Chapter 2 - City God’s Lead

Editor: mako

Proofreader: kllua

Resting on the bed, Bai Zhun drowsily refused, “No.”

The seventh door owed Third Master Han a favor, not Big Liu. Besides, Big Liu was not righteous. If he helped him, Third Master Han would surely rise from his coffin.

Second Liu did not expect that Bai Zhun would flatly refuse. His senior brother’s actions behind their master seemed to have angered Bai Zhun.

However, Big Liu was still his elder brother, and he could not leave him in the lurch. He gritted his teeth and said, “Seventh Master, my master gave my senior brother the head position and everything else.”

Besides his property and daughter, the secret skills that only the head of each generation was privy to were all entrusted to him.

“If my senior brother dies, there will be no third door.” Saying that, he kowtowed again.

Bai Zhun frowned. The five flowers and eight doors had long since been in decline, with everyone scattered around, trying to survive on their own. Since the third door has been passed onto this generation, they really could not let it shatter here.

From the door then came the sounds of rustling paper, and Second Liu became hopeful. However, in the end, only a paper servant without eyes emerged from the inner room. The paper man walked stiffly to him and threw down a cloth bag.

Second Liu lowered his head and took a look. Noticing something shining white peeking out from the bag, he said, “Seventh Master, this is…”

Bai Zhun’s voice was muddled as if he was dozing off again. “This money will allow you to mediate the situation. Go to the prison and learn your master’s secret skills.”

When Third Master Han was young, he had used the unique Magical Flying Rope skill 1 “神仙索” is a “magical skill” where a person has the ability to make a normal rope extend right up to the sky. As I was unable to find an official English translation, I used the translation that I found in this video: https://tv.sohu.com/v/dXMvNjMzNzA5MzMvNjcyMzE1NzYuc2h0bWw=.html (there are English subtitles). to obtain the head position of the third door. However, he probably had not expected that decades later, the world would have changed this much.

“My senior brother is innocent! They are just going to make him take the blame for someone else!”

Bai Zhun became annoyed. “Regarding his innocence, you can go tell your master.”

Obviously, since the Third Master Han was dead, he would not be able to see all this. However, even then, no one could determine whether he was already waiting in the underworld for this unworthy disciple of his.

Second Liu was rendered speechless. His master had regarded his senior sister as a dearly beloved daughter and loved her very much. If he were still here, how could he have let his disciple treat his daughter like this?

Second Liu’s face paled when he realized that Bai Zhun would not be helping. Holding the half-filled bag of silver dollars, he kowtowed to Bai Zhun three more times. “Thanking Seventh Master for your advice.”

When Ah Xiu sent him to the door, the policemen had just arrived. He was interrogated, but with Ah Xiu testifying that Second Liu was not a wicked person, he was eventually released.

Bai Zhun was a person with a bad temper and a delicate body. After being awakened the moment he fell asleep, he was so angry that he kept tossing around. “Whether it is beauty or secret skills, he wants it all. He really is unaware of how much his life is worth.”

In the house full of paper dolls, there was only silence.

Finding it uninteresting, Bai Zhun then wrapped himself in the brocade quilt wearily and went back to sleep.

As soon as his eyes closed, he sank into a dream, and a divine altar appeared in front of him. The object worshipped on it was the golden figure of the City God 2 “城隍” (City God) is a Chinese deity that was believed to protect the people and the affairs of the particular village, town or city of great dimension, and the corresponding afterlife location. If interested to know more can try this link: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cheng-Huang and http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Religion/personschenghuang.html .

Unlike the difficulties he had with his legs when he was awake, he was able to walk unhindered in his dream. Arriving at the altar, he then took three incense sticks and paid his respects.

As wisps rose from the incense sticks, a piece of yellow paper appeared out of thin air above the altar. Accepting it with both hands, Bai Zhun gave it a look and discovered that it was a City God pass 3 Here, I took liberty and translated “路引” as “pass”. However, do note that it is something similar to a piece of paper allowing one to gain entry to certain places like a “passport/travel permit”. This was also most probably related to how people in ancient China had to possess a similar pass to enter city gates. .

Whenever a person departed to the underworld after death, he or she would receive a pass with their name and the objects they were buried with on it. While the Buddhists had their Bodhisattva, the Taoists had their FengDu Emperor 4 In Taoism, “丰都大帝” (FengDu Emperor) is the highest deity in charge of the underworld. .

Wang QiuFang, 22, was buried with a silk nightgown and two diamond earrings.

Apparently, the City God had bestowed a pass, but Wang QiuFang did not go where she should have gone. For this pass to be sent to the seventh door, it was asking Bai Zhun to apprehend the female ghost.

Solemn and respectful, Bai Zhun accepted it, and the divine altar gradually disappeared from his dream. When he opened his eyes, it was not yet noon.

For the ghosts roaming around the world, their weakest period was around 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day.

Bai Zhun’s forehead twitched slightly, and he raised up his spirits. He then took out a piece of yellow paper and wrote down Wang QiuFang’s name and birthday.

Lighting up a stick of incense, he proceeded to light up the yellow paper and burn it in the furnace. Even without any wind, the ashes of the paper rose and traveled through the courtyard, flying out.

At this time, Ah Xiu had already opened the main door and was waiting with a rickshaw there. As the rickshaw had appeared outside the door of the Bai’s family house in a blink of an eye, no one in YuQing had even seen how it got into the valley.

The rickshaw puller picked up Bai Zhun and put him on the seat while Ah Xiu sat down beside him with an oil paper umbrella. As the wheels rolled over the brick ground, they swiftly left the alley.

Naturally, the rickshaw puller and the rickshaw were made of paper. Under Bai Zhun’s control, they followed the ashes all the way to the door of Astor House.

Bai Zhun knitted his eyebrows. QiuFang, was the Qiu that Qiu 5 It was not evident in English but the “Qiu” in the name is the same pinyin for the Chinese character of Autumn. ?

As soon as he entered the hotel lobby, Bai Zhun detected a faint scent of blood. The ashes also continued to fly inwards, leading him to the café in the hotel.

The wisps fluttered indistinctly before finally falling onto a young man’s shoulder. Before her death, Wang QiuFang had met him.

The man had his back towards Bai Zhun, who wheeled forward with his wheelchair. Before he got close, he could already hear him speaking.

“I do not know whether he killed or not. In any case, I did not kill anyone.”

Leaning back on the sofa, Huo ZhenYe’s long legs were crossed together as he picked up the coffee the waiter had presented to him. He then took a deep whiff to rejuvenate himself.

After Jin DanGui’s death, he could always smell a vague bloody scent, so he used the fragrance of coffee to cover it.

Meanwhile, sitting opposite him on the sofa was a policeman who was advising him earnestly, “Seventh Master, think carefully again. What actually happened that night? Did that Big Liu engage in murder due to extreme feelings?”

Ridicule appeared in Huo ZhenYe’s eyes, but his words were spoken with cynical laughter, “I do not even know them at all.”

The policeman thought internally: if Huo ZhenYe did not know him, how could he be in the room then? Nonetheless, because his higher-ups had reminded him to treat this Seventh Master with utmost courtesy, he could not say that out loud.

Meanwhile, Huo ZhenYe was radiating unspoken criticisms. Born with a pair of venomous-looking eyes, the corners of his mouth lifted. “Did you investigate the server that came to the guest room? Was such an act of sending a “flower” to my door done to any other rooms besides mine? Also, has the wine in the guest room been tested too?”

While everyone in the café was well-dressed, he had a few strands of hair falling in front of his forehead and was dressed in a wrinkled suit with the shirt collar unbuttoned. Born with a pair of amorous eyes, his raised lips created a faint smile that made him look distinguished.

Like what Huo ZhenYe said, the authorities had not investigated how many of such “flowers” had entered the rooms of the young men that night.

“Yes, yes, it is all under investigation.” After saying that, the policeman advised, “Seventh Young Master, yesterday your brother made a phone call to the general administration department, so just think about it again carefully. This will not only allow us to close the case but also prevent us from delaying your marriage.”

Like this, Huo ZhenYe’s smile disappeared as he felt the scent of blood growing heavier. He held up the cup, wanting to suppress it with the smell of the coffee.

As soon as he picked up the cup, though, he felt that he was being watched and looked back right at Bai Zhun.

Bai Zhun’s pupils shrunk. It was unexpected that they would meet again.

Meanwhile, Huo ZhenYe stared at Bai Zhun, feeling that he had seen this person in front of him before. However, in the end, he could not recall from where.

When the two eyes met, it was Bai Zhun who moved first, and his wheelchair rolled in front of Huo ZhenYe.

Huo ZhenYe waved to the policeman, signaling for him to leave. Although the policeman did not obtain a testimony, he did not dare to offend this Seventh Master Huo and walked out of the café dejectedly.

Huo ZhenYe’s eyes firmly locked onto Bai Zhun. “Who are you?”

Bai Zhun’s face remained unchanged, although he was furious in his heart. He had recognized him at a glance, but the other side did not even remember him!

When Huo ZhenYe saw the man in front of him getting angry, he did not know what he was angry about. Feeling as if he was supposed to have recognized Bai Zhun, he asked, “Have we met before?”

Bai Zhun did not answer his question, only taking out an envelope and putting it on the coffee table. “Put this under your pillow. She will not come to find you again.”

Since he did not remember, there was no need to get acquainted with each other again.

Whether it was Huo ZhenYe who killed someone or Wang QiuFang being Jin DanGui, Bai Zhun did not care at all. As long as he sent Wang QiuFang to where she should go, this deal would be done.

For the seventh door, this was only a business deal. While people did business dealings with each other, the seventh door did business dealings with the supernatural.

Huo ZhenYe’s eyebrows moved. He did indeed have a dream last night, but he has never believed in the supernatural, choosing to speculate that someone had drugged him instead.

Specifically, those drugs that affected the nervous system and induced hallucinations.

For Bai Zhun to come up to him like this and also look familiar, he has become the primary suspect.

“If one does not do bad things in life, he will not be afraid of ghosts knocking at his door in the middle of the night.” Although Huo ZhenYe was smiling, his mind was churning like electricity. Certain that he had met Bai Zhun before, he felt that everything was a trap and wanted to find the one responsible for it.

Huo ZhenYe had just returned from England. With his father finally remembering that he still had this son, he had arranged a blind date for Huo ZhenYe before he could manage to cause any scandals in Shanghai.

So, as soon as Huo ZhenYe entered the hotel’s private room, he knew that he had fallen into his father’s trap. At that time, he immediately began to act like a good-for-nothing playboy from a wealthy family.

When Miss Tao asked him what he had seen and heard in England, he had talked about his meals, the locations his suits were tailored at, how to horserace and hunt deer.

When Miss Tao talked to him in English, he pretended to make a fool of himself, pointing at the deer and calling it a horse.

Even then, she still took a fancy to him. So, Huo ZhenYe got himself into the selection of the queen of the world of flowers and threw a large amount of money to the dancing ladies.

Throwing thousands of silver dollars on one while switching to another the next day, he incited so much gossip that his father even personally called him up to scold him angrily.

Who knew that the Tao family did not give up after that either. In this case, he simply just created a bigger ruckus, releasing the rumor that he was already enchanted by the dancing ladies.

Although the Tao family was ordinary, they still had pride and ended up breaking off the relationship after that. Meanwhile, with such an incident, his father should never entertain such thoughts again.

As the twelve beauties of the world of flowers had a banquet at the Astor House, Huo ZhenYe obviously had to be present for the reporters to take a few photos so it would be on the news.

However, despite being good at drinking, he got drunk only after one glass that night and fell unconscious on the sofa after returning to his room.

When he woke up the next day, Jin DanGui was already dead on his bed. She had suffered a terrible death where both of her eyes had been dug out when she was alive. Moreover, his taffeta 6 “塔夫绸” (taffeta) is a crisp, smooth, plain-woven fabric made from silk or cuprammonium rayons as well as acetate and polyester. sheets were also soaked with her blood, and its scent in the room was overpowering.

It was when the room attendant came to deliver breakfast and smelled the blood that he woke up Huo ZhenYe with his scream.

While Huo ZhenYe managed to maintain his composure, Big Liu was lying on the same bed with Jin DaGui and had slept with her corpse for the entire night.

The next day, such a bizarre and sensual murder case raised a colossal uproar all over the city. There were some who said that all three people had gotten together in the same bed, while others speculated that it was a murder carried out due to jealousy. Like this, all kinds of tabloid reporters had surrounded the hotel like bees seeing honey.

Huo ZhenYe folded his hands together as he found himself becoming interested in seeing what Bai Zhun would do next.

Bai Zhun gritted his teeth slightly. It was really easy to change rivers and mountains but hard to change a person’s nature. A troublemaker would always be a troublemaker.

Huo ZhenYe raised his eyebrows, seeming to have no words to say.

Here, Bai Zhun thought to himself that he might as well let the female ghost take his life.

1

“神仙索” is a “magical skill” where a person has the ability to make a normal rope extend right up to the sky. As I was unable to find an official English translation, I used the translation that I found in this video: https://tv.sohu.com/v/dXMvNjMzNzA5MzMvNjcyMzE1NzYuc2h0bWw=.html (there are English subtitles). 2

“城隍” (City God) is a Chinese deity that was believed to protect the people and the affairs of the particular village, town or city of great dimension, and the corresponding afterlife location. If interested to know more can try this link: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cheng-Huang and http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Religion/personschenghuang.html 3

Here, I took liberty and translated “路引” as “pass”. However, do note that it is something similar to a piece of paper allowing one to gain entry to certain places like a “passport/travel permit”. This was also most probably related to how people in ancient China had to possess a similar pass to enter city gates. 4

In Taoism, “丰都大帝” (FengDu Emperor) is the highest deity in charge of the underworld. 5

It was not evident in English but the “Qiu” in the name is the same pinyin for the Chinese character of Autumn. 6

“塔夫绸” (taffeta) is a crisp, smooth, plain-woven fabric made from silk or cuprammonium rayons as well as acetate and polyester.