Chapter 342: Ghosts Are Real! Ghosts Are Real!
Early in the morning, Moyuan left Flowing Cloud Temple with Chenghuang.
Once outside the mountain gate, Chenghuang asked, “Is the master not coming back?”
“He will.”
Moyuan said, “But it will be a long wait. Truth is, Flowing Cloud Temple never belonged to him. He was just a guest there. Now it’s returned to its true owner.”
“When he has free time again, he’ll come back. And so will we.”
Chenghuang nodded dimly and asked, “But where is he now? Why didn’t he leave with us?”
Moyuan didn’t turn around. “Remember what my elder brother told you? There’s no one alive who locks themselves away, trains fiercely, and comes out fearing nothing. The master won’t follow us. The road ahead is for just you and me.”
“And me!!”
A loud voice shouted nearby.
Moyuan looked back at the little girl in red. “Why aren’t you with Miss Yun? Why follow me?” Yu Hongjin coughed. “I got kicked out…”
Moyuan gave her a look.
Then Yu Hongjin inched forward until she stood beside Moyuan, tugging at his sleeve.
“I’ve got nowhere to go…”
She gazed at him, eyes wide and pitiful.
Moyuan grabbed her head and pushed her away. “What’s that to me?”
“And I don’t know anyone else! Please? Take me along. I can eat— wait, no! I eat very little. No, wait, I’ll find my own food.”
“No!”
“Pleeease.”
“……”
Chenghuang glanced at her pitiful look. “Elder brother, maybe we should bring her.”
Moyuan scoffed. “You’re too soft. No wonder you suffered so much before.”
Chenghuang eyed the Fish Demon. “They say spotting a Red Fish brings good luck.”
Moyuan paused, seeming hesitant.
Yu Hongjin acted like she saw hope.
“Exactly! Good luck! I mean good luck!”
After a long silence, Moyuan coughed and told Chenghuang, “Take her if you want. Up to you.”
Yu Hongjin beamed instantly, throwing her hands up. “Woohoo! Woohoo!”
“Don’t celebrate too soon.” Moyuan sneered.
Yu Hongjin humphed twice, planting her hands on her hips. “I’ll be toooo… umm…”
“Too what?”
“Good.”
“You promise? If you touch one drop of wine, I’ll gobble you up.”
“……”
Yu Hongjin pouted. She didn’t agree or argue.
So the three demons walked off toward the road ahead.
Only Chenghuang seemed distracted, muttering, “What was I going to ask…”
He remembered but felt too lazy to ask.
Worrying about what lay ahead filled him more.
He gave the “home” behind him one last longing look, thinking come back soon, then followed Moyuan onward.
…
The Old City God told Tao’er too, handing over what the master left them.
Tao’er rushed back to Flowing Cloud Temple instantly upon hearing the news.
Seeing the empty temple,
She froze, lost for words.
“The master lied…”
Her eyes turned red. He had told her this place would always be her home, yet now it vanished overnight.
Tong Zhihuan arrived to find Tao’er there, eyes reddened.
“The master left?” Tong Zhihuan asked.
Tao’er bit her lip, nodding slightly. “Who knows when he’s coming back this time?”
Tong Zhihuan understood. He bent down, softly stroking her hair and holding her close for comfort.
Tao’er stared blankly at the silent temple, murmuring, “Everyone lied to me…”
Tong Zhihuan patted her back gently. “He’ll return. It might seem like a blink of an eye. Very soon…”
He couldn’t explain further. The master chose his path.
Truth was, when the master first mentioned traveling far away long ago, Tong Zhihuan knew one day he’d leave—for years, or 60 years, or many cycles of 60 years.
This mountain, this temple, was merely a resting place in his long journey.
Tong Zhihuan sighed quietly and said no more.
Once Tao’er calmed down, he led her down the mountain.
But after that, Tao’er visited every single day again. Like so many years past, she swept fallen leaves in the temple without end.
…
“Is the master gone? Young Master Mo too? Gone down the mountain?”
When Miss Tao’er told Zhang Xiaoliu this news, he seemed dazed.
“Is that so…”
He opened his mouth, as if suspecting something. “Gone for very long?”
“The master said… very, very long.” Tao’er replied.
Zhang Xiaoliu lifted his gaze to the temple before him.
He smacked his lips softly, started to raise a hand but halted.
In the end, his hand fell back down.
Zhang Xiaoliu asked, “For someone like me… does it mean he won’t be coming back?”
Tao’er paused at this, thinking long before answering uncertainly.
“Maybe so.”
Zhang Xiaoliu froze briefly.
Coming back to himself, he lowered his head with a bitter chuckle and sigh.
“Maybe better not to see him.”
That was all he said. Then he bent to sweep the steps once more.
Perhaps absence eased his own shame.
Tao’er watched him. “You don’t have to come back tomorrow.”
Zhang Xiaoliu didn’t answer, just kept cleaning the mountain steps.
He would come. Like always, he would come.
.
.
Dawn arrived with fog thick over the river.
A faint mist of chimney smoke drifted near the bank, where a lone fisherman sat in his boat, not daring paddle out.
“Way too foggy… way too risky…”
The angler frowned anxiously. Today was meant for catching big fish to sell at the Wine Tavern, but bad luck robbed his chance.
He could only sit there, stranded, waiting for the fog to lift.
With nothing to do, he plucked weeds by the shore, a grass stalk dangling from his lips, and glanced toward the misty river now and then.
“Hooo…”
Suddenly, a chilling gust swept over him. He shivered, rubbing his shoulders.
But when he looked up, his eyes widened.
Through the thick mist swirling over the river, a figure seemed to glide.
It appeared at a river bend and headed into open waters.
Straining to see,
He glimpsed flickers of Blue Robe through the fog.
“Eh?”
He rubbed his eyes and stood up.
“That’s… a man?”
He gaped by the shore. The grass blade dropped from his mouth.
Suddenly jolted, he noticed the fog parted and recoiled wherever the Blue Robe passed.
In a blink, the river fog tore apart like fabric, leaving a void that closed again just as fast.
And the Blue Robe vanished back into the fog.
The fisherman gulped, scrambled wildly back onto land, and bolted away shouting—
“Ghosts are real! Ghosts are real!”
“Dad! DAD!”