106: Old Guandong Inn

On the car ride back, Chen Feng was still immersed in the terror from earlier at the ancient well. His body was cold, and his teeth chattered slightly. Li Muchen, however, seemed as if he had merely returned from a routine walk in the snow, resting with his eyes closed, his expression calm and rippleless.

Outside the window, dusk was settling in, and the wind and snow grew more intense. The distant mountains and nearby ridges were all hidden within the lead-gray Chaos, leaving only the howling wind and the crunching sound of wheels grinding over ice and snow.

Halfway through the journey, Li Muchen suddenly opened his eyes and said to the driver, "Master, we're not going to the town. Change course; go to the 'Old Guandong Inn' by the river."

The driver was stunned for a moment. He glanced through the rearview mirror at the young man wearing a thin Daoist robe, then looked at the pale-faced Chen Feng beside him. Without asking much, he muttered, "That place is a bit out of the way," before turning the steering wheel onto a narrower fork in the road.

Chen Feng was startled. "Muchen, we're not going back to town? That inn..."

"That inn is a place where the veterans who enter the mountains to harvest ginseng and trade mountain goods often stay; they are well-informed." Li Muchen explained calmly, his gaze fixed on the withered woods flying past the window. "The incense ash at the bottom of that well has some history. Ordinary people might not recognize it, but those who deal with the deep mountains and old forests year-round might have seen it."

Chen Feng only half-understood, but seeing Li Muchen's certain expression, he stopped asking. He only subconsciously touched his chest, as if the cold gaze of the Yellow Skin Spirit still clung to him, refusing to dissipate.

About an hour later, the off-road vehicle stopped in a mountain hollow sheltered from the wind. Before them was a row of wooden houses that looked quite old, with several dim hurricane lamps swaying unsteadily in the wind and snow under the eaves. Behind the wooden houses, a wide river was faintly visible. The river's surface was not yet fully frozen, and the dark water carried broken ice, flowing incessantly with a dull rumbling sound.

On the plaque, the five characters for "Old Guandong Inn" had mottled paint, yet they exuded a rugged and sturdy aura.

The inn was well-heated, filled with a mixture of tobacco smoke, alcohol, the musky scent of fur, and the aroma of stew. Seven or eight square log tables were set out in the hall, and four or five of them were occupied. Most of the patrons were dark-faced men in thick cotton jackets, laughing loudly and drinking from large bowls, creating a boisterous atmosphere.

Li Muchen and Chen Feng's entrance drew a few curious glances. In particular, Li Muchen's thin green robe looked exceptionally conspicuous in this icy and snowy environment. However, those gazes only lingered briefly before returning to their own wine bowls and conversations—people who spent their lives in the mountains had seen many strange things and were long past being surprised.

Behind the counter was a large-framed man in his fifties with a scar on his face, looking down and clicking an abacus. Hearing footsteps, he looked up, his gaze pausing on Li Muchen with a flicker of imperceptible surprise before quickly returning to normal.

"Two of you? Staying the night or just a meal?"

"Staying the night, two rooms. And get us some hot food." Li Muchen placed several large bills on the counter.

"Right." The owner took the money and took down a string of brass keys from the wall. "Second floor on the left, the last two rooms. Wait a bit for the food, it'll be right up." He paused, then asked as if in passing, "Entering the mountains this season, are you two collecting mountain goods, or... business?"

Li Muchen glanced at him and said calmly, "Looking for someone, and also asking about some matters."

The owner nodded, asked no more, and turned to shout a command toward the kitchen.

The two took the keys and went upstairs. The room was simply furnished but clean and warm, with the heated wall burning brightly. As soon as Chen Feng entered the room, he collapsed onto the edge of the kang and let out a long sigh of relief.

Before long, the owner personally brought up a tray with a large basin of steaming Stewed Pork with Sauerkraut and Vermicelli, two bowls of golden millet rice, and a small dish of bright red Spicy Cabbage.

"Eat while it's hot. We don't have anything fancy here, just this hearty stew." The owner put down the tray but didn't leave immediately; instead, he rubbed his hands together, appearing somewhat hesitant.

Li Muchen gestured for Chen Feng to eat first, while he looked at the owner. "Does the Innkeeper have something to say?"

The owner hesitated for a moment and lowered his voice. "This... Daoist, I see you have an extraordinary bearing, not like a typical mountain traveler. Just now you said you were 'asking about matters,' could it be... asking about some 'unusual occurrences' in the mountains?"

Li Muchen's eyes flickered slightly. "What unusual occurrences does the Innkeeper know about?"

The owner looked left and right, his voice dropping even lower. "This inn has been open for over twenty years, and I've seen all sorts of people coming and going. Some things ordinary people don't believe, but we mountain-goers know them clearly in our hearts. Just speaking of the past six months, things haven't been peaceful past Black Water Ridge."

He paused, and seeing Li Muchen's focused expression, he continued, "In earlier years, there were some 'tales' in the mountains, but mostly we minded our own business. But in this past half-year, several groups of regulars have come back saying they've encountered strange things at night—some saw little figures in straw hats squatting on tree branches laughing, some heard someone in abandoned villages at midnight asking 'whether it looks like a man or a god,' and there's... even weirder stuff, saying they saw people in strange robes going toward the abandoned altars in the old forests in the middle of the night to burn a very strange-smelling incense..."

Li Muchen's gaze sharpened. "A very strange-smelling incense? Does the Innkeeper know specifically what it's like?"

The owner shook his head. "I haven't seen it with my own eyes; it's all based on what they say. They just say that scent doesn't smell like temple incense. It's a bit like... a bit like the stuff used by the old Shamans during a Shamanic Trance Dance, but mixed with other things. It's hard to say, but anyway, it makes your head spin and your heart crawl. Moreover, anyone who encounters these things has some bad luck when they return; being unlucky is the least of it, the serious cases..." He shook his head and didn't continue.

"Those people in strange robes, did anyone see their faces clearly? Or know where they came from?" Li Muchen pressed.

"Their faces couldn't be seen; everyone said it was pitch black and they were just shadows. As for where they came from..." The owner frowned and thought for a long time. "I did hear an old regular who came from the direction of Changchun Temple mention it once. He said he seemed to have seen similar outfits wandering around the mountain behind the temple. But he couldn't say for sure; perhaps he saw wrong."

Changchun Temple! The chopsticks in Chen Feng's hand fell onto the table with a "clatter," and his face instantly turned deathly pale.

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Li Muchen's expression remained unchanged, and he simply nodded. "Thank you for informing me, Innkeeper. This information is very useful."

The owner waved his hand. "It's nothing. I see you two don't look like evildoers, and you're outsiders, so I spoke a few extra words. Take my advice: in this season, if you can avoid going into Black Water Ridge, then don't go. Some things, once they stick to you, you can't shake them off." After saying that, he turned and went downstairs.

The room fell silent for a moment. Only the fire crackled, along with the faint sound of wind and snow outside the window.

Chen Feng said with a trembling voice, "Chang... Changchun Temple... It really is related to them! Those people burning the strange incense..."

"They might not necessarily be from Changchun Temple itself." Li Muchen picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a piece of tenderly stewed pork. "But it at least shows that the hidden faction is connected to the area where Changchun Temple is located, or... they are utilizing some convenience near Changchun Temple."

He connected the owner's words with the incense ash in the well and the fragments of information from the Yellow Skin Spirit, and the thread gradually became clear. Special incense, shamanic remnants, the five immortals' pact, human sacrifices... behind all this, everything seemed to point toward an organization or group active in the shadows of the Northeast, possibly in league with an ancient Shamanic Legacy or the five immortals' factions.

"Eat first," Li Muchen said to Chen Feng. "Rest well tonight. Tomorrow, we need to go to a certain place."

"Where?"

"The riverside." Li Muchen looked out at the pitch-black night sky, his gaze seemingly piercing through the wind and snow to land on that ceaselessly flowing river. "In that incense ash, besides the scent of shamanic ritual incense, there was also a very faint, cold, fishy water scent unique to the aquatic tribe in the river. The person who refined this incense might have stayed at a certain spot by the river for a long time, or even... their base is right by the riverbank."

Chen Feng listened in a daze, only able to bury his head and shovel rice into his mouth, while his heart was in a state of upheaval.