Chapter Thirty-Two Little Girl

  Two people got off the car and started walking up the mountain. The rain that had just fallen was heavy, and the stone steps were already wet and slippery, with a lot of accumulated water. Fortunately, Su Tong knew they were going to Changqing Mountain, so she wore a pair of outdoor shoes with anti-slip soles. Tang Wei was also dressed in light and easy clothing. The two of them walked up the steps, and it wasn't too difficult, but when they turned to the shaded side of the mountain, the road became very difficult to walk on. Originally, the small path was not conspicuous, but after being soaked by the torrential rain, the ground under their feet became soft and sticky. When they stepped on it, either their shoes got stuck and needed to be pulled out with force, or they slipped and slid. The branches and leaves of the trees on both sides of the small path were also covered with rainwater, which splashed onto them as they passed by, wetting half of their clothes before they had even walked halfway. Su Tong almost fell several times, but fortunately, Tang Wei caught her in time. Later, Tang Wei simply stretched out his hand and let her hold it, so they could support each other while walking forward together. At first, Su Tong was a bit embarrassed, but later the small path was too muddy, and she didn't care about that anymore, so she held Tang Wei's hand and walked with him in deep and shallow steps towards the shaded side of the mountain.

  Although the rain had passed and the sky was clear, the sunlight wasn't particularly bright. In this area of Shanyin, where the sun couldn't be seen anyway, the light seemed even darker. Tang Ao hadn't been here before, but the mountain path still led them to the location of the abandoned house. When they walked out of the thicket and onto the empty space in front of the house, Tang Ao stopped in his tracks, furrowing his brow as he gazed towards the abandoned house. Su Tong didn't dare make any sudden movements either, standing quietly beside Tang Ao, waiting to see what he would say next.

  Tang Ao stood at a distance in the courtyard, looking towards the desolate mansion and the barren yard with not a single blade of grass. To others, it might just be an abandoned old house, but to his eyes, the house seemed to have a faint aura of black energy surrounding it. However, this black energy was not very noticeable, as if it was hidden within the mansion, only seeping out slightly when one wasn't careful. This was also the first time he had seen such a situation. In the past, whenever he encountered haunted houses, he could feel the chill emanating from them even before he approached. The more malevolent and powerful the spirit, the more severe the dark energy surrounding it would be. But this house was different, with its energy suppressed but not released, which made his brow furrow in concern, and his heart felt heavy.

  "What's wrong? Is it serious? To what extent?" Su Tong looked at Tang Ao's furrowed brow, somewhat worried and asked in a low voice, as if afraid of startling the vengeful spirits in the abandoned mansion.

  "I can feel that there is a lurking gloom in this abandoned house, but outside the house, there isn't much gloom leaking out from inside." Tang Ao truthfully told Su Tong.

  "This doesn't sound good, does it?" Su Tong listened and felt that this seemed to be not too pessimistic, but she also knew that Tang Ao wouldn't wrinkle his brow for no reason.

  "Have you ever seen a real wild ginseng?" Tang Ao suddenly asked Su Tong an out-of-the-blue question.

  Su Tong didn't know what he meant by bringing this up and hastily shook his head, indicating that he had never seen it before.

  "We all know that the medicinal value of wild ginseng is very precious, and in ancient times it was even considered a panacea for prolonging life. Therefore, from ancient times to the present, digging up a genuine wild ginseng has always been extremely rare and valuable, so there have always been people searching for it in the mountains. The older the wild ginseng gets, the higher its value and spiritual energy, with some even said to be able to become immortal. Of course, no one has ever seen this, but ginseng has a special magical power: all plants grow more luxuriantly with age, except for ginseng," Tang Ao said. "When it grows for three or four years and becomes a fourth- or fifth-grade leaf, or even a seventh-grade leaf, it won't continue to grow more leaves or a larger stem. Instead, after hibernating through the winter, when it sprouts new leaves in the spring of the second year, it will revert back to being a first-grade leaf. The purpose of this is to confuse the ginseng diggers on the mountain, making them unable to see it, or mistakenly think it's just a small, worthless ginseng seedling."

  Su Tong understood as soon as he finished speaking, that a bottle not full will make noise when shaken. Those with some ability but not great ones are the most likely to show off and not know how to restrain themselves. Truly deep waters never make a loud splash. This rule probably applies in the spiritual realm too. It's not the fierce ghosts that one should fear, but rather those that appear calm on the surface yet hide deep dangers beneath.

  "Was it there that you fell down that day?" Tang Ao pointed to a tree in the courtyard of the old mansion.

  Su Tong shook his head and pointed to another tree opposite that one: "It's that one."

  Tang Ao nodded and asked: "Do you know what kind of tree this is?"

  Su Tong had never studied plants before and couldn't tell what kind of tree it was, so he just shook his head again.

  "These two trees in front of the door are pagoda trees." Tang Ao explained to her, "The pagoda tree is a tree that has very heavy yin energy on its own. The word 'huai' (pagoda) already explains everything - it's like a ghost among trees, so some people also call it a ghost tree. Many wandering ghosts and spirits like to attach themselves to the pagoda tree. If the pagoda tree is planted in a place with plenty of sunlight and strong yang energy, it might be okay. But planting it in a mountain shade that can't get any sunlight all day, and even in a courtyard... that's absolutely abnormal. Look at that courtyard - not a single blade of grass grows there. I estimate the reason why plants can't survive here is because the yin energy is too heavy. Let's go take a look inside the courtyard."

  "What? Don't say that! What if something happens..." Su Tong had barely uttered these words when he hastily covered his mouth, realizing it wasn't a good idea to speak ill at this moment.

  Tang Ao smiled at her, holding her hand and patting the back of it: "Have confidence in me."

  His smile and words seemed to have a special soothing magic, Su Tong felt more at ease although still nervous, she bit her lip, nodded, took a deep breath, and followed Tang Ao into the courtyard of that old mansion.

  Tang Ao still had a sense of measure, he didn't plan to drag Su Tong straight to the small building in the abandoned house, but instead stopped under the locust tree where Su Tong had fallen earlier. Tang Ao gestured for Su Tong to stand beside him, closer and not moving, then took out a small knife from his body, bent down, and made several forceful cuts on the trunk of the tree. The locust tree should have been growing there for many years, its bark was very thick and sturdy. Tang Ao's small knife wasn't big either, just an ordinary fruit knife-sized folding spring knife. After cutting several times, he barely managed to cut open a small slit in the tree's bark. Then he took out a tissue from his pocket and pressed it against the small incision on the tree bark. After a while, he picked up the tissue and looked at it, also gesturing for Su Tong to take a look.

  Su Tong took a closer look and immediately changed his expression. On the originally clean handkerchief, there was an additional dark red stain that looked like blood. Su Tong brought his nose closer to take a sniff, and there was a faint smell of blood. He quickly examined Tang Ao's hands again, both of which were fine, without any signs of being scratched by branches or tree bark, bleeding. Therefore, the blood on the handkerchief could only have come from the pagoda tree, as its bark had been cut open by Tang Ao, causing it to seep out.

  But who has ever seen a tree bleed? Even if it's the sap of a plant, it's impossible for both its color and smell to be exactly like blood. The only explanation that makes sense is that this locust tree has really become a "ghost tree"!

  "Su Tong, come with me." Tang Ao stood beside the locust tree and looked around, then turned his head to look at another one, suddenly speaking to Su Tong as he gestured for her to follow him out of the courtyard.

  Su Tong nodded and hurriedly followed him out, she didn't know if this was a psychological effect, but since entering the yard, she had always felt that her whole body was covered in goosebumps, from head to toe, everything felt very uncomfortable.

  As soon as they left the yard, Tang Ao pulled Su Tong to a location far from the yard and not too close to the surrounding trees, where the light was relatively sufficient. He then took out a stack of talismans from his pocket and handed them to her, saying: "I think this house is very strange. The two cypress trees in front of the door are planted in a deliberate position, as if they were used to guard the mansion. But who would plant two ghost trees in front of the door to guard it? This doesn't make sense, unless the person who planted the trees wanted to guard something that wasn't from this world. You wait here for me, I'll go inside and take a look at the situation, I'll be back soon. Hold onto these talismans, if there's really something, they can protect you for a while. I won't delay too long, and just like before when you had bad encounters in the county, I would have a premonition beforehand. This time, I also believe I will have the same feeling, so don't be afraid."

  "I'm not afraid, I'm worried that if you go in like this, it won't be... too safe?" Su Tong originally wanted to say whether something would happen, but felt it was too ominous and didn't say it out loud. She changed to a more euphemistic phrase, her heart racing with anxiety. She really wanted to say that she had a bad premonition about Tang Ao wanting to go in, but the words were too unpersuasive, and Tang Ao definitely wouldn't listen.

  Tang Ao just smiled and shook his head at her, stroking Su Tong's hair in a soothing manner, and then reminded her to take good care of those talismans no matter what, before striding towards the desolate mansion.

  Tang Ao's plan was to fight quickly and decisively. The Art of War says, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can win every battle." If he just wandered around the house a few times and then left, who would know what kind of preparations to make, or even which aspects to prepare for, in order to effectively counter the hidden evil spirits? The only effective way was not to enter the tiger's den, but to get the tiger's cub. He had to take risks and explore first, so he could have a rough idea in his mind, and know what to prepare for when he really came to declare war on this strange and desolate mansion.

  He walked to the front door of the abandoned house and found that it was nailed shut with wooden boards. On the surface of the wooden boards that sealed the doorway, there were some strange symbols that Tang Wei couldn't recognize. They were densely packed and didn't seem to be there by chance. It looked like a special talisman. He carefully pried up one of the wooden boards, pushed the door open slightly, and then struggled to squeeze through the gap between the pried-up board and the doorway.

  As soon as he entered, Tang Ao found that the light inside was very dark, abnormally dark, just like the outside light couldn't shine in through the damaged window at all. He put his hand into his pocket and took out a small flashlight he carried with him, but strangely, it didn't turn on as he expected.

  "Is the battery dead?" Tang Ao silently shook his head, he had specifically checked and replaced the batteries before setting out, and the flashlight bulb was not damaged, it was impossible for it to suddenly go dark. Now, in this situation, there was only one possibility: the darkness in front of him was not real, but an illusion created by evil spirits.

  He then abandoned the flashlight, and from his chest pocket he pulled out a talisman that had been prepared in advance. As he silently recited an incantation, the talisman suddenly lit up, emitting a faint but warm yellow glow that slightly dispelled the darkness before his eyes.

  He felt his way forward in the darkness, taking a few steps before stopping. The house was eerily quiet, with not a single sound to be heard, not even the creaking of the floorboards beneath his feet. It was as if the house was a giant sound absorber. He took a few more steps forward, when suddenly he felt like there was something behind him. He quickly turned around, and found that a little girl had appeared not far away from him at some point. The little girl looked very familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before.

  "Uncle..." The little girl looked at Tang Ao, opened her mouth timidly, pouted, and said with a sobbing tone, "Can you take me home? I miss my dad and mom, I don't want to play here anymore, I'm scared!"

  Tang Ao listened to her and suddenly remembered, no wonder he felt that the little girl in front of him looked especially familiar. It turned out that he had really seen her before, just today, this morning, in the hospital ward, among the seven children who were unconscious, there was a little girl who looked exactly like the one in front of him.

  "Little friend, don't cry first. Tell Uncle how you got here and who's with you? You tell Uncle, Uncle will definitely find a way to send you home." Tang Ao said softly to the little girl.

  The little girl said timidly: "I was playing with my classmates, we were playing hide and seek. Later, a child on this floor called us to play together, so we agreed. Then... then I ended up here. I want to go home, but I couldn't get out. They wouldn't let us leave, they wanted us to stay and play with them. But I don't want to play anymore, it's too dark here and I'm scared. I want to go home and find my dad and mom."

  As she spoke, the little girl wiped her eyes and started crying. Tang Ao wanted to walk over to comfort her a few words, but only then did he discover that his two feet couldn't move. Looking at the little girl again, she had already forgotten about crying and was staring with wide, terrified eyes, fixed on something behind Tang Ao.

  Tang Ao's feet were unable to move, and he could only turn his body around to look behind him. In the instant that he turned around, the talismans in his hand went out, and he hastily took out two more, reciting the incantation, and the talismans lit up again. Behind him was empty and desolate, except for the endless darkness, nothing could be seen.

  "Uncle——"

  Suddenly, the little girl from just now let out a terrified cry for help. Tang Ao hastily turned around and saw that the little girl was being engulfed by a black air that seemed to come out of nowhere, almost making her invisible. The black air continued to churn and surge, gradually rolling towards him. In Tang Ao's ears began to fill with the wailing of infants, the giggles of young children, and numerous mixed sounds filled his mind.

  Tang Ao secretly cried out in his heart, hurriedly going to touch the talisman he had prepared to calm his mind, but it was already too late. The black air came crashing over like a wave, and Tang Ao's talismans scattered all over the ground. He himself also lost consciousness in an instant.