Yan Qige had been prepared and pulled Yusang away, half-embracing her as they flipped onto the roof ridge. Yan Qige’s lantern hung in the air the ridge, and a set of red gauze clothing was placed on the roof tiles.

“Put this on and lure her out,” Yan Qige said as he took the lantern.

“You want me to impersonate Lu Shi. What if I refuse?” Yusang said with her mouth, but her hands weren’t slow – she looked around and put the gauze clothing over herself.

“Lead her to the street.” Yan Qige tied a red face veil on Yusang, left this instruction, then quickly got up and leaped into the darkness of the back alley nearby.

At this moment, Ranqing had already pushed open the window with her sword and stuck her head out to look around. Yusang had no time to think much – she stepped off the roof corner and quickly flew past the window, landing on the street building opposite. When Ranqing saw the red-clothed shadow, her face instantly turned deathly pale. After fearfully retreating a few steps, she raised her sword and leaped out the window in pursuit.

After leading Ranqing around the street in a circle, Yusang stopped on a roof ridge at the street entrance. Ranqing then caught up from the street, raising her sword and looking up at Yusang standing in red gauze in the misty night, seemingly not very surprised.

Ranqing raised her sword, pointing at Yusang on the roof, her eyes revealing murderous intent as she laughed coldly, “So it is you. What do you want? Could it be that you want to take revenge on me? When you begged me back then, I already said that going against heaven’s will would eventually bring retribution. You insisted on being stubborn, and you can’t blame me for your current fate.”

To avoid revealing herself, Yusang didn’t make a sound. Ranqing became even more filled with hatred, saying, “It’s all because of you that I wanted to steal that thing, resulting in my becoming this neither-human-nor-demon appearance, and having to live in constant fear of her coming for revenge. I’ve suffered no less.”

As she spoke, a spark of light slowly appeared in the fog at the street head. Faintly, they could see a figure in a black cloak slowly walking, carrying a lantern with the character “Office” written on it. When Ranqing saw the person approaching on the street, the coldness in her eyes softened considerably, and she lowered her sword, pointing at Yusang somewhat.

“Pretend to kill the person on the street,” Yusang heard Yan Qige’s transmitted voice. She looked around but couldn’t see him. Though puzzled, she didn’t hesitate much and made a gesture, using two fingers as a sword to pounce toward the person on the street.

…

…

“Be careful!” Seeing this, Ranqing leaped with all her might to protect the cloaked figure. Her long sword simultaneously carved several cold winds in the air, each strike holding back nothing and revealing killing intent, every move aimed to take life. Yusang’s arm, grazing the sword edge, had a large piece of sleeve cut off, accompanied by severe pain.

Only then did Yusang understand this wasn’t some pretend act at all, but a real life-and-death struggle – Yan Qige was using her life as bait. Thinking of this, Yusang couldn’t help but feel anger burning in her heart. She curved her fingers to the side, gathering demonic power, transforming her palm into a blade to strike at Ranqing’s neck.

Just as Yusang’s palm was about to land on Ranqing, slender fingers extended from under the cloak to deflect the force from her wrist, while another hand skillfully gripped Ranqing’s jaw and pressed a small yellow paper talisman to Ranqing’s shoulder. Ranqing immediately stood frozen in place, unable to move, her long sword falling to the ground with a metallic ring.

Yan Qige pulled down the cloak covering his head, revealing a handsome face. Ranqing looked shocked. Yan Qige waved his hand in front of the lantern he was carrying, and the character “Office” on the lantern immediately disappeared, revealing that this was indeed the lantern Yan Qige usually carried.

“Though I cannot personally kill you, other demons might not be so restricted. Now, having her kill you would be like stepping on an ant.”

Ranqing turned her head, looking at Yan Qige through gritted teeth, “So it’s you, this Taoist. Do you think this can frighten me?”

Hearing the word “Taoist,” Yan Qige’s eyes narrowed again. Ranqing was completely unaware, but Yusang saw it clearly and secretly sighed for Ranqing – you’ve made trouble.

Sure enough, Yan Qige’s face darkened as he turned to leave. Yusang casually gripped Ranqing’s neck, and as the pressure tightened, Ranqing’s face turned deathly pale with fear.

“I’ll tell you everything, just come back,” Ranqing reluctantly shouted to Yan Qige.

Yan Qige stopped his steps but didn’t turn around. Ranqing couldn’t care about her earlier arrogance and quickly said, “I was originally a snake demon who had cultivated for several hundred years in Green Forest Valley in the outskirts of the capital. Ten years ago, by chance, I saved a scholar who had collapsed on the road while going to take the imperial examination. That scholar was learned and handsome, and he took a liking to me, saying that if he passed the examination, he would marry me as his wife…”

“Isn’t this the matter between Magistrate Wang and Lu Shi? How did it become about you?” Yusang interrupted in confusion.

Ranqing snorted coldly, “Lu Shi? You mean the one imprisoned in the underground palace of the county office? If I hadn’t escaped back then, I would indeed have ended up like her.”

“What happened afterward?” Yan Qige asked expressionlessly.

“Later, I followed him to the capital, using demonic arts to help him achieve third place in the imperial examination, then married him as his wife. At first things were peaceful, until the Wang family was raided and I discovered something that shouldn’t have been discovered, nearly dying in a demon-slaying bagua formation.”

“What was it?”

“It turned out that in the Wang family, I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t of mortal birth. Though well-hidden, I still stumbled upon her. She cast spells to trap me and wanted to kill me. To protect myself, I had no choice but to take a desperate measure – I abandoned all my cultivation and extracted my soul from my physical body, abandoning my snake form to escape. Only a month ago did I accidentally hear some news and learn that my physical body had been possessed by a mortal soul. I came to Yunsui City to investigate this matter.”

Yusang was about to refute Ranqing’s words when she saw Yan Qige turn around, his brows slightly furrowed as if in deep thought, so she closed her mouth and followed him.

“Let me guess – you learned that your physical body was occupied by the real Lu Ranqing, so you wanted to kill her for revenge. But since you have no magic power now, you manipulated Magistrate Wang to lure me to where she was hiding, so I would kill her as a snake demon. What I don’t understand is, even if Magistrate Wang wanted to orchestrate all this, why would Lu Shi willingly take the blame for you?”

“Oh, I remember now – that day I saw someone in the West Garden from afar, it was you. And those illusions you placed in the West Garden, creating all that, were deliberately to arouse our curiosity to investigate the West Garden.” Yusang suddenly understood, reaching out to pull a hair from the snake demon’s head and holding it under the lantern to examine. Sure enough, it was the same as the one picked up in the West Garden that day.

The snake demon turned her head reluctantly, hesitated for a while, then said, “She’s still alive, isn’t she?”

“Yes, but not entirely. She was originally a human soul but died within a demon’s body. Her soul can neither enter the underworld nor the demon path – now she’s just a wandering spirit.”

“Did you save her?”

“Her time to die had not yet come.”

“So what if her time hadn’t come? I occupy her skin, while she’s just a thing that’s neither human nor demon, not even a ghost. What can she do to me?” The snake demon laughed coldly, fierce light flashing in her eyes.

“Demonic nature is stubborn and dark.” Yan Qige raised his hand to lift the lantern higher, flicked his finger, and the lantern’s light became much brighter with a faint pink tinge. The snake demon’s face was illuminated by the firelight, as if burned by fierce flames, immediately letting out cries of pain.

“Soul-swapping and fate-changing arts are not something ordinary demons can perform. Speak – what did you use?” Yan Qige demanded coldly.