Chapter 20

"Ling Min Zhe tries his best to locate the source of resentment but unfortunately he is unsuccessful to catch that person," Zhong said while serving breakfast to Li Zian. Li Zian nodded at Zhong.

"I'm sorry." Li Zian said it with a low volume. Zhong can hardly hear it, "I am thinking to stay in the pagoda for a while."

"Alright. I will tell Ling Min Zhe. You do not have to worry." Zhong said with a concerned voice.

"While I am in the pagoda, please assist Ling Min Zhe. I can feel this task is troublesome."

Zhong nodded and after breakfast, Li Zian enters the pagoda. In the pagoda, Li Zian enters a spacious room. With a wave of her hand, a mirror as tall as her appears in front of her. Inside the mirror is not the current Li Zian but her previous life, Chen Ya Qin. Dong Daiyu's case unlocks a painful memory of her previous life. She thought, she is strong enough to face her memory and use it to teach Dong Daiyu but it backfires on her.

"Ha...Ha...Ha, Li Zian you are weak. You may have been reincarnated but we are still the same person." Chen Ya Qin in the mirror starts to taunt Li Zian. Li Zian stares at Chen Ya Qin in the mirror. Her eyes start to tears black blood. Resentment circling her. She feels suffocated. All the bad memories from her previous life start to resurface, remind her constantly how weak she is before. How cruel her fate is, she is falling apart. Her chest is painful and she begins to cry and wailing. Chen Ya Qin in the mirror smile satisfyingly seeing how wretched Li Zian is right now.

Zhong and Ling Min Zhe feel a throb in their heart. Instantly they think of Li Zian. In The Fang Valley, all the spirits in there feel their heart stuffy and the weaker spirits collapse. Some of them kneel on the ground while grasping their chest, "Hold on! Master is fighting. We need to endure!" Chu Ju said out loud and it travels to all spirits. Fang An is dumbfounded seeing Shu Xian is kneeling on the floor and gritting his teeth. What happens?

Chen Ya Qin in the mirror squat down and slowly touches the mirror and her right hand passes through the mirror. The right hand makes its way towards Li Zian's head on the ground. Chen Ya Qin smile is so mesmerizing. Her right hand softly touches Li Zian's head and she turns into a black shadow and enters Li Zian's body. Li Zian's body twitches a bit.

"Got you! Li Zian directly wakes up from the ground and sits in a lotus position, "Chen Ya Qin indeed we are the same person but right now I am Li Zian." Li Zian recites a calming spell to calm herself from being overwhelmed by her previous memories. She traps Chen Ya Qin inside her body.

"No! Let me out! Why can you live a good life? Why must I suffer?

"Ya Qin!" Li Zian said in a gentle tone. "It is not that I live a good life. It is we! Remember what you said to me, we are the same."

"I want to live outside!" Chen Ya Qin insists on possessing Li Zian. Li Zian keeps reciting the calming spell, 'You are my inner demon, I did not believe that I unable to subdue you." Li Zian thought to herself.

Li Zian recites all holy scripture that she can remember to purify her resentment. Chen Ya Qin slowly dissolves into a black aura. The black aura is being purified three times before it turns into pure yin energy. Li Zian absorbs that yin energy and circulates the energy according to her cultivation technique. Spiritual energy and yin energy gather around Li Zian and she continuously absorbs all of it. "Crack!" Li Zian level up to level eight of Qi Refinement.

Li Zian opens her eyes and exhales the impurities in her body. She sits still in the lotus position and continues to recite the holy scripture once again. She, Chen Ya Qin hates herself more than anything. She resents her weakness. Her inability to protect herself and her beloved. Li Zian knows herself; she is ready to move on but there are some voices that are still stubborn and continue to echoes in her mind.

Li Zian stays in the pagoda for a week. Once she gets out, she is greeted with a big hug from Ling Min Zhe, "Min Zhe, what is wrong?" Li Zian is puzzled by Ling Min Zhe's sudden action.

"I am your friend, your assistant, your loyal servant but why did you not tell me anything? I can feel your pain through our connection."

Li Zian is speechless. Yikes! She forgot to shield the connection between her servants. She looks at Zhong and he said, "All of us feel your pain." Zhong pat Li Zian in the head. Li Zian feels touched, "Thank you." She hugs Ling Min Zhe back, "It is a funny thing. My previous self is very jealous of my current life and tries to take over my body." Ling Min Zhe heard it and slowly pat Li Zian's back while hugging her, "But do not worry, I already deal with it." Li Zian smiles sweetly.

"It is not wrong to feel jealous. What important is to learn to accept yourself. The past is you but that is not your life anymore." Zhong added and disappear into the pagoda. He receives calls from various spirits in the Fang Valley asking about their valley master.

Li Zian sits on the chair and Ling Min Zhe sits in front of her. There is a table between them. Ling Min Zhe gives her the document regarding the rise of resentment in the west region of the city.

"The west part of the city is where the middle class and the low-class family stays. The west part of the city is where the poor can be found. There are ten alleys that recognize as the slum. The resentment there is high but still within the regulations. But recently there is someone called "The Hand" wantonly cutting people's hands. Most of the victims is a gambler." Ling Min Zhe spread the information on the table.

"Revenge?" Li Zian asked. She takes the document about The Hand.

"Not sure. Based on my investigation those people are not a good person but none of them commit a heinous crime."

"What is the little officer's opinion?"

"This... I did not choose any little officer yet. The yamen did not take this matter seriously because it is related to the west part of the city. There is a fight every day and people being kill is normal. Just a mere hand being cut is not worth their attention." Ling Min Zhe shakes his head.

Li Zian walks to the window. Her head tilted upwards to see the sky. Then, she turns her head towards the west. It seems she is able to see bypass all the buildings and directly sees the west part of the city.

"It would not be long before the resentment accumulates. We need to quickly find the source." From her observation, the resentment starts from the west but there is also movement from other direction. It will accumulate in the west. The movement of the resentment is very subtle and Ling Min Zhe did not notice it.

"Is it that bad? I did not notice." Ling Min Zhe furrows his eyebrows and walks towards the window. He tries to see what Li Zian can see. Li Zian explains the movement of resentment to Ling Min Zhe. Ling Min Zhe's face is pale. He misses such a major clue, " This is not normal, right? It is not impossible for resentment to gather but the resentment seems to be controlled?"

"Yes, they are being controlled. It's probably the Hao Clan. Let's go to the west of the city." Li Zian and Ling Min Zhe check out from the inn that they stayed. Both of them disguise themselves as poor siblings and found a small room to rent in the west part of the city.

"Aiya! Both of you siblings come here at a bad time. There is a crazy person cutting people's hands right now." Aunt Cing said with a worried face.

"I have heard about it too but if we did not come here, how can I find a job to support my brother." Ling Min Zhe said while holding his back head. He looks like an innocent and honest village boy.

"I understand, but be careful and do not go gambling. I heard that the crazy person hate gambler. That is why he is cutting people's hands." Aunt Cing is patting Li Zian's head that has disguised herself as a boy.

"Alright, Aunt Cing. Thank you." Ling Min Zhe and Li Zian enter the room and Aunt Cing walks down to her room. Inside the room, there is one big window and two single beds. The beds are separated by the window. There is a table in front of the window and two chairs. On the bed, there is a quilt and a pillow. Under the bed, there is a basket for them to put their cloth or another item that fit. It is a cheap room, thirty bronze a month.