chapter 5
Dark miasma coiled above the Ningan Marquis Manor.
The moonlight was twisted, and above the Ningan Marquis Manor lingered a layer of filthy black air, invisible to ordinary eyes, clinging to this illustrious household like maggots on bones.
Zhao Wan, the orphaned daughter of a general, was born with a noble fate and should have enjoyed deep blessings, protecting her family estate.
Yet someone, daring beyond measure, performed a heaven-defying ritual to forcibly sever her fortune and transfer it elsewhere!
With Zhao Wan’s tragic death, the lingering protection left by the heroic spirits of the Wei State who died in battle-once drawn to the manor by her bloodline-had now transformed into the deepest, most venomous curse.
It was no longer a force of protection, but a power of roaring, resentful rage, seeping from every inch of land and every brick and tile, intent on tearing apart the Marquis Manor that had stolen her fate and cost her life!
Above the heavens, black miasma and invisible resentment twisted and clashed, emitting a teeth-grinding sound of rending that only I could hear.
At the same time, an uncontrollable panic began to quietly spread through the depths of the Marquis Manor-the rumors of hauntings grew ever more intense.
The servants whispered among themselves, saying that at night, some sinister thing prowled the grounds: a blurry, faintly writhing ball of flesh, silently floating in the darkness, moving at astonishing speed-often leaving only a fleeting shadow at the edge of one’s vision before vanishing without a trace.
This evil thing seemed to have a particular “fondness” for the manor’s only heir, Xiao Rui.
Several times, it had silently slipped into the young master’s bedchamber in the dead of night, hovering above his canopy the moment he awoke, “gazing” at him with an indescribable presence.
After just a few such encounters, the little tyrant-usually wild and unruly-was scared out of his wits.
By day, he became dull and foolish, his eyes vacant, drool sometimes trickling from the corner of his mouth, unable to utter a complete sentence, and he would scream in terror at the sight of any round object.
The Marquise and Liu Shi were beside themselves with worry, spending lavishly to invite several renowned physicians from the Capital City, even alarming the imperial physicians from the palace to come and examine him. Yet every doctor, after taking his pulse, could only shake their heads and sigh. Though his pulse showed signs of fright, they could not find any deeper cause; neither medicine nor acupuncture had any effect, and they were at a complete loss.
While the strange rumors within the Marquis Manor had yet to subside, the storms at court were growing ever fiercer.
Impeachment memorials against the Ningan Marquis, Xiao Yuanshan, flew to the imperial desk like snowflakes, enumerating his lax household management, indulgence of his kin, and even dredging up old military accounts, their words sharp and direct, accusing him of lacking virtue and beseeching His Majesty to investigate thoroughly.
Misfortune never comes alone. While Xiao Yuanshan was beset on all sides by the Censors’ verbal assaults at court, struggling to cope, calamities struck the inner residence as well.
First, the Marquise, Cheng Shi, in order to plead for her husband, personally visited the residence of the Censor-in-Chief, with whom the Marquis Manor had close ties.
As her carriage traveled through a relatively secluded alley, the horses suddenly panicked without warning, rearing up wildly and throwing the driver from his seat, then dragging the carriage in a mad dash! Inside, the Marquise was terrified out of her wits, and amid the chaos and violent jolts, the carriage crashed into the roadside steps and overturned with a thunderous crash!
By the time the accompanying guards, panic-stricken, rescued the unconscious, bloodied Marquise from the mangled carriage, the horse responsible had already collapsed on the ground, foaming at the mouth, dead from mysterious causes.
The Marquise was rushed back to the manor for treatment; though her life was spared by a stroke of luck, she remained unconscious, unable to take any medicine.
Next, on his way home from court, Xiao Yu was crossing an old, dilapidated stone bridge when the railing on one side suddenly collapsed without warning!
Had he not happened to sidestep a porter coming toward him, he would have fallen straight into the river, likely to be impaled by the jagged rocks below. Even so, he slipped and fell heavily, dislocating his arm on the spot, his official robes torn, left in a sorry state.
Upon investigation, the break in the railing showed old signs of damage, as if it had long been a hidden danger-yet it collapsed precisely as he passed, a coincidence chilling to the bone.
The string of misfortunes in the manor could no longer be explained as mere “bad luck.” Panic spread among the servants, who whispered that the Marquis Manor’s fate was exhausted, that it must have attracted some inescapable curse or evil spirit.
At the same time, a cold, insidious whisper began to circulate quietly within the high walls of the Marquis Manor, clinging to everyone’s ears like a festering sore.
At the heart of these whispers, without deviation, was me.
“Ever since that one… came back from the dead, there’s been no peace in this manor!”
“First the young master saw that filthy thing for no reason, now the Marquis is in trouble at court…”
“Isn’t it so? Ever since she returned, disaster has followed disaster, as if all the misfortune came in with her!”
These words were spoken in hushed tones, yet they slithered everywhere like venomous snakes. Clearly, they regarded me-the one who returned-as the source of all these calamities.
Listening to the fragments of gossip carried by the wind, I curled my lips in a cold, unnoticed sneer.
Cuiju twisted her clothes nervously, standing at my side, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s, with a barely perceptible tremor:
“Shizi Consort… please, don’t take it to heart. The servants are just talking nonsense, I know… I know these things have nothing to do with you.”
I turned my head, looking at her face, pale with anxiety, and suddenly smiled lightly. Candlelight flickered in my eyes with a hint of strange brilliance.
“Oh?” I leaned forward, my voice lowered to a whisper, as intimate as a lover’s murmur, yet carrying a chill like an ice pick. “But what if I told you… all of this was my doing?”
The moment the words left my lips, Cuiju’s eyes widened in shock, the last trace of color draining from her face. She froze as if turned to ice, even her breath stilled.
Suddenly, I covered my mouth and let out a soft laugh, the chilling aura vanishing in an instant, as if it had all been her imagination.
I reached out and gently patted her stiff shoulder, my tone turning light and casual:
“Silly girl, look how frightened you are. I was just teasing you.”
I blinked, a hint of mischief in my eyes. “I’m a woman secluded in the inner chambers. How could I possibly have the power to stir up such storms? It’s merely that I happened to return in troubled times, isn’t that so?”
Cuiju stared at me, her face slowly regaining color. The taut string seemed to loosen a little, though suspicion and uncertainty still lingered.
She opened her mouth, but in the end only nodded hesitantly.
Just as the last note of my jest faded, the door was suddenly slammed open with a bang!
Xiao Yu burst in, wrapped in the chill of the night and undisguised fury. The veins at his temple throbbed, his gaze sharp as a poisoned blade, stabbing straight at me. His voice was hoarse with extreme anger:
“Zhao Wan! Was it you?! Ruier’s incident, the impeachment at court… and the disasters that befell my mother and me-was it you pulling strings behind the scenes?!”
Xiao Yu’s roar still echoed in the rafters, but I merely smoothed my sleeves, ruffled by the gust from his entrance, then calmly met his fiery gaze.
“Husband, what makes you say such things?”
My brows knitted slightly, showing just the right amount of confusion and a touch of grievance at being wrongly accused.
“Ruier was frightened, and my heart aches as well. As for the turmoil at court… I am but a woman of the inner residence, spending my days within these few paces of the courtyard. How could I possibly know of matters of state, let alone interfere?”
My tone was gentle, each word clear, as if stating the most obvious facts:
“Since my return to the manor, misfortune has followed. I know many among the servants suspect me. But if you think carefully, the day I came back I was covered in wounds, nearly lost my life. If I brought ill luck, wouldn’t I be the greatest victim myself?”
Meeting his probing, stern gaze, I sighed softly, my voice gentle yet carrying irrefutable logic:
“It’s all just a string of coincidences, stirring up wild speculation. Husband, instead of investigating the true culprit or political enemies at court, you come to suspect me first. Isn’t that exactly what the schemer in the shadows wants-to sow discord within our own household?”
Xiao Yu left my courtyard with unsteady steps, his anger left with nowhere to vent, replaced by a tangle of doubts and confusion.
Instinctively, he headed toward Liu Shi’s quarters, where gloom and chaos reigned, cries and frantic whispers mingling.
Liu Shi, distraught over her son Ruier’s condition, was already at her wits’ end.
Misfortune never comes alone-news of her mother-in-law’s grave injury and her Husband’s accident arrived one after another, shattering her last shred of composure.
The moment Xiao Yu entered, she ignored the sling on his arm and rushed to grab his uninjured sleeve, her voice sharp and desperate:
“Cousin! Look! Just look! Mother is gravely injured, you’ve suffered disaster, and Ruier is like this! There must be some monstrous evil haunting this manor! It’s all because of Zhao Wan! Ever since she came back, nothing good has happened! She must have died bearing a grudge, her vengeful spirit lingering, come to take revenge on us!”
She sobbed so hard she could barely breathe, her nails digging into Xiao Yu’s flesh:
“Call for a Taoist Priest! Get the most powerful master from Mount Longhu! Set up a ritual, drive out the evil! If we don’t bring someone soon, we… we’ll all be doomed!”
On any other day, Xiao Yu might have scolded her for talking nonsense, but now, having just escaped death himself and with disaster striking repeatedly in the manor, everything seemed eerily unnatural.
Liu Shi’s wailing was like a demonic chant, making his already agitated mind feel even more suffocated, nearly to the point of choking.
He forcefully shook off Liu Shi’s hand, wanting to rebuke her, but found his throat tight.
In that instant, Liu Shi’s words-“died bearing a grudge, vengeful spirit lingering”-struck him like a ghostly flame, crashing into his chaotic mind and merging with his father Xiao Yuanshan’s resolute declaration-
“I saw her breathe her last with my own eyes! Seven arrows, she took seven arrows, her body was like a porcupine-no immortal could have saved her!”
A person who should have died from seven arrows… A person whose return was followed by endless misfortune and a drastic change in temperament…
His earlier suspicion that the Crown Prince was behind it all now seemed feeble and powerless in the face of these successive, almost supernatural disasters!
Could the Crown Prince manipulate minds, control a panicked horse, collapse a stone bridge, or unleash that elusive ‘meatball’?
A cold terror, like maggots on the bone, crawled up his spine to the crown of his head, making him shiver and his limbs go numb.
He suddenly looked at the near-hysterical Liu Shi, his eyes swirling with a ferocity born of fear-a madness desperate to destroy the unknown threat. His voice squeezed out through clenched teeth, laced with venomous chill:
“Fine! As you say! We’ll call for help! We’ll invite the most renowned master from Mount Longhu!”
He almost growled the words, his gaze seeming to pierce through layers of rooftops, fixed on where I was.
“If, after the Taoist Priest’s inspection…” He paused, each word carrying chilling resolve.
“If the evil spirit truly hides beneath her skin-I will ask the master to unleash thunderous power and shatter her soul, never to be reborn!”
Beside him, Liu Shi seemed stunned by his extreme ruthlessness, her sobs caught in her throat.
Xiao Yu’s chest heaved violently, the blood vessels in his eyes standing out, as if pouring all his unease into this vow of destruction.
He clenched his uninjured hand tightly, knuckles white with effort, as if grasping his last lifeline, or making an even greater gamble. From between his teeth came even more chilling words:
“If… if even the Taoist Priest from Mount Longhu cannot subdue that monster…”
He took a deep breath, as if even mentioning that title required immense courage. His voice dropped lower, tinged with a reckless desperation:
“Then I will personally go to beseech the State Preceptor of the Celestial Mechanism Bureau! Let him rid us of this calamity!”