After Swapping Identities With My Archenemy - Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Hand Her Over

No trace was left behind. Huaiyi felt a hollow void in her heart, as if the vast wilderness had swallowed everything, leaving her entirely alone.

Her Master was gone. There had been no parting words, but the meaning behind that final smile was clear. This was likely their last meeting. Huaiyi was no longer afraid of ghosts, but her Master had still guided her out one last time, as if to say: Do not fear. Even if you remain a person of no great renown, I will never abandon you.

Huaiyi wailed. Her grief-stricken cries filled every corner of the night until they were scattered by the distant wind. From her earliest memories, her Master had never left her side; she was the very foundation of Huaiyi’s world.

She knelt on the frozen ground, her legs so stiff she lacked the strength to stand. Suddenly, high-beam headlights cut through the dark, blinding her. A car screeched to a halt, and Shen Wensi scrambled out, having spotted the reflective strip on the sack of cat food.

Seeing Huaiyi collapsed and shivering like a block of ice, Wensi rushed forward and pulled her into a tight embrace. She pressed Huaiyi’s head against her shoulder, whispering, “It’s okay. I’m here. You don’t have to be afraid.”

“I saw my Master,” Huaiyi sobbed, her voice muffled. “She’s completely gone now.”

Retribution and Rest

Shen Wensi helped her into the car and blasted the heater. She was fuming. Thanks to Du Xiaoxin, she knew exactly what had happened.

The lonely ghost who had “kidnapped” Huaiyi in the paper car had already been apprehended by Xiaoxin. Since it was New Year’s and the Underworld staff were supposed to be on break, Xiaoxin’s temper was shorter than a fuse. She had thrashed the ghost and impounded the paper car before Shen Wensi even arrived.

In the back seat of Wensi’s car, two figures flickered: Du Xiaoxin and the trembling paper ghost (whose face was now missing a chunk of paper).

“Lord,” Xiaoxin said, assuming a brief air of professional dignity, “I’ve brought the culprit. Should I…?”

“Take her away,” Wensi said coldly, glancing back. “Before she wakes up and gets scared again.”

Huaiyi slept through the journey home and well into the next evening. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw Xiao Die sitting outside the window. Somehow, the massive beast had shrunk back into a soft, fluffy kitten.

Huaiyi pulled the cat inside. The constant noise of fireworks had finally ceased, leaving the house in an eerie silence. She stroked Xiao Die’s head, unable to reconcile this gentle creature with the monster in the alley.

Suddenly, Xiao Die’s head snapped toward the door. The bedroom door creaked open.

The Uninvited Guest

Thinking it was Shen Wensi, Huaiyi adjusted her expression and walked toward the door. But when she opened it, she was met with a wall of dense, black shadows blocking the hallway light. At the front stood a ghost with a grey, rotting face.

Huaiyi didn’t scream. She didn’t tremble. She simply felt a surge of cold, clinical irritation. She slammed the door, put Xiao Die on the bed, and grabbed her Peach Wood Sword and a stack of talismans.

I want to kill something, she thought.

She charged out. This time, she didn’t hold back. Golden light erupted in the hallway. With every swing of her sword, a shrill, piercing shriek echoed before a shadow was annihilated. In five minutes, the hallway was pristine.

The spiritual energy she had absorbed at Cen Ling, long suppressed by her fear, now flooded her limbs. She felt “hot”—brimming with a power that no spirit could touch. The “Genius of the Taoist Sect” had finally woken up.

She checked Wensi’s room, but it was empty. She turned back to her own room, only to find a woman in a bright red velvet dress standing by the window.

The woman radiated an aura of indifferent, detached divinity. Her features were blurred, as if veiled by a mist. Xiao Die was arched on the bed, growling a sound of pure terror Huaiyi had never heard from her before.

The Silk Paper in Huaiyi’s pocket began to burn with heat.

The woman didn’t speak. She simply extended a hand. “Give the Nian Beast to me. I will take it away. It is not safe for such a calamity to remain here.”

“Who are you?” Huaiyi clutched Xiao Die tighter. “And why are you in this house?”

The woman’s expression remained placid, but a crushing pressure suddenly filled the room, making it hard for Huaiyi to breathe. It was an ultimatum.

Just as Huaiyi prepared to strike with her sword, the door burst open. A familiar hand grabbed her wrist and yanked her backward into the shadows.

CRACK!

A heavy blow struck the space where Huaiyi had just been standing. Xiao Die was knocked from her arms with a pained yelp. A flash of golden light filled the room, and the woman in red vanished.

Huaiyi leaned against the wall, gasping. Every bone in her body ached from the shockwave. She turned to her savior.

Shen Wensi stood there, but she looked different. She was dressed in traditional black Taoist robes (Xuanpan), her expression cold and solemn, her presence merging perfectly with the surrounding darkness.

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