Chapter 233: Volume 1, Chapter 233 – I See Your Brow Is Dark (21)

By the next day, the pleasure boat.

She changed into an exquisite, luxurious gauze dress, boarded the pleasure boat, and took Mu Yan's place to fulfill her fate.

As long as she reaches the ending, the brawny man's elopement with Mu Yan will cause her to awaken, and this illusion will end.

Through the gauze curtain as soft as silk, Jiang Zhi faintly made out the outside scenery.

Several boats were sailing nearby, all pleasure boats of the various families' thin horses.

Jiang Zhi maintained the seated posture of a noble young lady for over an hour, leaving her panting from exhaustion.

She wished she could just lie down right there and stretch.

The pleasure boat gradually neared the shore, and she heard the noisy laughter and play.

Only when the boat docked did a maid's voice come from outside the curtain.

"Miss, the Yuan family's young master has chosen you."

"The Yuan family's young master? Isn't he just the pervert who likes to torment the thin horses?"

Jiang Zhi had guessed Mu Yan's fate, but she hadn't expected it to be so tragic.

She quickly got into a sedan chair and was carried through the side gate into the Yuan household.

This young master of the Yuan family has many wives and concubines, and he loves thin horses the most.

Jiang Zhi covered her head with a red cloth, sat on the edge of the bed, and waited for the Yuan family's young master to arrive.

A few minutes later, the wooden door creaked open, and an unsteady, drunken step stopped before her, the man's voice filled with excitement.

"Beauty."

Jiang Zhi's face was expressionless; she was all too familiar with this plot.

Although this was an illusion, it didn't stop her from wanting to sever the Yuan family young master's karmic root.

Just as she was about to act, a faint cry of pain suddenly came from ahead, followed by a clatter—the Yuan family's young master collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Hearing the sound, Jiang Zhi reached out, wanting to lift the veil to see what was happening outside.

A long, icy-cold finger stopped her movement.

A low, resonant zither note, pleasant to the ear, fell upon her ears.

"Jiang Xiao Zhi."

Jiang Zhi froze for a moment, "Yu Beihan?"

Yu Beihan replied, "It's me."

Jiang Zhi wondered, "How are you here?"

Yu Beihan didn't answer her question; instead, he slowly lifted the red veil covering her face with his fingertip.

Revealing a strange face, yet those eyes remained as bright and clear as ever, beautiful beyond description, as if strewn with heavenly starlight.

He almost drowned in her beautiful eyes.

Noticing his distraction, Jiang Zhi lifted her face toward him, smiling, and asked, "Isn't this face pretty?"

Having deliberately made up her face to look like Mu Yan's, the man found himself unable to move his legs upon seeing it.

Yu Beihan averted his gaze; a blush rose at his ears, inconspicuous in the dim yellow light.

The man's silence, in Jiang Zhi's eyes, amounted to tacit agreement.

Jiang Zhi grew a little angry, removed the makeup from her face, glared at him, and demanded, "Was it that earlier face that was beautiful, or is it this one of mine?"

Since she became the original host, the original's visage began to show some of her own facial features.

Upon hearing this question, Yu Beihan avoided looking at her even more, his fingers hidden in his sleeves gradually tightening as he stiffly changed the subject: "Where is this?"

Jiang Zhi let him off for now, looked around, and replied, "An illusion—the illusion of that painting."

Having said that, she turned her gaze to the person who had fainted on the ground and asked him, "What's wrong with him?"

Yu Beihan's eyes were as cold as winter frost, his voice calm and emotionless: "I knocked him out."

Jiang Zhi thought of something and asked him strangely, "How did you get here?"

Yu Beihan briefly explained, "You haven't been inside long."

Jiang Zhi rested her chin on her hand and pondered.

It must be that the illusion's range happened to spread to the outside, dragging him in along with her.

"Have you been here all this time?"

Yu Beihan: "Mm."

Actually, in the illusion he had become the steward of the Yuan mansion; these past two days he had been going out to inquire about her news, and when he saw her step off the boat, although her appearance differed, Yu Beihan still identified her as her.

Jiang Zhi didn't ask further, glanced at the Yuan family young master lying on the ground, and furrowed her brows.

She grabbed the man and pulled him behind her, saying, "Drop the act—I know you're that evil ghost."

The words fell.

The Yuan family young master opened his eyes, twisted his neck in an unnatural way, his face turned ferocious, and yin energy rose around him.

"I never expected to find treasure here." As he spoke, his scarlet, greedy eyes fixed tightly on the man standing behind Jiang Zhi.

He had a premonition that if he could devour that man, his strength would surely increase greatly.

He could even become the supreme Ghost King.

Jiang Zhi gritted her teeth—this was an illusion, and she hadn't brought a single talisman in her pack.

Moreover, that evil ghost had discovered Yu Beihan.

What a string of misfortunes.

She lowered her voice to the man behind her: "You just wait a moment and then escape."

Yu Beihan gazed deeply at her, and after a few seconds replied, "Okay."

Jiang Zhi exhaled, bit her fingertip to draw a talisman.

"Bind!"

From beneath the evil ghost's feet, a magic array spread out; countless shackles shot forth and tightly coiled around the evil ghost.

The evil ghost exclaimed: "You set up a magic array on the ground while I pretended to fall??"

Jiang Zhi sneered: "You're just too careless."

Yu Beihan took the chance to escape the house.

The evil ghost's eyes nearly burst, and it glared at her with hatred, saying: "You can't escape; this is an illusion. As long as I kill you, that mortal will still die in my belly."

Jiang Zhi spread her arms, drawing talisman symbols one after another.

She curled her lip and mocked: "What makes you think you're worthy?"

The evil ghost struggled wildly.

"In this illusion, your power is already limited; you can't beat me."

As he said, Jiang Zhi's power was nowhere near what it was in reality.

The illusion greatly weakened her power, but for the evil ghost, this place was like heaven.

Its power surged visibly.

Blood trickled from the corner of Jiang Zhi's mouth, but she didn't pause, aiming to finish it as quickly as possible.

The longer she delayed, the slimmer her chances of victory.

The evil ghost broke free of the shackles and grappled with her.

After a hundred rounds, Jiang Zhi's body, like a broken‑string puppet, smashed through the wooden door and crashed onto the marble floor.

She spat out a mouthful of blood and, with her last strength, chanted the magic formula.

Suddenly.

Golden light burst forth, and the evil ghost was sliced and entwined by countless golden rays like steel wires.

The evil ghost couldn't believe it: "You deliberately showed a flaw… just to lure me into a trap??"

Unwilling to die like this, it used a self‑destruct‑like forbidden technique to break the golden threads and lunged at Jiang Zhi like a madman.

Even if it meant mutual destruction, it had to kill her! Kill her!!

Jiang Zhi closed her eyes, powerless, and calmly awaited death.

"Boom!!"

Yu Beihan, who should have fled, stepped in to block the blow for her—but a mortal's frail body could not withstand it; the evil ghost's arm pierced straight through his chest, its power faded, and it vanished in unwilling ashes.

Yu Beihan stumbled to the ground, and voices appeared in his ears.

"I am your father!"

"This is the Underworld—what are you? The King Yan?"

"Little King Yan, Little King Yan~"

"Follow the navigation home; no matter what happens from now on, never become a bad person. This is my first request."

"And you promised me a second request—I'll owe it for now, and I'll tell you when we meet again."

——He realized.