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

Li Baocai scrambled away, his back looking like a stray dog ​​whose spine had been doused with boiling water, disappearing in the blink of an eye behind the bare tree branches.

I don't have time to care about him.

My heart had long been tied to an invisible rope, pulling me fiercely toward the dark old forest of the Western Hills.

The morning light finally began to shine, but when it reached the edge of the woods, it seemed to be swallowed up by something, becoming weak and unable to penetrate even a little.

The tips of the withered grass at the edge of the forest were covered with white frost, each blade sticking out like the stiff fingers of a dead person.

Further in, there was a gloomy, dense expanse of dark green and deep brown.

The gnarled branches of those old trees cast distorted shadows in the dim light, overlapping each other to form a dense net that made one's heart tighten and throat dry just looking at it.

The chill that Liu Ruoyun gave her was now taking effect.

I blinked hard, and it felt as if a thin layer of ice covered my eye sockets, cool and refreshing.

Looking deeper into the woods, the scene changed.

Within those tangled shadows, something was slowly flowing—not wind, not light, but something thicker and darker.

Like ink dripping into stagnant water, it spreads and then gathers, its edges tinged with a grayish hue, exuding an indescribable, almost sinister, quality.

You can still faintly smell a odor, not the usual smell of rotting grass and wood, but rather like the smell of an old coffin board mixed with damp incense ash, wisps and strands of it seeping into your nose.

Thirteen, be careful.

Huang Dalang reminded me in my heart, lowered my voice, tightened my muscles, and all that slickness was gone.

"Um."

I managed to utter a single syllable, but my palms were already sweating profusely.

I lifted my foot and tentatively walked deeper into the woods.

The decaying leaves underfoot had accumulated for countless years, thick as rotten cotton. Stepping on them made a dull "plop" sound, followed by a deeper, softer sinking sensation, as if the ground beneath wasn't soil, but the cavity of some living creature.

With each step, the sound was so muffled it made one's heart race; the echoes lingered in the deathly silent forest, as if sinking directly into the ground.

The old dog followed at my feet, still looking like a little puppy, but its eyes were frighteningly black and shiny, like two obsidian balls soaked in ice water.

Its ears stood straight up, their tips trembling slightly, capturing every whisper and rustle.

His nose was wet and kept twitching.

The further you go in, the more the light is stripped away layer by layer.

The bare branches overhead, intertwined and clawing, shattered the already thin sunlight, leaving only pale, grayish-blue patches of light that barely outlined the blurry path beneath our feet.

The silence was eerily profound; even the chirping of birds and insects had vanished. The only sounds were my own increasingly heavy breathing and the pounding of my heart in my ears.

The strange smell in the air was getting stronger and stronger.

Something else mixed in with the earthy smell.

It smelled like rust, or like animal blood that had been sitting out for too long. There was also a faint, cloyingly sweet, rotten smell, like fruit that had been left to rot in a jar in the summer.

Just as I was completely focused and almost suffocating from the deathly silence and strange smell, a strange sound suddenly entered my ears.

Humming and whining.

It was light, weak, and intermittent.

It didn't sound like a human voice, but rather like the last breaths of a wounded wild animal squeezing out of its ruptured lungs before it dies.

But within that melody, there was clearly a suppressed, human-like sob.

I slammed on the brakes, and all the blood in my body rushed to my head in an instant, then vanished completely, leaving my hands and feet ice cold.

"father?"

The sound was faint and indistinct, seemingly coming from the left, but it was obscured by layers of tree trunks and shadows, making it difficult to discern clearly. I couldn't care less about anything else; my heart felt like it was being clenched and released by an icy hand, and I suddenly took off running in that direction! Dead branches and rotten leaves were kicked up, bringing with them an even stronger stench of decay.

The old dog darted ahead of me in a flash, so fast that it left only a gray shadow in the dim light, and the low growl in its throat turned into a rapid, warning growl.

I hadn't run more than ten steps, and I had just rounded a crooked old linden tree when I saw it.

A figure was curled up on the clearing covered with withered leaves under the tree.

The person was lying face down, wearing a dark blue cotton-padded jacket.

That was a cotton-padded jacket that my mother had made for him a long time ago; the stitches were very tight.

A huge gash was torn open in his back, running diagonally from his right shoulder to his left waist.

The grayish-white cotton wadding curled out, soaked in dark reddish-brown blood, frozen solid and covered with ice crystals. The exposed flesh beneath the cotton-padded coat revealed several deep, gruesome wounds that revealed the bone. The flesh was not bright red, but rather a strange purplish-black, with rolled-up edges, as if repeatedly torn by a blunt instrument, or like the festering wounds of extreme frostbite.

A thin layer of grayish-white frost had condensed around the wound.

"father!"

I lunged forward, my knees slamming heavily onto the ground, but I felt no pain.

My hands were shaking so badly they were almost unresponsive, and it took a lot of effort to gently turn him over.

That's my dad, no doubt about it.

But that face, which usually wore a kind and honest smile, was now ashen, like cold ashes shoveled from a stove, exuding a deathly aura.

His eyelids drooped limply, and his eye sockets were sunken. His lips were dry, cracked, and bluish-purple.

On the side of his neck were several clear, bluish-black finger marks, so thin they were unusual, deeply embedded in his flesh.

"Father! Father! Wake up! Look at me, I'm Thirteen!"

My voice trembled violently as I reached out to check his breath.

His breathing was so faint it was almost imperceptible, intermittent, each breath accompanied by a heartbreaking hissing sound like a bellows.

His chest rose and fell only very slightly.

"He's still breathing!"

Huang Dalang's voice rang urgently in my mind, carrying an unprecedented solemnity.

"Quick! Find a way to get it back! This injury...something's wrong, it's poisonous!"

Liu Ruoyun's usually cool tone also revealed a hint of tension.

"Leave this place first. The foul air here has seeped into his wounds and is eroding his life force. The fog is about to rise, retreat quickly!"

Fog?

I was startled, and almost at the same time, an inexplicable, bone-chilling cold suddenly surged from all directions, a hundred times more eerie than the original cold in the forest!

Before I could even look up, the surrounding light suddenly went out without warning.

It's not that the sky is overcast anymore.

It's fog.

White fog.

Thick as spilled milk, or like a body formed from countless pale, wronged souls, it surged out wildly without warning from the cracks in the ground, from behind the tree trunks, and from the shadows of every branch overhead!

It's not floating, it's "spraying"! It's "exploding"!

In the blink of an eye, an overwhelming white blanket swallowed up the crooked linden tree, the withered leaves, my father and me, and the old dog that was growling and guarding us.

Just a few steps away, all that remained was a rolling, deathly still expanse of pure white.

The tree trunks and bushes that were barely recognizable just moments ago have all vanished without a trace.

The pitiful, grayish-blue light overhead was completely blocked, as if we had fallen from daylight into a chaotic nightmare in an instant.

The temperature plummeted, and the cold was no longer just icy; it had become something sticky and substantial, carrying a strong earthy smell and a distinct odor, like rotten mushrooms mixed with old grave soil. It seeped into clothes and skin, making people's teeth chatter from the cold.

With each breath, the cold mist filled my nasal cavity and throat, carrying that nauseating, strange smell that rushed straight to my head.

"Damn it! They're here!"

Huang Dalang roared fiercely in my heart, his voice seemingly tinged with the dampness of the mist.

"There's something in this fog! Be careful!"

The old dog's growl suddenly turned fierce and furious, no longer a threat, but a desperate fight in the face of a fatal threat! Its small body suddenly swelled up.

It's not that it actually gets bigger, but rather that it's an explosion of power.

The downy fur on its back bristled, its limbs were taut, and its claws dug deep into the frozen ground.

It bared its teeth, and those sharp, white teeth, in the thick, impenetrable fog, seemed to faintly emit a layer of pale, eerie light, staring intently at a certain direction deep within the fog.

I held my unconscious father tightly with one arm, staring wide-eyed until my eyeballs almost bled, desperately trying to see what was happening through the fog.

But it was no use; all that could be seen was an endless, slowly rolling expanse of white.

But my ears became unusually sensitive, or rather, the eerie white mist amplified some sounds while blocking out others.

coming……

Shh...shh...

Very light, very ethereal.

It wasn't like stepping on fallen leaves; it felt more like using rough sandpaper to slowly, bit by bit, rub the frozen ground.

The sound came from the left and right, sometimes near and sometimes far, making it impossible to determine its source.

Heh... Heh heh...

Coarse and heavy, cloudy.

The sound was much closer, seemingly less than ten feet to my right, blowing into my ear through a thick fog.

The stench was intense, dizzying, and putrid.

and also……

A very faint cracking sound, like ice breaking, was intermittently heard amidst the rustling and panting.

Cold sweat trickled down my forehead and spine, instantly turning icy cold.

I leaned tightly against the tree trunk behind me.

I can only tell from memory that it was the same linden tree from before.

I tried my best to shield my father's body between the tree trunk and me.

"You're playing tricks! Get your ass out here!"

I shouted sharply into the thick fog, my voice distorted by extreme tension and anger, but in this eerie, lifeless space shrouded in fog, it sounded hollow and powerless, and was quickly absorbed and swallowed by the white fog.

The billowing white mist seemed to pause for a moment.

The rustling sound stopped.

The heavy breathing also disappeared.

Immediately afterwards, a voice drifted over from the deepest part of the fog, slowly and deliberately.

The voice was dry, hoarse, and strained, sounding more like two pieces of rotten wood buried in damp soil for years, forced together by someone to create syllables.

"Leave...the...person...behind..."

"You...can...go..."

The sound drilled into my ears, not like listening, but like a cold, bristly wire drilling into my brain and scraping against the inside of my skull.

An indescribable chill and nausea instantly rushed to my throat.

"I'll spare your ancestors!"

My eyes were bloodshot, and I practically spat out those words through clenched teeth.

"You old coffin wretch! You have the guts to show yourself! Hiding and showing your tail, what kind of skill is that?!"

I know this provocation is clumsy, but the burning anger and fear simmering inside me had to be shouted out.

"Heh...heh heh..."

The hoarse voice chuckled strangely, the laughter reflecting and echoing in the thick fog, becoming layered upon layered, as if countless voices were simultaneously sneering from all directions.

"Little... kid... so stubborn..."

"The bones...are...good...material..."

Before I could finish speaking, the thick fog to my left suddenly began to churn violently, like boiling rice porridge! A chill far more biting than before, carrying a piercing, fishy wind, shot towards me like an ice pick without warning!

The color of the mist deepened instantly, vaguely coalescing into the shape of a blurry, withered claw with long fingernails!

"Left!"

Liu Ruoyun's clear shout exploded in my consciousness. At the same time, a pure, chilling current surged from between my eyebrows into my limbs and bones!

Almost instinctively, I grabbed my dad and used all my strength to fall to my right!

"Sizzle...!"

A sickeningly sharp sound of tearing silk.

The misty claws brushed past my left shoulder, just like my cotton-padded coat.

The thick cotton cloth was torn open like paper, and the cotton inside flew out, instantly covered with a thick layer of white frost.

A bone-chilling cold, not just ordinary cold, but a sinister poison with intense malice, seemingly capable of freezing the blood, suddenly burrowed into the flesh through the wound! The left side of the body went numb instantly, and the muscles began to spasm uncontrollably.

The mist claw missed its target and immediately dissipated back into the mist, but the chilling, stinging sensation remained, like an ice needle piercing the bone.

Watch out behind you!

Huang Dalang's warning and a short, sharp, inhuman scream rang out almost simultaneously!

My scalp tingled, and before I could turn around, I grabbed a stone from the ground!

"bump!"

The stone felt like it was striking something tough, not flesh or blood, but more like frozen leather or tough tree bark.

Immediately afterwards, a few drops of something cold, with a strong earthy and rotten mushroom smell, splashed onto the back of my neck, making me shudder.

"Woof! Awooo!"

The old dog's barking and tearing sounds came from my right rear, accompanied by more intense, teeth-grinding cracking sounds and muffled ripping sounds of something being torn apart.

The fog churned violently, and a small, denser gray shadow could be vaguely seen rolling and lunging within it.

"There's more than one! This thing is a 'Mist Servant'! A vengeful spirit controlled by that old ghost!"

Huang Dalang speaks extremely fast.

"Don't get entangled in a fight! Sister Liu, show me the way!"

"Close your eyes! Concentrate! Follow my breath!"

Liu Ruoyun's voice carried an unquestionable authority, and the wisp of natal Qi that had been injected into my body suddenly became surging and powerful!

I suddenly closed my eyes.

The moment darkness descends, the senses are forcibly elevated to another level.

It is something that cannot be "seen" but can be "perceived".

The boundless white mist transformed in my "eyes" into countless flowing, pale gray and grayish-black air currents, chaotic, murky, and filled with malicious fluctuations.

Amidst these murky air currents, several "humanoid" figures, emitting a faint but clear gray-green glow, staggered and surrounded us from all sides in a bizarre, joint-reversed posture.

They had no clear features, only vague outlines, their movements were stiff and swift, carrying an aura of death so thick it was impossible to dispel.