"There is nothing to entertain people in the house, so just make a living and drink some hot water." The old man welcomed Lu Qing into the house, let her sit on a chair, took out a teacup, put it on the table, and put
Pour boiling hot water into it.
"Thank you." Lu Qing covered the tea cup with her palm, and the warm wall of the cup made people feel as if their body had become warmer.
The old man nodded when he heard Lu Qing's thanks, and then sat opposite Lu Qing.
After a moment of silence, the old man asked: "Is your...name Lu Qing right?"
"Yeah." Lu Qing nodded.
After receiving Lu Qing's answer, the old man raised his head and stared at her carefully for a while, and then said with emotion: "I didn't expect that the eldest daughter of the hunter family has grown so big...
..”
After a pause, the old man smiled again, and then said: "Did you know that your father asked me to make the furniture in your home?"
"Are you a carpenter?" After hearing what the old man said, Lu Qing looked around curiously. There seemed to be no tools in this room that could be related to the carpenter profession.
"Hehehe." The old man seemed to see what Lu Qing was thinking. He smiled softly, and then said: "My workshop is not here. If you are interested, I can take you to see it later."
"Okay." Lu Qing nodded and agreed with interest.
"Yes." The old man nodded, then changed his previous peaceful expression and said seriously: "After reading this, leave quickly and don't stay in this village anymore."
"Hey, why?" Lu Qing was stunned for a moment and asked.
"This village has long been abnormal. You won't get anything good if you stay here. Listen to the old man's advice and leave quickly." The old man picked up the hot water on the table and took a sip.
"Is there anything dangerous in the village?" Lu Qing thought for a while and asked with some confusion.
"well."
Hearing Lu Qing's words, the old man sighed, then shook his head and said: "Dangerous things... Haha, is there anything in this world that is more dangerous than human beings?"
The old man took a sip of water and said: "You have seen the man in black robe following the village chief before. Now the village is only nominally commanded by the village chief, but in fact it is commanded by the man in black robe.
Come and manage everything in the village."
"What does he do?" Lu Qing asked curiously.
The man in black robes was completely covered in black robes, and his exposed skin was almost invisible. In addition, the strange headdress made of branches and mud worn on the top of his head was also eye-catching.
I couldn't figure anything out after that.
"He is the village priest."
"About two years ago, a saying began to spread in the village."
The old man spoke in silence, as if he was recalling what happened at that time.
"Tree God, many people in the village are spreading rumors that when they were sleeping at night, they saw the figure of the Tree God. It was a giant tree with a thick and straight trunk, and its height could extend to the top of the clouds. There were countless trees.
The clear branches and leaves grew above his head, even the sun was blocked."
"At the foot of this tree, thick and huge roots continued to grow, and then expanded outward, forming forests one after another..."
"Do they mean that this entire forest is the root of that tree god?" Lu Qing asked.
The old man nodded and said: "Those people believe that the tree god will eventually spread its roots all over the world, and no place will be spared. What they have to do is to join the tree god, become its people, and eventually
Survive among the roots of the tree god and welcome the era of the tree god."
"A bunch of lunatics!" the old man cursed angrily when he finished speaking.
"No one knows when this statement started to spread. By the time everyone reacted, the village was already full of people saying this. Then, the man appeared. No one knew where he appeared from.
Yes, but that’s how he appeared.”
"He founded the so-called Tree God Cult, and then asked people in the village to believe in the Tree God with him. The headdress made of tree roots and soil is proof that he is a priest."
"Why do so many people believe him?" Lu Qing couldn't help but ask.
"Because..." The old man glanced at Lu Qing meaningfully and said, "Many of those who don't believe him have disappeared, and others have been killed by wild beasts.
Already."
"The man said that as long as you believe in the tree god, you will not die, even if you are sick."
The old man re-described the disease that Lu Qing had heard from Miss Ghost before, and then said: "He used this reason to instigate many people with the disease to become believers of the tree god, and then he turned the only one in the village into a believer.
The doctor drove away and gradually emptied the village chief's authority."
"However, what is strange is that those who were destined to die from strange diseases miraculously survived after joining the Tree God Cult. The only price was that their bodies completely transformed into monsters."
"But it is better to live than to die. Because these people survived, more people in the village joined the Tree God Sect. After the development of the past two years, the entire village is now a member of the Tree God Sect.
.”
"If that's the case, I shouldn't be in any danger." Lu Qing analyzed in her mind after listening to the old man's words.
They were just some mutated people, so they were not a big threat to her.
Lu Qing is quite confident in her own strength. As long as she is careful, there won't be any big problems.
Thinking of this, Lu Qing looked at the old man sitting opposite him and said, "Are you a believer in the Tree God Cult? Um, I mean, have you joined the Tree God Cult?"
"No." The old man shook his head and said, "I'm an old man. It doesn't matter whether I die or not. If I hadn't learned the craftsmanship of a carpenter, I would have died long ago."
The old man gave a cold "hum" and said: "That Tree God Sect is definitely not a good thing. The reason why I let you go is because it is almost time for their festival."
"Festival?" Lu Qing said.
"Um."
The old man nodded and explained to Lu Qing: "The festival is a formal initiation ceremony. Only a few people can be selected to become official believers of the Tree God Cult every month."
"And as long as you become a formal believer, you will have the ability not to eat or drink, and not to be afraid of diseases."
The old man sneered and said: "To be honest, I think their ritual is simply to transform humans into monsters."
After a pause, the old man continued: "As for the reason why I let you go, it is actually very simple. Every time a ceremony is held, a sacrifice is needed, and this sacrifice..."
The old man stopped talking when he said this, and Lu Qing could understand what the old man meant.
Her expression also became serious, her ice blue pupils stared at the old man, and she said word by word: