The silver moon hung high, spilling a hazy white light that cast a deathly pale filter over everything in the mountain forest.
Whenever a bird or beast called out, Sha Chuan was so frightened that his legs shook and he could barely stand. Several times, he nearly missed his footing high up and tumbled down the stairs.
There was actually no malicious ghost causing trouble, but he was such a coward that he saw danger everywhere. He kept feeling footsteps behind him; streams made him think of ghosts, and so did the shadows of trees.
He soon frightened himself into a sorry state. His clothes and trousers had rolled through the mud, and branches had scratched burning cuts across his face. Even the sharp crack of a twig underfoot made him wonder whether something terrible was about to happen.
He thought he could fight a malicious ghost bare-handed, just as some people thought they could take down a tiger with a sliding tackle.
But... it was all those malicious ghosts' fault for not appearing right in front of him!
Otherwise, he would have punched them straightaway!
Sha Chuan deluded himself with these thoughts, his hand already slipping instinctively into his trouser pocket to find the sachet Qi Gu had given him and bolster his courage. But his fingers found nothing.
His face went deathly white, looking even more hideous than a ghost's.
It was gone. How could that be?!
He quickly remembered changing his clothes. Could it be in his other clothes?
Sha Chuan had not thrown away the wet clothes; he had been carrying them in his bag all along-after all, these were designer clothes his ex-girlfriends had given him. He was not extravagant enough to throw them away.
That thought steadied him a little. He pulled out the