Chapter 18

The blade passed right beside her.
There was a wet thunk as it pierced something, followed by that eerie sing-song laughter.
Laughing and sobbing at once. Grief and joy tangled into one.
A few heartbeats later, everything went quiet again.
“Open your eyes,” Shen Anzhi said, straightening slightly, his thumb rubbing absently at the knuckle of his forefinger.
Jiang Yu’s breathing hitched, and she jolted awake.
Above her was the canopy of the bed; around her, the familiar furnishings of the inn room. No paper dolls. No black mist. No demon.
By the pearl’s soft glow, she pushed herself upright and kneaded her temples. That dream had felt so real her entire body ached. Judging by how dark it still was, it had to be around midnight. Shen Anzhi was probably waiting in the next room.
She slipped on her embroidered shoes, made sure her clothes and hair were neat, then quietly opened the door and stepped out.
Careful not to make a sound, she tapped on the door next door and drew in a deep breath. In a whisper, she called, “Junior Brother, I’m ready.”
The door opened with a soft sound. Shen Anzhi stood there, stretching lazily, looking perfectly awake. His gaze swept over her face and paused at the faint redness lingering at the corners of her eyes.
Not wanting to wake the Penglai disciples staying downstairs, Jiang Yu mouthed silently: I’ll follow your lead.
Shen Anzhi lowered his eyes. “Senior Sister was crying just now,” he murmured.
She blinked, then immediately wanted to deny it, but remembered what he’d said about hating lies. She dipped her head. “I had a nightmare.”
Her honesty sent a strange, sharp thrill through him.
He dragged his gaze away. The feeling was different from the rush of killing demons, messier, more confusing.
“Let’s go.”
They went downstairs one after the other, slipping out through the inn’s back door.
The full moon hung high, silver and cold. Moonlight poured over the ground in sheets of gray. The fog had cleared; everything around them was starkly visible. Jiang Yu tucked the pearl away, she didn’t need it.
With Shen Anzhi in the lead, they quickly made their way back to the herb shop.
The paper lanterns outside burned a harsh orange-red, too bright in the dark.
A gust of wind set the iron rings creaking, “creeaaak, creeeak”, the rusted scrape unnaturally loud in the stillness.
Jiang Yu glanced around as she followed Shen Anzhi. He vaulted lightly onto the courtyard wall and stood there, tall and straight in the moonlight.
“Senior Sister,” he said, pointing down. “Climb over.”
Jiang Yu pushed up her sleeves. She’d spent the last few days snatching moments to practice spells; she quietly circulated her spiritual power and tried to use a movement technique.
Several breaths passed. Nothing happened.
Her ears flared hot. Her cheeks followed. She looked up at him helplessly and formed the words with her lips: Junior Brother, I can’t get up.
Shen Anzhi’s phoenix eyes narrowed slightly. He hopped back down, grabbed her by the back of the collar,
The fabric dug into her throat and she coughed once. He adjusted his grip in a smooth motion, arm sliding around her waist instead, and the two of them cleared the wall in a single leap.
He caught a whiff of her hair as they moved, the lingering scent of the floral bath she’d taken earlier. When he stepped away and the scent faded, he was annoyed to realize he missed it. His gaze slid aside, and his lips curled faintly.
Side by side, they slipped into the herb cottage’s rear courtyard.
Paper figures shot out of the shadows, staring at the intruders with their painted eyes. Under the cold moonlight, Jiang Yu saw their two shadows cast clearly on the ground, hers and Shen Anzhi’s intertwined in the dirt.
The paper dolls had no shadows at all.
That wasn’t right. Even a mere puppet was still a physical object, how could it cast no shadow?
The thing split its painted mouth wide in a grin, red lips cracking unnaturally. With a rustle, it tore its paper skin open and revealed the true face beneath: a blue-faced, fang-mouthed ghost.
“Senior Sister, you’re white as a sheet,” Shen Anzhi remarked, arms folded, still calm enough to tease her.
Jiang Yu fell silent for a beat, lips trembling. “It’s my first time,” she muttered. “The shock is… a lot.”
“Is that so?” He withdrew his gaze from the ghost. “Then I’ll dirty my hands for you. Shall I kill it?” A shard of cold light flickered in his eyes as his smile turned languid and dangerous.
The coin-sword flared. In one clean stroke, he split the ghost’s head in two. The severed head rolled across the dirt; the half-torso tried to flee.
Jiang Yu’s brows knit. Quick as a spark, she threw two blazing-sun talismans. Flames roared up, devouring the shrieking little ghosts in a breath.
“Senior Sister’s courage may be small, but her skills aren’t,” Shen Anzhi said lightly, eyes half-lowered as he caught the curve of her smile. Something stirred faintly in his chest.
“Of course. I did read all those books for a reason,” she replied, lips quirking.
A tiny sound came from within the building.
Shen Anzhi rolled the coin between his fingers and flicked it.
Thwack.
It tore through the paper window and struck something inside. A muffled groan followed.
A thread of black smoke burst out through the hole, swirling into the moonlight like some wriggling clump of seaweed at the bottom of a dark lake. Dust trailed after it as it howled in a harsh, grating male voice: “Your grandma’s leg, who sneak-attacked your grandpa?!”
Unimpressed, Shen Anzhi turned his fingers in the air. The coin tore through the smoky body again and again. The demon howled, bravado crumbling, and crashed to the ground, begging for its life.
“Spare me, spare me! I just like, can’t help it, girl-flesh smells too good, ”
The coin-sword answered with another ruthless arc.
“Move,” Shen Anzhi snapped.
From several paces away, Jiang Yu watched carefully. Curled up on the ground, the creature looked a lot like the thing she’d seen scuttling around yesterday.
She obediently backed off a few steps.
No one noticed the wisp of black mist that twined around her ankle.
The next second, she was jerked upside down into the air.
Her fingers clenched around the talisman she’d been about to throw, but never released. A powerful surge of demonic energy slammed into her eyes, making them sting and blur. Pain knifed through her vision. Jiang Yu scrabbled one hand to her face, groaning.
Darkness swallowed everything. She couldn’t see at all.
She fainted before she even knew which direction she was being dragged.
Drip… drip…
Cold water splashed against her cheek, tracing the curve of her face and seeping into her collar.
“No, no, this one doesn’t smell right.”
“You’re blind. Yesterday I smelled it on her… just a little, but it drove me crazy.”
“Doesn’t matter. We caught her. A mistake’s a mistake, might as well eat her.”
Shhk, shhk,
The scrape of a blade being sharpened rasped in her ears.
Jiang Yu forced her heavy eyelids up. Her whole body was stiff, bound tight with rope. Demons nearby were muttering to each other in strange voices.
So… was this another transmigration? Except this time, she’d skipped straight to the part where she was delivered to the Buddha in the West.
Through the narrow slit of her eyelids, she saw sharp, predatory eyes glinting in the dim.
She closed them again, letting her head loll against the stone wall. Play dead. Just play dead.
Her vision was a mess anyway. One eye was useless.
With the other, she could vaguely make out two little demons drifting closer, identical to the ones from before.
They floated in front of her, leaning in. She had no idea where their noses were, but somehow they sniffed right up against her.
Her heart pounded harder.
So this is it. Off to see the Buddha, then.
The blade rose.
Jiang Yu’s eyes snapped open. “Wait! You can’t eat me.”
The demon holding the knife froze, clearly not expecting her to wake up and start negotiating. “Why not?”
“Human meat is terrible,” she said solemnly. “It’s sour.”
“You’ve eaten it?” he asked suspiciously.
“No.”
“…Er’er, don’t be stupid,” the other demon cut in. “She’s scared. She’s trying to confuse us so her friends can come.”
Realizing its mistake, the second demon grabbed some rough cloth and tied it over her eyes.
While they argued, Jiang Yu forced her stiff fingers to move, searching inside her sleeve, and found nothing. Her talismans were gone.
Whatever was covering her eyes felt like it was slowly sucking away her strength. She trembled, curling in on herself and letting her eyes close.
Deprived of sight, everything else sharpened. The scraping of their blades boomed in her ears like thunder.
She silently begged every god she could think of.
Will anyone come for me?
Will Shen Anzhi?
The sound of metal stopped. The demons fell silent.