At first glance, the sedan appeared flawless. A magnificent canopy sat atop a wooden pavilion, its peak carved with patterns of white cranes heading to the west. The base featured a lotus platform surrounded by intricate openwork floral designs, exquisite in every detail.
A single immortal crane stood atop the canopy, surrounded by auspicious clouds. In its beak, it held four golden chains that supported four gauze-like curtains.
The curtains hung down, perfectly shielding the occupant from prying eyes, allowing only a hazy glimpse of their figure.
Upon closer inspection, however, one would realize it was a sedan made of paper. The immortal crane, the purple bamboo, the redwood—everything carried a sense of shifting between illusion and reality.
“The Yin Yang Road is open! The Yin Yang Road is open!”
“Prestigious guests, please enter the sedan! Prestigious guests, please enter the sedan!”
Several more paper figures appeared, carrying suonas, pipas, gongs, drums, and bamboo flutes. They crowded around Nan Zhi and Xu Zi, ushering them toward the sedan.
“Prestigious guests, do not delay the hour. The night is dark and the road is long. Please, enter the sedan quickly!”
“Hee hee hee hee! Brothers, start playing!”
“Hee hee hee! The prestigious guests enter the sedan! The prestigious guests enter the sedan!”
“Heh heh heh heh! Heh heh heh...”
Nan Zhi worried that the paper sedan would tear at the slightest touch, but to her surprise, once she sat inside, she found it far sturdier than she had imagined.
The interior was remarkably spacious. Even with both she and Xu Zi sitting inside, there was no sense of being cramped.
At that moment, a pitch-black hole inexplicably appeared on the alley wall—deep, dark, and seemingly bottomless.
It was impossible to tell where the hole led, but the faint sound of howling wind could be heard from within, like a mournful wailing.
The moment the paper figures carried the sedan into the black hole, Nan Zhi felt as if she were passing through a layer of a jelly-like substance. When she looked up again, she saw that everything inside the sedan had turned real.
The base was made of purple bamboo, the platform was a lotus, and the canopy was crafted from redwood. Golden curtains, like flowing rivers, hung around the pavilion. The floor was covered with a Persian carpet, and a small sandalwood table sat inside.
On the table were fresh fruit and tea, along with tea bowls and a small stove. The charcoal fire in the stove was still burning slowly, though the flames were not red, but an eerie, cold green.
Nan Zhi touched the tea bowl on the stove. Though the fire looked vigorous, it felt bone-chillingly cold to the touch. After holding it for a moment, she couldn't help but shiver.
She lifted the curtain and looked out. Everything was pitch black, but it wasn't the darkness of a night without light. It was like a hollow void, a nothingness that seemed ready to swallow all existence.
It felt as if, in this moment, nothing existed in heaven or earth except for the road before them and this single sedan.
The paper figures carrying the sedan had also turned into living people, though their movements remained stiff, and those two festive spots of red rouge were still fixed upon their faces.
The paper pipas, gongs, and drums they held had also become real, and they were actually producing sound.
They played as they walked, hopping and skipping along. The sedan bobbed up and down with their movements as they sped along this dark path where the way ahead was invisible.
“Hee hee hee hee...”
“Heh heh heh...”
“Giggle giggle...”
“Di-li-da-la... Di-li-da-la...”
“So this is the Yin Yang Road? The real and the false, the false and the real... it truly is difficult to tell them apart.”
Nan Zhi let the curtain fall and couldn't help but sigh. She turned her head, only to see Xu Zi grabbing a piece of fresh fruit from the table and eating it with great relish.
Nan Zhi: “...”
Was this brat actually brave enough to eat fruit from a paper sedan?
Before she could pinch Xu Zi's cheeks and tell her to spit it out, Xu Zi swallowed the pear and said with a grin:
“Once you enter the Yin Yang Road, you've essentially got one foot in the Underworld. No matter how much a living person eats here, they'll never feel full.
“Don't be fooled by how beautiful these fruits look. They might very well be made of mud and leaves. Once we get to the Ghost Market, if anyone offers you food or drink, you must never let it pass your lips.”
“Then why are you eating?” Nan Zhi cast a questioning look at her.
Xu Zi lay back and rolled around comfortably in the sedan before casually replying:
“I'm different from you, of course. I have a demon's body, so I can naturally eat food made by ghosts. You, on the other hand, are different.
“If a living person eats Underworld food, they'll vomit mud at best, or fall gravely ill at worst. Even though you're a cultivator, eating an Underworld meal will still taint you with some yin energy.”
A demon?
Nan Zhi was slightly taken aback. Although she knew the Demon Suppression Division treated humans, demons, and ghosts equally, and there were demon colleagues in the monastery, she hadn't expected the person before her to be one of them.
Demons found it incredibly difficult to take human form. Low-level spirits and monsters could use glamour to appear human, but they couldn't maintain it for long, usually only for an hour or two a day.
And even for demons with higher cultivation, their transformations were rarely perfect. Their human forms would almost always retain some traits of their original form.
Such as animal ears, scales, or perhaps a tail or fur.
But no matter how she looked, she couldn't find any demon traits on Xu Zi.
【Xu Zi: Qi Refinement level 9】
Looking at the other's cultivation, it was similar to her own. Nan Zhi truly couldn't tell what kind of demon she was.
“Hee hee, I'm not telling. In the entire Demon Suppression Monastery, no one knows my origins and background except for those few demon suppression generals at the top.”
Xu Zi lay on her side, her eyes darting toward Nan Zhi while she toyed with the bell at her waist.
“I've never ridden such a grand sedan on the Yin Yang Road before! I heard there's a Ghost King in the Underworld who travels in a Crane Cloud Sedan. I suppose this sedan was modeled after that one.
“Also, those paper ingots you took out earlier are quite the treasure. You have human eyes, so you don't recognize them for what they are.
“Those paper ingots are so bright and golden. One look and you can tell they were handmade by someone with powerful dharma power and deep Yin merit. They were likely made by either a high-ranking monk or a Taoist master.
“In the Underworld, these paper ingots are real money. You can spend them anywhere.
“Usually, when these little ghosts carry a sedan, they only earn thirty or fifty thousand in yellow paper money, and they even try to overcharge newcomers. Now that you've given them such a large paper ingot, they'll be sure to put in the effort.”
Xu Zi spoke carelessly, but Nan Zhi took her words to heart.
Nan Zhi's mind stirred, and she suddenly asked, “I wonder if one can buy a handy weapon in the Ghost Market? The sabers issued by the Demon Suppression Monastery always feel a bit awkward to use.”
“Of course they're for sale. The Ghost Market is all-encompassing and has everything you could imagine. The Gates of Hell open around the Ghost Festival, and the Ghost Market stays open for seven days. At that time, demons and monsters from the heavens, the earth, and the mortal realm—even immortals—will come here to trade and look for things they desire.”
Xu Zi let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes, leaning into Nan Zhi's lap. She mumbled:
“The road to the Underworld is hard to travel. It'll probably take a while. Wake me up when we get there...”
Before she could even finish her sentence, she curled into a ball and fell asleep on Nan Zhi's lap.
“You really trust me that much? Aren't you afraid I'll kidnap you and sell you at the Ghost Market?”
Nan Zhi shook her head. It wasn't the right time to ask more questions, so she stared through the curtains, watching the imaginary 'scenery' of the Yin Yang Road out of boredom.
...
...
“Prestigious guests, prestigious guests, we've arrived at the Ghost Buddha Temple!”
The sedan swayed, and after an unknown amount of time, the sound of music outside stopped. The little ghosts carrying the sedan urged them:
“The entrance to the Ghost Market is just ahead. Please sit steady, prestigious guests.”
Nan Zhi looked up and saw a solemn and towering damaged Buddha statue standing outside the sedan. The Buddha had a body but no head, its golden form in ruins and covered in moss and spiderwebs, bearing the heavy traces of time.
The Buddha's head was nowhere to be found, leaving only a massive body. Behind the Buddha was a mountain gate, and in front of the mountain hung a copper bell whose wooden crossbeam had already decayed.
This was likely the place where the Ghost Market was held every year—the Ghost Buddha Temple at the end of the Yin Yang Road.
Countless shadowy ghost figures were on the mountain path, climbing upward in a steady stream.
Though it was incredibly lively, a closer look revealed that these climbers all had strange appearances. Some had fish heads on human bodies, others had beast heads on human forms, and some had blue faces and protruding fangs or terrifying countenances.
It was as if all the demons and monsters in the world were eager to attend this grand Underworld gathering.
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