On the head, there was a tall white hat that looked about thirty centimeters long, resembling a chimney standing upright on the head.
That person sat on the horse, arms crossed over the chest, hands tucked into the sleeves, allowing the horse underneath to walk, sitting still and steady.
What made Chu Keqing’s gaze suddenly sharpen was... the horse underneath appeared to be made of paper!
The horse looked tall, its posture robust and haughty, but upon closer inspection, the entire body was pale and faintly showed the bamboo and wood framework, the pale fur was just paper.
The horse’s face was skillfully painted, but its eyes were spiritless, silent as it ran, without the sound of breathing or neighing, quietly walking forward.
The person riding the paper horse gradually came close to the two, slowing the horse’s pace.
The white-robed, high-hatted person on the horse seemed to glance down at Chen Yan and Chu Keqing standing on the side of the road. Both could see that this person’s face was also pale, like plaster applied to the walls during home renovations, so white that the facial features were blurred.
Chen Yan grabbed Chu Keqing and stepped forward, glaring coldly at the person on the horse.
After a few seconds of staring at each other, the person on the horse suddenly nodded as if greeting, then looked ahead again, the paper horse beneath resumed walking deeper into the dark village.
Chen Yan stood by the roadside, watching the direction in which the person and horse headed—the lantern-lit building in the village.
Chu Keqing looked at the back shadow: "Is that a ghost?"
"It’s a person." Chen Yan shook his head, laughing coldly: "The Qi Observation Skill shows his fortune, he’s human, but his fortune mixed with ghost qi, possibly due to his cultivation technique. But I can be sure, he’s definitely human."
They walked to the center of the dark village, turned a corner, and saw the lantern-lit building ahead.
Below the building, there was a courtyard with the gate open, two black-clad attendants stood welcoming at the door.
The person riding the paper horse had already stopped at the building’s entrance.
The two black-clad attendants immediately prostrate themselves on the ground, extremely respectful.
The white-robed, high-hatted rider dismounted, finally pulling hands out of sleeves, summoned the paper horse, which shrank and floated into his palm, becoming a palm-sized paper horse model.
He casually opened a wooden box hanging on his body, placed the paper horse inside—Chen Yan observed sharply from the corner, saw other paper models besides the paper horse.
Casually tossed the wooden box to a black-clad attendant, then flung a stack of white paper money into the air, fluttering everywhere.
The black-clad attendants immediately bowed repeatedly, stepping aside to open the courtyard gate.
Sensing Chen Yan’s gaze, the person turned to look at Chen Yan and Chu Keqing at the corner, his pale face showing an uncanny smile, hands back in sleeves, slightly bowing to Chen Yan. Then, he turned and walked into the courtyard.
Chen Yan squinted his eyes for a moment: "I may have been mistaken. The ghost wall array here might not be aimed at us."
He looked at Chu Keqing: "I don’t speak Japanese, but you can, right?"
Chu Keqing answered softly: "I can understand, but not write well."
"Hmm, once inside, observe and listen more, speak less, avoid rash actions."
Saying that, Chen Yan strode to the courtyard gate.
The courtyard gate was well-built—although the low wall wasn’t high, it was exquisite—everything else in the dark village was dilapidated but this place was intact.
Approaching the gate, the black-clad attendants prostrate themselves, speaking in gibberish.
Chen Yan stayed silent, just watching them, suddenly raised his eyebrows!
Those attendants were actually not human!
Despite wearing black robes, their bodies underneath were wooden puppets!
Earlier he couldn’t discern due to the distance, mist, and drizzle.
The wooden puppets spoke human words, though mechanical and stiff, Chen Yan discerned the language.
Chu Keqing looked surprised too but controlled her expression, coldly nodded, then took out two golden ingots folded from foil paper from her bag, throwing them on the ground.
The wooden puppets immediately knelt and bowed, then moved aside to open the gate.
Chu Keqing nodded to Chen Yan and they entered the gate together.
Chen Yan whispered to Chu Keqing: "What did they say?"
"They said, honored guests have arrived, the host awaits you inside." Chu Keqing whispered: "Seems like we’ve stumbled into a gathering."
Chen Yan shook his head: "We’ll know once inside."