Ye Linghua saw the red light spots coming towards him, very loose and very fast, like a swarm of bees rushing towards a newly discovered flower field.
These are...fire, sparks. They are extremely lively and gradually become disordered, flying wantonly on the black curtain in front of them. There must be something burning, but she couldn't identify it for a moment, and of course, it wasn't obvious from the current scene. As if her vision was suddenly pulled away, she saw sparks coming from a bonfire at the bottom. There was a strange man sitting by the fire.
people? No, probably not. Because from her perspective, that thing was really too big. What kind of human being can grow to such a size... But it is indeed human-shaped, with a pair of huge hands. Proportionally speaking, perhaps these hands are considered slender. Ling Huan had only heard that among the ghost stories, only mountain ghosts could grow so tall and resemble humans. Could this long-haired one be the so-called mountain ghost—a type of monster?
It might be... a woman, probably. This is Ling Hu's intuition. Let's call her "her". In her hand she holds a stick with some kind of animal on it. The stick in her hand was as slender as a bamboo stick for picking teeth. The thing on the stick has been roasted to the point where its shape cannot be seen. It was covered in unplucked, singed hair and looked like it must have been treated roughly. The thing kept its eyes open with big eyes, and the high temperature almost made it pop out.
It was probably cooked, or she thought it was cooked. She handed the thing to her hand - Ling Huan didn't know what "self" was for the time being, but it must be something much smaller than her, possibly a human being. As a result, this half-cooked thing looked huge in front of my eyes, and it was obviously impossible to catch it. The female mountain ghost seemed to realize something. She roughly broke the stick into two pieces with the prey attached, and then stuffed half of it into her hand.
...What exactly is she? Who is it?
The world is very dark when you close your eyes, maybe this is night. In Ling Huan's eyes, she could only see the bright bonfire, the outline of the mountain ghost, and the shapeless and unidentifiable prey.
Then she heard screaming.
The moment the ear-piercing scream sounded, the scene in front of him immediately disappeared. These colors break, reorganize, and flash around the central point, endlessly. But before long, her vision became brighter and seemed much wider. Although everything in front of her was still dim and blurry, she could clearly sense that this was different from the previous scene.
In front of her was a... knife.
Very long knife.
Red knife.
Is this length a Dao or a Tai Dao? She wasn't sure. But this blade looks a little strange. It is not dyed red by paint or blood, but it is a kind of red itself. Is there any metal in the world that is as crimson as blood? Ye Lingyu felt that he was short-sighted and couldn't figure it out. But just as she was thinking hard, the blade suddenly penetrated the person in front of her. It seemed as easy as poking through a paper window with your finger.
Only then did Ye Linghua notice that there was a group of people surrounding her. But now, the blade withdraws from someone's body, and real blood spurts out. The rest of the people fled in all directions the next moment.
The knife in front of her moved so slowly. Someone fell down, a woman. The owner of the knife—probably himself—was merciless. The blade pierced her from behind. Immediately afterwards, the gaze went higher, and then lowered. Ling Huan judged that this person was probably walking over the corpse. There was a child hiding in the cabinet, the cabinet door was opened, and his neck was scratched with a knife... Ling Huan was frightened. She didn't know there was anyone there, but the owner of the knife seemed to know everything, and he didn't know anything. Don't let it go. She was so nervous that she didn't dare to open her eyes, and she clenched the other two people tightly. She found that Feng's hand had gripped her so tightly that it even caused her some pain. Xie Zhe was fine, his strength was the same as before. Ye Linghua felt cold sweat falling from his forehead, but he still didn't dare to make a sound, didn't dare to open his eyes, and didn't dare to let go of his hands.
The blade kept cutting the pulses of different people and passing through the bodies of different people. Life is harvested one after another, but the knife is tireless. As fresh blood continues to infiltrate the cold blade, the red luster spread around it seems to become more and more dazzling.
This was an indiscriminate killing. What's even more frightening is that Ling Huan begins to realize who the owner of this knife is.
Is this really something Feng would do? Something else must have happened in the two scenes, but it may not be the most hidden part in the mind of the person who caused the incident. There is some kind of disconnect between them, and if you want to figure it out, you have to go deeper.
The needle in the basin had already pointed at Xie Zhe. To be honest, Han Chang was a little worried about them. Xie Zhe's reaction was okay, he could barely be considered calm, but his brows were furrowed tightly and he couldn't pry them open with a fire stick. Ye Lingquan was extremely nervous and could not sit still. Han Sheng didn't know what she saw, but he only knew that she was in a bad state. He was sweating and trembling slightly. If he wasn't worried about interrupting this unknown ceremony, Han Chang would really want them to stop. What's even worse is that the child, although he is not sweating or shivering, his whole body is completely drained of blood. His hands and face were extremely pale, almost as horrifying as a corpse that had died of blood loss.
The last incense burned out, and he came behind Feng. Han Chang hesitated for a moment, sprinkled the ashes into the water, and lightly nodded the little boy's head. The needle suddenly pointed in his direction, and at the same time, he suddenly fell to the ground.
The bench not far away was pushed away by Han Chang who fell down. He exclaimed, seeming to be in some pain. Almost at the same time, the three people at the table opened their eyes and looked at the source of the sudden sound. An accident happened. Zhongli Hanzhang seemed to have entered some kind of illusion. He stumbled to his feet, only to fall down again several times. Ling Huan wanted to stand up, but Xie Zhe suddenly stopped her sternly, which scared her and the other two and clenched her hands tighter. She didn't dare to say it yet, but actually she didn't open her eyes because of Han Shang's noise... but because of the fleeting illusion before that.
The illusion frightened her. What flashed before my eyes... was like a red ghost.
Ye Lingquan could not see the ghost's face clearly, he only knew that it was long black hair and bright red clothes. But Han Shang's strange behavior interrupted the ceremony. He grabbed the quilt on the kang with some pain, as if he was engaged in a struggle with self-consciousness. The needle on the table kept trembling and spinning chaotically, looking like a trapped headless fly. Ling Huan was extremely frightened, but still did not dare to act rashly. It was not until the needle stopped completely that Han Zhang truly stood up straight.
"...Okay, you can let go."
Xie Zhe's words were like the key to unlocking the shackles, and Ye Lingquan felt relaxed all over. Xie Zhe pulled the pottery basin in front of him and picked up the needle soaked in water and incense ash. It was originally an ordinary silvery white color, but the moment he picked it up, it suddenly seemed to be carbonized, turning into pitch black powder and scattered in the empty bowl.
Ye Lingyu didn't have time to take care of this. She ran over to help Han Zhang and let him sit by the kang to rest.
"What's wrong?" She looked worried, "Did you see something too?"
"...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your ceremony. This is my personal problem...I saw fire."
"I saw it too." Xie Zhe, who was sitting there, said.
"fire?"
Ye Lingyu was not sure. She only saw a burning bonfire in the first scene. No one has mentioned the red ghost yet, could it be because...the things they saw were not exactly the same?
"I'm afraid of fire. I'm really sorry." Han Chang apologized again. Such a sincere attitude makes others feel strange.
"What you said seems to be true." Xie Zhe finally looked at him, "This is quite new. Are you afraid of fire? You are not afraid of the stove or the bonfire. This is not like animals' primitive fear of fire."
Hanshang's breath has not stabilized yet. He tried to adjust himself while slowly moving his gaze to Feng's face. After the spell ended, the color on his face barely returned - although the original color was not that rosy. The little boy closed his mouth tightly, not looking like he was planning to say anything, but obviously, he must have remembered something. Han Chang did not mention Feng's matter for the time being, but explained his own abnormality.
"I...well, maybe I'm not afraid. I just don't like fire, or open flames. The flowing lava, the unextinguished embers, and the splashing sparks don't really scare me. On the contrary, I like it very much. . It’s just that the continuous fire... makes me feel very uncomfortable. Sorry, this is related to some of my experiences. If I have a chance in the future... I will probably tell you."
"It's up to you. Whether you're sincere or not doesn't have much impact." Xie Zhe disagreed.
Ye Linghua finally couldn't help but ask. She said that she did not see the "continuous fire" that Han Shangyang mentioned, but she did not mention the red ghost yet. Xie Zhe looked indifferent. He told her that it was normal for some participants to receive limited information based on their spiritual roots and qualifications. It seemed that he and Feng knew more. What about the part where there is a disconnection in the middle? Did they see it too?
Xie Zhe stared at the little boy. Feng pursed his lips and said nothing.
"You seem unwilling to mention this matter..." Xie Zhe said slowly, "If you don't mind, I will put together what I saw and make an explanation. If there is any discrepancy with the facts, please let me know. Please correct me."
Feng was silent for a while, then nodded slowly. It seemed that he didn't really want to bring up the past.
"You... didn't grow up in this village."
As soon as Xie Zhe finished speaking, Han Zhang, who had just recovered from his fatigue, looked at him, as did Ye Linghua. Apparently, they were unaware of this important piece of information. They preconceptionally thought that Feng was born here since he was a child.
"You are a human being. A baby who was far away from his parents for some reason and appeared in the mountains. You were raised by mountain ghosts."
It is indeed a mountain ghost... Ling Hu thought to himself.
"The mountain ghost did not eat you, but clumsily started to raise you... although the motivation is still incomprehensible to people. Her methods are too far behind, but you have grown up safely for the time being. She paid for it too much."
The mountain ghost took him and imitated human life. She often sneaks into the village, hides in the dark, and observes how humans live. Then she imitates them, clumsily learning the role of a human mother, and tries to take care of the child.
This is so strange, so unbelievable.
But that's how it happened.
