This Taoist priest is so unprofessional!

Wang Xiaoer paid the fare, and the three of them got off the bus.

A chilly, damp air, colder than in the city, swept over us.

Right before our eyes is "Happiness Lane".

It's a very old alley, with moss climbing on the walls on both sides and uneven bluestone slabs on the road surface, worn smooth by the years.

The alley was deep and seemed to stretch on forever, with only a dim streetlamp casting a faint glow in the middle of the alley.

Li Ming followed behind the two, nervously rubbing his hands together.

"This is the place. I've been here several times during the day."

They walked further down the alley.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the quiet alley, sounding exceptionally clear.

The doorplate is blue with white lettering and is nailed to a mottled wooden door or wall.

"No. 1, Xingfuli Lane".

"No. 3, Xingfuli Lane".

……

"No. 11, Xingfuli Lane".

They walked to the streetlight and stopped.

Li Ming pointed to a door not far ahead, his voice trembling slightly.

"Then... that must be number 15."

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed.

Sure enough, after number 11, there was a distance between the two numbers, and that was number 15.

There is no number 13 or number 14 in the middle.

Between numbers 11 and 15, there is a bare wall.

The wall looked older than the houses on either side, with exposed dark blue bricks and cracks filled with weeds and moss.

Zhang Chen frowned.

This situation usually means that there used to be a building here, which was later demolished and sealed off with a wall.

Yin energy is most likely to gather in these forgotten corners.

He was about to take out the old compass from his cloth bag to find the point where the yin energy was strongest.

Wang Xiaoer suddenly moved.

He walked past Zhang Chen and went straight to the bare wall.

Xiao Bao, the tiny, semi-transparent figure beside him, passed right through the wall without hesitation and disappeared.

Wang Xiaoer stretched out his hand and pointed to the cold, hard wall.

He spoke to Zhang Chen and Li Ming behind him.

"He went inside."

Zhang Chen and Li Ming looked in the direction Wang Xiaoer pointed.

There was only a mottled blue brick wall there, with large patches of plaster peeling off to reveal the dark red bricks underneath, and the gaps filled with dark green moss and withered yellow weeds.

There wasn't even a trace of a window, let alone a door.

Li Ming shuddered, and his voice changed tone.

"The wall? They...they went inside the wall?"

He instinctively took two steps back, as if the wall were some kind of man-eating monster.

Zhang Chen ignored him and walked over to Wang Xiaoer, scrutinizing the wall with sharp eyes.

Are you sure?

"I saw it with my own eyes," Wang Xiaoer replied confidently. "He just walked right through it without pausing at all."

Zhang Chen reached out and gently touched the wall with his fingertips.

It feels cold, rough, and hard.

These are real bricks and stones; there is no physical entrance whatsoever.

Zhang Chen immediately understood.

This is no ordinary wall; it's an illusion, a variation of the folk tale of "ghost wall."

It uses yin energy to distort people's five senses and spatial perception, making the living unable to see or enter the places where they should exist.

Only specific spirits, or people like Wang Xiaoer who have opened up "spiritual vision," can ignore this barrier and see the true scene behind it.

"Don't move."

Zhang Chen said something to Wang Xiaoer, and then started rummaging through his canvas bag.

This time, instead of taking out a compass, he took out a neatly folded yellow talisman.

This talisman paper is thicker than the ones we used before, and its color is a deeper bright yellow. The cinnabar runes on it are also much more complex than before, with vigorous strokes and a faint spiritual energy flowing between the runes.

This is a "barrier-breaking talisman" he drew himself, and he doesn't use it lightly.

Zhang Chen held the talisman between his index and middle fingers and chanted it quickly in a low voice.

"Heaven and earth are boundless, the universe borrows their power, breaking through barriers to reveal form, by decree!"

As he uttered the last word, "敕" (imperial decree), his wrist jerked violently.

The yellow talisman, like an arrow released from a bow, landed precisely in the center of the wall with a "snap."

The moment the talisman was pasted on the wall, the scene before my eyes changed drastically.

There was no fire, nor any loud noise.

The solid blue brick wall, like water with stones thrown in, twisted and shook violently.

The bricks, moss, and weeds on the wall became blurred and illusory, like the air under high temperature.

Li Ming was so frightened that he screamed "Ah!" and covered his mouth tightly.

Under the gaze of the three, in the center of the illusory wall, the outline of an old wooden door slowly emerged from the void.

It was a dark brown wooden door with badly chipped paint, and a similarly old blue sign with white lettering hung on it.

The numbers on the doorplate were clearly visible under the dim streetlights.

13.

No. 13, Xingfuli Lane.

It's always been here, just hidden away.

Zhang Chen glanced at the dumbfounded Li Ming, twitched his lips, and put his hand on the doorknob.

"Squeak—"

After a screeching sound, the door was pushed open.

A musty smell wafted out from inside the door, carrying the scent of dust and damp old wood, but it wasn't cold.

Behind the door is a small courtyard.

There was a crooked locust tree in the yard, its leaves long since fallen, leaving only bare branches.

There was a stone table and several stone stools under the tree, covered with a thick layer of dust.

A woman wearing an apron, her figure also semi-transparent, stood under the eaves, anxiously looking towards the doorway.

Her gaze passed over Zhang Chen and the other two, landing directly on the small figure who had passed through the wall and was now standing in the middle of the courtyard, waiting.

The moment the woman saw Xiaobao, the anxiety and unease on her face melted away.

Instead, there is an overflowing, tender love that goes to the bone.

"Xiao Bao".

Her voice was soft, like a breeze, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"You're finally back! Mom has been waiting for you for so long."

"Mother!"

Xiao Bao also cried out happily, and like a little bird, rushed towards his mother's figure.

He held the illusory package he had been clutching tightly in his arms high in the air.

Happy birthday, Mom!

The mother and son hugged each other tightly.

Their translucent bodies appeared and disappeared in the dim light, as if they could be blown away by the wind at any moment, yet they seemed incredibly solid because of their embrace.

The woman reached out her equally ethereal hand and trembled as she accepted the package.

She opened it carefully, as if she were unpacking a rare treasure.

There were no pretty silk scarves in the package.

There is only one painting.

A drawing made with crayons, the edges of the paper are already curled up.

The drawing depicts a giant, crookedly drawn birthday cake with several red lines representing candles stuck in it.

Next to the cake, there is a drawing of two little people holding hands.

One of the older ones was wearing an apron.

The smaller one is smiling happily.

The woman looked at the painting, at the two little figures holding hands tightly, and her body began to tremble slightly.

She didn't cry out loud.

Two silent tears slid down her gentle eyes.

The tears were also translucent, and as soon as they left the cheeks, they vanished into thin air.

She raised her head, looking at her child again and again with tearful eyes, and reached out to gently stroke his cheek.

"Xiao Bao's drawing is so good... Mommy loves it... This is the best gift Mommy has ever received."

She repeated it over and over again, her voice filled with satisfaction and endless longing.