Capture the Jade - Chapter 5

Hearing Lin Chengyou speak: “stop right there.” 

The steward was trembling and said: “What other commands does shi zi1shi zi = prince  have?” 

“How many people are injured in total?” 

“Four, four people, no, plus the male servant of the General Teng’s mansion, there are five in total.” 

“Four women, one man?” 

“Yes, yes.” 

“All of them have lost consciousness?” 

The steward had a faint glimmer of hope in her heart and stammeringly said: “Those four people have most likely woken up by now, only my second lady has not been saved yet. The medicine that was given by shi zi was not enough, and the last pill was taken by the young lady of the Teng family to give to her male servant. If shi zi still has more of the medicine, is it possible to give my second lady a pill? If there isn’t any more, with shi zi’s excellent Taoist skills, one only wishes that the second lady is able to be examined and medically treated.” 

At this moment, those strange sprigs2Sprigs = a small stem bearing leaves or flowers, taken from a bush or plant   emerged from the ground again, twice as many as before, causing a sea of flowers several feet high. 

The steward did not dare to stay any longer and frantically tried to escape towards the corridor. 

Lin Chengyou took off the quiver from his waist, and shot an arrow into the sky. 

The golden arrow flew up into midair and swiftly exploded in a flash, turning into a rain of countless arrows, scattering everywhere. 

If this thing had a spiritual nature, as soon as it made contact with an evil spirit, it would burst out in sparks, moving like a fiery dragon, and as fast as lighting. The sprigs could not escape and in the moment, they were burned to the point of crying and screaming. 

Mrs. An Guogong’s smile began to stiffen, and Lin Chengyou took another arrow from the quiver bag, smiling: “Sorry, I have hurt your child and grandchildren (posterity). 

Even though he said this, his actions were ruthless and without mercy. With the shot of another arrow, it burned most of the remaining sprigs. 

Mrs. An Guogong was bound by the iron chain and could not move. Only being able to watch Lin Chengyou kill to the very last one of them (exterminate). Suddenly, she made up her mind and bit the tip of her tongue. She was extremely afraid of pain, and in the moment that she bit down, her eyebrows raised, snorting continuously, and her body was slightly trembling. 

Lin Chengyou clicked his tongue: “It is my first time seeing such a pretentious spirit.”

He shot a third arrow into the sky, and leaped onto the roof beam on the side. 

Mrs. An Guogong lowered her eyebrows and tried to control her expression, muttering to herself. The corners of the mouth spilled out black-colored blood and a little of the talisman seal that was on her mouth was penetrated. 

Although the talisman was firmly attached, it did not resist the repeated erosions of blood. Suddenly, the dark clouds started to cluster together, stars gradually vanishing, and the wind rushed forth. 

Lin Chengyou pretended to be oblivious to this and flew around the courtyard. The rivet in his hand was nailed to the position one by one. Only after this, did he land on the ground and slap a talisman on the forehead of Mrs. An Guogong. 

Mrs. An Guogong’s state of mind was scattered, and a groan of pain suddenly seeped out between her teeth. The ground stopped moving and the trembling nebula returned to normal. 

Lin Chengyou ripped off the blood-stained talisman and threw it to the side: “Your excellency is purposely trying to delay time.” 

Mrs. An Guogong suddenly opened her eyes. The gaze of her eyes looked as if they were sharp arrows being quenched with poison. 

Lin Chengyou paced around her twice: “This talisman is painted with the seal of the Emperor, employing the Jade Emperor’s designs. Ordinary spirits that are touched by this talisman, will be knocked out of their original body even if they do not appear in their original form. Instead of suffering pain and itchiness, you can even summon the wind and thunder in my formation.” 

Mrs. An Guogong sneered, still full of hostility. 

“Obviously, having the ability to reach the heavens, but has repeatedly shown his ugliness instead. Either recruiting some shrimp soldiers and crab generals (useless troops) or testing out some low-level spells.” 

Lin Chengyou stopped and looked at the spirit playfully, “What are you waiting for?” 

Mrs. An Guogong’s eyes flickered, and the angry look on her face could not be hidden anymore. 

Lin Chengyou restrained his smile, raised his hands and made a clap. 

A large number of servants came rushing in. All of them were well-trained. Seeing the spirit, they were startled, but calmed down shortly after. 

“Shi zi.”

“Have Jue Sheng and Qizhi arrived yet?” 

The guards approached with two children in their hands: “Have arrived, the two little Taoist priests were watching the Hu people play tricks by the river.” 

This was a pair of white skinned and chubby twins, wearing the same black silked clothes and straw shoes. They were approximately 10 years old and their bodies were round like a wooden barrel. One was called “Jue Sheng”, the other was called “Qizhi” (Note1). 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi were both holding a few skewers of roasted prawn, kicking both legs in the air: “Let us down, we are looking for senior brother.” 

Suddenly glanced over at Mrs. An Googong, and rubbed their eyes in astonishment: “This, this is?”

“Are the both of you full yet?” Lin Chengyou said with a smile. 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi hurriedly hid their skewers of prawn behind them and naively smiled: “Senior brother.”

Master went out to wander around and these few days, the Taoist monastery was empty. It happened to be the Double Third Festival and they could not resist sneaking out. They had planned to go back before zi shi (11pm-1am), but who would have expected that they would get caught by the people under their senior brother’s watch. 

“Would you two like to have more delicacies?” 

“No, no, no, no need.” Both of them shook their heads like a rattle-drum. The more kind mannered their senior brother is, the worse of a situation it is. 

“Just a few skewers of prawns is enough to fill you two up?” 

The two of them nodded: “Full, really full.”

Lin Chengyou threw the iron chain into the hands of Jue Sheng and said with a pleased look: “Done eating, then let’s start doing some work.” 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi were stumped for words, this matter was just gonna end like that?

“This spirit’s skills are exceptional, and the Thunder Altar Instrument3Thunder Altar Instrument (zhentanmu) = Taoist magic weapon that is usually displayed and used by Taoist priests when they hold a ritual on the altar  can only last half an hour at most. One of you guards the water palace and the heaven palace while the other guards the mountain palace and thunder palace. (These are part of the eight Trigrams/Bagua) Do not be distracted or try to run away.” 

The two of them wanted to cry, but could not cry at the same time and already knew that this was not a good situation. Senior brother wanted to step up the Wuzang formation. 

Humans have five treasures, and each has its own God. If possessed by an evil spirit, one’s soul will immediately be vibrated out of their body.

If it was an ordinary evil spirit, a single talisman can knock the host out of its body, and to have to use the Wuzang formation, it can not be any small ordinary spirit. 

This formation method has extremely high requirements for the skills of the people in the formation. They admittedly were just two lads that guarded the formation, but because they could absorb the filthy vital energy of the evil spirits, it forbade them from being able to eat meat and fish for one year. 

One year…

The two looked at Lin Chengyou’s back with tears in their eyes. Their senior brother is so cruel. It was not enough to just punish them like this, but even their chances of stealing food in the future was completely cut off. 

Lin Chengyou took out another arrow and sighed: “Feeling wronged? Or feeling afraid? Do you two think that senior brother does not treat you well enough?” 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi hurriedly straightened their chests: “We don’t feel wronged nor afraid! Senior brother treats us the best, senior brother is a heavenly genius. As long as senior brother is here, then there is no evil spirit that cannot be subdued.” 

The two of them wiped the corners of their mouths and ran like a wisp of smoke towards the formation. 

Only then did Lin Chengyou regain his composure and turned his head to ask the guards: “Have the people from the Mansion of Mr. An Guogong been found?” 

“Although Mr. An Guogong received an invitation a few days ago, but he politely declined because he was sick. In advance, there was no news that any females from the mansion would come to attend the banquet. Don’t know how and why this “Mrs. An Guogong” would appear here. Now there has already been people sent over to the residence of Mr. An Guogong to inform them.” 

It really is as expected. Lin Chengyou asked again: “Is Uncle Huang4Uncle Huang = this is what Lin Chengyou calls the emperor as close relatives (his uncle) outside?” 

“The King of Chun’an County is at the front of the banquet and the guests are all in a hurry to leave, but fortunately, His Majesty, the King is in charge of the overall situation. Instead, it is the people from the Mansion of Duke Zhen who came.” 

“The mansion of Duke Zhen?” 

“General Duan Xiao and General Teng’s daughter have had a marriage agreement since childhood. Tonight, the Duan family happened to be in the Ziyun building and when they heard that something had happened to Lady Teng, General Duan Xiao and the wife of the marquis of Yong’an both rushed here to help.” 

Lin Chengyou thought for a while before realizing who the daughter of General Teng was. He casually looked at the corridor on the west side and was just in time to see Teng Yuyi and Wen Gong Gong both drag the male servant into the room. The so-called last pill had probably already been delivered into this male servant’s stomach. 

No wonder that steward came to him to wail like ghosts and howl like wolves (idiom). 

“Move them all the way, seal off the Lanxia Pavilion, and don’t let anyone get close to here.”  

The servants were stunned, shi zi suspected that those people would get in the way, but this place was originally very inauspicious, so it would have been arranged in this anyways.  

“Yes, this humble servant will go take care of it.” 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi occupied the fourth palaces respectively, bit their fingertips and smeared the blood on the Thunder Altar Instrument in their hand: “senior brother, what is the origin of this evil spirit, tonight how many people were injured by it?”

Lin Chengyou took out a talisman and held it with his fingertips to ignite it, flames leaping, illuminating the black pupils of his eyes like jewels. 

“It ambushed four women and one man by the river, which coincides with the Purple Star Astrology5Purple Star Astrology = form of fortune-telling in Chinese culture. . I would guess that the host’s primordial spirit is about to dissipate and it urgently needs to absorb new souls to nourish his fundamental entities.” 

Qizhi was a bit puzzled: “senior brother, the original host is no longer working, why not just switch to another host, why bother looking for five new souls?” 

Lin Chengyou looked at the talisman without saying a word, as if he was pondering deeply about something. 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi glanced at each other, thinking in their hearts. Is it that senior brother felt that something is not right. 

Lin Chengyou buried the talisman on the arrow head. Without saying a word, he aimed at the wind chimes hanging from eaves of the courtyard. Then he pulled the bowstring to its maximum and shot four arrows in succession, in all four directions from east, west, south, and north. 

Jue Sheng slapped his forehead and spoke: “I know, Master, that old man, has said that evil spirits also love beauty, and this madam is so beautiful that the evil spirit was reluctant to bear its skin. Senior brother, did I guess right?” 

Lin Chengyou took a fifth arrow and did not reply. The golden arrow released and shot straight at the space between Mrs. An Guogong’s eyebrows. 

Mrs. An Guogong looked at the arrow that was approaching. Her expression gradually changed from mockery to charming and before the arrow could reach in between her eyebrows, she actually pulled the iron chain off and rose from the ground: “You have been born with a good appearance, but unexpectedly, you are a person with no heart. Do you really have the heart to take action against such a face?” 

Jue Sheng was unexpectedly pulled to the ground by this force, and immediately wanted to take back the chain, but in the end, his strength was not enough and was firmly dragged out. 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi turned pale with fright: “senior brother! Wasn’t this evil spirit’s soul trapped by the Soul Locker? Why is it that this evil spirit can break the formation?” 

Mrs. An Guogong soared up, her body swirled and climbed like a gust of wind. The iron chains made clanging noises and wrapped around her from bottom to top. 

“Just with these noodle-like worms, you think it can actually trap me?”

She squeezed the iron chained formed by the worms on her body. With just a little force, the chain started to make creaking insect sounds, then quivered her jin pei6jin pei = (women’s covering, part of their attire). The soft snow-like white colored silk suddenly seemed to have turned into a silver snake, appearing like a meteor and all of a sudden, wrapped itself around Jue Sheng. 

“Your senior brother should find more young dolls like you. Being white and chubby is the perfect meal for me.”

This evil spirit’s movements are faster than the wind. Jue Sheng was unexpectedly lifted into mid-air and in a hurry, he carelessly started to slap the Thunder Altar Instrument, but it was no use. Seeing that Mrs. An Guogong had opened her bloody red lips, he waved his chubby arms and shouted like a pig: “Senior brother!” 

The sky above the courtyard was suddenly shone with a dazzling golden light. Mrs. An Guogong pierced her eyes and the strength of her hands was slightly reduced. Jue Sheng took advantage of the situation to cut off the jin pei with the small dagger in his arms and fell straight to the ground. 

He started rolling and crying on the ground, while slowly crawling back to his original position on the formation. 

It was too late to capture anyone else and Mrs. An Guogong looked up and saw that the four arrows shot by Lin Chengyou were hooked into each other and formed a golden net, covering her head like a curtain. 

She groaned in her heart and the contrary wind blew upwards. But one did not know what method was hidden in the gold net as the closer one got to it, the hotter it became. 

In a flash of time, the black hair on her head was burnt into a small tuft. 

She knew that the situation was not good. The delicate and soft skin of a noble lady can not suffer any losses at all. If one was to forcibly try to break out from the net, then it will definitely have one’s skin and flesh lacerated. 

This youngster was even more cruel than she thought. It must have been that he had made this arrangement in advance as he had already expected everything. 

Mrs. An Guogong’s heart was filled with hatred. Her shoulder lowered and was about to hit the floor when suddenly, she felt the hot wind blow around behind her neck as Lin Chengyou unexpectedly attacked her from the back. 

In the front, there were magic weapons. In the back, there were soldiers. Mrs. An Guogong could not dodge and her fingernails suddenly sharpened several inches, and immediately slashed into the hollow of her palm. 

Dots of blood started bleeding out from her fingertips and instantly stained the Soul Locker. 

She started to chant the incantation (enchantment), and threw the iron chain towards Lin Chengyou with her raised hand. 

The Soul Locker has no spiritual roots and it takes thousands of years to cultivate it into a low-level animal spirit. Although it can lock the souls of most spirits, if it encounters a spirit with very high spiritual powers, it will become enticed. Lin Chengyou knows very well what kind of virtue this thing had, which is why he never dared to loosen the iron chain. 

“Iron chain” was forced to eat the spirit’s blood, as if it fell into a five meters of fog. Before it could tell who the young noble behind was, it winded around with confusion. 

Lin Chengyou narrowed his eyes, grabbed the Soul Locker and scolded: “Bastard, clearly look at who I am!” 

It was the gate of life that was pinched and the Soul Locker was instantly beaten back to its original form, aware that he had lost his face (embarrassed). It transformed into a small golden snake and slipped into Lin Chengyou’s front lapel. 

Mrs. An Guogong tenderly laughed again and again. She took the opportunity to swerve to the left, passing by Lin Chengyou and went straight to the bottom of the corridor.

Who knew that Lin Chengyou could actually do two things at once. The wind of a palm suddenly came forward and slammed on her shoulder: “Leaving already? I haven’t had enough fun yet.” 

Mrs. An Guogong was shocked. There was a golden neat on top of her and there were no more insects on her body to absorb power. There was nowhere for her to hide so without any better options, she had to have taken this slap to the face. 

She had contempt in her heart. Lin Chengyou was young and came from a wealthy background. This was not any Taoist Cultivation, it was just some tricks with high-level magic weapons that he was using. 

She fell into Lin Chengyou’s scheme because she was too careless. She put on an act, pretending that she was just resting on the formation for a while. Her spiritual powers have already recovered up to fifty/sixty percent. Even if she had to suffer for a bit, it can be considered nothing. 

“With this insignificant talent, what can it do to me?” She waved her jin pei, her figure was like water. As soon as Lin Chengyou finished using those useless talismans, she would pull him over to her. How could she expect that the palm would have such power of pure yang. The striking waves came rambling tumultuously and in an instant, it penetrated into her heart. 

Her eyes were wide open and her vital energy was boiling like an incoming surge of heat waves. Her internal organs were all dislocated. 

She forcibly tried to hold onto her primordial spirit, but it was already too late. Her entire body was trembling and more than half of primordial spirit was gone. 

“Even if it is some insignificant skill, it is enough to deal with you.” Lin Chengyou sneered. 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi looked up at the evil spirit, only to see that a black shadow appeared out of the woman’s body, white haired and very small. It was unexpectedly an old woman near the age of seventy years old. 

“It turns out, it turns out that this is the true appearance.” 

“So old, even older than master.”

The black shadow became very ashamed and angry, raising her hand to cover her face. Jue Sheng and Qizhi were startled, only to realize that the body of this spirit was actually missing its right claw. 

Earlier, it was heard from the guards that a broken claw was found in the forest. It must belong to this evil spirit and it could be clearly seen that at the time, there must have been people with very capable skills present, otherwise how could this evil spirit have suffered such a big loss. 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi could not hold back their surprise and hurriedly rushed to the Thunder Altar Instrument. The main body was already beaten out, so it was a good time to regain its flesh back. 

The evil spirit hurriedly escaped back into its host body, enduring the pain of ripped flesh and forming a circle of black mist from its body. 

The mist was gradually becoming like smoke. In the blink of an eye, it protected the evil spirit’s body. Not only that, but it also quickly spread to the back of Lin Chengyou. 

“This mist is dangerous!” Jue Sheng and Qizhi both yelled, “Senior brother, be careful!” 

The dangerous energy released by this old spirit who has been cultivated for more than a hundred years would cause a great amount of damage to one’s vitality when touched by it. 

The old spirit took this opportunity to try to regain the corporeal body of Mrs. An Guogong. But at this moment, Lin Chengyou lit up a talisman paper that was at his fingertips and stepped forward to seal the acupuncture point of Mrs. An Guogong.  

The host’s spiritual root was sealed and there was no way of escape now. To have lost such a beautiful body, the old spirit nearly fainted with rage and was stunned for a moment. She turned her head and snapped: “Arrogant child, I will take away your life now!” 

Lin Chengyou laughed and said: “With just you?” He flipped back and dragged Mrs. An Guogong forcibly outside of the courtyard. 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi were greatly heartened. Senior brother’s skills were indeed out of the ordinary. Having gotten rid of the host’s corporeal body, everything from now on will be much easier to deal with. 

The guard at the door had just led a group of palace servants carrying a palanquin in. Lin Chengoyu threw the mindless Mrs. An Guogong over: “This evil spirit is extremely difficult to deal with, so quickly move the wounded victims somewhere else to settle them down.” 

The evil spirit glared in fury with a pair of slender dark green eyes as it has already gone mad with desire. Although it was missing a claw, the other claw could freely stretch flexibly. It let out a strange hiss that seemed to have vibrated the entire world. Without waiting for Lin Chengyou to turn around, it viscously grabbed onto his back.

“Senior brother, be careful!” 

The arrow in Lin Chengyou’s quiver has already been used up. Sensing the rapid sound of wind behind him, he did not dodge. With just a light flick of the sleeve of his robe, there was an extra sword in his hands. 

Guessing that the spirit was already close to reaching him, he fell backwards while looking up at the sky, stretched out his arms and rode the night wind, leisurely sliding back into the courtyard. 

The black mist around the spirit’s body dissipated, revealing its true appearance. 

Its skills were not bad, and has already been cultivated into human form. At first glance, it looked no different from an ordinary old woman. It’s just that its neck and arms were still covered in brown bark. The corners of the mouth and forehead were full of wrinkles, as if it eroded a hundred years of wind and frost (hardships). 

When it pounced on Lin Chengyou, the sparse silver floated up and down in the windy night, accidentally leaving a few stands behind the ear, emphasizing the checks that were sunken even more. 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi spoke: “Unfortunately, we guessed that it would be a moutan peony or some type of paeonia lactiflora related flower spirit, but it turns out to be a tree spirit. It most likely could not cultivate a good appearance, so it had to borrow the body of a beauty.” 

Lin Chengyou straightened the knife to block the frame. In his heart, he vaguely thought that something was not right. The sky was unusual as it was getting increasingly more and more dark. If it really was four women and one man that have all lost consciousness, then his judgment should have no reason to be wrong. 

But for some reason, he always felt that something was not right. Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught Jue Sheng and Qizhi distracted. He coldly said: “You guys don’t guard the formation well, are you guys waiting for the evil spirit to be full?” 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi did not dare to look anymore. When master taught them this formation spell, he asked them to put the “three principles” in mind first, that is “don’t hear, don’t ask, don’t fear”. 

With master’s words, the two of them are Sanqing Taoist children who each had their own golden seals. As long as they guard the Wuzang well, no matter how strong the spirits are, they would not be able to break through the confinement. 

Moreover, senior brother had already laid out the golden net in the courtyard. At most, the spirit could suppress its wicked energy. Unless that spirit had long already cultivated into a demon. Otherwise, it was no longer possible to summon any rescue forces. 

That evil spirit was getting halfway up and turned around. He did not cross swords (confront) with Lin Chengyou head-on, but instead grabbed Qizhi who was the closest thing to him. 

Qizhi felt that his face was covered with a stinky smell. It was inevitable that his heart was in panic, but at the thought of his senior brother, preparing the formation outside, he calmed down again. 

Sure enough, before the spirit could get close enough, Lin Chengyou was already after it. When dealing with evil spirits, he has never constrained himself and when making a move, he went straight for the spirit’s neck to slash it. 

The spirit leaned his head and dodged it and returned a strike back with its claw: “Lin Chengyou, you are so cold-hearted. How can you be considered a Taoist student?” 

“What a joke. Taoism is in my heart, the demon is in front of my eyes. To be merciful to such evil demons like you, is actually being merciless to the common people in the world.” 

“It is obviously an enormous ‘disaster’, why must you say these high-sounding (dignified) words. There is no difference between me and you. I originally didn’t need your body/skin. For the sake of you being so handsome, I would like to try to become a young noble for today. Before I take action, I would like to greet you, so that when you die, you understand.” 

Lin Chengyou laughed loudly: “It’s no wonder that you are the locust tree old spirit under Liquan Mountain. Many years of cultivation have been used to cultivate such thick skin. I have many saddles, but have never seen a saddle made from the bark of a thousand-year old tree. Since your skin is so thick, how about you peel it off for me to use as a saddle for fun?” 

The evil spirit’s eyes flashed, It was whatever for Lin Chengyou to speak such conceited nonsense, but to have actually seen through in the ins and outs of everything so quickly. 

Lin Chengyou brought the blade up to him with a smile. The bright white light of the blade was as cold as his eyes. 

The evil spirit did not dare to underestimate these moves. The large claw withdrew backwards, and striked for the Ligong palace in the formation.

The Ligong palace is one the Four Yin Palaces. Unlike the Four Yin Palaces which are guarded by two young Taoist, it is a confinement used to waste the magic powers of spirits.

The spirit just stood there for a while, and already felt dazed and stunned, knowing that if it stayed trapped here for a long time, the body’s cultivation would dissipate very fast. 

It calculated that time was almost up and sat down with its legs crossed over one another, raising its arms to break off a finger in the dim light of the night. Blood sprayed all over the ground like a red plum flower blooming with ten thousand petals. 

It endured the severe pain and inserted the broken finger into the courtyard. 

Lin Chengyou leaped into the air and onto the top of its head. However, before he could make a move, a dark circle of light suddenly appeared around the spirit. It was as if an invisible ice blade had struck his chest in the air and shook him very far away. 

Lin Chengyou was shocked, only to feel that his blood and breath were surging in his chest. He flipped over, but still could not get rid of that strange force. He hurriedly struck the ground with his blade, barely stabilizing his body. 

The blood seemed to be infused with a large amount of ice slag and every single pore was extremely cold. He was about to get up when he suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood out of his throat. 

Jue Sheng and Qizhi could not help, but open their eyes: “Senior brother!” 

Over there, the guards were busy escorting a group of wounded victims out of the inner room. Because they knew that the evil spirit was in the courtyard, they did not dare to look over. 

Teng Yuyi was busy taking care of her biao jie’s palanquin, and fell behind the group. 

Suddenly hearing the shouting of a child, she astonishingly turned her head. Through the intertwined figures, only to find that Lin Chengyou was kneeling on one knee and coughing endlessly, as if he was injured. 

The author has something to say: “Jue Sheng and Qizhi” : According to (Tao Te Ching), it means abandoning wisdom and ingenuity, returning back to simplicity and innocence.