We were on the run now, fleeing into this deserted village deep in the mountains.
There shouldn't have been anyone in this deserted village. If someone still lived here, how had they survived?
Besides, Zhang Rong had called out twice just now. The knocking outside had continued, but no one had answered.
If it wasn't a person... then it could only be a ghost.
But I took a look with the Hexagram Character Formula. There was no ghost outside, nor anything unclean within the range I could sense.
Just then, the knocking stopped.
All five of us drew our knives at the same time and moved toward the door.
As we neared it, Zhang Rong hauled the door panel aside and charged out, with the four of us right behind him.
But once outside, we didn't see a soul.
"Look over there!"
Zhuge Ming called out in a low voice, quickly pointing in a direction.
We followed his finger and soon spotted a figure from behind.
That figure really did look human!
Strangely, though, it was very short, perhaps not even reaching my waist.
Knife in hand, I was about to chase after it, but Zhang Rong quickly pulled me back.
"Don't go."
"What we saw might have been an illusion."
Frowning, Zhang Rong led us all back inside and lit the candle again.
I asked, "Why didn't we chase after it and take a look? If it's something unclean, we don't want it coming to hurt us while we're asleep."
Zhang Rong said, "That thing wasn't a ghost, but it didn't look human, either. Who's that short? There's even less chance of there being a child out here. It's probably an animal spirit."
"In the deep forests of the Northeast, plenty of animals have become spirits. Some take human