Hearing such a massive disturbance, Xie Yuting and I rushed over immediately to see what had happened.

Pushing through the mulberry grove ahead, we found Brother Guanxi standing bare-chested in the center of a clearing.

Surrounding him were countless fragments of broken stone. Brother Guanxi held a low horse stance, his eyes wide open, veins bulging on his neck, looking intensely fierce.

He remained completely unresponsive to the sound of our approach, as if locked in deep meditation.

Seeing his state, Xie Yuting moved forward, patted his shoulder, and said, "It’s us. You can dissipate your internal energy now."

As soon as he heard Xie Yuting’s voice, Brother Guanxi deflated like a punctured balloon; his body slowly relaxed, and we could visibly sense that he had shrunk considerably.

Noticing his entire body was dusted with stone grit, as if he had just performed the feat of breaking a stone on his chest, I quickly asked him what had just transpired.

Brother Guanxi, clearly having expended too much internal energy moments before, was panting heavily. After a brief rest, he managed to say, "I... I don't know what happened. When I reached this spot, several dark shadows suddenly flew at me. If I hadn't maintained my internal circulation, I would certainly have been smashed into a pulp."

Xie Yuting and I exchanged a look, an unspoken agreement passing between us: This is a trap; we’ve been exposed.

Picking up a few stone shards from the ground, Xie Yuting frowned and observed, "These are the fragments of the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statues we saw earlier. I didn't realize these things could not only move but also kill."

I surveyed our surroundings and stated, "The trap is here, which means the hunter must be nearby. We should leave this place quickly."

Xie Yuting didn't waste time on discussion, immediately taking the lead back the way we came.

We hurried back to the camp and found Da Xiong and the others already waiting there.

Seeing us return, Da Xiong rushed forward to ask what was going on.

But Xie Yuting ignored everyone’s questions, offering only one directive: "Pack up quickly and head up the mountain."

Without further debate, everyone followed Xie Yuting’s order, stowing their gear at maximum speed and beginning the ascent.

After only a couple of steps, Xie Yuting pointed at Yu Wenle and said, "Lao San, you stay behind."

Yu Wenle grinned, replying, "I thought for sure Master Ting had forgotten about me. This is better. With me here, you all can climb without worry."

Xie Yuting nodded once. "Be extremely careful."

We continued up the mountain path, and as we climbed, I asked Xie Yuting, "What is Lao San’s capability? Why did you leave him behind?"

Xie Yuting chuckled darkly. "He digs the earth."

"Digs the earth?" I was somewhat baffled.

Xie Yuting moved swiftly, patting my shoulder as he walked. "You’ll know eventually. But with him here, if the enemy pursues us from behind, they'll be completely wiped out before they even catch up."

I vaguely understood Lao San’s role—either setting traps or planting landmines. And we certainly weren't carrying any mines.

The peaks of Mount Liu Jia weren't overly high, so the slopes weren't excessively steep. Although there was no established path through the forest, after countless wilderness expeditions, I barely registered such obstacles anymore.

Previously, we would hack away at the bushes and thorns blocking our path, invariably shredding our clothes and trousers.

But now, wiser from experience, we used our feet to crush and compact the tangled undergrowth, which not only allowed passage but also prevented slipping on the damp ground.

This time, however, I didn't need to break trail. Da Xiong, leading the way, moved like a natural lawnmower; the grass was flattened behind him, making the journey easy for those following.

Soon, we reached the summit of the first peak. Here, the trees were lush, and the air was filled with the sounds of insects chirping and nightingales singing their hearts out.

Standing on the peak and gazing into the distance, we saw a landscape of rolling hills, each about a hundred meters high, stretching endlessly to the horizon.

Every mountain was densely covered with trees, resembling colossal beasts covered in thick green fur.

We studied the terrain while cross-referencing the map.

Xie Yuting addressed us: "Look here. These circular areas on the map represent each mountain. The small triangles in the center of the circles indicate surveillance cameras for the nature reserve. The Japanese reserves are monitored twenty-four hours a day, so we cannot approach the square areas, as those are the regions covered by the cameras."

Hearing this, I finally grasped the meaning of the shapes and was impressed by Xie Yuting’s intelligence gathering.

Then Xie Yuting added, "Because we must avoid the cameras, our route has been chosen through the most tricky and difficult terrain. You all need to be mentally prepared."

I thought to myself: I’ve traversed paths harder than this. The hair-raising bridge at Black Bamboo Gulch, scaling the tree wall in Lop Nur, navigating the maze island at Durban—which one wasn't incredibly dangerous?

Just then, Da Xiong called out from beside us, "Come look at this, what is it?"

Our attention was drawn by his voice. Not far from where he stood, there was a black stone marker, ten centimeters wide and thirty centimeters high.

However, the marker was heavily obscured by moss and creeping vines, making its inscription illegible.

Da Xiong squatted down and used his small knife to slice away the clinging vines. We could then see several archaic Chinese characters carved into the stone. I recognized only one: the character for 'demon' (gui).

Xie Yuting, with his vast knowledge and previous experience conversing in Japanese with locals, would certainly recognize the rest.

He read aloud: "Kutō-ba. What does that mean?"

Hearing the name, I recalled something I had once read in a book: the Kutō-ba was the starting point for the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons—the gateway where all spectral entities emerged into the mortal world. Nearby, there must also be a Kutō-sei (Demon Head Well), the source of all the Yin energy.

After I explained this to the others, a smile spread across everyone’s faces.

Xie Yuting clapped my shoulder. "You’ve been reading too many legends, haven't you? I've heard of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons too, but those are just stories."

Only Da Xiong asked tensely, "When is this... Night Parade? Is it during the Ghost Festival?"

I replied, "It’s usually more common during midsummer nights, but it can also occur at the beginning of autumn."

Seeing that we two could hold a brief Q&A session, Xie Yuting clapped his hands together. "Alright, enough chatter about nonsense. We need to hurry and get into the mountain; let’s finish the mission early."

"But... what is that?" At this moment, Xie Tingfeng pointed, his voice trembling slightly, toward a distant ravine.

We all looked toward the ravine. Beneath the incredibly dense foliage in that gully, we could see pinpricks of light flashing intermittently.

The more closely we stared, the more lights appeared, resembling a massive, slow-moving dragon.

We immediately dismissed the possibility of fireflies; from this distance, firefly light would be too faint to see clearly, and these light points appeared to be at least the height of a normal person.

Next, we ruled out people carrying torches, as torchlight would never possess that faint, ghostly blue hue.

In the end, nobody could clearly identify what those things were.

However, I recalled an experience I had years ago on Mount Qingcheng.

When I was very young, summers in Chengdu were scorching hot, so my maternal grandparents would spend time living up on Qingcheng Mountain every year. One time, I accompanied them, and one evening, I saw many lights in the back mountain. I asked my grandfather what they were, and he told me they were Buddha lamps—manifestations of the Buddha's spirit. As a naive child, I never questioned why Buddhist lamps would appear in a Taoist holy site, but looking back now, it seems very strange.

In recent years, there have been many rumors about the Qingcheng Mountain Buddha lamps, yet very few people claim to have actually witnessed them. I searched online for photographs of the Qingcheng Mountain Buddha lamps, but couldn't find a single usable image. Logically, if such a phenomenon exists and is this sacred, people staying on the mountain during summer should easily capture it on camera, yet there are no photos online.

It was only later that a friend in the tourism business told me they weren't Buddha lamps at all. It was because many dead bodies had been buried on the back slopes of Qingcheng Mountain. When Zhang Xianzhong invaded Sichuan, he reportedly killed eighty percent of the local population, and many of those violently slain citizens were interred in the back mountain. Therefore, those lights were not the Buddha manifesting; they were countless Will-o'-the-wisps. As for why these ghost fires would organize themselves into orderly processions winding through the mountains, that remains unexplained.

After hearing my recollection, Da Xiong’s face turned frighteningly pale, and he stammered, "You mean... the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons really does exist?"