Hopping and Skipping

In the blazing summer heat, the leaves drooped listlessly.

The abandoned village's houses were scattered across the hillside—stone houses, stone walls, stone slab paths, Stone Well. In this village where stone was its culture, the plants looked as though autumn had come. The grass was short, as if malnourished and growing slowly. Great trees had withered, and rotten branches occasionally came crashing down. Only a few shrubs stubbornly held on with several green leaves.

The Stone Well had run dry. The streams and mountain springs were parched, and the Water Vein had died.

Yet green still existed stubbornly, like a declaration from heaven and earth that even in harsh surroundings, life had to grow.

Anywhere with even slightly more greenery was a place where the village still had vitality. Heaven never sealed off every road for a man; as long as there was a sliver of life left, there was hope. There were always places in the village where yang energy was stronger or where the earth veins converged. At one such node, she even spotted a wild mountain flower in full bloom.

There was a small tree three meters tall in the village, its branches laden with green leaves. Before it stood the Mountain God Temple.

The stone slab path beside the stone walls twisted and turned. Gray mist filled the air, eerie and terrifying. There were no birdcalls, no insect chirps, and not even a beast searching for food could be seen.

Suddenly, a small figure bounced into the village along the stone slab path...

Bai Yujun with hands behind her back hopped around. Every wild leap made the thick hair atop her head sway chaotically, lurching left and right like the zombies from some old, cheaply made horror film.

"I don't like stone slab paths. Really."

Bai