Whose Youngster Returns from the Spring Outing

The sweet, clear aroma of rice wine permeated the He Family Courtyard, where tables and chairs stood in rows. The sound of string and wind instruments playing in harmony drifted from afar, growing closer until it felt like a heavy hammer repeatedly striking Ning Zhe's skull.

The guests invited here believed they were raising their glasses to toast the Snake God, but in reality, they were toasting him. In this fleeting moment, the Ghost's Rule was triggered hundreds of times. Erroneous cognition constructed a medium for Stealing Identity, and a vast, chaotic flood of memories from the Snake God surged into Ning Zhe's mind.

But there was no time now to slowly sort through this information; with such a massive disturbance, it was impossible for the Ghost not to have noticed.

No, perhaps it noticed me the moment I chose to sit idly by while Lin Zhiyuan died...

Because in a certain sense, the Ghost was the Snake God.

Ning Zhe had found a total of two puzzles in He Family Village:

[1: Why did the Snake God go mad?]

[2: How does the Ghost steal another person's identity?]

The puzzle regarding the Ghost had long since been solved by Ning Zhe, and as he stole the identity of the Snake God to a certain degree, he was finally able to confirm that the answers to these two puzzles were actually one and the same.

"The reason the Snake God went mad is that long before I made my move, His identity had already been stolen by the Ghost."

Ning Zhe curled up inside the throat of the Snake God, his small body trembling slightly.

Feeling the massive volume of information from the Snake God's memories scouring his consciousness, Ning Zhe felt, in a trance, as if he were that Azure Jade Serpent with horns growing from its head. His long body transformed into winding water veins, crawling through this quiet little village and spending an immeasurable, long period of time in silence, until one day, a nameless Wandering Ghost arrived, slowly causing the peaceful days to crumble.

The formless Ghost wandered in front of and behind the houses of He Family Village, gradually bending people's perceptions thread by thread, stealing the Snake God's identity bit by bit. His long body decayed during the process of being replaced, until everyone who knew of the Snake God's existence mistook the Ghost for the Snake God... and so, the true Snake God went mad.

The Snake God's long, winding memories gradually faded, eventually waking up like a long dream.

The time Ning Zhe experienced in the Snake God's memories was so long, so incredibly long, that it felt as if the short eighteen years of life he had experienced as "Ning Zhe" were the only dream.

"So dangerous..." Ning Zhe snapped his eyes open, as if waking from a nightmare.

Using the Ghost's Rule to steal someone else's identity and life experiences seemed interesting on the surface, but it was actually extremely dangerous. His previous attempts were mere child's play, but the Snake God was different; His complex memories and long life rushed down like a torrential flood, scouring Ning Zhe's own memories and personality.

Sadness, resentment, fear, joy, madness... all sorts of emotions from the Snake God churned in Ning Zhe's mind. He was only a hair's breadth away from forgetting who he was.

Ning Zhe quickly repeated the Ghost's Rule in his heart to steady his mind:

[When someone mistakes the Ghost for someone they know, using "erroneous cognition" as a medium, the Ghost can steal the corresponding person's identity, as well as all information related to that identity.]

When the stolen identity was complete enough, it could even deceive the Snake God, shifting the punishment for violating the Death Taboo onto the person whose identity had been stolen.

Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu had both died this way, and Ning Zhe himself had almost been deceived, lost in the long memories, and had begun to think of himself as the Snake God.

"But if this stolen identity almost failed to deceive me, can it deceive the Snake God?" Ning Zhe asked himself softly.

But then he felt a sense of relief. ...Who knows? Come on, whether I live or die depends on this one move...

Ning Zhe struggled and slowly crawled out from the Snake God's mouth. His black and white wings were stained with blood, the feathers filthy and greasy, covered in pitch-black mold spots.

Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of guests in the He Family Courtyard, this magpie that had crawled out of the Snake God's mouth shed its black feathers and transformed into a handsome youngster covered in wounds.

In the main hall of the residence where the Lotus Platform was located, two dignitaries in fine silk and jade sat on the left and right—a man and a woman, the master and mistress of this grand estate.

The strange music continued to play. The headless servant was still shaking his head and blowing his suona, yet every wine glass remained frozen in mid-air.

Below the Lotus Platform, two maidservants wrapped in brocade led a gorgeously dressed, delicate woman forward, walking with tiny, graceful Cloud Steps. Her petite, exquisite figure was modestly draped in a loose, bright red dress. On her pale, snow-white face was a faint touch of Red Plum, and her bright red lips held a hint of lingering, ethereal resentment.

Looking higher, however, one could not see any other facial features.

Like Jade Butterfly and Dark Green, like flowing light on quiet jade, this faceless girl in her grand attire bowed under the support of the two maids, kneeling before the Snake God. Then, her cherry lips parted, and a ghostly voice drifted from her throat:

[I ask only of your arrival, not of your departure...]

"I don't know why you'd want to marry a female snake; if the Snake God were a male, I might be able to understand you a little," Ning Zhe remarked casually. He then knelt breathlessly before the Lotus Platform, silently reaching out toward the shattered Corpse Chunks of the Snake God before him.

In the deathly silence of the hall, Ning Zhe's fingertips pinched the corner of the Almanac, and the mournful song lingered at his touch.

"I now possess three important identities... Snake God, Ghost, Ning Zhe..." Ning Zhe whispered to himself, closing his eyes as he flipped the Withered Yellow paper upward. The Almanac turned to tomorrow.

The next moment, Ning Zhe opened his eyes: "Then, which identity will I use to bear the punishment for violating the Death Taboo?"

Ning Zhe's question went unanswered.

The moment he flipped the Almanac and lowered his gaze, everything before him shattered.

It was as if someone had punched a mirror on a bathroom wall, and fine cracks spread through the surrounding air.

The two rules, which had originally operated independently without interference, collided fatally due to Ning Zhe's current actions. It was like two misaligned, jammed gears grinding against each other, causing this world built upon rules to crumble into pieces.

Before losing his vision, Ning Zhe felt as if he heard someone screaming, and someone else weeping in sorrow, but he couldn't tell who was who, nor could he even be sure if the crying came from someone else or himself.

When Ning Zhe's consciousness cleared again, soft, fluffy sunlight greeted his eyes, and he was slightly stunned.

Looking down, Ning Zhe saw he was stepping on a wooden threshold worn uneven by years of use, his hand gripping an old door knocker inlaid with copper lacquer. The heavy, ancient red-lacquered door in front of him had just been pushed open.

Ning Zhe walked into the gate, subconsciously casting his gaze to the right side of the courtyard. He saw the old Camphor Tree he used to climb with the neighbor's Younger Sister and brother when he was a child. A raw Wooden Table sat beneath the shade of the tree, with bright red and yellow fallen leaves piled on top, seemingly left uncleaned for a long time.

Ning Zhe took a deep breath of the familiar air and walked forward along the weed-choked path.

"I'm home."

At this very moment, it was the exact moment he had pushed open the gate of his Old House and entered He Family Village.

Since he hadn't died upon returning to reality, it was clear that at least one of them—the Ghost or the Snake God—had died.

Or perhaps, had they both died?

The Weird World where He Family Village was located had completely shattered due to the rules locking up, but neither the Snake God nor the Ghost were necessarily dead. Both of them were extremely dangerous, and regardless of anything else, he had to find a way to confirm their status...

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed his mind. Ning Zhe did not know what he had thought of, but he stopped in his tracks and looked up slightly, lost in thought.

In the next instant, a fluttering Magpie flew up to the crown of the Camphor Tree.

At the same time, a word with an unclear meaning suddenly surfaced in Ning Zhe's heart. No one had ever explained the meaning of this word to Him, yet Ning Zhe subconsciously felt that this was a name.

It was the name of the Ghost that had once stolen the identity of the Snake God:

"Its name is... [Taiyi]."

The Snake God was named [Zhaoyou], while the Ghost was called [Taiyi].

Did their names hold any special significance?