Le ciel est le rivage de la poussière mortelle

Chapitre 1

Night Talks in Strange Tales

I am a ghost, or more precisely, a skeleton without flesh. My late parents gave birth to me, but they didn't treat me well. When I was still very young, they wrapped me in a straw mat and threw me into the wilderness. I've forgotten exactly why I died, why my end was so miserable.

[Ancient Era: 001 Painted Skin]

1. Ghost

In the pitch black of night, I was sound asleep in my brand-new coffin when a heavy, pungent smell of blood wafted in from the cracks in the lid. I sniffed it gently, then couldn't resist lifting the lid and slowly sitting up. My bones creaked and groaned, making an unpleasant grinding sound, which embarrassed me. Without the nourishment of blood, my bones felt like an old, broken-down car.

I am a ghost, or more precisely, a skeleton without flesh. My late parents gave birth to me, but they didn't treat me well. When I was still very young, they wrapped me in a straw mat and threw me into the wilderness. I've forgotten exactly why I died, and why my end was so miserable.

When I remembered, I had already become a wandering ghost. A lonely soul rejected by the King of Hell, gradually absorbing the smoke and fire of the human world, would gather spirits and become a ghost. I was a wandering soul who hadn't even gotten a coffin, so where would I get the money to bribe the Ox-Head and Horse-Face guardians of the gates of Hell? Therefore, I had no choice but to fall into the life of a wandering ghost. Until the old Taoist priest with the ox-nose took me in.

Sometimes I am a male ghost, and sometimes I am a female ghost. The reason for this confusion about my gender is mainly due to the human skins that the old Taoist priest made for me.

In the cemetery under the moon, there was a newly dug grave. The mahogany coffin was gleaming with cypress paint. When the old Taoist priest with the bull's nose dragged the young girl out of it, this coffin became my new home.

Now, I reluctantly sit up in this new home and see a scene that is all too familiar.

The old Taoist priest with the bull-nose nose skillfully peeled the skin off the little girl's corpse, bit by bit, with a thin, gleaming, sharp knife.

"What a fine skin!" the old Taoist priest with the ox-nose exclaimed in admiration.

Yes, it's nice, pink and translucent, and very fresh.

Wearing it, I, this ugly skeleton ghost, immediately transformed into a beautiful woman.

Her clothes were of excellent quality, so light and soft as smoke. Under the bright moon, the beauty danced and swayed, her sleeves fluttering. However, the setting was not ideal. In a vast expanse of dark graves, no matter how beautiful she was, she would not be mistaken for a living person.

I didn't look at the bloodied corpse, and with great reluctance, I gave the beautiful coffin back to her. "Look," I muttered, "you have a next life, much luckier than me. I'm just borrowing your skin for a while." I muttered a few more words to myself, lest she become a ghost herself and we all feel awkward seeing each other.

The old man ignored her completely. After placing the female corpse into the coffin, he wiped the blood off his hands, picked up his wine gourd, took a swig of spicy wine, stroked his wet beard, and then hummed and groaned as he lowered the coffin into the grave.

"Come and lend a hand!" the old Taoist priest with the bull's nose shouted breathlessly.

Poor old man, he's lost all his former energy, but in order to prolong his life, he continues his grave-digging and corpse-stripping business.

2. Wang Sheng

Early in the morning, my wife asked me to borrow some money from my father-in-law to make ends meet. Actually, I could support my family, but my wife has been spoiled since childhood and can't stand simple meals. She wants to eat well and dress well, and the little money I earn from teaching is never enough to cover her expenses.

Getting to my father-in-law's house involves passing through a cemetery, and I've walked through it countless times, but I still feel a bit scared going through it again.

The wind swirled around the grave mound, and a piece of paper money meant for the dead was blown into my eye. I quickly stopped, hurriedly brushed off the yellow paper, straightened my clothes, and bent down to dust off the dirt that had fallen on me. Just then, I suddenly heard a soft sobbing sound.

It was the delicate, sweet cry of a woman, mournful yet melodious. If even her cries were so beautiful, one could only imagine how stunningly beautiful she must be.

Unable to resist looking in the direction of the sound, I saw a woman in white kneeling in front of a grave, weeping bitterly, not far away by the roadside.

"Why are you so sad, young lady?" Seeing her crying so pitifully, I couldn't help but go over and ask.

The woman stopped crying and quietly raised her head. Her delicate, tear-streaked appearance stirred something within me, a newlywed.

“My father and I depended on each other for survival. We came to seek refuge with relatives, but unexpectedly, my father had just passed away from illness. Those relatives actually wanted to sell me to an eighty-year-old man as a concubine. My life is so miserable. I couldn’t help but run to my father’s grave to cry and complain.” After saying this, she started to sob again.

It's so pitiful that such a beautiful girl met with such misfortune. Beauty is often short-lived.

"Then run away! Escape from here, and no one will force you to marry this old man."

"Escape? Where can a weak woman like me escape to?"

"How about this, there is a backyard where I teach, and there is an empty room in the backyard. No one usually goes there. You can go there to take refuge for the time being."

Upon hearing this, the young woman burst into laughter through her tears. She weakly tugged at my clothes and stood up, swaying like a willow branch in the wind as she walked with me.

The private school was originally a temple, but because it wasn't very popular, the villagers demolished the clay statue of a Buddha and used it as a place for students to study. The room in the backyard was actually where I lived when I was single. After I got married and received a generous dowry from my wife, I had a more decent new home, and this room became vacant.

The woman seemed quite dependent on me, making no attempt to conceal her presence along the way, tugging at my clothes as if she had already decided on me and wanted to keep me as her mistress. Heh heh, such a blessing delivered right to my doorstep, why not enjoy it?

3. Ghost

This Wang Sheng is indeed a lecher. As soon as he entered the room, he started touching me inappropriately, stroking my stinking body from head to toe, squeezing it until my bones ached.

A foul-smelling mouth bared up at me; this guy's supposed to be a teacher, how shameless!

Squeeze and squeeze, it's just a shell anyway. I laughed and dodged, but Wang Sheng got even more excited and pounced on me like a wolf pouncing on a lamb.

"He's the wolf, and I'm the sheep?" I laughed loudly, startling Wang Sheng. Seeing my half-exposed breasts, he couldn't help but start going crazy again.

Sunlight gradually streamed in through the windowpane. I gently removed Wang Sheng's hand from my chest and, feigning shyness, got out of bed to groom myself. In the bronze mirror, I saw a beautiful woman, her skin as white as snow, and I couldn't help but fall in love with this appearance. Perhaps my past self was just as beautiful, only I hadn't met Wang Sheng then.

Wang Sheng looked up at the window, then hurriedly got up and left the room. He told me not to go out, and then rushed out.

Why can't I go out? With this body, I'm not afraid of the sun.

I watched Wang Sheng walk away coldly, my bones creaking in my skin again. I had to be patient; the bull-nosed man hadn't gotten the money he needed yet. I couldn't eat his heart and liver now.

When Wang Sheng came again, he brought me a hairpin. I guessed it belonged to his wife, and after some hesitation, Wang Sheng admitted it.

"I don't want anything that someone else has worn!" I disdainfully threw the hairpin into his arms, stomped my foot, and angrily turned away.

Wang Sheng smiled humbly and tried to coax me, but I never imagined a man could be so shameless. He took his wife's things to please another woman.

4. Wang Sheng

I had planned to steal my wife's dowry jewelry to make her happy, but she saw through my plan. Luckily, I had kept some of the money I got from my in-laws on me instead of giving it all to her. Today is market day, so I'll go buy her a new pearl hairpin.

The market was bustling with people, and the jewelry was dazzling. I hadn't expected everything to be so expensive. Gritting my teeth, I picked out a pretty but inexpensive pearl hairpin and tucked it into my pocket. I paid the money and hurried back.

I was bumped into by someone and was about to get angry when I looked up and saw that it was an old Taoist priest. I knew that such people were sharp-tongued and that I wouldn't get the better of them if I argued with them, so I tried to avoid them and continue on my way. But then the Taoist priest suddenly widened his eyes and grabbed my clothes.

"What are you going to do? You're the one who hit him." Are you going to fight? Looking at his old and frail appearance, he wouldn't be able to get the better of me. However, I'm just a schoolteacher, and I absolutely cannot resort to violence.

"What have you encountered recently?" The Taoist priest didn't hit me, but just stared at me with wide eyes.

"I didn't encounter anything," I said, puzzled.

The Taoist priest said, "You are surrounded by evil spirits, how can you say you haven't encountered anything?"

I tried my best to defend myself, but the Taoist priest walked away when he saw that I wasn't telling the truth, saying, "It's over, it's over. There really are people in this world who don't realize their mistakes even when they're about to die!"

After hearing the Taoist's unusual words, I suddenly became suspicious of the woman I had encountered. But then I thought, she was clearly a beautiful woman, how could she be a monster? It was probably just that the Taoist was trying to make a living under the pretense of exorcising demons.

Thinking this, a sense of suspicion arose in his heart. He unconsciously slowed his steps as he entered the house and slowly moved to the backyard. He found the door tightly closed and secretly peeked inside by wetting the window paper with saliva.

My God! A stark white skeleton was laying a human skin on the bed, picking up a pen, and slowly sketching.

After leaving the courtyard, I scrambled back to the market, hoping to find the Taoist priest.

Heaven took pity on me; the Taoist priest hadn't left. When he saw me, he even showed a slight smile. I shamelessly went over and begged him for help.

He said, "Ten taels of silver can be used to temporarily ward off evil spirits with a whisk. Fifty taels of silver can help you drive away the evil spirits."

Good heavens, where would I get so much silver? I had less than ten taels left on me. I handed it to the Taoist priest and begged him for it before I could get the whisk from his hand.

5. Ghost

Seeing the Buddhist whisk hanging on the door, I couldn't help but feel annoyed.

This Wang Sheng is so stingy, he wouldn't even part with fifty taels of silver. The Taoist priest said, "Fine, if I make enough this time, I'll use magic to let you be reborn." Fine, you're reluctant to part with it? I'll take your heart and liver. Since I can't be reborn, I'll at least have a treat. It's been so long since I've eaten a fresh human heart.

My fangs slowly emerged, my finger bones cracked, and my sharp, knife-like nails gradually extended, piercing my skin and shining brightly white in the moonlight.

He ripped the whisk off, tearing it to shreds. What use was that whisk to me? He stomped on it and kicked the door open. Wang Sheng hid behind his wife, his head covered by the blanket.

"You, you, don't harm my husband, eat me instead!" Wang's wife suddenly knelt down before me.

I was stunned for a moment, but then I got even angrier. I walked past Wang's wife, ripped off the blanket, and my knife-like fingernails slashed through Wang Sheng's chest. A heart, a vibrant heartbeat, was in my hand.

I laughed and left, clutching the heart, when I heard the king's wife wailing behind me.

But the ox-nose wouldn't let you eat it, saying, "Do you want to be born again or not?"

"Yes, of course I want to. Who wants to wander around like a ghost all day? It's so ugly..." I looked down at my skeletal body and suddenly felt a pang of longing for the skin I had damaged.

"You can't eat it if you want to, but you'll have a use for it."

After saying this, the man with the ox-nose headed straight for the Wang family's house, where the wailing was deafening. A moment later, he returned and said that Wang's wife was willing to pay a thousand taels of silver to buy back her husband's heart.

"Hehe, you've struck it rich. Don't forget your promise."

I took out a leather bag belonging to a bald monk, put it on, and then rushed to the front of the local temple and lay down.

Before long, Wang's wife arrived, weeping, following the Taoist's directions.

Upon seeing me, she knelt down with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly. "Please save my husband! I beg you, in the next life I'll be your slave..."

Wang's wife was also very beautiful, but at this moment her hair was disheveled and she didn't care about her appearance at all. A lot of people had gathered around to watch the show. I decided to tease her, so I raised my hand, pinched her chin, and said with a grin, "My beauty, do you love me?"

The people around her laughed loudly, showing no sympathy for her plight.

Wang's wife blushed with shame, dodging my dirty fingers while kowtowing.

I spat on my hand and said to her with a smile, "Eat it, eat it, eat it, and your husband will be saved."

Wang's wife looked at me, then suddenly closed her eyes and swallowed the phlegm.

I looked at her in surprise, said nothing more, and turned to leave.

The man with the bull's nose caught up with me outside the crowd and asked, "Why didn't you ask for money?"

"Where would she get so much money? That thousand taels was for buying a house. I want it, but she wants to sleep there?"

I admire this woman.

6. The Ending

Wang's wife rushed home, filled with shame and anger. Her husband had just died, and she had been harassed by the scoundrel monk. She couldn't help but lie on Wang Sheng's body and cry loudly. Her cries were hoarse, and her stomach churned. With a "whoosh," she vomited something into Wang Sheng's open chest.

Wang's wife opened her swollen, red eyes and was about to reach out to pat the wound when she discovered a heart pounding in her husband's chest. It was still slightly warm. Wang's wife quickly closed her husband's open chest with her hands and tore open her sleeve to apply a compress.

Wang Sheng survived, but was left with an unsightly scar on his chest.

He's forgotten the pain once the wound has healed? Haha, I hope he doesn't forget, that ghost hasn't been reincarnated yet.

[Ancient Era: 002 Jiao Na]

It snowed, and the firewood was a little damp.

I sighed softly, but I still had to do my homework today. The elixir in the cauldron had not yet been refined. So, I swung the banana leaf fan in both hands and fanned it with all my might. The flames under the bronze cauldron cast a little red light on the cave wall, and after wisps of smoke rose, they were still very weak.

Why make things difficult for yourself?

Outside the cave, Asong stood at a distance, his rosy cheeks flushed with a unique rosy glow. He covered his mouth and nose with a silk handkerchief and asked in confusion.

I fanned myself a few times in frustration, only to have the smoke and dust cover my head and face, and tears welled up in my eyes.