Cai Mo deliberately asked, "Did I not send you money?" Hui Niang pointed to the burning fire pit and replied, "That is the money! In the underworld, paper is used as currency." Hearing this, Cai Mo immediately rushed to fetch two large bundles of paper to burn, saying it was to ease the suffering of his deceased parents in the netherworld. The neighbors saw this and realized how useful the joss paper was, so they each took out money to buy the paper Cai Mo had made. News spread, and within a few days, all the paper at Cai Mo's house was sold out. Since the day Hui Niang returned to the living world was the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, people have burned incense and paper for their ancestors on this day every year. This custom has been passed down to this day.

At this moment, no one remained in the temple except for Young Master Liu and Village Head Tian. The area inside and outside the temple could truly be described as a world of ice and fire. Approaching the shrine of the Five Manifested Spirit Official, Young Master Liu placed the joss paper and other offerings into the incense burner reserved for sacrifices within the temple, kneeling himself on the straw mat before the deity. Village Head Tian stood watching, not stepping forward to assist, only occasionally drawn by the bizarre facial expressions of the statues, touching one here, glancing at another there, thoroughly bored.

Young Master Liu struck a match and lit the paper offerings, then tossed them into the basin stack by stack, watching them curl into black debris, muttering, "Great Lords of the Five Spirit Officials, we are truly sorry for what happened the other nights. Forgive our ignorance and disrespect in briefly disturbing your tranquility. We hope for your great magnanimity; please show your divine power and spare us! Your humble servant, Young Master Liu, swears and kowtows here. As long as Guoqiang, Goudan, and Xiaomazi recover their health, we will certainly burn a whole cartload of yellow paper ingots for you, and thoroughly clean this temple so you can reside more comfortably."

After speaking, he began kowtowing fiercely towards the statues, his head striking the ground with loud thuds, his forehead turning bruised purple—clearly not an act of pretense.

As he lifted his face after the third bow, Young Master Liu’s gaze shifted, and he shockingly discovered that the central statue, directly facing him, was once again baring its teeth and grinning menacingly, just like last time. The smile was ferocious and horrifying, as if eager to swallow him whole. Already troubled by this matter, Young Master Liu was terrified by this sight. He immediately rolled onto the ground, nearly passing out. When he scrambled back up, his face was stark white with fright. Village Head Tian also noticed the anomaly then, quickly stepping forward to hold Young Master Liu, repeatedly asking what was wrong. Young Master Liu quickly shut his eyes, shrinking behind the Village Head, trembling as he pointed toward the statue, stammering, "Uncle Tian, let's just go! That statue smiled, that statue smiled again!"

"No way?" Village Head Tian looked up, his gaze fixed on the clay statue clad in a python robe and crimson official attire. Looking closely, the Spirit Official had a broad, sallow face, two slender beards trailing down from his cheeks, and eyes set in an outward V-shape, appearing quite fierce.

"This... I didn't see it smile either?" Village Head Tian murmured to himself. After observing for several minutes without any change, he finally rested his slightly sore eyes and chuckled dismissively, "Little nephew, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. You must have seen things." But Young Master Liu remained unmoved, his head still buried in Village Head Tian's embrace, daring not to look again at that soul-stirring, eerie statue.

Having no choice, Village Head Tian casually grabbed a fire poker, stirred the flames in the basin to encourage them, and tossed the remaining joss paper in, turning it over once. It soon burned almost completely.

"That's done," Village Head Tian said, clapping his hands, ready to leave, but Young Master Liu grabbed his arm: "Uncle Tian, wait, we still have to burn this talisman. We must burn it completely before we leave; Granny Fan specifically told us a hundred times."

"Got it, got it. This old woman is always stirring up trouble, she's got nothing better to do," Village Head Tian impatiently took the talisman from Young Master Liu, not examining it, and threw it directly into the fire basin. Seeing that it caught the flame, he thought no more of it and pulled Young Master Liu away.

"Uncle Tian, was the talisman burned?"

"Burned, burned," Village Head Tian always disliked Granny Fan's things and replied casually.

"Burned clean?" Young Master Liu tugged his sleeve and asked.

"It's all charcoal, how could it not be clean? Let's go! Otherwise, it will be hard to walk the mountain path once it gets dark, and we didn't bring a kerosene lamp," Village Head Tian said.

"Good!" Since Village Head Tian said it was reduced to charcoal, it must be completely gone. Young Master Liu finally felt relieved. He knew this place was slightly better during the day, but much worse at night. Recalling the statue that had inexplicably grinned strangely at him, his face immediately paled, and he dared not look back, quickly catching up to Village Head Tian, who was already striding forward.

Just as Young Master Liu and Village Head Tian reached under the temple's plaque, he distinctly felt Village Head Tian's body shudder violently. Immediately after, Village Head Tian turned his head to look back toward the temple.

"Who called me?" Village Head Tian shouted into the temple. Young Master Liu stared at him in astonishment, "Village Head, who are you talking to?"

"I just heard someone behind me call my name. Little nephew, didn't you hear it?" Village Head Tian suddenly asked Young Master Liu. Young Master Liu shook his head violently, saying he hadn't heard anything. He offered a comforting word: "Village Head, maybe he misheard." Village Head Tian did not answer him; Young Master Liu clearly saw his expression suddenly turn grim, and his pace quickened noticeably. He guessed inwardly: This time, the Village Head is genuinely scared. It seems we can never come to this Spirit Official Temple again; it exudes an aura of strangeness, day or night. The two walked quickly, and in a short while, they reached the bluestone path they had taken up the mountain earlier. Chatting as they walked, their steps crunching the wild grass, they felt quite at ease. However, after walking only a few dozen meters further, when they reached the mountainside, the one leading, Young Master Liu, was stunned speechless.

It turned out that in the area around the bend, there was nothing left but a two-meter-long deep pit, with a sheer rock face below. The rock face bordered a cliff, causing an inexplicable tightening in the viewer's heart and making stars swim before his eyes.

"This... how did the path become like this?" Young Master Liu gasped.

Village Head Tian bent down wordlessly and surveyed the surroundings. Fortunately, the sun was still above the horizon, and night had not fully fallen, so the general outlines of the environment were still visible. After feeling around for a moment, Village Head Tian shook his head and sighed: "Alas! It's my fault for being careless. No one has organized repairs for this bluestone path for over ten years. Today is truly unlucky; probably the foundation was unstable. While we were in the temple, those two steps built on it collapsed and rolled down the slope."

"What do we do now? Must we spend the night in the temple?"

"Let me think," Village Head Tian rubbed his temples, then his eyes lit up: "No need. Let's head back first! I remember there are two ways down from the Spirit Official Temple. One is this one, and the other branches off near the mass graves, leading first to Xiushan Village, and then from Xiushan Village to our village."

"The mass graves?" Hearing the term, Young Master Liu felt uneasy.

"What about the mass graves? Are people dying there again?" Village Head Tian gave him a look: "Are you scared?"

"Who's scared!" Young Master Liu pouted, his pride instantly eclipsing his earlier worry.

"Then let's go!" Village Head Tian turned around and began climbing the slope again.

"Let's go, whoever is scared is a bastard!" Young Master Liu muttered, following behind, his hand slipping into his robe, resting on the three paper cranes Granny Fan had repeatedly urged him to keep safe before they left.

In the setting sun, the eyes of the three paper cranes, marked with cinnabar, were blood-red, resembling three pairs of dazzling gems. But unfortunately, they remained motionless, failing to fly with their own wings as Granny Fan had claimed they would.

"I knew you couldn't fly!" Young Master Liu muttered to the cranes. "Something folded from paper, it would be strange if it could fly. Did you really think you were Lu Ban?"

"Little nephew, what are you doing? Hurry up!" As he spoke, Village Head Tian's voice came from outside the temple door.

"I know, I know, what's the hurry!" Young Master Liu tucked the paper cranes back into his robe: "I don't know if Guoqiang's and the others' souls are truly inside these, but rest assured, I will safely bring you back!" With that, he swiftly chased after him.

And so, the two walked step by step to the mass graves. Everything was deathly quiet around them; the stone tablets standing at the graves looked like standing corpses, peering hideously at the two men, adding an extra layer of eerie coloring to the already terrifying atmosphere of the burial ground. As they walked, Village Head Tian, who was leading the way, began to feel fearful. He slowed his pace to walk side-by-side with Young Master Liu, thinking it was better to stay close for mutual support.

"Ah!" Suddenly, a piercing shriek erupted from somewhere unknown.

The two men instantly lost five parts of their souls, their jaws nearly dislocating in shock. At the same time, they cried out in unison: "Ghost!"