Side Story
What is a Celestial Master?
A mortal in a Taoist robe, barefoot, carrying a peach wood sword and a string of yellow paper and cinnabar talismans, chanting incantations.
Yan Dan peered through the fire at the young Celestial Master opposite her, feeling that the world was changing too fast and she couldn't keep up with the customs of the mortal world. Celestial Master Tang Zhou was young but already showed signs of being cunning and shrewd. He was handsome and dashing, but as a mortal, he would soon become a bald, shiny-headed uncle. He had great talent for Taoist arts, but when he was reincarnated in his next life, he certainly wouldn't have such a pure soul again...
Qin Qi sat beside her, idly poking at the campfire, and said irritably, "Who said there were ghosts here? We haven't seen a single ghost yet, and it'll be dawn soon!"
"The yin energy is strongest at midnight. It's not time yet," Tang Zhou glanced at her, his tone calm.
Qin Qi clenched her fists, her fingers cracking loudly. "If they come one by one, I'll catch them; if they come in pairs, I'll catch them in pairs..."
Yan Dan thought to herself, With such a fierce demeanor, even ghosts and monsters won't dare to come out. Wasn't it said that if you haven't done anything wrong during the day, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking at your door at night? They only had this much courage—they could only scare guilty mortals. Someone as righteous and determined as Qin Qi, who was so focused on tearing ghosts apart, wouldn't dare come out either.
"Miss Yan, a night wind is picking up here. Why don't you sit upwind?"
Besides Tang Zhou and Qin Qi, another disciple of the Taoist priest had also come along. However, the junior brother had been keeping his head down and not saying a word, so Yan Dan only now noticed him. She figured that with these two senior siblings above him, life wasn't easy for the junior brother.
But, she was sitting downwind now? Upwind... Yan Dan looked at the empty space between Qin Qi and Tang Zhou, her heart trembling.
It seemed... it was better not to sit there.
Yan Dan quickly waved her hand. "Thank you, but it's really unnecessary to go to such trouble. What's a little smoke? — Hey, are you the one who stood by the table earlier, staring at the stewed chicken leg in my bowl but never got to eat it?"
The junior brother's face immediately darkened.
Tang Zhou moved aside. "Come sit down, so you don't get covered in soot."
Yan Dan had no choice but to slowly move over and sit down.
While Qin Qi was looking at the other side, Tang Zhou suddenly whispered in her ear, "What are you afraid of? This exorcism won't affect you."
Yan Dan quickly covered her ears and resolutely moved closer to Qin Qi. Mortals really were the most hypocritical creatures in this world. The books clearly said that men and women should not touch each other, yet he was standing so close.
After a short while, Qin Qi suddenly turned to her junior brother, who was huddled to one side. "Aren't you going to think of something? Are we going to wait forever like this?"
"What should we do... a solution... oh right, I heard someone say that telling some spooky ghost stories can lure out ghosts. First, extinguish the fire, then light forty-nine candles. After telling each ghost story, blow out one candle. When the forty-ninth candle goes out, the ghosts will swarm out."
Yan Dan sighed. Where did he hear that? As a member of the demon and monster community, I've never heard of it before.
Qin Qi rubbed her hands, quite interested. "Okay, okay, let's try it."
Tang Zhou sat with his knees bent, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, watching his two fellow disciples busily gather sand to extinguish the fire, then light the tinderbox and spread dozens of candles on the ground.
Qin Qi arranged the candles, quite excited. "Alright, who wants to tell a story first? Hmm, how about Senior Brother goes first, and we can take turns like this."
Tang Zhou spoke softly to the flickering candlelight. "Once upon a time, there was a couple who lived in the mountains, where there was only one village ten miles away. The couple had a very good relationship. The man chopped firewood, and the woman wove cloth. Whenever there was a market, they would take the firewood and cloth to exchange for other things. Even though they lived a poor life, they didn't care at all."
"Then one day, the man went deep into the mountains to gather firewood. His wife waited from dusk till night, but he didn't come. A heavy rain fell that night, and she thought perhaps the rain had delayed him. But when the weather cleared the next day, her husband was still nowhere to be seen. Extremely anxious, she rushed to a village ten miles away to inquire." Tang Zhou paused, glanced at Yan Dan, and continued, "Because the couple were very kind, many villagers were happy to talk to them. The woman quickly learned that her husband hadn't come to the village at all the day before. The thought of her husband being away in the mountains for a whole day and night made her even more anxious."
The other two fellow disciples listened intently, their eyes fixed on him. Yan Dan, meanwhile, stared at the candle in front of her, wondering what Tang Zhou meant by that glance he had just given her. Was he subtly mocking her, or did he have some other purpose? She had no husband, had never been to the mountains to gather firewood, and certainly didn't know how to weave. If it was a veiled insult, she shouldn't have been completely oblivious...
"The woman had no choice but to go into the mountains alone to search. In the end, she only found her husband's axe, which still had bloodstains on it. She felt that her husband was probably dead, but it had rained heavily the night before, washing away the traces on the ground. She couldn't follow the tracks, so she could only go home in tears. Ten days passed like this, and just when she was almost in despair, the man finally returned."
"Overjoyed, she couldn't help but ask her husband where he had been for the past ten days. The man replied that he had gotten lost in the mountains that day and, just as he was at a loss, saw a fire in the woods ahead and went over. There were many people sitting around the fire, including a woodcutter named Huang Sheng from a village ten miles away. He went over and sat down with them. But then, one of the burly men, who was eating a steamed bun, was suddenly tripped by someone's elbow, and his head was severed..."
Qin Qi gasped, while her junior brother immediately tucked his head into his collar. Yan Dan curled her lip, thinking to herself, What's so scary about that? I told the little wolf demon Dan Shu more than a dozen similar stories ten years ago, even using my magic to conjure up a group of living people, and I even made the way the head of one of them fell off look very realistic.
"He and the woodcutter named Huang Sheng were both stunned. After a moment, they desperately ran away, but those headless men actually chased after them. Ten days later, they finally found their way home." Tang Zhou said, turning his head to look at Yan Dan with a smile. "Although her husband said so, the woman still had some doubts. Two days later, these doubts grew even stronger. Since the man's miraculous escape from death, the couple was not as close as before. One day, the woman went to the market and saw Huang Sheng's wife. She asked her about it, and Huang Sheng's wife was shocked. She told the woman that her husband had been dead for some time, and when he was carried back, his head was separated from his body."
Yan Dan couldn't help but think, Why is he staring at me like that while telling a story? There must be something strange about it.
"The woman returned home uneasily, only to find her husband looking down and searching for something. She dared not face him and turned to leave. But after only two steps, she felt a pair of arms embrace her, and her husband's familiar voice rang in her ears..."
Tang Zhou suddenly leaned over and hugged Yan Dan's waist from behind, saying softly, "I don't know where my head is. Have you seen it?"
Yan Dan was disdainful. He thought he could scare her like that? He was way off. Anything she said would be far more interesting. She turned her head away, but the timing was perfect. His lips brushed past her cheek and stopped on hers. She jolted, forcefully pushing Tang Zhou away and scrambling to Qin Qi's side. "Where's the water? It's filthy, waah..."
A water bag was handed to her from the side. Without even looking, she took it and began washing her lips. It was terrifying! She had just kissed a mortal, and Tang Zhou at that! Would washing her lips a hundred times be enough?
Seeing her pitiful state, as if she had suffered a terrible humiliation, Tang Zhou frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "What you're holding seems to be my water bag."
This bolt of lightning struck her like thunder from the blue. Yan Dan stiffly turned her head to look at him. "Huh?"
Tang Zhou turned to Qin Qi. "Looks like she's scared. You go first."
Qin Qi patted Yan Dan's back and said crisply, "Don't be sad. It's just a kiss. If you feel like you've lost out, just kiss him back. Senior brother, don't you think?"
Tang Zhou was very pleased. "Junior sister is right."
Yan Dan squatted on the ground, holding her head, heartbroken.
"...I just said to that ghost, so what if you don't have legs? I don't even have breasts..." Qin Qi exhaled, blew out a candle, and looked at her fellow disciple. "Your turn."
After another round, only a dozen or so candles remained on the ground.
Yan Dan still squatted on the ground, holding her head, without saying a word.
Tang Zhou looked at her, raised an eyebrow slightly, and asked in a low voice, "What are you so sad about? You've already been kissed, and you've washed your lips so many times. Do you really care about this?"
Yan Dan shifted slightly, thinking to herself, That's right, I'm not some virtuous woman from the mortal world. A kiss won't hurt me, and even if it's disgusting, I can just endure it. She raised her head and smiled brightly at Tang Zhou. "I don't care about this kind of thing."
"Is that so? I can tell you care a lot. Is this your first time being kissed?" Tsk tsk, although she's a bit mischievous, she's still pure at heart.
"How could that be? Didn't I tell you I wouldn't care about this kind of thing? It won't hurt me anyway." Yan Dan huffed.
Tang Zhou's face darkened slightly, and he said expressionlessly, "Is that so?" He leaned over and kissed her lips again, saying slowly, "Anyway, you won't take this to heart. One kiss is one kiss, two kisses are one kiss, it doesn't make a difference."
Yan Dan was stunned for a moment, then scrambled to Qin Qi's side, crying, "Water! Where's the water? Waaah..."
Qin Qi looked at her and said crisply, "Don't wipe it, just kiss him back. We may be women, but we can't let men bully us!"
Yan Dan was heartbroken. What kind of disciples did you teach, Daoist Master...
And so Yan Dan spent the longest night of her life.
The most important task, exorcising the ghost, ended in failure.
As dawn broke, groups of dark figures huddled under the shade of trees, whispering amongst themselves.
"Ugh, this is terrifying! What kind of mortals come to the Ghost Forest to tell ghost stories..."
"Shut up! Those aren't ordinary mortals, they're Celestial Masters. They're born to bully us. From now on, if you see a Celestial Master, you must run away as fast as you can, or you'll end up like that demon. Understand?"
"Waaah, that demon is so pitiful. It got bitten twice by that male Celestial Master. How pathetic..."
"I thought demons were so powerful. Aren't they just as afraid of Celestial Masters as we are? Next time, we'll go to Yelan Mountain and drag the mountain lord down there, hmph!"
Yan Dan walked at the very back of the group, and these whispers drifted into her ears on the wind.
This was intolerable...
She should have been patient, but how could these ghosts be so despicable?
She turned and strode quickly to the shadowy tree where the dark figures gathered, her voice chillingly cold. "I'm pathetic, aren't I? You want to invade Yelan Mountain and even bring down the Mountain Lord, is that it?" A sinister voice, like that of the underworld, echoed. "Die, all of you..."
The ghosts scattered in terror.
Qin Qi remarked admiringly, "I always thought Miss Yan was delicate and frail, unable to lift anything but chopsticks, but I never imagined she was so formidable. I truly underestimated her."
Tang Zhou pondered, "Hmm, she seems quite angry..."
Yan Dan stood there with her arms crossed, large groups of dark figures kneeling at her feet. The figures, their voices trembling with sobs, cried pitifully, "Mountain King, spare us! Mountain King..."
From that moment, the Ghost Forest returned to tranquility.
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