VL Chapter3

Humans were a fragile species, and Yan Jiang was among the weakest of them all. After collapsing into unconsciousness, he developed a high fever in the early hours of the morning.

Living alone and on poor terms with his neighbors, he lay sprawled helplessly on the floor, entirely by himself with no one at his side to care for him. He was plagued by a chaotic barrage of nightmares for a full day and a half, until the third day at noon, when the urgent pangs of hunger and thirst barely forced him awake.

Yan Jiang strained to open his eyes, which were encrusted with sleep. It took him a long, dazed moment before his vision finally managed to come into focus. Bright daylight poured in, leaving the dilapidated state of the thatched cottage nowhere to hide. It was his familiar home, yet from an unfamiliar perspective. Only then did he realize he was lying on the floor in the corner of the room, his body burning hot and completely drained of strength.

Immediately, the terrifying experience from before he blacked out rushed back into his mind.

The bone-chilling ghost mist, the fleeting glimpse of the headless male corpse, the eerie song that still seemed to linger in his ears, and that sentence that had drifted into him at the moment his consciousness slipped away, which he hadn’t had time to comprehend:

“You look decent enough. This venerable one shall spare your life to serve as an attendant.”

He was still alive?

He was still alive!

Yan Jiang abruptly rolled over and sat up.

Because the movement was too sudden, his vision went pitch black. His hands quickly grasped the wooden cabinet beside him, just barely managing to steady himself and avoid collapsing back onto the floor.

Frowning, he gradually forced himself through the dizziness, and after a long moment, his vision finally began to clear. When he looked around, he saw that the inside of the house was in complete disarray. The few pieces of furniture he owned were knocked askew, and the wooden stools, which were already extremely old, had splintered into a pile of firewood in the corner. Everything looked utterly wretched.

—But fortunately, it was still his familiar home. The blazing sun, which the thatched roof could not block out, warmed the air comfortably. There was no terrifying chill, nor did he see anything he shouldn’t have.

Lingering fear, tangled with the relief of having narrowly escaped death, tightened in his throat. Yan Jiang stared blankly around the room for a long time, the corners of his eyes slowly growing faintly red. “Father… Mother…” he whispered into the empty air, unsure who he could possibly turn to to pour out his grievances.

Lowering his head to rub his eyes, he belatedly realized that a thin quilt was actually covering his body. Not daring to think too deeply about it, he hurriedly threw it far away like a hot potato.

He was still sick, his high fever yet to subside, but after forcing back his tears, his mind cleared a little. Realizing he could no longer remain there, he dragged himself up from the ground and stumbled blindly toward the bedroom. With unsteady hands and weak legs, he lifted the frayed straw mat on the bed, shifted aside the wooden plank beneath it, and retrieved a small wooden box holding his savings from all these years. He shoved it into his tunic and bolted out the door.

Outside, as far as the eye could see, lay barren land. Even in the most remote corner of the village, the blazing sun left no room for any eerie chill, making it feel as though his encounter with the supernatural two nights ago was nothing but a grand dream. Yan Jiang paused for a moment. Glancing out beneath his window, he saw scattered patches of wet mud, making it all the clearer that what had happened was no dream.

There really was a ghost. In Aimei Village, inside his very home, there was a ghost.

He broke into a stumbling run, barefoot and in a miserable state, half-crawling and half-running as he fled through the village. Fortunately, almost all the villagers were out in the fields at this hour, so he didn’t run into anyone. It was only when he rounded the corner by old Physician Wang’s dilapidated courtyard at the edge of the village that he nearly slammed headfirst into Old Woman Huang.

Yan Jiang braced himself with one hand against the nearby fence. Whether from fright or illness, his face was flushed red as he gasped heavily for air. To his surprise, the moment the crazed old woman saw him, her muddy eyes suddenly widened to their absolute limits. The deep wrinkles on her face bunched together filled with sheer terror.

“He’s here… He’s here!” She shrieked in a piercing voice. “Everyone’s going to die! Everyone’s going to die—!”

Years ago, before she lost her mind, Old Woman Huang’s leg had been smashed by a hoe. It hadn’t healed properly, leaving her with a severe limp, yet at this moment, she seemed completely cured. She turned and ran incredibly fast; her screams shrill and agonizing as if Yan Jiang were the terrifying monster.

In this village, no one ever paid attention to the mad ramblings of that old woman. Two days earlier, Yan Jiang would have done the same.

But today, he couldn’t afford to ignore it. Yan Jiang’s legs went weak, and he nearly failed to keep his footing as cold sweat dripped from the tip of his nose down into his collar.

Who was coming? And who was going to die?

The sudden sprint had left his chest aching with exhaustion. He couldn’t help but cough violently a few times, using the moment to claw back a bit of sanity.

That’s right, he had to escape quickly right now; the further away, the better.

With no regard left for image or propriety, Yan Jiang clutched his silver box tightly and ran out of Aimei Village. For a single copper coin, he caught a ride on a passing donkey cart and headed straight toward the center of the county seat. From years of setting up stalls in bustling markets, he knew that Hongxiu House, the largest brothel in the county seat, was the most lavish establishment of its kind across all eighteen villages of Jin County. Such pleasure quarters remained brightly lit all through the night, filled with a constant influx of vigorous men. With such thriving energy and heavy masculine yang, he figured this was the only place where sinister, ghostly entities wouldn’t dare approach.

Muddled by wild thoughts along the way, he failed to notice the pointing and staring of passersby as he dived headfirst into the pleasure district, making a beeline for the Hongxiu House. When the Madam first saw him arriving in tattered white clothes that were dirty and wrinkled, she nearly mistook Yan Jiang for a beggar and immediately called for the bouncers to throw him out. It was only when he eagerly pulled out his silver that she reluctantly accepted him as a guest, calling over a waiter to lead him up to a third-floor guest room.

His face flushed red as Yan Jiang hurriedly and repeatedly offered thanks, too pressed for time to even feel embarrassment. Once he entered the guest room, he politely asked the waiter to help brew his medicine and bring it upstairs. Then, forcing his weak body to move, he changed out of his clothes, which were stained with dirt and dried urine. Finally, as the sky gradually darkened, he managed to settle down. Accompanied by the lively chatter rising from downstairs, he lay down on the daybed.

He had no other choice; he was a frail scholar, and dragging his sick body this far was already his absolute limit. He felt too miserable and had to rest first. Not daring to extinguish the candle, he lay stiff and flat, repeatedly reassuring himself to suppress his panic as he forced his mind toward sleep.

Although terrifying images kept rushing to the forefront of his mind the moment he closed his eyes, the effects of the medicine eventually gained the upper hand. As he lay there, he unconsciously drifted off to sleep.

It was a dreamless night.

He slept exceptionally soundly, spared from the nightmares he had anticipated. By the time he woke up, the day was already bright outside. Occasional footsteps echoed past his door as the men who had stayed the night began leaving the establishment one after another.

Yan Jiang sat frozen on the bed.

With his illness now cured, his mind cleared, allowing him to recall many details he had overlooked the day before. He lifted the quilt and drew up his legs to inspect them, and sure enough, there was a red mark on the top of his foot; a scratch from when he had fallen that night.

With a trembling hand, Yan Jiang reached out to touch the thin layer of new skin. It had already perfectly melded with the surrounding flesh. For someone who had been sick, it had healed far too quickly.

It was completely unnatural.

Old Woman Huang’s crazed ramblings still echoed in his ears, along with that sentence he had heard before losing consciousness, “Spare your life to serve…”

A single encounter with the supernatural had already taken half his life. If that filthy thing had truly set its sights on him, how many days did he have left to live?

Yan Jiang was genuinely terrified. He stared fixedly at the scar, not daring to take a heavy breath for a long time. Suddenly snapping back to his senses, he grabbed the silver box from the bedside, opened it, and carefully counted his savings three separate times.

There was barely anything left.

The scholar pursed his lips while clutching the coins as he weighed his options for a long time.

Half an hour later, he checked out of his room anyway, sneaking out of the pleasure district.

Jin County was not a particularly large place.

Located at the very center, the county seat could be considered somewhat affluent, surrounded by eighteen subordinate townships. Hushi Township was one of them, which was further divided into four villages, including Aimei Village, where Yan Jiang lived, and Luowang Village, where he went to set up his stall every day.

Yan Jiang absolutely did not dare return to Hushi Township. He planned to flee toward the northwest, in the opposite direction of Hushi Township, to find a place to settle down in Yuesan Township before making further plans.

The peaceful night he spent without incident brought him a bit of comfort. He was just a commoner completely on his own, holding no grudges against anyone and having no disputes with the world. There was no logical reason for a ghost to fixate on him and haunt him.

By this time, it was already near noon. In summer, the days were longer, and there were still about five hours before nightfall; if he quickened his pace without stopping to rest, he should just barely be able to make it before dark. Donkey carts carrying goods passed by from time to time, their drivers calling out to pedestrians in invitation. Yan Jiang glanced at them twice, then looked at the meager coins in his hand, and in the end still shook his head at the drivers, signaling that he would not be taking a ride.

Instead, he used the few copper coins he saved as a donation, dropping by a somewhat popular temple on his way out of the county seat to pray for a protective amulet before continuing his journey.

On the crimson paper pouch, Buddhist script was written, bearing the words: “Peace and Myriad Blessings.”

Yan Jiang felt as though he was gripping his very hope for survival while holding it in his hand.

 You can unlock the full uncensored version in EPUB format HERE!