Chapter 046
Chapter 46: Heart Demon and Blood
Lin Yu Ning hugged the sutra and ran without looking back, forgetting even to say thanks. She stumbled so hard that the tall threshold almost tripped her.
She felt her Elder Cousin’s courtyard was gloomy, scarier than any haunted house in the rumors. The instant the bookcase slid aside, that thread of black vapor shot along the floor and fled; even now her back felt cold, like her soul was about to fly away.
Xiao Man could not worry about the Third Miss at all. Her heart felt like a thousand needles, the pain beading sweat on her forehead. From the look of Lin Qing Xuan outside, he was not doing any better either.
Forgetting her own pain, Xiao Man ran out of the study in a few steps. Her gaze locked on Lin Qing Xuan’s chest as if nailed there. Blood kept seeping out. It was not a normal bright red. It was dark red, with a faint, eerie black mist.
Something was being torn out of his warm body, inch by inch. The sight was bloody and strange.
She shouted at the top of her lungs: “Old Chen, get over here!”
Old Chen rushed in like a gust of wind. When he saw Lin Qing Xuan, the weathered color drained from his face all at once, leaving it white as paper.
He cried out as he leaped forward and caught the swaying Lin Qing Xuan: “Young Master!” Then he snapped at Xiao Man, who still stood frozen: “Why are you standing there! Go call the House Physician, now!”
Xiao Man bit her lower lip until it nearly bled. Her feet felt rooted to the floor. Instead of running, she stepped closer, staring at Lin Qing Xuan’s face, pale as paper.
She asked in a tight voice: “That black vapor that rushed out just now… was it Tuan Tuan?”
Lin Qing Xuan’s breathing was low and heavy, each breath tearing at him. His eyelids were too heavy to lift, yet he forced himself to stay clear for one last moment: “He is me, and I am him.”
The words sounded like a riddle, but Xiao Man understood at once. Her heart jerked hard, the pain almost folding her in two.
She whispered, trembling: “You mean…”
He rasped, his voice like two sheets of sandpaper grinding together: “He is my Heart Demon. He can affect me… and I can affect him.”
With a boom, something exploded in Xiao Man’s head. She suddenly thought of that strange dream, that wicked figure who loved to lean to her ear and whisper shameless things. He had said he wanted her. He had said he dreamed of her every night. He had said those naughty words and done those bold things.
So it was not an illusion. It was not some stupid nightmare. It was Lin Qing Xuan himself, under the pull of the Heart Demon. It was his deepest desire, the part he never dared show.
She pressed on, voice shaking as her body began to tremble: “So you used a Forbidden Art to force it out of your body and lock it in this study?”
He closed his eyes for a moment, which counted as an answer. That tiny motion crushed the last of Xiao Man’s wishful thinking.
She looked at the blood on his chest and forced the words out, dry as sand: “This blood… on your heart…”
“Heart blood,” he managed to squeeze out between ragged breaths. “For suppression.”
Xiao Man’s pupils shrank to a pinprick. So every talisman in this room, every Sealing Ward in the secret chamber, was drawn stroke by stroke with his own heart blood. He dug out his Heart Demon and used his life blood to pin it down, all so that thing would not harass her in her dreams.
Her throat felt gripped by an invisible hand, dry and tight and burning. She wanted to ask more, but Old Chen’s thunderous roar split the air: “Miss Xiao Man! Go get the House Physician! Do you want the Young Master to die!”
Old Chen’s eyes were red, veins bulging as he shouted. The blast of his voice finally shocked her awake. She bolted and ran like mad.
When Physician Wang arrived with his medicine box, dragged by Xiao Man, Lin Qing Xuan was already half unconscious. The moon-white monk robe on his chest was soaked through with blood, a harsh red stain.
Seeing this, Physician Wang was startled. He took the pulse, and his brow knotted at once: “This… this pulse is chaos. Eldest Grandson Young Master, did you take something on your own, or did you fail a Tribulation Crossing?” He muttered in surprise, then clicked his tongue. “Too much bleeding, qi and blood are drained, the heart meridian is damaged. Young man, a body is not to be pushed like this.”
Lin Qing Xuan lay there without even the strength to shake his head. He let the House Physician examine him. Physician Wang sighed, wrote out a strong Tenfold Great Tonic to replenish blood and qi, and handed the prescription to Old Chen with a stern warning: “Three days of complete bed rest. Do not use even half a thread of inner force. Remember this. Or the heart meridian will snap, and not even a Great Luo Immortal could save him. And your Auspicious Cloud Residence has bad feng shui. Trouble every few days. Ask the First Madam if it is time to change houses.”
Xiao Man stood to the side, twisting the corner of her clothes until the soft fabric turned like a rope. When Physician Wang and Old Chen withdrew and the room finally held only the two of them, the sleeping Lin Qing Xuan suddenly opened his eyes. He looked past the bed curtain straight at her: “Scared?”
Xiao Man pressed her lips together and said nothing.
“Scared of me,” he said softly, his voice light as a feather yet piercing the heart. “Scared of this me.”
[A Buddha’s Chosen who can breed a Heart Demon, who is wrapped in desire, who can be so cruel to himself, no longer pure.]
Xiao Man was silent for a long, long time. So long that the light in Lin Qing Xuan’s eyes almost went dim. Then she stepped forward to the bed. She reached out and gently tucked up the slipping corner of his quilt: “Compared to the shameless, grabby Buddha’s Chosen in my dreams, this you actually feels… real.”
[A living person with flesh and blood, with joy and anger, who can hurt and be hurt.]
Lin Qing Xuan froze. Something rippled hard in his dark eyes. He let out a very soft laugh, full of relief. The moment he laughed, it tugged on the wound in his chest, and he groaned, brow furrowing tight.
Xiao Man glared at him, cheeks puffed in anger: “No laughing. The House Physician said you must rest. Do you want to die?”
He looked at her angry cheeks, and a faint tenderness flashed through his cool eyes before the surface went still again. He called her name: “Xiao Man.”
She hummed: “Mm?”
“About the study…”
“I will not tell anyone,” she cut him off, firm as a vow. “I still want to live a few more years. The more you know, the faster you die. I get it.”
Lin Qing Xuan gave a light sound, like he finally set his worries down, and closed his eyes again.
Looking at his face, white as paper, Xiao Man had only one thought rolling over and over: [Using heart blood to suppress his own Heart Demon… this Buddha’s Chosen is brutal to himself.]
Meanwhile, the Heart Demon that had escaped ran wild through the vast Heir Apparent Manor. It had been suppressed by that fake-prude Lin Qing Xuan for so long, forced to listen to boring sutras every day and not allowed to do Absorbing Sun and Moon Essence. It felt so weak it could almost be nothing but a tiny puff.
It was furious. It really wanted to tease that woman Yao Xiao Man. It still remembered Xiao Man and Lin Qing Xuan tumbling together in dreams. Tsk tsk. That half came from its power, and the other half came from Lin Qing Xuan’s true desire. No one could pretend to be clean.
Who would have thought this Buddha’s Chosen who carried a Sarira Relic would sneak attack without honor. He wanted Xiao Man so badly, yet he used his own heart blood to suppress it, acting like he did not want to hurt her. Bah. Hypocrite.
Every night, Lin Qing Xuan’s desire for that woman grew like wild grass. He could not press it down. The person in his fantasies was Xiao Man, through and through.
In the dark, the Heart Demon snickered: “True Buddha’s Chosen, fake monk. Your desire is my best food.”
Suddenly, it caught a sweet scent. In a corner of the garden, a few gossipy maids were tearing others down. Jealousy, greed, and resentment thickened their words. For the Heart Demon, this was a royal feast. Tuan Tuan pounced and drank it up greedily. Fresh out of prison, it needed a big meal.
It ran through the entire Heir Apparent Manor. Wherever there was shadow and desire, there it was. That night, full of “nourishment,” it slipped back to the Auspicious Cloud Residence. It knew Lin Qing Xuan was hurt and weak now, a paper tiger who could not touch it. It slid through a door crack into Xiao Man’s room.
Xiao Man was asleep. It was still a clump of black mist, thicker than when it first escaped. With a whispery swish, it dove into Xiao Man’s dream.
Her dream was pink and purple, bubbling with sweetness. The Heart Demon fluttered here and there, happily sipping the pure goodness she gave off, humming with pleasure. It saw dream-Xiao Man lying on a soft cloud, so it scooted up like a spoiled cat and rubbed against her.
Dream-Xiao Man blinked awake. When she saw the familiar black mist, she was not scared at all: “You’re back, Tuan Tuan.”
Hearing the name, the Heart Demon spun in midair with joy. It loved it when she called it Tuan Tuan. But the next second, Xiao Man’s face changed: “You hurt Lin Qing Xuan so badly,” she scolded, cheeks puffed with anger.
The Heart Demon wriggled in the air, unhappy: “Serves him right. The three of us are one under Shared Empathy and Dreaming. Why lock up only me? That is unfair! And lately you two have been all lovey-dovey. You think I am blind?”
“What nonsense,” Xiao Man shot back, her face turning red. “I am seriously carrying out my plan to leave when my Indenture Deed ends. My final goal is freedom, to lie flat and live easy, not some silly romance.”
“You do not even believe your own words,” the Heart Demon sneered. “Which brave young lady was clinging to a certain Buddha’s Chosen’s neck a few nights ago, soft voice calling ‘good brother.’ Oh my, no shame at all.”
It pinched its voice and copied her tone, drawing out the words “good brother” again and again, so flirty it made the air curl.
Xiao Man flushed from cheeks to ears: “Shut up!”
She jumped off the cloud and swung to hit the black fog, but her hand only passed through. She could not touch it at all. The Heart Demon cackled and drifted around, chanting without stop: “Good brother. Good brother, a little faster. Good brother…”
“Ah!” Xiao Man sat up in bed with a shout stuck in her throat. In the dark room, she shook with anger, panting hard. That nasty voice still rang by her ear. How hateful. Too hateful. She grabbed a pillow and slammed it to the floor, but it did not help. She could do nothing to that awful thing.