A tiny flame flickered, revealing a pale blue-white face.
Ji Luo’s open eyes slowly closed again. The bone-piercing cold around him seemed to seep into the cracks between his bones. He took several deep breaths before slowly opening his eyes once more. “Lu Yu.”
Lu Yu set the lamp by the bed and helped him sit up. “Do you feel any better?”
Ji Luo looked around the room. It was fully furnished. The huanghuali table and chairs and the antique vases on the display shelves looked somewhat familiar, but an icy strangeness permeated everything. From beyond the tightly shut windows came occasional sounds of weeping, and only the small flame beside the bed lit the dim room.
…The ghostly blue candle flame was impossible to ignore.
“Where is this?” Ji Luo swallowed.
Lu Yu grinned. “Brother Luo, this is my home. From now on, it’ll be our home.”
Ji Luo let that icy hand stroke his face. “Am I already dead?”
“That’s right.” Lu Yu leaned over and kissed him. “We can finally be together forever. No one will ever separate us again.”
Ji Luo nodded, then asked in puzzlement, “But what happens when our yin lifespan runs out and we have to reincarnate?”
“Don’t worry. We won’t reincarnate.” Lu Yu smiled and snapped his fingers.
A man waiting outside the door entered with a tray. A bowl of thin congee rested on it. Ji Luo’s expression changed. “Is this the person you found down here?”
He started to rise, but Lu Yu pressed him back down. “Look more carefully.”
The man raised his head and revealed a face identical to Ji Luo’s. Ji Luo flew into a rage and knocked the congee to the floor. “You’ve got some nerve, Lu Yu! Finding someone else down here wasn’t enough, you even found someone who looks exactly like me just to disgust me?”
“Huh?” Lu Yu was stunned by the scolding. “No, that’s not—”
Ji Luo seized him by the throat. “Forever together, my ass. I’ll kill you!”
Lu Yu grabbed his wrist and hurriedly explained, “No. He is you.”
Ji Luo froze. “What do you mean?”
Lu Yu gave him a guilty look and lowered his voice. “When I first came down here, I missed you terribly, but you weren’t going to die anytime soon. So I bought a paper figure, secretly went up and stole one of your hun and one of your po, then put them inside it. It could only talk to me and keep me company, though. It was still very different from you.”
Elio’s Notes: Traditional Chinese belief often describes the soul through complementary hun and po aspects. Lu Yu’s wording also sets up Ji Luo’s next phrase, shī hún luò pò, literally “to lose one’s hun and drop one’s po,” an idiom for being dazed or distraught.
Ji Luo finally understood. “No wonder I was always dazed and out of sorts after you died, and at the worst times I even became delirious. So you were behind it.”
“Don’t make it sound so awful. Every so often I sent the hun and po inside it back and replaced them with another pair. Otherwise you really would have gone mad.” Lu Yu sounded as though he deserved praise. “It was a lot of work.”
Ji Luo laughed from sheer fury. “So I’m supposed to thank you?”
Lu Yu hugged him. “No need to be polite. We’re husband and wife. It’s what I should do.”
He snapped his fingers. The one hun and one po inside the paper figure dissolved into a wisp of smoke and slipped into Ji Luo’s body. The man turned back into a paper figure, grinning as it fell stiffly to the floor.
Ji Luo’s back crawled at the sight. “Get that thing out of here.”
Lu Yu breathed a mouthful of ghost qi at the paper figure. It instantly crumbled into dust and vanished. Before Ji Luo could finish breathing out in relief, Lu Yu caught his chin and kissed him.
Lu Yu lifted a hand, and the congee spilled across the floor transformed into a mass of black qi that gathered in his palm.
Ji Luo tried with all his strength but still could not push him away. Half resisting and half yielding, he fell back onto the bed, only to suddenly feel something cold and slick pressed into his throat. Before he could ask what it was, he swallowed it.
Ji Luo exclaimed in alarm, “What did you feed me?”
Lu Yu squeezed his throat to make sure he had swallowed it before answering, “Naturally, something good that will let us stay together forever.”
Ji Luo’s expression shifted several times. He grabbed Lu Yu by the collar and hauled him closer. “Tell me the truth. Did you ever kiss or hug that paper version of me?”
Lu Yu looked baffled. “That paper figure was just paper burned down from above, nothing more than a soulless sheet. It wrinkled at a touch and couldn’t even get wet. Why would I touch it?”
Ji Luo sneered. “That’s more like it.”
He pushed Lu Yu aside and prowled around the room. Only after confirming there were no belongings belonging to a third person, or rather a third ghost, was he reluctantly satisfied. Then he immediately started checking the accounts. “When I was alive, I burned you plenty of ingots and other things. Oh, right, I burned quite a lot for myself too. Where are they?”
Lu Yu said, “Things you burned for yourself while still alive don’t count.”
“Why don’t they count?” Ji Luo frowned.
“The Merit Registrar decides all that. I don’t have any say in it.” Lu Yu looked pitiful. “But everything you burned for me is still in another residence.”
Ji Luo could never stand seeing him like this. His heart softened, and he hurried to coax him. “All right, all right. I wasn’t trying to scare you on purpose. In any case, I’m already dead. From now on, we’ll just live our lives together down here.”
Lu Yu half knelt before him and wrapped both arms tightly around his waist. “You don’t blame me for bringing you down here?”
Ji Luo sighed. “Who doesn’t want to live? But things have already come to this, and I truly can’t let you go. It was all Heaven’s will. I can’t blame you.”
With his face buried against Ji Luo, Lu Yu’s lips curved faintly. He touched Ji Luo’s lower abdomen. “That stinking Daoist severed our marriage bond. I have to avenge this.”
“Daoist Yue and the others saved my life, so I owe them a debt of gratitude. They meant well for me too. You and I are family now, so you’re not allowed to seek revenge on them.” Ji Luo tugged at his ear. “My younger brother Ji Chen is another matter. Both your death and mine are tied to him.”
Lu Yu said unhappily, “Why not just kill all of them?”
Ji Luo knitted his brows. “Which of us is the head of this household?”
Lu Yu: “…You are, of course, Brother Luo.”
“Then listen to me.” Ji Luo nodded in satisfaction. “I’ve never seen what the underworld looks like. Take me out for a look.”
* * *
Ye Shijiu glanced at the red thread Yue Jingming had wound around his little finger, copied him exactly, and tied one around Liang Yun’s finger as well. He had memorized the incantation without missing a single word.
Yue Jingming fell silent for a moment. “When did you learn the Soul-Guiding Art?”
“What Soul-Guiding Art?” Ye Shijiu looked confused, then suddenly realized. “So this is the Soul-Guiding Art? That female ghost scared my soul right out of my body. I thought, well, people can’t hit ghosts, so it’d be much easier to beat them if I turned into a soul too. Then I dragged Brother Liang’s soul out with mine.”
Liang Yun nodded. “That’s what happened. Those wandering ghosts were pretty easy to talk to, though. They kindly escorted us into the underworld as long as we burned them a little paper money.”
Yue Jingming opened his mouth, then closed it again. He gave each of them a talisman and told them to conceal the conspicuous golden light and purple qi covering their bodies. “The two of you stand out too much down here. Keep a low profile in everything, or the consequences could be disastrous.”
Liang Yun nodded repeatedly, carefully pasted the talisman over his heart, then gathered the red thread and held it in his palm. “All right, all right. I haven’t lived nearly enough yet.”
Ye Shijiu had already started trying to wrap even more red thread around his finger when he was promptly smacked on the head.
Xiao Chunhe signaled at him with his eyes. Guilty, Ye Shijiu looked toward the dark-faced Yue Jingming, quietly straightened the thread and hid it in his sleeve, then gave an obedient smile. “Master, I’ll do everything you say.”
Xiao Chunhe slung his arms companionably around Ye Shijiu and Liang Yun, and golden light and purple qi instantly enveloped him. Ye Shijiu curiously poked his arm. “Martial Uncle, how did you get all furry?”
“Really? Huh, you are!” Liang Yun exclaimed. “Brother Chunhe, even your soul is a fox spirit?”
Xiao Chunhe grinned. “Naturally. I’m a great demon who rules over an entire region—”
Before he could finish, the red thread around his finger was suddenly yanked hard. His whole body toppled backward, only for a hand to catch him firmly at the back. Its owner spoke coldly. “Watch where you’re going.”
Xiao Chunhe looked at the golden light and purple qi clinging to his sleeve and was about to hide it away when, in the next instant, Yue Jingming’s faint golden light repelled all of it.
Xiao Chunhe understood at once and muttered, “Petty.”
Yue Jingming gave him a bland look. “Mm.”
Xiao Chunhe viciously rubbed himself against Yue Jingming and came away coated in a broad swath of golden light.
The Human-Head Ghost lived in a remote place, and his house was strange as well. Countless doors had been cut into its walls, each only about the size of a human head. The openings slid up and down like abacus beads being flicked by someone, and every so often a human head rolled out, a white thread trailing from each neatly severed neck.
Xiao Chunhe called politely, “Any ghosts home?”
A head rolled down from the highest little door and landed in front of Xiao Chunhe. It opened its mouth and spat out a slip of paper. Three lines, written in handwriting like a dog’s scrawl, read:
【Closed today.】
【No visitors.】
【Please forgive the inconvenience.】
Xiao Chunhe looked at Yue Jingming. “What do we do? He’s taking the day off.”
Before Yue Jingming could answer, Liang Yun said, “Mr. Ghost, we really have an urgent matter and need to save someone. We’ll pay extra. How about ten times the usual amount?”
Another head dropped down and stared eye to eye with Liang Yun before spitting out a slip of paper:
【Poverty cannot shake me; wealth and honor cannot corrupt me.】
Elio’s Notes: This line comes from the Mencius, describing a person whose principles cannot be shaken by poverty or corrupted by wealth and status. Here, the ghost is deploying classical moral philosophy to defend his day off.
【Not even a hundred times.】
【Closed today.】
Ye Shijiu said, “Why don’t we just smash open his ghost nest, drag him out, and beat him until he talks?”
A third head tumbled down in a panic and spat out three slips of paper with a clatter:
【Insolence!】
【You scoundrels!】
【An utter disgrace to refinement!】
【Arrogant brat!】
【Get lost!】
【If you don’t leave, this old man will stop being polite!】
Yue Jingming said, “All things depend on a fated connection. Since we are not fated to meet him today, we should simply find another way.”
Xiao Chunhe sighed and waved his fan. “Looks like that’s all we can do.”
Liang Yun said regretfully, “I can’t believe he has no interest in money.”
Ye Shijiu said, “Those are rules for ghosts. We aren’t ghosts, so why should we follow their rules?”
Xiao Chunhe: “Huh?”
Liang Yun: “Huh!”
The three exchanged a look, then turned in unison toward Yue Jingming.
Yue Jingming: “…”
The four of them looked at one another, then wordlessly turned to meet the gazes of all those ghost heads.
Inside, the Human-Head Ghost was drinking tea and listening to opera when he heard the opera warbling away, followed by a tremendous series of crashes, ghostly wails, and the whole house shaking. Heads and treasures rained down from the ceiling. He clutched his own head and darted around the room until one of the falling heads struck him squarely in the forehead. His vision went black, and he fainted.
When he woke, four figures stood before him: a handsome, otherworldly Daoist with limitless prospects; a beauty transformed from a fox whose demonic qi surged powerfully; a young man overflowing with purple qi and the bearing of an emperor; and a youth whose merit shone brightly enough to blind a ghost.
He blinked hard, only to notice strange black qi coiling around all four of them. Each possessed a road to astonishing future success that seemed to reach the heavens, yet every one of those roads showed faint signs of being severed. He was immediately alarmed.
“Old man, your eyes are about to pop out.” Ye Shijiu crouched and looked at the little ghost, who stood only as high as a human head. “You’re the Human-Head Ghost?”
The Human-Head Ghost jumped onto the table, planted his hands on his hips, and said, “That I am. You lot aren’t ghosts of the underworld at all. You’re perfectly good living people, yet you barged into the underworld. Aren’t you afraid of being detained and losing your hidden virtue? Hurry back!”
“Elder, we came because we have an important matter to ask of you.” Yue Jingming spoke courteously. “Please help clear up our doubts.”
The Human-Head Ghost snapped, “Is this how you ask a ghost for help?”
Xiao Chunhe smiled at him. “If you still refuse, we won’t be asking anymore.”
The Human-Head Ghost took a wary step back. “What are you planning? This is the underworld. You can’t run wild here.”
Liang Yun carried over a huge pile of ingots. The Human-Head Ghost nearly vanished beneath the golden mound and stammered, “E-even if you have money, the answer is still no.”
Liang Yun brought over another pile.
The Human-Head Ghost swallowed. “Goodness, this isn’t about the money. You should at least tell me why you’re here so I can decide whether I can help.”
Yue Jingming then gave him Ji Luo and Lu Yu’s names and places of origin. “Please tell us where Lu Yu is now.”
The Human-Head Ghost still wanted to hold out, but the fox demon and the boy blazing with merit were both staring at him like predators. One was visibly impatient, with killing intent beginning to leak out; the other had an obviously wicked mind and looked as though he was plotting something unpleasant.
He hurriedly said, “Don’t rush me. I’ll check.”
The palm-sized little ghost jumped atop a stack of registers piled all the way to the ceiling. Dense ranks of human heads answered his summons and began flipping through the books with him. The room instantly filled with the endless flutter of pages. Some ghost heads stuck out their tongues, some dropped their eyeballs, and some fought with one another. It was pure chaos.
Xiao Chunhe leaned toward Liang Yun. “Where did you get so many ingots?”
Liang Yun lowered his voice. “I ran into my family ancestors on the way here. They’re extremely rich. They saw I was new to life as a ghost and didn’t know my way around, so they gave me some ingots for expenses.”
Xiao Chunhe ground his teeth. “So that’s how it is.”
If only he had known. When he was still up above, he would have burned far more paper money and big chicken drumsticks for his fox ancestors!
“Found it!” The Human-Head Ghost jumped down from the stack clutching a sheet of paper. “Lu Yu, native of Zhangzhou in Great An. Died of an epidemic at three years old. He already reincarnated two years ago.”
All four froze. Yue Jingming asked, “He died at three?”
“That’s right.” The Human-Head Ghost unfolded the sheet for them. “All the registers here are copies of the Book of Life and Death. They cannot be struck through or altered. There can be absolutely no error.”
Xiao Chunhe asked, “What about Ji Luo?”
The Human-Head Ghost took out the next sheet. “Ji Luo has quite a fortunate fate. He was supposed to place first as top scholar and enjoy a smooth official career. He still has thirty-six years of yang lifespan remaining.”
“Wait, wait. Something’s wrong, isn’t it?” Liang Yun said. “Ji Luo never became top scholar.”
“He was supposed to pass two years ago,” the Human-Head Ghost said, completely baffled.
A thought flashed through Xiao Chunhe’s mind. He hurriedly said, “Check Ji Luo’s younger brother. His name is Ji Chen.”
The Human-Head Ghost busied himself again, then raised another sheet. “Found him. Ji Chen’s yang lifespan is almost exhausted. I’d estimate he only has a few days left.”
Ye Shijiu asked, “Then could he have passed as a jinshi?”
“Bah, impossible. That child has no talent for scholarship. He committed too much evil in his previous life, so in this life he was sent to the Ji family to repay his debts,” the Human-Head Ghost said.
“So there really is something wrong here.” Xiao Chunhe stroked his chin. “The real Lu Yu died long ago. Then who is this current ‘Lu Yu’?”
Ye Shijiu said angrily, “Ji Luo must have been harmed b-by that Ji Chen.”
“Good grief, the urgent thing now is finding Ji Luo’s living soul. Brother Yue said earlier that if he can’t return within twelve hours, he’ll truly become a dead soul.” Liang Yun looked anxious. “What are we going to do?”
Yue Jingming asked the Human-Head Ghost, “Are there any fierce ghosts down here who are highly skilled with a long halberd?”
“There are plenty. You could find a whole crowd among generals who died in battle,” the Human-Head Ghost said hesitantly.
“Not a general. One who drowned,” Yue Jingming said.
“Yes, and his halberd can imprison resentful souls for him to command,” Xiao Chunhe added. “He wasn’t old when he died, around twenty-four or twenty-five. He was very tall and powerfully built, but with regular, refined features.”
Yue Jingming nodded. “And judging by his cultivation, he must have at least two or three hundred years of practice—”
His voice stopped. He and Xiao Chunhe met each other’s eyes and spoke at the same time. “The Thousand-Dragon Water Festival!”
When they had entered the gate, every stone figure had stood holding a halberd. Those men had all been skilled martial artists in life and had died violent deaths in the river while only in their twenties. Their resentment would naturally have been profound, and the time that had passed since then also matched. Only…
“The Thousand-Dragon Water Festival sacrificed one hundred men back then. They were all appointed Halberd-Bearing Officers and charged with guarding the underworld’s secret gate beneath the Weisui River,” the Human-Head Ghost said. “Some trouble broke out recently, and a portion of them were transferred to the Wangchuan River to suppress evil ghosts. It’ll be difficult to find the one you want when you don’t even know his real identity.”
Elio’s Notes: Wangchuan literally means “River of Forgetfulness” and is a traditional name for a river of the Chinese underworld.
Difficult as the search might be, if someone had stolen Ji Luo’s fate and then forcibly erased his remaining lifespan, that would be truly wrong.
“Ji Luo still has yang lifespan remaining and is a living soul. That fierce ghost must have picked up the scent of a living soul from him. If we search carefully, we should be able to find him,” Yue Jingming said. “We’ll split into two groups. One will go to the ghost gate, and the other to the Wangchuan River. A Soul-Summoning Talisman should react to him.”
The other three had no objections and prepared to set out.
“Hey, wait.” The Human-Head Ghost called them back. The old fellow glanced awkwardly at the roomful of ingots. “Since you managed to find me, I suppose there is fate between us. And since you’re saving someone and doing a good deed, I’ll give you a magical treasure.”
He formed a hand seal and summoned a writing brush. “This brush is called the Cloudsmoke Brush. Whether a human or ghost holds it, once it touches paper it can write out all the holder’s good and evil deeds, merits and faults. It may be useful to you.”
Holding a brush taller than himself, the Human-Head Ghost looked over the four of them, then finally fixed his gaze on Yue Jingming and handed it to him. “You take it.”
Yue Jingming accepted it. “Many thanks.”
“Of the four of you, your fate is the best. But after getting tangled in all this, who can say what it will become?” The Human-Head Ghost hopped backward onto the pile of books and began to sing in a wavering voice. “Resentment, so be it: beneath the pines, the clear spring is stained by filth. Jealousy, so be it: mortal love, however weighty, scatters like dust. Emperors and generals know no end to greed; celestial beings and immortals suffer without deliverance. They all say—a ghostly heart and evil fruit are hard to tell apart. They all say—the merits and faults of this life dissolve into cloudsmoke.”
The four left the abacus-house behind, yet the mournful, plaintive singing of the Human-Head Ghost still drifted after them. Yue Jingming lowered his eyes to the brush in his hand and turned to look back, only to see a wisp of pale smoke between the ocher sky and blue earth.
Looking more closely, he saw a magnificent palace standing solemnly atop a distant mountain beyond the white river.
“Jingming.” Xiao Chunhe tugged his sleeve. “What is it?”
Yue Jingming suddenly came back to himself, steadied his mind, and said, “Nothing. Let’s go.”