They were so close that his breath brushed against her cheek as he spoke.
Xu Songhe’s tension gradually eased. She brushed the wet strands of hair from her forehead and looked him straight in the eyes. “Qi Wuyang?”
The smile on his face froze for a heartbeat. He straightened up and snagged her waistband, hauling her out of the water.
“How boring. How did you know it was me?”
“It’s obvious,” Xu Songhe muttered, exasperated. One moment she’d been part of a two-person alliance, and the next, she was completely alone and soaked to the bone.
Anger flared within her. “Who’s the boring one? How can you be in the mood for jokes right now?”
The heavy, wet clothes clung to her body, weighing her down and making her miserable.
Xu Songhe glared at him and tugged at her drenched hem. “It’s all your fault! You’re paying for my clothes.”
Clearly, he had been too lenient with her. Even the gentlest rabbit would bare its sharp teeth when driven to fury.
Qi Wuyang raised an eyebrow, his lips curling into a faint, almost imperceptible smile. “Sure. Go pick out whoever you like. Just tell me who you want, and I’ll kill them for you. You can have as many as you want.”
“You…” Xu Songhe choked on her words.
She blinked dryly, then looked away, unable to meet his gaze. “Forget it. You don’t need to pay me back. I can just wipe the clothes dry on my own.”
She brushed past him, deliberately bumping his hand to vent her frustration.
Two steps later, she turned back. “Next time you switch bodies, could you let me know in advance? How am I supposed to find you otherwise?”
Bringing it up was a mistake.
He immediately seized on the question. “You still haven’t answered me. How did you recognize me?”
Xu Songhe hesitated.
She truly didn’t know how to explain it. How had she recognized him? She couldn’t say. She just knew, the moment she saw him, that it was him.
Her gaze drifted to the hand hanging at his side. She had spent so much time trying to stop his bleeding, yet here he was, having solved the problem by simply switching bodies.
“All those herbs I gathered for nothing,” Xu Songhe muttered, kicking a pebble by her side. “Every time you get hurt, you just switch bodies and everything’s fine.”
The man beside her let out a soft laugh. “You think it’s easy?”
She dropped the subject. Recalling their escape from the pharmacy earlier, she asked, “Everyone in town is hunting us. Do you know that?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized it was a pointless question. After the way he’d just tried to scare her, how could he not know?
Sure enough, he answered without a moment’s hesitation. “Of course I know.”
“So, what’s your plan?”
“I think their drawing skills could use some improvement.”
Xu Songhe sighed.
She was never going to have a normal conversation with this man. She looked up at the moon, which had already climbed high into the sky, and quickly reviewed all the clues she’d gathered over the past few days.
Just as she was about to reach a conclusion, a colorful figure flashed past her. Before she could even get a good look, a hand pressed down on her shoulder, forcing her back.
“It’s Shopkeeper Yu!” she exclaimed, her eyes fixed on the figure flying past. “What is he doing out so late?”
Yu Baisui, draped in a brightly patterned cloak, darted through the snow. As he moved, his gaze swept the trees lining the path before he vanished around the bend.
He slipped into the temple, ensuring no one had followed him. With a wave of his hand, he sealed the main doors shut.
Turning around, his eyes gleamed with greed as he stared at the statue.
Raising his hands above his head, he closed his eyes and began to wave them in a rhythmic motion, as if performing a ritual.
A low rumble echoed through the space. The statue’s eyes suddenly floated into the air, and a colorless mist flowed out from them.
The mist enveloped Yu Baisui, passing through him like a vast ocean absorbing a hundred rivers. A look of utter satisfaction spread across his face, as if he were being soaked in warm water.
After a moment, as if remembering something, he pressed his hand down in the empty air. The mist obediently split into countless thin threads, silently seeping out into the night beyond the temple.
“You all better stay alive,” he murmured. “If you die, who’s going to keep me supplied?”
Outside, the wind howled. He stood perfectly still for an unknown amount of time, waiting until the moonlight completely flooded the temple steps.
Only then did he let out a slow yawn and turn to leave.
Behind him, everything in the temple returned to its original state—including the statue.
He hurried through the silent, empty streets with the same speed as before, finally stopping in front of a door and ducking into the house.
Yu Baisui flopped onto the bed with such force that the wooden table beside it shook. Just as he closed his eyes, a sudden whoosh of wind brushed past his ear.
Thwack.
The sound came from the half-open window. Terrified, Yu Baisui trembled as he lit a candle. Its light revealed an arrow embedded in the wall.
He sprang up, glaring at the window.
“Who’s there?!” he roared. “You dare attack from the shadows? Why don’t you come out and face me?”
He shouted again, but the only response was the flickering candlelight dancing across the arrow.
Yu Baisui turned back to it, noticing a piece of paper attached to the shaft.
After staring at it for a few seconds, he cautiously stepped forward. Once he confirmed the arrow wasn’t poisoned, he plucked the note from the wood.
Two lines of text stared back at him:
– Medicine Immortal, oh Medicine Immortal. Not only do you ignore the suffering of the townspeople, but you also disguise yourself as a mortal to continue draining their life force. Your crimes are truly heinous. You had best not let me catch you, or else…
Yu Baisui’s pupils shrank.
His hand trembled violently, and he stared blankly ahead for a long moment before slowly crouching down. The instant he touched the note, he snatched his hand back as if it were covered in thorns.
After a long pause, he finally unfolded the paper again and reread the words. His expression shifted from terror to fury.
Or else…
Or else what? Was this person really trying to make a scene? But who could have written this? No one in the entire town knew his secret but him. Who would play such a cruel trick?
Whoever it was, they would be found today. To dare play ghost and god, trying to scare him at a time like this—they really thought he, Yu Baisui, was some kind of Living Bodhisattva.
Just then, a series of whooshes cut through the air. This time, his sharp eyes caught the motion, and he reached out to snatch the incoming arrow mid-flight.
His face turned a grim, stony blue as he unfurled the note attached to it. After reading the contents, his entire body jolted.
“Yu Baisui, have you stopped listening to me? There’s still time to make amends. Just give me your life force, and I’ll spare you. But remember—don’t let the townspeople die.”
Below the text was a crookedly scrawled signature: Nine-Tails.
Yu Baisui threw the note away, his face pale with shock. He scrambled to the window and peered out, but the street was empty.
“Lord… Lord Nine-Tails!” he stammered, his voice trembling. “Your arrival is a great honor. Please forgive my failure to greet you properly. As for the life force… heh heh, that’s easy! I’ll go prepare it for you right away. Rest assured, I won’t harm a hair on their heads.”
Lord Nine-Tails was legendary. No demon dared disobey him. It was said he preferred solitude and never left his cave, yet now he had sought Yu Baisui out personally. If he didn’t comply, he was sure he wouldn’t survive the night.
Hours passed. As the night wore on, the silence grew heavy. Yu Baisui had just begun to relax when a sudden thump, thump echoed against his door.
He stiffened, his ears straining.
“My Lord? Is that you?”
There was a moment of silence, then a weak, breathless voice drifted through the door. “Shopkeeper… it’s me. I’m dying of illness… please, open the door.”
Outside stood a young man in black, nearly invisible against the darkness. At the sound of the lock turning, he slowly raised his head.
In the moonlight, a familiar face came into view.
It was a face he recognized. There weren’t many people in town, and he had already memorized nearly every one of them.
The young man lay sprawled on the steps, reaching a hand out toward him. His lips, pale and bloodless, parted with effort. “Please… please help me…”
Yu Baisui frowned and clicked his tongue in annoyance. “It’s just a minor ailment. Go back and wait. You’ll be fine in a few hours.”
A flash of surprise crossed the young man’s face. He shook his head, his voice barely a whisper. “You haven’t even asked what’s wrong. How can you tell me to go home and wait?”
Yu Baisui grew even more impatient.
He knew exactly what was wrong, but he couldn’t say it. He had just drained a significant amount of their life force, so it was only natural for them to feel terrible—as long as they didn’t die.
He’d return some of it to them at dawn, and then they would recover.
He carelessly tossed a jar to the young man. “No matter the illness, this will cure it. Still here? Are you questioning me?”
“How could I ever question you?” The young man’s lips curved into a smile, though his face remained a sickly, morbid white. “You are the omnipotent Shopkeeper Yu. Your medicine can cure any disease. Without you, we wouldn’t even survive, would we, Medicine Immortal?”
Yu Baisui had been stroking his chin and nodding with satisfaction. But at the young man’s last words, his eyes flew wide. Without a second thought, he swung his palm out in a strike.
The powerful gust of wind from the strike sent the young man flying. He crashed heavily against a large tree in front of the door, then slumped to the ground like a deflated sponge.
Yu Baisui stared coldly at him, ready to step forward and dispose of the body while it was still dark. But suddenly, a few gasps erupted nearby. A man stood there, hand covering his mouth, legs shaking.
The shock in his eyes was impossible to hide.
“Sh-Shopkeeper, what did you—”
Fine, Yu Baisui sneered. If I’m caught, I might as well kill one more.
He was about to make his move when several more figures emerged from behind the man. They had seen everything.
Yu Baisui stood frozen, his face turning a dark, grim shade—though it was hard to tell if that was just the deep shadows of the night.
More people began to gather, eventually filling the open space in front of the shop.
“We have to trust Shopkeeper Yu!” Xu Songhe cried out, adjusting the mask on her face. “I saw it all. He only gave him a little push. There’s no way he died, right? He must have just fainted.”
A few brave souls stepped forward and rolled the body over. In the moonlight, his face was swollen, with bloodstains still fresh at the corner of his mouth.
The man recoiled, his legs giving way. “H-He’s… He’s dead!”
The crowd erupted in a chorus of gasps.
“I don’t believe Shopkeeper Yu would ever attack someone without cause!” Xu Songhe immediately cut in. “He must have done something terrible to provoke him!”
A heavy silence fell over the crowd for a moment. Then, someone spoke up hesitantly. “I… I heard it. The man said something about the Medicine Immortal, and then Shopkeeper Yu… then Shopkeeper Yu…”
“The Medicine Immortal?”
The name ignited the crowd. People surged forward in a wave of excitement, jostling Xu Songhe as she was squeezed backward, her arms knocked by several people in the chaos.
It feels like being in a crowded subway again, she thought.
Suddenly, she felt weightless. It seemed as if she were a head taller than everyone else, and the crowd began to recede.
A hand grabbed her and pulled her back.
After her feet touched the ground again, she looked up to see who had rescued her. As she turned, she met a pair of gently curved, smiling eyes.