Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 30: Don't Go Into That Temple!

Night fell like an ink stick slowly saturating water, silently staining through the last trace of rosy glow at the horizon.

The mountain path became rugged and indistinct, and the friendly chirping of insects from the daytime now carried a somewhat mournful tone.

"Su Ming... how... how much further?" Zhao Rui's voice was clearly breathless, the box of hibiscus cakes in his hand almost crushed out of shape by his grip.

His legs felt like they were filled with lead, each step lifting sending protests of soreness and numbness from his thighs.

Su Ming's condition was slightly better, but the heavy cloth bundle also weighed down on his shoulders, making them ache.

He glanced back at Zhao Rui's pale face and slowed his pace. "Almost there. Once we cross that mountain ahead, we should be about halfway. We'll find a place to rest soon."

"Disciple, letting your little friend suffer a bit more is beneficial." Lin Yu's voice sounded in Su Ming's mind, carrying a hint of laziness. "Jade must be carved to become a vessel. The shocks this kid has received these past few days are more than he's had in the past year. His temperament is being reshaped. Let him walk more at night, temper his character. He might even become a useful helper in the future."

Su Ming acknowledged in his heart but said nothing aloud.

He knew his master was right. The experiences of these past few days were a vivid lesson for both Zhao Rui and himself.

Suddenly, Zhao Rui seemed to have discovered something. He stopped, pointing at a dark silhouette in the mountain hollow ahead, his voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement."Su Ming! Look! Over there! Is that a temple? And there's firelight!"

Su Ming followed his pointing finger. Indeed, under the deep night sky, the outline of a dilapidated temple was faintly visible. More noticeable was a faint, warm, orange-yellow flicker of firelight escaping from a broken window of the temple, gently swaying in the night breeze.

"Great! It must be traveling merchants or pilgrims resting inside! Let's hurry over. At least we can find shelter from the wind, maybe even beg for some hot water!" Zhao Rui's fatigue vanished instantly, as if he had come back to life, grabbing Su Ming's arm to pull him that way.

Just as Su Ming was about to step forward, alarm bells blared in his mind.

"Halt!"

Lin Yu's voice, for the first time, was so serious, carrying an unquestionable chill.

"Master?" Su Ming's foot froze mid-step, rooted to the spot.

"Disciple, what is the first principle of my 'Way of Survival True Scripture'? Recite it."

"Safety first, think thrice before acting, anything unusual must harbor evil." Su Ming answered swiftly in his mind.

"Good!" Lin Yu's voice softened slightly but remained grave. "Now, use this principle to analyze the current situation."

Lin Yu's inner thoughts were a raging storm.

"Oh my god! This is deadly! Desolate mountains, ancient temple, midnight, ghostly fire! Isn't this the standard plot of 'exit the newbie village, turn right, straight to the mass graves'? Is this Zhao kid afraid he's lived too long? Beg for hot water? More like water from the Yellow Springs! My pension plan can't have just paid the down payment and then get cut off!"

Su Ming took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and begin the analysis.

"This place is remote, not an official road. Ordinary merchants wouldn't come here. The temple is dilapidated, clearly long abandoned, making the presence of pilgrims even less likely. So, that firelight..."

would they make it big and bright, both for warmth and to scare off beasts? But look at that firelight. Small, weak, hidden inside the temple,

down Su Ming's spine. "It means the people inside don't want to be discovered!

by the authorities, or at worst, highway robbers who kill for money! Two half-grown kids like us, carrying big and small bags, walking up there would be like two little fat sheep delivering

analysis, a cold sweat broke out

Instead, it looked like the single eye of a beast opening in the darkness, full of greed and

wait!" Su Ming grabbed Zhao Rui,

hurry, they'll be asleep!" Zhao Rui

we cannot go." Su Ming's tone was calm but carried

volume jumped an octave, his face full of disbelief. "Su Ming, have you gone stupid from walking at night? There's

logic. "The temple is so broken, clearly no one lives there. Why would someone light a fire inside for no reason? And that fire is so small, don't you find

stunned. He had only been happy earlier and

he too felt an indescribable eeriness emanating from that flickering

bad people?" Su Ming lowered his voice. "We just came back from

turned

the County School office, of the possible traps his uncle-in-law Zhou Kang might have set. If the town was that dangerous, this remote wilderness was even more

past, rolling up a few fallen leaves, making a

Rui shivered, instinctively moving closer

do?" His voice carried a

decisively. "We'll keep our distance, cut through that grove over there. It's a longer walk,

Zhao Rui didn't object this time, nodding

approvingly in Su Ming's mind. "Problems that can be solved with words, never use force. Crises that can be solved with feet, never get close. This is called 'strategic risk avoidance,' one of the core mysteries

Su Ming led Zhao Rui, turning away from

making each step

breathe heavily, sticking close behind Su Ming, glancing back now and then,

their heads down for the time it takes an

now?" Zhao Rui leaned against a

also stopped to catch his

when he pushed aside a bush in front

ahead, in the mountain hollow, the dark silhouette of that dilapidated temple still

swaying branches, was

how is this possible?" Zhao Rui's voice cracked. "Weren't we walking forward? How are we

dark, maybe we circled in the woods." Su Ming forced himself to sound

is wrong." Lin Yu's voice also lost its usual laziness. "I sense an extremely faint energy fluctuation, very similar to a certain kind of... mind-befuddling formation. To put it plainly, you might have encountered

Su Ming's heart skipped a

something strange in that broken temple!" Lin Yu's inner monologue was scrolling rapidly.

his teeth, pulling up the nearly paralyzed Zhao Rui, choosing a different direction, and setting off again with heads

a stone to mark the

stopped, utterly exhausted, the trunk bearing his mark

dilapidated temple still clung to their line of sight like a persistent maggot,

"Ah—!"

on the ground, his face devoid of

Ming! We're haunted! By the ghost in