Chapter One: The Strange Old Woman

aw a square piece of red-tinged boiled meat sitting in the dish underneath.For him who was starving, it represented an extremely strong temptation, but he still resisted.That strange old woman, beside...A splitting headache, a parched throat, and a heavy body that felt like it didn't belong to me.

It took Hu Ma a long time just to open his eyes, accompanied by bouts of dizziness.

He was now leaning half against a hall-like room. In the center stood a table covered in dust, an eight immortals table, with several low square stools. Against the wall were blackened stones piled up to make a stove.

Several paper cutouts of little figures huddled against the wall, their faces smeared with eerie smiles by paint. Yellow and red talisman papers, adorned with writhing runes, covered every inch of the room.

"Splash"

Instinctively, I wanted to move, but my shoulders felt both heavy and painful.

A chain hung down from the beam, splitting at the end into two iron hooks.

And now, two iron hooks pierced Hu Ma's sternum, the bloody spikes protruding from her chest.

He has been locked up here for six or seven days.

But even now, he still doesn't know why he was locked in here.

He had just graduated from college and landed a promising security job at a cutting-edge research lab, considered the forefront of science at the time. Then, an explosion came out of nowhere, and he was gone.

In a daze, drifting aimlessly, I don't know how long it had passed until an eerie sound drew me in. As I followed the sound, I suddenly felt a rush of falling.

When I opened my eyes again, I was already here, locked up.

For six or seven days, every night, an old woman would sit in front of me, silently reciting scriptures and incantations, waving strange talismans. Sometimes she would even subject me to cruel torture, pain like being scalded with boiling oil, peeling my skin off. Then she would feed me some strange meat and medicinal soup.

No matter what he asked her or did, she would turn a deaf ear and pretend not to see.

Anyway, she was being held by those two iron hooks at this moment. She would faint from time to time and couldn't resist whatever they did to her.

"Why is she locking me up"

“What strange things does she recite to me every day”

"…"

None of these have answers.

He's been dizzy on and off lately, feeling like he's floating. All this torment has left him weak and exhausted.

Occasionally, when I wake up, all I feel is a dry mouth and a body that feels completely drained.

The fish tank was just three meters away, close to the earth wall.

The iron chain on the roof was attached to the beams and could move, so Humab could theoretically walk around inside.

But this movement undoubtedly comes at a tremendous cost of pain.

It took him dozens of seconds, gritting his teeth against the pain shooting through his shoulder blades, before he could slowly pull himself to his feet.

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Then, tremblingly supporting himself on the wall, he moved step by step in the direction of the water tank.

The bone at the shoulder rubbed against the iron hook, creating a strange and chilling sound.

There was some blood, and it slowly seeped out as he moved.

But not much, perhaps it has already passed away.

Finally, they arrived at the water jar and saw clear water inside with half a gourd floating on top.

Sesame scooped out half a ladle of water, otherwise his arms couldn't hold it up. He brought it to his mouth and gulped it down.

The heat and headache in my body seem to have subsided quite a bit.

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But it was a case of solving one problem only to create another. Though the gourd quench his thirst, he soon became hungry again.

Sesame unconsciously looked at the thick porcelain bowl fastened on the Eight Immortals table.

After hesitating for a long while, he still endured it.

>

Lifting the bowl, one saw a square piece of red-tinged boiled meat sitting in the dish underneath.

For him who was starving, it represented an extremely strong temptation, but he still resisted.

That strange old woman, besides chanting sutras and prayers to him every day, would also feed him all sorts of peculiar things from time to time. There were herbs, burned talismans, but most importantly, there was this unknown type of meat.

No matter how much Hu Ma didn't want to, he had to force himself to eat, forcing him to chew and swallow. Every bite was an incredibly painful experience.

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This led to the point where, even if his stomach was growling with hunger at that moment, he didn't feel like touching the meat.

"While she's away, run. You have to run..."

Sesame secretly admonished himself, realizing the most important issue.

Making sure no one was around, he gritted his teeth against the throbbing pain and raised his right hand to grasp the iron hook that pierced through his left shoulder.

With all his might, he tried to push the iron hook out of his own flesh.

Intense pain surged through his brain, making even his skull throb. The hook had grown into his flesh.

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But Hu Ma gritted her teeth, trying bit by bit.

"Creak..."

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Just as the pain intensified again and again, suddenly a gust of wind blew open the door, and the light in the room dimmed slightly.

"Has that strange old woman come back"

Sesame was startled. He turned his head and saw a short, thin middle-aged man standing there.

The sunlight shining in from behind made his face blurry.

"Are there any outsiders"

When Hu Ma saw the arrival, her heart was filled with joy.

Over these past few days, he had only seen the eerie old woman and a little girl in red with her hair tied back in a red ribbon within this house.

This is the first time I've seen anyone besides the two of them, and my desire for rescue immediately intensified.

But before he could speak, he suddenly stiffened.

If this person were an accomplice of the old woman, wouldn't seeking help now lead to even greater torment

Moreover, even if I didn't open my mouth to ask for help, this person should have seen the iron hooks on my shoulders.

If he were an outsider, wouldn't he find it strange

While Sesame stared at this person, trying to gauge from his reaction whether it was worth seeking help, she saw that he completely ignored her appearance. He just turned stiffly, as if glancing around the surroundings, and still a little dazed, asked:

“Where is the mother-in-law”

“...”

"Oh dear, it seems like that's someone the old woman knows..."

Sesame thought to himself, that hope of rescue was dwindling, but perhaps he could try gleaning some information from him

>

"Grandma has gone out."

He tried to appear calm and said, "What do you want with my mother-in-law"

This person's voice was hollow: "I'm here to settle accounts with your mother-in-law."

"Settlement"

Suddenly, a glimmer of hope flickered in Hu Ma's heart: "Could this person be the enemy of that strange old woman"

"She went out. She often goes out during the day, and calculating the time, she'll probably be back soon."

He pressed down on his excitement and said slowly, "You…"

“Grandma will be back soon, so I’d better hurry.”

This lifeless person suddenly turned his head to look at Sesame. Now he was no longer facing the sunlight outside the door, but his face was still unclear.

I could only hear his voice, thin and broken, as if he were out of breath. He said, "I was fine in the forest, but my grandmother suddenly had people come and cut me up, chopping me into pieces to make a coffin for someone... you see..."

" ... How big is this grudge"

"…"

""

Sesame should have just agreed with him, but suddenly she felt something was off about his words and became confused.

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"I would have been able to ascend in another year or two."

He continued, his voice laced with a thin whine of anguish: “But the old woman insisted on ruining my future. I was buried in that soil with the corpse of Master Cui, smelling its gradual decay and stench. I felt the maggots crawling inside him, the rotten fluids dripping onto me, seeping into my very being. Tell me, do you think I have a blood feud with the old woman”

Sesame listened, and suddenly his scalp felt numb, he staggered back a few steps.

It wasn't until then that he suddenly realized the man's walking posture had been very strange just moments ago.

His knee seemed unable to bend, and his movements were stiff and straight, as if a plank of wood was sliding on the ground.

And as his emotions grew more intense, he drew closer and closer. Hu Ma's eyes suddenly blurred, and finally, she saw clearly beneath his black robe and hat, the face that had always been obscured... The face under the hat was not a face at all.

... but a board, dirty and black.

Even at this moment, he began to smell the stench emanating from him.

Casket lid.

But this coffin lid was now pointing accusingly at itself with a sharp, feverish whisper: "I've come to settle the score with her."

"She ruined my path, so I'll take her grandson..."

“...”

Sesame subconsciously wanted to run, but his body was too weak, his legs went soft.

He only felt a dizziness, staring blankly as the coffin lid moved closer to his face.

The stench and the sharp screech poured into his head from his ears and nostrils, almost knocking him unconscious.

"Cough!"

But just then, he suddenly heard a light cough from the direction of the door, followed by a creaky voice:

"Having a bit of skill and getting lost in the woods to harm people, pregnant women are not spared. I thought you were cultivating diligently, so I wanted you to guard the corpse of Old Master Cui for twenty years to spare your life, but you not only didn't appreciate it, but also came to harm my grandson..."

"This time, just burn it!"

“...”

Immediately after, he only heard a terrified scream. The room was filled with an eerie wind, and he could feel a gust of wind whistling past his face.

When he could see clearly what was before him, he saw a smooth, bare coffin board lying on the ground.

>

A girl with two pigtails, was squatting on a board in some sort of animal pose, smiling at herself.

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But the sinister old woman stood hunched and silent at the doorway.d in another year or two."He continued, his voice laced with a thin whine of anguish: “But the old woman insisted on ruining my future. I was buried in that soil with the corpse of Master Cui, smellin...