While Zhou Zishu was spacing out, a hand quietly landed on his shoulder. Wen Kexing appeared out of nowhere, smiling at him sweetly, “I’ve looked for you all day, where did you go?”

Ignoring the question, Zhou Zishu pointed to the man, “Do you think he’s a real Ghost or not?”

“Hm?” Wen Kexing looked at that direction he was pointing to, disagreeing, “The ghost face indicates that one is no longer able to show his face in broad daylight, who would casually tattoo it on their back without reasons? Though, this unfortunate pal could also have caused offence to someone and that person could have framed him and thrown him out here to execute publicly.”

His words were casual, but many things were revealed to Zhou Zishu: Tattooing the ghost face required a special pigment from a plant called the “Nether plant”, which only existed in the Ghost Valley.

Furthermore, not everyone who entered the Ghost Valley survived – just like not all spirits of the dead could reincarnate or turn into ghosts, they might very well suffer being eradicated completely from the world. That place was an exclusively dog-eat-dog world, and you had to be vigilant of your surroundings to remain alive and earn yourself such a tattoo.

Zhou Zishu stared at the tattooed man pensively. At that moment, the tension was palpable among the crowd, and someone of Hua Shan Sect had suggested burning this person alive.

He suddenly turned away, making his way through the crowd and left briskly.

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Footnotes.

1 From the poem 摸魚兒－雁丘/Birds’ Grave, by Yuan Haowen.

2 From the poem 贈汪倫/For Wang Lun, by Li Bai.

3 白衣 (báiyī) means “white clothes”.

4 天人将死 refers to the dying symptoms called 五衰.

Chapter 25. Baiyi

Wen Kexing was way more interested in the other man than this currently-being-hanged Ghost, so when the former left, he immediately followed. But his steps halted, as the man who was just standing here a few minutes ago had vanished without a trace. Wen Kexing scanned through the big crowd.

Zhou Zishu was like a drop of water in a big ocean; the moment one lost sight of him, his existence would be impossible to be detected. Wen Kexing felt a sense of bewilderment, his eyes narrowed. He scanned the crowd again in concentration, unable to accept defeat; but the other man had really just up and disappeared in front of him like that.

In his heart blossomed an unspeakable feeling that was somewhat akin to how people felt when something slipped away from their grasp, and for some unknown reasons mixed with a little anger.

Even if Wen Kexing successfully cracked the mystery that was his identity and inner thoughts, that man could just disappear anytime he wanted.

He — the one who managed to escape the labyrinth that was Tian Chuang’s — was the most slippery eel one could find on Earth.

Leaving Wen Kexing behind, Zhou Zishu visited a counting house.