Qing Xuzi turned to look at this hostile young man and frowned, saying, “Is this the eldest young master of the household?”
The Pei couple privately found it rather strange as well — why would Dalang put on such a sour face in front of a guest, embarrassing everyone for no reason at all.
Then it occurred to them: Dalang had always disliked talk of the supernatural and the occult, and had no shortage of criticism for monks and Daoists. Seeing that the family had invited a Daoist to perform rituals at home, he was naturally somewhat displeased at heart.
They quickly shot Pei Shao a warning glance, then turned to make introductions to Qing Xuzi: “Indeed, this is our son.”
Pei Shao paid no heed to the cautionary looks his parents cast his way. He walked straight up to the group and asked with a cold expression, “What is going on here?”
“Dalang.” Pei Lin looked at his son with mild irritation. “This is Daoist Qing Xuzi of the Qingyun Monastery, who is well-versed in capturing demons and expelling malevolent spirits. Our household has been suffering greatly of late. Your mother made inquiries about the Daoist’s reputation some days ago and specifically invited him here today to have a look around.”
“Capturing demons and expelling malevolent spirits?” Pei Shao’s expression darkened further. “We’ve merely had a few bouts of nightmares — no one has been harmed or gone missing, and no one has laid eyes on this so-called ‘monster’ with their own eyes. Most likely it is nothing more than a case of imagining ghosts in the shadows, frightening ourselves. Why on earth should we invite such occultist charlatans into the household to cause such a stir? If the censors were to hear of this, Father, would you not fear being impeached?”
Pei Lin had not anticipated that his son would speak with such ruthlessness, his tone even laced with contempt for his parents’ actions — stopping just short of slapping them with the label of “superstitious fools.”
His face flushed with embarrassment, and he said sharply, “Dalang, your mother and I have been plagued by nightmares every night, unable to sleep properly for quite some time. We have tried all manner of remedies, all to no avail. We have gone to such lengths to invite Daoist Qing Xuzi here to expel the evil, and rather than helping us entertain the guest with good cheer, you stand here being deliberately contrary. What is the meaning of this?”
He turned back to Qing Xuzi with an apologetic smile: “My son has been stationed at the Cangzhou military camp for a year, and the rigors of training there have made his temperament rather prickly. Please do not take offense at his rudeness, Daoist.”
Pei Shao’s expression had maintained a stormy gloominess all along, but upon hearing Pei Lin’s words, his face shifted. He stiffened for quite a long moment, and in the end, reluctantly clamped his mouth shut and said nothing more.
Qing Xuzi had initially noticed the hostility in the young man’s tone and the apparent intention to cause trouble, and had been inclined to respond. But hearing Pei Lin’s explanation, he chose not to engage. He turned away with unhurried ease and gave the Boundless Mirror a sweep of his wide sleeve.
The scene within the mirror suddenly shifted — the dense black mist that had previously gathered and refused to disperse vanished entirely. Immediately after, the polished, reflective surface of the mirror turned like a dressing mirror toward Young Master Pei, enveloping him and the Pei couple behind him within its glow.
Qin Yao’s heart stirred. She quickly turned to look into the mirror and waited quietly for some time, but the black mist that had appeared before did not return. All that was reflected was Young Master Pei’s face — faintly puzzled and indignant — and his clearly discernible silhouette and form. His soul was serene and undisturbed; not the slightest anomaly could be detected.
The Pei couple could not understand why Qing Xuzi had suddenly turned the mystical instrument toward their son, and they looked on in bewildered alarm. “What is this…?”
Qing Xuzi’s suspicions had come to nothing, leaving him all the more puzzled. He had no choice but to temporarily withdraw the Boundless Mirror. He turned to face the Pei couple and said, “Master Pei, Madam Pei — based on what the two of you witnessed in your dreams, the entity in this household bears a strong resemblance to a batch of malevolent creatures I subdued some days ago. Just now I used this instrument to peer inward, and I detected that the malevolent entity comes to harass your household every night. When you sleep, your souls are inherently unstable. Struck by the malevolent energy released by this creature, your souls drift from your bodies and into the garden, where they catch a glimpse of the entity’s form. You, not understanding what has happened, mistake this for a dream.”
Qin Yao listened and found this entirely credible. In truth, the Pei family members were not experiencing dream-induced illusions — their souls had plainly slipped free of their bodies and actually witnessed the creature with their own eyes. Not knowing any better, they simply assumed they had been dreaming.
Once Qing Xuzi had finished speaking, he paused to deliberate before asking, “May I inquire whether anyone in the household has visited Mount Wuniu recently?”
“Mount Wuniu?” Pei Lin seemed puzzled. “That Mount Wuniu in the western outskirts? No one has been there.”
“How can you say no one?” Madam Pei gave Qing Xuzi an admiring glance, then gently corrected her husband. “When Dalang returned from the Cangzhou camp, did he not pass right by Mount Wuniu?”
“Oh? Then that explains it.” Qing Xuzi nodded and stroked his beard in thought. “It may be that as Young Master Pei was passing through Mount Wuniu, he caught the eye of a malevolent creature lurking in the mountain. That creature then followed Young Master Pei all the way back to the household, which is when the disturbances began.”
Is that so? Qin Yao inwardly furrowed her brow. A corpse-revenant has solid physical form — traveling from Mount Wuniu all the way into Chang’an city, no matter how carefully it concealed its tracks, it would be nearly impossible not to be spotted by someone, which would have caused a tremendous uproar. How could it have come and gone so soundlessly without attracting any notice whatsoever?
She recalled the water-dwelling corpse-revenant from the day before and wanted to describe it to her master in detail, but feared making noise that might disturb the revenant they were waiting for.
The Pei couple, seeing that Qing Xuzi had already surmised the creature’s origins, felt considerably more reassured, and quickly asked, “Then how does the Daoist plan to deal with this creature?”
Qing Xuzi raised his eyes toward the vermilion gate and said, “The last time I went to Mount Wuniu with my disciples to capture revenants, there were too many of them, and my disciples and I had limited energy — inevitably one or two escaped. The creature troubling your household is likely one of those. Since it comes to harass you every night, tonight will be no exception. I will immediately set up a formation here with my two disciples and stand guard. When it comes, we will make certain to eliminate it entirely, and put an end to this trouble once and for all.”
“That would be ideal.” The cloud of worry on Pei Lin’s face lifted instantly, like the parting of clouds revealing the sun, and he earnestly said, “Whatever the Daoist requires of us while casting the ritual, please do not hesitate to instruct us.”
Qing Xuzi cast a sidelong glance at the expressionless Pei Shao and smiled. “This evening, while I perform the ritual, all that is needed is to clear the garden, send away the attendants, and ensure no one comes to disturb us.”
The Pei couple agreed, and headed off in high spirits to make the necessary preparations. Pei Shao remained standing where he was, watching Qing Xuzi and the others in silence, as though he had something he wished to say. Yet after a long, contemplative pause, he ultimately said nothing, and turned away with barely concealed hostility.
That evening, Qing Xuzi instructed Qin Yao and A’Han to bring out the Soul-Guiding Banner and set it upon the offering table. He also laid out three Soul-Refining Incense sticks, opened the small vermilion gate, placed a bowl of chicken’s blood on the ground outside the gate, and waited quietly.
The night was strangely hot. The wind that ordinarily threaded through the streets and alleys of Chang’an seemed as though it had been entirely sealed inside an airtight bag — even the treetops and willow leaves stood perfectly still.
With no trace of wind and rain still far off, all that remained in the air was a heavy, stagnant heat.
Qin Yao kept her eyes fixed on the dark, silent Three-Yuan Alley beyond the gate. Sweat gathered at her temples, and her Daoist robe clung to her like a waterlogged page of paper, wrapping itself around her from head to toe.
As she wiped away the perspiration, she quietly wondered: in heat this fierce, a corpse-revenant would likely begin emitting an overpowering stench of decay within half a day of being in Chang’an city. How on earth was it managing to come and go so freely without drawing anyone’s attention?
She thought of the water-dwelling revenant from the day before and was eager to give her master a full account, but feared making noise and disturbing any revenant that might approach.
They waited for the better part of the night, but the vermilion gate remained utterly still.
Eventually Qin Yao and A’Han could no longer contain themselves, and quietly leapt up to the top of the wall to wait some more. Yet the far end of Three-Yuan Alley remained perfectly peaceful throughout — not a single trace of a revenant appeared.
By the time dawn broke, the three of them — master and disciples — had come away with nothing whatsoever. Qing Xuzi did not seem surprised. In fact, the suspicions he had been harboring had only grown more concrete. He turned a cold face to Qin Yao and A’Han and said, “Last night’s formation served two purposes — not only to capture the revenant, but also to test someone within this household. Judging by what has transpired, my suspicion was correct: someone within this household is keeping and controlling a corpse-revenant. Seeing that we had laid a trap, they tipped it off in advance, allowing the revenant to escape. That is why we waited the whole night for nothing.”
“Keeping a corpse-revenant?” Qin Yao and A’Han were both startled. “Who would be so audacious?”
Could it be that, rather than a revenant preying upon the Pei family, someone within the household actually knew the dark arts and was using the revenant as a puppet?
Qing Xuzi was not entirely certain, and said with lingering unease, “How many times have I told you both — in this world, the most difficult thing to account for is the human heart, and the most difficult thing to deal with is likewise the human heart. Have you not witnessed enough demons and monsters wearing the face of an upright person? I believe the matter here is far from as simple as we assumed — there is surely something very strange going on.”
Qin Yao could see that Qing Xuzi’s every word was laden with implication, and her heart grew ever more apprehensive. She was just about to press him with more questions when Pei Lin came hurrying over with several servants. “Daoist, how did it go? Was the creature captured?”
Qing Xuzi quickly put on a composed and dignified air and said, “Last night we set the formation here, and its deterrent effect should not be underestimated. I imagine the creature was so frightened that it did not dare come to cause trouble.”
Then, with great certainty, he asked, “Master Pei, I trust you were not troubled by nightmares last night?”
Pei Lin was momentarily taken aback, and then his face broke into a delighted expression. “Indeed! Last night, from the moment I fell asleep, I slept soundly until morning, without waking once, and without a single nightmare. Daoist, you truly possess divine arts — your reputation is well-deserved! I am deeply impressed.”
Qing Xuzi accepted Pei Lin’s praise with composure and said mildly, “Shortly I will draw protective talismans outside your household. That malevolent creature will not dare return to cause trouble again.” He gave a quiet chuckle and added, “This is no self-promotion on my part — it is simply that the talismans I draw are on an entirely different level from those cheap imitations peddled by ordinary Daoist charlatans out there. Common ghosts and malevolent entities flee the sight of them in terror, let alone a mere minor corpse-revenant. Master Pei need only sleep soundly from now on — that creature will never return.”
Pei Lin was, naturally, effusive in his thanks.
Before long, Madam Pei and the others also came out to inquire, and the color in their faces was noticeably improved — it was apparent they, too, had enjoyed a full night of undisturbed rest.
With that, every member of the household was won over by Qing Xuzi without exception. Amid the admiring gazes of all present, he finished drawing the talismans, exchanged a few modest pleasantries, and in the end accepted the generous payment of silver presented by the Pei couple with a self-satisfied air before striding out of the household.
The moment they boarded the Qingyun Monastery’s carriage, all three — master and disciples — let their expressions fall, their faces settling back into somber gravity.
After a long silence, Qing Xuzi said in a low, resolute voice, “Let us go. We head to Mount Wuniu now. I suspect I did not look carefully enough the last time and overlooked something. If someone truly is using a corpse-revenant to cause harm, then the source likely lies in those burial caves on Mount Wuniu.”
Qin Yao agreed entirely.
When the carriage was halfway along its journey, Qin Yao’s thoughts finally shifted from the Pei household to the incident at Jade Spring Mountain. She was about to describe the “corpse-revenant” she had encountered in the water to Qing Xuzi when, unexpectedly, the moment she opened her mouth, Qing Xuzi waved her off the carriage and said, “We’ve reached the Qu household. You were up all night, and today is also the Flower Festival. There is no need for you to follow along to Mount Wuniu and get caught up in the commotion. Stay and wait until your master and senior disciple brother return from Mount Wuniu, then come back to the Qingyun Monastery.”
Qin Yao was caught completely off guard by her master tossing her out of the carriage. Though she knew he meant well, she still felt thoroughly aggrieved. She chased after the carriage a few steps, then stamped her foot and cried out, “What kind of master does this!”
But the carriage had already vanished in the blink of an eye, and with no extraordinary lightness skill to call upon, there was no way she could catch up no matter what she did. She had no choice but to give up and make her way back to the Qu household, deflated and disheartened.
Wei Duke’s Mansion.
Since today was the Flower Festival, Xia Yan had risen even earlier than usual. Once she had washed and dressed, she paid her respects to her parents in their chambers and then made her way to the courtyard of her second brother, Xia Di.
Her eldest brother, Xia Lan, had lately been undergoing training at the Supervisory Military Garrison and was never seen at home, leaving early and returning late. She had long given up expecting anything of him, and had invited her second brother several days ago to accompany her out for the Flower Festival today. It was now well past the morning hour, and she did not know whether her second brother had gotten out of bed yet.
The weather today was quite pleasant, without the stifling heat of the previous days — the perfect sort of day for an outing. She made her way through flowering branches and trailing willow fronds to the courtyard where Xia Di lived, and found several young maidservants sweeping the grounds with brooms, while a handful of manservants stood with bowed heads and subdued breath before the bedchamber door.
The manservants raised their heads when they saw her and were about to go in to announce her arrival, but Xia Yan stopped them and asked, “Has my second brother risen yet? If he is still resting, do not disturb him.”
A manservant smiled deferentially and said, “Your Royal Highness, the young master woke up a while ago — he is currently inside speaking with the eldest young master.”
Xia Yan was surprised. “Is my elder brother actually here at the house? Does he not need to go to the Supervisory Military Garrison today?”
She quickly lifted her skirts and climbed the steps, pushed aside the curtain, and entered the room. The moment she stepped inside, she heard Xia Lan say, “That woman has a certain charm that makes it impossible to tear oneself away. It’s a pity she does not speak the language of the Central Plains — that is somewhat of a flaw in an otherwise perfect picture.”
Xia Di gave a derisive snort. “There are so many respectable young women in Chang’an who would welcome your attention — why single out someone of that sort for your regard?”
Xia Lan’s voice turned cool, and he said with contempt, “A woman from a pleasure establishment naturally would not catch your eye. But respectable young ladies — can they so easily be drawn in? Take that Miss Qu, for instance. If you’ve already set your mind on trifling with her today, are you not afraid she will attach herself to you afterward and refuse to let go until you marry her?”
Xia Di’s voice faltered for a moment, then he said with forced nonchalance, “Marry her, then. She is unmarried, I am unattached — what is there to stop it?”
Xia Yan, upon hearing this, felt her mind go blank for a moment. After quite some time, she pressed a hand to her rapidly pounding heart and slowly walked further inside.