Desolate Temple

Under the intense, disorienting impact, Hu Ma obediently followed the little girl in the red dress home for a meal.

His dazed brain, jolted by the strong impact, had actually cleared up completely. Everything he saw had shattered all his reason, yet he was powerless to question it...

It was already dark. An oil lamp was lit in the small hut, and the Old Woman was waiting for him by the eight-immortal table.

The meal in this simple hut was surprisingly abundant.

Hu Ma was still panting from running, and on top of being frightened by those ghostly things, he was somewhat dazed. He didn't know how long he had been running, but he saw that a plate of pickles, two bowls of congee, and a plate of square-cut meat were already laid out on the eight-immortal table.

So, Hu Ma obediently sat on the left side of the eight-immortal table, while the Old Woman sat at the head.

Xiao Hong Tang was now squatting on the roof beam, sticking her head down to peek.

The lamplight flickered, and shadows danced. In the shadows outside the house, something seemed to be peeking in.

The Old Woman didn't speak, just ate her meal in silence. She only ate the pickles from the plate.

Xiao Hong Tang on the roof beam also didn't speak, just blinked her eyes, watching Hu Ma, who was now sitting by the eight-immortal table.

The atmosphere was strangely oppressive. Hu Ma finally couldn't stand it and carefully broke the silence:

"What... what exactly were those things?"

"..."

The Old Woman and Xiao Hong Tang on the roof beam both turned to look at him. The atmosphere in the room seemed to become even more oppressive.

"Evil Spirits."

In the silence, the Old Woman slowly opened her mouth. "As soon as it gets dark, those things come out."

"You were injured too badly and forgot the rule about not going out at night."

"..."

"I..."

It was better not to hear this answer; his heart felt even more uneasy. Hu Ma softly uttered a word, unsure of what else to ask.

"You don't need to be so scared."

The Old Woman glanced at him and said slowly, "You've only just recovered, your body is weak, it's normal to encounter Evil Spirits."

"As long as you listen to the Old Woman and eat more meat, you'll get better slowly."

"..."

"Eat meat?"

Hu Ma had no choice but to look at the square-cut piece of meat on the plate again.

The previous piece had been eaten up by Xiao Hong Tang, so this one must have been freshly cooked.

But even though it was freshly cooked, it carried a chilling aura. The grease had already solidified, reflecting a strange white under the oil lamp, sitting solitary and lonely on the plate.

He had been forcibly fed this meat many times before, yet he still couldn't tell what kind of meat it was.

He could be sure it wasn't pork, nor beef, and certainly not human flesh. It was none of the meats he had ever eaten.

Furthermore, the shape of the meat always reminded him of the sacrificial meat used to commemorate the dead in his past life.

His inner revulsion made it difficult for him to pick up the chopsticks, but the Old Woman stopped her chopsticks and looked at him with a faint gaze:

"You don't believe the Old Woman?"

Hu Ma met her eyes and was slightly startled.

"I believe!"

He took a deep breath, reached out directly, pulled the plate towards him, lowered his head, and began to gnaw.

Based on his previous experiences, after being fed the meat, there would be indescribable torture, which he couldn't escape. So, at least he could fill his stomach and endure it.

He chewed the slippery meat and swallowed it. His extremely hungry body gradually felt a sense of fullness.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but as soon as the meat entered his stomach, it seemed to begin digesting.

It was as if these pieces of meat came alive after entering his stomach.

They wriggled inside his body, seeping into his organs and blood, repairing his body.

The strange sensation invigorated him, and even the wounds on his shoulders seemed to feel lighter.

Seeing him eat the meat clean, the Old Woman's expression seemed to soften slightly, and she slowly said, "Good child, after you've eaten, go back to your room and rest early."

"If you need to relieve yourself at night, just go by the wall. Absolutely do not go out, and do not look outside. Those things are still out there!"

"Tomorrow, the Old Woman will take you to the Old Fire Pit. After you pay respects to the ancestors, you'll be fine."

"..."

"Things?"

Hu Ma actually had many questions he wanted to ask.

He vaguely remembered that every night there were extremely painful tortures awaiting him, scenes like hell itself. But tonight, he was just allowed to sleep?

He wanted to ask for clarification, but when he met the Old Woman's face, hidden in the shadows of the oil lamp, he instinctively cowered in his heart.

He only dared to glance out the door, seeing only pitch darkness outside, not even a sliver of moonlight. It was so dark he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face.

The dim light from the oil lamp inside seemed to be squeezed out by the oppressive night. The thick darkness felt as though it hid countless strange things, all staring at him with their eerie, sinister eyes. Before he knew it, a sheen of sweat had broken out on his back.

He immediately and obediently cleaned up his bowls and chopsticks and retreated into the side room next door.

The room was narrow, containing only a wooden plank bed and a quilt that seemed to have just been put on, thick and cold.

He didn't dare to sleep. Hiding in the small, dark, narrow side room, he pricked up his ears, his mind focused entirely on the main hall.

Outside, the Old Woman's murmuring chanting could be heard, faint and indistinct, mysterious and obscure.

"Creak, creak..."

Beyond the chanting, another strange sound mixed in. He stretched his head to peek through the door crack and saw Xiao Hong Tang gnawing on some bone, grinding her teeth.

Hu Ma's unease reached its peak. Clutching the quilt, he silently knocked his own head.

After this scare, his mind felt noticeably clearer than before. The dizzy sensation seemed to be gradually fading.

But beyond the terror, his heart was filled with endless questions and doubts.

So, I've been reborn into this young man named Hu Ma?

The grandson of that sinister Old Woman, harmed by his enemies, she wanted to summon his soul back, but accidentally summoned me instead?

And that previous torture... was it really treatment?

But the key is... she still thinks I just woke up and don't remember anything, unaware that I'm not her grandson at all...

It was too absurd and bizarre to believe immediately. Yet, having witnessed the strange and varied wonders of this world, he found that anything that happened seemed plausible.

He had a strong desire to understand these matters, but at the moment, he didn't even have the courage to lift his head and look out the window.

He felt as if he were imprisoned by the night on this small wooden plank bed.

In a world like this, Hu Ma originally wouldn't dare to sleep. But whether it was dragging his weakened body for so long today, leaving him mentally exhausted, or the Old Woman's chanting and Xiao Hong Tang's teeth-grinding outside having a strangely hypnotic effect, he couldn't say.

He remained alert for only a short while before becoming groggy and falling asleep without realizing it.

Vaguely, it seemed he had arrived in a dark, deep place, surrounded by a dark red mist.

His body silently pushed through the mist, moving forward, when his steps suddenly paused.

Ahead, an old altar appeared. On it sat a dilapidated incense burner, with a vast expanse of darkness behind it.

Faintly, he could see the phantom image of a deity within the darkness, but it was unclear.

Hu Ma subconsciously took a few steps forward. His footsteps made no sound in the emptiness.

As he approached the altar, he realized it looked like a shrine's offering table. In fact, the entire space resembled a dilapidated, abandoned temple, so run-down that it seemed to have had no incense offerings for countless years. The plates on the table that should have held offerings were all empty.

And inside the incense burner, there was only half a furnace of old ash, cold and silent, as if no incense had been burned there for ages.

But strangely, next to the incense burner lay a red incense stick, about half the length of a little finger.

It looked brand new, and it carried a familiar scent.

Hu Ma stood before the incense burner for an unknown amount of time. His heart stirred slightly. Driven by some unknown impulse, he subconsciously picked up the half-red incense stick, gently placed it into the incense burner, and slowly withdrew his hand.

"Hiss..."

As the incense stick was placed in the burner, it inexplicably ignited.

That single point of dim red light seemed to bring a touch of life to the entire desolate and dilapidated space.

Wisps of smoke curled and drifted, like a thin, illusory little snake, lightly floating into the empty space around him.

Hu Ma realized something and held his breath slightly.

He quietly watched the smoke drift, as if expecting something to happen.

But in reality, the incense stick continued to burn quietly, its speed seemingly faster than normal incense.

He watched until the half-stick was nearly burned out, and still, nothing happened.

However, just as he was starting to relax, feeling that his tension had been baseless, he suddenly saw the scattered, drifting incense stick straighten out as if it were solid, extending into the depths of the dark red mist.

This clearly unreasonable phenomenon made Hu Ma's breathing cease at that moment.

The next second, a voice suddenly sounded: "Codename Erguotou calling for Reincarnator at Old Yin Mountain, can anyone hear me?"

"..."

"This..."

The sudden words struck Hu Ma's mind like a jolt. He stumbled back, his body trembling.

He looked in the direction of the voice with surprise and alarm, forgetting to answer.

Just then, his ankle suddenly felt cold.

A strange sensation washed over his entire body. Hu Ma immediately woke up, finding himself lying on the narrow wooden plank bed. The little girl in the red dress was holding his ankle with her cold little hands, her eyes shining abnormally as she stared intently at him.

As if shocked by electricity, he reacted and yanked his ankle back:

"What are you doing?"

"..."

"Such a coward."

Xiao Hong Tang glanced at him and said with a grin, "Brother Hu Ma, you're up! The Old Woman is taking us to the Old Fire Pit!"

"The Old Fire Pit?"

Hu Ma turned his head, a little confused, and noticed daylight streaming through the small window above.

It was already morning.

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