Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 376 Two Warning Sentences
In the thick fog, the motorcycle drove along the bumpy dirt road.

The wind howled past their ears, making it difficult to even hear their companions' voices; the three of them had to shout to communicate.

But amidst the raging wind and thick fog, the voices of Grandpa Zongshu and that old man Long seemed to faintly echo.

It seemed to be whispering in Ran Qing's ear, inexplicably clear.

Ran Qing was startled by those two whispered sentences and subconsciously looked up and around.

All they could see was a thick fog; they couldn't spot Old Master Long.

The old man with a disability in both legs shouldn't have been able to keep up with them.

but……

The motorcycle, traveling through the thick fog, had already left the territory of Shiyuanzi, crossed a mountain pass, and completely left Shiyuanzi behind the mountains.

Looking at the surrounding mist, Ran Qing felt that the figure of Old Master Long seemed to be faintly visible in the mist not far away.

But this feeling only lasted a few seconds.

Soon, the old man's whispers faded away, and the motorcycle roared to life.

Ran Qing could no longer feel the old man's presence.

This unusual situation made Ran Qing frown.

Does the old man have some special ability?
Transmitting sound over a distance? How is that possible?
And what did the old man mean by those two sentences he said? Was it "Beware of women"?

And... controlling corpses with corpses is Lu Baiyin's master's skill?
Isn't Lu Baiyin Li Hongye's father?
But Li Hongye's entire family is already dead!
Ran Jianfei's transformation into a corpse couldn't possibly be related to Li Hongye, right?
Or……

Ran Qing frowned instantly. He remembered that Li Hongye had been lying on his back, constantly watching his movements.

On two separate occasions, Li Hongye provided timely assistance in rescuing Ran Qing during critical moments.

Although she was controlled by the blood zombie, she still had a certain degree of autonomy.

Could it be that Li Hongye was behind Ran Jianfei's transformation into a corpse?
But if she really did it, what benefit would it bring Li Hongye to turn Ran Jianfei's corpse into a flying zombie?
The more Ran Qing thought about it, the more confused she became.

And those two important tips from Grandpa Long are quite strange.

When we were face to face just now, Grandpa Long didn't say anything.

He waited until the three of them were on their way before using this strange method to deliver the message to Ran Qing alone.

Could it be that Mo Li and Zong Shu couldn't hear these two sentences?

That careful woman...

Ran Qing looked at Mo Li in front of her, smelling the faint scent of shampoo on the girl so close to her, and her feelings were complicated.

When Grandpa Long said to be careful around women, was he referring to Mo Li?
The roar of motorcycles echoed through the mountains.

On the narrow, bumpy dirt road, two motorcycles drove past one after the other.

Ran Qing sat behind Mo Li, staring at the thick fog in her field of vision, her mind blank for a moment.

At times like these, he can do nothing but think.

But the more you think about it, the stranger Old Master Long's last actions seem.

Aside from those two warnings, Old Master Long himself is quite strange.

He seemed to know a lot of things.

But let's leave aside how the old man knew it, and why he would still act as a riddle teller even if he already knew it.
"Be careful of women..." The wording is so vague. Couldn't you just say the name and tell Ran Qing who to be careful of?

This kind of riddle-telling technique is commonly found in divination and fortune-telling.

When many people consult divination, although they can predict some future causes and effects, they can only obtain vague information, so what they say is also cryptic and cannot accurately point to the target.

But Grandpa Long himself denied it, saying he didn't understand divination or fortune-telling...

Ugh... the more I think about it, the more my head aches.

Ran Qing sat on the motorcycle, looking back into the depths of the thick fog behind them. The stone courtyard had long been left behind by the mountains, and even without the fog, it wouldn't be visible.

But during this trip to the stone courtyard, the strange old man Long gave Ran Qing a strange and abrupt feeling.

I always felt that there was something strange about this old man Long's words and actions...

The motorcycle sped over the mountains without delay.

They returned safely to Moonlit City shrouded in fog, following the same route they had taken.

They did not encounter any dangerous attacks along the way.

Occasionally, some mountain monsters and evil spirits could be seen in the thick fog, but they were not attacked.

The flying zombie that had been following them is nowhere to be found, and it's unknown whether it's still tracking them.

Ran Qing and the others didn't dare to stay outside for long, so they drove their motorcycles directly to the door of the cement house halfway up the hill on Park Road.

Back in the familiar shrine, the three of them finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This is their only safe house.

The sickly little cotton ball lay listlessly by the door.

Seeing the three return, the little cotton dog left to guard the house barked twice.

Clearly, Little Cotton has now reverted to a state of mental dullness and dazedness, forgetting that she is a human being.

Ran Qing walked over and patted her head, asking, "...After we went out, did anything unclean come looking for us?"

Although she acts like a dog, Little Cotton is still able to communicate in simple ways.

She barked twice and shook her head, indicating that everything was safe.

The three of them packed up their belongings and prepared to cook dinner.

“I’ll cook tonight. I can make chicken and mushroom soup,” Zong Shu volunteered enthusiastically, showing a rare confidence in someone who is usually introverted and timid.

Mo Li then looked at Ran Qing, who came out of the bedroom and took out a small rattan-woven pot from under the bed.

This small rattan-woven pot was brought back from Tianmen Village and was woven by Zongshu's cousin from rattan found by the roadside.

The workmanship is very fine, with the rattan strips fitting together perfectly without any gaps that allow light to pass through.

Although the rattan had dried out and lost moisture due to being placed under the bed for a long time, it was still opaque.

Mo Li and Long Zongshu were both startled when they saw Ran Qing take out the small barnacle.

"...This...you're going to use the Soul-Guiding Lamp?"

"Ran Qing, can you handle this?"

Sealed inside this barnacle is a ritual artifact passed down through the lineage of spirit mediums: the Soul-Guiding Lamp.

An ancient bronze lamp that is said to have been passed down from the ancient Luo Gui Kingdom era.

It is said that there is a terrifying evil spirit inside the lamp, whether it is a demon, a ghost, or an evil lord.

Anyone who is illuminated by this light will see something extremely terrifying approaching them.

Although spirit mediums can suppress evil spirits in lamps and transform soul lamps into magical artifacts.

But this lamp has been lost for hundreds of years and has long been out of control. Now that it has fallen into Ran Qing's hands, even if he can suppress the evil spirits within the lamp, it will take more than a year or two.

For the three of them, the soul-guiding lamp inside the barnacle was an extremely dangerous thing.

Both Mo Li and Long Zongshu were somewhat nervous.

Ran Qing looked at the small barnacle in front of her and said, "We can't suppress it, but if the flying zombies really come to our door tonight, we may not be able to defeat them."

"If we really reach a dead end, even if this soul-guiding lamp is poison, we can only taste it again to see if it's salty or bland."

(End of this chapter)