“Hurry and bow, look, your little brother has already kowtowed.” Mother urged.

Brian Carter’s second younger brother, Eric Carter, was very obedient, kneeling and bowing devoutly, his little head knocking against the bluestone slab with a thudding sound. Brian Carter was filial: “Mother, I’ll bow right now.”

He held up three sticks of incense, respectfully bowed three times, then stood up and placed the incense into the burner.

A distant voice suddenly sounded in his ear: “Come…”

In an instant, the mountains echoed in response!

Brian Carter’s hair stood on end: “Huh?”

He looked around. His mother was still closing her eyes and making a wish, while his younger brother Eric Carter had already run off to the side, playing with a bug in the grass. The bug tried to show off, its whole body bristling with colorful spines.

Brian Carter wondered: Did I mishear?

“Come, come…”

Brian Carter jumped in fright: “Who’s there!?”

“You child, always so jumpy, what’s wrong? Hurry and kneel to kowtow and apologize to the Stone God. If the Stone God gets angry, our family won’t have any peace.” Mother quickly pulled him down.

Brian Carter had no choice but to do as his mother said. Mother muttered under her breath, mostly asking the immortal above for forgiveness and such.

Finally, the ceremony was over. Mother stood up, pulled Eric Carter, and called to her eldest son: “Little Brian, let’s go home. If I don’t go back to cook, your father will probably starve himself to death.”

Brian Carter smiled and followed. After walking a dozen steps, he couldn’t help but look back. Amidst the swirling smoke, he clearly saw the lips of the giant stone statue in the center move.

“Come…”

That voice sounded again from afar. Brian Carter was startled: “Mother, little brother, did you hear someone talking?”

“Who’s talking?” Eric Carter pouted.

Mother shook her head too: “What nonsense are you saying? It’s just the three of us here, who else could be talking?”

“But I really heard someone speaking…”

Mother reached out to feel his forehead: “Child, are you sick?”

“Mother!” Brian Carter brushed away her hand. “I saw the stone statue’s mouth move, it was talking to me…”

“Smack!” Brian Carter got a slap on the forehead from his mother: “The Stone God is made of stone, how could its lips move and talk to you? Don’t say such things carelessly. If the villagers hear, they’ll think you’re possessed.”

Possessed!

The last person who was possessed was burned to death, and his family was forced to leave Lotus Terrace Village and wander elsewhere. The villagers have a deep, innate fear of disasters related to spirits and gods.

Brian Carter shivered and immediately shut his mouth, not daring to say another word.

After walking several miles, he still couldn’t help but look back. The three stone statues stood unmoving under the white clouds, nothing unusual at all. But Brian Carter was full of doubts.

……

Every morning before the teacher lectured, the children had to bow to the portrait of the sage. That portrait had hung on the school wall for many years and was already yellowed. Brian Carter had looked at it for years and knew it by heart.

After bowing and rising, in Brian Carter’s eyes, the portrait of the sage turned into the stone statue, its lips moving, a deep and distant voice: “Come…”

Brian Carter was stunned on the spot.

……

He didn’t know if he was really possessed, but ever since he heard the stone statue speak that day, no matter where he was or what he was doing, there was always a voice calling to him from afar.

That almost omnipresent call was driving him mad!

“If I really am possessed, let me suffer alone, don’t drag my family into this.”

Brian Carter sat on the edge of the bed, making up his mind.

He quietly opened the door and slipped out. He ran all the way to the back mountain. In the darkness, the stone statue looked even more hideous and terrifying, but for some reason, Brian Carter felt no fear at all. He stumbled and ran along the mountain path, heading straight for the stone statue!

Ever since the stone statue landed here, no one had dared approach that part of the forest.

The village rascal Michael Bolton always boasted about his courage. One day, he bet three jars of old wine that he dared to touch the stone statue. But halfway there, he was so scared he ran back wailing like a ghost, fell ill for half a month, and never dared mention what he saw or heard that day.

Brian Carter had grown up in the mountains and was strong and agile, but even running at full speed, it was past midnight by the time he reached the area near the stone statue.

He was drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked, hair plastered to his forehead, but he was holding back a surge of energy inside. Using both hands and feet, he climbed up a peak, didn’t even look, and shouted at the three giant stone statues: “I’m here!”

His voice echoed, as if countless mountain demons and fierce ghosts responded together: “I’m here…”

Startled birds flew off, flapping with strange sounds.

In the darkness, Brian Carter clearly saw the three giant stone statues lower their heads and look at him!

The hundred-eyed statue on the left actually shook its head, and every single eye swept over him.

As those eyes looked at him, Brian Carter’s mind buzzed, his body swayed, and he collapsed limply to the ground!

……

Brian Carter felt he didn’t sleep well at all. When he woke up, he was still groggy, and in his dream, someone kept talking to him…

“Heaven and earth, two forces, yin and yang transform each other… Hold the world in your palm, gaze upon yin and yang!”