Mystic in Hempen Robes

The ghost hanging on one’s back

**(Continued from previous section)**

I didn't dare stop until I had run out of the alley. Only then did I glance back. The dark alley revealed nothing.

Xiang Li's voice didn't sound again.

Standing at the alley entrance still felt unsafe. I took a few more steps away. Just as I moved, a chilling wind suddenly blew out from the alley, making my hair stand on end. I shivered, hugging my arms.

I didn't dare linger at the alley mouth any longer. I turned and ran toward the streetlight. But instinctively, I looked up at the lamp post and saw a naked woman hanging upside down from it. Her agile movements were like a monkey's, but her face was Xiang Li's.

"Ah!"

Frozen in shock for a moment, I looked again—the lamppost was empty.

I swallowed hard and hurried forward. I felt the farther I got from my house, the safer I'd be. But after a few steps, I felt a chill on my shoulder. Instinctively, I looked and saw a pale white hand resting there.

I jerked, turning to look behind me—nothing. Looking back at my shoulder, the hand was gone too.

What was happening to me? Was I already being haunted?

Taking a deep breath, I tried to keep walking. But when I tried to lift my foot, it felt impossible.

My legs felt weighed down by ten thousand pounds. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't lift them.

Suddenly, I remembered a story Grandpa once told.

He said in a small town in the Northeast, there was a railway track leading into deep mountains, used to transport lumber. One day, two brothers from the town had a contest of bravery. They stood on the tracks, waiting for a train, to see who would leave last.

Whoever left first was the coward and had to marry the ugliest girl in the village.

Later, the train came, blaring its horn. The older and younger brothers stood sweating, locked in their standoff. As the train got closer, the older brother couldn't take it and jumped off the tracks.

After jumping, he admitted he'd lost and told his younger brother to get off quickly. But the younger brother started crying. He said his legs wouldn't move; he couldn't take a single step. The older brother tried to pull him, but it was too late. The train had emergency brakes, but it was still too late. The younger brother was cut in two by the train…

The older brother, terrified, ran back to the village for help. Only then did he learn that while they were up in the mountains competing, the village's ugly girl had hanged herself at home. The reason was that the younger brother had mocked her the day before, saying many hurtful things that wounded her pride.

Later, the village rumor was that the younger brother couldn't move on the tracks because a ghost was riding on his back, weighing him down. And that ghost was the village's ugly girl.

Thinking of this, I wondered—was there a ghost on *my* back now?!

I didn't dare look back. I still strained to move my legs, but they felt glued to the ground. Panic broke out a cold sweat all over me.

Sweating profusely, yet I didn't feel hot—just a pervasive chill, especially on my back.

Could that hand on my shoulder earlier have been the ghost getting on my back, the prelude to me carrying her?

In my heart, I was sure if I was really carrying a ghost, it must be Xiang Li.

I desperately tried to recall Grandpa's teachings. What should you do if you're carrying a ghost?

I had already sealed the spot between my eyebrows. She couldn't possess me or control my mind, so she was hanging on my back. She was making me unable to move because she wanted me to stay?

This wasn't the time for that. I needed to remember if Grandpa had mentioned a method for this situation.

Thoughts racing, I suddenly remembered the two-line rhyme Grandpa said after finishing the "bravery contest" story: "Ghost on back, scratch the throat; Ghost falls off, don't look back."

That was roughly it. A ghost hanging on someone's back usually wraps its arms around the person's neck. If a ghost gets on your back, you need to keep scratching your own throat. That will make the ghost's hands let go. Once its hands are off, it will fall from the person's back. If you can move then, get up and leave immediately. Absolutely do not look back at it.

Thinking this, I quickly started scratching my neck. Scratching, I felt my neck was icy cold, and I couldn't even feel the touch of my own hand.

My neck seemed to have lost all sensation.

This…

My alarm grew. Would I be played to death by a ghost right here on the street?

No time to overthink. I scratched frantically with both hands. After a while, I faintly felt some warmth returning to my neck. Then, I could feel the touch of my hands again.

Progress!

I felt slightly relieved and kept scratching desperately. At the same time, I kept trying to lift my legs to see if I could move.

Standing there scratching my neck, passersby probably thought I was insane, throwing me strange looks.

Right now, I'd probably do anything, even strip in public.

After scratching a while longer, I felt my legs suddenly loosen. At that moment, I was straining to lift them. The sudden release, combined with my excessive force, sent me stumbling forward.

*Thud!*

Caught off guard, I face-planted onto the asphalt road. Thankfully, the street in front of my alley wasn't busy with people or cars.

Looking around, I realized there was no one around me anymore. The street had suddenly become eerily quiet. Just moments ago, there were people laughing at my neck-scratching. Now, the entire road held only me.

I couldn't find a single person to laugh at me. Worse than losing face was the fear gripping my heart now…

After falling, I instinctively looked behind me. There was Xiang Li, naked, crawling on the ground, staring straight at me. Her pale hand was slowly reaching out toward me, trying to grab my ankle.

I wasn't about to give her that chance. I scrambled up, turned, and sprinted forward. Running out of this small street led to a main road. More people and cars there meant less fear.

I ran, constantly looking back over my shoulder. By now, I had completely forgotten the second half of Grandpa's rhyme—"Ghost falls off, don't look back!"

I didn't know the consequences of looking back. Grandpa never told me. But since I'd already looked, worrying was useless.

The main problem was, every time I looked back now, I could see Xiang Li following me. Naked, she crawled on the road like a snake, incredibly fast, always keeping two or three meters behind me.

I cursed inwardly: *It wasn't me who killed you! Why the hell are you following me?!*

Finally, I reached the small T-intersection, got onto the main road, turned right, and kept running for my life. When I looked back again, Xiang Li was gone.

Still, I didn't dare stop. I ran until I couldn't run anymore, then stopped, gasping for air, while constantly checking behind me. No sign of Xiang Li. I must have shaken her off.

After resting a bit more, still no sign of Xiang Li catching up, my heartbeat finally began to slow.

What was going on? Why was Xiang Li haunting me? Her death had nothing to do with me.

My home was haunted. Did that mean I could never go back?

Thinking this, I remembered Wang Junhui again. I quickly took out my phone and called him. He answered quickly.

"I knew you'd call. Made up your mind?" Wang Junhui thought I was calling to join him.

I forced a bitter laugh. "Forget that for now. I've got more trouble."

Wang Junhui paused. "You've tangled with another dirty thing?"

I briefly explained what happened. After listening, he said, "Why don't you do a divination for yourself? Check your own luck flow."

I said bitterly, "It's not that I don't want to; I can't. Our school has a rule: we must never divine for ourselves. Otherwise, bad luck will cling to us and never leave."

Before Wang Junhui could speak, I asked him what I should do.

Wang Junhui thought for a moment. "I'm not in the city. I'll be back in two days. Here's what: go to the city for a couple of days. You can't stay in the county town. Wait till I get back, then I'll go with you to your place and take care of that dirty thing."

Going to the city was exactly my plan. I agreed repeatedly. I asked him what to do tonight, in case the female ghost came for me again.

Wang Junhui told me, "Take a taxi to the city. It'll cost a hundred or two. This isn't the time to be stingy. Once you leave the county town, the female ghost can't follow you. She's a new ghost; she can't go far from where she died."

Finding a cheap hotel for 20 yuan a night versus a taxi costing over a hundred made me hesitate slightly. But I quickly decided on the taxi. Compared to the heartache of spending money, I was more afraid of Xiang Li catching up.

Being haunted repeatedly these days made me question my own luck flow. Was I going through a streak of bad luck? Or was I being punished by heaven for reading too many faces and saying too much?

I remembered Grandpa once said that fortune-telling also depends on fateful opportunity. People who come seeking a divination bring that opportunity—it's okay to read for them. But people you encounter by chance, if you insist on reading for them, that's not fateful opportunity. Saying too much leaks heavenly secrets and invites disaster.

Could it be that Grandpa's words were coming true for me? These past few days, I'd read faces for many people I'd met, none of whom were seeking divination. I'd even given free readings to those fortune-tellers by the Minxin River.

If that was the case, my current predicament was entirely my own doing?!