Less than thirty li east of Chang'an City lay Changmen Palace. It had originally been the private villa of Ah Jiao’s mother, Princess Guantao, built with exquisite splendor. Later, due to the incident involving Dong Yan, it was presented to Liu Che to serve as a detached palace for his journeys to pay respects at Emperor Wen’s temple. However, before Liu Che could visit even twice, she had been relocated to Changmen as an exile.
Floating in the air, Ah Jiao could not see the ground clearly. She wondered if Changmen Palace had fallen into ruin by now. It would be a pity for such a beautiful garden to go to waste; it was far superior to the North Palace within Chang'an!
*Sigh.*
If they traveled another twenty or thirty li, they would reach Baling. Baling was built "into the mountain, without a raised mound," carved from stone and exceptionally sturdy. Her grandparents' mausoleums were there, and her mother was buried there as well.
Shen Zhi seemed to sense her thoughts, for he led Ah Jiao much lower, even lingering for a moment above Changmen Palace.
Four or five li east of Changmen Palace, Ah Jiao spotted the newly built papermaking workshop. From mid-air, the buildings—still just skeletal frames—looked no larger than a fist, and the laborers moving to and fro resembled ants.
Shen Zhi led them down. The passing laborers walked straight through their bodies.
Scanning the people nearby, Shen Zhi pointed directly at a man standing on a roof and asked, "Is it him?"
Ah Jiao was not yet used to being exposed to sunlight in her ghostly form. She squinted for a moment before nodding. "Yes, that’s him!"
Shen Zhi leaped into the air and landed beside Lin Gao.
A deep black token flew up, the cloud and water patterns on its surface rippling as if they were real. As the ripples brushed past her, Ah Jiao felt a sudden jolt; the official tablet within her body flew out without being summoned.
Ever since the teardrop of the King of Hell had moistened her eyes, she had been able to see any anomalies in souls or spiritual energy at a glance. Yet, she had never noticed anything unusual about Lin Gao’s soul before.
Now, under the reflection of the cloud and water ripples, Ah Jiao discovered that Lin Gao’s soul seemed to be a strange mixture of things; his countenance was not quite the same as his physical body.
Once the ripples subsided, Shen Zhi spoke to the two standing below. "There is indeed a foreign soul within him, but it has fused with Lin Gao’s original soul."
"Fused!" Ah Jiao’s eyes widened.
Chen Wei added, "A fusion of souls inevitably causes damage. It is not surprising if he absorbed the mundane essence of his surroundings to heal those spiritual wounds during the process."
Ah Jiao listened, only half-understanding.
Then she saw Shen Zhi flip his palm and strike Lin Gao’s back. Lin Gao’s body went rigid, frozen in place.
To be precise, it wasn't just Lin Gao; everyone in the papermaking workshop had stopped!
Chen Wei turned to comfort her. "It’s nothing, just a Body-Fixing Spell."
Taking a deep breath, Ah Jiao’s face flushed with excitement. "I really want to learn that."
Evidently, Shen Zhi’s Body-Fixing Spell was only the beginning.
Next, she saw Lin Gao’s body emit a silver glow. In the blink of an eye, his soul was pulled from his physical form.
Lin Gao stared blankly at his surroundings, unable to comprehend why there was another "him" standing in front of him. He reached out to touch it, only to find his hand passing through the "person" opposite him.
Lin Gao: "!!!"
*Holy crap!*
*What’s going on?!*
He looked down and saw that he was transparent. Through his own feet, he could see the main roof beam they had installed just yesterday, draped with red silk and carved with the four ancient characters for "Great Luck Upon Raising the Beam."
"Lin Gao! Snap out of it!" Ah Jiao waved from the ground.
Lin Gao turned his head in a daze. At first, he saw nothing, but then his vision shifted, and he saw a beautiful, unfamiliar woman standing on the ground, smiling and waving at him. Behind her stood a cold-faced man dressed in black, who looked like a subordinate.
Lin Gao swallowed hard.
While mountain spirits and wild monsters didn't usually appear in historical transmigration dramas or novels, what if the screenwriter had a screw loose? Besides, it was perfectly normal for demons to appear in period pieces!
No one ever said that transmigrating to the Han Dynasty meant you were stuck in a "farming life" script!
College students could refine elixirs in induction cookers! Heavenly Tribulations could turn into nuclear bombs!
His startled, somewhat sluggish brain suddenly kicked into high gear.
"Dear little fairy, beautiful sister, Great Lady King, what business do you have with this humble one?"
Ah Jiao: "..." *What on earth is he saying?*
Seeing the confusion on the woman's face, Lin Gao felt his words must be working. He was about to speak again when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder!
He froze like a wooden block.
In a strange, supernatural world, are you allowed to look back when someone taps your shoulder?
He had heard that if you look back, you get eaten by monsters!
"Aaaaaah!"
Ah Jiao watched blankly as Lin Gao suddenly screamed. The ghost "zipped" away, but before he could get more than a few steps, he jerked to a halt and began floating in the opposite direction!
Shen Zhi stepped toward the original direction. Lin Gao, sensing this, suddenly stopped and shouted, "I'm over here! Come and chase me, you bastards!" He continued to provoke them.
Ah Jiao: "???" Her small head was filled with big doubts.
Chen Wei stepped forward and tilted his chin toward a simple thatched hut in the direction Lin Gao had first tried to run. "His wife and child are in that house."
Ah Jiao suddenly understood.
She looked at her "new dad" on the roof, who had no intention of moving, then frowned and rubbed her chin. "But Lin Gao seems to think we're monsters!"
She ran toward Lin Gao and grabbed his clothes. "Don't run! It's me, your Lady Chen!"
Lin Gao finally stopped, though his body still leaned back with effort. He replied, "Really?"
Ah Jiao nodded. "Of course! We're partners in the shop, aren't we? Don't be afraid, we aren't monsters!"
As she pulled the skeptical Lin Gao toward Chen Wei, Ah Jiao saw Shen Zhi land lightly on the ground. Her desire to learn how to fly grew even stronger.
Then she would fly in front of Liu Che, and then...
She wouldn't take him with her!
Just thinking about it made her happy.
Lin Gao scrutinized the group, unable to stop himself from asking Ah Jiao, "Why do you look different?"
Ah Jiao rolled her eyes. "That was Chen Wan’s body. This is my soul. Of course I look different from Chen Wan. Are you stupid?"
Lin Gao: "..."
Ah Jiao continued, "Didn't you say you were some kind of 'transmigrator'? Do you know who they are?"
Lin Gao frowned, sensing that this matter was not simple. "The Time Management Bureau?"
Ah Jiao: "???"
Shen Zhi: "..." *What is that?*
"Ahem!"
Shen Zhi cleared his throat lightly. "We are Ghost Immortals of the Underworld."
Lin Gao: "Hiss!" His eyes rolled back, and he looked ready to faint.
Chen Wei caught him. "Do not worry. We aren't necessarily here to take you back to the Underworld. We know you have a wife and child now, so we only wish to understand the anomaly within you."
Lin Gao steadied himself. "The Un-Un-Underworld... Am I dead?"
Chen Wei said, "No. We have only temporarily extracted your soul. Look, your body is perfectly fine over there." He pointed toward the roof.
Lin Gao looked up and saw that it was indeed fine.
After a moment of thought, he said, "Whatever you need to investigate, go ahead and ask!"
Hearing this, Shen Zhi spoke up. "Very well. You need not be nervous, and do not resist..."
Just as Lin Gao was about to ask why, he saw the man in black reach out and touch his forehead. Immediately, he felt as if something was flooding into his body through his brow.
He was greatly alarmed and instinctively tried to resist. But the moment the thought arose, he found himself defeated.
"...Because even if you resist, you cannot win."
Lin Gao: "..."
He could only endure that strange sensation as it roamed through every corner of his soul, as if leaving not a single secret to himself.
When Shen Zhi withdrew his power, Lin Gao felt a deep sense of exhaustion, as if he had just run a three-thousand-meter race followed by a five-thousand-meter one.
"How is it?" Ah Jiao asked urgently.
Shen Zhi produced the green bamboo slip again. His fingertip slid across it, and new characters appeared. As he wrote, he said, "His soul has completely fused with the soul of that physical body. I tried to separate them, but I cannot. Perhaps only the two Sovereign Deities have a way to pull them apart again."
"Are there any other anomalies?" Ah Jiao asked.
Shen Zhi fell silent for a rare moment. "There is an extremely faint power within him. I cannot trace its source, nor do I dare to disturb it. I suspect we must invite the two Sovereign Deities to pay a visit to the mortal realm."
Chen Wei said in shock, "Is it that serious?"
Shen Zhi replied, "It is merely a power I have never seen before; there is no need for alarm. However, I can sense that the power is very gentle and holds no malice. I shall return now to report this to the Sovereign Deities."
He paused, then produced a book with a flick of his hand. "Ah Jiao, I have compiled the spells and incantations you can learn in this book. Look through it yourself first. If there is anything you don't understand, ask the local deities at the City God Temple, or wait until my next visit to the mortal realm to ask me."
Lin Gao stared at the paper book, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
With a wave of Shen Zhi’s hand, his figure vanished from the spot.
Lin Gao felt a sudden jolt.
"Lord Lin?" A laborer nearby, who was handing Lin Gao a hammer, called out softly when he saw the Paper Procurement Official dazed.
"Ah?" Lin Gao turned his head blankly.
"Are you alright, sir?"
Lin Gao blinked, almost wondering if he had just had a dream. He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"I'm fine. Just a bit tired. I'm going to take a break." With that, he climbed down the long ladder from the roof.
Walking toward the resting hut, he saw his wife, Qu Yunxu, simmering some kind of soup.
"Yunxu, what are you making?" Lin Gao walked over and pulled his wife into his arms. Only then did he feel his heart steady.
Qu Yunxu turned and smiled. "These are the plums we gathered this summer. I’m making some sweet soup to help everyone cool off from the heat."
Lin Gao smiled and kissed his wife’s cheek, whispering, "Yunxu, I love you so much!"
Despite being an old married couple for years, Qu Yunxu’s face still reddened slightly. She murmured, "You... in broad daylight!"
Lin Gao closed his eyes and leaned his head on her shoulder. "I mean it. I'm being very serious."
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 长门宫 | Changmen Palace | The palace where Empress Chen (Ah Jiao) was exiled. |
| 霸陵 | Baling | The mausoleum of Emperor Wen of Han. |
| 采纸令 | Paper Procurement Official | Lin Gao's official title/role in the workshop. |
| 定身法 | Body-Fixing Spell | A classic Taoist/mythological spell to freeze someone in place. |
| 鬼仙 | Ghost Immortal | A rank of immortal in Chinese mythology, often associated with the underworld. |
| 二位尊神 | Two Sovereign Deities | Likely referring to the highest rulers of the underworld in this setting. |
| 时空管理局 | Time Management Bureau | A modern sci-fi trope often used in Chinese "transmigration" fiction. |
| 城隍庙 | City God Temple | A temple dedicated to the tutelary deity of a city. |
| 地仙 | Earth Immortal / Local Deity | Lower-level deities residing in the mortal realm. |
| 曲云姁 | Qu Yunxu | Lin Gao's wife. |
