Chapter 23: The Calamity of the Destroyed Village

  Because I was injured, Daolang and I ran back to the village as fast as we could, rolling and crawling, and just as we reached the entrance of the village, we heard Erniang's shouting.

  "Girl! Girl, wake up, what's wrong with you? Wake up quickly!" Second daughter cried out hoarsely, I took a look at my little sister, her face was pale green, seemingly asleep but still breathing, yet her complexion was eerily green as if poisoned.

  "What's wrong with Erniang? What's going on?" I anxiously looked at Erniang, but she just wouldn't answer me and continued to wail in tears.

  "Come on, speak up, sister-in-law! If you say it out loud, maybe we can find a way to save her!" The old Taoist priest also came over to look at the little girl.

  "Just a few minutes ago, a white-haired monster suddenly came into the house. The monster's withered body was black and had something green like blood on its head, and it was smoking all over its face. When it saw me, it went crazy and came to strangle my neck. At this time, Xiaoyan ran over to help me, but the monster pushed her away with one hand. Then... then it pounced on Xiaoyan..." Erniang said, suddenly stopping mid-sentence.

  "What's next?" I'm getting more and more anxious as I listen.

  "Then that monster actually aimed its mouth at Xiaoyan's mouth as if it wanted to suck out something!" Erniang said, bursting into tears.

  "What then? Did he just leave?" I and Dao Zhang exchanged a tense glance, Dao Zhang also raised his peach wood sword, scanning the surroundings.

  "When he was sucking, I pounced on him, and with one punch, he sent me flying. Suddenly, your second uncle came back, transformed into a green-faced, fang-toothed creature, and punched the white-haired monster in the head. The white-haired monster fell down, took a look at your second uncle, and flew away...” Second Aunt finished speaking, hugging Little Sister again, and burst into heart-wrenching sobs.

  "Little sister, little sister, wake up!" I also called out "little sister", but no matter how I called, she wouldn't wake up. I was so anxious that tears fell from my eyes.

  "Master Dao, take a look and see if you can save my daughter, Master Dao!" Erniang knelt down with a normal voice.

  "This white-haired ghost is a purely yin entity. Just now, it seemed to have been injured in the fight. It ran into the village to find someone to absorb its yang energy to prevent its own destruction of body and spirit. Your little sister is also a purely yin entity, which is just the material for refining. It absorbed your little sister's yang energy and essence, but didn't finish absorbing it. Your second uncle came out and chased it away." The Taoist priest hastily took out a pellet of medicine from his pocket and handed it to me.

  "I have a few golden pellets here, given to me by my master. They are objects of extreme yang energy that can temporarily dispel the yin chill from your little sister's body, but in order to fully recover, the curse must be lifted." As he spoke, he took down the large gourd from his waist.

  "Thank you, Daozhang, but how did you know she was cursed? Didn't she just have her yang energy sucked out?" I looked at Daozhang with confusion.

  "Curses come in many forms, some are born from resentment, others are the work of evil spirits. Just now, we went to subdue that demon, which was trying to absorb your little sister's yang energy for revenge. Luckily, your second uncle arrived and, in his haste, transferred this curse onto your little sister's body." The Taoist master said as he took a large bowl and forced the golden elixir down her throat.

  "Now that the white-haired demon is heavily injured, I must hurry back. I need to find my senior brother to come and collect my junior brother's body. I am also heavily injured. In a few days, I will find someone to meet with that white-haired demon again. If he dares to show his face again, I will make sure his soul is scattered! Infinite Heavenly Lord!" The Taoist priest said as he took large strides forward and left. I quickly ran out to see him off. This mysterious Taoist priest's origins are unknown, and my uncle is dead, so I don't know how I can find him in the future.

  "Second sister, stop crying. We have to leave quickly. If that white-haired ghost comes back, we'll be in great danger. And if Second Uncle becomes an evil spirit and returns, he might harm us to death." After hearing my words, Second Sister was shocked and hurriedly packed her things to prepare for departure.

  I rushed to my second uncle's house, where his magical tools, talismans and the book "Nine Divine Strategies" that recorded how to exorcise evil spirits were kept. I took all of these things with me, preparing for any unexpected situation.

  At this time, Erniang also carried out Xiaomei and took a few pieces of clothing to go out.

  "Second sister, where shall we go first?" I really didn't know where to go, it seemed like nowhere was safe.

  "First, let's go to the neighboring village and find a place to settle down." Erniang hugged Xiaomei tightly and walked towards the main gate. I locked the main gate with Erniang, at this time a black shadow was hovering in the air outside, suddenly drilling into Ahming's house, then heard a scream.

  "Ah!......" I hastily looked over, Ah Ming's door was open. I ran over to take a look, in the courtyard Ah Ming and his parents were already dead, their faces were pale green, their bodies dry and shriveled as if they had been drained of all moisture.

  I hurriedly ran back to find Erniang.

  "What's wrong with Little Yu?" Erniang asked, carrying Xiao Mei on her back. Xiao Mei was still dazed and confused.

  "Second daughter, hurry up and run! That white-haired monster isn't dead. He was just injured earlier and now he's having a huge fit of rage. He just killed Ah Ming's entire family!" I quickly pulled Second Daughter and ran out of the village.

  "Save us! Ah!" Just as I and Erniang were running out, the village was filled with continuous wailing and cries for help.

  "It's terrible! The whole village will be affected!" I looked at Erniang in horror, and she quickened her pace.

  At this moment, a strong wind blew, and the black shadow suddenly rushed towards me and Erniang. I and Erniang hastened our pace. But that black shadow was too fast, and before we could run far, it had already arrived in front of us. The white-haired ghost revealed its true form and rushed over to grab me. I protected Erniang and Xiaomei behind me and took out Second Uncle's Bagua mirror to prepare for the attack.

  Suddenly the originally dark sky actually flashed lightning. "Rumble!" A flash of lightning was like a white-haired monster striking down, the huge sound and electric light stunned my ears and eyes. That white-haired monster was struck, his whole body emitting flames and fleeing everywhere, in an instant he rolled around like a big fireball and escaped.

  I and Second Aunt were both scared silly, White Hair Monster really left this time, but the fire on his body ignited the dry grass piles in the village, and the dry grass piles burned fiercely along with the wind. I quickly grabbed a wooden stick to put out the fire, but the fire borrowed the wind and grew bigger and bigger, almost burning my clothes. The fire couldn't be stopped... In just a few minutes, the flames from the dry grass piles spread to Second Uncle's house, Big Brother's house, Ah Ming's house... all the houses were on fire - our village was gone!

  "Second sister, let's hurry up, it's dangerous here!" I quickly took over from second sister and carried little sister on my back, heading towards the neighboring village.

  "Second sister, where are we going now? The house is gone and we have nothing. We need to find a place somehow?" I really had no idea what to do next. All I had on me was just over a hundred yuan, plus the few magical tools that Second Uncle had given me and a book - I hadn't managed to grab anything else of value.

  "Now Xiaoyan has also fainted, we'd better send her to the hospital to see if she's just frightened, maybe the doctor can cure her illness!" Erniang looked back at the little sister on her back.

  "Let's go to Old Three's house, Old Three's house is in Longquan Town, walking forward for about twenty miles and we'll be there. Usually, I don't have much contact with Old Three's family, but now there's no other way. The Old Three that Erniang mentioned is actually my third uncle's house, my third uncle is a few years younger than my second uncle, and they have a son named Shuanzi who is probably over ten years old too, I've never seen him before."

  Second sister can't carry little sister anymore, I continue to carry her. The road of over ten miles is still manageable by myself, but carrying a person makes my legs feel like they're about to break. Almost at 8 pm, we finally arrived at Longquan Town. Second sister and I have already discussed it, we cannot tell Third Uncle about this matter. If Third Uncle finds out about such an evil thing, he may not be able to take us in.

  "Open the door, Old Three!" Second Daughter pounded on the gate.

  Third Uncle's house is a two-story building, with a small truck in the yard and a big black dog named Wangwang barking. Around the house are rows of weeping willows, neatly lined up. It looks like Third Uncle's life is still pretty good.

  "Who's there?" A fat man came out, licking his belly. It was indeed Third Uncle, whom he hadn't been in touch with often, but had seen a few times during holidays and festivals.

  "It's me, your second aunt!" As soon as he heard it was Second Aunt's voice, Third Uncle immediately opened the door and welcomed us in.

  "Second sister-in-law, what's going on here?" Third uncle was shocked by our disheveled appearance and couldn't speak for a moment.

  "Something's happened, this afternoon there was a sudden clap of thunder and lightning, a bolt of lightning struck someone's haystack and it caught fire. We only ran out after seeing the house on fire, many people didn't make it out, Xiaoyan seems to have been smoked unconscious and can't be woken up no matter how we call her." Erniang said, tears streaming down her face.

  "Oh? Let's hurry to the hospital!" With that, Third Uncle was about to carry Little Sister to the hospital. At this time, Third Aunt also came over, anxiously looking at Little Sister.

  "It's okay, Old Three. She might have been smoked out and just needs some rest. Let her rest for now, if she still doesn't wake up tomorrow, we'll send her to the hospital!" Third Uncle and Third Aunt agreed.

  "Xiao Yu, you and Er Sao must be tired, haven't eaten yet? I'll go cook for you." I looked at Er Niang, she sat there stupidly, unable to utter a word.

  "Third Sister, sorry to trouble you, just make something simple will do. We'll be staying here for a few days, sorry to bother you!" Third Sister was an elementary school teacher in the town, and Third Brother was a small vendor who collected goods from the mountains. Although they didn't have much money, unlike Second Brother and Second Sister, they didn't live in a small mountain village. The town had better transportation, so their lives were slightly better than ours used to be.

  It's been over a dozen days since I've been staying at Third Uncle's house. All this time, Little Sister still hasn't opened her eyes once. Second Aunt has been staring blankly at Little Sister every day, watching as Little Sister's face turned pale like a piece of wood. In the end, Little Sister was sent to the hospital after all. Third Uncle and Third Aunt gave my mother and Second Aunt living expenses again, telling Second Aunt to take care of Little Sister.

  These days I go to the hospital every day to see my little sister, hoping she can wake up. In my heart, apart from my second uncle and aunt, my little sister is the most important to me. My little sister and I have been together since childhood, playing together every day. Now my little sister has become more and more beautiful, already seventeen years old, just like a lovely lotus flower emerging from the water. But because of my second uncle's misfortune, this series of disasters occurred, and my heart feels like it's been stabbed with a knife, so painful! So painful!

  My second uncle has gone missing, my little sister is cursed, the village is gone, and even my eldest uncle died trying to catch the White Haired Demon. Everything has changed. It was that White Haired Demon who brought the curse onto my little sister's body. I swear I will find a way to lift the curse from her and let her return to normal. And where did that despicable Old Man Hong move his family to? I must find him and ask him clearly how to make my second uncle return to normal, why he was so ruthless in harming my second uncle, they should take full responsibility for it. What's with the gourd on my neck? Why is the White Haired Demon afraid of the gourd I'm carrying? And what secrets are hidden within that book "Nine Heavenly God Strategies"? All these things are like a puzzle constantly wandering in my mind!