Chapter 21: The Mysterious Pagoda Tree Forest

  According to Tiantian, this little ghost hid in the small corpse and couldn't run far. If it abandoned this small corpse, it would become a grass without roots, so it must have hidden like that night. This place is not under the ancient camphor tree, nor does it have those mysterious arrangements, so it can't drill into the ground. I'll search in a net-like pattern, maybe I can find it.

  Since I was going to look for it, I would definitely look for the waterfall first. But after coming to the bottom of the waterfall and looking at every rock crevice several times, I still couldn't find it. Then I turned over slightly larger stones in the small stream a few hundred meters downstream from the waterfall, turning over at least a few thousand stones until afternoon, but still didn't find the little devil.

  Not in the stream, I put my target on searching tree holes. Within a radius of 500 meters around the thatched cottage, there are hundreds of big trees, but after climbing three trees, I couldn't climb anymore. Except for a squirrel, nothing was caught, and my hands were blistered from climbing trees. My legs were so tired that they went soft, and I had to lean against the tree trunk, only wanting to sleep.

  No matter whether it's moving stones or climbing trees, it's all hard physical labor. My stomach is already aching with hunger. Returning to the thatched hut, I see several wild chickens and rabbits hung on the bamboo pole behind the house. These dried wild chicken and rabbit meats are something that Grandma and Grandpa can no longer eat, so they're left for me to enjoy!

  I took a rabbit and a pheasant, brought oil, salt and a bundle of dry firewood to the creek side, lit a fire, roasted the rabbit and pheasant thoroughly, didn't have the heart to savor them carefully, stuffed them into my mouth to fill my belly.

  Last night's chase plus today's tree climbing and stone flipping, even a robot would need to rest. After eating, people just want to sleep, I thought about sleeping for half an hour and then getting up to continue searching, but ended up sleeping until dark, really too tired, it was Tongtong who woke me up, saying that the sky had darkened and it's time to work.

  After dark, the little ghost won't hide, and during the day, the sun is too big for it to contact the old ghost-raising man. Now he must have been notified, from Guigang to here, plus climbing the mountain, three or four hours should be enough.

  If I don't find Xiao Gui Zi during this time, it will really be gone forever. Not only can't trade, but also can't find the murderer of Ah Po's death.

  But after dark, the search became much easier and didn't require as much effort as during the day when the efficiency was so low. After I woke up, Tiantian went into the small stream and told me half a minute later that the little ghost wasn't hiding in the stream.

  We returned to the thatched cottage and had Tiantian carefully examine it, after all she was also a ghost so she should be able to find some clues. As expected, Tiantian told me that Ah Po was killed by Little Ghost, there were small wounds on her forehead with Little Ghost's saliva, probably from when Little Ghost's tongue pierced through.

  I thought it was impossible at first. Although the little ghost hadn't been born yet and died young, its head was as big as an egg and its tongue was at least as thick as a chopstick! But the wound on Grandma's forehead was only as small as a needle prick.

  Tongtong listened to me and thought it made sense, but she said that the wound indeed had the saliva of a small ghost. Okay, even if it was true that the small ghost killed Grandma, the premise is that the small ghost must have been untied from the red rope before killing Grandma, so who untied the red rope that bound the small ghost?

  Unless we were chasing the old man, something came into the house. If what came in was a ghost, it would not be able to untie this red string. We have seen many children with red strings tied around their feet or wrists, just so they wouldn't be taken away by deceased relatives.

  And it's not an animal, because the red rope is untied instead of being bitten off. If we speculate like this, then there's only Ah Po left, and she just returned to the house. But Ah Po also knew that it was a little ghost, how could she be so stupid? Would something have gotten on Ah Po's body and used her to untie the red rope to release the little ghost, and then the little ghost took advantage of the situation to suck away Ah Po's soul? If this guess is correct, then the small wound on Ah Po's forehead was caused by the little ghost sucking her soul.

  My imagination has gotten a bit rich, all of this is just baseless speculation, and Grandma can no longer speak to tell me. If the soul was still around, maybe Tongtong would have a way, but even the soul is gone, death is truly cruel.

  I let out another sigh, when suddenly Tiantian shouted loudly that there was something strange on the roof. I immediately looked up, but saw nothing. Tiantian said it was outside the house, so I rushed out of the door and shone my flashlight at the roof, still seeing nothing.

  At this time, Tongtong immediately floated up, and saw a black fog drilling out of the rooftop, immediately enveloping Tongtong, as if they were fighting. This black fog is so familiar, just like the tree spirit on the old camphor tree by the grave that night. The black fog was about the size of a folded quilt, Tongtong's height was at most one meter, and after being enveloped by the black fog, only two small legs could be seen struggling.

  Tongtong is an unusual water ghost. In the water, I'm not worried about her abilities at all, but on land, from the beginning she could only appear on the 15th of the first month, and after burying her remains, she could appear by nightfall. But it's just that she can only appear, very weak, like a shark on shore, no matter how fierce it is, it can't be exerted. Seeing Tongtong struggling, clearly at a disadvantage.

  But that black fog was unknown, very ferocious, I was afraid that Tongtong would suffer, so I took out the ancient bronze dagger and prepared to climb onto the roof. Just at this moment, something jumped down from the rooftop, jumping past my occipital bone, startling me.

  After that thing jumped onto the ground, I shone my flashlight on it, and isn't this just that little ghost? So to say, the black fog on the rooftop must be the tree spirit of that old camphor tree.

  I immediately thought of it, last night, after I called Grandma out, the tree spirit that was following me and lurking nearby possessed her. Then, while I was chasing Uncle's vengeful spirit, she used Grandma's body to enter the house and untie the red rope, releasing the little ghost. After the little ghost escaped, it took advantage of the situation and sucked out Grandma's soul, and then they hid on the roof, only to be discovered by Tongtong tonight.

  On the rooftop, Little Water Ghost and Tree Spirit were fighting, while Little Devil was about to pounce on me, but saw that I was holding a small red knife, and was so scared that he immediately ran away.

  This little devil is so fierce. If I didn't have this ancient bronze dagger, I'd probably end up like Granny's fate, having my soul sucked out.

  After the little ghost ran away, I didn't chase after it, but instead continued to climb onto the rooftop to support Tongtong. When I was halfway up, the tree spirit suddenly released Tongtong, and that thick black fog suddenly dissipated. After cursing out loud, I immediately jumped down, and Tongtong also jumped down from the rooftop, all she could say was "it smells so bad, it smells so bad".

  I asked Tongtong if you couldn't beat that tree spirit just now? Tongtong said

  Tell me, that tree spirit is not one, but a group of ghosts formed by the tomb next to the big camphor tree.

  These ghosts were gathered together by people using special spells and became tree spirits on the old camphor tree, and the spirituality of that big tree had already been merged. In other words, if the tree spirit left that big tree, the tree would wither away. So we can see in the mountains and forests, a perfectly fine big tree, but inexplicably withered and died, of course, this is off-topic.

  Tongtong said that the tree spirit also escaped and ran north with Xiaogui, Tongtong finished speaking and then asked me to follow her to chase them. We ran over a hill, then ran past a water pool, and then ran over another hill.

  Just as I couldn't run anymore, Tiantian pointed to a mountain valley and told me that they were inside. Tiantian and I were on the slope of the mountain, shining our flashlights into the valley, but all we could see was the dense treetops, with too many leaves to see the ground. A place like this probably only gets scattered sunlight during the day.

  I remembered what Ah Po said about a fox and a snake talking in a mountain valley, I don't know if it's here, but this valley does look very eerie.

  However, I have an ancient bronze dagger in my hand. So far, all the ghosts I've encountered are afraid of this small knife. There is also a phoenix bone needle that can kill animals with one shot. Of course, it should be emphasized here that this phoenix is not the legendary phoenix, just like the python is not the dragon in the legend.

  Following Tiantian, I walked down the mountain slope and into this valley, and couldn't help but take a deep breath of cool air. If the bamboo forest I entered before was eerie enough, then this valley is simply a world of darkness.

  Because in this mountain valley I saw that all the trees growing are pagoda trees, and vines hang down from the trees one by one. Except for the vines, not a single weed grows on the ground. In the pagoda tree forest, there are dozens of large stones scattered about, one or two meters high, like tombstones, while a layer of ethereal white mist hovers over the ground.

  This mountain valley is not big, but also not small, estimated to be about the size of four football fields. The environment inside and around the valley is like two different worlds. What puzzles me is why only sophora trees and these vines grow here.

  This place is really too strange, I grasped the ancient bronze dagger tightly in my hand and followed Tongtong into the pagoda tree forest, but still felt uncomfortable all over, as if many eyes were staring at me. Tongtong also said that she seemed to see something under the ground, but after entering the forest, she couldn't see it clearly anymore. I reminded Tongtong to quickly find the little ghost and tree spirit, catch them and leave this place quickly, this place feels very evil. Walking into this pagoda tree forest, I only felt like I wasn't in the real world, more like walking into a nightmare.

  Walking in the pagoda forest, quietly, even the sound of insects is gone. The vines hanging from the trees are like a bunch of devil's tentacles, as if they will move at any moment, catching me and Tongtong, dragging us to an unknown place.

  Tongtong and I were searching for the trail of the little ghosts and tree spirits in the pagoda forest, when a vine as thick as an arm blocked our way. My flashlight shone on it, and I couldn't help but let out a loud cry.

  "Dragon Blood Vine!" Isn't this the Dragon Blood Vine that can drive away all insects? When Huang Yao caught a leech in his belly, the herbal medicine that Old Man Huang used to make me take a bath had this kind of vine, but Old Man Huang's vine was only as thick as a finger, whereas this one is as thick as an arm.

  I curiously used an ancient copper knife to cut a small slit on the bamboo shoot, and a bright red liquid immediately dripped onto the ground. A pungent smell filled the air, and my eyes stung so much that I couldn't open them.