After a brief stay at the entrance to the village, Yang Weiguo led Chen Hao and his companions toward the inside of the village.

Ever since the haunted house legend and the curse of being cut off from future generations spread throughout Wanxin Town twelve years ago, all the townsfolk had steered clear of Yang Family Village. Seeing Village Chief Yang Weiguo leading a group of handsome young men and women into the village, which hadn't seen so many visitors in a long time, the villagers came out of their homes one after another, eyeing Chen Hao and the others with a curious gaze, whispering and chattering among themselves.

Among them, Ye Yuqiao was naturally the focus of the villagers' attention and the subject of the most discussion. People everywhere are interested in beautiful things, and this remote and backward mountain village was no exception.

Uncomfortable with being stared at with such curiosity, Ye Yuqiao, like a startled rabbit, hid behind Chen Hao, shielding her face that would astonish anyone behind Chen Hao's back.

"Yuqiao," Chen Hao tilted his head slightly backward, "why do I feel like you're acting more and more like a child?"

"I'm feeling really uneasy right now, so stop teasing me!" Ye Yuqiao said in a low voice.

Chen Hao gave a helpless smile, then comforted her, "Alright, don't be scared, your boyfriend is here!"

After walking through a good part of the village, Chen Hao suddenly said to Yang Weiguo, "Village Chief, that's enough, I know everything I need to know now."

"Huh?" Yang Weiguo was quite surprised, and then he leaned in close to Chen Hao, "Mr. Chen, so from your observations, what's the situation with the villagers? Is there any problem?"

"Yes, there is a serious problem!" Xie Xiaofeng spoke for Chen Hao, a look of deep concern on his face, "From the village entrance to here, we've seen a dozen or so young people, and they all share one common characteristic—they all lack Yin Souls."

"Lack Yin Souls?" Yang Weiguo was shocked, and though he didn't know what it meant to lack Yin Souls, he could tell from the grim faces of Chen Hao and Xie Xiaofeng that it was certainly not a good thing.

With a deep sigh of helplessness, Xie Xiaofeng explained, "Lacking a Yin Soul means they can't have children, so this is why your village has faced the issue of no future generations for the past twelve years. We didn't find this situation with Yang Shirong, probably because he no longer lives in the village."

"Ah, so that's it!" Yang Weiguo exclaimed as the realization dawned on him. After pondering with a frown for a while, Yang Weiguo asked again, "So what do we do next? Is there any way to help them retrieve their Yin Souls?"

Xie Xiaofeng shook his head and said softly, "Usually, once a Yin Soul is lost, it can only be retrieved within twelve hours, which is one day, so it's unlikely that most people in the village can get their Yin Souls back."

Hearing Xie Xiaofeng say this, Yang Weiguo's face turned ashen, his eyes filled with despair.

"That's not necessarily the case," Chen Hao suddenly interjected with reassurance, "Village Chief, let's go take a look inside that ancient mansion."

"Alright!" Yang Weiguo nodded in agreement.

Two minutes later, Yang Weiguo led Chen Hao and the others back to the entrance of the village.

When they were about ten meters from the ancient mansion, Yang Weiguo, who was frightened, stopped in his tracks and said to Chen Hao with a shiver, "Mr. Chen, do we really need to go in and take a look?"

"We don't necessarily have to go in," Xie Xiaofeng said with a grimace, his patience running thin with Yang Weiguo's repeated displays of fear and hesitation, "After all, we don't live here, so we don't need to worry about not being able to have children in the future."

Yang Weiguo forced a wry and embarrassed smile, his face looking awful, as he stammered, "Then I'll be troubling you all."

Just as the group was about to reach the entrance of the ancient house, a chorus of shouts suddenly came from behind, "Hold on!"

The group turned around to see Yang Shirong leading seven idle youths from the village, swaggering towards them, each holding a thick wooden stick. Behind the group, a crowd of villagers from Yang Family Village, stirred up by him, had followed to this spot.

As Yang Shirong approached, he raised his head and asked Yang Weiguo, "Yang Weiguo, did you get the villagers' consent to bring this group of strangers into the village to see the ancient house?"

"Yang Shirong, what do you want?" Yang Weiguo angrily pointed at Yang Shirong and asked.

"Humph, what do I want?" Yang Shirong let out a mocking laugh, "It's us who should be asking you what you want to do! Do you think the villagers haven't suffered enough? Twelve years ago, after you brought people near this house, the villagers couldn't bear children; now you bring people again, do you want to kill us all?"

After Yang Shirong finished speaking, there was an uproar behind him as the villagers whispered furiously among themselves, accusing and berating Yang Weiguo.

"That's not true!" Yang Weiguo was so anxious his face flushed red, "I've brought them here to solve the problem."

"These few kids can't solve any problems, it's bad enough they don't understand, but you're actually letting them come here to die!"

"Exactly!" the villagers chimed in one after another.

At this moment, Xie Xiaofeng stepped forward, sneered disdainfully, and, with his hands clasped behind his head and looking up into the sky, spoke with an air of arrogance and superiority, "Whatever-your-name-is Shirong, you're not even a resident of this village, what right do you have to speak for the villagers here?"

"What nonsense, my father is a man of this village!"

"But you're not," Xie Xiaofeng said with a light laugh, "Centuries ago my ancestors also lived here. By your logic, does that make me one of the villagers too?"

"You..." Yang Shirong was left speechless, then after thinking for a moment, he retorted, "Even if I'm not, these guys around me are, all of them. They're my brothers, and I stand up to speak for them, what's wrong with that?"

"That's right!" a few youths standing by Yang Shirong nodded in agreement.

"Humph!" Xie Xiaofeng glanced sideways at the youths with a snort, "Now I understand why Yang Family Village is the poorest in Wanxin Town. The young people are all idle, hanging around with friends going nowhere, what prospects can they have? They deserve to be poor all their lives."

Xie Xiaofeng's words left Yang Shirong and his companions with nowhere to hide, their faces flushed with shame.

"Kid, dare to say that again?" One of the youths with dyed-blond hair standing beside Yang Shirong yelled at Xie Xiaofeng, seemingly ready to teach him a lesson.

Xie Xiaofeng laughed it off, saying, "Yo, who are you trying to scare, really the type that bad lands breed tough people!"

The dyed-blond youth couldn't contain his anger and raised the wooden stick in his hand to come over, but was promptly stopped by Yang Shirong.

Once the dyed-blond youth had calmed down, Yang Shirong turned to Ye Yuqiao and said, "You can enter the ancient house, but you have to leave this beauty behind, we can't bear the thought of her meeting her demise."

Yang Shirong's reason for bringing people to block them wasn't out of concern for the curse inside the ancient house; he was simply looking to flirt with Ye Yuqiao and take the opportunity to get close to her.

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