Ghost Wall

Shen Luo was startled and enraged, yet he was gradually unable to breathe. Memories of the miscellaneous books and ancient texts he had read at Spring Autumn Temple over the past two years flashed through his mind. He seemed to have seen such a situation described in one of them.

Gritting his teeth, he used the last of his strength to sit cross-legged, wrapped his arms around himself, and desperately circulated the Minor Transforming Yang Art.

A warm current surged from his dantian and swiftly spread throughout his body. A faint red glow seeped from his neck, blurring the black handprints slightly.

Shen Luo felt the force strangling his neck loosen a little, and joy immediately rose in his heart.

But before he could do anything else, a sudden, piercing shriek rang out beside his ear. It stabbed into his eardrums, making his head buzz and causing the Minor Transforming Yang Art to falter.

Almost at the same time, the handprints around his neck turned dark and profound once more. Howling rose all around him as a large mass of gray, frigid mist rapidly poured forth, swirling and dancing around him without end.

He felt as though his body had been plunged into icy water, cold beyond measure. The trace of warmth within him was utterly useless. His limbs instantly went numb, unable to move in the slightest, and breathing became difficult once again.

Shen Luo's heart sank into the deepest abyss, unable to rise again...

Boom!

Torrential rain, each drop the size of a bean, poured down and turned the entire mountain village into a swamp. Amid the pale curtain of rain, a body lay motionless in the mud.

Amid a cacophony of insect cries, Shen Luo slowly sat upright, opened his eyes, and looked around blankly.

A narrow dirt road, damp air, the thick scent of grass and trees, ground overgrown with weeds, mist in the distance...

"This is..."

Shen Luo's eyes suddenly widened. He instinctively grabbed a handful of wet mud from the ground. Only after confirming that it was indeed real did he swallow hard several times.

"Impossible..."

He threw away the mud in his hand and quickly climbed up from the cold ground. After hurriedly checking his surroundings again, his face filled with horror.

"Could it really be..."

Shen Luo stood rooted to the spot in uncertainty for quite a while. Then he raised his head and looked at the still pitch-black sky and the crescent moon. Gritting his teeth, he headed down the path.

When he saw the cultivated fields on either side again, as well as the dim mountain village built against the mountain in the distance—especially the faint, blurry lamplight within it—he stopped in a daze.

What was going on... Why was I back in the same place?

Had I never died at all? Or had everything that just happened merely been a dream?

Shen Luo was becoming confused himself.

He clearly remembered appearing in this place before. The scenery was exactly the same as what he saw now. Yet not long after entering the village, he had been...

At that thought, Shen Luo shuddered. He hurriedly touched his throat and, after finding nothing amiss, finally relaxed slightly.

He was perfectly fine now. What had happened before probably had not been real.

But if it had been a nightmare, it had been far too real. He had truly felt the terror of coming infinitely close to death.

Or perhaps it had not been a dream at all? The black blood, the shrine, and those two handprints... No, something had to be wrong somewhere!

Shen Luo stared at the little mountain village in the distance, the corners of his eyes twitching twice. At last, he made a decision.

After silently considering things where he stood for a moment, he raised a hand, bit open his index finger, and used his blood to draw a talismanic pattern across the chest of his shirt. He copied it from the Ghost-Exorcising Talisman he had seen in a collection of notes before.

The book had recorded that even those without magical power could draw spells with the power of their essence blood to ward off evil, provided their yang energy was strong enough. It would have at least a slight effect.

He did not know whether that was true, but he had no other choice now. He could only give it a try.

After finishing all this, he turned and sprinted into the wilderness in the direction opposite the little mountain village.

This was absolutely no safe place. Naturally, he would not foolishly barge into it again. The wiser choice was to stay as far away as possible!

As the saying went, a gentleman did not stand beneath a crumbling wall. Everything else could wait until he had escaped this strange place.

As Shen Luo ran, he felt the fog around him grow denser and denser. His vision quickly blurred, and he could barely make out the road ahead.

Yet he did not dare slow down in the slightest. He ran at full speed, with only one thought in his mind: the farther away he got from that strange mountain village, the better.

After running for a while, the fog ahead suddenly thinned, and his vision became clear at once.

Shen Luo was overjoyed. Just as he was about to quicken his pace, his expression suddenly froze, and he came to a stop.

At the end of the path ahead, the shadowy outline of a little mountain village built against the mountain stood there. A point of lamplight shone from within the village.

"No... Impossible. I remember turning around!" Shen Luo looked around in confusion, his face full of disbelief.

He gritted his teeth, abruptly turned around, and once more ran toward the open wilderness, quickly disappearing into the fog.

A short while later, the fog before him dispersed, and the familiar scene appeared ahead once more.

The village light that had once felt somewhat warm to him now looked chillingly sinister.

Panic began to stir in Shen Luo's heart as well.

He looked toward the grass beside the path, then suddenly took off running in that direction.

The fog enveloped the entire outside of the village, sealing it off on all sides. Though he was no longer following the path, he still quickly vanished into the mist.

The grass was difficult to traverse. Shen Luo nearly tripped several times, yet he did not dare relax in the slightest and ran forward with all his strength, heedless of everything else.

After covering some distance, the fog ahead suddenly grew thinner.

Shen Luo slowed, swallowed, and only then continued forward.

The view ahead soon became clear, but the sight that entered his eyes next made him feel as though he were on the verge of a mental breakdown.

A path appeared before him, and at its end... was that little mountain village!

"Could I have encountered a Ghost Wall?" After forcefully steadying himself and barely recalling what he had read in the ancient texts, Shen Luo suddenly understood a little.

At that moment, the night wind suddenly intensified. The nearby fog churned violently and drifted toward the village. Trees all around swayed erratically, their leaves rustling in waves.

The cold, yin energy in the air became much denser. Every hair on Shen Luo's body stood on end, and an inexplicable dread abruptly rose from the depths of his heart.

The feeling was like being watched by a venomous snake. No matter where he went, he felt as though he had been seen through.

Shen Luo took a deep breath. With a grave expression, he slowly backed up a few steps, then suddenly turned and sprinted wildly into the depths of the fog once more.

But this time, he had not taken more than a few steps before something caught his foot. With a thud, he fell to the ground.

Before Shen Luo could react, he felt a chill around his neck. Two pitch-black handprints silently appeared there, their ten fingers rapidly tightening around his throat.