CH 103

Chapter 103: The Wind Sweeping Through The Tower Heralds A Rising Storm In The Mountains1.

As the silver moon shone brightly in the sky, Bian Zhonghua followed State Master Li into an inner room. Once there, he discovered that Qin Yicang and Lin Baihu were waiting for them.

Bian Zhonghua hadn’t seen Lin Baihu again after they had to part ways because of the Taotie, but now that he had seen him again, Bian Zhonghua wanted to show his appreciation. So he came over to ask: “How’s your shoulder? Are you feeling better? Thank you for helping me at that time.”

Right when Lin Baihu was about to reply, Qin Yicang suddenly stepped between the two men. Qin Yicang then unfolded the fan decorated with an ink painting, and as he waved it with a smile, he replied: “He feels much better. Don’t need to bother.”

Lin Baihu: “…..”

Bian Zhonghua raised his eyebrows: “Are you two….”

Qin Yicang nodded triumphantly.

Bian Zhonghua clasped his fist towards Qin Yicang.

Lin Baihu: “…..”

Unable to stand this anymore, State Master Li said: “It’s not late yet. Let’s set up the formation as soon as possible.”

“Alright!” The three men replied.

On the floor of the inner room, huge and varied talismans were painted with cinnabar, full of characters and obscure symbols that were very difficult to understand. Then, a yellow talisman paper was pasted on each corner of the inner room. With that done, Lin Baihu, Qin Yicang, and State Master Li stood in the southwest, southeast, and north of the formation, forming a triangle.

Bian Zhonghua stood in the middle of the formation, looking at State Master Li.

State Master Li handed him a red rope and asked him to tie it around his wrist: “This time, we have only one chance of success. I’m not entirely sure that you’ll be able to recover your Mana and memories even if you find your missing soul. However, you have to remember to never cross the Naihe Bridge. If you start to feel bad, pull the red string on your wrist and we’ll bring you back.”

Bian Zhonghua nodded his head and said: “I’ll remember.”

State Master Li took a deep breath and said to Lin Baihu and Qin Yicang: “Let’s begin.”

The three men then began to chant mantras together, and the formation under Bian Zhonghua’s feet faintly glowed. Surprisingly, a black mist gradually rose over State Master Li’s body, forming a pattern of snakes entwined around a turtle in midair.

Bian Zhonghua was surprised to see this. When he looked at Lin Baihu and Qin Yicang, he noticed they were shining as well.

Above Lin Baihu, the white light took the form of a bird. While above Qin Yicang, a red light shone in the form of a tiger.

Before Bian Zhonghua had the time to think carefully, the formation under his feet flashed with a blinding light. From one moment to another, Bian Zhonghua was unable to clearly see the room in front of him.

As soon as the light dissipated, Bian Zhonghua was no longer in the room. Standing on top of the formation, only the red rope remained.

As State Master Li wiped the sweat from his forehead, he sat cross-legged. Lin Baihu and Qin Yicang did the same. Meanwhile, the three men continued to work on the spell to maintain the light generated in the formation.

…

Outside the Residence, the wind rose up strongly, and dark clouds arose in the sky. The pressure that the clouds exerted on the Capital, followed by the wind, showed that a storm was about to unleash.

Suddenly, the wind raised with the vague threat of a fierce storm. There were very few pedestrians on the street at this time, and the vendors had already begun to clear their stalls as well as closing them. In no time, the streets became cold and dim.

Qi Ci quickened his pace and hurried to his Residence. Midway, it suddenly started to rain, so Qi Ci had to cover his head with his hands and run as fast as he could.

However, before he could run long, he saw an old woman staggering in front of him. It seemed that she had trouble walking.

Without even thinking about it, Qi Ci ran towards her and asked: “Granny, where are you going? Let me help you.”

The old woman was startled by Qi Ci’s sudden appearance. But then she replied with a trembling voice: “To the western outskirts of the Capital.”

“It’s raining, let me carry you.” After saying this, Qi Ci squatted down and picked up the old woman. Then, he began to run towards the western outskirts of the Capital.

Qi Ci carried the old woman on his back all the way to a shabby Taoist temple. At that moment, Qi Ci learned that the old woman was a Taoist priestess with no husband or children. Usually, she was in charge of cleaning the temple and collecting money from incense. When she had more than enough money to fill her stomach, she used the rest of it to help other people.

After Qi Ci carried the old woman into the Taoist temple, it began to rain heavily outside, which meant he couldn’t go back for the moment.

The old woman was quite grateful to Qi Ci. After thanking him over and over again, she brought Qi Ci hot ginger tea and clean towels: “Boy, it’s raining so heavily outside. Don’t go yet and wait until it stops raining. If you go out like this, you’ll be drenched from head to toe, and you’ll get sick.”

Qi Ci nodded: “Oh, alright.”

Since the roof of the shabby Taoist temple hall was broken, the outside rain and wind snuck inside. The old woman then invited Qi Ci to go into the inner room. Qi Ci followed her, and when he entered the inner room, he discovered that there was another person there.

The appearance of this person was a little scary. Their long hair was disheveled and covered half of their face. They were missing half of their left arm, had multiple sword wounds on their arm, and wore ragged clothes.

Qi Ci stopped, shocked.

“Don’t be afraid, boy.” The old woman sighed. “I found this girl in an alley a few days ago. She looked so pitiful, so I brought her here.”

The old woman said while removing the medicinal herbs from the girl’s arm: “This girl is very lucky. After ten days, her wounds have finally scabbed over. Today I went to the Capital to buy medicine, but unfortunately I have little money and I couldn’t buy good herbs. Oh, I don’t know what happened to this girl, what wrong could she have done to deserve such a punishment?”

Qi Ci nodded as he heard the old woman’s words. However, he suddenly felt that the girl on the bed looked somewhat familiar. After taking a closer look at her face, Qi Ci shouted: “A-Lian?!”

‘Isn’t this the personal maid of Yu Muyao, the Princess of Bei’an County?!’

‘How could she end up like this?’

The old woman was stunned: “Boy, do you know her?”

Qi Ci nodded and briefly told the old woman about A-Lian’s identity. However, when the old woman heard Qi Ci’s words, her face turned pale and her tone of voice was panicked: “She’s a maid of the Residence of the King of Bei’an County, sigh….”

“Granny, what’s wrong?” Qi Ci was confused.

The old woman said: “You don’t know, boy? The rebellion of the King of Bei’an County failed, and all the people in his Residence were executed. They were considered criminals by the Imperial Court! Sigh, what do I do? If it’s known that I’m hiding a criminal, I, I will, I…..”

Qi Ci had heard about what had happened in the Residence of the King of Bei’an County, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it. Now, after seeing how disastrous the situation was, he was filled with mixed feelings.

Qi Ci thought of that time when he visited the Residence of the King of Bei’an County. The luxurious scenery was still engraved in his mind.

Seeing the vermilion buildings collapse with the sun setting on the horizon felt like nothing more than a dream.

“Granny, don’t worry. I’ll take this girl with me when the rain stops. If you’re still feeling scared, I can go now. But please lend me a straw raincoat to cover the girl,” Qi Ci said softly.

The old woman was stupefied, looked at Qi Ci, and muttered for a long time: “Boy, you’re so kind-hearted. Ah, alright, you can take this girl with you, but wait until the rain stops. Come here….”

As the woman spoke, she gently tugged Qi Ci’s sleeve and led him out of the inner room and towards a side hall.

Although the side hall was a bit dilapidated, it was clean. At first glance, one could see that this old woman was diligent in cleaning this temple.

There was a clay statue of Zhong Kui2 in the side hall with the inscription ‘Zhong Kui subdues all evil’. The clay statue’s eyes looked very life-like, while his beard made him look powerful and unique.

The old woman took out three incense sticks, lit them, and placed them in the incense burner. Then, she took a piece of yellow paper, a brush, and handed it to Qi Ci: “Boy, this is the Lord Who Blesses the Home. It’s rumored that everything you ask will be answered. If there’s something you want, write it on this yellow paper.”

Upon receiving the paper and brush, Qi Ci felt that nothing was missing in his life, so he hesitated about what to write for a long time.

The old woman added: “You can ask for peace.”

Qi Ci understood, wrote down a line, folded it and handed it to the old woman.

The old woman led Qi Ci to worship the clay statue and chanted some words. Then, she tied the yellow paper talisman written by Qi Ci on the hand of the clay statue.

At that moment, a gust of wind came into the temple, followed by the sound of the rain dying down.

When Qi Ci saw that the rain was almost over, he said goodbye to the old woman and carried A-Lian to the Prince’s Residence on his back.

The old woman watched them leave. A moment later, she went back to the side hall to pay her respects to the clay statue.

However, when she looked up, she found that the yellow paper tied to the clay statue’s hand, the one Qi Ci had written, had disappeared.