The Three Pure Ones' Secret: Expressing Spirit

A moment later, Fan Biao and I saw an old man sitting cross-legged drifting over from the darkness in the distance. Fan Biao and I took a closer look! We felt that this old man had a kind of otherworldly air about him. There was even a halo behind him, and white mist was emanating from him. On his left and right sides stood a boy and a girl, two or three or four years old!

I looked at it and was a little puzzled. I thought to myself, why is this monster making such a grand entrance? It's much more high-profile than Chang Qingqing! But the "Transmission of Divine Power" records that this one in front of me might not be a wild immortal monster, but a proper local immortal.

The divine incantation records: "Behold the immortal descending to the mortal realm, radiant with rosy light, accompanied by attendant children, his benevolent countenance fleeting and elusive!"

It means that immortals all possess an ethereal aura and are often accompanied by children, with kind and benevolent appearances. I looked at the old man before me; he sat floating in the air, his eyes slightly closed, his long, snow-white hair coiled up, his eyebrows and beard very long. It seems Journey to the West wasn't lying; he looks exactly like the Supreme Lord Laozi or Venus from the TV series.

Fan Biao and I looked at the old man in front of us, and I asked him somewhat hastily, "Uh, well!"

Seeing that I stammered for a long time without uttering a complete sentence, he slowly opened his eyes and asked me, "Junior, did you give the order? What do you need to know? Please ask!"

Fan Biao and I exchanged glances, then said to the old man, "We were originally handling a funeral in this village, but the ghost of this family was captured by a monster. We rescued him a few days ago and put him in a small bottle. Today, after finishing our work during the day, we planned to release him tonight, but someone stole the bottle we used to contain the ghost. We had no other choice but to use the Spirit Transmission Token. We originally wanted to consult the five local wild spirit clans, but we never expected to ask you for help!"

The old man shook his head and sighed, "Alas, I never thought someone would be able to inherit Brother Jiang's mantle. It seems that something big is about to happen in this world!"

I didn't understand the old man's words and wanted to ask him what he meant, but he quickly cut to the chase and patiently told me, "This area is under my jurisdiction. Before I attained enlightenment, I was also an animal. I was once a large rat in Fuling Mountain in Xingcun who achieved enlightenment. In the late Qing Dynasty, there was a temple on the mountain, and I attained enlightenment by consuming the incense offered to me by people on the altar. Later, I was named the Altar Taoist, the lowest-ranking deity in the human realm, a type of local immortal, also known as an earth immortal!"

Fan Biao and I looked at him. This old man was a true immortal. Although he used to be a demon, he had great fortune; otherwise, how could he have achieved enlightenment? He was not comparable to ordinary mountain spirits, monsters, or wild immortals.

He said he was known as the Daoist of the Lamp Platform, so he must know a lot about the surrounding area. Fortunately, he didn't waste our time and directly pointed us in the right direction: "There are five monsters in the mountains and forests around Xing Village. The first is the three brothers of the Jar Spirit; they usually don't enter villages, and you seem to have already encountered them. The second is the Monkey Spirit, but he's already dead. You've already seen the third one, but you just didn't recognize him. And it's this monster that took the soul of Old Man Qiu! Tomorrow it will appear before you. You just need to put this item in your pocket, and when you get close to it, you'll see what it looks like!"

Then the old man conjured up something resembling a small sachet in his hand, and with a casual wave of his hand, it floated directly in front of me. Fan Biao caught the floating object.

The old man then stroked his beard and said to us, "I can only offer guidance; how to handle this is up to you. I'll take my leave now!"

I placed the candle on the ground, then clasped my hands in a fist and palm salute to the old man: "Thank you for your guidance, venerable sage!"

After blowing out the candle, the old man's figure drifted into the distance and disappeared. Old Fan and I looked at each other, and then I said to Old Fan, "How are we supposed to find him now?"

Fan Biao shook his head: "The old man said he'd appear before us tomorrow, so we probably won't be able to find him even if we go looking for him. Let's wait until tomorrow and see!"

Afterwards, Lao Fan and I went back to the room. He was probably quite tired too, and he fell asleep on the bed almost immediately. I lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling through the light streaming in from the window, reflecting on everything that had happened between Fan Biao and me since that day. I felt there were some things that Lao Fan and I hadn't figured out. But Lao Fan didn't seem to care, so why should I worry about it? I looked at the ceiling for a while and then fell asleep.

I don't know how long I slept, maybe it was the middle of the night, when I was woken up by someone calling me. Looking at the dim light in the room, Fan Biao was sleeping soundly next to me, but who was calling me?

I tried to make out the sounds carefully, and in my drowsy state, a woman's voice came: "Little brother~"

I didn't know who it was. Could it be the Qiu family's kid? But why would they bother someone as clueless as me so late at night? Shouldn't they be looking for Old Fan or Grandpa Wu? Feeling a bit confused, I headed out of the room. But once I stepped outside, I felt something was off. The main hall outside the room was empty. The once spacious hall was completely devoid of anything. Still half-asleep, I didn't pay much attention. Reaching the main hall's entrance, I saw a strong wind blowing outside, causing the leaves of the pomelo tree in the yard to sway back and forth.

I searched everywhere carefully for the person who had called me, but I couldn't see anyone around. The courtyard was empty and very clean. I moved to the middle of the courtyard and looked at the rooms on both sides, trying to find the person who had called me. Just then, I heard the woman's voice again: "Little brother~ please don't hurt him, okay?"

I was a little stunned. What did this mean? The sound seemed to be coming from outside the courtyard. Confused, I walked towards the gate, only to find it ajar. I stepped outside and looked at the path leading to the bamboo grove, where a figure was standing in the middle!

It was very dark. I tried to make out the environment under the moonlight, which was half-hidden by clouds. It was the back of a girl. She was quite tall, at least 1.75 meters. She was facing away from me in the moonlight. Her slender figure seemed unreal, somewhat surreal and hazy.

I was a little taken aback. Who was this girl? A little nervously, I asked her, "Were you calling me?"

She didn't turn around, but she nodded slightly, then said with her back to me, "Little brother! Can you promise me you won't hurt him?"

I was very confused. Who was this girl? What did she want with me? So, somewhat hesitantly, I asked her, "Why are you saying that? We didn't hurt anyone. Who are you?"

The girl turned around, and in the moonlight, she was incredibly beautiful. What surprised me most was that she didn't have a local look; to be precise, she wasn't Asian. She was a foreigner! My friend was stunned. "I haven't met any foreigners these past few days," he thought. "Why is this foreign girl looking for me?"

Filled with doubt and confusion, I asked her, "What do you mean? Who are you telling me not to hurt? How could I possibly hurt anyone?"

Although she was a beautiful and tall foreigner, she looked very young, probably not much older than me. She said with a hint of grievance, "He's a man. I came to you hoping you wouldn't hurt him. He's not a bad person! It's just..."

The foreign girl seemed hesitant to speak, and when I noticed she suddenly stopped talking, which piqued my interest, I quickly asked, "Just what?"

The foreign girl gently shook her head: "He's a good person, please, please don't hurt him. Those three monsters will come to cause trouble for this family again tomorrow night, so please be careful!"

I was completely bewildered when I heard that, but then it dawned on me—this girl was a ghost! I was immediately stunned and speechless. Then, the girl said to me with a sorrowful expression, "I'm leaving. I know it might not change anything, but I still wanted to try!"

Then she walked into the bamboo forest where the wind creaked and groaned. I listened to the sound of bamboo rustling and bamboo leaves dancing in the wind. The girl's waist-length hair fluttered in the wind as she slowly walked into the dark bamboo forest and disappeared from sight.

My mind went completely blank. This foreign girl is a ghost? How can there be foreign ghosts here? What kind of place is this? In the countryside, let alone ghosts, where would a foreigner come from? Are foreigners under the jurisdiction of the King of Hell just like us? And what she said... it's giving me a complete headache. What does she mean? She didn't even explain herself, leaving me to guess?

No, no, she just told me that those three raccoon monsters are coming to cause trouble for the Qiu family tomorrow night. How did she know that? And what exactly is this foreign girl? My mind was full of questions. Just as I was completely confused, I heard a strange human voice beside me, and the world around me seemed to distort. I opened my eyes abruptly!

Just then, Fan Biao yawned and said, "Ah~ I'm so thirsty! What time is it?"

Then he groped around aimlessly, finally finding my head and pulling out his phone to check the time. I was being blown around by the fan, and I vaguely saw my face illuminated by the phone screen. It was all a dream. No wonder there was such a strong wind; it was just the fan.

But who was that beautiful girl I just dreamt about? Was she human or a ghost? Just then, Fan Biao said to me, "Just like me, so thirsty, I can't stand it!"

After saying that, he got up to get some water. Since my throat felt parched after sobering up, I went with him to get some water. As we walked, I told him about the strange dream I'd had. Old Fan thought it was a bit odd too, but told me not to worry too much. He said the old man, the sorcerer, said we'd understand tomorrow, and everything would be clear after tomorrow!

I lay in bed unable to sleep, while Lao Fan drank some water and fell asleep immediately. I kept thinking about what the girl in my dream had told me—she told me to let him go. But who exactly was this "he"?

Unfortunately, despite my ability to foresee the future, I could never guess the answer. It wasn't until I experienced everything that happened in Xingcun that I realized how to live such a tortuous life.

I couldn't fall asleep for the rest of the night. I was afraid that if I fell asleep, I would dream about ghosts or monsters. I played on my phone in bed until dawn.

Grandpa Wu saw me playing on my phone so early in the morning, probably realizing I'd been staying up late, and said to me, "Xiao Yuan, are you finding it a little difficult to adjust?"

I didn't dare talk about what had happened recently. I could only nod and pretend that I was feeling a bit out of sorts and that's why I hadn't slept well. Grandpa Wu said there wasn't much to do in the morning and suggested I take a nap, but I shook my head to indicate that I didn't need to. I got up and woke Fan Biao up.

Seeing that there was nothing to do in the morning, the old man stubbornly stayed in bed and refused to get up. Because today was quite busy, there would be formal ceremonies such as opening the coffin and paying respects to the remains in the evening. Therefore, all the relatives and friends of the Qiu family who could come back today should be present. After the ceremony is completed today, tomorrow will be the day of burial.

I dragged Fan Biao out of bed and asked him to give me something to do, which was better than me just following him around aimlessly. And most importantly, I needed to keep an eye on the creature that the old Taoist priest Zhantai had told us about. Since he told us that there were five enlightened demons around the village, then the one we should be watching must be the one we encountered but didn't notice.

Fan Biao saw a spot for greeting guests at the entrance and told me to set off firecrackers. I did as he instructed, carrying a basket of firecrackers to the entrance. Actually, it was fine; at least my buddy wouldn't be idle anymore.

I took a stool and sat at the door. Whenever relatives and friends from the Qiu family came, I would throw firecrackers outside. My buddy really enjoyed setting off firecrackers. All the firecrackers I missed during the New Year were made up for at Old Man Qiu's house.

Meanwhile, old man Fan Biao, wearing a rumpled yellow Taoist robe, was holding a microphone and chanting some incoherent nonsense. It was unclear whether he actually knew what was in those books or was just muddling through; it was all scriptures and Sanskrit.

And you know what? This firecracker-setting job at the entrance is really useful. I block the entrance, and everyone has to pass by me. Today, I don't care what kind of demons, monsters, or beauties you are, you can't escape my watchful eye!

Perhaps the old man wasn't lying to Fan Biao and me. Just before lunchtime, what the old man gave me did indeed work. However, when I saw the monster, I was completely shocked, followed by a head full of confusion and bewilderment.

I was setting off firecrackers at the door when Bai He's figure approached from a distance, accompanied by his large white Samoyed dog. The white dog had its mouth open and tongue lolling out, as if it were smiling at me. But as the dog drew closer, I froze completely. I saw an aura rising from the dog's back, and that aura materialized into the shape of a woman. When it reached me, I was utterly dumbfounded—this woman was the girl I had dreamt of last night! That girl was a demon!

Bai He greeted me, and I stared blankly at the white Samoyed. This dog was a foreign breed, so it looked like a foreigner. This... I felt something was off, but I couldn't pinpoint what was wrong with it! But how could she have cultivated herself into a monster?