Dong— Dong—
The bell of the Ghost Buddha Temple rang out once more. Nan Zhi opened her eyes upon her prayer mat to find Xu Zi sitting at the table. Seeing her wake, Xu Zi began to tease her with a smile.
"The bed here is far too hard, and this prayer mat is quite prickly. Luckily, you're easy to please and don't mind at all—you can even meditate in peace."
"If that monk Huiyuan hadn't recognized me, you wouldn't have had to stay in this dilapidated room. I've really dragged you down this time. Next time, I'll have to have a proper word with that monk; I can't let him swindle you out of your money for nothing."
"It's no trouble. Although this room is simple, it has the advantage of being quiet. No wandering spirits have bothered us during the night."
Nan Zhi rolled out of bed and poured herself a cup of tea to clear her palate.
"There are less than two or three hours before the Gates of Hell open, yet Duan Chunming still hasn't shown his face. I'm afraid we'll have to try our luck at Ruyi Pavilion."
"Once we catch that fellow, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind for making me wait so long... This shack even has bugs at night."
Xu Zi flipped over a tea cup that had been resting upside down on the table, revealing a large, spindly-legged patterned spider about the size of a thumb.
"I hate bugs! These nasty things love to crawl into the mud and gnaw on the roots of plants; they're such a nuisance!"
Nan Zhi shifted her gaze. The spider's patterns were vibrant, suggesting it was a poisonous species. She didn't know how long Xu Zi had been playing with it, but it was now on its last legs, lying on its back with its belly to the sky, nearly dead.
A living creature?
She suddenly realized that the Yin Yang Road was completely devoid of life. Even the Ghost Buddha Temple was deathly silent; since their arrival, they hadn't heard a single bird chirp or frog croak.
So, where did this spider come from?
Hearing Nan Zhi's point, Xu Zi also realized the anomaly. She opened her mouth and said excitedly:
"Does that mean someone is trying to harm us? Do we know who? I wonder what they were thinking, sending such a tiny bug to do their dirty work."
"There are no living creatures on the Yin Yang Road. This room is remote; unless someone was intentionally scouting us, how could a spider find its way inside?"
"I felt like someone was watching me these past two days, and it seems my intuition wasn't wrong."
Nan Zhi threw the bug to the floor and crushed it under her foot before speaking cautiously:
"Insects are small and move stealthily; most people wouldn't notice them. Not to mention, this one is poisonous. If one were bitten by accident, it would likely be quite troublesome."
"This spider is useless against demons or ghosts, so it was clearly meant for you. Could it be an accomplice of that Ma San?"
Xu Zi showed no fear, only rubbing her hands together in anticipation.
"Since they only dare to use such low-tier methods, they probably aren't anyone powerful. Just you wait—if he comes again today, I'll make him swallow these bugs himself."
"The spider might have just been a test. The situation at Ruyi Pavilion is unclear, and now that we're being watched, we must be extra careful tonight."
Nan Zhi burned the spider's remains with fire and tossed the ashes into the mist before she felt truly at ease.
"I've memorized the terrain around the Ghost Buddha Temple over the past two days. No matter where Ruyi Pavilion appears, if we run into danger, we'll be the first to escape."
She could use her death reloading, but those around her could not. Thus, no amount of caution was ever too much.
To her surprise, Xu Zi shook her head. "Ruyi Pavilion isn't a specific building. It's even more mysterious than the Ghost Buddha Temple. Once the Gates of Hell open, it will reveal itself."
"No one knows who established Ruyi Pavilion, and no one has ever asked. When the time comes, you'll understand its wonders for yourself."
As the opening of the Gates of Hell drew near, neither of them had the heart for anything else. They spent the time discussing their cover stories and deciding on secret signals until they felt everything was ready.
Finally, as the bell of the Ghost Buddha Temple tolled for the fourth time, marking the arrival of the hour of the Rat, the time-keeping bell did not cease. Instead, it struck a full eighteen times.
Dong—
Dong—
Dong—
Nan Zhi quickly leapt onto the roof. Accompanied by the tolling bell, a massive, heavy sound of doors rising echoed from above the Ghost Buddha Temple. The sharp, dull, tooth-aching screech of stone walls grinding open filled the air.
Everyone looked up to see the hazy mist gradually clearing. A massive door reaching the heavens seemed to connect heaven and earth. Countless grey shadows whistled out from within the gates, surging like a tidal wave across the sky.
On the gates, ghost generals wielding steel forks and iron swords glared furiously. Inside, a hideous Ghost King opened his bloody maw, his serpentine arms reaching out as if to pull himself through, only to be forced back into the Gates of Hell. He could only stare at the living beings outside with eyes full of venom.
That gaze was incredibly sinister, as if it contained all the malice in the world.
Anyone who met that gaze fell into a trance, becoming dazed and foolish before uncontrollably tumbling into the mist to become nourishment for the Yin Yang Road.
The cinnabar-red gates slowly swung open. An overwhelming tide of ghosts, carrying their lingering attachments to the mortal realm, gushed out and flooded the Yin Yang Road.
Drowned ghosts, hanged ghosts, starved ghosts, burned ghosts, falling ghosts...
These ghosts had died in various ways, yet aside from the marks of their deaths, their expressions and appearances were no different from the living.
Emerging alongside them were black-shadowed monsters. They were lean, moved on all fours like beasts, and had eyes glowing with a faint green light. Like starving wolves, they lunged at the travelers on the Yin Yang Road!
A wild cat spirit failed to dodge in time and was swarmed by the ghosts. Before it could even let out a scream, it was devoured until not even a bone remained.
Everyone scrambled to avoid these monsters, racing to hide within the Ghost Buddha Temple. From her high vantage point, Nan Zhi watched as a monster finished devouring the demon's corpse and lunged toward a crane demon.
The crane demon refused to sit and wait for death. It shifted into its true form and flapped its wings to fly high, but the mist was too heavy. It only managed to escape a few yards before the black monsters swarmed it and tore it to shreds!
Some tried to resist with weapons, but it was futile. The monsters had iron-hard hides and were numerous; many beings died beneath their fangs.
A monster flew over the Ghost Buddha Temple and, spotting Nan Zhi, immediately let out a low growl. It whimpered in its throat as scarlet saliva dripped to the ground, actually corroding a small pit into the earth.
"Wooo... roar..."
The monster lunged straight for her face. Nan Zhi tapped her toes, retreating half a yard as the Fish-Dragon Guillotine spun deftly in her hand, hacking squarely into the creature's wide-open maw!
K-chak!
The sound of the blade slicing through flesh and striking bone rang out. The monster howled as it fell to the ground, quickly dissolving into a puddle of black mud.
"What kind of monster is this? It's so difficult to deal with."
Nan Zhi used the tip of her blade to pick up a bit of the black mud for closer inspection. A stench hit her that was so foul it made her want to gag.
She looked at the safe Ghost Buddha Temple, then at the Yin Yang Road, which was already littered with white bones and a sea of blood. A chill ran down her spine.
The few monsters within the Ghost Buddha Temple paled in comparison to the vast army on the Yin Yang Road; it was like comparing a small spark to a wildfire.
Was this the reason one absolutely had to stay at the Ghost Buddha Temple?
"These are hungry ghosts from hell. They're not the same as starved ghosts; they're malevolent spirits transformed from those who committed grave sins while alive."
"These ghosts have throats no wider than a needle's eye, and their bellies feel as if they're burning or freezing all day long. No matter how much they consume, they never feel the slightest bit full."
Xu Zi flicked her purple gold bells, crushing another black monster, before taking a moment to answer Nan Zhi.
"When the Gates of Hell open on the Yin Yang Road, hungry ghosts blocking the path are nothing special. Anyone who dares to risk coming to the Ghost Market has their own tricks and schemes."
"Cultivation is a matter of life and death. Those with ability can handle the hungry ghosts, and those with luck might survive. But if one has neither ability nor luck and still comes to the Yin Yang Road to seek death, then their end is nothing to pity."
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