Spirit-Dance

1,252 words

Inside Silverwing City’s main avenue, a spacious horse-drawn carriage rumbled slowly toward the inn where Li Huowang was staying.

Inside the carriage, Li Huowang, covered in wounds, spoke to Bai Lingmiao in a gentle tone.

“I think, if that immortal really is going to stick with you for life, rather than let them drive you like a hired hand, it might be worth trying Shentu Gang’s method. But his method has risks too. Whether to use it depends on your situation.”

Though Bai Lingmiao didn’t seem to be under any immediate threat from the immortal, remembering what Li Zhi had said before he died, Li Huowang couldn’t help but worry for her.

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao stared at him with obvious surprise. “That man’s chant really was that contemptuous toward the immortal? Tell me quickly—what method did he speak of?”

Li Huowang thought back to what Shentu Gang had told him, then relayed it to Bai Lingmiao. “Drive out the wolf with a tiger. Immortals are a bunch of bullies that push the weak and fear the strong. If you can find something else to possess you—something that can intimidate them—then you can negotiate terms with the immortals.”

“Then what did Shentu Gang use to intimidate the immortal?” Recalling the grip the immortal had on her, Bai Lingmiao’s expression turned grave.

“Raise a Great Calamity.” A strange word left Li Huowang’s lips.

“How to raise it—he didn’t say. Something tied so closely to life and death, he wouldn’t just tell me outright.”

Bai Lingmiao silently repeated those three words, her expression heavy, as if she were pondering something.

“Shentu Gang said it’s like a scale—you need roughly equal weight on both sides to keep it balanced. Neither side can be too heavy, and neither can be too light. If you do it right, you can use both sides together. But if you do it wrong… it could get dangerous.”

He reached over and gently patted the back of her hand. “Don’t panic. Once I’ve finished my business, I’ll help you.”

Everything had its priorities. Li Huowang always felt that fixing Bai Lingmiao’s personality change was the most important thing.

Seeing his right hand, which was almost completely missing its skin, Bai Lingmiao’s face showed a flicker of pain. She pulled her hand away. “No need. That method is of no use to me for now. I’m fine. The immortal hasn’t done anything to me.”

“Really?” Li Huowang stared intently at the black ring-shaped bruises on her pale neck.

“Why would I lie to you? Compared to me, you should worry about yourself.” Bai Lingmiao swiftly turned the topic onto him.

Though the immortal was already starting to show its fangs, she had no intention of telling Li Huowang about her troubles. The man was already miserable enough. There was no need to burden him further.

As for the method he mentioned—she would think it over carefully when she got back.

“That’s not how it works. Better to prepare before trouble comes. I’ll keep an eye out for you. If the immortal gives you any trouble, tell me immediately.”

Before they knew it, the carriage had stopped. They had reached the inn. The Second Spirit bent down, slid her hands under Li Huowang, and carried him out of the carriage in a bridal hold.

Under the strange looks of the others in the lobby, the two of them slowly went upstairs, entered their room, and closed the door.

“Come back to Oxheart Village with me? Everyone’s waiting for you.” Bai Lingmiao looked down at Li Huowang lying on the bed.

Li Huowang thought for a moment, then gave a slight shake of his head. “No. I’ll wait here. If I go back to Oxheart Village, I might miss word from the Chief Recorder.”

Besides, there was no need for him to get tangled up with the others. If they could live out their lives in peace and safety, that might actually be the best outcome.

Staying by his side, these people would only be dragged into his mess. Too many had already died.

Bai Lingmiao looked down at Li Huowang on the bed. The corners of her mouth curled up. Then, slowly, she slipped off her clothes, bent down, and pressed her lips to his.

“I’m still wounded,” Li Huowang said through gritted teeth, pained by the girl pressing down on him.

“Ha. Isn’t that even better? You’re not going to die anyway. Oh, and by the way—you haven’t told me yet. Who exactly is Yang Na?!”

In the moments that followed, one by one, the threads stitching up Li Huowang’s wounds snapped.

A long time later, Bai Lingmiao lay spread-eagled on the blood-soaked bed, her left foot resting on Li Huowang’s chest, panting heavily and letting out low laughs.

Just as Li Huowang was about to say something, her long, pale left leg lifted slightly and then came down hard, making the already weak Li Huowang almost choke on his breath.

“You think I don’t know about the Second Spirit? And now there’s a Yang Na too. You sure have a lot of women, Li Huowang.” Bai Lingmiao’s words were practically gritted out between her teeth, as if her earlier actions had been an act of revenge.

When faced with the same thing, Bai Lingmiao with killing intent poisoning her body and Bai Lingmiao without it had completely different reactions.

Li Huowang placed his hand on Bai Lingmiao’s leg and gently stroked it. Without offering any explanation, he slowly closed his eyes.

Just as he was drifting off, almost asleep, Bai Lingmiao’s voice suddenly rang out. “The Second Spirit is a part of me. If I die someday, you can just treat the Second Spirit as me. But that fucking Yang Na? Absolutely not!”

“If she dares to show up in front of you, don’t blame me for not honoring our marriage!”

With a trace of helplessness, Li Huowang opened his eyes and looked beside him.

“Yang Na’s just a hallucination. Do you really have to get jealous over a hallucination?”

But at that moment, Li Huowang noticed that Bai Lingmiao beside him had somehow turned into the Second Spirit.

This time, the Second Spirit wasn’t wearing her red veil. Her strange appearance was fully exposed.

The long, thin mouth on that half of her face opened slightly, and from it came a faint, plaintive voice. “Brother Li…”

Looking at the Second Spirit before him, Li Huowang’s mind went blank for a moment. As he gazed at her, it was as if the Bai Lingmiao of the past had come back.

“Miaomiao…? Is that really you?”

A chill shot straight to the back of his head. A terrible suspicion burst into his mind.

Had Bai Lingmiao not been poisoned by killing intent at all? Had her body actually been replaced by the Second Spirit? Had she been forced to become the Second Spirit?

Li Huowang held the Second Spirit in his arms, his expression twisted as he looked around the empty room. “Second Spirit! Get out here! What the hell is going on?!”

Just then, he felt the fuzzy body in his arms grow smooth.

“Great Spirit, Second Spirit—what difference does it make?” Bai Lingmiao—white-haired, pink-eyed—appeared in his arms again, looking at him with a mocking smile.

“To you, what does it matter which one you use? It’s not like you’re picky.”

“Explain yourself! Who exactly are you?” When Li Huowang was serious, he looked terrifying, especially covered in wounds like this.

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Reading Guide Decoding

The Bloody Bedroom and the Two-Faced Woman

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

“Raising a Great Calamity” to Counter an Immortal — This chapter dives into a dark corner of folk spirit-medium theory. The logic Shentu Gang proposes is rooted in the “mutual restraint” philosophy found in both Daoist inner alchemy and Chinese folk religion: if one possessing entity dominates you, you can introduce a second, more ferocious entity to challenge or “balance” the first. The protagonist likens it to a scale. In real-world chuma and tiao dashen traditions, mediums rarely “raise” a second spirit deliberately—this is a violent heresy born from desperation, a gamble between two equally dangerous forces. It mirrors the “wolf and tiger” idiom Li Huowang mentions: using a stronger predator to drive off a weaker one, even if the cure might ultimately be as deadly as the bite.

The Great Spirit / Second Spirit (大神/二神) Dynamic — This chapter weaponizes the central ambiguity of the tiao dashen spirit-medium tradition. In authentic practice, the Great Spirit (dà shén) is the possessing entity, and the Second Spirit (èr shén) is the assistant or the possessed medium themselves. But here, the novel deliberately blurs the line until it’s unrecognizable: Bai Lingmiao and the Second Spirit become a single, shifting being whose emotions and identity bleed into each other. When the Second Spirit cries “Brother Li” with her own face and Bai Lingmiao replies with the Second Spirit’s mocking tone, it becomes a psychological trap where Li Huowang cannot tell if he is speaking to a woman he loves or a parasite wearing her skin. This is classic Dao Gui Yi Xian horror—the folk tradition is not just a source of magic; it’s a source of primal, cognitive dread.

Chuma mediumship (出马仙)

A northeastern Chinese folk spirit-medium tradition where a human is selected by an animal or spirit immortal to serve as its vessel; the body becomes a temporary home and tool for the possessing entity.

Spirit-dance (跳大神)

A ritual performance in which a medium, guided by a Second Spirit (assistant), invites a possessing immortal to manifest and answer questions or perform healing; the dance and chanting are the conduit.

Chapter Overview

Pack your bags, fellow travelers—this chapter is a masterclass in emotional body horror and identity warfare. After the massive political and survival stakes of recent chapters, Li Huowang gets a dose of the personal, and boy, does it hit different. We open with a quiet carriage ride where our battered protagonist tries to help Bai Lingmiao with her immortal problem—only to veer wildly into a raw, bloody, and deeply unsettling confrontation in a rented inn room. What starts as a pragmatic discussion about "raising a Great Calamity" to counter the possessing immortal devolves into a power-struggle lover's quarrel fueled by jealousy, corruption, and a terrifying identity reveal. The chapter delivers a gut-punch revelation that reframes Bai Lingmiao’s entire character arc: is she still herself, or has she already been hollowed out and replaced? Buckle up—this is Dao-Twisted at its most intimate and most venomous.

Key Plot Points

Li Huowang, still grievously wounded from his previous ordeals, explains Shentu Gang’s “raise a Great Calamity” theory to Bai Lingmiao as a counterbalance to her oppressive immortal. He describes it as a tightrope act—using one possessing entity to leash another, like balancing a scale.
Bai Lingmiao deflects his concern, refusing to discuss her own immortal's growing threat. She shifts the focus to his own physical state, a clear act of self-protective deflection that suggests her situation is graver than she admits.
Back at the inn, Bai Lingmiao’s behavior takes a sharp turn. She initiates a violent, sexually charged encounter that Li Huowang is too weak to resist—and during it, she explicitly confronts him about Yang Na and the Second Spirit, her voice dripping with vindictive jealousy and newfound aggression.
The post-coital scene erupts into a psychological horror climax: Li Huowang looks down to find Bai Lingmiao has physically transformed into the Second Spirit—her distorted half-face, many eyes, weeping a plea for recognition and calling him "Brother Li."
Li Huowang spirals into a terrifying hypothesis: has the Second Spirit already replaced Bai Lingmiao? Was her "personality change" from killing intent actually a body-snatching in progress? He roars into the empty room, demanding answers from the Second Spirit.
The Second Spirit then morphs back into Bai Lingmiao—now with white hair and pink pupils—and delivers the chapter’s killer line: “Great Spirit, Second Spirit—what difference does it make? To you, what does it matter which one you use?” A taunt that leaves the identity boundary irrevocably shattered.

Reading Guide

Here’s your emotional safety briefing, dear reader: this chapter is going to hurt. Not from action or gore, but because it takes the one relationship Li Huowang thought was stable—his connection with Bai Lingmiao—and grinds it into an identity-blurred mess. Pay close attention to the voice here. Bai Lingmiao’s dialogue shifts from guarded and evasive (refusing to talk about the immortal) to violently possessive (demanding to know who Yang Na is, her words “gritted out between her teeth”). This isn’t the soft, submissive girl we met early in the story. The corruption of the Purple-Tasseled Sword and the pressure from the immortal have weaponized her emotions. And when she becomes the Second Spirit, weeping and calling him “Brother Li,” Li Huowang doesn’t just suspect a body-snatching—he confronts the possibility that he loved a ghost and didn’t notice.

The last line is a masterstroke of ambiguity: “Great Spirit, Second Spirit—what difference does it make?” Bai Lingmiao doesn’t answer the question. She dismisses it. And that silence is more terrifying than any monster. For readers coming from Western fantasy, this is the moment where the “possessed maiden” trope gets turned inside out. It’s not a demon to be exorcised. It’s a voice that was always hers, now twisted, asking if you can still love what you can’t label.