Notes from the translator : 

On the name of the novel: Yin (阴) Ke (客) refers to an uninvited or unwelcome guest, someone who shows up unexpectedly and disrupts the normal flow of events or social situations. The term is commonly used in classical Chinese literature.

It is related to the concept of "yin and yang" ( yīn yáng 阴阳), which represents the dualistic nature of the universe in Chinese philosophy. In this context, "yin" typically conveys qualities associated with darkness, passivity, mystery, or the unseen aspect of things. So, the Yin guest implies these characteristics, suggesting an element of mystery, unpredictability, or disruption.

On the chapter’s title : Chinese idiom meaning that harsh words or criticism can have lasting consequences or can even outlast the person who uttered them. It implies that speaking ill of others can lead to regrets or remorse later on.

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Arc 1 - Nine Nights of Snow in the Human Realm.

 

The Linshi city truly entered early winter, which often arrived around the end of November. Just as night fell, the sky began to drizzle, making the air damp and heavy, seeping into the bones and chilling to the core.

In this kind of weather, nobody liked to linger outside, but there were always exceptions.

"The autopsy report is done, so today I can finally leave work on time. How about having a meal together? The end of the year might get busy, who knows what it'll be like, so it's better to gather now rather than wait until spring," someone in the office suggested.

After a brief discussion among several colleagues, they suddenly remembered something and beckoned over, "Xiao (NT: little) Xie, why don't you join us? It's been a week since you arrived, and we haven't had a chance to welcome you properly."

Xie Bai took off his white coat and put on his jacket. The black wool coat and dove-gray scarf accentuated his pale and plain complexion, emitting a cold aura from his brows and eyes.

It seemed he took a moment to realize his colleagues were referring to him as "Xiao Xie." He glanced at them and replied, "No, thank you."

His voice was consistently soft, as if he didn't like to exert much effort. It had a chilly quality, much like his emotionless gaze, cold and silent, not quite fitting for someone in their late twenties.

"Well, you've been coughing so badly these days, and it's cold out. Go home, take some medicine, and get a good night's sleep." The colleagues didn't insist further, offering a word of advice before packing up and following Xie Bai out of the office building.

As the automatic sensor door opened, a damp chill rushed in. Xie Bai wrinkled his brows and coughed a few times, raising his hand to adjust his scarf, covering his thin chin and tightly closed lips.

The forensic center where they worked was located in a remote and desolate street on the suburbs of the city, where birds wouldn’t poop, and chicken would not lay eggs (NT: lifeless in other words). The nearest bus stop was about five hundred meters away, requiring a walk through the residential area across the street, and the same distance applied to the nearest shops and restaurants.

Xie Bai glanced at the brightly lit residential area across the street, then withdrew his gaze, opened a black umbrella, and turned right down the steps.

"Hey, Xiao Xie, where are you going?" The colleagues called out from behind.

Xie Bai kept walking, not looking back, and replied without hesitation, "Home."

He had been here for a little over a week, coincidentally encountering two tricky cases, and everyone was working overtime, so their departure times weren't synchronized. In fact, this was the first time he had walked out of the building with others.

"Hey, you unlucky kid! There's no bus stop over there, and no taxis willing to come. The road leads straight to Yashan Cemetery. Where do you live?" The colleagues, all seeming older than him, felt obliged to take care of the young man...

Especially a young man who seemed as directionally challenged as he did.

Before Xie Bai could take two steps, he was grabbed by the shoulder by the colleagues who caught up to him. They pulled him back without hesitation and, without mincing words, commented, "Are you stupid or what?"

Xie Bai: "..."

In his entire life, besides today, only two people had ever called him stupid. The last one who said it, the trees at his grave were already as tall as a building, requiring two people to encircle them. And the first person to say it...

Thinking of that first person, Xie Bai's eyelids twitched, and his face suddenly darkened.

He lowered his gaze, furrowing his brows as he pushed away the colleague's hand, but he didn't continue turning right.

In truth, he didn't know this area's roads at all, nor did he actually intend to go home. He just chose the darkest path to avoid others' gazes. But since others had already said so, if he were to head towards the cemetery in full view of everyone, he would probably be considered either crazy or delusional.

"Let's go, this way." A familiar colleague called him to cross the street, heading towards the west gate of the residential area.

Xie Bai's gaze peeked out from under the umbrella and swept over the neighbourhood, slightly disdainful for a moment, then silently followed the footsteps of a few colleagues.

"What day is it today? Why are people still burning ghost money downstairs?" A colleague had just reached the entrance of the neighbourhood and gestured with his lips towards a building on the left—there was a figure under an umbrella squatting and burning paper, wisps of smoke dispersing into a hazy mist in the light rain.

"Let me see... Oh, it's the fifteenth of the 10^th lunar month, that explains it!" Another colleague fiddled with his phone screen, checking the calendar, then commented, "But it's quite something to burn paper in the rain at this hour. Who would want to wander outside in this weather? Look at how quiet the neighbourhood is today, not a single ghost in sight."

The last one to enter the neighbourhood, Xie Bai, remained silent.

Not a single ghost in sight...?

He saw the bustling community, almost overflowing with people crowding the flowerbeds and pathways, suddenly turn their heads in unison, silently gazing at the colleague who spoke, their eyes and expressions akin to wolves eyeing a chicken, affectionate and happy.

Today was the fifteenth of the 10^th lunar month, the Zhongyuan Festival (NT: the ghost festival, day during which ghosts can come out from the lower realm), a day for burning incense and paper offerings to ancestors, also known as the golden week of the Nine Curves of the Yellow Springs (NT: in other words, the difficult path to cross the underworld)

Generally, as night fell, the streets and alleys would be packed with ghosts rushing to grab ash from burnt paper. Whether domesticated or wild, the atmosphere was almost as chaotic as during the Spring Festival, just a tad bit less crowded.

And on days like this, the busiest place in the entire city was this neighbourhood. Because over a decade ago, this area used to be a vast cemetery, and countless ghosts had an inexplicable sense of belonging here.

Fortunately, a dozen or so ghost officers were constantly patrolling, dragging heavy chains that bound ghosts, emitting a clanking, sharp metallic sound, creating an invisible sense of oppression.

Two ghosts had already approached Xie Bai, their long blood-red tongues licking around their pale lips, as if they were about to tear off his head and devour it in the next moment.

But then, a passing ghost officer rushed over like a hungry tiger, expressionless, grabbing the tadpoles like tails of the two yin ghosts and dragging them back as if dragging dead dogs.

Ghosts: "..."

Xie Bai, holding the umbrella, continued walking without any pause, his gaze straight ahead, not even blinking once, as if he truly hadn't seen "a single ghost."

The neighbourhood was square-shaped, not too large, and it took about five minutes to walk from the west gate to the east gate.

Looking at the unappetizing appearance of the ghosts all the way, Xie Bai still maintained a cold face, walking behind his colleagues, showing no interest in joining their conversation, calm and indifferent.

Until they were near the east gate, his gaze under the umbrella flickered slightly, glancing at the flowerbed to his right.

Under the street lamp's illumination, two figures, one black and one white, were clearly visible in the flowerbed. Unlike the dishevelled and unsightly ghosts rolling their eyes, these two looked more human.

The one in black wore a plain thick jacket, with messy hair, looking somewhat dispirited. He was kneeling on the ground, his entire arm almost buried in the wet mud, as if digging something out of the depths.

While the one in white wore a long robe, hands tucked in the sleeves, squatting beside him, urging incessantly, "Hey, Feng Li, hurry up, it's taking you forever to dig up this demon corpse, you're ruining the reputation of our Taoist sect!"

Feng Li, in the black jacket, retorted from between his teeth as he dug, "Just watching and not helping, have you no shame?"

The one in white was particularly sensitive about his reputation, "You're ugly, you do it."

Feng Li: "..."

The man in white glanced at the overcast sky, "It's about time, you keep digging here, I'll go get someone."

Feng Li shook the mud off his face and casually asked, "Get who? Boss Yin?" (NT: Yin here is written 殷, not the same character as 阴in the Yin guest)

Xie Bai's hand holding the umbrella twitched imperceptibly.

At the same time, a gust of wind swept through with a "whoosh," and almost all the ghosts in the neighbourhood disappeared in an instant, even the two nearby ghost officers were nowhere to be seen.

"Hiss... Did I just ear wrong? Why did it sound like I heard about the Taoist sect and Yin Wushu?" A ghost officer further away rubbed his ear, poking the ribs of another with a bewildered look.

Feng Li and the man in white looked innocent, stopping their conversation and silently scanning their surroundings.

Due to the sudden departure of many ghosts, the direction of the rain was slightly twisted by the wind. Xie Bai calmly tilted his umbrella to the right, blocking both the rain and the sight of Feng Li and the man in white as they passed by.

The Taoist sect they mentioned, Tai Xuan Dao (NT: the path of Ultimate Mystery), was an organization that split off from the spiritual Realm a long time ago. Since its establishment, it had received authority over a myriad of demons and spirits from the Lord Gou Chen.

Generally speaking, the ghost courts and underworlds of the Nine Curves of the Yellow Springs were not under its jurisdiction and shouldn't have been feared. However, Tai Xuan Dao had a very special leader named Yin Wushu.

Legend had it that he was formed from the purest and fiercest Yang energy between the beginning of the gods and the earth in ancient times, neither god nor human nor immortal nor ghost, beyond the control of the Three Realms and Six Paths.

This extraordinary figure had... well, he was great in every aspect. The only regret was that, over the long years, he accidentally turned into a lunatic.

What was even more troublesome was that this lunatic had a long life span. Even when everyone else died, he could still stand as an inheritance.

For a long time, the name Yin Wushu had firmly held the top spot on various blacklists, leaving others in the dust by a hundred thousand miles.

It wasn't until recent centuries that another name climbed up to second place on the blacklist...

Following his unaware colleagues, Xie Bai arrived at the entrance of the east gate.

"Xiao Xie, we're going to eat first." A colleague pointed across the street to a private restaurant, bid him farewell, and crossed the road, reminding him before leaving, "Turn right at the station, don't get lost again!"

Xie Bai stood in the rain holding the black umbrella, watching as his colleagues entered the restaurant one by one, then turned around. From where he stood, without needing to turn his head, he could see the two figures busy in the flowerbed.

The voice of the man in white drifted lightly over, "Why are you looking for the boss? He's so picky, how could he possibly come to such a wet and dirty place? Besides, today is the fifteenth... Oh, you may not know, but our boss never likes to go out on the fifteenth."

He paused for a moment, then stood up holding his white robe, and continued, "Of course, I'm going to invite the Yin guest."

Before his words could fade into the rain, a gust of wind blew, and the remaining ghosts in the neighborhood disappeared instantly, not a single finger left behind.

Clearly, the Yin guest mentioned by the man in white was also on various blacklists, unfortunately, ranking just behind Yin Wushu, the legendary figure who had been the top for nearly a hundred years.

After watching the spectacle, Xie Bai withdrew his gaze emotionlessly, adjusted his scarf, coughed a few times, his slender fingers gripping the umbrella handle showing a hint of pale blue.

Yin Wushu...

He stared into the misty void, silently repeating the name.

Never liked going out on the fifteenth?

Xie Bai let out a short, disdainful laugh, sounding oddly mocking. He lowered his long eyelashes, the emotions in his eyes obscured by shadows.

Standing silently in place for a moment, he finally turned right, walking along the perimeter of the neighborhood wall into the darkness without streetlights. In the blink of an eye, both he and the umbrella disappeared without a trace.

 

Translator : DarNan