The Secret Treasure of the Spirit

Chapter 27: Pursued by Mountain Ghosts

Chapter 36: Pursued by Mountain Ghosts The mountain ghost’s eerie laughter grew closer, sending the five of them into a state of utter panic and anxiety. Hu Xuanhai, Zhang Shan, and Li Shui clenched their teeth and fists, running with all their might, desperate to keep up and not hold Sun Luyun and Xia Feixue back. Unfortunately, the three had already nearly exhausted their stamina from aimlessly following the mountain ghost. No matter how hard they pushed or how desperately they struggled, not only could they not pick up speed, but they repeatedly lost sight of the mountain path beneath their feet and fell to the ground. With a thud, Hu Xuanhai fell to the ground again. He decided to give up: “I can’t go on, Old Sun. This is probably my fate. Let the Mountain Ghost take me away and turn me into a wandering spirit, aimlessly roaming these mountains. You two run while you still can; I’ll buy you some time.” Zhang Shan and Li Shui were equally exhausted. Leaning against a rock, Zhang Shan said, “Miss, you must hurry and follow Sun Luyun. We’ll hold off the mountain ghost. Once it catches us, it won’t pursue you anymore.” Li Shui looked at Sun Luyun and gasped, “Sun Luyun, you must take good care of the young lady and get her out of here safely. Otherwise, even as a ghost, I won’t let you off the hook. Do you understand?” Sun Luyun took Hu Xuanhai’s hand. “Don’t talk nonsense. We came here to hunt for treasure together, so we’ll go back together. None of us can abandon the others. Get up right now! If you can’t run, I’ll push you or drag you along. We can’t just die at the hands of the Mountain Ghosts without finding anything. Get up! He turned to look at Zhang Shan and Li Shui: “How can you just give up like this? We’re only at the edge of Yunpai Mountain. We’ve encountered a few mountain ghosts—are you really so afraid that you’re ready to give up? Think back to when we faced that vicious Water Zombie in the cave—it was far worse than these Mountain Ghosts. We weren’t afraid then; we fought it together. But now you want to give up and let the Mountain Ghosts take you away? Xia Feixue is still waiting for all of us to go find her brother!” Xia Feixue said sharply, “Just as Lu Yun said, the three of you get up right now. Don’t say such discouraging things. Lu Yun and I finally came up with a plan to rescue you from the mountain ghosts’ ranks, yet now you’re talking about giving up? How can you do this to Lu Yun and me? Get up immediately. Even if you run slowly, you must keep moving forward. Even if the mountain ghosts really catch up to us, let’s face them together.” The three felt a wave of shame wash over them—shame for their cowardice and willingness to give up, shame for their inaction in the face of danger. Hu Xuanhai stood up from the ground and said through gritted teeth, “Let’s go, Old Sun. Let’s summon the same spirit we had when we first faced the White Zombie. Damn it, I refuse to believe we can’t outrun the Mountain Ghosts.” Zhang Shan and Li Shui stood up as well. Zhang Shan said, “Right. Let’s leave this bunch of damn Mountain Ghosts in the dust.” The Mountain Ghosts’ laughter grew closer. Sun Luyun told the four of them to press the talismans firmly against their foreheads, then turned and ran toward the large trees ahead. Having displayed their heroic spirit, they were now faced with the practical problem of how to evade the Mountain Ghosts’ pursuit. Sun Luyun’s mind raced, trying to figure out a way to escape. Suddenly, he stopped and called out to the others, “Wait! We were running too hastily just now and didn’t give the mountain ghosts we encountered much thought. Maybe we really don’t need to run after all.” Hu Xuanhai grew impatient: “Old Sun, what are you talking about? Just a moment ago you were encouraging us to run faster—now you’re telling us not to run? What’s really going on here?” Xia Feixue was also puzzled: “The Mountain Ghost is getting closer and closer. If we don’t run faster, once it catches up, we won’t be able to escape.” Sun Luyun touched the talisman on his forehead: “Feixue, you’ve forgotten—earlier, when I was behind the mountain ghost’s group, I led the guide ghost right up to me, yet he didn’t notice me. I think the talismans on us do indeed make us invisible to the mountain ghost when we’re standing still, but the mountain ghost can sense us when we’re running. “Instead of wasting our energy running any further, we should hide properly. Once the Mountain Ghost catches up and can’t find us, we’ll come out and leave this place slowly.” The four exchanged glances and agreed with Sun Luyun’s suggestion, deciding to find a place to hide first. There happened to be a thicket of grass up ahead. After the five of them had hidden themselves within the grass, they watched the pursuing Mountain Ghosts. After a while, as the Mountain Ghost’s voice grew closer and more menacing, the lead Mountain Ghost, accompanied by the others, drifted toward the spot where the four were hiding. The lead Mountain Ghost raised the lantern in its hand, signaling the others to stop. The lead mountain spirit drifted out of the group, scanning the surroundings with eyes that glowed green. It bared a row of sharp fangs and let out a piercing cry, wailing, “Where are they? Where are our people? Come out now!” The sound sent a chill down their spines, causing the five to press their bodies tightly against the ground. Hu Xuanhai, in particular, dared not lift his head; he clasped his hands together and silently chanted incantations. The lead mountain spirit seemed to sense the tension in the air and did not immediately lead the others away. Instead, it spoke again in a sinister tone: “Our people, come out quickly. We’re waiting for you here. As long as you come out, we can roam the mountains together.” This time, the guide mountain ghost’s voice seemed to carry an invisible pull. Upon hearing it, Hu Xuanhai, Zhang Shan, and Li Shui’s eyes gradually glazed over, and they slowly stood up. Sun Luyun saw this and quickly poured some yellow water onto his hands, slapping it onto the three men’s faces to break the mountain ghosts’ spell. The three snapped back to their senses and looked fearfully at the procession of mountain spirits ahead. The guide spirit continued, “Where have our people gone? Hurry back, come back.” The mountain ghosts behind them formed a long line and echoed in unison, “Where have our people gone? Hurry back, come back.” The lead mountain ghost continued, “The ghostly path in these mountains is long and winding; the dead can never walk it to the end. Our people, come out quickly, and let us walk the ghostly path together.” The mountain ghosts behind them echoed, “Come out quickly. Let us walk the path of return together.” Their voices were eerie and terrifying, making one instinctively cover one’s ears, afraid to listen any longer. The mountain spirits’ voices repeated endlessly, echoing through the mountains. The five men lay flat in the grass, not daring to move a muscle, afraid that the slightest sound might alert the spirits. Hu Xuanhai pressed his face into the dirt, clasped his hands together, and silently chanted, as if pleading, “Mountain Spirit, please stop speaking. It’s too terrifying. Please leave quickly.” After a while, seeing that the surroundings were indeed calm, the Mountain Ghost fell silent. The lead Mountain Ghost raised its lantern and floated to the front of the group. Holding the lantern high, it circled three times, then turned and led the group of Mountain Ghosts into the mist, vanishing without a trace. The five felt their taut nerves suddenly relax. Hu Xuanhai patted his chest. “Thank goodness, the Mountain Ghost has finally left. That was truly terrifying—how did we end up encountering such a dreadful creature?” Xia Feixue retorted, “Don’t say that. Be careful the Mountain Ghost comes back and snatches your soul away.” Hu Xuanhai pointed to the talisman on his forehead: “What’s there to be afraid of? We just proved it again—as long as we’re wearing this talisman, the Mountain Ghost can’t see us. Though, looking at all of us, we really do look a bit like reanimated corpses, suppressed by these talismans.” Zhang Shan retorted, “Don’t talk nonsense—you’re the one who looks like a reanimated corpse.” The four of them burst out laughing. After confirming the Mountain Ghost wouldn’t return, the five emerged from the grass where they’d been hiding. Sun Luyun asked, “After you left to take shelter from the rain, how did you end up encountering the Mountain Ghost?” Hu Xuanhai recounted the events: “To be honest, it was all our fault for not paying attention. At the time, we thought we’d found a rock to shelter from the rain, but when we ran over to check, we realized it was just a big tree. Just as we were about to keep looking, we saw a green light flash not far from the tree, and then we saw several dark figures emerge from the distance. The person in front was holding a lantern.” Zhang Shan continued, “We thought we’d come across travelers making their way through the night, so we ran over to greet them. As we got closer, we saw the character ‘Dian’ written on the lantern held by the lead Mountain Spirit. We immediately realized what had happened. We turned to leave, but the moment the lead Mountain Spirit spotted us, the three of us froze in our tracks—and then we lost all awareness of what was happening.” Sun Luyun looked at the mist. “We can’t continue up the mountain. Let’s head down first, find a safe place to rest, and figure out our next move tomorrow.” The five of them turned and began walking down the mountain. Along the way, Sun Luyun kept glancing back at the mist, fearing the mountain spirit might continue to pursue them. Seeing only a mass of fog behind them, he felt reassured and pressed on. At the foot of the mountain, the ground was soggy everywhere due to the heavy rain. After some effort, they finally found a dry spot under a large tree. Exhausted from the night’s ordeal, all five felt completely drained and dizzy. They sat down in a circle around the tree trunk, leaning their backs against it. Without bothering to check if their clothes were soaked, they closed their eyes and fell fast asleep. Early the next morning, Sun Luyun woke up first. Seeing that his clothes were still soaking wet, he tiptoed away from the others, built a fire, and then called the others to wake up and warm themselves by the flames. Xia Feixue woke up shortly after. She removed the talisman from her forehead and walked over to the fire: “Last night was truly terrifying. Thank goodness we finally managed to escape the mountain ghost. It’s really scary when I think about it.” Zhang Shan and Li Shui woke up shortly after and also made their way to the fire. Sun Luyun had to exert quite a bit of effort to pull Hu Xuanhai out of bed. Hu Xuanhai was still half-asleep and hadn’t removed the talisman from his forehead; he looked like a reanimated corpse, wandering aimlessly. Zhang Shan and Li Shui couldn’t stop laughing at the sight. Sun Luyun took some hardtack out of his bag and handed it out to the four of them. Hu Xuanhai gobbled down several pieces in a row until Sun Luyun snatched the hardtack right out of his hand. Xia Feixue unfolded the map and studied the surrounding terrain. “It looks like we’ll have to climb back up to the mountaintop today if we want to reach the Yin Corpse Ghost Grave as quickly as possible.” Seeing that the four of them had nearly dried their clothes by the fire, Sun Luyun scattered the embers and shoveled some dirt over the fire to cover it. As they set off again, Sun Luyun estimated the location where they had encountered the mountain ghost the previous night and led the four of them along a path that bypassed the area where the mountain ghost might appear, fearing that the Yin energy it emitted might disturb them. When the five reached the mountainside and stopped to rest, a whistling sound came from the area on the opposite mountain where the mountain ghost had appeared. Hearing it, Hu Xuanhai turned and ran to Sun Luyun’s side. Sun Luyun looked in the direction of the sound and said, “It seems the mountain ghost is still searching for the three missing people. Let’s hurry and cover as much ground as we can today.”