Chapter 35

At this moment, the gu worm had begun another wave of agitation. The Shen Qing before him was undoubtedly an irresistible temptation.
Li Daoxuan’s nose was filled with an enticing sweetness. His eyes reddened slightly as he forced himself to suppress the restlessness and continue drying her hair.
Having left in a hurry, he hadn’t brought a hair tie. Now, his unbound hair scattered freely, becoming an obvious hindrance. His peripheral vision caught the silk ribbon Shen Qing wore as a hair ornament, and in the next instant, he reached out and took it to tie his own hair.
Two peach-pink silk ribbons had been tied into Shen Qing’s bun, each stitched with small bells that faded from pale to deeper pink. Only after tugging one free did Li Daoxuan realize there was a bell sewn onto it. He tried to shake it off, but to no avail.
Seeing him about to pull at the bell, Shen Qing hurriedly stopped him. “No! My mother sewed that for me. If you tear it off, I’ll fight you!”
Li Daoxuan could only close his eyes and endure it. After bracing himself mentally, he used the pink ribbon to bind his hair, but halfway through, he discovered it was too short. No matter how he tried, one lock of hair stubbornly slipped loose.
His irritation intensified. He wanted nothing more than to tear the ribbon apart, the softly chiming bell was equally annoying.
Shen Qing caught sight of the impatience between his brows. To protect her ribbon, she snatched it back and turned him around. “Crouch down. I’ll do it for you, just a moment, I promise.”
Li Daoxuan latched onto the words “just a moment,” half-believing, half-doubting, and crouched. His mind grew increasingly muddled.
Shen Qing moved behind him, scanned him from head to toe, and, finding nothing that could substitute for a hair tie, reluctantly pulled the second ribbon from her bun as well.
“Didn’t you notice one wasn’t enough? You have so much hair, so long. You definitely need two ribbons, idiot.”
Yet once she started, Shen Qing realized Li Daoxuan’s hair was far denser than it appeared. She shaped her fingers like claws, trying to smooth it out, but no matter how long she worked, she couldn’t get it right. A hint of guilt crept in.
Feeling those “claws” fumbling atop his head for ages without progress, Li Daoxuan suppressed his temper and said, “If you don’t know how to tie hair, let go. I’ll do it myself.”
Shen Qing’s eyes darted away, but her mouth stayed stubborn. “Who says I don’t? I’m just combing it more carefully, preventing tangles.”
She tried again, unwilling to give up, but the hair behaved like a living loach, slipping slyly through her fingers every time. At first, Shen Qing still wore a smile, by the end, that smile had migrated to Li Daoxuan’s lips.
Sensing her growing helplessness, Li Daoxuan simply sat down on the ground, hands resting on his knees. Leisurely, he said, “It’s been this long and you still haven’t managed. Could it be that Lady Shen is just posturing, pretending to understand what she doesn’t?”
Shen Qing snapped, “Of course not! I’m just, I’m just striving for perfection! You wait!” Seeing that the hair truly refused to cooperate, a spark lit in her eyes. She bit her lip and, without further hesitation, let his hair fall loose entirely.
Li Daoxuan only felt a tug at the back of his head, pulled again and again, until a force guided his head backward. Immediately after, a small hand pressed firmly against his occiput.
“Did you not eat today? Control your head! Don’t move around!” The voice was a little rushed.
With that contact, the gu worm inside his body seemed to quiet down somewhat. Li Daoxuan closed his eyes briefly. “Hurry.” As promised, he steadied his head.
After a few twists and turns, Shen Qing finally finished.
Her eyes brimmed with irrepressible laughter, her manner carrying a hint of mystery. “All done.”
Seeing the smile in her eyes, Li Daoxuan felt something was off. Instinctively, he reached up to touch his head, only for Shen Qing to grab his wrist.
A scorching warmth spread from her grip. He could clearly feel the tenderness of the girl’s palm, hot, yet barely sweaty. Just tolerable.
Shen Qing smoothly changed the subject. “Alright, alright, get up. We still need to find a way out. Lady Liu’s soul was sucked away by a lotus demon, she’s still waiting for me.”
She made as if to pull him up. Li Daoxuan actually followed her strength and rose, then asked, “Lotus demons feed on humans. As creatures of essence and spirit, once they absorb a soul, it will dissipate within the time it takes a stick of incense to burn. How could one possibly summon it back?”
Seeing his interest piqued, Shen Qing grew more animated. “That’s where you’re mistaken. That lotus demon was a useless one, it absorbed Lady Liu’s Bright Spirit but didn’t have the strength to digest it. It choked on it and ended up spitting the soul back out.”
Li Daoxuan fell silent for a moment, then said, “Truly useless.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, his brows knit sharply. He clutched his dantian, his face turning deathly pale. If not for Shen Qing supporting him, he would likely have collapsed to his knees.
Shen Qing exclaimed in alarm, “What’s wrong with you?!”
In her previous life, she had never seen him like this. Had he been poisoned recently without resolving it?
What she didn’t know was that whenever the gu flared in her previous life, Li Daoxuan would never appear before others, never exposing such a weakness. Thus, Shen Qing had never known that every month, there were three days when Li Daoxuan was decidedly indisposed. Tonight was purely an accident.
Li Daoxuan had no intention of explaining himself. He only knew that they needed to get out as soon as possible.
The first day of a gu’s flare-up was usually the lightest. He could still preserve some rationality. But by the second or third day, he would completely lose control. By then, not only would Shen Qing be in danger, if they happened to encounter the owner of this underground palace returning, neither of them would escape unscathed.
He decisively reached out and grabbed Shen Qing’s hand, attempting to soothe the gu within and ease the discomfort. Holding onto one of her hands, he said, “Keep moving. Talk to me. Say anything.”
Suppressing her confusion, Shen Qing wracked her brain for something, anything, to distract him. Carefully watching his complexion as they walked, she asked, “Do you know what kind of demon the owner of this underground palace is?”
Li Daoxuan shook his head. Just as a hint of disappointment rose in Shen Qing’s heart, he added, “But we can infer.”
Her interest was immediately hooked. Supporting his arm, she asked, “How?”
Li Daoxuan said, “Water gathers yin. Yin qi and demonic qi, one being the aura of death, the other of living yang spirits, are usually mutually repellent. This underground palace lies beneath Huachun Pool, a damp, yin-concentrated place. Those that favor such environments are generally yin spirits.”
Shen Qing nodded in agreement. “And then?”
“Huachun Pool contains very few water ghosts or yin spirits, countable on one hand. Even ordinary riverbanks have more evil entities than this. There is only one explanation: all the aquatic evils were devoured by a greater demon here. To possess such ability means the owner of this palace is no ordinary yin spirit, at the very least, a great yin, a great evil.”
“Lastly, ” He suddenly stopped walking. “Rather than calling this an underground palace, it would be more accurate to call it a tomb. In that case, only the legendary Bai Shuisha fits.”
A chill ran down Shen Qing’s spine. “A tomb?” So she had been walking through someone’s grave all this time? And the water she soaked in earlier, could it have been water that once soaked corpses?!
She instantly felt uncomfortable all over, nausea welling up. And hearing Li Daoxuan deduce that the tomb’s owner was likely the Bai Shuisha only deepened her suspicions, she had harbored that thought from the very beginning.
Li Daoxuan continued leading her forward. This time, unlike before, a door suddenly appeared ahead, blocking their path.
A massive door loomed before them, its surface packed with clods of earth. The surrounding seams had been sealed tightly with poured tin.
Shen Qing stared at the dried tin for a long moment before concluding, “There must be an exit here.” At the same time, she became even more certain of Li Daoxuan’s claim, this was indeed a tomb, and not an ordinary one.
From the numerous mechanisms within the tomb and the tin sealing before them, it was clear the tomb owner’s status was anything but low.
The tomb contained small niches and was constructed as a brick chamber. The walls and ceiling formed an arched square, riddled with mechanisms; even the seams were sealed with tin. This was not something an ordinary person could achieve. According to current dynasty regulations, such a tomb would be at least of third-rank official status or higher.
As for why she was certain there was an exit nearby, it was because the underground palace lay submerged year-round. Its airtightness should far exceed that of ordinary tombs, making the presence of oxygen impossible. Yet not only was there enough oxygen here to keep wall lamps burning for ages, but large areas of tin had also oxidized and turned gray. Every sign pointed to another exit.
Shen Qing said, “If this is a tomb, then the mass of skeletons that attacked us earlier must have been burial companions.”
That explained why they shouted “Trespassers must die”, a warning to would-be grave robbers.
How evil must the tomb owner be to turn mere bones into spirits, guarding such a vast underground palace?
The only answer Shen Qing could think of was the Bai Shuisha.
Since she hadn’t encountered it in her previous life, all she knew came from her senior brother: the Bai Shuisha was a humanoid great demon, wearing the shell of a young man. It favored devouring harmless water ghosts and lesser aquatic evils. Disliking sunlight, it usually stayed at home during the day and only moved about at night.
Even so, the Bai Shuisha rarely went out. Its overwhelming yin aura would disturb the heavens whenever it did, drawing the attention of skilled cultivators and exorcists. Finding this troublesome, it stayed secluded in its lair year-round.
Shen Qing very much wanted to open this door and see whether the Bai Shuisha’s corpse lay within. If destroying its physical body was possible, it would certainly suffer heavy damage, making her senior brother’s path of demon-slaying far smoother.
Li Daoxuan seemed to guess her intentions. He tightened his grip on her hand. “If this great demon truly is the Bai Shuisha, then its physical body will not be something the two of us can easily touch today. Leaving is the best course of action.”
As for subduing the demon, that would have to wait until he fully recovered. Detached as he was, he would never allow such a massive hidden danger to remain within Chang’an.
Unfortunately, Shen Qing didn’t know his plans. She only felt that missing such a perfect opportunity today would leave her deeply unwilling to accept it.
She glanced at the door, itching to open it and see whether the Bai Shuisha’s body lay inside. But Li Daoxuan’s condition was worsening, she could even see fine beads of sweat forming at the tip of his nose.
The underground palace was cold, and he wasn’t wearing much. That ruled out heat-induced sweating, this was pain.
She nearly bit through her lower lip, her heart full of reluctance. Yet reason told her Li Daoxuan was right: a great demon’s physical body would never be easy to find.
Her breathing grew heavier. Just as she was about to give up, a finger touched her lips, gently prying her lower lip away.
“What if you bite until it bleeds?”