Chapter 79

Jiang Xunyi had experienced it in person, so he had already formed a guess. “I remember there is a magic weapon called the phantom mirror. It can create apparitions with the images it has reflected, and it can even imitate the images of close people deep in one’s heart. I don’t know if it is exactly the phantom mirror, but I’m sure that what I walked into should be an illusion created from something similar. As for the one who led me in, it is the bloody evil spirit condensed from countless resentments centered on the red wedding dress.

The illusion appeared exactly as reality, except that everything was opposite. Jiang Xunyi had an extraordinary memory and a keen nature, so he quickly caught onto the subtle difference. In addition, when he later encountered the illusion of Yun Xie, he immediately noticed that he was wielding the sword with his left hand, which was contrary to normal. This confirmed that what he saw was not reality. For an ordinary person, their five senses would have been blinded after they entered the illusion. Once your mind is lost, it will be difficult to get out.

Yun Xie sat next to Jiang Xunyi with a hand supporting his chin as he watched him talk with a smile. When he heard up to this, he raised his hand and threw something on the table, making a soft “click”. “A’Xun, you are so smart. Isn’t this a phantom mirror?”

The group looked over at the same time. The mirror that Yun Xie had thrown on the table was only palm-sized, with a hideous ghost head carved on the back. Du Li reached out and turned it over, and a flash emitted from the mirror’s surface. The front of the mirror was clear and dazzling, emitting a faint silver light. It appeared to be the actual legendary phantom mirror.

Jiang Xunyi said, “You act fast. It seems that you have made progress recently. When we have time, we should have a match.”

Yun Xie replied, “Are you not willing to submit again? Alas, you are eager to win. I say why bother? in fact, this is all because of you…” He suddenly leaned towards Jiang Xunyi and raised his sleeves to hide them from view. He gently pointed at his ear. “As husband and wife, we are one, why do you care so much about this? In the future, we can be more diligent in double cultivation and make progress together…”

Jiang Xunyi’s entire ear was red, but it was not easy to openly beat Yun Xie in front of so many people, so he could only grit his teeth and roll his eyes at Yun Xie fiercely.

In reality, he didn’t need to hide. The others were already used to the two showing their love regardless of time and place. Rou Rou softly bowed her head and picked at the pearls on her sleeves, Yu Hong took an empty teacup to his lips to drink seriously, and Du Li glanced at the mirror over and over again until finally, Yun Xie sat upright.

As if nothing had happened, he asked, “Second brother, what is the resentment you spoke of?”

Jiang Xunyi raised the corner of his lips and turned to Yu Hong. “Tell me, what did you find?”

Under Jiang Xunyi’s direction, Yu Hong had already realized that there was something wrong with the ashes, and he hurriedly said, “I found that the white powder in the yard just now felt heavy in my hands. It’s not like grabbing a handful of ashes, but rather like grabbing a handful of iron powder. But no matter how I look at it, I still think it should be the remnants of the burning of human bones.”

Jiang Xunyi replied, “Because she is not an ordinary demon, but a female enchantress.”

He had already said this to Yun Xie just now, but the other three people said in unison, “Then what?”

Jiang Xunyi was about to explain, but Yun Xie had already said mockingly, “Hey, it’s fine if Yu Hong and Miss Zhu don’t know, but for the head of the Du family to not even know what a female enchantress is? This is a murderous spirit whose story was widely spread back then. It’s said that when a rich child dies before marriage, in order to assure that they are not lonely in the afterlife, their families would buy a suitable female corpse at high prices. However, it is a little difficult to die at such a coincidental time. In order to make money, many poor families sealed their young daughters alive in a coffin to suffocate and sold them off. This is where the saying that ‘the dead are more valuable than the living’ came from.”

He stared at Yu Hong’s hand, gaze distant, and continued, “It is a pity that these young girls not only suffered a terrible death but had also been… betrayed by their own family. How could there not be resentment? They were sealed in the coffin, and over time, they gained magical powers from their oppressive resentment. They swallowed the bones of the men around them and broke out of the coffin, wreaking havoc everywhere. Later, they were burned clean by a wandering cultivator’s true fire. Now, someone must have collected their ashes and used their resentment to activate the phantom mirror…”

When he said “betrayed by their own family”, the tone of his words deliberately hardened. Du Li’s face turned pale, and he took a sip of tea from the teacup.

Jiang Xunyi lowered his eyes slightly. This is the reason why he tried to exorcise the female enchantresses in the first place. However, there were so many opponents and the resentment was too strong. Only a few were exorcised by him, and the rest were wiped out by Yun Xie. However, even though he had regrets, there was no alternative.

“Oh, it’s so pitiful,” Yun Xie concluded. “These women are only cruel because they were abandoned. If anyone cherished them at the time, they would not fall to this point. Yu Hong, when you picked up the ashes, did you feel that it was supposed to be the delicate skin of a woman? They would think that you are a lover who truly cares for them, but who knew you would just leave again…”

“Martial Uncle Yun!” Yu Hong gritted his teeth together. His expression looked like he wanted to chop off his own hand. “Don’t say anymore!”

Yun Xie laughed evilly, but Du Li stood up and said, “This magical mirror is a rare spiritual weapon. In that case, it seems that as long as this is in our possession, there is no need to rush to find the perpetrator. Then I leave this matter in the hands of Sect Master Yun and Young Master Jiang. I have other business to take care of, so I will leave first.”

Yun Xie inexplicably felt that Du Li was not pleasing to the eye. While it seemed that his words were only meant to scared Yu Hong, in fact, he was mocking the Du family and how they offered Du Heng instead of Du Li. He merely ran his mouth a lot, but he didn’t expect to irritate Du Li so much. The other’s expression had twisted so much, it was unable to be hidden, and he scrambled to flee. Jiang Xunyi couldn’t help but feel astonished at the sight.

Thoughts flashed in Jiang Xunyi’s mind, but when Yun Xie looked over, his expression had returned to normal. He got up and walked to the window, looking back after a long while. “It’s dawn.”

The sun had risen, and the dawn sunshine slipped past the window lattice to spill on him, draping a golden suit over him.

Zhu Rou looked at his exquisite silhouette lit by the sun, and the entanglement in her heart that had formed on that night became more and more disturbed at this moment. Without thinking, she blurted out a sentence she had been thinking of for a long time in her heart. “Brother Jiang, we have already bowed at the altar, why don’t I really marry you?”

When they had first met, she was attracted to Yun Xie’s temperament, but she soon discovered that this handsome and gentle man actually had a cold heart. It seemed that there was no one in the world worthy of his attention. He wasn’t as learned and interesting as expected, and her shallow feelings quickly disappeared. On the other hand, after interacting with Jiang Xunyi a few times, she had grown addicted to his cold gentleness. She felt that she was actually sinking deeper and deeper, unable to forget.

Who knew that these two lousy men got together!

After Zhu Rou said this sentence, she immediately regretted it, but Jiang Xunyi had already heard it all, so she couldn’t take it back. She stared at him with unspeakable longing in her eyes.

Jiang Xunyi was startled and laughed as if it was a joke. “Are you serious?”

He wouldn’t say anything particularly hurtful to a woman like he does to Yun Xie, but although he didn’t even blatantly refuse, Zhu Rou’s heart sank.

Jiang Xunyi was once ranked first among the five young masters in the cultivation world. He was able to beat both the moody Yun Xie and the indifferent Jiang Molou. Besides his appearance, it was because although he looked cold, with just one interaction, it was evident that this person actually had a good demeanor and temperament, so he had always been known to be as gentlemanly as jade. In Zhu Rou’s eyes, the only one who could make him gloomy, embarrassed, annoyed, and utter bad words was Yun Xie.

When she said that sentence, she wanted to hand her entire heart over, but Jiang Xunyi’s smile was still so polite, and there wasn’t even a ripple in his demeanor. Because of his good upbringing, he showed a hint of apologetic tenderness, but she knew that… he never had her in his heart.

A lot of thoughts flashed in her mind, but Zhu Rou just smiled faintly and replied, “No, I’m kidding.”

Yun Xie interrupted the conversation between the two of them and stood up. “Are you finished? What kind of joke is this? It makes me jealous. A’Xun can only marry me alone. This has nothing to do with you at all. We’ve already taken up the entire night, Yu Hong, take Miss Zhu out to play. A’Xun and I still have secrets to talk about.”

Yu Hong and Zhu Rou had been involuntarily driven out by Yun Xie, and Yu Hong felt a little bad, so he said softly to Zhu Rou, “Miss Zhu, don’t hold this against him, Martial Uncle Yun treats everyone like this…”

Zhu Rou was not angry at all, and she smiled lightly. “Even to your martial uncle?”

Yu Hong was stunned. “Ah, that’s not true. They… They are the Dual Jades of the Spirit Stage, and their lives are intertwined. Of course it’s different between them.”

Zhu Rou said leisurely, “Thinking back, on the Spirit Stage, the two men competed and won the championship side by side, how spirited… It’s a pity that I’m young and was not able to witness it. But forget it, there is nothing more to dwell on now.” She tugged on Yu Hong’s sleeves. “Come on, let’s go to Brother Du and let him help arrange two rooms for us.”

Jiang Xunyi did not stop Yun Xie from chasing the others out. After the two people walked out and left the yard, he flicked his clothes back and sat down at the table. He stretched his fingers and flicked the phantom mirror, and it suddenly hummed.

“Du Li hadn’t finished talking. We came here because Du Rui was cursed by Banmena, but even now, I still do not seen what this matter has to do with the female enchantress.”

Yun Xie sat down beside him. “A’Xun, do you know where I got this mirror?”

Jiang Xunyi lazily raised his chin, motioning for him to continue.

Yun Xie continued, “After you married someone else, I was full of desperation and despair, so I wandered around the Du family’s house for some relaxation. However, after so many turns, I got lost. I was walking and walking, and when I looked up, I realized Aiya, this is not good, I actually arrived at the family’s ancestral hall!”

Even if nine and a half out of ten of Yun Xie’s sentences were nonsense, Jiang Xunyi could extract the key point he wanted to express. “You went to visit the Du family’s ancestral hall? What is inside?”