Qu Qin Yao had barely arrived in the main reception hall when a figure came shooting toward her. “Ah-Yao, my dear child, you’ve finally come back — let Mother take a look at you. You’ve been through a great deal of hardship, haven’t you? Don’t worry, tomorrow Mother is going to go and find Qing Xuzi. We’re not doing this Daoist business anymore!”

This brisk and energetic woman was Qu Qin Yao’s mother — the original principal wife of Qu Enzhe, the undisputed mistress of the Qu family household — Qu Chen Shi.

She was about thirty or forty years of age, fair-complexioned and full-figured, tall and robust. Though not a classic beauty in the strictest sense, she accorded very well with the aesthetic ideals of the current era.

Qu Qin Yao had inherited her mother’s fair and fine-textured skin, but her features were far more delicate and pleasing than her mother’s — a case of the student surpassing the teacher.

Seeing her mother scolding her master with such fierce gusto, Qu Qin Yao was half-amused and half-exasperated. “Mother, I’m perfectly fine, aren’t I? What is there to stop me from being a Daoist? Have you forgotten how I came to take my master as my teacher in the first place?”

How could she forget? Madam Qu’s expression dimmed.

She had been born the daughter of a silk and hat shop keeper in Chang’an’s Eastern Market. Her family name was Chen; from her great-grandfather’s generation onward, the family had made their living running a silk shop, and by the time the shop passed to her father’s hands, it had already made quite a name for itself in the Eastern Market. Customers came in a steady stream every day, and though the family was not enormously wealthy, they had never gone short of food or clothing.

When she was thirteen years old, her mother’s older sister passed away, and the sister’s only son came to Chang’an to seek them out.

The moment she laid eyes on that fair-complexioned, refined cousin from the Qu family, her heart was thoroughly bound up in him. Over two years of acquaintance, not only had her feelings for Cousin Qu grown deeper day by day, but he had also gradually come to feel warmly toward her.

But then her father, seeing that the Qu family was impoverished and that Qu Enzhe had no property to speak of, didn’t want his daughter to marry into hardship, and firmly refused the match.

Qu Enzhe was turned down when he came to propose, but did not lose heart. From that point on he devoted himself entirely to his studies — hanging his head by its hair and pricking his thigh with an awl to keep awake — swearing he would pass the imperial examinations and win back the right to marry the Chen family’s daughter.

His perseverance was rewarded: Qu Enzhe passed the provincial examinations the very next year.

Though he had not yet taken an official post and had no income, he had in one stroke become one of the Emperor’s men.

What grounds did her father have to object? Seeing that his daughter was dead-set on marrying no one but this man, and that Qu Enzhe had come sincerely and earnestly to his door to ask for her hand, he steeled himself, sent his daughter off with ten trays of dowry goods, and the matter was done.

The young couple’s married life was full of mutual affection and devotion, and Madam Chen was soon with child.

Ten months of pregnancy and then one morning of labor, and the couple welcomed their first child — a boy, too. The couple was overjoyed, and gave him the lovely name Ziyu.

But Ziyu came into the world frail and sickly, spending roughly half of every year ill. The couple was nearly worn to the bone with worry.

By the time Qu Ziyu had somehow managed to grow shakily to the age of two, Madam Qu found herself pregnant again. The couple were caught between joy and anxiety over this second child and paid the greatest possible attention to this pregnancy. Though their means were not plentiful, ginseng, bird’s nest, and other tonics were not spared, and they invited a renowned physician to come and take her pulse every month — they could not have been more cautious.

When the day of delivery arrived, Madam Qu was full of confidence, thinking: Heaven must surely have mercy on them. The two of them had suffered so much — this time they would surely be given a healthy child.

But the baby girl who was born had a mottled purple face and wouldn’t even cry. The midwife slapped her again and again before she let out two small mewing sounds, like a kitten.

Though their eldest son was sickly, he had at least been brought along somehow to grow up. This little girl, however, looked as if she simply could not survive. The couple was struck as if by lightning, and began searching everywhere for medicine and treatment. By the time the baby reached one month old, the Qu family had consulted every doctor of any reputation in Chang’an, yet the child grew weaker by the day, and it seemed only the faintest thread of life remained.

One day the couple carried the baby on a last-ditch attempt to burn incense at Qingyun Monastery. It happened that Qing Xuzi had just returned from one of his wandering journeys. His gaze fell on the baby girl in Qu Enzhe’s arms, and his expression shifted. He chanted a salutation and spoke: “May all living beings be blessed! Good patron, the baby girl in your arms carries an extremely inauspicious fate — evil afflictions cling to her. How can an ordinary family raise her? Give her to this poor Daoist as a disciple. This poor Daoist may be able to preserve her life. If you do not, she will be in danger of losing her life within seven days.”

Qu Enzhe was only half-convinced, but Madam Qu, desperate for any remedy, leapt down from the carriage in an instant, prostrated herself before Qing Xuzi, and beseeched him: “We beg the Daoist master to save her! We beg the Daoist master to save her!” The tears fell like unstrung beads, impossible to stop.

Qu Enzhe, seeing his wife in such anguish, felt as though his own flesh were being cut away — how could he say any words of opposition?

And so Qu Qin Yao became Qing Xuzi’s disciple.

On the very first day after taking him as her master, Qu Qin Yao — who had previously refused all food and drink — suddenly began drinking milk in great gulps. A few more days passed, and her previously closed eyes opened, bright and alert, taking in the world around her. Her arms filled out, her small face grew rounder, and the pointed little chin sprouted a ring of plump baby fat.

Only then did the Qu couple breathe easy, and they expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Qing Xuzi again and again.

Qing Xuzi, seeing that the couple was so reluctant to part with the child, and that the baby was still nursing, agreed with the couple that they could take the child home for the time being and bring her back to Qingyun Monastery to learn her craft once she reached the age of three.

By the time Qu Qin Yao turned three, she had already become a child carved from pink jade, and apart from still being a little pale in the face, was in every respect no different from a healthy child.

The couple, torn between happiness and sorrow, saw that the time could no longer be delayed, and gritted their teeth to send Qu Qin Yao to Qingyun Monastery.

After that, every seven days, the couple would bring Qin Yao home to stay for one day. Dividing her time between both places this way, Qu Qin Yao grew up before long.

Over the years, Qing Xuzi had taken in only two disciples. His eldest disciple was an abandoned infant he had found by the roadside. The child had an exceptionally tough fate — when Qing Xuzi discovered him lying in a snowstorm, he had assumed the infant was long dead, yet upon opening the swaddling cloth, found him still alive. Qing Xuzi was quietly astonished, calculated that this child had a bond of master and disciple with him, and so carried him back to Qingyun Monastery, giving him the name A’Han.

His second disciple was Qu Qin Yao. He had first seen that Qu Qin Yao’s life hung by a single thread, and the couple’s haggard appearance had moved him to compassion on impulse, so he had spoken up about taking her as his disciple — though he had only a three-in-ten chance of success in his heart, and thought only that he would try as a last resort. If she could truly be saved, it would be a meritorious deed; if she could not be saved, that was simply her fate.

Unexpectedly, Qu Qin Yao was destined for a long life — after taking him as her master, she truly improved day by day, and within not even a month was indistinguishable from an ordinary infant. Left with no other option, he took this second disciple. But because she was a girl, he had her enter his tutelage as a lay disciple.

He placed great importance on his eldest disciple A’Han, instructing him with devoted care and wishing he could pass on his entire lifetime of skills — yet A’Han, who appeared clever, was in fact as slow as an ox. Even after more than ten years of constant instruction, he was still muddle-headed and incapable of independent judgment.

Meanwhile, Qu Qin Yao — whom he had originally not thought much of — proved to be brilliantly intelligent, learning things at a glance and far surpassing her elder fellow disciple A’Han.

Seeing Qin Yao’s such exceptional talent, he gradually let go of his cavalier attitude and began to teach her in earnest. After a few years, seeing that Qin Yao had already achieved a solid foundation in her studies, he thought to send her to Mang Mountain to deal with that serpent demon — to test what this child was truly capable of.

But when he went to discuss it with the Qu couple, they refused without a second thought. They said that the original agreement was only for the child to take him as her master — nothing had been said about capturing demons and exorcising spirits. Especially since Qin Yao was only fourteen this year — how could she go catching demons alone? Master, didn’t you say you had a more senior disciple? Why not let your senior disciple go to Mang Mountain?

Qing Xuzi refused to yield. He said that since Qin Yao had entered his tutelage, she was a disciple of Qingyun Monastery — and having studied the craft for so many years, it was high time she showed what she was made of. As for when to go and how to go about catching demons, that was for him, her master, to decide, and he had no need to offer explanations to the Qu couple.

In short — Qu Qin Yao was going, whether she wanted to or not.

The standoff lasted several days, and in the end it was the Qu couple who yielded. True enough, they were Qin Yao’s birth parents — but it was Qing Xuzi who had saved Qin Yao’s life.

With a debt that weighty pressing down on them, never mind merely sending Qin Yao to catch demons — even if it had been walking up a blade or jumping into flames, they would not have dared so boldly to say no.