Chapter 3
Moonlight streamed into the room, stretching Yao Qingyue’s shadow across the floor.
She gazed at her shadow and said leisurely, “This story about the Wangliang spirit is a story about shadows.”
Perhaps it was just her imagination, but the moment she uttered the words “Wangliang spirit,” she could have sworn she saw her shadow sway slightly.
She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Her shadow remained exactly as it had been, showing no signs of transforming into something with flailing claws and bared fangs.
Yao Qingyue withdrew her gaze and looked at Doudou lying on the little bed.
Doudou stared back with her dark eyes and murmured softly, “I know shadows have other names, too.”
Yao Qingyue smiled warmly and stroked the child’s soft bangs. “What other names?”
Doudou replied solemnly, “A person has nine shadows, each with its own name. The first is Youhuang, the second is Wangliang, the third is Xiejieshu…”
As the child’s clear voice rang out, an invisible mass of black shadow concealed beneath Yao Qingyue’s feet suddenly froze.
Yao Qingyue rubbed Doudou’s little head again and praised her proudly. “Our Doudou is amazing! You even know something like that!”
Doudou blushed slightly and hurriedly pulled her thin blanket higher to cover her reddening cheeks. She mumbled softly, “It’s nothing impressive. This is common knowledge on the Changling Continent. Even three-year-olds know it.”
Yao Qingyue merely smiled without saying anything and prepared to blow out the candle.
Neither of them knew that, at Jingneiju, in a disciple’s residence separated from theirs by a mountain, a black-haired beauty dressed in a white fox-fur cloak was filled with bewilderment and suspicion.
Hua Yurong had attached her divine sense to the Wangliang spirit. Yet she had barely entered Yao Qingyue’s room when she heard the adult and child identify the spirit’s true nature twice in succession.
The Wangliang spirit was a shadow, but it was also a demon from beyond the domain, and the most useful tool at her disposal. She had always believed herself to be extremely careful, never allowing anyone to discover its existence.
Was she overthinking things, or was this disciple of the Zhuyue Sect deliberately warning her?
And had that disciple’s earlier appearance in the forbidden grounds truly been a coincidence?
A mocking smile appeared at the corner of Hua Yurong’s lips. Her gaze turned sinister as she urged the Wangliang spirit to continue.
The Wangliang spirit was born from light, yet feared intense illumination. During the day, it had nowhere to hide, so it preferred to operate in the dead of night.
Once Yao Qingyue blew out the candle, the spirit could draw upon the power of darkness and dispose of her without the slightest difficulty.
Yao Qingyue was just about to blow out the candle when she suddenly felt a chill at the back of her neck.
It was as though something were watching her hungrily, waiting for the right moment to devour its prey. After hesitating for a moment, she suddenly remembered something. With an exclamation of “Ah!” she turned around and began rummaging through a bundle in the corner.
The bundle was bulging with things. Her overachieving neighbor had brought it to her earlier that day. After searching through it for a while, Yao Qingyue pulled out a small padded jacket.
The jacket was thick, made from fine materials, and exquisitely tailored. Delicate patterns had been embroidered across its surface, making it obvious at a glance that it was quite expensive.
Yao Qingyue had never expected her overachieving neighbor, who clearly looked down on her, to be so generous. She couldn’t help feeling surprised.
Courtesy demanded reciprocity, and she felt embarrassed accepting such a gift for nothing. She decided to visit the Hall of All Affairs in a few days and earn some spirit stones so she could buy her neighbor a present in return.
Pulling herself from her thoughts, she noticed that Doudou had opened her eyes at some point and was staring straight at her from the little bed.
Yao Qingyue paused, held the jacket against Doudou to check its size, and smiled. “Try it on. Let’s see if it fits.”
Doudou climbed out of bed and carefully touched the jacket, murmuring, “This is… for me?”
Yao Qingyue gently pinched her little cheek and explained, “It’s getting cold, and your clothes are too thin. I’ve been meaning to get you something warmer for a while now.”
Yao Doudou tenderly stroked the intricate embroidery on the jacket, pressing her lips together without speaking. Unable to resist Yao Qingyue’s encouragement, she finally took off her outer garment, revealing the thin underclothes beneath.
As she raised her arms, a small section of her wrist was exposed, along with the horrifying scars covering it.
Yao Qingyue’s eyes darkened at the sight, and she drew a deep breath. But by the time the child had finished changing and looked up at her, her expression had returned to normal.
“Do you like it?”
Yao Doudou kept her little face solemn, but her cheeks were bright red as she nodded vigorously.
Hua Yurong patiently listened to their conversation, her gaze drifting now and then toward the child on the bed.
She had noticed something strange about the child the moment she entered the room.
This was a stillborn hybrid of human and demon blood, not an ordinary child.
A stillborn child who survived was a creature that defied the natural order, destined to die young. And being a human-demon hybrid was proof of a lowly birth.
A cripple who could no longer use spiritual power and a stillborn human-demon hybrid. The two were rather well matched.
Perhaps she could show a little mercy and leave their corpses intact.
After Yao Qingyue finished helping Yao Doudou try on the jacket, she walked over to the candleholder and blew out the flame with a soft puff.
The room was instantly swallowed by darkness.
Hua Yurong channeled her spiritual power and held her breath.
Obeying her command, the Wangliang spirit slowly crept toward Yao Qingyue’s feet and coiled around her ankles.
“Ah, right!” Yao Qingyue suddenly remembered something and took a glass bead from her pocket.
In an instant, dazzling light burst forth, so bright it was almost blinding.
The intense glare from the bead nearly blinded her on the spot.
When the bead lit up, she seemed to hear a woman’s scream. It sounded rather eerie.
Flustered, she hurriedly covered the bead, plunging the room back into dimness.
Yao Qingyue looked around and blinked a few times, but found nothing unusual.
At that very moment, over at Jingneiju, Hua Yurong was sitting on her bed when she suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
The unexpected burst of light had struck the Wangliang spirit without warning, forcing her divine sense out of it in an instant.
Hua Yurong pressed a hand to her chest, her complexion turning ghastly. She gasped several times before barely managing to steady her breathing.
She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, then curled her fingers and tapped them against the tea table.
She refused to believe all of this was a coincidence. Too many coincidences could only mean that something was deliberate. Perhaps Yao Qingyue had already noticed something, which was why she had managed to evade the Wangliang spirit at precisely the right moment.
But if the other woman really knew the truth, why hadn’t she revealed everything to the Zhuyue Sect? After all, exposing Hua Yurong as the “little thief” would certainly make Ji Yueming see her in a new light.
Of course, there was another possibility.
Yao Qingyue genuinely knew nothing.
Three crisp taps of her fingers sounded against the tabletop, and the Wangliang spirit’s pitch-black shadow reappeared at Hua Yurong’s feet.
Hua Yurong looked down at it imperiously and said coldly, “Whether Yao Qingyue is a wolf or a sheep, Wangliang, test her once more.”
“Yes.”
The black shadow spread out like flowing water and disappeared almost immediately.
The Wangliang spirit was a demon from beyond the domain, possessing the ability to amplify the desires hidden deep within a person’s heart. She didn’t need it to attack Yao Qingyue directly. As long as the spirit slipped into the innermost recesses of her heart, it could stir up and magnify her emotions.
Hadn’t Yao Qingyue once been willing to live or die for Ji Yueming?
Perfect, then.
Let her go through it all over again.
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