Chapter 2464 — Journey to the Desolate Village

Of course, such things could not be said not to exist. Wei Zhao had read in certain ancient texts that cultivators who reached an inconceivable level of attainment could cultivate a primordial spirit, and that the primordial spirit could leave the body and remain after the flesh had perished.

Only this was not the same as a ghost; it was a great supernatural power of cultivators, fundamentally different from ghosts in the ordinary sense.

The car started up slowly. Whether by design or accident, Wei Zhao's vehicle had ended up the very last in the entire expedition convoy; after refueling, it followed the cars ahead down the slope.

The mountain road was exceedingly rugged—not a proper switchback road at all, but a track the resort itself had cut, closed to outsiders, and so there were not even streetlights. They could make out the road ahead only by the searchlights mounted on the expedition car, and to either side lay dense jungle; anyone faint of heart would have found it utterly chilling.

Wei Zhao felt no fear at all on such a mountain night. Back when he had cultivated on West Star Mountain, the heights there had been even more frightful than this, and the Ulaganhot Mountains were no better, so he was indifferent to it.

Han Jingyi seemed equally unconcerned about her surroundings, fiddling with her tablet the whole while, not even deigning to glance out the window. This left Wei Zhao somewhat speechless—the girl's nerves were simply too thick.

Wang Xinyan, by contrast, was visibly nervous. She too did not look out the window, but unlike Han Jingyi—who had no time to look and thought ghosts outside were less fun than alchemy—Wang Xinyan was simply afraid.

"Where are the ghosts? It's all rumor, just the hotel's way of making money." Seeing Wang Xinyan's fear, Kang Jinglong could not help speaking up. "What ghosts? We study medicine—who's afraid of ghosts? It's all a trick to fool children. I'd dare to laugh at a ghost to its face in a graveyard, hahahaha!"

Hearing Kang Jinglong's words, Wang Xinyan frowned. Even if it was the hotel's money-making scheme, there was no need to say so in the car, was there? The driver was right there—how would he feel hearing that?

Sure enough, the expedition car's driver had initially felt rather guilty toward the people in his vehicle, but hearing Kang Jinglong spout such arrogance, that trace of guilt vanished in an instant. Not a money-making trick, eh? Don't believe in them, eh? Then let you all see for yourselves.

"Ghosts and spirits—you can't say they don't exist," Wei Zhao said. "Anything science can't explain, you can't say it isn't science. We can't explain it now, but someday we may. Hundreds of years ago, if you'd seen an automobile, wouldn't you have thought you'd seen a ghost?"

What Wei Zhao did not say was that cultivation and alchemy were likewise impossibilities in the eyes of ordinary people—but there was still a driver in the car, so he did not speak so plainly.

"Hey, Wei Zhao, what do you mean by that?" Kang Jinglong curled his lip. "I think you're just scared, aren't you? If you're afraid, get out of the car now. We're going to the desolate village—you don't have to come."

Wei Zhao simply could not be bothered with Kang Jinglong anymore; he turned his head away and ignored him.

Kang Jinglong fancied he had won a point over Wei Zhao in theoretical knowledge and was instantly delighted, thinking that in a little while he would restore his heroic image in Wang Xinyan's eyes. After all, he had been beaten by robbers and by Su Lengzi, and bullied by that giant soft-shelled turtle—would he now be afraid of those nonexistent ghosts?

In Kang Jinglong's view, if he acted a little bolder and more fearless in a moment, Wang Xinyan would surely think he was not such a good-for-nothing after all.

The car slowly drove into the desolate village. At the village entrance stood a giant archway, giving off a bleak gleam in the moonlight. Wang Xinyan instinctively shrank back, and Kang Jinglong happened to catch the sight, so he could not help saying, "It's just a broken archway. Seen in daylight, it's about the same as a soccer goal—nothing to make a fuss about."

However, after entering the desolate village, the car carrying Wei Zhao turned off its course, heading in a direction entirely different from the convoy ahead, and drove onto a small path branching off from the village fork...

"Why aren't we taking the same road as the cars ahead?" Wei Zhao, being more observant, had noticed this problem and asked.

"Oh, every expedition car has its own route. If they all clustered together, there'd be no sense of adventure, and the fun of exploring the desolate village would be lost." The expedition car's driver had long since prepared his explanation, so when Wei Zhao asked, he spoke up at once.

"Is that so?" Wei Zhao frowned slightly. He had not seen how the very first car had gone, but at least the two cars ahead of them should have been traveling the same route, one behind the other without splitting up, so he rather doubted the driver's words.

"I say, Wei Zhao, are you scared? If you're scared, just say so—don't make up so many excuses!" Hearing Wei Zhao's words, Kang Jinglong grew all the more certain that Wei Zhao was somewhat faint-hearted. True, Wei Zhao was a peak mid-Earth-Rank expert, and he had not even changed expression before the robbers or the Heaven-Rank giant soft-shelled turtle—but that did not mean he had no weaknesses.

Fear of ghosts had nothing to do with one's rank of strength. Many people kept a heart of awe toward the unknown. If Wei Zhao was especially sensitive to things like ghosts and monsters, then fear was only natural.

Wei Zhao wanted to ask a few more questions, but since Kang Jinglong had said his piece, Wei Zhao could not be bothered to ask further. Within the bounds of this resort, nothing too serious could possibly happen no matter what. He simply felt there was something off about the car's route, which was why he had asked.

But then again, even if there was something wrong with the route, Wei Zhao did not care. What could be wrong? The driver wanted to rob them? That would be pure suicide.

After the car turned onto the branch path, the small road was noticeably much harder to travel—bumping up and down. Though the expedition car had been modified, it still had some difficulty on such a surface.

"Why is this road so hard to travel?" The doubt in Wei Zhao's heart deepened. If each car's exploration route was different, he could just barely believe that—but that this road should be so difficult, that he could not believe!