Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 70: An Unusual Alliance

“Whoa,” Fang Xiu exclaimed in hiding.

He had picked the spot with the best view and was happily watching the entire scene unfold, even leisurely popping candy into his mouth. Over there, “Blondie” was shouting hysterically; over here, the candy crunched crisply between his teeth.

“Soul-Swapping Technique,” Bai Shuangying said, pulling out two evil spirit ears to munch on with Fang Xiu.

“This is actually allowed?”

Bai Shuangying: “If it were a real human body, soul-swapping would be difficult. But the bodies of sacrificial offerings are merely containers, without the involvement of the three souls and seven spirits. This kind of technique isn’t that advanced.”

Fang Xiu thought aloud, “So, extracting a soul from a real body is like ‘juicing a fruit’. Whereas this soul-swapping is more like pouring juice from a bottle into a cup?”

“…Yes.” Bai Shuangying glanced at “Fang Xiu’s juice”.

Fang Xiu thoughtfully pulled out a canned drink and took a few sips of the syrupy juice. After replenishing his “juice reserves”, he turned his full attention back toward the courtyard gate.

There, Jiang Xun had opened the gate. “Blondie” stood pitifully outside, panic written all over his face.

His physical body was intact, yet he couldn’t enter the courtyard. It was blocked by some invisible wall of air. “Blondie” pounded on the air in vain, performing a pitiful wall-crawling act in front of the empty gate with sweat pouring down his face.

“Please, switch me back,” he croaked, begging Jiang Xun.

Jiang Xun remained calm, lifting his eyelids slightly. “Not yet. If I swap you back now, he’ll regain access to his ghost arts.”

“Blondie” stared blankly at him. “Then what should I do?”

“I’ll rescue you when the time comes,” Jiang Xun replied softly as he drew patterns by the threshold, sticking a line of yellow talismans along it. “Blondie” tried to charge into the courtyard again, only to be blocked once more by the invisible wall.

“…Hmm, as expected, it’s a taboo. You’ve done well.”

Lu Wei, trapped in Blondie’s body, gave a dry laugh, sweat dripping down his back.

It was already afternoon. God only knew what it’d be like outside the courtyard after dark. Earlier victims had died just by stepping outside the house at night. What would happen if he left the courtyard?

Would Jiang Xun really rescue him? Would he make it in time?

In truth, this “soul-swapping to catch someone” tactic had been discussed beforehand. Lu Wei had agreed eagerly, hoping to earn some credit in front of a bigshot.

Now, standing here, Lu Wei felt an acute sense of dread. Safety was just one step away, yet utterly unreachable. His life was now completely in Jiang Xun’s hands. Whether he ever returned to his body depended entirely on Jiang Xun’s whim.

“Is there anything else you need me to do?” He said with a stiff face. “I’m here… Watch out!!!”

Blondie had taken advantage of Jiang Xun turning his back and suddenly charged forward, trying to tackle him with his full body weight. Jiang Xun was standing right beside a brick courtyard wall… If his head hit it directly, the outcome would be grim.

Jiang Xun didn’t dodge.

He seemed to have let his guard down. Upon hearing Lu Wei’s shout, he merely twisted his body slightly, avoiding a direct skull-to-brick impact.

Blondie slammed him to the ground and knelt on Jiang Xun’s back, trying to adjust his position to crush him with his full weight.

Lu Wei panicked. But using Blondie’s voice, he didn’t dare shout for help and could only watch helplessly.

Yet just seconds later, a faint breeze swept by, and a muffled scream came from Blondie’s gagged mouth. Bloody gashes opened on his thighs and arms, blood seeping through the cloth, pattering to the ground.

Lu Wei’s eyes bulged with horror. “That’s my body—!”

But Blondie didn’t give up so easily. Bleeding profusely, he forced himself to push down on the back of Jiang Xun’s neck. The longer he pressed, the more blood oozed from his wounds.

After ten seconds or so, his upper body began to tremble violently, like seaweed in a flood. Saliva and blood flew from his mouth, and finally, he collapsed to the side, unable to move.

Jiang Xun calmly stood up from under the gasping Blondie and brushed the dust from his clothes. “Thanks for the cooperation. I’ve learned a lot more now.”

He glanced at the half-conscious Lu Wei and added, “Don’t worry. As long as you’re still breathing when the taboo ends, your wounds will heal.”

He was still playing the “everything’s under control” card.

“Don’t damage the courtyard or else you’ll be expelled. Don’t walk into the wind or else you’ll die. Two taboos identified, one remains,” Fang Xiu summarized casually. “Losing flesh or falling doesn’t cause instant death. It must be caused by an evil spirit… Not bad. Jiang Xun is thorough.”

This guy was really treating Jiang Xun like a handy prop… and using him quite efficiently. Bai Shuangying suddenly felt like his earlier warnings to the “Master” here had been utterly pointless. Fang Xiu could always dig up clues from the strangest places.

Still, based on the current clues, Fang Xiu probably couldn’t yet confirm the Master’s true nature… Bai Shuangying hoped.

Then he heard Fang Xiu say, “Can you lower the concealment a bit? Just enough for the evil spirit to hear.”

“?”

“You always say I don’t know any magic. Let me show you one.” Fang Xiu grinned mysteriously. “This is my trump card… A diagnostic spell that never fails.”

Unacceptable.

Bai Shuangying set a record 0.0001-second reaction time in the “resist-Fang-Xiu’s-nonsense” competition. He instantly dropped the concealment and stared unblinkingly at Fang Xiu.

Fang Xiu crouched down and extended his hand toward the gate…

“Huff huff huff,” he said.

The breeze in the courtyard paused slightly. Nothing happened.

Fang Xiu smacked his lips and smiled wider. “Huff huff huff.”

A spiral of wind stirred, laced with faint snuffling sounds. It brushed past Fang Xiu’s ankles with a cool touch, like a cold nose sniffing along his skin.

Bai Shuangying: “…”

Seeing Fang Xiu’s barely concealed grin, he knew he’d lost. He should never have hoped for intelligence from the “Master” here.

“Good dog.” Fang Xiu praised the air. “Did you eat up all the bad ghosts?”

The breeze spun cheerfully, as if replying. It seemed to remember Bai Shuangying’s earlier instruction not to disturb Fang Xiu and kept its distance. But the secret was clearly out.

Fang Xiu cleared his throat dramatically. “The results are in: the strongest evil spirit here is a dog.”

Bai Shuangying slowly turned his head away. Fang Xiu reached out with both hands to turn his ghost’s face back toward him. “Don’t worry. I’m not trying to leave. It’s just time to go public. I told you, didn’t I? I’m going to protect the E this time.”

Oh right, he had said that this morning… So, he’d already guessed most of it and was just playing along with Jiang Xun’s investigation timeline?

Bai Shuangying had hidden the truth first. How had Fang Xiu still figured it out faster? He couldn’t understand at all.

Fang Xiu didn’t let go of Bai Shuangying’s face. He cupped both cheeks in his hands.

“It was actually thanks to you that I figured it out this quickly.”

Bai Shuangying slumped silently. “Me?”

“When the ritual started yesterday, you briefly left me alone. You wouldn’t have done that unless you were sure the area was safe.” Fang Xiu smiled.

Bai Shuangying: “…”

“Then I noticed most evil spirits were outside the courtyard and always disappearing. So I figured something was guarding the yard…something actively fighting off the evil spirits.”

Bai Shuangying: “…………”

“In summary, the ‘thing’ guarding the yard isn’t inherently hostile to humans and is consistently protecting the space. Add in the dog toy in the corner and the dog food bowl in the house, and the real identity isn’t hard to guess.”

‘This dog had no guile at all,’ Fang Xiu sighed inwardly.

It saw someone acting threatening in its home and immediately pounced to punish the “bad guy”, never hiding its actions. Missing flesh? That was a bite. Falling over? That was a tackle. With Jiang Xun’s observational skills, he must’ve figured out as much.

So if the E here hadn’t been broken yet, there was only one possibility…

“It must be like Li Shuo’s situation, tied to the E by karmic cause. In fact, it’s probably even closer to ‘ghost immortal’ level than Li Shuo. If someone wants to destroy the E here, they’d have to take this dog down first.”

Bai Shuangying: “………………”

Bullseye.

He’d just finished preparing a nest for Fang Xiu yesterday, and already his human had learned how to dismantle the house.

Bai Shuangying lowered his gaze. He felt like someone trying to catch mudfish in a swamp, utterly powerless. Fang Xiu had just demonstrated the perfect example of “everything he touches, he breaks.”

“What do you mean ‘it’s time to go public’?” Bai Shuangying asked cautiously, trying to glean any delay tactics.

“Because I need to team up with this little guy. Trust me, it’ll be fun.” Fang Xiu’s tone was gentle. “Tonight, let’s all go for a walk, Bai Shuangying.”

…As for Blondie, he’d make the perfect part of the evening’s farce.

Fang Xiu reached out and tried to locate the dog’s head in the breeze.

The wind didn’t resist. It gently licked his hand with a cool touch.

“Wanna cause trouble together?” Fang Xiu patted the dog spirit hidden in the wind.

Something brushed his calf lightly, like the tip of a wagging tail.

……

At sunset, just before nightfall.

Cheng Songyun and Guan He returned to the courtyard, reporting that Blondie had left on his own.

Not seeing Blondie at the base, Cheng Songyun sighed.

“We looked around carefully on the way back and called for him for a long time but there was no response,” she said.

The woods near the courtyard weren’t that large. If Blondie didn’t respond, he was either unconscious or dead or intentionally refusing to answer. There was no third option.

Guan He still wore his black veil. “I sneaked a peek through their window too. He’s not in their house either.”

“He hasn’t come back here all afternoon. I’m sure,” Mei Lan added quietly.

Fang Xiu felt the breeze swirling by his pant leg. “Got it. Everyone rest as usual. If he’s not back by nightfall, I’ll go look for him.”

A standard response. No one objected.

Worried that Blondie might be hungry, Cheng Songyun quietly roasted two extra sweet potatoes for Fang Xiu to carry, just in case.

“Xiao Fang, find anything new today?” she asked while wrapping the potatoes.

“Checked out the main house. Nothing special.” Fang Xiu peeled a chestnut, his tone tinged with perfect wistfulness. “Those newbies are blindly loyal to Jiang Xun and not very sharp either. That long-haired one even tried to hit me with a stove hook.”

He paused, then looked at Mei Lan. “There was a bit of commotion when Jiang Xun returned. I was in the main house then and missed it. Did you see what happened?”

Mei Lan stared at Fang Xiu for a moment.

“No,” she said slowly. “I’ll be more attentive tomorrow.”

Fang Xiu nodded easily, took the roasted sweet potatoes, and left the base room.

The door opened and shut. Under the pale moonlight, Fang Xiu’s figure moved toward the courtyard gate.

Before stepping out, he even turned and waved cheerfully back at the base.

In concealment.

Fang Xiu activated his “Illusion Creation” ability, leaving a phantom version of himself standing guard at the gate.

At the same time, he, Bai Shuangying, and the dog spirit breeze tiptoed toward the main house.

Evil spirits were once again gathering at the windows.

Fang Xiu looked at them and felt a strange warmth…

Good evening, dear audience. I’ve come to join you. This will be a fun night!

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The author has something to say:

Xiao Fang is about to start misbehaving again.

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Kinky Thoughts:

I was wondering when the pet was going to show… Was starting to think she made Guan He the pet lmao.

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