Huang Xiaolong followed the coordinates Qingqing had sent him and first took a taxi to the suburbs before continuing on foot.
The sky turned darker and darker, the moon was high overhead, its pale light chilling to the bone, casting a cold glow on anyone it touched and causing goosebumps to rise.
This was the phenomenon known as a lunar eclipse when the malevolent qi was at its strongest, an ideal time for demons and ghosts to arise and cause chaos.
At that moment, Huang Xiaolong walked on the mountain trail, where there was almost no sign of human activity, no dwellings in sight, and no traces of people. The night wind swept through the poplars, which rustled and whispered like thousands of ghosts clapping their hands.
These poplars, also known as "ghost clappers," served as burial trees. With countless new and old graves in the mountains and fields, there were many such trees planted, giving off a distinctly eerie and ghastly aura.
