Qin Yao was just about to answer when a stir arose all around them, and from the east and west side rooms a line of seven or eight women came filing out in graceful procession — every one of them adorned with flowers and jewels, richly dressed and fine-featured, not in the least inferior in appearance to the lovely young woman at Jiang Sanlang’s side.
Qin Yao cast her eyes across them one by one, inwardly marveling. The Duke of Lu’s household truly lived up to its reputation as a family of a hundred years’ standing: the women kept in this one Third Young Master’s quarters alone put on a display rivaling that of the primary wife of an ordinary noble household.
“Is there anyone still remaining inside who hasn’t come out?” Jiang Sanlang asked a middle-aged woman who had the look of a head matron.
“To answer the Young Master: every last person from our Zhuqin Courtyard is here — not one is missing.”
Jiang Sanlang turned to look at Qin Yao, and raised an eyebrow: “Please proceed, Daoist.”
Qin Yao surveyed the courtyard and smiled: “Would all the young ladies please move a bit further back, so that when this poor Daoist performs the rite in a moment, no one is accidentally harmed.”
At those words, the concubines all turned their heads in unison and looked at Jiang Sanlang with coy, aggrieved expressions. As they moved, the jeweled ornaments in their hair began to sway and tinkle, filling the courtyard with a cheerful ringing.
Lin Xiao’s brow furrowed slightly.
But Jiang Sanlang paid the beauties and their sidelong glances not the slightest attention. He straightforwardly took A’Miao by the hand and walked far over to a corner of the courtyard — very much in the manner of a detached spectator.
The beauties cast their flirtatious glances to the wind for nothing, and having no other option, had little choice but to drift unwillingly apart.
Before long, a wide expanse of open space had been cleared in the middle of the courtyard.
Qin Yao gave a satisfied nod, walked to the center of the courtyard, found a suitable position, and cried out sharply: “Go—!” She released the three Fire Dragons from the Soul-Devouring Bell.
The Fire Dragons first circled high above the courtyard, then plunged straight downward; all three merged into one column, standing on the ground and forming a ring of fire over a man’s height tall.
Surrounded by the onlookers’ looks of alarm and fear, Qin Yao pointed to the ring of fire that was illuminating the courtyard bright as daylight, and said: “These Fire Dragons were refined in ancient times by the Supreme Pure Numinous Treasure Celestial of the Upper Purity Heavens, expressly for the purpose of driving out demons and evil from the mortal world. They are highly spiritually attuned — they can burn away the physical forms of ordinary demons and monsters, and can also reduce their very souls and spirits to ash and smoke, ensuring they can never be reborn into any existence. Hence the formidable name they carry: Soul-Devouring.” As she spoke, her gaze swept slowly over the assembled onlookers, taking in each person’s expression one by one.
“But this ‘soul-devouring’ quality applies only to demons and evil entities. For ordinary people it poses not the slightest harm. Even if one were to be accidentally grazed by its flames, there would be no injury whatsoever. And so I ask that all of you here present, following my instructions, pass through this ring of fire one by one in turn — so that this poor Daoist may identify the one who has been possessed by the malevolent entity.”
Before Qin Yao had even finished speaking, the assembled crowd erupted in a buzzing uproar, the whole courtyard filling with the low hum of anxious murmuring. Every person looked uncertain and afraid: what mortal flesh-and-blood body could walk through roaring flames and come out completely unscathed? The words of this little Daoist were surely the stuff of fantasy.
Several of the younger maidservants even began to weep in fear.
Qin Yao sighed helplessly, then took the initiative herself — walking straight up to the Soul-Devouring ring of fire, she stepped through it without hesitation, then shook out her Daoist robes and looked at everyone in the courtyard. “Well? Can you all believe this poor Daoist now?”
The assembled crowd still huddled back and refused to move, the resistance in their eyes perfectly plain: you are a Daoist with the protection of your arts — how can ordinary folk like us possibly compare to you?
Lin Xiao stood at Qin Yao’s side. Taking in the scene, he simply put one hand behind his back with his sword and stepped cleanly and unhesitatingly through the ring of fire.
When the crowd saw that Lin Xiao had not so much as a singed thread on his robes — not a single hair out of place — they finally showed a slight sign of yielding, but still no one dared step forward to try.
At this point, the exquisitely beautiful young woman sheltering behind Jiang Sanlang tugged timidly at his sleeve: “My lord, that ring of fire is so frightening — your concubine is truly afraid—”
Jiang Sanlang bent his head and murmured a few soft words of reassurance.
A moment later he straightened, and looked at Qin Yao with barely restrained fury: “Is there truly no other method? Must you frighten people like this?”
Lin Xiao had long since grown tired of watching him take that aggressive, confrontational attitude toward Qin Yao. This time he finally couldn’t hold back, and said aloud: “Then why don’t you tell us — what other method would neither harm the innocent nor most quickly identify the malevolent entity?”
Jiang Sanlang was silenced. His anger blazed so intensely that his eyes took on an unusual brightness, and his face — already pale and haggard — now took on a strange, ghastly tinge of grayish-blue.
The atmosphere abruptly became somewhat tense.
After a brief silence, someone finally spoke: “Third Brother, the demon is no ordinary thing — won’t you, if only for Father’s sake and all he has suffered today, listen properly to what the Venerable Daoist Yuanzhen says and stop being willful?” It was still the eldest, Jiang Huimin.
As he spoke, he walked closer to the ring of fire burning with leaping flames, regarded it with an expression of reverence, then seemed to make up his mind. “Strictly speaking, I came in from outside the courtyard and have no need to prove myself through this Soul-Devouring fire. But since everyone seems somewhat reluctant about this fire, I am the eldest son of the Duke of Lu’s household — everything under this roof is my responsibility. Let me go first, then, and try this remarkable object of the world for myself.”
He straightened his official hat and smoothed his purple serpent-embroidered robe with an air not entirely unlike a warrior steeling himself for a heroic sacrifice, and under the complicated gazes of all those assembled, walked firmly and with great strides through the ring of fire.
Qin Yao could barely contain an urge to applaud him. Truly worthy of being the Duke of Lu’s eldest son — his bearing and courage were of the very highest caliber.
The second son, unwilling to fall behind, immediately followed on his elder brother’s heels and stepped through the ring of fire as well.
With both young masters having submitted to the test themselves, what excuse did any of the others have? Before long, the head matron, all the young maidservants, and Jiang Sanlang’s concubines had all passed through the ring of fire one by one.
No one was harmed.
Qin Yao turned her gaze to the last two remaining in the courtyard.
Jiang Sanlang’s face was iron-grey: “This is absolutely absurd! You expect to tell human from demon by means of some inexplicable ring of fire? I refuse to believe in this nonsense! Neither A’Miao nor I will be stepping through that ring of fire today!” He turned and grabbed A’Miao by the hand, making to stride toward the gate.
Lin Xiao reached out and blocked him: “Are you out of your mind?! Who here is the demon is already perfectly obvious — and you would still protect her?!”
He attempted to pull Jiang Sanlang away from A’Miao’s side, but Jiang Sanlang’s strength was unexpectedly great. He shoved Lin Xiao back hard and said furiously: “Who says A’Miao is the demon?! I’m telling you — today I would rather die than let any of you lay a hand on A’Miao!”
His gaze burned, his expression verging on derangement.
It all happened too fast. Everyone in the courtyard — Jiang Huimin and Jiang Huihong included — stood frozen.
“Clap — clap.” Into the sudden silence came the ill-timed sound of someone beginning to applaud. “Earlier, up on the wutong tree in the garden, you said I was overreaching my abilities — looking back now, I did genuinely underestimate you.”
As she spoke, Qin Yao beckoned the Fire Dragons back, and smiled as she looked at A’Miao. “First you used the Beauty Gu Poison to seduce A’Miao into taking the gu, then you possessed her body to gain firm control over Jiang Sanlang. The shelter of A’Miao’s mortal body also concealed your demonic aura from casual detection. And even if things were exposed, Jiang Sanlang would fight to the death to protect you — meaning that even if your soul were annihilated, you could still drag Jiang Sanlang down as a sacrifice alongside you—”
Her gaze settled on the faint golden thread running along A’Miao’s arm, and she smiled a smile that did not quite reach her eyes: “This poor Daoist is most curious — exactly what manner of deep, blood-soaked grudge do you carry against the Duke of Lu’s household, to have gone to such lengths and schemed so elaborately against them?”
The words fell like a thunderclap, sending a jolt through everyone assembled. All eyes swung around at once, staring in stunned disbelief at that soft and seemingly fragile beauty.
“You said what?! A’Miao is the one who has been stirring up trouble in the residence today?” Without anyone noticing when she had entered, the Duchess of Lu had appeared in the courtyard with a retinue of servants, and had caught every last word without missing a syllable.
Jiang Huimin and Jiang Huihong hurriedly went forward to greet her. The Duchess waved them off and stepped briskly to Qin Yao’s side, her expression a mixture of shock and anger. “Is what you say true, Daoist?”
“It is.” Qin Yao’s gaze was steady, her tone certain.
The Duchess’s fury broke. She pushed the maidservant’s hand aside, crossed the distance to A’Miao in three long strides, and — crack — delivered a clean, decisive slap. “You lowly wretch! I set aside every concern about your background and agreed to let Sanlang bring you into this household, and even seeing your deep devotion to your parents, I told Sanlang to treat you well — and this is how you repay us, with such despicable, underhanded methods?! And today you even involved the Duke himself — what audacious, shameless gall you have!”
The moment the blow landed, she swept back and seized Jiang Sanlang, executed a nimble dragonfly-skimming-the-water move with practiced ease, and retreated a full ten feet in an instant.
The courtyard fell deathly silent.
Everyone present — including the A’Miao who had just been struck — stared at the Duchess as though they had seen a ghost.
That carefully concealed, supremely skilled qinggong.
That fierce, decisive, hair-trigger temper.
That swift, strike-and-retreat, catch-them-off-guard audacity.
Qin Yao was suddenly filled with profound admiration for the people of the Duke of Lu’s household. A truly remarkable woman of the age!
The turn of events had come this fast: with the Duchess having made her move, Jiang Sanlang was no longer a bargaining chip in A’Miao’s hands, and things had suddenly become far more manageable!
A’Miao’s face fell apart inch by inch. The gentle, yielding warmth that had been visible on her face at every moment was wiped away as if by a cloth, replaced by an expression of cold, menacing malice. Her face was still the same face — but it was now nearly impossible to connect the person standing before them with the A’Miao of ordinary days.
Jiang Sanlang struggled frantically: “How could A’Miao possibly be a demon?! Mother, don’t listen to this Daoist’s ravings — I have been with A’Miao day in and day out, and I know better than anyone whether she is a demon or not! Let me go! Mother!”
He looked desperately toward A’Miao, his eyes filled with nothing but anguish and heartbreak. But unfortunately, these past days his inner energy had, for no apparent reason, diminished by more than half — at this moment he probably couldn’t even defeat an ordinary person, let alone break free from his mother’s iron-vice grip.
Lin Xiao could no longer bear to watch. His fist clenched and unclenched, unclenched and clenched. What had happened to the Jiang Sanlang who had once stood out above all the young talents of Chang’an, winning first place in horsemanship and archery? He looked now for all the world like a perfect, besotted fool with his better judgment completely drowned out by desire.
He could hardly stop himself from stepping forward to give Jiang Sanlang a thorough tongue-lashing — but to his surprise, Qin Yao reached out and held him back. She shook her head at him. Useless. Scolding him won’t wake him up.
Anyone who had been struck by the Beauty Gu Poison was the same — devotion without regret, unto death. Such was the curse of the Beauty Gu Poison; it was also the most despairing hope of that ancient Witch Empress. She had poured every last thing she knew into creating the Beauty Gu Poison — for no other reason than to bind to herself the one man she could not have. Whether at the end of her story she had ever gotten her heart’s desire, no one knew. But the gu poison had endured for a hundred years, luring in one woman after another consumed by insatiable longing, and ruining one innocent victim after another who had been snared by it.
“Ha.” Into the hush, A’Miao suddenly let out a low, eerie laugh. “A little Daoist still wet behind the ears, hasn’t even finished growing teeth yet, and she dares stand here and give orders to me!”
As she spoke, she spread her arms wide, gave a light tap of her feet, and in full view of everyone present began to rise slowly into the air. “You have opposed me at every turn, ruining my plans again and again — today I will grant your wish. I will kill you first, and then I will bathe the Duke of Lu’s household in blood!”
With that she suddenly extended fingernails half a foot in length — every one of them sharp as a blade — and dove downward at Qin Yao at tremendous speed.
The crowd let out a collective cry of alarm. With the exception of Jiang Sanlang and Lin Xiao, everyone scattered and fled in all directions.
Qin Yao stood completely still and watched A’Miao bear down on her, her face calm — though the cold sweat pouring down her back told a different story.
The malevolent entity had been found. Now — how to deal with it?
Use the Soul-Devouring Bell? No. The Fire Dragons would incinerate A’Miao’s physical body along with the entity — and while that would achieve the goal of driving out the evil, it would harm an innocent person, which went against the most fundamental principles of the Daoist way.
Bring out the Boundless Mirror? That wouldn’t do either. The mirror was in the pack on her back and couldn’t be retrieved quickly; and even if she managed to get hold of it, she hadn’t the faintest idea how to use it. She could only blame herself for not having paid close enough attention when her master had wielded it, leaving her completely ignorant of how it worked. It was too late for regrets now.
Gradually, a clear understanding crystallized in her mind. The demon was behaving this recklessly for one reason only — because it was sheltered inside a mortal’s body. She had no perfect solution; to deal with it, she would have to win through ingenuity and surprise.
She clenched her fist, lunged sharply forward, and — as A’Miao came plummeting down right upon her — slid underneath her, then spun and struck hard at her back.