Uncle Wang didn’t want to keep the mirror in his house as it was too strange. I also couldn't figure out how it worked.

I made up my mind after some consideration. I would take this mirror back to Wuhan.

However, we would stay another night since it was already too late to drive back. I sent Li Mazi to negotiate with Uncle Wang. He begged the old man for quite a while, and in the end, Uncle Wang agreed to let us stay another night, but we had to leave early in the morning!

Before we went to bed, Li Mazi curiously looked at the wrapped mirror and asked, “Hey, is this mirror maliciously that scary? My heart feels a little itchy. I want to take a look at it.”

I snorted. “It’s better if you keep your hands to yourself. Otherwise, your ugly face will…”

Perhaps Li Mazi was reminded of the Village Elder’s daughter, Xiao Mei. Fear quickly overcame him; he shut his mouth and did not bring up this topic again.

I couldn’t sleep well that night. The big fire from the morning appeared in my mind. Inside the scarlet fire, I was somehow able to see the wiggling soul of a resentful woman.

She had become a skeleton, and her pair of hands were placed in front of her chest. It looked like a binding posture.

Wait a moment...

I suddenly had a bad feeling.

Wherever the bronze mirror was taken, it would eventually return to the coffin. What if it didn’t have anything to do with the mirror’s spirit… What if it was because of some restraint?

Once the mirror got rid of this restraint, it would go on a rampage and skin people’s faces. But it couldn’t do anything when it returned to the coffin.

It had always enticed people to take it away. It wanted to escape this coffin.

We hadn’t subdued it... We had actually helped it get rid of the restraint!

I woke up and sat up on the brick bed. Li Mazi and Zhao Wuyang were nearby, sleeping soundly. I turned to look at the mirror and was immediately frightened. The mirror I had wrapped in my jacket had disappeared!

Not good! It went to find another victim!

I kicked Li Mazi and Zhao Wuyang to wake them up. “Get up! Hurry! The mirror is gone…”

Li Mazi drowsily rubbed his eyes. “Mirror? What mirror?”

Zhao Wuyang reacted fast. “Gone? Where?” The two of us put on the rest of our clothes and left the room. I didn’t even think as I simply ran toward the madwoman’s room. She was sleeping safe and sound on her bed. The mirror wasn’t in her room.

The mirror isn’t here!

A thought popped up as my eyes brightened. “Let’s go to Old Wu’s house! I’m sure the mirror went to find his daughter.”

While we were running, we saw Old Wu and his wife running from the opposite direction. Their faces were contorted with sadness when they saw us. “Our daughter went missing again!”

The girl is missing... 

“Hurry, call the other fellows and find her! We must be careful. The girl is very dangerous now!” I cried out.

Soon, all the sleeping villagers were awoken. They held flashlights as they made their way to the mountain to find the little girl. Zhao Wuyang and I went to the forbidden area first to check the tomb; except for the lone tombstone and the grave, there was nothing else.

If this tombstone hadn’t been as weathered down, perhaps we would have been able to recognize the name of the tomb’s owner. I could have found out who had been buried there.

Zhao Wuyang looked anxious. “Any ideas about where the girl went? She’s only around twelve or thirteen years old…”

His words calmed me.

It wasn’t the girl who wanted to leave. It was the mirror that wanted to leave! The girl had been possessed by the spirit in the mirror.

I looked at Zhao Wuyang as I pondered, “Do you remember the place where the tractor dropped us when we came to Wuyan Village?”

“You mean…”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “That mirror wants to leave this place. It wants more faces, so it wants to go to a place with many people!”

Neither Zhao Wuyang nor I needed to think further; we rushed back to the village. We found Li Mazi on our way back and pulled him along, running to the village entrance. We didn’t even have time to explain things to him.

I didn’t know how long it had taken us, but we soon arrived at the place the tractor had dropped us the other day. I could somehow make out a small figure in the distance.

It was the missing girl!

I hurried to catch up with her, not caring much about the looming danger. “Little girl!”

The figure in front of me stopped and slowly turned around… Sure enough, it was Old Wu’s daughter. However, her eyes were blank. She looked like a puppet as she held the bronze mirror with her nailless hands.

Under the cold moonlight, I was surprised to see the reflection of a woman wearing ancient clothes in the mirror. She was looking at me with hatred in her eyes.

Her entire face was bleeding horribly.

The woman in the mirror smiled oddly. “I’m not called ‘Little girl’. My name is Xia Yingchun!”

Xia Yingchun!

I was truly frightened. If Li Mazi and Zhao Wuyang hadn’t followed me, which gave me a bit more courage, I would have landed on my butt.

However, I finally understood once I got a hold of myself.

That tomb wasn’t Zhong Wuyan’s. It was Xia Yingchun’s tomb.

Being Zhong Wuyan’s rival, no wonder she hated the name ‘Zhong Wuyan’ that much.

I had sensed that something was wrong when we had unearthed the tomb, but only now did I understand the whole story.

The historical records mentioned that Zhong Wuyang had a strong frame. Perhaps her skeleton would be similar to a man’s. Meanwhile, the skeleton inside the coffin was small. How could it belong to Zhong Wuyan?

“Have you ever heard my name?” The woman in the mirror had a soft, seductive voice. If it weren’t for her bloody face, people could get mesmerized if they listened to her voice.

“Of course, I have.” I nodded, my thoughts rolling fast to find a solution to deal with her.

“Useful Zhong Wuyan, useless Xia Yingchun!”

“Nonsense!” Xia Yingchun shouted coldly, “Why did people compare me with that ugly, low woman? What was good about her? Why did people never find out that she only appeared to be smart, but she actually hid a despicable heart!”

Her voice was extremely sad. She looked both resentful and unwilling.

Even if they were rivals, it shouldn’t have been taken to such a degree, right?

I looked at her bleeding face. An idea suddenly popped up. “Your face, was it…?”

“That’s right.” Xia Yingchun said through her gritted teeth, “That damn Zhong Wuyan! She was too ugly and King Xuan of Qi didn’t like her, so she was jealous of my beauty. One day, when His Majesty was away, she used her Queen status and ordered the servants to skin my face… When His Majesty saw me, how could he continue to like me? He was so scared that he decided to bury me alive. All because of that Zhong Wuyan! She brought harm to me! Why could she still keep her face while mine is gone? Your face too! Give my face back to me! Give me your face!”

Inside the mirror, Xia Yingchun was screaming and hissing madly.