Chapter Ninety-Two: Let the Villagers Live Well

He descended slowly until he stood before the old man. He guessed this elder was likely the village chief.

"What are you all kneeling to me for?"

The wings behind him cast a crimson glow across the chief's face, but the old man said nothing. Instead, he drew a scroll from within his robes.

It was an ancient scroll. The yellowed paper was marked by the passage of years, yet it remained neatly preserved, plainly protected with great care.

"What do you mean by this?" Feng Tianlin asked in confusion.

Could their kneeling have something to do with this scroll?

The village chief slowly unrolled it. "This records our ancestors..."

Halfway through, he lifted his head as if to look at Feng Tianlin, but the light from Feng Tianlin's body was far too dazzling. He could not even keep his eyes open.

At that moment, Long Mengting spoke from the side. "Boss, could you please turn off the glow? Thanks."

Feng Tianlin gave an awkward laugh. He decided not to keep teasing the old man and immediately withdrew both wings.

Once Feng Tianlin had put away his wings, the elder slowly spread the scroll open, bending down to lay it flat on the ground so Feng Tianlin could see it.

The scroll contained a painting. It seemed to depict a village engulfed in flames, and from the fire, inexplicably, a bird emerged. The bird said something, and then turned into a statue.

Could it be that Cheng Lian had destroyed the village with fire, then arranged for the village's descendants to open the altar at this moment so he could recover his strength?

Sure enough, the old man's words confirmed his suspicion.

"Many, many years ago, our village suffered a fire. It was strange. Whatever it touched, it burned. It was not even afraid of water, and it surrounded the entire village. Just as the lives of everyone in the village were about to be lost, the divine bird Bifang appeared.

"Its wings were like yours, made of flame.

"It extinguished the fire and claimed to be the messenger of fire. It then instructed our ancestors to build an altar for it, and ordered our village to guard it from generation to generation. When the statue within the altar glows, we are to offer up our own blood and life force to worship it, otherwise disaster will come.

"If we continue to make offerings to the altar, then one day a chosen one will arrive and absorb the altar's divine power. That person will lead us to a better life."

After hearing this, Feng Tianlin glanced around at the villagers and, especially, at their intelligence with genuine admiration.

"And you actually believed that? You really protected it for thousands of years?"

The village chief put the scroll away. "How could that be? The matter of guarding the altar only lasted a few generations before it faded away. It was merely passed down as a legend, generation after generation. No one ever really protected that altar."

"Then why were so many of you offering up your blood and life force?" Feng Tianlin asked, even more puzzled.

The elder sighed. "At first, when we saw the statue glowing, we immediately thought of that legend. But no one took it seriously. After all, everyone is busy these days. Who has the time to worry about something like that?

"But that very night, the entire cave burst into flames, and the fire kept spreading outward bit by bit. It was exactly the same as in the legend. That terrified us. And with the recent uproar over the resurgence of the strange and uncanny, we had no choice but to send people to make offerings to the altar."

Hearing this, Feng Tianlin nodded. "So you think I'm that chosen one who can give you a better life?"

The village chief nodded firmly. "That's right."

Though he said so aloud, in his heart he thought: You are not even human. What chosen one? The true chosen one was already killed by you.

Feng Tianlin waved a hand. "There will be no better life. Just live honestly and quietly for the rest of your days."

Why should he be the one to fulfill Cheng Lian's promise?

Besides, these villagers were, in one sense, on Cheng Lian's side. Feng Tianlin had already shown them immense mercy by not killing them—he simply thought their terror value was too insignificant. And now they still wanted him to give them a better life?

After saying this, Feng Tianlin turned to leave, but someone grabbed him. It was a burly man standing beside the elder, gripping Feng Tianlin with eyes full of fear.

Human desire really was a frightening thing. They knew Feng Tianlin was an uncanny being, and yet they still dared to play this game with him, all for the sake of the so-called beautiful life in the legend?

What they did not know was that, after thousands of years of retelling, that supposed beautiful life had already been described as the life of an immortal. After everything that had happened, the villagers had only become more longing for that dream, and so they continued to pour their blood and life force into the altar without end.

Just when that promised life was about to slip through their fingers, the burly man somehow summoned the courage to seize Feng Tianlin.

Feng Tianlin slowly turned his head and stared at him, his gaze icy.

The village chief realized things had gone badly and hurriedly dropped to his knees again. "This child simply does not understand. But according to your promise, you are indeed supposed to lead us to a better life."

At once, the villagers around them began shouting about the better life as well.

Feng Tianlin was almost amused by their audacity. He nodded, then looked at the village chief. "You want a better life, do you?"

The village chief nodded. "It doesn't need to be too good. It would be enough if everyone in the village could eat their fill and stay warm."

"Don't worry. You'll definitely eat your fill and stay warm. Ask the villagers whether they'd like to go live in the city." A meaningful smile rose at the corner of Feng Tianlin's mouth.

At the mention of going to live in the city, the villagers were somewhat disappointed, but they were still quite pleased. Even the village chief looked at Feng Tianlin excitedly. "Really?"

After all, however the city might be, it had to be better than this remote backwater, didn't it? Their place was hemmed in by two great mountains, transportation was inconvenient, and that had made them desperately poor. In this age of the internet, after seeing the colorful world outside online, they had long grown weary of staying here.

Feng Tianlin nodded, then summoned the Ghost Train. "If you want to go to the city, hurry up and board the train."

The moment they saw the train, they became even more excited, all scrambling to get on.

Yet they did not know what awaited them from the moment they stepped aboard.

Watching the villagers board one after another with smiles on their faces, Feng Tianlin motioned for Long Mengting and the others to get on as well.

As soon as these villagers boarded the train, they saw the group of people from Yuan City who had been dragged aboard earlier. Seeing all of them curled up and trembling, the villagers immediately sensed something was wrong. Some wanted to get off, but it was already too late.

Several fierce-looking uncanny beings roughly shoved them forward, forcing them to crouch together with the people from Yuan City.

The old village chief's frail body was knocked over by a shove. Several sturdy men from the village immediately stepped in front of him, trying to say something to the uncanny being, but before they could speak, the two of them had already become corpses.

"Ahhh!"

The others began screaming in terror, but before they could get far, the uncanny beings barked at them.

"What are you yelling for? Yell again and you'll lose your life!"

At those words, none of them dared make another sound. They watched as the view outside the windows dissolved into a sea of chaos, and they knew that this time, they were finished.