Yice had seen many people kneel — before heaven, before earth, before parents, before teachers, before lords. But he had never seen anyone kneel before a little girl like this, so willingly and so thoroughly, that solid thud of knees meeting stone tiles making even his own teeth ache.
Yet what truly opened his eyes was how that little girl received it so serenely, accepting the prostrations of people old enough to be her parents — even her grandparents — without the faintest trace of guilt or unease.
Oh, was she not worthy?
No. She was entirely worthy.
Yice was not a man who envied the talents of others. What he despised most were Daoist practitioners who pretended to knowledge they did not possess, putting on the airs of a great master — he had seen plenty of that sort among the Xuan Clan, and such people deserved contempt. But those with genuine ability he respected, regardless of age or gender.
In learning, there is no seniority — only those who have arrived.
He believed in this.
Two lives. She had physically wrenched them back from the grip of a vengeful spirit. That was her ability. Without it, how would the Bai husband and wife have had any lives left to speak of?
Lang Jiuchuan herself felt this was no more than she deserved. Whether the others were sincere or not, she could sense it immediately — and watching the merit and vow-power fly into her spiritual platform, her complexion improved several shades.
“Rise and speak. Old Master Bai, you and your wife have suffered severe depletion of your bodies, so don’t exert yourselves further.” Lang Jiuchuan set down her teacup and raised a hand, not waiting for anyone to ask. “The ordeal you have endured was caused by a vengeful spirit entering through the Yin fetus — this too was a matter of cause and effect. There is no one to blame. The vengeful spirit has already been eliminated, and it will no longer trouble you. As for the damage to your bodies, I have prescribed a formula. Going forward, take the medicine and nourish yourselves accordingly.”
The Liang Mifeng couple each supported their younger sister and brother-in-law into chairs. Liang Mifeng asked, “Great Master, what is the meaning of this cause and effect? My sister and her husband desperately wanted a child and went to that Nianci Nunnery. Could this all be the doing of that nunnery?”
As he spoke, the killing intent in his voice was barely contained.
Those nuns, using sinister arts to harm people — they truly deserved death.
Lang Jiuchuan said, “Nianci Nunnery bears its own sins. The old nun first planted an evil cause. This husband and wife, drawn in by that evil cause, reaped an evil result. It is all a matter of cause and effect — merely a question of degree. The child-bearing broth they consumed was made from the formed fetus that the old nun forcibly expelled from a woman’s womb, the placenta stripped away and used as an ingredient.”
“A fetus already so fully formed is already a person in its own right. Its entry into life was violently cut off, and naturally its resentment runs deep. Moreover, the expulsion was forced, causing the mother to hemorrhage, and that surge of blood-calamity further stoked both the resentment and the malevolence, transforming it into a ferocious infant spirit.” She looked at Bai Maoxing and his wife and said, “By consuming that placenta, you effectively consumed its flesh and blood. Naturally, it would then take up residence inside you — as for whether you lived or died, that was no concern of its.”
Bai Maoxing and his wife trembled all over. Remembering everything that had passed, they were filled with regret, their faces bloodless, and had they not been supported, they would likely have collapsed.
It was too late now to speak of any of it.
Liang Mifeng was both furious and heartbroken, but this was not the moment to dwell on that. He said instead, “Now that the vengeful spirit has been eliminated, what can we do to let it rest in peace, to settle this cause and effect, so that it will not carry a grudge into its next reincarnation? Should we hold a Dharma ceremony to guide it onward?”
“This cause and effect has already been settled.” Lang Jiuchuan shook her head. “It did not know how to accept grace. I struck it until its soul was scattered and its spirit destroyed — there is no path left for it to reincarnate.”
Everyone: “!”
Not someone to be trifled with.
Liang Mifeng gave a light cough and offered a word of praise: “The Great Master is compassionate by nature. It must have been the spirit’s own stubborn wickedness that provoked you.”
Yice’s expression turned strange. The praise felt oddly off somehow, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was wrong with it.
Mistress Bai, straining against the depletion wracking her body, asked, “Great Master, this child I am carrying — is it a ghost’s corruption, or is it…?”
Liang Mifeng’s face darkened. “Lijuan, you are still thinking about this child? If you hadn’t been so set on having one, how would things have come to this? Risking your very life for a child? If Maoxing wants one so badly, he can take in a good concubine afterward and have one that way.”
He also shot a glare at Bai Maoxing.
Mistress Liang added, “That’s right. If one isn’t enough, take in a few more. When the children arrive, bring one under your name — why gamble with your life for it? You’re nearly forty. Why follow others in chasing an old man’s child? You’d only be inviting suffering.”
Bai Maoxing had always been somewhat afraid of this elder brother-in-law and his wife, and was just about to express his devotion when Lang Jiuchuan said, “That won’t be possible, I’m afraid.”
Everyone paused.
Yice looked over as well.
“Both of your childbearing palaces have sunk and grown dim, and your fundamental vitality has already been damaged. As for bearing children of your own blood — that hope is gone from this point forward.” Lang Jiuchuan said calmly. “The child Madam is carrying was your only remaining hope. However, adopted children are children too. Alas…”
Mistress Bai, upon hearing these words, was overcome with agitation and fainted again, startling Mistress Liang into a cry of alarm.
Lang Jiuchuan said, “Let her faint. There is no need to force herself to endure. To continue exhausting her spirit over something already set in stone is not worth it.”
Bai Maoxing wanted to faint as well, but he could not. His lips moved as though he wanted to ask something, but the pain in his head was unbearable. He too could no longer hold on, and so he closed his eyes and drew a long, deep breath.
Liang Mifeng, however, had seized on the key point: “The Great Master said — adopted children are children too?”
“Steward Huang once provided me with this couple’s birth dates and times. I have calculated their fate charts. The two of them are destined for two sons in their lives — one born of their blood, one adopted. The one of their blood has already been lost. Only the adopted son remains as their hope.” Lang Jiuchuan looked at Bai Maoxing and said, “One year from now, travel north. Perform acts of kindness along the way. You will encounter a child on the road who stirs something in your hearts. That will be the son who was always meant to be yours — the one who will care for you in old age and carry on your family line.”
Bai Maoxing nodded, tears sliding down his face. In a trembling voice he said, “Many thanks, Great Master, for illuminating the path.”
Lang Jiuchuan nodded. “Turn that gratitude into something tangible.”
Bai Maoxing started, a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. His mind was not at its best, and his normally sharp wits momentarily failed to grasp her meaning.
Liang Mifeng, however, understood at once. “We understand completely. What does the Great Master require?”
Lang Jiuchuan said nothing, only glancing sidelong at Yice, who had been doing his best to appear nonexistent, and tilted her chin toward the door.
Yice: “…”
Was there any tangible token of gratitude that he was not permitted to hear?
But under Lang Jiuchuan’s glare, he sulkily stepped outside and pressed himself against the door frame, ears pricked. He would just listen.
As though she knew he was eavesdropping, Lang Jiuchuan gave a cold smile and made a hand seal — only then did she speak to Liang Mifeng and the others. “I want you to pave for me a merit bridge. Name it the Nine Rivers Bridge.”
To pave bridges and repair roads — these are great acts of virtue. With a bridge named after her, she could later go and bury a merit-blessing talisman within it, and the countless people who crossed it would generate merit and vow-power that would nourish her divine soul. Perfect!
And moreover, this bridge, paved by the husband and wife with genuine gold and silver, would allow them to also absorb some measure of blessed fortune. Even without children of their own blood, they would still be able to live out their years in peace and die of natural causes — a twofold act of great virtue that benefited everyone!