“Can ordinary mortals not see ghosts?”
Nan Zhi was quite interested in what the mud ghosts had to say, so she pursued the topic further:
“I often hear folks say that so-and-so in such-and-such place can see ghosts, or that someone saw an immortal. Are people who can see ghosts really in the minority?”
—Although she couldn't be sure if this was truly the Northern Song Dynasty from history, she had still heard many strange tales from Chen Jingui.
Tales like how a scholar somewhere came back from the dead, and upon waking claimed he had gone to the Underworld to take an examination, destined to become a City God after death.
Seeing that he still had an aged mother to care for at home, Yama granted him a few more years of life. (《Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio: Examination for the Post of City God》)
Or how someone's filial daughter-in-law's mother-in-law had died of illness years ago, yet people still saw her weeping atop her tomb night after night, crying out to anyone who passed that she had died unjustly.
Later, a daring soul dug up the coffin to inspect the corpse and discovered the mother-in-law had indeed been strangled to death.
Even more bizarre was a scholar somewhere who fell into a deep slumber at home for over three months, neither eating nor drinking, yet never losing weight.
Once the scholar awoke, he resolved to leave home and become a Taoist priest.
When his parents questioned him, he claimed that during that time he had visited a certain immortal realm, where a certain celestial maiden had taken him to a banquet hosted by the immortals.
From then on, the man devoted himself entirely to cultivating the Dao, though he never had that dream again.
Gods, ghosts, monsters, and woven illusions—it seemed that out of every ten people, two or three had seen a ghost.
Even those who hadn't would swear up and down that ghosts truly existed, making oaths as if they had witnessed it with their own eyes.
As Nan Zhi recounted these marketplace rumors one by one, the mud ghosts in the temple exchanged glances and began chattering amongst themselves:
“Appointments and dismissals of City Gods are all decided by the Underworld. We have indeed heard that virtuous people, after death, become City Gods in the places where they served as officials in life.”
“Those people have such wonderful fortune! Officials in life, and still lordly officials in death, riding in eight-bearer sedans with little ghosts clearing the way!”
“How could a celestial maiden in the heavens ever fall for a mortal? That scholar was eighty percent bewitched by a fox! Those sly vixens love playing immortals best.”
“Spot on! The weasel the previous City God dealt with—wasn't it boasting about being the foot-washing basin boy serving Empress Queen Mother of the West?!”
“Those people who see ghosts are either unlucky souls whose fortunes have hit rock bottom, or folks who are on the verge of death. Ordinary mortals can't see ghosts.”
“Hahahaha, that scholar was truly an idiot to actually believe a celestial maiden fancied him.”
A crowd of mud ghosts huddled together, chattering away. Some voices were shrill and piercing, some gruff and deep; some mumbled as if their mouths were stuffed with mud, while others resonated like tolling bells—each distinct in its own way.
“Stop your racket! Stop your racket!”
The most short-tempered of them, the Big Bellied Ghost, stretched open his massive mouth, his throat swelling up like a giant toad's.
He blew out a violent gust of air, sending the other ghosts tumbling pell-mell across the hall like withered stalks of grass swaying in a gale:
“All this clamor—where are your manners?! We've partaken of her wine and meat, so answer properly! Aren't you afraid that stuffing yourselves will burn right through your guts and bellies?!”
Having spoken, he turned to Nan Zhi with an angry scowl and spoke in a muffled, booming voice:
“Little Mistress Nan, wondrous people and bizarre occurrences in this world are as numerous as ox hairs. Old me doesn't know if there are folks born with the ability to see ghosts, but they must surely be few and far between.
In all my decades living in this City God Temple, I've only ever seen two living souls who could lay eyes on us.
As the old saying goes, ‘A human fears a ghost by three tenths, but a ghost fears a human by seven tenths.’
The living possess three fires upon their shoulders. Robust folks who never fall ill carry such heavy yang energy that even seasoned old ghosts like us have to steer clear of them.”
Saying this, the Big Bellied Ghost patted his stomach. His plump, oversized head swelled a bit more, crisscrossed with blue veins and glowing crimson like a giant lantern:
“As for those born naturally frail, those down on their luck, women who've just given birth, patients recovering from serious illnesses, and young children whose fontanelles haven't closed yet—they can see us as well.
As for the dying, laden with deathly energy, sometimes curiosity gets the better of us, and we gather around to watch, betting on when he'll kick the bucket.
But we don't dare get too close, lest the soul reapers spot us and haul us off to the Underworld too.”
Nan Zhi pictured that scene in her mind and found it somewhat hilarious.
A dying person lying in bed, blearily glancing up—
Only to find that besides their caring family members, their deathbed was surrounded by a circle of gleeful ghosts betting on when they would draw their last breath!
What kind of dark humor was this?
“Indeed, indeed.”
The hanged ghost stuck out her tongue and slowly descended from the rafters, the hair on her head dangling right into Nan Zhi's face:
“I didn't notice it earlier, only sensing that Little Mistress Nan's scent of the living wasn't all that strong.
But looking closely now, the three fires on Little Mistress Nan's shoulders are burning vigorously!”
Saying that, she leaned closer and skillfully rolled up her long tongue, tucking it back into her belly before speaking:
“Your courage is truly immense—no wonder you're the young mistress of Nan the Butcher's family! You weren't even afraid of the Painted Skin Ghost.”
The hanged ghost was the only female ghost in the hall. Her delicate face had a greenish hue, a bloody ligature mark circled her neck, and a crimson long tongue rolled from her throat, making her look increasingly ghastly.
She wasn't intentionally trying to frighten Nan Zhi; she simply looked like this at the time of her death, and in death, she couldn't control her resentment.
Whenever she wanted to speak, she had to roll and tuck her tongue away before she could utter a word.
The hanged ghost was actually the most “normal” and human-looking among these ghosts; the rest were either missing heads, missing limbs, or trailing spilled guts and entrails across the floor—utterly horrifying.
—This was why ghosts were mostly hideous, terrifying monstrosities; sorrowful, affectionate, flower-like beautiful female ghosts were an extreme rarity.
Her faint scent of the living was likely because she had the 【Paper Skin Garment】 stored in her inventory.
Staring until her eyes went bleary, Nan Zhi had to put in considerable effort to pick out the hanged ghost from amid a sea of pixelated censors.
It wasn't that she had immense courage.
It was that this game actually had a content filter function; overly gory scenes—guts, entrails, severed limbs, and pools of blood—were all pixelated into mosaics.
—As a result, what she saw of the hanged ghost was a vivid, lifelike beauty's head resting atop a block of pixelated mosaic.
It was pretty creepy.
“In truth, I encountered a miraculous opportunity. Over the past eighteen years, I received guidance from an immortal in my dreams, and upon awakening, I stepped onto the Dao and became a Qi Refinement practitioner.”
Having chatted for this long, Nan Zhi finally brought up her actual purpose in coming to the City God Temple:
“Earlier, at the tofu-selling Qiao family's home, I made the acquaintance of a grey rat spirit. It was the one who warned me, allowing my... my father to slay that Painted Skin Ghost.
Now that the Painted Skin Ghost is dead, I want to find the whereabouts of that grey rat spirit—first, to ensure its safety, and second, to ask whether there are other harm-inflicting demons and monsters in Dingyuan County.
Even if my abilities are lacking and I cannot subdue them, it would be good to learn of a few taboos in advance so I can steer clear of them for now, and slay the demons once my cultivation has matured.”
The mud ghosts exchanged looks, then suddenly burst into loud laughter:
“How many years has a tiny grey rat spirit even lived? If you want to know what demons and monsters dwell in Dingyuan County, why not ask us?!”
“Hahaha, you're truly ‘ignoring the true Buddha before your eyes only to pray to a false Buddha’!”
“When it comes to matters in Dingyuan County, who could understand them more clearly than us?”
The Big Bellied Ghost slapped his belly loudly, making a firm guarantee:
“We ghosts have lived in this City God Temple for decades! Setting aside cultivation strength, when it comes to gathering information, no one can surpass us!”
Nan Zhi's expression turned subtle as she gave the ghosts a meaningful look:
Then why were you all so scared of the Painted Skin Ghost that you hid in the City God Temple, not daring to step outside?
“You! How can you look down on humans—er, ghosts, little mistress?!”
The Big Bellied Ghost blustered:
“The few of us are upright ghosts who walk the proper path, nothing like those evil ghosts that feast on human hearts!
Since we took your wine and meat offerings today, we will naturally repay you. Go on home for now; when the rooster crows three times tomorrow, I'll have someone deliver what you seek!”
Rate on N.U.
