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

I felt a chill run down my spine, and my teeth chattered involuntarily.

Looking at Xiulian again, she was slightly bowing her head, unconsciously drawing small circles on the white ground with the toes of her own handmade cotton shoes. Her profile looked soft and serene in the sunlight, carrying the unique vitality of a young girl.

That damn Uncle Chen, he wants to ruin her.

"Xiulian".

I looked up, my voice unusually dry and hoarse from the effort I was putting down to suppress the surging anger and fear.

"This lucky bean...something's not right. Listen to me, you absolutely cannot wear it, you shouldn't even touch it, let alone wear it close to your body."

Xiulian was lost in her own little thoughts and this rare moment of solitude when she heard this and looked up in surprise. The color drained from her face, and she became somewhat pale.

"Thirteenth Brother? What did you say? This... this was given to me by Uncle Chen. My dad also told me to keep it... My dad said Uncle Chen is his buddy of decades."

Her eyes were filled with confusion, unease, and a hint of resentment at having her elders' good intentions questioned.

"I know it was given by Uncle Chen, and it was also brought by Uncle Wang."

I interrupted her, my tone more serious and solemn than ever before. I had to make her realize the gravity of the situation, and I looked her straight in the eye.

"But the person who sent this gift has ulterior motives. Xiulian, do you believe me?"

Xiulian was startled by my unprecedentedly serious demeanor.

She looked at my tense face, then at the jade pendant in my hand that seemed to gleam in the sunlight, and bit her lower lip, which was dry and chapped from the cold.

The confusion in her eyes was slowly replaced by fear, but in the end, she nodded gently, her voice weak but clear.

"I...I believe you, Thirteenth Brother, but...what's going on? It's just a jade pendant, why can't I wear it?"

I took a deep breath of the icy air and forced myself to calm down.

We can't make it sound too mystical, or use terms like "corpse beetle" or "absorbs yang energy" directly, or we'll scare her to death. But we must make her understand the dangers of this thing.

I pointed to the lucky bean in my palm and whispered in a way she could understand.

"Xiulian, look at this jade. The color is off, dull and stiff. And these messy patterns inside make me feel uneasy. In old sayings, this is called 'carrying evil spirits.' And this rope, the way it's tied—some old and eerie objects are sealed with special knots. Most importantly…"

I paused, lowering my voice even further, almost in a whisper.

"I just looked at it in the sunlight and saw it very clearly. There was something hidden inside the bean pod, something really, really small, like...like a little worm, and it was alive!"

"Insects? Alive?"

Xiulian abruptly covered her mouth, stifling a gasp. Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief, and her face turned even paler.

"How could there be live insects inside jade... inside a piece of jade? This... this is impossible!"

"This is not the jade we usually see, nor is it the 'lucky bean' we are thinking of."

"This is a harmful contraption someone deliberately made! Wearing it for a long time is really bad for your health. It will make you listless, always sleepy, have nightmares, and eventually you'll get sick, and no amount of medicine will help. Xiulian, think back carefully, that Uncle Chen, have you ever heard Uncle Wang mention this 'old buddy' before? He came today, and his way of speaking, acting, and walking—did you notice anything... off about him?"

Her eyes darted around in a panic as she tried to recall the events, her voice beginning to tremble.

"Yes...yes, I haven't heard Dad mention having such a close friend. He only said that he met some people when he was working away from home when he was younger...Today, Uncle Chen came, but he wasn't very talkative. When I greeted him, he just nodded. When he smiled...his face didn't seem to move much, and his eyes were blank and lacked any sparkle. My dad said that he might be getting old, and the car ride was tiring, making him stiff..."

Her voice trailed off as she spoke, her breathing becoming increasingly rapid. Clearly, the previously overlooked details were now connecting, pointing to a chilling conclusion.

"We absolutely cannot accept this."

I wrapped the red cloth tightly again and held it firmly in my hand, as if I were holding a piece of burning coal, or as if I were holding the vital spot of a venomous snake.

"Xiulian, don't rush to tell Uncle Wang about this. Uncle Wang is straightforward and honest. If he doesn't believe you, or if he lets something slip and Uncle Chen finds out, it might alert the enemy, and who knows what other bad tricks he might have."

Xiulian was completely disoriented at this moment, and regarded me as her pillar of support. She nodded repeatedly, grabbed my sleeve, and her fingers were icy cold.

"Yes, Thirteenth Brother, I'll do whatever you say. But... what should we do? Uncle Chen is still at my house, and my father is all alone... will he be in danger?"

Tears welled up in her eyes, a mixture of fear and worry for her father.

"Don't be afraid."

I took her cold hand in my own and squeezed it hard, trying to give her some strength and warmth, even though I was also feeling incredibly anxious.

"Your dad should be fine for a while. Since that person... that thing was after you, they probably won't touch your dad for now. Go home first, act like normal, cook as usual, talk as usual, don't mention Fu Dou, and don't show any fear. I'll follow you around your house and see what this Uncle Chen is all about."

Xiulian nodded, which meant she agreed with my idea.

Let's go home first and try our best to act normal.

After Xiulian ate a few bites, she helped my mother pack her things and then said she was going home, since my parents knew about what had happened at home.

Being away from home all the time seems like I'm deliberately avoiding people.

I want to go with Xiulian, and I don't need any reason at all. My parents couldn't be happier for me to go with Xiulian.

I can picture my parents seeing me and Xiulian at her house.

They would be beaming with joy, unable to stop smiling.

"Dad, Uncle Chen, I'm back! It's so cold outside!"

Her voice was deliberately raised, carrying a slightly exaggerated lightness that I rarely heard, drifting over the courtyard wall.

This was followed by Xiulian's father's rough and boisterous response.

"Oh, my daughter's back! Come inside and warm up!"

In addition, a muffled, low sound came from deep within the chest, as if it were being squeezed out with difficulty.

It sounded muffled, and I couldn't hear what it was saying.

I shrank my neck and pulled the collar of my worn-out cotton-padded jacket up as high as possible, down to just below my nose, leaving only my eyes showing.

It's early winter now, and as the sun gradually sets, the temperature naturally drops considerably.

I stamped my feet to warm them and slowly strolled to the back of the firewood stacks on the east side of Xiulian's house, which were used to store sorghum stalks and miscellaneous items. The view from here was a bit off, but I could still see most of the courtyard gate and some of the windows.

I didn't just listen with my ears; my whole body tensed up, and my pores seemed to open up to catch any unusual tremor in the wind.

"Something's not right... This smell is pungent... Be careful, kid..."

The "lucky bean" wrapped tightly in red cloth was pressed tightly against my chest through my cotton-padded coat and the shirt underneath.

Even though I was carrying it in my arms, instead of warming it up, it felt like a lump of iron just pulled out of an ice hole. Its chilling coldness seeped out in wisps, making my chest uncomfortable, and it felt heavy and sinking down.

Time seemed to stretch out endlessly in the dry, cold air that made your nose sting.

Occasionally, Uncle Wang's loud, unassuming voice would ring out in the courtyard, perhaps talking about this year's firewood or the soil moisture of a certain plot of land.

Xiulian's responses came intermittently, higher and shorter than usual, like taut strings that seemed ready to snap at the slightest touch.

Uncle Chen was silent most of the time.

From the chimney, wisps of pale blue smoke rose, swaying gently in the air before slowly dissipating and merging into the leaden gray and dark blue sky of a winter evening.

On the surface, cooking and entertaining guests are the typical scenes at any household.

The sun finally sank completely behind the heavy ridge of the western mountains, and the world suddenly took on a new look.

The remaining light was quickly swallowed up by a murky, cold bluish-gray. The distant mountains and forests lost their outlines first, turning into large, thick, indistinct blobs of ink.

The wind seemed to pick up, rising close to the ground, swirling and making a soft "whooshing" sound.

Just as I felt my toes, hidden inside my cotton shoes, were about to freeze and go numb, the wooden door was pulled open.

"Creak!"

Uncle Wang came out first, his tall figure blocking the doorway, still talking.

"...Brother Chen, you just left like that, without even having a proper meal."

He turned sideways and gestured towards the door to indicate his name.

"We'll have a chance to get together again."

"I was just passing by and thought I'd drop by."

"Then you'd better be careful. It's getting dark."

Uncle Chen nodded, then turned around and walked westward step by step along the well-trodden dirt road in the middle of the village.

His steps looked slow, even somewhat like an elderly person's, yet on this frozen road, he barely made any decent footsteps! There was only the extremely slight rustling sound of his cotton trouser legs rubbing against each other, which was quickly drowned out by the wind.

Uncle Wang stood at the door, watching Uncle Chen's back, shook his head, muttered something, rubbed his hands, turned around and went back into the yard. The door slammed shut, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

I immediately slipped out from behind the woodpile, stretched my legs which were a bit stiff from the cold, and followed after him, keeping a distance of about forty or fifty paces.

"Stay close...don't get lost...but don't get too far ahead...something's getting weird...it's not the 'life force' of a living person, it's more like...like the musty, earthy smell of an old grave, the smell of a rotten coffin, but with something else mixed in...like..."

It didn't finish speaking, but the hairs on my body stood on end.

He seemed to have chosen the right direction, and followed the dirt road straight through the now-silent village.

Upon reaching the scattered houses at the west end of the village, he didn't even glance at the main road leading to the neighboring village, which was riddled with deep ruts from cart tracks. Instead, he paused briefly beside a pile of manure.

The pause was so brief that it was almost imperceptible unless I was watching closely.

Then, he turned and, like a wild beast familiar with the terrain, went straight off the main road, stepping on the hard, ridged furrows, and headed west toward the dark and oppressive forest that appeared even more so in the twilight.

The furrows are the soil ridges left after turning over the soil in autumn. They freeze as hard as stone in winter, and are uneven and undulating. It is easy to twist your ankle even during the day, let alone when it is about to get dark.

But when "Uncle Chen" walked on it, his steps, which were originally slow on flat ground, became strangely steady, and even... his speed seemed to be faster than when he was in the village!

My last shred of hope vanished completely.

Xishan! In the summer, we kids dared to go in to steal bird eggs and pick mushrooms in that forest. In the winter, some people would go to the edge to cut some firewood and set some traps to try their luck. This "Uncle Chen" went into the mountains in the middle of the night. What was he planning to do?

Fear, like the pervasive cold wind in the fields, instantly pierced through my thick cotton coat.

I licked my chapped lips and tasted a hint of rusty, bloody flavor.

Crouching low, using the field ridges, withered stalks of wormwood, and the occasional large clod of earth as cover, he continued to follow.

We dared not get too close, but fortunately there was still a faint reflection in the ground, making Uncle Chen's back view a conspicuous, moving target.

The closer we got to the foot of the western mountain, the stronger the wind became. It was no longer the meandering breeze that blew through the village, but a "white-haired wind" that swept across the open fields without any obstruction. It whipped up a layer of dry, loose soil from the ground and lashed at us, stinging our eyes, choking our throats, and cutting our faces like tiny knives.

The distant mountains and forests were now completely shrouded in the heavy twilight, their outlines blurred, leaving only huge and ferocious silhouettes, like an ancient behemoth that had been crouching for countless years and was about to awaken, opening its dark, bottomless maw toward the fields.

Without the slightest hesitation, or even a pause in his steps, Uncle Chen plunged straight into the impenetrable darkness.

I stopped at the edge of the woods, and a colder, more damp smell, carrying the scent of decaying leaves and earthy earth, rushed towards me, instantly dispelling the chill of the fields.

The forest was much darker than outside. The tall pine and oak trees, with their bare branches, stretched towards the dark purple sky in all sorts of menacing shapes, intertwining and cutting the last bit of light into fragments, casting strange, overlapping, and swaying shadows.

"Stop! Slow down! Slow down! The smell... it's so strong it's choking! There's something ahead! This isn't the right place!"

"Brother Dalang, something's not right?"

"Thirteen, what kind of decent person would come to a place like this at this hour? Besides, think about it, what would a soulless person be doing here at night?"

"There's only one possibility: the person manipulating him from behind the scenes is right here."

Huang Dalang's words actually excited me.

I need to meet the person behind this. How could I stand idly by if they dare to set their sights on Xiulian?