“Sorry for what?” Li Yuan asked, puzzled.
Instead of answering directly, Yan Yu said, “Promise me one thing. Once you go back, you must take a concubine...or at least allow the maids to attend to you.”
Li Yuan paused, then realized what she meant.
As a martial artist trained in blood cultivation, his vitality surged like a stormy sea, and those desires needed release. Neglecting them too long could cause turmoil in both mind and body.
In the past, he’d had Yan Yu and Xue Ning to help him cope. Now, though, he couldn’t touch Yan Yu at all, and Xue Ning was busy taking care of two children...no longer free to keep him company like before.
Recently, he’d sensed his internal balance slipping. He drowned his longings in wine, missing his wife and suppressing his urges. Most nights he shared a bed with Xue Ning, but they seldom did anything, wary of waking the children.
But Yan Yu didn’t want him bottling it all up. Other high-level martial artists might handle things differently, but she wanted her own husband to address his needs properly, hence her firm request.
“I understand,” Li Yuan replied softly.
With that, he paused, glancing at the darkness that had swallowed both sides of the street. The narrow path underfoot gleamed like the thin light beneath a closed door, cramped and twisting like a goat trail.
Suddenly, a giggle echoed nearby. A little girl with a bright red headscarf bounded out of the shadows, calling, “Mister, want to buy a flower?”
Li Yuan pretended not to see her. The girl then vanished when ignored. She didn’t even try to talk to Yan Yu or get her to coax him to buy one, unlike the time with Pang Yuanhua.
“Let’s head back,” Li Yuan said, turning around.
Yan Yu nodded. “These ghosts have haunted this place for ages. Normally, they don’t bother me, and I don’t bother them.”
“If they touch you...will you merge with them too?”
“Not necessarily. Usually, the weaker ghost just gets forced back, and we both move on...unless we’re somehow a perfect match. Or if I keep attacking them, I can trigger a forced merge. Feng’er, the peddler, and I ended up merging because I kept striking at him that day.”
Li Yuan finally understood; these ghosts seemed like separate programs, with people serving as the memory space. Unless their codes aligned or they collided repeatedly, they wouldn’t fuse.
Yan Yu sighed. “That day, the peddler grabbed our daughter. I panicked, so I attacked him non-stop. Maybe if I’d only pushed him away once, I could’ve saved Sheng'er without triggering a full-blown merge. But in the heat of the moment, I was too desperate to think it through.”
“We both made mistakes,” Li Yuan said.
She shook her head gently. “If Sheng'er is safe, then none of it was really a mistake.”
“But...isn’t the ghost street marketplace full of entities coming and going?” he asked.
“Not exactly. The aura here is chaotic, and it’s subject to a larger transaction rule. The chaotic aura means ghosts or people can only affect one another if they come face-to-face and trigger a ghost’s grudge.
"The transaction rule relates to the vendors and their shops. If a normal person stumbles into the marketplace and buys something, they can leave. If an undying husk enters a shop and makes a purchase, the ghost won’t harm them. But then if they can't buy anything, they’re trapped inside.”
“I see...” Li Yuan murmured. “What if the Clock Mansion fills up with residents, and a new ghost arrives with nowhere to stay? Would it try to force someone out?”
“That’s exactly what happens,” Yan Yu answered. “Usually, the ghost kills someone and takes over their room.”
“What lies deeper in the street?”
“Even deadlier ghosts.”
“Not just shops. Larger houses, expansive gardens, a menagerie, palaces...even brothels.”
“I don’t know. Neither the peddler nor Feng’er knows, either.”
“Are there other ghost street marketplaces?”
“Why are there so many?”
“Well, at the end of our street is the menagerie. Around it, shops naturally spring up. The same holds true for any grand compound or garden. There are shops in front, like normal. Nothing strange about it, right?”
“So you have to go through the menagerie to reach other streets?”
“Not necessarily. Your entrance point decides which street you end up on. If you’re in the Jade Capital and enter the ghost street marketplace from there, you’ll end up somewhere else entirely.”
“I see,” Li Yuan said, having fired off a flurry of questions. Yan Yu patiently answered each one until the two fell into silence.
“Let’s go back,” she said.
“Alright...I’ll walk you to the street entrance.”
“I’ll wait for you tonight in the ghost domain,” she added. “Bring Sheng'er with you. She’s a jade husk; she can’t grow up like a normal child. Hiding the truth will only hurt her. She’ll never be happy that way.”
Yan Yu tilted her head slightly. Her smile was at once strange yet tender. “Our daughter should walk her own path, not some normal path other people think will bring her happiness.
“Remember how you once took Tang Nian to witness Old Tang’s death, even though Old Tang himself wanted to hide it from her? Yes, the truth is harsh, but would Tang Nian have truly been happy living in ignorance? Sometimes the truth hurts, but we need it to live honestly.
“No one should feel inferior about who they are. Since Sheng'er is a jade husk, I’ll teach her. I’ll show her there’s no need to be normal. She’s a special child, and she should take a special road. Even if that means walking alone, she should keep walking with a smile.”
“I understand.” Li Yuan fully agreed. To him, his wife had become more composed and generous than ever.
The two started heading back.
Along the way, Yan Yu reverted to the peddler’s appearance once more.
Halfway through, a group of undying husks stormed toward them from the opposite end, but on seeing the pair, they quickly parted and pulled back on either side of the road.
All eyes fixated on Li Yuan, though no one blocked his path.
In their midst stood a red-robed man who shot a meaningful glance at a tall, lean undying husk.
The tall figure returned a conflicted look, seeming to refuse.
At that, the red-robed man’s expression hardened, glaring furiously.
Finally, the tall undying husk gritted his teeth, gaze flicking nervously toward Li Yuan’s back, then stepped forward and called, “Senior, please wait a moment!”
Li Yuan ignored him, continuing toward the exit with Yan Yu at his side.
The tall undying husk followed but didn’t dare close in, clutching something in his hand as if torn about what to do.
The others trailed even farther behind.
A pointed cough from the red-robed man sealed the tall undying husk’s resolve. He raised his voice once more. “Please wait! I have...something to ask you!”
Li Yuan guessed they just wanted to know why the rouge peddler was walking with him. If he stopped, there’d be no guarantee he could leave safely, so he kept moving.
At his side, Yan Yu slowed slightly, placing herself behind him.
That subtle shift in position meant the tall undying husk’s gaze now landed on her instead. The man’s face froze.
A moment later, he felt a heavy, frigid weight pressing down on his back.
Trembling, he glanced behind him...only to see a twisted, wild-haired ghost woman clinging to his shoulder.
With swollen, bloodstained fingers, she gripped his neck.
Meanwhile, Li Yuan reached the exit of the ghost street marketplace.
The undying husks from the Clock Mansion trailed him from a careful distance; no one dared come closer or lift a hand against him.
They had already confirmed one crucial fact. The rouge peddler was protecting this particular undying husk.
How did they know this man wasn’t also a ghost? Simple, he had entered from the ancient street’s entrance, while ghosts always emerged from somewhere deeper inside.
Seeing Li Yuan about to leave, the red-robed man cried out, “I am Zhong Mou. Sir, might you grant me your name? Our Clock Mansion would be honored to treat you as our esteemed guest!”
Only a fool would respond. Li Yuan stepped forward without a word, leaving the street behind.
Li Yuan hurried to the Blood Blade Sect’s headquarters in the inner district and warned Yu Chaojin, newly appointed as sect master, about the black market ghost domain’s expansion and the dangers of the Yin-marked powder.
Yu Chaojin acted at once, ordering an immediate relocation.
Fortunately, the expansion of the black market ghost domain would avoid the bustling town center, affecting only the eastern section of the inner district.
As a result, all they needed to do was move the Blood Blade Sect’s headquarters elsewhere and plant enough blood-red forbidden markers around the perimeter.
Even so, the sight of those ominous markers springing up threw the people of Silver Creek into a state of uneasy alarm.
“What’s going on here? Didn’t the ghost domain already expand once? How is it spreading again?”
“Have you heard? The Blood Blade Sect is moving their headquarters out of the inner district. Apparently, they’re relocating somewhere else.”
“Hard to believe... This year’s snow was warm. Who knows what’s going on with the weather.”
“Did you hear the latest rumor? If you see a peddler selling something called Yin-marked powder, you should run. Is this some new warning? Don’t tell me another ghost is stirring in Silver Creek...”
Residents gossiped everywhere, and fear slowly boiled over in the streets.
That night, under a waning moon, the warmth in the air finally gave way to a winter chill. A clammy fog rolled in, making it even harder to see.
Because of all the emergency bans, warnings, and relocations, no one dared roam after dark.