The two men stared toward the mist, and indeed, some lights were approaching them, growing steadily brighter. The light seemed almost blinding, forcing both of them to shield their eyes with their hands.

Suddenly, Young Master Liu cried out, "A ghost!"

"What is it now, what’s all the racket about? Can’t you stop making noise?"

Village Head Tian hastily dropped his hands from his eyes, simultaneously startled out of his wits. Why? Because a trembling shadow stood before him. The figure was hunched over, its back arched high like a miniature mountain peak, holding a dingy, yellowed oil-paper lantern. For some inscrutable reason, the faint, greenish glow from the wick illuminated exactly half of the person’s face, leaving the other side shrouded in darkness. It looked as if the entire face had been sliced down the middle—green on the left, black on the right—with skin withered and wrinkled. If this apparition chose to wail a bit more, it would likely scare one to death on sight, and a pair to extinction upon seeing them together.

Before Village Head Tian could ask who the person was, a puffed-up voice snapped from ahead: "You little brat, you’re the ghost!"

"Truly a case of the dog biting Lü Dongbin—not recognizing a kind gesture! Young Master Liu, Young Master Liu, we came with good intentions to look for you, and yet you call us ghosts coming here." The voice was thin and high-pitched, though lacking real force, carrying the distinctive cadence of someone quite old, and it sounded like an old woman.

"Who exactly is up ahead? How do they know your name?" Village Head Tian looked over at Young Master Liu, who merely shrugged, as if to say, you ask me, who do I ask?

Could it be someone they knew? The thought flickered through Village Head Tian’s mind, only to be swiftly suppressed; the memory of that soul-stealing ghost they had just encountered was still vividly before his eyes!

Watching the newcomer approach in quick, shuffling steps, with curses drifting intermittently on the wind, the two men grew increasingly perplexed.

"Hey..." Village Head Tian nudged Young Master Liu in the ribs.

"Hey... Hey..." Seeing Liu didn't respond, he nudged him again.

"What, what? Are you enjoying this?" Young Master Liu grabbed his arm.

"No, you misunderstand. I mean, the arrival of this person is suspicious. Little nephew, shouldn't you go ask if it's a person or a ghost?" Village Head Tian suggested tactfully.

"Oh, right, right." Young Master Liu nodded, but just as he prepared to move his feet, a shrewd glint appeared in his eyes. He caught the implication. "Hey, Village Head, you’re being a bit unfair, aren't you? Asking if they’re a person or a ghost—isn't that just volunteering for death?"

"How is that volunteering for death?" Village Head Tian forced a wry smile. "You know Uncle is timid. When I see something ghostly, I can't help but twitch. Be sympathetic! Going up to ask won't cost you a piece of flesh, and I’ll buy you a big Tuan Yuan pastry to calm your nerves afterward."

"Heh heh, a Tuan Yuan? You’re finally willing to fork out money? Weren't you just pinching pennies for a single cigarette earlier, acting like you were stranded in Beidaihe?" Young Master Liu sneered.

"Heh heh... Here, take it, all of it," Village Head Tian made a gesture as if reaching into his chest.

"Tch. Even if you gave me ten packs, I wouldn't go," Young Master Liu retorted, unimpressed, giving him a blank look.

"Then, then what do we do?" Village Head Tian became flustered.

"You go," Young Master Liu said, pouting his lips, enjoying the other’s predicament.

"No way, no way..." Village Head Tian shook his head like a rattle drum. "No way is not an option!" Young Master Liu gave him a push on the back, sending him forward a few steps. Unsteady, Village Head Tian stumbled forward several more paces, and by unfortunate coincidence, the moment he looked up, he collided squarely with the lantern-bearing shadow.

"Oh, my heavens! A ghost!..." In that instant, Village Head Tian’s shrill scream echoed across the entire desolate graveyard, startling several big crows who had just settled down with their mates for some intimate time, causing them to fly heavenward with panicked caws, unwilling to descend. The female crows, furious, planted their feet on invisible perches and scolded in bird-tongue: Shameless things, come down!

"Ouch..." The shadow seemed to have felt the impact of the collision with Village Head Tian, collapsing onto the ground with a soft thud and moaning twice. The oil-paper lantern in its hand rolled away, and the moment the wick touched the paper wrapped around the bamboo frame, it instantly ignited, swiftly consuming the lantern.

"Who is that? So careless! Is that the Liu family brat?" The shadow rubbed its rear end, whining mournfully. But in the faint, scattered moonlight, it could see that the person who bumped into it was clearly not a child; at least the outline of the physique suggested an adult. "You... you are Village Head Tian?"

Hearing this, the Village Head Tian, still shrouded in darkness, let out an 'yi' sound. "You're not a ghost?" This response made the shadow want to laugh and cry at the same time. "Look at yourself, scared of the wolf in front and the tiger behind. I’m Granny Fan!"

"Ah? Granny Fan!" Village Head Tian sprang up three feet high. "What are you doing here?"

Granny Fan pulled down her sleeve, her tiny, bound feet shifting slightly, and finally managed to stand up with difficulty. "Walking without watching where you step, you even burned my lantern."

Village Head Tian glanced at the charred remains of the lantern on the ground and felt he had indeed been abrupt. "I'm sorry. I bumped into you accidentally. It’s all that boy's fault for pushing me!" He punctuated this by shooting a fierce glare at Young Master Liu.

"Granny Fan, is it really you?" Young Master Liu cautiously approached, eyes wide open, scrutinizing her from side to side.

"Heh heh, who else would it be?" Granny Fan chuckled.

"That's wonderful, you've arrived at the perfect time." Seeing that it was truly Granny Fan, Young Master Liu felt six-tenths of his seven-tenths fear dissipate instantly; he was now emboldened.

"Why did you take so long to get here?" Granny Fan lifted her foot and stamped out the small patch of grass stubble still smoldering from the lantern, speaking to Young Master Liu. If any embers remained, she surmised, within a few hours, the entire hillside could be set ablaze.

"Tell me about it! We've been trapped here for almost the entire night," Young Master Liu said pitifully.

Granny Fan made a gesture in the air with her withered hand, as if divining something, and seemed to grasp the situation. "Oh, I see. You must have run into a Gui Da Qiang (Road-Obstructing Ghost), what people commonly call a 'ghost wall'."

Young Master Liu eagerly agreed, "Yes, Granny, what you say is exactly right. This place is absolutely awful. You must have a way to get us out, right?" He cast a look of desperate appeal toward Granny Fan.

Granny Fan’s ancient, puckered lips curved into a smile, and she said with confidence, "A way? Of course, there is. If there weren't a way, I wouldn't dare come here alone."

Hearing this, Young Master Liu quickly stepped forward and grasped Granny Fan's hand, saying excitedly, "Granny, you absolutely must save us!"

Granny Fan glared at Young Master Liu and said coolly, "Hmph. I was going to save you just now, but I’ve changed my mind. Who told them to call me a ghost the moment they saw me? Am I as good-looking as a ghost? And a grown man afraid of ghosts, with such little courage."

When Young Master Liu heard this, he grew anxious and begged for forgiveness. "My dear Granny, I was wrong, alright? I’ll apologize to you right now."

"It was truly our fault just now. We were so terrified by the ghosts tonight that our eyes played tricks on us, so we mistook you for a ghost. Besides, you look a hundred, a thousand times better than any female ghost! Like a movie star!"

Few people in the world truly dislike flattery. Granny Fan, hearing Young Master Liu praise her looks, covered her mouth and smiled at him. "Alright then, since you admitted your mistake willingly, I shall forgive you this once."

"Actually," Granny Fan continued, "I noticed when you two didn't return by dusk that something must have gone wrong. I hurried up to the Lingguan Temple and saw the mountain path had collapsed. I thought you must have fallen, but I looked for a long time and saw nothing. I figured the collapse must have happened after you descended, and since you found no way down, you chose the path through the graveyard to return. So, I went down the mountain and climbed up from the other peak. This old body is nearly paralyzed, and before I reached here, I saw a heavy fog setting in, which confirmed my suspicion that you were here. When I finally arrived, I saw you indeed, so I guess I found the right way." Granny Fan recounted, panting slightly, her face flushed. It was clear she wasn't exaggerating; this seventy or eighty-year-old woman had clearly been severely worn out climbing up and down the mountain.

"Alright, since you two are safe, I am relieved. By the way, big child of the Liu family, did you take care of the matter I entrusted to you?" Granny Fan asked.

"Oh, yes, yes, it's done," Young Master Liu understood, quickly taking three delicate paper cranes from his pocket and handing them to Granny Fan. "It's just that they didn't fly up as you said they would," Young Master Liu reported honestly.

"It must be because the malevolent energy here is too strong! Tiny souls are utterly restrained and unable to move," Granny Fan said, her face turning grim.

"Well, let's head back now!"

"But what about this white fog? You don't believe me, try walking into it—you won't know east from west." Young Master Liu pressed urgently.

"Heh heh, no problem, watch me." Granny Fan spoke, then removed the string of prayer beads from her wrist, clasped her hands together, and began muttering something to the empty sky. The two men couldn't understand a word she was chanting.

Village Head Tian nudged Young Master Liu in the ribs and whispered, "Little nephew, what is this old woman saying? Can you understand it?"

Young Master Liu whispered back, "Heaven knows!"

After a long while, they heard Granny Fan stop and shout, "Open!" She then opened her eyes and told the two men, "Stop gaping. The fog has dispersed; we can leave."

The two looked around at the mist with astonishment. The dense layer that had been impenetrable just minutes before was starting to scatter bit by bit. Even the moon in the sky cast its light upon the ground, and the road was faintly visible.

Young Master Liu and Village Head Tian sighed in awe. Young Master Liu quickly asked Granny Fan, "Granny, are you an immortal? Can you teach me these skills?"

Granny Fan smiled. "Not at all, not at all. I just learned a few tricks from the old Taoist master. These skills are just superficial knowledge, far inferior to a real master."

Village Head Tian could no longer suppress his intense curiosity, so he asked Granny Fan, "Fairy Aunt Fan, why were we trapped here and couldn't find our way out? And how did that fog form? Even stranger, the moon in the sky was obscured by clouds."

"I say, Village Head," Granny Fan replied, "you're asking me so many questions at once, how am I supposed to answer?" Granny Fan’s aged face broke into a smile as sweet as a ripe peach, almost dripping juice, when the usually antagonistic Village Head Tian called her 'Fairy Aunt' for the first time. After pondering for a moment, she said, "The reason you were trapped here is because you encountered a Dao Lu Gui (Road-Turning Ghost), which is what people call a 'ghost wall'."

The two exclaimed in unison, "We really ran into a Road-Turning Ghost?"

Granny Fan nodded. "Yes. Those Road-Turning Ghosts cast an illusion upon you two living people, making it impossible for you to discern the path, so no matter which way you walked, you couldn't leave, only circling in place."

Village Head Tian then frowned. "But what about the fog? We suddenly saw so much of it appear."

Granny Fan said, "As for the fog, that's also easily explained. Look, this graveyard is situated within a forest. Since no one has traversed this forest for a long time, a kind of miasma and bewitching smoke formed. Mixed with the Yin energy from the graves, this created the dense mist. As for why the moon suddenly vanished, that was merely a coincidence, but this all ties back to the recent time period!"

Young Master Liu and the Village Head asked in unison, "It ties back to this recent time period?"

Granny Fan smiled and said, "We still have quite a walk back. We can talk as we go."

"Deal!" Young Master Liu nodded.

After walking a few dozen paces, Granny Fan broke the silence first. "You two have too much nerve to be traveling at night during this particular time, and on the graveyard path no less! Do you even know what time of the month this is?"

Village Head Tian said, "It’s the fifteenth of the eleventh month!"

Granny Fan shook her head. "You've only half-answered correctly."

Young Master Liu blurted out suddenly, "The moon is directly overhead!"

Granny Fan said, "That's right."

Village Head Tian suddenly understood. "The fifteenth with the moon overhead, how could I forget? Isn't that the day the ancestors descend from the mountain?"

Granny Fan nodded. "Precisely. The fifteenth of the seventh month is the Ghost Festival, and this time period is the Lesser Ghost Festival—the day the Gate of Hell opens. You two are quite bold to detour off the mountain path at this time and choose this remote trail. This graveyard is the closest place to the Gate of Hell, and thus the place with the heaviest Yin energy, which is why you encountered ghosts."

Village Head Tian nodded. "No wonder those ghostly shadows kept trailing us; we couldn't shake them off."

Young Master Liu asked Granny Fan, "Granny, what about those shadows always following us? Were they real ghosts?"

Granny Fan replied, "Yes, those are all solitary, wandering spirits. Do you know what solitary, wandering spirits are? They are ghosts who haven't reincarnated or those without a tombstone. When the Gate of Hell opens, those solitary spirits who cannot return home, who are homeless, can only roam the graveyard. During the period when the moon is overhead, the Underworld cannot shelter any ghosts. No matter what kind of ghost you are, you must be expelled from the Gate of Hell and sent to the human realm to reunite with your loved ones. You two are lucky enough to have encountered a Road-Turning Ghost."

"Lucky?" Young Master Liu exclaimed loudly. "What kind of luck is this? It’s terrible luck! We should thank heaven we weren't captured by the ghosts."

Granny Fan continued, "Road-Turning Ghosts are generally mischievous spirits who like to play tricks on the living, trying to make you stay and keep them company for a night. Generally, Road-Turning Ghosts won't harm people, because any ghost who harms someone during this period will be cast into the Eighteenth Level of Hell by the Judges of Yin and Yang, never to be reborn. Therefore, the best way to deal with such an encounter is to sit down and wait for daylight and the rooster's crow."

"Oh, no wonder no ghosts came to claim our lives."

"Indeed," Village Head Tian added, "If we had known that, we would have just sat and waited instead of trying to imitate a rooster's crow." He smiled at Young Master Liu.

Granny Fan also smiled. "You imitated a rooster's crow? That's an old method. If a Road-Turning Ghost has found you, even urinating won't help. Very few people have the composure to sit still. Generally, a person only encounters a Road-Turning Ghost once or twice in their lifetime, if ever, and by the time they understand, the chance is gone. So, you are very lucky!"

During the latter half of this eleventh month, every household must offer food and perform three kowtows and light one stick of incense morning and evening.

The so-called 'offering food' meant that during the three daily meals, the head of the household would set a table with dishes and wine, inviting the deceased ancestors from the two preceding generations down from the mountain to dine at their home, ensuring the safety of their descendants and the prosperity of future generations.

Although life in the countryside was harsh at that time, the food laid out on the table during these half-month periods was quite rich, comparable to New Year’s celebrations. If the offering was not prepared properly, the ancestors might be displeased.

In essence, it was much like ancestor worship, merely a ritual. However, ancestor worship took place before the ancestral graves, while the food offering happened within the home.

There was a story from one year where a family, during the food offering ritual, heard noises from the room where the meal was laid out. The owner cautiously pushed the door open to peek inside. What he saw was unforgettable: his deceased ancestors were sitting around the table, eating and drinking with laughter and conversation. When he approached the table, intending to speak with them, the figures vanished, and the sounds of talking and laughter abruptly ceased. All that remained was a table full of steaming hot food, completely untouched. The head of the household was overcome with regret, lamenting his impulsive action which had scared his ancestors away.

In reality, the food offering was merely a formality. There was no actual return of the ancestors to eat; it was simply a custom passed down through generations of the elders. Since the older generation performed it, the current generation followed suit.

While making the offering, the head of the household would say to the spread of food, "Ancestors and progenitors, please eat and drink well! Although our home is not wealthy, we must not slight you." He would then exit the room and instruct the children not to approach the table, lest they disturb the ancestors' meal. Only after about half an incense stick's time would the owner re-enter the room to clear the table. This was because, during this period, the ancestors were considered to have eaten their fill; the host could only eat after the offering was completed, signifying respect for the elders.

Due to weather constraints, the offered food could not be saved for the next day; it was consumed that same evening after the offering, and a new meal was prepared the next day.

Silver moonlight spilled onto the ground, accompanied everywhere by the desolate chirping of crickets. The unique fragrance of the night permeated the air, weaving a soft net that enveloped all scenery. Everything the eye perceived was cloaked in this soft netting; every blade of grass, every tree, lacked the concrete reality of daytime. They possessed blurred, ethereal colors, each concealing its fine details, each guarding its secrets. At this moment, the white clouds hung low, and the starry sky seemed extraordinarily distant. Xiushui Village was thus immersed in a tranquil state, as if caught within a dream.