False evidence

Chapter 506 The Gate of Chaos
"Jin Wuyan? Red handkerchief!" I remained outwardly calm, but my heart was pounding wildly.

Lu Xin maintained a considerable distance from me, gritted his teeth, and said in a low voice, "The Red Handkerchief is one of the Eight Outer Trades, and it is most skilled in illusion."

I nodded slightly. I knew a little about that. Now that Xiao Hong had revealed her identity, it undoubtedly proved Tong Xiangnan's initial deduction—that the Red Handkerchief was especially skilled in illusion magic, and that my bizarre encounter last night, and even my current experience, were most likely related to illusion magic.

I ignored Xiao Hong and instead asked Lü Xin, "Is she a fire ghost? How can we exorcise a fire ghost?"

My biggest worry is Fang Ling's safety. Yang energy is the foundation of a living person's survival; being possessed by a ghost will greatly shorten one's lifespan.

Lu Xin let out a long sigh like a normal person: "Fang Ling should be alright now."

"What do you mean 'it's okay'?" I really didn't understand what he meant.

"Don't worry, even if I possess her for a long time, it won't cause her any harm." It was Xiao Hong who spoke, her voice very calm. "Now that I'm a concubine of the Yin family, and I'm on the contract list, I'm no longer a ghost that specifically absorbs the yang energy of the living to prolong my yin life."

“The woman who committed adultery…” I was still looking at Lü Xin.

Lu Xin wiped his face: "High-ranking officials and nobles keep maids in their homes, and so do immortals. The maids who serve the immortals are called 'flower-offending maids.' As flower-offending maids, they must obey their masters in every word and deed. Unless the Silver... Silver Fourth Immortal Master gives an order, they dare not harm anyone. And flower-offending maids do not need to rely on external life force to 'survive.' They belong to the immortals' control, and their existence or death depends solely on the immortals' will."

Lu Xin nodded at me, but didn't continue speaking.

Looking into his eyes, I quickly grasped the deeper meaning he was trying to convey.

I am a "pig," and he, like me, was once a "pig." Not only was he my "predecessor," but he also died tragically in the kiln because of Yin Si. He couldn't possibly genuinely respect Yin Si, but he was terrified of Yin Si to the extreme, so he addressed Yin Si as—Immortal Master.

I don't know the exact extent to which Yin Si controlled and exploited him back then, but without a doubt, as a "pig," he had more experience and more right to speak than I did.

"It's good that Sister Ling is alright. If she was injured..." I glanced at Xiao Hong, suppressing my harsh words.

The face I saw before me was familiar to Fang Ling, but she was clearly a different person now. Her speech and the style revealed between her brows were completely different from Fang Ling herself and Tong Jiawen.

I only knew in my heart that she was a prostitute, a servant belonging exclusively to Yin Si.

I don't know how she became a prostitute and signed a "labor contract" with the family, but I can be sure of one thing—from the moment before, Xiao Hong, whose real name is Jin Wuyan, has succumbed to someone's tyranny, dared not resist in the slightest, and was willing to become his most loyal servant.

Xiao Hong suddenly sighed: "Well, this is for the best. It's more comfortable and pleasant than being an accomplice to evil all the time."

Lu Xin leaped back to me and gave me a wink: "This is not a place to linger. Let's get down to business. We can talk about the rest when we get back."

I lifted Xiao Hong, who was wearing Fang Ling's body, up a little, and as I followed Lü Xin down, I asked Xiao Hong in a low voice, "Is this still an illusion you created?" Xiao Hong shook her head: "I don't have that much ability. On the contrary, I'm just as curious as you about who has the ability to control the ethereal realm so at will, so that I can unknowingly follow you back to this day."

I didn't understand what she meant, but Lü Xin's reaction was surprisingly strong: "What? This is the Void Realm?!"

Xiao Hong hummed in agreement: "Yes, that's it. It originates from the real world, yet it is inseparable from reality. This is the ethereal realm."

Lu Xin felt a sense of loss: "No wonder...no wonder I was able to live again. But this 'rebirth' is just living in other people's minds, what's the point of that..."

"What is the ethereal realm?" I had to ask directly, as I hadn't forgotten to count the steps and was almost at the end.

At this moment, for some unknown reason, my vision was not impaired at all; rather, it was as if I had two small flashlights with yellow LEDs hidden in my eyes. I could see my surroundings clearly as I walked down the stairs, yet I couldn't make out the chaos hidden at the end of the stairs. It looked like a swirling fog, its color indescribable, yet it seemed to faintly shimmer with iridescent light. It felt as if… this fog wasn't complete chaos, but rather like a special portal; passing through it might very well lead to a "new world."

Xiao Hong answered my question: "Have you ever dreamed? Then consider this place as a dream. Dreams are a derivative of real life, and this place is much the same. The difference is that 'dreams' are the foundation for the formation of the ethereal realm, and conversely, what you do, say, and do in the ethereal realm is very likely to affect reality."

Her words were rather vague, but I still grasped the key point. So I changed my question: "What should I do? What can I do?"

Xiao Hong replied crisply, "Since my lord hasn't given me any specific instructions, I'll just follow your orders for now. Whatever you want to do, I'll do as you say."

He then added, "However, I must remind you that if you don't want your real life to change, then try not to try to change anyone or anything here."

I frowned as I listened, but then I saw Lü Xin raise his hand to block my way, his eyes fixed downwards on the "Gate of Chaos" in front of him, and say:

"Three coffins, three secret passages, but they all lead to the same place. In other words, as long as you enter this 'door,' you should be able to find Old Li."

"How can you be so sure that all three secret passages lead to the same destination?" I asked directly, my mind racing.

Lu Xin said somewhat vaguely, "I had a woman before who knew about feng shui. I learned a little bit from her, and although it was haphazard, I could roughly tell that the layout here resembled a feng shui formation. I don't know exactly what kind of formation it was, but since it was set up underground, it was most likely a burial mound. You can't have three families living next to each other in the same place, can you?"

"It's all just nonsense." Xiao Hong said to me with a hint of impatience, "The three passages do lead to the same place. The left is for men and the right is for women, the left is for the lowly and the right is for the lowly. The left and right passages are for people of low status. The middle one, ah, that's for the emperor."

"What's the point of you saying all this now?" I was even more impatient, because, like Lü Xin, the messages she was conveying to me were not of any key importance.

I felt I had been delayed for too long, so I made a rash decision: to just keep going and take it one step at a time, rather than wasting time and energy standing still.

That's what I thought, and that's what I did. I didn't forget the masked monk's words, and I carried Little Red on my back, leaped over the thirty-ninth step, and jumped directly into the "Gate of Chaos"...

(End of this chapter)