Whispers in the Night

　　After a chaotic day with Chubby, I ate and drank my fill before going to bed. 

　　No one could have predicted what happened next – I fell into a sleep from which I wouldn't wake, and things were about to get even stranger. 

　　While my family remained oblivious, Granny Liu felt a growing sense of unease. 

　　Today was meant to be my day of calamity, yet an unsettling peace hung in the air. 

　　Driven by a premonition, Granny Liu hung special bells at the courtyard and house entrances before retiring for the night. 

　　These weren't your average wind chimes; forged from heavy metal, they remained silent unless a spirit drew near. 

　　She'd already taken precautions, placing "Ghost-Blocking Wood" and sprinkling rooster blood at the entrances. 

　　These measures would deter ordinary spirits, but Granny Liu, ever vigilant, felt compelled to reinforce our defenses.

　　Despite her best efforts, sleep evaded her. 

　　 Her age making it a struggle to stay awake. Eventually, exhaustion claimed her.

　　In the depths of the night, a voice pierced through Granny Liu's dreams: 

　　"He's here…He's here…" 

　　Initially dismissing it as a figment of her slumbering mind, she was jolted awake by a sudden, sharp drop in temperature. 

　　As chills ran down her spine, scratching sounds erupted from the front door, accompanied by shadows dancing around the windows. 

　　Outside, the bells clanged incessantly – a discordant alarm cutting through the stillness. 

　　Granny Liu scrambled out of bed, forgoing even her shoes, her heart pounding in her chest. 

　　As she flung open the door, the courtyard was swarming with yellow weasels and foxes. 

　　Several stood at the main entrance, their paws relentlessly raking against the wood. 

　　The cacophony was deafening!

　　 How could anyone sleep through this?

　　Panic gripped Granny Liu. 

　　The voice that had awakened her belonged to the protective spirit she'd been nurturing. 

　　 It sensed imminent danger and had come to warn her.

　　 The simultaneous ringing of both chimes confirmed the presence of a malevolent entity nearby.

　　Her first instinct was the "Ghost-Blocking Wood" at the courtyard entrance. 

　　One look, and her blood ran cold.

　　 Two distinct footprints, now blackened, marred its surface. 

　　The rooster blood symbols, once vibrant, were reduced to charred streaks. 

　　Crafted from decade-old peach wood, the "Ghost-Blocking Wood" was meant to repel malevolent forces. 

　　Lesser entities wouldn't dare approach it. 

　　Whatever had crossed that barrier was powerful and utterly undeterred by their defenses. 

　　"Oh no, oh no, something's terribly wrong!" Granny Liu cried, rushing towards my room. 

　　"Lao Wu, wake up! Something's wrong!", she yelled, but her desperate pleas were met with silence. 

　　Neither my grandparents, nor my parents, nor I stirred from slumber. 

　　Every second counted. 

　　She barged into my room. 

　　By this age, I was deemed old enough to have my own space, separate from my parents. 

　　I was lying in bed, my entire body flushed crimson, my face as red as a ripe apple. 

　　Granny Liu touched my forehead—it was burning with fever. 

　　 As she drew her hand back, a cough racked my small frame—a raspy, aged cough that belonged to someone many times my age.

　　Fear coiled in Granny Liu's stomach. 

　　The thought slammed into her: I was possessed. 

　　There was something deeply unsettling about the spirit inhabiting my body. 

　　Her confusion deepened. 

　　I had a powerful protective spirit residing within me – a spirit cultivated over a thousand years. 

　　How could anything breach its defenses?

　　Torn between fear and confusion, Granny Liu placed her hand on my forehead. 

　　"Excuse me," she whispered, beginning an ancient chant. 

　　Her body trembled as she invoked her power, then pulled away, her expression grave.

　　The protective spirit within me was faint, barely perceptible. 

　　But something else… something dark and potent had taken its place. 

　　My possession was undeniable. 

　　The old man from the hospital—the rasping cough—the pieces clicked into place. 

　　Could *he* be the trial I had to face? 

　　It seemed impossible. 

　　 An ordinary old man, recently deceased, shouldn't possess this level of power. 

　　He hadn't even waited the customary seven days it took for spirits to gain strength. 

　　This was no ordinary haunting.

　　Desperately needing to wake my grandfather, Granny Liu pounded on his door. 

　　Silence. 

　　Fear lent her strength.

　　 Her eyes flashed emerald green as she slammed into the door, the force of a thousand years of cultivation shattering the wood. 

　　A wave of icy air swept in as the door swung open. 

　　 A red, deathly aura swirled around my grandfather's bed, thickest above his head. 

　　 It was the death aura! 

　　Granny Liu finally understood why no one had woken up.

　　 It had lulled them into a deep, unnatural sleep. 

　　She had been too panicked to notice it before. 

　　Granny Liu shook my grandfather violently. 

　　"Sister…what's going on?" he mumbled, bewildered to find her in his room in the dead of night.

　　"Wake up!Xiao Jie is in terrible danger!" Granny Liu's voice trembled with urgency.

　　The news jolted my grandfather awake. "Little Jie? What's wrong? He was fine earlier!"

　　"It's complicated! Just get up and wake his parents!"

　　As my grandfather stumbled out of bed, his hand instinctively reached for his trusty Cleaver. 

　　It was his security blanket, his courage against the unknown. 

　　But Granny Liu stopped him. 

　　"Leave it, Lao Wu. It's useless now. Xiao Jie… he's been possessed."

　　My grandfather froze, finally noticing my unnaturally flushed face. 

　　"But...we put up the 'Ghost-Blocking Wood' and the rooster blood. How?"

　　"I don't know how, but I think… I think it's the old man from the hospital. He's possessing Xiao Jie."