This Damned Thirst for Survival

Halfway through the sentence, the dark-haired young man deliberately swallowed it, not to go on, and Chi You asked, without moving a muscle, “What?”

Jiang Luo laughed meaninglessly as he swept a slightly teasing and playful glance at Chi You and turned to say, “I don’t need to, after all I don’t need to meet the elders.”

Chi You’s face remained unchanged, “Good.”

But Yu Guang was slightly disappointed when he glanced around Jiang Luo’s neck.

It wasn’t that he was aware of anything, or that he understood anything. It was only instinct that drove him to return the tingling and strange sensation to Chi You, to imprint a little red on Jiang Luo’s neck as well.

After all, what’s the difference between a man who comes and a man who doesn’t come?

Jiang Luo was originally slow to respond to such things, or rather slow to respond to people who thought differently of him, and therefore never took the thoughts of others into account. But after what happened to him when Chi You got up to him outside the mirror, he became very sensitive to Chi You’s mood changes.

What about God ……

Chi You, as a teenager, wouldn’t have had those thoughts about him too, would she?

Once a student, twice a student, Jiang Luo’s disbelieving anger and disgust at the first time has now turned into an odd mood.

It’s the playfulness that prevails, the vague satisfaction and the thrill of trampling the evil spirits’ a**es underfoot that takes the cake.

He is a deep-rooted Chi family ruler, an evil spirit of unpredictable strength, hypocritical and indifferent, with a desire to rule and suspicion that often plays into the hands of others. He has countless followers, but twice he has fallen foul of Jiang Luo.

This simply makes Jiang Luo’s heart soar, even to the point of feeling like he is manipulating the evil spirits.

When we first came to this world, Chi You wanted to kill him, and now?

Heh.

Jiang Luo’s smile continues as he Yu Guang glances behind him at Chi You and sighs with narrowed eyes.

He was now eager to find a chance to test his suspicions. If everything was true, Jiang Luo would have the chance to laugh at Chi You when he got out of the mirror world.

Jiang Luo was happy when he made up his mind. He kept a rather cheerful mood all the way back to the pool house.

Two men are anxiously waiting for Jiang Luo to return under an old tree just inside the gates of the Chi family home.

Qin Yun walked around, her hands clasped together so tightly that her bright red nail polish was snapped off in large irregular shapes. Qin Yun’s voice was trembling, and her fears were showing through, ” Jiang Luo, why isn’t he back yet? What to do, it’s almost dark ……”

Waiting with her was Lian Xue, whose pale lips were pursed, and whose occasional worried glance was cast towards the door of the house with an air of forced impatience.

She was a little more calm than Qin Yun and said reassuringly, “It’s okay, they’ll be back, I guess soon.”

Qin Yun’s feet stopped abruptly as she looked at the willow tree, sweat pouring from the top of her head, and her eyes, upon closer inspection, revealing a dazed look, “Lian Xue, Duan Zi is dead! How could he have died? And he died so badly! It’s over …… The evil spirit must have set his sights on us, he knew we were here to kill him and was planning to strike first. After Duan Zi died, it was our turn. Du Ge, Li Xiao, and I …… know Jiang Luo well, but we are not the same. — Lian Xue, I really don’t want to die, I’m still so young ……”

She was incoherent and panicked.

Lian Xue laughed bitterly, “Who wants to die again.”

Qin Yun suddenly fell silent as she walked over to Lian Xue and clasped his hand with a look of expectation in her eyes, “Lian Xue, you know Jiang Luo well, please ask him to protect us, will you? Tell him to kill the evil spirits and take us home, okay?”

Lian Xue frowned as she patted Lian Xue’s hand, ” Qin Yun , we can’t put all our hopes on Brother Jiang Luo.”

She said in as euphemistic a tone as she could, “We are victims, and so is senior brother. There are eight of us in total who have come into the Mirror World, we can’t just let a few of us hide away every day and let Senior Brother do the whole thing by himself. Even if he is able to do more, he can’t be made to bear the burden of all of our lives.”

When she finished, she sighed slightly and couldn’t help but say, “If only Zhong Qiu was there.”

The Lian family is a family of witch doctors, and the art of witch medicine is the top priority. When it was their generation’s turn, the elders were afraid that they would be distracted, and even more so, they did not teach them anything other than witch medicine. According to the elders, if a doctor was good enough, everyone would come to protect their lives. Lian Xue seldom went down to the mountains, and when this had not happened, she felt that the elders had a point and did not see any disadvantages. After all, everyone in the Lian family, from the elders to the youngest, is a person who has no desire, or to put it nicely, a person who takes things as they come and does not care about gain or loss. But now that something has happened, Lian Xue feels that something is wrong.

If they are in danger, they only have the art of healing, and although they can heal and save lives, can they really save them?

Lian Xue remembered Taoist Master Weihe. Isn’t Taoist Master Weihe also proficient in metaphysics?

This would contradict the words of the elders. When she got out, she would have to ask Daoist Master Weihe this question.

They didn’t have to wait long before a noise came from the front door. It was Jiang Luo and Chi You who had returned.

Lian Xue and Qin Yun were delighted, but their status made it inappropriate for them to come forward, so they stayed put and waited for Jiang Luo to look back at them as a hint.

Qin Yun’s face had just tugged up into a smile when she saw the young master of the Chi family walking in with Jiang Luo. The smile on her face froze abruptly in place as Qin Yun pinched Lian Xue’s hand and said incredulously, ” Lian Xue, is that the owner’s family of the wooden house villa?

Lian Xue looked over at Chi You and she calmly shook her head, “No, that’s Chi You, the young master of the Chi family.”

Qin Yun looked at Chi You in disbelief for a long time, “How does he, how does he look so much like the owner of the cabin?”

Lian Xue was at a loss for words, not knowing how to explain.

Qin Yun turned around keenly and said, “You know?”

Lian Xue is silent.

Qin Yun let go of Lian Xue’s hand for a moment and looked back at Jiang Luo, the joyous look in her gaze had faded and was replaced by vague suspicion, “You guys know that the young master of the Chi family and the master’s family look like each other, and you haven’t told us yet. Could it be that …… the people who let us into this bizarre place were actually you guys?!”

Lian Xue snapped, “How can that be!”

“Then why didn’t you guys say anything about it!” Qin Yun backed up repeatedly as she broke down and questioned, “You guys probably know the owner’s family too …… I said how could it be such a coincidence that we met a storm on the mountain and happened to be rescued, and you guys also met a storm and happened to be rescued. The host family is so handsome, more than a star, how can it be such a coincidence to meet such a person? He is a master outside the mirror, and a young master in the mirror, and so much younger, there is clearly some secret hidden in it! Not to mention Jiang Luo’s ghostly tricks that no ordinary person could ever use …… How could it be that we all ran into him by such a coincidence? It must be you, you and the owner of the wooden house have been conspiring together to prepare this play, right?”

When people are in a situation of extreme fear, their suspicion is much higher than usual. Lian Xue understands Qin Yun’s fear; after all, they are isolated, ordinary people who don’t know anything. But if Qin Yun is left to speculate, the consequences will only get worse.

She said, “Qin Yun, have you forgotten that it was Duan Zi who proposed the 12 midnight mirror event?”

Qin Yun froze abruptly as she thought about it, and it was indeed Duan Zi who had proposed the order. The order was accepted by Jiang Luo and the host family.

Yes Duan Zi ……

She recovered from the excitement she had just felt and choked up as she covered her face, “I’m sorry Lian Xue …… I was so scared, I’m sorry ……”

Lian Xue breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward to pat her on the back, “It’s okay, let’s get together tonight and talk it over, Duan Zi is dead, but we’re not. We need to calm down to have a chance of getting out.”

Qin Yun nodded silently.

When Lian Xue looked back at the gate, Jiang Luo and Chi You had already left.

It looks like we’ll have to find another way to contact Jiang Luo.

*

Jiang Luo and Chi You went back to their room and ordered the maid to bring a dish of glutinous rice.

Glutinous rice can ward off evil spirits and also cure corpse poison. The white glutinous rice grains were placed on a plate, and Chi You took off his upper body clothes, “I’ll trouble Young Master Jiang.”

Jiang Luo spreads the glutinous rice flat in his hands and wonders, “Young Master Ji, I don’t know how to do this.”

Jiang Luo frowned and nodded half-understandingly as Chi You explained the details to him. When Chi You sat down, he hesitated, but his hand was quick to place it over the wound at Chi You’s neck. The moment the glutinous rice touches the wound, there is the sound of burning flesh and white smoke rises from the sides of his hand.

Jiang Luo would have thought he hadn’t felt anything if it weren’t for the bruises protruding from his neck.

“Is this the first time I’ve done something like this, do you think it hurts?” Jiang Luo asked.

Chi You hooked up a smile, “It’s okay.”

After a few moments, the white smoke dissipated and the intense burning of the flesh slowly stopped. Jiang Luo let go of his hand, the glutinous rice grains that had touched the wound in his palm had turned black and Chi You’s wound had been successfully removed from the corpse.

Chi You slowly and methodically put on his clothes and said, “Although this is the first time Master Jiang has done this kind of thing, his technique is clean and crisp, so you can see that he has talent.”

Jiang Luo said politely, “That’s a compliment.”

Chi You smiled, “Then Young Master Jiang, I will go and meet the elders first.”

After Chi You had left, Jiang Luo disposed of the glutinous rice grains and asked the maid to take away the plates. When the maid took the plates away, she suddenly remembered something and said to Jiang Luo, “Young Master Jiang, do you know where he put the young master’s clothes last night? Today I wanted to take it to wash it, but I couldn’t find it.”

Clothes?

Jiang Luo thought for a moment, “Not in the house?”

The maid said, “We can’t enter the house without the young masters’ permission. In the past, the clothes that the young masters took off were put in the bathing room, but today I didn’t see any clothes left by the young masters in the bathing room.”

Jiang Luo said, “I’ll look for it.”

He searched the house and eventually found a barrel under the bed. When he opened it, he found the clothes Chi You had worn yesterday in it. Jiang Luo took the clothes out and found a number of mud spots and a few drops of blood under the hem of the garment.

It had rained all night last night and it was normal for Chi You to get muddy spots from being out and about. But what about all the blood?

Jiang Luo touched the blood thoughtfully, and after a long time he put the clothes back and told the maid, “I didn’t find it either.”

When the maid had gone, Jiang Luo frowned slowly.

What exactly did Chi You do last night?

“Brother ……”

” Jiang Luo Senior Brother …… ”

Jiang Luo was roused from his thoughts by a faint voice, and when he looked up, he saw a balled-up note rolled to his toes.

A quarter of an hour later, the rockery cave in the backyard.

When Jiang Luo enters, everyone is already there. Compared to yesterday, today’s atmosphere is gloomy. Duan Zi’s death loomed like a shadow over the group, and Li Xiao had her head buried, her fists clenched by her legs, her expression unreadable. Lian Bing’s eyes were red and swollen as she kept apologising to Li Xiao, “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault, if only I had gone out with him last night, he wouldn’t have died. ……”

Except for Lian Bing, no one else was in the mood to talk. Upon seeing Jiang Luo, Lian Qiang’s eyes lit up and he hurriedly said, “Brother, you’ve been away today and you don’t know that Duan Zi…”

“I already know,” Jiang Luo said, “that I suspect Duan Zi isn’t really dead.”

Everyone stared at him in disbelief. Li Xiao rushed up to Jiang Luo, her red eyes filled with hope and fear, “Really?”

Lian Bing also looked up from his guilt and looked at Jiang Luo with equal hope and disbelief, whispering, “But brother, I saw them take Duan Zi’s body to the car and send it away.”

Jiang Luo nodded with unmistakable certainty, “The death of the mirror world does not mean the death of the physical body.”

In fact, Jiang Luo is only guessing, not certain that Duan Zi is really alive.

But in this situation, if something is not said, the situation will only get worse.

Jiang Luo did not waver even when he knew he was in danger of deceiving the crowd. For to do so was the best outcome for the moment.

The stagnant air was relieved and Li Xiao whimpered and cried. Lian Xue handed Li Xiao a handkerchief and smiled, “That’s good, Li Xiao, Duan Zi is not dead.”

Lian Bing also took a big breath as the guilt was withdrawn and he felt able to think again, “So, we’re not afraid of death?”

Jiang Luo shook his head, “Even if the physical body doesn’t die, the mental state is shaken and we still have to do our best to keep ourselves out of harm’s way …… about the evil spirits, I’ve got some insight. When I was in Yi Zhuang, I saw not only Duan Zi, but also another beggar who was killed. From the beggar’s body, I saw a picture about the evil spirits.”

A few spirits were lifted and Lian Xue asked, “Really, Brother?”

Du Ge asked in a deep voice, “What does the evil spirit look like?”

Jiang Luo gave a general description of what the evil spirit looked like.

“The black robe hides his face,” Lian Qiang sighed, “so we can’t tell who the evil spirits are.”

Lian Bing also sighed and turned around to bring out what he had prepared. A small bowl of rooster’s blood and a stack of yellow talismans, “Brother, I’m sorry, rooster’s blood isn’t easy to get, that’s all I could find.”

Jiang Luo looked at the amount of rooster’s blood, “It’s enough to draw a few charms.”

When other people draw charms, there is always a lot of work to be done. Jiang Luo did not have to go through that much trouble. He used his hand as a brush and dabbed the chicken blood onto the Fu Lu in one go. Jiang Luo used up all the chicken blood with little interruption.

It’s just that there is very little chicken blood in the end, barely allowing one per person, any more than that.

A few people solemnly put Fu Lu’s body away, and their hearts were finally put back in their mouths after a long day. Jiang Luo saw that it was getting late and said, “I’ll go back first. If anyone calls for help outside, just sleep with your head covered and don’t worry about anything. This is a very evil place, almost like a big dark place, where anything evil can happen, so be careful.”

The others responded, and Qin Yun, somewhat fearfully, said to Lian Xue and Li Xiao, “Let’s sleep together tonight.”

Lian Xue and Li Xiao both nodded their heads.

Du Ge walked to the entrance of the cave, sniffed and turned back towards Qin Yun, ” Qin Yun , come here for a moment, I want to talk to you.”

*

Jiang Luo returned to his room, but Chi You had not yet returned.

He waited patiently for a while, as darkness fell and candlelight flickered, for who knows how long, before Chi You walked slowly through the door of the room.

His face was a little paler in the candlelight, but the corners of his lips were teased up in a good mood.

Only one pair of eyes, however, was as dark as an abyss, with a suppressed storm looming in them.

Jiang Luo asked tentatively, “You don’t look comfortable.”

Chi You laughed, “That’s not true.”

“Were your wounds seen?” Jiang Luo pointed to Chi You’s neck, “What did they say?”

“They cautioned me to do less of that or it would be bad for my health,” Chi You’s smile deepens, “and thanks to them, I’ve learned a lot of things too.”

When he finished, he grunted, got his clothes and invited, “Join us for a shower?”

Jiang Luo said, “Go.”

Jiang Luo said, “A maid came to look for the clothes you changed out of yesterday, and I found them under your bed, but they were stained with blood.”

“Oh, that,” Chi You dawned on me, “that, ah, is the blood I accidentally touched yesterday during practice.”

Jiang Luo : “Hmm?”

“Rooster’s blood and black dog’s blood,” Chi You said with a smile, “these are used in vermilion and will ward off evil spirits.”

“So that’s it,” Jiang Luo nodded knowingly, “why don’t you leave it to the maids to wash?”

Chi You suddenly gave a strange laugh and said, “You look a bit like my wife now.”

Jiang Luo : “?”

Chi You said slowly, “Everything must be broken down.”

“……” Jiang Luo rolled his eyes darkly.

The conversation ended and they also walked to the bathing room. The two men entered the bathroom left and right, Jiang Luo took out the talisman he had written only today and put it on the door, ready to undress.

Next door, a wall away from him, Chi You is doing the same, folding his clothes until they are neatly laid on the table and chairs. A curling mist obscures his form as Chi You hums a tune, and on his pale spine, ghostly lines abruptly release from three moles and slowly creep upwards.

The young man’s handsome face looks as if it is haunted.

In the midst of the steam, a ghostly figure of a mountain peak suddenly appeared, cowering in the corner, and Chi You slowly said, “I told you to go next door and scare him, why are you back?”

The ghostly shadow was about to crouch to the ground as it stuttered, “My lord, that door, that door has an incredibly powerful Fu Lu on it.”

“Oh?” Chi You took a slight interest as he looked to the ghostly figure, “How powerful is it?”

The ghostly shadow gulped and his body trembled even more violently, “If I break in hard, I, I might have my soul scattered ……”

“Then go hard,” Chi You teased, smiling with gusto, “and let me see if I’ll break your soul or not.”

The ghostly figure trembled, “No, no, my lord, please spare me, please -”

Chi You slowly smoothed out the last folds of his clothes, the black mist on his body suddenly rose up, raging like the head of a fierce beast approaching the ghostly figure, the black mist opened its bloody mouth, just one mouth could devour the ghostly figure, “So, do you think it’s scary to break through that door and have your soul scattered, or to be devoured by me?”

Chi You turned his face sideways, gloom enveloping his brow, the corners of his lips picking up with a few moments of deep oppression.

The ghostly shadow was silent for a moment and said feebly, “As ordered, my lord.”

When the ghostly figure disappeared, Chi You looked at the wall separating the two bathrooms and slowly raised his hand, tapping his finger on the wall. The wall cracked and a hole the size of a fingertip emerged.

“He’s so strange,” Chi You said to himself, “Fu Lu , where did Fu Lu come from? He really is no ordinary person.”

Chi You murmured, “He also brought out emotions in me that I had never felt before, and if I hadn’t been sure that my consciousness wasn’t compelled or manipulated by the other side, I would have thought that he had used some secret technique to affect me.”

“The Jiang family is ordinary, his parents are ordinary, and before that, I had never heard of the young master of the Jiang family being so tactful,” Chi You , “Let me see, who you really are.”

The wall was easily penetrated by his fingers.

Chi You looks calmly through the cavernous eyes to see Jiang Luo, clutching the hem of his shirt, looking in the direction of the bathroom door. Chi You follows his line of sight.

A Fu Lu, a suppression charm, was attached to the wooden door, but at the moment when the ghostly figure hit the door, the Fu Lu flashed slightly past Jin Guang and remained firmly attached to the door.

Chi You As if in thought, he raised his hand and a black mist wrapped around a cloud of black ash arrived in front of him.

It was the last thing left behind by the ghostly figure, and indeed, as it said, its soul flew away.

But even though its soul was scattered, the talisman did not burn up and could still be used.

Such a talisman, even for a clan elder of the Chi family, I am afraid, could not be written.

Chi You smiled and waved his hand gently as a line of shivering ghosts knelt down behind him, “My Lord.”

“You have followed me for a long time, and now it is time for you to serve me,” Chi You said, “Go, break down that door and show me how powerful that Fu Lu really is.”

“…… is.”

It took five ghosts to scatter their souls before they crashed through the door. Chi You looked at Fu Lu, who had finally burst into flames, and waved his hand thoughtfully, telling the other ghosts, whose faces were ashen, to stand down.

He looked over at Jiang Luo, meaningfully.

Who you really are.

Jiang Luo puts down his clothes, walks over and closes the door, and gently draws a Fu Lu on the door with his middle finger. But when he turned back, Jiang Luo felt a familiar prying eye.

Sticky, deep and goose-bump inducing.

Jiang Luo curls his lips silently and abruptly removes his shirt, catching Chi You’s eye with his pale back.

Chi You withdraws his eyes and glances in the bath, but doesn’t hold back and looks up across the room again. By this time, Jiang Luo’s hands are on the waist of his own trousers.

*

Outside the mirror.

“There is a difference in the flow of time between the world in the mirror and the world outside the mirror,” Ge Wuchen said respectfully, “Master, the world in the mirror cannot carry your power. If you forcefully enter, the mirror world will be destroyed and in turn trap the souls of Master Jiang and the others.”

The window in the bedroom suddenly burst open and a storm of wind swept in with a cold intrusion of snow.

Chi You sat on the sofa next to the bed, he leaned against the back of the sofa chair and looked at Ge Wuchen absently, after a while, instead smiled with interest, “Is this what you’ve been working on for two days?”

Ge Wuchen gritted his teeth and quickly finished the rest of his sentence amidst the overwhelming pressure, “But there are two other ways. First, you manipulate one of the people in the mirror world into a puppet. Second, you can temporarily detach a few wisps of your consciousness and briefly possess the body of a person from the Mirror World, and without alerting those behind the curtain, test how much of your consciousness the Mirror World can carry before making other calculations.”

Chi You turned his head sideways and looked at Jiang Luo, who was breathing steadily on the bed. After a moment’s stagnation, he said to himself, “Neither one sounds very satisfying to me.”

“Why should I have to go into the mirror world,” he said, “uninteresting, laborious, and not the least bit interesting.”

But the man who uttered these words had not left the cottage in the least in the past two days.

Ge Wuchen tentatively justified him by saying, “You just want to know what the people behind the curtain are trying to do and be prepared for it.”

Chi You came to a realization, “Right.”

His eyes moved away from Jiang Luo, the irritation he had suppressed for two days no longer pouring out in disguise, and he gave the order, “Now, immediately. Use the second method and have me possess the person closest to Jiang Luo.”

“Yes,” Ge Wuchen said cautiously, “but Master, you are entering for the first time, and the second method is only to test the tolerance of the Mirror World for you; it will be very quick to enter it and come out again. It is best that you dive into the Mirror World with the least amount of consciousness, just in case, without shattering it.”

“I got it, move fast,” Chi You tapped his fingers, his smile high as he trailed off, “I can’t hold it down anymore.”