Because it is said that when the "Ghost Soldiers Pass," all animals will flee far away.
That kind of chilling, yin-heavy scene is unbearable for all animals, and naturally, for humans as well.
However, for those who fail to hide in time, as long as they do not make eye contact with the ghost soldiers, the soldiers will not do anything to them.
Even if one truly makes eye contact, as long as their heart does not panic, their hands do not shake, and they do not let out screams or sounds of fear, the ghost soldiers will be powerless against them.
At most, it might cause a person to fall seriously ill afterward, but as long as they receive normal medical treatment, it will absolutely not take their life.
To put it simply, as long as one's spirit is stable and will is firm, the ghost soldiers cannot take your soul even if they want to.
Beyond that, it is said that butchers and executioners generally do not fear these things.
Because the spirit—or rather, the psychological fortitude—of such people is invariably incredibly strong!
Furthermore, perhaps because they have killed so many living beings, these people carry a certain "sha qi" (malevolent aura) on them, and sha qi is something that ghosts and spirits fear.
Of course, these were all things told by the elderly in the village during their casual chats; whether they were true or false could not be verified.
However, Wang An felt that what they said actually made a lot of sense.
Even putting aside "Ghost Soldiers Borrowing the Way," "Ghost Soldiers Passing," and matters of "immortals, demons, and ghosts," if a person can remain completely calm under any circumstance, that person is certainly no ordinary person.
The group rode their horses, their eyes scanning the surroundings from time to time, hoping to spot some living creature.
Unfortunately, by the time they reached the vicinity of the hollow, they hadn't found a single breathing thing.
When they arrived at the spot where Wang An had been able to scout the interior of the hollow yesterday, they found the entire area shrouded in thick mist; nothing could be seen.
But this was normal. In the Northeast, it was common to have morning mist in many mountain valleys or within the villages.
When the mist was very dense, visibility was exceptionally low.
However, on the mountain peaks or ridges, perhaps due to the wind or temperature, the mist was very thin.
Unable to see anything, the group could only lead their horses into the brush.
After hiding the horses in the thicket, Wang Shuai, Zhang Shuya, and Sun Nian went to search for hidden sentries once again.
In truth, searching for sentries didn't hold much meaning anymore.
After all, according to Big Eye, if you didn't count the laborers, there were only three people left in Ma Zhengshan's gang in the entire hollow.
With only three people, and some of them having to oversee the laborers' work, it was easy to imagine how much combat power Ma Zhengshan had left.
What Big Eye didn't know was that after he and "Ganzi" had left, Ma Zhengshan had ordered the confiscation of one person's firearm and ammunition.
Therefore, the eight men Ma Zhengshan had sent to attack Wang An and the others were the maximum combat force he could spare.
Because after sending those eight away, Ma Zhengshan had only one subordinate left.
It had to be said that Ma Zhengshan was truly ruthless—not only to others and his own men, but to himself as well!
Twenty minutes later, Wang Shuai, Zhang Shuya, and Sun Nian returned.
Wang Shuai spoke in a very relaxed tone
"I took a big lap around; not a single hidden sentry. Actually pretty good."
As soon as Wang Shuai finished speaking, Sun Nian added
"Yeah, it's really strange. Not only are there no sentries, but there isn't even a single breathing soul."
Zhang Shuya, however, frowned, her face solemn
"I keep feeling that something is wrong. It's one thing for there to be no living creatures along this path, and another for there to be none in that place. I just feel that yesterday, before our ambush, that first wave of sounds... seemed... seemed to be... people who aren't exactly 'clean'."
Pausing twice, Zhang Shuya didn't dare say the words "Ghost Soldiers Borrowing the Way," using "people who aren't exactly clean" as a substitute.
To be honest, in this era, almost everyone was sensitive to and taboo about things like "Ghost Soldiers Borrowing the Way"; they would almost never mention it proactively in the mountains.
After all, whether it was during the "Startled Horse Trough" incident or the "Great Earth Tremor," and so on and so forth...
Incidents of "Ghost Soldiers Borrowing the Way" had occurred, and most importantly, it wasn't just one person who had seen it, but many, many people.
Furthermore, many history books recorded such things; works like *Taiping Guangji*, *Old History of the Five Dynasties*, and the *History of Jin* all contained descriptions of this nature.
Thus, it was completely understandable why Wang Shuai, Zhang Shuya, and the others were hesitant to mention the matter.
Fortunately, although Zhang Shuya didn't say it explicitly, everyone understood instantly.
Mainly, at this time, the village didn't even have electricity, let alone televisions, and radios were quite rare. This meant people's entertainment was very simple.
Consequently, when people were idle at home during the winter, children would pester their elders for stories.
Aside from folk tales, most of these stories were eerie events passed down by word of mouth—to be precise, stories about "gods, ghosts, immortals, demons, and monsters."
One must realize that a child might not remember a text in language class, might not remember a formula in math, or might not remember words in a foreign language, but if it comes to these stories, they might not forget them for the rest of their damn lives.
So, not only did Wu Dong and Wang Shuai understand, but Wang An and Feng Chengmin's group understood as well.
Despite the taboo, the work still had to be done, so Wang An frowned and said
"Whoever it is, let them be. Ignore them and let's do what we need to do. It's better that there are no sentries. We'll do like yesterday—blast them first and talk later."
After speaking, Wang An took the lead and walked toward yesterday's firing position.
But before Wang An could take a few steps, Feng Chengmin pulled him back and said
"Xiao An, if you ask me, we should wait for the mist to clear before we attack. That place inside isn't exactly small; how many bullets would it take to blast through the whole thing?"
Hearing this, Wang An felt it made a lot of sense, so he turned to the group and said
"Alright, we'll wait a bit longer. Besides, based on what Big Eye said, there aren't many people left inside. In my opinion, we don't need to scatter in all directions; let's just bunch up and blast them all at once, then call it a day. What do you think?"
Hearing Wang An's words, everyone subconsciously nodded and stopped in their tracks almost simultaneously, each finding a relatively dry spot to sit on the ground.
Perhaps because of the "Ghost Soldiers Borrowing the Way," or perhaps because the surroundings were simply too silent, no one was in the mood to talk. Instead, they all sat with furrowed brows, lost in their own thoughts.
As they sat there, an hour passed.
(End of Chapter)