Chapter 140

The old woman's shout was like a death warrant.

Because of it, the group of ten at the top of the slope slowed down.

Li Zhuiyuan knew he had run into a question far beyond the syllabus this time.

Luckily, this was not a required question for him, at least not at this stage.

And he had already chosen to skip it earlier. What he had to do now was nothing more than keep skipping past it.

The boy's mind spun rapidly. It was now confirmed that on the surface, the old couple ran a roadside wildcat service stop for passing drivers, but in secret, they were doing business as an inn on the Path of the shade.

There was nothing special about that courtyard, because the boy was an extremely cautious person.

The moment he entered the courtyard, he had inspected it carefully and found no trace of any formation.

Not only that, he had refused the couple's offer of food and lodging. Even when they offered firewood for warmth, he paid special attention to the color of the flames and smoke when the wood burned. He had even watched the expressions of the five homebound travelers when they smoked the cigarettes they bought in the shop.

Everything had seemed normal. Which meant those extra actions were precisely the key to what was abnormal.

Two white sails. The old man burning paper. The old woman waving a mirror.

Only then had the corpse-driving procession chosen to enter and "rest its feet" here. And all seven members of the Wang Clan had met with foul ends, while the old couple remained completely untouched.

White sails...

The image of the white sails surfaced in Li Zhuiyuan's mind. He quickly stripped away the extra ornamentation and focused only on their practical function. It was, in truth, a very nonstandard kind of guide sail.

His great-grandfather's household had them too. During funerals, among the flags carried by family members at the front of the procession, there was this type as well—only taller, bigger, and much gaudier.

All of these thoughts were completed in an instant.

Since the old couple could rely on this to stay safe, why couldn't he do the same?

The simplest way to solve a problem... was to copy the correct answer directly.

"Brother Runsheng, set up the offering table!"

"Got it."

Runsheng dropped to both knees, bracing himself as he reached into his hiking pack.

Everyone had packed their own bag personally so that in a critical moment, they could get what they needed as fast as possible.

Runsheng first pulled out a small tabletop. It looked a lot like those meal tables in high-end hospital rooms that can be raised over the bed.

The difference was that this one was more advanced.

When Taigong set up an offering table, he cared about spectacle. The point was to provide emotional value for the client's family.

Li Zhuiyuan's version, however, stripped everything down to the bare essentials.

First of all, the small table had no fixed legs. You only had to pull down the slots beneath it, and the metal frame underneath would rise like a drawbridge. With a little pressure downward, it would adjust its own length and hold steady.

So even on a slope, it could still stand level.

There were nine recessed compartments of different sizes built into the tabletop. Four on top, four below, and one set off alone in the bottom corner. All of them had lids.

Runsheng swiftly pulled all nine lids open.

Beneath the top four compartments were four very short candles, two white and two red.

The four lower compartments contained cured pork, salted fish chunks, ham, and meat floss.

No sacrifice was complete without meat. All four were meat dishes, and they also kept well.

In the lone compartment at the bottom corner was pre-poured and sealed rice wine.

In an instant, a small offering table complete in color, aroma, and taste was ready.

Domestic food industry standards were still underdeveloped these days, but Li Zhuiyuan had already started following Western trends and gotten into pre-prepared sacrificial dishes ahead of schedule.

While Runsheng was doing all this, Li Zhuiyuan took out two small Ritual Flags from his own pack and planted them in the ground before him. Then he used both hands to tie knots in the flag cloth.

Next, from a fitted compartment beneath the small table, he took out five sheets of Yellow Paper. With a flick, the papers burst into flame without fire. He swept them over the candles, and one red candle and one white candle were lit as well.

White marked yin. Red stood in for yang. Red and white shining together marked the boundary between yin and yang.

Li Zhuiyuan clapped his hands, extinguishing the five half-burned sheets of Yellow Paper. He kept one for himself, handed one to Runsheng, and tossed one downslope, where it drifted downward.

Tan Wenbin reacted fast and grabbed it.

At last, the boy took out a Bronze mirror from his pack and held it in one hand, while the other hand pinched the two remaining sheets of Yellow Paper.

After finishing all this, Li Zhuiyuan let out a breath. Just like that, he had built a simple "inn on the Path of the shade."

Though the terrain was rough—just one big slanted slope—and normal corpse drivers would definitely dislike it and ordinarily never choose to stop here, it did not matter. At least he had hung out the signboard.

At that moment, firelight flashed into being nearby as well.

Li Zhuiyuan turned his head and saw that the woman had also planted two pieces of white cloth before herself. The cloth even had faint yellow stains on it, as though she'd hastily repurposed them from a child's diaper.

The offerings on the ground in front of her were nothing more than peanuts, melon seeds, biscuits, and peach pastries—snacks she carried with her.

But she dripped blood from her fingertip onto a biscuit, using it to stand in for a meat dish.

At that moment, she too drew out five sheets of spirit money. After lighting them all and then snuffing them, she kept one in her hand and stuck one to the swaddling cloth.

Finally, she took out a pink plastic heart-shaped case. When she opened it, there was a mirror inside.

Even girls in the city thought that style was tacky now.

She used her fingernail to pry out the mirror piece and held it between her fingers.

After finishing, the woman also turned her head to look toward Li Zhuiyuan. She had three extra torn pieces of spirit money pinched in her hand.

Their eyes met.

Her gaze tightened slightly, seemingly surprised that the boy had moved even faster than she had.

Good. Just like that, on this sloped ground, two "inns on the Path of the shade" had opened all at once.

The corpse-driving party above finally stopped.

"Jingle, jingle... jingle, jingle... jingle, jingle..."

The Daoist in the yellow robe at the front began to turn. The Daoist in the yellow robe at the rear had to take larger steps, while some of the ones in the middle only needed to march in place.

After adjusting their direction, they started coming down.

Though it was a slope, they walked as though on level ground.

They were coming down.

Li Zhuiyuan made a downward pressing gesture with his left hand. Runsheng and Tan Wenbin each gripped the Yellow Paper in their hands and lowered their heads.

The two of them were probably chanting in their hearts: Can't see me, can't see me.

Life was a circle.

When he had first returned to his hometown and kept running into Dead Sinkers, Li Zhuiyuan often did exactly this. Later, this was how he taught his companions too.

When you ran into something foul that you weren't confident you could handle, you pretended not to see it.

Now Li Zhuiyuan had once again found a trace of that old familiar feeling.

But unlike Runsheng and Tan Wenbin, he did not simply lower his head.

Though he did not raise his head to look directly at the corpse-driving procession, he lowered his gaze to the Bronze mirror instead.

He wanted to use the Bronze mirror to observe them up close.

This place was actually not that far from Peach Blossom Village anymore, and this mysteriously appearing corpse-driving procession was also heading in the direction he himself was going.

It was probably not the main target of his fourth wave, but it was definitely related to it.

If he could obtain some clues in advance, that would be all the better.

Especially that one—whether there had been three people before or ten now, that person's feet had never once touched the ground. That person... was the key point.

If having two Daoists hold bamboo poles to drive one corpse earlier counted as respecting tradition, then nine people carrying one corpse now was no longer corpse driving.

This was carrying a sedan chair.

If this thing was some malevolent spirit, then it had likely already reached the kind of level that people of the occult world traditionally would not lightly provoke or offend.

If this thing was human... then that was even more terrifying than if it were a ghost.

"Crack... crack... crack..."

Dense, orderly footsteps drew near.

They had come down and arrived beside them.

Along with them came piercing cold, and above that, a pressure so intense it made breathing difficult.

Runsheng held Yellow Paper in his left hand and gripped the handle of the Yellow River Spade in his right. Though Little Yuan had already arranged the situation, if it showed even the slightest sign of collapse, he would throw open all his qi gates without hesitation.

His spiritual sensitivity was dull. Like Yin Meng, he still could not walk the shade. But his sense for mortal danger still existed. He knew very clearly that what they had encountered this time was far too powerful. He had to go all out from the very start, otherwise he might not even get a second chance to strike.

Tan Wenbin was the same. He already knew how to walk the shade, and on top of that, he carried two resentful infants. The two children's perceptions and emotions could be transmitted to him, making his panic even worse.

The two little brats were scared. Even when facing White Crane Child, they had been afraid, but not to this extent.

Tan Wenbin's heart was pounding now, but he was still trying to comfort himself—and by comforting himself, he was comforting those two little brats too. If something went wrong, then at the critical moment, boys, don't chicken out. No matter what, you have to charge together with your godfather.

Please don't let there be a situation where the Ghost-control technique fails.

If he died because of that, it would be way too stifling.

One, two, three...

Li Zhuiyuan stared into the mirror. He was waiting for the one whose feet never touched the ground.

When he had watched that three-man corpse-driving party from the courtyard earlier, he had been unable to make out the appearance of the one in the middle. This time, he should be able to.

At last, that face appeared.

From the Bronze mirror, Li Zhuiyuan saw him—a face exactly the same as his own.

In the mirror, it was as though he himself was there, being carried along with his feet off the ground.

That vicious?

That was Li Zhuiyuan's first reaction.

He had only wanted to steal a glance at it through the Bronze mirror, but it, in this manner, wanted to "take him away."

There was an even more terrifying possibility: that "it" had done it unintentionally. If you took the initiative to look at it and got tainted by it, then naturally you would leave with it.

That "self" in the mirror was not him, and yet it was his future self. This was the folk-tale version of having one's soul hooked away.

Li Zhuiyuan immediately bit the tip of his tongue, forcing himself to shut his eyes.

In his heart, he recited the Sutra of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, and his consciousness entered a state of emptiness.

Blood began seeping from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, making him look ghastly.

Even the last time he had fought that pig, the boy had only suffered a few injuries. He had never looked this battered from just a single glance.

Runsheng sensed that something was wrong with Little Yuan. He did not lift his head, but he saw blood dripping onto the ground within his field of vision.

In that instant, Runsheng was ready to get up and open all his qi gates to fight the other side to the death.

But he discovered that the hand with which Little Yuan held the Yellow Paper was still pressing down on his Yellow River Spade.

Runsheng gritted his teeth and endured it.

The corpse-driving procession advanced, first circling around Li Zhuiyuan, Runsheng, and Tan Wenbin below, then going to the right and circling once around the woman as well.

Perhaps because they found only "inns" but no "guests" to take, they slowly walked back uphill and returned to the path.

After adjusting direction, they continued onward.

Everyone below kept their heads lowered. They did not know exactly where the procession had gone, but they could judge from the bell sounds fading from near to far.

When the bells disappeared completely and could no longer be heard, it was as if the air that had been sucked dry finally flowed back in.

Everyone let out a long breath inwardly, and sweat poured from them.

Li Zhuiyuan said, "We're safe."

"Little Yuan?" Runsheng immediately checked on the boy.

"I'm fine. It's not a big problem." Li Zhuiyuan felt his face was sticky, and his head was a little dizzy.

Fortunately, he had rested long enough on the train, and he had also taken care to conserve his energy on the road earlier. His current state was bad, yes, but not too bad.

If he had been exhausted and on the edge of collapse when this happened, then he really might have had time to go learn Erquan Yingyue.

Tan Wenbin climbed up using both hands and feet. He took the water bottle and towel from Runsheng and began helping Little Yuan wipe and clean the blood from his face.

Runsheng, meanwhile, picked up the Yellow River Spade, stood up, and faced the woman, remaining on guard.

The woman packed away her white cloth and offerings. She put the blood-smeared biscuit into her mouth and ate it.

After putting everything away, she held the child, slung her luggage over her back, stood up, and looked over.

She shifted slightly to one side, as though she had wanted to say something. But when her gaze bypassed Runsheng's obstruction and landed on the boy behind him, who was wiping blood from his face, her eyes widened.

"You actually looked at it!"

Li Zhuiyuan heard her, but did not respond at once. He continued letting Binbin wipe him down.

Holding the baby in her left arm, the woman drew a short, compact black hatchet from the swaddling cloth with her right hand and said to Runsheng:

"He's been hooked away. He has to be killed now!"

Runsheng raised the Yellow River Spade. His clothes puffed and swelled as he prepared to fight.

He had not even considered what the woman had said.

"Pshht..."

Tan Wenbin opened a can of drink, but because of how badly he had been shaking earlier, some of the soda spilled out. He moved it aside first, waited a moment, then handed it to Little Yuan.

Li Zhuiyuan took the drink and gulped down several mouthfuls before standing back up.

Seeing this, the woman's confusion deepened, but she still put away the hatchet and stuffed it back into the swaddling cloth.

"You actually weren't hooked away."

Li Zhuiyuan said, "You're not one of the Wang Clan."

If she had been from the Wang Clan, then why had she not ordered those Wang Clan people to run with her just now? She clearly had the ability to save them, but she had not done so.

The woman shook her head. "It's better if you don't know who I am."

Li Zhuiyuan found that line oddly familiar.

The woman continued, "When you're out on the road, don't get involved in trouble for no reason. This place hasn't been peaceful lately. You'd better leave."

Tan Wenbin licked his lips. He felt that this woman had stolen his usual lines.

Li Zhuiyuan asked, "Are you headed to Meiling Town? Peach Blossom Village?"

The woman started walking up the slope and said without turning her head, "That's no good place. Not fun. It'll get you killed."

Li Zhuiyuan said, "Then why are you still going?"

The woman replied, "Because I have no choice. You're different."

"And what if I have no choice too?"

"Heh. Good words can't persuade a damned ghost. Suit yourselves."

Tan Wenbin muttered quietly, "This woman's tone is arrogant as hell."

Li Zhuiyuan gave no comment. After Runsheng packed up the offering table, the three of them also climbed the slope and returned to the path.

By then, the woman had already gone back and returned to the courtyard.

She kicked the door open and strode inside.

Not long after, she dragged the old couple out into the courtyard, one in each hand, kicking them along the way.

Especially the old woman—there was now a clear shoeprint on her face.

Earlier, everything had been fine. It was only because the old woman had shouted that extra line, "There are still five people who haven't hit the road yet," that a new wave of abnormal changes had almost happened.

No wonder the woman was angry. Five people—setting aside the boy's group of three, the old woman had even counted the baby in her swaddling cloth as one person.

No mother could stand anyone trying to harm her child.

The old couple wailed and cried, seeming not to understand what was happening, begging for mercy and screaming in pain.

Li Zhuiyuan said to Tan Wenbin and Runsheng, "Go inside and inspect carefully."

Tan Wenbin went first. Runsheng hesitated a little. He did not dare leave Little Yuan alone in the courtyard to face this woman.

When the woman had taken out that small hatchet earlier, the sharpness of the aura around her had been so fierce it made his qi gates ache. She was definitely an expert.

"She won't hurt us for now. Brother Runsheng, go inside and search thoroughly. Turn the place upside down."

"All right."

Runsheng still chose to listen to Little Yuan, but as he passed the woman, he glared at her.

The woman kicked the old couple again, knocking them to the ground. Then she turned a provocative gaze toward Li Zhuiyuan and even took several steps toward him on purpose.

Li Zhuiyuan stood there without moving.

In the end, it was the woman who stopped first and asked, "This doesn't seem like you. Earlier on the train, when I was nursing my child, you were suspicious enough to stare so closely. Why are you so at ease with me now?"

"It's mutual."

The woman was not one of the Wang Clan. That much was certain for now.

When she pinched her child and made it cry, she had actually been warning him in a very subtle way.

Why subtle?

Because she could not be bothered to say it plainly. She wanted to watch the Wang Clan people die. As for whether the three of them lived or died, she was not especially invested. If they understood the hint, they could run. If they didn't, then they could go along and help carry the corpse.

Most likely, the reason she pinched the child to make it cry was also her way of repaying the favor of him having Runsheng set up the tent and sleeping bag for her.

That mindset gave Li Zhuiyuan an extremely familiar feeling.

As for why he had asked Runsheng to set up the tent and sleeping bag earlier, it was not purely out of kindness. He simply could not spot any flaw in the woman, yet still could not fully trust her. So instead of pressing in one way, he loosened and reapplied pressure from another angle.

Showing goodwill was also a form of probing.

Still, he did not owe her anything. Because even if she had not pinched the child, he had already been planning to run.

And afterward, when he set out the offering table and burned five sheets of Yellow Paper, he had reserved two. The woman had also burned five sheets of spirit money and reserved three.

The reserved ones had all been prepared for the other side.

Only, there was no need to get sentimental about it. Neither of them had any strong desire to help the other. It was simply that if they did not give them over, the other side might panic and sabotage things, ruining the setup and dragging everyone to death together.

Wasn't that why both sides had first hurried to finish arranging their own things, then held the extra spirit money in hand, and only then looked to see how the other reacted?

If either of them had truly been that warm-hearted, one of them would already have shouted, Don't panic, I've got a way!

They were both rather cold people. But cold people actually got along better with each other. Before there was any absolute conflict of interest, they would be very restrained about avoiding unnecessary confrontation.

The woman glanced back at the old couple on the ground. "Tell your people to kill these two old things."

Li Zhuiyuan said, "Why don't you do it yourself?"

The woman replied, "It's inconvenient for me."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. "What a coincidence. Same for me."

Then Li Zhuiyuan pointed at his own forehead. "I suspect there's something wrong in here with these two old people."

They were not skilled actors. From the moment he entered this place, Li Zhuiyuan had never stopped observing them, and he had not noticed the slightest problem. That meant that at the time, they probably had not been acting.

But when the corpse-driving procession arrived, the two old people had displayed abnormal excitement and efficiency.

That felt like a transformation in personality and thinking triggered by some kind of stimulation—like Lin Shuyou's future illness, a split personality.

Runsheng and Tan Wenbin came back out. They really had turned the place upside down. Runsheng was holding two old yellow Daoist robes, along with tools like Bagua Compass and Peachwood Sword.  

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