"How did it end up in your hands?"
Looking at the seal in Fifth Princess's hand, I reached out to snatch it back.
Although this item was given by the old ghost for me to hand over to Fifth Princess, I knew it was a treasure. At the very least, it would allow me to move unimpeded in the Half-Yin Realm, and no Yin souls could see through my identity. I would need its help when leaving.
Fifth Princess batted my hand away, a flicker of joy in her eyes.
"Who gave you this? What does he look like? What did he tell you?"
Looking at Fifth Princess, who appeared completely worried, I couldn't imagine how many more faces she had.
In my dreams, she was pure and graceful. Upon our first meeting, she was like a fiery queen, beating me half to death. Now, she had transformed into a pitiable figure, truly a queen of a thousand faces.
"An old ghost gave this to me and told me that if I gave it to you, you would give me the jade pendant to leave the Half-Yin Realm. Here, you have the seal now, shouldn't you give me your personal jade pendant?"
It seemed unlikely I could snatch the seal back from Fifth Princess, so I had to settle for asking her to give me her personal jade pendant.
This way, I could leave the Half-Yin Realm, and I made a resolution in my heart: once I left, I would never return.
After I finished speaking, she showed no intention of giving me the jade pendant. Instead, she began to mutter to herself.
But her voice was too low, and I had no habit of eavesdropping, so I had no idea what she was muttering about.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to ask Fifth Princess for her jade pendant again, she suddenly looked at me. Before I could understand what was happening, she grabbed my neck and lifted me from the bed.
"You're lying. This is the seal my father always carried. He wouldn't even let me look at it, how could he give it to an outsider like you? Tell me, how did you get it? Did you lure my father out?"
Seeing Fifth Princess, who was originally like a girl next door, suddenly change her personality, I couldn't react at all. Although she was almost a head shorter than me, the strength in her hands was considerable. Her delicate hands were like iron clamps around my neck, instantly making it difficult for me to breathe.
I slapped her hands, trying to get her to let go, but it was useless. I felt my breath growing short, my vision darkening, and just as I thought I was about to meet the King of Hell, she finally released her grip.
I collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.
"Cough, cough..."
"Speak the truth, and I'll give you a quick end."
Leaning against the bed, I looked at Fifth Princess, whose eyes had turned a dark blue, my heart pounding wildly.
"Damn it, she's transformed again?"
At this moment, she was exactly as she was when she beat me up. Could she change personalities at will?
While studying with my master, I had read about schizophrenia in living people, but I had never encountered such a phenomenon in Yin spirits or evil entities.
"This was really given to me by the old ghost. Everything I said just now is true, I didn't lie to you. If you don't believe me, you can leave this place and go outside the royal mansion to check..."
Before I could finish speaking, Fifth Princess lifted me up again.
"You dare to lie again. Since you are determined to die, I will fulfill your wish..."
The feeling of suffocation returned. Already struggling to breathe, I felt waves of dizziness. But I strained my eyes open, wanting to engrave her appearance firmly in my mind, so that I could seek revenge on her as a vengeful spirit after my death.
Just when I thought I was about to be choked to death, a clear voice, like that of a lark, sounded in my ears.
"No."
I wasn't sure if it was a deathbed hallucination or if it was real, because the voice I heard actually came from Fifth Princess's mouth.
After being thrown to the ground again, I lay on the cold floor like a fish dying of thirst, gasping for breath, but my gaze was fixed on Fifth Princess, wondering what madness had seized her now.
"Get out! It's all your fault for constantly causing trouble. Otherwise, my father wouldn't have gone and never returned. Get out of my body."
The voice came from Fifth Princess's mouth again, but this time it was deep and cold, as if it came from the Nine Netherworld. Just hearing it felt like falling into an ice cellar.
As soon as she finished speaking, another voice came from her mouth, "Sister, don't be like this. Can you calm down?"
"Bitch, shut up! Don't call me sister, I don't have a sister like you."
"Sister, you..."
At this moment, Fifth Princess was like a madwoman, her two voices alternating, cursing each other. One was ferociously abusive, the other was kindly persuading. It looked like a lunatic in a mental hospital, which stunned me.
What was going on?
Could Yin spirits and evil entities also suffer from schizophrenia?
As Fifth Princess rolled on the ground, her clothes became disheveled, and the veil that had been covering her face fell to the side.
This immediately piqued my interest. I wanted to see what she really looked like.
However, before I could get a clear look, she twisted her body again, leaving me with only a profile view.
Although I only saw half of her face, from her rounded jawline and skin as fair as jade, it was clear that Fifth Princess was an absolute beauty.
Seeing that Fifth Princess posed no immediate threat to me, I began to consider how to figure out why she had become like this.
Not only to satisfy my own curiosity, but perhaps if I could cure Princess Gege, she might directly give me the jade pendant.
With that thought, I decided to act.
After I woke up, the Xuan Yang Qi within me had also recovered somewhat. Although it couldn't handle most situations, it didn't prevent me from condensing it into my eyes to investigate the situation within Fifth Princess.
"Hmm? How can this be?"
At this moment, two forces were clashing within Fifth Princess. It was evident that these two forces were of the same origin, but they had now divided into two entities, constantly warring within Fifth Princess. The most intense and obvious area of contention was her head.
The colors of the forces within her body were not clearly defined, presenting a hazy gray. However, the forces near her head clearly displayed two colors.
One force was a dark blue, giving off a chilling sensation just by looking at it. The other force was milky white, appearing like the midday sun, emitting a warm energy that countered the chilling power.
I tried to approach her, intending to inject my Xuan Yang Qi into Fifth Princess to see if I could disrupt the balance between these two forces.
When I was still one step away, a sense of danger enveloped me. I instinctively dodged to the side. A gray ball of light flew out from within her and hit the spot where I had just been. Seeing the small pit corroded into the ground, I stood there in a daze.
A cold voice emanated from Fifth Princess's mouth, "Scram. If you dare to come closer, I will kill you directly."
At the same time, another, relatively gentler voice followed, "Don't come near me. Hmm, and don't look at my face."
As the voices faded, the two "people" began fighting again.
Seeing that they couldn't determine a victor anytime soon, I couldn't help but wonder what my next move should be.
I followed the old ghost's instructions and met Fifth Princess with the seal, but she didn't give me the jade pendant and let me leave as the old ghost had said.
"It seems I can only rely on myself."