Ghost Valley

The **Ghost Valley** (鬼谷, *Guǐ Gǔ*) is an exile located within the Mount Qingya (青崖山, *Qīngyá Shān*). It is a place notorious for harbouring the criminals of jianghu. It is considered the public enemy of the Five Lakes Alliance.

## Description

The Ghost Valley is a vast mountain, mostly lifeless and deserted with ruins scattered around its exterior. The entrance to the Qingya Valley is located within the bamboo forest, marked by a basic red entrance, while the entrance to the Ghost Valley itself is through massive gates that has two status of Buddhists at each side. In order to open the gate, someone must sound the drums. There are many Buddha status around, including a *Vitarka Mudra* and one carrying an alms.

Inside the Ghost Valley, it is mostly desolated with the exception of some places, such as the hallroom and the throne room. All meetings are held within the hall room with the Master at the top of the cliff.

## Uniform

The average Ghost lackey wears ragged red robes with skull-decorated black belts. They wear a worn out white mask with two red vertical stripes and a black hat covering the rear of their heads, concealing their entire real identity. However, the look is recognisable by anyone outside the Ghost Valley. This uniform applied to both sexes.

For Ghosts who are under Luo Fumeng's protection, they wear the uniform of the Unfaithful Department.

When doing any attack, the Ghost's arrival is accompanied by yellow papers raining from above.

## History

Almost a century ago, Rong Changqing had created the Ghost Valley with the intention of giving the worst of criminals in jianghu a place where they can repent and reform. He had refined the Meng Po Soup so whoever enters the Ghost Valley can be completely "reincarnated" and forget about their past deeds. Unfortunately, the place became an exile rather than a place of repentance, where the worst of people reside there and having endless fights. Rong Changqing's closest friend, Ye Baiyi, had promised him that if the Ghost Valley were to ever cause havoc outside of the Qingya Mountains, then he will destroy the place with its inhabitants.

In those years, the Ghost Valley became a haven for criminals to reside when they are completed ostracised by the "human world", as once one enters the Ghost Valley, they are considered "dead" and any person, sect or organisation hunting them down cannot chase them anymore. While it is not essential that whoever enters the Ghost Valley is a criminal, the place became crawling with murderers, cannibals, rapists and many other horrendous types of people.

In order to become a Ghost, one must drink the Meng Po Soup which makes them forget about their strongest obsession, severing any ties with their previous ties. There are daily fights in the Ghost Valley, there is rarely any loyalty or honour among them, only the strongest and the wisest can survive living in the Ghost Valley, the strongest of Ghosts are ones who rank upon the top ten Ghosts, who are unique in their clothing and position.

## Ghosts

### Masters

* Wen Kexing
	+ Gu Xiang (maid/subordinate)
* Unnamed Ghost Valley Master (formerly, deceased)

### Top Ten Ghosts

* Matrimonial-Funerary Ghost
	+ Glamorous Ghost (subordinate)
* Impermanent Ghost
	+ White Grim Reaper (subordinate)
	+ Black Grim Reaper (subordinate)
* Hanged Ghost
* Happy Ghost
* Man-Eater Ghost
* Lustful Ghost
* Long-Tongued Ghost

## Novel Difference

In the novel, the Ghost Valley was not created by Rong Changqing.

The only mentioned Ghosts of the Ghost Valley are the Hanged Ghost (**Xue Fang**), Impermanence Ghost (**Meng Hui**) and Matrimonial-Funerary Ghost (**Sun Ding**), while the Glamorous Ghost is a character with no association to the Ghost Valley. Any other Ghost is drama-exclusive.

The Ghost Valley specifically resides between the **Windcliff Mountain** (风崖山, *Fēngyá Shān*) and **Green Bamboo Ridge** (青竹岭, *Qīngzhú Lǐng*).

The Ghosts in the novel are distinguished by a specific trait: a tattoo on their lower back of a **Fanged Ghost's Face** (獠牙的鬼面, *Liáo Yá De Guǐmiàn*), it's done by unique plant pigment called "*Netherweed*" that exclusively grows in the Ghost Valley, it acts as a brand for anyone to recognise a Ghost.

## Trivia

* During the twenty years, the top ten Ghosts changed: The White Grim Reaper and Balck Grim Reaper have been changed twice. Happy Ghost, Long-Tongued Ghost, Hanged Ghost and Lustful Ghost were not on the top during the rebellion.
	+ The fixed roles for the Ghosts seems to be the White Grim Reaper and the Black Grim Reaper
* Considering Gu Xiang has the brand of the Ghost Valley despite being under Wen Kexing's protection, it is possibly done at a young age and inevitable to prevent.

## References

1. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 35
2. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 01
3. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 02
4. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 14
5. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 32
6. ↑ Novel, Chapter 05
7. ↑ Novel, Chapter 14