Woo~~
The howling of wolves could be heard from the distant woods. Moonlight shone through the gaps between the trees, and a few lanterns shone through the mist, swaying over.
"This place is still far from River Valley County. I told you not to travel at night, but now you don't even have a place to rest..."
"You can't blame us for this. It's because there were too many forks in the road. We got lost for a while and didn't know which direction we were going."
"...Don't talk, there seemed to be a woman's voice just now."
"You are thinking about women... Where does a woman's voice come from in the wilderness?"
"It would be great if I could pass the exam this time... I can have all kinds of women."
…
Amidst the soft voices, there were occasional wolf howls coming from afar, which made people's hearts frightened. There were four figures holding lanterns and walking on the night road. They were all wearing scholar's robes, which were a little old and some places were washed white. There were bookshelves behind their backs. It was obvious at a glance that they were students preparing for the autumn examination.
After turning a corner and entering a bamboo forest, someone suddenly stopped.
"It seems to be a woman's voice."
Immediately, he picked up the lantern and shone it forward. The dim light moved over and he could vaguely see the outline of a person lying on the ground.
"There really is someone there..."
Someone else stepped forward and held out a lantern. Ten or so steps away, the warm yellow light pushed aside the darkness, and what came into the eyes of the four scholars was a foot in an embroidered shoe. Extending from the slightly arched instep was a long gauze skirt, through which one could vaguely see the skin as white as fat. The gauze skirt set off the slim figure, and the black hair cascaded down over the shoulders like a waterfall.
The woman felt the fire, turned her head slightly, glanced at the four people over there, "Ouch..." she moaned softly, gently touching her ankles, her voice soft and mournful.
"I was alone and living with my relatives. It was hard to walk at night and I sprained my foot. I thought I would be fed to hungry wolves. Fortunately, I met four gentlemen. Please be kind and come to support me..."
As he spoke, he stretched out his arm and raised his finger to wait for help.
The four scholars looked at each other, not knowing what to do for a moment. Someone whispered, "Just go over and help. A girl is not a wolf or a tiger..."
The other three came over and started talking in whispers.
"There are four of us, who will go?" "How about we go together?" "Don't look at anything indecent, don't listen to anything indecent..."
"I don't think there would be any families in this desolate mountain area. The way this woman is dressed doesn't look like a good person. Let's just leave."
"Right, right, right... Don't those weird stories say that if you meet a beautiful woman in the deep mountains and old forests at night, she is either a monster or a robber."
“… Then hurry up and go.”
Several people murmured for a while, and the scholar who wanted to help before quickly bowed to the woman on the ground and said, "It's not that we don't want to help, young lady, but the four of us are really poor and can't help you, so we'll leave first."
After saying this, he picked up the lantern and hurried away towards another road.
The woman with her arms hanging: "..."
"You dare to tease me?!" After a moment of silence, her fingers suspended in the air stretched out with a slight clicking sound from the nails, becoming sharp. At the same time, the bamboo forest around her rustled.
A sharp and piercing sound suddenly rang out.
“…Four idiots still want to leave!!”
A strong cold wind blew, blowing up bamboo leaves and filling the air with dust. The four scholars who had run away looked back and saw a barefoot woman in black gauze falling from mid-air and standing next to the woman on the ground. A furry tail could be vaguely seen dancing behind the two women.
The four scholars were so frightened that they jumped up on the spot.
"It's a monster!" "What should I do?!"
One of them yelled, "Run!"
He didn't even need the four-person bookshelf anymore. He turned around immediately, holding the lantern without caring about being polite, and his legs were so fast that they left a shadow.
Whoosh…
Whoosh whoosh…
The wind was howling, and the branches and leaves of the trees and bamboos in the forest were swaying wildly. Behind the four scholars, a tree trunk exploded with wood chips, and sharp claws climbed on it. The cold moonlight shone on the crouching figure. The beautiful face before was covered with light red fluff, the mouth protruded forward, fangs were bared, the neck was tilted strangely, and a tail was shaking behind it.
Another pale white figure quickly rushed past from under it, chasing the four people running wildly in front, and then the black shadow clinging to the tree trunk followed behind.
The four people over there were panting. They were scholars and their physical strength was not that good. After running for a while, they were breathing rapidly and almost couldn't breathe.
"They're chasing us, run!" "Don't stop—"
"There's light ahead!"
The moonlight shone through the dim gaps between the trees, and at the end of the road that branched off on the other side, there was a fire burning.
In the dilapidated mountain temple, an old donkey was chewing hay on the ground. Over by the fire, there was the occasional sound of pages turning, and the dry branches in the campfire were broken and sparks were flying.
The wind blew in from the woods outside, fanning the flames.
Lu Liangsheng stopped turning the pages of the book and raised his face slightly. He heard the howling of a night fox outside. He smiled and continued to turn the pages.
"It seems that there are guests coming to this dilapidated temple. Master, please don't speak for a while, so as not to scare others."
Next to the broken arm of the statue, the Toad Taoist sat on it, staring at a pot of rice porridge on the flames.
"The only thing I care about is when to eat."
…
Outside the ruined temple, the wind was getting louder. On the deserted dirt road, several people came running, waving lanterns wildly in their hands. When they saw the fire coming out from the temple door, they rushed in, tumbling and crawling.
Inside, they saw a scholar wearing a green gauze robe, who looked like them, reading a book with great interest.
"Hurry up, block the door!"
The four of them ignored the scholar who had arrived here earlier, and hurriedly found some broken wooden boards nearby. They also moved the crippled incense table over together to block the door.
"I guess I can't get in..."
"There's a classmate over there, do you want to talk to him?"
One of them nodded and was about to speak to the scholar who was engrossed in reading over there, when the sound of the wind outside the temple suddenly stopped, the cry of a fox approached, and soft footsteps arrived outside the door.
The four of them swallowed their saliva, their pale faces covered with sweat.
"It's over, it's over."
"Those two demons..."
"It's said not to look at what's inappropriate... What should I do now?"
The fire flickered, illuminating the nearby scholar, who raised his eyes slightly, "Demon?"
The Toad Taoist, who was lying on his stomach, half-opened his eyelids and snorted, "Two little demons."
Inside the temple, a cold wind suddenly blew, and a shadow of a scroll floated out from the bookshelf placed next to the fire. The four scholars who had been nervously hiding behind the sundries felt a chill on the back of their necks and turned around trembling.
A vague shadow rose up with its neck tilted.
The four people were so frightened that their faces turned pale. They screamed "Wow!" and ran away from the door and hid in the corner.
"Why are there... ghosts in this temple..."
Outside the temple, a graceful figure walked under the dilapidated eaves. The moonlight reflected on the ground was the shape of a fox with a long tail, and a soft and shrill voice was calling softly.
"Four gentlemen, come out..."
Another figure, with sharp fingertips scratching the wall, scraping out streaks of powder, chuckled darkly.
"If you don't come out, I will come in."
Walking to the wall with a small hole, the furry face leaned over and gave a long kiss: "Can I see you..."
The cave entrance has a narrow view.
The four scholars huddled together in the corner, their eyes looking at the burning fire with fear.
"Um?"
The slender black shadow was about to shift the sight, but the next second, a sinister and terrifying ghost face approached from the other side of the small hole.
The blood-red eyes were staring at it.
“Wow…”
It was not known whether it was a scream or a roar, but the dark shadow lying in the small hole suddenly took several steps back.