At the Liu residence. In the main hall.
Liu Qinfang was pressed entirely against Chunyu Lin, weeping until she could barely draw breath. For several days in succession, the snake had kept her hidden inside a cavity in the wall, feeding her a little broth each day to keep her from starving, while continuously draining her vital Yang energy. Fragile and sheltered as she was — born and raised within the inner chambers — she had never endured anything so terrifying. That she had survived was already nothing short of a miracle.
“Yiniang…” She clutched Chunyu Lin’s lapel in a tight grip, and after a long trembling silence finally managed to utter: “It killed Yiniang, it ate Yiniang’s brain matter, it killed Yiniang!!”
Only now did Grand Secretary Liu understand who the woman found dead in the lake had been. Liu Qinfang was not born to Madam Liu, but the Liu family rules were strict — all children, once born, were placed in the care of the principal wife to be raised. Even a birth mother could only be called Yiniang.
Liu Qinfang’s birth mother, Danji, had been the first to notice the strangeness in her daughter, and had been killed by the Three-Eyed Snake impersonating Liu Qinfang, who had gouged out her brain matter and thrown her body into the lake.
Liu Qinfang trembled like a frightened rabbit. Chunyu Lin had no way of pushing her aside and could only murmur softly to reassure her: “It is all over now. There is no need to be frightened any longer.”
She buried her face and wept on: “Why didn’t you come sooner? If you’d come sooner, my Yiniang wouldn’t have died. With so many great Daoist figures from Daozong coming and going through the Liu household this many times — why did none of you stop it…”
Everyone present wore an uncomfortable expression. Chunyu Lin did not take offense: “That snake is no ordinary creature, and those present were all ordinary mortals. Come now — stop crying.”
Before this situation had even been settled, He Bang came toward them wiping her eyes in tears. Chunyu Lin quickly stepped aside from Liu Qinfang and went to He Bang. He Bang’s skin was fair and delicate, which made the bruise on her neck all the more conspicuous. Chunyu Lin’s brow furrowed tight: “Who did this to you?”
He Bang leaned into his embrace and, despite having grounds to cry about it, managed — with some effort — not to mention Rong Chen Zi: “It’s all that Three-Eyed Snake’s fault. Wuu wuu wuu.”
Chunyu Lin assumed she had run into the Three-Eyed Snake, and hurried to produce a salve and apply it to her neck, his voice tender: “There, there — it’s all my fault. I should have stayed with Your Majesty. Next time we catch one of them, we’ll grab it by the throat and pay it back!”
He Bang’s cries did not stop. The tears streamed down like golden pearls one after another. Chunyu Lin scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the room: “Alright, no more crying. Are you hungry? Let’s go see what there is to eat.”
The room fell into a moment of silence. Zhuang Shaoqin watched all this with an expression of barely concealed exasperation. He could only attend to comforting Liu Qinfang while also questioning her about various details concerning the Three-Eyed Snake, hoping to find some useful lead among it all.
Chunyu Lin found He Bang something to eat. With her mouth occupied, He Bang gradually quieted down. Zhuang Shaoqin had no leisure to deal with anything else — finding Ye Tian remained the most pressing matter of all. The soldiers broke through every wall of the Liu residence, all but dismantling the entire estate, and finally located Ye Tian in an abandoned garden about an hour’s walk from the main garden.
But Ye Tian was unconscious and could not be roused. Zhuang Shaoqin took her pulse, his expression grave: “It appears she has fallen under some kind of technique. Someone has sealed her spiritual consciousness within her heart’s aperture.”
At these words, even Yuyang Zhenren’s brow furrowed: “But the heart’s aperture is extraordinarily complex — one who is not careful may become lost within it. How could her spiritual consciousness be drawn back out?”
Zhuang Shaoqin looked over at He Bang, who was at that moment busily gnawing on braised chicken wings, entirely indifferent to the conversation. Chunyu Lin sat beside her. Liu Qinfang had just finished bathing, and was now hovering close to Chunyu Lin’s side without leaving — she had been genuinely terrified.
The Liu household was in a state of chaos and alarm, and no one had the presence of mind to attend to her. Chunyu Lin lifted two chicken wings from He Bang’s plate and offered them to Liu Qinfang. She looked at them with shy hesitation for quite some time before asking: “I… may I eat?”
Chunyu Lin nodded. In the middle of all this, He Bang glanced over. Chunyu Lin quickly reached an arm around her: “There are more in the kitchen.”
Zhuang Shaoqin could see He Bang had no intention of taking notice. For the sake of Ye Tian, he had no choice but to set aside all dignity and appeal to her directly — fortunately, his skin had never been particularly thin: “Your Majesty the Sea Emperor, your spiritual arts are of the water element. If you were to use water to guide the way and probe the apertures of the heart, that should be well within your abilities, should it not?”
He Bang chewed her chicken wing: “It’s not hard,” she said, still not turning her head. “But before I left for the sea, I made an agreement with that insufferable Daoist — I would handle only the killing of snakes, at three liang of flesh per snake. And now Chunyu Lin has already helped find Liu Qinfang. You want me to save Ye Tian on top of that?”
She rubbed the bruise on her neck, the memory of it stoking her anger. She glared with indignation: “Why should this seat save Ye Tian?! After all that, I’d only get scolded by her!”
Zhuang Shaoqin had already been suspicious — the bruise on her neck was clearly made by a human hand. Three-Eyed Snakes, by their nature, did not use their hands to choke — they constricted. The origin of that bruise was therefore questionable. And now, watching He Bang’s reaction, he understood with about seventy or eighty percent certainty: Senior Brother, did you go and provoke her again? Revenge is a dish best served cold — why in the world would you provoke her at a time like this?
Knowing that Ye Tian was still alive, the anxiety that had gripped Rong Chen Zi for days finally began to ease. Under ordinary circumstances, he would also have had a means of guiding out Ye Tian’s spiritual consciousness — but at present, his inner strength was insufficient. He was silent for a moment, and Zhuang Shaoqin moved to step in: “Senior Brother, if Junior Sister’s spiritual consciousness remains sealed within her heart’s aperture for too long, it may cause harm to her body. If Senior Brother truly does not wish to exchange any more words with that He Bang, perhaps I can attempt to draw out the spirit—”
Rong Chen Zi of course objected: “Do you take this for a game? If you too were to become trapped inside, what then?”
Zhuang Shaoqin shrugged: “How would we know without trying?”
Rong Chen Zi deliberated for a long while before saying: “Have He Bang come in. I have something to say to her.”
He Bang refused to go in. Chunyu Lin, knowing her temperament, coaxed and persuaded her for a long time before she finally entered Rong Chen Zi’s room — and even then she stood in a sulk by the clothing rack near the door, refusing to make a sound.
Rong Chen Zi understood what mattered better than Zhuang Shaoqin did. He was unwilling to have any further entanglement with He Bang — yet forced by circumstances, he had no choice but to accommodate her: “Save Ye Tian, and I will give you three additional liang of flesh.”
He Bang made no move to approach him and simply stood at the door beside the clothing rack: “When will you give it?”
Rong Chen Zi, fearing she might once again raise the matter of being nourished by his vital essence, felt a great wave of relief when he heard her fixating on flesh instead. He did not hesitate for even a moment: “The moment Ye Tian wakes.”
To everyone’s surprise, He Bang also did not press herself against him — she agreed readily and cheerfully: “Fine.”
She turned and went to Ye Tian’s room, apparently genuinely intending to draw out Ye Tian’s spirit. Rong Chen Zi watched her retreating figure. He had never been well acquainted with the nature of internal cultivation, nor with the habits of those who practiced it. But this He Bang… she truly seemed to no longer be clinging to him.
He Bang set about drawing out Ye Tian’s spirit, with Chunyu Lin protecting the process as always. He stood guard outside Ye Tian’s room, allowing none of the extraneous people to enter. Zhuang Shaoqin stationed two of his disciples at the door to await instructions, while he himself continued alongside Xingzhi Zhenren in searching for the whereabouts of the remaining Two-Eyed Snakes — where had the one that had impersonated Liu Qinfang gone? And where was the one that had been impersonating him now hiding?
Chunyu Lin was naturally wary of these Daozong members. He waited in the pagoda tree in the courtyard for a full half an hour — drawing out a spirit was a painstaking matter that could not be rushed, and he was not in any hurry.
Before long, he saw Liu Qinfang enter from outside the courtyard. She wore a water-red jacket — the modest, dignified style of a well-bred young lady from a good family. In her hands she carried three small dishes and a flask of wine. Her manner held the demure, shy restraint of an inner-chamber daughter: “Please… have a little something to eat.”
Chunyu Lin was mildly startled, but soon declined: “There is no need. When my Majesty finishes the spirit-drawing, she will no doubt want to eat again — I will eat with her then.”
A look of obvious disappointment crossed Liu Qinfang’s eyes: “…Could you not have just a little first?”
Chunyu Lin’s heart softened slightly. Having spent so long with He Bang — herself an unrestrained lover of food, and impulsive in temperament — he had long been accustomed to placing himself second and considering her in all things. He had also, over time, cultivated a gentle and tender manner toward others. He used chopsticks to sample each dish in turn, a quiet smile at the corners of his lips smoothing away the furrow between Liu Qinfang’s brows: “It is very good. Thank you. As for the wine — I will decline. Drawing out a spirit is no trivial matter, and one must not allow any disturbance. You must be tired as well — please go and rest.”
Perhaps it was his brief, quiet words of praise — Liu Qinfang’s cheeks flushed as red as an autumn apple: “Mm.”
She gave a small nod. When she had nearly reached the courtyard gate, she glanced back at Chunyu Lin in the pagoda tree. Chunyu Lin gave her a light, gentle smile — red robes, dark hair, graceful as a verse of poetry. Liu Qinfang felt her blood suddenly surge and burn. She lowered her head, not daring to look anymore, and fled as though in escape.