Tianjin, starting with unorthodox methods to achieve immortality

It was called a temple, but it was actually just a half-collapsed mud house. The door had long been torn down and used as firewood, and most of the roof tiles were broken, with the rafters exposed.

Chen Mo bent down and went inside.

It was darker inside than outside, with only a few cracks in the wall letting in some light, illuminating the dust and rotten grass on the ground.

A corner of the altar against the wall collapsed, and rubble was scattered all over the ground.

Under the offering table was a mess, with several blackened, tattered cotton quilts piled up in a heap.

Five or six chipped bowls were scattered on the ground, with dried residue still inside.

Someone lived there.

And there's more than one.

Chen Mo's gaze swept over these things, his face expressionless.

On the altar, the left cheek of the damaged statue of the Earth God was broken off, as if it had been hit by something.

His eyes were still there, half-open and half-closed, and the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, as if he were smiling or sighing.

He stared at the statue for a few seconds, then pulled out a paper doll for finding his way from his pocket.

"Following the trail, coming by the scent, revealing its form to point the way, it goes and returns immediately."

The paper figure trembled slightly, stood in mid-air, circled the room once, and then flew out the door.

Chen Mo lifted his leg and followed.

As he walked out of the earth god temple, he looked back one last time.

The earth god statue, its clay exposed, faced the entrance, its eyes fixed on the doorway, the half-smile on its lips appearing rather enigmatic in the darkness.

.....

The morning light shone on my face, a little too bright.

Once the refugees left, Linhe County returned to its former bustling state. Tofu vendors carried their wares on shoulder poles, and several women walked and chatted, carrying vegetable baskets.

The paper figure was three feet on the ground, moving as fast as the wind, and was too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Outside the city are vast fields of crops; the corn has already been harvested, leaving only knee-high stubble.

Further on, the road forks, one leading east to the provincial capital, and the other west into the mass grave.

Three miles westward, a cluster of graves began to appear by the roadside.

The paper figure swayed in mid-air, as if confirming its direction, before drifting towards a large burial mound.

The mound was higher than the surrounding ones, and in front of it stood a crooked stone tablet, the words on it long since worn away by wind and rain.

Chen Mo went around to the grave mound and saw six people huddled behind it.

Five men and one woman.

They were all quite young, around fifteen or sixteen years old, with a youthful innocence still lingering on their faces.

But his clothes were tattered, his hair was disheveled, and his face and hands were covered in mud and dried scabs.

There was a woman huddled at the very back, her hair matted together, and a purplish-blue bruise on her face, it was unclear when she had gotten it.

Several bundles lay scattered around them, their openings open, revealing steamed buns and pickled vegetables inside.

All six of them were panting.

They were running so fast that their chests were heaving and their faces were almost pale.

Two of them still had crumbs of steamed bun hanging from the corners of their mouths, probably because they hadn't had time to swallow them while running.

At this moment, everyone froze, mouths agape, staring at Chen Mo who had suddenly appeared.

The air froze for a few seconds.

A tall, thin boy stared at his face for a while, his expression changed drastically, and he involuntarily took half a step back.

"It's you...you're the one who drove Yuanyuan back today."

Everyone else's expression changed upon hearing this.

They didn't know Chen Mo; all they knew was that the girl who had been sold had been brought back in a black car.

Upon hearing the news, the group fled in panic without even taking their bedding, hastily packing their belongings, only to be trapped in a mass grave.

The five boys all took a half step back in unison.

Only the woman didn't move, tilting her head to look Chen Mo up and down, her eyes revealing a shrewdness beyond her years.

"Sir, do you need something from us?"

Chen Mo looked at her, his tone indifferent. "Did you sell Yuanyuan?"

The girl was slightly taken aback, then smiled, the bruise on her face appearing somewhat grotesque as her smile moved.

"What did you say, brother? What do you mean, 'round'...?"

"Stop pretending!" the tall, thin man suddenly shouted. "He definitely knows! That brat must have told him everything!"

"Shut up!" The woman whirled around, glaring at him with eyes like knives. "Would it kill you to shut up?"

The tall, thin man really fell silent after being glared at by her.

The girl turned her head, and a smile returned to her face.

"Brother, you must have misunderstood. We're just a few beggars, trying to make a living outside the city. We really don't know this Yuanyuan you're talking about..."

"Don't you recognize me?"

Chen Mo took out the merit banner from his pocket and casually unfolded it.

"It doesn't matter, you're all going to die today anyway."

The banner moves automatically even without wind.

In an instant, dozens of vengeful spirits, like a flood bursting its banks, roared out of the banner, carrying thick black smoke.

Within a radius of several feet, the sky and earth lost their color, and black smoke blotted out the sun.

"Eat them."

The group was stunned at the same time, but the girl reacted the fastest. She stepped on the broken stones and withered grass of the mass grave and leaped more than ten feet away in a few bounds.

The other five boys were not so lucky.

When the ghost pounced, the tall, thin man only had time to let out a short scream before he was enveloped by the black mist.

The mist seeped into his mouth and nose like a living thing, and his body withered away at a visible speed. His skin shrank, his eye sockets sunken, and finally only a thin layer of skin remained to cover his skeleton before he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

The other four weren't much better.

Black smoke drifted over their bodies, and with each passing part, their skin and flesh caved in a little.

It only took a few breaths.

Five mummified corpses lay sprawled behind the burial mound, each in a different pose.

Their facial expressions were strikingly similar, as if they had seen something extremely terrifying before they died.

Chen Mo flicked his wrist slightly, and the merit banner fluttered in the wind.

Five semi-transparent shadows slowly rose from the withered corpse, their souls still retaining their appearance before death, their facial features distorted.

The spirits, having caught the scent of fresh souls, turned around and opened their black mouths to pounce.

Chen Mo flicked his fingertip lightly.

A layer of dark golden light appeared on the merit banner, like an invisible net, covering the five souls.

The spirits growled in discontent, but under the suppression of the banner, they dared not act rashly. They could only circle around the golden light, their saliva-like black mist dripping onto the ground.

The five souls were enveloped in golden light and slowly absorbed into the banner.

The tall, thin man's soul seemed to regain a moment of clarity the instant it disappeared before the banner, a trace of regret flashing in its cloudy eyes, but it was too late.

The banner swallowed the last soul, swelled slightly, and then returned to calm.

Chen Mo turned to look at the five corpses.

His gaze fell into the distance; the girl had already run quite far away.

It must be said that this woman's ability to escape was truly remarkable.

They had reached the edge of the mass grave, and beyond that was a dry ditch, across which was a sparse poplar grove.

If you go into the woods, your chances of survival will increase.

That's probably what she was thinking.