Races: Online

"Look at this new human—who is he to enter this place?"

"How did this guy arrive here though?"

Did Han Jing expect that the reactions of the Spirits would be like that? He found himself wrong. The young man was pushed back and forth through the crowd of the definitely 'physical' spirits that were present in the streets of the city.

He didn't phase through them and found that they were made of ectoplasm, instead they were solid and it actually hurt to get hit by them.

Han Jing actually proved to be a nuisance for them—he was getting knocked back around and also realizing that these spirits had their own destinations. 

So he was a bother. 

The guy in the traffic that caused everyone to get jammed. 

Except not everyone was on the ground. There were a great number of phantoms of gray flying through the air and happily slipped into one of the establishments. Within the dark night sky, they appeared like kites.

As for the ones on the ground with him, there were those that were also focused on getting somewhere during the festival.

Some were simply greeting each other and talking in the crowd—the kind of people who saw an acquaintance in the street and decided to converse in the middle of the road instead of pulling aside.

It was through sheer will and being used to the crowded spaces that he found a way and squeezed out of the area. "Thank goodness I found you—" Han Jing nearly staggered as the cat he had seen before disappeared into a cloud of smoke. 

Did it just die and leave him?

His gaze narrowed on the smoke as it formed into a new humanoid shape.

"Hah, that took you too long didn't it?" The cat-now-human had intelligent green eyes and blue skin. It gave him a feline-like grin and motioned around them. "Who would have known that you'd actually be here, asshole." 

Vaguely in Han Jing's mind he recalled the cat that said the same thing and now confirmed his suspicions. "So it really is you—a cat spirit."

"Pfft… a cat spirit? No." The figure snickered at him. "I'm a Megui who happened to see you nearly having a nervous breakdown in the middle of the streets. Do you want to get trampled? Was that your plan by coming here?"

Han Jing shook his head. "Uh, I have no desires whatsoever for any of that." 

"Then you should get where you're heading. You're so wet behind the ears—I've seen children find more fun when they get here." This Megui started slinking away. This creature now had the tail of a horse swishing behind him.

No, it was a combination of various forms. 

Similar to how some creatures were described in books as having a lion's head, an ox's horns and then a griffin's wings… this thing was also warping back and forth through a constellation of forms.

But that wasn't what made him stare at the Megui.

"Wait wait, you remind me of a friend I know—" Han Jing trailed after the spirit and decided that it was better than just wandering aimlessly. "A Megui is supposed to be a Trickster ghost that caused confusion in their past life, so everyone around me are ghosts?"

The Megui didn't stop moving and continued to weave in through the crowds.

"If you have any desire to live and leave this place… you could keep your questions to yourself. You're drawing too much attention to yourself—even more than usual."

"More than usual?" 

The Megui snorted. "So who's this friend of yours that reminds you of me?"

"Well, they're a Mage that has disguises as well," Han Jing said as he looked around the streets and then motioned to the right. "My home is down this street if you don't mind. You've been there before, right?"

"You've been to Europe?" It asked him. The Megui's form shifted into an old wizard with a long gray beard and ghastly robes. "You don't look like the type to afford international air trips. Much less an ordinary one here."

Han Jing's expression kind of blanked for a moment, until he rolled his eyes. "Very funny—I don't think that mocking other people was in your jurisdiction." 

"I call myself a Megui—but just because I do doesn't mean everything is categorized and organized into neat little shelves." The ghost's fangs glistened at that moment. "If I ever run out of the ability to maintain my form in the city, I can become a Xiqigui and just eat you alive for you qi."

Han Jing stopped in his tracks.

He stared down at what he had assumed to be a good spirit. Han Jing could tell from the tone that it wasn't joking at all. His hands were carrying the mooncake boxes—but he could throw it at this creature and then run like mad. 

Quick evasion was kind of his thing.

But he needed to get away first—

"Easy on the aura." The Megui raised a clawed hand. "I don't have to eat you—it's the Mid Autumn Festival. Everyone's out to enjoy themselves and causing problems now isn't within my plans."

Han Jing didn't know what the ghost was talking about until he looked down at his arms. What they called qi was simply a bright white energy expelling around his body. It was mana and he could feel a ding in the back of his head.

His gut-instinct told him it was about Mana Control.

He took a deep breath and smiled. "I just want to get out of your hair and get back to my apartment. That should be simple enough, right? My plain, old and ordinary—"

"What's the ordinary about Madam Dongxia's apartment?"

"How the heck do you know our landlady's name?" 

"She's a well-known individual in these parts." The Megui shrugged and then raised a feeler into the direction of his apartment.

Han Jing didn't pay attention to his surroundings that much at first. Despite it being a big and busy city—he knew the places he was familiar with like the back of his hands. 

In this world, everything was still the same.

A reflection of the world that he lived in.

Every building, shop and even the shrubs in the sidewalk were a replica of what was real in his world—if not a shadow of what they were. However, the longer he looked at his surroundings… he started seeing something else.

The initial layer of buildings, city life and streets were replaced by older and traditional wooden structures, temples and stone pathways. What came after that was a flat bed of green—lush trees, vegetation and other formations like rocks.

It reverted back into his current world.

"What the…" 

"This world is both your world, ours and those of the old." The Megui explained with a lacklustre tone. "The most visible and physical layer is naturally the current foundations and structures present today—but if you stare long and hard enough, testimonies of how the world once were is within your fingertips." 

"Er, thanks for the explanation…" Han Jing said as he fixed his grip on the boxes. He then pointed with a finger at the building ahead of him. "So what the heck is that place underneath Madam Dongxia's apartment? A gateway to the underworld?"

The Megui snickered at him. "Of course not—there were no demonic cultivators in this area. At least, as far as I can remember. That's just a natural formation underneath the apartment's foundations. Now what that thing attracts? Beats me. Actually, it acts more like a repellant than anything else."

"A repellant?" Han Jing crunched up his nose and walked towards the apartment. He remembered both Faeran and Jilanya arriving at the apartment without any trouble. "Doesn't seem like it to me."

"Maybe it's more subtle—I just feel a distinct aversion to going there."

"Maybe it's Madam Dongxia herself." 

"What?" The ghost laughed at his words. "We're not scared of humans—most of us are happily co-existing here and living from the qi that you guys release into the city. It's the nasty kind of qi, but similar to a raccoon that finds a trashcan as a palace… we've managed to adjust to living here."

"Did you just call the city a dump?"

"No, we're calling you humans who made it and lived in this place the dump." 

"... That's not a kind thing to say," Han Jing said. 

"You humans hate yourselves too—who's stopping us to despise you guys?" the Megui chuckled. "Certainly not you guys."

Han Jing tried to raise a point, but just lowered his hands. "Okay, that was actually a fair point. Self-loathing is pretty much a norm, but you don't need to bring that up at all, Megui. Cat guy… or girl. I can't tell what gender you are."

"It's irrelevant to you and most especially for someone who can shapeshift their forms." 

"Once again another good point—you're pretty sharp."

"I don't have a physical form that ruins my perception or salience," the Megui said. "You can easily say that us ghosts are transcended versions of you humans. Bound not to any forms, shapes or any responsibilities. We are free and superior."

"Well—you're still here on earth with me, so I can't use 'transcendent' at all." Han Jing cleared his throat.

The Megui didn't exactly say something immediately.

"One point to Han Jing," he said with a laugh.

"This isn't one of your humans' little insufferable competitions to see who has it better." 

"Glad we could agree on that, I think you can have a mooncake as a reward." Han Jing opened one of the boxes and offered it to the creature. "You can get one piece—just one, or maybe two. But not three. I'm saving up and got to get going."

"Are you giving me an offering?"

"If you want to call it that way to accept one, then sure," Han Jing said.

The Megui's tail rose behind it and swung slightly as it reached out for a piece of the mooncake. "Hmm… if you insist. I can assure you that I'm not one of your ancestors at all, but I will accept this veneration."

"Good for you," Han Jing closed the box before the creature could swipe some more. His mother was obviously going to nag him for eating desserts before dinner. He concentrated on the apartment. "I'm trying to get back to seeing things in my limited human vision." 

"Oh yes, your pathetic perception rates."

"At least, I'm not too overwhelmed." Han Jing tried to focus on removing himself from this place—or just snapping out of this visual kind of mode. 

Hopefully he'd see this Megui just be the regular black cat who once called him an asshole and didn't have to experience this feverish haze dream like experience.

A certain part of him wondered if this was what it was like to ingest certain illegal substances—getting high and seeing things that were completely out of this world? That was the easiest way to summarize his experience right now.

But now it needed to go back to normal.

Normal.

"You really are clueless."

The Megui whacked him in the back of the head.