Duan Wenyin silently cursed her brother Duan Ningyuan fiercely. This matter was far from trivial – if word got out, it would damage the reputation of the Marquis’s mansion. Her brother had acted inappropriately, and it wouldn’t help to keep arguing stubbornly. To dissuade Yu Yi, she would need to step in as the elder sister to smooth things over.
As she gathered her thoughts to speak, Teng Yu Yi suddenly bowed to Ling Chengyou in the outer room: “May I ask the Young Master, how many hours can someone infected with demon poison survive without taking medicine?”
Ling Chengyou glanced at the five pairs of shoes visible outside the curtain. That person was quite composed – they had been in the room for so long without showing any signs of weakness. He lazily put down his teacup and walked inside: “Two hours at most.”
Teng Yu Yi nodded and walked toward the couch, squeezing out a few insincere tears as she went: “It’s been at least two hours since this happened. I suppose Second Lady Dong has already passed away. I feel terrible that we couldn’t save her.”
She walked to the curtain, pretending to bow, but suddenly appeared dizzy and unsteady. Her arm “accidentally” pressed against Second Lady Dong’s leg, causing her whole body to stiffen.
Teng Yu Yi immediately acted panicked, backing away in shock: “Second Lady Dong – she moved!”
Everyone was startled and hurriedly crowded around the couch.
The Head Matron was the first to pull back the curtain and check for breathing. Warm breath touched her fingertips – she was indeed still alive. First came wild joy, then confusion. It had been over two hours – why was Second Lady fine without taking any medicine?
Lady Du craned her neck to look, equally shocked. She had seen how those like Du Fu looked after being poisoned – their faces like they’d been covered with a golden pot. But this young lady’s complexion was no different from normal people.
The others exchanged bewildered looks. Though they had never witnessed demon poison symptoms firsthand, how could this possibly be someone near death?
Jue Sheng and Qi Zhi made a show of joining the commotion. Their senior brother had earlier signaled them to investigate the curtained area, but they had been busy using charm soup to draw out the demon poison from Lady An Guo’s body and hadn’t had time to examine the four injured people.
Miss Teng’s unexpected move played right into their hands. They looked at their senior brother, who wore a mischievous smile and simply crossed his arms to watch the drama unfold.
After his initial shock, Duan Ningyuan showed great joy and, unable to contain himself, strode quickly toward the bed. But after a stern glare from Duan Wenyin, he forced himself to stop.
“What is going on here?” Duan Wenyin approached behind the curtain herself, looking at Second Lady Dong’s complexion in confusion. “Young Master just said that if truly infected with the demon’s poison, one could only last two hours at most.”
Comparing the two situations, she gradually grew suspicious. Could it be that she wasn’t poisoned at all, but had simply fainted from fright? If it were that serious, there should have been some reaction by now.
The room fell silent for a moment. This situation didn’t seem like poisoning at all. Everyone’s thoughts began to wander, and even Duan Ningyuan had some doubts.
Teng Yu Yi raised one delicate eyebrow. Second Lady Dong remained still as a mountain – was it for Duan Ningyuan or the Crown Prince’s Six Element Pills? Earlier when she had pressed down hard, she had expected Second Lady Dong to cry out in pain, but surprisingly she had endured it. Had she known, she should have stabbed her hard with a hairpin. Now that the other party was on guard, how could she prove whether she was truly unconscious or just pretending?
She feigned anxiety: “Could it be that rather than demon poison, she’s under some other evil spell?”
Everyone in the room was stunned. The Head Matron recalled the earlier situation and suddenly realized that the Second Lady’s symptoms after fainting were quite different from those at the Teng residence. At the time, she had been too distraught to examine closely, but now it seemed increasingly suspicious.
She felt vaguely uneasy and quickly followed Teng Yu Yi’s lead: “Yes, yes, yes! She fainted right after encountering that demon by the river – it might not be demon poison at all. Demons are so treacherous, perhaps she fell victim to some other spell.”
Jue Sheng suddenly interjected: “Madam, are you suggesting our senior brother made a mistake? Though our senior brother is young, he has never erred in matters of the Dao.”
The Head Matron hurriedly shook her head: “I wouldn’t dare underestimate the Young Master’s mystic arts. It’s just that our Second Lady hasn’t awakened after this demon encounter – there must be some reason. Young Master’s methods are profound; please help examine her more carefully.”
“I think it’s shock,” Ling Chengyou stroked his chin. “When physically weak people encounter such evil spirits, their souls sometimes take longer to return.”
Duan Ningyuan secretly sighed in relief and quickly said: “That must be it.”
The Head Matron seized the opportunity to kneel and kowtow: “Our lady has always been weaker than others. Does the Young Master have any solution?”
Ling Chengyou smiled: “Of course I do.”
He walked unhurriedly toward the couch, then suddenly flicked his finger, sending a silver light streaking past his robe and straight through the thick curtain.
Second Lady Dong’s foot visible outside the curtain twitched. Soon the entire curtain began to shake, faster and faster, until she finally sprang up from the bed as if on fire, unable to stop scratching: “Itchy – so itchy!”
Everyone was caught completely off guard and collectively stunned.
Ling Chengyou’s smile remained unchanged, but his gaze turned cold: “Such audacity!”
Duan Ningyuan stood frozen, thunder and lightning crashing in his ears and heart. Having served in the military, he knew how injured soldiers looked when unconscious – those truly unconscious couldn’t feel hot or cold, so how could she be so easily awakened by itching?
The Head Matron panicked for a moment, then quickly tried to cover for Second Lady Dong: “It’s good that she’s awake, it’s good that she’s awake.”
Second Lady Dong used all her strength to resist the strange itching sensation, leaning weakly against the bed: “…Nurse…where…where am I?”
The Head Matron leaned forward to embrace Second Lady Dong, repeatedly stroking her hair: “We encountered a demon on our way here. My lady fainted on the spot. This is Purple Cloud Tower. My lady has just awakened. Fortunately, the Crown Prince’s Young Master and two young Daoists were here – the demon has been subdued.”
Duan Wenyin could no longer contain herself and shouted: “How long do you master and servant intend to keep up this act?”
She pointed at Second Lady Dong: “When you jumped out of bed, you showed no signs of weakness at all. You’ve been awake for some time. Do you think we’re blind?”
Second Lady Dong’s face turned deathly pale. The Crown Prince’s Young Master’s move had been unexpected, suddenly pushing her to the edge of a cliff. If she admitted it now, it would surely cause endless trouble, but everyone had witnessed that scene – she couldn’t completely deny it either.
Fighting the strange itching sensation, she looked around in apparent confusion, then pressed her hand to her forehead as if suffering from a splitting headache: “…I only remember encountering an evil spirit on the way to the banquet. I don’t recall anything after that. Just now I could move, but my head was spinning terribly. Suddenly my body felt unbearably itchy, and I woke up.”
Lady Du coolly examined Second Lady Dong: “Your servant was crying and making a fuss about the pills, and you didn’t hear a word?”
Second Lady Dong shook her head in confusion, then suddenly felt two cold gazes fall upon her. Looking up, she saw a girl in green clothes wearing a veiled hat watching her. Though silent, her presence inexplicably caused anxiety.
That must be Teng Yu Yi. Earlier when Teng Yu Yi had unexpectedly fallen against her, she had nearly cried out in pain. Fortunately, she had held it in, but who knew if that very action had aroused the Crown Prince Young Master’s suspicions?
She coughed behind her sleeve: “Earlier my head was splitting with pain, I couldn’t tell if I was awake or dreaming. I wanted to open my eyes to look, but my whole body was completely without strength. I knew people were arguing nearby, but the voices seemed so far away, that I couldn’t make out a single word. I truly don’t know what happened – it wasn’t intentional-“
“Is that so?”
“It is so.”
Ling Chengyou smiled pleasantly: “My patience is limited. You’d better think carefully before answering.”
Though full of questions, Duan Ningyuan knew things weren’t good but still forced himself to say: “It’s normal for someone just regaining consciousness to be confused – from half an hour to several days. This state of being awake but unaware isn’t rare.”
Second Lady Dong’s gaze shifted slightly, moving away as soon as it touched Duan Ningyuan’s brocade robe. She bit her lip: “I truly don’t know what happened. Earlier by the river when we encountered that evil spirit, I thought I wouldn’t survive. Having finally awakened, my mind is still in chaos. I neither understand what wrong I’ve done nor why I’m being questioned repeatedly…”
As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes. Several of the softer-hearted ladies were moved to sympathy seeing this. Second Lady Dong was also a victim – how could they keep pressing her after she had fortunately survived?
Second Lady Dong sobbed softly: “If I could have woken up, I would have done so earlier. I only regret that the demon used some unknown magic on me, keeping me in this confused sleep until now.”
“You’re lying!” Jue Sheng shouted. “You were never unconscious at all!”
Everyone was stunned. Duan Wenyin asked uncertainly: “Young Daoist, what do you mean?”
Qi Zhi snorted heavily and raised the Spirit-Trapping Wood in his hand: “This is the evidence! Tonight our senior brother was playing ball at Moon Lantern Pavilion when he was suddenly called to capture a demon. On the way, he heard there were five injured people in a coma. After arriving at Lan Xia Pavilion and asking again, it was confirmed as four women and one man. The situation was dangerous then – senior brother feared the demon would escape and had no time to examine the injured personally, so he set up the ‘Five Viscera Formation.'”
“But the number of injured didn’t match – there were only four wandering souls. Though five people were said to be injured, one person was pretending. Not only did the Five Viscera Formation fail to trap the demon, but it also caused our senior brother to be injured by it. You may fool others but you can’t fool us, because those who set up the formation know clearly – your original soul never left your body.”
This statement was like a thunderclap from clear skies, leaving everyone’s ears ringing. Duan Ningyuan and Duan Wenyin’s expressions became extremely ugly as they stared at Second Lady Dong in disbelief.
Second Lady Dong looked at the Spirit-Trapping Wood in Qi Zhi’s hand in panic. The Head Matron stammered: “How can this be… impossible, this- this… there must be some misunderstanding.”
Ling Chengyou looked at the palace servants on either side: “Are you all idiots? I’ve been tolerating this old thing for too long!”
The palace servants rolled up their sleeves and clenched their fists, charging straight at the Head Matron, who turned pale with fright and hurriedly knelt to kowtow.
Ignoring the Head Matron’s wails, the servants first bound her securely, then found a pair of foul-smelling socks and stuffed them in her mouth.
Ling Chengyou sneered: “Misunderstanding? Did you not see how dangerous capturing the demon was? The ‘Five Viscera Formation’ can turn force against itself – it’s an extremely evil art. It has just one flaw – if the numbers don’t match, everything fails. Because I mistakenly believed there were five injured people, I nearly lost my life. At this point, you still dare speak of misunderstandings!”
He looked coldly at Second Lady Dong: “Let me make this even clearer – I set up the formation very early, but still couldn’t capture the old demon. There’s no other explanation except that you were pretending from the start. You were never unconscious – why did you use seeking medical treatment as an excuse to sneak into Purple Cloud Tower?!”
Second Lady Dong bit her lip hard, her body beginning to tremble slightly.