Chapter 18: Barrier Part 1

No matter how many questions Yu Ruoyin harbored in her heart, Jiang Huaining would not explain them to her.

Jiang Huaining only lightly shifted the topic elsewhere after noticing her slip-up; she would not even bother weaving a few lies to deceive her.

‘Ruoyan, we need to go find Tong Sangqian.’

Xing Ruoyan should have dealt with the jade puppet matter long ago. Now that the jade puppet and He Meijie’s issues were entangled, Tong Sangqian was indeed a good breakthrough point.

‘I’ll check where Tong Sangqian is right now.’

Jiang Huaining had just nodded when a flicker of spiritual light suddenly danced on her wrist.

She took out a golden jade tablet, glanced at it, and said, ‘No need to check. She’s in Abundant Garden.’

Abundant Garden!

Yu Ruoyin was still holding onto Jiang Huaining’s calf, but she scrambled up from the ground the moment she heard Abundant Garden.

She was not unfamiliar with that district.

It was where she lived, and they had picked up He Meijie there last night as well.

But how did Jiang Huaining know where Tong Sangqian was?

Xing Ruoyan voiced the doubt in her heart. This question was not within the scope of what Jiang Huaining refused to answer, so she put away the golden jade tablet and said flatly, ‘From He Meijie’s soul, she died from having her head split open. A person cannot live after their head is cleaved in two, so her body must have died long ago. Thus, it’s unlikely that her stepsister and stepmother occupied her body for the sake of property—who would abandon a perfectly living person to possess a corpse? Moreover, after her death, her stepsister had already become the sole heir, so there was no need for such superfluous actions.’

‘A living person occupying a corpse—unless she wanted to turn into a zombie.’

Turn into a zombie?

Yu Ruoyin subconsciously asked, ‘A jade puppet?’

Xing Ruoyan quickly refuted Yu Ruoyin. ‘Although a jade puppet is not as powerful as a jade corpse, it still has the strength of a wandering corpse. Cultivating one takes vast amounts of time—not a millennium, but at least a century. He Meijie died too recently for that.’

Yu Ruoyin also felt her guess was too far-fetched, but Jiang Huaining ignored Xing Ruoyan and gave her an approving look. ‘Very clever.’

‘Ah?’ Yu Ruoyin was somewhat stunned.

Xing Ruoyan did not mind Jiang Huaining’s neglect; she focused more on trying to understand her words. ‘My lord, are you saying He Meijie is the jade puppet?’

‘I had Xia Yu accompany A’Zhen to find the jade puppet. They tracked it all the way to Abundant Garden, where they lost its aura but saw someone identical to He Meijie.’

He Meijie’s current body was occupied by Tong Sangqian, so that identical person must have been Tong Sangqian.

Xia Yu and the others had chased the jade puppet to Abundant Garden, so Tong Sangqian might truly have some connection to it.

But to say Tong Sangqian was the jade puppet—Xing Ruoyan still could not believe it. ‘My lord, in such a short time, they shouldn’t have been able to turn a corpse into a jade puppet, right?’

‘We’ll know once we see it.’

Jiang Huaining clearly could not yet confirm the jade puppet’s identity. Xing Ruoyan hesitated to speak. ‘Then, my lord, you…’

Before she finished, Xing Ruoyan swallowed the question about why Jiang Huaining had praised Yu Ruoyin despite her own uncertainty.

If Jiang Huaining wanted to praise her little wife, was she supposed to stop it?

Yu Ruoyin was still lost in thought when Jiang Huaining gently nudged her head. ‘A’Yin, let’s go.’

‘Oh, okay.’ She hurried after Jiang Huaining with quick steps.

Xing Ruoyan trailed at the end. Her usually listless, lazy eyes—barely open at times—were now full of vigor as she silently observed the two.

—

Abundant Garden was some distance away.

Jiang Huaining drove, so Yu Ruoyin sat in the passenger seat, leaving Xing Ruoyan and He Meijie for the back row.

Sunlight was unkind to a pure ghost soul like He Meijie. It was only after Xing Ruoyan shared a strand of Yin Messenger soul force with her that she could barely tolerate it.

Her hands clasped tightly together, and as they drew nearer to Abundant Garden, her soul began to tremble.

Xing Ruoyan could be considered a decent Yin Messenger.

She had argued with He Meijie earlier, but upon noticing her soul’s emotions surging wildly, she still advised her. ‘Calm down. If you lose yourself to hatred before uncovering the truth, how will you avenge yourself?’

He Meijie clenched her hands on her lap. ‘I want revenge. I must have revenge!’

She was admonishing herself as much as advising her, and she did calm down somewhat afterward.

Jiang Huaining drove out of Grand Domain Street and asked her, ‘He Meijie, if you hadn’t seen Tong Sangqian occupying your body, who in your family would you suspect?’

He Meijie was momentarily dazed. ‘Sang Xi. It must be Sang Xi.’

She muttered a couple times, then suddenly changed her tune. ‘No, not Sang Xi.’

There were many people in He Meijie’s household, but her true family consisted only of her father, stepmother, and stepsister; the rest were servants.

If she hadn’t seen Tong Sangqian usurp her identity, the one she would suspect was… her birth father.

Sang Xi was a very good person.

She had entered the household not long after her mother’s death, and though He Meijie had initially hated her, Sang Xi treated her well.

Sang Xi loved to smile, her eyes curving sweetly when she did.

Very sweet, very cute.

He Meijie did not know if such descriptions fit Sang Xi perfectly, but that was the feeling she gave—like a mother who was more like a little sister. This became especially clear as she and Tong Sangqian grew older. She rarely called her by name; she preferred ‘little miss’ for He Meijie and ‘little sis’ for Tong Sangqian.

It was as if she used those terms to remind her that she was the elder sister and Tong Sangqian the younger.

Sang Xi was good at acting spoiled and clingy, sometimes seeming unreliable, but she gave them the most warmth when she and Tong Sangqian needed it.

When He Meijie first met Sang Xi, she was like a prickly hedgehog. Every time Sang Xi tried to hug her, she would bite her hand until it bled.

Their relationship truly shifted when she fell gravely ill at twelve, burning with fever for seven straight days without respite. It was Sang Xi—that ‘vicious stepmother’—who tended to her without even changing clothes for those seven days.

In her delirium, He Meijie seemed to see her birth mother.

When she decided to ease tensions, she had earnestly asked Sang Xi if she truly never got angry at how badly she and her mother treated her.

She still remembered Sang Xi stroking her head and saying softly, ‘Little miss, we’re family. Family doesn’t hold overnight grudges.’

He Meijie’s arrogance was also partly due to Sang Xi’s indulgence; she had occasionally reflected on that herself.

She had seriously asked Sang Xi if her temper was not too good.

But Sang Xi told her that as long as she did not harm others or do evil, having a bit of a temper was a good thing—at least she would not wrong herself.

She did not want He Meijie to wrong herself.

Sometimes He Meijie felt Sang Xi treated her even better than Tong Sangqian.

Her classmates whose fathers remarried did not have her good fortune; their stepmothers were mostly harsh and difficult, unlike her approachable stepmother, and they lacked a cute, clingy little sister like Tong Sangqian.

Right up until her death, He Meijie had believed her happiness would last forever.

Compared to Sang Xi and Tong Sangqian, her birth father He Fengxi felt somewhat distant to her.

He Fengxi rarely stayed home; He Meijie might see him only two or three times a year. He was reliable only in sending money, never skimping on finances.

If she hadn’t seen Tong Sangqian occupy her body and someone told her a family member had harmed her, she would have suspected He Fengxi.

Jiang Huaining sensed something off. ‘You’re saying that when you were gravely ill, you seemed to see your birth mother?’

‘Yes.’ He Meijie nodded. ‘My mom… Sang Xi was really good to me. We were just like real mother and daughter… My friends all said I resembled her more than Sangqian did.’

The twelve years she spent with Sang Xi must have been truly happy ones; even now, speaking of it brought an unconscious smile to her face.

‘You’re saying you resemble her more than your stepsister?’

Jiang Huaining pinpointed the key point. ‘Ruoyan, I recall you said Tong Weixue has a half-sister from the same father but different mother.’

Xing Ruoyan was taken aback and hurriedly pulled out her Nether Token. ‘I’ll have someone investigate.’

Yu Ruoyin turned to look at Jiang Huaining. Her reaction was quicker than the irrational He Meijie’s. ‘Pretty wife, are you suspecting Sang Xi is Tong Weixue’s sister?’

Faced with Yu Ruoyin’s question, Jiang Huaining’s expression softened from stern to gentle. ‘Yes, our A’Yin is so smart.’

‘No, not really.’ Yu Ruoyin blushed shyly.

Jiang Huaining had made it so obvious; if she still did not catch on, she would truly be foolish.

While Xing Ruoyan arranged the investigation on Sang Xi, Jiang Huaining had already driven into Abundant Garden.

—

Abundant Garden was remote, not as bustling as downtown, but not short on people.

This would make finding the jade puppet quite troublesome for them. Though a jade puppet’s combat power was only slightly above a wandering corpse’s, its appearance resembled a jade corpse’s—indistinguishable from a human. They could easily blend into crowds, silently kill a few people, and slip away gracefully. Compared to zombies that feared sunlight, jade puppets hid better in the daytime.

A single misstep, and even seasoned Yin Messengers could fall victim.

Fortunately, their search differed from Xia Yu’s—they were looking for He Meijie’s face.

Before Jiang Huaining fully entered Abundant Garden, a red glow suddenly erupted nearby. The red light gradually morphed into a red pillar, which thickened into a red wall.

Xing Ruoyan sat bolt upright. ‘Who sets up a barrier in broad daylight in a place like this!’

‘?’

Yu Ruoyin was puzzled. Jiang Huaining stopped the car and explained to her.

Ever since the great war over four thousand years ago, all factions had suffered losses to varying degrees but maintained cooperation. The Netherworld, demon clans, and sorcerers had worked together for years. Back then, the Nether King—who held the greatest authority—had made one demand of the three sides: disturb ordinary lives as little as possible and ensure most mortals lived out their days unaware of ghosts and demons.

Though ordinary people could not see ghosts or barriers, Abundant Garden had plenty of residents, especially the elderly.

Those elders were near the end of their lifespans, their life fires weak and most vulnerable to yin energy invasion.

Such a large barrier—if it accidentally ensnared a few ordinary people—would spell trouble.

Scaring someone to death over this would draw the Nether King’s attention.

The Nether King would not easily confront the array-setting sorcerer, but the local Yin Messengers would certainly be held accountable.

That was why Xing Ruoyan’s face darkened.

Jiang Huaining opened the car door first. ‘Probably some young scion from a lineage who doesn’t know the rules yet. I heard A’Zhen say the new generation in the yin-yang realm is full of talents—achieving beyond their predecessors at young ages.’

‘My lord flatters them.’ Xing Ruoyan’s expression soured further. ‘I think it’s one generation worse than the last. Their talent is only marginally better, but their ambitions reach the heavens. They treat themselves like ancestors, won’t speak civilly when asking Yin Messengers for help, and threaten to scatter souls at the drop of a hat. My subordinates have griped about it for ages.’

Jiang Huaining got out with Yu Ruoyin and handed Xing Ruoyan a Black Umbrella. ‘A’Zhen wouldn’t speak carelessly.’

Xing Ruoyan exited, opened the Black Umbrella, and angled it toward the car door. Only then did He Meijie dare to float out and huddle under it.