The Ghost Insists on Giving Me a Beautiful and Powerful Wife! - Chapter 19.1

Jiang Huaining felt it was strange.

Yu Ruoyin also felt it was strange.

The Zhuang Ciyue in her memories was quite gentle, only showing an unusual fondness for watching horror movies.

Yu Ruoyin knew that Zhuang Ciyue had changed a lot over the past three years, but she didn’t expect the change to be this drastic.

It was hard to reconcile the boisterous Zhuang Ciyue in front of her with the person in her memory.

But that wasn’t the main point. The main point was that Zhuang Ciyue was about to be eaten by dogs.

The dogs chasing Zhuang Ciyue looked anything but ordinary. They were as tall as two people, with thick, sharp claws that looked like they could pierce a body if they struck.

“Aunt Ning…” Yu Ruoyin wanted to continue pleading with Jiang Huaining to intervene, but instead, Xing Ruoyan, who was following them, rushed out first.

Xing Ruoyan was incredibly fast. The (Underworld Plaque) at her waist flew, continuously spewing black mist.

As she neared the two grey dogs, her body rapidly swelled and grew, once again transforming into the five-headed black beast.

The Huanzheng Beast!

Unlike when she scared He Meijie, Xing Ruoyan’s black beast body was now more solid. Yu Ruoyin then noticed that the beast’s body was covered in dense, incredibly hard scales that looked like cast iron armor, shimmering with a faint glow. Its crimson eyes were pure, filled with a surge of blood-red light, and the powerful pressure forced the two grey dogs to a halt.

Xing Ruoyan didn’t give the dogs time to react. She pounced with her front paws, her massive body instantly bearing down on the two dogs.

The dogs quickly dodged, but they were not as fast as Xing Ruoyan, who managed to grab one of them.

Xing Ruoyan slightly opened her mouth, revealing two rows of sharp, pointed fangs. A black bone spike suddenly emerged from her throat, heading straight for the throat of the dog she had pinned down.

Just as the black bone spike was about to pierce the dog’s throat, the other dog pounced, forcefully knocking Xing Ruoyan away.

Xing Ruoyan’s black beast body quickly spun around, and five heads each spat out a black bone spike.

The bone spikes grew at an incredible speed, instantly piercing the bodies of the two grey dogs, which then disintegrated into dust and vanished.

The black beast slowly exhaled a plume of turbid air and reverted to Xing Ruoyan’s human form.

Subduing the two dogs was not as easy as it looked. Xing Ruoyan’s face was pale, and her soul body looked somewhat (ethereal). To her surprise, Zhuang Ciyue, whom she had just saved, showed no gratitude. Instead, she limped around Xing Ruoyan, making a strange sound as she called out, “Well, if it isn’t my heartless and faithless ex-girlfriend?”

“…” Xing Ruoyan’s expression darkened even more. She glared at Zhuang Ciyue. “Shut up.”

“What did I say that was wrong? Why should I shut up? Why didn’t you tell me to shut up when you were deceiving me? Can’t admit to what you did, can you?”

Xing Ruoyan: “…”

Ex-girlfriend?

Yu Ruoyin couldn’t help but rub her ears, almost doubting what she had just heard.

Jiang Huaining seemed completely unfazed. She held Yu Ruoyin’s hand and, with her black umbrella, walked toward Zhuang Ciyue.

As they approached, Zhuang Ciyue finally stopped her sarcastic remarks toward Xing Ruoyan and changed her target.

Zhuang Ciyue scrutinized Yu Ruoyin. “Classmate Xiaoyu, have you thought about how you’re going to apologize to me? All sex, no humanity!”

She cursed again, and Jiang Huaining couldn’t help but frown. “You’re asking A’yin to apologize to you, and you said I was a ghost. Shouldn’t you apologize to me as well?”

Hearing her voice, Zhuang Ciyue finally looked at Jiang Huaining.

Her beautiful eyes examined Jiang Huaining, and the more she looked, the brighter her eyes got. “Sister, you’re so beautiful!”

Zhuang Ciyue’s attitude did a complete 180. She smiled sweetly at Jiang Huaining. “No wonder Classmate Xiaoyu is so lovesick. So you’re this beautiful, Sister. How could a beautiful sister like you be a ghost? I’m the ghost, you’re not. I was wrong, I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”

…

A torrent of compliments was thrown at her, even causing Jiang Huaining to be momentarily stunned.

Before she could say anything, Zhuang Ciyue suddenly took a step forward. “Still won’t forgive me? How about I kowtow to you?”

Seeing that Jiang Huaining remained silent, Zhuang Ciyue actually prepared to kneel.

Yu Ruoyin, quick as a flash, held her up. “Sister Yue, you…”

Zhuang Ciyue was so different from three years ago that Yu Ruoyin could hardly recognize her.

She found Zhuang Ciyue’s sparkling eyes beneath the thick makeup. “Sister Yue, what are you doing?”

“Shhh!”

Zhuang Ciyue made an exaggerated quiet gesture toward Yu Ruoyin, whispering to her, “My great-aunt told me that in the Yin-Yang realm, the one place you can’t afford to offend is the Four Spirits Shop. The owner of the Four Spirits Shop is especially fierce and cruel. If I don’t apologize to her, what if she takes her anger out on you?”

So Zhuang Ciyue and Jiang Huaining had met before.

Yu Ruoyin’s mouth slightly opened, lost for a moment.

Before she could ask, Xing Ruoyan asked first, “My lord, why would she go to the Four Spirits Shop? Does she have some unfulfilled wish?”

“No.” Jiang Huaining’s lips slightly pursed. “I needed her help a few days ago, so I lured her and her great-aunt to the Four Spirits Shop.”

“You needed my help? I don’t remember that,” Zhuang Ciyue said, her face full of questions. Yu Ruoyin, however, had a realization.

She knew what Jiang Huaining had asked of Zhuang Ciyue.

She had distinctly received a message from Zhuang Ciyue, which was why she went to Longyu Street. But Zhuang Ciyue had always said she never sent her a message. Now, everything made sense.

It was indeed Jiang Huaining who impersonated Zhuang Ciyue to lure her to Longyu Street. From the very beginning, Jiang Huaining had chosen her, not because of the Underworld King or the Chunxian, but because Zhuang Ciyue and Lu Qingzhen were tools for Jiang Huaining to force her into the Four Spirits Shop.

What did Jiang Huaining want from her?

Yu Ruoyin couldn’t figure it out, and Jiang Huaining wasn’t going to explain.

She decided not to ask and instead asked Zhuang Ciyue, “Sister Yue, why are you here?”

Zhuang Ciyue’s attention was easily diverted. She bent down, applying paint to her injured leg while answering Yu Ruoyin, “My great-aunt and I came to catch the jade corpse. I didn’t expect to run into the crazy person from the Four Spirits Shop. She was just fighting the jade corpse… actually, it was that arrogant boy from the Pinghu Sect who had no sense. He actually scolded her, saying she was overestimating herself by trying to handle the jade corpse alone. Then she pulled all of us into a barrier, using the excuse of fighting the jade corpse to launch indiscriminate attacks. That’s how my great-aunt and I got separated. I couldn’t help but curse that idiot, and he sent his Yin beasts after me.”

Zhuang Ciyue grew angrier as she spoke. “If my bone brush hadn’t broken, they would have never been able to bully me.”

“The brush?”

Xing Ruoyan’s attitude toward Zhuang Ciyue was not like that of an ex-girlfriend. There was no hatred or love. When Zhuang Ciyue wasn’t being annoying, her emotions were as calm as ever.

Zhuang Ciyue took out the two halves of the broken brush from her bosom.

The body of the brush was smooth and polished, emitting a faint fragrance. What was most unusual was that the tip of the brush was not stained with ink, yet it was pitch black.

Xing Ruoyan took the broken brush. She placed it inside her (Underworld Plaque) and said flatly, “I’ll fix the brush and give it back to you.”

“Ex-girlfriend, you still have a conscience.”

When Xing Ruoyan heard this address, she almost took the broken brush out and threw it at Zhuang Ciyue’s face. She gritted her teeth and said, “I am not your ex-girlfriend.”

Zhuang Ciyue let out an (unhappy grumble). “That’s not what you said when you and my great-aunt conspired to deceive me back then.”

“Sister Yue, you… you two?”

Yu Ruoyin didn’t quite understand the relationship between Zhuang Ciyue and Xing Ruoyan. Zhuang Ciyue limped over to Yu Ruoyin, pushing her forward. “I told you I’d tell you everything once I was back in Chong City. Don’t worry, I won’t go back on my word. Let’s talk as we walk. I still need to find my great-aunt.”

Xing Ruoyan blocked Zhuang Ciyue. “Your brush is broken. Why don’t you leave?”

Zhuang Ciyue glanced at Jiang Huaining and then replied to Xing Ruoyan, “Ex-girlfriend, what do you know! My best friend has a master by her side!”

“Your best friend?”

Xing Ruoyan was initially a bit slow to react. After Zhuang Ciyue pushed Yu Ruoyin and walked away, she finally realized. “Did you buy a protective talisman to send to your friend who was plagued by bad luck back then… and it was for her?”

“Of course,” Zhuang Ciyue shrugged. “She’s the only friend I have.”

Zhuang Ciyue was a person of her word. After reuniting, she didn’t wait for Yu Ruoyin to ask and honestly confessed everything.

Her interest in horror movies since childhood was because she knew from the very beginning that ghosts existed in this world.

Zhuang Ciyue’s mother was a wealthy socialite on the surface, but secretly, she was a descendant of the Painted Spirit lineage.

There were many methods in the Yin-Yang realm. The most famous were Taoist priests and geomancers, followed by special ghost catchers and monster catchers, and then paper craftsmen and shamans. The Painted Yin lineage belonged to the shamanic arts.

Shamanic arts included Painted Spirit, Painted Yin, and Painted Witch.

The most commonly seen was the Painted Spirit Shaman.

Painted Spirit shamanic arts involved a shaman signing a contract with a monster or a spirit, using special witchcraft patterns to invite the monster or spirit to possess them, giving them powerful strength to fight against evil spirits.

The power of a Painted Spirit Shaman depended on the strength and number of the monsters and spirits they had contracted with. They were a co-growing entity with the monsters and spirits; the better the monsters and spirits, the stronger they became.

Painted Yin was rarer.

This was because Painted Yin shamans’ methods depended on ghosts. They gained power by demonizing their bodies.

Ghosts were different from monsters and spirits. Ghostly energy was cold and gloomy, and departed souls craved yang energy. Even with a contract, the shaman’s body would still be affected by the ghostly energy. Therefore, very few people were willing to become Painted Yin shamans, even though it was easier to get started than the Painted Spirit path.

A Painted Yin Shaman only needed to sign a contract with one ghost in their lifetime and possess a single ghost-bone brush to paint the Yin.

Even if the ghost-bone brush broke, they could repair it as long as they found their contracted ghost.

They didn’t need to grow with the ghost; their strength growth depended on themselves. The stronger their physical body, the more ghostly energy they could accommodate, and the stronger they would become. This also meant that powerful Painted Yin shamans were basically half-ghosts.

Zhuang Ciyue was a Painted Yin Shaman, and the ghost she had contracted with was Xing Ruoyan.

Entering the Yin-Yang realm required a threshold and talent.

Zhuang Ciyue was a person who lacked talent but insisted on squeezing her way in.

Ever since she accidentally discovered her mother’s identity, her biggest dream was to see a ghost and become a Painted Spirit Shaman like her mother.

However, a Painted Spirit Shaman required a connection to spirits and their birth chart couldn’t be too hard; it was better to have a touch of evilness.

But Zhuang Ciyue’s birth chart was extremely hard. She was a natural good-fortune star, and it was very difficult for her to encounter anything ominous.

Others could see ghosts with two drops of tears from an ox, but she had to use half a bucket, soaking her eyes in ox tears just to see a ghost. It was on that occasion that she saw Yu Ruoyin, who was surrounded by a hundred ghosts. She even specifically found someone to read Yu Ruoyin’s fortune, and the more they looked, the more unlucky she seemed.

The fortune teller at the time said he had been reading faces for decades and had never seen anyone as unlucky as Yu Ruoyin. She was even more excessive than a Calamity Star, who would not only curse her parents, her parents, and all her relatives to death but would also curse her friends and herself. Her life would be short, and she was destined to die a tragic death.

Most people would have run far away after hearing about cursing friends to death, but Zhuang Ciyue was different.

She was afraid that others wouldn’t curse her.

From then on, Zhuang Ciyue set her sights on Yu Ruoyin. She wholeheartedly wanted to be friends with Yu Ruoyin and have her curse her good-fortune star life.

It was best if it would allow her to see ghosts. Since Yu Ruoyin was a little short on money, she naturally asked Yu Ruoyin to be her tutor.

Her mother was naturally more than happy to support this, as Zhuang Ciyue had always been so focused on seeing and catching ghosts that she had no interest in studying. She had gotten all zeros on her elementary school tests. Now that she was finally willing to learn, they were of course going to support her.

Until three years ago, her mother discovered a problem with Yu Ruoyin’s fate.

Zhuang’s mother worried that Zhuang Ciyue would be cursed to death by Yu Ruoyin, so she tried to stop Zhuang Ciyue from being friends with her.

Zhuang Ciyue looked gentle and quiet, but deep down, she had a stubborn streak. She didn’t want to leave the friend she had chosen, but her mother tempted her with her favorite ghost-catching career.

She had hesitated, but her mother, along with Xing Ruoyan and her distant great-aunt, conspired to deceive her, even using a honey trap.

At the time, Xing Ruoyan and the others took advantage of Zhuang Ciyue’s ignorance about what a Painted Yin Shaman was. They lied to her, saying that the bond between a Painted Yin Shaman and their contracted ghost was deeper than that of a Painted Spirit Shaman. They claimed that a spiritual union through marriage was necessary to become a true Painted Yin Shaman, and once they achieved it, the Painted Yin Shaman’s power would double and the ghostly energy they could accommodate would increase rapidly.

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