Chapter 23: Accidentally Entering the Forbidden Land of Death

  Tang Bingxue is indeed a girl who stands out from the crowd, although she doesn't speak as softly as Xiao Rou, but I'm also quite willing to listen to her talk. Especially when she says this sentence about fate!

  I know that no matter how I say it, I won't be able to change the fact of our separation. So, with a changed smile, I said: "Alright, I believe we'll still have fate in the future. After saying goodbye to you, I'm going to go find the witch. But you didn't give me anything for protection, like those things that ward off ghosts, such as jade pendants or talismans."

  In fact, I'm indirectly asking her for a gift, whether or not it's effective against ghosts is irrelevant, at the very least it should serve as a keepsake.

  Tang Bingxue felt around her own pocket and pulled out a string of talismans, handing them to me. She said: "I may not have the kind of thing you want for decoration, but I do have quite a few things that can ward off evil spirits. There are ten talismans in total. Ordinary ghosts and monsters are usually afraid of these things, but if it's something powerful, then it's hard to say."

  "Uh-huh!" I nodded and took over the talismans, "Then I'll take these."

  "Uh-huh!" Tang Bingxue also nodded and said to me, "Be careful, I'm leaving, goodbye."

  After walking a few steps and then coming back, he took out a small flashlight from his body and handed it to me: "This one is for you too, hope it's useful."

  I smiled and said: "Forget it, this one is too small, and I also have no place to charge it."

  "Here, take it," said Tang Bingxue as she stuffed it into my hand and continued to say: "This is much brighter than the flashlights sold on the market now, and it doesn't need to be recharged. It's a special ghost-catching flashlight."

  After she finished speaking, she waved at me and ran towards the distance. I was left standing there, staring blankly at her receding back, unsure of what to do. This scene had played out several times before - both Tang Bingxue and Xiao Rou would appear out of nowhere, only to leave again just as suddenly, truly fleeting in their comings and goings.

  I've been through another night, but this one I won't forget. It's actually brought me back to life. The sky is already brightening up now. Looking at the graves on the hill behind, I found my own tombstone and broke it off, because I think it's unlucky for a living person like me to have that.

  I took a look at Zhang Bao and Wang Hui's graves, wanting to say something, but in the end I didn't say anything. I started walking towards the entrance of Rongshu Village. Along the way, I was fiddling with the ghost-repelling mirror that Xiao Rou gave me, and similarly found that the mountain air in Rongshu Village was indeed shrouded in a very thick layer of reddish-gray gas. Specifically what it is, can't be said. However, I could feel it, seemingly not a good phenomenon!

  When I came to the highway again, I didn't dare walk along the side of the road, but instead carefully ran onto a small path to walk. It really proved that saying: Once bitten by a snake, for ten years one fears a rope.

  As I walked, I thought to myself that in this situation, it's impossible for me to go back to school, and my academic career seems to have come to an end. But I couldn't bear to tell my parents, who were doing business in the south, this news.

  But what's my path ahead? To become an onmyodo, fighting against those vengeful spirits like in the movies? Or to just silently endure these grudges that torment me? Although I don't want to admit it, I think it's more of the latter, after all, the former is a bit too glorious.

  Now I don't dare to settle down easily anywhere, afraid of running into another hidden town. I can only follow Xiaoyu's brief account to find Fengmen Village, because last time I really didn't know how to get there.

  After walking for about a day, it's getting dark and I need to find a place to rest. However, I've been following the small path all along, and there aren't even any villages nearby. But things are quite convenient, as there happens to be a temple in the not-too-distant direction ahead of me.

  When I saw this place, I was secretly delighted. A temple is a sacred place after all, and ghosts are afraid of such places. Although I've been fond of that thing lately, it won't happen once I enter the temple, right?

  Thinking of this, I quickened my pace and soon arrived in front of the temple. The temple wasn't particularly large, but it looked especially clean. At the entrance, I saw a black dog that didn't bark when it saw me, only wagging its tail as it stared at me.

  Since there are dogs, it means that there should be monks here too. This is the best, I tidied up my appearance a bit and walked in. As soon as I entered the gate, I saw a particularly large incense burner, behind which stood a pine tree.

  "Is anyone there?" I clasped my hands together, ready to pay respects as soon as someone came out.

  No one answered me, at first I thought no one heard it, so I continued to shout, but after shouting a few more times, still no one answered. There are only two houses in the temple, one is the main hall, and the other should be the living quarters.

  I arrived at the main hall, pushed open the door and entered. The room was very clean and simply decorated. However, when I looked around, I wasn't calm anymore. What caught my eye was a huge statue that wasn't a Buddha image, but rather a turtle-like sculpture.

  At that time, my heart skipped a beat, and the inexplicable sense of fear approached again. The temple had an idol of a turtle, which was unheard of. Could it be that this wasn't a temple? Thinking of this, I immediately walked out of the main hall and took out the ghost mirror to take pictures of some places here. The ghost mirror showed nothing abnormal.

  I came to another room, pushed the door and entered, still very clean. But there was no one, it's really strange. Is this an abandoned temple with no one living in it? But here is so clean, and outside there is a black dog.

  Right, the black dog. Thinking of this, I immediately walked to the temple entrance and wanted to find that black dog, but it was already gone. And at this time, I found that the temple entrance had a name.

  On the top of the gate, four big characters were written: Death Forbidden Land. Below it was a line of small words, densely packed with some special symbols, which couldn't be understood what they meant. But I didn't want to understand either, this temple wasn't a good one, I had to leave quickly.

  But the weather had already turned dark, and I didn't want to continue walking on the small path in the woods. Thinking of this, I took out the ghost mirror again and looked at it carefully, but nothing strange happened, and everything I saw was the same as before my eyes.

  I thought to myself, could this really be an abandoned temple? I was worried that someone would damage it and use these things to scare people away. Now I can only understand it like this, thinking of this I still walked in, going into the wing room position. This time when walking in, I discovered that there were actually words on the pillar, written: "This temple has no monks, if you borrow accommodation, please return the items after use, thank you for your cooperation."

  It wasn't until I got here that I let out a sigh of relief, it seems that the recent paranormal events really got to me. There's actually nothing wrong at all. But tonight I'll just stay here for the night, tomorrow I have to rush to Fengmen Village, after I get there everything will be fine, at least I won't have to worry about anything anymore.

  There was a quilt on the bed, but I didn't use it. It's not cold in this hot summer, and sleeping like this is quite good. Nothing happened during the first half of the night. However, in the second half of the night, I heard some strange noises.

  It wasn't the sound of footsteps, nor was it the chirping of birds, but rather the sound of blowing bubbles. At first, I thought I had misheard, but when I got up and looked around, I realized that there really was a sound, and it was very close to me! I quickly got out of bed, picked up the small flashlight that Dong Bingxue had given me, and turned it on. To my surprise, it was actually quite bright and lit up the entire room.

  It wasn't until now that I discovered there was another door on the other side of this room, and it seemed like the sound was coming from inside that door...

  Is there someone or something else inside this door? At this time, the sound of blowing bubbles became stronger and stronger, just like boiling water, it started to gurgle.

  At that time, I had another scalp-numbing feeling, not because I was timid, but mainly because this is an innate fear that normal people would have. Having gone through death, I have become much stronger in terms of courage.

  They say curiosity kills the cat, but I'd rather be a cat. I crept quietly over and placed the ghost mirror on my waistband, sticking two talismans on myself. Preparing to open this door...