What happened?

The old Daoist Wangsa had once said — when a mortal and a demon lay together and a child was conceived, the demon’s body would be weakened by that fetus, for it was a demon-child, something the heavens and earth refused to accept. She would be subjected to immense suppression from the laws of heaven and earth.

A Willow Immortal was called an immortal in flattering terms, but she was a demon nonetheless. With child, she had to supply life-energy to the fetus while also sustaining her own power. Without sufficient cultivation and offerings, she would find it near impossible to endure.

Yet the love of a mother makes one strong — the Willow Immortal persisted. But to sustain the child, her body deteriorated badly. Almost all of her life-energy was drained away by the demon-fetus, and in only seven months, she was ready to give birth.

Old Madam Bai and Wangsa’s opportunity had arrived — just as she had said, for a woman giving birth is to hand over her life. She was already at death’s door, and the Willow Immortal’s demon body had already crumbled. How could she possibly be a match for that old Daoist?

In a room covered with formation arrays and talismans, Old Madam Bai had personally taken a knife and cut open the Willow Immortal’s belly, gouging out her heart. And the demon-fetus — the old Daoist took it along with the placenta and sealed it in a jade box.

Lang Jiuchuan’s expression turned ice-cold. “That old Daoist took the demon-fetus from the Willow Immortal’s womb?”

Old Madam Bai nodded. “He did. In that moment, she tried to protect her child. But her spiritual power had long been dissolved away by the Dragon Ridge Incense. The Willow Immortal who had once been so lofty and untouchable — when it came to giving birth, she could only lie there limp as a dead snake, letting others do as they wished. Why couldn’t she have simply remained a Willow Immortal, enjoying her offerings and cultivating to become a true immortal? Why did she have to set her heart on another woman’s husband?”

She stared off into the void, returning to the scene from decades ago.

“She lay there without the slightest power to resist — yet those eyes that looked up at me were sharp as blades. Gone was the warmth and trust of all those years. Gone was any trace of tenderness. Those were the eyes of a true demon-beast. She was a demon, nothing more — why fantasize about being human? Why covet another woman’s husband? She had no shame!”

Before Old Madam Bai’s eyes, that image seemed to resurface. The woman had been cut open, blood soaking everything around her. Her gaze had been filled with bone-deep, soul-searing hatred — fixed upon her, cold and piercing as a venomous serpent. No — she was a serpent.

Then her memory suddenly sharpened, and she said, “Yes — as she was dying, she drew a strange symbol on the wall. She also spoke words. But there was thunder, rolling in as if from the ninth heaven, drowning out what she said — even now, thinking back, I cannot make it all out clearly. Something about her blood, her soul — cursing all Bai men to die before thirty, all Bai women to be too frail to bear children, to sink forever into ruin…”

As she spoke, she suddenly spat a mouthful of blood — the color of old rot — and her face instantly collapsed into pallor. She slumped back into the reclining chair behind her.

Zuo Yan rose to his feet, took two steps forward, then looked toward Lang Jiuchuan.

Lang Jiuchuan said, “What else did you take from her?”

Old Madam Bai gave a sharp start, staring at Lang Jiuchuan.

“Just now, Oriole’s ghost was standing at the foot of your grandson’s bed — and you sensed it. That means you can perceive yin energy. That is why you were testing me.” Lang Jiuchuan fixed her with an unwavering look. “You are only a mortal who has never cultivated. You should not possess such acute sensitivity — especially now, in your old age, with your body declining and death closing in. Without some external influence, you could not possibly have detected anything.”

Zuo Yan blinked.

Her tongue really was vicious.

Old Madam Bai, clearly furious, breathed hard but said nothing.

“This is the key to breaking the curse.” Lang Jiuchuan said evenly. “Do not forget — your granddaughter has one foot at death’s door, and your grandson, having survived this crisis, still has another waiting for him. The curse of a Willow Immortal is not something ordinary demons can compare to. Even a quasi-immortal — one recognized and acknowledged by the laws of heaven and earth — is not to be taken lightly.”

Old Madam Bai’s expression shifted. “After her death, that old Daoist refined her bones into a bone-rattle — he said it would ward off malevolent forces and suppress ghosts. Over the years, whenever any yin creature was near, I would sense it more acutely.” She reached into her collar and drew out a slender yet astonishingly resilient violet sinew-cord, from which hung a bone-rattle no larger than a thumb. But the bone-rattle had turned entirely jet black.

Lang Jiuchuan shot to her feet. “Give it to me,” she said coldly.

Old Madam Bai hesitated for a moment, then removed the bone-rattle. Zuo Yan stepped forward to receive it, gave a sudden involuntary shudder, and hastily passed it to Lang Jiuchuan.

Lang Jiuchuan ran her fingers along the violet sinew-cord. “Is this the three-inch sinew of a Willow Immortal?”

The three-inch point of a snake is located along the spine — it is extremely delicate, yet the sinew there is extraordinarily tough and vital, for it connects the entire snake’s central channel. For a white snake, the sinew would naturally be white. That it had turned violet could only mean decades of cultivation had infused it with spiritual power until the color transformed.

Made into a magical instrument and properly refined, water and fire alike could not sever it. As it was, it was merely being used as a cord.

And the bone-rattle — yes, it had been turned into a talisman against evil. But it was originally a spirit bone. Now it had turned entirely black, which could only mean it had absorbed tremendous karmic burden, transforming into concentrated baleful energy. The karmic energy within it could scorch away malevolent forces.

Indeed — everything has two sides. Karmic burden is no different. Once karmic energy attaches to an object and accumulates over time, it becomes a deadly weapon. Most malevolent entities would not dare approach it.

The feeling that rose in Lang Jiuchuan’s heart was icy cold. She looked at Old Madam Bai with even colder eyes than before. “You old hypocrite — you truly deserve to die!”

Old Madam Bai’s pupils contracted sharply. “You — you —”

“You schemed against the Willow Immortal. Whatever method you used, why did it have to be such a vile and filthy plan? You produced a demon-fetus — which is to say you unleashed a malevolent entity upon the world. Every life it harmed, every thread of karmic consequence it wove — you, the dead Willow Immortal, and that old Daoist alike must all bear that burden. And you wore this thing on your body — for now it has been shielding you. But the day will come when the karmic energy turns against you, because you have been nursing a tiger to your own peril.”

Lang Jiuchuan shook the bone-rattle, feeling the restless karmic energy within it stir. She produced a talisman brush and drew a symbol upon it.

Zuo Yan was somewhat bewildered. “Master — are you saying the demon-fetus became a malevolent entity and has been harming people?”

Lang Jiuchuan nodded. “That old Daoist used this scheme to destroy the Willow Immortal — he could not have been from any righteous path. In all likelihood, the demon-fetus was his true objective all along. When a mortal and a demon conceive together, the resulting child is rejected by heaven and earth. For such a fetus to survive at all, it must contend against heaven itself — which means it is born from the very resentment and malevolence that heaven and earth accumulate. An old Daoist who obtained such a thing gained himself a great weapon to command. Do you think an entity like that would do anything good?”

She looked down at the jet-black bone-rattle and said, “This bone-rattle has absorbed a tremendous amount of karmic energy. After so many decades — that demon-fetus is likely still alive. And it has probably harmed a great many people.”

Yet not a single person in the Xuan Clan had ever discovered any of this.

Zuo Yan stared at the bone-rattle, his blood running cold. He had only been trying to find a physician for his wife. How had things unraveled into something this monstrous?

Thud.

Both of them turned — and found Old Master Bai collapsed on the floor, convulsing violently, black blood streaming from the corner of his mouth.

Lang Jiuchuan’s face fell. She had forgotten — he too would suffer the karmic backlash. After all, he was the demon-fetus’s father.