The Rich Cultivator-Chapter 319. Lost its Memories?

"You... What are you?" Tyler asked cautiously, gripping his trident.

The massive face of the village stretched and shifted, as if smiling.

"Ahh... you can call me Vale," it rumbled.

"Like the Village of Vale?" Tyler frowned.

The ground shook violently. Tyler and the others barely managed to keep their footing.

"What was that?!" Mathilda yelped, bracing herself.

"Oh... I just nodded," the village said, its voice slow and unbothered. "But since my face is literally the village, it caused an earthquake."

Tyler and his companions exchanged awkward glances.

This was beyond strange.

"So... why thou you seek me?" the Village of Vale muttered. Then it tried to correct itself, "No... Thou Art Why you found me?"

Tyler narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying now?"

The massive entity sighed. "Oh, I was just trying to sound ancient... you know, to give ancient vibes."

Tyler blinked.

"Nah... just speak normally," he said flatly.

"Okay, dude," Vale responded.

Another earthquake followed.

Tyler groaned. "Ahhh—did you just nod again?!"

"...Yes," the village admitted.

The ground rumbled again, but before it could fully shake them off balance, Tyler shouted—

"DON’T NOD! JUST ANSWER!"

The earth stilled.

Vale let out a low chuckle. "Got it."

Tyler sighed in relief. "Good."

"Are you lost?" the Village asked in a deep, resonant voice that seemed to echo from every stone and shadow. Its tone was calm yet imposing, as if the very land were questioning their presence.

"Why the sudden tone change?" Tyler asked.

"I mean... Isn’t this Ancient and Imposing?" The village of Vale spoke again in its normal voice.

"You normal voice is already Imposing." Tyler said.

Tyler glanced around, his eyes lingering on the strange, huge face which is formed by the Village. He pulled out his compass—a delicate instrument that, strangely enough, always pointed toward the village itself—and held it up for everyone to see.

"The answer for the previous question is..." Tyler then Continued, "The Compass points toward the Village."

Misra, standing close by, stepped forward and explained, "There is a passage to another Abyss floor inside this village. We need to get in so we can move on. The passage is our only way out." Her tone was steady, though her eyes betrayed a hint of desperation.

Before anyone could respond, a sudden burst of laughter echoed followed by the earthquake . "This is the first time someone asked me to eat them... Hahahah..." The laughter was followed by a violent tremor—a powerful earthquake that shook the ground beneath their feet. Tyler and the others stumbled as the earth rumbled, and in the chaos, they could feel the very dirt rising and shifting.

"Yeah... sorry about that," the Village of Vale apologized, its tone almost apologetic as Tyler and the others emerged from the swirling dust, trying to regain their balance.

Vale’s eyes are hollow and huge... But everyone can feel that these eyes are seemed to fixate on Misra. "First of all," the voice intoned, "not everyone can leave here. This one is still alive because she is living here..." The words hung in the air, the meaning elusive yet ominous.

"Ah... is there any way to get her soul back?" Tyler asked.

Misra looked toward the Vale’s face with a glimmer of forlorn hope, as if recalling someone she had lost many years ago.

"Soul... Oh, so her soul is—" Vale was about to say something, but then the voice of the Village abruptly fell silent.

Tyler cleared his throat, forcing himself to speak up. "Hello, Mr. Vale?" he called out, his tone tentative. He waited, but no reply came.

Finally, Misra’s voice broke the silence once more. "I have seen this before..." she said slowly.

Tyler’s brow furrowed. "We turned into a soulless state when we talked about the death of those girls... Something is also erasing Vale’s memory? So it’s not the one responsible for this...?" He trailed off, his mind racing to piece together the fragments of what they had experienced.

The voice of the Village of Vale remained silent for a long moment, then it shifted back into its original form—a calm, indistinct presence that filled the vast, colorless landscape.

Tyler and the others exchanged uneasy looks. "Let’s go inside," Tyler said firmly, his voice steady despite the swirling confusion in his mind. The group nodded in unison, and together they stepped forward into the heart of the village, leaving behind the chaotic questions that now haunted them.

Inside the entrance, the atmosphere was heavy with an eerie quiet. The walls of the passage were also filled with many bones. Some of them looked like Human bones.

Tyler clutched his compass as they moved slowly down the narrow corridor, each step echoing in the vast, empty space.

Lost in thought, he murmured under his breath, "I wonder if there is another entity that controls everything." His words hung in the air, heavy with uncertainty and a trace of desperation.

As they turned a corner on a narrow, cobblestone street, the entire group suddenly froze in shock. Before them, in stark contrast to the dark, foreboding landscape around them, a cluster of villagers was moving as if caught in an endless, rhythmic routine. These villagers walked with casual ease, seemingly unaware of the eerie transformations that plagued the rest of the settlement. Their movements were deliberate, their expressions blank, as if they were mere puppets following an unseen script.

"Huh? What is happening?" Tyler asked, his voice laced with alarm as he stared at the procession of villagers.

The villagers, with ghostly pallor, moved silently. They did not acknowledge the presence of the outsiders at all. As Tyler watched, he realized that these people weren’t even solid—they phased through each other like apparitions, their forms flickering in and out of existence as if they were nothing more than echoes of life.

One of the Grandmasters voice trembled, he stepped forward and shuddered. "It’s like the first time we saw the village," he said slowly, his voice barely above a whisper. "Everything was an illusion then when we first saw the village."

Tyler frowned, his mind racing to reconcile the strange spectacle before him with what he had experienced before. "Huh... It’s more like it’s a live fragment projection from the village," he observed, his eyes narrowing as he studied them.

"Even though the villagers express lot of emotions. This is how they actually looks like.." Tyler said.

"Projection of some projection?," Mana added, the words echoing in the stillness of the street.

"There’s someone—or something—behind all of this," Tyler said, his tone thoughtful yet resolute. "If we can understand what controls this place, maybe we can finally break free."

The ground suddenly shook. Tyler and the others were thrown out of the village by an overwhelming surge, their bodies slamming outside.

In an instant, the familiar landscape of the Village of Vale began to twist and contort. Houses, streets, and even the land beneath their feet moved unnaturally, reshaping into the familiar massive face.

Then, as if on cue, the eyes of this vast entity slowly opened. They were hollow and empty, just as before.

A moment of eerie calm followed before the massive visage spoke, its voice gave different vibe. "Thu-thu... How did you guys get into my mouth?" it asked, the sound echoing through the shifting landscape.

The colossal face, now fully formed from the village itself, continued, "Who are you creatures? What are you doing inside my body?" The question reverberated through the air as the entity’s hollow eyes scanned the group with an intensity that made everyone freeze in place.

For a long moment, silence reigned. Then, with a slow, almost imperceptible sigh, the great face seemed to pause before muttering, "Oh wait..." Its voice softened slightly, as though it was reconsidering its own words. A deep, rumbling yawn then echoed through the land—a sound that seemed to shake the very foundations of the transformed village.

"Who... woke... me up?" the ancient voice rumbled, carrying the weight of countless years and secrets. The eyes of the colossal face, now fully alert and fixed on the group. There was a moment of recognition—a subtle shift in its tone—as if the entity remembered something long forgotten.

After a prolonged pause, the great, hollow eyes softened. "Oh... my... cute... villagers..." the colossal voice murmured.

"The village lost its memories?" Tyler realised.