Fifteen li outside Ju County in Gu Prefecture, there was a low earthen slope that the locals called "Crow Slope." This was because a flock of crows nested in the grove of short trees on the slope, and every dusk, one could hear their mournful caws as they returned to their nests.

Gu Prefecture was anciently known as Gucheng Commandery and administered Ju County, Ji County, and Baiyan County. It was once invaded and occupied by the Hukeyan Tribe. The great general of the previous dynasty, Chu Huaizhong, led a northern expedition against the Hukeyan, recaptured Gucheng Commandery, and renamed it Gu Prefecture, turning it into a vital stronghold for the Central Plains to defend against the southern advance of the northern tribes.

At the foot of Crow Slope lay a former battlefield, where countless broken arrows and remnants of weapons still lay hidden in the overgrown weeds. The people of Ju County never let their children near this place. It was said that the baleful aura from the weapons of war was too strong, and ordinary people whose fates weren't strong enough couldn't withstand the clash of bloodlust and would have their souls snatched away by the crows.

"That's just to scare people, right? Don't crows eat carrion? A soul has no form or substance, can it even fill their stomachs?"

He Lanzhi sat on his horse, shading his eyes with his hand as he gazed into the distance, suggesting with great enthusiasm, "Let's go have a look!"

It was an afternoon in the seventh month of the ninth year of Yanshou. The sun was still making its slow journey west, its pale golden light like dewdrops adorning the tips of the grass. A long wind blew through, and the distant low slope was a deep green. No matter how one looked at it, it did not seem like a gloomy and sinister battlefield.

There were five people in their party. He Lanzhi led the way, with Cheng Xuan driving the cart at the rear. Wen Chan and her two maids, Xianyun and Feixing, were all dressed in men's attire with narrow sleeves and tight-fitting clothes, riding on horseback behind He Lanzhi.

Hearing his suggestion, everyone's face fell in unison. Wen Chan lifted the brim of her conical hat and said helplessly, "When we first set out, you had to avoid even the sight of a pig being slaughtered. Why is it now that you want to stroll through any graveyard you see? Did you take the wrong medicine?"

He Lanzhi let out a small "tch." "Because this young master has sworn to become a legendary wandering hero. How could the great Great Hero Helan be scared off by such a spooky folk tale? Let's go, let's go, we're already here!"

With that, he whipped his horse and charged toward Crow Slope, one rider taking the lead. Wen Chan watched his lively, bouncing figure and couldn't help but sigh. "Bringing a monkey out from Mount Emei would have been less trouble than him... I've burdened you all."

"Not at all," Xianyun said with a comforting smile. "Although Young Master Helan's temperament is a bit flighty, he is very reliable when it comes to important matters. With him on this journey, we maids feel much more at ease. Your Highness should just let him be."

Wen Chan agreed, "Yes, being the first to hide behind you when a spider fell from the ceiling—truly a reassuringly strange man."

Xianyun was still smiling gently. "Is Your Highness still bothered by the fact that you didn't beat him to it and were knocked aside by the young master?"

Wen Chan: "..."

"Don't be sad, Your Highness," Feixing said, eager to try. "I'm not afraid anymore. Next time, I'll be the one to protect Your Highness! I'll go check it out first. Giddy-up!"

Another figure flew out.

Cheng Xuan said, "Congratulations, Your Highness. You now have two monkeys. This servant feels we could change our route and journey to the West to fetch the scriptures."

"..." Wen Chan said, "Forget it. Let's all go together. Giddy-up!"

From a distance, Crow Slope looked harmless, but the closer they got, the more they could feel a sinister, cold wind, a chill that seemed to seep into one's very bones. As the horses' hooves trod through the grass, they would occasionally kick up scattered debris. Wen Chan looked closely and realized they were all fragments of bone; some of the larger pieces still had vaguely discernible shapes.

He Lanzhi rode over from the other side, complaining, "This is completely different from the ancient battlefields described in poems and literature. The sinister energy is so heavy, I feel a little underdressed."

"How could a battlefield from three hundred years ago be the same as one from thirty years ago? You've chosen the wrong place to affect refinement." Wen Chan reined in her horse before a grove on the hillside and asked with a frown, "Do you feel like something has been staring at us?"

"Really?" He Lanzhi fell silent, concentrating for a moment. "How to put it... this place does feel very uncomfortable, but I can't tell what it is."

He looked at Wen Chan's serious profile and muttered, "What's with that intuition of yours? It's too sensitive. You could even sense something was wrong before a spider fell from the sky..."

Wen Chan's face was filled with grief. "But I didn't beat you to it."

He Lanzhi simultaneously declared with great pride, "But you were still a step slower than me!"

The others: "..."

Feixing suddenly said, "There's a sound."

Clang, clang, clang...

A strange sound echoed through the cold and silent forest. It sounded like something metal, like a shovel or a hoe, being dragged along, occasionally striking stones and clumps of earth. It was accompanied by an almost inaudible "shh, shh" sound, and it was moving in their direction, getting closer and closer—

Caw—!!!

A mournful caw tore through the sky. Wen Chan had never thought she would one day use the word "booming" to describe the sound of flapping wings. Countless crows startled from the forest, like a black cloud that blotted out the sun, even causing everyone's vision to dim for a moment.

In that instant, a pale white skull suddenly emerged from the dark, deep forest.

Wen Chan drew a sharp breath.

Disheveled black hair and a wide, ground-dragging black robe completely obscured "its" figure. The only thing clearly visible was the long black saber it dragged behind it, a weapon almost as tall as "it" was.

The skull stared with its empty eye sockets at this group of uninvited guests who had intruded upon the land of the dead. He Lanzhi's voice cracked at the end as he whimpered, his breath as thin as a thread, "Is it... is it-it-it angry..."

Before his words had faded, a cold light flashed. The skull had already swung its long saber and charged straight for him, its pale face instantly appearing before He Lanzhi's eyes.

So fast!

He Lanzhi reached back to draw his sword, but there was no time at all. Just as the blade was about to fall on his head, Wen Chan, in her panic, grabbed something from her saddlebag. Without time to see what it was, she only felt that it had some weight to it and hurled it with all her might at the skull's head.

With a crisp "thump," the skull's head was knocked askew by her throw, its movements momentarily pausing. He Lanzhi seized this life-saving gap, swiftly drew his sword to parry the long saber, and roared, "Run!"

The group shrieked and scrambled, spurring their horses to flee for their lives, leaving Crow Slope as if on wings.

They didn't stop until they were not far from the county's city gate, still shaken. Cheng Xuan looked back. "It doesn't seem to be chasing us."

He Lanzhi let out a long sigh of relief, nearly spitting out his soul. "That scared me to death. Was that a ghost?"

Feixing shivered. "Could it be a soldier who died unjustly, whose ghost lingers at the place of his death..."

"It was probably a person," Xianyun said, looking at Wen Chan for confirmation. "It was about the same height as that saber. There's no way a soldier could be that short. It was either a dwarf, or..."

"A child?"

After saying it, Wen Chan shook her head in denial. "Impossible. That saber must weigh at least twenty jin. How could a child swing it? Besides, what family's child would wear a skull on their head? I think it's most likely a fox demon or a mountain god. We barged in rashly and disturbed a deity. It's only normal for them to be displeased. We should be more cautious in the future."

Xianyun: "..."

He Lanzhi sneered, "Hah, a mountain god. More like a slope god... what did you hit the mountain god with just now?"

Wen Chan looked down and rummaged through her saddlebag. "Oh, the chestnut cakes I bought at the inn entrance the day before yesterday. You complained they were too hard and told me to carry them for self-defense, saying I could use them to crack someone's head open if I ran into danger."

He Lanzhi pretended to look up at the sky, whistling nonsensically.

They entered Ju County and lodged at an inn in the eastern part of the city. Wen Chan was still thinking about the strange encounter from the afternoon and specifically asked the innkeeper about it in the evening. Unexpectedly, he actually gave her an answer. "You mean the one living on Crow Slope? That's a child. Were you frightened, honored guest? Actually, as long as you don't go near that place, it usually doesn't come out to scare people."

In the end, it was He Lanzhi's fault for being meddlesome. Wen Chan made a mental note of it and asked further, "Why would a child be dressed like that? Where is his family?"

"Who knows where the child came from. It's not uncommon for villages around here, or the Hu Tribe across the way, to abandon children," the innkeeper said. "Crow Slope was originally a battlefield. The crows there grew up eating the flesh of the dead, so they're incredibly vicious. That child was almost eaten by the crows at first, but then it dug up a saber from somewhere and fought the crows for food with it every day. Heh, I'll say, it must have a charmed life. It even beat the crows into submission. They recognize it as their leader now. Whenever it comes out, the crows follow it, flying all over the place."

No wonder its movements were so strange and swift. It seemed they were instincts honed from fighting crows for its life.

Wen Chan thanked the innkeeper. Having cleared up the mystery, she placed the matter in an unimportant corner of her mind, treating it as just a small story heard by chance on her journey. After all, they would never meet again.

Several days later, in the dead of night, Wen Chan and her group galloped wildly out of the city, fleeing for their lives just as they had when they arrived. Behind them followed a string of house servants wielding swords and clubs in hot pursuit. While fleeing, they were also blaming each other. "Why did you have to provoke the county magistrate's brother-in-law! A mighty dragon can't crush a local snake. Why couldn't you just reason with him peacefully?!"

He Lanzhi cried out in protest, "He harassed me! He said he wanted me to be his mistress and would give me two qian of silver a month as pocket money!"

"Two qian of silver a month isn't a small amount! And taking a step back, isn't it your fault for being so extravagant with money usually!"

"He wouldn't even part with one tael of silver, what kind of mistress is he keeping!" He Lanzhi screamed. "And he's already thirty-six! He's old enough to be my father at that age, I don't want to! Besides, you're the one who hung his son upside down from a tree at the school. Both incidents happened at the same time, that's why we're being chased. Why am I the only one getting yelled at!"

"You scoundrel! I was ridding the people of a menace! He stole someone else's money first. Maybe that two qian of silver he was going to wrap you with came from that!"

Wen Chan glanced back at the pursuers behind them. They didn't want to fight unless absolutely necessary, but if they were caught, it would surely lead to endless trouble. She tensed her face and spurred her horse on, her hand reaching back to touch the short sword at her waist.

Whoosh—

In the deep night, the familiar sound of flapping wings suddenly rang out.

A torrent of air swept over their heads, and a black cloud that even torches couldn't illuminate descended upon the pursuers with overwhelming force. The pale skull reappeared from the long night, its four-foot-long saber sweeping out with a swiftness that completely belied its appearance—

It was a natural god of slaughter in the night. No one could even clearly see its movements or speed. By the time they came to their senses, the pursuers had been scattered into disarray.

Terrified and trembling cries came from the crowd, "Ghost Crow... It's the Ghost Crow!"

"Help, the Ghost Crow is killing people!!"

"Run... run!"

The group reined in their horses and looked back, watching in astonishment as it single-handedly swept through the enemy ranks. Then, it dragged its long saber and slowly walked in their direction.

He Lanzhi said in a whisper, "I heard crows are especially vengeful... It wasn't waiting here to ambush us, was it..."

Wen Chan sat upright on her horse, looking down at it as it walked up to her. She waved a hand behind her, stopping He Lanzhi and the others from moving to block her, and stared at it calmly. "Why did you help us?"

The "skull" didn't seem to understand. It tilted its head, and the hand not holding the saber fumbled inside its robes, then held something up high towards her.

The hand hidden beneath the dark sleeve was pale and small. In its palm, it clutched a crumpled piece of oiled paper.

Wen Chan smelled the faint, almost faded sweet scent of chestnut.

She remembered the story the innkeeper had told. Although the other party hadn't said a word, in a flash of insight, she surprisingly understood its meaning.

"You want more?"

The "skull" seemed to understand this time, letting out an "ah" that sounded like a crow's caw.

Wen Chan paused in silence for a moment, then suddenly seemed to make a decision. She leaned down and extended a hand towards it. "Come up."

Everyone: ?

"Come with me. I'll buy them for you. I can make sure you have enough to eat for the rest of your life."

He Lanzhi clapped from behind her. "You're still the generous one. Much more generous than that brother-in-law offering two qian a month."

The "skull" looked at her blankly, at her long, clean fingers, her plain white sleeves, and her strong white horse with its smooth coat.

Then it grabbed Wen Chan's hand and leaped up.

Amidst a sky of blood blossoms, the "Crow" leaped down from the roof of the Seven-fragrance Carriage. Its posture was as nimble as a flying bird. Holding its saber with both hands, it used its downward momentum to execute a vertical chop mid-air. With the clean ease of a knife cutting through tofu, it split the long saber aiming for Pei Rusong's back into two. Immediately after, it swung its saber up in a backhanded motion, sending the attacker flying three feet away with a "clang."

"Get out of the way."

A clear voice came from under the veiled hat, obviously that of a girl. Her tone was ice-cold, filled with an extremely dangerous killing intent.

"Whoever dares to block my path, I'll take your life."

"No one is going to keep me from my feast!"