Chapter 11: Execution Grounds of Lemon Mountain

  Li Mang came out of the hardware store with two large burlap sacks, one in each hand, and quickly walked away. He then went to a small supermarket to buy some groceries, after which he arrived at a deserted rocky mountain, took out the "Shan Hai Jing", and secretly brought the two large packages into the mountain without anyone noticing. Afterwards, he came out empty-handed and hurried back to the hotel.

  At 11 pm, Li Meng and Zhang Daoshi took Bao Ren's off-road vehicle to rush to the execution ground located in Huangjiacun and Changping Yao Township.

  In the early spring season, the weather in the south is often changeable. During the day it's still warm and sunny with clear skies everywhere, but at night a thin misty rain starts to fall, and the temperature cools down slightly.

  Perhaps finding the atmosphere in the car to be too dull, Zhang Daoshi rarely took the initiative to speak up: "Based on the current situation, I still can't determine whether this is a ghostly interference or human sabotage."

  "What's going on?" Bao Ren exclaimed in surprise as he drove.

  "It's true that ghosts exist, but the conditions for their formation are extremely harsh. Either it's a special geographical location, such as where people die in extremely yin places, and the ghostly energy there is usually very strong; or it's an extremely evil person, who after death must be buried with care, otherwise they will become a malevolent ghost; or finally, it's an extremely wronged person, who after death will transform into a vengeful spirit, because they suffered greatly in life and may have a desire for revenge after death." Zhang Daoshi spoke fluently, his face full of professionalism.

  However, talking about ghosts at such a late hour, and on the way to catch them, made both Bao Ren and Li Meng feel somewhat uneasy. If these words had come from an ordinary person's mouth, they might have just thought it was a ghost story and wouldn't be afraid. But since it came from Zhang Daoist's mouth, they knew it was real.

  Fortunately, during our conversation, the car has already arrived at its destination.

  This is a desolate wilderness, with lush natural forests on both sides, outside the sound of rain rustling, and the north wind blowing from time to time, making people feel cold.

  They took out the umbrellas and flashlights they had prepared in advance, and the three of them got out of the car at the same time. What entered their eyes was a vast darkness. The light emitted from the flashlight could only be seen within a short range due to the fine rain blocking it.

  "The accident site of the three detectives is right here, there is no guardrail on the side of the road, but it's more than 20 meters away from the cliff, even if the driver dozes off and drifts out, he should be able to brake in time." Bao Ren shone his flashlight to introduce to Zhang Daoshi.

  The scene of the incident was well protected, and you can see the tire marks in front. However, strangely, there is no sign of braking in this area, which means that the vehicle drove directly off the cliff. A distance of 20 meters, even if drunk, it's hard to have an accident, let alone a normal police officer on duty.

  "Is that an execution ground?" Zhang Daoshi asked, looking at the dark forest in front of him.

  "Not bad, the execution ground is just 100 meters away, it has been in use since the founding of the country until a few years ago. In recent years, the number of executions has decreased, and most of them are by lethal injection, so this place is rarely used." Bao Ren replied, with a slightly strange expression, especially on such a late night, and Zhang Daoshi was visiting the scene for the first time, but he could identify it at a glance, which showed that he was a remarkable person.

  "Zhang Daoshi, if there really are ghosts, can we see them too?" Li Mang couldn't help but ask curiously, although he was afraid, but for unknown things, he inevitably had a curious heart.

  "Do you want to see?" Zhang Daoshi turned his head and asked him, his eyes shining under the night light.

  "This... is just to take a look." Li Meng's tone was no longer very resolute, and he only forced himself to answer.

  "Good! Young people should have this courage!" Zhang Daoshi's tone was praising, and then his expression became solemn. He made a knot with his right hand and recited: "The heavenly law is clear, the earthly law is spiritual, the yin and yang are combined, the water spirit appears, the spiritual light converges, communicating with heaven and earth, all laws obey, the yin-yang mirror of law, true form quickly appears, quick appearance of true form. I follow the orders of Sanmao True Lord like a law! Hurry up, hurry up, as if it were a law!"

  When the spell was finished, Zhang's index and middle fingers shone with golden light. He pressed his thumb on Li Meng's Yintang, then drew his index and middle fingers across Li's eyes, and did the same to Bao Ren.

  Li Meng soon felt a burning sensation in his eyes, but it quickly returned to normal. At first glance, nothing seemed different, but upon closer inspection, he noticed that there were some black vapors floating in his field of vision, which he was certain had not been there before.

  "I've opened your yin-yang eyes, so you can see things that ordinary people can't. The effect will last for one hour. What you're seeing now is the black fog, which is actually what's called 'dead energy'. Two days ago, someone died here, and it's inevitable that some residual dead energy remains. There's even more dead energy at the execution ground up ahead!" As he explained, Zhang Daoist shone his flashlight in the direction of the execution ground across from them.

  "Hiss..."

  Li Meng and Bao Ren simultaneously inhaled a mouthful of cool air, the forest in front of them was shrouded in a dark aura that seemed to chill people's hearts, and as the north wind blew, they both shivered at the same time.

  Bao Ren now hates Li Meng this bastard to death, you just watch and see, why drag him in too, he's already 50 or 60 years old, do you want to scare him to death?!

  Actually, Li Mang is now full of regret. He was originally just a freeloader, why did he have to do everything himself? This is a crazy rhythm!

  "Let's go take a look!" Zhang shouted, but after taking only two steps, he realized that the two behind him hadn't followed. He stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Li Meng and Bao Ren.

  "You all go ahead, I'll stay here and watch the car!" Bao Ren responded first, holding up his umbrella and walking towards the car.

  "Watch out for the ghost hitting the wall and driving off the cliff!" Li Mang's voice was not loud or soft, but just loud enough to reach Bao Ren's ears.

  "Huh? Li Meng indeed has the potential to learn Taoism, I suspected that the three detectives had an illusion and crashed down the cliff, this is also known as 'ghost hitting the wall'!" Zhang Daoshi exclaimed.

  "You... wait, it's no trouble to leave the car here, I'll just lock it!" Bao Ren suddenly changed his mind and quickened his pace to catch up with the two of them, not even bothering to lock the car door.

  As we approached the execution ground, the temperature became colder and colder, which made people imagine all sorts of things. Zhang Daoshi continued to introduce while walking: "The aura of death is also yin energy, and yin is cold, so every time we come into contact with the aura of death, we will feel cold. People with weak bodies should not come to such places, otherwise they will get sick. In addition, you can't stay in this kind of place for a long time, or it will be harmful to your body."

  "It's past 11 at night, which is the hour of Zi, the time when yin energy is strongest in a day. Plus, this place has a lot of dead air to begin with, so the cold feeling is very pronounced. It will be better during the daytime."

  The two people following behind shivered, and the inexplicable chill on their backs made them turn around at the same time, quickening their pace unintentionally.

  At this time, the three of them had already arrived at the execution ground. What was terrifying was that due to the dense fog, even with flashlights shining, they could only see a distance of two or three meters in front of them.

  "Hoo...!" A gust of north wind came, making people shudder, but what made Li Meng and Bao Ren's hearts skip a beat at the same time was that this gust of wind had blown in a large amount of black fog, severely interfering with their line of sight. They could only vaguely see their five fingers when stretching out their hands, and this was still under the illumination of the flashlight.

  "Damn it, we've been had! This is an old devil with decades of Taoist practice!" came the shocked voice of Zhang Dao from behind.

  Zhang Daoshi's voice came from behind Li Meng, but for Bao Ren, it was on the right side. They both instinctively leaned towards the direction where 'Zhang Daoshi' was located.

  "Don't move, everyone! We're currently in an illusion, and our sense of direction has been disrupted. If you follow the sound of my voice, you might end up walking off a cliff!" Zhang Daoist hastily warned.

  When they heard this, Li Meng and Bao Ren did not dare to move at all.

  "Zhang... Zhang Daoshi, don't scare us, hurry up and break it!" Bao Ren's voice was trembling slightly.

  Li Meng's heart was also tense, and his muscles were bulging all over his body.

  "I... I'm breaking through, you guys need to hold on for a few minutes, no matter what you see, don't be afraid, and don't run around! ... Or else you'd better close your eyes! This ghost has at least fifty years of cultivation, it's a rare encounter, old Daoist, I want to have a good chat with it!"

  Zhang Daoshi's intermittent voice came over, listening to his tone, he was excited...

  It's indeed exciting, just like the joy of a policeman catching a thief, or the delight of a mouse finding rice. Nowadays, ghosts are hard to find, and an old ghost with decades of Taoist practice is as rare as a giant panda. For a heavenly master, this is truly something to be happy about.

  "Zhang Daoshi, don't cheat us!" At this point, even Li Meng's face changed greatly, and he couldn't calm down in his heart. Originally, he thought Zhang Daoshi was a high-ranking Taoist priest, but now it seems that he is not reliable!