Becoming a Ghost

Prince Zhou fell silent after saying this with a smile.

Zhu Zijin, holding a bowl of iced cheese, froze when his father suddenly went quiet. Only after a moment did he tremblingly reach out a finger to test his breathing.

Pan Yun had already risen and said to the servant waiting nearby, "Prince Zhou has passed away."

With a thud, Zhu Zijin dropped to his knees and burst into tears. In an instant, weeping shook the entire courtyard.

Those who had attended Prince Zhou most closely cried the loudest and hardest. They collapsed onto the ground and wailed at the heavens.

They were not only mourning Prince Zhou. They were mourning themselves even more.

Pan Yun's gaze swept over them and settled on the youngest among them, who was about seventeen.

Over the past two months, Pan Yun had grown familiar with him. He had always been conscientious in his work. His father had followed Prince Zhou into exile in Yunnan, so he had been highly valued from the moment he entered the mansion. At thirteen, he had been promoted to serve at Prince Zhou's side because of his outstanding performance.

He had known since last year that he would be buried alongside Prince Zhou. Last year, he had only been sixteen.

Pan Yun turned and left.

Outside the main courtyard, even more beauties had wept themselves into a heap. The most richly dressed among them was a beautiful woman in her thirties. They were all Prince Zhou's secondary consorts. Had no Imperial Decree arrived, they too would have been required to follow him in Martyrdom Sacrifice.

Princess Consort Gong had originally been among them, but she was no longer there now.

Preparations for Prince Zhou's funeral had long been made. The mansion stewards immediately brought out the prepared supplies, and the mourning hall was erected at top speed. Officials from the Ministry of Rites also helped, quickly guiding Zhu Zijin in dressing Prince Zhou in burial garments, placing him in the coffin, and setting it in the mourning hall.

Pan Yun circled the mourning hall once, silently chanting an incantation scripture. The soul that had been about to disperse and depart slowly solidified. Before long, it condensed into a human form and sat at the head of the coffin.

His face was full of confusion. Pan Yun walked before him, lightly touched a finger to his forehead, and said softly, "Come back to yourself."

Prince Zhou instantly regained his senses. The moment he opened his eyes, he met Pan Yun's smiling gaze.

Prince Zhou: ...

Weeping filled the mourning hall and its surroundings. Prince Zhou stiffly turned back to look at the person lying inside the coffin, and his eyes gradually widened.

He, he, he... had really become a ghost!

This was a brand-new world, a brand-new understanding.

Prince Zhou slowly floated up and drifted about with great interest. He floated out of the mourning hall, out of the courtyard... and then he could float no farther.

He looked back in confusion, then lightly floated back. At first, he was not skilled enough and was constantly swept in the wrong direction by the wind. But gradually, he found the trick. Like a child learning to walk, he could wobble forward according to his own wishes.

He floated before Pan Yun and asked, "Why can't I leave Prince Zhou's Mansion?"

Pan Yun said, "My lord, you only have seven days. If you drift out and cannot find your way back, you may fail to enter the underworld smoothly and become a wandering ghost. It would be very easy for the spirits and monsters outside to devour you. This mansion is protecting you."

"Meow—" Pan Little Black warned that someone was coming.

The moment its cry fell, Xuan Miao pushed open the door and entered. "What are you doing here? Princess Zhou is asking for you. Prince of Xiangfu wants the Sixth Madam to be buried in Martyrdom Sacrifice..."

Xuan Miao's voice abruptly stopped. Her eyes widened as she stared at Prince Zhou's soul floating in midair, curiously craning his neck toward the roof beams.

She shot Pan Yun a fierce look and rebuked her in a lowered voice, "Are you insane?"

In this world, aside from the dead whose obsessions ran especially deep, who might return in spirit and linger among the living after death, ordinary souls could not form human shapes at all. They were merely blurry masses of energy.

They would gradually scatter between heaven and earth. Some Daoists believed this process of dispersal was a return to nature, while others believed it was the process of descending to the underworld and reincarnating.

Only those filled with tremendous resentment or powerful obsession, those unwilling to die and unable to accept their own deaths, would naturally regain consciousness and exist in human form within another space, unseen by ordinary people. People called them ghosts.

Aside from becoming a ghost naturally, there was another method: when a person had just died, one could gather his soul force again and awaken the spirit he had possessed in life, thus turning him into a ghost.

Xuan Miao had caught ghosts in her life and communicated with souls before, but this was the first time she had seen someone deliberately condense a soul into a ghost.

She stepped forward, seized Pan Yun's arm, pulled her behind herself, and warily stared at Prince Zhou.

Prince Zhou: ...

When he had distributed his estate before his death, he had even casually given Xuan Miao a sword. How had he become an enemy in her eyes after just two hours apart?

Pan Yun poked her head out from behind Xuan Miao and explained, "Don't worry. He has all his memories, and this soul is condensed very solidly. He isn't missing a single soul or spirit."

Prince Zhou's heart tightened. He floated down and asked, "A soul can be incomplete?"

"It can. If someone with poor skills summons a soul, they may only summon one soul and one spirit, while the rest scatter throughout heaven and earth," Pan Yun said. "A soul summoned like that will have an incomplete personality. Forgetting things is one matter, but it may also become very vicious."

"But I'm not someone with poor skills," Pan Yun said. "I may be mediocre at other things, but formations, talismans, and soul summoning are what I excel at most. So rest assured, my lord. You are completely whole right now."

Seeing the vivid expression on Prince Zhou's face, Xuan Miao relaxed slightly. But seeing Pan Yun speak of it so lightly, a breath lodged in her chest again.

Just as she was about to speak, the door was pushed open once more. Tao Ji hurried inside. "Junior Sister, what are you doing in here? Princess Consort, the Heir, and Prince of Xiangfu have started arguing."

As Tao Ji spoke, he walked straight through Prince Zhou's soul. Once he had passed through, he shuddered and could not help frowning. "Why is it so gloomy and ghostly in here? You're quite far from the mourning hall..."

Pan Yun's eyes widened. She looked at Tao Ji, then at Prince Zhou's soul, then at Xuan Miao again. Her eyes lit up. "You can't see him?"

Tao Ji asked, "See what?"

Prince Zhou was vigorously waving in front of him. Apparently finding it amusing, he even reached out and stroked Tao Ji's face.

Tao Ji frowned, slapped a hand out before himself, squeezed in beside Xuan Miao, and looked around. "Junior Sister, do you feel it? The yin energy in this room is especially heavy."

"I do," Xuan Miao said helplessly as she bowed to Prince Zhou. "My lord, please spare my third senior brother and stop teasing him."

Tao Ji cried out and jumped three feet into the air, instantly landing in the corner and putting the greatest possible distance between them. "He, he, he—how did he become a ghost?"

Prince Zhou said, "If I became a ghost after dying, what else was I supposed to become?"

Too lazy to explain, Pan Yun scooped up the black cat and headed outside. So not every Daoist in this world could see ghosts like Xuan Miao could.

Pan Yun suddenly had much more confidence.

Smiling brightly, she headed toward the side room beside the mourning hall.

Princess Consort Gong, Zhu Zijin, and Prince of Xiangfu's family were all there.

It was summer now, and the weather was scorching. Usually, a coffin could only remain in state for three to seven days before it had to be moved elsewhere.

Whether it would be buried was another matter, but it certainly could not remain in the mourning hall forever. It could be temporarily housed in a temple, a daoist temple, or another such place while they awaited further Imperial Decrees or visits of condolence from other feudal princes.

But before that, the burial goods and the people to accompany the dead had to be arranged during the period of lying in state. When the time came, those who were to go into the tomb would go into the tomb, and those who were to be carried with the coffin to its temporary resting place would be carried there.

Although Prince Zhou had left instructions before his death for the funeral to be as simple as possible and for there to be no burial goods, some things still had to be included.

Otherwise, not to mention Prince of Xiangfu, even the eunuchs and Ministry of Rites officials present would question Zhu Zijin's filial devotion.

No one objected to the burial goods, but Zhu Zijin and Princess Consort Gong jointly refused to provide people for Martyrdom Sacrifice.

Zhu Zijin said, "Father had a final wish in life. He did not wish for people to die in Martyrdom Sacrifice. I do not want to go against his final wish."

Prince of Xiangfu said, "This is ancestral custom. Besides, your father has gone underground all alone. Rather than sending people down to serve him as an act of filial devotion, you only wish to win a reputation for generosity and kindness. It seems that if one is not a biological son, one truly cannot be thoughtful."

Princess Consort Gong said, "Fourth Uncle, this is also my wish, and it was Prince Zhou's wish. Just as Fourth Uncle said, my husband and I had no children. Prince Zhou always believed it was the karmic sin he incurred from killing too many people while patrolling the border and fighting in his youth.

"Since he began harboring this thought, we treated others generously and performed good deeds to accumulate virtue, hoping only that in our next life we might be blessed with a biological child. Neither Prince Zhou nor I wished for anyone to die in Martyrdom Sacrifice. Doctor Zhang from the Ministry of Rites is here now and should know that Prince Zhou submitted memorials every year asking for Martyrdom Sacrifice in the princely mansion to be abolished. The Heir is acting in accordance with Prince Zhou's final wish."

Doctor Zhang immediately nodded. "That is correct. There was indeed such a matter."

"Then in Doctor Zhang's opinion, is the Heir's action filial?"

After a brief pause, Doctor Zhang nodded. "Following one's father's wishes is naturally filial."

Zhu Youjue asked coldly, "Then how does Sister-in-law intend to handle the matter of accompanying Martyrdom Sacrifice? According to ancestral custom, to prevent elder brother from being lonely or suffering grievances on the road, the six madams of this mansion should have accompanied him in Martyrdom Sacrifice long ago. Does Sister-in-law and the Heir intend to defy the ancestral teachings and forcibly suppress this matter?"

Pan Yun and the other two arrived outside the side room. She poked Tao Ji, who was standing beside her.

Tao Ji shuddered, then immediately said, "What is so difficult about that? Since Prince Zhou submitted a memorial before his death, simply ask the emperor for instruction once more."

Zhu Zijin nodded repeatedly. "Right, right. Whether we follow ancestral custom or Father's final wish, His Majesty will decide. I will submit a memorial to His Majesty at once."

Zhu Youjue looked at the eunuch. "I fear there may not be enough time. It would delay elder brother's auspicious hour."

The eunuch said, "This..."

Princess Consort Gong merely glanced at Nanny Qin.

Nanny Qin immediately stepped forward and slipped a large red envelope into the hands of the eunuch and Doctor Zhang. "There is enough time, enough time. Our mansion will send it to the Capital City by swift horse. We must trouble you two to remain a few more days on official business."

This brazen bribery turned Zhu Youjue's face green, but... whatever he said would be inappropriate, so he swallowed his words again.

Watching from the side, Prince Zhou sighed. "Fourth brother is good at concealing and enduring. If second brother were here, after being choked by Princess Consort like that, he would have smashed up my mourning hall long ago."

Perhaps because he was dead, Prince Zhou had become much more frank. Right in front of Pan Yun and Xuan Miao, he began commenting on his brother.

"Actually, fourth brother is still all right. I originally had no intention of bringing Zijin back, but Princess Consort suddenly began having nightmare after nightmare and sent someone to the Capital City to investigate. Sigh, that child had suffered terribly. It was bad enough that that bastard second brother dumped all the household farmwork on him, but he also beat and scolded him at every turn. There was not a patch of good flesh left on the child's body. I raised him with my own hands, through shit and piss. How could I bear to stand by and watch him die..."

Finding him too long-winded, Pan Yun moved a little farther away. Just then, Prince of Xiangfu was attacking Tao Ji, claiming that his medical skills were poor and that he was a Daoist who played with gods and ghosts. Princess Consort Gong and the Heir had been deceived by him, which was why they had acted so rebelliously.

Tao Ji was not afraid of him and immediately began arguing with him tit for tat. In the end, Doctor Zhang had to step forward and mediate before the two finally stopped.

Pan Yun had come here to guide Zhu Zijin in writing the memorial, and incidentally to brush against Doctor Zhang and the eunuch, planting a little seed so they would have sweet dreams tonight.

There was something slightly lacking when the memorial was sent by the princely mansion itself. But if the two imperial envoys brought it back and put in a few good words for Prince Zhou's Mansion, that would be perfect.

She had not condensed Prince Zhou into a ghost just so he could watch the excitement. He had to contribute something toward fulfilling his own final wish too, didn't he?

The ten lucky numbers for this chapter were numbers ending in 3. Screenshots served as proof, and the deadline for screenshots was before the next chapter was updated.