Actually, Su Bai could have cut the rope while he was still in the hole, but he didn’t; instead, Su Bai agreed with him and cut the rope after he got out and was hanging in the air. Now he fell down.

Just when the man fell down, Su Bai saw that the black mist had appeared under them. The fox demon had returned.

Su Bai took a deep breath and went on escaping, leaving that moron behind.

That man wouldn’t die immediately; he’d probably be enjoying the s.e.x with the fox.

It was understandable not to save someone in the story world, but that man threatened to kill Su Bai, so he wouldn’t mind sending that moron to death.

Actually, those walls were quite close to each other, Su Bai wasn’t relying much on the rope. If that unlucky guy wasn’t hurt so badly, he might not fall.

The fox demon didn’t rush up. Su Bai heard the man’s scream from below; he couldn’t imagine what kind of torture he was going through. At last, Su Bai’s hands reached the top of the walls and then he climbed up. Sitting there, he could finally have a break.

He looked down at the crack. Immediately, he was scared out of his wits: a giant fox face was right beneath him, less than half a meter away. Apparently, the fox demon’s speed was beyond his imagination. But the fox didn’t come up; the Buddhist images were giving out indistinctive golden light that scared the fox away. At last, she looked at Su Bai with anger as if she was trying to remember this n.o.body that escaped from her, and turned back to do what she enjoyed.

Su Bai took a deep breath and let it out in relief. He wiped out the sweat on his forehead; he had been sweating because of the climbing, but now there was only cold sweat after facing the fox demon.

Looking around, Su Bai found it wasn’t as nice as he had pictured. He was surrounded by rocks, but there was a special place that had a different color.

Su Bai stood under that place and touched it. The rocks there were piled up later than others, as if a hole was blocked up.

So he took out his dagger and started prying the rocks. Soon, the rocks were removed one by one. The dagger was incredibly sharp and strong.

After the rocks were gone, there appeared a small pa.s.sage above Su Bai’s head. He touched it and found that it somehow had a barbed internal surface.

Now, beneath him was the fox demon’s bedroom, above him it was an unknown place, but at least it was a choice. Problem was, Su Bai hadn’t triggered the main task yet. To a great extent, the audiences needed to dig into every hole they saw and go along every path they met just in order to trigger the main task; in a word, they had to ask for danger. If he waited here, the main task might never start. If someone else found the main task before he did, Su Bai would end up in tragedy.

That was the worst thing about being an audience. Especially when making choices, they always had to choose the most dangerous place and take the greatest risk. And that was the b.i.t.c.hy Dreadful Radio; it did nothing, but it made its audiences cooperate voluntarily in making the story more interesting.

Su Bai withered into a zombie, since his physical defense would be greatly enhanced. Then he jumped up and started climbing in the pa.s.sage. To be more appropriate, he was squirming. The barbs in the pa.s.sage couldn’t get through his zombie skin; in fact, they were rubbed down as Su Bai went past.

It wasn’t a long pa.s.sage; after only about seven or eight meters, Su Bai was at the end. But there was wood on the top instead of common rocks. Su Bai stuck his sharp fingernails into the bottom of the slightly rotten wood, cracked it open and wormed his way in.

...

"Master, it’s almost the time to move the grave," A young man said to a middle-age man in Taoist clothes.

"Yes, master. I’ve prepared the altar and paper money. All set." The other young man added.

The Taoist was sitting on a palace chair with a cup of tea. Now both of his students were moving closer, urging him to move the grave. He calmly took a sip of his tea, looked at his students and humphed:

"Kuan, Liang, I know what you are thinking about. It is obviously not three quarters after high noon[1] yet. You just don’t want to keep Miss Chen basking in the strong sunlight for too long!

"You stupid boys… to move someone’s grave at an inappropriate time may destroy the Fengshui[2] and harm the luck of Chen’s family. There is a strong connection between Mr. Chen’s flouris.h.i.+ng business and this selected location of his ancestors. You want to save some time for Miss Chen? You may bring disaster to her family!"

Both Liang and Kuan stepped aside and stood quietly, but their eyes were lingering on Miss Chen. She was indeed a good-looking delicate young lady from a renowned family, very different from those girls in their neighborhood.

The Taoist sighed. Actually, he couldn’t blame his students for losing control of themselves, even he himself was… Ahem! Heavenly Master, please forgive me!

"Uncle Ying, have some snow pear juice with rock sugar, please. My servant just brought some from my father’s mansion. It’s such a hot day. It’s not the required time yet, we’ll have to wait. Please be patient."

Miss Chen brought a bow of pear juice to the Taoist. He nodded and took it, but didn’t drink it; instead, he pa.s.sed it to his students. The two boys were so happy as if they were given something really precious, as if it was served to them by Miss Chen herself. They were eating hurriedly.

The Taoist shook his head for those two silly lads. Then he stood up and walked to the Chen’s ancestral grave. Mr. Chen wanted his ancestral grave moved because he had been dreaming for several nights that his ancestor came to him and asked to be moved. And that was why Mr. Chen went to Taoist Lam.

Just then, Taoist Lam noticed a vague black mist rising from that grave. It was so obscure that it couldn’t be seen by ordinary people without special skills.

"Is there something going on in the grave?"

Taoist Lam immediately waved to his students for his peach wood sword[3]. However, a large bowl was put into his palm. Kuan said while wiping his lips: "Master, we save half of it for you."

He almost went nuts! He threw the bowl to his student, pulled the sword out himself and jumped into the grave.

Everyone else was confused.

Miss Chen walked to Kuan and Liang: "I thought it wasn’t the right time yet. Why is Uncle Ying ahead of our schedule?"

Kuan was quick-witted: "Oh, my teacher is… getting ready."

Taoist Lam went to where the black mist came out. He found that the soil here was raised, and there were bits of wood splas.h.i.+ng about.

He was shocked. They hadn’t even opened the coffin, or dug it out, or even put up the lights yet; the dead man couldn’t wait?

Even for Taoist Lam, this was something he had never met before— such an impatient and bold zombie that was not afraid of daylight.

He grabbed the sword with one hand and stuck it into the earth. But the next moment, he found that the tip of the sword was caught by something. He pulled it out for a little bit, but then it was dragged back; it became a tug-of-war…

"Eh? What is that for?" Miss Chen watched while Taoist Lin kept sticking his sword into the soil and pulling it out, again and again.

Kuan was confused. Liang answered before him: "This is… a rite before moving a grave. My teacher is warning the wandering spirits and ghosts nearby not to get any closer, otherwise my teacher will use his sword and make them disappear for good."

Taoist Lam held a spell paper in one hand while he continued the tug-of-war against the zombie with his other hand. Then, he crouched down and stretched his hand with spell paper into the hole. Taoist Lin was indeed very powerful, he managed to touch the zombie and tag the spell paper onto it directly. But it was a weird zombie; it let out an extreme freezing coldness that ran through his arm and all over his body. He couldn’t help shaking violently.

From where Kuan, Liang and Miss Chen were standing, Taoist Lam suddenly started swinging. Miss Chen was confused:

"What’s Uncle Ying doing right now?"

Now Liang didn’t know how to explain; Kuan said: "Oh, Miss Chen, my teacher have been learning from a Shaman master, this is Shaman means of inviting spirits. Now, Miss Chen, your ancestor is in my teacher’s body."

"Is there anything you want to say? You can speak to him now. It’s amazing."

———————————

FOOTNOTES:

[1] three quarters after high noon: It’s a special time point in Chinese traditions. According to the ancient way of timing in China, a day is divided into 12 two-hour periods; high noon, or "Wu s.h.i.+" time, is approximately 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. When it’s three quarters after high noon (approximately 12 a.m.), everything will have the shortest shadow during daytime, therefore it is considered to be a time with most vitality or liveliness, and ghost-involving affairs (such as an execution of death penalty or to move a grave) should be done at this particular time so as to avoid being haunted by the ghosts.

[2] Fengshui: An ancient Chinese system of designing buildings and s.p.a.ce arrangement according to special rules about the flow of energy, aimed at achieving harmony with the environment. Also refers to a system of spiritual energies, both good and evil, present in the natural features of landscapes. In Chinese mythology, it is believed that if something is wronged, the Fengshui will be destroyed and bad things will happen.

[3] peach wood sword: In Chinese mythology, peach wood is believed to have power against evil things. A sword made of peach wood is one of the most important weapon against demons or ghosts in Taoism.