Even hybrid monsters have their day

Chapter 154 Frankness

"what is the problem?"

What is the origin of that cave on the mountain?

Although her voice was very soft, it struck Zheng Cunsheng like a bolt from the blue, making his face turn pale again. "You... how did you know about that cave..."

The cave is deep in the mountains; even if someone unfamiliar with the area went up, they might not be able to find it. However, considering what she said—that she was Zheng Xiuxiu's friend—it's very likely that Zheng Xiuxiu told her about it.

Even though it was the middle of the night and he was in his own room, Zheng Cunsheng still looked around nervously before whispering, "That's no ordinary hole. It's called the Gates of Purgatory, a passage to hell."

"The Gates of Purgatory?"

After hearing what Zheng Xiuxiu said, Geng Miaowan immediately felt that her headlessness was related to the thing in that cave. So she and Xu Ruwen wanted to go to the cave to investigate.

But as soon as they arrived at the cave entrance, they were stunned by the powerful deathly aura emanating from inside.

Death energy is different from yin energy, demonic energy, or monster energy. At least those that emit these energy are living things. Death energy is different. It is a terrifying and despairing aura, a powerful aura that makes you feel like you are going to suffocate just by inhaling it.

They couldn't figure out what was inside the cave, so they dared not go in rashly. The only solution was to find someone familiar with the cave to find out what was inside.

After thinking it over, Zheng Xiuxiu’s father, Zheng Cunsheng, was the most suitable, so she approached him.

Now that I hear what he said, I feel that things are very strange. Although the cave was deathly quiet, Xiaobai was there at the time and did not feel any aura from hell.

Is this yet another example of the gap between legend and reality?

However, Zheng Cunsheng was clearly very wary of the cave. Geng Miaowan waited for a long time, but he didn't say anything more, and she could tell he was struggling with his feelings. She just didn't understand. It was just about a cave, why couldn't he speak about it? Was guarding the origins of that cave more important than saving his daughter?

After hesitating for a moment, Zheng Cunsheng slowly began to speak again. "Legend has it that our ancestors chose to settle in this secluded place to avoid persecution. The people were kind and loving, and everything went smoothly. But one day, more than a hundred years ago, a few villagers accidentally stumbled into that cave while working on the mountain. Only one person escaped, and that's when the nightmare began..."

As he spoke, a look of pain crossed his face, as if he had witnessed it all firsthand. "The night after that person escaped, screams suddenly erupted from a house at the foot of the mountain in the village. Because it was quite far away, by the time others rushed over, the entire family had vanished, leaving only bloodstains on the ground and walls, a sight that would horrify anyone to even glance at. No one knew what had happened, and for a time, the villagers were filled with fear and unease. But the next day, and the day after that, nothing else happened. Gradually, the villagers forgot about it."

Zheng Cunsheng poured himself a cup, took a sip, and continued, "But one night in the second year, another villager at the foot of the mountain encountered the same thing. The villagers were shocked, exclaiming that only a demon from hell could do such a thing. The villagers asked Taoist priests to perform rituals and tried every method imaginable. But in the third year, the same thing still happened."

"Has no one seen what it's made of?"

“No…” he continued, “This went on for four or five years, with one bloody disappearance like that every year. It caused the villagers living at the foot of the mountain to move away, but the incidents still happened. Then one time, on the day the incident occurred, it had just rained, and someone saw some strange tracks behind the house that led up the mountain. The village chief organized some young and strong men to follow the tracks up the mountain, but the tracks disappeared in front of the cave.”

"When those people told the village chief about this, everyone thought that something must have attacked the village. The village also organized some people to deal with what was in the cave, but anyone who went into the cave never came out again. And no matter what precautions we took, the attacks on the villagers still happened every year. Later, someone with a good memory discovered that the day of the attack was the same every year, and if you counted back, it was the day after the first villager escaped back."

"The story gradually spread, and everyone said that the person had brought the devil back to the village. The Taoist priest who came to perform the ritual said that the person had to be sent into the cave to appease the devil's anger."

"Did you really tie them up and send them into the cave?" Even without asking, Geng Miaowan had already guessed the answer.

Zheng Cunsheng nodded. "But it was no use. Every year, one family would still be attacked by that thing, and nobody knew which family would be attacked next year. Then... someone suggested sending a few people into the cave before it attacked again. Unexpectedly, this method succeeded, and so even now, every year a few people are still sent into the cave to feed it, and the demon in the cave has stopped attacking the villagers. Later, the villagers called that cave the Cave of Purgatory."

This is practically feeding the devil into being raised! Geng Miaowan couldn't help but feel sorry for these people's ignorance. "Then why don't you choose to leave here?"

“We did think about it, but when we wanted to leave, we realized that the outside world was different; it was no longer the world we knew. And with so many people in our village, if we all moved away, food, clothing, and shelter would become problems…”

What he said was a very real problem. Geng Miaowan thought about the era he lived in, which was probably during the transition between two dynasties. It was neither new nor old, and people in their village might not necessarily be able to find a place to settle down.

She felt a pang of sadness again. These people must be living lives of utter helplessness. Thinking of the girls she'd seen brought in from outside that day, she thought, "So, when the population of your village dwindled, you decided to go outside to find people to bring back?"

"Sigh..." He let out a long sigh, tears finally streaming down his face. "What terrible things have we done..." (To be continued.)