Subjected to A’Piao’s open mockery and veiled taunts, Gong Qi could no longer maintain his composure. Just as he was about to retort, the other party spoke again.
“Moreover, a jiangshi doesn’t necessarily need a hundred years to emerge. As this fellow cultivator in the book described, if a person was tortured to death, that person’s fierce resentment would be extraordinarily intense. With resentment surging to the heavens, they would inevitably become a vengeful ghost — and with their soul additionally sealed and suppressed, they would be even more ferocious and resentful. If you were in their position, wouldn’t you use every ounce of effort to absorb that dark, baleful energy to nourish yourself? The time it takes to become a ferocious and wicked jiangshi would be greatly shortened. With a fortunate encounter, it could probably emerge in ten years or even less.”
Lang Jiuchuan’s expression grew even more unsightly upon hearing this.
It was not entirely impossible.
A’Piao said, “I went to examine the body of that young Miss Qisi. The two blood holes on her neck are also consistent with the bite marks of a jiangshi’s fangs.”
Gong Qi glanced over. Although Qisi’s body had not yet been buried, it had already been placed in a coffin — how had he managed to examine it?
“But if the jiangshi has already emerged, then it doesn’t fully match the hexagram I previously divined…” Lang Jiuchuan turned her gaze back to the book — that yin-yang person born from evil.
Her eyes grew vacant as she murmured, “Could it be that what the hexagram points to is someone like this yin-yang person — one that I birth from myself?”
A’Piao: “!”
Gong Qi: “…”
What an unsettling way of putting it.
A’Piao cleared his throat and said, “Actually, you can simply imagine it as a chrysalis — shedding its shell, transforming into a butterfly, completing a magnificent metamorphosis. Before that, it naturally needs someone to carry and nurture this fetal form, so that before the gestation is complete, the refined soul can depart and enter the womb to be reborn into this world — this process would not even incur the backlash of heavenly karma.”
“It’s similar to the case of the little ghost reincarnating that I encountered before.” Lang Jiuchuan thought of the mother-and-child ghosts from the Ou family. Wasn’t that little ghost’s reincarnation fundamentally the same as this jiangshi planting its fetal seed?
But the womb that little ghost had entered was at least carried by a living person — this jiangshi, no matter how well-preserved, was still just a corpse. How could it possibly impregnate a woman?
“That jiangshi has been dead for so many years — can it truly impregnate a woman? Might there be some mistake?” Lang Jiuchuan voiced her confusion aloud.
A’Piao and Gong Qi both felt somewhat awkward. The two exchanged a glance, then each looked away.
“This is only written in unofficial records, so whether it’s true or false is difficult to verify. But in folk legends, hasn’t there been talk of a yin ghost coupling with a woman and planting a yin fetus to birth a ghost child?” A’Piao lightly tapped the tabletop and said, “Even if that’s only legend, the truth is that it can equally enter a living person’s womb and be reborn — this is called ‘seizing birth.’ Regardless of whose seed it is, existence is its own justification. The world is vast and full of wonders. Otherwise, how would such strange tales and unofficial records ever come to exist? And these unorthodox techniques, plainly speaking, are nothing more than methods that defy the natural order — their existence is not so strange.”
Lang Jiuchuan and Gong Qi both fell silent.
Techniques, by their very nature, were infinitely varied — even orthodox and legitimate techniques could give rise to countless variations. It all depended on how one chose to employ them.
“If it’s truly as this book describes, then this yin-yang person is likely the supremely ferocious and wicked demon that the hexagram speaks of.” Lang Jiuchuan looked toward Gong Qi.
Gong Qi’s expression darkened slightly.
A flash of inspiration struck Lang Jiuchuan’s mind: “Princess Zhao’an — have you gone to investigate her?”
A’Piao looked somewhat surprised: “What’s the matter with Princess Zhao’an? Why are you bringing her up?”
Lang Jiuchuan then recounted the strange anomalies she had observed with the fetus in Princess Zhao’an’s womb.
Gong Qi shook his head: “That’s impossible. No matter how little favor Princess Zhao’an enjoys, she still bears the Tantai name and carries the Xuan Clan bloodline…”
“Ha, then that would be all the more convenient.” A’Piao let out a contemptuous laugh. “If the yin-yang person’s other half carries Dao-root bloodline, its growth would be far easier and faster. Isn’t that exactly how your Xuan Clan operates — with Dao-root lineage passed down through generations, comprehending the Dao comes more naturally than for other cultivators of the same path.”
Gong Qi’s entire body stiffened.
“A yin-yang person reborn into such a favorable womb — inherently the most extreme yin and the most ferocious — and continuously absorbing blood essence and yin vitality as nourishment… I fear that by the time it is born, it will already be beyond what an ordinary Daoist practitioner can contend with.” A’Piao said with a chilling edge to his voice. “If it truly turns out this way, how will your Xuan Clan handle it? Don’t tell me you’d actually be reluctant to destroy such a formidable weapon.”
“Manager A’Piao, you have a prejudice against the Xuan Clan — are you not being somewhat hasty in your generalizations? Not everyone within the Xuan Clan walks the path of evil.” Gong Qi said, barely suppressing his fury.
A’Piao toyed with his own fingers and said, “How the Xuan Clan conducts itself — you, who are within it, know best. Human hearts are greedy. The Xuan Clan wishes to continuously consolidate its lofty and supreme position. Secretly harboring and shielding such a wicked creature — somehow, I don’t feel that would be anything remarkable or unusual.”
“You—!”
Lang Jiuchuan raised both hands: “Stop!”
She looked toward A’Piao and said, “This matter is of grave consequence. Stop fanning the flames.”
A’Piao pursed his lips: “I’m merely offering a word of caution, to prevent anyone from truly playing both sides in secret. What you said is simple enough — just have someone go and check Princess Zhao’an’s birth chart and horoscope.”
He thought for a moment about Princess Zhao’an herself. Her Prince Consort seemed to have the surname Cong — hmm, the surname Cong…
“I recall that the Cong Family once produced a remarkably powerful technique master who came close to being admitted into the Xuan Clan?” He directed this question toward Gong Qi.
Gong Qi furrowed his brow and thought carefully. “A hundred years ago, an elder ancestor of the Cong Family broke through to Foundation Establishment, but later, during an exorcism, it seems they were defeated by an adversary, their cultivation completely exhausted, and they perished. From that point on, the Cong Family never again produced any particularly remarkable figures. Although the clan’s disciples have studied Daoist arts and practices through the generations, they have all served in the Imperial Observatory.”
“That still amounts to having some degree of cultivated ability.”
Lang Jiuchuan thought of that Cong Jinling and said, “That Prince Consort from the Cong Family has a considerable level of skill and even carries a magical artifact — yet he turned a blind eye to the yin energy on Princess Zhao’an. I think there’s something problematic in all of this.”
Gong Qi was somewhat at a loss. Although Lang Jiuchuan had mentioned it before, they had truly not spared any attention to investigate Princess Zhao’an’s side of things.
If there truly was a problem, then…
Then he had also been constrained by those two words — Xuan Clan — far too arrogant and self-assured, convinced that a descendant of the Xuan Clan could have nothing wrong with them.
Thinking of this, Gong Qi’s complexion turned pale, and he was filled with remorse.
A’Piao cast him a contemptuous glance and said, “Those who are caught within the situation are limited by it — they cannot see beyond it. Without breaking free from these constraints, one will forever mark time in place and rot into the ground.”
Gong Qi bowed his head in shame.
Lang Jiuchuan turned to A’Piao: “How much do you know about the Cong Family?”
A’Piao shook his head. “Not particularly well. The Cong Family has served in the Imperial Observatory for years and has largely kept to the rules and followed the proper order. But who knows? One can know a person’s face and words, but not their heart. The Cong Family once had an elder ancestor of great cultivation, and they came close to being admitted into the Xuan Clan — but they fell into decline. I ask only this: are they content with that?”
The two exchanged a glance, their expressions grave.
Lang Jiuchuan extended her fingertip and tapped her finger: “If they are not content, and they have learned of this technique — would they dare to stake everything on it?”
A chill ran down Gong Qi’s spine.
If they dared, then after forging such a formidable weapon — who in the world could stand against them?
“The Princess’s estate commands power and influence, fitting the image of the mastermind behind the scenes. And the Cong Family has a root of spiritual comprehension. With a forbidden technique in hand, they would also have the motivation…” Lang Jiuchuan looked toward Gong Qi: “Send people immediately to investigate whether anything unusual has occurred at the Cong Family’s ancestral grounds.”