Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Wei Yao choked on his words, but before he could say anything else, Xu Muchan cut him off: "Cut the crap. Let's find a place to hide first—they're closing in."

"It seems like there's nowhere to hide—fog's everywhere, and the school paths have changed..."

He Jiaqi instinctively clutched Xu Muchan's sleeve, gazing in terror at the bluestone path that had appeared out of nowhere, trying hard to keep her voice from shaking as she said: "I don't recall any bluestone path like this at school... And there are only three main roads leading out of the cafeteria. We turned left when we came out, which should've been the road to the library, but now..."

He Jiaqi's eyes followed the bluestone path to where it ended—through the heavy fog, she could just barely make out upturned eaves, and behind the eaves, a gnarled, clawing tree canopy reaching out.

That definitely wasn't the library.

Neither the antique-style building with its upturned eaves, nor the gnarled, clawing tree, belonged to the school.

With He Jiaqi's reminder, Wen Dajiang and Wei Yao noticed it too.

"Holy shit, is this even Earth..." Wen Dajiang's voice started to waver.

Wei Yao's face went white, and he instinctively edged closer to Xu Muchan, trembling as he said: "If we go down this path... will we even be able to come back?"

The more he looked, the more it felt like a road that didn't belong to the land of the living.

Xu Muchan was the calmest one of them all. He tilted his head, straining to hear the murmuring sounds drawing closer through the fog, and asked He Jiaqi: "Besides this path, can we take any of the others?"

He Jiaqi plucked up her courage, took a couple of steps forward, and peered around. White fog blanketed the entire world—the cafeteria behind them had already vanished without a trace, and the multi-story teaching building that should've been towering nearby was nowhere in sight. The only thing they could see was the bluestone path stretching out from under their feet, with dark green moss in the cracks between the stones, all damp like it had just rained.

The damp stone path spread out from where they stood, branching front, back, left, and right—a web of routes going every which way, each one seemingly leading somewhere different. But if you looked closely, the view at the end of every path was remarkably similar.

Heavy fog, ancient buildings barely visible, and gnarled, clawing tree canopies.

He Jiaqi crept back on tiptoe, her voice starting to shake: "There are lots of branching paths, but I think they all lead to the same place..."

Xu Muchan got it. He tightened his grip on his blind cane and said: "No other way, then. Let's move."

His blind cane tapped lightly on the stone path as Xu Muchan took the lead and started forward.

He Jiaqi clung tightly to his arm, only daring to look at the tiny patch of ground right in front of her, not daring to look anywhere else.

Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang clung to each other and followed behind. If there hadn't been a girl around, Wei Yao would've shamelessly plastered himself onto Xu Muchan.

The two of them yanked and pulled at each other, walking in a totally twisted way. Wen Dajiang couldn't take it anymore, took a deep breath and said: "Old Wei, ease up a bit—you're squeezing my arm purple."

Wei Yao didn't let go. He was trembling even harder now, stammering: "Doesn't this place look kind of familiar?"

Xu Muchan stopped ahead and turned back: "Familiar how?"

By now they were nearing the end of the bluestone path, and could vaguely make out a half-open vermilion gate. Wei Yao craned his neck to look, and the more he looked, the more something felt off. His voice was bewildered as he said: "Wait, this looks like my family's old residence..."

"Are you sure?" Wen Dajiang also craned his neck to look, but the fog was too thick—he could only make out the general outline.

He had been to the Wei family's old residence twice. It was indeed in a similar antique style.

"I lived in the old residence until I was twelve. I could recognize it with my eyes closed."

Perhaps because they were approaching a familiar place, Wei Yao's spine, which had been bent by fear, straightened slightly. But then he remembered last night's dream—the people in it had been leading him deeper into the old residence...

Wei Yao's hairs stood on end one by one, his back hunched again, and he clung to Wen Dajiang, trembling all over: "Come to think of it... this looks just like the scene from my dream..."

It was almost as if the dream was replaying itself.

Xu Muchan heard this and asked Wei Yao to recount the dream again.

Wei Yao said: "I keep feeling like there's something really bad in that courtyard. If we go in there, we're dead for sure."

Xu Muchan nodded, confirming his suspicion. He too could faintly sense it—deep within this building, something extremely terrifying was lurking.

But there was no turning back now. He licked his dry lips and lowered his voice even further: "We'll sneak in quietly, stay in the courtyard and not go deeper. Based on Wei Yao's dream, the big tree in the courtyard should be safe for now. Let's climb up and hide there for a while."

The four of them carefully slipped through the half-open vermilion gate and into the courtyard.

In the center of the courtyard stood a gnarled, clawing tree—the same one they'd seen from outside. Up close now, its dense branches pressed together so tightly that even the sky couldn't peek through, giving off an eerie, ghostly aura.

Wei Yao noticed that this tree didn't match the one in his dream. The old residence had a large jujube tree in the courtyard, so his dream had featured a jujube tree too.

"Do we really have to climb up? Something about this tree feels off to me too?"

He Jiaqi said in a low voice: "It's a locust tree."

Wei Yao: "..."

He turned to look at Xu Muchan: "Locust trees attract... you know, those things, right?"

Xu Muchan said: "Locust trees gather yin energy, which will help mask our scent. Get up there now—don't waste time. They're coming."

His tone was too certain for Wei Yao to argue. He could only steel himself and climb onto the lowest branch, then said quietly: "Wen Dajiang, give me a boost down there. Xu Muchan, you come up first—I'll pull you from above."

Xu Muchan shook his head and pushed He Jiaqi forward: "You go up first."

He Jiaqi hesitated, but seeing the tense look on Xu Muchan's face, she didn't dare waste time. She stepped onto Wen Dajiang's back, grabbed Wei Yao's outstretched hand, and used the momentum to climb up.

When it was Xu Muchan's turn, he handed his blind cane to Wen Dajiang to hold, then grabbed the trunk himself and climbed up with surprising agility.

Wei Yao grabbed him and pulled him onto his branch: "How are you climbing smoother than me when you can't even see?"

Xu Muchan ignored him, letting out a soft "Shh" as he tilted his ear to listen to what was happening below.

By then Wen Dajiang had climbed up too. The four of them spread out carefully, lying flat on the sprawling branches, their forms hidden by the dense foliage.

"Breathe lightly, control your heartbeat, don't think about anything. If you're scared, close your eyes and don't look." Xu Muchan said in a low voice, and after he finished speaking, his breathing became so faint and shallow it was almost inaudible.

He Jiaqi followed his example, slowing her breathing to try to calm her heart, but it pounded like a drum in her chest, completely beyond her control. She could only squeeze her eyes shut and desperately recite English vocabulary to distract herself.

Wei Yao closed his eyes like she did, but without sight, the fear of the unknown multiplied exponentially. Within seconds, he opened his eyes again, gasping for air.

Xu Muchan turned his face toward him and whispered: "Hold your breath. They're here."

Below them, the white fog seemed to churn as if something had stirred it, suddenly surging.

The heavy vermilion gate let out a long, drawn-out creak as it slowly pushed open.

Xu Muchan couldn't see, so he could only tilt his ear, straining to catch the faintest sound. But Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang, whose eyes were open, had it worse—they clamped their hands over their mouths to keep from screaming.

The things that pushed through the gate barely maintained a human form, but their proportions were grotesquely distorted. Some had necks so long their heads drooped down to their chests; others had arms of mismatched lengths that swung back and forth like limp noodles as they walked...

What was even more nauseating was that these things all had faces identical to Wei Yao's—but completely expressionless, except for their mouths stretched stiffly toward both sides, forming an exaggerated, utterly fake smile. Their lips didn't move, yet voices came out one after another.

"Wei Yao, where are you?"

"Wei Yao, come out now, I can see you."

Wei Yao, Wei Yao, Wei Yao...

They kept calling his name, wandering around the courtyard in circles like headless chickens searching for something.

Wei Yao in the tree covered his nose and mouth tightly, breathing carefully through the gaps between his fingers. He didn't dare look down anymore, so he turned his head to look at Xu Muchan beside him. Xu Muchan lay motionless on the branch, his face showing little tension or fear, but rather a numb calmness, as if he had experienced this kind of situation countless times before.

Wei Yao let his mind wander aimlessly to keep from being so scared, but from the corner of his eye he noticed that the things gathered under the tree were gradually moving toward the inner ornamental gate, as if they had finally given up searching and were preparing to leave.

He turned his head and quietly observed through the gaps between the branches and leaves, when suddenly a faint "crack" sound rang out in his ear.

The things that had been about to leave halted in their tracks and turned back around.

Then another "crack" sounded.

Wei Yao cursed inwardly, turning his head to look at the others, trying to find where the sound was coming from, only to see Wen Dajiang and He Jiaqi staring at him with terror in their eyes, desperately gesturing at him.

Wei Yao looked at them, confused, until another "crack" sounded, and he finally understood what He Jiaqi and Wen Dajiang were trying to say—

The "crack" sound was coming from the branch he was lying on.

This damn branch picked the worst time to give out—it was about to snap.

The things that had been leaving came back, gathering under the tree. The heads drooping onto their chests slowly lifted, their inverted faces tilted up, and their eyes stared straight at the canopy.

Wei Yao locked eyes with one of them through the gaps between the leaves, his scalp instantly tightening, and he almost jumped out of his skin.

They'd seen him.

He looked helplessly at the others. Wen Dajiang and He Jiaqi were frantically gesturing, probably telling him to climb higher. But when Wei Yao looked down, he saw that the things had clearly realized someone was hiding in the tree—they were piling on top of each other, preparing to climb up.

Wei Yao looked at those disgusting humanoid things, then at his three companions lying on the branches, gritted his teeth, and whispered through them: "They're coming up. I'll go draw them away."

Wen Dajiang's face changed drastically, and he waved his hands desperately at him.

Xu Muchan also turned his head, opening his mouth to say something, but Wei Yao cut him off directly: "They're here for me. You guys make a run for it when you can."

And with that, he jumped straight down from the tree.

The branch was only a little over two meters off the ground. He hit the ground and rolled twice, and not daring to look back, he scrambled to his feet and bolted.

The things piled together behind him let out a piercing shriek and chased after him on all fours.

"That dumbass, he's lost his mind!" Wen Dajiang muttered a curse, jumped down from the tree and was about to chase after him, but remembered there were still two people up there, and hissed at them: "Get down, hurry!"

He Jiaqi didn't know how to climb trees, but at a time like this, she had no choice but to try. She wrapped her arms around the trunk and slid down, with Xu Muchan following right behind her.

"I'm going after Old Wei," Wen Dajiang said. "You coming or not? If not, wait here."

He Jiaqi looked at Xu Muchan.

Xu Muchan pulled out the pendant hanging around his neck, clenched his jaw, and said: "Wait, I'll go with you."

Then he bit down on the pendant he'd pulled out.

It was a wooden plaque strung on a red cord, about the size of a mahjong tile and very thin. Its surface had strange ring-like patterns similar to tree rings.

Xu Muchan bit down on the wooden plaque, closed his eyes, pressed his palms together and touched them to his forehead, and bowed solemnly toward the north—the direction of Guiyi Mountain.

"I call upon the Mountain God of Guiyi."

He silently repeated this phrase three times to himself, and then felt a cold, heavy presence descend upon him.

It was hard to describe, but one thing was very clear—another consciousness had awakened inside Xu Muchan's body. That consciousness could perceive all his actions and thoughts, and could even seize control of his mind and body.

Xu Muchan strongly resisted this feeling of being completely controlled, which was why he wouldn't call on his brother to possess him unless absolutely necessary.

He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, tucked the wooden plaque back inside his shirt, and raised his head to speak to Wen Dajiang—but suddenly froze, blinking in confusion.

He could see.

Wen Dajiang stood a step away. His outline was somewhat unstable, several black lines wrapped around his body, and his features were hard to make out.

Xu Muchan turned to look at He Jiaqi and saw the same thing.

Xu Muchan only needed a moment to get used to it before accepting it. Though it wasn't quite the same as normal vision, it was still better than being a blind man slowing everyone down.

"Let's go. Find Wei Yao first, then find a way out."

After his vision recovered, Xu Muchan noticed that twisted threads were everywhere around him, with the thickest concentration deep within the old mansion. Those threads intertwined to form thick shadows, forming the outline of a huge crouching figure.

That must be the most dangerous thing in the old mansion.

The creatures in the old mansion had all gone chasing after Wei Yao, so the surroundings were very quiet. The threads drifted in the air. Xu Muchan observed for a moment and found that their movement followed a pattern—most of them were gathering toward the depths of the mansion, as if something was drawing them there. A few were scattered around in clusters.

Xu Muchan guessed those were the ghostly things that had been chasing Wei Yao.

Find those ghosts, and they'd find Wei Yao.

Xu Muchan led Wen Dajiang and He Jiaqi in pursuit. Wen Dajiang was oblivious and worried about his buddy, so he never noticed anything unusual about Xu Muchan.

He Jiaqi, on the other hand, glanced at Xu Muchan again and again, but in the end, held her tongue.

The three of them carefully made their way through the sprawling old-style mansion, searching for traces of Wei Yao.

Meanwhile, Wei Yao was about to become a dead dog by the roadside.

He was on the school basketball team and was in great shape, but after being chased around in circles by ghosts again and again, exhausted and terrified, he was starting to hit his limit. From running so hard, his chest felt like it was about to explode, his mind was growing hazy, and his legs were moving on pure instinct.

When Wei Yao finally snapped back to reality, he realized that at some point, the ghostly things chasing behind him had disappeared.

"Shit, did I really outrun them?" Wei Yao stopped, bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for air, feeling like his lungs were about to give out.

He just wanted to lie down right there, but being alone made him uneasy, so he got back up and quickly went to find the others to regroup.

"Where am I? Why does this look so familiar..."

Wei Yao muttered to himself, and when he saw the familiar building in front of him, he froze in his tracks—if he wasn't mistaken, this seemed to be his family's ancestral hall.

And the ancestral hall was in the very back of the Wei family's old mansion.

What did Xu Muchan say before...? Wei Yao slapped his foggy head hard.

Think, damn it, think!

After two slaps, his head cleared a bit, and Wei Yao remembered: Xu Muchan had said—don't go deep into the mansion, there's something terrifying in there.

The sweat from his desperate run began to turn cold, and Wei Yao felt his hair stand on end. Facing the ancestral hall, he backed away step by step, then turned and bolted.

He ran, panting hard, and it felt like something above his head was panting too.

Wei Yao belatedly realized something was making noise above his head, gradually slowed his pace, tilting his head up bit by bit—

A dense shadow swept past the edge of his vision. It had to be something enormous. Just as Wei Yao strained his neck, trying to get a clearer look, a pair of hands clamped over his eyes and yanked him hard into the corner: "Close your eyes and don't look—you trying to get yourself killed?"

With his vision blocked, Wei Yao snapped out of his daze. He grabbed the hand over his eyes: "Who are you?"

He paused, then added shakily: "You're human, right?"

The person behind him chuckled—a young man's voice: "I'm human. Your parents found out you were in trouble and hired me specifically to find you. My name is Yan He."

Wei Yao was so moved he nearly cried, thinking that once he got out of this godforsaken place, he'd bust his ass to get into a top university to repay his parents.

He said, his voice muffled and nasal: "Master Yan, you can let go now."

Yan He let go and warned: "Don't look up, got it?"

Wei Yao nodded, finally getting a good look at his savior. Yan He wore a Taoist robe and held two talisman papers in his hand—he looked professional and reassuring, no doubt about it.

Wei Yao latched onto him and said: "Master, I have three classmates who also came into this godforsaken place. I got separated from them while the ghosts were chasing me."

"There are more people?"

Yan He's face fell: "Are they also inside the ancestral hall?"

Wei Yao quickly shook his head: "They should still be in the courtyard outside. I was being chased by ghosts and rushed in here in a panic."

Yan He's expression eased a bit at that, and he said: "Then let's head out first—we'll find the way and the people as we go."

Before leaving the courtyard with the ancestral hall, he slapped a yellow talisman on Wei Yao's back and instructed: "Follow my footsteps. Don't get nervous, don't make a sound. Lady Golden Flower has already been stirred up. If she notices us, we're all dead. Got it?"

Wei Yao nodded eagerly, bobbing his head like a pecking chick, clutching the hem of his robe and following carefully.

The two crept out of the ancestral hall, and Yan He let out a slight sigh of relief. Just as he was about to ask what the three classmates looked like, he saw three shadowy figures slinking toward them in the distance.

Yan He narrowed his eyes and told Wei Yao to look: "Are those three your classmates?"

Wei Yao took a look and immediately brightened: "That's them."

He didn't dare call out, so he just stuck out his hand and waved like crazy.

Xu Muchan and the others saw him too, but when they noticed the stranger beside Wei Yao, they stopped dead in their tracks, their expressions turning wary.

Wei Yao, dumb as a rock, dragged Yan He over and asked: "Why didn't you guys say anything when you saw me?"

Xu Muchan sized up Yan He and asked: "Who is this?"

Wei Yao, meanwhile, looked at him in surprise: "Your eyes are better now?"

Then he added: "This is Master Yan He. He said my parents found out I was in trouble and hired him to rescue me."

Yan He, twenty-seven or twenty-eight, looked at these high schoolers like they were little kids. He slapped a talisman on each of them and urged: "Talk later once we're out. We need to move now. The passage I carved out in the ghost domain won't hold much longer—we gotta get out before Lady Golden Flower fully wakes up."

He pointed up and said: "Follow me. Keep your eyes on the ground, don't look up. No matter what you hear behind you, don't be scared. I've put concealment talismans on you—they can't detect you."

With that, he took the lead, and Wei Yao, Wen Dajiang, He Jiaqi, and Xu Muchan followed in a single file behind him.

Wei Yao was still puzzled about how Xu Muchan could suddenly see, and instead of watching where he was going, he tried to look back—only to get glared at by Xu Muchan, who warned: "If you don't want to die, don't turn around."

Now that the Little Blind's eyes were healed, they turned out to be strikingly beautiful and full of life. Wei Yao, after being glared at, actually felt a secret thrill and obediently said "Oh" before turning back.

Xu Muchan had no time to deal with him; his entire focus was on his brother possessing his body.

Earlier, in the crisis, he hadn't had time to think too much. But now that he'd relaxed, his skin began to crawl all over—that cold, eerie aura felt like countless hands caressing his skin.

This feeling nearly made Xu Muchan's hair stand on end. He yanked at the small wooden plaque on his chest and called out in his mind: "Brother!"

There was no response, but Xu Muchan knew his brother had heard him, no doubt.

Because he could feel the cold aura covering him growing thicker and heavier, and there was even an itchy sensation at his neck as if it were being stroked over and over—and that itch was traveling down along his collarbone, continuing downward.

Xu Muchan bit his lip hard. There was nothing he could do but tough it out.

And just then, a "rustling" crawling sound came from behind, like something heavy being dragged across the ground.

Xu Muchan glanced at the people ahead—they didn't seem to notice, and no one turned around—so he suppressed the urge to look back.

The "rustling" sound grew closer, punctuated by "slapping" sounds like palms hitting the ground, and a massive shadow loomed overhead, as if something enormous were crawling right behind him.

Yan He's hushed voice came from ahead: "Almost there."

Xu Muchan fought desperately to suppress the urge to turn around, but his body defied his will, as if controlled by some other force, stopping dead and slowly turning around.

The shadow of the massive thing behind him reflected in his eyes.

It was a giant humanoid figure, two stories tall, its bowed head completely covered by long black hair. Its bare upper body had clear female features, while its lower half was a long, rotting snake tail. Six skinless arms, muscles exposed, extended from its ribs and shoulder blades, "slapping" against the ground as they supported its huge, heavy body in crawling.

All over it, countless malformed humanoids—like the ones seen under the locust tree earlier, with disproportionate limbs—climbed up and down, crawling in and out, their skin slick with a greasy secretion.

Xu Muchan felt a wave of nausea, but his body, controlled by his brother, refused to let him turn back. Instead, it broke away from the group and ran straight toward the giant monster.

Xu Muchan gritted his teeth in fury, cursing his dear brother out in his head with the most irreverent profanity.