The Ghost Market Behind the Mountain

On a moonless night, at the third watch, the desolate clearing behind the mountain opens for business. The living go to the day market; the spirits go to the ghost market. The long street paved with bluestone is hung with ghastly white lanterns. The stallholders sit silently with their heads bowed, and every antique on their stalls is entangled in old karma. One night, the young Shen Yan ventures into the mountains to gather herbs and accidentally stumbles into the hidden market, a place known only from the tales of village elders. He remembers the ghost market’s three taboos: don’t look at anyone, don’t take anything, and don’t answer when spoken to. He stays true to himself and makes it out unharmed, but leaves owing a debt from the night the market opened. A ghost-market deal never goes unfulfilled. When the young men in the village hear that the market holds ancient treasures, greed takes root, and they rush to the mountain that very night, eager to enter the game. One trade between the living and the dead unfolds after another, as old objects find their owners and obsessions demand repayment. Shen Yan travels across the wilderness, seeking cracks in the earth’s veins, and navigates one ghost-market gathering after another. Gradually, he glimpses the secret at the market’s heart: the ghost market never takes people by force. It simply waits for the greed and delusion in their hearts to lure them into its trap. Every uncanny true tale from the countryside is hidden along the long street, where white-paper lanterns glow in the dead of night. Theme: Greed and delusion in the human heart are the source of the ghost market. Only by staying true to yourself can you avoid falling into its sinister schemes. The choice between good and evil rests on a single thought.