Dao Qi Wu Zang Guan Guan: I became a Daoist Master in the 1990s

Chapter 106 Footsteps Return
Qi Yun leaped out of the window and disappeared into the thick darkness.

The bedroom fell into an instant silence, so heavy it was suffocating.

The broken window was like a black hole, swallowing the faint light and courage inside, leaving only the howling wind, a wind that also had an eerie quality, unlike anything in the human world.

"Is...is there really a ghost?" Yang Hui collapsed to the ground, her voice trembling, clutching her husband's arm tightly.

Li Jun's face was ashen, and his pupils still held the extreme fear of being possessed and the phantom pain of his body being burned.

His lips trembled: "Yes...yes! I heard...footsteps, the one from my dream...it's here, it found me! It possessed me!"
"Just now... just now that person was saving me!"

Recalling the fierce battle between ice and fire within his body, he now felt a lingering fear that went straight to his bones.

The couple, still shaken, supported each other, trying to find some small comfort.

at this time.

“Tick…tick…tick…”

A series of incredibly clear footsteps, echoing hollowly, suddenly rang out from the stairwell downstairs!

The voice was cold and stiff, each step felt like it was stepping on a person's heart, piercing through the door and drilling straight into the depths of their brain!
Yang Hui suddenly covered her mouth, her eyes instantly filled with terror as she looked at Li Jun.

Li Jun's reaction was even more intense. His whole body stiffened suddenly, as if he had been doused with ice water. The color drained from his face instantly, his teeth chattered, and he pointed to the door, making a hoarse sound in his throat.

"That's...that's the sound! It's here! It's back!! It's coming upstairs!!"

Fear, like a tangible, cold giant hand, gripped their throats tightly!

The footsteps were neither fast nor slow, but they carried an unstoppable, death-defying rhythm, starting from the first floor and clearly and unmistakably ascending the stairs step by step!

Tap...tap...tap... Each sound was like a death knell, pounding on the couple's nerves, which were on the verge of collapse.

"We can't...we can't just wait to die!" Li Jun suddenly mustered a desperate strength, grabbed the terrified Yang Hui, and shouted, "Run! Run!!"

He opened the door, and the footsteps seemed to be coming from the corner between the second and third floors, getting closer and louder!
The couple were terrified and ran frantically upstairs without thinking!
However, as soon as they rushed out of the room, they discovered an even more despairing and terrifying scene!
The hallway is still the same hallway, but all the neighbors' doors have disappeared!
Instead, there were cold, smooth, pitch-black walls that seemed to have existed since time immemorial!

The only thing that exists is the dusty, upward-reaching staircase beneath your feet, like a single path leading to an unknown abyss!

The entire building seemed to have become a huge, eerie cage, and they were the only two living creatures inside, being relentlessly pursued by the hunter!
"Where's the door?! Where's the door to my house?!" Yang Hui cried out in despair.

"Never mind that! Run uphill!" Li Jun roared, dragging his weak legs as he desperately climbed upwards. Yang Hui followed closely behind.

The footsteps continued to follow below.

The couple climbed countless floors; their lungs burned with pain, and fear and exhaustion nearly overwhelmed them.

Finally, they could run no more and stopped.

Looking around in despair, all I saw were smooth, black walls; there was nowhere to escape!
Just as the footsteps seemed to have reached the next step of the group.

Li Jun caught a glimpse of a door on the left side out of the corner of his eye!

That's the door to Qin Weimin's house on the top floor, the old madman!
It's still there! In this eerie darkness that devours all portals, it exists like an illogical miracle, all alone!

"There! Quickly!" Li Jun, as if grasping at the last straw, rushed to the old wooden door and frantically pounded on it with his fists and rammed it with his body.

"Open the door! Uncle Qin! Open the door! Help! There's a ghost! A ghost is chasing us!!"

Yang Hui rushed forward, her fingernails scraping against the door, crying out, "Please open the door! Save us!" The door was cold and solid, and didn't budge.

It was deathly silent inside, as if no one lived there at all.

The footsteps behind me were getting closer and closer!

That hollow, murderous voice was right next to me!

You can even feel a cold, eerie wind blowing in from the stairwell!

An overwhelming sense of despair instantly engulfed the couple.

Yang Hui collapsed to the ground, and Li Jun also stopped his futile banging on the door. He leaned against the cold door, looking desperately towards the stairwell, waiting for the arrival of that terrifying being.

At this critical moment.

"Click."

A soft but clear sound of a bolt sliding came from behind me.

The old wooden door they thought would never be opened actually... opened a crack inwards!
A sliver of dim, faint, yet incredibly warm light streamed through the crack, dispelling the suffocating darkness in the small area by the doorway.

The couple, like drowning people taking their first breath, scrambled inside, nearly knocking over the person who opened the door.

"Thank you! Thank you, Uncle Qin! Thank you so much!"

Li Jun was incoherent and almost knelt down.

Yang Hui also collapsed at the doorway, tears streaming down her face, gasping for breath.

After their initial shock subsided, they finally had time to see the situation inside the house and who opened the door.

The room was surprisingly clean and tidy, even spotless, a stark contrast to the dilapidated and decaying hallway outside and to Qin Weimin's usual mad and filthy appearance.

The decor is extremely old-fashioned, as if frozen in time decades ago.

An old-fashioned wooden canopy bed with faded sheets; a broken enamel thermos; and most strikingly, in the corner of the room, a well-preserved, old-fashioned cradle, meticulously woven from bamboo and rattan, with several small, faded baby clothes neatly folded inside.

The person who opened the door was Qin Weimin.

He was wearing an old military uniform that was also faded but clean, and he was thin and hunched over, with deep wrinkles and age spots on his face.

But his eyes were not as murky and crazed as usual; instead, they had an unusual...emptiness and confusion.

He stared blankly at the two uninvited guests who had barged in, his mouth slightly agape, like a frightened child who had gotten lost.

"Mother...mother!"

His lips trembled, uttering indistinct, tearful words, and his cloudy eyes quickly filled with tears. "I'm scared... Mother, where are you? Waaah!"

He cried helplessly, like a lost child who couldn't find his mother, his body trembling slightly.

The couple, who had just escaped, were bewildered by this bizarre scene and looked at each other in disbelief.

Li Jun grabbed Qin Weimin's arm urgently: "Uncle Qin! Uncle Qin! Don't cry! Outside! There's a ghost outside! A ghost is coming up! It's right outside!"

(End of this chapter)