Ghost Street

Chapter 28: Ghost Street

"Why open the Spirit Medium now of all times? This is practically asking for trouble. I'm in a haunted neighborhood, and activating my Spirit Medium means I could be targeted by the ghosts here. The danger will be even greater."

Li Yi gritted his teeth, wishing he could forcefully halt his body's evolution.

But that was impossible.

The life-or-death trial he just experienced had allowed Li Yi to take that crucial step on the path of cultivation. This was thanks to the vast amount of Cosmic Energy his body had absorbed over time.

This energy had merely been stored within him, not yet activated.

So, Li Yi's activation of the Spirit Medium now wasn't a coincidence, but a natural progression.

"Perhaps there's still a chance to leave before my Spirit Medium is fully active," Li Yi thought, fleeing the silent street with all his might.

However, the further he ran, the more 'people' appeared around him. They became more complete and clearer in his vision. Several cold, lifeless figures had already spotted him, their gazes subtly shifting to follow his movements. Yet, these figures didn't make any overt moves.

Even so, Li Yi felt a growing sense of dread.

He could even smell a strange stench of decay, and his skin could feel the chilling aura emanating from the figures as they passed by.

The street grew more crowded.

At first, he could ignore the eerie figures and simply walk through them; the phantoms didn't react at all. But as time went on, Li Yi no longer dared. He could only cautiously skirt around them, sensing that if he tried to pass through them again, he would collide with them.

"I can't get out. I'm trapped here."

Soon, Li Yi abruptly stopped. He stood on the bizarre street, completely disoriented.

Eerie figures constantly moved back and forth. The surrounding buildings had also changed, no longer resembling their previous appearance. Scarlet lanterns hung high overhead, casting a red glow. On top of that, strange noises filled his ears – sounds he couldn't understand.

It was like whispers in his ear, or perhaps a peculiar dialect.

At this moment, Li Yi felt as if he were in an unfamiliar world, no longer in the dangerous area he knew.

But then, Suddenly.

A passing figure stopped abruptly beside him and stared intently at Li Yi with dull, lifeless, gray eyes.

Li Yi felt a chill crawl up his spine. He felt that the person wasn't alive, but a cold corpse.

And it wasn't just one.

A second, a third. More eerie 'people' around him stopped one after another, all turning to look at him in unison.

It seemed Li Yi, a living person, stood out starkly here. His aura had attracted the attention of many of these strange individuals.

Li Yi realized he had become too conspicuous by blending in.

He desperately wanted to escape, but there was nowhere to go. He was surrounded.

"I'm probably going to die here. No wonder Brother Tao warned me to avoid this area."

Li Yi's heart pounded, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He saw a deathly pale, eerie figure walking directly towards him.

Then, a second, third, fourth—more and more ghostly beings gathered, all with him as their target.

No way out, nowhere to flee.

At this moment, Li Yi was in a desperate situation.

But just then, suddenly, a chilling figure dressed in a paper burial shroud quickly approached and grabbed Li Yi's arm with a rough, wrinkled hand.

"Huh?"

Li Yi, tense all over, instinctively resisted, unleashing all his strength to try and shake off the hand.

But strangely, the hand held on tightly, impossible to break free.

"Such strength! Young man, are you crazy? Standing on Ghost Street like this? Aren't you afraid of death? Quick, come with me." A deep, middle-aged male voice spoke. His accent was strange, like an unknown dialect, but Li Yi could understand him.

Li Yi's eyes narrowed. Only then did he notice that the figure in the paper clothing wasn't a ghost, but a living person in disguise.

"Okay."

He agreed without hesitation.

The person in the paper clothes then threw something at him: "Put on this hood to mask your living aura. Otherwise, the ghosts here will keep staring at you. If you encounter any ghost soldiers, you're dead. Now, stop talking. If you say any more, I'll be noticed by the ghosts."

Li Yi instinctively took the hood.

It felt soft but incredibly cold, and it emitted a rotten corpse smell.

This wasn't an ordinary mask; it looked like a human skin mask peeled from a dead person's head.

But Li Yi couldn't afford to be picky now. He didn't want to die here confused. He immediately put the hood on.

And strangely.

As soon as he put on the mask, the eerie gazes around him retracted. The ghosts stopped approaching him and, after a brief observation, gradually dispersed.

The person in the paper clothes pulled Li Yi and quickly moved through the street.

Li Yi didn't resist.

The person led Li Yi left and right, then into an alley. Oddly, this alley didn't exist in the dangerous area, and its style didn't look like modern architecture. The surroundings were all blue bricks and grey tiles, as if they had suddenly stepped back into ancient times.

Li Yi didn't speak, observing and secretly memorizing the route so he wouldn't get lost and unable to return later.

Soon, the person brought Li Yi to a large door in an alley and stopped.

The door was an old double wooden door, pasted with two severely faded Door Gods. The Door Gods looked peculiar, not the familiar Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong, but the more ancient Shen Tu and Yu Lei. Furthermore, the text on the door was not modern script. As for what font it was, Li Yi didn't recognize it, as his education wasn't very high, and he hadn't studied this area.

"Knock, knock, knock!" The person in the paper clothing knocked on the wooden door.

After a while.

The wooden door opened, and a woman about seventeen or eighteen years old stood behind it. She had her hair in a bun and wore a silk skirt.

She didn't speak, merely stepping aside immediately to make way.

The person then immediately pulled Li Yi into the courtyard.

Only then did the young woman hurriedly close the door and lower the bolt.

"Dad, are you alright?" After closing the door, the young woman dared to speak.

"I'm fine. I just went for a walk and came back. Didn't find anyone selling medicine, but I did pick up a rather strange young man." The middle-aged man said, carefully taking off the paper clothing he was wearing, afraid of tearing it if he used too much force.

Once the paper clothing was completely removed, Li Yi could finally see the man clearly through the holes in the head covering.

He was a thin, slightly hunched middle-aged man with an ordinary face full of wrinkles. He had grown his hair and beard, looking like someone from ancient times.

"It's safe here now. The Door Gods at the entrance haven't completely faded yet and can still protect this place. Ghosts from outside can't get in. You can take off the head covering now," the middle-aged man said.

Hearing this, Li Yi immediately removed the head covering and took a deep breath. The smell inside had been unbearable.

"Tsk tsk, truly the world is full of wonders. No soul wandering, no dressing up as a dead person in a burial suit, and yet a living person like you just barged into Ghost Street and is still alive. How did you manage that?" The middle-aged man circled Li Yi a few times, clicking his tongue in amazement as he examined him.

"It's a long story. I was being chased by a ferocious beast and accidentally ran here. When I arrived, this wasn't Ghost Street yet, but as I walked, I got trapped and couldn't get out," Li Yi explained briefly.

"An accident?" The middle-aged man nodded. "That's somewhat plausible. Young man, what's your name?"

"Li Yi."

"Do you have a courtesy name?" the middle-aged man asked again.

"Courtesy name?" Li Yi was stunned for a moment, then understood.

Ancient people not only had given names but also courtesy names.

Having a courtesy name indicated a certain family background and education, meaning they weren't common folk.

Li Yi quickly made one up: "Courtesy name: Mengde."

"Mengde? The meaning of brave and virtuous. A good name. It seems the person who gave you your courtesy name upon your coming-of-age was not ordinary."

The middle-aged man's eyes lit up slightly, then he nodded. "This old man is Zhao Ge, and this is my daughter, Zhao Qian. We are ordinary folk, without courtesy names. Please forgive us."

He then cupped his hands in a salute, looking somewhat ashamed.

"Not at all, not at all." Li Yi immediately imitated him, returning the salute, while inwardly wondering if he had truly arrived in another world.

Or was everything here fake, a hallucination produced before his death?