Yan Qige walked behind Yusang, frowning as he examined the situation. He casually removed a jade hairpin from Yusang’s hair, then carefully used the hairpin to approach the glowing object.
“Clank!” The moment the hairpin extended near the small hole, it was suddenly struck by something, and the jade hairpin shattered and broke into several pieces with a sharp sound.
“My hairpin! You owe me a hairpin!” Yusang turned around and glared at Yan Qige.
“Don’t make noise,” Yan Qige said with some seriousness, stopping her. He took out a red thread from his sleeve, tied a slip knot and placed it in front of the small hole, then handed the thread end to Yusang, saying, “Go hide behind the tree.”
Yusang pouted, her face full of reluctance and unwillingness. She took the red thread and walked toward the tree, still complaining as she went, “That hairpin was something I stole from the mortal emperor’s palace. It was said to be a beloved item of the former dynasty’s Consort Yan, and you just ruined it like that. What a wasteful spendthrift.”
“Consort Yan’s…” Inadvertently, Yan Qige’s expression underwent a subtle change, the corner of his lips curling up slightly, but it immediately disappeared and returned to normal.
After Yusang positioned herself behind the tree, Yan Qige once again summoned the Soul Collector lantern, holding it near the small hole and making incantation gestures with his fingers. A bolt of heavenly thunder flashed across the sky, striking the top of the old withered tree. The already weathered branches caught fire, and the faint light within the tree became obvious, moving outward. As Yan Qige’s incantations became increasingly urgent, the thing inside the small hole emerged inch by inch—it was a human hand, though the hand had no physical form, merely a spirit soul.
“You are not her. Who are you?” A man’s voice eerily responded, and a pair of pupils gleaming with jade-green light appeared at the hole’s entrance. The hand that had already extended out seemed about to retract.
“Pull the thread,” Yan Qige called out. Upon hearing this, Yusang immediately pulled the rope in her hand taut and quickly reeled it in.
Along with the man’s pained cry, Yan Qige immediately wound the red rope around his fingers, and with a hook-and-pull motion, he dragged the man’s soul from the hole and collected it into the lantern.
…
…
After everything was completed, the strange phenomena in the sky disappeared. Looking up at the sky, it was now sunset with the sun setting in the west.
“Extinguish.” Yan Qige waved his sleeve, flicking a talisman paper from his fingers to stick onto the old, withered tree. The fire that had been burning on the tree immediately disappeared. Only then did Yusang understand that the heavenly thunder from earlier had been summoned by Yan Qige. Although she knew his magical arts were considerably higher than ordinary mortal cultivators, she had never known his magic had reached the level of summoning lightning power. Who exactly was he? How many things about him were beyond her imagination?
Yan Qige put away the Soul Collector lantern and left with his hands behind his back. Yusang stood in place, watching Yan Qige’s silhouette against the setting sun, frowning in confused contemplation until Yan Qige called for her, then she quickly ran to catch up.
“Can I ask you something? What you carry on your back is a sword, right? Why do you never use it?”
“Then you tell me first—who is that person called Bai Zhi, and what is your relationship with her?”
“Forget it, pretend I never asked.”
A few casual words gradually faded away in the wilderness illuminated by the setting sun. Night began to fall bit by bit, and the two figures gradually departed. However, they didn’t know that right at the old withered tree where they had just stopped, a figure silently appeared. A hint of dangerous amusement appeared at the lips, but it disappeared again in the blink of an eye.
Yan Qige and Yusang rushed back to the courtyard where they were imprisoned before dark. Returning to the room, they locked the door again. Soon, they heard footsteps outside. Yan Qige put away the Soul Collector lantern that had been lit in the room and rewound the hemp rope that had originally bound his hands around his wrists. Yusang leaned back against the wall, pretending to still be unconscious.
As the door opened, the light of a lantern shone in. Ling Mingran and the innkeeper entered one after the other. Ling Mingran had the innkeeper carry Yusang from the ground and take her outside, while she remained behind, sneering coldly at Yan Qige.
“Young Master Yan, have you changed your mind?”
Yan Qige glanced at Ling Mingran indifferently without responding, which made her eyes fill with resentment. She reached out and thrust a small fish bone spine into Yan Qige’s shoulder, then used demonic arts to seal Yan Qige’s spiritual power before pushing him out the door.
A horse carriage was already waiting outside the courtyard. Yan Qige was pushed into the carriage, where Yusang was lying with her eyes closed. Ling Mingran got into the carriage afterward and told the innkeeper sitting in front to go. The carriage began swaying and moving forward.
“You are not Ling Mingran,” Yan Qige said calmly.
Ling Mingran turned her head to glance at Yan Qige, then smiled. She bent down to retrieve a bundle from under the seat, opening it while saying, “I naturally am not her. How could a mere mortal have such abilities as mine?”
“You’ve taken over her body. Where is her soul?”
“You’ll know soon enough.” Ling Mingran smiled seductively and cast a spell on Yan Qige, causing him to close his eyes and fall into unconsciousness.
Afterward, Ling Mingran took out a set of fire-red wedding dresses from the bundle and helped Yusang, who was leaning against the carriage wall, to put them on. She loosened Yusang’s originally styled hair and began combing it into a bridal coiffure.
Half an hour later, the carriage stopped. Ling Mingran had the innkeeper help her move Yusang out of the carriage. Yusang slightly opened her eyes a crack and saw Yan Qige sitting unconscious in the carriage, feeling somewhat worried for him. But to avoid ruining the bigger picture, Yusang had to pretend to be unconscious and unknowing, allowing Ling Mingran and the innkeeper to move her from the carriage and place her on something somewhat cold.
When Ling Mingran turned around, Yusang quietly opened her eyes to survey the surroundings and discovered they were already by the Red Pearl River. She had been placed on a bamboo raft, and nearby was the riverside thatched cottage they had visited the night they stayed there.
“The time is almost here. Set up the incense,” Ling Mingran said, lighting a fire starter and throwing it aside. Flames immediately burst up in a circle around them, the firelight forming an octagonal array pattern with Yusang’s position and the small thatched cottage at the center.
Ling Mingran retreated outside the circle, prostrated herself on the ground, and kowtowed three times toward the small thatched cottage. Then she took out a fish bone dagger and cut open her wrist. Blood flowed from Ling Mingran’s wrist, dripping into the burning fire. Those flames immediately rose several times higher, and the surrounding fire circle also rapidly elevated, like a wall separating Yusang and the small thatched cottage together in the middle.
A cracking sound came from the sky, and lightning struck down from high above, hitting precisely the small thatched cottage in the center of the fire circle. Yusang was so frightened that she rolled and stood up from the ground, turning to see that the nearby thatched cottage had burst into roaring flames.
The surrounding fires also blazed more fiercely, forming walls of flame several zhang high that trapped Yusang within. The adjacent thatched cottage burned more and more intensely, and with occasional crashing sounds, parts of the cottage collapsed. Yusang retreated several steps to avoid the scattering sparks, but unexpectedly stepped into the firewall behind her. Her newly bought silk skirt was immediately burned away in a large patch by the flames.