"Nine-Stroke Talisman"

Chapter 30: The Call from the Well

That night, Shen Moyan had a dream.

In the dream, he stood at the edge of that well, looking down. The well was deep, very deep, but something was glowing—very faint, very far, like a lamp.

Then he heard a voice:

"Come down."

He woke up.

Sat up in bed, soaked in cold sweat, heart pounding like a drum.

That voice was still there, not in the dream—in his head. Not Zhu Quan or the others—another voice, coming from very far away:

"Come down. I'm waiting for you."

Shen Moyan stood up and walked to the window. Outside, Chenghuang Temple Back Street was quiet, streetlights shining on empty lanes. In the distance, in the direction of that well, a point of light glowed.

He looked at his hands. The black had reached the fifth knuckle.

When had that happened?

He'd only drawn four strokes.

"The fifth obstacle is here." Hu Sanniang's voice sounded. "It's already starting to affect you."

"Who?"

"My father." Hu Sanniang said. "He's calling you. He wants to eat you."

Shen Moyan stared at that point of light for a long time.

Then he turned, went back to bed, closed his eyes.

"Not yet," he said. "Wait till I finish nine strokes."

That voice was silent for a moment, then laughed:

"Good. I'll wait."

That laugh came from deep underground, cold as well water.

Shen Moyan clenched his fists. The black at his fingertips deepened by another shade.

Outside the window, that point of light went out.

But the thing at the bottom of the well was already awake.