Looking at the empty and silent village before her, Xiao Qi could not help but wonder: Where on earth had all these villagers gone?
"Look at the pots and pans in this village," the old daoist muttered to himself as he observed his surroundings. "Some are overturned on the ground, others smashed into shards, while some clothes and food still sit right where they were left. Clearly, the people here fled in a rush without making any preparations at all."
At that moment, the youth standing nearby spoke up, "Master, what should we do next?"
From his form of address toward the daoist, it was evident the two of them were master and disciple.
The old daoist stroked his beard, appearing to ponder something. Just then, a gentle breeze swept past, and his nose suddenly twitched a few times.
"Hmm... There is the smell of blood! And it is coming from the southwest." His gaze, sharp as an eagle's, locked firmly onto the southwestern direction.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than he strode off toward the southwest without a moment's hesitation, taking the other two with him.
Seeing this, Xiao Qi hurried to follow. At the same time, she tried twitching her nose as well. An indescribable, strange odor seemed to linger in the air, though it was hardly noticeable unless one sniffed very carefully.
She wondered to herself: Why couldn't she smell anything at all? Was this daoist's sense of smell really so extraordinarily keen?
As the master and disciple gradually approached the edge of the cliff, that pungent smell of blood grew increasingly intense.
By now, Xiao Qi no longer had any doubts, and her heart overflowed with admiration for the old daoist's miraculous abilities.
When they finally reached the edge of the cliff—
"Ah!"
Xiao Qi let out an involuntary scream, instinctively covering her eyes. The sight before them was utterly horrifying: the cliff edge was littered with dry, desiccated corpses, their eyes bulging out in sheer terror. It was clear these people had experienced extreme fear and agony before they died.
"Little sister, this is no place to look. You had better turn around and look away."
"Mm-hm!"
Xiao Qi was more than willing; she had no desire whatsoever to witness this horrifying scene. After all, these dried corpses were unmistakably the people from her village. Although the villagers had not been particularly kind to her—an orphan they had taken in who was sooner or later to be sacrificed—they hadn't been entirely cruel either, and a trace of sorrow inevitably welled up inside her now.
Just as she turned around, roaring flames suddenly ignited behind her with a crackling sound, instantly incinerating all those dried corpses to ashes.
"Master, these people clearly had all their vital essence drained away! How truly cruel. Who could be so vicious as to spare neither the elderly nor the young?" the young disciple said, his face filled with grief and indignation.
The old daoist furrowed his brow, reached down to pinch a handful of blood-stained soil, and gently sniffed it near his nose.
"Hmm... It was that escaping Flood Dragon that did this. After I wounded it, it used an Immortal-Binding Array to trap us, and then came here to slaughter everyone in order to replenish its vital energy. Ah... I was still too careless!" The old daoist sighed helplessly, a flash of regret crossing his face.
"Master, this is not your fault! Who could have foreseen that the millennium-old Flood Dragon would be so cunning and treacherous, not only knowing how to set up an Immortal-Binding Array to protect its lair, but also seizing the opportunity to commit such atrocities against innocent people?"
The young disciple quickly offered comfort, while a surge of hatred toward the Flood Dragon welled up in his heart as well.
Seeing that matters had reached this point, the old daoist could only let out a helpless sigh. What was done was done, and no amount of dwelling on it would change anything; the most urgent task now was to handle the situation at hand properly.
He turned his gaze toward the young girl standing nearby, a trace of confusion stirring in his mind.
By all rights, since this girl was from the village, seeing her fellow villagers brutally murdered should have provoked an emotional and intense reaction from her.
Yet right now, apart from the normal fear expected of anyone, she showed no overly strong emotional fluctuations. This was rather abnormal.
"Child, you may turn around now."
Hearing the Daoist Priest speak, Xiao Qi turned back around. Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs, as if it were about to leap out of her throat. Slowly and gently, she opened a small gap between her hands, and through that narrow opening, she beheld a scene of utter astonishment.
"Oh!"
The terrifying dried corpses that should have been scattered across the hillside had completely vanished, leaving behind only fine white dust upon the ground.
Moreover, in the exact spot where she had clearly heard the crackling sound of a raging fire just moments before, the trees were completely undamaged, as if nothing had happened at all.
This entire spectacle left Xiao Qi dumbfounded. Her eyes widened, her mouth hung open, and for a moment she had no idea how to react. When she finally snapped out of it, Xiao Qi hurriedly dropped to her knees and kowtowed to the Daoist Priest.
"Xiao Qi pays respects to the immortal! Thank you, immortal, for saving my life."
The Daoist Priest and the youth exchanged a smile, and then he reached out to help her up.
"Little sister, we are not immortals! However, we are indeed practitioners of the Dao."
"Practitioners of the Dao? That must be very powerful."
Xiao Qi's eyes gleamed with admiration and curiosity as she looked at the two of them, her heart filled with awe.
"Naturally!"
The youth answered proudly, his tone brimming with confidence and self-assurance.
Hearing this, Xiao Qi found their identities all the more mysterious and fascinating.
The old daoist looked at her gently, a faint smile in his eyes, and asked softly, "Little girl, what is your name?"
She hesitated slightly before replying in a soft whisper, "I-I am called Xiao Qi," her voice low and tinged with shyness.
"Xiao Qi?" The Daoist Priest furrowed his brow slightly, a look of puzzlement crossing his face. "Is that your full name? What is your family name?" He found the name rather peculiar; usually, people had their own surnames, so how could someone have only a simple given name?
Faced with the Daoist Priest's inquiry, Xiao Qi appeared somewhat flustered. She lowered her head and fidgeted with the hem of her clothes, seemingly at a loss for how to answer.
After a moment, she looked back up, determination shining in her eyes, and said, "Daoist Priest, I have no family name; everyone just calls me Xiao Qi. Because the villagers found me on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, I never had a surname of my own."
Hearing these words, ripples stirred within the Daoist Priest's heart.
He realized that this young girl named Xiao Qi might harbor untold secrets or bear a past filled with hardship.
Perhaps because of this, she lacked deep emotional bonds with the people of the village.
Pondering this, the Daoist Priest felt an added measure of understanding for Xiao Qi's unusual reaction toward the village's fate.
"Now that no one in the village has survived, do you have anywhere else to go?" the Daoist Priest asked gently.
"I... I have nowhere to go."
A trace of sorrow laced Xiao Qi's voice, and endless bewilderment showed in her eyes.
Gazing at Xiao Qi's heartbreaking expression, the Daoist Priest could not help but sigh inwardly.
"Child, thanks to your help in breaking the Immortal-Binding Array, the two of us were able to escape safely. If you have any requests or wishes, please tell me. As long as it is within my power, I will do everything I can to help you fulfill it," the Daoist Priest solemnly promised.
"Really? Any request at all?" Joy instantly bloomed across Xiao Qi's face. She looked up at the Daoist Priest with eager anticipation, her eyes shining with fervent longing.