Chapter Ninety-Five: Hanging by a Thread

“Is Guangqi still not back this late?” Master Wei asked Huang Wuchang cautiously. “Master, did you send him out on an assignment?”

Huang Wuchang held his teacup and shook his head. “The only task I gave him was to uncover the hidden information in that ancient book. As for private matters, as a master, I never interfere.”

Le Cheng gave a bitter smile. “I just wonder whether Guangqi might have his own thoughts about it. After all, the Tomb of Eternal Life can only be entered once every three years. Miss it, and he’ll have to wait another three.”

Huang Wuchang took a slow sip of tea and said lazily, “He’s still young. He’ll have plenty of chances. And you three needn’t imagine other people are so petty.”

Though he said that aloud, inwardly he sneered. Hmph. As if he dared.

The roar of an engine came up the road. Just as Ye Dong drove back to the mansion, the servants hurried forward to attend to him.

“Young Master, you’re back.” The butler, who was specially in charge of serving tea to guests, stepped up quickly.

“Mhm,” Ye Dong nodded. He glanced around at the place that felt both familiar and strange, looked toward the rows of luxury cars, and then, with a cold smile, headed for his room.

When he reached the bend in the staircase, Ye Dong stopped. Both hands resting on the exquisitely carved banister, he gazed into the villa from above. “So this is what it feels like to look down on everything. How wonderful.”

His eyes fell upon the wine cabinet stocked with fine liquors from across the world, and Huiyan, in a revealing nightgown, pouring wine, flashed vividly through his mind.

“Fine wine in my left hand, beauty in my right.” Self-assured and satisfied, Ye Dong’s gaze sharpened. He pushed hard with both hands and turned his body around.

“You’re back so late? You seem pretty happy,” Liang Lingzhi, dressed in sleepwear, teased with a grin when he saw Ye Dong return. “With your devoted care, Huiyan must be recovering very quickly, right?”

Ye Dong’s expression cooled, and the smile of pleasure faded from his face. In a low voice, he replied, “It’s just ordinary gastroenteritis. She’ll be fine after resting for two days. What about the other two?”

“You mean Dagen and Xiaotong?” Liang Lingzhi smiled. “They went to bed long ago. They’ve been bouncing around these past two days, so they must be exhausted.”

“Bouncing around?” Ye Dong frowned. “Then why aren’t you asleep yet?”

“Heh.” Liang Lingzhi lifted his phone. “Some women need a little coaxing. You know how it is.”

Seeing Liang Lingzhi’s frivolous, unserious expression, Ye Dong sneered inwardly. So this is the true nature of a playboy. In the end, he’s still too fond of pleasure.

Outwardly unchanged, he said, “I don’t concern myself with your private matters. Have someone brew me a pot of Tieguanyin and send it to my room later.” With that, he went back to his room.

Hearing that there had not been the slightest hint of a request in Ye Dong’s tone, Liang Lingzhi nodded with a smile, thinking, Ye Dong is really getting into character. Even after coming home, he still isn’t relaxing at all.

“Oh?” After a few steps, Liang Lingzhi froze as if he had noticed something wrong. He murmured, “Tieguanyin?”

He took two more steps forward, looking at Ye Dong’s retreating figure as he headed into the room, and narrowed his eyes. The more he thought about it, the stranger it felt. Ye Dong had always said that the tea he hated most was Tieguanyin. Especially late at night, he never drank tea. Could it be that today’s events were too many and left him in a bad mood?

At that thought, Liang Lingzhi shook his head helplessly. He really doesn’t know if this undercover role will drive Ye Dong mad in the long run. Drinking tea this late, he probably won’t be able to sleep.

With a bitter laugh, he asked the butler to brew Ye Dong some tea, then returned to his room to rest.

In the master bedroom of the villa, Ye Dong drank Tieguanyin and paced back and forth across the room, seeming to prove Liang Lingzhi right: he had no intention of going to bed early.

He gently opened Huiyan’s wardrobe, took out the revealing nightgown and admired it carefully under the lamplight. Then he pressed it to his nose and inhaled deeply before giving a cold laugh and putting it back.

“Interesting.”

He went to the desk and flipped through a thick stack of checkbooks. “A casual signature, and it’s all money beyond counting.”

He tossed the checkbooks onto the desk, then opened a drawer with obvious anticipation. Inside, it was packed full of neatly bundled cash in red and green notes.

He pulled out several bundles and laid them on the table, laughing with open mockery. “Wei and the others are fighting like their lives depend on it for these things, and they still don’t bother using their brains. Can grave robbing feed you for a lifetime?”

Ye Dong surveyed the luxurious and exquisite furnishings of the room. Slowly, he walked to an antique display shelf made of redwood and picked up a blue-and-white porcelain piece, tossing it lightly in his hand before putting it back.

“Just one item in this room is worth enough to keep an ordinary person struggling for several lifetimes.”

Holding his teacup, Ye Dong looked out at the bodyguards patrolling to and fro and at the grand, opulent villa. His pride grew even stronger.

“Everything before me exists to serve me. I have power and influence—why would I still go tomb raiding?”

He could no longer contain the chill rising in his heart. His lips curled upward of their own accord, and his laughter grew increasingly unrestrained.

“Ah ha ha ha! What a marvelous feeling, to possess everything!”

Still laughing, Ye Dong hurled the teacup hard to the floor. Then he strode to the mirror and tore off his shirt. Looking at the scarred muscles across his back, he seemed overjoyed.

“To be free of all restraint—what a marvelous feeling! This body, this frame, this vitality—is exactly what I have long dreamed of! Thank you, Brother Tian.”

At dawn the next day, Ye Dong awoke early, glanced at the clock, and drove out in the Bugatti Veyron without even eating breakfast. To say he woke early would be inaccurate; it would be more fitting to say he had not slept all night.

“Why did he take out that car?” Xiaobao and Dachun, who had risen early to cultivate, exchanged a look and said in confusion. “He said he hated that car the most. It’s been left in the garage and never driven. What on earth is he doing today?”

Dachun flexed his fingers and watched the Bugatti Veyron race away, unease rising in his heart. “Xiaobao, come with me and take a look.”

Xiaobao nodded; he knew what Dachun wanted to see.

The two quickly made their way to an attic, where they found Liang Lingzhi, already wearing sleepwear, standing there as well.

Dachun felt alarmed and rushed to the altar table. Before the deity statue in the attic, there was no longer the usual trio of lit incense sticks.

The three of them stared at one another, cold sweat breaking out on their backs. In unison, they cried, “Damn, something’s gone wrong!”

After Dachun informed Officer Li and Chen Yao of the unusual situation, he hurried to the safe house. There, aside from Chen Yao, whose expression was slightly calmer, everyone else wore deep frowns. The atmosphere inside was indescribably oppressive.

“Where’s Huiyan?” Xiaobao asked the moment he spoke.

Officer Li’s expression was equally grave. He swept his gaze over everyone present and slowly exhaled smoke. “Huiyan is missing too.”

“Ah?” The expected cry of shock reached Officer Li’s ears.

Hearing his answer, Dachun and the others realized the plan had apparently encountered major trouble.

“Now,” Officer Li said softly, pressing his palm against the air, “we need to carry out the contingency plan.”

“The contingency plan?” The others looked at one another. They remembered Officer Li had said that this plan would only be used if Ye Dong faced an extreme life-threatening danger.

Though everyone’s faces were full of worry, no one spoke. They all waited for further instructions.

“We preliminarily suspect that Ye Dong has been controlled by Guangqi’s spell,” Officer Li said with a slow nod, looking toward Chen Yao. “Our top priority is to search for and rescue Ye Dong.”

Chen Yao nodded in understanding. Setting down his teacup, he explained, “That boy Ye Dong is clever enough. He deliberately laid a trap for Guangqi to step into, but in the end, he made one wrong move and got calculated by Guangqi.”

“Master, what do you mean?” Liang Lingzhi asked anxiously.

Chen Yao continued, “That day, Ye Dong and Guangqi were suspicious of each other as they tried to obtain information from one another. Although Ye Dong performed perfectly, and Guangqi really did fall into the trap, Guangqi was ruthless enough to twist things around and bind Ye Dong in one stroke.”

“You mean Guangqi unknowingly stepped into the landmines Ye Dong had set for him, yet Guangqi still found a way to restrain Ye Dong?” Dachun clenched his fists. “Master, is that it?”

Chen Yao nodded slowly. “Exactly. The cautious Ye Dong would never make such a careless mistake. Last night’s Tieguanyin, then driving away in the Bugatti Veyron today, and leaving without burning incense—those three details are enough to betray Guangqi.”

He paused, then went on, “Either Ye Dong is being controlled, or his body has been exchanged.”

“Ah?” Everyone in the room was startled. “Being controlled is understandable, since the other side is a disciple of the demon path. But what does it mean for a body to be exchanged?”

Chen Yao raised his head and looked at Xiaobao and Dachun, murmuring, “It’s like the two of you swapping souls.”

“Then that means Ye Dong’s body has been taken over by Guangqi?” Xiaobao’s pupils widened, a chill running down his spine. “So Ye Dong’s soul is on Guangqi’s body?”

“Very likely,” Chen Yao said with a nod. “It’s a terrible guess, but also the most likely one.”

This chilling thought made everyone inhale sharply, and they quickly thought of the person even more dangerous than Ye Dong.

“What about Huiyan?” Xiao Wang asked. “Will that madman Guangqi kill her?”

“No. Guangqi isn’t stupid,” Officer Li said, shaking his head. “He used to be a police officer. He knows how important Huiyan is to us. She’s an extremely valuable bargaining chip, and he may well keep her as his final trump card. So Huiyan is safe for now—at least safer than Ye Dong.”

Only after hearing Officer Li’s analysis did the others relax a little.

“So what can we do now?” Knowing that Ye Dong, who was closer than a brother, had been set up, Liang Lingzhi’s eyes reddened. He stared straight at Officer Li and Chen Yao.

Officer Li said thoughtfully, “Until we recover Ye Dong or recover his soul, no one is allowed to act rashly. Xiao Wang, Xiao Yang, you two closely monitor every move Guangqi—no, Ye Dong’s body—makes.”

“Understood!” Xiao Wang and Xiao Yang answered at once.

Chen Yao nodded. “Yes. If Ye Dong has only been controlled, then this is much easier. If their identities have truly been exchanged, then things are far more troublesome.”

“Or maybe he’s just under control? Do we really need to make things sound so bleak and complicated?” Xiaobao forced a bitter smile, his trembling lips moving as his eyes darted back and forth among the others, as if seeking their agreement.

Chen Yao explained, “Ye Dong possesses the Threefold Flame, a transcendent body, and the Heavenly Eye power. With Guangqi’s level, it would be quite difficult to control him with demonic arts.”

With a soft sigh, he continued, “Didn’t Ye Dong say before that Guangqi was often reading some mysterious ancient books? Judging from the present situation, he is very likely searching for an ancient art—either one with powerful control abilities, or one that directly seizes a body. And from Ye Dong’s strange behavior from last night until this morning, the most likely explanation is that he was subjected to a body-swapping spell.”

“That makes sense. The Ye Dong portrayed by He Wentian has power and status, a body far superior to ordinary people, a brilliant mind, and beauty at his side. He’s the ideal candidate for a body-swapping art,” Officer Li said, his brows raised sharply. “If Guangqi really had his eye on Ye Dong’s body, that would be perfectly normal. We’d better prepare for the worst and not harbor any wishful thinking.”

Chen Yao took up the thread. “Excluding the five hours of sleep lost last night, we have less than nineteen hours left to bring Ye Dong back.”

“Nineteen hours? Only nineteen hours?” Dachun could not contain the violent surge of his emotions, and his voice rose several pitches.

“At such a time, do not panic,” Chen Yao said, patting Dachun on the shoulder. “According to what my master told me, in ancient times there was a kind of spell that could swap two people’s bodies. It was called ‘stealing the dragon and replacing the phoenix’ or the body-swapping art. Once two people exchanged bodies, all of their memories would flow into the other’s body within twenty-four hours. When the memories had fully merged, the two would have completely exchanged roles, and there would be no way to reverse it.”

“That means in the remaining nineteen hours, Guangqi will gradually learn Ye Dong’s past? Then wouldn’t our entire plan be exposed?” Liang Lingzhi also could not hold back his agitation and hurriedly pressed the question.

“Yes. Correspondingly, Ye Dong will also come to know everything from Guangqi’s past,” Chen Yao murmured. “Guangqi’s memories concern Ye Dong’s life and death. What we can do is find Ye Dong as quickly as possible, then rely on the information he reads from Guangqi’s memories to search for the method to break this body-swapping spell.”

“Brother Chen, is there any order in which memories are exchanged and enter the other side’s mind?” Officer Li also raised a question.

Chen Yao stroked his chin. After thinking for a moment, he said, “According to my master, the memories of a person’s entire life enter the other’s mind according to their degree of importance.”

Officer Li nodded. “If that’s the case, then this is terribly tricky. Right now, we have no idea what kind of memories will take the front position in Ye Dong’s and Guangqi’s minds. I’m afraid in the end, this matter will still have to be decided by the two of them through a battle of wits and courage.”