Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, Two Fearless Young Men

On the empty street, there was only the shadow of the Green-Robed Youth.

At the far end of the street stood a procession of paper figures, their faces and bodies deathly pale and eerie. They walked soundlessly through the streets of Luoyang City, yet not a drop of rain had dampened them.

In the middle of the procession of white paper figures, they seemed to be carrying a white wooden sedan chair. Something seemed to be sitting inside it, but the heavy rain obscured the view, making it nearly impossible to see clearly.

The same terrifying bell rang out behind him.

Gu Baishui's face had turned a little green. His body stiffened and went numb as he slowly turned, sneaking a glance behind him.

It was another procession of black paper figures, walking toward him out of the dim rain and fog.

Black faces and black clothes, gray lips and white eyes. Just as soundless, just as quiet and dead.

In the middle of the procession of black paper figures, they were also carrying a coffin, its wood a dark brown. Gu Baishui had no idea what was inside it, either.

He didn't even dare open his eyes very wide. His stiff face only twitched slightly.

Trapped on a street between two terrifying, eerie processions of black and white paper figures, moving forward and retreating both seemed to require enormous courage.

The two processions drew closer and closer, and the rain and fog on the street seemed to thicken all at once.

Rainwater soaked into his collar, chilling his back. Gu Baishui stood stock-still like a block of wood, neither moving forward nor retreating.

The Green-Robed Youth closed his eyes, heedless of danger, and let the two swaying processions of paper figures at the end of the street crash into him.

Gu Baishui closed his eyes and sank into darkness.

"Patter, patter~"

A jumble of footsteps came from both ahead and behind, as though something were running through the rain and fog, but he still didn't open his eyes.

"Whoosh~"

A chill brushed past his ear. It was as if something strange had flashed by his side.

Like a beast with its throat writhing, or a human face mumbling indistinctly.

Gu Baishui kept his eyes tightly shut, his body taut. Even his Divine Sense didn't venture the slightest bit beyond his body.

Gradually, bursts of noisy whispers and mocking laughter sounded beside his ears, rustling, indistinct.

One "figure" after another swept past him, hurrying through the heavy rain and stirring up wisps of cold mist.

Gu Baishui seemed to be standing alone in the middle of a noisy, bustling street. "People" came and went, yet no one paid any attention to the strange youth.

A hundred ghosts paraded through the streets of the old city, leaving only one oddity with his eyes tightly shut.

"Where did you come from?" A strange, curious young man's voice came from beside his right ear, echoing clearly in his mind.

Gu Baishui's lips moved, but he made no sound. He didn't know where he was from, nor whether he ought to answer. He didn't even know if that voice was asking him.

But the next moment, someone answered for him.

The voice came from his left ear, somewhat familiar, yet also distant.

"I... came from Xunyang, to Luoyang to look for relatives."

"Really? I heard Xunyang is very far away. I've never even left Luoyang, so you must be pretty impressive."

"What about you?"

"Me? If I said I was a down-on-his-luck young master from a wealthy family... would you believe me?"

"...I suppose I would."

The voices of a young man and a young woman crossed paths, then gradually faded into the distance.

He didn't know how long it had been before everything around him finally fell silent. Only then did Gu Baishui slowly open his eyes.

But there were no paper figures in his field of vision, no mist, and no street.

During the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons in Luoyang City, the ghosts from the streets had carried him here.

An Old Courtyard. Several large characters, long since faded, were carved into the plaque above the gate: the Ye Clan's residence.

Two stone lions stood in front of the Old Courtyard's gate, one on the left and one on the right.

In front of the two stone lions was an open space.

The Green-Robed Youth stood on the open ground to the left. Another youth, dressed in black and wearing a mask, stood on the open ground to the right.

The two youths had actually met last night, but only one of them knew it.

"Who are you?"

Lu Ziyou looked at the Green-Robed Youth across from him with some puzzlement, unable to figure out where the other had come from.

Gu Baishui was quiet for a moment, then said expressionlessly, "Just passing through to buy some soy sauce."

"Buy soy sauce?"

Lu Ziyou let out a laugh and shook his head, quite calmly. "You came out to buy soy sauce on Ghost Gate night during the Ghost Festival? Brother, do you take me for some dim-witted fool, that you think you can fob me off with that?"

Gu Baishui tilted his head slightly. "Then what do you think I'm here for?"

Lu Ziyou narrowed his eyes and lifted his chin slightly. "Actually, I don't care what you came here for. Maybe you're a disciple sent by some old Saint in the city, but in Luoyang City, you'll never beat me. So I advise you not to waste your time here."

Lu Ziyou's haughty manner made Gu Baishui pause. If he remembered correctly, this masked youth had already made his way deep into the Ye Clan's ancestral hall last night.

But an entire day had passed. How had he ended up being driven out instead?

They were both outsiders. How could he speak with such certainty?

Gu Baishui raised his eyebrows and asked Lu Ziyou, "Then why don't you go in?"

Lu Ziyou replied calmly, "The time hasn't come."

"The time?"

"Midnight. This Old Residence won't open until the Ghost Festival begins."

Gu Baishui asked again, "How do you know?"

Lu Ziyou fell silent for a moment, vaguely recalling the Linen-Clad Girl he had seen inside the Old Residence last night. She had driven him out and made him wait outside the Old Courtyard for an entire day and night.

"Someone told me, of course. The whole city is under curfew tonight. Neither the mortals in the city nor those old Saints hiding in the shadows will come out."

Lu Ziyou said coldly, "Tonight, there'll only be two kinds of people in front of this manor: the living, who can walk into the courtyard, and the dead, who'll be taken in by the Ghost Gate. Which kind do you think you are?"

Gu Baishui didn't answer his question. Instead, he frowned and looked Lu Ziyou up and down a few times, then suddenly asked, "Are you from the Yin-Yang Holy Land?"

"And if I am?"

Lu Ziyou narrowed his eyes, then pulled the black cloth from his face, revealing a cold, self-assured face.

Lu Ziyou wasn't merely a disciple of the Yin-Yang Holy Land. More precisely, he was one of the Holy Land's Candidate Saint Sons.

As a qualified transmigrator, Lu Ziyou had been blessed with good fortune and had sailed smoothly ever since arriving in this world. First, he had risen from an ordinary menial disciple to an inner disciple, then he had caught the Yin-Yang Holy Land's leader's eye and become a candidate for Yin-Yang Saint Son.

Though he wasn't a true Holy Son yet, it made little difference to Lu Ziyou.

As soon as the previous Holy Son stepped down, the position of Yin-Yang Saint Son would naturally be his. And according to Lu Ziyou's plans, the old Holy Son of the Yin-Yang Holy Land should die suddenly before he returned to the Holy Land.

Everything would fall into place. Everything seemed to have little to do with him.

To him, it was an obvious turn of events: there was a transmigrator predecessor's Great Emperor's Inheritance in the Old Courtyard. Once tonight was over, he would truly be free to let the fish leap into the vast sea and the birds soar through the boundless sky.

It was just that this Green-Robed Youth, who had appeared from who knew where, was rather an eyesore.

A trace of viciousness and coldness flashed deep in Lu Ziyou's eyes.

Why not kill him right here?