Chapter Ninety-Four: A Trap Set in Place

She nodded. At present, she had not yet found a proper way to leave this body, and trouble piled high around her. If the other realms were to take notice, she would be stretched beyond her means, and the people near her might well be placed in grave danger.

“If you can, go to the Netherworld. There may be some way to find there.”

“Thank you, Immortal.”

After seeing matters arranged, Jiang Lan descended the mountain, with the fellow whose face plainly showed his questions close behind.

“If you have something to ask, then ask it.”

Kongkong first flashed a grin. “Are we there yet?”

Jiang Lan turned and glanced at him. “Really?”

Kongkong wore a smile. “This humble monk only does not understand one thing: with such unfathomable power, why does the Immortal choose to stand with demons and monsters?”

“What is an immortal? One of a kind heart, cultivating the orthodox path with diligence, is naturally an immortal. What is a demon? One of an evil heart, cultivating crooked arts, is naturally a demon. Have you not seen that the twenty-eight constellations are not of the human race? Have you not seen Nuwa with a human body and a serpent’s tail? Between heaven and earth, all living beings are but a single thought from good or evil; so too are immortals and demons.”

“The Immortal speaks with reason. But demons aside, why should the Immortal even save evil spirits?”

“Evil spirits? Fiends? Demon lords? Where did all these names come from?”

“From the people’s mouths, passed down from one to another through the ages.”

“All of them are labels bestowed by those exalted figures, those gods and lords seated high among the clouds, upon anything that opposes them. When people hear the word evil spirit, they naturally assume from the bottom of their hearts that such things must be dreadful and monstrous. But is it truly so?”

Kongkong shook his head. “Not all of them. Deep resentment can stain a soul with baleful energy, and I have also seen evil spirits that did not harm so much as a blade of grass yet still bore powerful corruption.”

“And what became of that one in the end?”

“It was seized by a demon-slaying daoist and sealed in a golden bowl, then burned alive by true fire.”

“Why?”

“That was because it was an evil spirit, of course.”

At that answer, Jiang Lan, walking the desolate stony path down the mountain, laughed aloud, a bloodthirsty light gleaming in her eyes.

Back then, the two realms of immortals and gods had also branded her with the name of a heinous demon lord, pinning upon her every baseless crime they could invent. Tens of thousands of so-called righteous practitioners, without distinguishing right from wrong, had then surrounded and hunted her while she was still reeling from the pain of annihilated kin, seeking to make her soul and spirit vanish together at the summit of the six realms.

How ridiculous. A judgment without foundation, a prejudice carved in stone, and before she could even defend herself, it became a so-called “war for justice.”

Jiang Lan gathered up the emotions threatening to run wild. “Those were merely the souls of miserable mortals in suffering. Even when they were caught in battle, I saw no sign that they meant to take lives, which proves their hearts were kind. That is why I chose to save them. If they had been demons or evil spirits, should I not have dealt with you first?”

Kongkong immediately shrank his neck. “The Immortal must not joke like that. This humble monk usually only takes a little of the unjust wealth from those rich and powerful. Last time, when the Yellow River flooded, I even donated several hundred taels...”

“Only joking. Don’t take it seriously.”

Kongkong touched the neck that remained firmly attached to his body.

“But several hundred taels—does that even match your income?”

Kongkong clutched his chest in pained dismay at the money pouch hidden beneath his monastic robe. “Next time. Next time I will surely donate much more.”

Jiang Lan and Kongkong moved swiftly through the mountain ravine, and before long, under Kongkong’s guidance, they arrived at the Buddha hall of White Horse Monastery.

Jiang Lan glanced around, then drew aside the yellow curtain beside her, climbed up onto a beam, took the divine pouch from her bosom, and hung it in a hidden place beneath the rafters. She then affixed a talisman nearby to conceal the pouch’s life force.

Earlier, Chi Feng had asked why she did not simply refine the entire divine pouch herself, sparing him the trouble of opening up its inner space. Jiang Lan had only given a wry smile. With this frail mortal body of hers, where would she find the divine power to refine such an object? Even when she had been a ghost, she might not have managed it.

Still, though she could not refine it, she also could not allow anyone else—human, immortal, demon, or otherwise—to discover it. Otherwise, Chi Feng and the many evil spirits within would be in danger.

After giving Kongkong a few instructions, Jiang Lan left the mountain gate.

~~

The vast courtyard lay utterly still, without the slightest sound.

Moonlight spilled across the ground, gilding the full yard of purple-blue pansies in a coat of silver.

Then came the faint sound of footsteps, the drag of wooden clogs against the ground.

Chen Shou stood with his hands folded within his sleeves. The corners of his eyes lifted like peach blossoms, his face flushed with a soft red hue, and beneath his long lashes his gaze was languid and dreamlike.

Though twins, it had to be said that Chen Shou, compared with his elder brother Chen Yu, was several degrees more alluring.

Especially the bewitching charm that hovered at the corners of his mouth, at once righteous and wicked; even the pansies in the courtyard seemed to blush in shame.

Chen Shou stepped forward, plucked one bloom, and turned it lightly between his fingertips, studying it with a distant, indifferent look.

Suddenly a gust of wind stirred, and the servant in blue appeared once more in the shadows.

“Have you uncovered what happened during the day?”

The servant in blue went pale. “Reporting to Young Master, not yet.”

At those words, the fingers loosened, the flower disappearing into his palm. His slender five fingers slowly closed, and the entire pansy was crushed into fragments.

“Forgive me, Young Master. I came because I received word that all the cultivators in the city rushed toward the residence of the Duke of Wei. What exactly happened is still unclear, but the reports sent back say the blood aura around the Duke’s residence grows ever thicker.”

“Oh? That is interesting. Is there a demon troubling the Duke of Wei’s residence?”

The servant in blue remained kneeling. “The news has not yet come back in full, but it certainly appears so. Quite a few of our men near the area heard terrifying howls, and the sky was filled with blood-red light. It must be the work of evil creatures. We only do not know whether some demon intends to break into the Duke’s residence, or whether something monstrous is hidden inside it already.”

A smile slowly unfurled on Chen Shou’s face. He extended his right hand, then turned it over and opened his palm. Every speck of crushed petal drifted away with a breeze into the flowerbed.

“Within the imperial capital, the Twelve Grand Masters of the Celestial Bureau are in charge. What evil spirit would dare force its way in? I suspect some unruly soul has been secretly rearing a demon. As for you—stabbed through by dozens of wounds, each fatal, with every imperial physician in the Ministry of Medicine powerless to save you—how did that child survive? Was it truly divine protection? Hah.”

The servant in blue rolled his eyes. “Young Master’s foresight is unmatched. This servant will handle it at once. By tomorrow morning, surely every soul in Jiankang, from the eighty-year-old elder to the three-year-old child, will know of this matter.”

Chen Shou waved a hand and slowly shook his head. “No need.”

“Could the Young Master mean to pass up such a golden opportunity?”

“The matter of Liu Heng is not finished yet, is it?”

“No. Men were sent to smooth things over with the Minister of Rites, and the Ministry of Justice is putting pressure on the Chief Urban Administrator. As for the Yong'an Earl’s Residence, we took the route of the Duke of England’s household. Second Young Master Xue is truly formidable as well. The two sides differ greatly on the matter of sentencing, and the issue remains deadlocked without conclusion.”

“Have all the people involved in the replacement of prisoners at the capital prefecture’s prison been identified?”

“All recorded and registered.”

“Quietly send the information to those aristocratic families standing behind Liu Heng, as well as the full list of everyone on this register. Do not forget the Liu family.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

In the moonlight, gazing at the spring beauty filling the courtyard, the smile on Chen Shou’s face deepened.

“A game is only fun when there are enough players.”

Jiang Lan did not know that she had already walked into another person’s board. At that moment, she was groping through the dark, relying on the pale moonlight to slip into the city and head north, toward where Sanmu lived.

She again knocked no door. Seeing no one around, she vaulted the wall and went straight inside.