Chapter Thirty-Six: Ghosts and Lanterns

  The sky is already bright, we didn't sleep all night. Only one day left until the Ghost Festival, the corpse driver is probably on his way to the ghost capital.

  We need to set off immediately and arrive at Guicheng before dawn tomorrow, otherwise when the time comes, the ghost gate will be open and the corpse will have passed through Guicheng.

  Arriving in Xiangxi, I haven't truly experienced its unique charm yet, but it's time to leave. The greatest gain here is hearing someone else's love story, which was bittersweet but deeply moving. Another important thing is that now I am willing to call Mao Shi Fu a master, and at my most critical moment, I saw his true kindness towards me.

  "Master."

  Mao was stunned.

  "What? Did I hear that wrong? Has your brain short-circuited?"

  "I'll call you Master from now on. From young to old, apart from my father, no one has been as good to me as you." I said sincerely.

  Cao Jingrui nodded, and his eyes were slightly moist at the corners.

  "Let's go, we're going to Ghost Town. Before that, I'll give you something." Mao Shi Jiu said as he pulled out a stone.

  "You're not going to give me a rock as a gift, are you? Forget it, I won't call you Master anymore." I said with a smile.

  "Don't underestimate this stone, it's one of the few magical tools I have on me. This stone is called the Hiding Spirit Stone, and it can eliminate any aura from your body, making it impossible for anyone to distinguish whether you're human or ghost. With this, you'll be able to come and go as you please even in the underworld."

  "That's still pretty good." I was extremely pleased in my heart, providing me with food and shelter, and sending this and that, the treatment was even better than my own father.

  The ghosts are near at hand, and there are only a few hours left until the Ghost Festival.

  The ghosts are all in a basin surrounded by a large mountain, said to be a treasure land of gathering yin, only once discovered that the yin soldiers borrowed a road, they all say that this is a good place for ghosts, there are ghosts and people who do ghost business, a piece of ghost armor is valuable, naturally the first generation of Gui Du people is a group of Taoist priests, and most of Gui Du are descendants of Taoist priests. Later, many outsiders also moved here, they all did ghostly business, known as ghost merchants, gradually more businessmen and tourists came, it became a city.

  We are on top of the mountain, looking at the ghost town in the distance, which is near and far. Today, smoke and ash are rising everywhere, and paper money is flying all over the place. The smell of incense can be smelled on the mountain top, it seems that the residents of the ghost town have started to worship the ghosts. Worshiping the ghosts means burning paper money for them, bribing them so they won't knock on doors at midnight. There's a saying in our hometown: "On the 15th day of the seventh month, ghosts knock on doors." It means that if you don't give them treats, they'll play tricks on you, just like Western children asking for candy on Halloween. Some ghosts are very mischievous, and many will come out to scare people on this day, playing all sorts of pranks. Over the years, there have been no few cases of people being scared to death.

  The mountain top was already shrouded in mist, and we were preparing to head down as the sky grew darker. Along the road down the mountain, there were earthen mounds everywhere, which were the final resting places of people who had lived here for generations. Although I wasn't afraid of ghosts since I was following a Taoist priest, the green ghostly fires that flickered everywhere were still quite frightening. My heart was racing with anxiety as I clutched the golden alms bowl in my arms, fearing that if I encountered any ghosts, I would have to recite the Buddhist six-word mantra, which was the only attacking treasure I could use on my body, and the only way to ward off evil spirits.

  The town, as it's called, is actually more like a small town. The place isn't very big, quiet during the day and bustling at night, with bright lights illuminating the streets, creating a lively night market scene that's quite beautiful. The green and red shops are particularly distinctive. We hastily found a restaurant to eat dinner and decided to explore the real Ghost Town.

  Arriving at the Ghost City, everywhere is crowded with people, everyone rushes to buy incense, candles, yellow paper and white paper. Along the way, all the common people are carrying a pair of large candles on their backs and a pair of small candles in front of their chests. It seems that we, who didn't bring anything, have become the minority.

  We walked into a ghost shop.

  The boss is a thin man, looks extremely like a monkey, with a pointed mouth and sunken cheeks, emaciated and pale yellow complexion, estimated to be an opium addict.

  "What do you want to buy?" The boss's tone was very casual, even a bit impatient.

  "We didn't come to buy things, we came to ask for directions." said Mao Shi Jiu.

  "Oh." The boss continued doing his thing without paying attention to us.

  "Hey, what's wrong with you?" I flared up and wanted to go forward and reason with him but was stopped by Mao Shi Jiu.

  "Wait a minute, don't be in such a hurry." Mao Shi-jiu signaled me not to act impulsively.

  "Boss, I'd like to ask if there's a small road leading to Jiangnan, and which direction is it in?" asked Mao Shi Jiu.

  The boss still ignored us, pretending he hadn't heard.

  My heart is really burning with anger! I don't know what's going on, but just now I felt that the living ghost seemed to sense my indignation and was stirring in the jade stone. And now, I've become so furious that the living ghost has come out and transformed into a pair of red giant eyes.

  The boss suddenly looked up, his eyes were red all over, looking around everywhere, as if his spirit was controlled by a living ghost. "To the west of the road is a charity house, behind the charity house is the entrance to a small path, along the small path straight to Jiangnan, that's the nearest route." The boss said in one breath, and then fell to the ground.

  In an instant, the Shenggui returned to the jade stone and calmed down. I was stunned, this Shenggui even had a function of actively protecting? He could sense my anger and teach others a lesson.

  I glanced at Mao Shi Jiu, he also shook his head, unsure of why.

  "Let's go, good apprentice, we'll prepare some things and come back later to catch them off guard." said Mao Shi Jiu.

  Ordinary ghost shops don't have things used by Taoist priests, only specialized ghost shops like the one Mao Shi Jiu opened on Ghost Street have Dao treasures. There are many ghost markets and ghost shops in this city, but there is only one specialized ghost shop on the corner of the street, and it's very small and inconspicuous, hard to find. It seems that the Taoist profession has indeed declined.

  "Do you know that the Ghost Gate will open at midnight tonight and a big shot will arrive? It's said that they'll be using our place as a passage." A person was heard saying to another as soon as he entered the store specializing in ghost affairs.

  "Are you talking about the vanguard borrowing a road? Didn't that happen a hundred years ago? Or was it passed down from my great-grandfather to my grandfather and then told to me?" Another person replied.

  "Who knows! We ghosts are just one of the entrances and exits between the yin and yang realms, and with the Ghost Festival, it's normal for big shots to borrow a path. But who knows if they're going to stir up trouble or not." The person who started speaking said again.

  "If you want to buy something, just buy it, don't dawdle." Suddenly, a woman's voice was heard, the tone was somewhat neutral, but still sounded like a woman. A handsome-looking woman with a neutral face came out of the inner room, unlike other women, not only her voice was neutral, but also her appearance was neutral, this person who was even more handsome than men left a deep impression on me.

  "How dare you speak like that, little girl? I'm calling out to the adult, I want to buy a wooden sword." The person who started speaking said with some agitation.

  "We're not selling anymore, get out of here!" The woman was surprisingly fierce.

  The person who started speaking was clearly stunned, his face turned iron blue.

  "There's something we didn't buy, what a fool, let's go." He said to another person.

  Suddenly a flying sword appeared out of thin air and flew over the head of the person who had just started speaking, stabbing straight into the doorpost. The man was so frightened that his legs began to tremble.

  "Ling'er, what are you doing? Are you going to scare off my guest again?" At this time, a middle-aged man walked out of the inner room, wearing a pair of cloth shoes and a plain white Taoist robe. He was slightly tall and had a typical Chinese face, but with an air of elegance.

  "Everyone, please stop, I don't understand what's going on, so I hope you can forgive me." The Daoist with the national character face smiled and apologized.

  "This girl of yours is so poorly educated." The man turned around and said with a lack of confidence.

  "You say who has no family education, you damn well have no family education, your whole family has no family education." The man with the national character face heard this sentence and was furious again, another flying sword was inserted into the man's hat, the hat flew out and was inserted on the door.

  The two of them were scared and ran away quickly.

  Cao Jingyi's face showed interest, and there was even a hint of a smile on his face.

  Clap, clap, clap, clap, a burst of applause erupted, the sound was very close, I reacted and realized it was Mao Shi Jiu clapping.

  "Zhong Kui, your daughter has grown up so big! Her personality is really like her mother's when she was young." Mao Shi Jiu walked towards them step by step.

  The person called Zhong Kui was taken aback by Mao Shi's words and stared at him with an incredulous expression, rubbing his eyes.

  "Big brother, how did you come?" Zhong Kui spoke up.

  "Haha, younger brother, how many years has it been since we last met? I didn't expect your daughter to have grown up so big."

  Zhong Yu hastily went forward to welcome Mao Shi Jiu, with a very respectful attitude.

  "I'm afraid I've spoiled my daughter," said Zhong Kui with a sideways glance at her.

  Ling'er pouted and seemed somewhat dissatisfied with Zhong Kui.

  "Junior brother, you were the one who just joined when I was about to leave, right? At that time, I was still the youngest disciple. Just as you arrived, you became the eldest. Who would have thought that now all of our fellow disciples are already married with children, and your daughter is so big already! Time really flies, in the blink of an eye we'll all be old." Mao Shi Jiu sighed.

  "Right, we've all grown old. Master has long passed away, and we're not far behind." Zhong Kui said with a smile.

  "What's wrong with her mother? Bamboo Moon Junior Sister." Maoma Nineteen asked again.

  Zhong Yu lowered his head and said: "His mother is gone." It can be seen that he is disheartened.

  "It was after her mother's departure that this child became like this, extremely similar to her mother when she was alive."

  "How could this be? I've only met you once, Junior Sister. Your fate should be strong enough to withstand this!" said Mao Shi Jiu.

  "It's all my fault." Zhong Ke said with a self-reproaching expression.

  "That was when we had just moved to Gui Du from afar, and at first, we planned to open a ghost temple to make a living. However, one time after the ritual, I offended someone I shouldn't have, precisely that big shot those two people mentioned earlier, which is why my child got so excited. That person came to my house on a certain night, hooked my wife's soul, and for this, I performed a ritual trying to chase her soul, but when I reached Naihe Bridge, I hesitated, the child was still young, I had no choice but to give up. Now, opening the only ghost shop on the entire street is just to raise my daughter, so that I can go find her." By this point, Zhong Kui's face was already streaming with tears.