For thirty years, he has roamed the Northeast, his divine might overwhelming all immortals under hea

I huddled behind the old elm tree, feeling as if all the blood in my body had frozen. My hands and feet were icy cold, but my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to explode.

The night wind rustled the leaves, and the dark pit in the distance looked like a monster with its mouth wide open. Sanlu stood at the edge of the pit, his body casting a long, distorted shadow in the moonlight.

He didn't move, just stood there straight, facing the bottom of the pit, looking at something.

I dared not breathe and stared intently at him.

Time crawled by, and the moon slowly moved from the east to overhead, but Sanlu remained rooted to the spot, not even flinching.

Until the first rooster crowed from the distant village, followed by a second, a third...

As dawn broke, Sanlv seemed to suddenly wake up. He looked around, then turned and walked back the way he came. His steps were still light, but his shoulders seemed to slump a bit.

I waited until he was far away before I dared to step out from behind the tree; my legs were numb.

The little fox peeked its head out from my shoulder, its green eyes gleaming in the morning light.

"This kid...something's not right."

"Something's more than just wrong."

I gritted my teeth and moved my stiff legs.

"What's he doing standing here all night?"

For the next three days, I sneaked out every night and squatted in the same spot.

Sanlv was always punctual; he would arrive as soon as it got dark. The area was cordoned off by the police, and no one else came except him.

He stood by the foundation pit like a wooden stake, and didn't leave until the rooster crowed three times.

The pit remained deathly silent, without the slightest movement. The Yin-Yang Dog and the flying zombie were nowhere to be seen, neither alive nor dead.

The cloud of doubt in my mind grew larger and larger.

What does Sanlu know? What is he waiting for?

On the seventh night, the moon was mostly obscured by clouds, and it was so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Sanlu came again, but this time it was different; he had a bulging canvas bag slung over his shoulder.

My heart jumped into my throat.

Sanlu squatted down, opened his bag, and took out several items.

I couldn't see clearly from a distance, but I could see him fiddling with something on the ground for a while, like he was tinkering with something.

Then, he carefully took an object out of his bag.

Just then, the clouds seemed to thin out a bit, emitting a faint light.

The thing gleamed a pale white in the dim light of the day.

It's a skull!

I gasped and instinctively covered my mouth.

At this moment, I felt that Sanlv was a complete stranger; he was no longer the Sanlv I used to know.

Similarly, I realized that Sanlv must know something.

Sanlu placed the skull neatly in the middle of the pile of things he was fiddling with, then sat down cross-legged, facing the foundation pit.

He put his hands together and began to mutter incantations.

The voice was low and indistinct, drifting on the wind, intermittent and impossible to understand, but the tone was very strange, fluctuating in pitch, with a rhythm that sent chills down one's spine. It didn't sound like a normal person speaking, but rather like someone chanting a spell.

"It's the 'Gathering Yin Spell'!"

The little fox's voice exploded in my head, sharp and urgent.

"This kid is gathering yin energy for something underground! How does he know this? Who taught him?"

The question of the little fox's soul is also something I want to ask.

My palms were covered in cold sweat.

As Sanlu's incantation grew more urgent and louder, two faint green lights, like will-o'-the-wisps, flickered from the skull and its dark eye sockets in front of him.

Just then.

"Thump!"

A dull thud came from the bottom of the foundation pit, as if something heavy had crashed down into it.

The three donkeys paused in their incantation, then chanted it even faster, almost roaring out.

"Thump! Thump!"

Two more sounds, louder and more urgent.

The entire ground seemed to tremble slightly.

suddenly!

"boom!"

It wasn't too loud, but it was a very clear sound, like something breaking through the ground.

Immediately afterwards, a dark shadow darted out of the foundation pit, drew an arc in mid-air, and landed lightly on the open ground beside the pit.

I could see clearly through the green light emanating from the skull and eye sockets.

That turned out to be...

A puppy!!!

It was about the size of a newborn puppy, with grayish fur all over its body, but somehow, in the dark, it had a glossy sheen, like the finest satin.

It stood there, its little head tilted, its eyes shining brightly in the darkness, their color indiscernible.

The three donkeys' incantation abruptly stopped.

He stared intently at the suddenly appearing little gray dog, his facial muscles twitching, his expression shifting between surprise, disappointment, and barely concealed mania in the eerie green light.

After a long pause, he squeezed out three words through gritted teeth, his voice dry and hoarse, filled with intense hatred.

"It...failed."

He suddenly reached out and grabbed the skull with its green-glowing eye sockets from the ground, as if it were his last hope or a tool for venting his anger, and pointed the dark eye sockets at the little gray dog ​​standing there blankly.

"Aww!"

A low growl, not like a human voice, burst from Sanlu's throat.

At the same time, the two points of green light in the skull's eye sockets suddenly intensified.

"call out!"

Two green beams of light, each about the thickness of a chopstick, shot straight at the little gray dog!

It all happened so fast, my mind went blank, and I almost felt like I was going to burst out of my skin.

But just as the two green lights were about to hit the little gray dog, another unexpected event occurred!

The little grey dog ​​seemed to sense the danger. It didn't dodge, perhaps because it didn't have time, or perhaps because it never intended to dodge.

It simply raised its little head, opened its mouth, and faced the green light shooting towards it.

There was no sound.

But from its center, an invisible yet scorching wave of air suddenly spread out! The wave swept across the ground, raising dust with a whoosh; it swept across the grass blades nearby, instantly turning them yellow and curling up; it swept across the elm tree where I was hiding, and I felt a burning pain on my face.

The two menacing green lights collided with this shockwave, just like ice cream hitting a red-hot iron plate. With two "sizzling" sounds, they were completely dispersed and melted away, leaving not a trace!

"puff!"

As if struck by a heavy blow, Sanlu's hand gripping the skull trembled violently, and he staggered back several steps, his face drained of color, and a trace of dark red blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. The green light in the skull's eye sockets instantly dimmed, turning grayish, as if it were just an ordinary old bone.

The little grey dog ​​lowered its head, looked around in confusion, and then took off running towards where I was hiding!

I stood frozen in place, too afraid to move.

Sanlu clutched his chest, glared fiercely in the direction the little gray dog ​​had run off to, and then stared intently at the foundation pit. The venom in his eyes sent chills down my spine even from this distance.

He didn't linger. He grabbed the scattered items from the ground and stuffed them back into his bag, not even leaving the skull behind. He turned and staggered away into the deepest darkness before dawn.

The little grey dog ​​had already run to my feet.

It stopped, tilted its little head back, and stared straight at me with its bright, sparkling eyes.

I looked down at the dusty, shiny little thing, my mind completely blank.

The little fox jumped off my shoulder, circled me twice, sniffed around, and its green eyes were filled with surprise and uncertainty.

"This aura is unmistakable; it's that old dog's!"

The little fox's voice echoed in my mind.

"But it's a little different, it seems... purer? And... why can't I sense the murderous aura of that flying zombie at all?"

"You mean... the Yin-Yang Dog won? And this is... its cub?"

I asked, dumbfounded.

"Bullshit! That old dog is male; without a female, where would the puppies come from!"

The little fox rolled its eyes at me, clearly annoyed.

"I think that old dog won. Perhaps he changed because of the wealth and status he acquired. That's the only possibility."

It sniffed the little gray dog ​​carefully again.

"It has that old dog's original aura."

The little grey dog ​​seemed to understand that the little fox was talking about it, and it whimpered twice in dissatisfaction, then rubbed against my trouser leg.

"So what should we call him now? Yin-Yang Dog? Or Old Dog? Calling him Old Dog doesn't seem quite right, he's so small."

"Let him call whatever he wants. I think this is Old Dog. It seems that after he killed the flying zombie, he really underwent a transformation. You could say he was reborn. There is no other possibility but this explanation."

"Take it back first and we'll talk about it later."

I whispered to the little fox.

In the following days, Zhujiakan returned to calm.

No one goes to the construction site anyway; I heard that the higher-ups have blocked the news to avoid causing panic.

The villagers were still shaken, but life had to go on, though they all consciously avoided going in that direction.

Of course, the factory construction project has now fallen through.

As for Sanlv, he was never seen again after that day.

But I know very well in my heart that this matter is far from over.

But I know too little about what happened before.

I felt like a headless fly.

One afternoon, I went to the village store to buy soy sauce and ran into Liu Laoxie, the village's most gossipy old bachelor.

Old Liu is over fifty and still hasn't married. He spends his days wandering from house to house, so he's always the most informed. He was playing chess with a few other old men under the shade of a tree when he saw me coming. He winked and waved at me.

"Thirteen, come here, I heard you've gotten quite capable lately, managing to take care of that monster in the west?"

I ignored his comment and instead smiled as I offered him a cigarette.

"Uncle Xie, I heard that you traveled all over the country when you were young and have a lot of experience. I'd like to ask you something."

Old Liu tucked the cigarette behind his ear with a smug look and glanced at me sideways.

"What's the matter? There's no one around here that your Uncle Xie doesn't know!"

"Do you... know Sanlu's mother, Hu Xiu'e? Where did she remarry and go after that?"

Old Liu's smile faded slightly. He looked around and lowered his voice.

"Why are you asking about this? That's all from the old almanac, it's bad luck."

"I'm just curious. I've heard that Brother Sanlu has had a tough life."

I said it casually.

"Bitter? It's truly bitter to the core!"

Old Liu smacked his lips, suddenly in the mood for conversation.

"Hu Xiu'e, back then, remarried into the Wang family in Sanjianfang, bringing Xiao Sanlu with her. Old Wang was a pig butcher, with a violent temper and a love of drinking. You don't know Xiu'e's temper, she was no pushover. The two of them would argue every three days and fight every five. Poor Xiao Sanlu, he became their punching bag."

He shook his head and lowered his voice again.

"I have a cousin who lives in Sanjianfang. I heard that his family had a bad accident later. I can't remember exactly when. I heard that Old Wang and Hu Xiu'e had a fight in the middle of the night, and somehow the house caught fire. Neither of them could get out, and they were burned terribly. Only Sanlu was lucky. He went to the neighbor's house to borrow something that night and escaped the fire."

A fire? That doesn't match what Brother Sanlv said before about a "car accident".

But my intuition tells me that Liu Laoxie's version might be closer to the truth.

"What happened to Brother Sanlu afterward?"

"And then? The house burned down, and his parents were gone. Later, I heard that Sanlu took the family's money and went south. Of course, it was all hearsay, and nobody knew the exact details. Sanlu was still young then. Who would have thought that Sanlu would become such a successful boss and even come back to Zhujiakan to build a winery? It's a pity that the kid had such a hard life, and this kind of thing happened to him. Sigh..."

After thanking Liu Laoxie, I picked up the soy sauce bottle and walked back, my mind in turmoil.

Sanlv's childhood trauma stemmed from the "accidental" deaths of his birth mother and stepfather.

Does he really not know about his biological father?

No way, he must know something.

"If that's really the case... then what's buried in that kid's heart isn't just ordinary suffering, it's a blood feud."

The little fox's voice sounded somewhat heavy.

"He hated the Hu family, his mother and stepfather, and probably also... all the Zhujiakan people who stood by indifferently, or even fueled the flames back then. The 'debt' that Zhang the Cripple spoke of back then was probably not just a debt to the Hu family, but also a debt owed by the indifference of the entire village. Sun Dahong died tragically; if only one person had stood up to speak a word of justice and helped him, perhaps..."

"But what does this have to do with flying zombies? Why did he disturb that foundation pit? And why did he use a skull to chant incantations?"

"You'll have to ask him yourself."

A cold glint flashed in the little fox's green eyes.

"Or, ask whose skull it is. I suspect... it could very well be Sun Dahong's remains! His own father's skull!"

My scalp tingled.

"What?!"

"Sun Dahong died near the Yin-gathering acupoint, his resentment running deep. His remains are likely tainted with evil energy, making them an excellent 'medium' for certain evil arts. If Sanlu truly wants revenge, it's not impossible for him to use his father's remains and resentment for his own purposes. The 'Yin-gathering incantation' he chanted probably wasn't just meant to gather Yin energy for the underground, but also... to awaken or utilize his father's vengeful spirit!"

"What did he mean by 'failure' at the end?"

The little fox's eyes held a complex expression.

"I didn't fully understand what happened that night. But what's certain is that Sanlv's plan was disrupted, and it was Laogou who disrupted his plan."

"Sun Dahong's resentment, Sanlu's hatred, Feijiang's evil influence, and the yin energy gathered from the altered feng shui back then—all of these are 'yin,' 'evil,' and 'debt'."

The little fox said quietly.

"I think Sanlu originally wanted to use the flying zombie to take revenge on the people of Zhujiakan and make them pay for his father's death, but you had to step in and even invited Old Dog."

"His return to Zhujiakan to build a factory was probably to release that flying zombie ahead of schedule."