The spirit medium lived in the village's sixth district. Grandpa Yun lived in the sixth district too, and counted as distantly related to her.
Access to the sixth district was inconvenient. The paved road only extended halfway. Once a car reached this point, it could proceed no further. When the young people returned to their hometown, they all parked their cars on the empty, flat ground here.
Grandpa Yun and Yun Luhua helped Xia Huiqing out of the car. The moment they stepped onto the ground, the entire village erupted in chaos. From near to far, almost every dog in the village began barking frantically, as if sensing some danger imperceptible to humans.
Xia Huiqing was startled by the barking and shrank back towards Yun Luhua. No one present had ever witnessed such a scene. In the pitch-black night, a hundred dogs howling together felt truly chilling.
Suddenly, two local dogs—one yellow, one white—came running from the distance, barking wildly. They rushed at Huiqing, howling desperately at her with their tails tucked, refusing to retreat a single step. "Big White! Big Yellow! What are you doing! Don't you recognize people anymore!" Grandma Yun roared, reaching out to shoo the dogs away.
These were their family dogs, usually most affectionate with people, especially Huiqing. But now, as if gone mad, no matter how Grandma Yun chased them, they barked relentlessly at Huiqing. In the end, Grandma Yun could only grab the scruff of each dog's neck and told Grandpa Yun and the others to take Huiqing away first.
The path to the medium's house passed behind Rear Hill. Rear Hill wasn't just the hill behind someone's house; the villagers had named it that. Called a hill, it was actually just a small mound, barely a hundred meters high. When villagers passed away, they were almost always buried on Rear Hill. Every year during Qingming Festival, Rear Hill bustled with people, every household visiting to pay respects to their ancestors.
Xia Huiqing's mood remained relatively stable all along the way. But upon reaching the foot of Rear Hill, she suddenly went mad. She snapped her head up to stare at the summit and began stumbling along the path up Rear Hill, muttering incessantly: "Someone's waiting for me on Rear Hill... someone's waiting for me on Rear Hill..."
"Darling!" Yun Luhua cried out in fright, hurrying to pull Huiqing back. Yet Huiqing, summoning strength from nowhere, gave a casual shove that sent Yun Luhua staggering. Huiqing showed no reaction to her mother nearly falling. After pushing Yun Luhua, she turned back towards the hill, repeating the same words over and over. "Someone's waiting for me on Rear Hill..."
Grandpa Yun and Xia Chao immediately rushed forward to restrain Huiqing. Huiqing wasn't afraid of Xia Chao anymore now. Her strength was inexplicably immense, and the two men could barely hold her down. "Let go of me! I have to go to Rear Hill! Someone's waiting for me there! They're waiting for me!" Huiqing screamed hoarsely, thrashing and roaring like a frenzied beast. "Dad! Quick, help me!" Xia Chao, nearly unable to contain Huiqing, urgently called for Grandpa Xia to assist.
Finally, Grandma Yun brought a rope. Together, they managed to bind Huiqing, subduing her enough to be half-dragged towards the medium's place. The distance was only a few hundred meters, but Huiqing's struggle forced them to take nearly an hour to reach the spirit medium's door.
"Old Madam! We need help!" Grandma Yun shouted towards the spirit medium's house.
The medium, nearly seventy, wore reading glasses on the bridge of her nose. Seeing Huiqing bound, thrashing, and screaming, her face instantly paled. She hurriedly bit her finger, strode swiftly to Huiqing, and pressed a drop of her blood firmly onto the center of Huiqing's forehead. The frantic Huiqing immediately collapsed unconscious.
"Darling!" Yun Luhua screamed, looking worriedly at the medium. "What's wrong with my daughter?"
The medium said gravely, "Afraid she's offended something dark. Get her inside quickly."
Everyone hastily carried Huiqing indoors. The medium's dwelling was a traditional old wooden house, lit by a dim, yellowish light bulb. Inside, a wooden recliner stood. The medium had them place Huiqing on it.
"Should we untie her ropes?" Grandma Xia asked with deep concern.
The medium shook her head. "Not yet. All of you, out."
Though worried, they all sensed the medium possessed genuine skill. Reluctantly, stepping backwards repeatedly, they filed out of the room. The door remained open, but a curtain—a blue patterned cloth—hung over it, reaching the top of the door frame. With no breeze, it completely blocked the view inside from outside. No one could see what the medium was doing. They could only hear her chanting strange, unintelligible incantations.
Yun Jianyue arrived precisely at this moment.
"How is she?" Yun Jianyue greeted Grandpa and Grandma Yun, Uncle and Aunt Xia, Grandpa and Grandma Xia, before urgently inquiring about Huiqing.
Yun Luhua, tears in her eyes, shook her head at Jianyue. "We don't know yet."
Lu Changxue, taking advantage of her invisibility to mortals, drifted out from within a jade pendant. Staring at the sinister ghostly aura emanating from the house, she said to Yun Jianyue, "Your cousin isn't doing too well."
The moment she finished speaking, the sound of an earthenware pot shattering came from inside. This was followed by the medium's voice: "What foul spirit dares to linger? Be gone!"
The next instant, a fierce wind sprang up. The light in the old wooden house flickered violently between light and dark before finally plunging into total darkness. The spirit medium seemed utterly terrified. She scrambled out of the house on all fours, shrieking at everyone, "It's bad! Very bad! Run! All of you, run!"
"My darling! My darling's still in there!" Yun Luhua was frantic. Though terrified herself, she ran resolutely towards the house. Yun Jianyue seized Yun Luhua, thrusting her aunt into Xia Chao's arms. "Uncle, take Aunt away from here! Keep them safe—Grandpa Yun, Grandma Yun, Grandpa Xia, Grandma Xia!" Without waiting for Xia Chao's response, Yun Jianyue dashed like the wind into the pitch-black wooden house.
Seeing her niece rush inside, Yun Luhua lost all control. She wept and struck Xia Chao's chest. "Let me go! Let me go! My daughter and my niece are both in there! Husband, get inside and save them!"
Xia Chao held Yun Luhua tightly. "Wife, calm down! You need to calm down first! Then I can feel safe going in! Do you understand?"
Inside the House.
Utterly black. Yun Jianyue couldn't see anything within the room. But Lu Changxue could see. Floating towards Huiqing's position, she called out loudly, "Your cousin's over here!"
"Don't go over!" Yun Jianyue shouted her warning.
But it was too late. A dark hand shot out from Huiqing's body, lightning fast, reaching to grab Lu Changxue. Lu Changxue dodged swiftly, retreating behind Yun Jianyue. The black hand vanished back into Huiqing's form.
"Turn on the light," Yun Jianyue ordered Lu Changxue.
Lu Changxue asked, "How am I supposed to do that?"
"It used ghostly energy to break the light. Can't you use ghostly energy to fix it?" Yun Jianyue demanded, exasperation in her voice.
"I'll try!" Lu Changxue concentrated, channeling her ghostly power. As an A-class fierce ghost, this was well within her capabilities. She attempted, and the light flickered back on.
At that moment, Yun Jianyue could see clearly what Huiqing was doing beneath the light.
The girl was wearing her school uniform. She was writhing, shouting, crawling, and contorting on the ground in the shadow.