When I woke up, it was the next morning. I felt very weak, as if I had just recovered from a serious illness. When I looked in the mirror, I found that my left eye was still stitched up, but I could not feel any pain at all.

I wanted to ask Grandpa what was going on, but when I saw him, it was like a bolt from the blue.

I saw my grandfather lying at my doorstep, his face bluish-purple, no longer breathing. His eyes were wide open, staring towards my room, his left hand outstretched as if trying to crawl back to my house. But he couldn't hold on any longer at the door and left me forever.

I rushed over and hugged my grandfather's body, bursting into tears. My grandfather was my only relative in this world. His passing left me feeling completely drained.

Later, when the villagers learned of my grandfather's passing, almost the entire village rushed over. Under the leadership of the village chief, the villagers raised funds to invite a Taoist priest to perform a ritual for my grandfather.

I am my grandfather's only heir. I was in a daze all day, holding my grandfather's memorial tablet and following those masters through one ritual after another.

The funeral service continued until 2 a.m. the next day. My grandfather had already been taken out of the coffin. Before the coffin was closed, relatives were allowed to pay their respects. I walked around the coffin alone, and when my gaze fell on my grandfather's face, I burst into tears. After today, I will never see my grandfather again. From now on, I will be all alone in this world.

After the coffin lid is closed, the burial must take place before dawn. This is a custom in our village. After the coffin is closed, the deceased must not hear the rooster crowing at four in the morning.

The burial site had already been dug by the village chief. This was the pit that Grandpa had chosen for himself. The village chief knew everything about his burial.

With the master's command to lift the coffin, eight strongmen lifted my grandfather's coffin. I carried my grandfather's incense burner and memorial tablet and walked in front. The funeral procession set off with yellow flashlights in hand.

The place my grandfather chose was about two kilometers away from our village, called Shantang'ao. It was across a stone bridge and stream, and it was located northwest of our village. Decades ago, there was a plan to build a reservoir there, but for some reason, the construction was stopped and it was abandoned.

When I led my team to the stone bridge over the stream, I suddenly saw a cloaked figure standing on a bamboo raft, which was stranded on the stone bridge, blocking our way.

"Who's up ahead? Do you need help?" The village chief asked as he approached with a flashlight.

The cloaked figure didn't speak. She was wearing a white, ancient-style robe and pointed at me. I couldn't see her face; her hair was very long, and she was facing away from us. I didn't even know if she was male or female.

Seeing that the other party did not answer, the village chief's expression turned somewhat unpleasant. He was about to reprimand the man when Hu Ergou, dressed in a Taoist robe, stepped forward, stopped the village chief, cupped his hands to the cloaked man, and said, "Respect for the dead is paramount. Please make way."

The cloaked figure remained silent, not even moving, still pointing directly at me.

I tried hard to see her face clearly, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't make out her features. It was as if there was a layer of mist. I shifted my body to the left, but the cloaked figure's hand didn't change at all. At this moment, I realized that the cloaked figure wasn't pointing at me, but at my grandfather's coffin.

A gust of cold wind blew by, and I couldn't help but shiver. In order not to delay my grandfather's burial, I asked, "Are you here to see my grandfather?"

At that moment, I suddenly remembered the person my grandfather had mentioned before. Could this cloaked man be the good friend my grandfather had mentioned, my fifth grandfather?

The cloaked figure did not answer and remained standing there motionless.

"Since you refuse to listen to reason, then don't blame me." Hu Ergou carefully pulled out a tattered yellow talisman from his pocket, a look of pain on his face.

Just then, fog suddenly rolled in over the stream, and the thick fog gradually obscured our view. When I looked at the cloaked figure, I saw her silhouette appearing and disappearing.

A gust of cold wind blew by, and I shivered, getting goosebumps all over my body.

I saw Hu Ergou walk over with a gloomy face, carrying the talisman in his hand, and then I could no longer see anything.

A moment later, I heard a shrill scream suddenly come from the thick fog. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. The voice seemed to echo and overlap, which was very strange. The only thing I could be sure of was that it wasn't Hu Ergou's voice.

"Master Hu?" The village chief called out, his face filled with fear and his whole body trembling.

At this point, I finally guessed the identity of the man in the straw hat; he had probably encountered something evil.

I just don't understand why this filthy thing is blocking my grandfather's coffin. Did they have some kind of grudge before? They couldn't do anything to my grandfather before, but now that he's dead, they're seeking revenge.

"Village chief, I'm fine."

Hu Ergou's voice came from ahead. As he finished speaking, the thick fog gradually dissipated, and the chill from before also disappeared.

I saw Hu Ergou walk back with a pained expression, as if he had lost some treasure.

The village chief stepped forward and whispered something in Hu Ergou's ear. I saw the village chief turn pale at first, and then he returned to normal.

The thick fog gradually dissipated, and the cloaked figure who had been blocking the road was nowhere to be found, not even the bamboo raft beneath her feet.

I really wanted to ask where the cloaked man had gone, but seeing that no one seemed to care, and with the village chief urging everyone to set off—Grandpa's coffin had to be buried before dawn, otherwise it would bring bad luck to his descendants.

Led by me, the funeral procession marched across the stone bridge and arrived at a rice paddy. The villagers had already finished harvesting their rice, so we decided to take a shortcut to bury Grandpa's coffin as soon as possible.

I led the team through the rice paddies. Walking straight through from here would save us about half the distance.

But as we walked, we felt something was wrong. According to the time, we should have already left the rice field, but after walking for about half an hour, it seemed that we had circled back to where we started.

But we've always been moving forward, so it's impossible for us to go back to where we started.

The village chief's face was grim. He looked at Hu Ergou and asked, "Master Hu, what do we do now?"

Hu Ergou's face was also gloomy. He took out a compass, looked at it for a while, pointed in a direction, and said, "Follow me."

None of us had any ideas, and we also thought that this might be the legendary "ghost wall". Everyone started to panic. Fortunately, Hu Ergou was there, and we were able to keep a little calm. Otherwise, we would definitely have been running around like headless flies.

We followed Hu Ergou forward for about ten minutes until we returned to where we had been before.