Thirteen, Bone Smoke Dream

Sangmo stood there dazedly about to agree with a nod, but was suddenly yanked up by the collar from behind.

With one hand, Shen Yanqing protected her in his embrace, and with the other, he thrust his sword toward the little girl in red, who instantly turned into a black shadow and disappeared.

He frowned, touching a fingertip to Sangmo's forehead.

Sangmo, in a daze, smelled a pleasant scent of pine and bamboo, and blankly raised her head, catching sight of Shen Yanqing's face which bore a striking resemblance to Ze Lin. Suddenly feeling a twinge in her nose, she burst into tears.

She wrapped her arms around Shen Yanqing's waist, burying herself entirely in his embrace. "Master, you must not leave me alone again."

Shen Yanqing clearly heard the word "Master." He was startled for a moment, then tried to push the person in his arms away.

But Sangmo was holding on too tightly, and he failed to push her away after several attempts.

He looked down, noting Sangmo's constant trembling, her lean body clinging tightly to him as if he were the only lifeline she had after drowning.

He paused, and his movements to push her away suddenly halted.

The always cold and reticent Shen Yanqing could not bring himself to utter a single word telling her to let go.

After standing in a daze for a while, he could only clear his throat and awkwardly say, "This is the Bone Smoke Dream, which can cause hallucinations."

"Remember not to agree to anything asked of you by those within the illusion, no matter how simple."

Hearing these somewhat distant words, Sangmo also paused for a moment but then quickly realized the situation and hurriedly let go, standing up straight as she wiped her tears.

"Why is that?"

Shen Yanqing turned and walked away. "If you agree, then you'll have to do their bidding."

Sangmo suddenly recalled that in the pine forest, she too had ended up here only after agreeing to that little boy's request.

But why then was Shen Yanqing here?

Eagerly, Sangmo followed behind Shen Yanqing. "Then why are you here?"

Shen Yanqing didn't reply and kept walking toward the village.

Despite the scorching summer, this place was chillingly cold, making one shiver uncontrollably.

All around was eerie silence, devoid of any sounds of cicadas or birds chirping.

Walking ahead, Shen Yanqing turned back several times, wanting to ask Sangmo to hold onto him, but each time he swallowed his words before they could be spoken.

He looked back again. The girl's nose and eyes were red. Her gaze was unsettled, occasionally staring blankly at a nearby tree or a pot.

Shen Yanqing's eyes darkened, and just as he was about to speak, the ground suddenly shook violently, with countless skeletons emerging from the soil. He cried out in alarm, "Come here!"

But there were already seven or eight skeletons between them, clicking their jawbones menacingly, making a "clack clack..." sound as if their bones were colliding.

Sangmo took two steps back and was suddenly caught by the ankle by a skeleton that had just emerged from the ground. She glanced down and saw that the soil in the skull's eye sockets had not shaken off, and its moss-covered gaping mouth opened to bite her calf.

Making a snap decision, she grabbed a straight stick and drove it through. The stick passed through the skeleton's hollow eye socket, pinning it in place.

The skeletons looked dry and yellow but were extremely hard; the stick lasted less than a moment before breaking.

Sangmo quickly retracted her foot.

However, more skeletons approached swiftly. Sangmo raised another foot to kick but was caught again. She looked towards Shen Yanqing in panic, only to see him squeezed to the other side by an army of skeletons, spread thin.

Desperate, Sangmo took hold of the broken stick, infused it with spiritual power, and swept through, scattering the multitude of skeletons while also getting her calf harshly bitten.

She bit her finger and drew a fire talisman in the air.

A great flame drove back the army of skeletons, but Shen Yanqing had disappeared from sight.

Limping, Sangmo called out for Shen Yanqing anxiously, stumbling forward.

Once again, the surroundings became silent. On both sides of the road, the house doors were wide open, each with a shrine placed directly in line with the door, bearing the ancestral tablets of all the family members.

This only heightened Sangmo's fear as she frantically scanned the area for Shen Yanqing.

But all she could see were the sinister ancestral tablets, like pairs of gloomy eyes staring intently at her.

She hobbled towards the center of the village with a wooden stick in hand.

"Sister," a childlike voice suddenly called out.

Sangmo looked up in the direction of the voice and saw a five or six-year-old child sitting at the broken well, holding a water bucket that was half his size, looking at her with eager eyes.

"Sister, can you help me fetch a bucket of water? My mother is waiting for me to come back and boil medicine!"

Sangmo did not speak and silently walked towards him.

The little boy suddenly knelt down towards Sangmo, "Sister, please. My mother ate poisonous wild vegetables last night, and if she doesn't get medicine soon, she will die."

Looking at the boy's skinny frame, Sangmo was once again reminded of the mistake she and her master had made.

She went over, silently stretching out her hand, intending to take the water bucket from the boy.

But the boy clung tightly to the bucket and asked again, "Can you, sister?"

Just as the words "I can" were about to leave her mouth, Sangmo suddenly came to her senses and Shen Yanqing's admonishment echoed in her mind, "Remember, do not agree to anything asked by the people in the illusion, no matter how simple."

She braced her knee and bent down slightly, smiling at the child, "Why would your mother eat poisonous wild vegetables?"

The child blinked, "She gave me all the non-poisonous ones to eat."

Sangmo asked again, "Isn't there anything else to eat at home?"

The child shook his head, "The crops we planted this year didn't yield any grain, nobody has anything to eat."

It felt like countless needles were piercing her flesh, and Sangmo was stunned.

She bore the pain in her shin and squatted down, meeting the child's gaze, "Tell me, how many years have you been here?"

The child looked at Sangmo, "It's been five thousand years."

Five thousand years!

It was five thousand years!!

Sangmo stood rooted in place, and after a long while, she tentatively said, "If you're five thousand years old, why can't you fetch water?"

The child pouted and thought for a while before saying, "Because there was a general brother who taught us to recite scriptures every day, fed us with blood, and we all became lazy, reluctant to move. After the general brother died, a bad nun guarded us, not letting us grow strong!"

General brother?!

Bad nun?!

Sangmo grabbed the child's arm with one hand and took out a piece of cake from her sleeve with the other, asking, "What general brother? And what does this bad nun look like?"

After receiving the cake, the child tilted his head and thought, "The general brother is just general brother, he was very good, he would play the flute for us to listen."

"And the bad nun?"

"The bad nun is the Lord!"

The child sniffed the cake eagerly, "She wanted to marry the general brother, but he didn't like her. After the general brother died, she would wear a bride's dress every day, waiting for him."

Sangmo asked further, "Is the Lord here?"

The child shook his head, "The Lord is in the innermost part. She has a terrible temper. You shouldn't go looking for her, sister. The last time..."

Before the child could finish, a ghostly woman suddenly appeared and covered his mouth with her hand.

"Yi! How can you, a little girl, be so naughty!"

The woman glared at Sangmo, scolding and dragging the child away, "If you don't agree, just don't agree. Why deceive the child with words that offend the Lord?!"

Sangmo was tongue-tied, "It's not..., you deceived me, I just asked a few questions, how did I become the bad person?"

The woman spat out in disgust, then, pulling the child, disappeared into the air.

Sangmo was scolded for no reason and had no place to argue, making her incredibly frustrated.

She could only rise slowly and continue walking forward.