The World Below Surface

An Xing Yu stood frozen in place, his nostrils overwhelmed by the acrid scent of blood. It took Luo Ying's insistent tug to jolt him back to reality.

"You're a devotee of the gods too?" Luo Ying exclaimed, her enthusiasm bubbling over as she rolled up her sleeve, revealing an identical crimson mark on her arm.

Once upon a time, An Xing Yu would have welcomed this revelation with excitement, but now, after witnessing Lu Yan's tragic demise, he found himself plunged into a profound emotional abyss. All he could manage was a silent nod, unaware of the hypnotic grip Lu Yan had held over him. He had believed it was merely their close bond keeping him tethered.

"Hurry, let's make our way to the forbidden area," Luo Ying urged, trying to pull him along.

"Wait, I'm taking him with us," An Xing Yu firmly shook off her grasp and moved toward Lu Yan.

The young girl in her crimson attire still lingered at the village entrance, her sightless gaze locked onto An Xing Yu with eerie intensity. Her contorted face and flowing hair seemed almost otherworldly.

Yet, she couldn't lay a finger on An Xing Yu.

That was precisely why, when they attempted to escape to the outskirts, both Lu Yan and An Xing Yu found themselves inexorably drawn back into the confines of the Village of the Heavenly Immortals. Her power didn't extend beyond its borders.

With measured steps, An Xing Yu closed the distance between himself and Lu Yan. He crouched down, extending his arm to draw Lu Yan's lifeless form nearer, then shouldered the lifeless man before turning to depart.

Luo Ying's curiosity got the best of her. "What are you doing?"

An Xing Yu replied, "He has a backup strategy. He wants me to take him to the forbidden zone."

That was the last instruction Lu Yan had conveyed silently. However, An Xing Yu chose not to disclose the part about "finding Lin Chu." He now harbored deep suspicions about Luo Ying and couldn't risk revealing the news that Lin Chu might still be alive.

Lin Chu hadn't died. Could the same revival await Lu Yan?

Luo Ying's brow furrowed, but An Xing Yu had already embarked on his journey with Lu Yan slung across his back. Words remained scarce, and so she matched his pace, walking alongside him.

"As fellow children of the gods, there's no need for secrets," Luo Ying spoke up, her gaze momentarily softening. "Have you seen a jade pendant on Lu Yan? It's shaped like two fish, swimming head to tail."

An Xing Yu was about to respond when an abrupt, agonizing pang pierced his mind. Instinctively, he adjusted his reply, "I saw it. Li Li took it away."

Luo Ying's frustration radiated from her. She muttered under her breath before continuing, "I'm not so sure about that. Lu Yan, he's quite cunning. We need to search him."

An Xing Yu squirmed uncomfortably at the idea, but his pragmatic side prevailed. To ease Luo Ying's suspicions, he reluctantly placed Lu Yan's lifeless body on the ground and prepared for the search.

Turning away, he noticed something unsettling. When Li Li had ripped out the enemy's heart earlier, she inadvertently tore a piece of fabric from the chest area, dislodging a button and revealing a patch of pale skin beneath.

And there, on his body, a red mark!

This discovery plunged An Xing Yu into a deeper emotional turmoil.

As comrades bound by faith, concealing the truth from Luo Ying already violated their code of conduct. Yet, now, realizing that Lu Yan was also a believer, An Xing Yu found some comfort in his actions.

Luo Ying's perpetual smile lingered, casting an unsettling aura over those who saw it. Faced with An Xing Yu's unchallenged words and lacking substantial evidence to the contrary, she found herself with no option but to trust him.

"It looks like Li Li has gotten her hands on it. Now, we need to figure out how to snatch it back," Luo Ying muttered quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Their hushed conversation flowed as they delved deeper into the forest. The sky had surrendered to an inky darkness, turning the forest into an abyss. Luo Ying cautiously activated a flashlight, using its beam to pierce the obsidian curtain that enveloped them.

What had once been a tranquil woodland now exuded an aura of danger, as if the very essence of blood and the stench of decaying flesh clung to the air. But there was something more— a distinct musky animal scent.

The flashlight's beam swept across the terrain, capturing a fleeting shadow. Nearby tree trunks bore witness to mysterious movements, accompanied by a chorus of animal noises—squeaks and chirps.

A shiver crept along An Xing Yu's spine as he suddenly felt a movement on his back.

He stiffened, every muscle in his body taut with tension, quickening his stride.

In that very moment, his thoughts darted to the elderly woman with her feline visage. It was the presence of a cat that had sparked her eerie transformation.

Could Lu Yan be undergoing a similar metamorphosis?

Dread clenched An Xing Yu's heart. Despite their current alliance, he couldn't deny Lu Yan's formidable nature. If he experienced any transformation, he might turn as menacing as the malevolent spirits they aimed to evade.

Thankfully, after a series of disconcerting twitches on his back, Lu Yan's body remained still, granting some relief.

Little did he realize, a dormant snake had just dropped from the tree, landing squarely on Lu Yan's back. Stirred by the lingering warmth, the serpent slowly coiled itself around Lu Yan's neck and perched on his shoulder.

Meanwhile, the figure on An Xing Yu's back grew colder with each step.

"Come on, just a little further," Luo Ying urged, picking up her pace and silently hoping that An Xing Yu would agree to leave the body behind.

To her astonishment, he soldiered on, keeping up without showing any signs of faltering. Before long, they reached the outskirts of the forbidden area.

An Xing Yu, despite his regular workouts, was still just an underage high school student. Carrying a corpse for such a distance had drained him, and he was drenched in sweat. As they crossed the threshold into the forbidden area, an imposing presence seemed to hang in the air.

The question that hung in the back of An Xing Yu's mind was: Who could it be?

He glanced upward, but the only thing he saw was a series of stark white tombstones; the source of the gaze remained concealed.

They had brought the body into the forbidden area, but what came next?

Finally, An Xing Yu gently lowered the person to the ground. The small snake, now fully awake, followed the scent of blood and slithered down, finding its way into the wound on Lu Yan's back.

The snake, its deep color, kept unnoticed by An Xing Yu. He blinked, a bit bewildered, and asked, "What's our next move?"

Luo Ying responded, her gaze fixed on the distant hill. "We wait, patiently, for our comrades to join us before we embark on this journey into the depths of an ancient tomb." Her hand made a sweeping motion toward the looming hill.

An Xing Yu's curiosity piqued as he pondered aloud, "Is this truly an ancient tomb?"

As she held up the scroll, Luo Ying couldn't help but inquire, "By the way, you never told me what's within this scroll."

Lu Yan's decision to entrust the scroll to Luo Ying suggested a lack of secrecy, prompting An Xing Yu to respond candidly, "The village chief mentioned it's a treasure map."

Luo Ying's countenance shifted subtly. She quickly scanned their surroundings, then located a level surface and unfurled the aged parchment with a decisive shake.

"A treasure map... but where is the hidden treasure?" Her flashlight's beam illuminated the scroll.

An Xing Yu stepped closer, pointing out the intricate details to her.

Unbeknownst to them, in a quiet corner, Lu Yan's chest rose and fell with a languid rhythm, as though his heart beat at a leisurely pace.

Suddenly, Luo Ying's heightened senses tingled, and she cast an alert gaze around their surroundings. She whispered, "Did you hear that?"

An Xing Yu, puzzled at first, soon caught the faint sound as well.

A strange, eerie rustling emanated from the nearby left, as if something sinister were slithering toward them.

Luo Ying's expression shifted. "It's a snake! Let's get out of here!" Without hesitation, she yanked him back. "Once someone's gone, don't linger. Just run!"

"Shouldn't snakes be hibernating during the winter?" An Xing Yu whispered, his voice barely audible, yet he matched her pace as they dashed up the hillside.

...

Shortly afterward, hands emerged from the shadows, swiftly seizing Lu Yan's lifeless form and swiftly retreating into the darkness.

...

As they distanced themselves from the eerie sound, An Xing Yu turned to Luo Ying with a curious expression. "Any word on when our companions will arrive?"

Luo Ying glanced at the approaching New Year's Day and replied, "They're due to join us during the ancestral sacrifice."

"Speaking of which," An Xing Yu continued, "the village chief mentioned something about this year being the sixtieth and a reincarnation. What's that all about?"

"I'm not entirely sure. When I left, the bishop didn't share much about the village. He believed that the less we knew, the less we could be influenced or led astray. That's why I've been waiting outside the village, gathering information discreetly."

That explained why she required someone like Lu Yan for this investigative task.

An Xing Yu's brow creased in confusion.

Reincarnation... What on earth did that even mean? What had transpired sixty years ago? Would they be left in suspense until the dreaded Ancestral Sacrifice Day? But with the entire village claimed by death, who would be left to carry out these solemn rituals?

Luo Ying, however, didn't appear too worried. "Don't worry. Tomorrow, we'll have plenty of companions arriving to fulfill the ceremony."

*

*

Meanwhile, at the base of the mountain, a group of individuals dressed in crimson robes made their way forward with measured steps. The mountain's icy breath tugged at their cloaks, and a gust of wind snatched one person's hat away.

What sent shivers down spines was that when the hat fell, it revealed a skeleton underneath! The same eerie truth applied to the others in those crimson robes; beneath the shrouded brims of their hats, gleaming white skeletons lurked! This group in red robes was no longer among the living! Nevertheless, they clung steadfastly to their mission.

They had to... ascend the mountain.

*

*

Lin Chu moved carefully among the tombstones, examining each one with meticulous attention. She recorded every detail she came across: the names, surnames, birth and death years. The night enveloped the landscape in a shroud of darkness, concealing the stars and the moon. Yet, the tombstones emitted an eerie, ghostly white glow, making every word unmistakably visible.

As she continued her work, tiny beads of sweat formed on Lin Chu's forehead. "No... How could this be?... Is it even possible?"

Lin Chu couldn't trust her own eyes. Perhaps it was a trick of the mind, a mere illusion. It had to be!

However, she knew better than to jump to conclusions. There had already been far too many unexplainable events. What mattered now was to scrutinize, discern patterns, and extract valuable insights.

With a deep breath, Lin Chu moved silently to another section.

Her movements were deft, slipping through the shadows unnoticed. Yet, this forbidden territory sprawled widely, and she had to cover a considerable distance to reach the next area.

As expected, her initial observation had been spot on.

Lin Chu took a deep breath, ready to uncover more.

Li Li harbored murderous intentions towards Lin Chu. In response, Lu Yan suggested a collaboration, proposing to create an exact replica of her using the Pisces Jade Pendant's powers. Despite lingering doubts about the pendant's efficacy, she couldn't afford to dwell on it at this moment. She dispatched her doppelgänger outside the village to attend to some errands, but it wasn't long before her duplicate was captured and brought back.

Facing death was a harrowing experience, especially when it ended with a grim soak in foul, murky water. Driven either by her own ravenous appetite or Li Li's sinister powers, she pounced on the fish bait, rending it apart.

In this macabre scene, she bore witness to the birth of another version of herself. The tombstones surrounding this ancient burial site in both halves were eerily similar, save for a sixty-year gap in their respective times of death. It didn't strike her as particularly unusual.

Could it really be sixty years of reincarnation?

Lin Chu pondered, the idea of a cycle linked to the villagers' lives crossing her mind. Did they return every sixty years or something?

However, that theory didn't quite resonate with Lin Chu.

"It appears we'll need to wait until the ancestral ceremony," she mused. "I'm intrigued to see how the village plans to orchestrate it."

She glanced at the sky, oblivious to the grim events that had befallen the village, and then checked her wristwatch.

The clock displayed just three or four in the afternoon, yet darkness had already engulfed the day. As time inched toward nightfall, they would soon confront the ultimate abyss.

Amidst the eerie tranquility of the Village of the Heavenly Immortals, solitude ruled supreme.

A young girl, adorned in a crimson gown, walked the desolate village path, heading back to Uncle Zhang's dwelling. Her eyes gradually regained their usual composure, and the unsettling expression on her face began to ease. Strangely, the chilling aura surrounding her grew stronger, now several times more terrifying than before.

Stepping into Uncle Zhang's house, she turned and ventured into the backyard, her gaze averted from the front gate.

This house held a unique position, nestled against the mountain's rear. From here, the shadowy outline of the mountain dominated the encroaching night.

In the entire village, only Uncle Zhang's home dared to occupy this terrain. Li Li had been its protector, warding off the malevolent forces from the mountain.

But now...

The little girl revealed a cute smile.

If Zhang Bo had been there, he would never have mistaken her for anyone else. She wasn't Li Li; she was Zhang Bo's late daughter, Zhang Hui Xuan! The twist lay in the fact that when she had passed away, she was the same age and bore an uncanny resemblance to Li Li. She had even been dressed in the same crimson attire. This was the very reason the villagers had gotten it all wrong.

And so, she had deliberately chosen to target Zhang Bo's family first. Even after all these years, there was no guarantee they wouldn't recognize her. When that moment inevitably came and they sought refuge in their household deity, her escape would become significantly more complicated.

In the yard, a young girl stood frozen in place. In an instant, the neighboring houses underwent a grotesque transformation, as if decades had vanished in the blink of an eye. Then, with a deafening crash, the houses crumbled!

Simultaneously, as these structures fell, the air around them turned bitterly cold in an instant.

An intensely eerie and bone-chilling aura began to seep slowly from the ruins, like the gradual awakening of some monstrous force.

*

*

"Do you think we're headed in the right direction, according to the treasure map?"

Deep within the forbidden territory, Luo Ying and An Xing Yu had ascended several levels, the eerie silence broken only by the shuffling of their footsteps. Luo Ying unfurled the aged parchment once more, scrutinizing its contents beneath the feeble beam of a flashlight.

In her other hand, she clutched a small mirror, diligently tracing the cryptic instructions given by An Xing Yu.

After a brief pause, An Xing Yu finally acquiesced with a nod.

Luo Ying's brow furrowed in contemplation. "It doesn't quite add up," she remarked, her voice tinged with perplexity. "If they merely intended to safeguard a secret, why go through the trouble of encoding it in reverse? All one would need is to reflect it in a mirror, and the truth would be laid bare, wouldn't it?"

Could it be possible that the village chief had never gazed into a mirror throughout all these years? Luo Ying couldn't fathom that the treasure map would make the secret so readily discoverable.

"What do you think is amiss?"

Luo Ying couldn't quite put her finger on it. Something felt decidedly off, a shiver down her spine. "It's hard to say, but something just doesn't feel right."

Carefully, she stowed away the mirror, letting the flashlight's beam pierce the darkness. "Consider this, if we leave it unturned, where does the fox's tail lead?"

Beneath the mirrored surface, the mountains held their enigma, revealing forbidden scenes when viewed conventionally. Yet, when you dared to gaze without the flip...

An Xing Yu retraced his steps in thought, crafting a mental aerial map of the Village of the Heavenly Immortals, as if solving a geometry puzzle.

The tail's trajectory pinpointed a secluded courtyard nestled deep within the lush, emerald woods. At first glance, it appeared as a tiny abyss, nestled against the imposing mountains.

“Zhang Bo’s house!” An Xing Yu exclaimed, his eyes widening as he realized where the fox’s tail was pointing.

"Zhang Bo?"

“That’s where the village guardian fairy, Li Li, lives. She’s Zhang Bo’s granddaughter.” He quickly did some mental calculations, frowning at the implications.

So that was it… The portrait’s mirrored image was a red herring. It only revealed the map when flipped over, with the fox’s tail indicating the center of the forbidden area. But to find the true location, one had to look at the original image before mirroring it.

He felt an urge to share this discovery with Lu Yan, then remembered that Lu Yan was already dead. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that this somewhat eerie man couldn’t have died so easily.

Luo Ying smiled, brushing off his gloomy mood. “We’ll split up once our people get here at dawn.” She said.

Unbeknownst to them, a young woman had been squatting nearby, eavesdropping on their conversation.

Lin Chu circled back and spotted them. She recognized An Xing Yu but not the woman beside him. So she decided to lurk in the shadows and ended up catching some valuable information.

The darkness of the night worked in her favor.

"But what about Lu Yan?" Lin Chu muttered to herself, crouching low to keep watch. "Who are these people, anyway?"

An Xing Yu seemed to have a hidden identity.

Luo Ying gave him some orders and more details, then they hunkered down and waited for dawn.

Downhill, in a corner that none of them had seen, a shadow started to dig up a grave. The tombstone had the name and dates of the dead person. It looked like a boy named Zhang, who was five or six years old when he died.

The dirt piled up until a small coffin showed up. It was upside down. The shadow paused, then reached down and pulled it out.

The moment the coffin moved, the girl in the red dress in the village whipped her head around. Her face twisted with hate and rage. Her empty eyes seemed to cut through space and glare at the intruder in the off-limits area.

The shadow took off the tombstone and got out some tools. They scraped off the old name and carved a new one—Zhang Hui Xuan.

The dark clouds parted slightly, allowing the moon to cast its glow upon the face hidden in the shadows. It was none other than Lu Yan.

With determined resolve, he overturned the coffin, widening and deepening the hole before gently placing the coffin back in its resting place and covering it with earth. Uncertainty loomed, but he believed in the wisdom of doing more rather than less when the stakes were high.

After the earth settled, he turned his attention to a lifeless figure beside him. This figure bore a striking resemblance to Lu Yan, a hole gaping in its chest where life had once thrived. Yet, something stirred within its heart, a subtle presence that eluded Lu Yan's perception.

Unfazed, he set to work on another grave, positioned just a short distance from the previous one. The tools he had brought from the village proved their worth, the soft soil yielding to his efforts. Before long, he had laid his own lifeless body to rest in the freshly dug grave.

His gaze shifted to a distant point, his mind consumed by a singular question: How could he get the jade pendant back from An Xing Yu without Luo Ying knowing?

All these actions, he pondered, would truly be enough to earn Zhang Hui Xuan's mercy?

As the minutes stretched into hours, Lu Yan found solace by the graveside. He closed his eyes, seeking a moment of respite, as he awaited the stroke of midnight.

A sense of foreboding hung in the air as the year drew to a close, an eerie undercurrent beneath the surface.

With the dawn of the new year came the time-honored tradition of paying homage to ancestors and gods. Six decades of reincarnation and the enigma of the monster lurking in the back mountain weighed heavily on Lu Yan's mind.

Lu Yan felt like he had missed something, or maybe he had been fooled by the weirdness, making him ignore some odd things.

'What did I overlook?'

Midnight inched closer, and the world fell into an eerie silence, a stark contrast to the chaotic events that had unfolded.

Suddenly, Lu Yan was seized by an overwhelming palpitation, a fear that transcended human comprehension, causing his entire body to tremble uncontrollably. He understood that fear was upon him, but the nature of this impending terror remained shrouded in uncertainty.

Was it the presence of ghosts? Or something far more sinister?

Soon, Lu Yan discerned an intriguing sound emanating from the ground beneath his feet. It wasn't a mere illusion; the mountain itself was undergoing a subtle but unmistakable tremor. Its immense grandeur dwarfed the humans gathered before it, rendering them mere spectators as the colossal peaks and ridges stirred from their slumber, setting in motion an enigmatic mechanism. Even the most minor of movements could not be dismissed by those present.

Having already climbed higher, Lin Chu stood there, transfixed by the unfolding spectacle. Yet it wasn't just the ground beneath them; a distant, ominous mountain also seemed to awaken and shift.

What in the world was unfolding before their eyes?

All four of them were left utterly astounded, grappling with the unbelievable nature of the phenomenon.

Meanwhile, within Zhang Bo's humble abode, a young girl crouched down, her chin resting in her hands, her eyes devoid of pupils, fixated on the mountain range in the distance. It rotated slowly, shedding rocks, dust, and dry branches in the process. Gradually, larger boulders tumbled down, their erratic paths sometimes passing through the ethereal form of the young girl before hurtling toward the village below.

Every sixty years, the earth dragon stirred, causing the mountains to shift. Whatever lay concealed on the other side of this mountain was on the brink of revealing itself.

In the forbidden territory, all four of them sought refuge. Lin Chu resolved to sprint to the peak of the cave entrance, poised to leap if need be.

Simultaneously, Lu Yan ascended with a parallel intent concerning the cave's entrance. The mountain itself seemed to undergo a gradual rotation, its ultimate outcome veiled in mystery. Thus, discretion prevailed as the wisest course of action.

Meanwhile, Luo Ying and An Xing Yu raced with all their might.

"What lies beyond this mountain?"

"I cannot say for certain, but one thing's clear—it's a force not to confront head-on."

The ground continued to tremble beneath their feet, the mountains quaking in response. It wasn't an earthquake; this disturbance emanated from the mountain's rear.

In that very moment, an unshakeable intuition gripped them all—when that entity emerged, a grisly fate would befall them.

In the Heavenly Immortals Village, within Zhang Bo's residence, a transformation occurred. The girl donned a smile, sinister and eerie, an eerie contrast to her cute and innocent countenance. Her lips, a vivid shade of crimson, stretched almost ear to ear, casting a disconcerting visage.

As the overwhelming terror mounted, something at last began to manifest from that end.

One by one, shadowy figures, cloaked in funeral attire, their visages concealed, materialized from the heart of the mountain. They gathered in eerie silence along the mountain path, each of them bathed in a ghastly crimson, their countenances in a state of decay.

In solemn procession, these figures stood in immaculate alignment upon the moonless mountain road, nearly merging with the shroud of darkness enveloping them. Their numbers appeared boundless at a mere glance, leaving the exact count elusive.

In unison, they raised their heads and commenced a deliberate descent toward the mountain's base. Their measured pace indicated that, as this mountain completed its rotation, they would soon depart from its confines and rejoin the realm of the living.

At the mountain's foot, the young girl's scarlet gown assumed an even more striking hue, seemingly on the brink of dripping with blood. The darkest of nights failed to obscure its vivid crimson. Her coal-black eyes bore witness to the unfolding spectacle, brimming with resentment, while her lips curled into a malevolent smile.