The Water Mirror Reflects All

Normally, when someone suddenly loses consciousness on a single chair without armrests, they would simply slide off entirely. Yet Ji Ningzhao, who appeared frail and delicate, even carrying a hint of lingering illness, somehow managed to keep Chen Yiming steady with just one hand grasping his. Mr. and Mrs. Chen, bewildered and uneasy, could only sit silently to the side, barely daring to breathe, as Ji Ningzhao had instructed.

Beside the basin, Ji Ningzhao scattered a handful of glutinous rice. Her left hand still held Chen Yiming’s, both submerged in the water, while her right hand produced a small, sturdy twig unfamiliar to the Chen family. Judging by its thickness, it must have been cut from a robust branch, and it gave off a strange, pleasant fragrance.

Ji Ningzhao tapped the basin with the twig. A muffled “thud” rang out, and ripples appeared on the water’s surface, just like the beating of a drum. The glutinous rice at the edge of the basin shuddered, gathering into a neat little circle.

“Chen Yiming.” Ji Ningzhao called his name in her usual calm tone.

Mr. and Mrs. Chen watched as the previously limp Chen Yiming straightened abruptly on the chair, though his eyes remained shut. Ji Ningzhao struck the basin again and called his name once more. This time, the ring of glutinous rice widened, and Chen Yiming opened his eyes.

But his gaze was vacant, unfocused—a clear sign that he was not truly conscious.

Had Xie Qingfa been present, he would have recognized the method at once: the Water Mirror Reflection.

Chen Yiming’s mind was clouded by a sinister presence, preventing him from recalling certain memories no matter how he tried. Direct questioning would yield nothing. The yin energy shrouded his entire being; Ji Ningzhao couldn’t simply reach in and remove it as she had with the gloom clinging to his soul lamp. She herself would not have minded, but it would likely have frightened the Chen family half to death. Thus, she was forced to use this method.

In this state of reflection, Chen Yiming’s mind was entirely blank—driven by instinct alone to respond to whatever was asked. In this way, the obfuscating yin energy could be bypassed. Yet the Water Mirror Reflection was a technique that only the bold and highly skilled dared to attempt; none of the masters the Chen family had consulted before had risked it.

Firstly, during the process, the subject’s soul drifted between the realms of life and death; an amateur might fail to retrieve it, and a person missing part of their soul would suffer grave consequences. Secondly, the practitioner risked being consumed by the yin energy, potentially losing their own life.

But Mr. and Mrs. Chen, ignorant of such matters, merely watched as Ji Ningzhao began her questioning after the second tap of the basin.

“Chen Yiming, in mid-May, did you and your friends go anywhere you wouldn’t normally visit?”

Before each question, Ji Ningzhao spoke his name, confirming the presence of his spirit in the body.

The mention of mid-May startled Mr. and Mrs. Chen, for that was before the incident with Kong Xi. Yet Ji Ningzhao’s question was clearly no accident; she had pored over a thick stack of records obtained from the Special Bureau the day before.

In this state, Chen Yiming recalled with ease what he and his friends had done. Near the outskirts of Hang City, at the foot of Mount Jingtai, there was an abandoned private middle school. Publicly, the reason for its abandonment was an unresolved financial dispute between the school and its builders. The contractors, unable to recover their money, frequently sent people to cause disturbances, making normal teaching impossible and driving away students until the school closed down.

Privately, rumors told of two workers killed during the school’s construction due to poor safety, neither of whom received proper compensation. After classes began, boarding students repeatedly encountered unexplainable events in the dormitories—some even claimed to have seen the restless spirits of those two workers wandering the corridors at night.

Fear escalated when a boy, in the dead of night at two o’clock, unscrewed the window bars with tools he had brought and leapt from the fifth-floor corridor to his death. No matter how the school insisted the boy had taken his own life due to family troubles, the rumors only spread further, passed from mouth to mouth.

In the stifling monotony of school life, the more bizarre and sinister the tale, the more eagerly it was shared. Regardless of the truth, more and more students transferred out, and with reputation ruined among both parents and students, new enrollments ceased. Investors, seeing no future, withdrew entirely, and the school became a desolate ruin.

The chilling legends, combined with its remote location, ensured the site was never redeveloped. Yet the abandoned campus found unexpected life as a haunt for urban explorers. With the allure of eerie stories and the seclusion of Mount Jingtai, many streamers claimed to have filmed or witnessed supernatural occurrences on the grounds. With a bit of editing, the footage easily captured viewers’ attention. In recent years, these explorers’ comings and goings had actually brought a strange kind of popularity to the forsaken school.

Of course, Chen Yiming and his well-off friends weren’t seeking fame or money—they craved excitement. With idle wealth and nothing to occupy them, and little belief or respect for such supernatural tales, they were eager to take a look themselves.

Both Chen Yiming and Wen Rujin had expressed concern, but when Wen Rujin voiced his hesitation, one friend mocked him for being timid. Goaded by the jeering, and unwilling to be branded a coward in their social circle, both agreed to join the outing.

Wen Rujin, being the more cautious, and having the closest friendship with Chen Yiming, privately harbored some superstitious respect for such matters. Before they set out, he even visited Hang City’s renowned Xuanqing Temple to obtain protective charms for both himself and Chen Yiming.

Outfitted with outdoor gear, and after fooling their families with various excuses, the group set off with cameras and a thirst for thrills toward the abandoned school at the foot of Mount Jingtai.