It is said that when Ding Xiaolong went for the check-up, the scans were done multiple times, but nothing unusual was found in his stomach.
It wasn’t until a phantom figure appeared beside the doctor, extending a grayish hand with corpse marks, and pointing at the screen, that they discovered the copper coin in Ding Xiaolong’s stomach.
That figure, even many years later, remained one of the enduring ghost stories of that hospital.
*
The moment Li Chen’s phantom vanished, Yang Siguang instinctively reached out towards that person.
He futilely tried to grab the fading figure of the deceased, but as the illusion completely disappeared, the only thing he grasped was Li Bo’s broad, slightly rough hand.
“Siguang?! Are you okay—”
Li Bo stared at Yang Siguang with a worried expression. It took a while before Yang Siguang realized what had happened—his cheeks were wet, and he had been crying uncontrollably.
For an adult man, this behavior was somewhat embarrassing, but Yang Siguang no longer cared about that.
Like a drowning person grabbing the last piece of driftwood, he clung to Li Bo’s arm, repeatedly muttering the same words.
“I have to save him. I have to save him…”
The young man’s teeth were chattering, and although the death curse had been broken, his body felt as cold as ice.
Li Bo unconsciously tightened his arm, and then he heard Yang Siguang continue, “…I have to kill the Mirror Immortal.”
The man’s movements froze immediately.
Yang Siguang’s voice gradually became calm and determined.
“That’s right, I must do this.”
Otherwise, Li Chen would remain trapped in the depths of the mirror, forever imprisoned and tortured by that malicious evil spirit, unable to be reborn.
…
This was the reason why, on that evening not long ago, the car had crashed into Li Chen instead of Yang Siguang—because in order for Yang Siguang to survive, that was the price Li Chen had to pay.
*
“Kill the old Mirror Immortal? Save Li Chen? You two… are you joking??”
However…
Clearly, for Aunt Qiao, Yang Siguang’s decision had no chance of coming to fruition.
“Just in case, Aunt Qiao still needs to remind you, I’m a medium, not a real immortal!”
The woman, whose face had been slightly pale after finishing the ritual, now looked as if it had been smeared with soot.
She placed her hands on her hips, her eyes wide open, and glared fiercely at Li Bo.
When she looked at Yang Siguang, her expression was no better.
“…Two ignorant little brats, daring to say such nonsense. Do you know what the old Mirror Immortal of the Li family is? When someone dares to claim they are an immortal, there’s a reason behind it. The Li family has been worshiping this immortal since the Qing Dynasty. Over the years, they have sacrificed countless lives, laid down numerous karmic debts, just to barely keep this immortal in their home.”
“I’ve already taken a huge risk to help you break the death curse. I’ve burned incense, prayed, and spoken countless good words to our family’s holy immortal just to barely make this happen. But this is a huge risk! And what do you do? You come here with this nonsense? Talking about completely destroying the old Mirror Immortal… What’s that thing on your shoulders? Is it a soup of noodles, or did worms crawl into your brains?”
Aunt Qiao was furious.
When she reached the peak of her anger, she turned around and tucked the items she brought under her arm, then walked straight toward the door of the ward, seemingly ready to leave.
Li Bo, who had been scolded into silence, couldn’t help but call out:
“Aunt Qiao—”
Before he could say more, Aunt Qiao suddenly turned around and interrupted him.
“Don’t call me Aunt Qiao, and don’t mention that damned price. I’m not going to take your life-money. Your price is too high, it makes me uncomfortable to hear it.”
Li Bo shook his head.
“No, Aunt, I wasn’t planning to offer you a price. I know that asking you to help with the death curse is already an act of kindness… I just… I just beg you, think about my mom.”
His voice was hoarse, and his tone was unusually somber when mentioning the past.
“Just think of my mom, and give us a hint. If we have to deal with the old Mirror Immortal, we won’t trouble you to act, we’ll handle it ourselves. Whatever happens, we’ll bear the consequences.”
Yang Siguang obviously sensed the change in atmosphere, especially when Li Bo suddenly mentioned his mother. He felt a chill down his spine.
“…”
Aunt Qiao stood still, unmoving.
It was clear that her teeth were clenched so tightly that the muscles in her jaw twitched.
“Li Bo, you ungrateful bastard—”
After a long pause, she ground her teeth and cursed.
Once Li Bo’s biological mother was mentioned, Aunt Qiao could no longer move her legs.
The two women had once been sisters who depended on each other, foolishly talking about sharing both joys and hardships.
But in the end, one went to practice sorcery, while the other, after marrying into a rich family, disregarded all obstacles and pushed her biological child to be adopted by someone else. It wasn’t until the child was locked in a basement with his life in danger that the mother woke up, crying and going to find her old friend.
Li Bo didn’t know the price his biological mother paid to ensure he left that basement unharmed. He only knew that shortly after that incident, the woman mysteriously died. Since then, Aunt Qiao had completely avoided the Li family and never dared to get involved again.
She never spoke of it, but Li Bo knew his mother’s death was Aunt Qiao’s hidden pain… No matter what, he shouldn’t have mentioned her death, but now he had no other choice.
“…So, my mom must have been killed by the Mirror Ghost, right?”
Li Bo’s voice was hoarse.
“Li Bo?”
Yang Siguang’s expression froze.
He couldn’t help but grip Li Bo’s hand tightly. He was indeed more eager than anyone to destroy the Mirror Immortal and release Li Chen’s soul, but Li Bo’s reaction had far exceeded his expectations.
He had originally planned to ask Aunt Qiao for help himself if necessary. He didn’t want to involve Li Bo, especially since this was connected to Li Bo’s past…
Li Bo only held his hand back.
But he didn’t respond to Yang Siguang’s anxious gaze.
“I’m not asking you for this because of Yang Siguang.”
The man spoke.
“I just feel… that this situation is really pointless. Look, Li Chen is dead, and now those two old fools are pressuring me to get married and have children to feed the evil spirits they raised. If we keep backing down, my children’s children, and even more of my blood relatives… will end up in the Li family’s ghost den. I’m tired, Aunt Qiao, just give us a hint. You don’t need to do anything, just point us in the right direction…”
Upon hearing this, Aunt Qiao took a deep breath, her body trembling slightly.
She stared at Li Bo, her expression extremely serious.
“You two are really out of your minds.”
She muttered under her breath.
“Do you think no one has ever tried to deal with the Li family’s immortal? But they couldn’t even get past the door of the Li family, and before they could do anything, they all died, in the most bizarre ways. Those who left intact corpses were already highly skilled. That thing is the most sinister, you think you can get rid of it? Ha, it’s easier said than done. Ordinary rituals don’t work. The only thing that can be done is to destroy its physical body in this world.”
At this point, her gaze swept back and forth between the two men.
“…Don’t think this is simple. Any mirror in this world could be its physical body. How can you find it? If it weren’t for other spirits guiding you, do you think you could even see the death curse on Xiao Yang? Dream on!”
Finally, her gaze settled completely on Yang Siguang.
“Qiao Aunt?”
“Qiao Aunt…”
Both Li Bo and Yang Siguang spoke at the same time, one in fear, the other in calm.
“The Mirror Immortal… really likes Xiao Yang.”
Aunt Qiao ignored the two of them and murmured to herself.
“With its usual sinister and malevolent nature, if it were dealing with an ordinary person, it wouldn’t need to go through such roundabout methods. But with Xiao Yang, it uses all kinds of illusions and nightmares in turn. It didn’t directly harm him unless absolutely necessary,” Aunt Qiao said word by word. “It’s probably because when it took over that child Li Chen, it was somewhat affected.”
“Do you mean…?”
Hearing this, Yang Siguang’s heart stirred slightly. It was hard to tell whether it was panic, nervousness, or a hint of joy, but all these emotions surged up at once.
In contrast, Li Bo’s expression grew even more unpleasant.
“You need to get close to it.”
Aunt Qiao sighed deeply.
“You need to let the Mirror Immortal take you, take you to a world beyond the mortal realm. At that time, I’ll prepare a sword for you. If you’re lucky, you might really be able to destroy it. But I’ll say this upfront: the chance of success is very slim. Even though the mirror is its domain, not even the people of the underworld can control it there. In that place, it’s no different from a true immortal. And if you’re unlucky and it discovers you before you can act, your fate will likely be worse than death. Honestly, if you die, you can at least be reincarnated, but if you fall into its hands, you’ll never escape, no matter how long you live. As for the Li family, they’ve enjoyed wealth and glory, and though they’ve paid the price for their family’s karma, it’s inevitable. But you, Xiao Yang, you really don’t need to get involved in this mess—”
“Exactly.”
It was Li Bo, who nodded from the side.
“Siguang, after this, it has nothing to do with you. Don’t get involved anymore. As for Li Chen, I’ll figure out how to handle it—”
“You’ll handle it?”
Aunt Qiao gave Li Bo a big roll of her eyes.
“What are you? The method I’m talking about has one big premise: the Mirror Immortal is fond of Xiao Yang. As for you? It would be happy to destroy you and get rid of you.”
“But…”
Yang Siguang raised his hand and lightly placed it on Li Bo’s shoulder. With a slight push, he moved the man backward.
He didn’t give Li Bo the chance to continue speaking.
“Aunt Qiao, if this method could work, how should we proceed? I’m willing to do it.”
“Siguang!” Li Bo called out urgently.
Aunt Qiao pressed her hand to her forehead, clearly very troubled.
“I’m going to warn you one last time, don’t get involved in this. If you really decide to go, it’s like all the effort I put into helping you before will be in vain, and your life will probably be lost. If I had known it would come to this, I really wouldn’t have bothered—”
Her words were indeed harsh, and it was clear Aunt Qiao was still angry.
“I’m sorry.”
Yang Siguang spoke.
Then, without warning, he lowered his body and knelt in front of Aunt Qiao, bowing deeply to her.
“But… but Li Chen, he’s really too pitiful.”
“I can’t help it. I really can’t just leave him like this.”
