So cold.
A bone-chilling cold.
The icy sensation condensed from the deepest darkness seeped into Yang Siguang’s veins through the Mirror Immortal’s tight binding, thread by thread.
His skin gradually began to go numb, then slowly detached from his perception. It felt as if someone was peeling away his skin bit by bit, exposing his pure and tender interior entirely.
Yang Siguang couldn’t help but tremble violently. He knew well that he was now nothing more than a soul, yet he still instinctively feared and resisted the gradual loss of his senses. He could no longer recall how the Mirror Immortal had responded to his deal in the end. But he knew that at this moment, something was greedily invading his soul.
His consciousness began to blur uncontrollably.
In the haze, fleeting images flashed through his increasingly distorted vision.
He seemed to see that hidden room he had once entered.
In the room filled with talismans, all the candles had already gone out.
His body lay face down, motionless, soaking in the water tank at the center of the room, like a floating corpse. Aunt Qiao’s face was pale, her expression terrified, as she kept calling out something beside him. Unfortunately, Yang Siguang could no longer hear her voice.
Then the door to the room was forcibly opened from the outside. Yang Siguang saw Li Bo—the real Li Bo—bursting into the room. Ignoring Aunt Qiao’s attempts to stop him, the man dragged “himself,” already completely limp, out of the water tank.
After checking the pulse and heartbeat of the body, Li Bo’s expression turned terrifyingly grim.
Then, he bent down and began performing CPR and artificial respiration on Yang Siguang’s body left in the real world.
In the haze, Yang Siguang vaguely felt that as Li Bo worked tirelessly in the real world, a faint warmth seemed to rise in his own chest… He struggled, desperately trying to see that scene more clearly. Was it an illusion? Why did he see crystal-clear droplets covering Li Bo’s face after failing to wake “himself” for so long? Like sweat… or tears?
Lies—
But in the next moment, the Mirror Immortal’s snake-like soft arms slithered up toward Yang Siguang’s neck.
And the mirage-like image of reality dissolved into a wisp of smoke, gradually disappearing before Yang Siguang’s eyes.
Yang Siguang weakly struggled, but this small movement only caused him to sink deeper into the darkness—or rather, the depths of the Mirror Immortal’s body.
The malicious ghost in the mirror had long shed all its human disguise, revealing its most abhorrent true form. Its slimy, icy body had almost completely enveloped Yang Siguang, leaving only the young man’s pale head exposed.
A thin, wet tongue traced along Yang Siguang’s ear, licking and teasing with a sinister and wicked intent.
[Regret it?]
The Mirror Ghost’s malicious whisper echoed.
After a long pause, Yang Siguang slowly shook his head.
Regret… No, of course not.
Even now, with all reason and sensation fading, the answer became exceptionally clear.
Yang Siguang had not made the deal with the Mirror Ghost out of a momentary emotional impulse.
He simply felt that, compared to Li Chen, he was the one more suited to disappear from this world.
He had never had any strong attachment to the world, nor was there anyone in reality who deeply cherished or needed his presence. He was merely an ordinary, timid, and hollow passerby in life. Even while alive, his heart had long been empty, like a wandering ghost.
So, he would never regret it.
He was just… just…
Just a little surprised.
In that fleeting glimpse of reality, Li Bo had shown such despair at his departure.
So, there really was someone—someone who genuinely and sincerely wished for him to stay in that world.
*
Though now, he already…
Couldn’t anymore.
*
Almost at the moment Yang Siguang realized this, his vision went completely dark.
All his senses vanished.
The Mirror Ghost’s body swelled to an astonishing size, like a ravenous beast finally unable to resist devouring its prey whole. It “ate” Yang Siguang. To Yang Siguang, that moment felt like plunging into a bottomless abyss.
Everything disappeared.
Sight, touch, hearing…
And with them, his regrets, joys, bitterness, and pain…
All that remained was endless cold and the filthy desire emanating from the Mirror Ghost.
However, just as Yang Siguang’s consciousness was about to completely dissolve, a faint, warm voice called out from the depths of the darkness.
[Sisi—]
[Don’t be afraid.]
Then, Yang Siguang faintly felt someone gently tug at his hand.
In that instant, the sensation in his right hand abruptly returned. Yang Siguang instinctively tightened his grip and realized that in his palm was a dagger exuding a sharp and chilling aura.
It was the dagger Aunt Qiao had once given him to bring here! The weapon that had been so easily taken away by the Mirror Immortal and disappeared was now back in Yang Siguang’s hand. But unlike before, this time, Yang Siguang could clearly feel the dagger resonating with his instinct to survive. It was eager—it was yearning… yearning to…
The desire to break through all filth and evil spirits.
To seal away all demons and evil ghosts in the world.
…
The consciousness, which had once been as thin as a thread, instantly became incredibly clear.
Yang Siguang suddenly raised his hand and struck down toward the chaotic, surging, endless darkness before him. The soft flesh that had been attached to Yang Siguang’s body moved in unison, tightening, and then emitted a sharp, piercing cry.
“How dare you—”
Then Yang Siguang heard the scream from the Mirror Immortal.
The evil ghost’s voice was no longer as calm as before; it had become unusually anxious and fearful.
Yang Siguang struggled to open his eyes, and he faced the distorted, wriggling face of the mirror ghost. A swollen and deformed head was embedded on a series of severely distorted bodies. The soul it had absorbed over the years had formed a winding, wet, maggot-like decaying body.
At this moment, a long crack appeared at the corner of the Mirror Immortal’s mouth, from which black sticky liquid continuously oozed. It was the wound that Yang Siguang had personally inflicted. However, it took him a few seconds to realize that the Mirror Immortal’s anger and fear seemed not to be because of him, but because…
“Zzz… Zzz…”
A wet tearing sound rang out. Yang Siguang couldn’t believe his eyes as the Mirror Immortal’s face suddenly distorted, twisting to a horrifying degree. Then, a pair of corpse-stained hands slowly tore open the Mirror Immortal’s skin and painfully flipped open its cheek.
A completely new face emerged, breaking through the flesh and revealing itself before Yang Siguang.
“Li Chen…”
Yang Siguang stared at that familiar yet unfamiliar face, muttering.
Li Chen still had the tragic appearance he had in death.
No matter how much it was patched, it was still that horrific, disordered face, only the faint golden-brown eyes still retained the beauty from when he was alive.
*
At the same time, the bloated body of the Mirror Immortal quickly grew a new head, and the evil ghost let out an astonishing scream, resuming its previous rampage.
“How laughable, a mere remnant soul, yet you dare to attempt to take over—”
The grotesque, twisted limbs of the creature squirmed in the darkness, instantly crushing its former head. The shattered skull burst into a filthy spray of blood before, just as the Mirror Immortal was about to extend its limbs to absorb Yang Siguang back into its body, a small piece of pale, broken corpse slowly emerged from the body, blocking the Mirror Immortal’s path.
The Mirror Immortal’s arrogant laughter suddenly stopped.
The arms, still bearing traces of stitches, one after another bloomed like a lotus from the depths of the underworld, piercing deeply into the cold, bone-chilling sludge made up of countless souls…
“Hiss—how is this possible?! What do you think you’re doing?!”
The Mirror Immortal raised its ugly head and rasped out a question. Of course, the evil ghost, which had lived for countless years, couldn’t be controlled by a remnant soul. As Li Chen’s body imprisoned the Mirror Immortal every second, its corpse was constantly being crushed and devoured. But then, in those areas stained with blood, more arms sprouted, along with ribs, and the spine stripped of all flesh…
The pale organs conjured by the remnant soul continued their weak and brief control, until, in the final moment, they actually managed to temporarily bind the massive creature in the endless darkness.
Li Chen, with great difficulty, turned his head toward Yang Siguang.
His face, already deformed from the immense impact, made even his smile appear ferocious.
[I will… protect… you.]
He moved his broken lips as if saying this.
Almost at the same moment, Yang Siguang raised the dagger in his hand high.
He gritted his teeth, silently praying in his heart, praying that all the gods and Buddhas in this world would bless him not to waste the opportunity Li Chen had fought for him… And just as he was about to plunge the dagger into the Mirror Immortal’s body, Yang Siguang met the evil ghost’s eyes.
Up until this point, the Mirror Immortal still used Li Chen’s eyes.
It continued to stare at Yang Siguang, with coldness in its golden-brown eyes, devoid of any emotion.
In a flash, Yang Siguang’s heart stirred slightly.
A mirror.
Any surface that can reflect things can be called a mirror.
He had already stabbed the dagger into the Mirror Immortal’s body before, yet it hadn’t been harmed in the slightest. Clearly, its true form was not this formless thing that Yang Siguang could see.
Its true form…
Was the only “mirror” on its body—its eyes.
*
“Crack—”
When Yang Siguang pushed the dagger into the Mirror Immortal’s eye socket, he didn’t hear the muffled sound of flesh tearing.
Instead, he heard a very crisp sound.
Through the dagger, he could feel that something was pressing against the tip of the blade, and it had already shattered.
And up until this point, the evil ghost, which had been watching Yang Siguang struggle to the death with interest, finally showed a hint of disbelief in its shattered pupils…
“You… how… did you find out?”
The Mirror Immortal let out a hoarse sound.
But the voice was completely different from before, sounding like glass shards being forcefully crushed underfoot, with a harsh, indistinct sound. The bloated body that had just moments ago been so massive, it seemed to occupy the entire world, gradually began to dissipate and crumble as cracks appeared on it.
The evil ghost’s expression became extremely twisted and ferocious. The coldness that should have receded with its dissolution grew even stronger at this moment. Yang Siguang narrowed his eyes and observed the Mirror Immortal, an inexplicable premonition rising in his heart…
He realized that, just like the Mirror Immortal’s fragmentation, he too had become immobile and his body was in intense pain.
Then, Yang Siguang suddenly realized that his own figure still lingered in the shattered pupils of the Mirror Immortal, not fading away.
He… would still be taken away by the monster before him, wouldn’t he?
This thought surged into Yang Siguang’s mind, becoming increasingly stubborn.
But gradually, gradually, the Mirror Immortal’s expression eerily became calm.
“Very clever.”
Cold, touch-like limbs brushed across Yang Siguang’s cheek with the last of their strength.
“No wonder he liked you so much… I… like you… this much…”
The evil ghost, which had absorbed countless lives and passed through endless years, appeared to find peace in its final moments, just before it was about to dissipate.
“Forget it.”
It let out a light sigh.
…
Then, Yang Siguang’s consciousness, along with the monster before him, vanished, plunging him completely into chaos.
*
In a daze, Yang Siguang felt as though he had unknowingly returned to the residential building where he had lived as a child.
The hallway was narrow, and the sunset was blood-red.
His consciousness was blurry and murky, and he had long since forgotten why he was there.
He only knew, mechanically, that he was constantly going up and down the narrow staircase. But for some reason, no matter how hard he tried, he was always stuck on the same small section of the stairs, unable to return home or leave the building.
He lingered there for what seemed like a long time, long enough for the sunset outside the hallway to gradually set, but the light in the staircase never turned on.
The light grew dimmer and dimmer until it became so dark that Yang Siguang could no longer see the steps beneath his feet.
He felt very tired.
So tired that he could barely breathe.
In his dazed state, Yang Siguang knew he should be going somewhere… to a place where someone was waiting for him.
Waiting for him to return.
But…
But he couldn’t find the exit.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find it.
Just as Yang Siguang felt lost and helpless, and even began to cry like the child he once was…
A tall and handsome young man suddenly appeared from the shadows and reached out to take his hand.
“Sisi.”
He heard the person call his name.
The voice was very familiar, so familiar that hearing it instantly brought him comfort.
But strangely, as the person held his hand, his tears began to fall even more.
“Sisi, don’t cry. Are you lost and can’t find your way home?”
The light was very dim, and Yang Siguang couldn’t see his face. He could only hear the person gently coaxing him.
“How come you’re still crying so much at this age? This really worries me… Come, don’t be afraid; I’ll take you home.”
Yang Siguang sniffled and shook his head.
“…I can’t go back.”
He muttered.
“I can’t go back anymore. I’ve tried for so long, so long, but I just can’t go back…”
The child’s voice was filled with fear and hesitation.
The young man seemed to sigh softly.
“It’s okay,” he said, “I’ll take you back. Sisi, don’t be afraid.”
As he spoke, the young man began to lead Yang Siguang down the stairs.
One step, two steps, three steps…
Before long, the light had completely disappeared.
The long staircase fell into pure darkness, but under the young man’s guidance, Yang Siguang never missed a single step.
Then, when Yang Siguang finally realized what had happened, he found that he had safely reached the very end of the staircase and arrived at the doorway of the building.
Outside the tightly closed iron security door, faint beams of light were shining through.
Yang Siguang and the young man both stopped in their tracks at the same time.
The young man still stood in the shadows of the staircase, holding Yang Siguang’s hand one last time with affection, before slowly letting go.
“Go on, you should go home now.”
He gently pushed Yang Siguang’s frail shoulder.
Yang Siguang stumbled forward a few steps.
But he realized that the young man hadn’t followed him.
Yang Siguang turned around and instinctively called out, “Li Chen? Aren’t you coming?”
He asked.
The young man seemed to open his mouth, hesitated, and then stood there for a long time, giving a bitter smile.
“Mm, I can’t go back.”
Yang Siguang furrowed his brow in confusion. He vaguely felt that something was wrong, but just then, he heard someone else calling from outside the door…
“Siguang! Come back! Who gave you permission to die here like this! Come back!”
“I won’t allow you to die! Do you hear me? I won’t allow it!”
Yang Siguang suddenly trembled.
Then, a blinding light burst from behind him, enveloping him completely.
