Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Just then, a sinister laugh rang out from above:
“Hee hee hee-”
I looked up and saw a woman in a red dress sitting on the edge of a well, her hair as thick as seaweed, covering her entire face.
She beckoned to me:
“Come here-”
I turned away and said, “I won’t.”

The woman was clearly taken aback:
“Wait, you-”
Then she laughed again:
“Do you want to know where the village’s spring water comes from?”
“Do you want to know where your friends have gone?”
“All the secrets are in the well. Come here-”
“I don’t want to. Goodbye.”

I carried my bag, quickened my pace, and swiftly slipped down the sand dune.
The woman was furious, standing on the edge of the well and shrieking:
“Don’t you have any curiosity?”
“No, I only have a heart for making money. I don’t want to waste time here with you.”
I dashed off.
The woman let out a frantic scream behind me.

I was beginning to realize that this encounter was a lot like the Nightmare Beast I met in Tibet last time. I figured I was trapped in some kind of illusion.
Faced with such an illusion, I must never follow the manipulator’s intentions or be led by the nose. I had to catch it off guard to find its weakness.

Sure enough, as soon as I ran, all the sand instantly melted and turned back into spring water.
Waves surged behind me as I ran along the loess road in the middle of the village. The water spread in all directions, soon covering my calves.
In the distance, sand and dust filled the air, and everything in sight became gray and dusty.

I felt something cold wrap around my ankle. I pulled out the Peach Wood Sword from my bag and thrust it down with force. The sword didn’t pierce water; at calf height, I met strong resistance.
I looked down, shocked.
The water had vanished again.
My Peach Wood Sword was stuck in a sand pit.

I pulled out the sword and looked around blankly.
Sand was falling from the sky, and the sand on the ground flowed like water. In every direction, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but gray dust.
A gale howled, and grains of sand pelted my face. I instinctively squinted, and then those grains of sand in front of me suddenly turned into a sharp knife.

Wu Genshui’s hideous old face loomed behind the sand:
“Stay here!”
“Get lost!”
I leaned back, dodging his knife, then threw a punch forward with all my might.

My fist hit a clump of yellow sand, which scattered, stinging my face with cold, moist grains like water droplets.
I wiped my face; it was wet, with a faint smell of water.

What the hell kind of illusion is this!

I tightened my grip on the Peach Wood Sword and trudged through the sand pits, each step unsteady.
The sand falling from the sky grew heavier and denser, until all I could see were vertical gray sand lines connecting heaven and earth, nothing else.
The sand landed on me, drenching my hair. My clothes grew heavy, and water dripped from the ends of my hair.

I felt like my brain was also waterlogged, turning into mush.
Over the years of traveling far and wide, I had encountered many strange things, but never this kind of mental attack. Water and sand-was the author drunk?