The Fake Heiress's Guide to Self-Rescue - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Living Soul Suspected by the White Impermanence

Cinnabar dissolved in the inkstone, as red as bl00d. Jiang Jing held the brush, dipping it in the ink, and lightly touched the ground with the tip. A crimson talisman wound its way out, completely encircling Jiang Qianqian.

This was what Jiang Qianqian had asked the housekeeper to bring over this morning. The housekeeper even asked her what she was going to use these things for.

“Ah, hahaha, well,” Jiang Qianqian laughed awkwardly, “Jiang Jing said she can do traditional Chinese painting and wanted to show me her skills.”

Jiang Jing immediately nodded in agreement, looking at the housekeeper with a sincere expression. The housekeeper saw this and left them alone, sighing at how quickly children’s moods could change as she watched their backs close together.

A few pieces of high-purity cinnabar were ground into liquid and used. With one hand holding the brush and the other forming a hand seal, Jiang Jing focused all her attention on the formation on the ground. After drawing the last stroke, Jiang Jing let out a long breath and placed the brush on the table.

“The formation is complete,” Jiang Jing said, her fingertips glowing faintly. “You just need to sit still in the center and clear your mind. I will now exorcise the ghost possessing you.”

She then formed a sword finger with one hand and used her qi as ink to draw a Heavenly Master’s Ghost-Subduing Talisman in the air. A pale blue light flowed from her fingertips. Everyone’s qi would display a different color depending on the cultivation method and their own nature. Its mystery could not be described.

“W-wait a minute,” Jiang Qianqian suddenly felt nervous. “Does this ritual have any weird side effects, like making me feel like I’m better off dead, or like I’ll be rolling on the ground like they do in movies?”

The hand that was about to form a seal paused. Jiang Jing looked at her, amused. “Do you think this is a movie? As long as you haven’t done anything to harm the heavens or earth, this ritual will only expel evil, not harm people.”

“Okay, okay. I’m ready. You can begin.” Jiang Qianqian closed her eyes, acting as if she were about to bravely face her death.

“Eastern mountain incantation, summon the nine heavens. Red book talisman command, control the Fengshan. Bind demons, send away ghosts, cleanse all evil. Heed my command, do not delay. By decree, as urgent as the law!” Jiang Jing concentrated her qi into the formation. With her left hand, she passed her four fingers under her right index finger, her palm facing up, and formed the Rebirth Seal (1). This is from “The True Writings of the Green Emperor of the East, Eight Authorities.”

The black mist in the formation gradually separated from Jiang Qianqian and was pinned to the center of the cinnabar formation by the talisman at the heart of the formation. The black mist was no longer blurry but slowly took on a human shape. When the ghost first realized it was trapped in the formation, it tried to reach out and tear it apart, but Jiang Jing’s formation was like an unbreakable cage, leaving it with nowhere to escape.

“Heh—” The ghostly figure made a muffled sound, making Jiang Qianqian’s scalp tingle. Seeing that it couldn’t leave the formation, the ghost turned to attack Jiang Qianqian, who was inside the formation. Jiang Qianqian saw its two black hands reaching for her face, and she didn’t dare to move. She could only close her eyes and scream, “Help! Jiang Jing, if you don’t save me now, I’m going to die—”

Two drops of cinnabar mixed with bl00d shot through the formation, pinning the ghostly figure in place. Cinnabar is an object of extreme yang, and a living person’s fingertip bl00d carries a powerful yang aura, which is highly lethal to ghosts.

“Evil-Slaying Ghost Talisman, shake the three realms! By the order of the Three Pure Ones, pardon!” A giant circle landed on the ghostly figure and quickly tightened, binding it securely.

“Ah!” The ghost shrieked and fell to the ground, motionless. Black mist rose from its body, slowly revealing the ghost’s true appearance—a beautiful female student.

Jiang Qianqian sat in the formation and witnessed the entire event. She was a bit at a loss from these things that were beyond her understanding from the past 18 years. She looked at the female ghost, then at Jiang Jing outside the formation. She swallowed and asked, “Why is she still here…?”

The female ghost moved her arms, and her bindings loosened a bit, scaring Jiang Qianqian and making her move further away. The female ghost slowly sat up. She looked around, then at the formation on the ground, and a look of understanding appeared on her face.

“Thank you. My name is Li Cun. I accidentally fell from a window, and when I woke up, I was a ghost and could no longer leave the school. I didn’t mean to follow her; I just wanted to see if I could leave the school this way. Thank you, truly. I should be going now.” With that, the female ghost smiled, and four red threads suddenly appeared, tying her wrists and ankles. The red threads seemed to extend from a chaotic space.

“Your lifespan has ended in the mortal world. Follow us back below immediately.” Two voices came from the ends of the red threads. In an instant, the female ghost’s soul turned into several wisps of hazy white light and disappeared along the threads.

“Impermanence is at work. Living beings, please avert your eyes—” With another long sigh, a pitiful wail was faintly heard, and a white mourning stick appeared before her eyes. The figure wore a tall white hat with “Wealth in Sight” written on it. Its face was ghastly pale, and a long, bright red tongue hung down.

A chill ran down Jiang Jing’s spine. The White Impermanence had come. This was a grim reaper responsible for guiding the souls of the deceased in the mortal world. He would take all the souls whose lifespans had ended to the King of Hell’s Palace for judgment. Jiang Jing had been so focused on exorcising the ghost that she had forgotten she was also a living soul who should have reported to the Underworld.

The natural pressure of the grim reaper on souls made Jiang Jing’s face a little pale. The small room’s temperature instantly dropped due to the presence of the grim reaper. She bit her lips to force herself to calm down. Jiang Qianqian, who was outside the formation, only felt an extreme cold. She saw that Jiang Jing’s face was very pale but was keenly aware that this was not a good time to act. She held her breath and sat there, watching Jiang Jing intently.

The White Impermanence looked at her carefully. His long, thin tongue dangled in front of her, and his icy fingers occasionally brushed past Jiang Jing’s hair. Jiang Jing kept her eyes and nose focused, her mind a blank slate.

“What a strange living soul…” Just as he was about to say something, the sound of chains clanging came from the chaos. “The wandering ghost has been caught. The King of Hell has ordered us to return quickly.” The Black Impermanence was also here! A cold sweat dripped down. By now, Jiang Jing’s back was soaked.

The Black and White Impermanence were responsible for hooking the yin and yang souls of the deceased. The White Impermanence absorbs male yang souls and female yin souls, and the Black Impermanence does the opposite. If the two grim reapers discovered that her soul was not the original soul of this body, they would definitely use the soul-hooking chain to take her down to the Underworld for questioning. It would be a messy situation.

“Interesting, interesting. So that’s how it is—” A thick yin energy brushed past her, and in a blink of an eye, it disappeared into the chaos.

Jiang Jing was finally able to sit on the ground, completely drained. An intense fear slowly crept up her spine, leaving her with a sense of lingering dread.

“Are you okay?” Jiang Qianqian saw Jiang Jing’s appearance and thought she was exhausted from the ritual. She quickly got out of the formation and ran over to help her up. The moment her hand touched Jiang Jing’s arm, it was grabbed.

Jiang Jing’s palm was frighteningly cold, and her face didn’t look like that of a living person, which startled Jiang Qianqian. “What’s wrong with you? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“I’m fine. I just need to rest for a bit.” Jiang Jing looked deeply at Jiang Qianqian. She could feel that the White Impermanence’s gaze had lingered on Jiang Qianqian inside the formation for a moment, for some unknown reason. But based on her two days of observation, Jiang Qianqian could eat, sleep, run, and jump, and her bl00d qi was strong. There were no signs of illness at all. She was definitely not a person who was about to die.

Could she have a special destiny, or is she a divine being who came down to undergo a trial? (For example, a Ziwei star descending or a destiny of extreme yin or yang?) Jiang Jing thought of this and wanted Jiang Qianqian’s birth date to do a divination.

Jiang Qianqian gave her birth date, and Jiang Jing immediately knew something was wrong after doing the calculations. This birth date was extremely yin. There was no sign of support in any of the four pillars. The day master was a Ding Fire, but it was surrounded by two water pillars from the month and hour, which is a classic weak-element chart. But with a destiny like this, no matter how carefully the Jiang family nurtured her, she shouldn’t be as vibrant as she was now. It was too strange.

To further prove her theory, Jiang Jing pulled Jiang Qianqian’s wrist to take her pulse again. This time, Jiang Qianqian didn’t pull her hand away and just let Jiang Jing do her thing. Her pulse was steady and strong, even better than an average person’s. How could this be the constitution of a person with such an yin-heavy birth chart?

Jiang Jing fell into deep thought, her eyebrows furrowing unconsciously. Jiang Qianqian watched her silently, then suddenly reached out and waved her hand in front of her. “Hey, you’ve been feeling my pulse for a while. What did you find?”

Her chaotic thoughts were suddenly interrupted. Jiang Jing was momentarily stunned. She opened her mouth. “Ah…”

“What is it? Do I have some kind of terminal illness?” Jiang Qianqian anxiously shook Jiang Jing’s shoulder, making Jiang Jing dizzy.

“No, it’s just—”

“Just what?”

“It’s just that your body is a little too healthy.” Jiang Jing let out a long breath, finally finishing her sentence. The other side fell silent. Jiang Jing wondered why this impatient girl wasn’t causing a scene. She looked up and was met with a deadly stare.

“Okay, so you’re messing with me.” Jiang Qianqian’s face was dark, and she looked at Jiang Jing with a forced smile that made Jiang Jing get goosebumps. It was even scarier than being stared at by the White Impermanence.

“I didn’t! You were the one who wouldn’t let me finish,” Jiang Jing retorted in a low voice, and Jiang Qianqian smacked her on the head.

“Still talking back? I’ll show you what happens if you mess with me again.”

Jiang Jing covered her head, which was aching from the slap, and lamented tearfully, Master’s wife, I have experienced the ingratitude you spoke of, and more than once. It’s so scary, sob sob sob.

Suddenly, a black cat jumped in from the balcony and affectionately rubbed against Jiang Qianqian’s legs. “Nini, how did you get up here?” Jiang Qianqian picked up the affectionate kitten and rubbed its belly.

Her train of thought interrupted, Jiang Jing stretched and stood up. It was still early. She needed to quickly wipe up the cinnabar on the ground before Mr. and Mrs. Jiang returned. With that thought, she picked up a rag and began cleaning with a resigned look on her face. Today was the day of the family banquet. She absolutely could not let anyone see these things, or she couldn’t imagine what kind of rumors would spread.

“Miss, I’ve come to deliver the dress for tonight’s banquet.” The housekeeper’s voice came from outside the door. Jiang Jing looked at the remaining marks on the ground and gave Jiang Qianqian a pleading look.

“Oh—Uncle Xu, I’m not up yet. Can you please leave the dress downstairs? I’ll come down in a bit.” Jiang Qianqian saw this and quickly made up a lie to put off the housekeeper.

Jiang Jing sped up her movements, and after ten minutes, she had finally wiped away all the traces. She wiped the sweat from her face. Jiang Qianqian, who was standing beside her, suddenly chuckled.

“Look in the mirror. You’ve gotten cinnabar all over your face from cleaning.” Jiang Qianqian said, picking up a small mirror and handing it to Jiang Jing. Jiang Jing took it and saw that she had several red fingerprint smudges on her face. She couldn’t help but laugh, but also felt a little embarrassed. She quickly tried to wipe her face clean but only made it worse.

A cold touch startled Jiang Jing. She turned her head and saw Jiang Qianqian using a wet wipe to clean her face bit by bit.

“What are you looking at me for? Do you want to go to the banquet with a face like that? I’m not going to be embarrassed.” Jiang Qianqian saw her dazed expression and roughly wiped her face with the wet wipe before throwing it into Jiang Jing’s hand. “You clean it yourself. I’m not your maid.”

The door was quickly shut, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps. When she looked up again, she was the only one left in the room. Jiang Jing looked at the wet wipe in her hand. There were pinkish marks from the cinnabar she had wiped off her face, which looked a bit similar to Jiang Qianqian’s face at this moment.

She was so concerned about me just a moment ago, so why is she angry again? She’s just like the cat that sleeps on the cushion in the temple hall. Thinking of that moody cat in the main hall, Jiang Jing narrowed her eyes. She had always treated that cat like a royalty, and even when it gave her a cold shoulder, she would still dutifully catch fish for it.

Now I just have one more “royalty” to take care of, Jiang Jing thought confidently. She already had experience.