As I listened to the approaching sound of the bells, my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest.
"They're here! What do we do now?!"
Xiaolian herself was a little flustered, but she was still comforting me.
"Don't panic! I'll just say you're a new handyman, not a guest. The guest has already left."
She loosened her collar: "Remember, no matter what you hear, don't make a sound! I'll take care of everything."
The sound of fingernails scratching the door panel came from outside.
Xiao Lian suddenly pushed me under the bed, then knelt in front of the bronze mirror and used a hairpin to pick up a strand of her hair.
"You brat! Hiding with another man again?!"
With a piercing shriek, the door shattered, and a dark figure rushed in, bringing with it a foul stench.
It was as tall as two people, and the bells on its tails made people's eardrums hurt.
I curled up under the bed, watching Xiaolian gracefully bow down, the lingering sandalwood scent in her hair mingling with the smell of blood.
"Sister, you've misunderstood. The person who just came was a new mute in the kitchen."
She dipped her fingertip in rouge and drew a fox totem on the bronze mirror: "Smell it, you're covered in the smell of cooking oil."
"Heh, you're lying to me?"
The dark figure sneered, the bells on its nine tails ringing out a piercing sound: "I can smell human flesh. You wouldn't be thinking of keeping it for yourself, would you, you brat!"
Xiao Lian's knees buckled, and she collapsed to her knees.
"No, no, how could I dare? The guest has already left. I don't know why he left so suddenly, but he was a bit strange..."
She paused deliberately, her eyes reddening as she looked up: "He was carrying a piece of scrap metal that could get hot. When he was hiding under the bed, I saw him drawing talismans in the corner of the wall, muttering something about 'heavenly thunder dispelling evil'..."
The dark figure suddenly moved closer, and I could smell the stench of decay: "What's so strange about it?"
"The way he looked at me wasn't like he was looking at a girl, it was more like he was looking at..."
Xiao Lian's voice trembled as she took a half-step back from the bronze mirror behind her: "It's like he's looking at something dirty! And the tea I poured for him, mixed with the Drunken Fragrance, he didn't even touch it."
She suddenly covered her mouth: "That's right! He was wearing a compass on his waist, exactly the same one that the feng shui master who had his Achilles tendon removed last month used!"
The shadowy figure remained silent for a long time, then impatiently swept its tail across the ground, instantly causing the blue bricks to crack with spiderweb-like patterns.
It suddenly let out a strange laugh, mixed with the harsh sound of metal scraping together.
"Things have been really unsettled lately. Three geomancers have gone missing at the foot of the mountain. Could it be that those stinking Taoist priests have finally caught on?"
It suddenly closed in, its sharp claws grazing Xiaolian's cheek: "Fine, let him live a couple more days. We'll deal with these eyesores after we've refined this batch of living souls on the night of the full moon—"
Before the words were finished, the dark figure transformed into a gust of foul wind, smashed through the window frame, and disappeared into the thick fog.
As soon as the shadowy figure left, Xiaolian breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as I was about to crawl out from under the bed, a gust of cold wind blew in.
To leave and then return?
Could it be that they've discovered it?
"Big sister..."
Just as Xiaolian was about to speak, she was stopped by the shadowy figure.
The dark shadow circled twice inside the room, and its foul-smelling saliva dripped onto the back of my hand.
Just when I thought I was about to be exposed, Xiaolian suddenly coughed violently.
"Perhaps the blood of the living spirit within me has acted up again..."
She leaned weakly against the bronze mirror: "Please, elder sister, save your younger sister..."
The dark figure let out a disgruntled roar, swept the tables and chairs over with its tail, and then strode away.
Once the bell's ringing had completely faded, Xiaolian collapsed to the ground, her clothes soaked with cold sweat: "Hurry! We must leave before dawn!"
I quickly crawled out from under the bed.
"I'll come again tomorrow at sunset."
She looked at me, her pupils suddenly contracting, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
A baby-like cry could be heard in the distance.
This time it wasn't just one, but a dense swarm, like a tide sweeping across the entire village.
The foxes in the village started howling.
...
After saying goodbye to Xiaolian, I thought about calling Dazhu, but then I thought he should be fine.
He's a regular customer here.
I crouched down and crawled into the damp tunnel.
The smell of decaying leaves mixed with the stench of blood hit me.
The sound of heavy objects being dragged could be heard from above, as if someone was dragging an iron chain across the roof beams.
Xiao Lian's words echoed in my ears: "Follow the current, and when you see a stone carved with a fox's eye, turn left..."
The water in the tunnel was icy cold, and every few steps you could step on sticky fur.
I walked along the stone wall, feeling my way forward, when I suddenly touched something warm.
Looking down in the moonlight, I saw half a severed finger, with Xiaofei's red string still wrapped around the fingernail.
A baby-like cry came from afar, sometimes near, sometimes far, and countless white clumps of fur were reflected on the water's surface, swaying.
When I saw half of the severed finger, my heart skipped a beat.
Just as I was about to reach out and touch it, my fingertips passed right through the phantom of the severed finger.
He bit his tongue and forced out a mouthful of blood essence. In the instant his third eye opened, a dazzling blue light exploded from the sweet and pungent blood.
That wasn't a physical severed finger at all, but rather a drifting "spirit of the underworld".
According to the "Seven Tablets of the Cloudy Bookcase", a person has three souls and seven spirits. The spirit of the underworld is in charge of lust and desire, and at this moment it is being refined into a lure to attract souls by some kind of evil magic.
The red rope attached to the severed finger had an eerie oily sheen, clearly indicating that it had been soaked in the fat of a living person.
A baby-like cry came from afar, sometimes near, sometimes far, and countless white clumps of fur were reflected on the water's surface, swaying.
The phantoms twisted and deformed with the ripples of the water, transforming into half-human, half-fox silhouettes, each palm holding a burning, eerie blue flame.
I suddenly remembered Xiaolian's warning and hurriedly wiped the blood from my forehead with my sleeve.
When the third eye is wide open, it is most easily tracked by spirits following the yang energy.
At that moment, the sound of flowing water from upstream was mixed with the clanging of chains being dragged.
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