God's Gift

When asked this by the old patriarch, the villagers all fell silent, as if they were hesitating.

The old patriarch looked at the villagers' reactions, narrowed his eyes, and asked sternly: "What happened?!"

The villager standing in the front immediately knelt down and said, "Chief, Grandma Li let the dog go."

The villager's eyes wandered, his brain working rapidly, and he asked tentatively: "Chief... can we use another dog as a substitute?"

"How dare you!" The old patriarch shouted, "To open the Ten Thousand Buddha Cave, we must use the blood of a white servant dog as bait and sacrifice forty-nine women. A white servant dog only appears once every ten years in the village, and you tell me it was let go?"

He kicked the villager and said, "Go find him now!"

"Yes!" The villager fell to one side, then quickly got up and answered in fear and trepidation.

Soon, all the villagers present went down the mountain the same way they came, leaving only the old patriarch alone.

After hearing the old patriarch's words, the faces of the people hiding in the woods changed. Shen Minghua and Ye Li had not even had time to think about what the Ten Thousand Buddha Cave was. All their attention was focused on the matter of the white dog's blood as a lure, and everyone's eyes fell on Yu Youyou.

But Yu Youyou did not have any fear or worry. Under the gazes of several people, she grinned as if nothing had happened.

Lu Keming's eyes darkened, his expression became cold, and his cold white skin merged with the heavy snow.

Without hesitation, he turned around and held Yu Youyou in his arms, heading down the mountain.

But before he had taken a few steps, Ye Li's voice came from behind him, "A Chou!"

Lu Keming stopped and turned around, and saw that Ah Chou was holding a stone and smashed it hard on the back of the old patriarch's head.

"Ah!" The old patriarch cried out in pain and fell to the ground. He reached out to touch his head and felt wet liquid flowing down his scalp. He fainted.

Chen Qingqiu looked at the sudden scene in front of him and looked at Ah Chou, who was holding a stone and panting, in surprise.

Ah Chou then put down the stone, turned around and ran to Chen Qingqiu, trembling and said, "Teacher, let's go!"

She reached out to pull the black mist off Chen Qingqiu, but the black mist disappeared for only a second and quickly wrapped around her again.

"It can't be opened. We have to think of another way." Chen Qingqiu looked at the black mist on his body, and the wrinkles between his brows deepened.

Ah Chou looked anxiously at the black mist on Chen Qingqiu's body and asked, "What is this?"

"It's the Thousand-Faced Buddha." Chen Qingqiu's voice was trembling because of the pain in his body. He had to pause for a second after saying a few words. "The Thousand-Faced Buddha worshipped in Lijia Village is not a real Buddha, but an evil Buddha."

When Achou heard Chen Qingqiu's words, he was only surprised for a second.

She knew that there was no way the real Buddha would require human sacrifice.

But faced with such a situation, Achou was somewhat helpless. She anxiously pulled at the mist on Chen Qingqiu's body, but there was no response.

Chen Qingqiu looked around, and when his eyes fell behind Ah Chou, he gradually widened his eyes and said hurriedly: "Go!"

Ah Chou immediately turned around, only to find that the old patriarch who had just been knocked unconscious by her was surrounded by black mist, his eyeballs were filled with black mist, and he slowly stood up from the ground.

Ah Chou took a step back, protecting Chen Qingqiu tightly behind him. His eyes fell on the stone next to him. He picked up the stone quickly, stood up and threw it at the old patriarch.

But now how could she contend with the old patriarch who was corrupted by the Ten Thousand-Faced Buddha? Before she could get close to the old patriarch, he grabbed her neck and lifted her up from the ground.

Ah Chou's face gradually turned red due to suffocation. His feet were swinging on the ground, and he kept reaching out to grab the old patriarch.

Chen Qingqiu was watching this scene from behind, and wanted to stand up anxiously to save Achou, but he was tightly entangled by the black mist on his body.

But the strange thing is that apart from strangling Achou, the old patriarch did not do anything else to hurt Achou.

"Achou, Achou." The old patriarch gradually opened his mouth. Black air filled his mouth and a sound that did not belong to him came out of his throat.

"Hee hee hee……"

The sound was like countless voices blended together, some were sharp and piercing, and some were dull and hoarse.

The old patriarch lifted Ah Chou in front of him, put his black eyes on Ah Chou's face, and said stiffly: "We have met..."

Ah Chou looked in astonishment at the old patriarch who was being corrupted by the Ten Thousand-Faced Buddha.

Of course she had seen the Ten Thousand Faces Buddha. She had been secretly running to this mountain since she was a child and had been to the Buddhist temple countless times. Naturally, she had seen the Ten Thousand Faces Buddha.

But what does this mean?

The Thousand-Faced Buddha did not answer Ah Chou's doubts. It let out a long and strange laugh, let go of Ah Chou, and said, "We will see each other soon."

Before Ah Chou understood what it meant, the Ten Thousand-Faced Buddha had already retreated from the old patriarch.

At the same time, the black mist on Chen Qingqiu dissipated. He looked at all this in surprise, and immediately looked at the girls in the circle, and found that the black mist on their bodies had also dissipated.

The old patriarch, who had regained consciousness, felt a sharp pain in the back of his head again. He fell to the ground, looking at the people who had lost their restraints, and shouted in fear: "Buddha, stop them quickly!"

But no matter how he called, the Ten Thousand-Faced Buddha never appeared again.

Chen Qingqiu got up from the ground, endured the pain and walked to Ah Chou, and asked, "How are you?"

Ah Chou finally came back to his senses from what had just happened and shook his head at Chen Qingqiu, "It's okay."

Chen Qingqiu nodded, dragged his lame leg, and walked towards the girls in the center of the rune. Looking at the frightened girls, he said with difficulty: "Go!"

When those girls saw Chen Qingqiu coming, the fear in their hearts was dispelled a little, and they quickly ran to Chen Qingqiu.

But even so, there were only nineteen girls who came.

Most of the other girls lowered their heads in silence and did not move.

Chen Qingqiu had a bad feeling in his heart, and walked tremblingly to one of the girls, slowly stretched out his hand to touch her, and called her name.

"Li Qiuchi?"

But the girl named Li Qiuchi did not answer Chen Qingqiu lively as she did in school. Instead, she sat stiffly.

Chen Qingqiu's face turned pale. He squatted down and used his hand to feel Li Qiuchi's breath, but found that not only had she stopped breathing, but her skin was also cold.

She has been dead for a long time.

Chen Qingqiu opened his mouth, but no sound came out of his throat. His eyes fell on Li Qiuchi's wrists. There were several bloodletting scars on both wrists that were deep enough to see the bones. They had turned white and no more blood could flow out.

Chen Qingqiu's hands began to tremble and tears welled up in his eyes. He stood up in disbelief and ran to the other seated girls, touching them one by one.

But without exception, those children had already died.

"Ah..." The tears in Chen Qingqiu's eyes finally fell, but he seemed to lose his voice in an instant, and could only whimper in his throat.

The other girls naturally also saw this scene, and tiny cries gradually began to be heard in front of the stone gate.

"Teacher." Ah Chou looked at the painful Chen Qingqiu, her eyes turned red. She walked to Chen Qingqiu and helped him up, "Let's go."

Chen Qingqiu gritted his teeth, limped to the old patriarch who was sitting on the ground, grabbed his hair, and asked angrily:

"Isn't today the final sacrifice? Why did they die?!"

Without the support of the Ten Thousand Faces Buddha, the old patriarch looked at Chen Qingqiu in fear, shook his head, and repeated: "I don't know, I don't know..."

Chen Qingqiu's heart was filled with rage, "How could you not know? You drained all their blood, how could they be alive!"

"They are all dead!" He roared angrily as if he had used up all his life's strength.

Ah Chou stood behind him, looking at Chen Qingqiu's desperate look, tears gradually falling down.

"Teacher, don't hit grandpa." The clan leader's granddaughter looked at the gentle teacher Chen blankly, as if he had become a different person, and spoke out in fear.

The small voice fell into Chen Qingqiu's ears, and Chen Qingqiu came back to his senses. He turned around to look at the girls behind him who were looking at him, and the granddaughter of the clan leader who was standing in the front.

Chen Qingqiu seemed to have suddenly lost his strength and murmured, "Yes, I have to leave, I have to leave here..."

"Come on, let's go." He raised a sad smile on his face and looked at the girls.