Chapter 162 It Hurts So Much! "There is indeed a strange thing, but I'm afraid you'll regret it if I tell you..."

The seemingly calm sea suddenly churned, and a huge wave crashed over, creating a towering wall of water. The fishing boat that had been sailing far away was now perched atop this massive wall of water!

"Ah! Ah! Old Fang!"

The mirror polisher's heart-wrenching screams were right above him. Master Fang suddenly looked up, stunned into silence. A black wall that blotted out the sky and the moon rose from the ground and crashed down toward the shore, smashing down on Master Fang.

We're doomed!

Panicked, Master Fang turned and ran.

The two people who were sitting in the fishing boat were lifted high into the air by the huge waves. The mirror polisher, who had always been down-to-earth and had never experienced such a shock in his life, clung tightly to the gunwale with both hands and his voice was hoarse from shouting.

"Hold on tight..." Before He Dasheng could finish shouting, the mirror grinder was thrown out with a jolt.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh—" The mirror grinder's heart-wrenching screams were only silenced when seawater filled his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

A huge wave swept the people and fishing boat back to shore.

Master Fang's legs couldn't withstand the surging tide, and he was pushed several feet away, landing soaking wet on the high sand. Surprisingly, he sat quite steadily, though he looked a bit disheveled and dazed.

The mirror polisher and He Dasheng, a few feet away, twitched twice, like two rotten fish and shrimp thrown ashore by a huge wave, facing the yellow sand.

Master Fang scrambled to his feet, wading through the water, and rushed towards them. With great effort, he turned them over and woke them up by pressing their stomachs and patting their faces.

He Dasheng struggled to his feet. When he looked at the sea again, it was calm and the milky white mist gradually dissipated, and the eerie mirage faded away.

The fishing boat emerged from the mirage and slowly sailed back to the shore. A man nearing fifty years old emerged from the cabin, hunched over. Seeing the three people standing dumbfounded at the shore, he even showed a hint of doubt in his eyes before asking, "Dasheng, what brings you here?"

He Dasheng, who was filled with fear and anxiety, was initially taken aback, but then hurriedly went to meet him and asked seven or eight questions in a row.

The question puzzled Mr. He, who then gave a series of answers.

"What's wrong? I'm perfectly fine, what could possibly happen?"

"There's no mirage. I didn't see anything at sea. Oh, maybe I was in a mirage. I couldn't see anything except for some fog." Mirages are formed from mirage energy; they are just an illusion. From afar, they appear as a scene, but up close, they are just fog.

"Hey, it's not uncommon for a pole to break, don't make a fuss."

“I didn’t shout, and I was at sea, so far away. Even if I did shout, how could you possibly hear me?”

When He Dasheng saw that his father was perfectly fine, completely unharmed, and had even brought back a boatload of fish, shrimp, and shellfish, returning home fully loaded, the heavy weight in his heart finally lifted.

It turned out to be just an illusion; there was no real screaming. It was all a hoax.

Master Fang and the mirror polisher were relieved to see that the father and son were unharmed, and hurriedly prepared to take their leave.

"Hey," He Dasheng called out to them, "Didn't you tell me to lead the way to find the stone?"

"It's getting late now, and I suddenly remembered that I have a very important matter to attend to. After I finish this, I'll come back tomorrow to trouble you to show me the way."

After saying this, Master Fang hurriedly pulled the mirror polisher away. The mirror polisher was dragged quite a distance before he asked, "Do you have something very urgent to tell me?"

Master Fang lowered his voice: "Come with me to save someone."

The story of their accidental encounter with Constable Lu could be explained in a few words. But as night deepened and all was quiet, the two suspicious men, their faces covered, crept stealthily around the house and courtyard walls, sometimes one in front, sometimes behind, sometimes to the left and right, but they couldn't even find a mouse hole. Just as they were gesturing and planning how to climb over the wall, the old door suddenly creaked open, startling them so much that they tiptoed to hide on the other side of the wall.

The two men cautiously peeked out and saw a masked man also taking advantage of the night to push open the door and stride off in another direction.

Good heavens, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! That guy didn't close the door!

The dark, gaping entrance was practically a blatant invitation.

They remained calm and crouched behind the wall for a moment, making sure the masked man was far away before exchanging a glance.

Time waits for no one, let's act!

Who would have thought that on this dark and quiet night, two shadowy figures would suddenly appear, moving like weasels with the gait of thieves, sneaking around between the two rooms, finally finding the right room and getting close to Lu Bing on the bed.

Lu Bing, who had been touched on the waist, suddenly woke up. Before he could make a sound, his mouth was covered tightly by both hands.

Master Fang crouched down, pulled off his mask, and whispered, "It's me."

Lu Bing stared in astonishment at the two people beside the bed. He never expected that Master Fang would come looking for him in the middle of the night. Before Lu Bing could resist or struggle, firstly because he didn't have the strength to struggle, and secondly because he was afraid of making a noise that would alert Chen Ying, then Master Fang and his companion who had barged in would definitely not be able to leave.

So, with Master Fang's help, the mirror polisher carried Lu Bing on his back and ran, ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran...

The mirror polisher thought that this wasn't a rescue mission, but a burglary. Luckily, he was strong from years of carrying heavy loads all over the country; otherwise, how could he have carried such a tall man and run two miles in one go?

"Alright, alright, stop running..." Master Fang called out to him breathlessly, but he kicked a stone slab and fell forward, his teeth hitting another hard stone. The pain made him cover his front teeth, tears streaming down his face, "Waaaaah..."

The mirror grinder turned around and saw his miserable state: "Oh dear, old Fang."

Old Fang was in so much pain that he kept hammering the big stone. But halfway through, he noticed some writing on the stone. Just as he was about to lean over and examine it closely by the dim moonlight, Lu Bing, who was lying on the mirror polisher's back, suddenly groaned in pain and started trembling.

"What's wrong?" the mirror grinder asked, puzzled.

"Officer Lu," Master Fang scrambled to his feet, and the two carefully placed Lu Bing'an under an old pine tree. At this moment, Lu Bing was already convulsing. He clenched his teeth tightly, his face contorted in extreme pain, barely managing to suppress a scream.

Master Fang stared at his tense facial muscles and the bulging veins on his forehead and neck, and for a moment he was flustered and confused: "Officer Lu, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Ah..." Lu Bing finally couldn't help but let out a short scream, because the next moment, he bit his tongue hard.

Master Fang was horrified. He grabbed the man's cheek to prevent him from biting his tongue and committing suicide: "Quick, find a thicker branch."

The mirror grinder immediately broke off a thick tree branch and placed it between Lu Bing's teeth. Only then did Master Fang dare to let go and check Lu Bing's pulse.

Lu Bing convulsed, his limbs curling up, his eyes bloodshot. He endured a wave of excruciating pain, feeling as if he were about to suffocate. He gasped for breath, momentarily losing his grip on the branch, his face contorting again: "Ah—"

...

As they traveled closer to the coast of Jiaodong, they would occasionally encounter fishermen carrying fish, shrimp, and oysters. Zhou Yaren and Bai Yuan inquired about the location of Langya Terrace along the way. After walking several miles along the winding path, they could vaguely see a fishing village shrouded in mist. The roofs, made of seaweed, were very thick and resembled boats, quite different from the cave dwellings along the Yellow River in Shanxi and Shaanxi, as well as the thatched houses or green-tiled houses in the north and south.

The clouds obscured the sun, and the fishing village by the sea was shrouded in a damp mist, exuding a stifling, humid heat.

Zhou Yaren subconsciously extended her divine sense and caught the whispers, as well as the moans of pain mixed in with the chatter.

"I don't know, I saw it with my own eyes, it was the He family's ship."

"If you don't believe me, go and see for yourself."

"I wouldn't dare go."

"ah--"

"Ouch, it hurts!"

"Where does it hurt?"

"My neck, my back, and my arms."

"It hurts so much, it hurts so much."

"That night, that very night, the masts broke, and the flag in the sea washed ashore yesterday."

"It must have been recruited by the He family. What should we do? What should we do now? This is going to be a disaster."

"Help me, please help me!"

Bang—

Clang, clang—

"Ah! Mother, don't bump into me, don't bump into me, Mother!"

"By the way, didn't a Taoist priest come to our village a few days ago? Where is he now?"

The noise was chaotic, and the crying of women and children filled Zhou Yaren's ears. He frowned and said, "Something seems to have happened in the fishing village."

Bai Yuan knew he must have overheard something: "What is it?"

The story is fragmented and doesn't tell the whole story. If you want to know what happened, you'll have to go to the village and ask around. This place is now on the coast, and it might be related to a Gu master.

Hearing the cries of pain, Zhou Yaren and Bai Yuan arrived at a house. The moment they knocked on the gate, the house, which had been filled with whispers, fell silent. Everyone held their breath, and the silence was so profound that you could hear a pin drop.

After a short while, a weak voice slowly came from the side: "Help, help."

Bai Yuan turned around and first saw a trembling hand reaching out from the bottom of the courtyard gate. The hand was old and rough, helplessly outstretched, with calloused palms covered in mud and ash, clearly having struggled to crawl to the gate little by little.

"Help me, help me..."

Bai Yuan and Zhou Yaren immediately turned around and stepped over.

"Father!" A middle-aged man rushed out from the inner room, squatted down and helped the white-haired old man who had climbed to the gate of the courtyard.

Bai Yuan stepped forward: "What happened to him?" "Save..." The old woman's hands trembled as she grabbed Bai Yuan's skirt, "Save me..."

"Father, get up quickly." The man looked anxiously at the two strangers at the door. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Bai Yuan ignored the other party's question: "What illness does the old man have?"

“My father has always been healthy, he has never…” Before the man could finish speaking, the old man began to struggle in his arms in great pain, crying out in pain.

Bai Yuan squatted down and grasped the old man's pulse. The old man tried to struggle, but he was no match for Bai Yuan's strength.

Seeing this, the man asked, "You know how to diagnose illnesses?"

"I know a little bit," Bai Yuan said. "Where does it hurt?"

"My hands, feet, neck, back, my whole body aches. My bones hurt, and my skin hurts too."

That's strange. Judging from the pulse, the old man's body is perfectly normal. How could he be in pain all over for no reason?

Bai Yuan looked at Zhou Yaren: "The pulse is normal, no illness was detected."

The man said, "I've already seen a doctor, and they all said my father isn't sick."

"It hurts! Help me! Help me!"

The old man struggled and writhed, and the man could barely control him.

Bai Yuan gathered a chilling aura at his fingertips and tapped several key acupoints on the old man's body. The old man, who had been in extreme pain, suddenly relaxed and leaned weakly and wearily back into his son's arms.

The middle-aged man was taken aback: "Young lady, can you cure my father's illness?"

They tried everything they could, but to no avail.

Bai Yuan shook his head: "It doesn't look like an illness. I just temporarily sealed his acupoints to relieve the pain. Has anything unusual happened to the old man before?"

The middle-aged man opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything for a moment.

Bai Yuan suggested, "If you encounter anything strange, you might as well tell us about it; perhaps we can help you."

Zhou Yaren had just scanned the area with her divine sense and heard similar cries for help from more than six or seven households: "I heard that several families in the village are in similar situations to the old man. Has something unusual happened recently that has caused everyone to experience pain one after another?"

The middle-aged man nodded: "There is indeed a strange thing, but you might not believe it if I told you."

“Just the day before yesterday,” a young girl came out of the west room, “a terrible mirage appeared at sea.”

Bai Yuan looked up.

The girl met her gaze: "We live by the sea, and our ancestors have never seen such a terrifying mirage."

"Erniu," the man called to her, "come quickly and help Grandpa into the house."

Erniu stepped forward and helped her father lift the old man from the ground and carry him into the house.

"Please come in first," the man said. "My second daughter might have seen it; I'll have her tell you about it."

After settling the old man back into bed, Erniu came out and told Bai Yuan and Zhou Yaren about the strange and terrifying mirage from the day before. She said, "I saw with my own eyes those dark shadows on the sea climb onto Dasheng's fishing boat. They... they came into our little fishing village on Dasheng's boat."

At this point, Erniu, fearing they might think she was too young to be making things up, emphasized, "It wasn't just me; many people in the small fishing village saw it. It was Dasheng's father who brought those shadowy figures back to the village."

Bai Yuan frowned: "A shadowy figure?"

"No, those aren't shadowy figures, they're mirages, mirages from the sea!" Erniu exclaimed in terror. "The village elders say that mirages from the sea can't come ashore unless a boat takes them there, then they'll come into the village and harm people."

Before this, Zhou Yaren and Bai Yuan had never heard of evil spirits like mirages, so this was quite novel for them.

“That night, when I was half asleep, I suddenly saw a dark shadow, hazy and indistinct, like a thick fog, a mirage ghost born from a mirage. It squeezed into a thin piece of paper from under the door crack,” Erniu pointed to the ground by the doorway, “and crawled in along the crack, then gradually expanded into a human figure, slowly crawling to Grandpa’s kang (heated brick bed). I saw it climb onto the kang mat and onto my grandpa. At that moment, I woke up with a start. When I opened my eyes and looked carefully, there was nothing there. Grandpa was sleeping peacefully. I thought I was having a nightmare and was woken up by the scene in the nightmare, but I didn’t expect that Grandpa would fall ill the next day. He cried out in pain from morning to night, and it got worse and worse.”

Zhou Yaren and Bai Yuan's faces darkened.

Zhou Yaren asked, "Besides these, are there any other strange things?"

Erniu nodded stiffly: "My parents didn't believe what I saw at first, but in the village, it wasn't just my grandfather who suddenly became like this. He was perfectly fine before, never sick or in pain, but suddenly he was writhing in pain, banging his head against the wall. Even seeing a doctor didn't help. Then the next night, also in the middle of the night, I vaguely heard rustling sounds. I opened my eyes groggily and saw a dark shadow slowly crawling towards me. Its eyes were like two black holes, exactly the same as the dark shadow that crawled onto my grandfather that night. I screamed in terror. My parents heard the screams and rushed out immediately. The moment we turned on the light, we realized that the one crawling on the ground was my grandfather."

This scene was unexpected for Zhou Yaren and Bai Yuan. They looked at each other and did not interrupt Erniu.

"Grandpa crawled towards me, crying out, 'It hurts! It hurts! Help me! Help me!' I was so scared I curled up in a ball. I felt like Grandpa had become that mirage ghost, because the way they crawled was exactly the same." Erniu looked at Bai Yuan, helpless and terrified. "My grandpa, is he possessed by that mirage ghost?"