"Aunt, what should we do now?"
Upon hearing Aunt Zhang's voice, even though she was merely expressing her own concern, everyone seemed to find their anchor and quickly turned to look at her.
It was nighttime. A lantern hung on their cart, but its light was dim. Aunt Zhang's face was somewhat dark, making it hard to discern her expression, but her calm voice considerably reassured the group.
She seemed to have an idea, as she didn't speak right away. Instead, she walked to the roadside, took out the last stick of incense from her bundle, quietly lit it, and waited patiently until an eerie breeze swept through.
Unnoticed, a headless little ghost appeared by the roadside, its small hands reaching out and fumbling.
Aunt Zhang frowned. "Where's your head? Did you lose it again?"
The headless little ghost gestured silently with its small hands.
Aunt Zhang said, annoyed, "Go get it back, quickly."
The headless little ghost continued gesturing but did not move.
At that moment, Hu Ma suddenly noticed a flash of red beside him: Little Hongtang had sat down on the shaft of the donkey cart. Something in the small basket hanging from her arm, half-covered with a cloth, made Hu Ma instantly wary. He leaned closer for a look and felt a chill run down his spine.
"Why are you holding someone's head? Give it back to it!"
Little Hongtang sulkily replied, "It dropped it, so I picked it up from behind..."
"Picking up someone's head from the ground? How is that acceptable?"
Hu Ma was quite astonished. He hurriedly glared at Little Hongtang, urging her to return the head to the headless little ghost.
The headless little ghost took the lightweight paper man head, placed it on its neck, and the paper head came to life, even blinking its eyes.
Aunt Zhang was also surprised to find the head with Little Hongtang. She gave the girl a slightly astonished look, then patiently pressed the little ghost's shoulder, whispered a few words to it, and gently tapped its forehead.
The headless little ghost nodded in understanding, but with that nod, its head fell off again.
It hurriedly crouched down, groping on the ground with its hands. Beside it, Little Hongtang squatted down curiously and pushed the head over to the ghost.
"Now, everyone gather around me!"
Aunt Zhang then turned to Hu Ma, Housekeeper Zhou, the Shopkeeper, and the two attendants. "We're in a panic right now," she said, "and we could be caught at any moment. The malevolence here is too strong. We couldn't get out during the day, and it'll be even harder at night."
"You must all listen to me now. Later, do whatever I say. If you're disobedient, there will be trouble..."
Ever since they realized they were going in circles, a chilling dread had filled everyone, and they nodded continuously.
Seeing their agreement, Aunt Zhang took a spool of fine hemp rope from her bundle; it was strung with bone fragments like little bells. She pulled out the end of the rope. Starting from her own wrist, she tied it around each person's wrist present, making one loop for each. The final end was tied to the headless little ghost's ankle. As she worked, she explained to them:
"Follow the hemp rope closely when you walk later!"
"No matter what you encounter, see, or hear, don't panic, don't get flustered, and definitely don't pull the hemp rope off your wrist."
"If any of you are too scared, then ask the Shopkeeper here to knock you out. We'll put you on the donkey cart to sleep with the coffin."
This genuinely terrified everyone. However, nobody wanted to be knocked out, so they simply shivered and nodded forcefully in agreement.
After arranging these things, Aunt Zhang had someone inspect the cart and pasted a yellow talisman on the donkey's head.
"Let's go!" she said.
The headless little ghost instantly nodded. With that nod, its head once again rolled to the ground. It didn't bother to pick it up but instead scrambled forward swiftly on all fours.
Little Hongtang, however, darted over with a WHOOSH, grabbed the paper man's head, and looked back at Hu Ma, her eyes asking a silent question.
Before Hu Ma could speak, Aunt Zhang said, "You hold it for him for now."
Little Hongtang immediately brightened up. She placed the head into her basket and then climbed onto Hu Ma's back.
By this time, the headless little ghost was already groping its way forward at a surprisingly fast speed, prompting everyone to hurry and follow.
Hu Ma could see the headless little ghost, but the Shopkeeper and his attendants could not. They only saw one end of the hemp rope disappearing into the pitch-black night before them. It would sometimes pull taut, then slacken again, the bone fragments on it RATTLING.
They couldn't help but feel a chill down their spines.
Occasionally, if they took a quicker step, the cold yin qi beside them would intensify, and they would catch a vague, unsettling glimpse of the headless little ghost.
It scared them out of their wits; they wished they could close their eyes and just let the hemp rope guide them.
As they continued, they seemed to disturb something in the surrounding darkness, for various strange noises suddenly erupted.
Sometimes there was the frantic sound of hooves, as if someone on horseback was charging toward them. Other times, they heard shouts of fighting and killing, as if bandits surrounded them, waving knives. Then, they would hear coarse curses, as if they were surrounded by a crowd of people.
Closing their eyes made it seem like they had entered a den of bandits, surrounded by brutish figures; opening their eyes revealed only the empty night and a chilly breeze.
This unnerving, disquieting feeling left them so deeply agitated that even Hu Ma felt restless.
Instinctively, he reached into his robe and grasped a short piece of incense.
This incense had been granted by the Red Lantern Lady to ensure their survival, and Hu Ma had brought it along for emergencies. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novelꜰire.net
He wondered whether Aunt Zhang's method would allow them to escape the influence of the Ghost Village. If not, they'd have to ask the Red Lantern Lady to come and lay down the rules for them.
But he worried whether the Red Lantern Lady, once outside Mingzhou Prefecture, would hold enough sway before that Ghost Village...
Still, considering she had a temple built in her name, it should be fine, right?
Thus, with trepidation, fumbling in the dark with their eyes shut, they stumbled onward, walking for most of the night and experiencing countless indescribably bizarre events along the way.
There were the sounds of knives hacking and axes chopping, of curses and interrogations; sometimes, a hand would even reach out to grab their legs.
But Aunt Zhang diligently looked after them, and Hu Ma kept his eyes constantly open, watching their surroundings and ready to help. They journeyed through most of the night. Eventually, the noises around them gradually quieted and then disappeared.
The group felt the pull on the hemp rope around their wrists lessen, so they followed suit and stopped.
Aunt Zhang let out a long, relieved sigh. "Alright," she said, "we've made it out."
The cart driver and the attendants finally opened their eyes. They found themselves in an open field. A bright moon hung overhead, bathing their surroundings in a light like that of day. The terrifying sounds and the omnipresent sense of oppression were gone, leaving only a layer of cold sweat on their bodies.
Looking around, they saw no one was missing.
But when they turned to check the cart, they were shocked to find it covered in numerous slashes and axe marks, as if it had been chased and attacked.
Suddenly, one of the attendants let out a low cry, his voice tinged with sobs.
The others hastily looked over. He had rolled up his sleeve, revealing a pitch-black handprint on his arm, as if someone had grabbed him.
The others quickly checked themselves and, indeed, found they all had several such marks.
The sensation of being grabbed just moments ago had seemed like a fleeting illusion, but the marks were real.
"It's nothing serious," Aunt Zhang consoled them. "Just bathe in water infused with pomelo leaves, and you'll be fine."
"The ghosts in that village are ferocious. If they find us while on patrol, they will certainly try to keep us."
"They've altered the surrounding feng shui, so even people from our Path of the Ghost Walker can't escape it. Ordinary little ghosts that enter their patrol range probably can't escape either and can only join them."
"Fortunately, this little ghost I raised doesn't have a head, so it was less affected by them. It was actually able to lead us out of that ghost-forsaken place..."
So having no head is actually a good thing?
Hu Ma glanced at Little Hongtang's pretty little head and shook his own helplessly. He was unable to make sense of it and could only file this away as experience.
"At least we made it through."
Relieved, he looked at the group and said, "Let's push on ahead and find a town to rest. Everyone can take a bath, have a good meal, and get a peaceful night's sleep."
He then addressed the cart driver and the two attendants, "Thank you for your hard work. You'll be well rewarded later."
No words of comfort could have been more effective than these, and the look of panic on the faces of the cart driver and the two attendants lessened considerably.
Aunt Zhang also untied the hemp rope from everyone's wrists, coiled it neatly, and put it back into her bundle. She then took the paper man's head from Little Hongtang and placed it back on the headless little ghost's neck, letting them go off to play.
Hu Ma watched from the side and smiled. "Aunt Zhang, you have some real skills. I never expected this little ghost of yours to be so capable."
"It's not about being capable; it's about its unique usefulness."
Aunt Zhang glanced at Hu Ma and said, "A Ghost Walker, you see, must be adept at borrowing the strength of various 'grudging adversaries.'"
Hu Ma carefully committed Aunt Zhang's words to memory. After observing things throughout this journey, a systematic understanding of the Path of the Ghost Walker was beginning to form in his mind.
The way of the Ghost Walker involves first learning the rules: various methods to handle, exorcise, observe, or communicate with evil spirits.
This is like a doctor first learning prescriptions.
They understand all sorts of evil spirits, so when they encounter trouble, they can devise a method to deal with it.
When ordinary people encounter such things, they panic and lose their composure, but intelligent people can devise ways to cope.
Ghost Walkers are like that; the term 'capable person' describes them perfectly.
As they spoke in low voices, the group set off once more. After walking for another hour or two, they finally spotted a town ahead just as dawn was breaking.
"These past few days of travel have been exhausting," Hu Ma announced to the group, also breathing a sigh of relief. "Let's enter the town and rest for a day! Let's replenish our food and water, get a good night's sleep, and continue our journey the day after tomorrow."
This night had been truly perilous. It was a blessing they had escaped, and everyone deserved a chance to properly catch their breath.
This was especially true for the cart driver and the two attendants. They were on the verge of tears. They had only agreed to help transport a coffin for triple the pay, thinking it might just be a bit unlucky. Who could have imagined it would be such a harrowing ordeal?