Translator: Vivi and Kyo576 from dummytranslations
Editor: Chubby Dragon
Proofreader: SleepyMango123

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The passageway connecting the ghost city to the human realm opened once a month. Compared to the passageway that opened only once a year on the fourteenth of July, there was a limit on the number of spirits who could pass through the door on a monthly basis. Therefore, not every spirit who desired to go to the human realm could go, it could only wait for an opportunity.

Eleven was the evil spirit who had just escaped from the Shen ancestral shrine and was currently squatting pitifully outside the perimeters of the tightly sealed Ghost City. It wasn’t time for the doors to open yet, so it could only wait. No matter what, it couldn’t miss this month’s chance to return.

Return and tell its master that it had met that person.

“Eleven?” A spirit with the appearance of a child coincidentally passed by. Wearing traditional robes, he jumped energetically around the evil spirit who had condensed itself to wait at the corner of this street.

The streets were full of people since this was a bustling business district. However, these people were completely unaware of the supernatural matters happening otherwise they’d definitely be dumbfounded and wonder which family had dressed their child up like this. Or, they would wonder which troupe this little actor had escaped from.

Although he had the appearance of a kid, this ‘kid’ who looked rather adorable was, in fact, a spirit who had already been around for a few hundred years. He smiled at the unmoving evil spirit huddled in a corner. “To finally be let out by Master Xie Lan after much difficulty, you’re actually rushing to go back?”

He remembered that this evil spirit should be making merry at the Shen family’s place, consuming the essence of many live humans. Apart from waiting for the gates to the Ghost City to open, there wasn’t any other reason for this spirit to camp here in waiting.  Therefore, this truly made Zhou Yun feel quite mystefied.

Evil spirits were different from regular spirits in that their thoughts were usually very simple, their minds only filled with the need to slaughter. Just like an evil dog spirit that couldn’t be contained, it’ll bite whoever and whatever it sees. Not to mention humans, it’ll even go for the same species as it. That’s why Zhou Yun had practically zero good feelings towards evil spirits.

However, the one before his eyes was one that had been beaten into submission by that master. As long as it was an order from the master of the Ghost City, this evil spirit would obediently follow through with it.

An existence that even evil spirits feared...

Thinking back to the handful of times he’d met the master of the Ghost City, Zhou Yun couldn’t resist rubbing his fingers, feeling the faint coldness on his fingertips despite the fact that it was only just his misperception.

He was really very scary, the evil spirit couldn’t be blamed for not having any backbone. When he first met that existence, Zhou Yun only felt like he was facing an extremely sharp and ice-cold blade, with the tip of this sharp blade pointed directly at his throat.

He even had difficulty breathing back then, because he was afraid that even the slightest movement from his breath could cause the tip of this metaphorical blade pointed at his throat to pierce through.

Unlike the misconceptions humans had, ghosts actually possessed normal feelings. However, when facing that existence, Zhou Yun felt that exceptions could be made.

“There are more important things,” Eleven answered monotonously. He stayed squatting as he retreated into a corner, head lowered and eyes staring at the floor.

Hearing such an answer, Zhou Yun who had the outer appearance of a child raised an eyebrow while remaining calm and collected. This ‘important thing’ was definitely related to the other spirit’s master, but what was it about…?

However, Zhou Yun decided not to ask anything more about it because he knew that the evil spirit wouldn’t answer. He thought of a lot of possibilities on what it could be. For example, something had happened to that existence and he needed to recall his subordinates who weren’t in Ghost City to gather urgently or something.

However, the reality was that currently, the existence mentioned in the two ghosts’ conversation was in his study, painting as usual. There was, in fact, no crisis involved at all.

Compared to the Human Realm’s modern skyscrapers, the view in each and every part of Ghost City was as if time had stopped during the remote ages eons ago. The palace and pavilions mostly preserved the taste of the ancients.

The study inside the palace was a forbidden area, this was common knowledge amongst all the ghosts within Ghost City. Apart from an incident that occurred a few hundred years ago when a blind ghost dared go against this unspoken rule and had the bad luck of having its soul ripped into pieces, there were no other ghosts that dared to violate this taboo.

“The lord is in the study…? Then I’ll wait.” The loyal subordinate who had intended to report an important matter obediently waited. Whenever their master went into the study room, his feelings would be extremely unstable. No matter how important a situation was, they couldn’t interrupt him under any circumstances.

However, despite the absence of disturbances, it didn’t mean that the person inside the study didn’t know of the ongoings outside.

‘Drip.’ A drop of ink fell on the writing paper, letting out the lightest sound.

Yet, this extremely slight sound seemed to have alarmed the holder of the brush. However, this handsome man who wore a dark colored robe refocused his attention on the drawing he had created. More accurately speaking, his sight was fixed on the pair of eyes he’d drawn.

His half lidded eyes gazed attentively, which could even be described as careful, to lock onto it.

Putting aside the brush in his hand, Xie Lan’s pale finger pressed where the ink had dripped onto the writing paper and gently rubbed it. Even though there was now a blemish, Xie Lan still couldn’t bear to destroy this new, flawed painting.

Originally, his pale complexion only showed off his coldness, but whenever he stared at the person within the painting, this paleness would turn into the opposite and weaken the impact of the iciness. Lidded eyes paired together with a pale complexion, the current expression of this Master of Ghost City could be described as gentle yet restrained.

It was as if this icy sharp blade had become blunt. What’s more, it didn’t give off an impression of having a blade pointed at people’s throats anymore, nor did it give off the feeling of a forest welcoming the winter frost. It was now just like a quiet weapon being held by its owner, obedient and not recklessly moving about.

He couldn’t draw it...

Once he rubbed away that drop of ink, Xie Lan’s fingers moved towards the pair of eyes of the person in the painting, using even gentler strength to trace over it. From the way the person in the painting was dressed, one could tell he was a man, his eyes clear and meaningful.

Looking at the painting, and the pair of eyes, Xie Lan had a kind of feeling that he was being watched.

This kind of feeling was like drinking poison to relieve thirst. Imagining himself being the target of his gaze, the emptiness in his heart was filled. However, in the next moment, he would become clear that this wasn’t real and the filled gap in his heart would once again split open into a bigger pit.

He couldn’t draw out the features below the eyes. Every time his brush paused, loathing would bubble up in Xie Lan's ice-cold heart that had died for god knows how many years.

He hated himself. Why couldn’t he remember what this person looked like? But even though he couldn’t remember, Xie Lan still knew that this person was someone very important to him.

His heart, when fantasizing himself as the target of that gaze, would start beating, and very quickly too. It almost gave him the illusion as if he were one of those living beings in the Human Realm...

「Wait for me to find you.」

Memories related to this sentence were extremely blurry and unclear, Xie Lan couldn’t even confirm whether this memory was real.

But he was waiting. Ever since he had a consciousness, Xie Lan was always waiting for the owner of this voice to find him.

“Where are you? When are you going to find me…?” In the silent and solitary study, his voice was deep and slow. Therefore, despite its powerful emotions, it seemed to give off an illusion of indifference.

「...be good.」

Even though those were phrases that had blurred away and he couldn’t even remember them completely, it didn’t prevent Xie Lan from doing so.

He’d been patiently waiting; he’d been very obedient.

He could only blame the fact that the Ghost City’s doors to the mortal realm only opened once a month. The Eleven who was carrying an extremely important message could only squat near the front of the Ghost Doors was also very anxious. This door segregated the two realms, and Eleven’s abilities weren’t enough for it to cross through the worlds to pass on the message.

That person was very important to his Master. Since it knew this, it decided to drop the missions it had on hand. To report this message back took highest priority, everything else could wait.

Originally, he was only passing by. Seeing the evil spirit squatting in a corner before him and how it wasn’t even prepared to move its nest away, Zhou Yun touched his chin and just merrily left to continue on to what he’d originally wanted to do——

He wanted to go to the movie theatre to watch a horror movie.

Most humans feared ghosts. After arriving in the Human Realm, Zhou Yun would usually be at the theatre before 5am to watch a horror movie. The ghosts that he saw in the movies were all so ugly in appearance that it was difficult for people to accept it.

Real ghosts really weren’t like these! Apart from the ghosts that liked to prank people, evil spirits didn’t look that ugly, okay!

Speaking of appearances, Zhou Yun once again thought about that ghost back in Ghost City. That ghost’s appearance was truly the best, and even had a refined aura. If the ghosts in Ghost City who wanted to stick themselves to him were to queue up, the queue would definitely reach outside the Ghost City and even go up to the Human Realm.

It’s a pity that that person had never found anyone after so many years. If another ghost were to be in his position and had his status, they’d long comply with their instincts and play to their hearts desires. Ghosts were usually very honest towards their innate needs. They had been pressured by too many things when they were alive, therefore after they died, they would naturally break free of their inhibitions.

That lord’s personality was cold and indifferent. There was quite a bit of truth in the rumors that have been floating around Ghost City for so many years. After all, if his personality really wasn’t so, then he wouldn’t have protected his chastity all these time, as if it was a treasure——

He was amused by his own thoughts to the point of wanting to laugh. However, in the near future, Zhou Yun would experience the feeling of being slapped first-hand.

En…It actually hurt quite a bit.