a few large men hurried towards him. One of them resembled the village chief of the present day and scrutinised Fang Yuan with suspicion.
”Who are you? Where did you come from?”
”My name is Fang Yuan. I have questions that I need answers to.”
Fang Yuan placed his hands behind his back.
”Of course, to prevent any unwise moves from your end, let me give you all a warning.”
Ping!
He stamped his right foot on the ground and what followed was a deafening thud. It was as if the entire village fallen from the air.
”The M...Mountain God?!”
The mountain folks had never seen power like that and all of them fell to their knees.
”Forgive us for not recognising you, My Lord. Have mercy on us!”
'...'
Fang Yuan was speechless for a moment. He then pointed at the village chief's father.
”The name is Gui Shisan, My Lord…”
His embittered smile had passed on to his son. Also, Fang Yuan could tell that they were father and son from the quality of his blood.
”When did your branch of the Gui family arrive in this village, do you remember? Do you know what kind of people used to live here in the past?”
Fang Yuan began to interrogate him.
With everyone in the village taking him for the Mountain God, they told him everything he asked them about.
From the respectful answers that the villagers had given to him, he learnt that the Gui family had already settled in the village for more than a hundred years.
The people who had inhabited this place before them had migrated en masse to another place, and no one knew where exactly.
”My Lord...when our ancestors came here, it was already uninhabited. We did not take over these lands by force…”
The villagers were frightened and some of them were close to tears.
”Don't worry, I'm not here to punish anyone.”
Fang Yuan shook his head and disappeared in a flash. Gui Shisan was shocked and kowtowed immediately.
”Tantai Moye!! Tantai Moye!!”
Fang Yuan shouted the name as he sprinted through the forest.
”No...although I can sense the origin of the curse, it feels distant, which means that it isn't on this time axis…”
He continued to speed on with no idea how far he had travelled.
”Since this curse probably has area restrictions, I should leave this place and see if anything will try to stop and kill me…”
Fang Yuan sometimes felt sorry for this curse, just like how he felt about the Pawnshop.
Although the curse was afflicted on him, it did not have the power to kill him. It was like it had swallowed an iron anchor that it could neither vomit out nor digest.
Beyond the village were mountain ranges. They were filled with lush greenery and were full of life.
A fog suddenly materialised and when Fang Yuan dashed through it, he was unsettled to find that he had arrived at the entrance of Ghost Sealing Village once again.
The village was quiet and deserted, with no trace of life. The buildings were dilapidated and looked as though they had been abandoned for a long time.
”Indeed...the curse is preventing my escape. Seems like I ran away from the previous timeline only to end up in another timeline.”
Fang Yuan looked at Ghost Sealing Village quietly.
”If that was the village of forty or fifty years ago, this will probably be the village of more than a hundred years ago...a pity that there is still nothing that I want here.”
He ran at the boundaries of the fog again, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
”Why do I feel a sense of déjà vu? Should I shout the cursed name out loud again?”
Poof!
He was prepared this time and when the fog assailed him and could feel the destructive power of the space-time curse.
It was a pity that the curse was unable to harm him at all. It had swallowed him up entirely but could do nothing else.
”The curse was going to kill me by making use of a shift in spacetime, but I am simply too strong. I'll exploit it instead and use it to rewrite history!”
Fang Yuan barged through the white fog and arrived at the Ghost Sealing Village once more.