**Chapter 155: The Online Romance Boy**
Liu Family Ancestral Home, the Yin-Yang Boundary.
Yan Shouyi and A Gong surfaced together from the ancient well.
A Gong took a deep breath and said, "So the entrance to the Yin-Yang Boundary of the Liu Family Ancestral Home is this well."
Yan Shouyi wiped the water off his face and asked, puzzled, "You didn’t know?"
"Papercrafters aren’t well-versed in feng shui," A Gong replied.
Yan Shouyi nodded. Indeed, Papercrafters specialized in everything related to papercraft and had some techniques similar to the Lüshan Sect’s methods of communicating with spirits, but feng shui was not their forte.
This further confirmed that the feng shui disturbances in Zuihuali were not A Gong’s doing.
A Gong continued, "I brought Liu Yiren to the Liu Family Ancestral Home to protect her personally. But after arriving, I realized all the Liu ancestors had disappeared. The air was thick with lingering spiritual energy, which means..."
"It means many of the Liu ancestors have already had their souls scattered," Yan Shouyi said grimly.
When a soul disperses, it turns into residual spiritual energy. If the concentration of this energy was high in the Liu Family Ancestral Home, it meant... Liu Jingkang and the others had barely survived.
Yan Shouyi couldn’t help but think of Liu Yiren’s sister, Liu Jiaren. Back then, if she hadn’t secretly brought him food and drink and revealed Liu Jingkang’s secrets, escaping the Liu Family Ancestral Home would have been much harder.
He hoped Liu Jiaren was safe.
The two climbed out of the well and noticed a trail of water stains leading to a room in the backyard.
"Niece?" Yan Shouyi called toward the room.
"Yan Shouyi?"
Liu Yiren’s voice responded immediately from inside. She cracked the door open slightly and peeked out cautiously.
At the sight of Yan Shouyi, she visibly relaxed, but when she noticed A Gong beside him, she tensed up again.
Yan Shouyi quickly explained, "A Gong isn’t a bad guy—it was all a misunderstanding! Don’t worry, with me here, nothing will happen."
Though still uneasy, Liu Yiren chose to trust Yan Shouyi.
She slowly opened the door, revealing another woman standing behind her—Liu Jiaren, her sister, who looked almost identical to her!
However, compared to their last meeting, Liu Jiaren’s complexion was noticeably worse. Her already pale face was now tinged with gray, as if she were gravely ill and on the verge of dissipating.
"Get inside, quick!" Liu Yiren urged.
Their expressions suggested danger lurked outside the Yin-Yang Boundary.
Without asking further, the two hurried inside. Once the door was shut, Liu Yiren exhaled in relief, then glared at Yan Shouyi with reddened eyes. "You jerk, where the hell have you been all this time?"
Yan Shouyi felt awkward. Liu Yiren’s tone made it sound like she was an abandoned wife, and he was some deadbeat who’d gone out carousing.
But knowing she’d had a rough time, he could only console her. "Sorry I’m late. Everything’s fine now."
Liu Yiren asked, "Are my dad and grandpa okay?"
"Already handled. You don’t need to worry."
Relieved, Liu Yiren’s expression softened. In the Liu family, she was closest to her father and grandfather.
While they talked, A Gong stayed silent, eyeing Liu Jiaren strangely.
Liu Jiaren was also studying A Gong.
Noticing their odd behavior, Yan Shouyi suddenly realized something.
Wait…
Was Liu Jiaren the Liu family "young lady" A Gong had been "dating online" this whole time??
Just as Liu Yiren was about to speak, Yan Shouyi stopped her, pressing a finger to his lips.
Liu Jiaren spoke first. "Have we met before?"
A Gong hesitated, then shook his head.
Liu Jiaren smiled. "Then why do you feel so familiar?"
A Gong lowered his head and pulled a paper crane from his pocket.
At the sight of it, Liu Jiaren froze, then beamed. "It’s you! A Gong! So those dreams were real—you really came to find me!"
Her reaction confirmed Yan Shouyi’s suspicion: the one A Gong had been spiritually connected with was indeed Liu Jiaren.
A Gong probably never imagined that Liu Jiaren was already dead—or that she looked so much like Liu Yiren. No wonder he’d gotten them mixed up.
Fate really had a twisted sense of humor.
Overjoyed, Liu Jiaren stepped forward and took A Gong’s hands. A Gong, suddenly bashful, seemed to shrink into himself.
Yan Shouyi chuckled. Who knew the intimidating A Gong could be so shy?
Noticing A Gong’s mask, Liu Jiaren asked, "Why are you wearing that? I’ve seen your face in my dreams."
The question clearly touched a nerve. A Gong said sadly,
"I… don’t look the same as in your dreams. If I take this off, I might scare you."
A Gong’s face had been badly burned, leaving his once-handsome features disfigured and unsettling.
His insecurity had forced him to live behind a mask—especially around the girl he liked.
Liu Jiaren seemed to glimpse the scars beneath the mask, but she didn’t care.
Gently touching the mask, she reassured him, "In our dreams, we transcended physical form. It’s your soul I love, not your appearance."
A Gong looked up, meeting her eyes.
"Really?"
Liu Jiaren nodded. "Besides… I’m already dead. What use do ghosts have for flesh?"
A Gong let out a goofy, lovestruck laugh.
Meanwhile, Yan Shouyi and Liu Yiren exchanged exasperated glances.
The fearsome A Gong turned out to be a total dork in love.
Liu Yiren finally understood—A Gong had mistaken her for Liu Jiaren.
No wonder things had gotten so messy.
She’d thought she was being stalked by a creep…
Yan Shouyi whispered, "A Gong’s a bit of a dork, but he’s not a bad guy. He just got confused."
Liu Yiren rolled her eyes. "I can see that, genius. No need to explain."
Yan Shouyi: "..."
Seemed like A Gong’s troubles were resolved—but now Yan Shouyi was the one in hot water.
When he’d left the mountain, he’d promised Liu Yiren he’d visit her often and help Liu Jingkang restore the ancestral home. Instead, he’d vanished for half a month.
No wonder she was resentful after all she’d endured.
To break the awkwardness, Yan Shouyi coughed loudly, interrupting A Gong and Liu Jiaren’s tender moment.
"Ahem… You two can catch up later. Right now, can someone tell me what happened here? Where’s Patriarch Liu Jingkang?"
At the mention of this, Liu Jiaren’s face darkened with sorrow.
"Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother… their souls have already scattered," she murmured.
Just as they’d suspected.
Though Yan Shouyi and A Gong had braced themselves, hearing that even a Ghost King had fallen was still shocking.
"Who did this? The Bai Family?" A Gong pressed, despite having no idea who the Bai Family even was.
Liu Jiaren shook her head. "I don’t know. They attacked the day after you left, Master Yan. Their magic was too powerful—we couldn’t fight back. Even Great-Grandfather was helpless. They captured the Liu family one by one, tossing them into a bronze cauldron to refine them. Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother sacrificed themselves to set up a barrier around my room, hiding my presence… But those people are still lurking in the ancestral home. They could find us any moment!"
Yan Shouyi’s eyes widened. "They’re still here now?"
Half a month—a full half a month!
Liu Jiaren had spent every day of it in fear for her life. The torment she’d endured was unimaginable.
And Liu Jingkang and his wife had suffered even more.
Yan Shouyi hadn’t felt much for Liu Jingkang, but he’d genuinely liked the kindhearted Great-Grandmother.
The thought of the Liu family being refined in a cauldron filled him with rage.
A Gong’s voice was laced with anger. "What the hell do they want?!"
"That’s exactly why I came to the Liu Family Ancestral Home," Yan Shouyi sighed. "Now it seems… everything Lü Jing said was true..."