================================ Yesterday I attended an old man’s funeral, so there was no update. Please forgive me.

Of course, I couldn't drag Qin Bing'er away, nor could I rip my physical body out of her embrace; either action would only result in one more lingering soul in the underworld. The only one I could rely on was Hua'er. Since this little creature could see my spirit, I could certainly try frightening it into a panic. Any disturbance from Hua'er would surely catch Qin Bing'er's attention, perhaps compelling her to leave my body on her own. In summary, the entire strategy boiled down to "luring the tiger away from the mountain."

I hesitated no longer. I strained my lips back toward the nape of my neck, widened my eyes to their absolute limit, and assumed a posture like a wolf pouncing on its prey. Raising my right hand high, I prepared to use the embroidered shoe to strike Hua'er’s head. Suddenly, I realized the embroidered shoe was no longer in my hand... Panic seized me. Had I lost it again? Frantically, I glanced around and discovered it was firmly fitted onto my left foot. Strange. Could it be that when those ******* were attacking me, in my sheer terror, I had instinctively slipped the embroidered shoe onto my foot? This guess was ninety-nine percent accurate. If I had gotten the shoe, the natural place to put it would be on my foot, not my hand. It must have been a purely instinctive action at the time that I didn't even notice.

Seeing the stark black-and-white embroidered shoe on my foot, I fell into contemplation once more. This shoe was a tangible object, and by traditional custom, it needed to be burned to transition into another realm, just like burning spirit houses or the deceased's clothing. I could guarantee this embroidered shoe had never been burned; how, then, had it followed my soul into this other world? Ah, the same applied to my "Yao Ku'er" (Shaking Trousers). Furthermore, if my current form was supposedly that of a ghost, according to legend, I should be afraid of Hua'er’s teeth. Yet, not only was I unafraid of Hua'er, but I felt an inexplicable closeness to it.

Was it possible that I wasn't actually dead? But then, what about the physical body lying on the ground?

I decided not to dwell on this question any longer. I reset myself into what I perceived to be a ferocious guise and lunged violently toward Hua'er. Hua'er startled, twisting away and hopping over to the main door carved with Lord Zhang Fei. Its dark, empty eyes stared at me inexplicably, teeth bared, tongue hanging out unnaturally long, emitting muffled whimpers while watching me warily.

The move worked as intended. Hearing Hua'er's whimpering, Qin Bing'er looked up, hesitated, and slowly put down the body she was cradling. She walked towards Hua'er. I heard her hoarse voice ask, "Hua'er, what... what's wrong with you?"

I couldn't miss this opportunity. Like a ravenous wolf, I lunged for the body on the ground. As my two faces nearly touched, the body suddenly erupted with immense force, flinging me back like a falling leaf. I tumbled mid-air, spinning rapidly toward Qin Bing'er’s retreating back.

My heart tightened. Unfortunately, I couldn't control my "body" at all. Seeing myself about to fly straight into Qin Bing'er, the Zhang Fei statue on the main door suddenly moved. The pitch-black Eighteen-Foot Serpent Spear slowly thrust towards me, its tip clearly aimed directly at my sternum. I felt a heavy weight crash down, and I fell hard just behind Qin Bing'er’s feet.

I was profoundly shaken. This Brother Zhang San was truly formidable; he wasn't carved there just for decoration... But my self-assured thought was quickly shattered. I realized the Zhang Fei statue on the door hadn't moved on its own; it was still in that same posture as if about to pounce. Instead, the main door suddenly creaked open. With a series of sharp clicks, the door panel slid inward. Zhang Fei, immobile, naturally created a sense of movement, causing the Serpent Spear held horizontally in his hands to point inevitably toward me.

As the main door opened, two "monsters" walked in. To be precise, they were two sets of snow-white teeth, two sets of teeth suspended in mid-air.

Looking closer, three inches above each set of white teeth, there were two faint specks of white light!

Just as I was wondering what kind of monsters these were, a heavenly voice emerged from one set of teeth: "Damn it all, they really are here..."

Hearing that voice, tears streamed down my face instantly. Excitement, agitation, sorrow—all sorts of mixed feelings washed over me. That voice was precisely Man Niao Niao's unmistakably distinct, gravelly rasp.

Just as I was about to struggle to my feet and rush toward those teeth, a voice came from the other set: "Qin, young lady, are you all right?" The voice was Ji Ye's, but this utterance wasn't normal speech; it was sung in a melodious, vigorous cadence. As soon as the line concluded, a burst of white light erupted beneath the teeth. I finally saw clearly that the two sets of teeth were embedded in two pitch-black human forms. The two faint specks of white light above the teeth were naturally the vacant spots next to the eyeballs.

Qin Bing'er, hearing Man Niao Niao and Ji Ye, perhaps out of shock or surprise, choked up and couldn't speak. She stood frozen, completely at a loss.

"What the heck is wrong with this turtle's son?" Man Niao Niao asked, pointing at my body on the ground.

Qin Bing'er seemed to wake from a dream. She rushed forward, grabbing Ji Ye’s arm, and urgently said, "Uncle An, quickly save Ying Ying..."

Ji Ye hurried over to my physical body. I noticed the white light came from a torch he was holding in his hand.

Ji Ye examined my body, touched the area over my heart, and sang urgently: "Niao, oh Niao, quickly scrape the mud off you and me, oh, and cover him up, hey ya yo hey..." I was utterly amazed; did Ji Ye still have the mood to sing at a time like this? Qin Bing'er was clearly also startled by Ji Ye's inexplicable song. "Uncle An... are you... alright?"

Man Niao Niao’s set of white teeth opened, and he said, "Bing'er, don't be alarmed. He no longer speaks normally; even if he speaks, it will only be through chanting..."

"How could this happen?" Qin Bing'er asked curiously. This was also what I, standing behind that layer of "paper," desperately wanted to know.

"I don't know either. He was already like this when he came to find me. At first, I thought he had gone mad learning Old Man Xiang's magic, but his actions seem perfectly normal, and his thoughts aren't 'matang' (muddled). Who knows how he became like this... Ouch, could I be possessed?" The white light of the teeth flashed, and in an instant, only two remained visible.

"What's all the babbling for? I told you to scrape the mud off yourself and smear it on him! If you don't save him now, he’s done for, ya ay weh..." Ji Ye sang impatiently, interrupting Man Niao Niao’s rambling.

Man Niao Niao’s white teeth flashed once, like a radio volume indicator lighting up. He reached up and scraped a large glob of black gunk from his face, handing it to Ji Ye. Ji Ye took it and immediately smeared it on my body's face. He then frantically scraped some black material off his own body and plastered it onto my physical form, as if plastering a wall.

The more I watched, the more curious I became. Could this method bring my soul back to my body?

From the moment Ji Ye and Man Niao Niao entered, they acted as if they hadn't seen me standing next to the body. Of course they couldn't see me; I was a spirit now. But Man Niao Niao could see the white-bearded old man in Anle Cave, so why couldn't he see me? Was my cultivation insufficient? Nonsense!

Seeing Ji Ye busy, Man Niao Niao didn't dare slack off. He simply took off his shirt and trousers, held them in his hands, and squeezed them vigorously over my body. Lump after lump of black material rained down over my corpse like thin cow dung. I learned from Ji Ye that this black stuff was mud. So... where did this mud come from? Why did theirs look blacker than coal from a mine?

Thinking it over carefully, I suddenly understood. My eyes could only perceive black and white. They were covered head to toe in mud, and when they entered, they were standing in the shadow of the stone archway, which is why I only saw two sets of teeth. Fortunately, there was the white light from Ji Ye's torch, which allowed me to clearly see two pitch-black human figures—indeed, darker than coal miners!

Ji Ye also took off his clothes and busily emulated Man Niao Niao’s actions. More and more of Ji Ye's and Man Niao Niao's bodies appeared snow-white. Perhaps because of the mud, these two naked bodies were now crisscrossed with black streaks, like full-body tattoos. Meanwhile, my body on the ground, except for the spot over the heart, was completely covered in the black mud.

"Man Niao Niao," Ji Ye carefully brushed the mud away from the spot over the body's heart, stood up, and sang to Man Niao Niao, "You use your mouth to blow continuously into his heart cavity, oh, and me and Miss Qin will go look for something to make the plague lamp..."

"Plague lamp?" Both I and Qin Bing'er asked curiously, almost in unison. However, I could hear Qin Bing'er's voice, but she could not hear mine, because I was on that side of the "paper."