Peach Haven Village (13)

Ghost Granny's fifth knock had become a pounding. Her whole palm slapped against the door, making the wooden door creak and groan.

Sun Qi's voice came from inside the room. "Get out there! She's looking for you, get out there!" Her voice trembled with tears, loud beyond her control.

A cracking sound rang out. The lock was smashed open by the sixth knock. Sun Qi inside was shoved toward Ghost Granny, who mercilessly clamped both hands around Sun Qi's throat.

Blind Zhao was puzzled. "Strange. Why was she attacking this girl? Could it be because she carries Zhao Liu's scent?"

Just as Sun Qi was about to die, the window beside the door opened. Zhao Liu leaped out from the windowsill and ran toward the school building to the south. Ghost Granny flung Sun Qi aside. Sun Qi flew nearly ten meters, her body smashing into the cafeteria wall like a cannonball.

Blind Zhao immediately followed Ghost Granny. Ding Shi hesitated, hopping in place for a second, but still ran toward the unconscious Sun Qi. He checked her breathing, then her heartbeat. Damn it! She was still alive. What was he supposed to do? Damn this kindness.

Ding Shi picked up Sun Qi, ran to the village chief's house, knocked three times, and shouted, "Help!" Then he set her down.

Without the villagers' help, Ding Shi had no idea how to save Sun Qi either.

The school was near the village chief's house. After making a quick round trip, Ding Shi returned to the school. He vaulted gracefully over the wall with one hand and landed steadily—only to see a bell flying toward him. Inspiration struck, and in a flash of brilliance, Ding Shi extended his left hand and caught the bell in his palm.

Then he saw Ghost Granny lift Blind Zhao and throw him away.

If Ghost Granny wasn't in the Olympic Games, I wouldn't even watch them.

Ding Shi threw out the bell. It hit the ground with a ring, drawing Ghost Granny's attention. Blind Zhao got to his feet while vomiting blood, staggered forward a dozen or so steps, then sprawled over the fallen Zhao Liu and asked, "What did she want from you? Or what did she ask you?"

There was a huge hole in Zhao Liu's chest, blood continuously pouring from his mouth and nose. His left hand gripped Blind Zhao's ankle, as though he desperately wanted to speak.

Blind Zhao urgently asked, "What are you saying?"

"She's coming," Ding Shi said anxiously.

Ghost Granny was already within five meters of Blind Zhao. Hearing Ding Shi's voice, she immediately turned and floated toward him. Ding Shi took out his own bell, clenched it in his hand, and ran.

Blind Zhao's face was full of question marks. "That's not right. This isn't right." Why did Ghost Granny attack everyone she saw? Could her obsession be killing lots of people? That made no sense.

In a flash of inspiration, Blind Zhao shouted, "Take off your clothes!"

Ding Shi threw the bell toward Blind Zhao.

Blind Zhao was shocked. He made a goalkeeper's diving save for the bell, but missed. The bell struck the ground with a ring and slid into the grass. Ghost Granny immediately turned and lunged for the bell. Blind Zhao was injured and couldn't run fast, so he could only feel around for the bell in the grass.

Seeing Ghost Granny getting closer and closer, Blind Zhao gritted his teeth and ran off, stripping as he ran. Ghost Granny pounced into the grass, paused for several seconds, then turned to look at Blind Zhao, the closest person to her.

Blind Zhao glanced back at Ghost Granny. Seeing that she was unmoved by the clothes and was floating toward him, he decisively started taking off his pants. But pants were not so easy to remove. He stepped on a pant leg and fell to the ground. Just as Blind Zhao was surely done for, Ding Shi found Blind Zhao's bell and threw it to the side. The ringing lured Ghost Granny away.

Seeing Ding Shi about to approach, Blind Zhao said, "Don't come over. Her obsession should have something to do with clothes and pants."

After saying that, Blind Zhao stripped himself completely naked, tossed his clothes and pants in every direction, and waited for Ghost Granny to strike.

Just as he wished, he was still the living person closest to Ghost Granny, so Ghost Granny charged at him.

"That's not right!" Blind Zhao turned and ran. Why was she still coming for people? Could Ghost Granny's obsession be muscular men? But then why had she attacked Sun Qi?

Ding Shi clapped his hands and shouted, "Shoes!"

Blind Zhao dropped to the ground, pulled off his shoes, and threw them aside. Ghost Granny immediately stopped, floated over to the shoes, bent down, and looked inside them.

Now Blind Zhao understood everything. "Her obsession is cloth-soled shoes. In a few days, it'll be her son's birthday in his zodiac year. According to local customs, as his mother, she would sew a pair of cloth-soled insoles." But another question arose. Why hadn't she found the insoles at home? Who would steal even a pair of insoles?

Ghost Granny confirmed that they were not her insoles, so she headed for Ding Shi, the living person with insoles. Ding Shi had prepared in advance. Holding one insole in each hand, he tossed them left and right, then swaggered toward Ghost Granny. As expected, Ghost Granny ignored him and floated toward the insoles. After confirming that none of the living people present had what she wanted, she began wandering aimlessly through the village.

Ding Shi gathered Blind Zhao's clothes and pants. As Blind Zhao got dressed, Ding Shi asked, "Uncle Zhao, isn't it time we settled our account?"

Blind Zhao said leisurely, "Don't rush. We haven't found the insoles yet. Come with me to her house first."

Ding Shi placed a hand on Blind Zhao's shoulder and said with a smile, "Uncle Zhao, people like us who roam the martial world hate those who break faith and betray righteousness most of all."

Blind Zhao gave an ingratiating laugh. "Little Ding, young people shouldn't be so impatient. Let me tell you—Third Lady really is sealed inside a coffin, but the coffin isn't beneath Third Lady Temple. It's inside Third Lady Temple. Third Lady Temple was built against the mountain, and Third Lady's coffin is kept within it."

Ding Shi said, "Uncle Zhao, I didn't study much. You're not fooling me, are you?"

Blind Zhao raised two fingers. "If I'm lying to you, may I forever fall into the realm of beasts."

Ding Shi considered it, released Blind Zhao's shoulder, and said, "Everyone go home and find their own mother."

Blind Zhao said, "Wait. If you're seeing a Buddha off, see him all the way to the west. In case she loses her temper again, it's always safer to have someone watching your back."

Ding Shi asked, "What's in it for me?"

Blind Zhao said, "I'll give you half the Yin Virtue."

Ding Shi wasn't buying empty promises. "What else?"

Blind Zhao thought for a long while before saying, "I'll teach you a move."

Ding Shi asked curiously, "What move?"

Blind Zhao said, "I don't know either."

Seeing Ding Shi look down on him, Blind Zhao explained, "The master who suppressed Third Lady gave my father a feng shui book as thanks for helping him build White Cloud Temple. The last page was a talisman diagram. You said it yourself: talismans have to be drawn in one continuous stroke. But neither my father nor I had that skill."

As he spoke, Blind Zhao took something from his bag. It was a talisman diagram sandwiched between two panes of glass. Ding Shi stared at it for a long time but could not understand it at all. He could not even find where the stroke began or ended. Looking at it as a whole, it resembled four ditches feeding into one river. The four ditches had different shapes. The only thing he could guess was that the ditch in the upper left looked somewhat like the oracle-bone character for fire.

Ding Shi asked, "Why is there only one page?"

Blind Zhao sighed. "Didn't someone find out? Someone reported me for practicing feudal superstition. Luckily, my family had been poor peasants for three generations. My old man tore off the final page and hid it, then burned the book in front of everyone and cursed White Cloud Daoist. That was how we escaped disaster."

Ding Shi put away the glass-covered talisman and said, "Let's go. We need to get this done quickly."

But things did not go as planned. As they passed the village chief's house, the village chief grabbed Ding Shi. "Little Ding, come here for a moment."

Ding Shi signaled Blind Zhao to wait, jogged into the village chief's courtyard, and said, "Village Chief, I still have something to deal with."

The village chief acted as though he had not heard. He draped a coat over himself, glanced at Sun Qi lying on the floor, and told Ding Shi, "This girl isn't going to make it. You need to get her to Doctor Qian's house as soon as possible." Doctor Qian was Peach Haven Village's barefoot doctor, a fifty-year-old woman who lived a li away.

New mission: Deliver Sun Qi to Doctor Qian's house within 10 minutes.

Fine! Ding Shi slung Sun Qi over his shoulder and headed out. He said to Blind Zhao, "Wait for me. I'm saving someone first."

Blind Zhao tried to stop him. "How can saving a person be more important than helping that thing? Help it once, and it's equivalent to saving countless people."

Ding Shi shoved Blind Zhao aside. "I'll go get the Seven-Tier Pagoda first, then I'll come back and split the Yin Virtue with you. Wait for me." He was not particularly interested in Yin Virtue, but he was interested in information about it. As long as Blind Zhao took the Yin Virtue alone, he would have to tell him what Yin Virtue was.

Sure enough, once Ding Shi had disappeared from view, Blind Zhao hesitated for a moment, stomped his foot, and headed alone toward Ghost Granny's house.