The Ghost Insists on Giving Me a Beautiful and Powerful Wife! - Chapter 49.1

Overgrown with weeds and dense shrubs, it looked less like a village and more like a patch of wilderness.

The only remaining traces of a settlement were a few wooden beams that looked like roof supports and some scattered fragments of broken tiles. Standing before them was a stone monument. Strangely, while the entire village was in decay, the monument was clean. Not only were there no weeds surrounding it, but the characters carved into the stone had not faded with time; they were incredibly clear, allowing them to easily read the words “Ming-Shan Village,” as if the sign had been left there specifically for them to see.

The fog rolled in.

A thick mist emerged from the depths of the village, spreading toward the outskirts at an incredible speed. It swallowed them almost instantly. Yu Ruoyin’s vision turned pitch black, save for a few greenish clusters of light flickering in the distance.

They seemed to be beckoning her forward, but with her vision obstructed, Yu Ruoyin didn’t dare move a single step.

Low, muffled sobbing echoed in the darkness. The mist felt damp and heavy, dragging at her body. Yu Ruoyin wanted to cry out for help, but when she opened her mouth, she couldn’t even make a faint sound. Fear quickly filled her heart, and most terrifyingly, Jiang Huaining and the others seemed to have vanished.

Silence.

A silence so profound that only the woman’s sobbing remained.

Yu Ruoyin could no longer sense the presence of Jiang Huaining or the others. Forget finding Xing Ruoyuan and Lu Qingzhen—she herself seemed to be lost.

“A-Yin, A-Yin.”

Jiang Huaining’s voice pierced through the silence, reaching her ears.

Yu Ruoyin responded hurriedly, “Auntie Ning, I’m here.”

She couldn’t find her bearings and didn’t dare take a step forward.

Jiang Huaining’s hand reached through the mist, grabbing Yu Ruoyin tightly. “A-Yin, hold on to me.”

Having lost her sight, hearing that familiar voice and feeling that familiar warmth was a relief. Yu Ruoyin couldn’t help but interlace her fingers with Jiang Huaining’s, pressing close to her side to find a sense of security.

She was practically hanging off Jiang Huaining’s body before she realized that this might make it difficult for Jiang Huaining to move. Yu Ruoyin bit her lip, frustrated with herself.

Her frustration wasn’t directed at Jiang Huaining, but at her own self. She hadn’t insisted on coming along just to be a burden! In a place like this, weakness and cowardice were sins, and she happened to possess both.

If only I wasn’t so weak. If only I could obtain Xia Yu’s power…

Yu Ruoyin shook her head, casting aside that wild thought. She bit her lower lip, enduring her fear as she slowly tried to let go of Jiang Huaining.

Just as she loosened her grip, before she could fully pull away, Jiang Huaining suddenly grabbed her wrist. With a forceful tug, Yu Ruoyin was pulled into her embrace. Jiang Huaining then hoisted her onto her back and began walking forward, a subtle hint of amusement in her voice: “A-Yin, didn’t I tell you? You have to hold on tight.”

“I… I was holding on…”

Wait. No.

Yu Ruoyin swallowed her weak defense. Jiang Huaining would never speak to her like that.

Jiang Huaining’s personality wasn’t naturally “good” per se, but she did her best to act gentle in front of Yu Ruoyin to hide that. While she did smile when talking to her, those smiles were always doting—not like this. This was… playful. No, it was mocking.

Finally, Yu Ruoyin found a slight advantage in her own flawed personality: a sensitive and overthinking person can detect even the subtlest shifts in emotion.

This person wasn’t Jiang Huaining.

When had she stopped being Jiang Huaining?

The fog—the thick fog.

They hadn’t been separated at all along the way, but the mist had appeared so suddenly, blocking everyone’s sight. Before she could react, she had been grabbed by this “Jiang Huaining,” who had led her away from the real one. This realization filled Yu Ruoyin with an unprecedented fury.

She was a novice Painter-Witch (Huawushi) with very few trump cards.

Yu Ruoyin suddenly resented herself. She had been too foolish, failing to prepare talismans beforehand. She had used up much of her Yuehua Paper and Yunqin Sand back in Yin City and hadn’t replenished them before following Jiang Huaining into the dangerous Ming-Shan Village.

Even though she had merged with the spiritual energy drifting from Lu Qichun’s body and should be stronger, how much stronger could she really be?

Yu Ruoyin’s silence didn’t stop the “Jiang Huaining” from walking. Yu Ruoyin decided to take a gamble.

She gathered all her strength and lunged her head forward to headbutt the “Jiang Huaining.”

Before she could make contact, she was thrown to the ground. The impact on her head was so painful she nearly screamed. Yu Ruoyin bit her lip to endure the pain, scrambled up as fast as possible, and began running blindly back the way she thought they had come.

Indeed, her speed had increased significantly.

The spiritual energy from Lu Qichun was much more abundant than Sang Xi’s. After absorbing that power, Yu Ruoyin’s physical stamina had seen a marked improvement.

She was fast, but the “Jiang Huaining” was faster.

Although Yu Ruoyin couldn’t see, she could feel a shadow chasing her. Suddenly, she felt a tightening around her waist—a hand had grabbed her.

Before she could struggle, she was pulled into an embrace, and the voice of “Jiang Huaining” rang out: “A-Yin, why are you running? Don’t you love me anymore?”

The “Jiang Huaining” held her so tightly that the immense pressure felt like it would snap her waist, as if trying to knead her into her own flesh and blood.

Panic-stricken, Yu Ruoyin struggled violently. “You’re not Auntie Ning!”

“And how am I not her?” The “Jiang Huaining’s” voice went up at the end. The voice was the same, but the tone was completely wrong.

As Yu Ruoyin struggled harder, the “Jiang Huaining” dissatisfiedly pinched her chin, her fingers grinding with force. Yu Ruoyin felt as if her jawbone was about to shatter, yet the woman didn’t let go. She said, “A-Yin, look closely. I am your wife.”

The world suddenly brightened. The thick fog receded rapidly, and Yu Ruoyin could finally see the person in front of her clearly.

She had the exact same face as Jiang Huaining, the same scent, and even her small gestures were identical.

Only the smile at the corners of her mouth and the way she spoke were vastly different. Yu Ruoyin was dazed for a moment, but only a moment. “You aren’t Auntie Ning! Auntie Ning wouldn’t—”

Yu Ruoyin didn’t want to waste her breath. The “Jiang Huaining” saw through her thoughts and finished the sentence for her: “Jiang Huaining wouldn’t embrace you so forcefully, wouldn’t chase you relentlessly, wouldn’t wish to merge your flesh and blood with hers, and certainly wouldn’t bully you like this. But… A-Yin, isn’t this what you want to do to me? Why is it that when our positions are swapped, you can’t accept it?”

The “Jiang Huaining” leaned down, her lips pressing against Yu Ruoyin’s neck, and bit down hard.

Pain and the woman’s words invaded her mind simultaneously. Yu Ruoyin felt an incomparable panic. She instinctively pushed at the “Jiang Huaining,” her heart filled with confusion: How did she know?

Yu Ruoyin thought she had hidden her dark side quite well. She did indeed wish that Jiang Huaining would only look at her. She had thought about possessing her, about kneading her into her own body to become a part of her, because she felt that since Jiang Huaining was the bright moon in her heart, she should only shine on her. She needed Jiang Huaining to see only her, to be tied only to her—so that not even that girl who looked exactly like her could take Jiang Huaining away.

She should belong to her, and only her.

Such thoughts constantly surfaced and were constantly suppressed. Yu Ruoyin admitted she had been overly sensitive lately and her emotions were increasingly spiraling out of control, often leading to bold and transgressive thoughts. But she had never acted on them.

She had hidden them so carefully. How could this thing know?

Initially confused, Yu Ruoyin began to feel the breakdown of having her mask ripped away. She was unwilling for anyone to see her malice, or to see the side of her that was unworthy of Jiang Huaining.

Yu Ruoyin stopped struggling and stared coldly at the “Jiang Huaining.” “How do you know?”

“Because…” The “Jiang Huaining” raised an eyebrow and smiled, her fingertip lightly brushing Yu Ruoyin’s soft cheek. “A-Yin, I am you.”

One moment she said she was Jiang Huaining, and the next she said she was Yu Ruoyin herself.

Yu Ruoyin didn’t believe a word of it. She began reciting an incantation in her mind, thinking of the Painter-Witch techniques she could use from the book. But before she could cast anything, her cheeks were pinched, forcing her mouth open. The “Jiang Huaining” leaned in close, and a cold, frigid breath spilled from her lips into Yu Ruoyin’s mouth. Yu Ruoyin’s throat was immediately occupied by a damp, ghostly chill.

She couldn’t break free, let alone speak. She felt as though her throat was being frozen inch by inch by frost. The coldness gradually drifted toward her abdomen; she felt colder and colder.

Yu Ruoyin was completely immobilized. She closed her eyes in despair, but the “Jiang Huaining” suddenly let go. “A-Yin, you can only be mine.”

Yu Ruoyin felt as if her body had been frozen into a thin, brittle sheet of ice that would shatter completely at the slightest touch. Her eyelids trembled, and she looked at the “Jiang Huaining” again. Perhaps because of the cold, she felt in a daze that the woman truly did resemble her.

The “Jiang Huaining” suddenly gripped her chin again. Pain flooded her nerves. As Yu Ruoyin gazed at her with cowardice, the “Jiang Huaining” sneered. “A-Yin, remember my face. I will be the last person you ever see.”

That hand slowly moved toward her eyelids, her smile becoming increasingly malicious. “A-Yin, your eyes must only hold me.”

The “Jiang Huaining” seemed prepared to gouge out her eyes. Yu Ruoyin closed her eyes in terror, but the expected pain did not come. Instead, she heard a faint cracking sound. Following that sound was a very gentle female voice, soft and light like a cloud brushing against her ear:

“Are you alright?”

Yu Ruoyin gathered her courage and opened her eyes. The morbid “Jiang Huaining” had vanished. The surrounding fog had dissipated a bit more, and she saw a woman who was as pale as paper.

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