Sang Que felt herself falling.
All around her was a misty darkness, cold and penetrating.
A streak of red above her head grew further away, like a giant, menacing ghost eye, looming high in the darkness, watching her.
She kept falling, with nowhere for her body to rely on, as if there was no end below.
The whole world was left with just the darkness and her!
A massive sense of panic spread through her heart, like sleep paralysis. Sang Que couldn't scream, only struggle and scream internally.
Wake up! Wake up now!
A surge of blood-red light suddenly burst from the amulet at her chest, enveloping her entire being.
Just like it had been at Qin Lu's house.
...
The blood-red moon hung in the sky, the night shrouded in a crimson veil.
Sang Que landed heavily on the ground, the sound of insects screeching, distant barking ringing in the air.
The cold wind was like a knife, causing Sang Que to take a sharp gasp as she awoke.
She quickly checked herself—her body unharmed, still dressed in the black sports jacket she had worn out, everything on her except her phone was intact.
She still remembered the moment she was grabbed by those hands at Qin Lu's house, reciting the spell on the amulet, followed closely by the sensation of falling.
Everything felt as unreal as a dream!
Where was she now? Had she traveled through time?
The smell of blood hung in the air. Sang Que raised her head; her gaze froze, pupils trembling.
A massive blood-red moon hung high in the sky, in the center of a dilapidated courtyard. Two women in coarse ancient attire hung stiffly under a sprawling aged Chinese scholartree.
Their long black hair fluttered in the cold wind, eyes bulging open, mouths curled to the extreme, forming a bizarre and horrifying smile.
Below the corpses was a rooster with a twisted neck, blood and feathers scattered around, grotesque and terrifying.
Just then, a leg kicked out from behind the corpses, revealing a young man in a Daoist robe hung from a tree branch, hands clawing at the rope around his neck, kicking desperately.
"Help... help me..."
Sang Que's entire body shuddered; the situation was unclear, everything exuding eeriness and horror. Perhaps that young man knew something.
Prioritize saving him!
Sang Que quickly scanned around; the courtyard had two earthen houses, neither of modern style, resembling something from an ancient costume drama.
At that moment, the earthen house doors were tightly closed, but faint yellow light seeped out, uncertain if anyone was inside.
"Is anyone there? Come out and help!"
Sang Que shouted, receiving no response. She noticed an axe for chopping wood at the doorway and decisively rushed over to grab it.
Turning around, the two corpses that should have had their backs to her eerily swayed and turned to stare at her.
Eager to save, Sang Que suppressed her fear, a surge of heat passing through her body to her hands as she swung the axe.
Due to family circumstances, she had practiced martial arts from a young age, becoming interested in Bow and Arrow over the past two years. Her aim was precise, and her hand steady, without trembling from fear.
The first time she sparred with someone as a child, the master at the martial arts school had told her.
It's fine to lose to a powerful opponent, but never to your own fear.
Bam!
The axe embedded precisely in the tree branch, the rope snapping as the young man in the Daoist robe plummeted to the ground.
A strange rope dropped from the branch, quickly winding toward Sang Que's neck.
Sang Que dodged sideways, but the rope moved faster, ensnaring her left hand and pulling tight.
Sang Que stumbled a few steps, deftly grabbing the stone mill in the courtyard, body taut, struggling against the rope.
The rope was black and shiny, as if soaked in blood, cold, slippery, and reeking of decay, tightening more and more.
Not far off, the young man in the Daoist robe scrambled to his feet, clutching his neck, fleeing the courtyard without a backward glance at Sang Que.
Sang Que's heart sank; all she could do was lean back to free her hand, pulling the fruit knife from her pants pocket and slicing at the rope.
To her surprise, the rope seemed like a wisp of smoke, with the fruit knife passing right through it.
Sang Que's eyes widened; the rope still felt tangibly real as it bound her, so how could the fruit knife pass through?
Everything happening now completely overturned her understanding!
Or perhaps, from the moment she entered Qin Lu's house, everything she saw was extraordinarily unreal.
The rope grew tighter, dragging Sang Que forward, her feet plowing the ground, drawing ever closer to the two eerie female corpses.
Their hands slowly lifted, arms rapidly cracking open, transforming into countless blood-flesh ropes reaching for her.
At the critical moment, faint firelight suddenly swept in from outside the courtyard, emanating warmth that dispersed the surrounding chill, causing the rope on Sang Que's wrist to retract as if scalded.
The young man in the Daoist robe had just fled, holding a slowly burning yellow talisman, tumbling back into the courtyard.