Chapter 18 Back to Lion's Tooth Ridge The last time I was at Lion's Tooth Ridge, at Old Hong's house, the ritual really was very mysterious. The red large coffin again appeared in my mind. That's right, vaguely I seemed to recall that on that coffin were nailed several big red square-headed nails, which perhaps were the soul-calming nails spoken of by Daoist Xu Qing.

  "The journey is long, and we must not delay. I will go to Lao Hong's house in Shiya Dam right now to find that Soul Nail. Second Aunt and Little Sister, you two stay home and take care of Second Uncle, I'll be back soon." After finishing speaking, I turned around and was about to leave.

  "Doll, last time you told me about your second uncle's experience, I've long suspected that they led the evil spirit to possess your second uncle's body. You must be extra careful, and I'll give you a few more talismans for protection. On the road, remember not to look back!" With that, Master Xuancheng lit the incense, muttered an incantation, drew two talismans and handed them to me.

  After receiving the Ling symbol, I looked at Second Uncle again. Second Uncle was still motionless in the paper coffin.

  "Second sister, you stay at home and take good care of second uncle. If anything happens, help him out properly, I'm going now!" I took the usual cloth bag that I used to go exorcise evil spirits with second uncle, just in case of any unexpected events.

  "Xiao Yu, be careful on the road!" Erniang said as she stroked my face, her eyes welling up with tears as if she would never see me again. I looked at Erniang and felt a deep sorrow. Erniang and Ershu treated me like their own child, and in this situation, I really felt useless.

  Xuan Qing Dao sat cross-legged, silently reciting his spells and not speaking.

  "Brother, wait for me, I'll go with you to Shiya Dam." Just as I was about to reach the gate, my little sister called out to stop me.

  "Are you coming with me? Or should you stay home and keep company with Erniang, I can handle it myself, besides it's so late, as a girl, wouldn't it be inconvenient for you to be out with me? Now that Erbo is like this, if something happens to you again, how would Erniang cope?" Looking at my little sister's reluctant expression, I still didn't want her to come with me on this adventure.

  "It's okay, brother. I just don't want you to go alone. Besides, Daozhang gave us the Ling symbol, and with it on our bodies, we're not afraid of ghosts. What are you still afraid of? Now that Mother and Daozhang are together, nothing will happen. Can you take me with you?" Little sister's big eyes looked at me.

  "It's okay, Xiao Yu. It's good that your little sister is going with you, so she can take care of you. I'm not at ease if you go alone, and besides, your little sister is already grown up, not a child anymore." Erniang said while handing me two pieces of clothing.

  "It will be late when you arrive, remember to wear clothes if you're cold, nothing will happen with Daozhang here, go and come back quickly!" Erniang said calmly on purpose so I wouldn't worry.

  Outside was pitch black, I closed the big gate.

  "Brother, hold my hand, I'm afraid of the dark!" Little sister said, stretching out her hand and tightly grasping mine. Little sister's hand was very cold, so I quickly clasped both hands around hers.

  "Little sister, your hands are so cold, let me warm them up for you." The little sister suddenly hugged me.

  "Brother, I'm scared! Dad almost died today, he became that and it scared me to death. I don't want to go home, take me away!" Little sister cried.

  "Little sister, isn't Second Uncle already under the control of Daozhang? As long as we find the Town Soul Nail and nail that evil spirit, Second Uncle will return to normal. Besides, if we leave, what about Second Aunt? Are you going to let her face this situation alone?" Looking at my determined gaze, little sister stopped crying. Little sister tightly hugged me, as if I was her only reliance.

  The Lion's Tooth Dam is far from Second Uncle's house, with about 40 miles of mountain roads. I really want to fly quickly and get the Town Soul Nail, but this is a remote mountain village, there are no cars, can only rely on two legs to walk. Little sister tightly grasped my hand, gradually warming up. Suddenly a cool breeze came, far away it seemed like something was flying in the sky. That black shadow was actually heading towards Second Uncle's house, I took a closer look and that black shadow seemed to be a person's shadow, but also didn't seem to be.

  "Get down quickly!" I hastily hugged Little Sister tightly and pressed her under me.

  That black shadow suddenly rushed over and circled around our heads, as if it didn't find anything and flew away on its own. I was extremely frightened in my heart, fortunately, the Taoist priest gave us a spiritual talisman, based on my experience, that seemed to be not just an ordinary shadow but rather a ghost.

  "Brother, what is that thing?" My little sister asked me in a terrified small voice.

  "There's nothing, little sister, it seems like just a gust of wind, let's hurry up and not keep Master Xuancheng waiting." I'm afraid that little sister will worry, so I can only say this to her. Actually, my heart is clear that since following Second Uncle to Lion's Tooth Ridge, there have been so many inexplicable things, those chickens and dogs that were sucked dry of blood, and also the few children from the city who made me feel a chill in my heart.

  The road from my second uncle's house to Shiziba is a mountain road, and the mountains here are all several hundred meters high. The mountains are covered with dense forests and crops. Every time I go to Shiziba with my second uncle, it takes more than four hours. Today, in order to get to Shiziba as soon as possible, my little sister and I ran and walked for three hours, and we were really exhausted and couldn't run anymore. Unconsciously, our whole body was soaked with sweat, and my little sister also sweated a lot, her clothes were wet and stuck to her body.

  "Brother! Look, isn't that Lion's Tooth Ridge up ahead?" My little sister pointed with a gasp for breath at the dark village in front of us. I followed her pointing finger and looked over, the village in front was indeed Lion's Tooth Ridge, where several households still had their lights on, twinkling like stars. My sister and I stood up and entered Lion's Tooth Ridge, triggering a chorus of barking dogs.

  My memory is very good, I remember that the last time I went there was at this road junction in the village where I met a young man wearing a striped shirt. Continuing along this road and walking forward for a while, I found Mr. Hong's house. Little sister seemed to be a bit scared, clinging tightly behind me.

  Mr. Hong's house is a large courtyard with a main hall in the middle and wing rooms on both sides, after all, it is the boss who does business, the vermilion gate is very majestic, with two brass door rings painted with fierce lion heads.

  "Is anyone there? Is Old Hong in? Anyone...?" I called out and knocked on the door ring, almost all the dogs in Shiziba were barking loudly. I repeated this several times, but there was no response. I peeked through the gap under the door and found it pitch black inside, unable to see anything.

  "Brother, won't you mistake the door? They just had a funeral at home and there should be someone inside?" The little sister also kept tiptoeing and looking inside.

  "It's absolutely not wrong, last time I and Second Uncle indeed came to this house." I and Second Uncle went out to drive away evil spirits and never encountered the situation that time, their home location was deeply carved in my memory like a knife.

  "Maybe they're asleep, I'll knock louder!" My heart was racing with anxiety, fearing something unexpected would happen to Erniang and Daozhang. I knocked even harder on the massive door, which surprisingly began to shake violently, followed by another round of frantic barking from the dogs. Something didn't feel right.

  "Little sister, with such a loud voice, you should have heard it even while sleeping. Don't move here, I'll climb over the wall and take a look at what's going on." As I said this, I handed my clothes to little sister and jumped up to climb onto the top of the wall.

  I jumped into Hong's courtyard, and it was still pitch black in front of me. I took out my lighter and lit it up. The courtyard of Hong's house is very large, but it's empty, as if nothing is left. I remember that the last time I came with Second Uncle, those few big tables were gone too. The doors are tightly closed, not a single room has lights on, all the doors are locked and can't be pushed open no matter how hard I try. Having no other choice, I jumped out again.

  "Brother! How is it? Is this Old Hong's house? It seems like there's no one at home?" Little sister quickly handed me my clothes. I reckon it's already around midnight now, and after sweating so much earlier, the wind blowing on me makes me feel a bit chilly.

  "Little sister, I went in and saw that there was indeed no one inside. They might be relatives after all. Since we can't do anything about it, let's just wait here." I shook my head helplessly.

  "Brother, let's go back. We can't get anything by waiting here. What if something happens to Father and Mother?" Little sister pulled my arm and was about to leave.

  "No, even if we go back, it won't be of much help. With my limited skills, I'm not sure I can protect myself, let alone run away from ghosts. To save Second Uncle, we must get the Soul-Controlling Nail. Only with that can we drive away the evil spirits. Besides, Master Xuansheng is watching over there, and Second Aunt should be fine too." My sister and I discussed and decided to wait here.

  "Alright brother, let's wait here till dawn and ask them when they come out." As she spoke, the little sister put on her clothes, she was also shivering with cold.

  I looked around, opposite the entrance of Old Hong's house was a large haystack. My little sister and I sat down against the haystack, perhaps because we were exhausted from walking tens of miles on mountain roads, and drowsily fell asleep holding hands.

  As I fell asleep, a black shadow flew over my head and my little sister's. The shadow gradually stopped moving, and a person emerged from the swirling smoke. He was wearing a white outfit that seemed to be made of paper, making crisp sounds with every step. As he approached me, I found myself unable to move, pinned down by a massive boulder. I tried to raise my arm to wake up my sister, but no sound came out of my mouth. The man slowly drew closer, bending over and grasping my shoulders with both hands. From his dark, long hair, two red eyes stared at me, without any pupils! My heart almost jumped out...

  "Ah..."

  It was just a dream.

  "Hey! Doll, wake up! Wake up!" I opened my eyes with a start, and a pair of hands were shaking my shoulders vigorously. I hurriedly pushed his hands away and stood up from the haystack, looking around to find that it was already broad daylight.

  "Little girl, which village are you from? How did you and this little girl end up sleeping together in the haystack? What's going on here?" It turned out to be an old man looking at me suspiciously.

  I was secretly delighted. This old man looked so familiar, wasn't he the one who sat at the entrance of Old Man Hong's house when Second Uncle drove out the evil spirit last time? What is he doing here?

  "Uncle, we've come to find Old Man Hong about something. Don't get any wrong ideas." I quickly put on my clothes and pulled up Little Sister. Little Sister's face flushed with redness, she probably thought the old man's words were a bit disgusting.

  "Oh? What are you looking for Old Red for? Don't you know they've already moved away, not a single person is left, everything has been emptied out, nothing's left!" As soon as I heard Old Hu's words, I was stunned.

  "When did you move? Where did you go?" I was anxious, if the person couldn't be found, where would we find that Town Soul Nail then?

  "It was just the day after your second uncle and you came that they moved away with their whole family, what are you looking for him for?" Old Man Hu carefully sized up my eyes.

  "It's the Town Soul Nail, I've come to find the Town Soul Nail to drive away the evil spirit on my second uncle's body..." I repeated what Master Xuansheng had told me. Old Man Hu was shocked after hearing what I said and stood there stunned, stroking his beard in bewilderment, staring at me with wide eyes.

  "Could it be that there's such a thing? However, I understand the reason behind this...". Old Man Hu sank into his memories.