As previously mentioned, completely sealing the Heavenly Eye was not as simple as the temporary suppression achieved through the current combination of acupuncture and Daoist techniques to provisionally seal the Yin and Yang. To be free of worries once and for all, one had to reverse the very flow of Yin and Yang — equivalent to defying the will of Heaven — and doing so would invite the punishment of the Five Afflictions and Three Deficiencies.

Lang Jiuchuan was not the sort to be arrogant or reckless. Inside Ou Miaonan’s room, she had arranged a Heaven-and-Earth Five Elements Feng Shui formation to sustain the circulation of the Five Elements’ energies. Should a Heavenly Tribulation descend as punishment, it would not throw Ou Miaonan’s Yin and Yang into imbalance. Once that balance broke, the girl’s Yin-attracting constitution would become a catastrophe, drawing every shadowy entity within a ten-li radius to possess her.

At that point, it would no longer be an act of helping someone — it would be an act of bringing ruin upon them.

Setting up such a Five Elements Mutual Nourishment formation was not difficult in itself; the challenge lay solely in the masterful application of talismans. The finest spirit-talismans placed at cardinal positions would naturally be far more potent than ordinary ones, but none of this posed any difficulty for Lang Jiuchuan. And so, the Feng Shui formation was completed swiftly.

Lang Jiuchuan did not allow many people to remain in the room. Not even Madam Ou was permitted to stay, for fear that any emotional instability on her part might interrupt the ritual and cause an accident. Having cleared the room, only Lang Jiuchuan, Ou Luozhong, and Ou Miaonan herself remained.

Of course, as far as outsiders were concerned, things appeared as such — for none of them could see Jiangche.

“Once the Yin and Yang are reversed, there may be sudden changes. Stand guard outside and watch over things for me — keep any shadowy entities reckless enough to seek death from rushing in,” Lang Jiuchuan said to Jiangche.

Jiangche acknowledged the order, stepped directly outside, and crouched lazily atop the roof.

Lang Jiuchuan then cleansed her hands, lit incense, pierced Ou Miaonan’s fingertip, and pressed out a drop of blood into a bowl. She did the same for herself. The two bloods were mingled together, and then used to empower the talisman with blood.

To reverse the Yin and Yang and claim the girl’s Eyes, the method Lang Jiuchuan had devised was, in essence, to reverse and alter Ou Miaonan’s destiny — accepting it upon herself, inheriting the Eyes, and along with them, inheriting that Yin-attracting constitution.

Lang Jiuchuan harbored no fear of attracting Yin. She did not fear shadowy entities. On the contrary, with this destiny now falling upon her own body, it might very well accelerate the progress of her cultivation hereafter.

Jiangche had actually been rather puzzled. It was just a pair of eyes — why go to such lengths?

And what had Lang Jiuchuan said?

“There is no windfall in this world that comes without a price — if it seems like one, it is most certainly a trap. As for cause and effect, no one can escape it. The deeper one’s attainment, the heavier the weight of cause and effect. No matter how gifted a person is, they cannot escape it.” She wanted those Eyes, and she would have to bear the karmic backlash. But some backlashes, when properly wielded, could turn into something useful.

A Heaven-Defying Destiny-Altering Talisman — blood as its guide, the Dao as its veins, beseeching Heaven and inquiring of the Earth.

The moment the talisman was released, wind surged and clouds churned.

Crouching atop the rooftop, Jiangche watched as the sky abruptly transformed. Every hair on its body stood on end, all four limbs rigid, eyes fixed on the clouds that rapidly gathered and shifted in shape.

Please, do not let this actually summon a Heavenly Tribulation. Could that scrawny little body of hers withstand it?

And there, on the road entering Wu Jing, someone happened to glance up at those roiling clouds and nudged the person beside them, saying: “Shixiong, take a look — could those be tribulation clouds?”

The man whose hands were folded in a seal atop his crossed legs opened his eyes and looked outward, his gaze half-lidded. “If those are indeed tribulation clouds, shifting this rapidly — has someone just gone and poked Heaven itself?”

“If real lightning tribulation fell from clouds like that, wouldn’t a person be dead, or at the very least crippled?”

“Look at what you’ve been reduced to — idle curiosity. Have you completed your Major Heavenly Circuit yet? You insisted on coming along, and this is not a pleasure trip. Start cultivating this instant.” The one addressed as Shixiong shot a sharp glare at the baby-faced person beside him.

Baby-face stuck out a tongue, propped a cheek on one hand, and stole another glance at the tribulation clouds, clicking his tongue in wonder. He was dying to find out which poor wretch was on the receiving end.

The Ou Household.

Everything was in place; only the east wind was needed.

Lang Jiuchuan glanced at the Heaven-Defying Destiny-Altering Talisman beside her, then turned to Ou Miaonan. “Do not be nervous. I have already sealed the acupoints around your eyes with acupuncture needles. Once the technique activates, those needles may be forced open by the surge of energy, and you will feel some stinging — there is no need to panic. The method I am using here is Heaven-Defying Destiny Alteration. The celestial punishment will be severe, but it will fall primarily on me. Should this succeed, you will be weakened for one month. Rest and recover slowly, and you will be fine. Do you understand?”

Ou Miaonan quickly asked, “What is celestial punishment? Will Lang-jiejie be alright?”

“Those who walk the path of the Dao bear the karmic consequence of every technique they employ. A working of this magnitude will naturally bring heavy punishment, but rest assured — I would not undertake this without confidence.” Lang Jiuchuan’s reply was deliberately understated.

Ou Miaonan pressed her lips together and said, “Thank you.”

“I am beginning.” Lang Jiuchuan said no more, and instead formed hand seals with both hands. Around her, invisible Five Elements energies began to revolve, enveloping both of them.

Atop the roof, Jiangche watched as the tribulation clouds drew ever closer, its heart lodging in its throat.

Below, Lang Jiuchuan remained utterly focused, her mind undistracted. The Seven Star Lamps burning beside the two of them flickered without wind, teetering between extinction and continuation, as though harboring a warning within their unsteady flames.

Ou Luozhong did not dare make a single sound, so terrified was he that even a breath from him might disrupt things. He had stuffed a handkerchief into his own mouth.

“One breath of the yellow heavens, harmonizing heaven and earth, melding and tempering Yin and Yang, governing the profound and the true…”

The intricate incantation poured from her lips, and the lamplight within the room swayed with ever-increasing violence.

“By my command upon this talisman, I beseech the nine heavens. I dare to accept the celestial punishment, and defy the will of Heaven…”

Lang Jiuchuan opened her eyes. The hand seals she had been forming struck Ou Miaonan’s Spiritual Court, and in the very next instant, she gave a light tap — and the Heaven-Defying Destiny-Altering Talisman ignited without flame, dissolving into two streams of golden light that surged into the Spirit Platforms of both women.

Ou Miaonan felt a sharp, stinging pain flare around her eyes. Tears seeped from the corners of her eyes; her brow furrowed, her eyelids trembling.

Lang Jiuchuan, meanwhile, had gone ashen — white and bare — as she summoned her Jade Bone Talisman Brush, guiding it with her intent alone.

The doors and windows were shut fast, yet a fierce gale erupted inside the room. In the empty air above, a watermark appeared of its own accord, and a gilded illusory register materialized.

Flip, flip, flip.

The register turned its own pages, coming to rest on the page bearing Ou Miaonan’s name. Lang Jiuchuan drove the talisman brush forward to alter the birth characters written there. With each stroke she put down, her complexion grew more pallid still — until the final stroke fell, and all color had drained entirely from her face.

Boom.

A muffled roll of thunder sounded from the distant horizon.

Jiangche wanted nothing more than to curl itself into a ball. The bleak and harrowing memories of its death began to stir back to life.

A single stroke of illusion — heaven and earth settled into place.

Ou Miaonan felt something depart from the space between her two eyes, as though it had been forcibly extracted. Beyond this, the chill that had long pervaded her body also seemed to disperse — she was no longer as cold as she had been before.

And yet — her body felt so heavy, so exhausted, so drained.

Ou Miaonan crumpled softly to one side. On instinct, she opened her eyes. What she saw was still darkness — she startled for a moment. But concentrating her senses to listen, she found the surroundings utterly quiet. Beyond the sound of rapid breathing, there were none of the ghastly weeping whispers she had endured from shadowy entities all these years. Just as these past few days had been — peaceful. Her heart settled quickly.

Had it succeeded?

As for Lang Jiuchuan — she felt an immense, bone-deep cold surging toward her from all directions, accumulating between her brows. Something was slowly forming and pressing against the inside of her eye sockets. The pain was so intense her entire body convulsed, cold sweat breaking across her skin.

Glug.

Ou Luozhong, who had been watching the entire process in silence, let out a soundless, agonized gasp and stared in horror at the two round eyeballs that had rolled from Lang Jiuchuan’s body and were now lying on the floor. The world before his eyes went dark. He grabbed the flesh at the side of his waist and pinched as hard as he could — the sharp pain kept him from fainting.

Help — someone’s eyes fell out!

A daily reminder to deprogram myself — I would not have written it this way originally, but I revised it, so it was the plot driving this strange turn in my head. Reality is, at the end of the day, science. It really is science!