Chapter 4: The Hamster Demon (4)

Hearing this, Shen Jibai’s eyes flickered, and his expression once again became unreadable.

He waved a hand, signaling for the yamen runners to return to the Court of Judicial Review and report back first.

Seeing this, the runner who had led the way asked, “Then, Vice Minister?”

“I’m going to Taiqing Temple.”

The runner untied the demon-locking pouch and handed it to Shen Jibai, then left together with the Golden Guards and the runners stationed around the area.

Zhou Xin: “…”

This man really did not trust her at all.

Shen Jibai walked a few steps down the street, then looked back and urged coldly, “Are you not coming?”

With his suspicious nature, if she delayed any longer, he would probably suspect her of plotting something again.

Zhou Xin immediately followed.

Quite a few people along the road had personally witnessed the hamster demon being subdued, and the looks they gave her were difficult to describe.

Zhou Xin knew she had done nothing wrong, so naturally, she did not care about other people’s stares. But after only a few steps, as they passed an open-air tea stall, she heard the people seated there quietly discussing the matter.

“No way, right? They really kissed?”

“Absolutely! I saw it with my own eyes!”

“Oh my, now that’s a rare sight. Those two have always been at odds. Now that something like this has happened, won’t they be so disgusted they’ll vomit even in their dreams?”

“Lady Lingyun is a woman, after all. No matter how unwilling Vice Minister Shen is, shouldn’t he take responsibility?”

“Nonsense! Lady Lingyun once swore she would never take a Daoist partner in this life!”

“Oh, come on! That matter caused such a stir back then, but maybe she only said it casually to reject Third Young Master Tang. Besides, even His Majesty didn’t take it seriously…”

The person walking ahead paused, then abruptly quickened his pace.

Zhou Xin did the same. Only after they finally left that street and turned onto the broad road of the Twelve Wards of Heavenly Street did she hurry to catch up with him.

“Vice Minister Shen—”

“Shut up.”

He glanced sideways at her. His cold, sharp gaze swept across her face, the disgust in his eyes nearly spilling over. His voice sank.

“Stay away from me.”

Zhou Xin: “…”

If she had not wanted to stop the rumors from spreading wildly, who would willingly bother with him?

She rolled her eyes, took two steps back to put distance between them, and had no intention of speaking again.

*

Taiqing Temple.

Immortal Linghe was currently teaching scriptures in the Pavilion of Welcoming Immortals, so the two of them went to a quiet room to wait.

A moment later, a young Daoist boy brought in a pot of freshly brewed tea.

Like Chaonanyi, this boy had been an orphan. When he was first brought back, he had been frail and sickly. Worried that he might not live long, Immortal Linghe had named him Changsheng — “Long Life.” He was the youngest junior disciple in the temple.

Changsheng poured two bowls of tea and placed them before the two guests. Then he got up, retreated to the doorway, and stood guard outside.

Zhou Xin picked up the white porcelain bowl and gave it a sniff. Beneath the faint fragrance of tea was a barely noticeable spicy scent.

It smelled a little strange. She did not really want to drink it.

“What tea is this?”

“Purple Bamboo Shoot tea,” Changsheng said. “Senior Sister, isn’t this your favorite?”

So it was Purple Bamboo Shoot tea, one of the tribute teas of the Tang Dynasty and much beloved by nobles and aristocrats.

Unable to resist her curiosity, Zhou Xin hesitated for a moment, then lifted the bowl and took a sip.

She had not expected that one sip would make her choke.

She had calculated for everything, but she had not calculated that this tea would actually contain pepper and salt. It tasted both salty and spicy.

Setting the tea bowl back onto the low table, she frowned and swallowed, yet the strange taste still lingered between her lips and teeth.

Seeing this, Shen Jibai, who had been sitting nearby and slowly savoring his tea, paused. He turned his head to look at her, his phoenix eyes narrowing as his gaze gradually sharpened.

Zhou Xin gave him a simple, foolish smile and casually made something up.

“It’s too hot. Hehe.”

Perhaps because he did not want to deal with her, Shen Jibai said nothing and lowered his head to continue drinking tea.

For the sake of maintaining her persona, even though the tea was indescribably awful, she still held it in her hands and took the occasional tiny sip.

After a long while, the person beside her had already drunk half a bowl, while Zhou Xin’s bowl had not decreased at all. However much tea had been in it at the start was exactly how much remained now.

Shen Jibai turned his head to look at her again. This time, his gaze landed first on the tea bowl before moving up and settling on her face.

Did I expose something?

Feeling guilty, Zhou Xin rubbed her nose. She thought to herself that she needed to find something to distract him.

With that in mind, she looked around. Her gaze landed on Changsheng, who was standing guard by the door.

Although the little Daoist boy was standing there properly, he kept secretly turning his head to glance over, swallowing as he looked at the teapot.

Judging from the quiet room’s style — so simple it had almost no decorative objects at all — Immortal Linghe, who lived here, was probably extremely frugal.

This tea had likely been brought out especially to entertain Shen Jibai and was not usually served. No wonder Changsheng was so eager for it.

Zhou Xin poured a bowl of hot tea and called, “Changsheng, why are you standing outside? Come in and drink tea with Vice Minister Shen.”

The little Daoist boy hesitated. His innocent eyes revealed a bit of surprise, as though Chaonanyi had always made him stand at the door and wait for orders in the past, and would never have done something like this.

“Come in,” Zhou Xin urged.

Changsheng timidly walked inside.

She placed the tea bowl across from her and gestured for him to drink. Changsheng’s eyes immediately curved with a smile. He quickly walked to the tea table, sat properly, and took a sip.

“Is it good?” Zhou Xin asked.

He nodded hard, the smile in his eyes deepening, his gaze bright and sparkling.

Zhou Xin smiled along with him, not noticing Shen Jibai watching her thoughtfully from the side, his scrutiny plain to see.

“Vice Minister Shen has come to visit. Is there some important matter?”

Immortal Linghe stepped into the room holding a horsetail whisk.

Changsheng immediately put down the tea bowl and withdrew, considerately closing the door behind him.

Shen Jibai withdrew his gaze, rose, and bowed to Immortal Linghe.

“It is Lady Lingyun who has business.”

Immortal Linghe lifted his robe and sat in the seat of honor at the center. He glanced over lightly.

Zhou Xin immediately handed over the demon-locking pouch and roughly explained what had happened.

After listening, he opened the pouch and released the hamster demon inside.

The tiny rat demon lay on the straw mat in the middle of the three of them with its eyelids half-open. It looked extremely weak, as though it had only one breath left.

Immortal Linghe pressed two fingers together and drew a few strokes in the air. A golden talisman flashed briefly in midair.

Then, an extremely sharp and thin voice sounded in the room.

“Demons that harm people are killed on the spot. Demons that haven’t harmed anyone are locked in the Demon-Sealing Tower. I didn’t hurt anyone! Why did you capture me?”

Instead of answering, Zhou Xin asked, “Do you remember what happened before you transformed?”

“…A little.”

As it turned out, this hamster demon had been cultivating underground in Luoyang for more than two hundred years.

Hamster demons were gluttonous by nature. Over the past century, it had dug countless secret tunnels to sneak into household after household and steal grain. It understood Luoyang even better than people born and raised there.

For example, whose soup noodles were the best, whose fruit wine tasted the finest, and whose rapeseed oil was the freshest — it knew all of this extremely well.

But although it had eaten its way through Luoyang, there was one thing it had never tasted: the Shaowei Banquet, which gathered fifty-eight of the finest delicacies in the world. Because of that, it developed an obsession.

Clinging to that obsession, it cultivated for a hundred years, all so that one day it could enter the palace and taste the mortal delicacies served at the Shaowei Banquet.

But it was far too greedy. Only now had it finally cultivated a human form. Hearing that Changfeng Tavern’s cherry wine was unparalleled under heaven and had once been one of the fine wines served at the Shaowei Banquet, it had immediately run over to drink some.

It had been drinking happily when a breeze suddenly blew over, and a fallen leaf landed on its face.

When it took the leaf off, it realized it was not a leaf at all, but a paper-cut person.

A cinnabar talisman had been drawn on the paper person’s torso. It seemed to be alive. Even while caught in the hamster demon’s hand, it struggled desperately to escape.

The hamster demon tried to tear the paper person apart, but unexpectedly, the paper person made a few gestures with its hands, and the hamster demon lost consciousness.

By the time it woke up, it was already inside the demon-locking pouch.

Shen Jibai said, “You have no memory of what happened at the time. How do you know you didn’t hurt anyone? These are only your own words.”

The rat demon stretched out its only remaining front paw.

“…One look, and you’ll know.”

Shen Jibai looked at Immortal Linghe, his eyes full of confusion.

“It wants to transmit its memories to you.”

“Transmit its memories?”

Shen Jibai and Zhou Xin spoke in unison. After speaking, they both looked at each other, then immediately turned their eyes away.

Immortal Linghe recited a few lines of incantation.

“Touch its paw with your finger, close your eyes, and silently recite these words in your heart. You will naturally see what it experienced.”

Shen Jibai did as instructed.

Zhou Xin was eager to try as well. She wanted to experience it too, so she reached out a finger to touch the rat demon’s front paw, closed her eyes, and waited for a moment.

But she saw nothing.

Whether she touched its head, its tail, or its body, no images appeared before her eyes.

So she turned her attention to Shen Jibai. She placed her fingertip over his finger, but still saw nothing. All she saw was him frowning unwillingly.

Zhou Xin then touched the back of his hand, then his palm. Seeing that nothing worked, she simply grabbed the finger he had placed against the rat demon’s paw.

Almost at the same time, Shen Jibai slapped her hand away and abruptly stood up. His movement was so forceful that he knocked over the low table beside him.

His brows were tightly furrowed. He tried his best to lower his voice, but he could not suppress the anger about to burst out of him.

“What are you doing?”

Zhou Xin looked up at him, utterly confused.

“…Transmitting memories.”

Immortal Linghe said, “Memory transmission requires willingness. Vice Minister Shen does not believe the rat demon’s words, so it wishes to let him see the truth with his own eyes. Naturally, only he can see it.”

“…You should have said that earlier, Immortal.”

Zhou Xin sat back down in defeat.

Shen Jibai closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, all emotion in his gaze had disappeared.

He picked up the overturned low table, returned it neatly to its original position, then cupped his hands toward Immortal Linghe with full respect.

“This junior was discourteous. I ask that you forgive me, Immortal.”

“My disciple is mischievous. I ask Vice Minister Shen to be tolerant of her.”

Zhou Xin immediately echoed, “Yes, yes, yes. I was rude. Vice Minister Shen is broad-minded, so please don’t lower yourself to my level.”

At the sound of this, Shen Jibai looked at her with a trace of surprise in his eyes, though it quickly vanished.

He moved his cushion much farther away from Zhou Xin, then sat down again.

This interruption caused the memory transmission to end early, but the rat demon had no intention of continuing. It only stared straight at Shen Jibai, its voice suddenly weak and breathless.

“…Do you believe me now?”

Shen Jibai was silent for a moment before saying, “But you still nearly hurt people.”

“That was not its intention.”

Zhou Xin took out a talisman and placed it on the straw mat between the three of them.

“This is an evil-dispelling talisman. It can dissolve yin and baleful energy from the dead, but it has no effect on demons and evil spirits. At first, I did not understand why Master gave me this talisman. Only after I examined the person attacked by the hamster demon did I discover a trace of nearly imperceptible baleful energy on him.”

“If I’m not wrong, the paper person cast a spell on the hamster demon and drew baleful energy into its body, causing it to lose control and run wild. Master must have sensed the brief appearance of baleful energy nearby. Then, when the Court of Judicial Review happened to send someone over, you guessed the general situation.”

“That is correct,” Immortal Linghe said with a nod.

Shen Jibai asked, “What spell did the paper person use?”

Immortal Linghe paused slightly, his expression becoming somewhat subtle.

“The Evil Spirit Transference Curse. It is one of the forbidden arts of the Xuanmen.”

Zhou Xin asked, “And the spell used to control the paper person?”

He picked up the scissors on the table, cut out a paper person, and used a cinnabar brush to draw a talisman on its torso.

“Was it this symbol?”

The rat demon said, “…Yes.”

“This is a substitute talisman,” Immortal Linghe explained. “It requires the caster’s own blood and vital energy as the guide, and cultivation as the vessel, before it can be controlled freely. Once the paper person is destroyed, the caster will inevitably suffer a backlash. Not only will they lose the cultivation transferred into the paper person, but their spiritual consciousness will also be injured. Very few people use it.”

Zhou Xin immediately caught the key point.

“So someone was willing to damage their own cultivation just to cast a spell and draw baleful energy into the rat demon?”

How much hatred would someone have to be that wicked?

The rat demon slowly closed its eyes. Its gaze gradually scattered, as if it might pass away at any moment.

“…Cultivation is too bitter. I endured for hundreds of years just to become human for one day.”

Its breath was faint, and its voice grew softer and softer, as though it were talking to itself.

“…I won’t cultivate anymore.”

“…In my next life, I won’t cultivate.”

“…Being a rat is fine.”

Those words struck Zhou Xin’s heart one by one. Her chest felt as though something had blocked it, stuffy and unbearably tight.

“…I still didn’t get to eat the delicacies from the Shaowei Banquet…”

Its eyes gradually closed, but a narrow slit remained.

“…I’m not willing…”

“…Why… did it have to be me?”

The hamster demon died.

But it died unwillingly, its eyes unable to close.

That’s right.

Why did it have to be this one?

Zhou Xin lowered her eyes and looked at the hamster demon’s corpse, quietly tightening her grip on her sleeve.

“It was already not easy for it to hold on until now with that last thread of spiritual energy,” Immortal Linghe sighed softly. “In order to prove its innocence, it transmitted its memories to Vice Minister Shen as well. Its spiritual power has been exhausted…”

He did not say anything more.

People could be good or evil. Demons, too, could be righteous or wicked. Whether human or demon, whenever injustice occurred, it had to be investigated clearly.

This was the belief Shen Jibai had always upheld, but he did not say the thought aloud.

“The hamster demon lost its mind and harmed people. If the Golden Guards had not arrived in time, it likely would have caused deaths. This matter is no small thing. I will investigate it thoroughly and bring the person behind it to justice.”

Zhou Xin said, “It only took human form today. It had no opportunity to make enemies with anyone. It most likely suffered a disaster that had nothing to do with it.”

Shen Jibai had thought of this as well.

Last night, the King of Ten Thousand Foxes escaped from the Demon-Sealing Tower. Today, the hamster demon was invaded by baleful energy. All signs showed that a Daoist with malicious intentions had come to Luoyang.

“To be able to borrow the hands of a paper person to cast spells and form seals, this person’s cultivation is no weaker than my disciple’s,” Immortal Linghe said, unintentionally providing them with a direction for the investigation.

There were not many Daoists who could be compared to Lady Lingyun.

Shen Jibai’s eyes brightened, and he immediately had an idea.

“Investigate the Daoists who have recently entered or left the Eastern Capital. There may be clues.”

“That would be best.”

Immortal Linghe gave Zhou Xin a meaningful look.

“See Vice Minister Shen out for your master.”

*

Shen Jibai walked ahead by himself, keeping a not-too-close, not-too-far distance from her. His expression was even colder than when he had arrived.

“Vice Minister Shen, are you still angry?”

The person walking in front acted as though he had not heard her and showed no intention of responding.

Zhou Xin was not angry. In fact, she even understood him somewhat.

Anyone would be furious after being kissed and touched by someone they hated from the bottom of their heart — especially since he had suffered it twice in one day.

“If Vice Minister Shen really can’t swallow his anger, then go ahead and curse at me a few times. I promise I won’t talk back.”

She muttered quietly,

“Or, I can suffer a little loss and let Vice Minister Shen touch me back!”