Leave Quickly (Thanks to Bai Shui Dou Fu Hua for the Alliance Leader)

Heng Village was large, likewise built beside the water. From afar, its stretches of white walls and black-tiled roofs were reflected in the lake alongside the dark-ink flagstones and pale-ink mountains.

But do not underestimate the villages in this place—

Whether merchants and wealthy men or high officials and nobles, their residences and lineages were mostly located in the countryside rather than the cities. Thus, nearly every village consisted of a single surname gathered together, with no other surnames mixed in. One village was an enormous lineage, a small city. Cases like Lin Jue's, where someone of another surname lived in Shu Village, were not common.

Heng Village belonged to the Wang Clan and was fairly prominent. Even now, members of the Lineage held office at court. People in these times valued honoring their ancestors and filial devotion between elders and younger kin. There were more than twenty ancestral halls alone.

There was one Founding Ancestor Shrine, two main-branch shrines, and below them were branch shrines. Some families even had ancestral shrines in their own homes.

The strange occurrences this time had happened in one of the main-branch shrines.

After making inquiries and investigating, Lin Jue arrived at a large courtyard and met Old Master Wang.

It was a spacious main hall, lit from above by an open courtyard. Below stood a water vat with turtles inside. Couplets hung on the walls and pillars; an eastern vase and western mirror flanked the seat of honor. Old Master Wang wore splendid clothes and sat upright in a grand master's chair, his bean-sized eyes studying Lin Jue below.

"Whose descendant are you? If you get frightened out of your wits, we can't afford to compensate you."

"This junior comes from Shu Village. My surname is Lin."

"Oh, that Lin fellow."

"Yes."

"You've got quite some nerve..."

"I have always been bold."

Lin Jue did his best to remain composed.

No matter how bold he had once been, he was now in an unfamiliar place he did not understand well. After listening in the pavilion to a village elder's year worth of strange tales, he could not help feeling somewhat uneasy.

Unease came from the unknown.

"At your age, studying for fame and success is what matters. Don't harm your health for a bit of money or a moment's bravado." Old Master Wang offered this warning.

"This junior wishes to see it for himself."

"You truly want to go?"

"I truly do."

"You really are fearless. Good. You have a companion tonight." The old village worthy spoke neither hurriedly nor slowly. He seemed neither overly worried that something had happened in his family shrine nor to regard it as particularly rare or terrifying, merely something strange. "Have you eaten supper?"

"In reply to Old Master, not yet."

"You have come to help our Wang Family, and we dare not treat you carelessly. Do you need anything? Speak now."

"A sword or blade would be best."

"Give him a Firewood Knife."

"Many thanks, Old Master."

"What else do you need?"

"..."

Lin Jue fell silent and thought for a moment before saying, "The nights are cold. I would also like a quilt."

"What else?"

"Nothing more."

"Good lad!"

After speaking, Old Master Wang waved his hand and instructed both Lin Jue and a servant standing nearby, "Prepare bedding for him. Let him eat here, then take him to the shrine."

A great scholarly lineage indeed paid attention to such things.

For supper, they had mountain bamboo shoots stewed with cured meat.

It had been a long time since he had eaten such a fine meal.

While eating, Lin Jue saw the other companion Old Master Wang had mentioned. He was a bearded, unkempt burly man with a faint smell of liquor and an air of dejection. He had apparently come for the reward of Ten Thousand as well, which gave Lin Jue a little more peace of mind.

People's unease mostly came from being alone.

Having someone beside him made things much better.

After supper, someone led them toward the ancestral hall.

They passed through the village, where smoke and lamplight drifted everywhere.

"Just keep going to the end."

The sky had already grown late. The servant's steps had clearly become much more hesitant, as though he did not dare approach any closer. He merely pointed ahead while holding an oil lamp in his other hand.

Lin Jue followed the direction of his finger.

Ahead lay a narrow, straight alley.

Tall firewalls of houses lined both sides. The walls had originally been white, but over time, rain had washed away the surface and exposed the black beneath, leaving them mottled with ink-dark patches. At dusk, when the sky was neither bright nor dark, the high walls and narrow alley made the lane seem exceptionally deep and secluded despite its short length.

"..."

Lin Jue took a deep breath.

But after carefully recalling what he had heard and thinking of Uncle's illness at home, he felt there was not much left to fear. He decisively said,

"Steward, you may see us off here."

"Hm? Oh, all right..."

The servant handed him the oil lamp.

"Thank you..."

Lin Jue took the lamp and stepped forward again.

He tucked the bedding under the arm holding the lamp, carried the Firewood Knife in his other hand, and walked into the alley.

He never looked back even once.

Soon, he arrived before the ancestral hall.

Lin Jue raised his head and looked.

The shrine gates stood open. By the lingering dusk light, he could see that the interior was empty, all the way to the portrait wall at the far end. There seemed to be nothing there.

Lin Jue did not allow himself to overthink it and stepped inside.

Crossing the high threshold, he did indeed feel a trace of chill, but it felt much the same as any ordinary residence, not at all as gloomy as he had imagined. Behind him came the footsteps and voice of the other man.

"There's nothing here..."

It was obvious that he was trying to reassure himself.

Lin Jue did not respond. He continued walking inward while looking up and examining the ancestral hall.

The ancestral halls of Heng Village resembled those in Shu Village. Both had a three-courtyard layout. The first section was the ceremonial gate, with a small storage space, effectively containing two rooms—one large and one small, one low and one high.

The first room was a main hall with tables and chairs, usually called the offering hall. It was where clansmen could discuss matters, commend the outstanding, and punish the wicked. The wall behind it concealed the second room. The first thing Lin Jue saw was the portrait hanging on the wall, depicting the ancestor of this Wang Family branch.

He was a rather distinguished-looking middle-aged man.

Then Lin Jue looked at the couplets hanging on the pillars to either side:

Honor filial piety and brotherly duty, that human bonds may be valued;

Strengthen the Lineage, that harmony and affection may shine.

Going around from the side to the rear and up a step brought him to the second room. It was slightly smaller than the first and held the ancestral tablets of this Wang Family branch's forebears. It was called the sleeping hall.

The ancestral hall likewise had an open courtyard, allowing in sunlight and moonlight. Its carved beams and painted rafters had been exquisitely made.

Only the tiles overhead were somewhat disordered.

Besides that, the hall was filled everywhere with couplets, family precepts, and lineage rules.

Lin Jue silently read them, reciting them in his heart.

Unexpectedly, he did not feel any gloominess. Instead, he sensed the descendants' respect for their ancestral forebears, the inheritance and continuation of lineage culture. There was even a feeling of solemn dignity.

Then the man behind him spoke again.

"You really are bold, boy. You just marched straight in without even hesitating!

"What? Did you lose a bet too?

"Or are you showing off?

"Ha! I thought I'd be the only one here tonight. Having one more person around makes me feel much better!"

As he spoke, the man set down his bedding and straw mat, then sat inside the ancestral hall.

Lin Jue sat down as well.

They lit the oil lamp and chatted idly.

They were both locals from nearby villages, so they talked about where they lived and whether they knew this person or that. Gradually, the sky darkened, and the already dim ancestral hall became darker still.

Only the bean-sized lamplight flickered.

There was a moon tonight.

The moonlight was bright, shining through the open courtyard and casting white frost across the ground.

The night grew deeper, and they grew sleepier.

Before they knew it, their eyelids had begun fighting each other.

"Hoo..."

A gust of cold wind swept through.

The man beside him suddenly widened his eyes.

"What was that?"

Lin Jue was startled as well. He looked ahead, but saw nothing.

Just as he thought this Idle Man was amusing himself by trying to scare them, or was making a mountain out of every rustle of wind and grass, he truly saw the shadows outside flicker. Almost at the same time, another gust of wind blew in.

The oil lamp was suppressed and immediately dimmed. Only after several breaths did its flame struggle back upright.

"What was that?" The man turned to Lin Jue again, his bright eyes wide open. "You saw it too?"

"I saw it."

"What was it?"

"Perhaps... a dog from the village."

Lin Jue was uncertain as well, yet compared to the man beside him, who looked older and stronger, he remained far calmer.

"A village dog?

"That's possible, that's possible."

The Idle Man repeated it several times, as if trying to convince himself.

Yet at that moment, there was another sound outside.

This time, it was a voice speaking.

"Have more fools who aren't afraid of death come again?"

The voice was shrill. Not only was it impossible to tell whether it belonged to a man or woman, it did not even sound like it came from a human throat.

"!"

The Idle Man immediately jumped in fright.

"What was that?"

He still said the same words, but his voice was already trembling badly. He seemed to have completely forgotten the analysis he had made earlier.

Lin Jue was also a student of Old Master from Shu Village and had been influenced by Old Master's belief that there were arts in the world but no gods or ghosts. He could not determine whether the Wang Family Ancestral Hall truly had Demonic Ghosts or whether people were causing trouble. Yet upon hearing that strange voice, he began to lean toward one answer.

There was no other reason—it was simply too strange.

Just as he hesitated, something overhead suddenly shook.

"Clatter, clatter..."

"Jingle, jangle..."

They were all the sounds of roof tiles shaking.

Then tiles began falling.

Crack...

A tile struck the ground and shattered into pieces at once.

Then came another whoosh as a gust of wind blew in. The only oil lamp in the sleeping hall was snuffed out by the wind.

The sleeping hall was instantly plunged into darkness. Above them, the tiles continued rattling as if a violent gale had swept over the roof. At intervals, tiles fell and struck the floor with sharp slaps. Sometimes fragments of tile splashed onto Lin Jue, bringing faint touches and even pricks of pain.

Lin Jue could not help widening his eyes.

What was happening now?

Could Demonic Ghosts truly exist in this world?

Were all those strange tales told by the village elder real?

No wonder so many drunken strongmen who claimed to be bold, and desperate Idle Men who came here for money, had failed to last a single night.

If Demonic Ghosts truly existed, how many people would not fear them?

Then a voice came again from outside the sleeping hall:

"If you do not wish to die, leave quickly!"

It was still shrill and thin, unlike any human voice, accompanied by the clatter and crackle of roof tiles.

"Ah..."

With survival foremost in his mind, the idle man beside him did not hesitate. He rolled over and scrambled up, then, before he could even straighten fully, stumbled and crawled toward the exit.

Lin Jue neither stopped him nor moved.

First, the Wang Family Ancestral Hall had been unsettled for quite some time. Plenty of people had come here to spend the night, and even the Wang Family had once organized their young and able-bodied men to stay here. Yet aside from those frightened sick after returning home, Lin Jue had never heard of anyone being harmed because of it.

Second, if this idle man ran out now, he could use the moonlight in the courtyard to see whether the thing outside was human or ghost.

Perhaps it was a gang working together?

He only heard the idle man's frantic footsteps growing farther and farther away. After leaving the sleeping hall, he seemed to trip over the threshold or the steps. Once outside, however, there came only an even more terrified cry:

"Ah!!"

That cry, too, rapidly faded into the distance.

The village was utterly peaceful at this moment.

Presumably, many villagers had been awakened by the commotion, or had heard that someone had entered the ancestral hall again tonight and simply had not slept. Yet now, not a single one dared make a sound.

Lin Jue was the only one left in the sleeping hall.

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(Bows, exposing chest)