“Hah. So you really are a demonic Daoist.” Cen Shuang smiled as though his suspicions had just been confirmed, and his fingers twitched slightly.
Zheng Han, who had been standing beside Yue Jingming, suddenly went blank-eyed. She snatched the fan from Xiao Chunhe’s waist and stabbed it toward Yue Jingming.
The sudden attack caught everyone off guard. Yue Jingming reacted instantly and twisted away, but the fan still stabbed into his waist. Xiao Chunhe knocked Zheng Han aside with one palm and caught Yue Jingming’s hand just as he tried to pull the fan out. “Don’t move. It’s poisoned.”
Steel needles were hidden inside Xiao Chunhe’s fan, all steeped in deadly poison. There was another mechanism in the handle: press it and shark-like teeth would jut from the ribs. Ripping it out by force would leave the flesh mangled and bloody.
Cen Shuang had already used the opening to leap onto the wall, dragging Zheng Han with him. “My apologies, Fellow Daoist Su.”
Xiao Chunhe fed Yue Jingming an antidote pill, his eyes nearly blazing as he glared at Cen Shuang. “What a shameless beast!”
Cen Shuang’s emerald eyes brimmed with amusement. “A beast like you has no right to call me one.”
Before the words had even faded, Xiao Chunhe erupted into motion, only to have his path blocked by the mindless Zheng Bing. Xiao Chunhe never cared much for fairness in a fight, least of all when furious. Zheng Bing seemed to sense the terrifying killing intent around him and instinctively retreated, but the man before his eyes abruptly vanished.
The instant Zheng Bing’s hair stood on end, Xiao Chunhe appeared behind him. He snapped the man’s arm with brute force, wrenched out one of the bones, and hurled it straight at Cen Shuang.
Caught completely off guard as he watched the fight, Cen Shuang had his shoulder pierced by the bone. A sudden pain struck his dantian. He immediately abandoned the fight, seized the Zheng siblings, and sprang away.
Xiao Chunhe leapt onto the wall to pursue him, but Yue Jingming called sharply, “Come back!”
Rage filled Xiao Chunhe’s chest, but all he could do was watch Cen Shuang flash across the roof tiles several times before disappearing into the distance.
“Are you all right?” Xiao Chunhe jumped down. Seeing the torn flesh at Yue Jingming’s waist only made his irritation flare again.
“It missed anything vital,” Yue Jingming said. “Take the fan out first.”
Xiao Chunhe helped Yue Jingming sit against the wall, then knelt on one knee and carefully dismantled the exposed fan handle, slowly taking apart the mechanism inside. Loose hair fell over his face, hiding the chill in his eyes. “You could have cut off Zheng Han’s arm and dodged. Getting hurt like this is your own fault.”
It had been the same back at the Zheng Residence. This man’s martial arts were so strong that ordinary people could barely scratch him, yet somehow he was always the one who ended up most injured.
Yue Jingming lowered his gaze to Xiao Chunhe’s hands. “It was not her fault.”
“Fine. You’re the great saint, the great good man. Maybe you’ll finally regret it after someone drags you to your death one day.” Xiao Chunhe irritably finished bandaging the wound, only for someone to suddenly catch his wrist.
He looked up and glared at Yue Jingming, but the other man still wore that unruffled expression.
“You are not a demonic creature. Your nature is not evil. Do not let the demonic qi inside you control you,” Yue Jingming said, looking at him seriously.
“Hah. How do you know my nature isn’t evil?” Xiao Chunhe scoffed.
“If you were an evil man, you would have abandoned me and left long ago,” Yue Jingming said.
The smile at the corner of Xiao Chunhe’s mouth deepened, but his eyes remained icy. He pinched Yue Jingming’s chin and leaned closer, laughing softly. “And what if I only stayed because I covet your beauty and wanted to take advantage of you? You can’t resist me right now. You and everything you have are mine.”
“I know your disposition. You would not.” Yue Jingming closed his eyes.
Xiao Chunhe let out an amused snort.
Yue Jingming was concentrating on regulating his breathing when he suddenly felt a flash of warmth. The instant he opened his eyes, Xiao Chunhe leaned in and licked away a drop of blood that had splashed onto his chin.
Yue Jingming frowned. Xiao Chunhe cupped his chin and rubbed away the remaining trace of blood with his thumb until the skin there had been rubbed red.
“My good fellow Daoist, don’t think you understand me too well. This world is full of people who repay kindness with betrayal.” He carefully straightened Yue Jingming’s collar, then took off his own outer robe and draped it over him. “You don’t even know who I am, yet you dare trust me. Really, you—”
Xiao Chunhe tilted his head back and wrestled with himself for a long while, then lowered it again with helpless resignation. “You leave me not knowing what I’m supposed to do anymore.”
Yue Jingming stared at him. “…What do you mean?”
“You didn’t actually take those things I said seriously, did you?” Xiao Chunhe asked with a smile.
Yue Jingming stared at him in silence.
“I’m doomed, I’m doomed. The family teachings were right. Getting tangled up with people like you really does spell disaster.” Xiao Chunhe rubbed his face and put the remaining antidote into Yue Jingming’s hand. “Take one dose every three days. It’ll take ten days to clear completely. Your luck really is terrible. I made this poison to kill great demons.”
Yue Jingming’s gaze darkened.
“Don’t look at me like that. Husband and wife are birds of the same forest; when disaster strikes, each flies its own way. Besides, we never even managed to become husband and wife.” Xiao Chunhe smiled sweetly. “My good wife, you may know far too many of my secrets, but I truly can’t bear to kill you. You’ll have to fend for yourself.”
The poison was vicious. Yue Jingming’s vision gradually blurred. Xiao Chunhe released him, and he could only hear footsteps receding into the distance. In his haze, those footsteps suddenly turned back and stopped in front of him again.
Yue Jingming forced his eyes open, only for someone to cradle his face. Xiao Chunhe leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth, rubbing his nose intimately against Yue Jingming’s cheek as he murmured, “If our fate runs deep enough for us to meet again, I’ll definitely tell you my real name.”
There was a faint rustling as though Xiao Chunhe set something down, but Yue Jingming no longer had the strength to open his eyes.
He drifted through what felt like many dreams, but after waking he remembered none of them, only the rich, entwining fragrance that had filled them.
“Benefactor… Benefactor? Benefactor, wake up.” A familiar voice seemed to draw near and recede.
Yue Jingming opened his eyes and found Li Yi looking at him anxiously. His voice came out hoarse. “Miss Li?”
“It’s me, Benefactor. You’re finally awake!” Li Yi hurriedly said. “You burned with fever all night. You nearly died!”
“Where is this?” Yue Jingming looked around at the unfamiliar room, then felt inside his sleeve. Sure enough, the Chalcedony Demon Heart and the fox demon core were gone.
“This is the Zheng Residence in Dengling. Cen Shuang captured you and brought you back.” Li Yi said, “You were badly hurt and running a high fever, so I went to beg him to let me take care of you.”
“Thank you.” Yue Jingming asked, “Why did you come to Dengling, Miss Li? And why are you with Cen Shuang?”
Tears fell from Li Yi’s eyes as soon as she heard the question. “After you left, Daoist Master, Cen Shuang suddenly came to my home claiming to be a relative from the capital who had come to offer condolences. Cousin Xie Jin and I had never met him, but Aunt Xie said he was an important person from the capital, so I did not feel I could say much. But then…”
“Then he suddenly said he wanted to take me to the capital. For those few days I was in a daze, as if I had no control over myself, and insisted on abandoning my property to go with him. Cousin and Aunt could not stop me.” Li Yi’s expression twisted with grief. “When we left Jiarong County, Fu Xi came to stop me, but Cen Shuang killed him and ripped out his demon core! I came to my senses for a moment, but it was already too late. That villain somehow dug up my foster parents’ remains, cut off their heads, then dissolved the flesh from their skulls together with Xi-lang’s until only white bone remained. He made me hold them day and night…”
Li Yi knelt beside the bed, clutching her chest in agony. Two streaks of bloody tears ran down her face. “I suffer day and night. I tried to kill myself several times, but I hate him too much! Daoist Master, you clearly left me a means to save myself, but my mind was clouded and I could never remember to use it!”
“Miss Li, you need not blame yourself. Ordinary people possess no magical power and cannot easily resist such methods,” Yue Jingming said.
Li Yi hastily wiped away her tears. “Daoist Master Su, Cen Shuang will surely come back soon. I heard him say he wanted to refine you alive into some kind of pill. Forget about me and escape while you can!”
Yue Jingming took out a talisman. The yellow paper ignited without flame, only to extinguish halfway through and turn into pitch-black ash. He rose and checked the doors and windows. Sure enough, all of them had been sealed with talismans. Even if he somehow escaped, Li Yi, with a demon core inside her, would never be able to get out.
“Miss Li, please help me up,” Yue Jingming said.
Li Yi looked at him hesitantly and did not move for a long time.
Yue Jingming paused. “I am injured. If Miss Li is uncomfortable touching me, perhaps you could find me a piece of wood to use as a crutch.”
“No, no, Daoist Master, you misunderstand.” Li Yi pointed at his waist. “Whenever I touch you, that little fox tries to bite me. Cen Shuang had a terrible time getting you into this room. He tried to search you, but that little fox nearly bit his finger off, so he gave up.”
Yue Jingming looked down and saw the little red fox tied at his waist. The cloth doll was stuffed with cotton, round and plump, its eyes narrowed and mouth stretched into a grin, looking adorably foolish.
“It bites people?” He picked up the little red fox, but it did nothing.
Seeing his disbelief, Li Yi shut her eyes and steeled herself before reaching to help him. The little red fox’s head suddenly swelled several times its size. Its mouth opened into a bloody maw filled with chilling teeth as it lunged for Li Yi’s arm. Yue Jingming grabbed its head, and with a soft poof, the ferocious red fox instantly turned back into a cloth doll and fell motionless in his palm.
“Cen Shuang got bitten by it and slashed it once with his sword.” Li Yi still looked shaken. “It went mad after that and chased him all around the courtyard.”
Yue Jingming said, “…”
He held the cloth fox up for a careful look. Sure enough, there was a tear along its tail, and a little white cotton showed through.
This world is full of people who repay kindness with betrayal. You don’t even know who I am… You didn’t actually take those things I said seriously, did you…
If our fate runs deep enough for us to meet again, I’ll definitely tell you my real name.
That man’s careless voice echoed in his mind, his teasing smile gradually overlapping with the face of the little red fox before him.
Yue Jingming raised a hand and rubbed the corner of his mouth, where a trace of warmth seemed to linger, then forcibly suppressed the emotion he could not quite name.
The moment the heart stirs and a thought arises, everything is lost; without thought, without form, lies the Great Way of clarity and stillness… The No-Thought One-Mind Art drove the true qi through his body, slowly repairing the wound at his waist.
It was not that he could not have dodged Zheng Han’s strike, nor that he lacked other ways to avoid hurting her. His mind had simply been disturbed for the briefest instant by the stirring of his heart: when Cen Shuang had declared with certainty that Xiao Chunhe was a demon, Yue Jingming’s sword had already reached Cen Shuang’s throat and drawn blood.
A single thought had stirred, and killing intent had arisen.
…He should not have eaten that flatbread, and he should not have drunk that rice milk.
Candles blazed brightly while red gauze curtains swayed. Firelight shone over a bed piled with gold, silver, and treasure until the entire room glittered.
Xiao Chunhe pulled a huge bundle of gold ingots from his clothes and tossed them onto the bed with a clatter. He stared at the mountain of wealth for a long time without the slightest trace of joy on his face.
He threw his wine gourd onto the bed, took out the Chalcedony Demon Heart, bit his middle finger, and let blood fall onto it. The chalcedony shell flaked away piece by piece, revealing the vivid red heart within. His eyes abruptly reddened. He formed a hand seal, but his movements slowed more and more. The demon-gu that had been dormant around his ankle seemed to sense something and began writhing excitedly. Agony bored straight into his heart, making his body sway, but he did not stop.
Blue-black veins crawled across his neck, and fiery-red fur flickered over his cheeks. The demon-gu swiftly climbed to his chest until it was only a hair’s breadth from his heart, yet he continued chanting the formula until the heart in his hands returned to its normal size.
Black talismanic markings crisscrossed the heart. Its vivid red gradually faded, turning dead gray. Its icy touch told him unmistakably that the owner of this heart had been dead for many years.
Tears slid down Xiao Chunhe’s cheeks. The demon-gu grew wildly excited, gulping down his blood and stirring restlessly as it advanced toward his heart.
Xiao Chunhe drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the grief in his chest. He carefully placed the heart beside the bed, then sat directly on the floor. Resting his chin on the mattress edge, he stared at the heart without blinking and whispered, “Mother.”
The gray-white heart lay silently on the bed.
Xiao Chunhe smiled and leaned closer, gently rubbing the tip of his nose against it. Tears spilled uncontrollably again. His entire body trembled with pain, yet he looked utterly content. “Mother, your son will find your remains. I will avenge you.”
He stared at the heart for a while before suddenly saying, “The demon-gu hadn’t hurt for years. Then I met someone. He’s the kind of Daoist you hated most. I hate him too, a hopeless do-gooder, but since then the demon-gu has flared up several times.”
“He even stupidly gave me medicine for the demon-gu and treated every injury I had. But I bought him flatbread and rice milk, so that counts as repaying him.”
“He was poisoned and wounded. I regret leaving him there alone a little. He’s definitely going to get captured.”
“I ought to kill him and eat his heart, but I really can’t bear to.”
“…What a problem.”
No one answered in the empty room. Only the pain from the demon-gu remained sharply present. Xiao Chunhe transformed the white fox’s demon core into a thin membrane and wrapped it around the heart covered in talismanic markings. Then, with his fingernails, he tore open the wound on his chest that had only recently healed and expressionlessly placed the wrapped heart inside.
He picked up the wine gourd, and the rich scent of liquor immediately spread through the room.
“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have gone to buy that jiaoren pearl.”
Elio’s Notes: Jiaoren are mythical aquatic beings in Chinese folklore, often compared to merfolk; traditions commonly associate them with pearls. The novel has not yet explained what this particular pearl does.
＊
The Zheng Residence.
“That female fox no longer has her demon core, so your daughter can’t merge with her anymore.” Cen Shuang rubbed his brow with a headache. “Zheng Bing is injured, but the demon core inside him is still there, so he can barely be used. I can only find some way to keep him alive.”
Zheng Hanwen cringed. “What are we to do? I do have several unmarried daughters, but their Eight Characters may not be suitable…”
“Even if they were suitable, where exactly am I supposed to catch more spirits for you?” The more Cen Shuang listened, the worse his headache became.
Zheng Hanwen said anxiously, “Then what can we do? If we delay the honored lord’s great undertaking, even ten thousand deaths would not absolve me!”
“Then go die.” Cen Shuang stared at him darkly.
Zheng Hanwen dropped to his knees with a thud and wailed, “Mercy, Young Master! I haven’t finished spending my money! I only took three new concubines yesterday! I have elders above and children below, I can’t die! I’d be letting down my elder brother, who serves as an official in the capital!”
His howling made Cen Shuang’s head feel ready to split. He snapped, “If not for Lord Zheng in the capital, you would have died eight hundred times already! Forget it. At this point we can only treat a dead horse as though it were still alive.”
Zheng Hanwen hurriedly scrambled up. “What does Young Master mean?”
“Refine that pair of children and that pair of foxes into a single person.” Cen Shuang narrowed his eyes. “It should barely be enough to count as one and a half.”
Cold sweat covered Zheng Hanwen. “C-can that really work?”
“It has to.” Cen Shuang rose. “What exactly have you planted beneath that patch of peonies?”
Zheng Hanwen gave a dry laugh. “Just… ordinary fertilizer.”
Cen Shuang was already heading outside. “The yin qi there is heavier than at the mass grave beyond the city. You had better tell me the truth, or I cannot save you.”
After hesitating again and again, Zheng Hanwen finally stammered, “The bones of those foxes… and a few servants who died by accident. I thought throwing the bodies away would be wasteful, so I used them as flower fertilizer…”
Cen Shuang shot him a chilly glance. “Set up a furnace in the flowerbed. I’ll perform the rite there and send those dead souls on while I’m at it. Otherwise, you won’t live past fifty.”
After his initial terror, Zheng Hanwen became immensely grateful. “Many thanks, Young Master Cen! You truly possess a compassionate heart!”
Once the two of them left, Yue Jingming drifted lightly down from the roof.
The two white fox spirits were already dead, their demon cores placed inside Zheng Bing and Zheng Han. Yue Jingming had originally assumed Zheng Hanwen had simply stopped at nothing to save his children, but now it was clear that was not the whole story. Cen Shuang wanted to refine demon cores together with ordinary humans, and he had brought Li Yi here from Jiarong County… Li Yi, Zheng Han, and Zheng Bing had either returned from death through demon cores or had their souls repaired and their minds cleared through a combination of demon cores and fox spirits.
All three could be considered things that were neither fully human nor fully demon.
Yue Jingming’s gaze suddenly sharpened. A talisman at his waist flashed. He lifted a yellow talisman and burned it, and Li Yi’s voice came through. “Daoist Master Su, I did as you taught me and placed the skulls of my foster parents and Xi-lang inside the formation. What should I do next?”
“Enter the formation and hide behind them,” Yue Jingming said. “Until you see me, do not leave no matter what happens.”
Inside a cramped room, Zheng Han trembled in a curled-up ball. The fox possessing Zheng Bing had one arm broken and held a white fox with the other. His breathing was faint; he had clearly sunk into despair.
“My sister and I cultivated quietly in the mountains before this. We did eat people, but every one of them came intending to take our lives. I never believed we were wrong for that.” The fox looked at Zheng Han. “I can no longer remember how your father captured us. I only thought your family had invited us here. Zheng Hanwen slaughtered my entire clan. I ought to grind you siblings’ bones to dust and scatter the ashes.”
Though Zheng Han was simple-minded, even she understood his words. She trembled as tears ran down her face.
“But now I don’t even have the strength to kill you,” the fox said. “It isn’t fair. Why should my sister and I have to die for you? Why should our final end be to have our souls scattered into nothing?”
“I’m sorry…” Zheng Han whispered.
The fox had already lost all hope. “Rather than let your family benefit, I may as well scatter my own soul right now—”
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone suddenly tapped on the tightly shut window.
The fox could not get up. Zheng Han crawled over to the crack in the window and saw the Daoist from earlier that day standing beneath the moon with a sword across his back, his expression gentle. “Miss Zheng, are you all right?”
Zheng Han cried even harder. “I’m fine. Fox Brother isn’t. He keeps bleeding and getting angry.”
“Help him over here,” Yue Jingming said.
It took Zheng Han some effort to help the fox upright. He snapped, “Why did you come back?”
Yue Jingming slid two talismans through the crack in the window and said calmly, “Your sister no longer has her demon core. Cen Shuang intends to refine all four of you together into a monster that is neither human nor demon.”
“Even foxes like us understand that cultivation must follow the Way of Heaven. He’s acting against Heaven itself. Lightning ought to strike him!” the fox exclaimed furiously.
“You and your sister are already dead. Zheng Han and Zheng Bing still have a chance to preserve their lives,” Yue Jingming said. “If you wish to save them, dissolve these talismans in water and drink it with your sister. If you do not, I will find another way.”
“You humans are the most cunning and despicable creatures alive! That companion of yours snapped my arm and ripped out my bone with his bare hands!” The fox ground his teeth. “I will never trust you again!”
Yue Jingming fell silent for a moment, placed a pill on the windowsill, and said, “All right.”
He turned and left without the slightest hesitation. The fox froze where he was, looking at the two talismans and the pill with a complicated expression.
Zheng Han picked up the pill and held it out to him. “Can this heal your injury?”
The fox shoved her away. “I will absolutely never save you! Give up on that idea!”
Zheng Han fell and struck her head, but immediately crawled up again, retrieved the pill, and looked at him in innocent confusion. “Fox Brother, don’t be angry.”
The white fox in his arms suddenly moved. He stared at it in surprise. “Sister?”
The white fox slowly walked over to Zheng Han and rubbed its head gently beneath her chin. “Hanhan, don’t cry.”
At midnight, a great furnace was erected in the peony garden before Huangliang Pavilion. Hundreds of red cords crisscrossed between the surrounding tree trunks. Boys and girls of fifteen or sixteen were tied to every tree, listless and dull-eyed. Small cuts had been made in the soles of their feet, and their blood slowly soaked into the red cords and was drawn toward the furnace.
Servants passed back and forth without so much as a glance, carrying firewood and continuously feeding the flames beneath the furnace. Other young servants dug through the flowerbeds with hoes, piling heap after heap of white bones onto an open patch of ground until a foul stench filled the air.
Zheng Hanwen sat inside the pavilion drinking tea and solicitously pushed a plate of pastries toward Cen Shuang. “There is still some time to wait. Would Young Master care for a pastry?”
Cen Shuang glanced at him.
Zheng Hanwen clapped his hands. Soldiers dragged Zheng Qi forward. His clothes had been stripped away, revealing a chest so thin his bones showed plainly beneath the skin. Zheng Hanwen smiled. “This man has a nine-nine yang fate. It isn’t an especially fine destiny, but the heart of someone like this is exceptionally nourishing. I invite Young Master to share it with me.”
Elio’s Notes: “Nine-nine yang fate” is the source’s occult fate classification, 九九阳命. The chapter does not yet explain how that fate is calculated.
Cen Shuang took a sip of tea without even lifting his eyelids. “Eating it would be a waste. Cut it out and throw it into the furnace as a catalyst.”
“Even better!” Zheng Hanwen raised a hand, and a soldier beside him lifted his blade and stabbed straight toward Zheng Qi’s heart.
In that instant, sword-light flashed through the pavilion. A gleaming long sword smashed the soldier’s blade apart. Fragments flew in every direction, forcing Cen Shuang and Zheng Hanwen to raise their sleeves to shield themselves. By then, Zheng Qi had already been seized and carried out of the pavilion.
Zheng Qi stared wide-eyed in shock through the firelight. “D-Daoist Master Su!”
“Run.” Yue Jingming threw him directly over the wall.
The soldiers carrying blades swarmed forward. Zheng Hanwen and Cen Shuang stood behind them, and Zheng Hanwen shouted, “Young Master Cen, that’s the demonic Daoist!”
Yue Jingming met Cen Shuang’s gaze across the crowd.
Cen Shuang smiled. “I didn’t expect you to remain this restless while poisoned and badly injured. You actually escaped my formation.”
Yue Jingming did not waste words on him. He sheathed his long sword and swept the horsetail whisk in his hand through the surrounding soldiers, knocking down a broad swath of them. In the blink of an eye he reached Cen Shuang. Cen Shuang retreated sharply, but Yue Jingming’s sword came free again and drove straight through Zheng Hanwen’s heart.
Zheng Hanwen could never have imagined that his life would end this way. Still immersed in dreams of endless wealth and status, he clutched the sword unwillingly and opened his mouth, producing only hoarse, choking sounds as though demanding an explanation.
“Your sins are too grave. Death is no more than you deserve.” Yue Jingming pulled out the sword, and a spray of hot blood splashed across the Floating-Light Brocade inside the pavilion.
With their master dead, the soldiers and servants instantly lost their center. They fled screaming, dropping torches everywhere until flames erupted throughout Huangliang Pavilion.
Cen Shuang glanced at the furnace and snapped his fingers. Dozens of powerfully built men emerged from the shadows and charged Yue Jingming without hesitation.
Every one of them possessed formidable martial arts, and they had even cultivated true qi. Yue Jingming found them somewhat difficult to handle in his present state, and before long blood began seeping from the wound at his waist.
Cen Shuang stared at him in incomprehension. “You merely met these people by chance. Why risk your life for them like this?”
Yue Jingming retreated several steps and saw Zheng Bing and Zheng Han being shoved through the flowerbed toward the furnace. His footwork shifted, and he sprang into the air.
“Stop him!” Cen Shuang shouted.
The dozen or so experts all rushed toward the furnace in the flowerbed. Knowing he could not defeat Yue Jingming himself, Cen Shuang moved to block him as well. Yet instead of advancing, Yue Jingming suddenly retreated, sword in hand, all the way to the center of Xilian Lake.
Flames roared from Huangliang Pavilion while the waters of Xilian Lake rose in towering waves. Beneath the bright moon, Yue Jingming stood with a sword in one hand and the other forming a seal, eyes lowered and closed. His Daoist robes billowed without wind as surging true qi wrapped around the waves and drove them through the fire toward Cen Shuang and the others.
“No!” Cen Shuang spun toward the furnace and immediately tightened the red cords, yanking the boys and girls from the trees to use as shields against the water.
Yue Jingming’s gaze darkened. His hand seal changed, and his long sword flew even faster than the wave, slicing every one of those sinister red cords apart before he seized Cen Shuang and drove him straight into the furnace!
The water crashed down. The furnace shattered instantly, and scalding molten material burned through Cen Shuang’s clothes. He screamed in agony, only to meet Yue Jingming’s utterly tranquil eyes. Enraged and terrified, he shouted, “I am of Cangyang Mountain! How dare you touch me!”
Yue Jingming answered indifferently, “Even if Cangyangzi himself stood here, I would kill you all the same.”
Sword-light flashed. Cen Shuang’s pupils contracted. He grabbed Zheng Han and dragged her in front of himself, but the instant his hand touched her, a lightning talisman struck his arm. Zheng Bing and the white fox beside him lunged together, jaws opening wide as they tore into his flesh.
His shrill screams echoed across the entire peony garden.
Yue Jingming did not stop them. By the time the screams finally faded, the man on the ground could no longer be recognized.
Zheng Bing and Zheng Han stood nearby in blank confusion. The two white foxes bowed to Yue Jingming, and the fox spirit who had possessed Zheng Bing said, “My sister and I are grateful for Daoist Master’s guidance. Now we have taken our revenge as well. We ask only that Daoist Master help send on all our fox descendants buried throughout this garden. If we have another life, we will surely return to repay this kindness.”
Yue Jingming said, “Although you were trapped inside the Zheng siblings, greed still arose in you. You used their bodies to consume the life essence of innocent people and indirectly caused many deaths. These foxes helped you commit those deeds. They are not innocent either.”
At those words, the two white foxes wept together, deeply regretting what they had done.
Yue Jingming continued, “I will undo the Demon-Binding Formation in this peony garden, then raise an altar and perform rites for the innocent souls who died unjustly. As for whether you are granted that chance, that will depend on your own fortune.”
The two white foxes were overjoyed. “Many thanks, Daoist Master!”
The fox spirit offered up his demon core and transformed it into vital essence, distributing it among the boys and girls who had been bled. Then he went to help gather the bones scattered throughout the garden.
The Zheng Residence burned for a full day and night, and Yue Jingming’s rites continued for a full day and night as well. The souls of those who had died violently carried deep resentment, while the spirits slaughtered unjustly remained unwilling to let go. His ears filled with shrill crying and lamentation, and scene after scene of terrible death unfolded before his eyes.
There were good and evil demons, just as there were good and evil people. But cause and consequence tangled together until they became impossibly complex. All he could do was everything within his power.
Dawn was approaching. The ghosts had dispersed, and the demons and spirits were gone.
Yue Jingming rose with one hand pressed to his waist, his face deathly pale. He took every medicine he had from his sleeve and, together with the simple-minded Zheng siblings, gathered the surviving people in one place to treat their injuries.
Zheng Bing had become even more simple-minded than before and did nothing but follow his younger sister around and imitate whatever she did.
Zheng Han asked, “Daoist Master, where are Fox Brother and Fox Sister?”
“Their cultivation is gone. Perhaps they have entered reincarnation, or perhaps they returned to the mountains and forests to begin cultivating again,” Yue Jingming answered patiently.
Zheng Han asked again, “Then where is that pretty older brother?”
Yue Jingming fell silent.
Elsewhere, after Zheng Qi escaped, he stared fearfully at the Zheng Residence blazing in the distance. After struggling with himself for a long time, he finally gathered the courage to pound on the gates of the local yamen.
When he explained what had happened, the officers thought he had gone mad. Only after endless pleading did the magistrate finally send a squad with him to the Zheng Residence. But when they arrived, there was no honored lord, no pill furnace, no Daoist, and no fox demon. All they found was the collapsed, ruined Huangliang Pavilion, the dried-up Xilian Pond, and a peony garden that had withered completely overnight.
Several days later, word spread that a sudden fire had broken out at the Zheng Residence and many young men and women had run out, all unfamiliar faces with no memory whatsoever of living there. Every pavilion and building had burned down, yet not a single casualty was reported, and overnight weeds had overgrown the grounds until the estate looked like a dead house abandoned for years. As the tale passed from mouth to mouth, it eventually became a story about fox demons causing trouble, but that came later.
Li Yi, meanwhile, had waited inside the formation for an entire day and night before finally seeing Yue Jingming. She immediately let out a breath of relief.
“Your foster parents and Fu Xi have already gone,” Yue Jingming told her. “Find a place to bury them.”
Li Yi froze. “What do you mean, gone?”
“Your Heavenly Eye has closed. Their souls have been beside you all this time, protecting you.” Yue Jingming said, “During last night’s rites, all of them entered reincarnation.”
Li Yi laughed and cried at the same time. “That’s good… That’s good.”
Yue Jingming said, “This tribulation has passed, but you live with a demon core inside you and are ultimately different from an ordinary person. To prevent further trouble, would Miss Li be willing to go to Zushan and cultivate?”
Li Yi stared. “I… go to Zushan?”
“Refine away the demonic qi and return to the proper Way. At the very least, you can learn enough to protect yourself,” Yue Jingming said.
After her shock passed, Li Yi immediately dropped to her knees. “Master, please accept this disciple’s bow!”
Yue Jingming said, “?”
Li Yi looked at him with blazing eyes. “Master, will I be able to slay demons and eliminate evil just like you someday?”
Yue Jingming frowned. “I was not intending to take you as my—”
Li Yi knocked her forehead against the floor three times. “I will acknowledge no one but you as my master! You saved my life again and again and sent on my parents and my beloved. You are the parent who gave me a second life!”
Yue Jingming said, “…Get up first.”
Li Yi climbed to her feet and wiped away her tears, only to hear him say, “Your temperament is stubborn, your aptitude mediocre, and your comprehension ordinary. You are not suited to enter my lineage.”
Li Yi said, “…Huh?”