Chapter 5

March 24th, Little Mo Fishing Village, deep in the night.

The blood-red moon hung overhead, and the bamboo leaves by the shore lay as heavy as ink.

A gust of wind swept past, and the door of the Xu family’s thatched hut slammed shut with a bang.

Luo Jiao still stood at the bedside. From the moment her threats had fallen until now, she had not spoken another word, nor made any other movement. She simply stood where she was.

And yet, in that instant, everyone inside the thatched hut began to scream as if driven mad!

Because they had seen it. In the candlelight, Luo Jiao’s shadow kept rising, like a low little tree suddenly shooting upward, sprouting layer upon layer of branches and leaves.

Then, in the blink of an eye, those branches twisted and warped, becoming like arms, swaying with the flicker of the candle flame!

The next moment.

Those “arms” came barreling straight toward the group huddled by the door.

As if they had truly seen a vengeful ghost, they shrieked and dropped their candlesticks and clubs, scrambling over one another to flee outside.

The candlestick toppled over. A tiny flame caught the bedding, and with a single flare, acrid smoke filled the entire room.

“AHHHH, there really is a ghost! There really is a ghost!!”

“Mother… what, what’s going on?”

“An evil ghost! The evil ghost is going to eat us!”

Inside the hut, everyone except Luo Jiao, the three members of the Xu family and the two minor clerks, covered their noses and cried out at the top of their lungs. “Help! Somebody help! Anyone out there… cough, cough… open the door!”

Luo Jiao stood amid the firelight, but there was no light in her eyes.

The five who had swaggered about so arrogantly moments ago were now all puppets of terror, utterly wretched.

A shut door blocked their escape. And in the sea of fire, the shadow kept spreading.

The instant it touched their skin, the shadow seemed to gain substance, sharp as a blade, slicing into their bodies.

The five of them crammed against the door, wailing loudly and pounding on it.

Xu Siwei looked scared out of his wits, tears brimming in his eyes, at a complete loss.

He turned back in a daze, and his gaze collided squarely with Luo Jiao’s.

His entire face twisted into an expression of sheer terror. Xu Siwei, who had only been sniffling quietly before, let out a piercing scream from deep in his chest at that very moment.

As if he had truly seen a maddened evil ghost!

Outside the thatched hut.

The night was deep, the cool wind sighing, the moonlight whimpering.

Besides the two minor clerks Mother Xu had earlier led inside, three low-ranking officials stood outside the hut as well. They lingered near the Xu family’s thatched roof, keeping watch like sentries, glancing this way and that.

Then they suddenly noticed that the door had been locked from the inside.

“Why did they shut the door?” one of the clerks outside asked.

“Who cares. Probably some matter came up and they’re still talking it over,” another replied. “So long as the person is caught, that’s all that matters. She’s just a frail little girl. Won’t take much effort.”

“Oh.” The first clerk nodded, then suddenly sniffed hard and widened his eyes. “Hey, do you smell smoke? Do you smell that?”

His companion answered, “What’s so strange about smoke? There are this many households in the village. People have to cook sometime.”

The clerk shook his head. “It’s awfully late for that…”

His companion cut him off. “Ever heard of a late-night snack?”

“Oh… right.” The clerk finally nodded.

Even so, he shifted uneasily to the side and stole a glance into the hut.

Through the window, all he could see was candlelight flickering on and off.

Inside the hut, there was dead silence.

“Strange,” the clerk said after a long pause. “Old Zhang’s usually loud as a foghorn, and now we can’t hear a single word. You don’t think something’s happened, do you?”

His companion shot him an impatient look. “What nonsense? Why do you care? Just guard your door!”

The clerk swallowed his curiosity, mumbled an “mm,” and looked away.

Outside, the night wind grew colder. A lone moon hung high in a sky with neither stars nor clouds.

Little Mo Fishing Village was silent as ever.

Under the control of Luo Jiao’s Heart Illusion Art, no matter how the people inside the hut wailed to heaven and earth, those outside could not hear a single thing.

As for the so-called vengeful ghost the five had seen inside, it was nothing more than an illusion conjured by the Heart Illusion Art.

Luo Jiao stood in the room, watching their miserable writhing without expression, like a cold bystander observing a farce.

Luo Jiao had not yet fully mastered this body, and driving it inevitably left her strained. Her body had not fully recovered, and while conscious, she was still tethered to Xu Liangdi’s thoughts and emotions.

But at the moment, Xu Liangdi’s presence had grown extremely faint. From a certain point on, she had let out a single startled cry and made no sound again. Luo Jiao guessed she had fainted from crying.

Xu Liangdi had fled from the Sea of Consciousness, but she had left Luo Jiao a gift of the deepest sorrow and the hottest rage.

And that was precisely what Luo Jiao needed right now. To wield the Heart Illusion Art required, first, immense mental strength, and second, the intense, conflicting emotions that all people shared.

Xu Liangdi was steeped in grief and fury, while Luo Jiao was calm and at peace. When the two blended, they formed a perfect field in which to cast the Heart Illusion Art.

Everyone harbors fears in their heart, and the Heart Illusion Art can magnify those fears without limit.

The people inside the hut saw ghosts and gods and desperately wanted to flee the room; the people outside remained unmoved.

Watching the five scramble about in panic, Luo Jiao felt an unprecedented calm. She simply lowered her gaze to the fallen candlestick.

Red wax dripped beside the bed, the flame was charring the bedding black, and a smell of smoke drifted through the air.

The fire grew, its flames flickering and blurring Luo Jiao’s vision. The acrid smoke stung her nose, and she could barely make out the cries of the people anymore.

Just before she lost consciousness, she saw someone kick the door open, carrying a water bucket.

“Fire! There’s a fire! Somebody come save them!”

“Four members of the Xu family of Little Mo Fishing Village, along with two colleagues, all inhaled too much smoke and remain unconscious…”

“Yes, we’ve looked into it. It was caused by a candlestick that the Xu madam brought in with her. It toppled over and set the bedding alight…”

Luo Jiao woke the next day. She lay on her side on the bedding, groggy and muddleheaded. She fluttered her eyes open, and the daylight felt blinding.

She heard a voice seething with rage. “Are you fools? A fire breaks out in a house, and surely someone would scream? Surely someone would run out? Surely there’d be, there’d be a smell of smoke?” Halfway through, the speaker seemed so furious that she began to stammer. “You… you didn’t notice anything at all?!”

“Vice Minister, the three of us can all testify!” someone hurriedly said. “Truly, truly we didn’t hear a sound.”

“It’s uncanny… Vice Minister, this is genuinely uncanny… It wasn’t until the end of the Rat Hour, when we smelled the burning, that we finally discovered it… But before that, there really wasn’t the slightest sound from the house!”

“Utter nonsense!!!” Zhou Zhaoyue flew into a rage, grinding her teeth, nearly choking in her fury. “You… cough, cough…”

Amid her coughing, the Eldest Princess at her side pushed over a cup of tea. “A-Yue, have some tea.”

Zhou Zhaoyue froze, then coughed even harder.

Before the two of them, the minor clerks, though being scolded, still found room to flatter, grinning and fawning. “Your Highness the Prince Consort, the Eldest Princess really does dote on you!”…”Yes, yes indeed!…”

The Eldest Princess… the Prince Consort?

Luo Jiao peered through half-lidded eyes, stealing a vague glance. She saw a figure in wide-sleeved red robes, and beside her, one in a blue official’s uniform. The young woman in the red skirt was all smiles, while the one in blue coughed endlessly, whether from anger or fright, no one could tell.

But it was precisely that one glance that the woman in red caught dead-on!

“Oh, she’s awake.” She patted the shoulder of the person beside her. “Xu Liangdi is awake.”

Before Zhou Zhaoyue could speak, a minor clerk jumped in first, “How wonderful, she’s finally awake! Today, today we finally have some good news!”

Tossing out a vicious “Good my ass!”, Zhou Zhaoyue stalked over to Luo Jiao with a black face.

“Xu Liangdi, do you know what crime you have committed?”

Yet facing that furious glare, Luo Jiao showed not the slightest awareness of being a suspect.

She asked, “Where is this?”

Zhou Zhaoyue’s face was expressionless. “Did you set the fire?”

Luo Jiao blinked. “Who are you?”

“Answer my question first.” Zhou Zhaoyue suppressed her anger. “What exactly happened?”

Luo Jiao kept her eyes lowered, still looking bewildered, but at least she made some movement now. Under everyone’s gaze, she braced a hand against her forehead and stood, exhaling a heavy breath.

Zhou Zhaoyue was tall and long-legged, while Xu Liangdi was only a thin little girl, a full head shorter, her presence a notch weaker as well.

But when she lifted her head, there was no trace of fear in it. Instead, she flashed Zhou Zhaoyue a grin.

Then she deliberately dropped her voice. “You…”

Zhou Zhaoyue frowned without meaning to, leaning down slightly. “What?”

Luo Jiao said flatly, “A female Prince Consort?”

There was no purpose behind the words, no probing, no attempt at intimidation. She was simply bored. From what she could see, Zhou Zhaoyue was no lowly functionary either; someone promoted so young could not be too unstable.

Who could have known that Zhou Zhaoyue would stiffen at the words, her head snapping up as if facing a mortal enemy.

Then, the moment her eyes met Luo Jiao’s, she swallowed the stunned look back down her throat.

Zhou Zhaoyue recovered in an instant, tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Drunken ramblings, a condemned prisoner’s ravings before the executioner’s blade. Those words suit you rather well.”

Who would have thought Luo Jiao would shoot back, “Condemned prisoner? I’m going to die? On what grounds?”

Zhou Zhaoyue arched an eyebrow, stepped aside a few paces, and returned to her earlier manner of laughing in sheer exasperation. “On the grounds of seven lives in the Zou Manor, and one act of arson here in Little Mo Fishing Village.”

“What exactly are you?” Zhou Zhaoyue narrowed her eyes. “Thirteen lives entangled with you within a matter of days. One would think you’re… bloodthirsty to the bone, cruel beyond measure.”

Luo Jiao lifted her head, as if puzzled.

“Those seven lives, that was the young master of the Zou family. His epilepsy flared and he turned into a raving monster. I barely escaped the Zou Manor with half my life and made it back home to the fishing village.”

“As for the fire, it came from my clumsy mother… accidentally knocking over the candlestick.”

Her eyes were perfectly clear, without a trace of drunken haze.

When she spoke, there was even a touch of irreverent mockery in her tone.

“So what business could any of that possibly be of mine?”