Definition
- **Yang Life (阳寿)**: In Chinese folk religion and Daoism, every living person is allotted a set number of years at birth. This novel literalizes that belief: lifespan is a tangible, harvestable substance. The Five Elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth) cause it to dissipate, so it must be handled with extreme care—this is a horror world's version of a "preservation rule." - **Protecting Immortals (保家仙)**: Household guardian spirits in Northeast Chinese folk tradition, often represented by small clay statues. Their presence here as Li Zhi's only legacy underscores the novel's bitter irony: the spirits he lived to serve left him with nothing but cheap effigies. - **Qingming Festival (清明节)**: A major Chinese festival for honoring ancestors by sweeping graves, burning spirit money, and offering food. The "crossroads" (十字路口) is a traditional liminal space where offerings to the dead are made—it's believed that burning spirit money there allows wandering souls to receive it more easily. - **The folk ritual of shouting while burning spirit money**: In Chinese folk custom, the living will call out the name of the deceased while burning offerings to "claim" the money for them. Gouwa's addition of colorful insults is a classic folk touch—meant to intimidate any opportunistic ghosts into keeping their hands off the goods. - **The Nine Classes (九流)**: While not directly mentioned in this chapter, the Ghost Festival sequence is a reminder that the novel's social hierarchy doesn't stop at the living. Even in death, there are rules, pecking orders, and fights over resources.