As I got out of the car, I glanced at the passenger seat.
I found that the woman wearing a mask in the passenger seat had gotten out of the car at some point.
Although her eyes were beautiful and left a deep impression on me.
But at this moment, staying alive was the most important thing.
Without thinking too much, I pulled the car door open and quickly got out.
The minivan also made a U-turn and quickly disappeared from my sight...
Looking back at the hill in front of me, it was Longgang Mountain.
It was named this because from a distance it resembled the spine of a dragon.
I had been here once before and roughly knew the location of the City God Temple.
Without any hesitation this time, I picked up my black cloth bag and hurried towards the mountain.
Fortunately, the moon, which had been obscured by dark clouds, now revealed half of its face, and the visibility had improved a bit.
It wasn't pitch black, making it difficult to discern directions.
There used to be a village here, with scattered households.
But now it had been demolished; all that remained were dilapidated houses, weeds, and wasteland.
Under the moonlight, it appeared very desolate and run-down, even eerie.
I followed the mountain path, continuously walking uphill.
The higher I went, the denser the surrounding weeds became.
A long stretch of the path was covered by weeds, reaching half my height.
Fortunately, I could already see the City God Temple on the mountainside; I should have enough time.
The path was difficult to navigate; I could only push aside the weeds as I moved forward.
Gusts of night wind blew, and the overgrown grass and trees rustled with a "swish, swish" sound.
Not only that, but from above, a strange "coo, coo, coo" sound suddenly echoed.
I instinctively looked up, and what I saw startled me.
On a dead tree, two glowing green eyes were blinking and staring at me.
Upon closer inspection, I realized it was an owl.
It swiveled its head 180 degrees to stare at me, hooting "coo, coo, coo."
The sound was urgent, in this desolate wilderness.
It made my skin crawl and made me feel uneasy.
But I couldn't afford to get into an argument with an owl.
I could only quicken my pace and continue on my way.
However, not long after I left, the owl's "coo, coo, coo" call suddenly changed.
It became sharper and thinner, sounding like someone squeezing their throat to laugh.
"Hoo, hoooooo..."
The sound sent shivers down my spine; it was too terrifying.
Many proverbs say it's not the owl's hooting that is frightening, but its laughter.
If it laughs, it means someone will die, and a funeral will follow.
Yet this creature was now laughing incessantly at me with "hooo, hooo," making me, already tense, feel anxious.
I picked up a stone and threw it at it.
Startled, the owl flapped its wings.
With a "flutter, flutter," it flew away.
Seeing the owl leave, I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to continue forward.
But as I turned, I was suddenly startled.
Because the moment I turned, I realized that less than two meters in front of me, someone had appeared at some point.
The person was holding a walking stick, dressed in grey clothing, and wearing a grey cloth headscarf.
She looked like an old woman, and she was standing there with her head slightly bowed, simply rooted in front of me.
I didn't even know when she had appeared.
"Ah!"
I instinctively cried out and jumped back a step, my face full of panic.
During this time, I had encountered too many supernatural beings.
My first instinct was to look down at the person's shadow to determine if she was a spirit.
Although the moon wasn't very bright, by its light.
I could clearly see that this old woman had a shadow.
Seeing this, I relaxed a bit; it was good that she wasn't a spirit.
Before I could speak, the old woman, who had been looking down, slowly raised her head.
As she looked up, I realized something was not right with this old woman.
Her face was very pointed, devoid of flesh, and her cheeks were sunken.
Her mouth was pursed, appearing very small, but painted with red lips.
Her eyes were long and narrow, like a slit.
She had very dark circles around her eyes, as if she were wearing smoky makeup.
Her face was covered in wrinkles, with her features all scrunched together.
No matter how I looked at it, her face seemed strange.
As I looked, I felt it didn't look like a human face at all.
It was more like a fox's face...
Before I could snap out of it, the old woman suddenly put on a peculiar smile.
And in a very thin voice, she spoke:
"Young man, do I look like a human?"
As soon as I heard this, my mind exploded with a buzzing sound.
A wave of fear swept over me, and I felt a dread towards the old woman in front of me.
Scared, I stumbled back another two steps...
Although I hadn't believed in ghosts or spirits before, I had heard many bizarre folk tales.
One of them was called "Seeking a Verdict."
It said that some beasts in the mountains, by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon day and night,
would become powerful enough to come out and "seek a verdict."
They would randomly find passersby and ask: "Do I look like a human?"
If told they did, they would achieve enlightenment and ascend to a higher level.
If told they didn't, all their cultivation would be wasted, and they would have to start over.
Before, I had dismissed it as a strange story and didn't believe it existed.
But now, I didn't think so.
If ghosts existed, why wouldn't some beasts that had achieved power?
I looked at the old woman in front of me, extremely nervous.
I wanted to speak, but my throat felt dry and hoarse.
And this old woman, with an eerie "hooo, hooo" laugh, grinned with her pointed mouth and moved closer.
As she stepped, I noticed her feet were not human feet at all.
Instead, they were a pair of beastly yellow paws, and she was merely wearing human pants!
At this moment, she brought her strange face close to mine.
And revealed what she thought was a kind expression.
Her thin voice continued to ask me:
"Young man, do I look like a human?"