"Miss Fu, calm down. What you saw was likely an illusion. Everything you saw before was fake," Zhao Yan said, comforting Fu Jie.
Fu Jie shivered, "But there were so many people before, and they felt warm. Especially those old men and women, I even touched them."
Master Wang sighed helplessly, "Miss Fu, since that person is a snake demon, it can certainly pull off something like this."
"Perhaps what you saw were other minor spirits."
"Alright, Miss Fu, you go wait in the car for now. I'll call you if there are any other developments," Zhao Yan said.
Leaving Wu Jiaxin to accompany Fu Jie, Zhao Yan stood in the center of the abandoned clearing.
"Where's the dog, Master Wang?" Zhao Yan asked.
Master Wang pointed to the car, "It's in the car."
"Please bring the dog over," Zhao Yan requested.
Master Wang nodded and turned to fetch the dog.
"Master Zhao, is this dog meant to help find the snake spirit?" Master Wang inquired.
Zhao Yan shook her head, "I'm worried we've entered an illusion. With this dog, we'll be able to exit more easily."
"I see," Master Wang nodded.
Zhao Yan had come to this place hoping to find something connected to the snake spirit.
After all, creating such a grand illusion must have taken considerable effort.
With this thought, Zhao Yan sat down cross-legged and immediately set up a formation to protect herself.
"Master Wang, please plant these four flags in the east, west, north, and south directions," Zhao Yan said, taking out four flags from her bag.
Master Wang patted his chest, "Leave it to me, Master Zhao."
He watched as Master Wang planted the four flags in the ground.
As soon as the flags were planted, Master Wang felt a gust of chilling wind blow towards him, forcing him to retreat several steps.
The disciples planting the flags were also buffeted by the wind, which seemed to prevent them from approaching the center of the formation.
Zhao Yan, sitting cross-legged in the center of the formation, took out a talisman and placed it in the middle. After chanting a few incantations, the two gusts of chilling wind completely vanished.
"Master, a path has appeared ahead."
Master Wang looked and indeed, a dirt path had emerged directly in front of them.
The weeds on either side of the dirt path seemed to have shifted half a meter to the left.
"My disciples, this is a true master," Master Wang exclaimed.
Zhao Yan put away her compass. Seeing the path appear, she felt a slight sense of relief.
The snake spirit had set up an illusion here to prevent others from entering the forest.
"Master Wang, please ask Miss Fu to get out of the car," Zhao Yan said softly.
Master Wang immediately turned, knocked on the car window, and the door opened. Fu Jie got out of the car with Wu Jiaxin.
"Miss Fu, may I ask if he told you his name?" Zhao Yan asked.
Fu Jie nodded gently, "He did. He told me his name is Wang Ling."
"Good, you two step back," Zhao Yan said.
As they retreated, Zhao Yan clasped her hands together with a "pa" sound. Between her hands was a talisman.
Chanting incantations, she continuously rubbed her hands together.
With a "buzz," a flame ignited in her palm.
Zhao Yan opened her left hand, which seemed to be on fire. With her right hand, she quickly wrote the characters for "Wang Ling" on her left palm.
As soon as she finished writing, the talisman slid down from her palm.
The talisman that landed on the ground instantly extinguished.
"How is it, Master Zhao?" Master Wang asked, seeing Zhao Yan's solemn expression.
Zhao Yan waved her hand, "This snake demon is unwilling to meet us."
"Not only that, but it likely harbors resentment towards us."
Saying this, Zhao Yan pointed to the talisman that had suddenly extinguished on the ground.
"If it were willing to meet us, this talisman would have burned completely."
"Then should we proceed with the second plan?" Master Wang asked.
"Zhao Yan, look quickly! There are words on the back of this talisman," Wu Jiaxin pointed to the talisman.
The talisman had not completely burned. It had only burned halfway before stopping. Especially when a gust of chilling wind blew, a character appeared on the back of the talisman.
Zhao Yan picked up the half-burned talisman and looked at it in her palm.
"What does it say?" Master Wang craned his neck, like a giraffe, trying to see what Zhao Yan was looking at.
"Scram!" Zhao Yan said.
"Master Zhao, you're scolding me!"
"No, I mean the character on the talisman. It says 'scram'," Zhao Yan clarified.
Master Wang took the half-burned talisman and indeed, there was the character "scram" on the back.
Zhao Yan took out the demon-binding rope and tied it around her waist.
Then, she took out a lot of joss paper from her backpack and distributed it.
"Burn some way-passing money for the things in this forest. This will make our journey smoother."
At this point, Zhao Yan sternly warned, "When burning the paper, you must have a sincere heart and not let your thoughts wander."
"Burn it."
Zhao Yan handed over the torn joss paper.
"Master Zhao! This joss paper won't burn," Master Wang said, trying to light it with his lighter.
To verify that the lighter was not faulty, Master Wang lit a spot on the empty ground to his left.
As soon as he lit the spot to the left, the lighter produced a small flame.
He carefully placed his hand behind the lighter and as soon as he aimed the flame at the joss paper, the lighter immediately extinguished.
Zhao Yan rubbed her wrist, a cold expression appearing on her face.
"If the soft approach doesn't work, we'll have to resort to force. No need to light this joss paper anymore."
Zhao Yan picked up the joss paper from the ground, put it back into her bag, and said, "Master Wang, hold the dog. We're going in directly."
Zhao Yan followed the small path up the mountain.
Master Wang and the others remained where they were, glancing back at the darkness behind them, and quickly quickened their pace to catch up.
"Master Zhao, wait for us."
Entering the mountain from the outside, Zhao Yan led the way with a flashlight.
Master Wang, holding the dog, followed behind Zhao Yan.
Wu Jiaxin followed Fu Jie in the middle, with Master Wang's two disciples at the rear.
After walking for about seven or eight minutes, Zhao Yan saw a thick fog ahead.
A chilling wind suddenly blew towards them, making a "whoosh" sound.
Master Wang's large black dog began to bark towards the left.
"Master Zhao, do you hear the sound of gongs and drums?" Master Wang struggled to hold the dog, which seemed frightened by something and kept backing away.
Zhao Yan not only heard it but also felt the sound getting closer.
Suddenly, she saw a red sedan chair being carried in the fog.
The red sedan chair was carried by people on both the front and back. These people had a "喜" (xi, meaning joy or wedding) character pinned to their chests.
As they got closer, it became clear that the shoulders of the people carrying the sedan chair were being lifted, and the shoes they wore were paper figures' shoes.