Volume 5, Chapter 272 – I’m Mentally Ill, Who Do I Have to Fear?

Qi Huang’s body stiffened, her heart pounding like a criminal awaiting judgment, so tense she even forgot to breathe.

“She… isn’t entirely my doppelgänger.”

Cheng Hongling spoke up.

The psychological pressure weighing on Qi Huang lessened slightly, allowing her to finally take a breath. At least her main body had kept her promise, she hadn’t outright denied that Qi Huang was her doppelgänger.

“Little Ling, what do you mean by ‘not entirely’?”

“Yeah, either she is or she isn’t. What does ‘not entirely’ mean?”

Cheng Yuan and his wife both turned their puzzled gazes toward Qi Huang.

“It’s like this…”

Cheng Hongling then carefully explained how she had cultivated a human skin mask, which had later been coincidentally picked up by “Huang Qi”.

The more Cheng Yuan and his wife listened, the more shocked they became, their eyes filling with doubt as they scrutinized Qi Huang.

Qi Huang was extremely guilty, so much so that she couldn’t even muster a defense, let alone meet their gazes.

After hearing the explanation, Cheng Yuan and his wife fell into a long silence. The atmosphere in the room grew heavy.

Qi Huang’s anxiety returned in full force. After all, her main body was a devoted daughter, if these adoptive parents refused to acknowledge her, who knew if Cheng Hongling would still listen to her?

“Qi Huang… I’ll still call you Qi Huang for now. Right now… can you still tell who you really are?”

After a long pause, Cheng Yuan tentatively asked. After all, the way one treated family and the way one treated a benefactor were entirely different.

“Me? Of course I’m…”

Qi Huang had been about to say she was “Huang Qi”. but the words caught in her throat. A sudden wave of self-doubt washed over her.

“Am I really still Huang Qi? My body has already turned into a girl’s. More than half of my three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls have been feminized. What right do I have to still call myself Huang Qi? At this point, I’m practically Cheng Hongling’s Spiritual Wisdom Soul!”

This line of thinking wasn’t some self-hypnosis to climb the social ladder, it was because her Essence Soul had been further feminized, directly weakening her core consciousness.

“You are… what?”

Cheng Yuan pressed, confused.

“I… I remember clearly that I was Huang… Huang Qi, but… but I also feel like Cheng… Cheng Hongling. I don’t even know who I am anymore!”

Qi Huang furrowed her brows, lost in painful thought. She had experienced this before, right after waking from sleep, when she couldn’t immediately tell who she was. But the problem was, she wasn’t asleep right now. This had never happened before.

The three members of the Cheng family exchanged glances, their expressions growing increasingly skeptical. Clearly, they all thought Qi Huang was putting on an act.

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But Qi Huang wasn’t acting. She was genuinely confused, her mind trapped in helpless uncertainty over her own identity. She racked her brain, but the more she thought, the more her head ached. She clutched her skull and groaned.

“Ugh—my head hurts so bad!”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Cheng Hongling was startled and quickly stood up to check on her.

“I don’t know why, but my head suddenly hurts like hell. Did I catch a cold or something?”

Qi Huang hissed through gritted teeth.

“A cultivator catching a cold? Let me check.”

Cheng Hongling walked over and took Qi Huang’s wrist to check her pulse.

Cheng Yuan and his wife exchanged another glance before also stepping forward with concern.

After a moment of careful pulse-reading, Cheng Hongling released Qi Huang’s wrist.

“Your pulse is steady. You don’t have a cold.”

“But my head really hurts!”

Qi Huang insisted, not wanting to be misunderstood.

“Lower your divine sense defenses. Let me check again.”

Cheng Hongling urged.

In too much pain to argue, Qi Huang complied.

Cheng Hongling extended her divine sense to examine Qi Huang, and then froze.

She saw that her doppelgänger’s Life Soul was convulsing violently, as if suffering from a seizure.

“…What’s going on?” she murmured.

“Little Ling, what is it?” Cheng Yuan pressed.

“Her Life Soul is fluctuating violently. I don’t know why.”

Cheng Hongling’s tone was grave.

Cheng Yuan and his wife shared another look, guilt flashing across their faces. It seemed they had misjudged her.

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Meanwhile, inside Cheng Hongling’s consciousness—

Cheng Ling’s face lit up with delight.

“It seems my efforts weren’t entirely in vain!”

“What are you talking about?”

The Heavenly Soul, with its sharp hearing, immediately questioned.

“I don’t speak to lowly maids like you!”

Cheng Ling sneered before immediately sending a mental message to her main body:

“If you want to know what’s wrong with her, come see me right now.”

Though displeased, Cheng Hongling complied for Qi Huang’s sake, sending her Life Soul into her own sea of consciousness.

“Well? Explain.”

Cheng Hongling’s expression was cold. Though she didn’t know the specifics, she was certain this had something to do with Cheng Ling.

“Aren’t you the clever one? Can’t you figure it out? A person’s Life Soul, their core consciousness, is determined by the balance of their three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls. Before, I had only assimilated six of her corporeal souls, so the male souls still had a slight edge. That’s why she was so adamant about being Huang Qi. But now it’s different, her Essence Soul has been further assimilated. Now, the masculine and feminine soul energies in her sea of consciousness are nearly equal. But the feminine souls don’t identify as Huang Qi, they identify as you, Cheng Hongling. No wonder she’s having an identity crisis!”

Cheng Ling’s tone was dripping with mockery.

“So it really was your doing.”

Cheng Hongling gritted her teeth in anger.

“My doing? What did I do wrong? I’m just fighting for my freedom!”

Cheng Ling retorted sharply.

“Enough nonsense. How do we fix her condition? Tell me the truth, and I might let this slide.”

Cheng Hongling was impatient.

“Since when have you been so magnanimous? That impostor must mean a lot to you. Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for her? Knowing she used to be a man, does that suit your tastes?”

Cheng Ling smirked, her words laced with provocation.

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“Keep spouting nonsense, and you’ll never leave this place.”

Though Cheng Hongling’s words were sharp, her expression faltered slightly.

“It’s simple. Let me continue assimilating her. Otherwise, she’ll be stuck as a mental patient forever!”

Cheng Ling proposed her solution.

“Do you think I’m stupid? If you keep assimilating her, her Life Soul will disappear entirely. How is that any different from death?”

Cheng Hongling scoffed.

“Wouldn’t that be better? Once I take over that body, you’ll have a proper doppelgänger. Isn’t that better than one with a split personality?”

Cheng Ling pointed out.

“No thanks. She’s never been all that sane to begin with, I’m used to it.”

Without hesitation, Cheng Hongling rejected the offer and returned to reality.

She then explained the situation to her parents.

“So what you’re saying is… she’s both that Huang Qi and your doppelgänger now?”

Cheng Yuan seemed to grasp the gist of it.

“Yes, inside and out. That’s why she sometimes can’t tell who she is.”

Cheng Hongling sighed.

“Ah… poor child. I’m sorry, my dear. Mother actually doubted you earlier.”

Jiang Linian’s face filled with remorse as she gently pulled Qi Huang into an embrace.

Qi Huang, wrapped in the warmth of her adoptive mother’s arms, felt the chaos in her mind gradually settle. The pain began to fade, leaving her torn between laughter and tears.

“A loss may turn out to be a gain.”

Though she had suffered for a while, at least her parents’ suspicions had been dispelled.

“Then how can we cure her condition?”

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Cheng Yuan pressed.

“I don’t know. The main issue is that her mind now houses two souls.”

Cheng Hongling shook her head helplessly.

“It’s fine! People have always treated me like a lunatic anyway. Now I’ve got the perfect excuse, I’ll just get a mental illness certificate from the clinic. Next time I kill a couple of bad guys, I’ll just flash my certificate. Who’s gonna hold me accountable?”

Qi Huang quickly reassured them with a joke.

“Pfft—you’re still cracking jokes at a time like this?”

Jiang Linian couldn’t help but laugh.

“Wait!”

Cheng Hongling’s eyes suddenly brightened.

“Since Cheng Ling caused this, she might know how to fix it.”

“Right!”

Qi Huang smacked her forehead.

“Why didn’t I think of that?”

“But what if she refuses to talk?”

Cheng Hongling’s expression darkened again.

“Not necessarily. As the saying goes, ‘the mouth denies, but the body is honest’! She might not want to talk, but her body is a different story!”

A sly grin spread across Qi Huang’s face. She hadn’t forgotten one crucial detail, the Human Skin Mask had already fused with her. If she fell asleep, she could access Cheng Ling’s memories.

How hard could it be to find a solution?

“What are you smiling about?”

Cheng Hongling frowned.

“Smile? What smile? I’m mentally ill, maybe I can’t control my expressions!”

Qi Huang played the fool. Now that she had the perfect excuse of being a mental patient, she wasn’t about to let it go.

‘First thing tomorrow, I’m getting that certificate from the clinic. Otherwise, if I piss off my main body later, I won’t even have an excuse!’