Everyone's attention was focused on Yu Xiu. Her eyes, which were pale and blue, were now streaming with bright red tears. There seemed to be a faint, pale white aura surrounding her, which was distinct from the other white gas that was trying to merge with her body.
However, still, a thread of white vapor melds into the pale blue energy.
"Don't..."
"I don't want you..."
The trembling voice carries a sense of resistance and a strong sense of helplessness.
Yu Xiu hasn't spoken with emotion for a long time. Even before she just inserted that soul thread, the overflowing emotions she experienced weren't as full.
"Hmm..." Old Gong smacked his lips and said, "Anger can nourish the body and spirit. Fortunately, the talisman kept the young widow's true nature intact. She is trapped in her own nightmare and hasn't spread it."
I furrowed my brow slightly. Old Gong's words were half-understood by me.
"Daydream?" Fan Jie whispered a comment.
"It's about the same," Old Gong replied neutrally.
With this, I began to understand a little bit.
It's like the talisman has allowed Yu Xiu to contain the nightmare realm that should have been scattered under the scourge of her anger. In other words, the nightmare has appeared, but it is confined to Yu Xiu herself, only affecting her and not us.
A sudden stop, Huāyíng came to a stop by the side of the road.
Even from a distance of several tens of meters, a black, glossy hearse could be seen with its door open and its windows shattered. There was no single body inside.
After we got out of the car, Yu Xiu didn't move and remained in the passenger seat.
I tried calling her Xiao Xiu, but Yu Xiu showed no response at all.
"I can't hear or see her anymore. Tie her up and follow her. Her nightmare is connected to the village of the Red Ghosts. It's like her consciousness has gone inside the village, but her body is here." Old Gong explained again.
Just as Old Gong finished speaking, Yu Xiu slowly got out of the car and began to walk in a particular direction, moving her steps mechanically forward.
"Her direction has changed..." Huāyíng sounded slightly unnatural.
Fan Jie was quick, pulling out a roll of nylon rope as thin as a thumb. After I took it, I quickly reached Yu Xiu's side and tied her waist with the rope.
Huāyíng and Fan Jie quickly followed me behind.
"Since the direction is different, we'll take it as it comes," Old Gong mumbled. "As Fan Jie mentioned earlier, those cultists are not to be messed with. Let's just mind our own business."
At this moment, we were actually following Yu Xiu.
There's a piece of information that Old Gong isn't aware of; he doesn't know whether I intend to eliminate the Red Ghost or if I'm just sending Yu Xiu back to the village of the Red Ghosts.
"Let's go first and see how it goes. The cultists should have arrived at the outside of the Red Ghost village last night. We can stop and discuss when we reach there." I said this to Huāyíng.
Then I told Old Gong about the plan to eliminate the Red Ghosts and also mentioned what Fan Jie suggested—that we might be able to take advantage of the situation.
Old Gong's reaction was like someone had choked him, with his eyes wide open.
"Entering the village... it's risky..." After a long while, Old Gong finally said one sentence.
My eyebrows slightly furrowed, and my eyes showed discontent.
"Besides, who made us like thrilling things?" He rolled his eyes and murmured, "Even killing ghosts isn't that simple... Red Ghosts..."
Old Gong's head slightly dipped, clearly deep in thought.
I breathed out a cloud of smoke and didn't interrupt Old Gong. He has everything in his mind, including Wu Zhongkuan. Fan Jie is from a different class, maybe he can come up with some useful ideas.
Yu Xiu walked slowly, and we had just passed a small two-story building by the roadside, with its door closed and some light leaking out from inside.
Fan Jie, however, was looking around urgently, his eyes full of urgency.
I could roughly understand that Fan Jie was looking for his own body. The corpses from yesterday, infused with anger, had directly attacked him, but now he didn't know where they had dispersed to.
After a while, Yu Xiu slowly walked onto a small path, which was different from the other paths. The ground was made up of small pebbles, and I didn't see this path until the moment she stepped onto it.
The sides of the road were bordered by well-kept farmlands, but after we got onto the path, the sides became overgrown fields with grass that was taller than half a person.
Fan Jie seemed even more alert, muttering, "We're on the right path."
"This doesn't feel right... It's not like a haunted barrier, nor does it seem like that kind of place in the Qi village." Huāyíng sounded confused.
"Feng shui and haunted barriers are different. I've never heard of Qijia village." Fan Jie commented, carefully adding, "A place with a big ghost might make you walk east and then west, without any logic. Whether you follow the east or the west depends on the ghost's mood and resentment, as well as the way it died. Feng shui depends entirely on Mr. Master's layout."
"The master who set up this place has a good skill. There are so many paths, none of which are straight. It seems like wherever we go is wrong. Still, it's good that Uncle He's talisman works well. With Xiao Xiu leading the way, otherwise we'd have to break the Feng Shui, which would take me ten or eight years."
The path meandered like a intestine, twisting and turning, with grass that reached ankle level in some places.
"Could there be ghosts or other supernatural creatures in here?" I asked.
"No, unless the master who set up this place raised ghosts or something happened here. This path was originally the way to enter the Red Ghost village. It was just covered up and abandoned." Fan Jie explained.
I nodded again, and my tensed heart slightly eased.
The old woman of the Qijia village left a deep impression on me. This eerie environment makes me afraid of encountering any mysterious ghostly creatures that would be hard to deal with.
Unconsciously, Old Gong had vanished, having retreated into his night pot to contemplate.
Suddenly, a tremble in the grass on the right side, and a pale face peered out from the weeds, directly pointing at Fan Jie's body!
Fan Jie widened his eyes, and his hand dipped into his waistband. A wooden talisman appeared in his hand, and he swung it at the dead man's face!
With a snap, a large amount of white smoke emerged from the ghost's face, and it slid back into the weeds.
His breathing quickened.
"You said... there's nothing here." Huāyíng tightened her brow.
"It is not... Uncle He also said it is not... What I just saw was a corpse I raised... I knew it would be bad..."
Beads of sweat slid down Fan Jie's forehead.
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
Retribution?
When I studied the nine schools of magic, I knew a common fact: raising a spirit corpse can lead to retribution. Even paper crafters dare not use paper effigies to absorb too powerful a soul.
The interaction between earth qi and the plague ghosts can also be seen as a form of retribution.
Previously, the people I encountered in ghost altars, such as Zhao Xi who nourished a ghost infant with his body, ended up having their bodies eaten by the ghosts.
Fan Jie had almost been grabbed by his own raised corpse yesterday, and he was still in pain over losing his status as a master.
Today, it's good that the status has come back.
However, it has come back to take his life...
My thoughts raced rapidly, and the swaying of the wild grass around us was even faster and denser.
The grass moved without any wind, and figures slowly appeared one by one.
There were as many as twelve of them, encircling us and even trying to form a circle.
I was still holding the nylon rope, and Yu Xiu was continuing to walk forward.
At this critical moment, Fan Jie was drenched in sweat, obviously having no good solutions.
Acting decisively, I quickly withdrew the four-square mirror.
The mirror's surface couldn't be aimed at Yu Xiu, as it might harm her. I was about to aim it directly at one of the corpses.
But I didn't expect that those corpses would suddenly vanish, slipping into the wild grass and disappearing...
Fan Jie only patted his chest, carefully glancing at the four-square mirror in my hand, breathing a sigh of relief and saying, "Master, you are fearsome. They've died once, and they know they can't afford a second time... They all ran..."
I remained silent, then put away the four-square mirror.
Finally, the path came to an end, and the overgrown fields disappeared.
What lay before us was a vast mountain. When we were walking through the fields, this mountain had not been visible; only when we reached its base could it be seen.
We were not directly at the foot of the mountain. Instead, a vast forest stood in front of us.
The forest appeared ordinary at first glance, with disordered trees. However, it was more than just a simple mess. No wonder it was called the Ghost Forest.
As the name suggested, the trees varied in height and type—mulberry, willow, bitter mimosa, poplar, and locust—and formed a dense forest.
This place is not an ancient forest. Last night's intelligence indicated that the path into the village had an additional section called the Ghost Forest.
If the Feng Shui here was indeed changed by Lao Qin, then he had a tremendous hand! He turned five Ghost Trees into a forest!
Yu Xiu continued to walk into the forest without a moment's hesitation.
I did not follow her, but I tightened my grip on the rope with my hand.
Yu Xiu continued to walk, but it was just a stationary step in place...
A bead of sweat appeared slightly on my forehead, and I stared at those trees in the Ghost Forest with great alertness.
I had begun to see some things vaguely.
Extremely strange, eerie, and foreboding...
Lao Qin seems to have made up his mind not to let anyone enter the Red Ghost Village...
