Southern Dragon City, on the outskirts, at the City God Temple.
Blinding sunlight shone on the procession outside the temple.
Standing at the temple entrance was the On-Duty City God, wearing a square hat and a loose robe.
Beside him stood someone wearing a hat made of spirit money. A wrinkled piece of dark red flesh riddled with tiny holes hung over his face, a grisly sight. A closer look revealed that it was probably a lung. Rings of bloodstained chicken feathers encircled his wrists and ankles.
Another person beside them wore official robes, holding a book in one hand and a brush in the other, his expression stern.
Below stood two people with extremely crude papier-mâché hats almost a meter tall perched on their necks: Horse-Face and Ox-Head. Their hats had been smeared bright red with blood, making them particularly glaring under the sunlight.
Wuchang wore black-and-white robes, with an iron chain wound around his shoulders. His bearing was sinister, his gaze sharp.
People dressed as servants held signs demanding silence and that bystanders give way. Many others had gongs and drums hanging at their waists.
Farther back were two sedan chairs, each carried by sixteen people. Their curtains were drawn; inside were presumably statues of the City God and the City God's Lady.
Besides these typical Underworld Runner costumes, at least two or three hundred others wore strange outfits, their rustic simplicity tinged with menace.
"Why haven't they arrived yet?" The person dressed as the Chicken-Foot Deity, with a lung lobe hanging over his face, spoke in an exceptionally cold tone. "Are you sure there was nothing wrong with the invitation? Was the time clearly stated?"
The On-Duty City God-Shi Xin-had a light sheen of sweat on his forehead and an uneasy look in his eyes.
"Mao Yousan