Upon hearing Ranqing’s name, the light in all the women’s eyes immediately dimmed. They sat back down at the table and began fiddling with their cards, as if they couldn’t see Yan Qige at all.

Just then, Yusang used magic to transform into men’s clothing and entered. Seeing this scene, she was somewhat puzzled, but before she could ask, an old madam had already hurried out upon hearing the news. The old madam put on a smiling face to welcome the rare customer. When she learned that Yan Qige had come looking for Ranqing, she hesitated for a moment, but thinking of how business had been so poor recently that she had nearly lost her investment, she still didn’t refuse Yan Qige.

“Miss Ranqing is upstairs.”

Before the old madam could continue, Yan Qige had already stepped upstairs. After walking a few steps, he suddenly turned to look at Yusang behind him, saying with a half-smile, “You stay downstairs and have some fun. Feel free to spend the banknotes you’re carrying generously.”

Yusang was stunned – she had no banknotes on her at all. But in just an instant, she immediately understood Yan Qige’s intention, and her heart couldn’t help but cry out in dismay.

Sure enough, those women who had just been showing cold faces all turned their gazes toward Yusang upon hearing the word “banknotes.” Yusang shivered and was about to run toward the door, but a woman had already quickly blocked her path. Then the other women surrounded her one after another, waving their handkerchiefs at her.

Seeing this situation, even though Yusang had always had the rule of not using magic carelessly in front of mortals, she now broke that rule. She quickly cast a spell to put everyone in the hall to sleep where they stood, then looked at Yan Qige – he had already gone upstairs, found Ranqing’s room, and knocked twice on the door.

“Who is it?” Footsteps came from inside, then the door opened. The woman who opened it had a clear, beautiful face that was eight or nine parts similar to Lu Shi’s appearance.

Seeing Yan Qige outside the door, Ranqing was stunned, her eyes showing both amazement and wariness as she asked, “What business does the young master have?”

“I come from Magistrate Wang’s residence.”

…

…

Upon hearing Magistrate Wang’s name, Ranqing slightly frowned, looked left and right outside the door, then gestured for Yan Qige to enter.

Yan Qige surveyed the room as he entered. The interior was very tidy, with a pot of peach blossoms planted near the wall, and several half-bloomed peach branches inserted in a vase by the bed. On the table was a cup of tea emitting thin steam, beside which lay an open copy of the “Five Classics,” as if she had just been reading.

“Does Master Wang have any message to convey to me?” Ranqing asked.

Yan Qige ignored Ranqing’s words, walked a few steps around the room with his hands behind his back, then stopped at the window. He lightly pushed open the window to look out at the night sky, saying, “Recently, there have been strange cases occurring continuously in the city. Even your maid couldn’t escape, yet I don’t see you afraid-you don’t even close your window?”

Ranqing’s face showed some amusement as she said, “The young master jests. How could I not be afraid? It’s just that if one day I’m unlucky enough to be harmed by demons, I can only blame my bad fate.”

Yan Qige turned around and casually flipped through the book on the table, saying, “Miss is truly philosophical.”

“I wonder if the young master has any other business. If not, please leave.” Ranqing walked over two steps and pointed toward the door with her hand.

“The hour is still early. Miss need not be anxious. When I wish to leave, you won’t be able to keep me even if you wanted to.”

“Please leave immediately, young master.” Ranqing’s face flushed red, showing traces of thin anger.

“What if I don’t?”

“Then don’t blame me for being discourteous.” As she spoke, Ranqing suddenly leaped toward the bed, reached under it, and emerged gripping a sharp sword. With a light movement, she had already thrust the sword tip into two sword flowers attacking Yan Qige. Yan Qige dodged by staying close to the sword blade, and the sword landed precisely on the carved round table in the room, immediately splitting it in half.

Missing with one strike, Ranqing swung her sword again, thrusting directly at Yan Qige’s chest. Yan Qige caught the sword tip between two fingers and gave it a light hook – the long sword escaped from Ranqing’s hand and embedded itself in the window frame, trembling slightly. Seeing her sword defeated within three moves by someone barehanded, Ranqing knew she had encountered a formidable enemy. Her eyes revealed coldness as she prepared hidden weapons in her sleeve for another attack.

“Who exactly are you, and what do you want?”

“You occupy Lu Shi’s body. Though you could be considered mostly mortal, a demon is still a demon. Even with a mortal flesh body, you still carry a demonic aura, which is why you have to stay in this brothel heavy with powder and rouge to mask it, isn’t that so?”

“So you’re a meddlesome demon-catching Taoist. Even if you know these things, so what? I am human now. As long as my soul doesn’t leave this flesh body, you cannot touch me.” Ranqing laughed disdainfully.

When Yan Qige heard the word “Taoist,” he slightly narrowed his eyes, imperceptibly stopping the words that had reached his lips. After sweeping a glance at Ranqing from the corner of his eye, he calmly went out the door and downstairs. Seeing Yusang standing below, glaring at him irritably, Yan Qige paid her no mind, simply waving his hand to break the spell on everyone in the hall before dragging her outside.

Ranqing pursued them upstairs with her sword, but seeing a hall full of people staring at her, she pretended to be pitiful, saying that Yan Qige had been discourteous to her. The old madam’s face changed dramatically, and she called for the house managers to chase after them outside, only to discover that once the two had left, they had vanished without a trace – the streets left and right were empty without even half a shadow.

The house managers stood stunned, looked at each other, thought of the recent strange occurrences in the city, and couldn’t help but shiver, not daring to pursue. No matter how many harsh words the old madam cursed, they dared not risk their lives and quickly retreated into Huakui Tower, closing the main door.

Yan Qige and Yusang watched everything from the rooftop of Huakui Tower. Yusang said irritably, “You look decent and don’t seem like a poor wretch, so how could you do such a shameless thing as eating for free…”

Just as she was speaking, Yusang was suddenly covered by Yan Qige’s hand over her mouth. He used his gaze to signal her to look down, where they saw a person wearing a large black cloak walking from the street and quietly entering the side door of Huakui Tower. After waiting a moment, Yan Qige leaped onto the second-floor eaves and walked to Ranqing’s room. Naturally, not to be outdone, Yusang also jumped up, performing an inverted golden hook to hang upside down in front of the window, while not forgetting to raise her eyebrows at Yan Qige beside her.

“Now that she has been taken care of, you can rest assured.” It was a man’s voice – Yusang immediately recognized it as Magistrate Wang.

“I always feel something isn’t right.” Ranqing’s voice carried some anxiety.

“You’re overthinking.”

“Back then…”

“No need to say more!” Magistrate Wang’s voice, which had been low and gentle, suddenly became loud, seeming to carry trembling and revealing an undisguisable panic.

“As I thought, you toward her…”

“What happened back then was my wrong toward you, but I haven’t had a single good day in these five years either. If you still won’t let go, then you’re deliberately making things difficult for me.”

“Are you blaming me? What wrong have I done?”

After a period of silence, Magistrate Wang sighed sorrowfully, “You have done no wrong. What’s wrong is fate. You and I were destined to have an ill-fated relationship, which is why we have this retribution. While there are no other complications yet, you should leave and never return.”

Magistrate Wang then opened the door and left downstairs. The room became quiet, with Ranqing sitting dazed in place without making any sound.

“Ding.” Yan Qige flicked a small piece of mud and stone from his hand through the window, hitting precisely the bronze mirror on the dressing table.

“Who’s there!” Ranqing looked around the room warily, slowly getting up and quietly drawing the sword hidden under the bed to hold in her hand.

“Who is outside?” Ranqing’s gaze swept over the window, and she immediately understood someone was outside. She raised her hand and thrust her sword through the window paper.