Speaking of its length, it wasn't particularly long. It had only been twenty-five years since she incorporated the Tongxuan Bright Mirror into her body for nourishment, when the Old Taoist Priest instructed her that every full moon night, she needed to expel the Treasure Mirror and absorb the Power of Taiyin. At first, the Old Taoist Priest would watch over his disciple, fearing she might mistake the Dharma Practice. But as she grew familiar with the process, he stopped overseeing her. Often at night, his snores were thunderous on the other side, while Gu Shi Yi would sit cross-legged in front of the window, absorbing the moon's energy.
Then, on a full moon night on the fifteenth of August, when the Power of Taiyin was at its most complete for the year, Gu Shi Yi expelled the Treasure Mirror and, for some unknown reason, after the Power of Taiyin had circulated through her body for thirty-six heavenly cycles, she opened her eyes and was astonished to see a little girl around five or six years old reflected in the mirror.
The girl had an ordinary appearance, her little face dirty and her hair in a mess. Gu Shi Yi first thought that she had attracted solitary ghosts and wild spirits from nearby when drawing in the Power of Taiyin and considered whether to recite some scriptures to send her off to reincarnation. However, on closer inspection, she realized the clothes on the girl did not belong to this realm, plus the girl had no Yin Energy around her and was alive, not a ghost. Noticing the room that appeared behind her, with furnishings different from this place, Gu Shi Yi's curiosity grew, and she started observing her more intently.
Logically, when she peered into the other side through the Treasure Mirror, the child shouldn't have noticed, yet somehow, after the girl's gaze wandered briefly, it met with Gu Shi Yi's. As the two looked at each other, their eyes locked, and the little girl suddenly screamed out,
"Ghost!"
After that, Gu Shi Yi watched as the girl excitedly called over a middle-aged woman with a slightly bulging belly. The middle-aged woman looked puzzled and then turned to call a burly middle-aged man inside. The couple's attire was very strange, and they even had the same short hairstyle.
Gu Shi Yi observed them curiously. As the two adults entered the room, their gazes drifted over her blankly, both appearing confused. Only the little girl pointed at Gu Shi Yi and shouted,
"There's a ghost! A ghost! A ghost!"
The girl's voice was shrill and thin. Perhaps because she was so loud, the middle-aged man finally showed an expression of impatience and raised his hand to slap her across the face,
"Slap..."
The girl covered her face, and the room finally quieted down. The man's face looked particularly fierce, his cheeks covered in flesh, and the slap left the girl's small face swollen and red. She dared not cry out, her tears spinning in her eyes. At that time, Gu Shi Yi was only about six or seven years old herself, and found the situation amusing. She even made faces at the girl through the mirror, who was so frightened she gasped for breath, but seeing her parents turn and leave, she was too scared to call for anyone again, even though she trembled with fear.
In the days that followed, after Gu Shi Yi absorbed the Power of Taiyin for thirty-six heavenly cycles every night, she could see the girl's face in the mirror. Initially, the girl talked about it everywhere and called others to see, but no one could see the ghost she mentioned. Gu Shi Yi watched her wave her hands and feet wildly, trying to explain, while everyone looked back at her with blank, "Are you sick?" expressions, which Gu Shi Yi found very amusing, often laughing heartily, adding some joy to her otherwise monotonous and wandering life.
Eventually, as the two saw each other more, the little girl grew braver and stopped screaming about ghosts throughout the village. Once they became familiar, they even started talking through the mirror. That's when Gu Shi Yi learned that the girl's name was Li Yaner, who lived in a small mountain village with her parents and grandparents. Li Yaner was the eldest daughter at home, and her parents always wanted a son. They had one before, but he did not live to be a year old,
"Dad and Mom are working in town now, saving money to have a brother. My mom's baby boy is already six months along!"
Li Yaner told Gu Shi Yi this, to which Gu Shi Yi responded with a grimace,
"Your family is so poor, why have a son at all? Can you even afford to raise him?"
Gu Shi Yi could tell that the Li Family was indeed poor. Their house was made of mud and was dark and small, and their furniture was tattered and worn. The clothes on the Li Family members were old and ragged, worse off than her own life traveling with the Old Taoist Priest. Although she and the Old Taoist Priest sometimes stayed in desolate temples and haunted houses, he knew ghost catching. Wherever they went, he would inquire about local ghost sightings. Since their world had inherited abundant Spiritual Energy when it separated from the ancient Hongmeng World, countless members of the Human Race and other races were likely to become spirits and monsters. Thus, encounters with mountain spirits and ghosts were not uncommon in the secular world. Those with deeper cultivation disguised themselves as humans to blend into society and intermarry with mortals, while those with shallow cultivation who followed the evil path preyed on human flesh and blood to enhance their own powers, emerging to kill and cause calamity among the living.