SYLFS 22

Chapter – 22 

 Bluffing? She Can Do That Too….

Madam Song stared at Guan Xuxu, the longer she looked, the more suspicious she felt. Her brows knitted tightly.

“Someone this young—what could she possibly do? Yuehua, you’re being fooled again, aren’t you?”

She turned toward her daughter-in-law, eyes filled with doubt.

Madam Song’s expression hardened slightly.
“Mother! Miss Jiang may be young, but she is truly capable. Please don’t say such disrespectful things,” she retorted, unable to hide her displeasure.

But the old lady only pursed her lips, refusing to believe any of it.
—A girl this young couldn’t possibly have real ability. She must just be smooth-talking her way through everything.

Even a well-educated daughter-in-law like Yuehua still wasn’t as sharp as her when it came to reading people.
Fortunately, she had taken precautions and invited a different “master” beforehand. If they had left things to this little girl, nothing would have been accomplished.
In the end, she was the one supporting this household—how could she not think that?

Determined to put the young woman in her place, Old Madam Song stared hard at Guan Xuxu.

“If you’ve really got ability, then prove it. I’m not asking for much—why don’t you at least dance with a sword like that other master?”

“Mother!” Madam Song finally let her anger show.
Afraid that Jiang Xuxu would be offended, she hurriedly turned toward her.
“Miss Jiang, I am so sorry. Please don’t take her words to heart.”

But Guan Xuxu didn’t look offended at all. She simply nodded, then walked past the old lady and the so-called master, heading straight for the bed.

On it lay Song Yuli, still unconscious despite the noise in the room.

The “master,” who had been sneaking glances ever since they entered, kept pretending to be deeply absorbed in his ritual. He didn’t dare stop midway—otherwise his act would be ruined.
But the moment he saw Guan Xuxu approaching Yuli, he suddenly shouted sharply:

“Stop! Don’t come any closer! You’ll disrupt my spell!”

Xuxu merely flicked him a sideways glance and ignored him, lifting Yuli’s hand to examine her fingertips carefully.

Being completely disregarded made the master flare with anger. He abruptly ceased his chanting and complained to Old Madam Song:

“Madam Song! What is the meaning of this? I clearly said no one must interrupt while I perform the ritual!”

Old Madam Song quickly apologized, equally displeased.
“Master Lu, I’m so sorry. I’ll have her removed right away.”

She turned a glare on Xuxu and opened her mouth—
but just then, the girl let go of Yuli’s hand and raised her head, fixing a calm gaze on Master Lu.

Her clear eyes held no emotion as she asked quietly:

“Since Master Lu has opened the altar and is performing a ritual, I assume you already know what is happening to Miss Song?”

Lu let out a dismissive snort.
“Miss Song is possessed by a little ghost. I was just in the middle of driving it out! But because you interfered, the ghost escaped!”

In other words—
His ritual failed, Yuli hadn’t woken up, and he intended to blame her for everything.

A faint smile touched Xuxu’s lips as she regarded him as if he were nothing more than a cheap con artist.

“With even the slightest bit of sensitivity, you would know that there isn’t a trace of evil energy in this room. Miss Song is not comatose because of a ghost. Her life force is being siphoned away through dark magic.”

At those words, Song Yongming and his wife paled and rushed over.

“Miss Jiang—dark magic? Is someone trying to kill our Lili?”

Xuxu shook her head gently.

“Not to kill her—
to borrow from her. In the metaphysics world, this is called ‘borrowing a life.’
Miss Song carries a great-fortune fate—she should have lived a peaceful, blessed life.
Precisely because of that, someone coveted her fate and used a forbidden technique to borrow her lifespan to prolong their own.”

She lifted Yuli’s hand and pointed to the pad of her thumb.

“Look here. This cinnabar mark is proof—
someone tricked her into placing her fingerprint on something, thus allowing the life-borrowing to take effect.”

It was likely done during the ten-plus minutes when she had gone missing.

The Song couple leaned in, and upon closer inspection, they saw indeed the faintest trace of red.
It had been wiped away, barely visible unless one looked very carefully.
They had been too frantic searching for their daughter to notice such details.

Old Madam Song also peered in suspiciously.
But Yongming no longer cared about her or the so-called master. His face tight, he asked urgently:

“Master, does that mean my daughter’s life has already been stolen? Can it be retrieved?”

Xuxu nodded calmly.
“It can.”

Seeing the trust shift toward her, Master Lu panicked and tried to speak, to drag her down with slander.

But the handsome young man who had entered with the Song couple stepped forward, his voice low and gentle—yet chilling.

“Shut up. Speak another word about my sister, and I’ll throw you out of this house myself.”

The tone was pleasant, but the words carried a coldness that froze Master Lu to the bone. He swallowed whatever insult he was about to utter.

Meanwhile, Xuxu retrieved a small cinnabar-tipped brush and a jade token from her bag.
She drew a sigil onto the token and then gently placed it against Yuli’s forehead.

Yongming and his wife stood by the bed and could have sworn they saw a wisp of black vapor flicker across the token the moment it touched her.

Xuxu then took out several talismans.
Catching sight of Master Lu’s resentful expression, she suddenly remembered—

—Right, the old lady asked her to “show something real,” didn’t she?

She couldn’t dance with swords.
But bluffing a bit to impress people—that, she could certainly do.

Her expression cooled. A sharp, intense aura radiated from her.

She held her palms facing each other.
Between them, the five talismans she’d placed rose into the air as if pulled by an invisible force, aligning themselves neatly in midair.

Just that alone made everyone, including Master Lu, widen their eyes in shock.

Xuxu parted her red lips slightly.
Her voice was clear like a spring, yet carried a commanding weight.

“Heaven clear and bright, earth peaceful and calm. Yin and yang in harmony—
all spirits obey the decree.
By this sacred order—
Break!”

At her final word, the floating talismans shot forward all at once, flying straight toward the unconscious Song Yuli on the bed.