ATEG Chapter 82.1

The wind leisurely passed through the forest, sweeping up fallen leaves in a spiral, catching a fledgling that had accidentally fallen, carrying it on the wind back to its nest.

By the time the startled fledgling cried out with its immature voice, the wind had already blown past this forest, leaving behind only the rustling of leaves and a touch of coolness.

Just as it was about to blow out of the forest, the wind suddenly stopped.

The wind that had been stained with the fresh scent of forest plants and earth settled and dispersed, transforming into a cultivator in dark green robes with a refined appearance, carrying a qin case on his back, his wide sleeves embracing the wind, the hem of his sleeves bearing the moisture from dew on the forest stones.

His gaze fell upon a slanted part of the mountain forest, as if he had seen something, and he lifted his feet to walk in that direction.

……

The forest canopy blocked the sunlight, making the undergrowth increasingly secluded. However, as the sun began to set, the quietness beneath the trees gradually transformed into a cold gloom.

At this time, generally no one would remain in the mountain forest anymore. Night would soon fall, and even the most skilled hunter would not be willing to spend the night in such a forest. Yet at this moment in the forest, there were two people: an old man whose face bore deep furrows, who though shrunken and thin with age, still appeared quite strong, and a tall, robust young man who looked very honest and simple.

The old man was named Xu Tian. He carried a basket on his back, his other hand tightly gripping the young man Xu Li beside him. Though the temperature in the forest was growing colder, chilling the skin, Xu Tian was covered in sweat.

Of course he didn’t want to spend the night on the mountain. Two hours ago, he had prepared to go down the mountain, but for these past two hours, he and Xu Li had been circling in this forest, unable to find their way out. The sun had already set far to the west, yet they kept walking deeper into the forest, and before they knew it, even the path beneath their feet had somehow been lost.

Xu Tian swallowed his dry throat, gripping Xu Li’s hand even tighter. “Ah Li, do you still remember the way?”

Xu Li was tall and strong, but his eyes were dull. He looked at him blankly and asked, “Fourth Uncle, what way?”

Xu Tian’s heart was anxious, and anger surged up immediately, but when he looked up and saw Xu Li’s simple, foolish face, he pushed the anger back down. He sighed, found a strip of cloth to tie their wrists together, and said to Xu Li, “Hold tight to Fourth Uncle, don’t wander off.”

Xu Li obediently nodded. He stood at Xu Tian’s side in a forward position, his other hand holding a medicinal hoe half-raised in front of him. His tall, strong physique gave one a sense of security, but what they were facing now wasn’t something ordinary people could solve like dense vines or wild beasts—this was a ghost-hitting-wall. As completely ordinary mortals, what else could they do?

(TL: 鬼打墙=Traditional folklore origin: People walking at night would suddenly feel lost, dizzy, or trapped, as if invisible forces were interfering. It was often attributed to ghosts or spirits causing disorientation.

Idiomatic meaning:

Being trapped in an endless loop (walking in circles, can’t find the way out)

Experiencing a supernatural disorientation

Feeling helplessly lost due to unseen forces)

Xu Tian took a deep breath, arranged several stones on the ground, and set up a tree branch in the middle, looking at the direction of the shadow to roughly calculate their position. He stood up, steadied his nerves, and began laboriously making his way through the mountain forest while pulling Xu Li along.

He couldn’t just do nothing. Waiting for death was the worst choice.

He didn’t know how long they had been walking. The light beneath the forest canopy grew increasingly dim, and it gradually became difficult for mortal eyes to clearly see their surroundings. The deepening tree shadows seemed to become increasingly menacing. Xu Li suddenly pointed to a spot in a forest clearing and called to him, “Fourth Uncle.”

It was a small clearing in the forest, with several stones arranged in a regular pattern, and a tree branch lying across the middle. This was exactly what Xu Tian had arranged earlier to determine direction.

“Mm.” He responded heavily, his expression extremely grim.

He had noticed that pile of things long ago. As they walked, the nearby trees and terrain had started repeating. He couldn’t have failed to notice, and after noticing, with just a glance in that direction, he had seen what he had arranged before.

Xu Tian just hadn’t said it out loud. Xu Li’s mind was incomplete, he didn’t even know fear, and couldn’t come up with any ideas. Even if he told Xu Li, it would only increase his own panic.

The light beneath the trees grew darker and darker, about to turn completely black. The cold evening wind blew across their skin. Xu Tian shivered. His stomach clenched emptily, his muscles ached and stiffened, but he still had to make them move. He couldn’t be trapped and die here, much less bring Xu Li to die here with him. But he really needed to rest for a while, and besides, it was getting dark.

Xu Tian stopped to catch his breath and said, “Let’s prepare and spend the night here.”

The forest at night was impossible to traverse. If they didn’t take advantage of the remaining light to prepare a campsite, the night would be even harder to endure.

Xu Li responded dully, and just as he was about to turn around to gather things, he suddenly caught a glimpse of light from the corner of his eye.

“Fourth Uncle, what’s that?”

Xu Tian looked in that direction. Several points of warm yellow lamplight appeared in the distance, several wisps of thin blue smoke visible against the darkening sky. That was……

“There’s a village!” Xu Tian exclaimed joyfully, but immediately felt a bit uneasy and suspicious.

He had been cutting firewood and hunting in this forest since he was young. In all these years, he had never heard of another village nearby. But… after being lost for so long, this area was no longer the forest he was familiar with.

The suffering of wandering lost in the forest for so long bred excessive hope, which immediately suppressed his slight doubt. It would be best not to spend the night in the forest. At worst, he could carefully go take a look first…

Xu Tian made up his mind and pulled Xu Li along. “Let’s go take a look.”

The two walked closer and closer to the village. Seeing they had already made out the village’s outline and were about to leave the forest, Xu Tian’s heart grew increasingly relaxed. As long as they could leave the forest, it would be good.

In the last dim yellow glow of sunset, a gentle breeze suddenly blew through the mountain forest. This wind brought a cool clarity to one’s heart, and even the dim undergrowth seemed to brighten considerably.

Xu Tian felt Xu Li, who was holding onto him, suddenly stop and say to him, “Fourth Uncle, there’s someone.”

Xu Tian’s heart tightened as he looked over.

In the forest beside them, a figure was standing under a tree, slowly walking toward them.

There was the person’s shadow under the tree, and the sound of footsteps on broken branches and fallen leaves was very clear. Xu Tian’s heart relaxed slightly, but he still alertly held onto Xu Li.

In just this moment of observation, that person had already walked out from under the trees. It was a young man in dark green robes with a qin on his back, whose appearance and bearing were quite extraordinary.

How could such a person appear in this remote forest? Could it be some mountain spirit or wild demon? Was the earlier ghost-hitting-wall related to him?

Xu Tian became even more vigilant: “This… sir, why are you here? Could it be you’re lost?”

“Lost?” The person smiled and shook his head, pointing with his hand, “Isn’t the path right there?”

Xu Tian looked in the direction the person pointed. He saw a small path hiding beneath the shade of nearby trees, which seemed to be the very path they had taken up the mountain earlier.

Xu Li’s mind was incomplete. “Fourth Uncle, we found the path!” He happily started to walk toward the path.

Xu Tian grabbed this foolish boy, turned to the newly appeared qin-carrying gentleman and said, “Since the gentleman’s path is over there, please go ahead. It’s getting late, and we also need to return to the village.”

He deliberately gestured toward that village, vaguely hinting that he was someone from that village. Xu Tian didn’t really want to enter that village; he was doing this only to avoid traveling with this suddenly appearing person. They had been trapped by the ghost-hitting-wall, walking back and forth who knows how many times without finding the original path, but now that this qin-carrying gentleman had just appeared, the path appeared with him. Who knew whether that path was real? And where would it lead them?

Xu Tian was praying and hoping to part ways with the qin-carrying gentleman, but saw him glance at the distant village and smile. “Indeed, it’s getting late. It would be better to find lodging in this village for the night. Shall we go together?”

Xu Tian had no choice but to walk toward the village together with him.

The village looked close, but by the time they reached the village entrance, the sky had completely darkened. Many households had their lamps lit, shining through the window paper as hazy warm yellow orbs of light.

Xu Tian vaguely felt uneasy but couldn’t say what was wrong. He cautiously glanced at the qin-carrying gentleman beside him, but saw his expression was very calm. He had already walked to the door of a house and begun knocking to request lodging.

This was a household that appeared to be doing fairly well. The dwelling occupied considerable space, with at least five rooms. After dark, the village was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The qin-carrying gentleman tapped his fingers on the old wooden door, and the dong-dong sound drilled straight from the ears into the heart, each knock startling.

After the knocking began, a voice of inquiry soon came from inside. Hearing they wanted lodging, the door opened a crack, and someone peered at them through the gap.

Xu Tian listened to the qin-carrying gentleman converse with the homeowner, growing increasingly alarmed. The qin-carrying gentleman directly said the three of them wanted lodging, as if he had known all along they weren’t from this village. And that homeowner who opened the door… currently only showing most of his face through the door crack, but he did indeed look like an ordinary farmer, with nothing wrong about him.

The homeowner’s face showed no expression, appearing quite cold, but after looking them over, he still pulled open the door and invited them inside.

Inside were ordinary earthen walls. A lamp sat on a rough wooden table, casting dim yellow light. The dim light was like a layer of hazy fog, making the entire room appear blurred and unclear.

“There’s nothing much to offer. Have some water.” The homeowner found some bowls, ladled out water and handed it to them. His movements were somewhat slow, as if he was already very tired. This was nothing unusual—farmers who had finished a day’s work, few of them could still be energetic.

Xu Tian observed very carefully and thoroughly, but he didn’t notice that in the eyes of that qin-carrying gentleman, two completely different worlds were reflected.

In one, the lamplight was dim yellow, the farmhouse rough, and the homeowner with hands that had worked for years was holding crude bowls filled with clean water, but in the other… the dwelling was collapsed, yin energy permeated the air, and the water in the crude bowls was murky blue-black.

The lamplight was like an illusion, deceiving the eyes of mortals. Li Chi received the bowl from the homeowner’s hand, then passed it to Xu Tian and Xu Li who stood further away. That bowl of blue-black murky liquid, after passing through his hand, appeared completely clean and clear in the reflection.

But beneath that illusion, Xu Tian was completely unaware. He accepted the bowl but didn’t drink—not because he had noticed anything, nor because he disdained the simple offering. In these times, being offered even a bowl of water was already difficult. If not for a heavy rain some days ago that had washed away all the saltiness and bitterness from the water, even a bowl of water would have been hard to come by.

Xu Tian didn’t drink simply out of caution. His heart still harbored worries. He was just thinking of subtly hinting to Xu Li not to drink it either, when he saw this foolish boy accept the bowl and, as if extremely thirsty, had already drained it in one gulp.

Xu Tian: ……

This foolish boy! He stared at him wide-eyed. Xu Li noticed but didn’t understand, still grinning foolishly at him and saying, “Fourth Uncle, sweet.”

Xu Tian felt powerless and waved his hand dismissively.

The homeowner seemed not to have noticed this little drama. He slowly raised his arm and pointed to two rooms on the side, saying to them, “Tonight you’ll sleep in these two rooms.”

Xu Tian quickly put down his bowl, thanked the homeowner, and pulled Xu Li into one of the rooms.

After closing the door, Xu Tian finally truly relaxed a bit in this room with only him and Xu Li. He sat on the kang, his tense nerves loosening bit by bit. Looking at Xu Li again, he was completely oblivious to all this, only feeling hungry in his belly, and was rummaging through the basket for dried food.

Seeing him like this, Xu Tian couldn’t help but get angry. He scolded in a low voice, “All you know is eating! Putting everything in your mouth!”

Xu Li was confused and bewildered, not knowing to be angry, just grinning foolishly at him and handing him the dried food he’d just found. “Fourth Uncle, eat.”

Seeing him like this, Xu Tian’s anger dissipated. He sighed worriedly. “You… ai! Don’t you know to be afraid? How can you believe everything and eat everything! Can you just put anything in your mouth? Look at what kind of place this is! What kind of situation we’re in!”

First the ghost-hitting-wall, then that strangely appearing gentleman, and now who knew what the situation was in this village. In the territory of Liang Kingdom, weren’t there plenty of demons and ghosts? How could one survive without being more careful?

Xu Tian looked at Xu Li’s simple, confused expression and sighed. “What am I saying all this to you for?”

He accepted the dried food and chewed a few bites randomly, then found a small cloth bundle from the basket and carefully unwrapped it. Inside was a small incense burner and several rough incense sticks.

Xu Tian set up the incense burner, lit the incense, and bowed devoutly several times, murmuring words. He was reciting a request for all nearby spirits and deities to enjoy the incense offerings and not make things difficult for them. If they could return safely, he would certainly offer more abundant offerings. After finishing these recitations, he inserted the incense into the burner.

The gray-blue smoke drifted upward, the scent of incense already spreading through the room, about to float outside.