Just as I was about to turn around, I felt a dull pain at the back of my neck, and everything went dark.

But this time, I wasn’t unconscious for long. I started to wake up to a storm of curses.

It was Song Wei’s voice, sobbing and shouting—

“You disgusting pervert! What the hell do you think you’re doing with all this creepy nonsense? With something that short, you still dare to be a creep?! You damn bastard, filthy monk, with boils on your head and pus on your feet, even the stray dogs won’t eat your corpse when you die on the roadside—ahhh!”

The sound of fabric ripping snapped me back to my senses.

I was in a mud-brick house, my hands tied to the leg of a table. Across from me, on a battered mud bed, Song Wei was bound with her shirt torn open, revealing black lace-trimmed lingerie underneath.

“Well, well, seems like this little vixen likes it wild, huh? That’s perfect. My old tool is broken, so it’s just right for you to continue doing the job for me…” said a short, chubby man. His voice had an odd accent, almost foreign.

Under a dim, weathered lantern on the table, I saw two figures standing at the door. One was the driver, his eyes rolled back, limbs twitching.

The other… was the long-missing high school girl with short hair!

She was still wearing that V-neck, backless mini-dress from the bar, her body, hair, and clothes filthy beyond recognition, her thin arms and legs covered in bruises.

The strangest part was that one of her hands and a leg were twisted at impossible angles!

Even so, she was still moving mechanically atop the driver, her skirt hitching up to her stomach with every movement, making it clear what she was doing.

Her face was twisted with terror, her eyes devoid of pupils, with some unknown fluid seeping from the corners of her mouth.

She… she was nothing short of a walking corpse.

The chubby man extended his finger, drawing circles and symbols on Song Wei’s chest. This was the tantric sorcerer the Hou family had hired!

Song Wei trembled in fear but remained clear-headed, crying out, “M-my period isn’t over! You’ll be cursed if you force yourself on me!”

The chubby man ignored her, muttering unintelligible words under his breath with eerie concentration.

Suddenly, he shouted, “Enough! Come here! Ditch that broken body!”

With that, the high school girl let out a strange gurgle and collapsed to the ground, dislocated limbs crawling across the dirt floor like a maggot.

I caught a glimpse of her lower body, red, swollen, scraped raw, leaking pus and black blood!

“Little girls’ bodies are too fragile…” the chubby man sneered and spat in disgust.

Before long, a ghostly woman with long hair rose from the high school girl’s body—this must be the spirit that had been attached to that perverted bronze statue!

She seemed obediently under the chubby man’s control, floating towards Song Wei to possess her body.

I bit into the ropes on my wrists, frantically trying to recall the spells I’d read about.

What was the hand gesture for slaying ghosts? First pinch the Yin finger, then pick out with the Chen?

My mind was a mess. In my panicked struggle, I accidentally jostled the table, catching the chubby man’s attention. He turned, his lecherous gaze fixed on me, “Don’t worry… I’ll be using you as a hostage to make your brother fetch me that bronze tower…”

The ghost woman drifted toward Song Wei. I shouted desperately, “Stop! Stop!”

Song Wei sobbed, “Xiao Qiao! I’m so scared, ahhh! This damn pervert!”

The ghost woman tried to enter her several times but couldn’t seem to manage!

The chubby man was baffled, unaware that Song Wei happened to have pure Yang blood, meaning she couldn’t see ghosts, and they couldn’t possess her.

Thinking Song Wei must have some protective talisman, he angrily tore at her clothes. I managed to stand up, gripping the table leg with both hands, summoning strength from I don’t know where, and swung it at the chubby man—

With a loud crash, he was thrown onto the mud bed. I froze—since when did I have such strength?!

A cold touch brushed my ear as Jiang Qiyun’s voice, icy and furious, whispered, “I told you to be cautious of strangers, yet you dared to get into a stranger’s car.”

I… I didn’t think anything would happen just from taking a ride—

Jiang Qiyun reached around me from behind, untying my hands.

The door slammed open, and several gray shadows flew through the room, darting toward the chubby man.

The man screamed, cursing, “Who’s interfering?! We don’t cross paths! Why are you interrupting my ritual?!”

Could he not see Jiang Qiyun?

I sneaked a glance at him. His face was cold as ice, dark golden pupils simmering like barely contained rage.

I shivered, mumbling, “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

His frozen fury made me forget the danger I was in.

I resented his coldness, his indifference.

But, but…

Since that night when I was sixteen, I had already given myself to him…

And now, I, I—

Song Wei’s scream jolted me back to reality, and I realized Jiang Qiyun had no intention of saving her—he had seen countless lives come and go, and the life of an unrelated mortal didn’t matter to him.

I tore away from his embrace, reaching up to pull Song Wei off the bed!

The chubby man, in a final struggle, kicked the table, sending it crashing into my lower back—

Jiang Qiyun caught me just in time, dragging me out of the haunted mud house, full of wails and screams.

I clung to Song Wei, trembling. I couldn’t bring myself to look at his face.

He was furious.

I had once again risked my life despite his warnings, and now I was still recklessly trying to save a friend…

He’d probably love nothing more than to slap me dead right now.

Just then, my brother’s car arrived, headlights flooding the scene as Song Wei, crying and wailing, ran to the car.

I stayed where I was as Jiang Qiyun glared at me silently, too terrified to even apologize again.

The table’s impact had hit my lower back hard, and as he pulled me out, I felt something wet trickle down from that private area…

A cold sensation spread there, and I trembled with fear.

Could it be blood?

If blood was flowing, then the thing in my belly—

“Lord Emperor… that sorcerer’s soul has been devoured clean…” reported several translucent gray shadows.

Jiang Qiyun raised his hand, and the shadows vanished.

“Mu Xiao Qiao,” he called out, his voice icy.

I shuddered, tears streaming uncontrollably.

“You, take care of yourself.” The words he spoke sent fear through me.

Take care of myself? What did he mean, take care of myself?

If I’d heard such a resolute farewell a few weeks ago, I would have thanked the heavens for letting me off!

But now, I, I didn’t want to hear those words!

He was my nightmare; he dominated my nights.

He invaded me forcefully, he hurt me with his cold indifference.

But now, he turned his back on me!

“Jiang… Qiyun… Qiyun…” I called out, my voice trembling.

His figure was beginning to fade.

“H-Husband…” I pleaded, my voice choked with sobs.

He cast me a fleeting glance before disappearing.

###

“Xiao Qiao! What are you doing standing there? Where’s Jiang Qiyun? He’s gone? Hurry up and get in the car!” My brother had backed up the car and rushed over to pull me.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t take a step.

“Brother…” My voice was hoarse, “I… I think I’m… bleeding down there…”