Just as I was lost in these unsettling thoughts, the old woman suddenly slapped my shoulder, making me jump out of my skin.Her hand was icy cold, sending a shudder through my entire body. But given how chilly the weather was, I didn't think much of it.
"Granny, don't startle me like that! Scaring someone like this could literally frighten them to death!" I complained to her.
The old woman said softly, "Are you scared, young man? If you are, you can go back first. I can manage on my own." For some reason, when my flashlight shone on her face, it gave off a greenish glow, which looked rather eerie. But flashlights sometimes cast strange lights, so maybe it was just my imagination.
"Granny, as the saying goes, 'see a task through to the end.' Since I've accompanied you this far, I must help you across to the other side." After speaking, I carefully scanned both ends of the railway. Once I was sure no train was coming, I helped the old woman and said, "Let's go. It should be safe now."
In truth, I didn't need to be too nervous. If a train were approaching, we'd hear its sound long in advance. Although it would rush over quickly, we'd still have time to react.
I helped the old woman hurry onto the railway tracks. As we reached the middle, she suddenly let out an "ouch" and squatted down, clamping her hands tightly over her foot.
I quickly asked, "What's wrong, Granny?"
With a pained expression, she said, "Vines are wrapped around my foot."
"Nonsense! Where would vines come from on these tracks?" I shone the flashlight on her foot and saw it was indeed tightly bound by several finger-thick vines.
I scratched my head, thoroughly perplexed. This was unnatural—how could there be vines on the railway tracks?
"Young man, don't just stand there! Help me tear these vines off now! If a train comes, I'll be dead!" the old woman whispered urgently.
Hearing this, I immediately knelt down and reached to pull the vines coiled around her foot.
But then something even more eerie happened. Not only did the vines not tear, but they multiplied as I tugged, oozing blood continuously. Worst of all, they began wrapping around me furiously. In an instant, my body was swathed in vines, which lashed me firmly to the tracks, leaving me completely immobile.
I tried to cry out to the old woman beside me, but when I struggled to lift my head, I found there was no one there at all. The dark railway tracks held only me, though the rustling sounds around me grew louder, as if someone were muttering—yet when I strained to listen, the words were indistinct.
In that moment, I realized something was deeply wrong. This was almost certainly an encounter with the supernatural. I never could have imagined that on the first night of keeping vigil, such a thing would happen to me. How unlucky!
Gritting my teeth, I tried to break free from the vines coiled around me, but they only tightened, digging into my flesh until tears spilled from the pain.
Seconds later, I suddenly heard the roar of an approaching train, its "whoosh-whoosh" like a woman's sorrowful moan drawing nearer. At the sound, my heart plummeted—if I didn't escape soon, I'd be crushed into a pulp!
Clenching my teeth, I mustered my last strength to tear at the vines on the tracks. But in the blink of an eye, I realized they were not vines at all, but tangled masses of dark hair, oozing a pungent, sickening blood.
Just then, the eerie rustling suddenly grew deafening, nearly drowning out the train's roar. This time, I heard it clearly: the voices of a little girl and a woman.
The little girl said, "Mom, that old woman didn't lie to us. There really is someone here to be our substitute." The woman cackled, "Hehe, that's right. If we find one more substitute, we can finally be reincarnated!"
After hearing their conversation, I broke out in a cold sweat. I'd always been skeptical about ghosts, but never expected to encounter them like this. I had no quarrel with that old woman—why would she trick me into being a ghost's substitute? Was she human or a spirit?
I shook my head and laughed bitterly. What did it matter now? I'd already started to give up struggling. The train was drawing closer, and I could almost imagine the scene of it crushing me—flesh and blood flying everywhere, a horrific, gruesome sight! Maybe I'd end up like that mother and daughter, without even a whole body left.
Just as all hope faded, my second uncle suddenly rushed out from the side of the railway. In his right hand was a peachwood sword, and in his left hand a small bottle filled with scarlet blood. Without a word, he spilled the blood from the bottle onto the tracks. Instantly, strange white smoke rose from the rails, emitting a pungent odor like concentrated sulfuric acid. But the hair coiled around my body suddenly went limp, as if it had withered away.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Second Uncle brandished the peachwood sword and hacked off all the hair wrapped around my body.
Once the hair fell to the ground, it squirmed on the railway tracks like insects, creating a disturbingly eerie scene.
After breaking free from the hair's entanglement, Second Uncle grabbed my collar and pulled me forcefully: "Let's go!"
The moment I escaped from the railway tracks, I heard the train's whistle behind me and felt the heat emanating from the train, as if it had passed just above my scalp.
When the train disappeared, the railway returned to silence. The hair on the tracks and that strange rustling sound vanished as well, leaving only the scarlet blood that Second Uncle had spilled on the rails earlier.
At this moment, I saw the old woman from before standing on the opposite railway tracks with disheveled hair. Her skin, wrinkled like old tree bark, was all bulged up, her face emitted an eerie greenish light, and her eyes stared fixedly at us.
Terrified, I tugged at Second Uncle's sleeve and asked, "Second Uncle, is this old woman human or a ghost? Why does she want to take my life?"
Second Uncle didn't answer, only sighed softly: "She's back, back to claim the lives of the Lin family!"
As soon as Second Uncle finished speaking, the old woman opposite bared her teeth and shouted fiercely: "I want your Lin family to be exterminated, to die a bad death! All of you die a horrible death! Haha!" At this moment, her face was ferocious, with the skin on her face all crumpled up, looking extremely terrifying. However, after a gust of cold wind, she disappeared on the opposite side.
Only after the old woman disappeared did Second Uncle completely relax. He dragged me back home without stopping.
After returning home, my legs went weak and I collapsed in the mourning hall. Looking at the portraits of my parents, it all felt like a dream. What happened tonight was extremely terrifying for a teenager, and I would even have nightmares about it in the future. Seeing an old woman on the street would trigger an inexplicable sense of fear.
Second Uncle remained as he was, sitting on the doorstep, continuously smoking his dry tobacco, not speaking, with a furrowed brow as he looked into the distance.
"Second Uncle, where did you go today?" After recovering for a while, I finally had the strength to speak.
Second Uncle replied indifferently: "Went to Hejia Village, one mile away, to buy a peachwood sword and a bottle of black dog blood." After speaking, Second Uncle handed me the peachwood sword in his hand.
The peachwood sword was pale gray in color, with its blade covered in tiny knots, around which clear textures were densely spread. When I picked it up and took a whiff, there was a faint scent of peaches mixed with a bitter aroma—utterly different from the peachwood swords held by the charlatans who had come to the village for rituals before.
"Second Uncle, did you know I would be in trouble tonight, which is why you prepared these things? Is that old woman human or a ghost? Why did she want to harm me? And regarding Grandpa and the others' deaths, do you also know the reason behind it?" I poured out all the questions in my heart in one breath.
Second Uncle sighed, knocked the ash from his pipe, turned to me, and said, "Xiaoyuan, it's time you knew some things. In fact, our Lin family are descendants of the Maoshan Sect. The Maoshan Sect consists of 108 branches: 36 Upper Maoshan branches, 72 Lower Maoshan branches, as well as inheritances such as the Twenty-Four Qingtang and the Three Ghosts Sect. Our Lin family are the descendants of the Heavenly Master Ghost Dao within the Three Ghosts Sect."Upon hearing Second Uncle's words, I was instantly stunned. I had only known our family as rural farmers tilling the land; I never imagined we would be linked to descendants of the Maoshan Sect.
Second Uncle seemed to sense the doubt in my heart and continued, "Back then, your grandfather was framed by unscrupulous people while exorcising ghosts. He misjudged a case involving the mortal and spirit realms, so he broke his peachwood sword, withdrew to farm in the mountains, and swore never to interfere in matters of yin and yang again."
I nodded, finally understanding Second Uncle's words. So my grandfather had such experiences when he was young.
"Second Uncle, did the vengeful ghost from that yin-yang case cause Grandpa and the others' deaths?"
Second Uncle sighed, "Yes, she's back. She's here to claim the Lin family's lives! Not just ghosts—there are also people who want us dead!" As he spoke, his face twitched slightly, a mix of anger and fear evident in his expression.
I wanted to ask more, but at that moment, Second Uncle waved his hand, signaling me to stop. He took a hoe from the house and began digging continuously under the tree in the courtyard.
In less than ten minutes, Second Uncle dug out a deep pit. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he reached into the pit and pulled out an iron box. He brought the box back into the house and carefully placed it on the table.
The iron box wasn't locked. Second Uncle opened it with ease, revealing a book, some copper coins, and a large stack of yellowed talismans inside.
He took out the book and said to me, "These things were left by your grandfather. Now, I'm passing them on to you."
I took the book and saw that the tattered, yellowed cover read Maoshan Ghost Taoism. Flipping through a few pages, I found it filled with incantations and chants for exorcising ghosts, along with diagrams of hand gestures.
After handing me the book, Second Uncle warned, "Once you master the daoist arts within, never use them to do evil. Also, Maoshan is divided into Northern and Southern sects—they've always been mortal enemies. We belong to the Southern Sect. If you ever encounter someone from the Northern Sect, be extremely cautious."
With that, he made as if to leave. I still had so many questions and couldn't let him go so easily. I quickly grabbed his sleeve and said, "Second Uncle, I haven't asked all my questions yet! Why leave now?" Second Uncle glanced at the dawn-breaking sky, suddenly paled, and violently shook off my hand. "No time left—take care of yourself from now on!" he said, then ran off without looking back. His demeanor seemed off, so I hurried after him, but he vanished in an instant.
I returned to put the book back in the iron box, hid it away, and then rushed to Second Uncle's house. His home wasn't far from mine, and soon I stood at his door. When I pushed it open, I found Second Uncle hanging from the beam in his home.