Dubian Qiansui stood at the brink of the unfathomable abyss of the mountain; she was just one step away from plumting into it.
Her legs gave out, and she sat down on the ground, her face, blued from the cold, etched with the expression of one who had narrowly escaped death.
Under her hands, there seed to be sothing soft.
Dubian Qiansui instinctively picked up the soft object in her hand and, by the light of the moon, saw it clearly.
It was a small ragdoll, covered in random patches, with a mouth made of red thread.
Under the chilling moonlight, the ragdoll’s eyes seed to be staring at her, but this did not make Dubian Qiansui feel the slightest bit eerie; instead, it evoked a heartfelt sense of familiarity.
She had an inkling that it was this ragdoll that had saved her.
At that mont, a calm voice ca from behind Dubian Qiansui:
"I told you, she’s an amulet."
Dubian Qiansui turned around in astonishnt, just in ti to see the youth erging from the little woods behind her:
"Brother Beichuan?" Dubian Qiansui was sowhat startled.
Brother Beichuan nodded and approached from behind.
He first took Kelian from Dubian Qiansui’s hands, then glanced briefly at the mountain abyss before them.
Falling from here ant certain death. Dubian Qiansui was lucky, Brother Beichuan had found her just as she was leaning towards this direction.
But the distance was really too great, and in his urgency, all Brother Beichuan could do was to throw Nishijou Kurenai toward her.
Fortunately, Nishijou Kurenai had been effective, stopping Dubian Qiansui from moving forward any further.
However—
Brother Beichuan saw it.
Bathed in the moonlight, sinister outlines of buildings erged below in the chasm.
There lay a cluster of wooden structures, a village that at a rough count, should house three to four hundred people.
Shenzhu Village?
He had not expected it to be hidden in such a place!
A jolt went through Brother Beichuan’s heart.
He wouldn’t have found the location of Shenzhu Village if he hadn’t co looking for Dubian Qiansui and walked along the Shenzhu River upstream.
But now was not the ti to venture into Shenzhu Village.
Brother Beichuan helped Dubian Qiansui to her feet and asked, "Can you walk?"
Dubian Qiansui’s face flushed red, but the shock she had just experienced and waking from a half-asleep, half-awake state, left her completely drained and limp all over: "Brother, Brother Beichuan... I can’t stand up."
"Let carry you then." Brother Beichuan straightaway lifted Dubian Qiansui from the ground, decisively parted the shrubbery, and headed downward.
Brother Beichuan’s movents were gentle and incredibly smooth.
And his calm expression seed to have a stabilizing effect; Dubian Qiansui’s initially frantic heart also settled down greatly under his composure.
"Miss Qiansui, do you rember how you ca here by yourself?" he asked. "To be frank, this place is about a kiloter away from the campsite. Not even a habit of sleepwalking would make this likely."
"Eh?" Dubian Qiansui had no idea how she had walked so far in such a drowsy state. She stamred, "I, I don’t know what happened... I only rember that it seed like I saw a procession of people... The person in the lead was holding a ghostly blue torch."
"A ghostly blue torch?"
"It seed like a dream... I don’t know how to describe it... that fla, it was drawing in, and by the ti I realized it, I was already caught up in the tumultuous stream of people."
Beichuan Si paused at the foot of the temple and then continued to ask, "Can you tell the details of what happened?"
Perhaps Dubian Qiansui and Hirasaka Hikari were almost the sa; both were attracted by the ghostly blue flas, ’anchored fire,’ but exactly where they were lured to and what form it took, Beichuan Si wanted to know.
"The details... I only rember... everyone’s face was very solemn, heads lowered, not a single person spoke, everyone walked in silence," Dubian Qiansui recalled the dream she’d just had and continued:
"After walking for so ti, I saw a dilapidated Shrine Torii, and it seed that once you stepped through it, you could never return. On the path beside the Shrine Torii, the Shinawa ropes stretched out into a continuity... the ancient shrine, twinkling with lights... and then Brother Beichuan, you ca over... Oh right, Brother Beichuan also brought Miss Amulet."
Upon hearing this, Nishijou Kurenai scratched Beichuan Si’s face with delight, thankfully Dubian Qiansui hadn’t noticed her.
"I understand," Beichuan Si shrugged off Kelian’s antics and nodded.
Intense longing leaves behind images from long ago, and both Hirasaka Hikari and Dubian Qiansui were attracted by such phenona, ultimately vanishing without a trace.
As for why others weren’t attracted, Beichuan Si couldn’t say; he could only temporarily classify Hirasaka Hikari and Dubian Qiansui among those with a strong spiritual sense as an explanation.
But... the priest holding the ghostly blue fla in the night, all the people silently flowing towards the mountains... what kind of custom was this? Or a ritual?
When Beichuan Si carried Dubian Qiansui back to the campsite, dawn was already breaking.
Dubian Mayi, who had been in despair, saw Beichuan Si erge from the bushes and ran straight over, hugging Dubian Qiansui tightly as she got down from Beichuan Si’s back.
"Qiansui!"
As he secured Dubian Qiansui in his arms, this outwardly boisterous man’s body went limp, and he almost cried publicly.
"Daddy..."
Tears also brimd in the corners of Dubian Qiansui’s eyes as she hugged Dubian Mayi’s neck tightly.
They say a daughter is her father’s past-life lover.
What father wouldn’t be pained for his daughter?
The campers at the campsite all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw this scene.
Perhaps so people found this puzzling; after all, in modern society, everyone keeps to themselves and stays out of each other’s business unless it’s their own concern.
But the reality is just that, campers help each other out when there’s trouble, which in itself is a cherished camping spirit and quite normal in the eyes of camping enthusiasts.
The bonfire was misty, and the sky gradually brightened.
...
Beichuan Si declined the reward offered by Dubian Mayi.
After all, there was sothing more important for him to do.
He went back alone to the edge of the cliff in the early morning light.
From here, he could vaguely see the entirety of Shenzhu Village.
The Shenzhu River wound upward from below, and one could vaguely make out the irrigation ditches along its sides.
The entire village retained a relatively intact appearance with no sign it had ever been ravaged by mudflows.
This was indeed strange.
Beichuan Si took a sip of water.
What he needed to do next was head to the vicinity of Shenzhu Village to investigate the situation.
After tucking the water bottle back into his backpack, Beichuan Si casually picked up a wooden stick and felt his way along the edge of the cliff.
If there were signs of life, naturally there would be a path to Shenzhu Village.
But the path underfoot was covered with weeds, and one misstep could send soone plumting down the cliff, hence the use of a stick to test whether the path ahead was solid.
And so, step by step, Beichuan Si made his way toward Shenzhu Village.
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