Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin finished searching the study and the medicine room separately, then simultaneously headed toward the final bedroom.
The window in the room was half-open.
A gentle breeze drifted in, rustling the navy-blue curtains and scattering the lazy sunlight pooled on the floor.
Xie Ziyin stepped forward and cautiously peered outside.
The village was quiet, with a few villagers wandering the roads. Occasionally, the barks of dogs and the clucks of chickens could be heard, lending the scene a peaceful, serene atmosphere.
He adjusted the curtains and closed the window most of the way, leaving only a narrow gap.
The bedroom darkened, becoming more intimate and secluded.
Wen Shuangbai, who had been waiting behind him, slipped inside and kicked the door shut with her foot. Her gaze swept across the room.
The bedroom was spacious—the largest of the three rooms on the second floor—and divided into three functional areas.
One was the sleeping area with a bed, another was a tea table and seating by the window—suggesting that the Qingling Mountain disciple who lived here had enjoyed lounging by the window, sipping tea and admiring the view.
The third area was a large bookshelf against the wall, filled with hundreds of books.
There had also been books in the study, which Wen Shuangbai had skimmed through. None stood out, and she hadn’t found the manual for crafting Qingling Mountain gauze that she was looking for.
So why were there even more books here in the bedroom?
She raised an eyebrow and immediately strode to the bookshelf, flipping through them one by one at a rapid pace.
Four Hundred, the little pig that had been trotting around the room in excitement, finally grew tired. With a soft "oink," it flopped onto the floor, resting its head against the ground.
Meanwhile, Xie Ziyin rummaged through drawers and cabinets, even checking the inner pockets of every garment in the wardrobe. His efforts paid off—he found two or three medicinal pills.
His slender fingers deftly rolled the pills, identifying them before tucking them away into his storage ring.
As he closed the wardrobe, his gaze flicked toward Wen Shuangbai, who was still flipping through books with a rustling sound.
The woman in green robes was intensely focused, yet one of her feet swayed unconsciously, making the gauzy hem of her skirt flutter like butterfly wings.
Was she that pleased?
Xie Ziyin asked, "Did you find something just now?"
Without turning her head, Wen Shuangbai replied cheerfully, "Qingling Mountain gauze talisman paper. You?"
"Some medicinal herbs and pills for stabilizing spiritual awareness."
"So our guess was right," Wen Shuangbai said, swiftly switching to another book as she exchanged clues with Xie Ziyin. "These books are similar to the ones in the study—mostly about talismans and formations. The son of the old woman was most likely skilled in both."
Xie Ziyin gave a quiet hum of agreement. "The medicinal pills in the medicine room were all used up, but some herbs remained. There was no alchemy furnace either, so he didn’t practice alchemy."
Pausing, he recalled the pills tucked inside the man’s clothing and ventured a guess, "His spiritual awareness might have been damaged."
Wen Shuangbai’s hands stilled. She turned sharply to look at Xie Ziyin, her eyes narrowing. "You mean this Qingling Mountain disciple’s spiritual awareness was impaired—or even possessed by a ghost?"
Xie Ziyin neither confirmed nor denied. "Just a speculation."
Wen Shuangbai lowered her lashes, fingertips brushing the pages of the book. "Regardless, this Qingling Mountain disciple is key."
Before coming here, she and Xie Ziyin had only suspected that the old woman’s son might hold some clues.
After all, Shen Hefeng’s divination had revealed that the man was no ordinary villager—he had participated in Qingling Mountain’s recruitment trials five hundred years ago. That alone confirmed he was a cultivator.
But now, the presence of these pills and talisman books suggested he was no average practitioner. His cultivation level must have been considerable.
After all, Qingling Mountain’s gauze talisman paper wasn’t something just any disciple could use.
So what had really happened in this village five hundred years ago?
—
The two quickened their pace. Once Xie Ziyin finished searching the remaining areas, he joined Wen Shuangbai in flipping through the books.
Suddenly, a cacophony of squawking chickens and squealing pigs erupted in the distance.
That was—
Wen Shuangbai whipped her head around. It was the signal she had arranged with her senior brother and the others.
Someone was coming!
Xie Ziyin immediately moved to the window, concealing himself behind the curtains as he peered through the gap.
Not far from the courtyard, disciples from the Violet Flame Sect and the Celestial Net Sect had crossed paths on the stone steps.
Perhaps wary of attracting ghosts, neither side raised their voices, but the tension between them was palpable. Then Di Qi stepped forward, seemingly negotiating with the Celestial Net Sect members.
After observing, Xie Ziyin returned to the bookshelf.
Wen Shuangbai was on her tiptoes, stretching to return a book to the top shelf.
He wordlessly took it from her and placed it back, then leaned in to murmur by her ear, "The Violet Flame Sect and Celestial Net Sect are almost here."
Wen Shuangbai didn’t respond.
Her attention was fixed on the bookshelf, her expression slightly dazed.
From the moment she entered, the bookshelf had struck her as oddly placed. At first, she thought the books themselves might hide something.
But what if the books weren’t the point? What if they were just a cover for what lay behind them?
Xie Ziyin frowned. He rubbed his thumb against his ring finger before snapping his fingers in front of her face. "Wake up."
Wen Shuangbai swatted his hand away and immediately began yanking books off the shelf, shoving five or six into Xie Ziyin’s arms in quick succession.
Xie Ziyin: "..."
What could he do? He could only stand there, stone-faced, serving as her makeshift bookstand.
As a small section of the shelf was cleared, the slightly cracked white wall behind it was revealed.
Wen Shuangbai reached out, running her fingers over the surface.
It felt like an ordinary wall, yet she could sense something—words etched into it.
In the three months before the Mystic Heaven Mirror competition, she had undergone intensive training under the master of the Blossoming Fortune Pavilion.
Under his relentless tutelage, she had crammed knowledge on talismans and formations.
One of the techniques she had practiced was the Hidden Character Seal.
Cultivators used it to convey secret messages, ensuring only the intended recipients could decipher them.
The Hidden Character Seal was intricate and difficult to master. In the seclusion of her training space, she had written and erased it countless times until the subtle sensation of its presence became second nature.
The Violet Flame Sect and Celestial Net Sect were closing in.
She had to uncover the clues before they arrived—and make sure they didn’t get their hands on them.
This was money on the line!
After a brief moment of thought, she leaned in and whispered something to the impassive man beside her.
Xie Ziyin gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment.
Without delay, Wen Shuangbai sat cross-legged on the floor, pulling out ink and brush along with three sheets of Qingling Mountain gauze talisman paper. She began drawing talismans with urgent precision.
Meanwhile, Xie Ziyin moved the bookshelf aside.
[So what’s behind the shelf? All I see is a blank wall.]
A talisman practitioner speculated uncertainly: [Hidden Character Seal?]
Another, more confident, replied: [Yes, definitely. I’ve written them often enough to recognize it.]
【How do we break the invisibility talisman? Hurry up, the people from the Violet Flame Realm and the Sky Net Witchcraft faction have negotiated and are coming over!】
【Breaking the invisibility talisman isn’t hard—the real challenge is finding where it’s written. It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack. How did Junior Sister Wen know it was written on the wall behind the bookshelf?! That’s downright miraculous!】
【She seemed to sense something off about that bookshelf the moment she walked in.】
【Pretty impressive.】
Wen Shuangbai finished drawing three talismans, handed one to Xie Ziyin, then took another and silently recited an incantation before decisively slapping it onto the wall.
The moment the talisman touched the wall, it let out a soft pfft and burned into a wisp of white smoke. The smoke coiled along the surface, and in an instant, the wall rippled like a lake disturbed by wind. Scattered, incoherent strokes gradually appeared—sharp and chaotic, their edges cutting straight into Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin’s spiritual senses.
For a fleeting moment, the two glimpsed through the invisibility talisman the figure of a silent man standing before this wall centuries ago, catching a fragment of history from five hundred years past.
【What, am I not allowed to see?】
【The Mystic Heaven Mirror is being so stingy—is there anything I can’t see?】
【Aaaah, what does it even say?! It just looks like scribbles to me!】
【Invisibility talismans aren’t ordinary text. No one else can read them except those two.】
Suddenly, a flood of voices poured into Qingling Mountain’s Mystic Heaven Mirror, all clamoring:
【We’re doomed, doomed! Get out of there now!!!】
【Oh heavens, this is bad—run, run, run!】
【Danger! Those two are screwed.】
【Too greedy. The moment they saw disciples from other sects, they should’ve bolted. Now they’re trapped!】
The strokes of the invisibility talisman faded from dark to faint, then vanished entirely.
The white wall returned to normal.
At the same time, the Mystic Heaven Mirrors at Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin’s waists vibrated.
Their faces pale and minds still reeling, the two snapped back to reality, their breaths freezing in unison.
Wen Shuangbai looked at Xie Ziyin—no words needed: “!!!”
Xie Ziyin responded with a faint smile and pushed the bookshelf back into place.
Wen Shuangbai scooped up the deeply asleep "Four Hundred Bucks" (the pig) and prepared to leave.
But before they could reach the door, both froze mid-step.
Someone was outside.
—
The two humans and the pig immediately rolled under the bed.
The wooden door creaked open.
No footsteps sounded, but within Wen Shuangbai’s line of sight, a pair of worn, navy-blue cloth shoes and the hem of a familiar long robe slowly came into view.
The shoes moved closer… and closer… toward the bed.
Wen Shuangbai held her breath, one hand firmly clamping over the little pig’s snout while the other groped blindly beside her. Halfway through, Xie Ziyin’s fingers gently closed around hers.
His hand was icy, slightly damp with cold sweat.
So beneath that calm, collected exterior, he was a little nervous after all.
Xie Ziyin paused, then laced his long fingers through hers, gripping tightly.
The cloth shoes stopped at the bedside.
Then—whoosh—a ghastly face suddenly loomed into view.
It was a face covered in age spots, with milky-white eyes and blackened lips, gaunt and withered.
The village chief.
Also… the man from the invisibility talisman’s vision.
The chief was that senior disciple from the Ling Mountain Sect—the old woman’s son.
【Mother of mercy, I’m terrified!】
【Holy Tower, what’s wrong with you?! Don’t shove the ghost chief’s face so close to me!!】
"Oink?"
Four Hundred Bucks, just waking up after being stuffed full of fluff by Wen Shuangbai, took one look at the horrifying face and shrieked: "OINK—!"
It shot out from under the bed like a bullet. The ghost chief gave chase instantly.
The piglet dashed around the room in panic.
The ghost chief snatched it up, his sharp black nails tearing the little pig to shreds in one swift motion.
Amid the flurry of flying pig fragments, the chief’s long tongue lashed out, coiled around the fox tails hidden inside, and swallowed them whole.
【I’m gonna puke—I won’t touch pork for a month after this!!】
【Four Hundred Bucks is just… dead?? Nooo, I wanted more pig content!】
【Wait, did you notice those two vanished into thin air?】
【Huh? Where’d they go?!】
【Earlier, Wen Shuangbai drew three talismans and gave one to Xie Ziyin… Invisibility talismans?!】
【They used them to escape and sacrificed the pig as a distraction??】
【I was waiting for the pig to get dissected—what was inside? Just a few fox tails??】
The Mystic Heaven Mirror buzzed with theories.
Then, one timid voice piped up:
【Did… did anyone else see a single pig hair… quietly slip away?】
【Huh??】
【Where? I missed it!】
At Qingling Mountain, during lunch hour, every disciple in the dining hall abruptly set down their chopsticks and pressed their faces to the Mystic Heaven Mirror, scrutinizing every pixel.
Sure enough, just as the ghost chief was busy eating the fox tails, a single white pig hair zipped along the floor, darting out the door, down the stairs, and out of the courtyard.
【Holy smokes, it’s real!】
【I saw it! Sharp eyes, fellow cultivator!】
【But why is a pig hair running away?!】
【Pig hair spirit??】
【Chief!! The pig hair escaped!! Stop eating—you glutton!】
Four Hundred Bucks fled, heartbroken.
Wuwuwu… its precious pigskin disguise!
And worst of all—its own beloved owner had thrown it out as bait! While it was sleeping! And stuffed it with fox tails!
Humans were treacherous. Even its owner couldn’t be trusted! Wuwuwu, its pigskin disguise!!
The pig hair grieved so hard its trust in humanity hit rock bottom.
Meanwhile, Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin, still hand-in-hand, had already reached the ginkgo tree outside, waiting.
The moment the pig hair shot past, Wen Shuangbai snatched it up. The two then skirted around the lurking Violet Flame and Sky Net Witchcraft disciples and bolted for the chicken coop base.
In the wind, Wen Shuangbai grinned.
As if she’d ever let Xie Ziyin implant Four Hundred Bucks’ consciousness into a real pig’s brain without backup!
What if the chief saw through her ruse and butchered the pig, destroying her precious Four Hundred Bucks? Who’d she cry to then?
So Wen Shuangbai had layered multiple invisibility talismans onto Four Hundred Bucks’ brush body.
And just in case the invisible brush tried to actually desert, she’d added the pig hair as a GPS tracker.
Now the pig hair squirmed violently in her grip.
Clearly, Four Hundred Bucks no longer trusted its "adoptive parents."
Wen Shuangbai tightened her hold on the invisible brush.
Upon arriving at the base camp, she let go of Xie Ziyin's hand and immediately went to comfort the pig bristle: "What are you crying for? That hide of yours was already rotting and wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway. Don’t worry, I’ll find a chance to get you a new skin."
Four Hundred Bucks: R-really?
