A mysterious encounter in the foggy mountains

My name is Zhang Yan, a half-baked Feng Shui master, who makes a living by relying on the superficial skills I learned from my grandfather. My grandfather is a famous carpenter in the village. When he was young, he always told me some spooky stories - Lu Ban's spells cast curses, Yin houses summon spirits, and Feng Shui killed people. I couldn't sleep at night because I always felt that something was staring at me outside the window. Later, I taught myself some Chinese medicine Five Movements and Six Qi. Relying on this skill, I often competed with street fortune tellers in my early twenties. At that time, I was young and energetic, and always felt that I could expose all the tricks in the world, until that day I ran into Old Li in Yantai Mountain.

It was the summer of 2015, and Yantai Mountain was shrouded in thick fog. The fog rolled at the foot of the mountain, like a group of white ghosts wandering. The air was mixed with the smell of the sea, and it was damp and cold. Water droplets seeped out of the cracks in the stone slabs on the roadside, as if the ground was gasping. I wrapped my clothes tightly and walked down the path. I saw a skinny old man sitting on the side of the road from a distance. His stall was pitifully broken, with a crooked wooden table and a few yellowed talisman papers rustling in the wind. There was a stick of incense next to it, and the smoke was rising like a thin snake into the fog.

I thought to myself, isn't this a ready-made target? So I walked over with a swagger, ready to provoke him as usual. There was no one else in front of the stall, only him smoking with his head down, and the smoke rings spread in the fog like blurred faces. I cleared my throat and said in a gloomy tone: "Old man, are you accurate in your divination? I don't believe in the Zhouyi set, or you can tell me about the Five Movements and Six Qi?"

He raised his head, his eyelids half open, as if he was asleep, but his eyes were scary black, like two bottomless holes, staring straight at me. My heart skipped a beat, and before I could react, his hoarse voice came over, so low that it seemed to be squeezed out from the ground: "Young man, your liver fire is very strong. Have you been staying up late and drinking recently? Be careful that your spleen and stomach will also suffer."

I was stunned. These words were like a cold knife, stabbing directly into my chest. A few days ago, I did get drunk with my friends, and I was dizzy and couldn't even eat. He didn't tell fortunes or read palms, but just said this lightly, leaving me speechless. The fog around was thicker, and the wind blew, and the treetops made a low whimper, like someone crying. I was not convinced, and I gritted my teeth and talked to him about the theory of the Five Movements and Six Qi, trying to get back at him, but he confused me with just a few words, and finally said slowly: "Your ability is far inferior to your grandfather's."

These words made my scalp tingle. I have never mentioned my grandfather's affairs to outsiders, how did he know? I stared at him, my voice trembling: "Do you know my grandpa?" He waved his hand, a strange smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, smoke came out of his mouth, like a wandering soul: "I don't know him, but your style is like that of a carpenter, with the shadow of Lu Ban's magic."

Just then, a strange wind blew, and the talisman paper on the table suddenly flew up, as if caught by something, hanging in the air and shaking a few times, and then "snapped" to the ground. I rubbed my eyes, thinking that I was seeing things, but there were a few more red marks on the talisman paper, like bloodstains, and like claw marks. My heartbeat accelerated, the fog around me seemed to solidify, and the air was filled with a faint fishy smell, like the smell of rotting dead fish.

Old Li, however, seemed to have seen nothing, and slowly packed up his stall, his voice as low as a whisper: "You'd better not ask about what happened that day." I was stunned: "What happened?" He raised his head, and a cold light flashed in his eyes: "Your grandpa's car accident was not an accident."

My head "buzzed", as if struck by lightning. Grandpa died in a car accident ten years ago. He drove a tractor and fell into a ditch. People in the village said that he was drunk and slipped. But Old Li's words were like a key, unlocking the doubts that had been sealed in my heart for many years. I wanted to ask more questions, but he had turned around, his back was as thin as a dead branch, and he merged into the fog. I shouted: "Wait a minute!" But the only response I got was a low laugh from the fog, like a ghost mocking me.

That day, we talked for a whole afternoon. The fog became thicker and thicker, and the shadows of the trees in the mountains twisted into strange shapes, like a group of shadows with bared fangs and claws surrounding us. Old Li claimed to be a sorcerer. He was neither a Taoist nor a Buddhist. His family had been doing this for generations, specializing in dealing with "dirty things". He said that sorcerers were people who were not good at anything, but knew a little bit about everything and could always fool people. I asked him why he came to me, and he squinted his eyes and said in a low and sinister voice: "Because you have karma, you can't escape."

This made my back cold, but he soon smiled and said: "Don't be afraid, follow me, maybe I can solve your problem." I was half-believing and half-doubting, but the mysterious energy made me unable to refuse. Before leaving, we added WeChat. The night was dark, and I looked back. Old Li was still smoking in front of the stall, and the smoke dispersed under the dim street lights, like a ghost. His figure was swallowed by the fog, but I could faintly hear a whisper in my ears, like a woman's cry, and like the wind sighing.

On the way back to the hotel, my mind was in a mess. Grandpa's car accident, Old Li's hint, and the inexplicable talisman paper, all seemed like threads that entangled me and made me breathless. But for some reason, I felt a little warm in my heart - although this old guy was gloomy, he was indescribably righteous.

From that day on, Old Li and I became close friends regardless of age. He always said that although the world is in chaos, people's hearts are kind and there will always be redemption. I didn't believe it at the time, but later I realized that this was the first light he left for me. Two years later, he asked me to go to Weifang, and that was the beginning of the nightmare.