Bai Po never expected to be chided by her own subordinate, a mere soldier. She considered herself a powerful being, only to be insulted by a human.
"You're asking for death!" Bai Po glared icily at the burly villager.
The burly villager, his stubbornness ignited, tossed aside his bucket and strode up to Bai Po. "What? You wanna fight? You useless woman, you think you can fight me?"
"Hey, hey, Bai Zhuang, don't be rash. Bai Po, you too, what are you saying?" A nearby villager quickly intervened, though his words clearly favored the burly villager.
"I'm warning you again, you are not allowed to use the water from the old well privately!" Bai Po said indignantly.
"Bah!" The burly villager spat at Bai Po with disdain. "Get lost."
Bai Po trembled with rage. That scoundrel!
She immediately called for the village chief in her mind. The village chief, who was directing villagers in putting out a fire, received the summons and rushed towards the old well without delay.
About ten minutes later, the village chief arrived at the old well. A group of villagers were vigorously drawing water, while Bai Po stood aside with a grim expression.
Seeing this, the village chief cautiously approached Bai Po. "My lord, what is wrong?"
"These people have been using the old well water to put out fires without permission, and one of them even insulted me. I demand a satisfactory answer, or you will all be replaced," Bai Po said coldly.
Replaced?
The village chief shivered at these words. He would rather die than be replaced! Being confined to a dark space forever, unable to leave even a step, the endless darkness was enough to drive one mad. Especially since their lineage as village chiefs retained their consciousness, making the horror even more profound!
The reason he had always been so respectful to Bai Po was not because of her power, but because she acted as "its" agent, holding the power of rotation for all the villagers!
Due to "its" modifications, the villagers turned into malicious fiends were immortal. Over thousands of years, Bai Mu Village had accumulated millions upon millions of villagers, but the village itself was only so large, and they couldn't all be released.
Therefore, "it" decreed that every hundred years, one generation would live in Bai Mu Village, while the rest would be confined to the dark space within the ancestral hall. This facilitated management and also served to guard the rear.
If Bai Po, the agent, showed dissatisfaction with the current generation of villagers, she had the power to have them replaced ahead of schedule!
The village chief had only been out of confinement for less than fifty years. How could he possibly allow himself to be replaced?
Thus, he roared in anger, "Who used the old well water without permission and dared to disrespect Bai Po?"
The many villagers, startled by the village chief's outburst, stopped their actions. Not a single one dared to speak. They, at present, dared not defy the village chief. None of them wanted to face the village rules.
Bai Zhuang intended to step forward and confess, but he was quietly pulled back by several villagers who shook their heads at him.
In their estimation, the village chief was furious at this woman right now, and stepping forward would be unwise. Wasn't that like throwing himself into a powder keg?
The village chief walked up to them and said angrily, "What? You dare to do it but not admit it? Who is it, step out quickly, don't make me punish you all!"
"It was me." Bai Zhuang pushed aside the villagers trying to block him and stepped forward.
The village chief glared at him fiercely. "After the fire in the ancestral hall is extinguished, you will go to the ancestral hall to receive one hundred lashes! Now, kneel down and apologize to Bai Po. If she doesn't accept, keep kneeling until she does!"
Bai Zhuang flinched at the mention of the rattan whip punishment, but he accepted it in his heart. The village chief couldn't kill him.
However, he was displeased with the second part of the command. He retorted, "I accept being ordered to receive the lashes, but I will not apologize to a lowly woman, especially one who cannot bear children!"
In Bai Mu Village, men did not apologize to women!
"Presumptuous! Do as you are told! Are you trying to rebel?" The village chief pointed at Bai Zhuang's nose. "If you don't apologize today, I will make you the first man to drown in the old well!"
"Village chief, that's going too far! How can you protect a woman like this?" A nearby villager, unable to stand it, spoke up.
Bai Po watched this scene and sneered. It seemed it was time to replace this batch of villagers. If the village chief couldn't control them during the day, what was the point of keeping them?
The village chief noticed Bai Po's expression and panicked. It seemed the lord was truly angry. If he couldn't handle this accident today, he would likely be replaced tomorrow.
"You scoundrel," the village chief gritted his teeth and strode to Bai Zhuang, kicking him. But his frail body not only failed to budge Bai Zhuang but almost made him cry out in pain, clutching his leg.
"Guards, throw this fellow into the well!" the village chief cried out in exasperation, feeling utterly humiliated.
But the surrounding villagers looked at each other, none of them making a move.
It was one thing to make them drown a woman, as in their worldview, women were merely tools for reproduction and could be replaced if they were not useful. But a man, especially one from their own village? Who could do that? This was a living person!
The village chief, seeing the villagers' inaction, laughed in fury. "You won't obey me anymore, will you? Are you all trying to rebel?"
Bai Po, watching the "performance" between the village chief and the villagers, her expression turned cold. She had clearly made up her mind. Then, she turned and left without a word.
"My lord, my lord, please don't go!" Seeing this, the village chief hurriedly chased after her, wanting to placate Bai Po and give her a satisfactory answer. But Bai Po had lost interest in them and walked straight towards her home.
"All of you, stop using the water from the old well! I'll deal with you when I get back!" the village chief's voice echoed from afar. The few villagers looked at each other, bewildered.
"Forget it. The village chief has been bewitched by that old hag. I'd better hurry and get water from the new well," a villager shrugged, picked up his bucket, and left.
Seeing this, the other villagers shook their heads and packed their belongings to head to the new well.
"Bah!" Bai Zhuang spat on the ground, defiantly picking up his bucket and tossing it into the old well. "You guys are afraid of that spineless village chief, but I'm not!"
He was resigned to his fate. If the fire at his house wasn't extinguished quickly, his entire home would burn down. He couldn't worry about so much anymore. At worst, he'd be punished.
At this moment, the female corpse at the bottom of the well silently observed everything happening by the well, a cruel smile playing on her lips. Look, these were the men of Bai Mu Village, cold-blooded and selfish.
...
The fire in the ancestral hall slowed its extinction rate considerably during this commotion. Some smaller structures were already engulfed in flames, with crackling sounds echoing incessantly.
The few courtyards in the village that were burned were completely reduced to ashes due to the delayed efforts to extinguish them. Fortunately, the courtyards were spaced relatively far apart, and after the burning courtyards were consumed, they did not significantly affect other areas. However, this enraged the villagers whose homes were burned, and they vowed to catch the arsonist!
Meanwhile, the "arsonist," Fang Ming, was leisurely squatting in the white mist, researching something.
"Why does this white mist corrode the corpses of these monsters?" Fang Ming prodded the monster corpse, which he had split in half, with a tentacle.
He had noticed this phenomenon the first time he entered the white mist, but time was of the essence, and he couldn't delve deeper. This time, he had more time and wanted to study this aspect, which might prove beneficial to him.
These monsters, when alive, were not afraid of the white mist, much like fish living in water. However, after death, they were rapidly decomposed by the white mist.
Fang Ming also recalled something else: the people of Bai Mu Village were terrified of entering the white mist. Was it because they feared the beings within the mist, or the mist itself?
Theoretically, the monsters in the white mist and the monster-transformed villagers should not be vastly different. In fact, to some extent, the transformed villagers might even be stronger. But why such a starkly different reaction?
Perhaps he needed to conduct an experiment to analyze the effect of the white mist.
With these thoughts, Fang Ming planned to capture a weakling transformed villager at night and bring it into the white mist to see what exactly they feared.
The white mist contained many weak monsters, and Fang Ming had no difficulty in killing them. As for the formidable fierce fiends, he had yet to encounter any.
It made sense. It took great effort for Bai Mu Village to lure even one fierce fiend. If he were to encounter one just by walking a few steps in the white mist, those fierce fiends would be too cheap.
Still, he was fortunate not to have encountered any. He couldn't guarantee that every fierce fiend would be as harmless to him as "Chang Sheng." With his small frame, if he encountered a fierce fiend with strong killing intent, he would surely be finished.
Time trickled by, and night descended once more.
Fang Ming followed the flow of the white mist and returned to Bai Mu Village.
"Strange? Where are those transformed villagers?"
However, upon his return, the scene before him puzzled Fang Ming. Apart from some small monsters from the white mist wandering around the village, all the large monsters transformed from villagers were nowhere to be seen.
Something was amiss.
Fang Ming's first thought was whether his act of arson during the day had caused this situation, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
Monsters lacked reason, and as soon as night fell, the villagers were forced to transform outdoors, completely beyond their control.
Their collective disappearance could only mean one thing!
"The entity behind Bai Mu Village is controlling these monsters, all of them."
Fang Ming's eyes lit up. Good heavens, it seemed something major was happening in Bai Mu Village! He had to go and cause some trouble!
Excited, Fang Ming temporarily forgot about his arson and began searching the village's important locations for traces of the monsters.
Fang Ming's first thought was the plaza. Only there was enough space to accommodate such a large gathering of monsters.
Ten minutes later, Fang Ming arrived near the plaza, but strangely, there wasn't a single transformed villager in sight. This greatly confused him. If not in the plaza, then where could they be?
In his memory, the plaza was the only place in the village with such a large open space. If they weren't here, he couldn't think of any other location.
"No, there's one more place." Fang Ming's eyes narrowed as he looked towards the ancestral hall. Could they all be there? Why would they gather so densely at the ancestral hall? Bai Mo Min's diary had no record of such a phenomenon. It seemed he would have to investigate himself.