Capture the Jade

Teng Yuyi did not reply immediately, and Jue Sheng pondered for a moment: “Senior brother is afraid that an accident will happen on the way back to the city, so he deliberately let this humble Taoist send some of these stabilizing talismans for the injured victims.”

Only then did Teng Yuyi relax a bit: “Little Taoist, please come up.”

Jue Sheng was fat like a small round barrel, but his skills were very quick and agile. After sitting down, he learned from the way Qing Xuzi sat, slightly tilted forward: “This humble Taoist bows down1refers to the ancient kneeling. It was often used by courtiers when they visited the monarch. Kneeling down and bowing your hands to the ground as a sign of respect.”

He pretended to be mature, but it could not hide his childish nature. Madam Du and Teng Yuyi could not restrain themselves from smiling: “Nice to meet Taoist Priest, Jue Sheng.”

Du Tinglan was placed on a small couch behind the curtain. Teng Yuyi and Madam Du sat together on the bench on the side under the eastern window. The inside of the car was originally quite spacious, but as soon as Jue Sheng came in, it appeared to be cramped.

Teng Yuyi wore the veil on her head for an entire night, and was already feeling stuffy from it. Thinking that this little Taoist was only eight or nine years old, she took off the veil and placed it aside2In the Tang dynasty, veils were meant for protecting a woman’s modesty since it concealed the entire body. Its purpose was to prevent men on the streets from looking at women, especially women who are unmarried.

It was only now that Jue Sheng could see Teng Yuyi’s appearance clearly. Not only was she not ugly, but was surprisingly beautiful. Out of curiosity, he could not help, but take a few more looks.

“Little Taoist?”

Jue Sheng rubbed his head in embarrassment, and straightened himself: “Actually since the several injured victims have taken Liuyuan Dan, there is really no need to use a stabilizing talisman. I actually came, because senior brother wanted me to ask about the situation in the bamboo forest. Lady Teng, why did you and Madam Du go to the bamboo forest at the time? Did someone lead you there? What happened after you got there? Other than the evil spirit, did you ever see any suspicious people there?”

After every sentence, he paused for a bit, as if trying to repeat the words that Lin Chengyou had taught him to speak.

Teng Yuyi and Madam Du looked at each other. As for why Du Tinglan left the Jingfu Nunnery, it is still a mystery up until now. For the sake of not damaging Du Tinglan’s reputation, they deliberately have been trying to conceal this matter.

However judging from the various circumstances with capturing the evil spirit tonight, the origin of the spirit does not seem to be simple. By any chance, there could be other twists and turns in this situation, and to invariably conceal it, would only lead things to go wrong.

In addition, Teng Yuyi also had a layer of uneasiness. In her previous life, half a year before her biao jie3Biao Jie = older female cousin’s accident, she had never heard of an evil spirit that had caused harm in Chang’an. However, tonight it was already heard that this evil spirit has already harmed more than a dozen women. Moreover, the cause of death of her biao jie was inspected and it was concluded that she was strangled to death. However, based on the way the evil spirit attacked tonight, it would not need to go through such lengths just to kill someone.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt like a lot of details did not add up. She remembered that after her biao jie was murdered in her previous life, Even father had secretly send someone to investigate about it, but there was nothing found of it. In the end, the murderer was never found. This time around, with the use of borrowing the hand of Lin Chengyou, maybe one would be able to find out the truth.

She then truthfully said: “As for why my biao jie went into the bamboo forest, we don’t know. By the time we arrived, both my biao jie and Maid Hong, had already lost consciousness. The evil spirit lurked in the trees, and as soon as we got closer, it attacked us. Duan Fu and I were busy dealing with the evil spirit, so we did not pay attention to whether there was anybody hiding in the forest.”

Jue Sheng showed a disappointed expression: “I originally thought that Lady Teng would know the inside story4inside story = information or an explanation that is known only by people closely involved with something.”

“It seems that we can only wait until my biao jie wakes up before asking.” Teng Yuyi said in a deep voice, “But there is one thing that is quite strange. After we rescued biao jie, we found that biao jie had a wound in the palm of her hand. The blood stains have already formed a scab, and does not look like it was caused by the evil spirit.”

She turned around and pulled her biao jie’s right hand out of the quilt and exposed it outside the curtain.

“Little Taoist, look.”

Jue Sheng leaned forward. The wound was thin and deep: “oh, why does it look a bit like a tree branch piercing? However, tree branches can not pierce in so deep, it looks more like scissors.”

“It is probably scissors. When I went to look for my biao jie in the nunnery, I saw that there were many colorful ribbons on the table.” Teng Yuyi took out gold foils and jade flakes from her sleeve. “Taoist priest, look. I reckon that her hand was injured when she was cutting the ribbons in Yunhui hall.”

The two of them looked carefully through the light, and soon, they found a dark bloodstain mark the size of a fingernail on one of them. The foil was originally a deep ochre color, and the bloodstain was already dried up; therefore, it did not easily catch one’s eye.

Jue Sheng pinched his fingers with his left hand, and the other hand crossed the center of his eyebrows5It is one of the basic methods of the Tao. Refers to the palm of the hand, pinching certain parts of the finger or forming a fixed position between the fingers. He opened the heavenly eyes6Heavenly eye = which can see things that cannot be seen by the naked eye, which is beyond the material world, in addition to not being limited by size, distance, light and shade, nor limited by concealment or transparent exposure, and did not see anything wrong. He then turned his head to observe the wound on Du Tinglan’s palm.

“It looks like there was a lot of blood that was bleeding out. If there was an evil creature hidden in the forest at the time, as long as Du Tinglan approached closely, the evil creature would be able to smell the blood on her.”

Teng Yuyi was stunned: “The Taoist Priest means that biao jie was targeted by an evil spirit because of the injury on her hand?”

“Well…..” Jue Sheng hesitated and spoke: “It does not look like it. Senior brother has said that this evil spirit has a glass and wood heart, and feeds on dew and soil for food. It is not bloodthirsty for flesh, and does not like the stinky smell. It only loves the skin of a beauty. Once it meets a woman that it likes, it will often find many ways to seize the body. Once it finds a more beautiful woman, it will suck out the essence of the host and break out of its shell. However, there is one thing, it will never damage the flesh and skin of a beauty. There had been many women that had died, and yet there are rarely people who report it to the authorities. Because from the outside, there were no scars left, and everyone thought that they died due to a sudden illness.”

Teng Yuyi pondered and said: “According to this, biao jie has such a deep wound on her hand, and logically it should have caught the attention of that evil spirit, so why did it still target my biao jie?”

Jue Sheng thought bitterly with his round face for a moment, but he could not figure out what was missing. Without having a better option, he could only get up and bid farewell: “I have to hurry up and go report this matter to senior brother. Tomorrow, Lady Du should wake up, and if Madam and Lady Teng do not mind, this humble Taoist will come visit.”

Teng Yuyi and Madam Du hurriedly got up: “Then we will wait for the arrival of the Taoist priest.”

Jue Sheng straightened his chubby little belly, and walked out. Teng Yuyi suddenly smiled and said: “Taoist priest, please stay. I have something that I want to consult with the Taoist priest.”

Jue Sheng turned his head. If it weren’t for Lady Teng who took the initiative to lend her jadeite sword, then senior brother would not have been able to lure the old spirit out of the formation so quickly. At that time, the longer it was delay, the more uncertainties there would be. By the time, senior brother borrowed the sword, he and Qi Zhi might have already died under the claws of the evil spirit.

Lady Teng lent the jadeite sword to senior brother, and senior brother also gave Lady Teng the medicine. The two of them were even. However, if Lady Teng asked him and Qizhi for help because of this, he would agree to it in reasonable circumstances, and with this, he naively smiled: “Lady Teng, please speak.”

“May I ask the Taoist priest.” Teng Yuyu said curiously, “What type of spell did your senior brother cast on Dong Erniang tonight, why would it make one itch like that?”

“Oh, that is [called to live is no better than to die itch itch itch blossom] bug.”

Teng Yuyi and Madam Du were stunned. What type of bizarre name is this?

“This bug is originally called white bug, but senior brother thought that it was uninteresting, so he changed it to this. How is it? Isn’t it easier to remember than the original name?”

Teng Yuyi smiled and nodded: “What a majestic name.”

After all, Jue Sheng has the nature of a young child. He was amused by Teng Yuyi’s demeanor, and as soon as the chatterbox7chatterbox = someone who speaks a lot, he started gabbling on and on.

“The bug is born when it is hot, and can repel five poisons. Master originally wanted to catch this bug to make it into a medicine pill. As a result, once on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, my senior brother got drunk in the temple. He caught this bug and put it in Yuxie wine, and a soak would need seven days. When you open the wine cauldron, the bug is still alive, but it’s just that the color has changed from white to a bluish green color. Its temperament has also changed drastically.”

“It will enter every hole, and is very fond of attaching to people’s flesh and skin. If one is not careful and has accidentally made contact with it, one will immediately become itchy and it is very difficult to endure. The most hateful thing about it, is that it can not be caught or driven away. Once you have made contact, you can only deal with it, but the good thing is that this bug can only live for one month. However, even if it is only month, it is enough to have one feel tortured beyond humanoid.”

Teng Yuyi became more and more curious: “So impressive, and there is no antidote to restrain it. What if one accidentally misuses it? How can you stop it?”

“Since senior brother dares to use it, he naturally has a way to control it. This bug is invulnerable, and is not afraid of fire. It took a very long time for senior brother to find an antidote to restrain it.”

Teng Yuyi’s eyes rippled: “I just heard that the prince ordered the servants from the palace to take the antidote before touching Dong Erniang. Could it be that this bug can spread?”

“Exactly.” Jue Sheng widened his round eyes, “If someone has accidentally come in contact with someone who has been poisoned by the bug, they will also start itching.”

“Then…Isn’t your senior brother planning on giving the antidote to Dong Erniang?”

“How could it be?” Jue Sheng shook his head like a rattle-drum, “Senior brother has the heart of a stone. Dong Erniang planned on stealing Liuyuan Dan and also caused senior brother to be injured so badly. It is considered not bad that senior brother did not put a few more on her. How could he detoxify the poison for her?”

Teng Yuyi smiled inconspicuously, took out an object from the inside of her sleeve, and unfolded in front of Jue Sheng: “Little Taoist, my sword here can cut off the claws of that evil spirit. I don’t know if it can deal with your Qingyun Temple’s [called to live is no better than to die itch itch itch blossom] bug?”

Jue Sheng looked at the bright bluish green handle of the small jadeite sword, and secretly swallowed his saliva. After a night of curiosity, he finally was able to get a glimpse of the real appearance. His eyes showed a lot of extreme greed, and wanted to immediately touch it right away.

He tried to reach out his hands, but regretfully pulled back: “But I don’t have the bug on me right now.”

Teng Yuyi pretended to withdraw the jadeite sword, shook her head, and sighed: “What a pity, I originally thought that I could try it right away.”

Jue Sheng urgently said: “Tomorrow this humble Taoist will visit those wounded victims in the mansion anyways, and I can bring a few along.”

Teng Yuyi hurriedly smiled: “Very well, then it’s settled. At that time, I will give the jadeite sword to Little Taoist, and Little Taoist can personally use it.”

Jue Sheng was extremely happy for a moment, and then gradually came back to his senses. This bug was not considered his treasure in the temple, and did not have the principle of just randomly taking it out for outsiders to take a look at. In such a short period of time, how could he actually promise Lady Teng? However as long as he thought of being able to play with that jadeite sword tomorrow, his heart would itch again.

The sword was only exposed for a one time before it was taken back by Teng Yuyi. The more Jue Sheng pondered, the more he felt that something was not right. He pouted and looked at Teng Yuyi. Has he been perplexed? However, Teng Yuyi looked back at him solemnly, as if she was going to say, “Does the Little Taoist see me as a bad person?”

When Jue Sheng got out of the carriage, he was thinking. Of course, Lady Teng can not be considered a bad person. However, when Lady Teng pressed her eyebrow on Dong Erniang’s leg tonight, Qizhi and him were both right in front of the curtain. That move can be hidden from others, but can not be hidden from them. With such a heavy hand, it can be reckoned that Dong Erniang’s leg is still bruised.

Looking at it this way, Lady Teng does not seem to be a good person.

Thank you for reading! Chapter 11 is like 4 to 5 chapters long! Almost 10,000 words