Consort Yi, the Crown Prince, and their entourage were flung into the academy, the impact nearly shaking their organs loose. They groaned and lost consciousness.

Never had the crowd witnessed something so spirit-shaking. A single glance was enough to drive a person mad with fear. Had Qin Yao not already warned everyone in advance, the more timid among them would certainly have scattered and fled in terror, throwing the scene into even greater chaos.

Before Nüxiu had even appeared, Qin Yao, Qing Xuzi, and the others had already noticed the compass shaking nonstop and guessed she had returned. Everyone braced themselves, having already set up the formation according to their earlier plan.

Yuan Jue led the disciples to take up positions around the corners of the garden, sitting cross-legged and holding their bronze bowls, chanting loudly. Suddenly a flash of Buddhist light blazed across the sky above the academy, and a net spread out, covering the academy entirely—the Golden Gong Net had been raised. The Golden Gong Net was a supreme yang formation of the Buddhist tradition, remarkably effective against yin spirits and fiends.

In an instant, the golden light sealed the entire space above the academy tightly. With this net as a barrier, killing aura could not easily breach it, and once Nüxiu fell into the academy, she too would find it impossible to escape the net’s grasp.

After Nüxiu flung the dozen or so people she’d seized into the academy, she was about to swoop down further, but the moment she touched the Golden Gong Net, it was as though she’d been scorched by fierce flames. The thick black mist around her body abruptly dispersed, briefly revealing a human shape inside. Qing Xuzi, standing close by, caught a glimpse and saw that besides a female body within the black mist, she seemed also to be holding an infant.

He froze for a moment, wanting desperately to see more clearly, but the instant Nüxiu left the Golden Gong Net, the black mist closed in again, once more concealing her true form. The moment was too brief—he could neither make out the contours nor identify what she held, and could only assume his eyes had played a trick on him. He set the thought aside for now and refocused on helping Qin Yao set up the Twin Soul Formation.

Master and disciple quickly helped A’Han summon the Soul-Devourer, surrounding it within the formation with the three dragons, and used the Boundless Mirror to help steady A’Han’s spirit, waiting only for Lin Xiao to lure Nüxiu beneath the Golden Gong Net so they could use the Soul-Devourer’s flame to burn her form.

Unwilling to be blocked outside the academy by the Golden Gong Net, yet also unwilling to touch it again, Nüxiu could only circle slowly above the garden like a hawk. A few times she swooped down to the lowest point, and the black mist around her would flare with the net’s golden light, faintly revealing the sound of an infant crying.

This time, not only Qing Xuzi but everyone else in the courtyard heard it too. Startled, they all looked up at once.

“Why is there a baby’s cry?” Everyone exchanged glances, having thought the thing in the sky was already terrifying enough—but now this infant’s wailing made it all the more chilling.

This time Qing Xuzi was certain his eyes hadn’t deceived him earlier—Nüxiu truly held an infant in her arms. He stood in a daze for a moment, then looked up to see Qin Yao and A’Han watching him in confusion, clearly equally baffled.

This situation was far too unusual. His heart pounded with unease. Since breaking free from the formation, Nüxiu had rampaged across Chang’an, seemingly fearing nothing—why on earth was she carrying an infant?

If she wished to feed on the infant’s flesh and blood to bolster her yin power, why would she hold the child so closely, never letting go, adding such a burden to herself? Wouldn’t it be far simpler to simply devour the child outright?

After thinking for a moment, he glanced toward Consort Yi nearby, lying motionless on the ground, unsure whether she was dead or alive. After a moment’s deliberation, he said to Qin Yao and A’Han, “The Seven Killers Infant-Locking Formation has extremely strict requirements for the corpse used as the formation’s anchor—it must be a recently deceased body, and the more resentment that corpse carries, the greater the harm to the cursed child’s mind. The texts record that some, in extreme cases, have used—”

At this point, a terrifying thought suddenly flashed through Qing Xuzi’s mind. His face went pale, and unable to suppress his fear, his body began to tremble like a sieve.

Seeing this, Qin Yao and A’Han were startled and quickly gathered around him, crying out in alarm, “Master?” Qing Xuzi swallowed hard twice, forcibly pushing that terrible thought aside. Not letting his two disciples support him, he shook his head weakly. “Nüxiu carrying an infant while acting is most unusual—it’s likely tied to something she could never forget in life. Even trapped in the formation for twenty years, after breaking free, she still acts under the guise of her living memories. We cannot judge her by ordinary reasoning.”

Hearing this, A’Han glanced up at the black shadow overhead, unable to imagine what such a great fiend, born of resentment, could possibly be unable to forget—something that twenty years had failed to erase. Since his coming of age, this was the first great fiend he, his master, and A’Yao had ever jointly faced, and it was proving so troublesome that he couldn’t help wondering whether everyone present would make it through unharmed today.

But this meant their original plan had to be disrupted. The Golden Gong Net could only guarantee Nüxiu wouldn’t harm anyone else—it could not stop her from tormenting the infant in her arms. If they didn’t rescue the child soon, even if it escaped Nüxiu’s direct cruelty, the yin energy entering its body would eventually prove fatal.

The only solution now was to rely on Lin Xiao, sword in hand, to lure Nüxiu into the academy. But her yin energy was too powerful—even though Lin Xiao could barely manage close combat with her, he risked injury in doing so. Either way, things could not go perfectly.

Just as anxiety mounted, a sound rang out from above. A figure, sword in hand, leapt down from the courtyard wall directly toward Nüxiu, the movement clean and decisive, unstoppable as a force of nature—who else could it be but Lin Xiao.

Before he even reached Nüxiu, Lin Xiao already felt a thick wave of yin energy washing over him, raising goosebumps across his skin. Clenching his teeth, he withstood the bone-chilling cold and swung his sword straight at the mass of black mist.

Sensing the blade bearing down on her from behind, Nüxiu’s flame-filled eyes blazed brighter, and she retreated several inches. Then, from within the black mist, a pale white arm shot out, gripping Lin Xiao’s throat directly—even as Chixiao closed in on her at the same moment.

Touched by Chixiao’s glowing light, the black mist dispersed like thin smoke, truly revealing a human form.

Though close by, Lin Xiao, his vision going dark from being choked by Nüxiu’s grip, his eyelids feeling impossibly heavy, struggled even to stay conscious, let alone make out Nüxiu’s true face.

Qin Yao, however, saw it clearly, her heart in a panic unlike any she’d felt before. She quickly flung a straw rope she had prepared earlier at Nüxiu. Since Nüxiu was momentarily restrained by Chixiao and unable to roam freely as before, Qin Yao’s throw struck true, wrapping the rope around Nüxiu’s other arm.

She pulled with all her strength to drag Nüxiu into the formation, but because her inner power was insufficient, it was like trying to pull a massive boulder—even using every last bit of her strength, she couldn’t move it an inch. Fortunately, the outside disturbance forced Nüxiu’s hand around Lin Xiao’s throat to loosen.

A’Han and Qing Xuzi could not let Qin Yao face Nüxiu alone. Each gathering their full inner power, they rushed forward to help her pull.

With the three of them working together, Nüxiu was finally dragged down several inches.

With Nüxiu temporarily unable to attend to him, Lin Xiao’s Chixiao was able to close in even further.

Scorched by Chixiao’s light, the black mist around Nüxiu could not gather as before, and the human form within became increasingly clear. Lin Xiao focused his gaze and saw a young woman with a deathly pale face, dressed in tattered black robes, giving off a stench of decay, her form withered, utterly bloodless from head to toe. Where her eyes should have been bright and clear, flames now burned instead. Her lips were dry and cracked, her hair disheveled—a terrifying sight to behold—and yet, even so, one could still faintly make out the beautiful features she must have had in life.

In her arms she held an infant, half-asleep, occasionally disturbed enough to open dazed eyes. Strangest of all, though held by Nüxiu, the child, as though seeking its mother’s milk, would now and then nuzzle into the crook of her arm.

Qing Xuzi and the others, exerting all their strength to pull Nüxiu down, had no time to study her true face closely. But the emperor, who had remained silent the entire time in the courtyard, suddenly stood, and ignoring the wound on his leg, stumbled toward the patch of ground closest to Nüxiu. He looked up, and upon seeing the woman’s form clearly, his mouth fell open soundlessly, and he cried out in terror, “A’Hui?”

Hearing this cry, Qing Xuzi and Yuan Jue both froze, their expressions changing as they snapped their heads toward Nüxiu.

Just then, unable to withstand the combined pull of master and disciples any longer, Nüxiu fell from midair, landing right at Qin Yao’s feet.

But Nüxiu’s power was far beyond that of an ordinary spirit. Before Qin Yao and A’Han could combine the Soul-Devourer’s flame against her, she gave a low, eerie laugh and, moving like a fierce gale, darted aside, seized a servant from the Wang household, and tore the man in two, her eyes already fixed on her next target.

Seeing the danger, Qin Yao and A’Han quickly combined their power to direct the Boundless Mirror at Nüxiu, while also summoning the Soul-Devourer’s flame to entangle her. Lin Xiao, too, had already leapt down from the wall, swinging Chixiao to block Nüxiu’s path.

Even as the three of them struggled to contain Nüxiu, they wondered why the Golden Gong Net wasn’t doing its job—as if something had gone wrong with the formation. Stranger still, with Nüxiu so close at hand, their master had made no move at all.

In the midst of the chaos, a glance toward their master revealed his face even paler than Nüxiu’s, as though he’d been struck by some binding spell, standing frozen in place, eyes fixed on Nüxiu, irises blood-red, nostrils flaring uncontrollably, looking on the verge of madness.

They were all secretly shocked, unable to understand why Qing Xuzi had suddenly changed so drastically.

A moment later, Qing Xuzi finally regained the ability to move. Stiffly, he stumbled step by step toward Nüxiu. The instant he opened his mouth to speak, it was as though something had struck him through the spine—he could no longer support himself, doubling over in agony, weeping with heartrending grief: “A’Ling, oh A’Ling! Why must your fate be so bitter? Had I known, your brother in cultivation would never have let you be sent to Chang’an, even at the cost of half my life. A’Ling—”

With every cry, it was as though someone twisted a blade in his throat. Though his weeping was not loud, it carried unbearable grief, every word piercing to the heart, enough to bring tears to anyone listening.

A’Han had no idea who this A’Ling his master spoke of was, but Qin Yao and Lin Xiao both went cold all over, looking at each other and then at Nüxiu, too stunned to think clearly. Could the corpse Consort Yi had used as the formation’s anchor all those years ago truly have been Consort Hui?

Suddenly a figure came rushing forward, snatching up the still-motionless Consort Yi from the ground, screaming hoarsely, “I’ll kill you, you poisonous woman!”

Qin Yao looked up to see Yuan Jue, his eyes bloodshot, his features twisted, all his former composure and serenity vanished, nothing left but pure malice on his face. He grabbed Consort Yi by the hair and began dragging her toward the deep pit where Consort Hui’s body had once been buried. “You know how to set up formations to harm people, don’t you? Good! Today I’ll let you taste the agony of ten thousand needles piercing your heart, you wretched woman!”

“Your Majesty!” Consort Yi struggled desperately, crying out in panic, “This monk has gone mad! Save me! This humble consort has served Your Majesty faithfully for over twenty years, never once careless—how could Your Majesty let a single word from others erase all our years together? You know how I’ve treated the Crown Prince all these years—my heart is as clear as the sun and moon. If you cannot trust others, surely you can trust me?”

She screamed for a long while, but seeing the emperor only staring fixedly at Nüxiu, paying her no heed at all, she choked, then turned to call urgently for the Crown Prince and Prince Wu. “Sixth Son! Seventh Son! Think of something, quickly!”

Prince Wu, naturally unable to bear watching his mother suffer such humiliation, glared furiously at Yuan Jue, struggling desperately, but bound too tightly and gagged besides, he could not budge an inch no matter how he struggled.

Hearing Consort Yi’s screaming, the Crown Prince seemed to finally stir from unconsciousness. But having struck his head on a rock in the courtyard when he fell earlier, a large bruise had swollen on his head. Though he tried hard to lift his head, a wave of dizziness sent him crashing back down, and he passed out again.

“This is how you used A’Ling’s body to set up the formation back then! Today I’ll use you the same way!” Yuan Jue, completely beyond reason now, struck Consort Yi hard across the face as he spoke, using full force—her once fair, beautiful face swelled visibly in an instant, and two of her teeth were knocked loose. “All the nails driven into A’Ling’s corpse back then are right beside this very pit—I’ll return every single one to you!”

He continued cursing at the emperor as well. “Open your eyes and look! This is the woman you’ve doted on for twenty years! A heartless, poisonous shrew! Ask her how she’s tormented Consort Hui and her son all these years!”

The emperor, struck as if by lightning, managed to piece together a fragment of meaning from Yuan Jue’s incoherent ravings. He stared blankly at the woman he had once adored so deeply, now tortured beyond recognition, his heart shattering as if cut by a blade. He slowly sank to his knees, weeping hoarsely, “A’Hui? Is it truly you?”

Nüxiu, previously suppressed somewhat by the Golden Gong Net above and barely held in check by the three of them, now found herself free of restraint as Yuan Jue’s madness broke the formation. She broke loose entirely from the Twin Soul Formation, sweeping like the wind toward Minister Wang nearby, on the verge of tearing him apart.

Qing Xuzi, however, snatched the straw rope from Qin Yao’s hand and flung it onto Nüxiu, temporarily restraining her, then shouted tearfully to A’Han, “A’Han! That is your mother! She shares your blood, and all these years the one she’s never been able to forget is you! You alone can awaken her senses now—quickly, take blood from your fingertip and place it in her eyes!”

He also shouted to Yuan Jue, “Yuan Jue! Now is not the time to settle scores with that wretched woman! Subdue A’Ling first, deal with everything else later!”

A’Han, ashen-faced, looked at Qing Xuzi, his voice hoarse, his trembling finger pointing at Nüxiu. “What did you say? She’s my mother?”

Hearing this, the emperor’s body swayed. He turned, looking at A’Han in disbelief, and upon studying him, froze completely—though the boy wore plain Daoist robes, his features were strikingly handsome, and one glance was all it took to recognize the youthful contours of A’Ling’s face.

Seeing this turn of events, Consort Yi struggled desperately beneath Yuan Jue, shouting indistinctly, “Your Majesty, do not listen to these wicked monks and priests’ sweet words! They harbor wolfish ambitions, wishing to throw the imperial bloodline into chaos—who knows where they dug up this wild Daoist, this is utterly absurd, Your Majesty must not fall for these scoundrels’ trap!”

Yuan Jue flung Consort Yi aside and strode quickly to where the formation was set, his eyes blood-red, reestablishing the formation. The Golden Gong Net descended once more over Nüxiu. Scorched by the golden light, the sound of Buddhist chanting ringing in her ears, her movements finally slowed, and the infant in her arms, losing its support, slipped from her grasp.

Lin Xiao’s expression shifted slightly, and with quick reflexes he caught the child.

Qin Yao rushed to Lin Xiao’s side and looked at the infant in his arms—the child’s face, though tinged purple from the cold of the yin energy, showed no sign of yin corruption taking hold; he would only need a few True Yang Pills to stabilize his yang energy, with no lasting harm.

She wondered privately—could it be that Nüxiu, fearing to harm the child while holding him, had deliberately suppressed her yin energy?

Not daring to look any longer, Qin Yao and Lin Xiao handed the child to Qu Chen Shi nearby, then took a spirit talisman and had Qu Chen Shi brew talisman water for the child to drink.

“Quick, A’Han, take blood from your finger to anoint her eyes,” Qing Xuzi called urgently. “She’s only just broken free of the formation and has not yet fully turned demonic. You share her blood and possess a rare pure-yang body—using this method to save her is not too late!”

A’Han wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded. He bit his fingertip and was about to approach, but before he could even touch Nüxiu’s body, her overwhelmingly cold killing aura forced him back two steps.

Yuan Jue’s chanting rose several notches in volume, and the Golden Gong Net’s brightness intensified beyond before. Qin Yao, too, summoned the Soul-Devourer to protect her senior brother, fearing things might fail midway, and borrowed Lin Xiao’s inner power to drive the Soul-Devourer’s flame to its peak.

Nüxiu, overwhelmed by this sudden burst of spiritual power, was finally held completely still, her flame-burning eyes fixed unwaveringly on A’Han, watching him approach yet unable for the moment to release her yin energy against him.

A’Han, tears streaming down his face without his realizing it, kept driving his inner power to resist Nüxiu’s yin aura, yet the hand stained with his own blood remained perfectly steady. Reaching Nüxiu’s eyes, he looked solemnly at his mother and slowly brought the crimson drop of blood to those two burning flames, murmuring something under his breath. The two flickering flames, as though meeting water, extinguished in an instant. No one present had ever witnessed such a sight, and all forgot to make a sound. Even the monks watched with bated breath, so absorbed that several of them let their bronze bowls tilt without noticing.

Just as everyone realized the Golden Gong Net had dimmed once more, Nüxiu suddenly broke free of Lin Xiao and Qin Yao’s restraint. Before anyone could react, she retreated swiftly to the side and seized the Crown Prince and Prince Wu from the ground, hoisting them high into the air.

Watching this, Qin Yao sighed in disappointment—had the method truly not worked after all? Yet the killing aura around them had clearly weakened considerably. If it had been entirely useless, where had that energy gone?

The Crown Prince and Prince Wu, throats crushed tight in Nüxiu’s grip, couldn’t utter a single word. Their faces turned blue-black, eyes bulging, their lives clearly in danger as they struggled desperately.

Consort Yi, watching in utter horror, scrambled up from the ground and rushed to the emperor’s side, her speech slurred as she begged him, “Your Majesty, if you don’t care whether I live or die, do you not even care for Sixth Son and Seventh Son?”

But the emperor ignored her cries entirely, his soul and spirit consumed only by watching Nüxiu.

With no other recourse, Consort Yi rushed to Lin Xiao’s side, shaking his arm desperately, cursing at him bitterly. “You speak so much of benevolence and righteousness—now, watching your own two brothers being tortured by this demon, you do nothing? Where has your so-called loyalty and righteousness gone?”

After cursing at him for some time and seeing Lin Xiao remain coldly unmoved, paying her no attention at all, Consort Yi grew increasingly desperate. Seeing the Crown Prince and Prince Wu on the verge of being strangled to death, she had no choice but to run to Nüxiu’s side and kneel down in despair, kowtowing repeatedly. “A’Hui, it was I who wronged you back then, I who harmed you—but what happened then has nothing to do with these two children of mine. Whatever grievance you hold, direct it at me. They know nothing—please, I beg you, spare them!”

Watching from the side, Qin Yao felt nothing but contempt—had this woman ever once shown mercy when she used such cruel methods to harm others back then?

Just as she thought this, she noticed that her master and Yuan Jue had, at some point, lowered their ritual implements, yet the surrounding killing aura had not increased in the slightest. Surprised, she looked up at Nüxiu’s profile and grew even more certain that A’Han’s blood had indeed had an effect on her.