The next day, at the Teng Manor, Moon Over Pool pavilion.

Teng Yuyi rose early and, thinking of yesterday’s events, instructed Bi Luo to arrange for new flower cake molds to be made in the kitchen. After finishing her morning preparations, she had Chun Rong prepare grapes and wine. With everything arranged, she seated herself on the window couch.

After all the maids had withdrawn from the room, she spoke to the Little Ya sword: “You can come out now.”

Little Ya, seemingly having already caught the scent of wine, eagerly emerged from the sword, reaching for the wine cup.

“Ah, don’t rush.” Teng Yuyi leisurely poured the wine. “I’ll pour for you, but before drinking, I need to discuss something important.”

Little Ya picked up a grape instead: “Go ahead, speak.”

“Last night at the ladies’ banquet, did you see who tried to harm me?”

Little Ya focused on eating the fruit: “This old one saw nothing.”

“Did you not see, or can you not tell?” Teng Yuyi gave him a sidelong glance.

Little Ya held the grape in silence.

After a moment, perhaps fearing Teng Yuyi might take away the wine in anger, he sighed with a bitter expression: “Alas, let this old one be frank. Not only was this old one asleep in the sword last night, but even if I had seen something, I absolutely cannot speak carelessly. Think about it—those ‘evil spirits’ and ‘good and bad people’ are all part of your destined tribulations. If I were to reveal things early or teach you how to handle them, that would be leaking heaven’s secrets. Not only would it fail to help you overcome adversity, but it would bring unexpected new tribulations.”

Hearing this explanation for the first time, Teng Yuyi asked curiously: “Not even a hint? You don’t have to say who it is, just whether they’re male or female and why they want to harm me.”

Little Ya shook his head like a rattle drum: “Of course not. Since this old one has accepted you as master, I must help master overcome tribulations. Right things, I can do; wrong things, I absolutely cannot meddle with carelessly. Otherwise, not only would I fail to help, but I would harm master instead.”

No wonder this little old man only helped her ward off evil spirits and malicious energy, never saying or hinting at anything else—he had such concerns. So regarding this hidden enemy near her, she would have to follow the clues and discover them herself?

Teng Yuyi touched her chin: “If you can’t reveal the villain, at least tell me about the life-borrowing matter. Last time when dealing with Nai Zhong, I didn’t gain any merit for eliminating evil. At this rate, who knows when I’ll clear the karmic debt from borrowing life? Besides exorcising ghosts and demons, are there other ways to dispel calamity?”

Little Ya looked puzzled: “Didn’t this old one tell you last time?”

Teng Yuyi was even more confused: “Tell me what?”

Little Ya made a sniffing gesture: “This old one has noticed that since returning from Great Seclusion Temple that day, the malicious energy around you has lightened considerably. That night dealing with Nai Zhong, not only did you gain merit, but you gained quite a bit.”

Teng Yuyi was first overjoyed, then puzzled: “Really? When subduing Nai Zhong, I couldn’t even get close. How could I have gained merit?”

“Have you forgotten about that Blood Rakshasa transformed from the Bright Moon Hermit? If you hadn’t had Dun Fu prepare that basin of foot-washing water and dispersed its malicious energy, how could you have stopped this Blood Rakshasa from merging with Nai Zhong in time? If she had completed the sacrifice, the resulting disaster would have been immeasurable. So not only did you have merit in eliminating evil, but the merit was substantial.”

This was truly an unexpected joy. Teng Yuyi thought happily for a while, then proactively poured wine for Little Ya: “Then… at this rate, would I only need to slay one or two more demons to be done?”

Little Ya smacked his lips: “That’s true in theory, but you’d need to slay major evil beings. Don’t forget, whether it was Double Evil or Nai Zhong, they were all deliberately drawn out from the formation by the Bright Moon Hermit’s group. Everything has its pros and cons—these major demons nearly took your life, but the merit they brought was not insignificant. With the Bright Moon Hermit’s death, there’s no one left to secretly disrupt the natural order. In the future, we might only be able to find minor evils to eliminate outside, but however many of these minor evils still wouldn’t equal one major evil being.”

Teng Yuyi frowned slightly: “So it will still take quite some time to accumulate enough merit?”

Little Ya hiccupped from the wine: “That’s hard to say. Don’t be anxious—perhaps some opportunity will arise. Just wait and see.”

Suddenly, a maid’s voice came from the corridor: “Young Miss, the Du family’s eldest miss has arrived.”

Teng Yuyi hurriedly rose to welcome her: “Elder Sister.”

Just as Du Tinglan entered, Steward Cheng arrived as well.

Teng Yuyi took Du Tinglan’s arm and called out: “Have Steward Cheng wait in the outer room.”

Du Tinglan hadn’t even removed her cloak when she was surprisingly led by Teng Yuyi to the outer room.

Steward Cheng, expecting that Teng Yuyi wouldn’t avoid her cousin, got straight to the point upon entering: “This old servant has made arrangements this morning. We’ll have three groups secretly following them in the coming days—one following Third Miss Li, one following the Wu family’s Second Miss, and one following Fourth Miss Liu. If they show any suspicious behavior, they’ll report back to Young Miss immediately. However, these followers can only track them for a while. Once these young ladies enter the academy for studies, we probably won’t be able to follow them anymore.”

Du Tinglan was greatly shocked—why would her sister suddenly arrange for people to monitor these three young ladies?

Teng Yuyi paced a few steps with her hands behind her back: “That should be enough. Someone who could scheme against me at the banquet must have been planning for a long time. I think they won’t reveal their true colors quickly on the surface. You might as well keep following them, and if no flaws are exposed before the academy opens, we can think of other methods. Be careful not to let them notice.”

The two returned to the inner room, and Du Tinglan pulled her sister to sit on the couch in surprise: “What happened?”

Teng Yuyi took out the worn silk cord and explained everything from last night in detail.

Du Tinglan was both shocked and angry: “What a despicable method! Are you certain it’s these three? Second Miss Wu and Fourth Miss Liu haven’t had much interaction with you, and Third Miss Li was even our childhood playmate…”

She grew increasingly alarmed: “If it is one of them, it truly shows how you can know someone’s face but not their heart.”

Teng Yuyi said: “Those three were sitting on my left, and there were too many coincidences last night. I feel this person didn’t act on impulse but had been plotting for a long time. One attempt means there will be more. I need to find a way to expose this person before they strike again.”

Du Tinglan thought for a moment, then suddenly showed a horrified expression: “All three are on the academy’s student list. If we can’t uncover their true nature before school starts, won’t you have to deal with this person daily after enrollment?”

Hearing this, Teng Yuyi didn’t respond, but suddenly recalled the time she was on the swing in the peach grove at the Jade Truth Daoist Nunnery. She remembered everyone praising her clothes when suddenly two strange gazes fell upon her—gazes so cold they harbored hatred.

If this person was the same one who schemed last night, then their hostility toward her wasn’t just a matter of a day or two.

A thought suddenly occurred to her—could her death in her previous life be connected to this person? No, these three were all young ladies from prominent families, how could they be connected to the black-robed people raised by the Bright Moon Hermit?

Unless… her gaze trembled. Could the black-robed person who harmed her in her previous life have been a woman?!

She remembered her father saying that such black robes were excellent for concealing one’s appearance—being extremely loose, anyone wearing high boots inside could increase their height, and padding the shoulders could make their figure appear imposing… That’s why that person was so afraid of being recognized by her and her servants when attacking.

So it was someone familiar?

Very well, the clues seemed to be getting clearer. Previously, she had been resistant to studying at the Xiangxiang Academy, but at this moment she suddenly wavered.

Perhaps entering Xiangxiang Academy would be an opportunity to uncover the truth. Regardless of why this person wanted to harm her, they would make frequent moves once they were at the academy.

If they were willing to act, that would be helpful—she had been worried about their lack of weaknesses.

Du Tinglan saw her sister lost in thought and nudged her arm. Teng Yuyi smiled slightly and looked up at Du Tinglan: “Elder Sister, didn’t I say yesterday that I didn’t want to enter Xiangxiang Academy? Now I’m suddenly looking forward to studying there.”

At the Azure Cloud Temple.

Song Jian’s corpse lay before the hall, covered with a dark square cloth.

An altar was set before the corpse, displaying Jiang Zhenniang’s birth time and date. Soul-summoning banners stood on both sides of the altar.

When the wind blew, the banners moved, but the smoke from the incense burner remained perfectly still—three streams of blue smoke rising straight toward heaven.

Jue Sheng and Qi Zhi finished sprinkling the spirit-binding powder in the courtyard and ran back to the well to report to Lin Chengyou: “Senior Brother, it’s ready.”

Lin Chengyou spoke softly: “Remember to protect the formation.”

“Yes.”

Lin Chengyou directly drew the “Gate of the Mysterious Female” before the well with cinnabar, then shook out a silver chain from his sleeve, transforming it into a long sword with an incantation.

At the same time, an extremely fine red thread flew out from the scripture hall. Jue Sheng and Qi Zhi stepped forward to catch it, tying it around the well’s mouth.

They knew that, just like when they helped Duke An’guo’s wife summon spirits last time, the Holy One was still assisting with the formation.

Originally, Master-Grandfather was supposed to lead the soul-summoning, but assembling fragmentary souls would damage one’s cultivation. Given his advanced age, neither the Holy One nor the Senior Brother would allow Qing Xu to handle this matter. After discussion, it was decided that the Holy One would come from the palace to help protect the formation.

However, Master-Grandfather wasn’t idle—while Senior Brother and the Holy One maintained the formation from outside and inside, he presided over the scripture hall.

After all preparations were complete, Lin Chengyou waved out a talisman toward the Gate of the Mysterious Female drawn on the ground. The talisman’s fire ignited the doorframe. He leaped to stand atop the well, pointing his sword toward the outer wall, and shouted: “Jiang Zhenniang, won’t you return?”

Before his words faded, the dome above the courtyard suddenly darkened, and yin winds assailed from all directions.

Jue Sheng and Qi Zhi’s hearts pounded. Once the Gate of the Mysterious Female opened, fierce ghosts would continuously gather there. To find Jiang Zhenniang among them in time, they couldn’t relax for even a moment.

The soul-summoning continued from early morning until afternoon. The spirit-binding powder in the courtyard was covered with footprints from various ghost spirits, but Jiang Zhenniang’s soul still hadn’t appeared.

Jue Sheng and Qi Zhi were panting from exhaustion after driving away the uninvited fierce ghosts.

By the end, Lin Chengyou was drenched in sweat, while Qing Xu, unable to help temporarily, could only pace anxiously in the scripture hall.

Finally, Jue Sheng and Qi Zhi began to lose heart. Jiang Zhenniang’s soul had been scattered four years ago—perhaps it could no longer be pieced together. No matter how hard they tried, it might all be in vain. Yet when they turned back dejectedly, they saw their Senior Brother still persistently maintaining the formation. Though such a grand formation consumed the most spiritual energy, Senior Brother showed no sign of discouragement.

Jue Sheng and Qi Zhi silently watched their Senior Brother. No matter what he encountered, he seemed to never give up. Thinking this, they quickly roused their spirits and continued helping to identify the fierce ghosts.

Another hour passed this way. Though Lin Chengyou’s sweat had soaked through his clothes, he persisted. Having promised Song Jian, he had no intention of giving up halfway. Moreover, once such a grand formation was activated, it couldn’t be stopped at will.

Suddenly, the main gate opened wide, and a mass of chaotic footprints appeared on the spirit-binding powder—it seemed another large group of wandering souls had been drawn in.

Lin Chengyou still hadn’t heard the bells on the red thread ring, and had given up hope, when Master-Grandfather called from the scripture hall: “She’s here!”

Lin Chengyou was secretly surprised. The bells and talismans on the altar hadn’t responded—how did Master-Grandfather know Jiang Zhenniang’s soul had arrived? A thought struck him—could it be—

He struggled to turn his head toward Song Jian’s corpse, and one look gave him the answer.

A tear suddenly rolled down from Song Jian’s constantly open eyes.

Turning back in astonishment, he saw a ghostly shadow swaying toward Song Jian’s corpse.

Song Jian’s face was peaceful, the tear trailing down his cheek continuously, until it dropped onto his collar and disappeared into the fabric.

Lin Chengyou was moved.

As the ghostly figure approached, the bells on the red thread began to shake violently. Simultaneously, the paper figure bearing Jiang Zhenniang’s birth data suddenly stood upright on the altar.

The wandering soul floated near Song Jian’s corpse and suddenly emitted quiet sobbing sounds. Then, in the darkness, a sigh was heard as another ethereal soul floated down from the spirit bed, hazily walking to Jiang Zhenniang’s soul and embracing it. The two wandering souls clung together, seemingly becoming one.

The Holy One had already been escorted back to the palace by the Imperial Guards, but Jue Sheng and Qi Zhi were still crying.

They didn’t know why they were crying, but thinking of the previous scene made them sorrowful. Their tears flowed endlessly, wiping them away only for more to fall, unable to stop.

Lin Chengyou seemed not to hear his junior brothers’ crying. After ordering people to put away the formation implements, he casually leaned against the corridor railing, absent-mindedly playing with his jade flute, lost in thought.

Qing Xu finished tidying up and came out, calling loudly to his two disciples: “Have you cried enough?”

Jue Sheng and Qi Zhi ran to their Master-Grandfather, sobbing: “…Disciples… disciples think Young Master Song and Jiang Zhenniang suffered too much, Master-Grandfather… they did nothing wrong… such a loving couple… why couldn’t they grow old together?”

They cried so hard they could barely breathe.

Qing Xu looked at his young disciples’ tear-bright eyes and sighed wistfully: “Don’t you understand? This is what we call fate’s cruelty. Finding Jiang Zhenniang’s remnant soul now is already the best fortune within misfortune. Though their destiny in this life is broken, at least they can seek another life together.”

Speaking thus, he glanced at the dazed Lin Chengyou, adding meaningfully: “Look—even separated by four years, even with Jiang Zhenniang reduced to a remnant soul, Song Jian could recognize his wife at a glance among the wandering souls. Without such deep devotion, they might not even achieve a reunion in the next life. It’s precisely because their love is stronger than gold that no difficulty is insurmountable.”

Lin Chengyou seemed touched, his gaze rippling slightly. When he looked up again, Master Grandfather had come before him.

Qing Xu thought of the Heartless Poison and secretly sighed. Foolish boy, now you should understand what “love” means. Is it bitter? Are you afraid?

He raised his hand and gave a sharp rap on Lin Chengyou’s head: “Go ahead and be depressed.”

Depressed? Lin Chengyou tilted his head back. He was pondering how to make Teng Yuyi fall in love with him.

He smiled and said: “Master-Grandfather, be gentle—that hurt.”

Qing Xu was startled, then snorted heavily: “Seems you haven’t suffered enough yet.”

Lin Chengyou thought secretly that yesterday’s birthday had been bitter enough for him—not just bitter, but astringent, like drinking a large mouthful of golden thread herb, leaving even his tongue root bitter.

But after a night of bitterness, he had rallied in the morning. It was nothing more than Teng Yuyi not having feelings for him yet. Thinking about it now, it wasn’t the end of the world. After all, he had met the best young lady in the world—giving up was unthinkable.

However, this was an entirely new challenge for him. He had never courted a young lady before. After much consideration, among all the elders around him, it seemed only Imperial Aunt best understood young ladies’ hearts. So when he had a moment to himself earlier, he had been planning how to seek Imperial Aunt’s advice.

Seeing Master Grandfather ready to leave, he rose accordingly: “Are you ready? Then let’s go to the palace.”

Qing Xu kept his face stern: “Since you’re not depressed anymore, don’t play the flute tonight. You nearly drove Master Grandfather mad last night. Come on, don’t keep your uncle waiting. Master-Grandfather also has matters to discuss with your uncle.”