Today is the fourteenth day of the lunar month. The moon is bright, and the moonlight is pure white.

The clear moonlight spills onto the ground like a layer of snow, but when it pours into the mountains and forests, it seems to be swallowed up.

In the darkness, Xiama Ridge stretches on in a pitch-black expanse, as if it were the ancient Zhujuyin crouching at the North Pole in primordial times, with neither day nor night.

Some hazy lights flicker in the village of The Bell Clan, but they are too dim, hidden in the mountains like ghostly flames.

Instead of bringing comfort, seeing them only makes one uneasy.

The three of them walked along the country path. Because it had rained two days before, their boots made squelching sounds as they stepped on the muddy ground.

The sounds were somewhat chaotic—there were more than six feet stepping on the ground!

William Clark listened carefully and felt as if someone was following behind them.

He couldn't help but want to look back, but up ahead, Charles Foster's voice rang out: "When traveling at night, just keep walking forward."

The three of them reached the foot of the mountain and looked up at the scattered stone houses on the mountainside from within the shadows.

Finally, a child's shrill, mournful cry rang out.

Then, the scream of a young woman was carried down by the night wind: "Help! Little Shitou has seen a ghost! Little Shitou has seen a ghost!"

An elderly person shouted, "Quick, find the clan leader—no, find Second Master!"

Soon, more lights appeared in the The Bell Clan village as people lit torches and carried oil lamps out of their homes.

For a moment, shadows flickered everywhere.

Strangely enough—

Even though every household in the village kept dogs, there was not a single bark.

Charles Foster pointed to a corner at the foot of the mountain and said, "The Bell Clan's earthen prison is over there. Follow me!"

Though called an earthen prison, it was actually an underground dungeon.

Hearing the commotion from the mountain, the dungeon door was pushed open, and a man hurriedly ran up the mountain.

The dungeon was very simple. Going down the steps led to a basement, which was divided into two parts by a wooden fence. One part, connected to the exit, had tables and chairs for the guards to live in; the other part was for prisoners. Henry Bell and a ragged old man were huddled in two corners.

Seeing Charles Foster enter, Henry Bell was startled, then immediately knelt and kowtowed: "Great lord of justice, great lord of justice!"

The fence was locked with an iron chain, but Charles Foster's blade couldn't cut through it.

David Bennett went up and kicked it; all the wooden bars, as thick as an arm, were broken by his kicks.

William Clark exclaimed in admiration: What a brute!

There was still chaos on the mountain. This time, more children were crying. After climbing up, they finally heard dogs barking, but it wasn't fierce barking—just low, whimpering sounds—

The dogs were afraid of something.

Charles Foster asked Henry Bell, "Take me to your house to see your wife first."

Tenant farmers lived in the outermost houses of the lower residence, so if the village was attacked, they would be the first to suffer.

Henry Bell rushed anxiously to a thatched house with a stone wall around the yard. The wooden door was tightly shut. He knocked and shouted, "Open the door, mother, open the door for me!"

There was no sound from inside.

David Bennett said, "Let me open the door for you!"

Henry Bell quickly shook his head: "Please, sir, have mercy, spare my door."

At that moment, the door creaked open, and a thin, disheveled old woman cried out in surprise, "Niuzi, how did you get out?"

Henry Bell asked, "Mother, where's Cui'er?"

The old woman looked panicked and helpless. Henry Bell said, "Don't be afraid, mother. I've brought the great lords from the Office of Heavenly Observation. They will surely save Cui'er."

"You, you, but... but the ancestral rules..." Hearing this, the old woman was not reassured, but became even more flustered.

Charles Foster pushed past her and walked to a shed built on the west side of the yard. Inside, a sheep was tied up, and a filthy, foul-smelling woman was clutching the sheep's leg, desperately sucking its milk.

Seeing this, he frowned and asked, "Didn't I give you a talisman? Didn't you put it up?"

"I did, I did," the old woman stammered, "Yesterday and earlier today, my daughter-in-law was still normal, but after noon, she started acting possessed again."

David Bennett said confidently, "Let me guess—you put the talisman on her at noon yesterday?"

The old woman looked at him in awe and said, "Master, your calculation is spot on."

Charles Foster glanced at the young woman biting the sheep's teat, then turned and said, "She's been haunted by a baby spirit. I'll drive it away first."

As he spoke, he took off his clothes. In the dim light, William Clark vaguely saw something flash behind Charles Foster, and then the young woman collapsed limply to the ground.

After putting his clothes back on, Charles Foster asked, "Did your wife ever have an abortion?"

Henry Bell picked up his wife and shook his head: "No."

Charles Foster asked, "Then before she was haunted, did she go anywhere unusual or touch anything strange?"

The old woman said, "No, Cui'er only stayed at home and did housework..."

"Cui'er became like this after going to the upper residence to get embroidery thread," Henry Bell said.

The old woman said, "Don't talk nonsense! Who in the village hasn't been to the upper residence? How is that an unusual place?"

Henry Bell insisted, "According to the ancestral rules, no one from the lower residence can enter the upper residence within seven days of the clan leader's death. We've never gone to the upper residence during this special time. Cui'er hasn't been married long and didn't know the rule, so she went during this special time—and then this happened!"

"The upper residence is haunted!"