Edited—

These two people, a man and a woman, had huge packs on their backs. Their entire bodies were smeared with filth, looking like clay figures that had just crawled out of the ground.

Everyone came out of their tents and saw these two at a glance. Lin Jue was the first to come out and asked somewhat unhappily, “What are you two doing?”

“We’re here for tourism.” The man answered first, but his furtive, evasive eyes betrayed that he was lying. The woman stood in place without moving, constantly looking toward the door, as if fearful of something outside.

“Tourism?” Lin Jue said. “This place is so remote, and you came here for tourism?” She spoke very directly. “Either tell the truth, or get out of here right now.”

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk.” The moment she heard they would be thrown out, before the man could even speak, the woman’s emotions collapsed first. She cried and wailed, “Don’t make me go out. We came here looking for treasure—”

“Another two fools who got tricked by someone.” Xu Jian said, “Even if there is treasure here, could the two of you find it?”

The man glared at the woman, then showed a fawning expression toward everyone, saying they indeed hadn’t found anything and had encountered some strange things.

Listening to the man’s words, Zhou Jiayu directly raised a question: “What’s in your pack?”

Upon hearing this, the man’s expression stiffened for a moment. “Just some of my daily necessities…”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Since they’re daily necessities, there’s nothing that can’t be seen, right? Take them out and let us see.”

“Why should I take them out?” Unexpectedly, upon hearing Zhou Jiayu’s request, the man instantly turned hostile. He said, “This is my own pack. What right do you have to look?”

“Then get the hell out.” Lin Jue’s face turned cold.

“Why should I get out? Is this your home? Does it have your name on it?” The man said stubbornly, “I’m staying right here. If you have the ability, you guys leave.”

Shen Yiqiong, upon hearing this, directly rolled up his sleeves and was about to step forward, but was stopped by Zhou Jiayu.

Shen Yiqiong said, “Guan’er…” He had thought Zhou Jiayu had gone soft, but who knew that in the next moment he would see Zhou Jiayu take Xiao Zhi out from his pocket, open his mouth, and say, “Xiao Zhi, throw that man outside for me.”

Xiao Zhi left the pocket and instantly restored his 1.2-meter height, rolled up his sleeves, and charged up.

The man looked at Xiao Zhi dumbfounded and screamed in terror, “A ghost—”

Xiao Zhi rushed in front of the man, knocked him down with one punch, then grabbed him by the collar and was about to drag him outside.

The woman realized something was wrong and began crying, begging for mercy for the man. The man curled into a ball from the intense pain, like a shrimp.

Zhou Jiayu was expressionless. The others watched with smiles. No one had any intention of telling Xiao Zhi to stop.

Finally, when he was dragged to the door, the man’s emotions completely collapsed. He clung to the ground and wailed loudly, saying he was wrong, begging the great immortals to spare his life.

Only then did Zhou Jiayu call out Xiao Zhi’s name and tell him to put the man down.

Xiao Zhi put down the man and happily ran back to Zhou Jiayu’s side, looking up for praise. Zhou Jiayu squatted down, rubbed his head, and reached out to neatly arrange his rolled-up sleeves.

After tidying Xiao Zhi’s clothes, Zhou Jiayu stood up and looked at this man and woman again.

This time, facing Zhou Jiayu’s gaze, these two completely caved. The woman cried and told the truth, saying that at first they had indeed come here after hearing there was treasure. But after arriving, they discovered there was nothing here, so they casually took some things, wanting to bring them back to sell.

Then, in the pack the woman was carrying, they discovered all kinds of messy things, among which was even the incense burner from the Meng family ancestral hall.

“You dared to take even this thing?” Xu Jian stared with wide eyes.

The two shrank on the ground, heads lowered, trembling, not daring to speak at all.

“Forget it, don’t bother with them for now.” Zhou Jiayu said, “There seems to be something outside the door…”

“Outside the door?” Lin Jue was a bit puzzled. She couldn’t sense anything. “There’s something? Why can’t I feel it?”

Zhou Jiayu briefly described the scene he saw. From just now, that burnt smell hadn’t disappeared and had continuously lingered in his nasal cavity.

But looking at the faces of the people in the courtyard, they all looked somewhat blank. Even Lin Zhushui didn’t seem to sense anything unusual outside the door.

“I indeed didn’t sense it either.” Xu Jian said, “Otherwise, open the door and take a look?”

Lin Jue said, “Open the door and see.”

Thinking of the scene just now, Zhou Jiayu was still somewhat shaken. Lin Zhushui seemed to sense his hesitation, reached out and held his hand, then slightly exerted force.

Zhou Jiayu’s heart stirred. He nodded: “Alright.”

Shen Yiqiong volunteered to open the door. He walked to the door, said something to Zhou Jiayu, and pulled the door open again.

With a crisp creak, the large door was opened again. Almost instantly, Zhou Jiayu felt scorching heat waves rushing toward his face. The temperature of the heat waves was extremely high, giving him a feeling that his face was being burned. Zhou Jiayu let out a low hum, involuntarily covering his cheeks with his hand and retreating a few steps.

“What’s wrong?” However, among the people present, it seemed only Zhou Jiayu was affected. The others looked at the empty space outside the door, all exchanging bewildered glances.

“What were you two scared by?” Lin Jue reacted extremely quickly, immediately looking at the two thieves still sitting paralyzed on the ground with faces full of fear.

“We don’t know.” The woman said, “We don’t know what that was either. Black, a bit like charred people…”

Lin Zhushui furrowed his brows, turned around, and embraced Zhou Jiayu, using his hand to touch his cheek. “Jiayu?”

Zhou Jiayu couldn’t speak. He felt extremely unwell, as if his soul had been forcibly extracted from his body by something, forced to float in midair.

And below his soul was an endless sea of fire.

Rocks melted by high temperatures became black monsters, slowly writhing upon the earth, as if they wanted to devour everything.

The magma flowing out during the volcanic eruption was black, with glaring red churning beneath. Black dust spewed from the volcano’s mouth, covering the sky and earth, obscuring the sky.

Zhou Jiayu felt unbearably hot, feeling as if his entire person was about to melt from the heat.

He vaguely saw that there seemed to be something struggling inside the magma. This scene made people feel extremely unpleasant. When he clearly saw what was in the magma, this unpleasantness reached its peak.

Those were charred people. They should have already been dead, yet they were still struggling in the magma. Pairs of pitch-black hands stretched out from the boiling magma, as if wanting to grab something.

This scene was too much like a scene from hell. Zhou Jiayu even wanted to vomit. A child’s cry sounded in his ears. This crying was sharp and piercing, making the scene before his eyes twist as well.

“Zhou Jiayu—” Someone was calling his name.

Zhou Jiayu couldn’t move.

“Zhou Jiayu—” This voice grew louder and louder. Zhou Jiayu began to feel a kind of pain in his body. This pain was like a tether, forcibly pulling his soul back into his body.

“Zhou Jiayu.” Someone was gently kissing his forehead, bringing heat to his cold body. Zhou Jiayu’s vision finally focused. He felt himself lying in Lin Zhushui’s embrace, his face buried in his chest.

“I saw it.” Zhou Jiayu said softly.

Lin Zhushui didn’t say anything. He slowly patted Zhou Jiayu’s back, soothing his emotions.

“I saw the Meng family.” Zhou Jiayu’s words were strained. “After they were covered by magma, they could still move, stretching their hands out in the magma, wanting to pull me over.”

“No one can pull you over.” Lin Zhushui gently comforted. “I’m here.”

Zhou Jiayu was quiet for a while longer before he finally broke free from that panic-inducing emotion. At this time, the door was still open. A breeze carrying that charred smell poured into Zhou Jiayu’s nasal cavity, but this odor was something only he could smell. The others’ faces showed only worry for him.

“This child is too sensitive.” Lin Jue said, “He must have been forced to empathize again…”

Xu Jian didn’t make a sound, his expression extremely complicated. But his gaze remained on the hands with which Lin Zhushui was holding Zhou Jiayu. Clearly, he had discovered something unusual—no master would lower his head to kiss his disciple’s cheek while comforting him.

The wind in the mountains suddenly grew stronger, carrying black dust, making the originally clear sky grow turbid as well.

“What sound.” Lin Jue suddenly frowned.

This time, these sounds didn’t seem to be Zhou Jiayu’s illusion anymore. Everyone heard a kind of rustling sound, as if something was slowly dragging and moving across the ground.

“Living people?” Xu Jian also sensed something. An expression of disbelief appeared on his face. “How is that possible?”

In the darkness outside the door, shadows stirred.

When everyone clearly saw what was in the shadows, Zhou Jiayu discovered that his nightmare just now had actually become reality. Outside the house stood twisted figures one by one. Their bodies had been completely charred, displaying a form like charcoal. Yet they could still move, slowly approaching this place, as if wanting to surround the entire courtyard from outside.

“What are these things—” Lin Jue’s eyes were also full of shock. “Why do I sense the aura of living people from them?”

“They are living people.” The moment Lin Zhushui said this, he established the identity of these people. His brows were slightly furrowed, as if he were thinking about some problem.

Those charred black humans… no, maintaining such a form, perhaps they could no longer be called humans. They continuously approached the courtyard and soon were about to reach the door.

Zhou Jiayu suddenly smelled a pungent odor of urine. He turned his head and discovered that among the thieving man and woman, the man had already been so scared that he pissed his pants.

The three strongest people present had all spoken up to say that those outside who had been burned into charcoal were living people. But if a person had become like this, how could they still be alive?

“Close the door first.” Lin Jue said, “Don’t let these things in.”

Shen Yiqiong, standing at the door, hurriedly closed the door and rushed back into the crowd, his eyes full of horror. “How could living people look like this?”

This question lingered in everyone’s hearts, but at the moment, no one could answer it.

As silence spread among everyone, Zhou Jiayu suddenly noticed that bean-sized raindrops began falling from the sky. In no time, the bean-sized raindrops turned into a pouring rain, crashing onto the ground with a clatter.

This rain was truly too heavy. Although everyone reacted quickly, they were still drenched over half their bodies. They were forced into the old house behind them, watching the curtain of rain seal off heaven and earth.

This rain came too suddenly. After entering the house, Zhou Jiayu saw the black dust on the ground being washed by the rain into a muddy state. But what he hadn’t expected was that this rainwater didn’t wash the dust off the buildings. That dust seemed to have turned into spot-shaped things.

Everyone hid inside, looking toward the direction of the door, all seemingly thinking about whether those things outside would break down the door and come in.

Their worries were obviously not unfounded. After a moment, knocking sounds of dong dong dong rang out on the already unsteady door panel.

Lin Zhushui suddenly spoke: “Take out everything in your packs.” He was speaking to those two thieves.

The two thieves didn’t dare to refute either. They dejectedly put down their packs and took out the items inside one by one.

At first, Zhou Jiayu didn’t understand the purpose of Lin Zhushui’s words. Until that man took out something from his pack, he showed an incredulous expression: “You even stole this thing?” He had originally thought stealing the incense burner was already excessive enough. He hadn’t expected this person had actually stuffed a person’s spirit tablet into his pack, attempting to take it away.

“I thought the wood quality was pretty good…” The man’s expression was sullen, muttering with his mouth, his fearful eyes glancing again at Xiao Zhi standing beside Zhou Jiayu.

Zhou Jiayu picked up that spirit tablet and saw the three characters Meng Juntian written on it. “Who is this?”

“Isn’t Meng Juntian the Meng family’s third son? How could his spirit tablet be here?” Xu Jian found it somewhat strange. He took the tablet in his hand and carefully examined it. “Someone removed from the Meng family can still enter the ancestral hall?”

Looking at Xu Jian’s reaction, he seemed not to know about the existence of Meng Juntian’s son, Meng Yangtian.

“Throw the spirit tablet out.” Lin Zhushui spoke again.

Hearing his words, Zhou Jiayu stepped forward, holding the spirit tablet, braved the rain, walked to the wall, then exerted force with his hand and directly threw the spirit tablet out over the courtyard wall.

After the spirit tablet was thrown out, not long after, the knocking sounds outside the door stopped. Those charred corpses outside the door seemed to have left this place.

Everyone let out a breath of relief. Zhou Jiayu practically wanted to call Xiao Zhi to beat up that thief again. Stealing an incense burner was one thing, but not even letting their spirit tablet go—it was no wonder they were chased so miserably.

However, although the charred corpses no longer harassed them, the rain in the sky grew heavier and heavier, even reaching a torrential level.

Lin Jue muttered that she should have brought Little Jin along. If he smiled, the weather would probably clear up.

Zhou Jiayu thought to himself, Shibo, are you a scumbag? When you were disliking Little Jin a few days ago, you weren’t saying this…

The rain grew heavier and heavier. Going out for a moment would drench one into a drowned rat. After half an hour, Xu Jian saw that the rain showed no signs of stopping and a worried expression appeared on his face.

“This rain situation isn’t right.” Xu Jian said, “It’s spring right now. For it to rain this heavily is truly abnormal.”

Seeing his expression, Zhou Jiayu remembered that Xu Jian had previously said that in summer, one couldn’t come here. Because this area was all mountain slopes, and without vegetation attached to them, the terrain was also quite steep. Once it rained, mudslides would extremely easily form. And looking at the traces on the hillside, mudslides seemed to have already become a common occurrence. It was just that the Meng ruins had been lucky enough to escape each time.

Lin Jue’s body was also drenched by the rain. At this moment, she had a cigarette in her mouth, sitting nearby and slowly smoking. Xu Ruwang also ran over to bum one. So in the room, the two people with the longest hair were both puffing away.

“What do we do?” Zhou Jiayu said, “Do we leave braving the heavy rain?”

Xu Jian looked at his watch and said that in another half hour, if the rain still didn’t stop, they would have to leave even if they had to brave the heavy rain. Otherwise, if a mudslide really broke out, probably not a single person would escape. After all, before the power of nature, humans were especially insignificant.

Because Zhou Jiayu had gone out to throw the spirit tablet, his body was thoroughly drenched. He was actually fine; changing clothes would suffice. But Xu Ruwang’s head of long hair that hadn’t been much cared for hung on his shoulders like straw. Paired with his completely un-effeminate face, he looked simply like a pervert.

The rain came down with a clatter. Visibility was only a few meters. When Zhou Jiayu went out just now, he felt it was extremely difficult to even open his eyes. If they were going to leave later, it probably wouldn’t be an easy matter either.

But their worst worry still happened. After more than half an hour, the rain still showed no signs of stopping. It even grew heavier.

“There’s no other way. Let’s go.” Xu Jian said, “We can’t wait any longer.”

Although climbing a mountain in this kind of weather was an extremely terrible thing, it was still better than waiting here to die.

After they went out, they discovered that those charred corpses that had been surrounding them the entire time had already disappeared. The ground had been washed very clean by the rain, not showing a single trace of mud.

Zhou Jiayu suddenly found it very strange. If it rained heavily here every year, logically speaking, that kind of black dust should have long been washed away. So why could they still see it on the ground when they came? Wouldn’t that prove that after the rain, that kind of dust continuously fell onto the ground?

The rain was too heavy, and visibility was frighteningly low. Everyone had to observe their surroundings while walking, making progress extremely difficult. The worst part was that with such heavy rain, spare rain gear was completely ineffective. Zhou Jiayu’s shoes were filled with rainwater in no time. Walking on the ground felt like stepping in water.

Fortunately, Xu Jian was quite familiar with this place and quickly found the way out. Zhou Jiayu looked at the mountain path that had become a muddy mess and could only grit his teeth and climb up.

“Hurry.” Lin Zhushui, who had originally been bringing up the rear, suddenly urged.

Zhou Jiayu shouted loudly, “Sir wants everyone to climb faster—”

Everyone bit their teeth upon hearing this and put in more effort.

The group braved the heavy rain and climbed the mountain with determination. When they climbed to the halfway point of the mountain, they suddenly heard a loud boom. This boom was like heaven collapsing and earth splitting, making people’s heads dizzy. Through the blurry curtain of rain, Zhou Jiayu saw on the opposite steep hillside a black torrent carrying a momentum that could destroy the dry and decayed, surging down from the mountaintop, actually covering the entire Meng ruins.

Everyone witnessed all this from the mountainside, watching with their own eyes as the small village that had originally existed was covered by mud. The mud contained trees and boulders mixed within. One could imagine that if they had walked a bit slower and been caught up by this torrent, what the outcome would be.

It was the first time Zhou Jiayu had witnessed such a scene with his own eyes. For a moment, he was also shaken.

Before nature, humans were like ants, completely powerless to resist the great changes of heaven and earth. The mudslide followed the terrain, covering the Meng ruins, then headed toward lower ground.

Everyone stood in the rain, none speaking. The atmosphere seemed to stagnate.

“Let’s go.” Not knowing how much time had passed, Lin Zhushui spoke to break the silence.

Only then did everyone lift their feet and continue forward.

Not long after the mudslide appeared, the rain in the sky gradually lightened. When the sky cleared, the morning sun also slowly emerged from below the horizon.

“The rain stopped.” Zhou Jiayu shook the water droplets off his body.

“Mm.” Lin Zhushui responded softly.

After climbing all night, they had already reached the mountaintop. At this moment, looking down at the mountain depression from above, their moods were all very complicated.

The Meng ruins they had just left had now completely disappeared before everyone’s eyes, leaving behind only remnants of buildings. That great feng shui clan that had once dominated the world hadn’t even left its final traces.

“Completely gone.” Xu Jian’s tone also carried a sense of lament.

“What about those charred corpses? Were they also buried inside?” Lin Jue didn’t seem to think this matter was over just like that. Her expression was somewhat complicated: “Don’t you all feel this rain was too suspicious? It was almost as if…”

It was almost as if it was driving them away. In fact, Zhou Jiayu had the same thought. But thinking about it rationally, he felt it was impossible. Who could be powerful enough to manipulate the will of heaven?

“Let’s go. Go tidy up first.” Zhou Jiayu said, “Don’t catch a cold.”

Everyone was drenched from head to toe. It wasn’t midsummer right now; the temperature was still somewhat low. He was already starting to feel his body grow somewhat cold.

However, a very terrible thing was that the rain had been too heavy. Most of the things in their packs were soaked, including the clothes meant for changing.

Shen Yiqiong was even worse off. He forgot to wrap his phone in a plastic bag. When he took it out from his pocket, he shook out quite a lot of water. Naturally, it couldn’t turn on anymore.

“I’ll contact someone to pick us up.” Xu Jian said, “Going down the mountain like this is too slow.”

Those two thieves had been quietly following them the entire time. At this moment, they planned to slip away. Before Zhou Jiayu could even speak, Xiao Zhi began rolling up his sleeves again, scaring them into hurriedly stopping their steps.

“G-Great master.” The man was about to cry. “We really were just picking up some scrap.”

“A spirit tablet counts as scrap?” Zhou Jiayu asked.

The man had nothing to say. In the end, he could only say, “Didn’t I return it…”

Zhou Jiayu said, “If you hadn’t returned it, did you still think you could leave? Go stay at the station for two days first.”

The two hung their heads dejectedly, but looking at Xiao Zhi, neither dared to speak up in refutation.

Xiao Zhi let out a hum. He was just about to spit on the ground when Zhou Jiayu hurriedly educated him, telling him not to do this action. This wasn’t a habit a good child should have.

Xiao Zhi showed a wronged expression and glanced at Shen Yiqiong.

Shen Yiqiong kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, pretending he hadn’t seen anything, continuing to study that water-damaged phone.

Zhou Jiayu truly found this both funny and annoying. He reached out and smacked Shen Yiqiong on the head: “Look at what you taught!”

Shen Yiqiong said, “It wasn’t me, I didn’t…”

Zhou Jiayu said, “You still say you didn’t?”

Shen Yiqiong finally accepted his fate and said with a mournful face that he had only done it once or twice. Who knew Xiao Zhi would learn it.

In the end, Zhou Jiayu threatened him that if he taught Xiao Zhi any more messy habits, he would eat noodles by himself for the rest of his life. Shen Yiqiong obediently said okay.

When leaving the Meng ruins, Zhou Jiayu glanced behind him one more time. He saw the towering mountain peaks and the mountain depression that had been flattened. Yet a miraculous premonition arose in his heart—they would return here.

__

Author’s Note:

Zhou Jiayu worried all day about whether Shen Yiqiong had passed any bad habits to Xiao Zhi. Until one day, when he saw Xiao Zhi, he immediately roared at Shen Yiqiong: Shen Yiqiong—what did you do to Xiao Zhi—

Shen Yiqiong: Wah, it really wasn’t me who passed the black to Xiao Zhi. He jumped into the ink himself!!