Drought and flooding are both natural calamities.
During the ten years I lived in the village of Laogewai, there were indeed some natural disasters within the village. Instead of relying solely on the villagers' unity or seeking help from outside the village or other places, we have often addressed these challenges collectively and creatively.
If one always seeks help from ghosts and sacrifices human lives for personal gain, can such a person still be considered human?
No more than a ghost wearing human skin!
Looking back again, I continued climbing towards the mountain.
The trees around were shrouded in a heavy mist, causing their bark and leaves to take on an exceptionally dark hue.
The mountain was tall, so the midsection was far away. I climbed for a long time before reaching the middle of the mountain. Occasionally, when there were more open areas, I would glance down at the village. At first, I could still see details, but soon everything became blurry, and I could no longer discern any movements.
Finally, a larger clearing appeared in my line of sight. Judging by the height of the mountain, this must be the midsection...
My legs felt weak and aching, and my breathing became heavier.
Taking a few deep breaths, I leaned against a tree to catch my breath.
What lay before me was a steeper cliff face about a hundred meters away, from which one could continue climbing the mountain.
And standing against the cliff face was a temple.
The moonlight was cool, but the temple walls were scarlet red. Scarlet should be a color that brings about a sense of vitality and positivity, but here, it felt even more eerie.
Building a temple for ghosts?
I felt an even greater sense of chill.
Ghosts are valuable; normally, evil spirits and fierce ghosts roam the world, and it's difficult to handle them even when they are in demand.
Specifically building a temple to worship a single ghost, not only enhancing its power, but also giving it a place to rest.
Would that ghost still consider itself a ghost?
I narrowed my eyes, but did not immediately approach the temple. Instead, I was thinking about how to lure out the red ghost, allowing it to enter the village while ensuring my own safety.
Standing in place for a few minutes, no unusual events occurred.
This is the result of two possible outcomes.
One, the red ghost is not in the temple; two, he has not woken up.
Ghosts like Wei Youming also need to rest, for example, most of the time he is sleeping.
My breathing grew rapid, and I came up with an idea.
I would start a fire in the temple and then hide. The red ghost would naturally descend in a state of rage!
This method is simple and rough, but it's definitely effective!
I walked slowly towards the temple, trying my best to make as little noise as possible.
When I approached the temple's entrance, the scene before me made my heart flutter slightly.
On the cushion inside the temple... there was someone sitting cross-legged.
This person was wearing a deep blue robe and had their head hanging low, as if they were sleeping.
In front of him, there was a heavy statue.
The statue was about ten feet tall, wearing a scarlet red hat with protruding sides, not official hat wings, but resembling antlers.
The statue's fierce face had a wide mouth, with its exposed, sharp teeth and two eyes that were wide open and angry.
The forehead was narrow, the nose was thick and bulbous, and the nose bridge was extremely low.
The red ghost's body was large, but its face appeared as if it had shrunk in and clung tightly together.
I focused and held my breath, not starting the fire immediately but slowly walking into the temple.
As I got closer, I realized that the "recluse" was not asleep...
He was dead.
The skin on his neck and head was burnt by fire, wrinkled and looking extremely chilling.
His face was burned more severely, almost unrecognizable, with his nose and ears completely burnt away, leaving only a few holes. Half of his lips were burned, exposing his white teeth.
The eyelids were fused together, slightly open to reveal the dried-out, sunken eye balls underneath.
The broom at his waist was left with an empty wooden handle.
Several peach wood swords were similarly in ruins.
Faintly, there was a talisman on the ground, large and spreading from the statue!
However, whether it was the part on the ground or the part on the statue, there were only a few remnants left, and it had long lost its effect.
Except for Lao Qin's visit years ago, how could there be another person, a Taoist priest, here?
Looking at this, he must have come here to fight the red ghost. Unfortunately, he was not the red ghost's match and died a miserable death here...
Was he before or after Lao Qin?
In the midst of my thoughts, I glanced around the temple again.
I did not see any signs of ghosts here.
However, behind the statue... there was still a foreboding darkness, as if there were something hidden there.
I suspected that the red ghost might not be in the temple.
I didn't light the fire immediately. If the red ghost was in the village, setting a fire might backfire.
I calmed my breathing and slowly walked towards the statue's back.
My vision adjusted to the darkness, and I saw everything behind the statue.
My heart trembled with shock, and goosebumps rose on my skin.
Leaning against the wall, there were people packed tightly together...
They were all women...
Yet, their limbs were dry and shriveled, their bones were exposed, and most of their hair had fallen off.
There was not a single drop of moisture on their bodies, as if they had been dried out.
A huge coffin lay silently behind the statue.
On top of the coffin, there was another talisman!
A large talisman made of cloth!
However, there were flickering sparks around the talisman.
The sparks were too weak to disperse the darkness in this place; they were merely consuming the talisman cloth...
Above the talisman, there were also sparks, as if they would spread and corrode the talisman.
A burning sensation and a sense of dread washed over me.
The red ghost... was trapped?
I originally thought that the outside Taoist priest was killed during the process of subduing the red ghost, but I didn't expect him to imprison it instead.
Then the talisman behind, which was damaged on the ground and the statue, came before this one?
He trapped the red ghost but suffered severe injuries in the process, perhaps from being severely burned while dealing with it?
In that case, the danger in the village is actually just the eight failures and the widowed woman?
Thinking about this, my throat felt dry.
I stared at the talisman cloth again, and my pupils shrank once more. A vague familiarity struck me.
It was somewhat similar to the talisman that was wrapped around the ghost forest trees when I entered.
Opening my eyes wide, I thought of a crucial point.
Why would Liu Xingzhe come here?
The events in Cihu Village were barely known.
They insisted on coming in to eliminate the village's ghost?
Could the outside Taoist have been the reason? Maybe they had a fellow who died here and didn't return, so they came today thinking that the red ghost had harmed their fellow.
Suddenly, a faint sound echoed, followed by a spark that ignited from the abdomen of the coffin.
The instant the fire sparked, it dispelled most of the darkness.
There was no heat, but the coldness became even stronger...
I shivered, and an unsettling thought arose.
The red ghost has always tried to break free from this talisman, and the flickering sparks are proof of that.
The talisman has been weakened significantly, so the fire appeared!
I took two steps forward and blew hard at the flames.
But the force of my breath did not cause the flames to flicker at all.
The flames didn't burn quickly, and the talisman was still suppressing the red ghost...
But even if the burning is slow, it will eventually consume the talisman!
Narrowing my eyes, I quickly broke my fingernail and drew a ghost-repelling talisman directly above the burning area of the talisman cloth with my blood!
The tip of the flame touched my palm, causing a chilling, piercing pain as if it had been stuck to ice.
But the moment the kuai-gui-fu formed, the flames disappeared!
I felt a flicker of joy in my heart.
But in the next second, a flame appeared on the talisman cloth right in the middle of the coffin!
The joy turned to shock, and without hesitation, I jumped onto the coffin's top!
