"The blood gates give hints, too?"
Ning Qiushui sounded surprised.
Beside him, Bai Xiaoxiao explained:
"Only the first blood gate doesn't."
"Because for 99.999% of people, the first blood gate is very easy. It's actually... pretty hard for ghosts to kill anyone. Most of the time, they just give you a scare without actually attacking."
She paused, a teasing glint in her eyes as she said to the two men:
"That's why I said you two had rotten luck. You ran into a ghost like that on your very first blood gate and nearly got everyone killed!"
"After the first gate, the difficulty rises a notch at the second, but the blood gate also gives you important hints to match."
"Then there's the sixth gate... but we can talk about that later."
"Right now, our priority is figuring out how to survive the second gate."
"Your second gate... won't be easy!"
After Bai Xiaoxiao's patient explanation, Ning Qiushui immediately committed the hint on the blood gate to memory.
"The kind drained their blood and became life-giving rain; the compassionate severed their heads and bestowed peace; the innocent closed their eyes, pleading for life-giving rain and peace..."
The hint was strange. It sounded... downright chilling.
Soon, it was time for them to enter.
A pale hand slowly pushed open the bloodstained wooden door once again, and the three of them rapidly began to lose consciousness...
When Ning Qiushui regained consciousness, he found himself standing before an enormous building.
The building was rather dilapidated. The two white walls flanking the entrance were riddled with cracks and covered in damp, foul-smelling moss.
Loose stones and weeds covered the ground.
Words painted in red stood on the white wall to the right:
[Rain-Praying Village Tour Group Guesthouse]
"A tour group..."
"Are we here as tourists this time?"
Ning Qiushui looked around. Fourteen people stood in the large courtyard, gathered in twos and threes.
Barring any surprises, they should all be people from the Haunted Lodge outside the blood gate, just like him.
Ning Qiushui soon found Liu Chengfeng and Bai Xiaoxiao.
Only... neither of them looked very good.
Ning Qiushui walked over and asked quietly:
"What's wrong?"
Bai Xiaoxiao gestured toward Liu Chengfeng with her chin and said languidly:
"Ask him."
Ning Qiushui turned to Liu Chengfeng.
Sweat covered his face, and fear flickered in his eyes.
"I spawned at the foot of the mountain behind that forest. I was going to follow the signs through it, but when I reached the middle of the forest, I saw a... headless person!"
Ning Qiushui's gaze sharpened.
"Are you sure?"
Liu Chengfeng panted, intense terror filling the depths of his eyes!
"Yes!"
"I'm sure!"
"It... kept walking forward, and then..."
As Liu Chengfeng spoke, his voice began to tremble.
"Spit it out. What happened next?"
Ning Qiushui urged him on.
Liu Chengfeng's next words sent a chill down Ning Qiushui's back.
"Then... it slipped into the crowd and disappeared."
Ning Qiushui asked:
"Disappeared?"
Liu Chengfeng nodded emphatically.
"Yes!"
"That headless person... is hiding among the people around us!"
After saying that, he cast a frightened glance around and took a deep breath.
Ning Qiushui turned to Bai Xiaoxiao.
"What do you think, Sister Bai?"
Bai Xiaoxiao shook her head.
"No need to panic yet. This is only your second gate. The ghosts aren't so monstrous that they'll start killing people the moment they appear!"
"But... we still need to be extra careful!"
Just as she finished speaking, a middle-aged man's voice suddenly came from outside:
"Everyone, sorry to have kept you waiting so long!"
Everyone in the courtyard turned to look. A dark-skinned, plainly dressed middle-aged man approached them.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Hou Kong, and I'm the supervisor at the Rain-Praying Village Travel Agency. I'll be on duty for the next few days. I'm usually sitting in the first-floor lobby, so if you have any questions, you can bring them to me!"
"If you enjoy your trip, please help spread the word when you get back. Thank you!"
Smiling as he spoke, he handed everyone present a room key.
"There's a free dining hall next door to the village guesthouse. Once you've had your fill, you can take a look around. We have quite a few distinctive local attractions here in Rain-Praying Village..."
"In seven days, the village will hold its annual temple festival. Everyone in the village will attend, and you're welcome to join us... You outsiders may not believe in these things, but there's no harm in asking for a blessing."
He briefly explained a few things to the group, then led them into the guesthouse.
Throughout the entire process, the man in charge, Hou Kong, wore a smile.
It was a faint, subtle smile, but it looked... deeply unsettling.
A single glance was enough to make Ning Qiushui's skin crawl.
"These are your rooms. Electricity and hot water are available twenty-four hours a day. The village also has a few rules, and I hope you'll do your best to follow them."
"First, the village has a curfew. It's best not to go outside between midnight and six in the morning."
"Second, the temple is on the mountain behind the village. Because preparations for the rites are underway, outsiders aren't allowed near it at present."
"Third, if you encounter anything strange in the village, you can go to Spirit Medium Ruan."
After saying his piece, Hou Kong turned and hurried downstairs without checking whether anyone had questions.
Through the hall window, Ning Qiushui watched Hou Kong walk into the dense, dark forest. Then... he never came back out.
Collecting himself, he began inspecting his accommodations.
Although the guesthouse looked run-down, with cracks covering the wooden floors and doors, the room had been kept reasonably clean.
Since Ning Qiushui, Liu Chengfeng, and Bai Xiaoxiao had stood together when the keys were handed out, their rooms were all next to one another.
Inside his room, Ning Qiushui glanced at the ticking clock overhead.
Three in the afternoon.
There was still some time before dinner.
He walked around his room and found that the bed and floor were clean, and the walls looked freshly painted and white. Yet the air carried a persistent... burnt smell.
As though something had caught fire.
Just then, Ning Qiushui suddenly felt warmth in his pocket again. He instinctively reached inside and pulled out the Blood Jade.
Ning Qiushui saw that the Blood Jade resting in his palm... was giving off a faint red glow!
He had seen this before.
Back in the villa beyond the first blood gate, whenever the Red-Clothed Female Ghost on the third floor approached their room, the hanging Blood Jade would glow red!
Ning Qiushui's entire body tensed in an instant!
Could there be... something unclean in his room?
Before you continue