The swirling black mist, as if alive, continuously penetrated the young woman’s heart, slowly consuming that once clear-as-crystal heart. Hatred and resentment gradually engulfed her entire heart, and the young woman’s gentle eyes became filled with fury. She stared fixedly at the red-clad Ashina Wuduo wielding the whip, the barb-covered lash falling heavily on her beloved’s body again and again. A splash of fresh blood landed in the young woman’s eye. Her pupils contracted sharply, and crimson spread through them, completely devouring her last shred of rationality.
Suddenly, Ashina Wuduo could no longer wield her whip. An invisible force pulled it away, suspending it in midair. Ashina Wuduo turned around in astonishment. Li Ying had slowly risen from the center of the talismans, her double-bun hairstyle loosened, her dark hair cascading down like a waterfall, covering her snow-white face. Blood flowed from her pupils, slowly sliding down her face like bloody tears.
The Palace Guards’ hair stood on end. Although they had drunk black dog blood and could see Li Ying, they still greatly feared ghosts. Witnessing this eerie scene, they were so frightened that their legs trembled. Ashina Wuduo shouted: “Useless creatures! She’s trapped by the talismans—what are you afraid she’ll do?”
She pointed at Li Ying: “You, go kill her!”
The Palace Guards had no choice but to draw their swords and approach Li Ying with trembling steps. But before they could get close, Li Ying’s black mist suddenly dispersed around her body like ropes, encircling their necks and suspending them in the air.
The Palace Guards flailed their arms uselessly in the air, struggling desperately. Cui Xun, beaten nearly to death, struggled to prop himself up. He looked in shock at the Palace Guards suffocating in midair and murmured: “Stop! Moon Pearl! Stop quickly!”
If she didn’t stop, she would transform into a vengeful ghost!
But Li Ying had already stepped over the yellow talismans that confined her, as if treading on insignificant withered leaves. She slowly approached Ashina Wuduo. Ashina Wuduo was so terrified that her face turned ashen. She hurriedly ran toward the cell exit but was blocked by the black mist. Li Ying extended her hand, and the barbed whip, as if it had eyes, fell into her hand. Li Ying held the whip and asked Ashina Wuduo word by word: “Do you enjoy torturing people?”
Ashina Wuduo backed away, but the whip, like a slithering snake, lashed across her face. Ashina Wuduo fell to the ground in pain. Li Ying asked: “Does it hurt?”
A hideous, bloody mark appeared on Ashina Wuduo’s face. Li Ying’s lips formed a cruel smile that had never appeared before. She looked down at Ashina Wuduo, who was curled up on the ground: “When the whip falls on your own body, does it hurt?”
Ashina Wuduo gritted her teeth. In extreme pain, her body shook like a sieve, but she still defiantly glared at Li Ying: “Have you become a vengeful ghost for Cui Xun? Hahaha, a vengeful ghost who kills people will not be spared by all the gods and Buddhas!”
Her words further enraged Li Ying. The whip fell heavily, each stroke harder than the last. Cui Xun grabbed the iron bars of the cage, trying to stand up, but collapsed again. Ashina Wuduo was struggling; the Palace Guards, being strangled in the air, were struggling. Cui Xun, ignoring his pain, crawled outward. He had to stop Li Ying—if she killed people, it would be too late!
Flesh and blood splattered from Ashina Wuduo’s body. No matter how she tried to dodge, she couldn’t escape the falling whip. Covered in wounds, she finally stopped struggling and instead painfully raised her head to look at the beautiful young man at the edge of the iron cage. But his heart and eyes were completely focused on Li Ying, who was consumed by resentment. He didn’t spare her even half a glance.
As Ashina Wuduo was about to die, she smiled instead. Only now did she understand that she wasn’t so obsessed with taming him. What she had always been obsessed with was having him look at her.
She didn’t like to call him “Lotus Slave” either. If possible, she would have preferred to call him “Young Master Cui.”
Unfortunately, she realized this too late.
Cui Xun used all his strength to crawl toward Li Ying. He wanted to stop her, but just as he was about to touch the hem of her skirt, a mass of black mist blocked him. The black mist slowly enveloped him, keeping Li Ying just out of reach, though she was right in front of him. He could only watch helplessly as Li Ying strangled the Palace Guards and whipped Ashina Wuduo to death. Bodies lay scattered on the ground, and the smell of blood filled the entire cell. Li Ying blankly lifted her foot and walked toward the cell exit.
She had now become a vengeful ghost, completely devoid of rationality. If allowed to leave, she would kill even innocent people.
Cui Xun, drawing strength from an unknown source, stood up, staggering despite his pain. He picked up a sword dropped by a Palace Guard and called out: “Moon Pearl!”
Li Ying finally turned around, but her eyes still showed complete bewilderment, as if the person before her was not her beloved but a stranger.
Cui Xun held the sword hilt, placing the blade across his neck: “Moon Pearl, you cannot let resentment control you anymore. You will fall beyond redemption!”
Li Ying tilted her head, looking at him in confusion. Cui Xun moved the sword closer to his neck: “If you don’t wake up, I’ll kill myself!”
The sword pressed against his already blood-covered neck. Fresh blood dripped down the sword tip. Li Ying stared blankly at the blood dripping onto the bluestone bricks. She looked up, and her eyes finally regained a bit of clarity: “Seventeen?”
Cui Xun smiled with relief. He could no longer support himself and collapsed to one knee. Li Ying was startled and rushed to support him: “Seventeen…”
She looked around in confusion at the bodies strewn everywhere: “This… did I do this?”
Cui Xun grasped her cold hand, repeatedly comforting her: “It’s alright… It’s alright…”
The black mist around Li Ying was rapidly dissipating, but at the same time, the white spiritual power was flying out of her body and quickly dispersing. The bluestone cell echoed with Sanskrit sounds that gradually weakened. She was already a ghost, able to walk among the living only through the support of forty thousand Buddhist temples across the country. But now, having transformed into a vengeful ghost and killed many people, under the backlash of Buddhist law, her soul was about to scatter.
Li Ying’s body went limp and fell into Cui Xun’s arms. Spiritual power rapidly poured out of her body. She managed a weak smile: “I… I don’t regret killing them… Seventeen, I’m so glad you’re safe…”
The white spiritual power and the Sanskrit sounds completely vanished. Li Ying’s body grew increasingly weak. Tears fell from Cui Xun’s eyes like pearls from a broken string, landing on the back of her hand. Li Ying made a final effort to raise her hand, wanting to wipe away Cui Xun’s tears, but her wrist fell limply. She leaned against Cui Xun’s chest and slowly closed her eyes.
When Yu Fuwei was dragged to Cui Xun’s mansion by a mute servant, he was greatly startled, wondering if he had somehow offended Cui Xun recently. When he anxiously pushed open the door, what met his eyes was the blood-covered Cui Xun and Li Ying, who lay on a sandalwood couch, her face as white as paper.
Yu Fuwei almost fell in his panic. He rushed to Li Ying’s couch and knelt: “What happened?”
Cui Xun grabbed his sleeve: “Yu Fuwei! Save her!”
“What happened to the Princess?”
Cui Xun took a breath, trying to be concise as he explained what had happened in the cell. As Yu Fuwei listened, his brows furrowed increasingly: “The Princess killed people? No, how could she kill people?”
He glared at Cui Xun. With Li Ying’s soul about to scatter, his blood rushed to his head. Disregarding the difference between officials and commoners, he almost wanted to kill Cui Xun to vent his anger. If not for Cui Xun’s romantic entanglements, Li Ying wouldn’t have killed to protect him. But Yu Fuwei’s clenched fist eventually relaxed. He wasn’t an unreasonable person. These romantic entanglements weren’t something Cui Xun had sought; indeed, Cui Xun was also a victim.
So he sighed and said, “I will find a way to save the Princess, but your wounds need treatment too.”
But Cui Xun was already in a daze, unable to hear anything. He held Li Ying’s hand, not daring to let go for a moment. Yu Fuwei had no choice but to say: “If you won’t treat your wounds, that’s up to you, but please let go so I can check the Princess’s pulse.”
Only then did Cui Xun come to his senses and release her hand. Yu Fuwei placed three fingers on Li Ying’s wrist. Cui Xun looked at him pleadingly: “How is she?”
Yu Fuwei didn’t respond immediately. After a moment, he tucked Li Ying’s wrist back under the brocade quilt and said with puzzlement: “It’s strange, the Princess’s heart meridian isn’t broken.”
“You say her heart meridian isn’t broken?”
“Normally, under the backlash of Buddhist law, the Princess’s heart meridian should be completely severed, and her soul should scatter immediately. But some force has preserved a thread of the Princess’s heart meridian, also preserving her soul.”
Cui Xun felt slightly relieved: “Then can Moon Pearl be saved?”
“Yes and no.” Yu Fuwei pondered: “Didn’t the Princess experience a backlash of Buddhist law once before?”
Cui Xun was startled: “Yes.”
That was when Li Ying had forcibly appeared before Wang Ranxi. As a ghost, unless the living could see her naturally, she couldn’t actively use spiritual power to manifest before the living and disturb the order of the human realm. Yu Fuwei said: “That time, the Princess also had a thread of her heart meridian intact. But it’s like a lamp—before the oil burns out, the lamp won’t extinguish. However, once the oil is gone, the lamp will go out.”
“You mean we need to find a way to save Moon Pearl before her heart meridian is completely severed?”
Yu Fuwei nodded: “Yes.”
“Last time, it was the haritaki fruit that saved Moon Pearl.” Cui Xun murmured. He suddenly grabbed Yu Fuwei’s arm, pleading: “Yu Fuwei, please find another haritaki fruit. I’ll pay any amount of gold and silver!”
Yu Fuwei pulled away: “This isn’t about money! I have as much gold and silver as I want—I don’t need yours! The issue is, I’ve told you before, the haritaki fruit grows on the banks of the Nai River in the netherworld. It can heal ghosts, but this fruit only produces one every fifty years. Last time, I bought one to save the Princess. But this time, how can the Princess wait another fifty years?”
Cui Xun was nearly desperate. Suddenly, he thought of something: “Buddha’s relics! That time with the cat ghost, Jiang Liang was also about to have his soul scattered. Moon Pearl gave him Buddha’s relics, which repaired his soul and prevented its scattering. If we could find Buddha’s relics, we could surely save Moon Pearl!”
Hearing this, Yu Fuwei was also delighted: “Yes, Buddha’s relics!”
But then he shook his head: “No, that won’t work. Setting aside the fact that Buddha’s relics are far away in the Western Regions and couldn’t be brought back in time to save the Princess, Jiang Liang’s soul was scattered by the North Star Evil-Breaking Talisman, so Buddha’s relics couldn’t save him. But the Princess is different. She suffered from the backlash of Buddhist law. Ordinary Buddha’s relics couldn’t save her.”
Cui Xun gritted his teeth: “Is there no way to save Moon Pearl?”
“No, although other Buddha’s relics are far in the Western Regions, Chang’an has one.”
Cui Xun was stunned. The Famen Temple in Chang’an enshrined Buddha’s relics that the Founding Emperor had brought back from Magadha. When Li Ying was five years old, Emperor Taichang and Empress Zheng had entered the Buddhist pagoda to offer their hair in devotion to the relics. Yu Fuwei continued: “Heaven favors the Princess. The one in Famen Temple’s pagoda happens to be the Buddha’s Crown Relic.”
The Buddha’s Crown Relic, formed from Buddha’s skull bone, was the world’s most supreme sacred object. Those who venerated the Buddha’s Crown Relic would not fall into hell after death and would receive boundless blessings.
If they could obtain the Buddha’s Crown Relic, they could certainly save Li Ying.