Jiang Luo was a bit surprised when he heard that. He looked Chi You up and down, then suddenly raised the corner of his eyes, a half-smile playing on his lips.
“You’re not…”
The sentence was only halfway out when the black-haired youth deliberately swallowed the rest of his words, choosing not to continue. Chi You asked calmly, “What?”
Jiang Luo smiled ambiguously. His eyes swept over Chi You with a hint of teasing and amusement before turning to leave. “No need. After all, I don’t have to meet any elders.”
Chi You’s expression didn’t change. “Alright.”
But when his eyes glanced over Jiang Luo’s neck, there was a flicker of disappointment.
It wasn’t that he had realized something, nor that he had understood anything. It was simply instinct that drove him—Chi You had the urge to return that tingling and strange sensation, to leave a few red marks on Jiang Luo’s neck as well.
After all, isn’t it impolite not to reciprocate?
Jiang Luo had always been rather slow when it came to these kinds of things. Or rather, it wasn’t that he was slow, but that he disdained responding to people who harbored inappropriate thoughts toward him, so he never paid them any mind. But ever since that incident with the mirror-world Chi You—when desire had flared up in him—Jiang Luo had become extremely sensitive to Chi You’s emotional shifts.
My god…
Could this teenage Chi You also be having those kinds of thoughts about him?
The first time it happened, Jiang Luo had been incredulous, furious, and disgusted. But now… his feelings had become oddly complicated.
Instead, amusement took the upper hand—there was a faint sense of satisfaction and even the thrill of stepping on a malicious ghost’s desire beneath his feet. Who would’ve thought? No matter the version of Chi You—alive or dead, wildly different across lifetimes—he still ended up falling for Jiang Luo.
Chi You, this scheming, deep-thinking heir to the Chi family. A terrifying ghost of unfathomable strength, whose personality was deceitful and cold, whose thirst for control and suspicion always left others dancing in his palm. He had countless followers, and yet again and again, he stumbled over Jiang Luo.
It made Jiang Luo feel positively elated, as if he’d gained control over a ghost.
When he first arrived in this world, Chi You had wanted to kill him. But now?
Heh.
Jiang Luo’s smile deepened. He glanced at Chi You from the corner of his eye, clicking his tongue softly in amazement.
Right now, he was itching to find a chance to test his theory. If it turned out to be true, once they got out of the mirror world, Jiang Luo would have another reason to laugh at Chi You to his heart’s content.
Just imagining it made Jiang Luo happy. With this light-hearted mood, he returned to the Chi household.
Under an old tree just inside the gate, two people were anxiously waiting for Jiang Luo to return.
Qin Yun was pacing back and forth, her hands clenched tightly. A chunk of her bright red nail polish had been scratched off into an uneven shape. Her voice trembled, betraying her uncontrollable fear. “Why isn’t Jiang Luo back yet? What do we do? It’s almost dark…”
Waiting with her was Lian Xue. Her lips were pale and pressed tightly together. From time to time, she glanced worriedly toward the gates, clearly trying hard to stay calm.
She was a little more composed than Qin Yun and tried to reassure her. “It’s okay. They’ll definitely be back soon. Probably any minute now.”
Qin Yun suddenly froze in place. She stared at a nearby willow tree, sweat beading on her forehead, her expression dazed and hollow.
“Lian Xue, Duanzi… he’s dead! How could he die? And so horribly too! We’re doomed… the ghost must be targeting us. He knows we came here to kill him, so he’s striking first. After Duanzi, we’re next. Du Ge, Li Xiao… and me… You and Jiang Luo are close, but we’re different. Jiang Luo is so powerful, but we’re just ordinary people. If Jiang Luo doesn’t protect us, someone else is bound to die tonight—Lian Xue, I don’t want to die. I—I’m still so young…”
Her words became increasingly incoherent, panic taking over her reasoning.
Lian Xue gave a bitter smile. “Who wants to die?”
Qin Yun suddenly fell silent. She walked over and gripped Lian Xue’s hand, her eyes full of desperate hope. “Lian Xue, you know Jiang Luo. Please, beg him—beg him to protect us, okay? Ask him to kill the ghost and take us home, please?”
Lian Xue frowned and gently patted her hand. “Qin Yun, we can’t place all our hopes on Senior Jiang Luo.”
She tried to speak as gently as she could. “We’re victims, but so is he. Eight of us entered the mirror world. We can’t just hide every day and expect him to handle everything. Even if the capable should bear more responsibility, we can’t make him carry all of our lives alone.”
She sighed softly, then couldn’t help but say, “If only Zhongqiu were here…”
The Lian family was a lineage of witch doctors. For them, the art of healing was paramount. By the time it was passed to their generation, the elders, fearing distraction, hadn’t taught them anything beyond medical arts. The elders always said, “As long as a doctor’s skills are high enough, others will protect them.”
Lian Xue rarely left the mountain. Before all this happened, she had thought the elders were right—there didn’t seem to be any drawbacks. After all, the Lian family, from elders to juniors, had always lived simply, content with what they had, never chasing after gain or loss. But now that trouble had come, Lian Xue began to see the flaws in that way of thinking.
In a life-threatening situation, they only had their medical skills. They could heal, yes—but could they truly protect their own lives?
She thought of Daoist Wei He. Wasn’t he also skilled in metaphysical arts?
That directly contradicted what her elders had told her. When they got out of here, she definitely had to ask Daoist Wei He about this.
They didn’t have to wait long before noise came from the gates—it was Jiang Luo and Chi You returning.
Lian Xue and Qin Yun’s faces lit up, but because of their status, they didn’t dare step forward. Instead, they stayed where they were, waiting for Jiang Luo to notice them.
Qin Yun had just forced a smile onto her face when she saw the young master of the Chi family walking in with Jiang Luo. Her smile froze instantly. She grabbed Lian Xue’s hand and said in disbelief, “Lian Xue, is that the owner of the cabin villa?!”
Lian Xue looked at Chi You and calmly shook her head. “No, that’s the young master of the Chi family, Chi You.”
Qin Yun stared at Chi You in shock for a while. “He—he looks so much like the owner of the cabin!”
Lian Xue was momentarily speechless, not knowing how to explain.
Qin Yun sharply turned her head. “You know something?”
Lian Xue remained silent.
Qin Yun abruptly let go of Lian Xue’s hand and looked over at Jiang Luo again. The joy in her eyes had faded, replaced by growing suspicion. “You knew that the Chi family’s young master looked like the villa owner, and you didn’t tell us. Don’t tell me… you’re the ones who brought us into this bizarre place?!”
Lian Xue snapped, “How could that be!”
“Then why didn’t you say anything about it?!” Qin Yun backed away repeatedly, her voice rising in panic. “Maybe you even know that villa owner… I was wondering how it could be such a coincidence—we ran into a storm on the mountain and just happened to be rescued, and you were also rescued during a snowstorm. That villa owner is so handsome, even better-looking than a celebrity—how could we just happen to run into someone like that? Out here, he’s the villa owner, and in the mirror world he’s a young master, and so much younger—there’s clearly a hidden secret here! Not to mention Jiang Luo’s supernatural abilities that no ordinary person could pull off… how could all these coincidences happen to us? It must be you—you’ve been working with the villa owner from the start, setting us up together for all this, right?!”
When someone is extremely afraid, their paranoia can far exceed normal levels. Lian Xue understood Qin Yun’s fear—they were helpless, just ordinary people who knew nothing. But if she let Qin Yun spiral like this, the consequences would only grow worse.
She said, “Qin Yun, have you forgotten? It was Duanzi who suggested the midnight mirror-gazing game.”
Qin Yun was stunned for a moment. She thought back—it had been Duanzi who gave that order. The ones who followed it were Jiang Luo and the villa owner.
It was Duanzi…
She gradually calmed down from her earlier panic and, choking up, covered her face. “I’m sorry, Lian Xue… I was just too scared. I’m sorry…”
Lian Xue let out a breath of relief, stepping forward to pat her back. “It’s alright. Tonight, let’s gather and discuss things together. Duanzi is dead, but we’re still alive. We have to stay calm—only then will we have a chance to get out.”
Qin Yun nodded silently.
When Lian Xue looked back toward the main entrance, Jiang Luo and Chi You were already gone.
Looks like she’d have to find another way to contact Jiang Luo.
***
Jiang Luo and Chi You returned to their room and asked a maid to bring a dish of glutinous rice.
Glutinous rice could ward off evil and cure corpse poison. The white, clean grains were placed on a dish, and Chi You took off his upper garments. “Sorry to trouble you, Young Master Jiang.”
Jiang Luo spread the rice evenly across his palm and hesitated. “Young Master Chi, I don’t actually know how to do this.”
Chi You patiently explained the process. Jiang Luo frowned slightly, not quite understanding, but still nodded. Once Chi You sat down, Jiang Luo, though still unsure, suddenly pressed his palm against the wound on Chi You’s neck with lightning speed. The moment the glutinous rice touched the wound, a sizzling sound rang out as if flesh was burning, and white smoke rose from the edges of his hand. Chi You closed his eyes, as still as a statue.
If not for the bulging veins on Chi You’s neck, Jiang Luo would’ve thought he felt nothing at all.
“It’s my first time doing something like this. Does it hurt?” Jiang Luo asked.
Chi You smiled. “It’s alright.”
After a moment, the white smoke gradually dispersed, and the sizzling sound of burning flesh faded. Jiang Luo lifted his hand—the rice that had touched the wound was now blackened, and the corpse poison in Chi You’s wound had been successfully drawn out.
Chi You slowly put his clothes back on and said, “Though it was your first time, Young Master Jiang, your technique was clean and decisive. Clearly, you have talent.”
Jiang Luo replied modestly, “You’re too kind.”
Chi You chuckled. “Then, Young Master Jiang, I’ll go meet the elders now.”
After Chi You left, Jiang Luo carefully disposed of the used rice and had the maid take the dish away. As the maid left, she suddenly remembered something and said, “Young Master Jiang, do you know where the young master left the clothes he wore last night? I wanted to wash them today, but I couldn’t find them.”
Clothes?
Jiang Luo thought for a moment. “They’re not in the room?”
The maid said, “Without the young master’s permission, we can’t enter the room. Usually, he leaves his clothes in the bathing room, but there weren’t any there today.”
Jiang Luo said, “I’ll take a look.”
He searched around the room and eventually found a wooden bucket under the bed. Opening it, he saw Chi You’s clothes from the night before. Jiang Luo took them out to inspect and found quite a bit of mud on the hem—along with a few drops of blood.
It had rained all night, so it made sense that Chi You got muddy if he went outside. But what about the blood?
Jiang Luo thoughtfully touched the bloodstains. After a moment, he put the clothes back and told the maid, “I didn’t find anything.”
After she left, Jiang Luo slowly furrowed his brow.
What exactly had Chi You gone out to do last night?
“Senior brother…”
“Senior Brother Jiang Luo…”
A faint voice pulled Jiang Luo from his thoughts. He looked up to see a crumpled paper ball roll to a stop at his feet. Making sure no one was around, Jiang Luo bent down and picked it up. Inside were just three words:
“The usual place.”
A quarter of an hour later, in the rock cave behind the courtyard.
When Jiang Luo arrived, everyone was already there. Compared to yesterday, today’s atmosphere was heavy. Duanzi’s death hung over them like a dark shadow. Li Xiao sat with his head down, fists clenched at his sides, face unreadable. Lian Bing’s eyes were red and swollen, and he kept apologizing to Li Xiao, “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. If I’d gone out with him last night, he wouldn’t have died…”
Other than Lian Bing, no one else was in the mood to speak. When they saw Jiang Luo, Lian Qiang’s eyes lit up and he quickly said, “Senior Brother, you didn’t go out today, so you might not know, but Duanzi, he—”
“I already know,” Jiang Luo said. “I suspect Duanzi may not be truly dead.”
Everyone was stunned, staring blankly at him. Li Xiao suddenly rushed in front of Jiang Luo, eyes red and full of both hope and fear. “Really?”
Lian Bing also looked up from his guilt, hope flickering in his eyes, though he still couldn’t quite believe it. He said in a low voice, “But Senior Brother, I saw them carry his corpse onto the cart and take it away with my own eyes.”
Jiang Luo nodded firmly. “Death in the mirror world doesn’t necessarily mean death of the physical body.”
In truth, Jiang Luo only had suspicions—he couldn’t be sure Duanzi was still alive.
But under these circumstances, if he didn’t say something to stabilize the situation, things could spiral further out of control.
Even if he knew he might be deceiving everyone, Jiang Luo didn’t hesitate. Because doing this was, at present, the best course of action.
The oppressive atmosphere loosened slightly. Li Xiao began to sob, and Lian Xue handed him a handkerchief with a smile. “That’s great, Li Xiao. Duanzi isn’t dead.”
Lian Bing also let out a long breath, the weight of guilt lifting from his shoulders. He felt like he could think again. “Then… doesn’t that mean we don’t have to fear death anymore?”
Jiang Luo shook his head. “Even if the body doesn’t die, mental trauma is still real. We should still try our best to avoid getting hurt… As for the malicious ghost, I’ve started to piece things together. When I was at the funeral parlor, I not only saw Duanzi but also another beggar who had been killed. From him, I saw images related to the spirit.”
Everyone’s spirits lifted. Lian Xue asked, “Really, Senior Brother?”
Du Ge asked gravely, “What does the malicious ghost look like?”
Jiang Luo gave a rough description of the spirit’s appearance.
“Its face was hidden under a black robe,” Lian Qiang sighed. “That means we still can’t tell who the spirit is.”
Lian Bing sighed as well and turned to bring out the materials he’d prepared: a small bowl of rooster’s blood and a stack of yellow talismans. “Senior Brother, sorry… rooster blood is hard to get. This was all I could find.”
Jiang Luo looked at the amount. “Enough to draw a few talismans.”
While others usually needed complicated rituals to draw talismans, Jiang Luo didn’t bother with all that. He concentrated, used his hand as a brush, dipped it in rooster blood, and drew fluidly across the talisman paper. He used up the blood in almost one go.
But the blood was limited, just barely enough to give each person one talisman—no more.
Everyone carefully tucked their talismans away on their person, finally able to relax a little. Jiang Luo saw that it was already late and said, “I’ll head back first. Once you return, don’t leave your rooms. Even if someone calls for help outside, just pull the blanket over your head and sleep. Don’t respond to anything. This place is seriously strange—like a major yin site. Anything supernatural could happen. Be very, very careful.”
The others all agreed. Qin Yun, frightened, turned to Lian Xue and Li Xiao. “Let’s sleep together tonight.”
Lian Xue and Li Xiao both nodded.
Just then, Du Ge, who had walked to the cave’s entrance, turned back and said to Qin Yun, “Qin Yun, come here. I have something to say to you.”
***
After returning to the room, Jiang Luo found that Chi You hadn’t come back yet.
He waited patiently. As darkness gradually fell, the candlelight flickered. It was unclear how much time had passed before Chi You finally walked through the door.
Under the candlelight, his face looked even paler than before, but his lips curled slightly in a good mood.
Only his eyes remained—deep black like an abyss, with a barely suppressed storm brewing within.
Jiang Luo tested, “You don’t look well.”
Chi You smiled. “Not really.”
“Did they notice your wound?” Jiang Luo pointed to Chi You’s neck. “What did they say?”
“They warned me not to do such things again—it’s bad for the body,” Chi You smiled more broadly. “Thanks to them, I’ve come to understand quite a bit.”
He chuckled softly, then grabbed his clothes and asked, “Want to bathe together?”
Jiang Luo said, “Sure.”
The two walked side by side toward the bathhouse. On the way, Jiang Luo said, “A maid came looking for the clothes you wore yesterday. I found them under your bed, but they had blood on them.”
“Oh, that,” Chi You suddenly understood. “That was from when I was practicing yesterday and accidentally got some blood on me.”
Jiang Luo: “Hm?”
“Rooster’s blood and black dog’s blood,” Chi You explained with a smile. “When mixed with cinnabar, they have a protective effect against evil.”
“So that’s what it was,” Jiang Luo nodded in realization. “Then why didn’t you have the maid wash them?”
Chi You suddenly let out a strange chuckle and said, “You really are starting to sound like my wife.”
Jiang Luo: “?”
Chi You spoke slowly, “You just have to get to the bottom of everything.”
“…,” Jiang Luo silently rolled his eyes.
Their conversation ended just as they arrived at the bathhouse. Each entered from one side. Jiang Luo took out the talisman he’d drawn earlier that day and stuck it to the door, then began to undress.
In the adjacent room separated by only a wall, Chi You was doing the same thing. He folded his clothes neatly and placed them on the table. Steam swirled around him, veiling his form. Humming a tune, the pale skin of his back was briefly exposed as a ghostly pattern suddenly emerged from the area around three moles, slowly creeping upward.
It climbed all the way to Chi You’s shoulder, making the boy’s handsome face take on an eerie, ghostlike quality.
Amid the rising steam, a hunched ghostly figure suddenly appeared, curled up in a corner and trembling. Chi You spoke slowly, “I told you to go next door and give him a scare. Why are you back again?”
The ghost nearly prostrated itself on the floor, stammering, “M-my lord, that door… there’s an extremely powerful talisman on it.”
“Oh?” Chi You showed a flicker of interest and looked at the ghost. “How powerful?”
The ghost swallowed hard, its trembling intensifying. “If I force my way in, I—I might be utterly destroyed… soul scattered.”
“Then go ahead and force your way in,” Chi You said with a lifted corner of his lips, sounding intrigued. “Let me see if it really will scatter your soul.”
The ghost shuddered violently. “N-no, my lord, please… spare me, I beg you—”
Chi You slowly smoothed out the final wrinkle on his clothes. Black mist suddenly surged around him, rearing like a beast as it lunged at the ghost. With a gaping maw, it was ready to devour it whole.
“So tell me,” Chi You said, his voice low and oppressive as shadows veiled his brows and eyes. A faint smile twisted his lips. “Is being destroyed by that talisman more terrifying, or being devoured by me?”
The ghost paused in silence, then murmured weakly, “As you command… my lord.”
Once the ghost vanished, Chi You turned his eyes toward the wall separating the two bathrooms. He slowly raised a hand and gently tapped a finger on the surface. Cracks appeared, and a hole the size of a fingertip emerged.
“He’s too strange,” Chi You murmured. “A talisman… where did that come from? He’s clearly not an ordinary person.”
He spoke to himself again, “He even makes me feel emotions I’ve never experienced before. If I wasn’t sure that my consciousness hadn’t been charmed or manipulated, I would’ve thought he’d used some secret technique to affect me.”
“The Jiang family is average. His parents are average. There was never any mention of the young master of the Jiang family having such abilities,” Chi You said, “Let’s see—who are you, really?”
His fingertip pierced the wall as if it were paper.
Through the small hole, Chi You quietly watched. Jiang Luo was holding the hem of his robe, looking toward the bathroom door. Chi You followed his gaze.
A talisman was stuck to the wooden door. It was a suppressing charm, and when the ghost slammed into it, the charm briefly glowed with golden light, remaining firmly affixed.
Chi You’s eyes narrowed in thought. He raised a hand, and a swirl of black mist brought a clump of black ash to him.
It was all that remained of the ghost—just as it had said, its soul had been scattered.
Yet even with the ghost’s destruction, the talisman hadn’t burned up and was still usable.
Even among the elders of the Chi family, few could draw such a talisman.
Chi You smiled, and with a casual wave of his hand, a row of ghostly spirits appeared behind him, kneeling and trembling.
“My lord,” they chorused.
“You’ve followed me long enough. Now’s the time for you to be of use,” Chi You said. “Go. Break through that door. I want to see how strong that talisman really is.”
“…Yes, my lord.”
It took the souls of five ghosts being shattered to finally break through that door. Chi You watched the burning talisman thoughtfully, then waved off the remaining pale-faced ghostly figures.
He turned his gaze toward Jiang Luo, expression meaningful.
Who exactly are you?
Jiang Luo put down his clothes and walked over to shut the door. He used his middle finger to draw a charm across its surface. But as he turned away, he suddenly felt a familiar gaze peering at him.
Thick. Heavy. Enough to send a shiver down one’s spine.
Jiang Luo smirked faintly and, without a word, suddenly took off his shirt—his pale back coming into full view.
Chi You withdrew his gaze and looked down at the bathtub—but couldn’t help glancing back up again. This time, Jiang Luo’s hands were already at the waistband of his pants.
***
Outside the Mirror.
“There’s a time flow discrepancy between the mirror world and the real world,” Ge Wuchen reported respectfully. “Master, the mirror world cannot bear your full power. If you force your way in, it may collapse—and trap the souls of Jiang and the others inside.”
Suddenly, the bedroom window shattered with a loud crack, snow and wind howling in from outside.
Chi You sat on the sofa beside the bed, leaning back lazily. He looked at Ge Wuchen with indifference. After a moment, he smiled with interest. “So that’s what you managed to come up with after two days of research?”
Ge Wuchen, under the crushing weight of Chi You’s aura, clenched his teeth and quickly finished the rest of his report. “But there are two alternatives. First, you can manipulate someone in the mirror world into becoming your puppet. Second, you can split off a few strands of your consciousness and temporarily possess someone within the mirror world. This way, you can test how much of your presence the world can bear without alerting the one behind the scenes—then plan further actions accordingly.”
Chi You turned his head and looked at Jiang Luo, who was breathing steadily on the bed. After a moment of silence, he murmured to himself, “Neither option is very appealing.”
“Why should I bother entering the mirror world at all?” he said. “It’s boring. It’s troublesome. There’s no point.”
Yet despite saying this, he hadn’t left the villa for the past two days.
Ge Wuchen cautiously offered a justification, “You only want to understand what the one behind the scenes is plotting, so you can prepare accordingly.”
Chi You suddenly looked enlightened. “Right.”
His gaze finally moved away from Jiang Luo, and the irritation he’d suppressed over the past two days poured out unrestrained.
He gave a command. “Now. Immediately. Use the second method. Let me possess the person closest to Jiang Luo.”
“Yes,” Ge Wuchen replied cautiously. “But Master, this is your first time entering. The second method is merely to test how much of your presence the Mirror World can bear. The in-and-out time will be brief. To prevent any accidents and avoid shattering the Mirror World, it’s best to send in the smallest sliver of your consciousness.”
“I understand. Move faster,” Chi You tapped his fingers and smiled broadly, drawing out his words, “I can’t hold back any longer.”
