Chapter 175

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

A thunderous *clunk* in the depths of her heart drowned out everything else.

Seven or eight days ago, Madam Shentu and Marquis Lu took Feng Zhu to Henei Jun; at the very least it would be more than a month before they could return, and if she were to stay at the Shentu residence for a while, it would be even longer……

With such a fine opportunity, she ought to have gone to that longed-for Marquis Mansion with peace of mind, shed this Daoist robe that had grown increasingly tiresome to wear day by day, change into bright-colored fine silks, recline on a soft couch and bathe in fragrant soup, summon servants and maids, stroll through gardens and attend banquets…… to try, for once, the genuine feeling of being a Marquis Mansion's young lady, that supreme beautiful dream she had fantasized over and over again.

Yet the moment she thought of that benevolent maternal uncle sitting high within that splendid Marquis Mansion right now……

Ming Dan's spine turned cold, and the scene of Jingyi's death flashed before her eyes once more.

She was a young girl who could survive quite well even in a place like Tianlang Mountain; she considered her mind meticulous and sharp, not at all comparable to Shaowei, that reckless thing who understood nothing of human nature and had not yet opened her spiritual apertures.

And yet, in one respect she and Shaowei were alike: their awareness of danger was never dull — this was a necessary condition for surviving in a bandit den.

She suspected — indeed, was growing increasingly certain — that Feng Xu had clearly heard her conversation with Jingyi that day……

He had heard it, yet did not expose her, merely giving her a few subtle hints; what was that for?

This thought sprouted in her panicked, weak body, growing day and night, leaving her no peace; she began to repeatedly recall everything related to Feng Xu, including the scene when Feng Xu first rushed from the Capital City to Donglai Commandery and met her for the first time.

At that time she had barely managed to fob off the servants the Feng Family had sent, deeply uneasy about this maternal uncle's personal arrival, but that dust-weary man looked kind and approachable, comforted her in every way, his questions not at all sharp; upon seeing the dilapidated mud hut she lived in, he even reddened his eyes and sighed once, saying in a low voice:

【"The Qingniang that Zhu'er yearns for in her dreams, the poor child, has truly suffered……"】

The voice passed by low and soft, yet Ming Dan immediately caught it — Qingniang, Qingniang……

A pet name that should never have been known to her was remembered by her; when she met Madam Shentu, her answers were cautious yet natural.

In her private heart she was deeply grateful to that benevolent, simple maternal uncle, even to the point of wanting to rely on him, but in the space of a single day, the gentle, good man turned into an unfathomable nightmare, seemingly wanting to envelop and control her……

"Young Lady?"

Qiao Jiang's worried voice startled Ming Dan back from her trance; she hurriedly said: "Unnecessary, no need to trouble Maternal Uncle. I feel I have already improved; a bit more rest will do."

After refusing, she turned and said: "There is someone here who can help me decoct medicine; you need not stay and attend me constantly. Bringing a maid along always invites gossip; that person just now, Qiao Jiang."

The kneeling Qiao Jiang hurriedly lowered her head, terrified: "This slave serves the Young Lady by the Shizi's command; the Young Lady has not yet recovered, this slave absolutely dare not leave."

Having spoken, she lowered her body and performed a salute: "Young Lady, please sit awhile; this slave will go decoct the medicine at once."

The room fell quiet again, yet the suffocating sense of oppression grew ever more severe.

Ming Dan's mind was in chaos; she closed her eyes, gritted her teeth tight, and clutched her head with both hands.

If her guess was true, then as soon as she saw Feng Xu again, she would most likely face a choice of allegiance — but what good is being a puppet? Staying or leaving, life or death, all controlled by the other party……

Perhaps…… perhaps, she still had a second choice.

Thinking of that path, Ming Dan opened her eyes, yet shook her head in resistance.

Both choices had their terrors; neither was what she wished for.

That she had made it this far, Heaven's will letting her pick up that wooden tablet, was enough to prove she had noble fortune in her destiny; why then was Heaven uniquely stingy in granting her a single turning point? Just once, and she would surely seize it tight, breaking free from this stifling predicament in one leap!

Ming Dan lifted her tear-streaked face, wanting to pray to the gods, but the thought of that Great Witch God who had escaped death and discovered the dark water made her clench her teeth again at once.

She withdrew her upward gaze; her eyes fell downward, catching sight of the letters placed on the small table beside the couch.

She fundamentally did not want to read and study these letters; before she was busy savoring the novelty of wealth and nobility, now she was consumed by panic and unease, so naturally she could not spare the heart to read; but besides that, there was an even more important reason: the Daoist principles and theories in these books all opposed her, accused her of greed, disparaged her conduct, filling her with fear and rejection……

If there truly are profound Immortal Arts in the world, they should be evenly bestowed like rain and dew; being the same kind of human, with half the same blood flowing in her veins, out of fairness, shouldn't Heaven also grant her a Treasure Spring that can change her predicament?

Her face was pale, her eyes unwilling, nearly stubbornly staring at those bamboo slips filled with Daoist teachings.

Similar bamboo slips, one scroll stacked upon another, nearly filled both scripture pavilions in Xian Tai Gong.

In one of them, specially used to store rare classics and not easily opened, rows of gray-white Daoist robes shuttled among the bookshelves, either searching for books or comparing something.

Baili Youyi's handwritten notes were all stored here; these ten-odd deeply cultivated Taoists, by the Emperor's secret order, were here in advance to divine the Heavenly Mechanism's birthday hour pillar; after many days, they still had no harvest worth mentioning.

Someone had already nearly fallen into obsession; the searching Imperial Guard pushed the door and entered, yet he still sat cross-legged on the ground, a yarrow stem pinched between the little finger of his left hand, staring at the forty-eight yarrow stems arranged in two piles before him, muttering: "Let me finish divining this hexagram, finish divining this hexagram……"

Yet no one heard his voice; the Imperial Guard strode past, a blue-gold robe corner brushing by, accompanied by the hot summer wind from outside the pavilion, scattering several yarrow stems into disorder.

The Taoist's handsome face contorted in great pain, just short of kicking his legs and stamping his feet: "Disordered, disordered!"

For yarrow-stalk divination to seek accuracy, facing the same question, one can only start a hexagram every seven days; he had barely waited until today, and this morning he even encountered the auspicious omen of crows circling, so he had pinned immense hope on today's hexagram…… Bah, this wretched Sixth Imperial Son, if his legs and feet are bad he should properly rest and recuperate, why must he walk about recklessly, ruining his hexagram, disturbing his Dao-heart!

His state of mind no longer clear and calm, even if he picked the disordered yarrow stems back it would be of no avail; the Taoist rose in grief and indignation, wanting to step forward and argue, but was pressed down in time by two shixiong.

The scripture pavilion, where one glance could exhaust whether assassins were hiding, was still searched meticulously by Liu Qi; he even probed one by one whether there were hidden compartments or mechanisms behind the bookshelves against the wall.

As he was leaving, that handsome Taoist who had once followed Baili Youyi left and right still had undried tears in his eyes, just short of glaring at him.

Liu Qi noticed; he glanced at the yarrow stems on the ground, and said "Disturbing" with little sincerity; however, the moment he lifted his foot to go, he disturbed two more yarrow stems, adding chaos upon chaos.

The Taoist sat on the ground in great vexation; a moment later, he suddenly widened his tearful eyes, stretched his neck to look at the hexagram.

He gradually held his breath, until two other passing Taoists noticed the anomaly and also leaned in to look.

The gathering Taoists grew more and more numerous; that handsome Taoist finally came to his senses, nearly wild with joy: "Quickly fetch brush and ink! Combine with the previously deduced clues to interpret…… The Heavenly Mechanism's hour pillar must appear! Must appear! Quickly, quickly, quickly!"

The scripture pavilion burst into an uproar, figures swaying, presenting brushes and offering ink.

At the same time, two other gray-white Daoist robes swayed, hurriedly blocking the front of a Jing Yuan; one of them said: "Sixth Prince, this place has been sealed for a long time, it truly cannot be entered without permission."

Liu Qi had not yet spoken when an Imperial Guard said in a solemn voice: "Sixth Prince searches each place by Imperial command; there is no place that cannot be entered; what talk of forbidden ground? The more unpeopled a place, the easier to hide unclear dangerous objects; quickly open the lock, otherwise all will be punished for disobeying the Imperial edict and disrespect!"

The Taoists dared not resist.

The great lock covered in green copper rust opened; the long-sealed courtyard appeared before their eyes, withered grass everywhere, dilapidated beyond measure.

That year, the Ling Taizi resided here in quiet cultivation while praying for his father in Xian Tai Gong; the witchcraft objects were also discovered here.

The Imperial Guard surged into the courtyard to search; Liu Qi stepped over the threshold that still bore old bloodstains, and entered the chamber.

After the bloodshed, without need for the Emperor to order it, someone soon locked this courtyard again, and before that, swiftly burned everything related to the Ling Taizi — clothing, utensils, along with the Daoist scriptures he had copied in prayer for the Imperial Uncle.

But it was too hasty and rushed, and one scroll remained overlooked; that piece of cloth had fallen between the jostled book desk and the wall, and after many years, Liu Qi picked it up at this moment.

Familiar handwriting met his eyes, yet the pitch-black, clear-cut characters were like an old soul weeping blood.

Sunlight streamed through the broken window gap; Liu Qi lowered his gaze and tucked the cloth into his sleeve.

If he could find Yu'er, this item could still serve as a memento to return to her hands, letting her take it away from the clamor of Chang'an together.

The streets of Chang'an were bustling; the Great Witch God rode a white-ox high carriage, sprinkling Baoquan water, drawing many commoners to follow.

When Liu Qi stepped out of Xian Tai Gong, he heard this news and gazed toward the distant long street.

The Great Witch God could not delay; she had a true plague ghost she wished to expel, urgently tracking its movements so it could nowhere hide.

Behind Liu Qi, the Taoists within Xian Tai Gong were also anxious, praying to Heaven Lord to open his eyes and shed tears, lest the Immortal Master who cared for all living beings be defiled and die.

The fifteen-day deadline was tomorrow.

Upon the high carriage, the Great Witch God led the crowd, each tossing spring water with mugwort stalks.

Mugwort leaves clear the mind, spring water is cool, but to Shaowei it felt like fire burning.

Unceasing anxiety, not knowing how to find clues within this almost impossible time.

Endless resentment—the Emperor wanted to be a tiger blocking the road, Chiyang had long since drawn a life-saving talisman, so all her efforts were for nothing? Why?

Caught in these emotions, Shaowei could not focus her mind; drumbeats struck her body, the conch's call disturbed her heart, chanting, singing, dancing, female voices, male voices, children's voices—all jumbled together, filling her senses. Shaowei broke into a cold sweat, dizzy and nauseous, wanting at any moment to abandon the carriage and rush straight up to Lingxing Terrace.

Beneath the mask, her teeth clenched tight; the deadline unreasonably pressed near, her emotions fermented out of control, her army heart was in chaos, entirely lacking the calm composure she had imagined for herself while driving out plague and patrolling all around.

Just then the front was precisely where the Immortal Master's Mansion stood, further throwing her into disorder.

At this moment, a fly flew before her eyes; constrained by status and occasion she could not reach out to catch it, and this thought of catching the fly, trapped within bodily sensation, suddenly and fleetingly pulled Shaowei back to a scene from before.

It was such a summer wind; because she had fallen for Jiang Fu's treacherous scheme, been pricked by a needle, and forced to begin her first static sitting in life.

Then her mind was in disarray, just as now unable to calm herself; she counted the fence slats one by one, yet a fly buzzed and hovered before her eyes, refusing to leave. She longed to catch it, but the silver needles locked her acupoints so she could not move; her thoughts were trapped within her body, tormented in every way.

Jiang Fu saw it and said with a smiling face: 【Your hearing is extraordinary; you are truly the person in this world most suited to static sitting cultivation. And listen closely to the sound of this fly flapping its wings—within it lies the method of nature's mystery.】

That sound echoed at this moment.

The words Shaowei had not agreed with back then were now like a breeze from Taoxi Township, brushing over her agitation.

Shaowei closed her eyes for a moment, forcibly suppressing her emotions.

She had lived with anger for many years and could be said to have seen it clearly; anger itself was no fault, but it should only be her blade, held in her hand, not dream of reversing guest and host to engulf her—otherwise she, body and heart, would burn into a ball of fire, hearing nothing, seeing nothing... a blind man and a deaf man; even if Chang'an were overturned ten thousand times, he would only miss the clues ten thousand times.

Unreasonable matters had become settled; resenting outwardly while chaotic inwardly was merely powerless expression.

Mastering emotions was a lifelong problem; seeking great stillness amidst great chaos, yet unable to truly close off the senses, was even more difficult. Beneath the golden four-eyed mask, Shaowei's eyelids trembled, her eye color faintly red, her lips bitten until they bled.

At this moment, suddenly horse hoofbeats entered her ears, growing nearer and louder; it was Liu Qi coming to search the Immortal Master's Mansion. He sat on horseback, with the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Imperial Guard behind him.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard never yielded, but facing the slowly advancing Witch God procession, they did not overstep.

Because they did not intend to overstep, they temporarily followed behind; from afar, it looked like they were escorting and protecting.

The commoners dared not make loud noise anymore, retreating to both sides, and the slowed hoofbeats added further order, kick-kick-tap-tap covering the other miscellaneous sounds, gradually becoming regular.

Shaowei rushed into that regularity, trying to regain order of mind; knowing Liu Qi had arrived, she felt no danger behind her, her back no longer unguarded, adding two parts of safety and tranquility.

Jiang Fu's cultivation guidance echoed in her ears; the restlessness gradually subsided until only a single self remained guarding between heaven and earth, protecting the heart platform with clarity and spiritual wakefulness.

Opening her eyes again, all phenomena and sounds were orderly; the Daoist method of calming the mind that she had painstakingly cultivated without perfection, at this moment of great chaos actually reached great accomplishment. Only now did she understand the great stillness and great brightness of the heart that Jiang Fu spoke of.

Perhaps it was the blood smell from her bitten lips, and two more flies flew around; their buzzing sounded together, yet Shaowei easily distinguished that one of them emitted a relatively slow sound.

Subconsciously turning her head, she saw two more flies arrive, and their buzzing was similarly dull.

No longer trapped within her body, as the carriage curtain fluttered, Shaowei loosened the mugwort stalk in her hand and reached out to snatch them.

After a moment, she released her hand; both flies were in her palm... She had even deliberately slowed her movements, yet still easily captured them.

After she opened her palm, the flies took some time, shaking for a while, before flapping their wings and flying away again.

Shaowei looked toward the direction the flies flew in from the side—a sealed residence adjacent to the Immortal Master's Mansion; the house slave had scouted it, and she had passed by before.

Because Huali suddenly dropped the mugwort stalk and turned to catch flies, Yu Si Wu, following beside, sensed something amiss and signaled the procession to slow temporarily, about to ask Huali what was wrong, only to see Huali suddenly leap down from the high carriage.

"The aura here is abnormal; have them surround this residence and expel it. I want to inspect nearby."

Before Huali's words fell, she had already hurried away.

Indeed, Jiang Fu was right—the sound of flies flapping their wings could also contain mystery... Even if it was mere suspicion, she had to investigate the truth!

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? (The description of Shaowei's first static sitting is in Chapter 031)