Chapter 13: Mist Spirit (2)

The peach blossom spirit said, “Only the one who bitterly prayed for it can see this red thread.”

“I see...” Zhou Xin rubbed her chin and teased, “No wonder Court Minister Shen refused Madam Shen’s matchmaking. So it turns out your heart already belongs to someone!”

Shen Jibai: “...”

This fellow had always been cold-hearted and cold-blooded. He could actually fall in love?

Which family’s young lady was so impressive that she could warm up this block of ice?

She could not help growing curious. She leaned closer to Shen Jibai, tilted her head, and looked at him with a faint, teasing smile in her eyes. “Which family’s young lady is it?”

Shen Jibai: “...”

She bumped his shoulder. “Come on, tell me! Satisfy this gossip-loving bystander’s curiosity!”

Shen Jibai: “...”

Seeing that he remained silent, Zhou Xin began patiently coaxing him. “Is it because there hasn’t been any progress yet, so it’s hard to say out loud? Do you need Chao to help you come up with ideas? Chao has been through countless battles and is very experienced in this area!”

Shen Jibai glanced at her and said, “Shen will return to the library first.”

Zhou Xin pointed at him with her index finger and said to the peach blossom spirit, “See? This person really can’t take a joke.”

The peach blossom spirit covered her mouth and giggled.

＊

After returning to the quiet room, Shen Jibai first made a trip to the latrine before going back to the library to consult the ancient texts.

He gathered a stack of books recording strange demons and unusual monsters, then sat at the innermost part of the room, leaning against an antique shelf with his head against the wall, quietly reading with lowered eyes.

Zhou Xin flipped through several books and noticed that the spirits recorded in them were all born of heaven and earth. They cultivated the Dao of heaven and earth, and as long as they did not commit evil, they carried no demonic aura. In a certain sense, their method of cultivation had similarities to that of Daoist cultivators.

She could not help thinking of the cotton-like thing inside Shen Jibai’s stomach. It could sense Daoist qi, so perhaps it was also a spirit.

Thus, Zhou Xin searched around the room for a long while, found some books related to spirits, piled them into a small mountain, and then sat behind that mountain, reading them one by one.

Time gradually passed. The room remained quiet the whole time, with neither of them showing any intention of speaking.

Only when sunlight slanted in from the west and shone across Zhou Xin’s face did she stretch and say, “Court Minister Shen, it looks like we may not find any clues today. Do you plan to stay here and keep looking, or go back and wait?”

No one answered.

She poked her head out from behind the mountain of books and saw that the person leaning against the antique shelf, who had been reading so seriously, had fallen asleep with his head lowered.

Zhou Xin quietly stood, walked over to him, and crouched down.

Perhaps he was having some unpleasant dream. Shen Jibai’s brows were slightly furrowed, and his lashes trembled faintly. His hawk-like, sharp eyes were gently closed, softening the coldness that usually kept others a thousand miles away and revealing a rare touch of gentleness.

He was quite handsome, but his temper was terrible.

Zhou Xin thought to herself.

With this face, he could carve out a path in the entertainment industry. His romantic misfortune was most likely due to that awkward, difficult personality of his.

Thinking this, she leaned an inch closer. Seeing those sword-like brows slanting toward his temples furrow even more tightly, while his complexion flushed faintly and even his breath turned hot, Zhou Xin thought, Is he running a fever?

She raised her hand toward his forehead, but before her fingertips could get close to his cheek, her wrist tightened.

Immediately afterward, Shen Jibai opened his eyes, his frost-cold gaze staring at her without moving.

His voice carried a chill. “What are you doing?”

Zhou Xin leaned even closer, close enough to smell the faint scent of golden osmanthus on Shen Jibai’s body.

Her brows lifted slightly as she asked in return, “What do you think I was going to do?”

“Lord Lingyun, some things may happen once or twice, but not a third time!”

He flung her hand away with force. Zhou Xin’s body swayed, and she tilted toward the wall.

The instant her palm touched the wall, the white wall abruptly vanished. Because of inertia, she continued falling downward and landed sprawled on the ground.

Zhou Xin lifted her head and met a pair of eyes watching coldly from the side.

His expression was indifferent, with not the slightest intention of helping her up.

“How heartless,” she said, sitting up and patting her hands.

“I was heartless to begin with. How can there be any question of becoming heartless?”

Shen Jibai looked away and swept his gaze around the secret room hidden behind the wall.

Judging from the layout and furnishings, this was also a library. It had simply been forcibly divided into two halves by a barrier.

“How did Lord Lingyun break the barrier?”

Zhou Xin stood up and looked down at him from above. “Want to know?”

He looked up at her and did not answer.

“I refuse to tell you!”

With her hands clasped behind her back, Zhou Xin leisurely examined the secret room.

Three walls of the room were lined with bookshelves. Only the center of the wall directly opposite her had two empty spaces, where a painting of an old Daoist burning incense hung. Below it, a table held offerings, and the incense burner was filled with ashes. One glance was enough to tell that Perfected Linghe often came here to pay respects.

The shelves held all kinds of books, as well as sealed spirit vessels covered with sealing talismans.

She could not help muttering to herself.

They were all books, so why hide them on purpose?

It had been completely quiet behind her. When she turned around, however, she found the library empty. Shen Jibai had left at some point.

This man had a spirit fetus in his stomach, yet he was not anxious at all!

Withdrawing her gaze, she casually opened a book. What entered her eyes was a talisman diagram that looked somewhat familiar.

After staring at it and thinking for a while, she finally remembered what talisman it was and said in sudden realization, “No wonder this half of the room was hidden. The books here are probably all forbidden texts!”

Zhou Xin simply sat cross-legged on the floor and began reading carefully.

A faint sound of footsteps rang through the room. Shen Jibai had just walked in when he stopped, pressed a hand to his stomach for a moment, then turned and walked back out.

Zhou Xin ignored him and lowered her head to continue reading.

A moment later, footsteps sounded again. Shen Jibai walked into the secret room with a cold expression, searched row by row through the bookshelves, picked up a book, and sat back down in front of the antique shelf.

The quiet atmosphere did not last long before this person stood again and walked out.

Zhou Xin slowly raised her head. “Court Minister Shen.”

He turned back and looked at her.

“Frequent urination, increased appetite, and drowsiness are all symptoms of pregnancy.”

“Lord Lingyun means...” His eyes shifted slightly, and he said in disbelief, “Impossible. How could a man give birth?”

Zhou Xin said, “Whether he can or cannot, it is already there. If it is only these few symptoms, that is still manageable. What I fear is that there may be other, stronger reactions.”

Before she had even finished speaking, Shen Jibai stumbled and fell against an antique shelf nearby, striking it with a loud thud.

Zhou Xin: “?”

No way.

It came as soon as she mentioned it?

Leaning against the antique shelf for a moment, Shen Jibai finally straightened and went to the latrine again.

After returning, he walked up to Zhou Xin and said, “Lord Lingyun’s analysis is clear and logical. Do you have any clues?”

Zhou Xin narrowed her eyes. “Has Court Minister Shen always been like this?”

Shen Jibai: “?”

Zhou Xin smiled slyly. “Facing forward when you need someone, turning away when you don’t.”

The words were rather unpleasant. Shen Jibai’s expression shifted slightly, and he pressed his lips together.

Zhou Xin ignored him, lowered her head, and continued reading. “There are some clues, but I don’t know whether they are what Court Minister Shen wants to hear.”

Shen Jibai immediately said, “I am willing to hear the details.”

She turned the book in her hands to a certain page, pointed at the talisman in the book, and said softly, “Does this talisman look familiar to Court Minister Shen?”

Shen Jibai lowered his eyes. A moment later, he replied, “It is the substitute talisman on the paper effigy.”

“Correct,” Zhou Xin said. “But this talisman has two uses. One is to control the paper effigy bearing the talisman with one’s own cultivation. The caster can see what the paper effigy sees and feel what the paper effigy feels. Because of that, if the paper effigy is damaged, the caster’s cultivation is also damaged.”

“And the other?”

“The other is spirit-controlling art. It can transfer the spiritual consciousness of demons, departed souls, or even living people into a paper effigy. This transfer can be temporary or permanent, and the longer the transfer lasts, the higher the requirement for the caster’s cultivation.”

Zhou Xin said, “After the transfer, they continue to exist in the form of a paper effigy and obey the caster’s commands. The caster can still see what they see and feel what they feel, but will not be affected if the paper effigy dies.”

Shen Jibai said, “Lord Lingyun means...”

In truth, when Zhou Xin read this part, her eyes had lit up, and a question that had puzzled her for a long time was finally answered.

No wonder there had been no baleful qi near Changfeng Tavern, yet the paper effigy had conjured baleful qi out of nowhere to attack the hamster demon!

That was because the paper effigy had been transformed from a departed soul. A departed soul naturally carried baleful qi. After it attacked the hamster demon, it ran away, so Zhou Xin, who arrived late, naturally could not detect any baleful qi.

“Chao doesn’t mean anything in particular. I simply find it strange that Perfected Linghe said nothing about the spirit-controlling art. Could it be that he is more inclined to believe the evil cultivator used the substitute talisman?”

Shen Jibai shook his head. “That is still unknown.”

He took the book and examined it carefully, while Zhou Xin stood and continued selecting books about spirits and monsters. “As for the thing inside Court Minister Shen’s stomach, Chao suspects it is a spirit. As for what kind of spirit, there are still no clues.”

Shen Jibai lifted his eyes. “Why do you suspect that?”

“Demons and evil beings all have demonic aura. Only spirits are nurtured by heaven and earth. If they do not commit evil, they are not easily detected. Moreover, most spirits are benevolent. They cultivate the Dao of heaven and earth and do not make enemies of humans, which is why they can sense the qi of cultivators.” Zhou Xin roughly flipped through the books on the shelves, filtering which ones might be useful based on their tables of contents.

Shen Jibai said, “I see.”

He closed the book. “Find all the books that record spirits and compare them one by one. We will certainly find clues.”

Zhou Xin nodded. “Great minds think alike.”

The two divided the work. One searched the secret room, while the other checked the library.

The afterglow of sunset shone through the open window, and the light in the library was much dimmer than during the day.

Shen Jibai turned to look at the secret room.

The secret room was surrounded by walls on three sides, with no light passing through. Only two ever-burning lamps cast a faint glow.

Earlier, when sunlight from the library could still reach it, he had not felt much. But now that even the library had dimmed, the secret room was even darker, even carrying a faintly eerie feeling.

It reminded him of the scene a few days ago after he returned home from duty, when the wind blew out the candles and he fell into complete darkness.

Shen Jibai carried several books back to the hall, lit the candle racks about a zhang long on both sides of the hall, then took two small lamps and entered the secret room. He placed one beside Zhou Xin and quietly withdrew.

The light suddenly grew brighter. Zhou Xin turned her head and saw that a paper lamp had appeared on the bookshelf behind her.

The corners of her lips lifted slightly. She leaned sideways and poked her head out, seeing that the person was standing with his back to her in front of a row of bookshelves, searching for books according to the diagrams.

The bell rang three times, reminding the Daoist cultivators in the temple that the dining hall had opened.

Zhou Xin walked out holding a stack of books. “Court Minister Shen, it’s time for dinner.”

He shook his head. “Not hungry.”

“Then Chao will go first!”

When she returned to the hall, Zhou Xin discovered that the table beside the candle rack was already piled full of books.

She placed her books on the floor to one side and went straight to the dining hall.

She had arrived a little early, so there were not many people in line. Before long, it was her turn. Dinner was plain porridge, side dishes, and steamed buns. Zhou Xin asked for two extra buns. After eating, she borrowed a knife from the cook, sliced the buns open, stuffed them with side dishes as though making roujiamo, wrapped them in oil paper, and brought them back to the quiet room.

As soon as she entered, she saw Shen Jibai asleep on the desk.

He still looked uneasy, with his brows slightly furrowed, his lashes trembling, and his cheeks faintly flushed. Who knew what kind of dream he was having?

Zhou Xin propped up her chin and looked down at him, thinking, I’ve seen him sleep all day. He won’t wake up in the middle of the night and start burning the midnight oil, will he?

His lips moved slightly, and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. An indistinct murmur broke the silence in the room.

She could not make out what he had said, so she lowered her head and moved closer to him.

The breath that rushed toward her was scorching hot, carrying a faint scent of golden osmanthus. It smelled extremely pleasant.

Zhou Xin lifted her eyes. By the candlelight, she could clearly see the fine down on Shen Jibai’s jade-like skin.

How could a grown man have such good skin?

She wondered inwardly.

A head poked in at the doorway. Seeing the two people inside pressed so close that their breaths were already mingling, he quickly covered his eyes, though the middle and ring fingers of his right hand did not close together, leaving a gap.

After watching for a long while, he let out a soft laugh.

“Who’s there!” Zhou Xin raised her eyes and looked over.

At the same time, Shen Jibai, still in his dream, abruptly opened his eyes. His ink-jade eyes stared tightly at the face mere inches away from his own. He immediately held his breath and clenched his fists.