The Fake Heiress's Guide to Self-Rescue - Chapter 20

Chapter 20: The Crane-Locked Bronze Mirror [1] – VIP

“Qianqian, Qingqing, you’re here. Come on in, quickly.”

Aunt Liu opened the villa door and welcomed the two girls inside. The Liu family’s villa was lavishly decorated, showing that the owners preferred a grand style.

Jiang Jing took a quick look around. A garage was built in the Vermilion Bird direction of the front door, and a few trees were planted next to it. This was convenient for parking and followed the principles of feng shui for gathering qi. The house had no obvious missing corners, and the stairs were against the wall, not in the middle of the house, which would not shorten the owner’s lifespan.

Inside and outside the villa, Jiang Jing didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary. The problem was clearly not with the feng shui. She and Jiang Qianqian agreed that it was also unlikely to be trouble from the variety show—Liu Jin didn’t know Zhang Ran at all, so why would she seek revenge on him?

“Xiao Jin has been unconscious for the past two days. No matter what we do, he won’t wake up. The doctors can’t find a reason, so I had to ask Master Xue to take a look.” Aunt Liu explained as she led them to the third floor. At the end of the hallway was Liu Jin’s room.

“Don’t be nervous. Just tell the master what happened at the show,” Aunt Liu said, pushing open the door. A woman sat on the sofa inside the room. Her hair was neatly tied into a bun at the back of her head, and a simple, long-life lock hung around her neck. It was strange that she was wearing long sleeves in the middle of summer, which seemed particularly out of place.

The woman felt someone come in. She opened her eyes and saw that it was Aunt Liu. She quickly stood up. “Hello, I’m Jiang Daishuang. Mrs. Liu asked me to come and help.”

Sh-shijie?! (Senior sister)

Jiang Jing’s pupils constricted, and her breathing quickened involuntarily. She carefully observed the woman standing opposite her. Her appearance matched, her clothes matched, and the long-life lock matched.

That’s right, this is my senior sister. This was almost too easy. Jiang Jing felt like crying with joy. She was grateful that fate had given her this opportunity. She had to contact her master as soon as possible.

Seeing that Jiang Jing was still in a daze, Jiang Qianqian, who was standing next to her, was the first to reach out and greet Jiang Daishuang. “Hello, my name is Jiang Qianqian.”

Jiang Daishuang shook her hand and nodded, indicating that she understood. Jiang Jing was still not moving. Jiang Qianqian couldn’t stand it and poked her with her elbow.

“Oh, oh, I’m Jiang Qing.” After saying that, she also reached out and shook Jiang Daishuang’s hand. She deliberately kept her hand three inches away, avoiding a critical life point, to prevent Jiang Daishuang from using her pulse-reading technique to spy on her physical condition. Unexpectedly, Jiang Daishuang did not let go after shaking her hand. Jiang Jing’s hair stood on end. She then heard her ask, “Jiang Qing… which character for ‘Qing’?”

“The ‘qing’ in ‘celebration’.” The original body’s name on the household registration was this, and Jiang Jing couldn’t reveal her true identity in front of Aunt Liu and Jiang Qianqian.

The long-life lock made a light clinking sound. Jiang Daishuang’s thumb unconsciously rubbed the scriptures on the lock’s surface. This was her habit when she was deep in thought. “I have a junior sister,” her voice sounded as if it had been soaked in aged snow water. “If she were alive, she would be your age.”

The room fell into silence. Only the incessant chirping of cicadas outside the window assaulted everyone’s eardrums. For a moment, no one knew what to say.

“Is the conversation going well? Have some water first.”

The sound of the door opening broke the strange atmosphere. Aunt Liu had someone bring in water. Seeing that Jiang Daishuang and the two young ladies were communicating well, Aunt Liu felt relieved and let them continue talking.

After the door was closed again, Jiang Daishuang looked directly at Jiang Qianqian and said, “The demonic energy in your body… where did it come from?”

From the moment Jiang Qianqian entered the room, Jiang Daishuang had noticed the very obvious demonic energy on her. When they shook hands, the demonic energy even blocked her from using her Qi-reading technique on Jiang Qianqian.

“I can’t tell you that.” Jiang Qianqian turned her head away, refusing to answer Jiang Daishuang’s question.

“Do you think I’m joking with you?” Jiang Daishuang frowned, her tone unfriendly. “Humans using the power of demons for cultivation, guess what would happen if one day you don’t listen to her? How will she threaten you?”

“You—”

Jiang Qianqian glared, clenching her hands tightly to keep herself from cursing. Jiang Daishuang had no idea why she was using Jiang Huai’s demonic power. If it weren’t for the risk of being discovered and killed due to her special fate, who would want to take such a huge risk?

“None of this has anything to do with your current situation, does it?”

A voice broke the tension. Jiang Jing stood between the two, separating the tense standoff at a safe distance. A sharp gaze swept over her. Jiang Jing took two steps back, protecting Jiang Qianqian behind her, and looked calmly into Jiang Daishuang’s eyes.

Back at the Daoist temple, her senior sister, being older and having cultivated for longer, was always sent by their master to watch over them, the younger junior sisters. Unlike their master’s good temper, the senior sister was quite strict and would often punish them by making them sweep the main hall or copy scriptures if they couldn’t recite them. Later, when Jiang Jing was older, the senior sister was sent down the mountain by their master to gain experience and would only occasionally return to the temple for a while. This was probably the first time Jiang Jing had confronted her senior sister after she went down the mountain.

“Whatever you want to ask, we will tell you the truth. As for things that have nothing to do with this matter, we won’t tell you, even if you ask.”

Jiang Jing sat on the stool opposite the sofa, picked up a glass of water, and took a sip. She then held the glass in her hand, protecting Jiang Qianqian behind her, and looked at Jiang Daishuang vigilantly.

“Then start by telling me what you all encountered in the villa.” Seeing that she couldn’t ask for anything else, Jiang Daishuang didn’t insist and began her questioning.

Jiang Qianqian told Jiang Daishuang everything that had happened in the villa, including how Zhang Ran’s soul had scattered. She held nothing back. After all, a life was at stake, and if concealing information caused Liu Jin to be harmed, she didn’t want that to happen.

“Are you sure her soul was really scattered?” Jiang Daishuang asked, her tone still hinting that she doubted them.

“What do you mean? Are you saying…” Jiang Qianqian’s anger, which she had just suppressed, flared up again when she heard this.

While Jiang Qianqian was talking to Jiang Daishuang, Jiang Jing used the excuse of getting some air to walk to the window and secretly check on Liu Jin’s condition.

The person on the bed was pale, his lips had lost all color, and his eyes were tightly closed. He showed no signs of life. This didn’t look like Zhang Ran’s revenge. It looked more like something had drained his essence. However, Jiang Jing carefully examined Liu Jin’s aura. There was no signs of a romantic entanglement, so it was unlikely to be caused by some supernatural interaction. What could be the reason, then?

Just as she was guessing the reason for Liu Jin’s coma, she heard Jiang Qianqian say a little angrily, “If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing more for me to say.”

She suddenly stood up from the stool and started to walk out. But her foot slipped, and she stumbled toward the cabinet.

Bang. There was a sound of something falling in the cabinet, but it seemed to have fallen against the cabinet door, so there was no major damage.

“Oh no, did I break something of Liu Jin’s?” Jiang Qianqian awkwardly opened the cabinet door to see what had fallen.

A strange bronze mirror appeared in front of the three of them. The mirror was surrounded by two Yin-Yang Fish. The eyes of the fish were a crane feather and the spirit-binding lock of the Old Man of the South Pole. A crane head was carved on the top of the mirror. The crane’s eyes were sealed with a strange brown stain. The mirror was surrounded by a beautiful lotus vine pattern, but it was rusty from the passage of time.

“What is this stain…” Jiang Jing walked up, lightly rubbed some with her hand, and smelled it. The familiar scent made her hair stand on end. “—It’s human bl00d!”

The other two heard her and looked at the mirror. A strange aura emanated from the mirror. The rusty statue made them all feel uneasy.

Why would there be such an evil thing in Liu Jin’s room?