Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 85: Even a small mosquito is still meat

Three days later, the heavy snow arrived as expected.

Goose feather-like snowflakes drifted silently from the lead-gray sky, painting the entire Qingshi County in pristine white overnight.

Su Ming trudged along the official road leading out of the city, a bulging pack on his back, his steps sinking unevenly into the deep snow.

He had requested leave from the County School, citing a visit to a distant relative outside the city and a desire to find a quiet place to study. The steward believed him completely. This top scorer Su's diligence was well-known; the fact that he wanted to study even on such a snowy day was truly admirable.

Inside the pack, the black dog blood stored in a wine jar, the aged glutinous rice disguised as travel rations, and the wood struck by lightning nails hidden in the brush pouch all swayed gently with his steps. That jar of soul-shakingly pungent virgin boy's urine was wrapped in oilcloth seven or eight layers thick and stuffed at the very bottom, praying it wouldn't leak.

"Master, this snow... seems a bit off."

After walking ten li outside the city, Su Ming stopped. The white breath he exhaled instantly condensed into frost.

Lin Yu's voice sounded in his mind, its usual laziness replaced by a touch of gravity. "What's off about it?"

"It's too quiet." Su Ming surveyed his surroundings.

In the woods beside the official road, one could usually hear a few bird calls or spot traces of rabbits or squirrels. But now, aside from snow, there was nothing. Even the chirping of insects had vanished. The entire world was as silent as a lifeless painting."Keep walking." Lin Yu offered no further explanation. "Focus your mind, circulate the Aura Concealment Art, don't let a single trace of your aura leak out."

Su Ming nodded, pulled his bamboo hat lower, and continued onward.

The closer he got to the direction of the dilapidated temple from his memory, the more bizarre the surrounding environment became.

The wind and snow seemed to consciously avoid that area. While everything around was covered in a blanket of white snow, the color of the mountain forest ahead appeared unusually deep and gloomy, as if splashed with dirty water.

Lin Yu fell completely silent.

This silence made Su Ming's heart palpitate more than any warning. He could feel his master's soul contracting to its limit, like a startled hedgehog entering its highest state of alert.

A cold, formless sense of being watched enveloped him from all directions.

It didn't come from any specific direction; it simply permeated the air, like countless invisible icy tentacles gently brushing against his skin, trying to worm their way into his mind.

Cold sweat instantly soaked Su Ming's back, but his steps didn't falter, his face maintaining that same placid, wooden expression.

Finally, the familiar outline of the dilapidated temple appeared deep within the mountain forest.

Unlike his panicked nighttime flight last time, the temple looked even more decrepit in daylight. The collapsed courtyard wall, the tilted main hall, resembled a dying giant beast crouching in the snow.

Strangely, despite the heavy snowfall, only a thin layer of snow covered the temple's roof. Most snowflakes melted the moment they touched the tiles, merging into dark streaks of water that dripped from the eaves.

It was as if the temple itself was constantly emitting some kind of ominous heat.

"Stop." Lin Yu's voice finally rang out, short and forceful.

Su Ming obeyed, halting about fifty paces from the temple's courtyard wall.

"Walk a circle around it, don't get close. Extend your perception to its maximum, tell me what you see and hear."

"Yes."

Su Ming took a deep breath, slightly closed his eyes, and pushed the Aura Concealment Art to its limit. His soul spread out towards the temple like quicksilver, soundless.

He began walking slowly around the temple, each step crunching loudly on the thick snow. In this deathly silent environment, the sound was especially jarring.

Soon, he noticed anomalies.

From the corner of his eye, he kept catching glimpses of a pale white hem of clothing flashing past a temple corner or behind a broken window lattice, or a blurry black shadow. But when he snapped his head around to look intently, there was nothing there, only mottled walls and the howling wind rushing through the hallways.

On the snowy ground appeared some chaotic, disorderly footprints.

The footprints were shallow, resembling neither human nor beast, twisted and bizarre, as if something had dragged its fingertips across the snow. These footprints circled the temple, eventually disappearing at the base of the wall, their destination unknown.

Within the wind's howl, mixed an extremely faint, high-pitched shriek.

At times it sounded like a woman's sobbing, weeping mournfully by his ear; at other times it sounded like someone was whispering something right against the back of his neck. The sound was intermittent, yet it hooked into his mind, constantly agitating his spirit.

In the air, that faint odor of rot and stale blood was even stronger than last time.

"Master, there are many things," Su Ming whispered in his mind. "They're watching us, but don't dare approach."

"Condensed filth, breeding mere 'wandering souls'," Lin Yu's voice held a trace of disdain, but Su Ming could hear the underlying tension. "A bunch of mindless, lonely ghosts drawn here by the Yin energy, becoming earthbound spirits. Not truly fearsome, but troublesome."

Su Ming didn't stop walking. As he moved, he inconspicuously pinched a bit of powder from his sleeve and quietly sprinkled it on the snow behind him.

mixture of rooster's throat bone powder

walked, a not-very-obvious circle composed of white powder roughly

watched

approvingly inside the ring. Not bad, this kid was becoming more

Lin Yu said. "Enter

at the pitch-black darkness of the temple's main hall, which resembled a giant maw waiting to

slightest hesitation,

Ming felt as if he

assaulted him, making him shiver uncontrollably. The temperature inside

in a layer of black, sticky mud mixed with rotten fragments of prayer

had long since collapsed, leaving only a lotus throne base crawling with filth. The altar table was empty,

most eye-catching thing was the dark brown stain on the floor in the center

seeped deep into the floor tiles. This was precisely the spot where the Wailing Woman Lantern had once entrenched itself, nearly costing him his

been eliminated, this stain still emitted

felt a stabbing pain in his soul just from glancing

mind, carrying urgency. "Judging from the memory fragments of the resentful soul, the mechanism should be on the lotus throne base. Hurry,

Ming prepared to approach the lotus throne, that bizarre

is in so much pain… come help Second

was Second Brother Su Yang's voice! So clear, so full of agony, as

you listen to your mother… you insist on

mother's weeping voice, filled with despair and

much. Forsaking a bright future to dabble in

mocking voice, laced with undisguised contempt

the depths of his mind, like a pot of boiling water

black shadows in the dark corners of the hall begin to

lightly touched the back of his neck

hair stood on end. A chill shot up from his tailbone straight to the crown

the tip of his tongue fiercely. The sharp pain instantly cleared his

illusions, disturbing my

his mind instantly regained clarity. He strode

a circle of unusually

This was it!

with both hands, and

throne

Su Ming

he

human-shaped stain on the floor suddenly "came to

coalescing into a pitch-black humanoid figure with no facial features and twisted limbs.

no sound and showed no signs of physical attack. It merely lifted its "head," its hollow "face" aimed at Su

body; this was a direct assault of Yin-evil erosion

him, Su Ming's soul would be instantly polluted and torn

the ring. "Disciple! Quick! Use your Italian cannon…

Ming, though startled,

He was prepared!

moving like lightning. He tore off the leather pouch disguised as

"Hiss—!"

blood traced a dark red arc through the air, splattering precisely

like pouring a ladle of cold

erupted. Thick plumes of black smoke, accompanied by a

"Aooo—!"

the

figure twisted and struggled violently. Under the onslaught of the black dog blood, its form rapidly melted and disintegrated like a wax statue corroded by strong acid. With a final "splat," it reverted to a pool of stain on the ground, though its color was

destroy it! This thing is born from the earth vein's Yin energy and the resentment of the dead. As long as this damned temple exists, it can't be killed! Use the wood struck by lightning nails, pin

Su Ming understood perfectly.

pulled the seven charred wooden nails from his brush pouch, his figure darting forward to the side of

he raised a nail and drove it down, forcefully embedding the first

"Thud!"

ground, and the earth actually emitted a dull thud, as if he'd struck a leather drum. The pool of stain squirmed violently, seemingly trying to coalesce again, but was firmly

he drove the remaining six nails into the approximate locations of the stain's shoulders, heart, knees, and

Thud! Thud!

thuds. With each nail that fell, the stain's squirming

seventh nail was driven in, a light "hum" resonated. An invisible barrier seemed

atmosphere within the main hall

Success!

delay, Su Ming returned to the lotus throne base, grabbed the

"Click."

mechanical turning sound

time, the lotus throne moved