Yu Ruoyin had a dream.
In the dream, she saw many people.
Her mother, father, grandmother, Zhuang Ciyue, and also Jiang Huaining…
Her parents’ faces had already become somewhat blurry, her grandmother’s features were not very clear either, and Zhuang Ciyue’s noisy voice drifted farther and farther away. Even in the dream, she could not grasp anything, not even a corner of clothing that belonged to them. They all turned their backs to her and walked farther and farther until they completely disappeared.
Yu Ruoyin tried hard to chase after them, and the hand she stretched out grabbed Jiang Huaining’s sleeve cuff.
She pleaded softly, ‘Don’t, don’t go, don’t leave me alone.’
Jiang Huaining coldly drew the fabric of her sleeve cuff away from her palm. The increasingly empty feeling in her palm tormented her heart, and Yu Ruoyin could not help but sob, ‘Don’t you like me? Why don’t you want me?’
Suddenly, her wrist was gripped tightly, and her body was lifted up by Jiang Huaining.
There was not a shred of gentleness.
‘Yu Ruoyin.’ Jiang Huaining placed one hand on her shoulder and waved the other hand in the air. A full-length mirror suddenly appeared before them. Jiang Huaining pointed at the mirror, and her cold, heartless voice pierced straight into her ears, ‘Look at yourself. Do you two have any resemblance at all?’
Yu Ruoyin followed Jiang Huaining’s pointing finger to look at the mirror. The reflection in the mirror was not her own face, but a fluttering thin gauze dress.
Exquisite fabric, lively steps.
She heard that unfamiliar voice again, ‘My lord, my lord!’
‘No, no…’ Yu Ruoyin covered her ears, wanting to drive the voice away.
The hand that had just covered her ears was gripped tightly by Jiang Huaining and then yanked down roughly and cruelly.
Jiang Huaining was malicious.
Maliciously leaning close to her earlobe, using her teeth to press against the skin and bring a slight stinging pain.
Yu Ruoyin shrank her head in fear, but Jiang Huaining did not stop this malice. At her most panicked moment, she opened her mouth, and a cold voice emerged from her lips, severing her last trace of warmth, ‘I don’t like you. At least, I don’t like you as you are now.’
…
‘Hah!’
Yu Ruoyin sat up abruptly, her back already soaked.
She pinched her wrist hard. The appearance of the red mark and the clear pain made her feel reborn.
It was a dream.
Good that it was a dream.
The dream had been too realistic; her heart still ached faintly.
Yu Ruoyin put her hand down and unintentionally touched something smooth and slick. She tilted her head down and saw a clean, lotus-root-like arm. Her gaze shifted slightly upward to a slender, fair neck, where even the faintly visible blue veins were very clear. Further up were fresh, soft lips, their extremely light color still beautiful.
Yu Ruoyin leaned forward a little.
She was very close to Jiang Huaining, very close.
The hot breath from her lips could redden her skin, yet she lacked the courage to get any closer, to taste Jiang Huaining’s sweet fragrance.
It was the cowardice in her bones at work. She clearly craved possession intensely, yet she hesitated timidly.
Yu Ruoyin slowly pulled away from Jiang Huaining’s lips and finally pressed her dry lips to her forehead, ‘Pretty wife, good morning.’
—
It was now three o’clock in the afternoon on the seventeenth of July. It had been a full week since she first met Jiang Huaining, and nine hours since they returned from the Ghost Market. Next, they should head to Yin City to take Nan He to see Gou Nanchun and confirm whether that Gou Nanchun was the one she was looking for.
She had forgotten to ask Lu Qingzhen that morning when they returned to the Four Spirits Shop whether the Gou Nanchun she found was the elder or the younger one. But since Lu Qingzhen did not know about the two Gou Nanchuns in the Gou family even after investigating her, the greatest possibility was that joining the Netherworld required not only drinking Meng Po Soup but also severing the Reincarnation Path to prevent Yin Officials from investigating their past lives.
So even if she wanted to ask whether the one in Yin City was the elder or younger, Lu Qingzhen probably could not answer her.
Nan He said the soul aura of that Ghost General felt familiar, so that Ghost General should be…
Yu Ruoyin let out her breath in defeat.
Whichever Gou Nanchun it was, it was familiar enough to Nan He. Besides, Nan He herself could not distinguish whether she was looking for the elder Gou Nanchun or the younger one.
As Lu Qingzhen said, they should go to Yin City first and see.
After washing up, Yu Ruoyin rummaged for paper and pen to record the time and important events, and also made plans for what came next.
She hoped she could be a little useful, rather than waiting for Jiang Huaining to wake up before handling these things.
According to her hypothesis, Nan He and people related to Nan He would have the power she needed. She could not wait for Jiang Huaining to wake up, but of course she would not act impulsively. Deep down, she was still a coward.
Yu Ruoyin did not rush out the door. She gazed deeply at the peacefully sleeping Jiang Huaining and opened the Painting Witch Secret Manual.
Painting Witches were indeed the most powerful witches. Not only did they possess the powers of both Painting Spirit Masters and Painting Yin Masters,
Their true methods involved replication. Powerful Painting Witch clansmen could replicate the abilities of all demon spirits, and they had their own school of fortune-telling and physiognomy, complete talisman paper and arrays, and even integrated the techniques of Paper Effigy Masters to craft ghost soldiers. Of course, these were still too difficult and too miscellaneous for Yu Ruoyin. What she needed most now were simple and effective life-saving methods.
Arrays and fortune-telling could be set aside for now; crafting ghost soldiers was too hard.
She could not learn advanced talisman paper yet, so she had to start from the basics. However, basic talisman paper was mostly related to changing luck and had almost no offensive power.
Yu Ruoyin searched for a long time before finding two useful talisman patterns.
The Borrow Yin Talisman and the Yin Suppression Talisman.
Painting Witch talisman paper was different from Daoist sects. Daoist sects generally used talismans against ghosts and monsters, while Painting Witch talisman paper was used on oneself.
Daoist Borrow Yin Talismans were pasted on ghosts to borrow ghost qi to conceal one’s own yang energy.
Painting Witch Borrow Yin Talismans drew in ghost qi and then pasted it on oneself; the ghost qi drawn from the target would be extracted into the Borrow Yin Talisman. The Painting Witch who pasted the Borrow Yin Talisman could briefly undergo Ghostification of their body.
The Borrow Yin Talisman was like a container; the more advanced it was, the more ghost qi it could hold.
It could both extract ghost qi and Ghostify oneself to enhance power. This was a very useful basic talisman paper for Yu Ruoyin.
As for the Yin Suppression Talisman, Daoist Yin Suppression Talismans could restrict the actions of ghosts and evil things, but Painting Witch Yin Suppression Talismans were different.
There were two ways to draw Painting Witch Yin Suppression Talismans. One forcibly stripped or replicated others’ power to strengthen oneself and intimidate demons and evils. The other involved others voluntarily entrusting their power to the Yin Suppression Talisman for the Painting Witch to use. The drawing methods differed, but the usage was the same: borrowing others’ power to bolster one’s own. Thus, the power of a Painting Witch Yin Suppression Talisman depended not only on the Painting Witch but also on the source of the borrowed power.
The Yin Suppression Talisman could not be considered basic talisman paper. Even top Painting Witches might not succeed with the first drawing method, but the second was much simpler. What Yu Ruoyin had in mind was the second method. She knew she was not strong, but the Four Spirits Shop had strong ones.
Relying on others to save her was unreliable, but having others’ power in her own hands was different.
Yu Ruoyin took out the Moonlight Paper and Cloud Zither Sand.
She spread out the Moonlight Paper and cut it to size, then stared at the gauze paper in a daze. The paper, as fine and thin as gauze and veiled in faint moonlight glow, was warm and beautiful. It had been nurtured with spiritual energy and moonlit nights, and before it reached her table, Nie Yuan from the Formless Pavilion had put much effort into its long-term tempering.
Suddenly, Yu Ruoyin began to waver. Could she really become a Painting Witch?
If not, would she not be wasting this paper?
She lifted her hand to uncover the lid of the Cloud Zither Sand. Unlike cinnabar, it was pale white, like pearl powder, and the sparkling silver light within it added even more beauty.
