Chapter 39

She turned her back on him with an indignant expression and refused to speak further.
Li Daoxuan brushed the dust from his sleeves and returned to the low table to rest.
Only when the sky began to brighten did the two finally return to the city.
The Shen residence was still brightly lit, faint sounds carrying from within. When Shen Qing knocked on the gate, the first person she saw was her mother, eyes red with crying, followed by Cuizhi, who was also sobbing uncontrollably. After them stood Liu Jiyue, his face etched with worry and restrained anger.
Shen Qing shook off Li Daoxuan’s support and threw herself into her mother’s arms. “Mother!”
Seeing her daughter, disheveled and nearly unrecognizable, Madam Shen choked back tears. “It’s good that you’re back. It’s good that you’re back.”
Noticing the heat radiating from Shen Qing’s body, she exclaimed, “What’s wrong with your neck? Why do you have a fever again? Are you uncomfortable, You’an?” She turned and ordered, “Quick, summon a physician! Don’t just stand there, take the young lady back to her room!”
Holding her daughter close, Madam Shen started to lead her inside.
Shen Qing froze for a moment and glanced back, only to see the gate standing empty, shrouded in darkness. The person who had been there was gone.
She heard someone sigh. Turning around, she saw her senior brother.
Dark circles shadowed Liu Jiyue’s eyes. His hair crown sat crooked, his green robe wrinkled, and stubble had begun to sprout along his jaw.
The messy beard and exhaustion he could not hide were hurried marks left by relentless busyness, silently telling of his fatigue and toil.
“Senior brother,” Shen Qing said hoarsely.
The weight on Liu Jiyue’s heart finally fell away. He felt utterly exhausted, yet still forced himself to raise a hand and gently pat her head. “Go rest first. Senior brother will see that justice is done for you.”
Shen Qing’s sudden disappearance from the pleasure boat was common knowledge. It could only have been caused by demons. To seek justice meant seeking it from demons, which meant following clues step by step, expending energy to exterminate them, a long and arduous task.
Liu Jiyue had likely just returned to Chang’an when he heard of her disappearance. A man obsessed with cleanliness, he had not even taken the time to tidy himself before rushing to the Shen residence. Now he would have to hurry off again to investigate. Shen Qing dared not imagine how exhausted he must be.
So she said, “Senior brother, I already know what that demon is. Once I’ve rested, I’ll tell you everything.”
A smile curved Liu Jiyue’s lips. “Alright.”
Afraid he might sneak off while she slept, Shen Qing grabbed his sleeve tightly. “Come with me. You rest in the side quarters. When I wake up, I’ll come find you.”
Liu Jiyue sighed helplessly. “Alright. Senior brother won’t leave.”
Still uneasy, Shen Qing continued clinging to his sleeve even while in her mother’s arms.
Seeing this, Madam Shen recalled how Shen Qing, wild and free during her childhood at the Xuanji Pavilion, would cling to her senior brother the same way whenever she returned home. Her expression softened. “Jiyue, go rest with You’an, then. Good child, you’ve been greatly troubled today. I thank you on You’an’s behalf.”
Liu Jiyue clasped his hands in salute. “Madam Shen is too kind. You’an is like a younger sister to me. This is only what I should do.”
They walked inside together. Liu Jiyue blended naturally into the warm atmosphere. From afar, they looked like a complete family, and Shen Qing could freely act spoiled in her mother’s arms.
Outside the residence, Li Daoxuan stood beneath the shade of trees. Dressed in black, he blended seamlessly into the night. He watched quietly, watched Shen Qing clutch Liu Jiyue’s sleeve, watched Madam Shen’s concern for her, until the gate closed completely. Only then did he lower his eyes and turn away.
After drinking her medicine, bathing briefly, and changing into her night clothes, Shen Qing fell into a deep sleep. Yet her rest was far from peaceful. She muttered in her dreams, cold sweat soaking her skin, waking several times in fright.
Perhaps because of her illness, she dreamed of her past life.
A young girl in blazing red stood amid shattered limbs and bones. The embroidered shoes beneath her feet appeared even more vividly crimson, whether they were originally red or stained by the blood pooling across the ground, it was impossible to tell.
The scene shifted. The woman held a hand that had already turned to bone, her delicate face filled with both innocence and cruelty. At her feet lay Liu Jiyue, battered and miserable, his body covered in wounds.
Shen Qing struggled desperately, trying to rush forward, to push her away and save her senior brother, but no matter how she fought, it was useless. Turning her head, she realized she was tightly restrained in someone’s arms, drifting farther and farther from him.
She screamed and struggled. “Li Daoxuan! Let go of me! Senior brother! I have to save him!”
Her struggle meant nothing to Li Daoxuan. Holding her, he continued flying farther away.
Shen Qing screamed, striking at him, but he dispelled her attacks effortlessly with one hand. “This is a ‘realm’ she set specifically for you. Neither of us can defeat her. The time your senior brother bought was meant for you to escape. Don’t you understand?”
“He won’t die. Even if she chops him into minced flesh here, your senior brother will be fine in reality. Wake up.”
Shen Qing could not hear him, still struggling wildly. “Get lost! Let me go!”
As if angered by her attitude, Li Daoxuan suddenly restrained her flailing hands and forcefully lifted her into his arms, quickening his pace. “I think you’ve truly gone mad,” he said, his expression dark with irritation.
The woman in red moved. She extended her pale, delicate fingers and tore Liu Jiyue’s heart straight out. Within the “realm,” pain was shared with the outside world, and so the veins on Liu Jiyue’s forehead bulged violently, his lips splitting as he bit down without realizing it.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, his gaze locked stubbornly in Shen Qing’s direction as he used the last of his strength to say, “You’an… go…”
A painful, strangled sound escaped Shen Qing’s throat.
“Go…” His eyes widened, flickering like a candle in the wind, before he swallowed his final breath.
“Senior brother!! Brother, no… don’t… don’t die! Let go of me, I want to save my brother…” Overstimulated, she babbled incoherently.
Liu Jiyue’s gruesome death overlapped with the tragic image of her parents’ deaths in her mind. Shen Qing no longer knew what moment she was in; she cried until her voice turned hoarse.
The woman in red soon cast aside Liu Jiyue’s mutilated body and came after them. Li Daoxuan did not slow his steps. “Shen You’an, quiet,” he said, forcing Shen Qing’s head into his chest so she would not see her senior brother’s death.
After crying herself hoarse, Shen Qing seemed to regain a bit of clarity. She lifted her eyes in confusion, only to see the boy’s solemn face, thin lips pressed tight, dark brows drawn together.
Panicked, Shen Qing said, “I didn’t mean to.”
Sensing that she had regained awareness, he finally released her hands and adjusted his grip, hoisting her higher. “Hold on yourself. I’ll take you out.”
Silently, Shen Qing wrapped her arms around his neck, unable to stop herself from explaining, “I don’t know why I acted like that. I know my senior brother won’t die, but I couldn’t control my emotions. I don’t know why, I, ”
“I know,” Li Daoxuan said.
Tears welled in Shen Qing’s eyes. Even knowing her senior brother would not truly die, she still could not remain unmoved after seeing Liu Jiyue in such a state. That was her senior brother, someone who treated her like his own family.
She murmured, “I don’t know why either. Every time my emotions surge, I lose control. I become someone I don’t recognize. My fellow disciples despise me, say I envy Shen Ling. Why?”
“For no reason,” Li Daoxuan said near her ear. “They’re sick in the head. Ignore them.”
She lifted her eyes slightly, about to speak, when the sound of rushing wind abruptly stopped. She seemed to hear flesh being torn. Shen Qing slowly looked down, only to see a hand clutching bloody scraps of flesh piercing straight through his chest.
“Heehee, you’re so slow. I caught up to you,” the woman giggled as she withdrew her hand.
Li Daoxuan let out a muffled groan and instantly lost his strength, dropping to one knee. Yet his arms never loosened, holding Shen Qing firmly in his protection.
The woman relaxed her guard for a brief instant. Before she could make another move, Li Daoxuan, who had been kneeling, suddenly burst forth with strength. He flung a talisman backward from his sleeve. It struck her hand precisely, releasing a plume of green smoke. The woman in red clutched her hand and let out a piercing scream.
Seizing the moment, Li Daoxuan set Shen Qing down. One hand pressed against his wound, the other grabbed her as he fled without looking back.
Shen Qing’s face was already soaked with tears, but her long-ailing body rendered her powerless. She could only remain behind him, protected.
They finally neared a shimmering lake, then Li Daoxuan’s body stiffened.
Confused, Shen Qing turned her head, only to see a hand pressing down on his shoulder.
“Go,” Li Daoxuan said, staring at her.
“Li Daoxuan!” Shen Qing cried.
“Go,” he repeated. “We both came for your sake. Don’t let your senior brother’s efforts be wasted. You cannot die here, if you do, you’ll never get out.”
Shen Qing reacted instantly. She released his hand and sprinted toward the nearby lake.
He was right. Even if they died within the realm, they would not die in reality, but this was her realm. If she died here, there would be no future. She still had to avenge her parents, avenge the Shen family. She could not die.
As her thoughts churned, Shen Qing glanced back unconsciously, only to see the enraged woman tear one of Li Daoxuan’s arms clean off at the shoulder. A stabbing pain surged through Shen Qing’s chest, so intense that every breath felt like swallowing blades.
The woman tore off his other arm, then reached toward his face, fingers closing.
Shen Qing dared not look any longer. Enduring the heart-rending pain, she leapt toward the lake. Behind her, the woman chased after her, reaching out to grab her, but could only catch a single strand of black hair slipping through her palm like a fish through water, impossible to grasp.
She finally escaped.
“Heehee, caught you,” the woman’s giggling voice suddenly rang beside her ear.
“Ah!!! Go away!!” Shen Qing screamed.
“Miss! Miss, what’s wrong?” Cuizhi’s anxious voice sounded.
In her dazed state, Shen Qing felt a soft hand rest on her forehead, followed by a cool silk cloth placed over it, gently wiping away the sweat on her brow and nose.
“The fever’s gone down a bit. Miss must have had a nightmare. Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, Cuizhi’s here.”
“Cuizhi…” Shen Qing lifted her head to see a young face filled with worry.
“Miss, I’m here.”
Shen Qing closed her eyes, waiting for her pounding heart to calm, then said, “Help me change. I’m going to see my senior brother.”
“Yes, miss.”
While Cuizhi went to fetch clothes, Shen Qing searched her memories carefully, only to arrive at a conclusion: she had no recollection of this dream at all.
In her previous life, she had only known that her senior brother brought her out of the realm, but her memories of the realm itself contained nothing beyond the scene of Liu Jiyue being pierced through the heart by the Funeral Demon. There was no one else. When had Li Daoxuan appeared? Why did she have no memory of him at all?
Now, plagued by nightmares, she had inadvertently dreamed of that past, and within those memories appeared someone who should not have been there. Her thoughts fell into utter chaos.
If it was merely a dream, the pain felt too real, so visceral it could not be false. Yet if it was not a dream, she had no memories of it whatsoever.
Shen Qing recalled that injuries or death within a realm did not kill a person in reality, but lingering effects could remain.
In her previous life, her senior brother had died in the realm after the Funeral Demon tore out his heart, and afterward he suffered from chronic palpitations.
Because of this, during one battle against a great demon, his condition flared up and the demon seized the opening, gravely injuring him.
That was how Shen Ling gained the chance to “save” him.
As for Li Daoxuan, he did seem to suffer from headaches, though she did not know when they began.
If all of this matched, then it meant the memory was real, not a dream.
So why had she forgotten everything about Li Daoxuan? And if so, had she forgotten even more memories related to him?
The more she thought, the more her head throbbed, until she finally abandoned the effort altogether. She told herself: in any case, he had taken her life in her previous life. No amount of thinking could erase the blood feud between them, so what was the point of remembering any of this?
She let it go and stopped thinking.
As Cuizhi helped her dress, she tried to reassure her. “Miss, don’t worry. Envoy Liu listened to your advice and is resting in the side quarters. It’s only just past si hour, still early. Why not sleep a bit longer?”
“No,” Shen Qing said with her eyes closed. “If this matter isn’t resolved, my heart won’t be at ease.”
Hearing this, Cuizhi fell silent and continued dressing her.
Once she was ready, Shen Qing hurried straight to the side quarters.
After taking the physician’s medicine and sleeping again, Shen Qing felt much lighter. Though she still had a fever, it was far less uncomfortable than before. This made her think of Lady Liu, the daughter of Minister Liu of the Court of Judicial Review, whose soul had been siphoned away.
On the way, Shen Qing asked, “How long was I missing?”
Cuizhi replied, “You disappeared yesterday at noon. This servant saw you return alone today at a quarter past mao hour. Deputy Liu also arrived at the residence at mao hour, half an incense stick earlier than you. He rushed over the moment he heard you were missing.”
“How is Lady Liu, the daughter of Minister Liu?”
Cuizhi answered, “She’s still unconscious. Yesterday, Young Lord Gu went to examine her, but for some reason he couldn’t summon her soul back. The heir said plainly, ‘Forgive my limited abilities. I know not the reason, but I am unable to summon your daughter’s soul. This matter may require assistance from Prince Cang or Deputy Liu.’” At this point, Cuizhi’s face was filled with confusion.
Shen Qing was equally puzzled. Why couldn’t the soul be summoned back so easily? She asked, “And then?”
“Then Minister Liu went to the Cang Prince’s residence to beg for help, but was told the prince was not receiving visitors. With no other choice, he personally went to the Xuanji Pavilion to seek Deputy Liu, only to learn that he had gone out to exterminate demons and was not there either. Today, Minister Liu sent people to Dongshan Temple for aid. I don’t know how things stand now.”