Chapter 36: A Plan to Dispel Evil and a Mother’s Tender Concern

“Indeed, she just drifted off to sleep.”

Qíngyǔ descended the stairs with an ethereal grace, her green robes flowing like a worldly breeze, untouched by the slightest trace of earthly concerns.

“Young Lady, you summoned us to meet at this hour; may I ask the reason?”

Yang Qi clasped his hands in a formal salute, his expression clouded with doubt.

It was already past dusk, and the shopkeepers had long since packed away their goods, leaving only a young Servant, whose snores were already resounding, to watch over the place.

The hall, which had buzzed with activity during the day, was now illuminated by only a single, flickering candle.

“It concerns the extermination of a demonic entity.”

Qíngyǔ nodded, pulled a chair towards her, and sat opposite the two men, then, with another gesture, she cast a spell to prevent their voices from carrying.

“What is it you require of us?”

“You two should already be aware that much of the Yang family’s ill repute stems from the demonic entity’s malicious gossip.”

Yang Qi sighed, well aware of the suspicious origins of his family’s ill repute; yet, with matters having reached this point, he could only fault himself for failing to resolve his friend’s inner turmoil all those years ago.

“Young Lady, do you have a method to dispel this reputation?”

Jí Yào, ever sharp-witted, immediately grasped the implication of Qíngyǔ’s words.

“I do.”

The young woman reached into her sleeve, conjuring a scroll of Xuan paper (TL Note: A type of traditional Chinese paper, often used for calligraphy and painting.)—ever since she began cultivating in this life and donned the Daoist robes, her actions increasingly echoed those of her previous existence.

Yang Qi solemnly accepted the scroll, then slowly unfurled it, but the contents written upon it caused his expression to falter with difficulty.

“This… will this method truly work?”

“Your family’s ill repute originated from mere rumors; for this, all that is needed is to dilute them.”

The scroll didn’t actually contain much; it simply outlined the words Yang Qi needed to speak when inscribing a plaque for the abandoned temple the following day.

“Though the body may perish, the spirit remains divine; your souls shall be heroes among ghosts…”

Yang Qi murmured the lines, his confusion undiminished.

“Young Lady, if you say a deity will protect us tomorrow, why ask me to recite this dirge instead of words of praise?”

Qíngyǔ had borrowed these lines from Qu Yuan; her own poetic skills were modest, making it difficult to compose suitable verses for the occasion, so she could only express herself through this borrowed poem.

“The deity we shall invoke tomorrow was a martial general in life, making these lines perfectly suitable.”

“I see.”

But could inscribing a plaque, sculpting a statue, and reciting a few verses truly summon a deity to return and suppress the evil?

In truth, it could not.

Had anyone other than Qíngyǔ been undertaking this task, even a hundred inscribed plaques, a hundred statues, and a hundred recitations would have been powerless to dispel the demonic entity.

Indeed, the young woman was merely leveraging someone else’s almost-failed arrangements, subtly guiding events to her advantage.

Both within and beyond the town, there were already signs of capable individuals striving to remedy the situation, notably the divine statue within the dilapidated mountain temple and the once-thriving new temple outside the town.

Those undertaking these efforts were, in fact, striving to mend the divine order of this mortal realm, which had, for unknown reasons, fallen into such a state of decay.

It remained uncertain whether Zì Bùxiàn had discovered these developments.

“My power falls short…”

“Young Lady, you are too modest.”

Yang Qi overheard Qíngyǔ’s reflective murmur, taking it merely as a humble remark.

“I wasn’t speaking of myself.”

Hearing his words, the young woman shook her head and turned to look outside.

The county town was sparsely lit, and the night breeze was gentle, yet a profound stillness permeated the air; it was difficult to imagine that within such tranquility, a great demonic entity lay hidden.

Yang Qi couldn’t fathom what the esteemed expert before him was thinking, so he simply continued with his own query: “However… Young Lady, there is one more thing I don’t understand.”

“What is it?”

“If that demonic entity possesses such power, why does it not immediately erupt and harm people, choosing instead to hide within the city?”

“It refrains from harming people now to better harm them later.”

Qíngyǔ turned back, casting a meaningful glance at the old official, who had been ostracized by the imperial court and forced to return to his hometown.

In her ink-wash vision, this man appeared as a brilliant, clear blue; initially, she hadn’t known what this signified, but now she understood somewhat.

If this clear blue represented what she suspected, then it surely signified an individual of great potential among mortals.

“So it is,” Yang Qi exclaimed, rising in sudden realization and clasping his hands in deference. “Many thanks, Young Lady, for your willingness to help save lives.”

“It was merely a matter of convenience; Sir, there is no need for such formality.”

After a moment of internal struggle, he gritted his teeth and spoke to Qíngyǔ again: “Actually, after you returned home that day, I also had my daughter attempt to contact her master.”

“What was the outcome?”

Qíngyǔ asked, feigning ignorance; since Zì Bùxiàn had not appeared by now, the result was quite evident.

“He replied with a single word.”

“Which word?”

“‘Wait’.”

This implied that he could only intervene once the demonic entity openly began to harm people on a grand scale.

This also aligned with Qíngyǔ’s conjecture: the sect Zì Bùxiàn represented was bound by heavenly restrictions, forbidding intervention in mortal affairs, yet the scope of this restriction was remarkably vague.

What constituted mortal affairs?

Did demonic entities harming people count as mortal affairs? Did immortals committing evil deeds count as mortal affairs? Or was it only the confrontation between immortals and demonic entities that qualified as ‘extraordinary’?

It seemed that Zì Bùxiàn’s sect did send people out to subdue demonic entities, but Qíngyǔ suspected these endeavors were more akin to ‘training’ than ‘saving the world.’

Otherwise, this demonic calamity would not have lingered until today for her to discover.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll go upstairs and accompany Little Girl.”

“You’ve worked hard, Young Lady.”

“I merely did my best.”

Qíngyǔ nodded, then turned and left, leaving the two men to sit in silence amidst the flickering candlelight.

***

Returning upstairs, even before she reached her door, she heard a frantic patter of footsteps.

‘This child, honestly.’

Pulling open the door with a wry expression, she mused that this daughter was even harder to teach than a demonic entity; at this rate, it wouldn’t be long before the child was climbing all over her.

“Little Girl, didn’t I tell you to sleep soundly?”

The small dumpling, tightly wrapped in the bedcovers, remained still, as if truly lost in deep slumber.

Alas, a single shoe, having fallen from someone onto the bed, had already betrayed her whereabouts.

“Are you asleep?”

Qíngyǔ understood perfectly, and after calling out twice more, she feigned speaking to herself: “It seems she truly is asleep; I’ll just go downstairs again.”

The sound of the door opening, closing, and light footsteps descending the stairs echoed, and only then did Little Girl stealthily poke her head out from the covers.

What she saw, however, was her own mother sitting by the bed, smiling silently as she watched her.

“Mommy’s mean!”

“Qíng Shíqīng, you little rascal, what were you looking at?”

Clutching the little rabbit who tried to escape into her embrace, Qíngyǔ playfully ‘drilled’ her temples with her knuckles a few times before finally letting her go.

“I… I was worried about Mommy.”

Little Girl pouted, then reached out to shake her mother’s arm, her face breaking into a fawning smile once more.

“Next time, remember to be obedient. If you don’t sleep at this hour, what will you do if you can’t wake up tomorrow morning?”

The young woman, easily softened once again, could only reach out to ruffle her hair.

“I won’t! I’m always full of energy after cultivating!”

“Have you also learned meditation?”

“Almost!”

Although Qíngyǔ also practiced meditation, she didn’t use it frequently, as her own cultivation path didn’t demand particularly high levels of Qi refinement.

Most of the time, simply sleeping was more comfortable.

“Why is my Little Girl so diligent?”

“Because Mommy seemed sad a few days ago… if my cultivation were higher, I could help you!”

“Don’t be too hasty.”

“Mhm!”

Her Little Girl was truly sensible at times.

Qíngyǔ hugged her and burrowed back into the covers, gently kissing her forehead, which made the little girl giggle again.

However, Qíngyǔ truly needed to find a way to improve her own cultivation; surely, she couldn’t rely on this little girl to protect her in the future, could she?