Three men make a tiger—because of this, the villagers by the river were scared away, and those not by the river were also frightened off. Yet, the more this happened, the more interested he became in that shanxiao.

His pace quickened, and before long he arrived at the riverbank. The river wasn’t large, just over ten meters wide, and the banks were covered with big cobblestones. Scattered across these stones were many pieces of laundry that hadn’t been finished—presumably left behind by the village women who had fled in fear.

On the opposite bank, in the shade near the woods, a basin of nearly washed clothes was placed among several smooth stones. The clothes were brightly colored, all made of brocade, completely different from the coarse linen worn by other villagers. Clearly, these were the dirty clothes that Ryan Thompson had asked the villagers of Xiahe Village to wash.

“Not even daring to cross the riverbank—this shanxiao really is cautious. The more so, the more it proves that even if this beast has become a spirit, its cultivation can’t be very high,” Ryan Thompson thought to himself.

If it were truly a powerful spirit, it would have long since transformed into human form and hidden in the county town. Wasn’t that thousand-year-old centipede spirit in the Liaozhai movies disguised as the imperial preceptor, toying with all the officials at court?

“Let’s go over and take a look.”

Ryan Thompson looked at the few scattered, enormous footprints by the river—clearly not human—and followed them along the riverbank, where they stretched on and disappeared into the woods.

He was unafraid, gripping his tiger-mouthed golden spear as he strode into the forest.

The forest next to Xiahe Village wasn’t some deep, ancient wilderness. Villagers often came here to hunt or gather firewood, and the woods weren’t large. By rights, a place like this shouldn’t have produced a spirit creature. Who would have thought that more than a decade ago, a shanxiao would appear here? He’d never even heard of such a thing.

Ryan Thompson pondered silently.

What he didn’t know was that the villagers here were nothing like people from the twenty-first century, who love to make a fuss over the smallest matters. When it came to taboo things like shanxiao, even if the villagers knew, they would keep their mouths shut and never spread the word.

Just like the people of Guobei County in the movies—even though they knew the ghost of Lanruo Temple was taking lives, they all kept it from the outsider Charles Reed. If it weren’t for Charles Reed’s luck, he would have been killed by those villagers long ago.

“I’ve lost the trail. Did the shanxiao climb a tree?”

Suddenly, after tracking for a while, Ryan Thompson lost sight of the shanxiao’s footprints.

Although this wasn’t a deep, ancient forest, the environment in ancient times was so natural that even a small patch of woods had towering trees and dense undergrowth, making tracking difficult.

“Let’s search nearby and see if I can find any clues.”

Ryan Thompson didn’t give up. He wasn’t worried about encountering any forest spirits or ghosts, because his cheap master had told him that he possessed a Linglong Heart with seven apertures. While ghosts and monsters might want to eat him, they also feared him. As long as he was careful of wild beasts and poisonous snakes, he’d be safe.

After searching for a while, he suddenly spotted a small piece of red cloth hanging from a sapling. Taking it down, he saw it was quite new, as if it had just been torn off.

“This must have been left by Widow Brooks. She’s quite clever, knowing to leave some clues.”

Ryan Thompson was delighted and immediately followed the clue to continue tracking.

Sure enough, a few dozen meters ahead, he found another small piece of red cloth.

After being abducted, Widow Brooks had secretly left markers along the way, which made things much easier for him.

Following the signs, Ryan Thompson gradually ventured deeper into the forest. After several twists and turns, he arrived at a very well-hidden spot at the foot of a mountain. There, among several huge boulders, he could vaguely make out a cave. From within came the faint sound of a woman sobbing, drifting out slowly. In the forest, anyone who didn’t know better might think it was a mountain ghost, but Ryan Thompson was certain the voice belonged to Widow Brooks from Xiahe Village.

“Found it.”

Ryan Thompson was overjoyed—he had finally found the shanxiao’s lair.

It really was well hidden. No wonder this place hadn’t been discovered all these years. Although the forest wasn’t large, finding such a cave would be impossible unless someone searched the entire mountain.

“Where did the shanxiao go?”

He didn’t rush to approach the cave, but instead carefully and vigilantly surveyed his surroundings, trying to locate the shanxiao.

To be honest, in all the years Ryan Thompson had been in this world, he had never actually seen a real ghost or spirit.

After carefully observing the area, he didn’t see any sign of the shanxiao—there wasn’t even a bird in sight.

“That’s strange. Why would the shanxiao abduct someone and then leave?”

Ryan Thompson thought to himself, cautiously approaching the cave.

If the shanxiao wasn’t nearby, the only possibility was that it was hiding inside the cave. It was unlikely to have left, since this was its lair, and the abducted Widow Brooks was probably still inside.

Chapter Four Widow Brooks

“Wu, wuwu…”

From inside the cave came the sound of a woman sobbing.

When Ryan Thompson entered the cave, he saw a woman in tattered clothes, her hair disheveled, her expression fearful, curled up in a corner of the cave, crying continuously. If he hadn’t followed the sound all the way here, he might have thought it was a mountain ghost.

“Are you Widow Brooks?” he asked in a low voice.