The Three Pure Ones' Secret: Expressing Spirit

Two men, one tall and one short, blocked my way. They looked me up and down, and the taller one sternly berated me. They were speaking perfect Mandarin, but his voice sounded like a eunuch's: "Stop! Where did you come from? Do you know where you are? If you don't know, then keep your head down and walk in!"

I was completely bewildered. I'd never been to this godforsaken place before, what did I know?! But these were just my internal complaints and curses; outwardly, I maintained a humble expression and answered like a grandson, "I don't know, where is this?"

Two guys, one tall and one short, stared at me intently. I had no idea what they were looking at, like wolves looking at a sheep. They were staring at me from head to toe, making me feel embarrassed. I'm not a woman, so what did they mean by that?

Then, the short man with a normal voice said to me, "Wandering spirits are forbidden from entering Half-Step City!"

I stared blankly at the two guys, not understanding what they meant. Maybe I couldn't enter the city; so what? I wasn't surprised. So I gave an awkward laugh and walked aside to look around. But the two guys wouldn't let it go. The taller one yelled at me, "Hey, hey, don't loiter around the city gate! Go loiter over there!"

When I saw them chasing me away, I had no choice but to walk away. I felt a little irritable and helpless. What they had just said had really messed up my mind. They had mentioned something about "half a step into the city" and "wandering souls."

Uh, am I dead? Am I in a soul state now? I can hardly believe it, but everything around me is so... uh... it doesn't seem so real. I'd rather believe that I'm in an illusion or a dream than believe that I'm dead.

Perhaps it was my inner resistance, but I walked back the way I came. After walking for a while, I saw a figure. The reason he caught my attention was because this guy was quite tall, about the same height as me. I am about 1.8 meters tall, and he was almost the same height as me.

But his height wasn't the main reason I noticed him. It was because this guy was incredibly dark-skinned. Generally, being dark-skinned gives people the impression of being unattractive, but this guy was like Louis Koo among dark-skinned people—dark-skinned, but quite handsome. I could see his face clearly, unlike other figures whose silhouettes were just blurry outlines.

Just when I felt a glimmer of hope, something even more perplexing happened: that guy actually walked straight towards me.

Then, walking a short distance in front of me, he shouted, "Hey bro, I've finally found you!"

I paused for a moment, then hesitated, pointing to myself and asking uncertainly, "Are you talking to me?"

The black guy looked around in confusion, then scratched his head and looked at me blankly. He hesitated before saying, "Well, it seems like only the two of us can really communicate properly here!"

I didn't know who this guy was; I had never seen him before. A little nervously, I asked him, "You...you're really looking for me?"

When he saw me asking him, he walked up to me and said, "Yes, I specifically came to find you, Pu Qingyuan, right?"

My mind went completely blank. How did he know my name? He seemed to sense my confusion and bewilderment, so he grinned and said, "Someone hired me specifically to find you. Do you want to know where we are right now?"

I shook my head, then nodded after realizing what I meant. Seeing me shake my head and nod repeatedly, he said helplessly, "Hey, what do you mean by that, bro? Why are you shaking your head and nodding like that?"

I looked at him, a mixture of fear and shyness in my eyes, and said, "Where am I? Am I dead, or am I dreaming?"

This guy pulled out a cigarette from somewhere, put it in his mouth without even lighting it, and the cigarette miraculously lit itself. He took a few puffs, saying, "Um... well, just think of this as a very, very long dream. I'll take you back!"

I looked at the black guy; he was about my age, so he probably wasn't a bad person. Perhaps he sensed my worry, because he introduced himself while taking a drag on his cigarette: "Don't be afraid, brother. My name is Fan Biao, you can just call me Lao Fan. From now on, I'll call you Lao Pu! This place isn't an ordinary place."

This guy wasn't shy at all; he took the initiative to strike up a conversation, and we gradually got to know each other. Luckily, Fan Biao has a knack for socializing; he seemed to know me very well and told me not to be afraid, just follow him, and I would be able to safely return to my life.

I'm utterly baffled by this state—I know I'm not dreaming, yet it feels like I'm in a dream. I don't even know what state I'm in right now. Am I a ghost? Am I a soul?

Completely confused, I asked Fan Biao, "Am I dead now?"

Fan Biao chuckled and said to me, "What? Brother? How could you be dead? You're far from dead. Don't worry about that. I'm going to pick something up somewhere, and I'll show you around while I'm at it, so you can get familiar with the place and see if you have any feelings about it!"

I looked around at the buildings and the gloomy sky. I had no idea where he was taking me, so I just followed behind him, asking as we walked, "Hey bro, do you know where we are? Why can I only see your face, and everyone else's faces are all pixelated?"

When I said that, he seemed to remember something: "Oh, how could I have forgotten about that!"

Then he rummaged around in his shorts pocket for a while. I looked at him, who was wearing floral shorts and white flip-flops, and his white vest was barely able to contain his muscular physique. I wondered what this guy was pulling out.

He fumbled around for a while, then pulled out a glass bottle that looked like an oral liquid bottle from his pocket. He poured the contents of the bottle into his right palm. It looked like safflower oil or medicated oil. However, he didn't care whether I agreed or not, and started rubbing my forehead haphazardly. I touched my forehead and then smelled it. There was a faint fragrance, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. Anyway, it smelled quite nice.

Seeing my resistance, he explained, "Can't you see the faces of these guys around you? I bet you can't even read the words around you, right?"

I nodded, and he hurriedly rummaged in his pocket again, saying to me as he did so, "Then I'll help you, but no matter how strange the people around you look, you can't yell or shout."

Seeing that I agreed, he pulled a crumpled yellow paper talisman from his pocket, mumbled some incantations for a while, and then spontaneously combusted the talisman between his right index and middle fingers. Without any hesitation, he began gesturing at me. I stared at him dumbfounded, initially thinking his actions were like those of a charlatan, but what happened next left me speechless.

Because after he gestured with the yellow paper talisman, several transparent strange characters appeared in the air. Then he threw away the corner of the yellow paper talisman that had not yet burned completely, and immediately turned his right hand into a palm. He then struck at me with the strange characters that had appeared out of thin air. The transparent characters that had appeared out of thin air were directly struck into my body.

Suddenly, everything went black before my eyes, and I felt nothing in my body. I slowly opened my eyes, and the blurry scene gradually became clear. I looked at my surroundings, which hadn't changed at all, and wondered, "What's wrong with this guy?" Then I froze on the spot.

I saw people coming and going on the street, but to be precise, it wouldn't be right to call them people, because although they had human bodies, they didn't have human heads on their necks.

I was speechless with astonishment at the faces around me; they were all animal-like, with only a few human-like. Not only these creatures, whether human or demonic, but also the words around me—I don't know why, or what happened to my brain, but those words seemed to have been sealed inside my head and suddenly unearthed. Words I had never recognized before suddenly became clear, and I knew them all.

The words "something" and "something" in the name of a general store or restaurant came into view, just like the normal Chinese characters I know.

Seeing me standing there dumbfounded, Fan Biao patted me on the shoulder: "Hey! Brother, what's wrong? You're scared stiff?"

I snapped out of my daze and looked around at the figures passing by in fear. I was terrified that they would pounce on me like monsters in horror movies, bite me to death, or come up behind me and strangle me. But it seemed I was just overthinking it. They remained the same as before, not even glancing at me.

"Let's go!" Fan Biao said to me when he saw me standing there in a daze. But as soon as I came to my senses, I saw that he was actually leading me towards the city gate. I hurriedly said to him, "Hey, it seems like we can't get in from there. I already went there, but I was kicked out, which is why I ran into you."

Fan Biao was stunned for a moment, then muttered to himself, "Hey! They're really bold, daring to block your way. Come with me, and I'll teach them a lesson!"

I was a little surprised. He actually wanted to teach those two gatekeepers a lesson. Wouldn't they shoot him dead? I stayed away from Fan Biao and pretended not to know him. If anyone was going to stab someone, I'd stab him first!

But when Fan Biao reached the city gate, I looked at the huge three characters on the plaque: "Banbuduo" (半步多). The name sounded pretty impressive, "Banbuduo!" But suddenly, I seemed to recall hearing the name of this place somewhere before, perhaps on television. It seemed to be some kind of post station, associated with some special folk tales.

Just as I was recalling my memories related to Banbuduo, Fan Biao reached the city gate. The two guards glanced at me and then bowed respectfully. I was puzzled by their deference and was about to approach them when those two bastards, as if wearing tinted glasses, immediately pointed their spears at me, blocking my path. Before they could reprimand me, Fan Biao spoke up, "Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing? You're blind and can't recognize me, fine, but you dare block my way when I'm right behind you?"

The two men bowed slightly and immediately stepped aside, leaving me completely bewildered. I hadn't expected this guy to know them. Could this really be some kind of tourist attraction? I was lost in thought. Did Old Fan used to be the head of security here?

Before I could resolve my doubts, Fan Biao called out to me, "Come on, brother, what are you two looking at?"

I followed Fan Biao hesitantly, slowly walking through the city gate and arriving at a place that resembled a tourist attraction. The surrounding scenery looked like an ancient city in a scenic spot, and I looked around curiously.

As I followed Fan Biao, I didn't know if he was tired or had encountered something, but he suddenly stopped at a stall by the city wall.

I was completely puzzled. Did he have something to do? I looked at the stall, which looked like a fortune-telling stall. Could it be that he wanted to have his birth chart analyzed and his fortune told?

Just as I was wondering what was going on, he did something that completely shocked me.

The fortune-telling stall had a small square table, and on a cool chair opposite the table lay an old man with white hair, dressed in a blue robe. The old man, his face tilted to one side, was snoring loudly. Fan Biao walked up to the small square table. Without asking any questions, he simply took out a pack of cigarettes from the bamboo tube containing the divination sticks on the table, took one out, and put it in his mouth to smoke.

I thought it was outrageous enough that he was secretly smoking someone else's cigarette, but what he did next completely shocked me. He actually grinned mischievously and reached out his right hand to pinch the old man's nose.

The white-haired old man, who had been snoring loudly, suddenly fell silent as if silenced. As time passed, he began to fidget, then involuntarily cried out, "Fire! Fire! Fire!"

Perhaps he truly couldn't hold it in any longer, for the old man opened his eyes in fear, his face deathly pale, staring in horror at Fan Biao before him. I thought the old man would berate Fan Biao, but instead of getting angry, he politely said to Fan Biao, "Master Fan, instead of attending to your own business, why do you have time to torment this old man?"

Fan Biao glanced at him with a wicked grin: "You seem pretty free, old man. I wanted to catch up with you and brag a bit. How have you been, Lao Li?"

The old man stroked his goatee: "Everything as usual, but Fan Bingbing, what's with your outfit? Did you get a new uniform?"

Fan Biao waved his hand: "Change my ass, I'm just wearing it for fun! I'll ask someone else for it."

The old man seemed to understand something. He looked at me beside him, hesitated, and looked puzzled.

Seeing that he was looking at me, Fan Biao said to the old man, "What are you looking at? I'm on a mission. I'm not going to talk to you anymore, I'm leaving!"

The old man cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, then said to Fan Biao, "Then take care, you two gentlemen!"

I scratched my head. This old man was really polite. I didn't expect they knew each other.

I followed behind Fan Biao, not knowing where he was going, so I asked him curiously, "Um, Fan... Master Fan, where are you taking me?"

Fan Biao grinned at me, then said mysteriously, "You'll find out soon enough if you follow me. I'll take you to a familiar place!"