C6 The Impermanence

Upon hearing the eerie, piercing music, everyone present froze, momentarily forgetting to flee.

I gazed at the large red palanquin, transfixed. Suddenly, a chilling breeze swept through, gently parting the curtains of the palanquin.

A peculiar scent wafted through the air, yet I couldn't discern who was seated within the palanquin. As I leaned in for a closer look, a ghastly white skeletal hand burst through the red fabric.

"Ghost!" The crowd finally snapped out of their daze, screaming in terror as they scattered in every direction.

But chillingly, they didn't get far before they halted, standing still as if spellbound, their faces expressionless as they stared at the red palanquin.

Sunn Youde, witnessing this spectacle, was petrified. He dared not move an inch and turned to the man in black, who was lurking in the corner. Shivering, he stammered, "Ma-Master, what do we do now?"

The man in black huffed, "Follow me slowly, keep your eyes shut, and whatever you do, don't breathe. Leave the Zhao family father and son; they might meet a fate worse than death by lanterns."

With a sinister smile, the man in black set off, and Sunn Youde, clutching at his sleeve, followed closely behind him towards the village.

Glancing back, I saw the 'Master' in the moonlight, clad in a green Taoist robe – the very same enigmatic Taoist I had accidentally encountered the night before.

Before long, the two had safely departed, leaving only my adoptive father and me as the remaining 'normal' people.

Sunn Youde's cohorts were still as statues, as if turned into the paper effigies my father crafted, and the air grew thick with an unsettling eeriness.

"Hehe..." A woman's chilling laugh echoed from within the palanquin, sending shivers down my spine.

"Father..." I turned to my adoptive father in fear, only to find he had passed out. I struggled with all my might against the tight burlap that bound me.

The bony claw crept ever closer, nearly grazing my nose. With no strength left to resist, an icy coldness seeped into my bones.

Recalling the Taoist priest's parting words left me in utter despair. Death seemed inevitable, and I found myself wishing to bite my tongue and end my life quickly to avoid further agony.

However, as I braced myself for the end, the chilling presence I had felt began to fade. I opened my eyes to see the eerie claw retracting back into the palanquin. To my astonishment, the ominous eight-bearer palanquin began to tremble and hastily retreated the way it had come.

Then, all the soulless individuals collapsed to the ground with a thud, their chains now significantly shorter, signaling their impending doom. As the palanquin vanished into the dark woods, I caught a glimpse of a white shadow in the opposite direction.

"Help... help me..." I called out instinctively, but the white apparition flashed by and disappeared into the inky forest. When I called out again, I realized the cloth binding me had come undone.

There was no time to ponder the bizarre events that had just unfolded. My sole focus was to get my foster father out of this detestable place as quickly as possible. Once I had freed myself, I frantically unwrapped the cloth from my foster father's body. As the final strip fell to the ground, I was struck with horror.

My foster father's legs were gruesomely disfigured and bent at unnatural angles. With trembling hands, I reached out and felt his broken leg bones...

"...Changsheng, are you okay?" my foster father inquired with faint concern, his eyes barely open. He disregarded his own severe injuries, instead worrying about my well-being.

Tears streamed down my face as I clenched my jaw against my own pain and hoisted my foster father onto my back, making our way down the mountain in a daze.

I learned that after I had been knocked unconscious by the stone, the villagers, fueled by rage, had grabbed shovels and pickaxes, intent on killing me. My foster father had shielded me, only to be beaten and left critically wounded himself.

Rage consumed me. Gazing at the moonlit sky, I made a silent vow to ensure that Sunn Youde and the Taoist behind him would face retribution for their actions.

Of course, their accomplices included the village chief, the village accountant, Ms. Xiaofeng, and all the other uninformed villagers!

As I carried my foster father for a while, I suddenly found myself at the graveyard without realizing it. I couldn't resist giving the eerie and foreboding place a few extra glances.

My foster father seemed to read my mind. In a frail voice, he said, "Changsheng, you've never eaten the flesh of the dead. Don't believe the village accountant's wild tales, but... but..."

He hesitated, and I pressed him for more. He continued, "But you're destined to be surrounded by death your whole life, just like how we used to earn our living by crafting paper effigies and making wreaths."

"This..."

"Because if you stay away from corpses for too long, your body will weaken significantly. It'll be just like when you were a child, falling gravely ill and barely clinging to life..."

I furrowed my brow, shocked that the village gossip was actually true. It's no wonder I was seen as an oddity by everyone. But what's the reason behind it all?