It was just getting fully light when they reached the village entrance.
Shen Weixun yawned as he led Niannian out of the car.
After walking just a few steps, they saw a young man in a blue Taoist robe talking to an old man with a white beard beside him.
Looking further, there were quite a few tents set up around. Yawning people, holding basins as they came out to wash up, mostly had long hair and wore Taoist buns.
It was the first time for Niannian to see so many fellow practitioners. Her big eyes couldn't help looking around curiously.
The sudden appearance of two strange and young kids near the village quickly caught the attention of this group of people.
They all cast curious and scrutinizing looks. Some just glanced and then looked away, while others couldn't help looking back, extremely curious.
"Third senior brother, these are all Taoist priests!"
Feeling the gazes of so many people, Niannian felt a bit uncomfortable. Her small body instinctively hid behind Shen Weixun. She tightened her grip on her third senior brother's hand and whispered.
"Don't mind them. Let's just go into the village and find our master."
Shen Weixun pursed his lips, squeezed Niannian's palm to comfort her, then strode towards the village entrance.
But after walking just a few steps, the young Taoist priest who had been talking to the old man walked towards them.
He reached out his hand and blocked their way.
"Where are you two going? It's quite dangerous ahead. If you're going somewhere else, just bypass this area."
The young Taoist priest's attitude was quite gentle. He had a regular appearance and a straight back. He looked very much like the eldest senior brother.
Niannian just took a rough look at his face and immediately took a liking to him.
Well...
People who look like the eldest senior brother mustn't be bad.
"We're not going anywhere else. We're going to Yunjia Village."
Since they had nothing to do with each other, even though they were being blocked, as long as the other party had no ill - intent, Shen Weixun didn't mind being polite.
Hearing this answer, the young man immediately put away his smile. His expression became quite serious, and he looked disapproving.
"Yunjia Village is no place for children to play around. You two should leave quickly."
"We have something urgent and must go in. We won't leave. Please step aside and don't waste our time."
One time, two times, but not a third. Since the young man blocked them for the second time, Shen Weixun was starting to lose his patience. His face showed his displeasure.
But the young Taoist priest was very stubborn. In a protective stance, he sized up Shen Weixun and Niannian again, frowned, and shook his head slightly.
"No. Everyone here came to enter Yunjia Village, but none of them could get in. If you two kids go in, you might never come back. I don't know what urgent matter you have, but if it's convenient, you can tell me. Maybe I can help you out after my master and I find a way to get in."
This guy was being annoyingly stubborn.
Shen Weixun let out a long sigh. He might as well have written "impatient" on his face.
This time, he didn't even want to respond. He just led Niannian around the young man and walked straight towards the village entrance.
The young Taoist priest quickly chased after them and kept on persuading them earnestly.
"It's really dangerous in there. Judging from your appearance, you should be disciples from some Taoist temple, right? I'm the 38th - generation disciple of Qingcheng Temple. You should have heard of it. I have no reason to block you for no reason. It's just that Yunjia Village is too dangerous. It's not suitable for you two kids to go in."
"Where are your masters? You two couldn't have come here alone... Don't be so naughty... I..."
Shen Weixun and Niannian simply ignored the young Taoist priest's words.
They walked forward on their own.
But just as they were about to step into the village entrance, Shen Weixun suddenly stopped.
The young man thought they had finally changed their minds and showed a relieved smile.
"It's good that you listen to advice. Which Taoist temple are you from? Your masters... Ouch..."
Before the young Taoist priest could finish his words, Niannian suddenly reached out her small chubby hand, grabbed the leg of his Taoist robe, and threw him backward forcefully.
Niannian was quite strong. For an ordinary person, such strength would be enough to throw them a long way.
But the young Taoist priest had a solid foundation. Although Niannian's move was sudden, he quickly reacted. He quickly stabilized his body and took a horse - riding stance on the spot so as not to fall flat on his face.
The young Taoist priest looked at the little girl in a daze, really not knowing why this child had suddenly attacked him.
There was no anger in his surprised expression.
He seemed to have a really good temper.
But his master was different.
The old man who had been talking to the young Taoist priest rushed over in three big steps. First, he checked if his precious disciple was injured, then glared at Niannian and said, "What's wrong with you, little kid? My disciple was kindly advising you. Why did you even start a fight? Who's your master? Call him out quickly!"
"Get out of the way."
Seeing more and more people gathering around because of the commotion, Shen Weixun suddenly looked solemn.
He shouted in a moderate voice, then leaped backward with Niannian, away from the village entrance.
Immediately afterwards, a green mist suddenly spread from the scorched and devastated area.
Along with the green mist, a person rushed out of the village.
This sudden change startled the people around.
Everyone dodged and tried to stay away from the village entrance.
The person who rushed out of the village took only a few steps outside the entrance before plopping down on the ground, motionless.
In an instant, the green mist quickly dissipated.
This change happened in just a few moments. It was so fast that it seemed as if they had all had a collective hallucination.
The person lying face - down on the ground was completely silent.
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do for a moment.
"Seems... this person seems to be... Taoist Priest Yunhe?!"
Someone shouted. The people scattered around immediately started to talk in a hubbub.
Niannian carefully observed the clothes of the person on the ground.
She unexpectedly found that the person was really wearing a Taoist robe.
But for some reason, the clothes on his body were corroded and in tatters. The exposed skin was either charred black or glowing green.
So no one could tell at first that he was one of their fellow practitioners.
Someone bravely took a few steps forward, covered their hand with a sleeve, and turned the person lying on the ground over.
This sight really scared people.
Goodness! This person's face was hardly recognizable.
His facial features were like they had been soaked in concentrated sulfuric acid. They were completely melted and looked scarier than a ghost.
What was going on?
Niannian blinked her eyes, looking completely confused.
"Thank you, little fellow practitioner, for your help just now. It seems that you had done your homework before coming. I was wrong. Did you already know what was in the village?"
The young Taoist priest who had been thrown out by Niannian somehow ran back to them.
From this angle, they could clearly see the unrecognizable face of the person on the ground.
The young Taoist priest couldn't help clicking his tongue. His look at Niannian was also very different from before.
When the green mist spread, he knew that the little girl hadn't pushed him away for no reason.
She had sensed the danger and had thrown him out in a hurry.
Although he didn't know what the green mist was.
But he felt that he should come over and apologize to this little fellow practitioner.
"I don't know."
Niannian shook her head.
She had just instinctively sensed that there was something dangerous approaching from the village, so she had subconsciously pushed the young Taoist priest away.
Her third senior brother knew that her intuition was very accurate. Seeing her move, he knew tacitly that they couldn't enter the village for the time being, so he shouted for everyone to dodge.
In fact, she had no idea what was inside.
"My junior sister has a very accurate spiritual sense and can sense a lot of things."
Shen Weixun casually explained for Niannian.
Spiritual sense was basically intuition, a feeling from the soul.
This was useless for ordinary people, but for practitioners, it was a difference in talent.
Hearing this, the young Taoist priest couldn't help showing an expression of admiration and surprise for Niannian.
When the little girl had thrown him out, it was about one or two minutes before the green mist came.
Judging from the position where the green mist rushed out, it should have come from deep inside the village.
Even from such a long distance, she could sense the danger in advance.
This predictive ability was really amazing and admirable.
"Who is this person? It seems that you all know him?"
Shen Weixun observed the person lying on the ground for a while longer. He couldn't help hesitating about entering the village.
This person obviously looked poisoned.
But the way he was poisoned was really strange. It was hard to tell at once what was causing it.
Moreover, since this person was wearing a Taoist robe, he was obviously a fellow practitioner, not someone who was completely defenseless.
In the end, he had run out of the village in such a state.
One could imagine how terrifying the danger inside the village was.
"I've just seen him, but I don't know him. This Taoist Priest Yunhe came here three days ago. After he came, he didn't ask around much and just went straight into the village... Sigh... My master and I advised him a few times back then, but he just wouldn't listen. I didn't expect him to last only three days."
The young Taoist priest sighed and shook his head, looking full of regret.
It was said that good advice couldn't persuade a person who was determined to die.
They had done what they should, but this Taoist priest didn't listen. In the end, there was nothing they could do about his fate.
This Taoist Priest Yunhe seemed to have lost his breath.
It was estimated that he was already dead.
He might have managed to escape from the village by mustering his last bit of strength.
"With this example, do you still want to go in? I'm really not scaring you. In fact, this Taoist Priest Yunhe wasn't the first person to go in. There were many other people from the Taoist sect who went in before, but in the end, either they disappeared without a trace or, like him, they died as soon as they ran out. But I've never seen that green mist before."
The young Taoist priest suddenly remembered that these two young kids had also seemed to want to force their way into Yunjia Village just now.
He couldn't help advising them again.
Shen Weixun pondered for a while, then lowered his head and glanced at Niannian.
Seeing that the little girl still looked fearless, he finally nodded firmly.
"We still have to go in. We have an important person to save, so no matter how dangerous it is inside, we won't back down."
"Looking for someone? Who are you looking for? You're not here for the Eight - Treasure Compass?"
The young Taoist priest asked in surprise.
"Eight - Treasure Compass?"
Shen Weixun was even more surprised than him.
Even the little girl showed a stunned expression.
They had heard of the Eight - Treasure Compass, but they had never seen it.
To be precise, no one had seen this thing for decades.
This was a magical tool, rumored to be extremely powerful and miraculous.
When using an ordinary compass to set up a formation or measure directions, at most, one could sense an area within less than two miles.
This also depended on the high cultivation level of the person using the compass.
If the cultivation level was a bit lower, it would be good if one could set up a formation that affected an area dozens of meters around.
But the Eight - Treasure Compass could enhance the user's sensing ability.
It was said that with the Eight - Treasure Compass in hand, as long as one's cultivation was high enough, one could even achieve the effect of reaching the sky and the earth.
Shen Weixun and Niannian never believed this.
Shen Weixun thought that there shouldn't be such a magical thing in the world.
And Niannian also had a deep understanding of formations. Knowing the principle of formation operation well, she didn't think that there could be anything in the world that could reach the sky and the earth.
When their master had told them about the Eight - Treasure Compass before, they had just listened to it as a myth.
But they didn't expect to hear about this magical tool again today, and it was actually so close.
"Don't you know? This matter has spread throughout the circle. Everyone who comes here is for the Eight - Treasure Compass. My master and I are too. But we're just here to watch the fun and try our luck. It doesn't matter if we can't get it. Just getting a glimpse of such a magical tool in this lifetime would be worth dying for."
The young Taoist priest now really believed that these two kids were here to look for someone.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have shown such a surprised expression when they heard this almost well - known news.
"Third senior brother, let's go in."
Niannian suddenly interrupted their conversation. She grabbed Shen Weixun's hand and walked towards the village entrance with great force.
The young Taoist priest was a bit shocked by the little girl's decisive action.
He quickly took a few steps to catch up.
"Hey! This person is in such a state, and you still want to go in? If you really have something urgent, you should wait a bit!"
In the young Taoist priest's opinion, since the strange green mist had just receded, it really wasn't a good time to enter the village.
"It's not dangerous inside now."
Just about to step into the village entrance, Niannian turned back, stared at the young Taoist priest, and said this.
Then she took out two talisman papers from her small satchel and pasted one on herself and one on her third senior brother.
Immediately, two light - blue glowing barriers appeared around them.
Seeing this, the young Taoist priest was completely stunned.
"What... kind of talisman is this?"