“Unbelievable! Do you actually plan to try to sell them somewhere else? Where did the ghosts in your lanterns come from?”
“I caught them on the barren battlefield. They’re everywhere,” the old man replied.
Then they were the wandering souls of deceased soldiers? Once he heard that, it was impossible for Xie Lian to leave the matter alone.
“Stop selling them. Today is Zhongyuan! It won’t be a laughing matter if you stir something up. Besides, those are the heroic souls of warriors—how can you sell them like trinkets?” Xie Lian admonished solemnly.
“When people die, they become nothing but wisps. Who cares if they’re heroic souls?” the old man said. “My own old bones are more important. We all gotta make a living, so what am I gonna do if you don’t let me sell? Be homeless? If you’re so passionate about this, why don’t you buy them all, huh?”
“You…” In the end, Xie Lian admitted defeat. “Fine. I’ll buy.”
He reached into his pockets and scoured every corner, digging out a few pennies.
“Is this enough?”
The old man glanced at the money and exclaimed, “Of course not! How could that pittance be enough?!”
Xie Lian didn’t know what over a dozen lanterns would normally cost; he’d never looked at the price when he purchased things in the past. However, his woeful situation was providing him a chance to learn how to bargain the hard way.
“Your lanterns aren’t pretty or well made, and they’re very unlucky. You might as well sell them to me for cheap.”
“They’re already priced this low, and you’re offering less?” the old man argued. “I’ve never met anyone as broke as you—how embarrassing!”
Xie Lian could feel shame dig into his skin at those words.
“I’m a crown prince, I’m telling you. Never in my life has anyone called me broke.”
He regretted his words as soon as he spoke them. However, the old man didn’t take him seriously at all and laughed.
“If you’re the crown prince, then I’m the good ol’ Emperor!”
Xie Lian was relieved at his reaction but also felt a little awkward. Though at that point, what did he have to lose?
“Will you sell? This is all the money I’ve got,” he said plainly.
After much haggling, they finally completed the transaction, and Xie Lian used that pathetically sad bit of money to buy over a dozen ghost lanterns. He brought the lanterns to the riverside. The old man ran off in a flash the moment he got the money, while Xie Lian sat down by the shore and began to untie each red knot wrapping the lanterns. He released all the little ghosts sealed inside and performed a simple service for them.
Haunting wisps of ghost fire floated from the lanterns. All of these souls were newly coalesced ghosts who had passed away very recently. They were bleary and unfocused, with no clear consciousnesses of their own, and were very feeble still—which was why the old man had captured them so easily. When they were released from the cramped lanterns, they all swarmed around Xie Lian, circling him affectionately and even nuzzling him every so often.
Xie Lian rose to his feet and urged softly, “Go on. Go.”
Aided by the gentle push of Xie Lian’s hand, the spirits rose higher and higher, floating toward the horizon and gradually dissipating. This was known as “spirits returning to the world”—they had moved on and were no more.
Xie Lian gazed at the starry sky for a long time before he heard a tiny voice calling out from behind him.
“Your Highness…”
Xie Lian blinked and turned to look for the source of the voice. Only then did he notice that one tiny ball of ghost fire had remained with him—it hadn’t climbed into the sky, nor dissipated into embers.
This little ghost seemed stronger than the others. Not only did it possess its own consciousness, it could also speak.
Xie Lian walked over, bewildered. “Were you the one calling me just now? You…recognize me?”
The little ball of ghost fire became quite lively upon being noticed, jumping up and down. Judging by its voice, it seemed to be a young man like Xie Lian.
“Of course I recognize you!”
Xie Lian only felt more awkward when he remembered that he was covered in mud and looked so strange. He clenched his hand and pressed his fist against his lips. He really didn’t want to admit to his identity and thought to instead tell the ghost fire that it was mistaken. A moment later, he schooled his expression.
“Why did you stay? Didn’t I send you off? Did I miss a step, maybe?”
If he hadn’t missed a step during the service, why would one of them still be there?
The nameless ghost floated before him, not too close, not too far. “No. You’ve done nothing wrong. I didn’t want to leave, that’s all,” it answered.
“Do you have an unfulfilled wish or some attachment?” Xie Lian mused.
“Yes,” the nameless ghost replied.
“Then why don’t you tell me what it is?” Xie Lian asked. “If it’s not too difficult, I’ll do my best to help you.”
Behind the nameless ghost, three thousand lanterns flowed languidly through the night. The nameless ghost said, “I have a beloved who is still in this world.”
After some silence, Xie Lian said, “I see. Is it your wife?”
“No, Your Highness. We were never married.”
“Ah.”
“In fact, I might not even be remembered,” the nameless ghost said. “We never really talked.”
You never really talked? Xie Lian thought. Then how did this person become the “beloved” that tied your spirit to the world? What beauty they must possess.
Humming for a moment, Xie Lian said, “So then, what is your wish?”
“I want to protect them,” the nameless ghost answered.
Usually, such a spirit’s wish would be something like “I want to tell her I love her,” or “I want to spend some romantic time with her,” or occasionally something more frightening like “I want her to accompany me down below.” A wish to protect someone was quite rare, and Xie Lian was a little stunned.
“But you no longer belong to this world.”
“What of it?” the nameless ghost replied.
“If you force your soul to remain, you won’t be able to rest in peace,” Xie Lian said.
The nameless ghost didn’t seem to care. “I’m willing to never rest in peace.”
This wandering wisp of a spirit was surprisingly stubborn. Such a willful spirit was typically extremely dangerous, but for some reason, Xie Lian didn’t sense any murderous intent from it. So he wasn’t concerned.
“If your beloved knew you couldn’t rest in peace because of them, they might feel troubled and guilty,” Xie Lian continued.
The nameless ghost hesitated for a moment but replied, “Then I just won’t let them know why I haven’t left.”
“If you meet too often, they’ll find out sooner or later,” Xie Lian said.
“Then I won’t let them know I’m protecting them either,” the nameless ghost replied.
Something stirred within Xie Lian’s heart. He could tell that this young man’s love wasn’t just talk.
The lanterns had contained wandering spirits that the old man had captured from the barren battlefield, so the one before him now must have been a young warrior.
“The war separated you from your beloved… I’m sorry I didn’t win,” Xie Lian said quietly.
However, the nameless ghost declared, “To die in battle for you is my greatest honor.”
Xie Lian was stunned.
“To die in battle for the crown prince is the greatest honor for a Xianle soldier,” was a slogan that some general from Xianle had taught the troops. They used it to hype them up for the fight, proclaiming that if they died, they would’ve died for a purpose, and in death they would pass on to the immortal realm. That was, of course, a lie. Yet even though this young soldier had passed away and his soul had been set adrift in the Mortal Realm, he still remembered the phrase so clearly—and said it with such solemnity and sincerity.
