Yan Zhitui rapped his hand on the table and had Yun Ye lift his head before saying, “That’s exactly the principle. War is a man-eating monster. When eyes turn red with battle, who can care about morality and propriety? The Goryeo people didn’t want you to enter the Liao River, so naturally they would resist. When they resist, you must eliminate them before you can safely enter the Liao River. Killing becomes the only choice. When killing with a blade can’t reach, you can only set fires. If you want your subordinates to have no casualties, you can only discard that compassion.”

“Living is actually a process of choosing—constantly choosing, constantly abandoning. Sometimes it seems unreasonable, but actually, when examined from the details, you’ll discover the reasoning. This time you merely chose to preserve your subordinates and kill the enemy. Very reasonable. If in the future one day you preserve the enemy and kill your own subordinates, you’ll also find a seemingly reasonable justification.”

“So, boy, there’s nothing worth regretting about killing people. It’s merely the result of a choice. If you were made to choose again now, you’d certainly still preserve your subordinates and kill the enemy. That’s enough. These days you’ve been like a hedgehog—others can’t touch this sore spot of yours. Whoever touches it, you turn on them. This is very bad. When things are done, they’re meant to be evaluated by others. You don’t have the ability to satisfy everyone’s appetite—no one possibly could.”

“Let go of your worries. Do whatever you should do. Do more of what you like, and do less or don’t do what you dislike. However, you seem to really like the Heavenly Demon Dance. How about it—if this old man watches that dance, will I die?”

Yun Ye’s mouth hung wide open. The old man had started with a heavy topic, but after taking a turn, told him there was no need to feel guilty about killing people. When necessary, one could feel guilty while killing people at the same time. What kind of logic was this?

“If Spring Breeze Powder isn’t used to harm your heart, watching a provocative dance would be greatly beneficial to you, old master. Perhaps you could recover some vitality.”

“That’s good to hear. How did you see through it? This old man was also puzzled. Watching a dance could cost your life? So it was this thing causing trouble. Even young people can’t withstand it after taking it, let alone an old man. Someone like me would die fastest. Spring Breeze Powder alone seems to have little effect. There must be a catalyst. It can’t be fresh blood, can it?”

Yun Ye suddenly recalled that night with Li Anlan in the Imperial City—a white-clothed woman spinning as she danced, her bare feet covered with bloody traces. Then he thought about how the blood flowing from those dancers’ cut chests was somewhat strange. Who had ever seen blood like crystal?

“Very possible, old master. This boy will go home right now and ask that dancer I brought back. I’ll get to the bottom of it. It wouldn’t be worth it to capsize in the gutter.”

The saying that old people become crafty was not false at all. Yun Ye thought he’d concealed his emotions very well, but before Yan Zhitui he was still seen through completely. The old man’s grand banquet for Yun Ye today had the purpose of untying the knot in his heart. As for the Heavenly Demon Dance, the old man actually didn’t care much—watching it or not watching it was all harmless. The only purpose in doing this was to force Yun Ye to keep doing things. Everyone wanted to polish this jade, and the method of polishing was to constantly find things for him to do. When encountering this type of person who always wanted to carve and shape him, Yun Ye generally stayed far away.

In just three days, the veiled dancer had grown fond of the Yun family. She liked people calling her Tianmo Ji. Her favorite thing to do was lie in the flower clusters and look at the sky. The mischievous Xiao Ya secretly used a small bamboo pole to lift her veil, wanting to see what she actually looked like and why she kept her face veiled all day.

Tianmo Ji deliberately pretended not to know, wanting to frighten Xiao Ya so that in the future no one would peek at her again. Who knew that after Xiao Ya lifted the veil, she cried out angrily with wah wah sounds, pulled Yun Ye to the back garden, pointed at Tianmo Ji and said—who turned a beautiful woman into this? Utterly damnable! Brother must think of a way to restore the beauty.

Seeing Yun Ye shake his head, Xiao Ya actually sobbed with grievance. In her view, her brother was omnipotent. Now he had no solution either. A beautiful woman was ruined.

Everyone in the Yun family had some quirks. Daya liked reading. Xiao Ya liked beautiful things. She couldn’t bear to eat beautifully made flower steamed buns. In the end, they grew green mold and had to be thrown away. Even after being lectured by Grandmother many times, she still didn’t know how to repent.

Tianmo Ji was very clear about what her face looked like. The little girl was actually not afraid and even helped speak up for her. This was the most novel experience for her.

Xiao Ya specially brought Shishi, Xiao Wu, and Di Renjie to play with her. Tianmo Ji discovered that these three children only found it somewhat regrettable that her face was damaged. Beyond that, there was no disgust or fear whatsoever.

In the courtyard, there was also a beauty whose gender was unclear, always carrying rich fragrance as they passed by her. Seeing her, they had not the slightest curiosity. Once, they even had her help hold a mirror to see if the red bump on the back of their head had gone down.

The mistress of the house had settled her stipend with her and found her a very small courtyard. The managing matron naturally sent her bedding and furniture. Although the courtyard was small, it was elegant. It was close to the garden. Pushing open the back window, she could see a large cluster of pale yellow wild chrysanthemums. Just two days ago, they’d taken her measurements. Today, three sets of clothes were neatly placed at the head of the bed. A sewing basket had also been sent to her. If there was anything she didn’t like, she could alter it herself.

Picking up the embroidery hoop, it wasn’t particularly valuable—made of bamboo. It couldn’t compare with her previous embroidery hoop. Looking around the small room, she had a feeling of returning to her maiden years.

Someone knocked on the door. Tianmo Ji quickly wiped away her tears. Just as she was about to open the door, she heard Yun Ye standing in the courtyard saying, “You don’t need to open the door. I just want to ask—does Spring Breeze Powder necessarily need blood to trigger its medicinal properties? I find this very strange.”

Tianmo Ji opened the door and invited Yun Ye in. She poured a cup of tea and handed it to Yun Ye, saying, “It’s not so. The Heavenly Demon Dance is actually a dance that induces people’s seven emotions and six desires. Great joy harms the heart, great anger harms the liver, excessive thinking harms the spleen, grief and worry harm the lungs, shock and fear harm the kidneys. Spring Breeze Powder is merely a medium, amplifying these feelings a bit, making those watching the dance harm themselves. In other words, Spring Breeze Powder actually doesn’t have much effect. It’s just something to enhance pleasure between men and women in the bedchamber, making the body easily aroused. Having it or not doesn’t really matter.”

“Impossible! I’ve been affected by Spring Breeze Powder. At that time…” Halfway through speaking, Yun Ye suddenly realized that when he was with Li Anlan, he seemed very proactive much of the time. If he’d been unwilling from the bottom of his heart, Li Anlan wouldn’t have succeeded. Yun Ye’s face suddenly turned bright red. Not only was his head steaming, even the soles of his feet were heating up. He only wanted to find a mouse hole to crawl into.

“Hehe, has Marquis Yun been drugged with this kind of medicine by a woman?” Tianmo Ji mentioned precisely the pot that shouldn’t be opened.

“No! There’s no such thing. I just tasted it myself.”

“You tried an aphrodisiac for no reason?” Tianmo Ji’s eyes widened even more. Where did a woman in her thirties get so much curiosity?

“Let’s not talk about this. When you were dancing, I clearly felt hallucinations appearing. What’s going on with that? Qing Que also felt it. What I saw was a story of life and death separation. What Qing Que saw was one difficult problem after another. Chumo was constantly fighting and killing in his mind. In the end, he couldn’t bear it anymore and crashed through the window. What’s going on?”

“This shows that you three are good people. Illusions arise from the heart. What you think in your heart is what kind of illusion you’ll have. The feelings will be a hundred times stronger than usual. What you saw was a story, so the story couldn’t hurt you. What Qing Que saw were mathematical problems. Solving them is all, so there’s no danger either. What Cheng Chumo saw was fighting and killing. This is somewhat dangerous. If he hadn’t crashed through the window, he might have damaged his heart meridian. As for what Peiji experienced, I don’t need to spell it out, do I?”

Understood. The old fellow’s heart wasn’t old despite his age. His desires were aroused by the environment. As a result, it became uncontrollable. He could be considered a marvel among old people.

“How are the hallucinations produced? Could it be through your dance?” Yun Ye very much didn’t believe this result. If this were possible, those stay-at-home guys from later generations would be in big trouble.

“Of course not. It needs to be combined with this.” Tianmo Ji took a wooden box from beside her pillow. After opening it, inside was a dried, shriveled mushroom, orange-red in color, with beautiful coloring and attractive appearance. At first glance, it was clearly not a good thing.

Just as he was about to take it, Tianmo Ji said, “Don’t touch it. This is a mature Divine Immortal Incense. Inside the cap are tiny black powder particles. Just contact with a little bit and you’ll fall into an illusion. Every time I extract this powder, I myself fall into it. My illusion is relatively terrifying. Unless absolutely necessary, I don’t want to enter it.”

Yun Ye looked at the mushroom again. He couldn’t help but believe it now. Some mushrooms poisoned people to death when eaten. Some mushrooms made people feel like floating immortals when eaten. This mushroom called Divine Immortal Incense—its spores had a strong hallucinogenic effect. Indeed a good thing.

“This concubine comes from Chenzhou in Jiangnan Western Circuit. Witchcraft and poison magic run rampant there. Many families have their own worshipped divine women. My family’s divine woman was my great-aunt. She doted on me since childhood and told me the secrets of being a divine woman. She became the most famous divine woman within a hundred li radius relying on this thing. When I was sent to Chang’an as war spoils, I thought this thing would be useful, so I brought ten flowers. Now only this last one remains. However, there might still be some in the imperial palace, right in the palace where I lived. I heard that palace has long been desolate now. If my dressing table is still there, there should still be two flowers in the secret compartment under the tabletop. I don’t know if they’ve rotted or not.”

“This is your greatest secret. You don’t keep it for self-defense but tell me everything without holding back. What’s the reason?”

“I like staying in the Yun family. It’s very comfortable here. I want to become a retainer of your household. That way our fates will be bound together, and I’ll also have reason to stay in this family for a long time and properly live out the rest of my life.”