Chapter 24

Warmth flowed through Shen Qing’s heart at that. She smiled at Cuizhi. “Cuizhi must also live safe and sound.”
And never again end up like in my last life, skinned alive by a great demon, dying in raw torment.
In the end, Shen Qing and Cuizhi slipped out of the Prince Cang Manor through the side gate.
Once she’d gone, Li Daoxuan called Old Huang over. “From now on, station men to watch this courtyard. Anyone who tries to climb the wall, beat them back out.”
Old Huang said, “Yes, yes. And Young Lord Gu?”
“If he won’t use the front gate, beat him out all the same,” Li Daoxuan said.
It was precisely because Gu Yun liked to take shortcuts, saving himself the walk from the main gate to Li Daoxuan’s quarters, that he’d gotten into the habit of scaling the wall. The servants had gotten used to it, and the defenses around the prince’s courtyard walls had grown lax, giving Shen Qing, who knew about that route, the chance to slip in.
Now that he had this lesson, Li Daoxuan had decided to reinforce the defenses properly, to keep any “interested parties” from sneaking in again.
Naturally, those “interested parties” included Shen Qing.
Still not satisfied, Li Daoxuan added, “And set iron caltrops and broken porcelain along the top of the wall.”
Far away in Dongshan Temple on the eastern outskirts of Chang’an, Gu Yun suddenly sneezed. He hesitated for a moment, then went back to pondering when next he should go to Prince Cang Manor to bother his good brother.
The time Shen Qing and Li Daoxuan had agreed on was two days later. Both disguised themselves and, posing as disciples of Dongshan Temple, strolled the streets.
Soon, they arrived at the ward where Lin Yuanjiu lived.
After several days of closing their doors to visitors, the once-bustling Lin residence was now deserted. Few people came or went.
The Lin home sat at the deepest point of a cross-shaped alley. The main gate was tightly shut; no one outside could tell what was happening within.
Both of them wore blue temple robes.
Shen Qing had her hair bound up in a coronet; Li Daoxuan had his eternal high ponytail, and the jade pendant at his waist swung as he walked, the two plump little fish looking quite foolish.
One of Li Daoxuan’s strides equaled two of Shen Qing’s, and he walked so fast that she had to pick up her robe and jog behind him. When she really couldn’t keep up anymore, she panted, “Slow down, please, Your Highness, slow down! I can barely keep up!”
Li Daoxuan’s brow arched, but he didn’t slow. “It seems that in all the years you’ve spent at Xuanji Pavilion, Miss Shen has enjoyed nothing but a life of leisure. I see no improvement in your abilities at all.”
All your growth has gone into scheming against people, in other words.
Shen Qing bristled. “You know as well as anyone I’ve been frail since childhood. Most of my time has gone into recovering my health. How could I compare to Your Highness, who can cockfights, steal bird’s nests, and play cuju all day long and still come away with a full set of skills?”
The only response she got was a soft, disdainful snort.
Shen Qing turned her head away too. “Hmph”
When they reached the Lin residence’s gate, Li Daoxuan asked, “No recent murders have occurred nearby. On what grounds are you so sure there’s a demon here?”
Shen Qing laid out her reasoning in an orderly way. “Look, Lin Canjun may be severely injured and a woman by birth, but the skills she’s honed on the battlefield aren’t for show. Surviving in a danger-ridden wilderness forest is hardly impossible for her.”
Soldiers at war didn’t just rely on courage and strength; they had to know how to stay alive in harsh conditions.
Her father had written in one of the military treatises he’d compiled:
In war, courage and strength are indeed crucial, yet the art of surviving in perilous terrain is no less so. In the desert one must know how to seek water and discern direction; in bitter cold, how to keep warm and kindle fire; in marshland, how to escape entrapment and avoid danger. Only thus can one stand unshaken amid hardship and secure the foundation of victory.
From this, it was clear that a soldier’s ability to survive was of utmost importance in war.
Thus, when Lin Yuanjiu’s mother found her still clinging to a breath of life in the forest, that was entirely reasonable.
“But an old woman, over fifty, frail and untrained, manages to venture alone into a demon-infested, perilous forest, find her daughter alive, and bring her back out,” Shen Qing said. “Tell me, does that sound normal to you?”
No one knew exactly how badly Lin Canjun had been hurt, or whether she could walk, but judging from the way she’d fought her way through dozens of enemies by herself, her injuries had to be serious. Otherwise she wouldn’t have needed her aging mother to brave the forest for her; she’d have walked out on her own.
With Shen Qing’s analysis, a spark of interest lit in Li Daoxuan’s eyes. “Now that mother and daughter refuse to step beyond their gate, how do you plan to get inside and see whether Mother Lin is possessed by a demon?”
Shen Qing smiled. “That’s easy. As far as I know, ever since Mother Lin and Lin Canjun came back, they’ve shut their doors and refused all visitors, never stepping outside. But people still have to eat, don’t they? And if someone’s injured, they need medicine.”
“Even if mother and daughter stocked up on medicine the moment they got home, one person has only two hands, how much can two people carry? It’s been more than ten days; it should be time to change the dressings. With how badly Lin Canjun was injured, she can’t possibly be healed in just a dozen days. I don’t believe she doesn’t need more medicine, or more grain.”
If they forced their way into the Lin residence, they’d definitely startle the two inside. In broad daylight, with the streets full of people, if there really was a demon and it bolted in panic, it might harm others along the way.
Back at home, Shen Qing had carefully done the math and roughly worked out when Lin Canjun’s supply of medicine should run out. The time when Lin Yuanjiu or her mother would have to come out to buy more fell right around these two days. She’d already sent people to watch in secret; for the last two days, morning and evening, no one from the Lin family had stepped outside.
But at mealtimes, kitchen smoke undeniably rose from their flue. There were definitely people living inside.
By her estimation, the latest Lin Yuanjiu could possibly delay buying medicine would be today or tomorrow. Shen Qing had chosen today to try her luck and see if she could intercept them halfway. Whether the one who came out was Mother Lin or Lin Yuanjiu, either would be a good result.
Because tomorrow was the day Shen Ling could finally roll herself out of the Shen residence, and Shen Qing had no intention of missing that.
Her mother had used some unknown method to give Shen Ling a good knocking-down, then sent a letter off to Wannian County, to Shen Ling’s parents. All that remained was for the county magistrate couple to come in person tomorrow to take their daughter home.
That black cat, after Cuizhi’s careful nursing, had actually scraped back a life. While it was recuperating, Shen Qing had watched it for a while, and finally found the gu worm in its eyes.
The cat had no demonic aura at all. It wasn’t the evil cat Shen Qing had imagined, but an ordinary house cat.
No matter how clever, a house cat wouldn’t obediently do something like gnaw through a rawhide rope on command. Rawhide was tough; if a fragile cat’s tooth bit down, it would hurt. A normal cat, once it felt pain, would instinctively stop. But this black cat apparently had not.
When Shen Qing pried its jaws open to look, she found its teeth jagged and broken, gums bloody and mangled.
That confirmed her guess: this wasn’t a demon cat, but a cat someone was controlling with special means.
Those special means naturally meant a guy worm.
In her last life, Shen Ling had kept her secrets well, and Shen Qing herself had grown stupid; she’d never realized Shen Ling knew how to use gu worms.
This time, with Shen Ling reborn alongside her, the girl really had changed, more impatient, more reckless, so impatient she’d slipped up on Zhao Ranyan and shown her hand. That in turn proved from another angle just how stupid Shen Qing had been previously, to be successfully plotted against by this caliber of trash.
Thinking back on how, in her previous life, her own emotions had so often spun out of control, how her body had grown heavier and heavier, her taste and hearing fading away… Shen Qing’s eyes gradually darkened.
If she wasn’t mistaken, then at some point, some silent moment, a gu worm had been planted in her as well, a gu that dulled a person’s wits, magnified their emotions severalfold, and gradually stripped them of their five senses.
If not, she truly couldn’t understand how she had been tripped up again and again by such an idiot. Even with someone backing Shen Ling from the shadows, she refused to believe she wouldn’t have found the slightest trace.
Thinking one step further, the hand behind Shen Ling probably wasn’t just after her alone, but the entire Shen family.
Was it really a coincidence that the great demon in the Eastern Market had struck first, in her past life? And not a deliberate move from the mastermind to tie up Liu Jiyue?
In other words, someone wanted the Shen family dead, more than that, they wanted her father dead.
When that thought crystallized, cold sweat broke out down her back. She didn’t dare follow it any further.
In this life, all she wanted was for her parents to live safe and well. But someone was set on killing them. That meant that even if the Shen family survived the calamity a month from now, more trouble might yet come knocking at their door afterwards.
For a man who held great power, even if his heart longed for quiet, his body could not follow. Her father had always served the Emperor with clean hands and a clear conscience, never overstepping in the slightest, never joining a faction or picking a prince to back.
Yet precisely because of that, his latent threat only loomed larger. All sides feared him. To seek a quiet life was, in truth, impossible.
Anyone could be an enemy lying in wait in the dark.
For the first time, Shen Qing realized just how dangerous the Shen family’s situation really was.
The question was: with things as they now stood, what could she do?
At times, one must prepare before the storm, and move only after the plan is laid. At times, one must advance by seeming to retreat, and temporarily avoid the keenest edge. At times, one must weave wide nets of goodwill and seek allies. Yet whatever the course, caution is paramount, for a single misplayed move may topple the whole board.
Now, what she had to do was, in a short span of time, find the Shen family’s true enemies and devise a counter-strategy, all without drawing too much attention. Shen Qing knew very well that this was a matter of life and death for her clan, she could not afford carelessness.
Father, you pride yourself on walking in the light with nothing to be ashamed of. But no amount of inner clarity can withstand the suspicion of many enemies, or keep disaster from falling out of a clear sky.
Shen Qing let out a quiet sigh. Then she suddenly asked, “Your Highness, do you feel like drinking?”
On the street diagonally opposite the Lin home, there was a tavern. A window seat on the second floor let one drink and listen to the bustle below while also keeping the Lin family’s front gate perfectly in view. It was the ideal place to watch Lin Yuanjiu’s movements.
Shen Qing asked the hostess for two jugs of wine.
Li Daoxuan paid, and the hostess cheerfully led the two of them up the wooden stairs to a private room on the second floor.
What followed was a long stretch of tedious waiting.
Shen Qing watched the Lin family door so intently her eyes started to sting. When she finally turned back, she found the person opposite her had long since picked up his cup and was quietly sipping wine, with no intention whatsoever of keeping watch.
Her temper flared immediately.
Just as she was about to explode, Li Daoxuan lifted his hand and pointed lazily. Shen Qing held her breath and looked back, only to see the Lin residence’s front gate suddenly swing open.
She straightened at once.
A small figure in a veiled hat slipped out through the crack, posture a little hunched. The head under the hat tilted slightly, clearly scanning the surroundings. Seeing no one nearby for the moment, she pulled the door shut behind her and tiptoed off down the street.
“She’s out!” Shen Qing said over her shoulder.
Only then did Li Daoxuan set down his cup and rise to his feet.
The woman did her best to avoid crowds as she walked, heading straight for the pharmacy, just as Shen Qing had guessed.
Shen Qing took out a prescription; the apothecary compared it and gathered the herbs. The woman took the medicine bundle, paid, and hurried off without lingering.
Halfway back, she seemed to sense something. Her brows, hidden beneath the veil, drew together. When she reached the mouth of an alley, she suddenly ducked into it.
Shen Qing had just sidestepped a group of children at play; when she looked up again, the woman ahead of her had vanished.
The veiled woman walked quickly with her medicine bundle, quietly pleased at having shaken Shen Qing off. But when she reached the deepest part of the alley, she saw that a young man in plain blue robes was somehow already standing there, cool-eyed, a sword in his arms.
She startled, hurriedly backing away, ready to dart down another branch of the alley. But the very person she thought she’d gotten rid of was suddenly there behind her.
With no way out on either side and blocked front and back, the woman bit her lip and glanced between them, clearly calculating how she might escape.
Shen Qing studied her slight frame, puzzled.
Lin Yuanjiu, after so many years of martial training, would never be so slim and delicate as this woman. And when she saw the woman’s hands, skin like cream, smooth and flawless, without a trace of age, soft as new-peeled bamboo shoots untouched by wind or frost, it was obvious she couldn’t be Mother Lin either.
In that case, this person was very likely the demon that had possessed Mother Lin.
With that thought, Shen Qing slowly drew a yellow talisman from her sleeve.
The woman’s face went pale. At last she spoke. “I bear the two of you no grudge, nor have I done anything to offend Heaven or harm others. Why do you hound me so?”
“If you haven’t harmed anyone, then where is Mother Lin?” Shen Qing asked. “And who was it that carried Lin Canjun out of the forest alone?”
At the mention of Lin Canjun, the woman flinched as if struck. She warily stepped back a few paces, lowering her center of gravity, gathering strength to attack, yet even so, she didn’t loosen her grip on the medicine bundle in her hand.
“I have not harmed them, and I have no wish to hurt anyone,” she said.
“If that’s so, then let me look in on Lin Canjun and Mother Lin. If they’re both safe and sound, I’ll naturally believe you,” Shen Qing replied.
The woman fell silent.
Seeing this, Shen Qing said, “Creature of darkness, why don’t you submit quietly to judgment?” With that, she raised her hand, ready to strike.
The woman sprang like a released bowstring, fingers curled like claws, raking for Shen Qing’s face. Shen Qing snapped the talisman at her, but the paper, which should have been enough to make any demon flee in terror, landed against the woman’s palm and did nothing at all.
Shen Qing stared, stunned. What in the world is this thing, that it doesn’t fear talismans?
There was no time to think. She twisted aside to evade the strike, snatched at the edge of the woman’s veil, and tore it off.
Beneath was the face of a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl, a young maiden, features fresh and soft, baby fat still clinging to her cheeks. She looked nothing like a demon.
And yet the more powerful the demon, the less likely it showed on the face. Shen Qing didn’t relax in the least.
She reversed her grip and chopped straight toward the girl’s fengchi point at the base of her skull.
If the girl had truly been possessed, that blow would have driven the demon out of its host at once. But nothing happened.
The girl had no intention of trading blows with Shen Qing. She feinted as if to go for Shen Qing’s face, then suddenly dropped her body low, slipping like a fish under Shen Qing’s arm. Clutching her medicine bundle tight, she bolted back in the direction of the Lin residence.
Shen Qing and Li Daoxuan shared a look, and without a word they both followed at a lazy, unhurried pace.
Fu Guang jogged the whole way, convinced she’d shaken off the two robed “daoists.” Only when she stepped through the Lin family gate with her medicine bundle and taken a moment to scan nervously around outside, seeing no one, did she finally close the door.
Shen Qing and Li Daoxuan crouched in the branches of a tree inside the Lin courtyard. Shen Qing asked, “Your Highness, did you see anything?”
Li Daoxuan shot her a sideways look. “I did. You could handle that thing on your own. It seems you hardly need my help.”
Shen Qing said, “No, this is exactly when I need Your Highness. I must trouble you to lend me Qiuren.”
At that, Li Daoxuan rather grudgingly snapped his fingers.
Not far away, Qiuren, who had been quietly coiled and waiting, slowly slid up the trunk, and just as it was about to loop itself around Li Daoxuan’s waist, it seemed to sense something halfway there. Its head veered aside, and it slithered onto Shen Qing’s hand instead.
Shen Qing laughed as she stroked Qiuren’s head. “Looks like Qiuren is very willing indeed.”
Li Daoxuan looked at this snake that had no sense of loyalty, pursed his lips, turned his head away, and only felt thoroughly annoyed.
In the courtyard, Fu Guang had begun decocting medicine, thin curls of smoke drifting out through the flue.
Now Shen Qing finally knew where that smoke had been coming from, it was this girl’s medicine, not some cooking fire.
Then where were Mother Lin and Lin Yuanjiu? Where had they gone?
She found out soon enough.
Fu Guang poured the finished decoction into a bowl, then carried it in and pushed the door open.
Inside, a woman lay stretched out on the bed. Her brows were sharp and handsome, her face slightly pale. At the moment her eyes were closed, as if she were only asleep.
But her chest did not rise or fall in the slightest. She was clearly a corpse.
Fu Guang seemed utterly unaware. She set the bowl of medicine on the table, went to the bedside, and gently pushed Lin Yuanjiu. “Master, drink your medicine.”
The figure on the bed lay perfectly still.
Getting no reply, Fu Guang simply kept pushing her, over and over, repeating, “Master, drink your medicine.”
“The doctor said that once you finish this medicine, you’ll get better. Get up and drink it.”
By the time the bowl no longer sent up any heat, Lin Yuanjiu had still not risen or answered.
Fu Guang’s gaze dropped a fraction, her whole body radiating a kind of low, drooping sadness, like a cat dejected at not getting a response from its owner, tail hanging limp.
“The medicine’s gone cold. Then you can drink it next time,” she muttered to herself. Fu Guang tipped the bowl and poured the medicine into a potted plant beside her.
The orchid leaves in the planter were already yellowed at the tips; who knew how many times Fu Guang had “fed” them medicine.
Aside from Fu Guang, the whole room reeked of deathly stillness.
Until a bright, clear voice broke in, bringing the faintest hint of life back into the space.
“A corpse is never going to get up and drink medicine.”
Shen Qing kicked the door open and walked in, mercilessly shattering Fu Guang’s illusion.
“For something as rare as you, how can you not even understand that much?”
At her words, black mist surged off Fu Guang in an instant. Her eyes went blood-red; when she lifted them, the chill in her gaze was like a blade.
“You lie! My master is not dead!” Fu Guang said.
Shen Qing replied, “I don’t believe you don’t know whether your master is dead or not. Why bother lying to yourself? The best thing you can do for her is to lay her to rest. Otherwise the bones will never be at peace, and your master won’t be any more comfortable down in the Yellow Springs.”
“Liar! You’re lying! You’re the bad one, I’m going to kill you!” Fu Guang’s fingers lengthened by several inches, and she raked straight for Shen Qing’s face.
As her claws swept in with a gust of force, a killing aura born of iron hooves and border battlements crashed over them like a storming tide.
In that moment, what came at Shen Qing did not feel like claws at all, but like a blade from the frontier, one that had seen iron and blood, fire and smoke, and carried the weight of countless life-and-death struggles, honed through years of war.
Knowing now what this thing was, Shen Qing naturally knew how to deal with her. She stopped using talismans and instead pulled out a thin cord, quickly tying two slipknots. When Fu Guang closed in, Shen Qing twisted the cord and yanked; the two loops snapped tight and cinched around Fu Guang’s wrists.
Then she led the cord around Fu Guang’s waist, and tied the other end to the bed beam.
If Fu Guang kept struggling, the bed would inevitably collapse with her, at which point her master would be crushed under the falling frame.
This touched on her master’s safety, and sure enough, Fu Guang went still at once.
Shen Qing rubbed the palm that had been chafed red by the thin cord and gave a cold snort.
Bound by the spirit-binding rope, Fu Guang couldn’t muster her spiritual power and didn’t dare thrash around. She glared at Shen Qing and spat, “Bad person!”
Shen Qing pointed at herself. “Me, a bad person?”
Then she let it go and laughed, her expression turning faintly feral as she spread her fingers like claws. “Yes, I’m the bad one. So be good and tell me, where is Mother Lin?”
Fu Guang jerked her head away in sullen silence.
Shen Qing arched a brow. “Not talking? If you won’t talk, I’ll let it eat you.”
She pointed at the black snake coiled around her arm, then tapped Fu Guang’s shoulder. “It’ll start with this arm, then the other, then your legs, then your head. A freshly formed sword spirit like you is the most nourishing, after all.”
Who would’ve thought that Fu Guang would suddenly duck her head and bite down hard on Shen Qing’s pale wrist.
“Ah!” A girl’s cry of pain rang through the room.
Outside, Li Daoxuan approached at an unhurried pace. Seeing that it was only a sword spirit biting her, his eyes filled with open schadenfreude, and he backed away again.
“Li Daoxuan, what are you running for! Help me!” Shen Qing shouted.
“Didn’t Lady Shen say she ‘wanted to prove herself’?” Li Daoxuan replied. “Since your life isn’t in danger, there’s no need for me to interfere.” He curled his lips in a smile and added, “Do your best, Lady Shen. I won’t disturb you.”
Shen Qing was so angry she nearly fell backward. She glared at Fu Guang. “Are you going to let go or not?!”
Fu Guang only bit down harder.
Shen Qing said, “I’ll count to three. If you still haven’t let go, I’m telling Qiuren to eat you!”
“Three!”
Fu Guang finally released her. “You’re the one who’s unreasonable!” she snapped, furious.
Shen Qing yanked her wrist back and pushed up her sleeve. On the white skin of her forearm was a neat row of teeth marks, with a faint oozing of blood. “Look who’s being unreasonable. You’ve been sitting here with a corpse for days, and who knows where you’ve dumped Mother Lin’s body!”
“Master’s mother died a long time ago!” Fu Guang shot back. “Dead all the way through, and it wasn’t my doing!”
“There, you see?” Shen Qing said. “You can tell the living from the dead. You’re just playing dumb. You’ve known all along your master is gone.”
All at once, Fu Guang’s eyes went bright red, and tears spilled down like a snapped string of pearls. She broke into loud sobs. “Waaah, I hate you!”
Shen Qing’s expression hardened. She had not the slightest intention of pitying this delicate spirit. “Tell the truth,” she said. “Where is Mother Lin’s body? How did she die? And what’s the story with Lin Canjun’s corpse?”
Fu Guang’s eyes rolled, drifting to the lifeless Lin Yuanjiu next to them. Something in her gaze shattered completely.
Choking, she said, “My name is Fu Guang. I am my master’s sword.”