The girls, after entering the village, didn't go into any of the houses; instead, they slowly made their way up towards the mountain.

Though Yang Ze was curious as to what was going on in this eerie-looking village, he didn't choose to go and explore it. Right now was not the time. Instead, he chose to follow the girls as they slowly walked up into the mountain before coming in front of a cave's entrance.

Even though it was evening, the sun hadn't fully set. And yet, even with this, the entire cave was filled with a dark fog, completely cutting it from the outside world.

From the outside, it looked like an abyss that would swallow anyone who dared to go inside it.

The girls didn't dare to move further in. They merely glanced towards the cave with fear in their eyes before taking out the rabbit and throwing it inside.

Even the sound of the rabbit hitting the ground didn't come out of the cave.

Yang Ze, on the other hand, finally had an expression of seriousness. He had night vision, and yet, he couldn't even see inside the cave. The black fog seemed like a thick curtain preventing anyone from seeing inside.

"Should I take a peek inside?" It would be a lie to say that he wasn't tempted. With his current strength, even if a Core Condensation expert took action, he was sure of escaping, and if pushed to his limits, he was sure of killing them.

As for Soul Tempering realm powerhouses… he didn't think that a soul tempering powerhouse would be bored enough to come and live like this amongst mortals while demanding what seemed like tributes.

And since that was the case, the thing inside definitely didn't pose any danger to him.

But after thinking about it for a while, he held back. Regardless of how low the danger was, it wasn't zero. It was much better to just stay put and observe first before making any moves.

After making up his mind, Yang Ze watched quietly as the girls kneeled there for almost two hours till the sun completely disappeared into the horizon, leaving behind an eerie darkness.

"What are they even waiting for?" And just when Yang Ze was wondering what they were kneeling there for, the black fog in the cave suddenly twisted as a small bag of white powder was thrown out.

In that instant, the girls immediately grabbed the bag and rushed down, as if afraid of spending another second there.

Yang Ze first looked at their departing backs and then at the cave that was enveloped in the darkness before chasing after the girls. He wanted to see what they were going to do next.

It took them just a few minutes to reach the bottom of the mountain as one of the girls took out a small bell from her clothes and rang it in the air.

*Ding ~ding ~ding

The melodious ring of the bell felt even more eerie in the darkness of the night. And the moment she rang the bell, the doors to the houses finally opened with a creak and then, under Yang Ze's confused and solemn gaze, children slowly began to walk out.

"This…" Yang Ze quietly watched as the children began to appear one after another. He used his personal panel to see, and the youngest was a five-year-old boy, accompanied by his nine-year-old sister.

They weren't the only pair of siblings in the village. Amongst the grounds of fifty or so children, there were almost ten pairs of siblings.

Yang Ze quietly observed their personal panels, and just like the five girls, their panels were nearly identical. Other than their names and age, they all were missing the physique and cultivation section, and the only talent they all had was 'Withering Year Mark(blue)'.

Though there were a million questions in Yang Ze's mind, like what this place was or what they were doing or where their parents were, he held back. He wanted to observe first before making any rash move.

Yang Ze watched as the five girls pulled out a large bucket of black water and poured in the white powder that they just received.

And just when he was wondering what was going to happen next, the water in the bucket began to boil automatically.

Yang Ze watched in surprise as the black water slowly began to turn white, as a mouth watering fragnance filled the air. The girls then began to distribute the water to everyone present there.

It wasn't until the last child got the bowl that the five of them drank from it.

And once everyone was done drinking, they silently headed to their own houses before locking themselves in.

No one cried, no one smiled, no one spoke a word… The entire village was enveloped in a deathly silence.

"What the hell is going on here?" This time, Yang Ze was really confused. He had watched everything from the beginning to the end. Although he had some rough guesses, he wasn't quite able to piece it together. The biggest question that appeared in front of him was the matter of missing adults.

"Should I directly capture one of them and ask?" Yang Ze muttered to himself as he gazed towards the five girls who clearly didn't have their fill and were still dissatisfied.

"No." Looking at their miserable appearance as well as their thin, malnourished and underdeveloped bodies, he simply shook his head. They might not even tell him everything.

He had the option to just ignore everything that was happening in front of him and head in a different direction while leaving these few to their fates… But the moment this thought came to his mind, he shot it down. He had to start from somewhere. How long was he going to keep on roaming around like a headless chicken? Besides, what if he couldn't find another living person?

He only had a month's time to figure out about this place.

After thinking for a while, Yang Ze finally made a decision.

He simply turned around and walked out of the village. It wasn't until he was almost two hundred meters away from it that he stopped and waved his hand, and with it, the mask on his face disappeared, revealing his otherworldly appearance out in the open.

This time, Yang Ze didn't summon the mask but instead sat down and raised his hand in the air, with his fingers occasionally tapping and waving as if he was knitting something.

After five minutes, he finally breathed a sigh of relief as a lifelike mask appeared in his hand.

Now that he has constructed his first mental ring, he can manifest anything that he wants.

Without hesitation, he simply put the mask on, and with it, his appearance changed to a thin twelve-year-old boy.

His pale, weakened face, along with his short height, made him appear no different from a young boy. Were it anyone else, they would have at most changed their faces, but not their height.

But for Yang Ze, his short height became his biggest advantage.

"Now I wait." Since he couldn't force them to tell him what was going on, he might as well infiltrate the village under disguise to find out more.

Yang Ze waited patiently as the night passed.

The moment he saw the horizon brightening with golden sun rays, he immediately jumped up and looked at the tree beside him… or more accurately, at the personal panel where it showed its talent.

"Can I sign in to this talent again?" Yang Ze couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Previously, when he lost his blue talents to the Cauldron of creation after failing to do a mission, he tried to use his sign-in to get the talents once again, but at that time, he couldn't.

At that time, he got the message that sign-in couldn't be used on already signed-in talents.

Now looking at the tree in front of him, he couldn't help but wonder if he could use his sign-in to get this talent again? After all, this wasn't the same tree. Perhaps the limitation was from person to person, not talent to talent…

The moment this thought came to his mind, it was hard to suppress his curiosity.

After hesitation for a while, Yang Ze simply gritted his teeth.

"Ahhh… Screw it." Even if he couldn't use his sign-in, he wasn't going to lose his daily attempt. Since that was the case, why worry about anything?

And if he could use his sign-in, then this place would be his treasure trove… He could merge them with numerous things. The possibilities were endless.

Without wasting another second, he muttered under his breath.

"Sign In to the Withering Year Mark."

The moment he finished speaking, the personal panel in front of him trembled for an instant as a new message appeared in front of him.

[Sign in successful.]

[Congratulations on getting Withering Year Mark(Golden)]

[Do you want to inherit it?]

"Holy shit, I really can?" Yang Ze almost jumped up in excitement. It took him a great deal of effort to calm himself down, but the gaze he had towards the trees had now turned extremely gentle.

Every single tree in front of him represented a golden talent.

Although he didn't know what would happen if he got two similar talents, it didn't stop him from dreaming.

"Don… don't inherit." Coming back to his senses, he immediately shouted.

In the next moment, the message disappeared, and a small countdown of twenty-four hours appeared.

Just one look and Yang Ze knew what it was.

He had twenty-four hours to accept the talent, or it would simply vanish. Even if he didn't say anything and kept quiet, it would disappear, so he couldn't simply ignore it.

"Let's wait." Yang Ze wanted to wait for the next day before accepting it and then using his sign-in again to get another talent. He wanted to see what would happen if he got two similar talents of the same rarity.

Taking a deep breath, he finally focused on the matter at hand.

He thought for a moment before taking off his clothes and then waving his hand as coarse, uneven clothes that the children wore appeared on his body.

After making sure nothing was amiss, he finally made his way towards the village.

He wanted to see what they were going to do next. If they accepted him, then everything would be fine, but if they chose to directly shoot him, then he could only follow the second plan and beat up these wild brats before forcing them to reveal information about this place.

But unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to use such heavy methods against the children.

After patting some dust on his face and body, he finally made his way towards the village.

In less than a few minutes, Yang Ze was already standing in front of the village, but he didn't see anyone.

And just when he was wondering if he had to shout, he heard the sound of air whistling as a familiar wooden rush towards him,

But unlike before, this time the aim wasn't his head, but the ground in front of him.

Yang Ze's footsteps paused as he looked at the arrow embedded deep into the ground just a foot away from him.

He didn't even think before jumping back in fright while looking in front of him with eyes filled with fear and hope.

He didn't say a word, but quietly kept on looking towards the village, waiting for them to make the first move.

And sure enough… after he stood there in fear and silence, he finally heard the sounds of footsteps along with the frail figures of five girls walking towards him with wary expressions.

Though their eyes were filled with caution and suspicion, unlike before, they finally spoke out.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

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