Chapter 301: Six on the Same Road, One Joint Offering in a Single Shadow

The seventeenth bell toll faded, and the Righteous Manor's great gate slowly swung shut.

On the back of the door panel, the six-fingered handprint seemed to come alive, its knuckles bending one by one until they pressed firmly against the door.

The gray-robed man did not draw his blade.

He simply looked up toward the bell tower.

No one stood atop the tower.

Yet the bell rope was swinging back and forth, its end stained with dark red mud-water, dripping to the ground and forming a string of infant footprints.

"Zhou Shoumo."

Gu Huaishan's voice came from beyond the gate.

The gray-robed man's eyelid twitched.

"You're still alive?"

"The ones who should have died are alive, but seventeen who shouldn't have died are dead."

"Your father never left your name in the records."

"So I've come to take it myself."

Gu Huaishan stood outside the gate, flanked by three bearers from the Northern Guan Righteous Manor. They carried iron shovels, hemp rope, and a blue-cloth lantern, their faces grim, yet not one of them stepped back.

Zhou Shoumo walked to the gate.

"Do you know what this place is?"

"A righteous manor."

"No."

Zhou Shoumo reached out and touched the door panel.

"This is the final stop for every unclaimed corpse in the Seven Hamlets and Three Gullies."

"Corpses come in, names stay on the ledger."

"If no one comes to claim them, the manor must record them on their behalf."

"If you destroy the old ledger, every one of those dead out there loses their origin."

Gu Huaishan said:

"We're not here to destroy the ledger."

"We're here to inspect it."

"To find out who wrote the dead as shadows, who wrote the living as dead, and who used the manor's name to feed offerings to an evil altar."

Zhou Shoumo was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

"Gu Huaishan, don't forget you're also a descendant of a Record-Shadow Officer."

"My father was a kiln worker, not a Record-Shadow Officer."

"Who your father was isn't for you to decide."

"Whoever the ledger says he is, that's who he is."

The iron ruler in Gu Huaishan's hand slammed against the crack of the gate.

"Then let's start by writing out your name."

The six-fingered handprint inside the gate suddenly spread open.

A black shadow slithered out through the crack, wrapping around the iron ruler and crawling up Gu Huaishan's wrist.

The manor bearers cried out in alarm and stumbled backward.

But Gu Huaishan did not let go.

He raised his other hand and reported his own name toward the gate:

"Gu Huaishan, witness of the Northern Guan Righteous Manor."

The black shadow in the crack paused.

"Gu Huaishan, after Sun Laifu, Sun Shiqi—"

"Gu Huaishan."

He spoke again, his voice steadier.

"I only answer to this name."

"If anyone dares to change my name, they'll have to get past this ruler first."

The boundary line on the iron ruler flared bright.

The black shadow was forced back inside the gate.

Gu Huaishan kicked the door open in one smooth motion.

The door panel crashed against the wall. The six-fingered handprint split into five clumps of black mud, which fell to the ground and transformed into five tiny insects that burrowed into the snow.

At the same time, the seventeen faceless shadows on the manor's courtyard walls turned as one and rushed toward the corpse hall.

Gu Huaishan shouted:

"Hold the corpse hall!"

The three bearers spread out, hanging the blue-cloth lanterns by the windows.

Under the lamplight, the shadows in the courtyard suddenly revealed their outlines.

Sixteen shadows seemed bound by invisible ropes. Only the seventeenth shadow remained pressed against the corpse hall door, its shoulders rising and falling slightly, like a person gasping for breath.

Gu Huaishan walked up to the shadow.

"What's your name?"

The shadow did not answer.

"Where do you come from?"

The shadow still did not move.

"Who sent you into the manor?"

Inside the corpse hall, the nameless corpse suddenly sat up.

The vermilion palm print on its forehead seeped blood-water, which trickled down its cheeks to its neck.

It opened its mouth and emitted a young boy's voice:

"My name is Sun Shiqi."

Gu Huaishan's expression changed drastically.

The bearers outside also drew sharp breaths.

Zhou Shoumo stood by the door and said in a low voice:

"Heard that?"

"The ledger has already acknowledged him."

"He is the seventeenth shadow."

Gu Huaishan looked toward the corpse hall.

The corpse stepped down from the wooden platform, holding a second Child-Name Register in its hand.

At the blank space at the end of the register, three characters were slowly emerging:

"Sun Shiqi."

Gu Huaishan raised his iron ruler, ready to smash it down, but his hand froze mid-air.

Zhou Shoumo seized the opportunity to speak:

"If you destroy this page, you'll be destroying the last name your father left behind."

Gu Huaishan clenched his jaw.

"What my father left behind isn't a name."

"It's a debt."

"He wanted me to guard the shadows for him."

"What your father wanted was for you to live."

A clear female voice came from outside the courtyard gate.

Song Qinghe walked in carrying the bronze lamp.

Behind her were Lin Zhaoxuan, Zhou Heng, Lu Yuan, Xu Erxiao, and Wang Cheng'an.

Six people stepped into the manor together, leaving six rows of footprints in the snow outside the gate.

Xu Erxiao spotted the nameless corpse at a glance and drew his short sword.

"Brother Lu, this thing has already claimed a name?"

"Just did."

Lu Yuan looked up at Zhou Shoumo.

"But claiming a name isn't the same as owning it."

Zhou Shoumo stared at him.

"What's the difference?"

"Owning a name requires verifying origin, kin, and cause of death."

Lu Yuan walked to the corpse hall door. He didn't touch the body, only looked at the shadow beneath its feet.

"A corpse that suddenly appears in a snow gully, clothes swapped, forehead stamped with vermilion mud, and announced by seventeen bell tolls upon entering the manor."

"This isn't claiming a name."

"This is someone stuffing a name into the corpse first, then using the corpse to open a door for the old shadow."

Wang Cheng'an carried his abacus to the side and opened his ledger.

"How many nameless corpses has the Northern Guan Righteous Manor taken in over the past two years?"

Gu Huaishan replied:

"Twenty-three."

"And how many were sent in from the western mountain road?"

"Seven."

"How many were marked as pending verification?"

"Six."

Wang Cheng'an flicked the abacus beads, and they clicked sharply.

"Then one is missing."

"Which one?"

"Today's."

He pointed at the corpse in the corpse hall.

"The ledger says pending verification, but the body has three stitches of sewing thread, deliberately sewn in."

"This isn't a nameless corpse."

"This is a corpse that had its name stripped away."

Zhou Heng stepped closer to inspect the collar of the corpse.

He reached into the cotton jacket's lining and pulled out a black hemp thread.

The knot was strange, as if three strands were twisted into one, with a dead knot tied in the middle.

"This is the Soul-Sealing Knot of the Daoist sects inside the Great Wall."

Song Qinghe looked at him.

"Are you sure?"

"I've seen it before."

Zhou Heng nodded.

"When we fled from inside the Great Wall back then, some Daoist temples along the way used this knot to seal the souls of the dead."

Lin Zhaoxuan took the black thread and rolled it between his fingers.

"The thread is mixed with kiln ash and well mud."

"The deceased was first kept in the abandoned kiln, then brought to the righteous well in Ma family gully, and finally sent to Northern Guan."

Lu Yuan asked:

"Why go through three places?"

Lin Zhaoxuan said:

"The kiln is where shadows are raised, the well is where names are borrowed, and the manor is where records are made."

"Whether a person lives or dies doesn't matter."

"As long as the corpse travels this path once, the shadow, the name, and the ledger can all be linked together."

Song Qinghe placed the bronze lamp on the threshold.

The flame leaned one inch to the west.

She looked up and said:

"There's one more place."

"Where?"

"The boundary marker at West Ridge."

Zhou Heng's expression darkened.

"That's where my shadow was taken."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Kiln raises shadows, boundary marker borrows form, well borrows names, manor enters records."

"These four places together form the complete evil ritual."

Xu Erxiao asked:

"So which one do we smash first?"

"We can't smash any of them."

Lu Yuan looked at him.

"Every place has something people left behind."

"The kiln may hold the deceased's belongings, the boundary marker recorded the forms of passersby, the well holds the children's names, and the manor stores the corpse registers."

"If we smash them, the trail is severed."

Xu Erxiao sheathed his sword.

"Then what do we do?"

"Spread all four ledgers open at once."

Zhou Shoumo suddenly burst into laughter.

"You think the new Mountain Regulations can suppress the old Four Gates?"

"Those aren't four gates."

Lin Zhaoxuan said.

"They're four locks that borrow strength from each other."

"As long as someone declares each one an unchangeable ancestral rule, no one dares to investigate."

Zhou Heng stared at Zhou Shoumo.

"You're the one guarding the locks."

Zhou Shoumo did not deny it.

He raised his right hand.

His shadow on the wall, which should have had only five fingers, slowly grew a sixth.

"I guard the dead."

"And the lives of the living in these mountains."

"Without the old rules, these refugees from beyond the Great Wall wouldn't even have a place to be buried."

Song Qinghe said:

"You turned a burial ground into a shadow-raising ground."

"You turned unclaimed corpses into gatekeepers."

"You carved the origins and names of refugees into ledgers, then used those ledgers to control them."

"This isn't burial."

"This is harvesting."

Zhou Shoumo looked at Song Qinghe.

"A Daoist from inside the Great Wall, and you dare to speak of rules?"

Song Qinghe's expression darkened slightly.

But Lin Zhaoxuan stepped in front of her.

"We fled from inside the Great Wall, not because we don't understand rules."

"But because someone used rules to block the path of survival."

"That's why we refuse to watch you walk the same road."

Zhou Heng raised his blade.

"If you want to borrow my shadow, you should first ask my true name."

Zhou Shoumo smiled.

"Do you dare to speak it?"

"Zhou Heng."

"Disciple of Green Pine Temple inside the Great Wall, fled beyond the Wall as a refugee, master's lineage unbroken, incense unsevered."

Zhou Heng spoke his origin word by word.

The false shadow on the wall twisted violently.

The face identical to Zhou Heng's peeled away from the shadow and knelt at his feet.

Lin Zhaoxuan also declared:

"Lin Zhaoxuan, disciple of White Cloud Sect inside the Great Wall, entered beyond the Wall to seek my senior brother, bearing witness today."

Song Qinghe said:

"Song Qinghe, disciple of Qingwei Altar inside the Great Wall, holding the lamp today, illuminating shadows but not acknowledging the Shadow Officer."

As the three voices fell, three pale white talisman marks surfaced on the manor's walls.

These marks resonated with the hemp threads the three of them had used when ascending the mountain.

Xu Erxiao grinned.

"Brother Lu, let us go too."

He thrust his short sword into the ground and cupped his fists.

"Xu Erxiao, following Brother Lu on mountain roads, breaking evil offerings, slaying the Malevolent Deity."

Wang Cheng'an patted his abacus.

"Wang Cheng'an, following Brother Lu to keep accounts, verify accounts, and chase down accounts."

Lu Yuan glanced at them.

"You're declaring too much."

"Afraid it can't remember?"

Xu Erxiao said.

"Then make it remember clearly."

Lu Yuan raised his half-broken blade.

"Lu Yuan, seven offerings severed, old rules verified."

"Entering the Righteous Manor today, I accept no shadow names, no private seals."

The names of six people fell together.

All seventeen shadows in the courtyard suddenly prostrated themselves on the ground.

The nameless corpse in the corpse hall also knelt.

Only Zhou Shoumo's shadow still stood on the wall.

"You think declaring your names can save others from the ledger?"

"A name isn't a lock."

Lu Yuan said.

"No one said declaring names would be enough."

He looked at Gu Huaishan.

"Bring out the old ledger."

Gu Huaishan carried out a heavy wooden chest.

Dust covered the chest, and the lock was rusted solid.

"This is the master record of shadows from the past thirty years."

"Every unclaimed corpse, every outsider, every name change is recorded here."

"Zhou Shoumo is right."

"The ledger cannot be destroyed."

"But it also can't continue to be privately guarded by one person."

Wang Cheng'an crouched down and pushed aside the vermilion beads on his abacus.

"Split the accounts."

"The manor keeps the corpse examination records, each hamlet keeps the kin claim registers, and the Mountain-Regulation Assembly keeps a copy of the old rules."

"All name changes, shadow transfers, and soul sealings must henceforth bear the seals of all three parties."

Song Qinghe said:

"Add one more rule."

"Daoist disciples from inside the Great Wall and witnesses from each hamlet beyond the Wall shall jointly verify."

Zhou Shoumo sneered.

"You want outsiders to audit the Mountain Regulations?"

"Not outsiders."

Lin Zhaoxuan said.

"Survivors."

Zhou Heng said:

"Whoever's name is being investigated has the right to be present and listen."

Gu Huaishan slowly opened the wooden chest.

A musty, cold breath surged out from within.

The old ledgers inside were not thick, but they were stacked layer upon layer, each cover marked with a year.

On the very top ledger, the cover had been stained dark red by vermilion mud.

Lu Yuan opened the first page.

"Eh?"

Wang Cheng'an leaned in.

The first page had no names, only four imprints:

Kiln, Marker, Well, Manor.

Beneath each imprint was written a number.

"Sixteen, forty-seven, three hundred twenty-one, twenty-three."

"Sixteen shadows in the kiln, forty-seven people borrowed by the boundary marker, three hundred twenty-one children's names in the well, twenty-three nameless corpses in the manor."

Wang Cheng'an flicked a few beads on his abacus, and his expression suddenly changed.

"The numbers don't match."

"What doesn't match?"

"Three hundred twenty-one children's names, twenty-three corpses in the manor."

"But seventeen of those corpses were recorded as child names."

"Counting them in, it should be three hundred thirty-eight."

Lu Yuan flipped to the next page.

That page was densely covered with scraped-off names.

The scrape marks were fresh.

And in the last line, half a character remained.

It looked like "Gu."

Gu Huaishan's body trembled.

"This is my father's handwriting."

Zhou Shoumo's voice drifted down from the wall.

"Gu Changgeng investigated this far, and that's when he was sent into the kiln."

"Your father didn't die in the kiln collapse."

"I put him in there."

Gu Huaishan's head snapped up.

"What did you say?"

"He discovered that the number of child names and nameless corpses didn't match."

"He wanted to hand the old ledger to the hamlets."

"So I told him the kiln roof was cracked."

"He went in to save people."

"I sealed the kiln opening from outside."

Gu Huaishan's eyes turned bloodshot.

"Seventeen people. They weren't buried by a kiln collapse."

"You sealed them in?"

"Sixteen dead, and Gu Changgeng, one living man."

Zhou Shoumo's shadow raised its six fingers.

"And thus the seventeen shadows took form."

The courtyard suddenly fell silent.

The nameless corpse in the corpse hall slowly turned to look at Zhou Shoumo.

The vermilion palm print on its forehead split open.

A child's eye was revealed inside.

"Why did you do this?"

The corpse asked.

Zhou Shoumo's shadow swayed slightly.

"Because Gu Changgeng refused to follow the rules."

"Because someone had to remain."

"Because without all seventeen shadows complete, the Four Gates would fall out of balance."

"Who decided it had to be seventeen shadows?"

Lu Yuan asked.

Zhou Shoumo said:

"The seventeen people in the kiln."

"The seventeenth was Gu Changgeng."

"Without him, the other sixteen would scatter."

"So I kept his shadow."

Lu Yuan flipped through the last few pages of the old ledger.

In a loose interleaf paper, he found a line of extremely faint small characters:

"Sixteen is the number of death, seventeen is the number of borrowing."

"Sixteen kiln workers have died."

"For the seventeenth number, one should not take the shadow of the living."

"One should take the duty of guarding the rules."

Lu Yuan's fingertip stopped.

"Gu Changgeng wrote this."

"He wanted to amend the rules at the very end."

Zhou Shoumo said coldly:

"He wanted to turn the main shadow into a mere piece of Public Deliberation."

"The dead cannot wait for deliberation."

"And the living cannot make decisions for the dead."

"So I had to guard it myself."

Lu Yuan raised his blade, pointing at the six-fingered shadow on the wall.

"You're not guarding."

"You're afraid."

"You're afraid that once the old accounts are opened, you'll transform from a rule-keeper into the man who killed seventeen people."

"You're afraid that if Gu Changgeng's amendment survives, others will learn you sealed the kiln."

"And you're even more afraid that once these child names return to their own records, no one will need you anymore."

Zhou Shoumo's shadow suddenly swelled.

Six fingers clawed toward Lu Yuan.

Song Qinghe raised the bronze lamp, and the flame transformed into an arc of light, blocking the black shadow beyond the threshold.

At the same time, Lin Zhaoxuan scattered a handful of white beans.

The beans hit the ground and arranged themselves into a three-foot boundary line.

"Yin shall not cross."

Zhou Heng stepped forward, his blade slashing at the shadow's right wrist.

This strike wasn't aimed at Zhou Shoumo's shadow itself, but at the extra sixth finger on the wall.

As the blade fell, the black shadow let out a piercing shriek.

Xu Erxiao seized the moment to cast out the hemp rope, binding it around the doorframe of the corpse hall.

"Brother Lu, the rope's set!"

Wang Cheng'an retreated to the side, clutching the old ledger.

"This ledger is heating up!"

"Don't let it burn."

Lu Yuan said.

"Check the last page."

Wang Cheng'an opened the interleaf paper and pressed it against the abacus.

The beads on the abacus began moving on their own, one by one, finally arranging themselves into seventeen numbers.

Sixteen were vermilion red, and only the seventeenth was black.

Wang Cheng'an stared at the black bead.

"Brother Lu, seventeen isn't a person's name."

"It's a gap."

"The old rules stuffed Gu Changgeng's shadow into that gap."

"And now he wants to stuff you into it."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Then we don't fill it."

He drove the half-broken blade into the ground.

"Sixteen kiln workers, their bodies return to the kiln."

"Gu Changgeng, his duty returns to Gu Changgeng."

"Zhou Shoumo, his crimes return to Zhou Shoumo."

"For the seventeenth number, no name shall be established."

"The gap shall not serve as an offering, and the empty seat shall not receive a shadow."

Zhou Shoumo roared:

"Without a main shadow, the Four Gates will open!"

"And if they do?"

"Let the old accounts come out."

Lu Yuan formed hand seals, his voice overpowering the bell tolls:

"Shadows have their origins, names have their owners."

"The dead do not borrow living names, the living do not fill dead seats."

"The kiln belongs to the dead, the well to the children's names, the manor to the corpses, the marker to the passersby."

"If the old rules are wrong, Public Deliberation may amend them."

"Private shadows usurping positions — retreat!"

The ground of the manor shook violently.

Four black imprints surfaced simultaneously on the four walls: Kiln, Marker, Well, Manor.

Zhou Shoumo's shadow was seized by four streams of white light, as if four carts were tearing it apart from four directions.

The nameless corpse in the corpse hall suddenly stepped forward.

It raised its hand and peeled off the vermilion palm print from its forehead.

The moment the print left its skin, the frost on the corpse's face fell away in clumps, revealing a young, unfamiliar face.

It showed no signs of death, as if it had merely slept for too long.

"What's my name?"

No one answered.

Zhou Shoumo's shadow was still struggling.

"You're Sun Shiqi!"

Gu Huaishan stared at that face, then suddenly said:

"You're not Sun Shiqi."

The corpse looked up.

Gu Huaishan walked up to it.

"You're a person who was stripped out of Sun Shiqi's name."

"You have to find your own name yourself."

The corpse stared at him blankly.

Gu Huaishan took out his iron ruler and placed it in its hand.

"Hold on to this for now."

"Once you find your origin, then claim your name."

The corpse took the iron ruler.

The boundary line on the ruler did not reject it. Instead, it lit up with a gentle ring of warm white light.

Zhou Shoumo's shadow let out a low growl.

"You can't let a nameless one hold the Record-Shadow Ruler!"

"This was never yours to begin with."

Gu Huaishan said.

"Recording shadows is meant to distinguish people, not to trap them."

As the ruler fell, the six-fingered shadow on the wall snapped completely apart.

Zhou Shoumo's physical body tumbled out from behind the wall and rolled onto the ground.

He was a gaunt old man, his right eye clouded white, his right hand bearing only five fingers.

He wore a gray robe, but sewn onto his chest was a cloth tag turned inside out.

Zhou Heng stepped forward and tore the tag off.

On the back were written three characters:

"Blind Zhou."

Wang Cheng'an said in a low voice:

"So he's been sewing his nickname onto himself all along."

"Afraid others might forget."

Lu Yuan walked up to Zhou Shoumo.

"The sixteen kiln workers in the abandoned kiln, their bodies will not be disturbed for now."

"Send people to seal the kiln opening first. Within three days, the Seven Hamlets and Three Gullies will verify the corpses, identify the belongings, and erect monuments."

"The manor's old ledger will be split into three copies."

"One for the Mountain-Regulation Assembly, one for the manor, and one rotated among the hamlets."

"All altered names will be re-verified."

Zhou Shoumo looked up and smiled.

"You think this is over?"

"I'm just a gatekeeper."

"Who made you a gatekeeper?"

"Who's behind the gate?"

Lu Yuan did not continue pressing.

Because outside the manor, the sound of hooves suddenly rang out.

From the direction of Ma family gully, a black horse charged through the courtyard gate.

On the horse was the young disciple Lin Zhaoxuan had sent back earlier.

He dismounted, nearly tumbling into the snow.

"Brother Lu!"

Xu Erxiao immediately rushed forward to steady him.

"What happened?"

The man gasped for breath:

"The righteous well... the well mouth is sealed."

"Mister Meng and the others are all there."

"But another wooden tablet floated up from the bottom of the well."

"There are names written on it now."

Lu Yuan asked:

"Whose names?"

The man looked up, his face pale as death.

"Not just one."

"It's all six of our names."

"Lu Yuan, Wang Cheng'an, Xu Erxiao, Lin Zhaoxuan, Zhou Heng, Song Qinghe."

Everyone in the courtyard turned their gaze to Lu Yuan.

Wang Cheng'an looked down at his abacus.

Among the seventeen beads, the single black one had become six.

But Lu Yuan looked at Zhou Shoumo.

"You said the Four Gates would open."

Zhou Shoumo grinned.

"It's not four gates."

"It's five."

"And the last gate is on the living."

Song Qinghe gripped the bronze lamp tightly.

Within the lamp's glow, the shadows of the six people were slowly drawing together.

No longer returning to each person's feet.

But behind them, piecing together a black kiln without a door.

Above the kiln hung a white wooden seal.

The eyeless child's face on the seal knob finally opened its mouth.

Inside, there was no tongue.

Only a sentence that had just been written:

"Six on the same road, one joint offering in a single shadow."