Chapter 1 What's Going On?

The sudden gust of yin wind and the chaotic, ethereal voices startled everyone present.

All the torches went out, and the surroundings instantly became pitch black. Only the chilling wind gently grazed their bones.

They couldn't even hear the breathing of the other workers around them… A sudden jolt of fear shot through them, and everyone held their breath, afraid to move… Everyone stood stiffly in the darkness until a sinister laughter floated past their ears.

"Oh, Mother..."

The laughter seemed to be right beside them, and someone couldn't take it anymore. They dropped their knife and turned to run.

As this person broke down, everyone else lost control. They scrambled and crawled in the darkness, crying and screaming as they fled towards the village.

"Don't… don't run…"

Xu Ji was also frozen in place, calling out urgently.

But as he called out, he realized that he was so nervous that his voice had changed, and his throat was choked.

He couldn't suppress the panic rising in his heart, and he wanted to run away, but he gripped the wooden sword in his hand and stubbornly held on.

This time when he returned to the city, he had seen his family's situation.

His father had been set up by someone, and not only was their previous wealth gone, but most of their family property had also been confiscated by the incense master. His former friends and relatives had disappeared, and there might be even bigger trouble in the future.

His father had secretly stuffed the last of the family's good things into his hands, telling him to sneak out the back door and bring them back to the shopkeeper, so he could learn the ways of a Shousui Ren (Night Watcher) and protect his family in return.

So he had to win, how could he lose to that peasant?

But even if he stayed, his previous plans had been completely disrupted. What should he do?

While he was at a loss, unable to see anything and hearing nothing, he suddenly heard a strange sound, *shua shua shua*, like the sound of snake scales crawling over dry grass.

In the swirling yin wind and the chaotic sounds of the workers running away in the distance, it sounded exceptionally clear, as if a snake was slowly slithering around him. But the weather was already cold, so where would a snake come from?

Even if there was one, how big would it have to be to make such a clear crawling sound?

His mind was in extreme confusion until he suddenly felt a weight on his ankle, as if something furry had wrapped around it. Then he realized.

It wasn't a snake, it was hair!

It was the hair from the well, and it had come out again, wrapping around his ankle.

"Aiyah…"

In terror, Xu Ji let out a muffled cry and slashed downwards with the rosewood sword in his hand.

With a "chi" sound, a flash of fire appeared.

When the hair touched the rosewood sword, it was suddenly burned and cut off.

Using the faint light, Xu Ji finally saw the situation around him. Those bastard workers had long since run off to who-knows-where, and countless thick strands of hair were growing out of the well like seaweed.

Li Wazi, who had come from the Da Yang village, had been too close to the well and was already wrapped in hair, slowly being pulled into the well.

Xu Ji was both shocked and terrified. He raised the rosewood sword that he was relying on for courage and was about to chop it down.

But suddenly he heard a sobbing sound coming from the well, and a flash of white appeared before his eyes. He saw a pale face.

It was slowly emerging from the well, staring at him eerily.

In that instant, it was like being struck by lightning. All of Xu Ji's courage was instantly shattered by the yin energy, and he turned and fled.

He couldn't fight it.

He had spent a lot of money to bring many workers from this village, saying that he only wanted them to help him out, but he had thought it through clearly. These workers were all chosen by the Red Lantern Society from various places, with the most vigorous *luhuo* (furnace fire).

They were all virgins themselves, and their *huoqi* (inner fire) was sealed. Ordinary ghosts and monsters would find them too hot to approach, let alone so many of them at once?

It was precisely because there were so many people helping him that even now, in the middle of the night, the yang energy was overpowering the yin energy.

Just enough to restrain the thing in the well.

But as soon as these people were frightened and ran away, the situation immediately reversed, and the strength and weakness became clear.

Dusk is the boundary between yin and yang.

How could living people possibly fight against such ghostly things in the middle of the night?

Now was no longer the time to think about whether or not to seize this last chance, it was about saving his life…

It was because Xu Ji understood these things that he couldn't care about anything else and ran frantically towards the outside of the village.

As he ran, he tore open the front of his shirt, revealing a sachet on his chest.

He had grown up in the city with his father since he was a child, but every year his father would take his family back to a remote village a hundred miles away to visit relatives. He had never understood why.

He even disliked the fact that his father grabbed a handful of hearth ash from the old hearth in the village and made him carry it with him.

But now, he could only rely on this thing to save his life.

When a person's courage is lost, it is like a dam bursting, and endless fear pours out.

Xu Ji was still in good shape, at least he wasn't so scared that his legs were weak. He was just running with big strides, but behind him, he only heard the continuous sobbing sound, always beside his ears. Behind him, there was also a *shua shua* sound, and something was constantly缠向 (chanxiang - entangling towards) his feet.

He cursed loudly, occasionally turning back and slashing with his sword, then running again.

And whenever the sobbing sound approached, the hearth ash on his chest would become a little warmer, and then gradually cool down.

Whether it was the old object in his hand that was really powerful, or the hearth ash on his chest that was working, he actually managed to escape from the village, and in theory, he was already far away from the well.

But for some reason, it was still bone-chillingly cold outside the village. Behind the invisible darkness, something seemed to be shaking. Xu Ji didn't dare to slow down, but just ran forward with big strides.

Finally, on the narrow road, he saw a figure running ahead of him.

He must be a worker from the village. Xu Ji was both angry and annoyed, and couldn't help but curse, "You bastard, what are you running for?"

"If you had a little more courage, we could have taken care of that thing together…"

"…"

As he ran, he quickly caught up, also thinking that it would be more reassuring to have someone to accompany him.

But the person was scolded so badly that he still didn't turn around and kept walking forward, although his speed gradually slowed down.

Xu Ji quickly approached and finally vaguely saw the person's appearance.

He saw a face staring straight at him.

The person didn't turn around, but he was still looking at him because his face was growing on the back of his head. The stiff features were like a painting, and above the exaggerated expression, the eyes were the most peculiar, staring at him with a weird smile.

It wasn't facing away from him, it was always staring at him!

"Ah…"

Xu Ji didn't know what this was, but he only felt a gust of yin energy coming at him. He was so scared that his soul flew away, and he grabbed the rosewood sword and waved it wildly forward.

The thing suddenly disappeared, but a giggling laugh was left in the open space.

Xu Ji was so frightened that his head was spinning. He only knew to run away, stumbling and falling, getting up and running again. He didn't know how far he ran before he calmed down a little. Looking ahead, he saw a group of people huddled there, shivering.

This time, Xu Ji had experience. He squinted his eyes and finally recognized the cyan belts around the waists of those people, and then he was sure.

He had found them, this time they were really the workers from his village.

"Wait for me, wait for me…"

This time he didn't dare to scold them, he just quickly walked towards them.

But when he got closer, he stopped again. This time he saw clearly that they were indeed the workers from his village, and he could even vaguely see two of them in the background who were his own cronies.

But now they were gathered together, their bodies shivering as if they were discussing something, or as if they were just crying together.

When he approached and made a sound, they slowly turned around, their eyeballs rolling around like dice, their bodies still trembling and shaking.

This time, Xu Ji saw clearly that they were not trembling.

But they were holding their fingers and scraping them *xī xī sū sū* (onomatopoeia for rustling sounds), already scraping them until they were bloody and only bones were left.

"Aiyah…"

Among these people, someone seemed to recognize Xu Ji, and suddenly their eyes lit up.

The voice was shrill and strange, extremely unpleasant, but it seemed to carry surprise: "We've finally blocked you, kid…"

"Ah…"

Looking at these people approaching, Xu Ji only felt his scalp tingling, and fear surged to the top of his head. He wanted to turn and run, but suddenly a gust of yin wind blew on his face, and his body was like falling into an ice cellar. His body became stiff, and he couldn't even lift the hand holding the rosewood sword.

He almost just stood there blankly, watching the workers from the village, their lips lifted, revealing cold, stern teeth, surrounding him.

Under the impact of endless fear, Xu Ji only had time to let out a scream with the last of his strength, which spread far, far away in the dark night.

"That's right, that's the taste!"

In the distance, Hu Ma, who was sitting on the hillside, suddenly stood up.

He heard Xu Ji's scream, and from that scream, he heard a lot of things.

This was the feeling, the feeling when he first came to this world, surrounded by so many evil spirits.

"It's our turn."

He lit the incense stick in his hand, and before long, Little Red Tang ran out of the darkness like a wisp of smoke.

Her two small hands were clenched tightly. Hu Ma pried them open and saw that she was actually holding a piece of meat in her hand, looking vigilantly behind her.

She had attracted so many things, and was chased so urgently, but she actually managed to keep a piece?

"Eat it quickly!"

Hu Ma hurriedly stuffed it into her mouth, and then breathed a sigh of relief. He stood up and turned to look at the dark night ahead.

There was no light in front of him, only the deep night, and the evil spirits hiding in the night, reveling and wandering.

And the shivering people.

"When others are timid, that's precisely our chance…"

Hu Ma slowly circulated his energy, strengthened his *luhuo* (furnace fire), gave himself courage, and then *shua* (onomatopoeia for drawing a sword) sound, he drew the steel knife from its sheath. He took the satisfied Little Red Tang, who was licking her fingers, and strode towards the deep darkness where the evil spirits roamed.