When Qin Yao was roused awake by Lin Xiao, she found herself still lying in the garden behind the academy’s dormitory, a wave of nausea churning in her chest. The moment she moved, her whole body felt as though it had fallen apart.
Lin Xiao’s face was pale, his eyes full of anxiety. Seeing Qin Yao open her eyes, his expression finally eased somewhat, but the arms holding her still didn’t dare relax in the slightest.
“Where’s Nüxiu?” Qin Yao was dazed for a moment, then suddenly remembered the scene right before she’d blacked out, and with a jolt of alarm, sat bolt upright out of Lin Xiao’s arms.
Just before, after tearing Eunuch Mi and his men to shreds, Nüxiu had turned to come after them. Though Soul-Devouring Flame had stood in its way, Nüxiu’s malevolence soared sky-high, and it had quickly lunged at the person closest to it — Lin Xiao — reaching through the flames to seize him by the throat.
Qin Yao’s heart had shattered in terror. She had rushed to one side, snatched up Chixiao — which had been knocked flying when Nüxiu first manifested — and hastily thrust it into Lin Xiao’s hands, while Qing Xuzi and Yuan Jue had activated the magical implements in their own hands at the same time, straining with all their might to help free Lin Xiao.
Under this combined assault from several directions, Lin Xiao had felt the crushing force at his throat finally ease, and with great difficulty he had raised Chixiao and driven it in a single thrust into Nüxiu.
Nüxiu’s entire form had been shrouded in black mist, with only its pair of eyes burning like flame visible. Pierced by Chixiao, the black mist had scattered, revealing the human shape within — a woman’s body.
Qin Yao had seen it clearly. It seemed that the corpse Consort Yi and Eunuch Mi had used as the formation’s eye all those years ago had been a woman’s — though whose body it had been, she didn’t know. Given the circumstances at the time, it was very likely the corpse of some maidservant from the princely household.
The moment Chixiao had come into Lin Xiao’s hand, it began to unleash the power of an ancient divine artifact, blazing with dazzling light. Though Nüxiu hadn’t seemed especially frightened, it had still been forced to retreat a couple of steps, momentarily avoiding the blade’s edge.
The instant it pulled away from Chixiao, the black mist around it had quickly gathered again, its resentment soaring sky-high, refusing to back down. Turning its head and spotting Qin Yao nearby, it had immediately closed in on her, an arm reaching out from the black mist, intending to seize her throat just as it had Lin Xiao’s.
But the instant it made contact with Qin Yao’s body, before Lin Xiao’s Chixiao could even reach it, it seemed to sense something. It lowered its head to look at Qin Yao’s lower abdomen, a flicker of momentary surprise crossing it, and then, almost at once, its murderous aura flared even higher. Abandoning Qin Yao’s throat, it lunged like the wind straight for her lower abdomen instead, as though something hidden there had caught its keen interest.
Yet it was precisely in that brief moment of distraction that Lin Xiao managed to swing Chixiao down onto its arm, while at the same time, Yuan Jue’s sarira prayer beads had already been activated, emitting needle-sharp beams of Buddhist light that pierced into its body like so many needles.
Nüxiu let out a harsh, grating laugh, standing in place as it spread both arms wide, releasing the black mist that covered its entire body. Qin Yao and the others felt the cold suddenly intensify, and before they could even react, they were sent flying far off by the force of it.
Nüxiu then shot up above the courtyard, letting out shriek after piercing shriek that shook the entire academy as though heaven and earth themselves were trembling, before streaking off beyond the academy like a falling star.
Qin Yao and the others, caught in the wash of Nüxiu’s malevolent energy, had all lost consciousness. By the time they woke again, Nüxiu was nowhere to be found.
“Where are Master and the others?” Qin Yao had only just opened her mouth to speak to Lin Xiao when a wave of nausea hit her, and she couldn’t help but retch twice.
Lin Xiao, assuming Qin Yao had been injured by Nüxiu, was overcome with anguish. He pulled her into his arms and patted her back gently, over and over. “Master and Senior Brother are both fine for now. My dear Yao Yao, are you feeling unwell? Don’t try to speak — just close your eyes and rest for a moment.”
Qin Yao had no time to answer Lin Xiao, turning her head aside to retch for a while. Though nothing actually came up, she felt the foul churning in her chest ease considerably.
Still in Lin Xiao’s arms, she gripped the front of his robe and caught her breath for a while, then lifted her head to look toward her master, where she saw Qing Xuzi and Yuan Jue bent over, searching for something on the ground, while Senior Brother stood off to one side in a daze, his eyes full of confusion, seemingly lost in thought over something.
Something stirred in Qin Yao’s heart. Seeing the brightness in her senior brother’s eyes and the way his expression seemed somehow different from before, she thought to herself — could it be that Senior Brother had already regained his sanity?
Though she knew this clarity would only last three years at most, she was still overjoyed, struggling to stand up out of Lin Xiao’s arms.
Unable to overrule her, Lin Xiao had no choice but to help her up, refusing to let her run, holding her hand firmly as he led her over to A’Han.
“Senior Brother?” Qin Yao, suppressing the anxious flutter in her chest, called out tentatively, half-afraid this was nothing more than wishful thinking on her part, that Senior Brother hadn’t truly regained his clarity at all.
Hearing Qin Yao’s soft call, A’Han’s eyes slowly turned, settling on her, his awareness gathering itself bit by bit. But before he could speak, a violent headache struck, and he furrowed his long brows in pain, letting out an involuntary low cry.
Hearing the sound, Qing Xuzi rose and strode over to A’Han’s side, looking at him. “Your mind has been sealed shut for nineteen years. Now that it’s been suddenly released, there must naturally be a period of recovery. It’s perfectly normal for the headaches to be unbearable during this time — think and exert your mind as little as possible. Once you’ve weathered this period, it will gradually get better.”
Qin Yao, overjoyed beyond words, said, “So Senior Brother really has recovered, then?”
Hearing this, Lin Xiao studied A’Han carefully from where he stood. Though his features remained the same, there was now a steadiness in his every gesture befitting his age, and the foolish, simple-minded air that had so often shown on his face before had vanished entirely — he seemed almost like an entirely different person. Lin Xiao couldn’t help but marvel quietly at the change.
“Found it,” Yuan Jue suddenly said, rising and walking over. In his hand was a piece of blackened iron tablet, mottled with dark bloodstains — clearly the cursed token that had been pressed beneath the corpse.
Qing Xuzi held a piece as well — when Nüxiu had broken free of the formation earlier, its malevolent force had split this cursed token, which had originally been pieced together as one, into two halves.
“It’s a pity we happened to be caught right as Nüxiu emerged, so we weren’t able to break the formation through the proper, orthodox method,” Qing Xuzi said with regret. “As things stand now, the only way to spare your senior brother the risk of falling back into idiocy three years from now is to fully dissolve Nüxiu’s resentment. The patriarch’s writings say these two tokens can be neither smashed nor melted, but that the moment Nüxiu’s resentment is dissolved, the tokens can be divided between two people possessing spiritual power, to bear their burden — after which, performing the ritual once every three years can prevent the one under suppression from ever falling into idiocy again. It’s a lasting, sustainable solution, in its way. We simply don’t yet know who Nüxiu will choose, when the time comes, to be the bearers of these two tokens.”
“Now that the tokens have been found, the rest can wait until later,” Yuan Jue cut in, interrupting Qing Xuzi. His voice carried none of its usual calm steadiness, but was instead filled with anxiety. “Nüxiu will soon summon countless resentful spirits to put Chang’an to slaughter. We must hurry to track down its whereabouts, and devise a way to suppress it before matters spiral beyond all control.”
Hearing this, Qin Yao looked up. By the hour, it should already have been broad daylight, yet the sky above Chang’an remained shrouded in darkness — clearly, until Nüxiu was eliminated, the city of Chang’an would have no chance of seeing light again anytime soon.
No sooner had Yuan Jue finished speaking than several malevolent corpses burst out from beneath the academy grounds, each one with a face mangled beyond recognition, resentment soaring skyward, charging stiffly straight at the group — clearly having just answered Nüxiu’s summons and risen from the earth.
Qin Yao understood clearly that countless more such resentful spirits, answering Nüxiu’s call, were surging toward Chang’an from every direction like a rising tide.
Qing Xuzi loosed several talismans in succession, pinning the malevolent corpses in place, and Qin Yao summoned Soul-Devourer once more, burning them to ash one by one.
“Master Daoist, Master Abbot,” Lin Xiao said, knowing the gravity of the situation, after a moment’s thought. “Nüxiu’s whereabouts are uncertain, and we likely won’t be able to find it any time soon. In the meantime, we need to prevent the resentful spirits from slaughtering innocents throughout the city. As I see it, the academy grounds are vast enough to hold several thousand people. If you, Master Daoist, and you, Master Abbot, were to set a warding array outside the courtyard walls, it should be able to hold back the spirits from breaching the grounds. Why don’t we leave a few people here to set the array, while the rest of us go bring as many of the surrounding residents into the academy as we can — protecting as many as possible.”
“An excellent plan.” Yuan Jue nodded his approval at once. “I would also ask that you, my lord, send someone to escort this humble monk to Dayin Temple. This monk’s temple has no shortage of disciples, and whether dealing with the resentful spirits or with Nüxiu itself, their assistance will surely be needed.”
Lin Xiao nodded, then turned to look at Qin Yao. “You’re coming with me.”
This was exactly what Qin Yao had intended as well — no matter how things developed, she didn’t want to be parted from Lin Xiao, not even for a moment.
The group left Qing Xuzi and A’Han behind in the academy to set the array, and hurried out of the academy grounds.
The moment they reached the academy gate, strange sounds came drifting from outside. Stepping out, they saw the soldiers wildly hacking their weapons at empty air, several times even striking their own comrades by accident.
Jiang Sanlang’s expression wasn’t good either; seated on his horse, he kept shaking the reins, urging the animal to spin in place, as though desperately trying to shake something off.
Qin Yao opened her Heaven’s Eye to look and saw that no small number of resentful spirits had already crept in among the soldiers, clinging to their bodies and blowing yin energy into them, trying to drain their yang energy.
Behind Jiang Sanlang clung a female ghost in red robes with long flowing hair, her tongue extending unnaturally long as she happily licked at his cheek.
There were far too many ghostly intruders for Qin Yao to bother dealing with one by one, so she had Soul-Devourer burn them all away in a single sweep of flame, then called out to Jiang Sanlang, “Third Brother, take shelter inside the academy for now, and tell my master that there are already a good number of resentful spirits outside — have him cast the Six Harmonies Array as wide as possible, to protect all the soldiers within it.”
Jiang Sanlang had just felt the eerie chill behind him vanish into nothing when he saw Qin Yao and Lin Xiao’s group emerging, and realized at once that it must have been his sister-in-law who’d driven the malevolent spirit away for him. He quickly called back, “Good, I’ll go in right away.”
Lin Xiao pulled Qin Yao up into the carriage, and also had a carriage prepared to send Yuan Jue to Dayin Temple. He ordered Wei Bo and Chang Rong to personally take the reins, harnessing a dozen or so carriages, and they spurred their horses out into the darkness-shrouded streets of Chang’an.