Chapter 23
Chapter 23
After leaving his home, the little fellow had intended to go to the foot of the snowy mountain to find the Snow Corpse to save his grandmother.
However, he had gotten his basic directions wrong from the start.
He was heading straight toward Hemp-clad Mountain.
Hemp-clad Mountain was named after an ancient tomb within it.
The one living inside that tomb was Hemp-clad Grandmother.
In the vast darkness of the night, various strange sounds echoed from all directions.
There were animal cries, the whistling of the wind, and even the faint, eerie sound of laughter.
Hua Jiunan was terrified, constantly feeling as if someone were following him from behind.
Tears welled in his eyes, and several times he wanted to turn back home.
But at the thought of saving his grandmother, he suppressed his fear and continued forward.
Driven by terror, he walked faster and faster, wanting only to find his mother and that Big Uncle as quickly as possible.
Without realizing it, he had even lost one of his shoes.
His tender little foot stepped directly onto the snow.
It was sliced open by stones and debris, leaving it bloodied and raw.
In the northern winter, the night was so cold that dripping water turned to ice instantly.
Hua Jiunan was already shivering uncontrollably, his small face a mottled mess of blue and red.
His injured foot throbbed with a piercing pain.
After much effort, he managed to scramble up a small hillside, only to find a sheer cliff ahead. There was no longer a path.
The scent of blood from his foot attracted a pack of wolves, their howling drawing closer and closer.
Hua Jiunan slumped onto the ground and finally burst into tears.
“Mom, where are you? I’m scared.”
Suddenly, sounds of “ge-ge-ge” and “hee-hee-hee” rang out as two paper figures-one red and one white-drifted in with the wind.
These were the Ghost Skins that had come to cause trouble when Hua Jiunan was born.
Sensing the presence of something foul, the wolves turned and fled in terror.
However, the Ghost Skins had no intention of letting them go. Each grabbed a wolf, biting into them until blood sprayed everywhere.
The shrill howls of the wolves sounded even more piercing in the eerie night.
After killing the wolves, the Ghost Skins’ ferocity only grew.
With weird, stiff smiles, they drifted toward Hua Jiunan.
“Hee-hee-hee,” “ge-ge-ge.”
The two Ghost Skins held hands and lunged at Hua Jiunan.
The moment they made contact with his body, they were violently repelled.
Sparks even flickered across the Ghost Skins’ bodies.
In the blink of an eye, half of their forms were charred.
Under the dim moonlight, the faint image of a Green Pine rose from Hua Jiunan’s body.
Coiled around the Green Pine was a Jiao, roaring toward the heavens.
Despite being heavily wounded, the Ghost Skins refused to leave.
Still laughing miserably, they approached Hua Jiunan inch by inch.
After several probes, the spectral images of the Green Pine and the Jiao grew increasingly faint.
They seemed on the verge of vanishing.
Seeing this, the two Ghost Skins laughed even more eerily.
“Ge-ge-ge,” “hee-hee-hee.”
At the critical moment, eight Red-Dressed Female Ghosts appeared out of thin air, carrying a sedan chair.
The previously fierce Ghost Skins began to tremble with fear.
They didn’t even dare to remain floating, instead huddling into balls on the ground.
Hemp-clad Grandmother cursed in a sinister voice:
“Mindless beasts! Get away from this Immortal Spirit!”
As if granted a grand reprieve, the two Ghost Skins vanished on the spot, appearing to melt away.
Under the diligent upbringing of Deaf Granny and Old Li, Hua Jiunan was a polite and well-behaved child.
He knew that the “person” inside the sedan had saved him.
So, enduring the pain, he said through his tears:
“Thank you, Grandma, for saving me.”
Hemp-clad Grandmother was taken aback as she looked at the well-mannered Hua Jiunan. The ghostly hand she had extended hesitated for a moment before she pulled it back.
She thought to herself:
*Forget it. Now that the Extreme Yin Child has changed his skin, harming him won’t benefit me much anyway.*
*Besides, I can’t afford to offend the people backing this little guy-whether it’s the Old Pine or the Snow Corpse.*
*I’ll just consider this an act of goodwill!*
With that thought, Hemp-clad Grandmother put on a kind smile and slowly drifted out of the sedan.
She was an old woman with bound feet, dressed like a wealthy landlady.
She wore a forehead band, and her cheeks were painted a bright red.
Her lips, also painted bright red, appeared exceptionally small.
Dressed in deep purple silk, she held a walking stick in one hand and a long-stemmed tobacco pipe in the other.
“Jie-jie-jie… good child, what did you just call me?”
Hua Jiunan felt a sense of warmth now that he had finally encountered a “person.”
Even if this person looked a bit strange.
“I just called you Grandma.”
Ghosts who have achieved a high level of cultivation are just like humans, their minds full of complex thoughts.
As Hemp-clad Grandmother looked at the tear-stained, pitiful Hua Jiunan, the more she looked, the more her heart ached for him, and the more she liked him.
“Good child, don’t call me Grandma. Call me Grandmother.”
“Sigh, you’ve really suffered.”
“That old woman, Deaf Granny, is truly something else. She can’t even look after a child properly!”
“How could she let you wander out here into the middle of nowhere all by yourself in the middle of the night!”
As Hemp-clad Grandmother spoke, she pulled Hua Jiunan into her arms.
Held by her, Hua Jiunan didn’t feel warm; instead, he felt even colder.
Shivering, he said to Hemp-clad Grandmother:
“Grandmother, I came to find my mother and Big Uncle.”
“I want them to help my grandmother fight the filthy things.”
Through Hua Jiunan’s somewhat vague explanation, Hemp-clad Grandmother roughly understood what had happened.
“Oh my, the thing inside the Iron Coffin has come out?”
“It figures. With the meager skills of Deaf Granny and Chang Family Eighth, they really can’t handle her.”
“Let’s go. Just for calling me Grandmother, this old lady will help you!”
The Ghost Sedan carried Hemp-clad Grandmother and Hua Jiunan, flying swiftly back toward the village.