1.
My roommate, Trần Linh, has gone missing.
This all started a month ago.
Trần Linh’s family lived in the countryside, and her monthly expenses were modest. But a month ago, she suddenly had more money to spare.
She even invited me out to eat, saying she’d recently found a pretty good part-time job with decent pay.
The job she mentioned was at a newly opened tourist attraction in an old town on the outskirts.
They put on a martial arts performance there every day, where a groom fights to win a bride, and they needed someone to play the bride.
All she had to do was play the bride for one afternoon, and she could earn three or four hundred yuan.
Taking two or three shifts a month could bring in over a thousand yuan.
Three days ago, she came to see me, practically buzzing with excitement.
“Ruyi, I landed a big job.”
She pulled a stack of bills wrapped in red paper from her bag. “All I have to do is play the bride for one day, and I’ll earn three thousand yuan!”
Three thousand yuan was no small sum for a college student.
I looked at the red envelope and couldn’t help frowning.
My intuition told me something was off about it.
2.
My name is Vân Như Ý. I’m the wife of the Dragon King, and I’m also a demon hunter.
When I learned Trần Linh was thinking of taking the job, I warned her, “Trần Linh, I cast a fortune for you. It came up ominous—you shouldn’t go out that day.”
Trần Linh knew I knew a little about these things, so she began to hesitate.
She wasn’t greedy for money. After thinking it over, she decided to return the red envelope and turn down the job.
Hearing that, I felt relieved too.
But when I woke up this morning, Trần Linh was gone.
She’d sent me a message:
[Ruyi, my mom fell off her scooter yesterday, and my family needs money right now. I took the job after all. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.]
I hurriedly called her, but no matter how many times I tried, she didn’t pick up.
Without stopping to think, I called Tưởng Thiếu Thiên and explained the situation.
He was descended from the Tưởng family of Phượng Thành, one of the ten great spiritual clans. With him here, my investigation would go much more smoothly.
He came to meet me quickly, and we drove straight to the suburban tourist attraction, Long Môn Old Town.
It was the weekend, and the old town was packed.
Lots of parents had brought their children for a day out.
There were also girls in Hanfu taking photos for social media.
Tưởng Thiếu Thiên and I had no time to take in the scenery. We headed straight for the bride-winning martial arts show.
On a large stage, the bride-winning martial arts show was nearly over.
The professional bride, dressed in wedding clothes and veiled, was bowing with the professional groom opposite her.
Tưởng Thiếu Thiên asked me, “Miss Ruyi, is that Trần Linh?”
I shook my head. “No.”
The strange thing was, I couldn’t sense Trần Linh’s presence anywhere in the old town.
It was as if she’d vanished from the world.
Before long, the performance onstage ended.
When the professional bride came down to change, I stopped her.
“Excuse me, I’m a student at a nearby university. I’m looking for a part-time job to earn some spending money. Could you put me in touch with someone?” I smiled, showing off my dimples.
The girl was very kind and quickly added me to a WeChat group.
“If any jobs come up, the organizers will post them in there. If you’re quick, you can claim one.”
3.
Trần Linh was in the group too.
The group had a very strange rule: after joining, you had to change your nickname to include your name and your full date and time of birth, down to the exact minute.
According to the girl, someone on the organizing team specialized in calculating whether the professional bride’s and groom’s birth charts were compatible, to bring good luck.
I found Trần Linh in the group’s member list.
Tưởng Thiếu Thiên glanced at my phone. “Oh, Trần Linh’s birth date is yin through and through. Her birth chart makes her an easy target for unclean things.”
I knew that.
After all, I’d recognized her pure-yin fate the first time we met.
I’d heard she was often sickly as a child, and only grew up safe and sound after a blind Taoist priest gave her a bracelet.
I never expected something to happen to her now.
I changed my group nickname, made up a pure-yin birth chart, and joined.
I put my phone away and turned to leave the old town.
Tưởng Thiếu Thiên caught up with me. “Miss Ruyi, where are we going now?”
I scrolled through the group members and tapped a profile. “Find her. Young Master Tưởng, could you use a little of your financial clout to look into this person for me?”
Like Trần Linh, she was one of the two girls in the group with yin birth dates.
If someone had targeted Trần Linh because of her unusual birth date, there was no reason this girl would be spared.
Half an hour later, Tưởng Thiếu Thiên returned.
“Found her. Trịnh An Kỳ, 24, an ordinary company employee.”
He looked serious. “She’s in the hospital right now.”
I turned to look at him. “What happened?”
Tưởng Thiếu Thiên said, “I heard she was hit by a car while crossing the street, but I watched the security footage. Something’s off.”
With that, he sent me the security footage he’d obtained.
In the video, a young woman in office clothes was crossing the street when, halfway across, she suddenly stopped.
She stood there, dazed, for several seconds. The car coming from the other direction couldn’t stop in time and hit her.
Tưởng Thiếu Thiên added, “It happened on Monday. She’d taken part in the bride-winning martial arts show at the old town over the weekend.”
I asked him, “Which hospital is she in?”
4.
By the time we reached the hospital where Trịnh An Kỳ was staying, it was midday.
Outside her room, her parents were eating.
We pretended to be her coworkers, and her parents immediately burst into tears.
Tưởng Thiếu Thiên stayed outside to comfort them. I went into the room alone.
Trịnh An Kỳ lay in bed, her face pale, showing no sign of waking.
Nurses moved about nearby.
I calmly walked up to the bed, formed the Spirit-Seeking hand seal, and pressed it into her body…
When we left the hospital, Tưởng Thiếu Thiên asked me, “How is she?”
“Her perceptive soul and life soul are both gone. Only her essence soul remains, keeping her alive.”
People have three souls and seven spirits. The three souls are the essence soul, the perceptive soul, and the life soul.
If the essence soul is lost, a person can't survive. But the perceptive soul and life soul are different. If the perceptive soul is lost, the five senses disappear; if the life soul is lost, the mind gradually deteriorates until the person falls into a deep sleep.
Now we could be certain that some kind of demon was causing trouble.
“So what do we do now?” Tưởng Thiếu Thiên asked me.
I looked up at the sun overhead and rubbed my stomach. “Let’s eat first. I’m starving.”
Tưởng Thiếu Thiên: “…”
We went into a roadside restaurant. I ate three bowls of rice in a row, then finally set my bowl down, satisfied.
Brrr, brrr, brrr…
My phone vibrated.
I glanced at it.
[Mr. Giang, the person in charge of the martial arts bride-selection show, wants to add you as a friend.]
Tưởng Thiếu Thiên asked curiously, “Sister Ruyi, why are you smiling?”
I held my phone out in front of him.
“I’m smiling because the fish has taken the bait.”
Like Trần Linh, this Mr. Giang had promised to pay me three thousand for the job.
The event was scheduled for seven tomorrow night.
The man spoke gently and tactfully. He clearly knew what he was doing.
I sounded a little hesitant. “But I have class tomorrow night…”
He brushed it off. “Student Vân, college classes are nothing special. You can get someone to attend for you, or just call in sick. It’s no big deal.”
I still didn't agree. After hesitating for a while, I said, “You're offering such good pay that I'm a little worried. This isn't a scam, is it?”
Mr. Giang sounded a little impatient. “To be honest, we contacted you first because your birth chart looked auspicious. If you're going to make this so difficult, forget it. I'll find someone else.”
I hurriedly said, “Wait!”
I pretended to be embarrassed. “Actually, I was just hoping to find a job for my boyfriend. I'd feel safer if he came along, too. Aren't you still looking for professional grooms? Could you let him try out?”
Mr. Giang fell silent for a few seconds.
Then he said, “Send me his birth chart, and I'll take a look first.”
After hanging up, I casually made up a birth chart and sent it to him.
Throughout the conversation, I could tell he was in a hurry, as if he were afraid I'd miss my chance.
In this situation, I was sure he'd try to accommodate any request I made.
Standing beside me, Tưởng Thiếu Thiên scratched his head. “Sister Ruyi, you're not planning to make me a professional groom, are you? I don't think I…”
I glared at him. “Do you think your sister's husband is dead or something?”