After Swapping Identities With My Archenemy - Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Run!

Jiang Huaiyi’s clouded mind snapped into clarity. She instinctively let go of the hand she was holding.

She looked toward the distant figure of Jiang Younian. Her Master’s face was blurry; looking at her gave Jiang Huaiyi a profound sense of unreality. Panic flared within her an invisible dread that whispered if she didn’t agree to the voice’s terms, she would lose everything around her forever.

The voice continued to echo: “As long as you are willing, you can stay here for eternity. Tell me your answer.”

Jiang Younian’s face grew even more indistinct. Her surroundings began to dissolve into spheres of light, and all sounds drifted away as if into a vacuum. It felt as though saying “no” would turn this entire world into a popped soap bubble.

The City God, watching from outside the illusion, finally saw the expression of terror he wanted on Jiang Huaiyi’s face. From the void above the dream, he chuckled. “Well? Have you thought it through? As long as—”

“Thought through what?” Jiang Huaiyi interrupted.

The voice faltered. Outside, the City God’s brow furrowed. Did I set her age too young in the illusion? Usually, children are the most prone to raw desire and impulsive, unthinking choices.

He tried to explain, his tone complex: “Do you want to stay? You only need to make a wish to me, and you can remain here forever.”

He had underestimated Jiang Huaiyi. Her answer came back sharp and biting.

“Why should I make a wish to you? Who the hell are you supposed to be? You didn’t give me this life. What are you? Show yourself!”

City God: “…”

He had been away from the mortal realm too long. He couldn’t begin to understand someone as straightforwardly stubborn as Jiang Huaiyi. While she accepted the supernatural, she was a child of the modern era; her first instinct was to trust in the tangible. If science couldn’t explain something, only then did she look at the occult. Even inside the illusion, her memories of schooling remained.

Her first thought was that she had been drugged that she was experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations.

She grabbed the hand of the person beside her to steady herself, then continued to shout at the void. In this moment, she had no memories of the desolation of the Ten-Mile Graveyard or her usual cowardice. She had the audacity and the courage to fight back against a “bad guy.”

When the voice failed to respond, Jiang Huaiyi saw everything but the girl beside her—Shen Wensi—turn into a blur. She let out a fierce roar, her fingers forming a sword-sign and slashing through the air, “cutting” the void in front of her.

A blinding white light seared her eyes, forcing them shut. When she opened them again, she was back in the library, staring at a dumbfounded City God.

Her memories rushed back. She stepped back warily, though a part of her mourned those few hours of impossible happiness. She couldn’t understand why, in her “ideal” life, Shen Wensi had appeared. Though, she thought, having a playmate like that as a child would have been nice.

The City God stared at the ritual tool in his hand, which had snapped in two. He pointed at her, stammering, “You… you… you…”

Jiang Huaiyi didn’t wait. She crouched, snatched up a nearby wooden stool, slapped a talisman onto it, and added a spiritual seal for good measure. Before the City God could react, she swung the stool with all her might into his head.

The City God and the female ghost were caught completely off guard. Due to the power of the talisman, they collapsed instantly. Jiang Huaiyi didn’t stop, raining blows down on them. Wisps of green smoke rose from the places the stool struck.

She realized the City God wasn’t the “final boss” she had feared. He had zero combat capability. Any truly malevolent ghost would have killed her ten times over by now. The fact that he kept trying to guide her into making a wish meant he had strict conditions for harvesting souls. Without her consent, he couldn’t touch her.

Once she had beaten them sufficiently, she sat down to catch her breath. When the two looked up, their faces were so battered and swollen that she jumped back in fright, running several paces away before daring to look again. Their faces were purple and distorted wounds caused by spiritual tools didn’t heal quickly.

After psyching herself up, she walked back, hands on her hips, trying to look as “tough” as possible. “Take me to my friends. Now. Where are they?”

The two spirits struggled to support each other as they stood. When Jiang Huaiyi raised the stool again, the City God waved his hands frantically. “I’ll take you! Stop hitting! You’re going to kill me!”

He couldn’t believe he was being bullied by a mortal on his own turf. Usually, people who entered the painting were too paralyzed by fear to fight back. Jiang Huaiyi was different she was too focused on the immediate task to be afraid.

He led her out of the infinite library. The yamen was massive, and they walked through a series of back doors until they reached the outside. The path was muddy. “Isn’t there a paved road in this city?” Jiang Huaiyi grumbled.

The City God looked at her with what she assumed was disdain through his swollen, slit-like eyes. “What do you know? This is a 1-to-1 replica. Clearly, you’ve never been to the real Underworld. The Yellow Springs Road is a mud road.”

Jiang Huaiyi was silent for a moment before muttering, “Cheapskate.”

“You—!”

“This place is stingier than my village. After all these years, you could have saved up a yuan a day to pave it.” She looked at her muddy shoes and sighed with annoyance. The City God nearly fainted from rage, but seeing the stool in her hand, he kept his mouth shut.

Ghost runners passing by stared at the red-robed official whose face was unrecognizable. None dared to greet him.

They reached the thick mist. As Jiang Huaiyi looked back, the village was gone. Ahead, a massive structure loomed a black pillar so tall the top was lost in the fog. It was covered in strange carvings, which Jiang Huaiyi realized were the same “Ghost Script” from the library scrolls.

She still clutched the book she had stolen, though she hadn’t had a chance to read it. There was no going back; the path they had taken had vanished. As they approached the pillar, she didn’t hear the terrifying tap-tap of wood on stone, which eased her nerves slightly.

Fresh red liquid dripped from the pillar. Looking up, Jiang Huaiyi’s blood ran cold. Hanging from the pillar were the people who had been carried out of the mansion. Some were still alive, letting out weak moans and begging for help. Many were motionless, their life force drained.

Every single person hanging there had a row of sharp white spikes—about the length of a palm and as thick as a thumb growing out of their spine. Blood dyed the spikes a deep crimson before dripping to the ground.

A wave of nausea hit her. If Senior Sister and the others are here… are they dead? These people looked like pigs at a slaughterhouse, limbs bound, hanging for the cure. After satisfying their greed, they had become nothing more than livestock for the painting.

She circled the pillar but didn’t see her friends. Then, in the blink of an eye, the City God vanished.

She rubbed her hands nervously, heart racing. A second later, he reappeared—not outside the pillar, but inside it, as if it were hollow. His swollen, bruised face stared out through a crack in the black stone.

Jiang Huaiyi stepped back. “Where are my friends?”

The City God laughed, a jagged sound. “I’m inside now. You can’t hit me anymore.”

Before he could finish, Jiang Huaiyi tossed a Thunder Talisman through the crack. CRACK-BOOM! The figure inside was instantly charred black.

“Come out,” Jiang Huaiyi said coldly. She looked away, fighting the urge to vomit. She promised herself that if she got out, she’d watch more horror movies to raise her tolerance so she wouldn’t keep gagging at every little thing.

The charred City God crawled out, his arrogance extinguished.

Then, a long-awaited figure stepped out from behind the pillar. Seeing that cool, familiar face, Jiang Huaiyi rushed forward. “You’re here! Where’s my Sen I mean, where are the others?”

Shen Wensi’s gaze shifted slightly, as if she were avoiding Jiang Huaiyi’s bright eyes. Those eyes were the same as the little girl’s in the dream, yet different the innocence was gone, replaced by a weary light.

Chu Lianxue and Mu Ze popped their heads out from behind Shen Wensi. They looked dusty and disheveled, but unharmed. Jiang Huaiyi let out a huge breath of relief.

Before she could speak, Shen Wensi suddenly grabbed her and yanked her back.

From the shadows, the voice of the female ghost rose—raspy, dark, and hair-raising.

“Master… please… let go!”

Jiang Huaiyi looked back. The once-submissive City God now wore a face of stone. He looked down at the female ghost, who was on her knees, clutching his leg. His lifeless face turned chillingly cold. He didn’t answer; he simply kicked her away.

The thick mist around them suddenly turned solid, rushing toward the center like a collapsing wall.

A hand clamped over Jiang Huaiyi’s mouth, cutting off her scream. Shen Wensi’s voice hissed into her ear, urgent and sharp:

“RUN!”

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