Cheng Xu felt certain he was dead. Stones crashed and tumbled toward him, plummeting straight down. However he considered it, he saw no sliver of hope for survival.

With a thunderous rumble, mud and stones swallowed him, plunging his world into utter blackness.

The face of his grandmother appeared. Amidst the darkness, a withered hand grasped Cheng Xu’s calf, dragging him deeper underground, pulling with fierce strength…

He waited quietly, resigned to hurtling into hell, where he would reunite with his grandmother beneath the springs.

But then!

A deafening crack sounded overhead. Something seemed to shift away. Sunlight pierced the darkness, bathing him in its glow. The withered hand touched by the sunlight scattered into ash instantly.

Only then did Cheng Xu realize—he hadn’t been buried. Some invisible wall shielded him at the center; only mud had covered him up to his calves.

What shielded me?

He tried to reach out, but the unseen barrier moved. With a roar, it blasted all surrounding mud and stones away. Between its stillness and fury, a terrifying divine might unfurled, freezing Cheng Xu with dread.

Had he not stood at this power’s heart, he would have fled in panic. But now—he didn’t even know which way to flee.

Huh?

Wait—direction!

The unseen force sketched a massive arrow upon the earth, pointing northeast.

Panic seized Cheng Xu.

What does this mean?

No idea!

But he couldn’t defy it.

Heart hammering, he lifted his feet and trudged northeast.

After several hundred meters, another giant arrow materialized on the ground ahead, still aimed northeast, though slightly askew.

He kept following.

Armored, heavy, and utterly exhausted from long flight and battling Imperial Guards, Cheng Xu could hardly walk. Trembling, he followed the arrows.

Night deepened, deepened still.

As twilight finally vanished, the guiding arrows vanished too. Lifting his head, he saw a towering fortress rise ahead—pitch-dark and forbidding. Weak oil lamps glowed on its fortress walls, where two listless sentinels patrolled listlessly…

Cheng Xu startled. “Gaojia Village!”

He recalled his visits here, and Bai Yuan’s words: Entering Gaojia Village at night meant death. Zheng Yanfu and Zhuang Guangdao lost their lives that way.

“Why? Why lead me here?”

Suddenly, he understood. “So at the moment when the mud and stones crushed me… I already died. Fooled myself into thinking something saved me. That was just illusion. I’ve crossed from the living world into the underworld—only bypassing Naihe Bridge, never drinking Granny Meng’s soup.”

“Grandmother, you must be waiting for me in night-shrouded Gaojia Village. Your great-grandson comes to bring you joy once more.”

Dragging his worn body, Cheng Xu shuffled step by step toward Gaojia Fortress’ gate.

The two sentinels on the fortress wall watched him with odd expressions—yet gave no alarm. Almost as if they’d awaited him.

Ignoring them, Cheng Xu stumbled to the gate. Just as he raised his hand to knock—

The gate creaked open. Thirty-Two stood within, holding a lifeless lantern, mouth twisting into a grim smile.

“Commander Cheng, please enter. We’ve waited long for you.”

Cheng Xu figure since he was already dead anyway, what else was there to fear? He paid no mind to Thirty-Two’s eerie smile—so what if you’re a ghost? You can only eat living people. I’m dead—you think I’d fear being eaten?

He strode right into the fortress!

Thirty-Two glided silently beside him: “The general’s schemes were exposed, hunted by the Imperial Guards?”

Cheng Xu wasn’t surprised he knew. It’d be stranger if he didn’t: “Hmph, so I died.”

Thirty-Two: “Not necessarily.”

Cheng Xu: “Where’s my grandmother? Did she send you to fetch me?”

Thirty-Two: “The Eunuch Party has fallen?”

Cheng Xu scoffed, his laugh thick with self-mockery: “Overnight, every civil official started attacking them. Back then, I just clung to the Eunuch Party’s coattails to climb higher, got this patrol officer position… and now I’m condemned as one. The Emperor wants me dead. The officials all want me dead… So the Imperial Guards cooked up an excuse to execute me…”

Thirty-Two chuckled darkly: “Was it truly just a cooked-up excuse?”

Cheng Xu: “…”

Awkward.

Fine, lying and exaggerating reports had become such a habit in life—he couldn’t shake it even now. Even in the afterlife, he reflexively fibbed about critical matters. Damn it, what a rotten habit.

Lies might fool the living, but not ghosts.

Cheng Xu smirked grimly: “Well said, Third Lady. What’s the point of false words when I’m already dead? I didn’t kill Wang Er. Faked a head to cover it up. And whose fault was THAT? Those damned officials! If I hadn’t lied about Wang Er’s death, I’d have met my grandmother even sooner.”

Anger flashed through him: “I had just a hundred men! How was I supposed to control a whole county like Chengcheng? THOUSANDS of rebels? Goddamn it! They forced me to lie! Tell the truth? Dead. Lie? Also dead. That cursed emperor and those rotten officials gave me no way out. Everything I did was just trying to survive. Why wouldn’t anyone let me fucking live?”

“From the moment Zhang Yaocai demanded those taxes—no, from the day the drought began—my foot was already in Hell’s door. Hahahaha!” His laugh turned shrill, choked with bitterness. “Truth is, I was long dead… just buried today. HAHAHAHA!”

“Who the hell’s cackling like a ghost at night? SHUT IT! Let people sleep, won’t you?”

“Laugh again and I’ll beat you dead!”

Angry shouts erupted from nearby residential buildings—two different voices: Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu.

Cheng Xu’s laughter died instantly. A question mark slowly rose over his head: “?”

Wasn’t this a Ghost Village?

Ghosts… slept?

No—that shout had said, “let people sleep.”

Living people?

No, no—think broader. Dead people are people!

“Let people sleep” must mean disturbing the departed’s rest.

He’s probably lying in his coffin.

Cheng Xu stopped laughing. Truth be told, he wasn’t in the mood anyway.

Face stony, he followed Thirty-Two. They wound through endless corridors, twisting and turning, until they reached the watchtower. Gao Yiye stood waiting.

Cheng Xu thought: A female ghost! Finally meet the most powerful specter in this Gao family Ghost Village, huh? I’m just a new ghost—gotta obey, or I’m doomed… Wait, what am I scared of? I’m already doomed.