Chapter 126: Three Missing One Is Not Allowed 19

“It feels a bit strange.” Shi Xianyu wiped her mouth, unable to quite put the feeling into words. Although it looked like a person, it was actually a shadow. Even when it solidified, it lacked the softness and warmth of human skin, which made it feel odd.

If she had to describe it, it was like pressing your lips against the mist outlet of a humidifier—cool and slightly chilling.

Looking at the “Linyuan” who was stunned by the kiss, she couldn’t help but smile and reached out to pat his head, sighing, “Right now, you’re the only one I can trust. All those students outside have gone crazy, tearing each other apart. Who knows when someone’s dirty secret will come out next.”

The shadow tried to move closer to her, inching nearer and gently touching her with its mouth.

Shi Xianyu couldn’t help but laugh, “What are you doing? Didn’t you already kiss me just now?”

The shadow was silent, its expression confused as if asking, “Only one kiss allowed?”

She chuckled and teased, “Linyuan with the leopard ears kissed me, but Lin Yuan, whose face is half disfigured, hasn’t.”

She felt it was no different from kissing a kitten or puppy and bore no moral burden at all—very lighthearted.

The shadow, reminded, earnestly changed its face into Lin Yuan’s and looked at Shi Xianyu expectantly.

A bold idea suddenly sparked within her.

She bent down and kissed the shadow again, then deliberately said, “Now both have kissed me. If you want another kiss, you’ll have to change faces.”

The shadow remained silent, clearly troubled, earnestly searching its consciousness for other faces.

Curious, Shi Xianyu observed its transformations. “You’ve devoured so many ghosts; you should be able to sense their obsessions and consciousness, right? Can you transform into their likeness? Or into the people they hate or miss?”

If it had swallowed the ghost of Du Xiaoling, could it transform into the true culprit who killed her? Of course, this was only her speculation.

The shadow’s face flickered back and forth between Linyuan and Lin Yuan repeatedly.

Her curiosity deepened.

She had initially thought the shadow transformed into Linyuan and Lin Yuan because it had come into contact with her and recorded their images from her mind. But now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

So why could it only become Linyuan and Lin Yuan, and not anyone else?

Could there be some unknown connection between it and those two?

The shadow kept changing faces, trying very hard, but never producing a third face.

“If you’re tired, just stop,” Shi Xianyu advised, “You’ve kissed twice already. Whether you’re a person… or a ghost, you can’t be greedy.”

The shadow stubbornly continued its efforts.

Amid the flickering between Linyuan’s and Lin Yuan’s faces, a third face finally faintly appeared.

Shi Xianyu’s eyes widened in surprise. “You really can change into someone else?”

She frowned, scrutinizing the emerging features. As the contours became clearer, a sense of familiarity washed over her—this face, this face… wasn’t it her attendant deity’s?

She was stunned.

Those brows, that expression—there was no doubt it was her deity. How could the shadow transform into him?

“I definitely can’t kiss this face.”

She refused, standing up from the bed, the floor covered in shadows, leaving no place to step.

She asked, “Have you finished digesting?”

She didn’t want to step on any ghosts halfway digested inside its body.

The shadow, still disappointed, heard her words and silently gathered the shadows scattered around the room, pressing them close to the ceiling and walls to avoid disturbing her.

Shi Xianyu glanced back at it with a complicated expression. “Maybe you should turn back into a shadow.”

After a pause, she added, “So no one will notice.”

The shadow obediently nodded. Whether it was Linyuan’s face, Lin Yuan’s, or her attendant deity’s, they all melted back into the dark corners of the room, silent and invisible.

The shadow could not answer her questions. It was only a fragment of an incomplete divine consciousness, incapable of speech, argument, or disguise.

To find the answers, Shi Xianyu felt she would have to wait until this ordeal was over and then return to the Immortal Palace to ask her attendant deity.

He should know what was going on.

…

Opening the door, Zhou Boshang was not in the hallway outside.

Shi Xianyu walked down the corridor and saw him at the corner. It seemed her previous mention of someone possibly leaving through the fire escape had somewhat upset him.

Zhou Boshang was sitting cross-legged on the floor. When he saw her coming, he paused and asked, “Did you rest well?”

“Yeah, just slept a little,” Shi Xianyu nodded softly and walked over, asking, “How are the others?”

“Some fell asleep, some are still arguing,” Zhou Boshang sighed. He was really bad at handling interpersonal conflicts. All he wanted was to go out and hunt ghosts, but the sponsor was still here, so he couldn’t just abandon everyone.

Shi Xianyu said, “I want to check the girls’ dormitory, especially Du Xiaoling’s old room.”

Zhou Boshang quickly said, “I’ll go with you!”

He was eager to kill some ghosts and really didn’t want to be a babysitter anymore!

But as soon as he finished speaking, people from several nearby rooms came out, all opposed to him going.

Zhou Boshang said helplessly, “We can’t just wait here forever. Don’t you all want to go back?”

His words silenced everyone.

Shi Xianyu looked at them and suggested, “Why don’t we all go together? The girls’ dorm is still relatively safe now, but if we wait any longer, who knows what will happen.”

Zhou Boshang was taken aback. “What do you mean? How do you know it’s safe there?”

Shi Xianyu couldn’t say it was because a certain ghost had been feasting there. She vaguely explained, “I used a method from our temporary palace to scout it out. It’s temporarily safe.”

“Out-of-body soul projection?!” Zhou Boshang was shocked. “You’ve already cultivated to this level?!”

Shi Xianyu was speechless.

Zhou Boshang anxiously said, “That kind of magic is very dangerous! Next time you go out of body, be sure to call me to guard you! Otherwise, if some wandering spirit occupies your body, you’ll have nowhere to cry!”

Shi Xianyu: “Ah, is it really that serious…”

“Of course it is!” Zhou Boshang said. “Once, a man’s wife was possessed by a vengeful spirit. When a ghost gets a human body, it starts thinking like a person—cunning and deceitful. My master had to work hard to drive it out. But that spirit was too sly; it took advantage when my master let his guard down and possessed the man’s child. The child was still a baby, with an unstable soul. After the possession, the child nearly died! Although my master eventually exorcised the spirit, it came at a great cost. The child suffered from constant illnesses afterward and had to be sent to the mountains to cultivate with my master to gradually recover.”

Curious, Shi Xianyu asked, “Are you talking about yourself?”

Zhou Boshang was speechless.