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

About two or three zhang behind me, the color of the polluted air seemed to have faded, and the turbulent fluctuations were also slightly weaker, faintly outlining a relatively clean, narrow path that was intermittent and pointed in the direction we came from!

"That way! Go through that gap!" I roared in my mind, not even knowing who I was shouting to.

The instinct to survive and the determination to save her father overcame the excruciating pain in her left shoulder and the icy coldness throughout her body.

I don't know where the strength came from, but I managed to throw my father's heavy, limp body onto my back.

"Old dog! Clear the way!"

I screamed and charged headlong into the narrow path I sensed!

The old dog let out a short but resolute reply, transforming into an even sharper gray shadow. It no longer tore at the entangled mist foes, but instead charged straight at the gray-green halo that was trying to condense on the path ahead. With its body, its claws, and its teeth that emitted a blue light, it fiercely smashed and tore apart the filth blocking its way!

"Stop...them...!"

For the first time, that dry, rotten voice took on a clear, exasperated quality, echoing sharply through the thick fog.

More gray-green halos lit up from the depths of the fog, and more rustling, panting, and cracking sounds surged from all directions like a tide.

The thick fog churned and compressed violently, attempting to completely block the vulnerable path.

I no longer pursued hitting any physical entity; relying solely on the vague sensation brought by Liu Ruoyun's true qi and my obsession with that path to survival, I charged forward madly!

With each collision, an even more biting chill and a dizzying stench rebounded from his body, making his arm heavier and more numb.

Carrying my father on my back felt like carrying a sinking block of ice, making my spine creak.

His faint breaths brushed against my neck, sometimes coming and sometimes going, each interval sending shivers down my spine.

I can't stop! I can't fall!

Charge! We can only fucking charge forward!

I don't know how many times I bumped through a cloud of gray mist that was trying to wrap around my ankle, and I tripped and almost fell.

The muffled thud of decaying leaves, the eerie howls of the fog-carrying beast, the fierce whimpers of the old dog, my own heavy, ox-like breathing and the frantic pounding of my heart, and the omnipresent, nauseating stench and chilling cold...

All the sounds, smells, and sensations were mixed together.

Just as I felt the vital energy that I was holding up with fear and willpower was about to dissipate, my legs felt like they were filled with lead, my vision was going black, and the cold, stinging pain in my left shoulder had spread to half of my chest.

Ahead, the color of the polluted air suddenly changed!

The gray-black fades, revealing a pale gold!

The narrow path I had been sensing suddenly opened up at the end!

"arrive!"

Liu Ruoyun's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible fatigue.

I squeezed out the last bit of strength and, with all the might I had, leaped forward towards that suddenly clear sky!

"Thump!"

A heavy feeling of falling.

Blinding! The unobstructed, blinding winter sunlight, like countless red-hot needles, pierced my suddenly opened eyes, bringing a burst of burning stars.

The gloomy, damp, and putrid feeling behind me, which was like a leech, vanished completely the moment I stepped out of the forest edge, as if it had been abruptly severed by an invisible barrier!

Instead, a cold wind carrying the scent of earth and hay lashed against my face like a knife, bringing a tangible, almost scalding sensation of relief after the ordeal.

My legs completely gave way, my knees buckled, and I collapsed heavily to my knees on the frozen, hard ground with a thud.

My father, who was on my back, slid down my spine. I turned around in a panic, caught him with trembling arms, and hugged him tightly.

Looking back.

A few steps behind, a thick, swirling white fog, like a gigantic, pale wall that stretched to the sky, completely blocked the entrance to the old forest of the Western Hills.

At the edge of the fog wall, countless wisps of fog were still violently twisting, stretching, and bulging, as if countless unwilling and angry claws were desperately scratching outwards from within, emitting silent shrieks.

Faintly, one could still see a few grayish-green lights flickering unwillingly deep within the fog wall, and the hoarse, increasingly distant yet still intensely venomous roars:

"...Can't...get...away......"

"...They're all...nutrients..."

Finally, the fog gradually subsided, resumed its slow rolling, and its color returned to a uniform, deathly white.

The old forest returned to its previous silence and gloom, as if the thrilling escape through the fog was just an extremely realistic illusion.

The sunlight shone down on me without reservation, but it couldn't dispel the lingering chill in my bones.

I was gasping for breath, each breath burning with pain, as if my lungs were about to explode.

I belatedly realized that cold sweat had spread all over my body, and my undershirt was already soaked through, clinging coldly to my skin, sending shivers down my spine.

After the numbness subsided, the area on my left shoulder where the mist claw had grazed me was replaced by a burning, stinging pain and a bone-chilling coldness; the skin there had an unnatural bluish-gray tinge.

I looked down at my father, who was unconscious in my arms.

His face appeared even more ashen in the sunlight, and the dark blue finger marks on his neck were shocking.

I reached out and checked his breath again; it seemed even weaker than before.

My heart sank heavily downwards, even heavier than when I was fleeing for my life in the fog.

If you dare touch my family, I swear I'll kill you.

I picked up my father again and limped down the mountain.

When I entered Zhujiakan, I found that the whole village seemed wrong. The sun was already high in the sky, but I couldn't see a single person.

Although it's cold, there are still children out playing. Even if there aren't, it's definitely not so deserted that it feels like there are no living people.

Although I had my doubts, I was more worried about my father.

"Father, Father."

I called out twice, but my father only managed weak groans coming out of his throat.

I quickened my pace, but when I pushed open my door, my legs went weak, my vision went black, and I collapsed to the ground.

When I woke up again, my mother and Xiulian were sitting around me.

His face was full of worry.

"Auntie, he's awake! Thirteenth Brother is awake!"

"Thirteen, you're finally awake."

My mother was holding a bowl of hot water, her eyes still wet with tears.

"Mother, Xiulian, I'm alright!"

I struggled to get up from the kang (a heated brick bed), but my head felt like it was filled with lead, so heavy I couldn't lift it.

"Don't move! You stay still and lie down!"

My mother grabbed my shoulder with a frighteningly strong grip, her eyes red as ripe persimmons.

"You brat, are you out of your mind? Your back is covered in bruises, and your left shoulder is all black. What were you doing?"

Xiulian remained silent, her head bowed, clutching a towel to wipe the sweat from my forehead. As she wiped, tears streamed down her face, landing on the back of my hand, burning hot.

"Where's Dad?"

My throat feels like it's stuffed with sawdust, dry and painful.

Mother paused for a moment, then turned her head to glance at the floor outside the room.

"Your dad... is chopping wood in the yard."

firewood?

My mind went blank, like someone had struck a rusty iron gong.

When I carried him back from the old forest, his face was as white as a windowpane, and the dark blue finger marks on his neck were so deep they were embedded in his flesh. He was breathing more out than in. He woke up earlier than me and was still able to get up and chop wood.

"Mother, you're not lying to me?"

"Why would I lie to you!"

Mother wiped her eyes.

"When your father woke up, he said he felt unwell, like he had a muscle spasm, and he had to keep moving around. I couldn't stop him; once he got into a stubborn mule, not even ten oxen could pull him back."

"Don't you know what your father is like?"

I propped myself up on my elbows to sit up.

Xiulian tried to stop me, but seeing the look in my eyes, she pulled her hand back halfway.

I leaned against the window.

My father stood under that old tree, his back hunched, holding a large axe in his hand, chopping at the log again and again.

He chopped very slowly and steadily. When he swung the axe up and down, the wood cracked open. There was not a single flaw in his movements.

But that posture always made me feel like something was off.

Like someone who has just learned to wield an axe, copying the movements stroke by stroke.

"Fuck your mother."

"Li Shisan, your father's soul is gone; without one, he's incomplete!"

Huang Dalang's words were like a bolt from the blue, leaving me frozen in place.

The string in my mind snapped.

"Which one is missing...?"

"How would I know which one is missing!"

"A person has three souls and seven spirits. Even if you lose one soul, you can still breathe and walk, and you'll look no different from a normal person. But that's just being a walking corpse, a rootless duckweed! Look at your father's back."

Under the sun, my father's shadow merged with the wooden stump, blurry and indistinct, with a pale gray ring around the edges as if it had been soaked in water.

With each swing of his axe, the shadow trembled, like the last leaf on a branch in late autumn.

"If the soul is incomplete, the shadow will be weak."

Huang Dalang felt like he had a piece of raw iron in his throat.

"You can chop wood today, eat tomorrow, but what about the day after tomorrow? And the day after that? Once that little bit of yang energy is completely used up, you're just an empty shell. Your father didn't wake up early; his mother wasn't even fully awake yet!"

I felt blood rushing to my head, and my back teeth were grinding together.

"That thing in the fog."

"It has captured my father's soul."

Huang Dalang did not respond.

I turned around to get off the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Stop right there!"

"You survived the ordeal in the fog only because Liu Ruoyun kept you alive, because that old dog risked his life to clear a path, and because you're just lucky!"

"You haven't fully recovered yet, and you're already going?"

"That's my dad."

Huang Dalang was stunned for a moment.

"He never let me go hungry in his entire life, nor did he ever let me freeze in the winter. Even after I was mentally impaired for so many years, he never said he would abandon me on some mountain."

"When I carried him on my back in the fog, my heart felt like it was being stabbed with a knife."

"If anyone dares to touch him, I'll risk my life to fill that bastard's grave."

"Fine, I'm unlucky to have a stubborn person like you."

"I'll accompany you one more time."

"However, be careful in everything you do, and don't act rashly."

"So when do we set off?"

"night."

"Although it's riskier at night, it's also less likely to be discovered."

I nodded. That's true. Although some things in the world are not recognized by the public, they do exist.

It is still very necessary for a small number of people to see and understand it.

The wait may be long, but there will always be a result.

The sky gradually darkened, becoming as black as the bottom of a pot.

I lay on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and stared out the window.

Xiulian heated the kang (a heated brick bed) until it was scorching hot, making the room so warm that I felt sleepy. But my spine felt chilly, as if someone was slicing it with an icicle.

My mother was washing dishes in the outer room, the sound of the porcelain clattering together was crisp and clear.

Through the curtain, she assumed I was asleep.

I didn't sleep.

My dad is asleep.

After chopping the pile of firewood, he went inside and didn't say a word before falling asleep and snoring.

The snoring sounded sometimes loud and sometimes soft, like a saw being pulled back and forth.

I leaned closer to look at the back of his head, but the shadow was still blurry, as faint as ink spilled on the ground.

"What time is it?"

"Just past the hour of Xu (7-9 PM)."

"Wait a little longer. The Yin energy is strongest at Hai hour (9-11 PM), and the fog is also ominous. That way, you can sneak in."

"I don't need to feel my way, I know the way."

"You don't know anything about me."

"The forest during the day and the forest at night are two different forests. The fog during the day and the fog at night are also not the same thing. The reason you were able to crawl out unscathed during the day is because Liu Ruoyun transferred her true qi to you, because you are lucky, and because your father hasn't reached the end of his life yet. All three things combined meant that the King of Hell took a nap when he was turning the pages of his book."

I didn't say anything.

The old dog got up from the ground, walked to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and nuzzled its cold nose into my palm. I grasped the skin on its cheek; it was thick and warm.

It licked between my fingers.

I waited until 9 PM.

Mother couldn't stay awake any longer and fell asleep at the end of the kang (a heated brick bed).

Xiulian flicked the wick of the oil lamp until it was as small as a bean, leaned against the wall, her eyelids drooping, and clutched the half-finished insole she had sewn for me in her hand.

I gently pulled the things out of her hand, but she didn't wake up.

I lifted the curtain, and as soon as I stepped over the threshold, the old dog darted out and stood in the yard, its ears standing up like two knives.

The night wind rushed into my collar, making me shiver.

The old tree in the yard, which looked fine during the day, now looks like withered, dead fingers reaching haphazardly towards the sky.

The pile of firewood my father chopped during the day, neatly stacked against the wall, now looked like a pile of dead bones.

I blinked hard.

It's firewood.

After leaving the courtyard, head west.

I could explore every corner of Zhujiakan at night with my eyes closed. I knew which courtyard walls were low enough to step over in one foot; which dog was fierce enough to bark from two miles away; which road turned into a muddy pit after rain; and which road was so crowded with people that it was frozen solid.

But something's not right about this village tonight.

It wasn't the kind of weird, aggressive thing.

It is still.

It was as quiet as a grave.

I passed by Widow Liu's house. Her big yellow dog barked at everyone it saw during the day, as if it wanted to break free of its chain and rush out to bite you.

At that moment, I looked over and saw the dog lying by its kennel, its head on the ground, its eyes open, motionless.

He's not dead.

It's shaking.

When it saw me, it let out a soft whimper, as faint as a mosquito's buzz, and buried its head in its front paws.

I quickened my pace.

Further ahead is Wang Datou's house.

His wife was very fertile; she raised five children, the oldest being twelve and the youngest only three. Normally at this time, the house would be noisy with children crying or adults yelling. But now, with the windows dark, there wasn't a sound.

I stopped and glanced into the window.