The night watchman stepped onto West Street and stopped shakily before the shadows where Gao Ming was hiding.
"First watch, the hour of the Dog. The air is dry; beware of fire."
The first watch lasted roughly from seven to nine in the evening in the real world, but that was hardly what concerned Gao Ming now. The Old Night Watchman had already discovered him. The bronze gong rang beside his ears, as though trying to shake his soul out of his body.
Enduring the discomfort, Gao Ming backed away. Only after leaving his hiding spot did he notice that the ground there was covered in flakes of earth. Even after the gong rang, more kept falling from his clothes.
"What is this?" Gao Ming rubbed the flakes between his fingers and found rice paste mixed into them. Realizing something, he turned toward the nearby Earth God Temple.
The outer walls of the Earth God Temple on West Street were coated with yellow clay mixed with rice paste. The flakes on Gao Ming seemed connected to the temple. As they fell away, his body felt much lighter, and the invisible pressure on him eased, as though someone who had been clinging to his shoulders had finally gotten off.
Once the flakes had shaken free of his clothes, Gao Ming noticed that the Land God inside the Earth God Temple had lost his smile. The features on his blurred face shifted, the surrounding Prayer Paper was soaked with blood, and something seemed about to crawl out from beneath the thick incense ash.
The god in the Earth God Temple attacked me? When did he get me? Gao Ming's heart hammered. The blood coursing through his body was as vigorous as a bull's, keeping ordinary ghosts and monsters from approaching him. To