This time, it wasn’t only Qin Yao who was shocked — even Lin Xiao’s face showed astonishment.
“Just who would resort to such a vicious, underhanded scheme to harm Senior Brother?” Qin Yao asked, aghast.
Before she had even finished speaking, she couldn’t help but shudder, a wave of nausea and dread sweeping through her heart. Whoever was behind this was beyond cruel, beyond vicious — they hadn’t even spared a newborn infant.
A killing intent surged in Qing Xuzi’s eyes, but with so many threads tangled in his mind, he brewed his words for a long while, unable to find where to begin.
Qin Yao stared intently at her master, recalling the string of strange events from this period — her thoughts seemed to be strung together by an invisible thread. “Could it be that, back then, someone set up the Seven Killers Infant-Binding Array within the academy to harm Senior Brother, and then, fearing the academy’s overwhelming resentful energy would be discovered, layered a Spirit-Veiling Array over it as a cover?”
In other words, the academy concealed what was called a formation within a formation.
Qing Xuzi sighed heavily. “Ever since Yuan Jue and I discovered, all those years ago, that your senior brother had been struck by this formation, we have spent these years searching desperately for where it was laid, all so we could break it and keep your senior brother’s spiritual essence from being drained away, lest he die young. Unfortunately, we combed every corner of Chang’an and never found a suspicious place. If not for the resentful spirits that suddenly appeared at the academy that night, prompting me to go in and investigate, I doubt we would have discovered even now that the academy itself was where the array was laid.”
Qin Yao said evenly, “I imagine that once the academy reopened, whoever laid the array could no longer reinforce the Spirit-Veiling Array as freely as before, and so missed the half-yearly window to stabilize it. That must be why the resentment inside leaked out and drew in such a great number of vengeful spirits.”
She watched her master quietly and repeated her earlier question. “Master, why would whoever laid the array go to such lengths, scheming so carefully against Senior Brother? Earlier, the person I sent to gather information told me that you and Yuan Jue were not only old acquaintances of Consort Hui, but also came to Chang’an not long after she did. And what’s more—”
She studied him searchingly and asked, carefully, “You took in Senior Brother nineteen years ago, and the timing lines up perfectly. Tell me honestly — does Senior Brother have some connection to Consort Hui?”
Lin Xiao watched Qing Xuzi from the side. Back then, A’Han had been an infant barely out of the womb, yet someone had devised such a bizarre scheme to deal with him — clearly he could never have been an abandoned child picked up by the roadside, as Qing Xuzi had claimed. His origins must be tangled up with a great deal of shameful, hidden affairs, and digging any deeper would surely bring on a storm of blood.
At this thought, his expression turned grave. He suddenly called for the carriage to stop, summoned Chang Rong over, and gave him a few quiet instructions.
Chang Rong accepted the order and rode off at once.
Qing Xuzi stared blankly into the empty air before him for a long moment, lost in melancholy, then spoke to Qin Yao. “I did indeed know A’Ling back then. Though she was born into an official’s household, as a daughter of a concubine she was cast aside by her family to grow up on an estate outside the city. She and her mother often came to the temple to burn incense, and that is how we became acquainted, later becoming sworn senior and junior in the same sect. Speaking of which—”
As he spoke, his gaze grew faintly pained as he glanced at Qin Yao. “Her temperament was somewhat like yours — on the surface, just as lively and bright as you, but having endured cold looks since childhood, she was far more stubborn at her core than you are.”
Qin Yao had only ever heard Consort Hui’s name before; no one had ever spoken to her of the woman’s character. Thinking of how she had died in the bloom of her youth, Qin Yao felt a deep pang of sorrow, and listened now with rapt attention.
“Later, Young Master Su Jianfu — who is now Yuan Jue — came to the temple for leisure and happened to encounter A’Ling. After that, he often used the excuse of coming to hear our master’s teachings to visit her, and eventually went so far as to propose marriage directly to A’Ling’s mother. But before he could even return home to arrange the betrothal gifts, A’Ling was taken back into the city by her family, declared dead, and forced away to Chang’an. Su Jianfu would not give up. After a great deal of effort, he learned that A’Ling had entered Chang’an’s Yunyin Academy as a student under the guise of a legitimate daughter, and that she might be chosen as a side consort to one of the princes. He was consumed with worry. I, too, knew how stubborn A’Ling’s nature was — if she became someone’s side consort, she would likely never have a single day of peace for the rest of her life. So Su Jianfu and I rushed to Chang’an through the night, thinking that if there was any chance at all, we had to ask A’Ling herself what she wished. If she did not consent, then even if it meant snatching her out of the academy, we would not let her be forced unwillingly into becoming someone’s side consort.”
He gave a bitter smile. “Looking back now, we were still too young then, and saw the affairs of this world too simply. By the time we reached Chang’an, the academy was filled with noble daughters and guarded with extreme strictness. No matter what Su Jianfu tried, he couldn’t even get a message to A’Ling, let alone arrange to meet her outside the academy. Months slipped away like this, and in the end A’Ling caught the eye of the Third Prince, who took her into his household as a side consort.”
“When Su Jianfu heard the news, it struck him like a bolt of lightning, and he was bedridden for over ten days before he could rise again. Yet he still would not give up, insisting that no matter what, he had to see A’Ling at least once, even if only to hear her speak. Another month passed this way before we finally got our chance, when A’Ling came out from the princely residence. But before we could find a way to speak with her, we overheard a maidservant say that Side Consort Yi was with child and that everyone needed to be extremely careful — that was how we learned that Side Consort Yi, who had entered the household before A’Ling, was already pregnant. Later, when A’Ling finally boarded her carriage, we caught a glimpse of her from afar. Though she was surrounded and attended by maidservants, there wasn’t a trace of a smile on her face, and we knew her life there was far from smooth. It pained us to see it, but being people of no standing, there was nothing we could do, so we could only do our best to keep watch over the goings-on at the Prince of Qi’s residence.”
“Who could have known that just a few days later, word came that A’Ling, too, was with child. Uneasy at the news, I cast a divination for her, and it showed that her fated calamity for that very year would bring a disaster of blood. Fearing complications during her delivery, I found a Daoist temple in Chang’an to stay at, intending to wait until she safely gave birth before returning to Yuezhou. When Su Jianfu heard that A’Ling might be in danger, he too refused to leave, and bought a residence to settle in Chang’an for the time being.
“After that, we kept finding ways, deliberate or not, to learn news of A’Ling, and we discovered that the Third Prince doted on her without restraint. For her sake, he even defied the Late Emperor’s decree that he take a proper principal consort, and grew rather cold even toward Side Consort Yi, who had entered the household before her, pouring all his attention into A’Ling instead. Later, he even petitioned the Late Emperor early on to name the young lord in A’Ling’s womb as his heir. When Su Jianfu learned of this, he cursed bitterly, saying that since A’Ling came from no noble lineage and had no family who truly cherished her, such favoritism from the Third Prince would bring her no benefit at all — only disaster. Hearing this only deepened my worry, and I tried several times to sneak into the Prince of Qi’s residence using concealment techniques. The first few times I managed to reach the inner courtyard without trouble, but later, someone laid a hidden formation along the outer walls of the inner courtyard — one rigged with concealed mechanisms. Forcing my way through would surely have raised an alarm, and fearing it would bring trouble to A’Ling, I had no choice but to give up.
“Suspicious about this, I went back and cast a divination for the Third Prince, and to my astonishment found that his fate carried a true dragon’s mandate — he was destined to ascend to the throne — while Prince Yun, whose star was rising so brightly at the time, showed the sign of one who would fail just short of success. I don’t know whether some other master had also seen through this and willingly offered his service to the Prince of Qi’s household, which would explain why the residence was riddled with Daoist mechanisms. Once I worked this out, I told Su Jianfu that if A’Ling could survive this calamity, the child in her womb would one day become Crown Prince. Hearing this, Su Jianfu grew restless and uneasy, saying that even if some extraordinary master had divined this, that person might not necessarily be willing to help A’Ling and her child — and if he were being used by someone else, he might even come to view them as thorns in his side. Unfortunately, in Chang’an we were people of no standing, and the Prince of Qi’s household had not yet shown its hand, so anxious as we were, we could not rashly snatch A’Ling out of the residence.
“The closer she came to her due date, the more uneasy I grew, pacing outside the Prince of Qi’s residence nearly every night. I had originally planned to hold a blessing rite for her safety during the month of her delivery, and use unorthodox methods to summon minor spirits to guard her. But she went into labor a full month early. I used a concealment technique to hide atop the wall and overheard the servants inside discussing how Side Consort Yi and Side Consort Hui had gone into labor at the same time, and that Side Consort Hui was at risk of a difficult birth. My heart burned with anxiety, but that night the Prince of Qi’s residence had already been sealed off with an impenetrable net by some skilled master, and I had no way to break in. So I rushed back to the temple to perform a rite instead. I kept vigil until the deep of night, until my power was nearly spent, and A’Ling’s life-breath had already grown as faint as wisps of smoke. Sensing something was terribly wrong, I ran to the Prince of Qi’s residence, but I was a step too late. The moment I drew near, I heard wailing erupt from within — A’Ling had already died in a difficult labor.”
By the time Qing Xuzi reached this point, an indescribable grief and regret overcame him, his voice hoarse and choked, barely able to continue.
Qin Yao watched her master silently. Even twenty years later, this old story was still painful to hear. She could only wonder what depth of attachment her master must have carried back then, that he would willingly stay in Chang’an and do so much for Consort Hui.
“When I heard the news, I was preparing to leave, grief-stricken and lost, when two figures suddenly slipped out from the residence. From their bearing and movements, I could tell at once they were Daoist practitioners. One of them carried a cloth bundle. The two of them left the residence and headed toward the end of an alley. The sky had not yet brightened, and I hid in the shadows so they wouldn’t notice me. I saw that the bundle in that person’s hands seemed to hold something living — though wrapped tightly, it stirred now and then. Suspicious, I followed the two of them. After trailing them for a while, they reached a deserted, narrow alley where a large slop bucket stood. There, they opened the bundle, took out an infant, and dropped it headfirst into the slop bucket. Once they had finished, they walked back out of the alley, saying as they went that their master was being far too paranoid — it was only some country girl, and even if she’d been made a side consort, whatever lowborn whelp she bore could never amount to anything, so why should they bother with all this trouble.
“My hands and feet went cold as ice — just as Su Jianfu had suspected, someone, in their scheme to seize the future, had not only caused A’Ling’s death but would not even spare her child. Once the two men had left, I rushed to the slop bucket and pulled the child out, hastily wiping the filth from his face, then stripped off my own robe to wrap him in. I had assumed the child, having been drowned in the slop, was surely beyond saving, but to my astonishment his fate proved astonishingly resilient — after a moment of struggling, he began wailing loudly once more.
“Realizing this was bad, I hastily tore off a corner of my inner robe to cover most of my face, so as not to be recognized, then leapt onto the wall with the child in my arms, intending to escape the narrow alley. But before those two men could even return, a young man came chasing after me from the alley’s mouth. His martial skill was no small matter, his lightness technique especially outstanding, and he very nearly caught up to me. With the child in my arms, I couldn’t maneuver freely in the alley, so I had to flee back out the way I’d come. The moment I emerged, however, I found the corpses of those same two men lying on the ground — clearly silenced for good by this young man.
“I fled left and right as the streets gradually filled with people. In broad daylight, that man dared not openly try to kill me, and could only follow closely behind. Seizing my chance, I ran to the most crowded part of the West Market, and using the crowd as cover, finally managed to shake him off.” Qin Yao said, understanding now, “And that child was Senior Brother?”
Qing Xuzi let out a long sigh, which counted as confirmation.
Though she had already suspected as much, hearing it confirmed by her master with her own ears still left Qin Yao stunned for a long while. So Senior Brother truly was an imperial prince — then what was going on with the Crown Prince in the palace?
Lin Xiao, however, asked, “Master Qing Xuzi, do you still remember what that young man looked like?”
Qing Xuzi shook his head. “All I know is that he appeared to be in his twenties, not very tall, and that his facial features remained stiff and unmoving the entire time — one glance told me his face had been tampered with, and it was certainly not his true appearance.”
Hearing this, Qin Yao suddenly and incongruously thought of the portrait of Celestial Master Li’s mute disciple. From the portrait, that disciple’s features had also seemed somewhat unnatural — she wondered whether there was any connection to this young man who had pursued her master.