Bubao Mountain

Before we prepared to head to Bubao Mountain, my grandfather raised his hand to stop me: "We still have to wait for one more person."

I turned to him in confusion and asked, "Who else?"

He pointed ahead: "Su Er is coming."

I asked in surprise, "Su Er is coming with us too?"

As soon as I finished speaking, Su Er walked up and questioned me: "What? Can't I go with you?"

I scratched my head in embarrassment and replied, "No, I didn't mean that. It's just that we don't know if this trip will bring fortune or disaster, and I don't want to drag you into this trouble."

She patted my shoulder lightly and said aloud, "I am a person of the Yin and Yang, have you forgotten? Why are you still worried about me?"

I stammered, "I..."

Without letting me finish, my grandfather urged, "Hurry up, we must reach our destination before dark. Otherwise, there won't be any inns on the way up Bubao Mountain."

In the end, I was persuaded by the two of them.

Along both sides of the road up Bubao Mountain, it was indeed extremely desolate, with not a single household in sight. Fourth Uncle certainly knew how to choose a place for seclusion. After walking for nearly six hours, we finally decided to rest near the foot of the mountain.

My grandfather took the lead and went to ask a woodcutter for directions: "Young man, could you tell me the way to Bubao Mountain?"

To our surprise, upon hearing the name "Bubao Mountain," the woodcutter shook his head in panic and replied, "If you want to go up the mountain, go during the day. The sun is about to set now; you shouldn't go."

My grandfather continued, "It's fine, we have an acquaintance on the mountain."

The woodcutter gently set down the bundle of wood on his shoulder: "Ah, this master doesn't understand some things."

The reason he called my grandfather "master" was because my grandfather always wore a dark brown Daoist robe, looking very much like a cultivator from the mountains.

My grandfather smiled awkwardly and asked, "Then please enlighten me."

He spoke gently: "Recently, the hunters who go up the mountain at night often never return. Or if they do, they return completely crazy. The locals suspect there are ghosts on the mountain."

I couldn't help but walk over to listen to their story. Only Su Er paid no attention to this.

My grandfather looked at him with a suspicious gaze: "Ghosts?"

He nodded and pursed his lips: "Indeed, that is the case."

I walked over, patted my grandfather's shoulder, and said confidently to the woodcutter, "Then you probably don't know that the person standing before you is a famous Daoist master."

Unexpectedly, my grandfather kicked me, making my stomach churn.

He stared wide-eyed at my grandfather: "Old gentleman, are you truly a Daoist master?"

My grandfather had no choice but to nod reluctantly.

The woodcutter was overjoyed, treating my grandfather like a deity: "What luck! No one in the village knows what to do. Please save us."

My grandfather bent down to help him up: "I can examine those who have gone mad, but as for whether they can be saved, I'm afraid it depends on their fortune."

He kept nodding and bowing to my grandfather. Then my grandfather turned to the two of us and asked gently, "Shall we stay at a villager's house tonight? What do you two think?"

Su Er and I nodded, because even if we went up the mountain, we would surely get lost. In the end, the three of us stayed at the woodcutter's house.

His house was simple and sparse, inhabited only by him and his elderly mother. The old woman's back was severely bent and her hair was white, but she loved A Liu dearly. Hearing the door open, she spoke: "A Liu, are you back?"

He happily set down the wood and took her hand: "I'm back, Mother."

Seeing us, she asked A Liu with some suspicion, "Who are they...?"

A Liu understood her concern and quickly explained, "They are Daoist masters who have come to help us drive away the ghosts, Mother."

She nodded, though some doubt remained in her eyes. I couldn't blame her; if it were me, I wouldn't dare let strangers stay overnight either. But in the end, she nodded in agreement.

During dinner, my grandfather asked about He Tian Ya's whereabouts, but both she and A Liu shook their heads and replied, "We have always lived here, but we have never heard of any cultivator on the mountain. To be honest, we don't know if there is one, because no one in this village has ever reached the summit."

I swallowed the food in my mouth and asked in curiosity, "Why can't anyone reach the summit?"

A Liu put down his chopsticks and continued, "Bubao Mountain is shrouded in thick fog year-round, and the path up is extremely treacherous. The night hunters can only reach the mountainside at most."

I frowned with immense doubt: "Has no one ever tried to reach the summit?"

A Liu waved his chopsticks: "It's not that they haven't tried, they just don't dare."

Without waiting for me to react, my grandfather asked, "Why don't they dare?"

A Liu pondered for a long time: "Because those who tried to reach the summit were stopped by ghosts shrouding their eyes and leading them astray."

I gasped in surprise: "Ghosts shrouding their eyes and leading them astray!"

A Liu looked at me and nodded gently: "Yes, because they all gave the same answer when they tried to climb to the summit: they walked for a long time, but ultimately returned to their starting point."

Hearing A Liu's words, I couldn't help but feel some fear as I looked at my grandfather: "Can we find Fourth Uncle, Grandfather?"

I thought that after hearing A Liu's story, my grandfather's resolve would waver, but in the end, he answered my doubt with a nod.

A Liu asked us, "Then shall we go to the houses of those who went mad later?"

My grandfather nodded in agreement.

After dinner, we went directly to the houses of those madmen. Strangely, after examining them carefully, my grandfather said to A Liu, "They are not affected by ghosts or demons at all."

The three of us stared at him, but I believed that with his years of experience, he wouldn't be wrong. But what was causing them to go mad?

Before we could recover from our surprise, he continued, "There is only one light radiating from their bodies."

We asked in unison, "What light?"

My grandfather looked into the distance thoughtfully: "Karma."

When my grandfather said this, I was almost convinced that they were not bewitched by ghosts, but rather harmed by their own actions. A Liu still didn't give up and continued, "But the villagers cannot climb the mountain, or they will be led astray by ghosts. How do you explain that?"

My grandfather frowned and shook his head: "There is truly no trace of malevolent qi in the village. I cannot explain why either."

A Liu's suspicion lessened, and he bowed respectfully: "Then please return and rest early."

The three of us finally returned to A Liu's house to rest.