I couldn’t help

 but take 

in a deep breath. I told myself not to panic. I gritted my teeth

 and ran 

toward the village entrance. 

But before I could reach the gate, the rocks 

that formed

 the gate turned into a row of coffins alongside the path. The small stream was gone

, and t

he path we had just walked on became a dark gorge.  

From 

my position

, I saw a black 

mist

 moving

 and

 filling that gorge. The 

mist

 moved with the wind, turn

ing

 into cold air

 that slapped 

my face.

The

 road I had used to come here was gone, so

 I 

could only head to

 the village. But 

w

hen I turned my head around, I was petrified by what I saw. 

The Dai people that had just danced and sung were 

nowhere to be seen

. It seemed they 

were

 never there. In front of me sat piles of white skeletons and weathered musical instruments. 

What scared the 

wits

 out of me was that those musical instruments still made 

noise

! When the wind blew through them, the entire world was filled with a low and mourning sound. It was extremely similar to funeral music played in rural areas

.

I knew I 

had to

 run and leave this place as soon as possible. I pulled myself together and gathered my courage. I didn’t look at the skeletons and 

ran 

deep into the village. 

However, I had to stop not long after I had started running. In front of me was 

another

 gorge. I was trapped. I stood

 and took a deep breath

 to calm down. 

After thinking

 about it, the fake Lu Ming could have killed me while I was sleeping. He didn’t do that

. Instead, he 

tricked me 

into

going

 to this place. 

I could tell he didn’t want to take my life. 

It was possible he just wanted

 to trap me here. It was pretty similar to th

at

 old ghost’s style. I was more worried about the real Lu Ming. 

As time went by, I became more anxious. Usually, the old ghost wouldn’t trouble Lu Ming for a long time. However, 

things

 looked different this time. 

Was

 he mad at us 

because

 he 

knew

we were

 about to return the teapot? 

O

therworldly items were 

born from the

 fixation of 

dead people

. That

 was

 why they could make

 their master

 someone willing to fulfill their wishes. But 

i

f the master wanted to get rid of the otherworldly item, they 

would rebel

.

Actually, 

Lu Ming 

had yet

 to give up on 

the

 teapot. 

But

 the old man ghost seemed to have 

recognized

 our intention.

I became restless. In the end, I decided to make a bet. If that old man didn’t want to kill me, the dark gorge in front of me should be an illusion! 

I carefully moved back to the rock gate of the 

village

. I felt my legs turning jelly-like when I looked at the bottomless gorge. However, 

after thinking

 about Lu Ming, I knew

I couldn’t linger here. I clenched my jaw

 and jumped

. 

At this

 moment, something grabbed my left leg. I struggled but couldn’t get rid of it. Before I 

could turn

 my head to see, I suddenly recognized 

something. I

t seemed my leg was held by a cane.

W

henever the old ghost appeared in Lu Ming’s dream, he would use a cane to hit the poor man’s head! 

I didn’t want to 

meet

 the old man here. 

However,

since

 he 

was already here

, I had to

 face

 him. 

W

hen I left the hostel, I didn’t bring anything I could use to defend myself

, so it would be a battle to the death.

At the moment I turned around, I saw an old man wearing a black shroud. He was standing not even two meters away from me. He was using the long cane to hook my leg. It was the first time I 

was in

 close contact 

with

 him. He didn’t look as scary as I had thought. Except for the shroud, he didn’t look different from a living old man. 

When I turned and looked at him, the old man’s ruddy face turned angry and somewhat menacing. His lips kept moving, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. 

I

f he appeared here, it meant Lu Ming 

was

 relatively safe. I didn’t need to take any risks. 

I smiled at the old man. Before he could react, I screamed

,

 us

ing

 all of my strength to sprint into the village. 

When 

I ha

d

 used the pens to grab Lu Ming’s finger to force the old man out last time, 

I angered him.

 My only choice was to 

fight him

! 

If I could linger until dawn, then perhaps I would have a chance to survive.

However, I had underestimated the old man’s speed. I had run for a few steps 

when I suddenly

 tripped. I turned around

 and

 saw th

at the

 old man was using his long cane to tackle me. I shot him a furious look

. I got 

up and 

ran

 again

, but t

he old man 

kept trying to stop

 me.  

After falling a few times

,

my strength was drained

. And,

 I still hadn’t got rid of the old ghost. I knew 

I

 couldn’t defeat him with my speed. I simply halted and bit the tip of my 

tongue. Then, I spit 

the blood 

at

 him! 

Even if I die, I won’t let you feel 

content

! 

At this

 moment, I heard a loud thud,

 then

 Lu Ming

’s voice

 calling me. My body suddenly felt as light as cotton. Instinctively, I felt 

like

 clos

ing

 my eyes. 

I didn’t forget to 

have a last look

at the

 old man. He was saying something to me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t 

understand

 it. I thought I 

was going to die

. 

Strangely, in the next second, I got up

 and found 

myself in bed. 

Before I could 

piece 

things together, someone knocked on my door. Subconsciously, I went to open the door. Lu Ming was standing outside. 

“Hey, are you ready? We should go to the fortified village.” 

“

Umh

…”

I looked at him in bewilder

ment

. Then, I understood that I had a nightmare. I sighed in relief. 

Seeing 

that I was

 worried, Lu Ming asked, “Did something happen?” 

“No, what time is it?” I shook my head. 

“Around 7:00 PM. 

You sure can 

sleep 

a lot

.”

Lu Ming teased me. “It’s already late. We have to go there.” 

His voice and appearance were 

the same as the Lu Ming

 in the dream. I became vigilant. I collected all of my stuff

 and brought it

 along with

 me

. 

When we left the hostel, the 

sky was 

dark. We went to eat the 

local

dishes

of

 Xishuangbanna, which were pineapple rice and bamboo tube rice. The further we walked, the more amazed I 

became

. This path was the same 

as

 the one I had

 seen in

 the dream. 

When we arrived at the rock gate of the village, I was puzzled 

to see

 the small stream and the group of people singing and dancing inside the fence. 

In my nightmare, this rock gate had turned into coffins. I seized the chance when Lu Ming 

wasn’t looking

 to smear ox 

tears

 on my eyes. 

I blinked a few times then

 opened my eyes wide to see. There was no rock gate over there. It was a gate made of three red coffins 

stacked

 on each other!

Lu Ming patted my shoulde

r and smiled

. “This is the dance of the Dai people. If you are interested, you can enter the village and watch the performance. They will treat you 

like

 a friend.” 

I looked at his smiling face

 and felt my heart chilling

. He wanted to harm me. 

However,

 I didn’t have 

a

 grudge against him

, so w

hy did he want to kill me? 

I didn’t 

know

the reason

, but my intuition told me to be 

wary of him

. Moreover, I had made up my mind. At dawn, I would go home. I wouldn’t play with him anymore. 

After all,

 protecting 

my life

was the top priority

. When I lifted my head again, I saw Lu Ming entering the rock gate. 

He walked

 more than ten meters, and he stopped 

when

 he 

saw

 I didn’t follow him. “Hey, 

why aren’t you following

 me?” 

Before I could 

answer

 him, the village in front of us turned into a stilt house. 

At first glance, I knew the stilt house had been unoccupied for quite a long time. 

S

pider webs covered the ceiling and bats dung 

covered

 the ground. There were many decayed bamboo poles. 

The

 house looked as though it would collapse in the next second. 

It seemed this stilt house was the real face of that haunted village

.

 I knew the old ghost 

was responsible for all of this

. I hurried to open 

my

 bag 

and took out

 the purple clay pot. 

I bit the tip of my finger and dripped some drops of my blood 

into

 the spout of the teapot. 

The spout was the 

‘mouth’

 of the teapot. I was certain that I could create some damage to the old man 

if I dripped

 blood full of Yang energy there. 

I 

placed

 the teapot on the ground. Then, I opened the Yin and Yang Umbrella

 and stabbed

 it into the ground to 

provide 

shade to the teapot. Afterward, I read 

a

 spell to 

activate

 the umbrella. 

The Umbrella God Mantra was an exclusive spell of this item. As I was reading the spell, the Yin and Yang Umbrella flashed then radiated the dazzling black and white lights of the Yin and Yang diagram. At the same time, it began to spin. The unceasing light beams shone on the teapot as the umbrella 

spun

 fast. 

The Yin and Yang Umbrella my grandpa had left me was 

his

 most powerful defensive magic weapon. Normally, I wouldn’t use th

is spell

. But 

t

his time, I 

had no choice as I wanted to deal with

 the old man

 once for all

. 

Still

, nothing happened after I read the spell. 

I looked at the teapot

, and

 fear arose in my heart. 

Wh

at was the background of

 this teapo

t

?