Ou Luozhong was nearly losing his mind. He had rushed back to the manor with the wonderful news that there was finally hope for his wife and daughter, only to arrive at the worst possible moment — his youngest daughter-in-law had suddenly gone into labor, the child had not yet been born, and then something terrible happened to his daughter: she had been possessed by some unknown malevolent spirit.

The entire estate — especially his daughter’s courtyard — had descended into utter chaos.

Staring at his daughter, who had suddenly become disturbingly seductive in her manner, Ou Luozhong nearly fainted from fright. He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue to keep himself conscious, then turned and left the estate, heading straight for the Lang Family manor.

Only Lang Jiuchuan could save his daughter.

Fortunately, Lang Jiuchuan did not make excuses — she said nothing and simply went with him back to his estate.

The carriage moved at a flying pace. Lang Jiuchuan glanced at Jian Lan’s pale face — the maid who had insisted on following her out — and said, “I told you not to come, and yet you wouldn’t listen. Are you suffering now?”

Jian Lan replied, “Nanny Gu said that if you left the manor again and I didn’t accompany you, she would go herself. She said you cannot go out alone.”

Ou Luozhong felt a pang of guilt, especially since Lang Jiuchuan’s constitution was just as frail as his own youngest daughter’s, and she now had to endure the jolting of the carriage. He said, “Shall I have the driver slow down?”

Lang Jiuchuan shook her head. “It’s fine. Saving a life is what matters.”

She turned to look at Ou Luozhong, whose features had undergone a dramatic deterioration in just a short span of time, and lowered her eyes.

Upon arriving at the Ou estate, Lang Jiuchuan’s brow furrowed. She saw that above the manor, a mass of yin energy loomed — and this yin energy was divided into two streams, yet subtly connected in the middle, like a sky full of black clouds pressing down, giving one a suffocating, breathless feeling.

Ou Luozhong shuddered and said, “The weather has grown much colder.”

“It isn’t cold — it’s yin energy.”

Ou Luozhong: “?”

Lang Jiuchuan had already quickened her pace toward the interior of the estate, and at the spirit altar she instructed Jiang Che: “Go and take a look at the southern courtyard.”

Jiang Che felt a twinge of regret. He had been diligently investigating news about the Xuan clan outside, and had only returned upon hearing the rumors spreading outside about Lang Jiuchuan — before he even had a chance to leave again, he had been pressed into service once more.

“A matter of life and death,” Lang Jiuchuan added: “A divine beast is a creature of auspiciousness, a symbol of good fortune. Without sufficient merit to your name, how can you claim the title of an auspicious beast?”

Jiang Che, struck squarely by this remark: “……”

She certainly knew how to make a tiger comply of his own free will.

Jiang Che slipped off toward the southern courtyard.

Lang Jiuchuan followed Ou Luozhong to the courtyard of his youngest daughter, Ou Miaonan. She glanced inside but did not rush in — instead, she took the bundle from Jian Lan, who was trembling head to toe.

“What is it?” Ou Luozhong saw her hesitate and could not help growing anxious.

Lang Jiuchuan said, “The yin energy here is overwhelming, and mixed within it is a grievous, malevolent killing energy. Whatever is inside has grown to full power — this is a greatly malevolent and vicious spirit. I must first encircle this courtyard with a formation.”

Ou Luozhong heard this and his face went deathly pale, his entire body trembling. A greatly malevolent spirit that had reached full power — did that mean it would be difficult to deal with?

And that greatly malevolent thing was now attached to his youngest daughter’s body.

Ou Luozhong nearly lost his footing and swayed to one side, the estate steward gripping him firmly to keep him upright.

Lang Jiuchuan had no time to attend to him. She untied the bundle and rummaged out several charm papers, jade stones, copper coins, wood pieces, cinnabar, rooster’s blood, and so forth. With a flick of her wrist, her charm brush appeared.

She placed the charm paper directly on the cloth wrapping of the bundle, then mixed the rooster’s blood into the cinnabar, knelt on the ground, dipped the brush into the blood-cinnabar mixture, and swiftly drew the charms.

Ou Luozhong saw this and pushed the steward aside. He crouched in front of her, bringing himself to nearly the same height as her, turned his back to her, and said, “The ground is bitterly cold, don’t kneel — use my back as a writing surface.”

Lang Jiuchuan also felt the extreme chill, laced with yin energy, seeping through her knees and turning her complexion faintly blue-tinged. Hearing his offer, she did not stand on ceremony — she rose and placed the charm paper on Ou Luozhong’s back, and with brush strokes falling into place, the spirit talismans took form.

Several blood-cinnabar talismans were swiftly completed. She put away her charm brush, pinched her fingers at the knuckles to calculate, then buried the talismans and concealed the copper coins at various positions outside the courtyard.

Jian Lan stood there, drained of all color, her whole person somewhat numb.

So her young mistress knew this art of the auspicious path — this was the hidden talent she had kept from the world?

“What does this accomplish? Is there anything I should do?” Although Ou Luozhong was anxious about his daughter inside, seeing that Lang Jiuchuan was far from idle, he could only wait patiently.

Lang Jiuchuan continued burying the copper coins as she answered, “This is the Yang Protective Formation. The thirty-six celestial stars of the Heavenly Headmaster represent yang; the seventy-two earthly spirits represent yin. I use thirty-six copper coins to represent the Heavenly Headmaster stars, arranged with the blood talisman incantation to form the formation — this is used to conceal and blind the malevolent ghost that has possessed a body. In addition, I have arranged jade stones outside in a Bagua formation, which can prevent her from breaking out of this courtyard and bringing disaster to others. It also makes it easier for me to exorcise the evil spirits, and prevents other malevolent ghosts from coming to seize your daughter’s physical body.”

Ou Luozhong half-understood, feeling a vague but profound sense of awe.

“Copper coins have been used by so many people that they carry sufficient yang energy — that is why I use them to represent the Heavenly Headmaster stars.” Lang Jiuchuan buried the last copper coin and lifted her head to look into the courtyard.

She took the Dizhong Bell from her waist, stepped through the pacing ritual of the Big Dipper, one hand forming a hand seal, the other lightly shaking the Dizhong Bell. The whisk threads wrapped around the bell seemed to unfurl and scatter outward. Then her voice rose in an incantation: “The Heavenly Headmaster spreads his might, the White Tiger crouches in readiness, soldiers and warriors in battle formation, all arrayed before the ranks… I act under the edict of the Supreme Lord Laozi — let the formation rise!”

The final step of the ritual fell heavily in time with the last word of the incantation, and the air seemed to seize for a moment. A golden light burst forth from outside the courtyard, as though enveloping it entirely.

In a tall building somewhere in the city, a person sat cross-legged in a tower pavilion, forming hand seals in deep meditation, when they suddenly felt something — they opened their eyes and gazed into the distance, but saw nothing.

Was it an illusion?

How was it that just a moment ago, there had been a resonant hum — the sound of a great formation rising?

No — the number of heavenly masters in the world capable of establishing a great formation could be counted on one hand, and one of them was even…

The person did not know what crossed their mind at that moment, but their expression shifted, and they dared not think further.

Back at the estate, Lang Jiuchuan finished establishing the formation without wasting a single moment. She instructed the dazed Jian Lan to pick up the bundle cloth, then had the steward take her somewhere else to rest. She herself entered the courtyard.

Ou Luozhong ignored her urging and quickly followed behind her.

Lang Jiuchuan had long anticipated he would not listen to her advice. She handed him one of the Heavenly Headmaster yang talismans she had drawn specifically for this purpose and said, “The yin energy and killing energy in this courtyard are both extremely heavy. Wear this on your body as protection. No matter what happens, don’t interfere with my work, and keep your wits about you. Remember — only when I say it is her will it truly be your daughter!”

Ou Luozhong braced himself and accepted the yang talisman. Immediately, he felt as though the yin energy was retreating from him, and he quickly asked, “My wife is also inside — are there any extra talismans?”

Lang Jiuchuan’s blue-tinged pale face grew even more blue. “There aren’t…”

“This old man is willing to pay ten thousand taels of gold for a spirit talisman.”

“There are none left.” Lang Jiuchuan’s tone shifted, and she handed him another one: “This is the very last one.”

Her scruples, faced with ten thousand taels, were worth nothing — she needed to save up as much as she could, to buy top-tier intelligence from Tongtian Pavilion, or even life-giving medicines that could revive the dead and restore flesh to bones!

Ou Luozhong solemnly accepted it and pressed it to his chest, even patting it down with his hand. Before he could let out a sigh of relief, he followed Lang Jiuchuan’s gaze and saw what she was looking at. He let out a cry of shock and rushed forward — only to be yanked back by Lang Jiuchuan with a lurch. There was a sharp crack.

That was it — he’d thrown out his old back.