As Qingming approached, many villagers prepared incense, candles, joss paper, and other items at home. Ashley Grant found a stack of yellow paper in the storage room, but it hadn’t yet been stamped with money patterns. His fingers moved swiftly, folding the yellow paper several times, and with a quick pull, it became a plump ingot.

Ashley Grant spent a lot of time with his grandfather and often helped out, so he was very skilled at this—he could fold thousands of paper ingots in a day. Although he hadn’t done it in a long time, he soon folded a small pile.

After finishing the paper ingots, he found some white paper and folded it into a paper robe. There was also colored paper, but for the newly deceased, the paper robe had to be made from white paper—new ghosts dared not wear colors. He was folding it for the recently departed Old Mr. Miller, so of course he used white.

He also folded a small paper figure, and, copying Brian Carter’s ID number, wrote the name and birth date on it.

There was another envelope, on which he wrote the old man’s full name and years of birth and death—he’d seen this on the notice posted on the coffin during the incense offering. Only by writing the name could he ensure the deceased would receive it.

Ashley Grant carried everything outside, piling up the ingots, with the paper robe and paper figure on top, and held Brian Carter’s lighter in his hand.

Burning the paper figure was to serve as a substitute for Brian Carter, so he could take the opportunity to return. The ingots and clothes were because Ashley Grant felt the old man’s children and grandchildren hadn’t burned him any real offerings.

With these, the old man would feel a bit better.

Ashley Grant flicked the lighter, and a small flame flickered, reflected in his pupils.

Folding mountains of gold and silver, burning thousands of sheets of underworld silk, to open the path to the afterlife for the departed—

Suddenly, Ashley Grant felt a numbness in his arm, and his hand, as if out of his control, stretched forward. The lighter’s flame touched the ingots, igniting them instantly, and the mountain of ingots burst into flames!

The ingots burned extremely fast. A sudden wind from who knows where lifted the paper ashes, which fluttered upward like butterflies, soaring so high they even surpassed the rooftop.

Ashley Grant’s pupils contracted. The ingots were burning too quickly; in an instant, they were all ablaze. He didn’t even have time to place the envelope—this way, there was no guarantee the deceased would receive the ingots.

Moreover, ashes flying sideways was the sign that the deceased had received them. It was said that if the wind blew them upward...

Whoosh—

A chilly wind seemed to brush the nape of his neck.

A sour, swelling sensation crept into his bones, as if a cold wind were blowing right into the marrow.

In the deep night, the old Qing-style courtyard was bathed only in cool moonlight. There was almost no sound, no color, except for the fluttering paper butterflies. Only the faint breathing remained, as if it were right beside him, as if it were... right...

Ashley Grant slowly exhaled, braced himself, and turned around—only to come face to face with a grayish-white face, pitch-black pupils deep and lightless, and the icy breath from its mouth hit Ashley Grant’s face.

Ashley Grant’s heart clenched sharply. He dug his fingers into his palm to keep calm!

The straight-line distance between them was less than a meter. Meeting its gaze, Ashley Grant felt a chilling aura envelop his whole body.

After two seconds of eye contact, the other actually leaned in even closer, scrutinizing the seemingly unresponsive Ashley Grant, those black, hollow eyes full of scrutiny.

“...Hmm.” Ashley Grant slowly picked up the envelope, fanned it in the air, and stared straight ahead. “I’m so hungry.”

The other looked at Ashley Grant suspiciously, keeping close and staring intently at him.

An ordinary person would have broken down under such a stare.

Ashley Grant could see more clearly now: he was dressed all in white, wearing a tall hat with four characters on it: 一见生材. In his hand he held a red lantern, with four characters written on it: 东岳阴司.

This was... White Impermanence?

Among the underworld’s civil servants, he was definitely one of the most well-known—the legendary soul-collector, the Impermanence ghost, a figure recognized by everyone in China.

People always say evil ghosts are the scariest, but clearly, the underworld officials who catch them are no less terrifying. Impermanence ghosts are still ghosts; even if they’re kind by nature, after so many duties, they must have developed a fierce aura.

Even evil ghosts fear them, let alone the living. It’s said that even accidentally bumping into one can make a person gravely ill.

Ashley Grant mostly knew this in theory. Ashes flying high was indeed a sign that the underworld’s spirits had taken them. But it was a bit odd—according to legend, White Impermanence was a big shot in the underworld, chief among the officials, specializing in catching evil ghosts. Ordinary people had a very low chance of seeing him.

Yet he was “lucky” enough to have White Impermanence steal his ingots? Wait, wasn’t it said that Black Impermanence’s hat read “天下太平,” and White Impermanence’s read “一见生财”? Why did this one’s hat say “材” instead?

Ashley Grant felt a bit puzzled but kept looking straight ahead, his face relaxed.

That’s the mark of a true actor: even when staring White Impermanence in the eye, he could pretend to see nothing.

He just wanted to save Brian Carter, not get involved with the other world.

White Impermanence stared at Ashley Grant for a long while before finally taking two steps to the side, picking up the ingots for a closer look. His voice was so cold it could wring water from ice, but his delight was unmistakable. “Good, good quality!”

The more he looked, the more he liked them. Suddenly, he asked Ashley Grant, “Where did you buy these?”

Ashley Grant pretended not to hear. The mountain of ingots had already burned out, so he picked up a broom and started sweeping the ashes.

Impermanence didn’t get a reaction, snorted, and the suspicion gradually faded. He cheerfully stuffed the whole pile of ingots into what seemed like a bottomless pocket, even picking his nose as he did so.