Chapter 1: Temple Fair

It was February. The winter sunset spread from the west across the whole world, the silent red like a layer of oil paint, changing the color of every passerby.

Everyone passing by wore a beaming smile.

Today was the third day of the Lunar New Year, the perfect time to visit a temple fair. In this small city of Luo, there were as many as six or seven places holding temple fairs.

"William Clark, I want candied hawthorn, the kind with walnuts inside." A little girl tugged at the sleeve of the teenage boy in front of her, her small hand already pointing at the candied hawthorn cart by the roadside. Through the glass window, the candied hawthorn inside looked crystal clear.

The little girl was very young, probably only about ten years old, dressed in a spotless white down jacket.

The seventeen-year-old boy named William Clark looked at the candied hawthorn cart with a pained expression, then swallowed and said to the little girl, "Little Clark! When we bought you that down jacket, we agreed that if you wanted it, you’d have to be frugal from now on. Otherwise, I won’t even have enough for my senior year tuition next semester!"

"William Clark, you’ve changed! Just yesterday you told me you had more than enough for your senior year tuition!" Little Clark said calmly.

William Clark's face darkened immediately: "Where did you learn that from? Can you watch fewer romance soap operas?!"

Then he calculated again, sighed, and walked over to the candied hawthorn vendor: "Boss, how much for the kind with walnuts?"

"Five yuan, buy a skewer for your little sister." The boss said with a smile. He had already figured out who really wanted the candied hawthorn.

Five yuan... so damn expensive. William Clark pulled a crumpled ten-yuan note from his pocket and handed it to the boss, who gave him five yuan in change.

The candied hawthorn was now in hand—a skewer with seven pieces, each with a walnut inside. When William Clark handed it to Little Clark, Little Clark said, "I’ll eat five, and leave you two!"

William Clark laughed and patted Little Clark's head: "Just leave me one."

At this age, the little girl only came up to William Clark's waist, so when William Clark reached out, he could just touch her head.

"Okay." Little Clark didn’t stand on ceremony. Her fair face and red lips made her look like a porcelain doll in the winter.

At this moment, a few young people walked by, excitedly discussing something novel: "Did you see that news online yesterday? They said an old man’s soul could be seen before he died, but the news was deleted in seconds."

William Clark watched Little Clark munching on the candied hawthorn, thinking to himself that there had been more and more news about supernatural events lately. Not long ago, there was news about a child’s hand emitting blue light, and a strong man lifting a 2,000-jin weight with his bare hands.

Who knows if it’s fake news or what, but as soon as the news was deleted, those people disappeared without a trace.

There were also some videos, like someone walking by and the streetlights flickering wherever they went, which looked pretty creepy.

Another video showed an old lady suddenly vanishing into thin air.

And another, shot from a bystander’s perspective, claimed to show someone on a mountain peak at a Taoist temple inhaling and exhaling clouds and mist.

The common thread was that all these videos eventually disappeared.

William Clark glanced at the sky. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to happen, but he didn’t know what.

Are there really such magical things in the world? But it’s not like he’s lived seventeen years and only now these things are starting to appear, right? What’s going on?

He just felt like life was about to go off track!

"Let’s go watch the acrobatics." William Clark took out the tickets from his pocket and glanced at them. "Twenty minutes left. They say this year’s temple fair invited a special acrobatics troupe, with a fire performance."

By now, Little Clark had already finished six pieces of candied hawthorn, and handed the skewer with the last piece to William Clark, satisfied: "Delicious!"

"Glutton." William Clark muttered.

……

This year’s acrobatics were indeed unique, with a hint of magic. The organizers of the temple fair had set up a huge stage, and the crowd below was packed. Only now did William Clark feel a bit of the New Year’s atmosphere.

At first, the acrobatics weren’t that interesting—just balancing big jars, throwing knives, and the like.

But the final act was different. A young man came on stage, and as soon as he started, flames suddenly ignited all over his body.

William Clark was shocked. My god, is it really safe to perform like that? Won’t he die?

"William Clark William Clark, let me sit on your shoulders to watch." Little Clark shouted.

William Clark was helpless: "I can’t lift you."

William Clark looked a bit thin, his face unusually pale—not because he was just sick, but because he’d been frail since childhood. He had even secretly bought Liuwei Dihuang pills and taken them for a while, but after finally making up his mind to buy them despite the pain of spending money, there was no obvious effect after finishing the bottle.

Still so weak...