Chapter 65: When the fog comes, the ghosts walk

This is the last peaceful evening, and the one I miss the most in my life is the evening of early summer. The heat has subsided, and the breeze is slightly cool. People have finished their busy day and come out to enjoy the cool breeze and take a walk!

At this time, countless sounds and vitality make up the myriad of the world! Being in it, you realize what the world is like, and you can’t bear to leave!

The dusk in the small village is not as noisy as this, but it has a different kind of rustic atmosphere. The light smoke, the croaking of frogs and insects, and the peace of mind when walking on the country roads can temporarily dispel all worries.

Walking side by side with me on the road was Ru Yue. As expected by Brother Cheng Xin, my injuries had almost recovered by the fifth day. With a few more days of good rest, my mental state had also returned to its peak. After five days of recuperation, my condition was better than ever.

“Third brother, have you noticed that today’s sunset is very special?” Ru Yue whispered to me.

“Well, the setting sun is supposed to be like blood, and this is what it should be like. It’s so red that it…” I looked at the setting sun in the distance, but I couldn’t describe the feeling in my heart!

“Yes, it sounds cruel, the setting sun is like blood, but this fiery sunset is really beautiful! If my sister were here, that would be good. She loved the scenery at dusk the most. I guess she would stand by the window and watch this beautiful sunset for a long, long time.” Ru Yue’s voice was soft.

I just remained silent. If you add the word “if” to everything, even the most beautiful things will become sad. If it’s just a longing for something that doesn’t exist, how can you say “if” with that kind of feeling when you have it?

“It’s windy. Let’s go back.” After a long time, I said, “It’s always a little cold in the countryside at night because of the gathering of negative energy. The sunset is beautiful, but when you think of sad things, it’s always easier to sink even more into it.

Ru Yue suggested that I go for a walk, but I was reminded of my carefree and carefree youth. At that time, we, together with Yang Sheng, often wandered around the bamboo forest. This feeling is nostalgic, so it’s better to relive it before the adventure.

But I didn’t know that as the years passed, I no longer had the same feelings as I did back then. And she and I could not avoid talking about Ruoxue. Whenever we talked about it, we would feel sad! Ruoxue has become a common concern in our hearts…

“Yes, it’s windy!” The wind blew the bangs on Ruoyue’s forehead, and she couldn’t help but hunch her shoulders. The wind here is very cold, but looking into the distance, Ruoyue’s eyes once again showed the kind of willfulness and stubbornness she had as a child. She said to me, “There isn’t much time left. This village is shrouded in fog at night, but the sunset is especially beautiful. I want to see the sunset before I go back. I want to go over there.”

I smiled helplessly and wanted to touch her hair like I did when she was little, but I didn’t. This girl is still like this at this age. The stubbornness of her childhood is engraved in her bones and is her only flaw. The place she was referring to was at the entrance of the village, near the entrance of the village near the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts.

On the other side, the scenery is particularly good. A small hill covered with green grass and wild flowers. At the top of the hill is a large tree that I can’t recognize either. It is covered with white flowers. The breeze is light, and with the blood-red sunset, it is like a dream. No wonder she wants to go there.

“Third brother, do you want to go? Could it be that you met a ghost there and it left a psychological shadow on you?” Ru Yue stared at me slyly. Here it comes again, the taunting method from when we were young.

As a Taoist priest, I couldn’t bear to tell her that the beautiful sunset here, which is tinged with blood, is caused by the presence of the spirits of the lake, which are angry and vengeful. Sometimes the truth behind beauty is cruelty. Why spoil this superficial beauty?

It is like the brighter the poison, the more poisonous it is. It looks good, but it is another taste when you get close to it.

So, what is the sunset like on the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts? I thought about it, lit a cigarette, and said to Ruoyue with some affection: “Go ahead, I have no shadow.” Even if she is eighty years old, I will still treat her like a younger sister!

Ruyue rarely showed such a childish expression again. After hearing what I said, she cheered and ran over there with a smile. I spat out a puff of smoke and looked at the setting sun, unable to help but say, “Today’s setting sun is really too red to be normal. It’s even more red than the fire clouds I saw when I was a child. This setting sun has dyed the entire sky red.”

Unfortunately, Ruyue didn’t pay any attention to my words, and was walking happily ahead. I suddenly remembered the red clouds during the battle with the little demon, and a feeling of nervousness welled up in my heart. But I felt that I was overthinking it. After all, this is a Taoist village. As long as the ghost Rakshasa doesn’t appear, what danger is there?

And it hasn’t appeared for almost five days.

“It’s beautiful. If only time could stop at this moment.” Ten minutes later, we had already reached the entrance to the village. Ru Xue leaned against a tree, lost in thought as she watched the sunset.

I leaned against the tree next to Ru Xue. What I saw was not the setting sun, but the heavy fog rolling in and out like the tide below the hillside, looking so unreal.

My heart was originally very quiet at dusk, but for some reason, after staring at the fog for a few moments, my heart suddenly tightened, and a huge sense of crisis exploded in my heart!

This was my spiritual intuition at work. I suddenly frowned. After several tragedies, I would never doubt my spiritual intuition under normal circumstances. Since this sense of crisis had arisen, something dangerous must be about to happen.

I turned my head and said to Ruyue, “Something is wrong with the fog. Let’s go back.”

Ruyue was startled by my sudden serious tone and turned to look at me, saying, “Third brother, what’s wrong with you? Doesn’t the village always have this kind of foggy mist at night? How can it be wrong?”

“I know, but have you ever seen such inexplicable swirling fog? I can’t say why, but let’s go.” My expression was already very serious, so serious that it was irresistible.

Seeing my expression, Yueyue looked back at the setting sun, which had already begun to disperse, and no longer acted wilfully. She nodded decisively.

I didn’t care about anything else. This sense of crisis was accompanied by a feeling that made my heart flutter inexplicably. I turned around and pulled Ruyue away. Ruyue obediently let me hold her arm and followed me as I walked in big strides.

“Third brother, we’re going to the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts tomorrow. Will we die?” Or maybe it was my sudden outburst that made Ru Yue nervous. She asked me uneasily.

“We won’t die. We’re all together, so nothing will happen to us,” I said loudly.

“Brother San, can we still see sunsets like this?” Ru Yue asked, her voice full of longing. I noticed that Ru Yue’s mood seemed to have reached a strange low point. This girl would never say such decadent things in normal times, and I frowned again.

Is it because of the influence of this sunset? Is there something wrong?

The night wind was blowing, and every time it blew, it brought with it a growing chill. At that moment, it blew across my cheeks, causing goose bumps to rise all over my body. This cool wind not only failed to calm my heart, but instead, it brought a feeling of decadence and decline.

It’s the influence of negative energy! This kind of impure negative energy is usually full of negative energy, either making people depressed or making people extreme and violent! But every yard in the village is guarded by calamus, so how can negative energy have such a big impact?

Thinking about this, I couldn’t help but look back. At this time, I saw that the setting sun on the horizon had become blurred. It wasn’t that they had dispersed, but that the thick fog that suddenly came rushing up from the bottom of the hill had blocked my view!

How did this fog suddenly come up? I couldn’t help but stop for a moment, but Yue was particularly nervous and couldn’t help but ask me, “Third brother, is it the ghost Rakshasa?”

“No, it’s the fog…” Before I could finish my sentence, I saw a man’s figure emerge from the fog, dressed in clothes from the Republic of China era, with a sad expression, looking at me with a faint gaze, his figure so ethereal.

I was stunned because I could tell at a glance that the figure emerging from the fog was not a human being, but a ghost. The fact that I could see it clearly without opening my heavenly eyes could only mean one thing: it was not an ordinary ghost!

Did I make a mistake? I said to Ruyue, “Turn around and see what you can see.”

Ruyue was inexplicably nervous, but when she heard my words, she still turned her head with some trepidation, and then suddenly exclaimed, “Third brother, there are so many people. No, are these people?”

Ruyue’s voice was a bit tense. I swallowed a mouthful of saliva because I clearly saw that in the instant Ruyue turned her head, more than ten figures had already emerged from the fog, all of them clearly visible! Their expressions were so strange, looking at me laughing, looking at me crying, staring blankly, but their eyes were fierce…

I didn’t dare to take a closer look at their appearance!

I pulled Ruyue away and said, “Hurry back to the village with me. Hurry, hurry, hurry…” By the end, I was already running with Ruyue, because new figures were constantly emerging from the fog, and the fog was also rapidly approaching the entire village!