Not a good person
“We can’t go any further, you can get off here.” When they reached the mountain gate, the driver stopped and turned to Si Mucheng and Wen Ya in the back seat.
Si Mucheng glanced outside and saw lush greenery all around, with a mountain path clearly visible.
Wen Ya got out of the car first. As soon as she got out, Wen Xiaofeng cooed twice, flapped her wings, and flew down from Wen Ya's shoulder. Then she walked up the mountain on her own.
The driver saw it clearly and his eyes widened: "Hey!"
Upon seeing this, Si Mucheng said "Thank you, Master" and hurriedly got out of the car, walking up the mountain with Wen Ya.
After a long while, Si Mucheng finally breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the car drive away behind him. He turned his head to look at Wen Ya, whose calm profile revealed no emotion.
He suddenly wanted to laugh; he never expected that such a serious-looking Taoist priest would lie through his teeth.
"Master, what are your plans after this? Will you stay at the Taoist temple? Actually, you don't have to shake me off so quickly. I'm not clingy. How about we exchange contact information? I haven't learned how to make that calming talisman yet..."
Wen Ya felt a banging sound in her ear, like a loudspeaker, and thought to herself, "If you're not a leech, who is?" Just as she was about to tell him to shut up, a thought suddenly struck her, and she stopped in her tracks.
"What's wrong?" Si Mucheng asked, noticing her serious expression.
Wen Ya held up a talisman, her face serious: "Go back now."
"No!" Si Mucheng exclaimed, confused. "What's wrong? Did I make you angry again?"
Wen Ya's fingers trembled as she looked at the talisman. Her eyes sharpened. "Go back quickly. Zhao Wentian is in danger. I need to go find him now."
"Wait!" Si Mucheng was confused as to why the conversation suddenly turned to Zhao Wentian, and how Zhao Wentian had gotten into danger. "Explain yourself clearly!"
Wen Ya suddenly looked up at the mountain. She didn't care about Si Mucheng and only had time to tell him, "Don't follow me, hurry up." Then she ran up the mountain without looking back.
Si Mucheng wasn't so obedient and quickly followed. However, he was among the top five runners in the school, so he should have been able to catch up with Wen Ya easily. But even though he clearly saw Wen Ya turn a corner, she disappeared from his sight after he turned the corner.
He frowned as he gazed at the fog-shrouded mountain road: "Strange."
Could there be a hidden path? But this fog is very strange. The weather was clear just now, and there wasn't a trace of fog.
He turned around and saw that the road he had come from was also covered by thick fog.
Si Mucheng was startled. Could this... be a ghost?!
He now truly understood the meaning of "dilemma"—he was surrounded by thick fog and dared not move an inch.
"Wen Ya! Great God! Stop playing around, where are you? Come out quickly!" Si Mucheng was terrified. If the situation wasn't unclear, he really wanted to faint right then and there, so he wouldn't be afraid if he couldn't see.
He called out for a long time, but there was no response. A thought suddenly came to his mind: Was he still alive? Could this be a hallucination he had before he died?
No, we can't just sit here and wait to die. Since things have come to this, we can only grit our teeth and keep going. At least there are no forks in the road here, and at least this mountain path leads to the Zhao family's Taoist temple. Even if there are ghosts, surely he can find a Taoist master who can exorcise them when he goes to the temple?
Si Mucheng made up his mind, and even though the visibility was very low, he still mustered up his courage and moved forward.
However, the thick fog lingered, growing denser the further he walked, until soon Si Mucheng was surrounded by a white mist. Another concern arose in his mind: was this fog poisonous? Thinking this, he instinctively covered his nose.
He walked alone in the fog for a while, but fortunately, although he didn't encounter any people, he also didn't encounter any ghosts.
Just as he was on the verge of collapse, he noticed that the fog around him was thinning. He was clearly walking on a mountain path, surrounded by greenery and trees, but after the fog cleared, he found himself standing in an alley.
Si Mucheng thought to himself, "I must have seen a ghost."
The fog had completely dissipated, revealing the surrounding scenery. It seemed to be a residential area, with a wall on one side of the alley and bungalows on the other, like a suburban area.
Is this still in Qicheng?
Si Mucheng took out his phone, and sure enough, there was no signal. He knew he must have encountered something he couldn't understand. Although he was panicking, he knew he couldn't lose his composure in the unknown, and besides, he didn't know if Wen Ya was here too.
If she is there, his immediate priority is to find her. If she is not, he will have to find a way to send a message out, or he will have to rely on himself.
This place is very strange. It was morning when we went up the mountain, but now the sky has turned overcast. I don't know if it's going to rain or if it's about to get dark.
The alleyway was muddy and looked rather dirty. Si Mucheng carefully avoided the puddles and looked around. It was quiet all around. Si Mucheng wasn't sure if there were any residents in the bungalows and apartment buildings behind the walls, but at this moment, it didn't seem like anyone was around.
The long alley finally came to an end, and at the end of the wall was a gate with several large characters above it: Chunhe Residential Area.
Si Mucheng stared at the words and read them aloud. It looked like an ordinary residential area, but it got dark very quickly, and the inside of the gate was a blur, like a gaping mouth trying to devour something.
This is too bizarre. Si Mucheng dared not move.
Just as he was hesitating whether to go in and take a look, a voice suddenly rang out: "Hey buddy, buddy!"
Si Mucheng was startled and quickly looked around for the owner of the voice.
A moment later, someone emerged from the shadows of the gate and waved to Si Mucheng: "Hey bro, over here!"
Si Mucheng looked in the direction of the voice and saw a kind-looking middle-aged man. He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness, someone has finally come."
*
Wen Ya noticed the strange fog as soon as she entered the dream—it was unusual. However, when the fog dissipated, the scene that appeared was one that Wen Ya had never been to before, and she knew that Zhao Wentian was probably trapped in the evil spirit illusion.
Evil spirits create dreams that can draw those with obsessive thoughts into their dreams, just like Si Mucheng's grandmother back then.
But this time even Zhao Wentian was drawn into the dream, and it's unclear what kind of evil spirit it is; it seems a bit troublesome.
Wen Ya tried burning a talisman, but nothing happened. It seemed that receiving Zhao Wentian's message talisman earlier was just a coincidence. She wondered who else was trapped here besides Zhao Wentian. She suddenly frowned. Si Mucheng…did he go back?
There have been instances where passersby have been innocently pulled into the illusion, but if they stay still and don't wander around, their experience is simply that of being lost in a maze.
She now only hoped that if Si Mucheng entered the illusion, he would stay put. If he wandered around and encountered evil spirits, he would definitely not be able to handle it.
However, given his courage, he probably won't wander off.
Wen Ya made a hand gesture, and soon a "coo coo" sound came from afar, and Wen Xiaofeng flew towards her from the shadows. Wen Ya stretched out her right arm, and Wen Xiaofeng flapped its wings and flew onto her arm, tilting its head to look at her.
Wen Ya patted its head and whispered, "Go and find him. It would be troublesome if he really got dragged in. If he's just wandering around outside, take him out."
Wen Xiaofeng grumbled and turned her head away, looking very unwilling. Wen Ya smiled faintly: "Good girl."
Wen Xiaofeng nodded, then spread her wings and flew off Wen Ya, quickly disappearing from sight.
After settling Si Mucheng in, Wen Ya was finally able to relax. She looked around; it seemed to be an old neighborhood, surrounded by rows of residential buildings, though none of them were tall, and even in the dim light, it was clear that the buildings weren't very clean.
The scenes that appear in the illusion of evil spirits are usually places that the ghost was familiar with in his previous life. This is probably the evil spirit's home, but it is unknown which house it is or what the ghost's obsession is.
Whatever it is, living people who are pulled into the illusion by evil spirits are in danger, because the evil spirits' obsession is less about getting things done and more about malice. Regardless of their original intentions, "they" only want to take away the living.
Take Si Mucheng for example. His grandmother originally just couldn't bear to part with him, but her obsession became too deep and turned into malice. Her desire to be close to her grandson changed.
Therefore, Wen Ya needs to find the person first, otherwise that person's life may be in danger.
Hopefully, it's not too late.
The sky had completely darkened, and the lights in the residential buildings gradually came on, just like the scene in an ordinary neighborhood after dark. One could almost imagine the residents preparing dinner. But Wen Ya knew that it wasn't real. Everything in the illusion was created by the evil spirit, and what she was seeing now was the evil spirit's memory.
Just as Wen Ya was about to take a step to search the vicinity, a shrill scream suddenly pierced the night sky.
Wen Ya looked up at a particular apartment in the building, her expression grave.
＊
"Holy crap! What was that sound?!" Si Mucheng shrugged in fright and looked around in alarm.
“...It’s a scene from 'her' memory,” the middle-aged man said gently.
"So who else was dragged in besides you?" Si Mucheng looked warily at the apartment building in front of him. Fortunately, the woman did not scream again.
“And the Celestial Master of Yuhuang Temple.” An apologetic expression appeared on the man’s face. “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t gone to the Taoist temple, I wouldn’t have led ‘her’ there.”
The man was the one Si Mucheng met at the entrance of Chunhe Residential Area. He said his name was Li Huaming and that this was his wife's illusion.
According to Li Huaming, he felt unwell shortly after his wife passed away, but a hospital check-up revealed nothing wrong.
Later, he happened to meet a fortune teller on the street who said he was possessed by a ghost. At first, Li Huaming didn't believe it. He didn't believe in ghosts and gods and thought the fortune teller was a fraud.
But his body was getting weaker and weaker, and he heard that the Yuhuang Temple on Yuhuang Mountain was very effective, so he went up the mountain to give it a try.
"The Taoist master said that the ghost haunting me was extremely resentful. As a result, when the master was setting up the formation and performing the ritual, something suddenly happened, and I fainted. When I woke up, I came here."
"So how did you know this was your wife's hallucination?"
"This is our home."
Si Mucheng raised an eyebrow upon hearing this: "Which household made that sound just now?"
Li Huaming pointed ahead: "That building, Building Six, our house, on the fifth floor."
“Your wife…” Si Mucheng recalled the piercing scream just now, “Why did she scream so horribly? What happened to her?”
Li Huaming's gentle brows furrowed: "It's all my fault, it was me... who couldn't control myself."
Si Mucheng had a bad feeling: "...What did you do?"
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