Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Xu Muchan opened the notes He Jiaqi had sent over and glanced through them, then asked Wei Xilou, "When are we heading back? School starts soon."

Wei Xilou said, "We should be back around the time school begins. You just woke up, so it's best to stay at the Mountain God Cave a few more days for observation."

Xu Muchan didn't see what there was left to observe. He held his phone, replying to messages one by one, letting his friends know he'd be back at school once the term started.

After replying, he set the phone down and saw Wei Xilou had already slipped back into his body, picking up a bucket from the kitchen, apparently getting ready to fetch water from the river.

Before he'd suddenly collapsed, he was still mad at his brother. Xu Muchan let out a huff of displeasure, initially planning to pretend he hadn't noticed and let him go fetch water in the rain by himself. But then he remembered he'd been out cold for two months, and his brother had been taking care of him the whole time. His hardened heart went soft again.

Xu Muchan hopped off the bed, slipped on his slippers, grabbed an umbrella, and chased after him: "I'll go with you."

He popped open the umbrella and held it over Wei Xilou's head. The umbrella wasn't big enough, so Xu Muchan had to edge closer to Wei Xilou, the two of them huddled awkwardly under the small umbrella.

Wei Xilou, carrying two buckets, glanced sideways at Xu Muchan. "You still mad at me, Achan?"

Xu Muchan instinctively launched into his usual smooth spiel of "I'm not mad, why would I be mad?" but Wei Xilou cut him off mid-spell.

"After coming back, I gave some real thought to what Wei Yao said, and I figured you had to be angry." Wei Xilou frowned, looking at Xu Muchan. "Why are you angry? Is it because Achan doesn't want to marry me?"

Xu Muchan opened his mouth, but before he could get his words together, he heard the other man continue: "But back then, when the villagers of Thunder Duke Village gave you to me, it was so you'd be my bride. So why get angry only now?"

Xu Muchan: "..."

Xu Muchan was momentarily stumped, not knowing how to refute that, so he pulled out a different topic instead: "On the wedding night, I was almost fully awake, but you lit the lamp again."

And he'd coaxed him while he was still out of it... Just thinking about it made Xu Muchan's face flush.

But the instigator clearly had zero remorse. He thought for a moment, then said, "That's because Achan was just too adorable."

Seeing Xu Muchan's eyes go wide and his cheeks start to redden, like he was about to get mad again, Wei Xilou added, "But it really was big brother's fault."

The apology wasn't all that sincere, but Xu Muchan was always the magnanimous type. Like a deflated pufferfish, he let out a deflated huff and grudgingly accepted the apology: "Fine, I'll forgive you this once."

Wei Xilou smiled. "Then thanks, Achan, for being so magnanimous."

As they talked, they'd already reached the small river. As luck would have it, the rain had stopped by then. Xu Muchan closed the umbrella, took one of the buckets, and headed to the riverbank to fetch water.

Because it had been raining on and off for nearly two months, the mountain stream had swelled dramatically, and the river had widened. Xu Muchan carefully stood up, bucket full, and when his gaze casually swept over the woods on the opposite bank, he suddenly froze—

There was a person standing in the woods across the river.

The figure stood under an old tree, tall and lean, with very pale skin, wearing clothes that were neither new nor old, and hair that was a bit long, just reaching the shoulders.

The two locked eyes across the rushing water. The more Xu Muchan looked, the more familiar the figure seemed, until a jolt hit him and he suddenly realized—the person in the woods looked like him.

No, not just similar. Almost identical.

It was just that Xu Muchan didn't usually pay much attention to his own looks, so when he suddenly saw a face exactly like his own somewhere other than a mirror, he hadn't clocked it right away.

Xu Muchan instinctively stepped forward with the bucket, wanting a closer look, but the figure under the tree suddenly vanished.

As if all of that had just been an illusion.

Xu Muchan furrowed his brow, pointed at the opposite bank, and turned to ask Wei Xilou, "Brother, did you see that?"

Wei Xilou looked confused. "See what?"

"Someone who looks just like me, standing under that tree a second ago, watching us." Xu Muchan said.

But Wei Xilou shook his head. "No, I didn't see a thing."

Xu Muchan was even more confused. "You didn't see it?"

If it were something like a ghost or spirit, there was no way only he'd see it while his brother didn't.

And why would a spirit imitate his looks?

Seeing he seemed bothered by it, Wei Xilou set down the bucket. "I'll go check the other side."

Not far from the river stood a rickety single-log bridge, but half of it was submerged from the rising water. Wei Xilou crossed to the opposite bank, reached the tree Xu Muchan had mentioned, and asked, "Here?"

Xu Muchan nodded.

Wei Xilou did a careful sweep of the area and came back, saying, "I don't sense any ghosts or spirits."

Xu Muchan still felt it wasn't his imagination. He muttered, "If it's not a spirit, then what is it?"

Wei Xilou picked up both buckets and said, "But Thunder Duke Village has been a bit off lately. That figure you saw under the tree might be connected to whatever's going on in the village. For the next few days, Achan should stay home and not wander around."

Xu Muchan asked, surprised, "What happened in the village?"

"In the two months since we've been back, four more people have died in the village, one after another. The police came by a few times and only said it was wild animal attacks, but they never found the animal responsible. I did notice some weird traces, but I had to keep an eye on you at the time, so I didn't waste energy looking into it."

Xu Muchan was even more shocked. "Is this about the Dragon Boat Festival thing? It still hasn't been resolved?"

He remembered that when he'd gone back to Thunder Duke Village for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, someone had died in the village, and the police had also said it was a wild animal attack. It seemed there were other animal attack victims around Guiyi Mountain too. But the villagers were split on whether to believe it.

The older generation was superstitious, even thinking it was because he'd left Guiyi Mountain and angered the mountain god. They'd even wanted him to stay put in the village.

Xu Muchan had originally thought it was just a regular case of a fierce beast attacking people, but he never expected that so much time had passed and it still wasn't over.

Wei Xilou said, "It's definitely not the work of an ordinary beast. But it's never come near the Mountain God Cave."

Carrying the water into the house, he added, "Achan, don't go running around these next few days."

Xu Muchan let out an "oh" and took out the immersion heater to heat some water for a bath.

Wei Xilou watched his busy figure, then headed back outside. "I'll take a look around. If you run out of water, wait for me to get back before fetching more."

Wei Xilou headed back to the woods across the river.

This time, he didn't just casually stroll and glance around. Instead, dense black shadows seeped out from under his feet, spreading outward from the old tree as the center, chasing the faint lingering traces.

But that faint trace seemed to be cut off—when he tracked it to a certain spot, it disappeared completely.

The tendrils retracted. Wei Xilou's eyes were dark and deep as he stared into the dense, sunless woods. After a brief pause, he turned around and headed back.

After he left, a faint shadow appeared under the tree, gazing from afar toward the Mountain God Cave.

Wei Xilou had just stepped inside when he heard a dramatic "Can't beat that."

Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang had been pestering Xu Muchan to play Dou Dizhu, and Xu Muchan couldn't say no, so he'd joined in. But his luck was bad—this hand was a disaster—and he played pretty absentmindedly. Hearing Wei Xilou come back, he looked up and asked, "Find anything?"

Wei Xilou shook his head. "Nothing."

He frowned as he rinsed off the mud, changed into clean clothes, and turned to look at Xu Muchan, who was playing cards and smiling. He suddenly asked, "Does Achan want to go back and visit your adoptive parents' home?"

The question came out of left field, and Xu Muchan was taken aback. He instinctively shook his head, a reluctance he didn't even realize was showing on his face. "What would I go back there for? That house has been empty for years. It's probably fallen down by now."

After a moment's thought, he figured his brother wouldn't bring it up for no reason. He put his game on auto-play and asked, "Why do you suddenly want to go there?"

Wei Xilou said evasively, "Maybe there's something to find."

Xu Muchan frowned, still not wanting to go, and said offhandedly, "Then go by yourself. I don't wanna go."

Seeing how reluctant Xu Muchan was, Wei Xilou didn't push it and dropped the subject.

Once the rain stopped, the sun came right back out.

The fierce summer sunlight blazed down on the rain-soaked earth, quickly drying the ground and leaving behind that damp, grassy smell after a rain.

After losing three games of Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord) in a row, Xu Muchan refused to play anymore no matter how much Wei Yao begged. He flat-out rejected Wei Yao's voice call request, chucked his phone aside, and went outside with Wei Xilou to set up a rack to hang the damp bedding and clothes out to dry.

From the village came the sound of a lively commotion—clearly, now that the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared, everyone was out and about.

But this commotion clearly wasn't what Xu Muchan had expected.

After several people had died mysteriously in succession, the village chief had called in favors to find a master, hoping to hold a proper ritual to pray for the mountain god's protection from disaster.

But Leigong Village was remote and poor, and the money the villagers scraped together wasn't enough to hire anyone reliable for the ritual.

Just as the villagers were talking about doing it themselves like they used to, two masters showed up at their door on their own.

The village chief recognized one of them at a glance: "You came to our village before, didn't you? You were a Taoist?"

Cui Tong knew these villagers were superstitious. This time, when he came into the mountains, he'd deliberately put on his Taoist robe and acted the part of a wise master.

He nodded with a smile: "That's right. I came before because I felt something was off in the mountains, but I didn't have enough info and didn't find anything after one trip. Then I heard more people had died in the village, and since you were looking for someone to do a ritual, I brought my junior apprentice brother along."

The villagers were thrilled and immediately ushered them inside, staring at them with eager eyes and chattering all at once: "Master, our village has always worshipped the mountain god, and nothing bad ever happened before. This time, six people have died in a row—could the mountain god be angry with us?"

"That's right, I said it was because Shan Gong left that the mountain god got angry and cursed the village. You all insisted on believing the police before—they don't know anything, they just say wild animals did it."

"Exactly. We've lived in these mountains for years—what wild animals could there be? The police have been investigating for ages and haven't found a damn thing."

"I think something's targeting our village."

These villagers were all old—the youngest in their fifties, the oldest with white hair, looking seventy or eighty. They crowded around Cui Tong and his companion, looking at them like they were gods sent to save them.

These simple, superstitious old folks were always the easiest to fool. Once you gained their trust, they'd believe anything.

Cui Tong scanned the crowd and got a read on the situation: "Whether the mountain god is angry, I'll have to see for myself first. First, tell me which families the dead were from, how they died, and whether anything strange has happened in the village lately."

"Six people died total—two from Yanping's family, two from Yaoping's, one from Hongping's, and one from Jin Ping's."

Leigong Village was a small village, and the dominant surname was Zhou. Since all the families were related, they named their kids according to their generation.

Yanping, Yaoping, Hongping, and Jin Ping were all cousins from the same generation.

But none of them or their wives had been harmed—it was their sons or grandsons who had died, each one with their chest ripped open and organs torn out. A truly gruesome sight.

These people were all quite old, and losing a child before their own time was too much to bear. Some were bedridden, others were still preparing funerals, so none of them had come.

Cui Tong listened and asked, "Did they have any enemies or anything like that?"

The villagers all shook their heads: "They were honest farmers—who'd they have beef with? Even if they had the occasional spat with neighbors or relatives, who holds a grudge overnight?"

"Then has anything strange happened in the village lately? Or in the mountains—you can mention that too." Since he couldn't get anything from the personal angle, Cui Tong switched tactics.

"Well, there is one weird thing."

A villager recalled: "For the past two months, there's been some noise coming from the Mountain God Cave, and at night there are terrifying sounds. We went to check during the day, but we couldn't even get close to the cave—it was like hitting a wall, like being trapped in a maze. After that, we didn't dare go back."

Noise from the Mountain God Cave?

Cui Tong had learned from the villagers before that Xu Muchan had been living in the Mountain God Cave all along.

He exchanged a glance with his companion and said, "That does sound weird. Let's go check out the Mountain God Cave first."

With the two masters leading the way, the villagers who had nothing better to do followed in a big crowd toward the Mountain God Cave.

Xu Muchan, who was just hanging out the bedding, turned around and found himself facing a big crowd. His gaze lingered on Cui Tong for a moment before he looked at the village chief. "Village chief, is something wrong?"

The village chief clearly hadn't expected to see Xu Muchan either, and looked pretty surprised: "Shan Gong, when'd you get back?"

There was only one road in the village, so for Xu Muchan to get back to the Mountain God Cave, he would've had to pass through the village.

But this time, nobody in the village had known Shan Gong was back.

Without changing his expression, Xu Muchan said, "I came back in the middle of the night last night."

It had been pouring in the middle of the night, so it made sense that no one knew. Once the village chief figured it out, he explained the situation: "You just got back, so you might not know—something big's happened in the village. Several people have died one after another. We got scared, so we invited two masters to come and hold a big ritual. Since you're back, that's perfect—you're the Shan Gong. Why don't you lead the ritual?"

Xu Muchan glanced at Cui Tong and said with a smile, "So you're the two masters. What should I call you?"

Cui Tong spoke up: "I'm Cui Tong, and this is my junior apprentice brother, Yang Zhao. Have we met before?"

Xu Muchan asked with a puzzled look, "Have we? I don't remember seeing you two Taoists."

Just then, Wei Xilou came out of the house. Seeing Cui Tong and the other guy, he immediately broke into a smile: "Fancy meeting you again, Taoist Master Cui."

"Mr. Wei?" Cui Tong's brow furrowed, his gaze darting between Wei Xilou and Xu Muchan. "What's going on here?"

Back at the Xu family home, he remembered that the man didn't seem close to Xu Muchan, and had later said he was going to look for his missing brother and left on his own.

Wei Xilou walked over to Xu Muchan, casually draping an arm around him, and smiled at Cui Tong: "Xu Muchan is my little brother."

Cui Tong's expression shifted slightly, staring at him with suspicion and unease.

But Wei Xilou just smiled and looked away, turning to the village chief: "School's about to start, so we can only stay a few more days. Achan won't be taking part in the ritual."

The village chief started to say something, but Cui Tong cut him off: "Let's look around elsewhere. The ritual hasn't been prepared yet, so no need to rush."

Hearing this, the village chief had no choice but to hold back, and the group followed Cui Tong and Yang Zhao back to the village.

The villagers trailing behind whispered among themselves about Xu Muchan's sudden return.

"Who's that young man staying with Shan Gong? He was here last time too. Shan Gong is married to the mountain god, after all—isn't it wrong to let an outsider stay there?"

"I can tell he's someone important. Look at his face and the clothes he's wearing—clearly rich. Shan Gong's biological parents are said to be rich, so maybe they met in the city."

"There's been all that noise in the Mountain God Cave lately. I heard it clearly one night—something was making a terrifying sound, so loud it hurt my ears just to listen. How come nothing's happened to Shan Gong and that man living in there?"

"The mountain god protects them. He is the Shan Gong, after all—the pact was sealed back then."

Cui Tong listened to the villagers' whispers and said to the village chief, "I'll write you a list. Get the supplies for the ritual ready first. My apprentice brother and I will go check out the homes of the families who lost people and see if we can find anything."

The village chief nodded in agreement, then hesitated and asked, "Master Cui, when you went to look at the Mountain God's Cave earlier, did you notice any problems?"

Cui Tong shook his head. "From the outside, it looks fine. I'll go have another look when I get the chance."

The village chief breathed a sigh of relief at that and told folks to start getting the stuff together for the ritual.

After the villagers had scattered, Yang Zhao asked in a low voice, "Cui, did you pick up on anything off?"

Cui Tong shook his head with a grave expression. "I didn't see anything wrong, but that young guy—the one from back then—the man standing next to him, I'd seen him at the Xu place before."

Cui Tong thought back to that short conversation at the Xu house, his frown deepening. "There's something off about that guy. He seems like a regular guy, and I didn't pick up on anything weird when we ran into each other. But you remember how banged up I got that time, right? I still haven't healed up all the way."

That trip to the Xu place had cost Cui Tong big time.

Yang Zhao remembered, of course, and said, confused, "But didn't you get taken down by the Joy God, Cui? What's that got to do with that guy?"

Cui Tong said, "When we ran into each other, he was with the Joy God. Back then, the Joy God was disguised as Xu Muchan, and I didn't catch anything off. I recognized Xu Muchan and suggested we all travel together. He said he was in a rush to find his brother and couldn't come with us, and since I wanted to feel Xu Muchan out anyway, I didn't think twice about it."

But that Xu Muchan turned out to be a fake. When he went up against the Joy God, old grudges and new ones stacked up, and the Joy God wanted nothing more than to eat him alive.

If he hadn't cut his losses and run, he might've been a goner.

He hadn't given it much thought before, but today, standing in front of the Mountain God's Cave and finding out that the brother Wei Xilou mentioned was Xu Muchan, Cui Tong broke into a cold sweat.

Wei Xilou had obviously known back then that Xu Muchan was a fake. He'd deliberately let him tag along with the Joy God.

And if he thought even further, maybe Wei Xilou had known all along that Cui Tong was gunning for Xu Muchan.

"Anyway, he's definitely not someone to mess with. We need to be careful," Cui Tong concluded.

Yang Zhao nodded. "So, should we go check out the victims' houses first?"

Cui Tong shook his head. "We're not here to be do-gooders anyway. We'll just put on a show later. The village chief said there'd been some weird stuff going on at the Mountain God's Cave, and we've picked up on a ghost king rising from Guiyi Mountain. And wouldn't you know it, Xu Muchan's back too... Something about this feels off. Let's sneak back and check it out again."

After making a loop around the village, the two used a concealment talisman somewhere out of sight and slipped back to the Mountain God's Cave.

In front of the cave, Xu Muchan was still messing with the two quilts, using a rolling pin to puff them up. Wei Xilou was helping out next to him, and they'd say a word to each other now and then. Nothing seemed off.

The two watched quietly for a bit, didn't pick up anything useful from the conversation, and then slipped inside.

The Mountain God's Cave was even more beat-up than they'd imagined—just a shabby little shack tacked onto the cave entrance. From the doorway, they could see just about the whole place.

Yang Zhao tsked. "Aren't the Xus loaded? Why would Xu Muchan come back to rough it like this?"

Cui Tong said, "You haven't seen the news? Xu Qingming's dead, and the Xu Group almost went under. His wife sold off all her shares and took the adopted son back to her hometown. This Xu Muchan probably had nobody left to take care of him, so he came back."

Yang Zhao was incredulous. "A skinny camel's still bigger than a horse. Even if the Xu Group really went belly-up, he should've gotten a piece, right?"

Cui Tong shook his head. Not finding anything useful, he said, "Let's go check out the back."

The two came out of the shack and followed the path Xu Muchan usually took to fetch water, heading toward the back mountain.

They didn't notice Wei Xilou glancing sideways at their retreating figures, his gaze cold and dark.

Yang Zhao rubbed his hands, looking at the desolate woods, and remarked, "Guiyi Mountain really is heavy with yin energy."

Cui Tong chuckled. "A natural gathering place for yin. That's why I chose to send the person here back then. Places like this are hard to find, and the ghost kings raised here are powerful."

As he spoke, he casually scanned the woods, but his gaze suddenly froze. "Xu Muchan?"

"What's he doing here?"

The young man standing under the tree looked toward them, and his crimson lips seemed to curl upward slightly.

Yang Zhao, puzzled, followed his gaze. "Cui, what do you see?"

Cui Tong turned back, confused. "Didn't you see it? Right under that tree, Xu Muchan was standing there looking at—"

His words cut off abruptly. Under the tree where he pointed, there was nothing.

Cui Tong, refusing to believe it, stepped forward but found nothing.

"This forest is strange," Cui Tong said, frowning.

Yang Zhao couldn't see anything odd, but noticing the sky darkening again, he said, "It's getting late. If it rains, we'll be in trouble. How about we head back to the village?"

Cui Tong glanced at the eerie woods, hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Back in the village, the village chief came over to say that some of the items needed for the ritual were already available in the village, and everyone could pool together. But a few things still needed to be bought from the city. It was too late today, and traveling at night was risky, so they'd send someone to the city early tomorrow morning.

Cui Tong and the others naturally had no objections. Under the village chief's arrangement, they were put up at a household with spare rooms.

The conditions in Leigong Village were generally poor. The house they stayed in was one of the few two-story buildings in the village. But even these were old, with white tiles falling off the exterior.

The two stayed in a room on the first floor, with the window overlooking the rolling Guiyi Mountain.

After a long day of travel, they went to bed early.

In the middle of the night, Yang Zhao vaguely heard a rustling sound, like something crawling past outside. He woke with a start and nudged Cui Tong, whispering, "Cui, there's a noise outside."

Their bed was right by the window. Yang Zhao pulled the curtain aside a crack and peered out, but it was pitch black outside—not a single ray of light, except for a faint white patch in the lower left corner. "What time is it? Why is it so dark?"

Cui Tong leaned in to look. "It's only three in the morning. Dawn hasn't broken yet."

"It's too dark. Aren't the moon and stars supposed to be brighter in the mountains? There's not a hint of light."

Yang Zhao had never lived in the mountains, but thinking about how dark the woods were during the day, he figured it made sense that it would be even darker at night.

"What was that noise you mentioned?" Cui Tong pulled the curtain open further and glanced out, noticing that the white patch in the lower left corner of the window seemed to have grown larger.

"It was a rustling sound, like something crawling on the ground. It didn't sound like snakes, bugs, or rats—it was loud. Whatever crawled past must have been big, but it's gone now."

As Yang Zhao spoke, he also noticed the white patch in the lower left corner. Puzzled, he pushed the window open and muttered, "What's this white thing? Is the window... broken..."

His words slowed, and his voice began to tremble.

The white patch in the lower left corner grew even larger. The thick, unyielding blackness shifted, revealing streaks of red bloodshot lines.

A faint light seeped through the gap between the black mass and the window frame.

Realization dawned on Yang Zhao, and his eyes widened in terror—

The darkness outside the window wasn't because the night was too dark. It was because a giant eye was pressed against the window, staring at them.

A strangled gasp escaped Yang Zhao's throat, but his body was frozen in sheer terror.

The giant eye noticed them too. It swiveled, and then the massive body turned, its malformed face fixing its gaze on Yang Zhao.

Before Yang Zhao could get a clear look, it opened a gaping maw and lunged at him—