Chapter 24

Chapter 24

There were a bunch of murals depicting immortals on the wall next to the slogan. Based on their crudeness and bold colors, they werent from ancient times but had been painted by the villagers themselves. Ah Tou, who was majoring in fine arts, actually liked non-traditional art styles without professional techniques because they represented a kind of realness and vitality.

These immortals were all two meters tall and looked as if they were standing there frozen since the wall was also about two meters high.

Not only was this a weird form of artistic expression, but the pictures actually showed a kind of tension.

It seemed like the strange tall man was treated like a god here.

"This village was famous for having an amazing fortune teller. He was a man who stood more than two meters tall and his predictions were incredibly accurate. But he somehow died in the end, the driver explained. People say that he was a great god descended to Earth. That man was very normal in the beginning, but he began to grow taller and taller as time went on. And the taller he grew, the more incredible he was in seeing things more accurately.

"How long ago was that?" Ah Tou asked him.

"I can't remember. My fathers the one who knows all about it." The driver continued, "Before this man died, he left a message saying that no one should continue living in this village after he was gone. All of the villagers believed him, and many moved out. Those who stayed are all dead, I think. But a majority moved out. The man was nicknamed Long Immortal.

As he spoke, Ah Tou saw that Liang Yanyan had stopped and seemed to be standing next to a very tall object that had startled her. She shined her flashlight at it and found that it was a big tree.

The tree was very tall; or she should say, it was extremely tall. Such a tall tree wasnt common in China at all. Ah Tou looked around and found that there was more than one such tree in the area.

The trees here all grow very tall. They say theres a particularly tall one in the mountains that was the Long Immortals prototype. We dont usually cut trees here, so they can grow however they like. Thats why the Long Immortals tree was never cut. To thank the villagers, he resided here and blessed them. At that time, many people visited here because of the Long Immortal so the village made a lot of money.

As they were talking, they had already entered the village.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

The village was very dilapidated, but the previous villagers had used concrete and steel for construction. With the exception of broken glass, all of the houses were intact. The roads in the village had even been paved, so you could easily tell that they had been rich. But now the asphalt was all cracked and overgrown with grass.

Behind the village was the sea, where they could hear the sound of the waves. Liang Yanyans ribs were still hurting, so she continued to take medicine. Based on Ah Tous calculations, this was the third time already.

She cant take medicine like that, Ah Tou said to herself. It wasnt like Liang Yanyan was a childish person, but taking medication like that made it seem like she had a wanton disregard for her own body. It was basically self-hatred.

"Since Long Immortal was so tall, did they dig down a little so as to allow him to move around more conveniently? Ah Tou asked. Her flashlight moved around the ancestral hall and landed upon a huge bamboo lounge chair lying in the center of the hall.

At this time, the ringtone disappeared.

The lounge chair was big enough for someone who was more than two metres tall, but whoever used this chair must have been at least six meters tall.

The three of them were completely shocked and went over to examine the chair more carefully. "How tall did Long Immoral end up growing to?" Liang Yanyan eventually asked the driver.

"I think it's just a symbol. Even if he had gigantism, it's impossible to grow that big. There would be complications, and he would have a short life span without medication," Ah Tou said.

Liang Yanyan shook her head and used her flashlight to illuminate a hole in the chairs seat cushion, "This is the hole for excrement and urine to pass through. He sat on this chair and couldnt move. It probably wasnt gigantism, but some other disease."

The ancestral halls walls and beams were covered in silk banners that had phrases printed on them saying that Long Immortal responded to every request. The hall was like a shrine made out of flesh. At this time, Ah Tou noticed a lot of rolled up thread-bound books on the beams.

How old are you to still be playing hide and seek with us? Liang Yanyan shouted while dialing Black Glasses number again. Come out!

At this time, a phone suddenly rang from behind Ah Tou. Startled, she immediately turned around and found that the phone was ringing from inside the wall.

****

TN Notes:

(1) Yan Chixia, a character from Eternity: A Chinese Ghost Story movie series. He is very outgoing and righteous, but he retains childlike innocence. More info on baidu here.

(2) Sanqing, or Three Pure Ones, refers to the Taoist Trinity. The outfits looks like the ones here.

(3) Spirited Away is a famous Studio Ghibli movie. Info here.