Chapter 087
Chapter 87: Ink Turns to Demon, Quietly Enters the Body
Candlelight wavered in the study. Lin Qing Xuan sat cross-legged before the bamboo basket, solemn now, nothing like the man in the courtyard. His fingers flew as he formed a complex seal, and he chanted in a clear, steady voice: “Om Mani Padme Hum.”
The Six-Syllable Bright Mantra flowed from his thin lips, each syllable pure and full of Buddhist power. That power turned into a gentle stream, invisible to the eye, and poured into the basket to wrap the black cat inside. The Buddha’s light spread, meant to quiet its wild thoughts and cleanse its body and mind.
Under that glow, the Black Cat Tuan Tuan twitched at last. Its tail tip moved and scraped weakly against the basket.
Lin Qing Xuan lowered his eyes at its sorry state and asked in a voice cold enough to bite: “Where did you smear yourself with desire?”
He added, sharper: “How dare you let it break out.”
Tuan Tuan meowed, golden eyes half-lidded with a look that was part anger, part wounded pride. [Hmph. Turned into a cat and actually picked up a cat’s habit. I meow before I talk.]
Lin Qing Xuan snorted inwardly, but Tuan Tuan was too weak to waste words. It cut straight to the point, speaking in a hoarse little voice: “Princess’s Private Estate. Demonic Qi rising.”
Lin Qing Xuan’s brow drew tight. Princess’s Private Estate. Demonic Qi. Alarm bells rang in his mind, shaking loose an old memory. Not long ago, the Astronomical Bureau had cast an omen: “A demon star threatens the throne, near at hand.” The Emperor had worried that this demon star might be someone close in the Imperial House. Now Tuan Tuan’s report pointed straight at the Emperor’s most favored daughter, the Third Princess, Xuan Ji. In the Chief Astronomer’s readings, the demon star was indeed a woman.
“Is Tuan Tuan okay?” asked Xiao Man, heart aching at how weak it looked. She reached out to pat its head by instinct.
“Do not touch it,” snapped Lin Qing Xuan, his harsh tone stopping her hand midair. “It is covered in lustful Demonic Qi. It will affect you.”
“Meow,” protested the Heart Demon Tuan Tuan with a sulky chirp. Affect her? It would love to share some of this good stuff with Xiao Man. It knew best how helpless mortals were before desire.
Lin Qing Xuan’s sharp gaze cut back to Xiao Man: “Did you touch it in the courtyard?”
Feeling scolded, Xiao Man still nodded honestly: “I did.”
“Good,” he said with a blank face, passing sentence: “Then you will do Sutra Copying in the study tonight. The Heart Sutra. Eighty-one times.”
Xiao Man’s eyes went round: “Again?”
She almost exploded. “I only petted it once and I’m already affected? That spreads faster than the flu. Eighty-one copies? You want me to move into the study for the night?”
Her chest heaved with anger. She felt none of the so-called influence at all. He was clearly making a big deal out of this. Drawing a deep breath, she tried to bargain: “I can copy, but you have to tell me what really happened. I cannot die confused and copy for nothing.”
Before he could answer, Tuan Tuan perked up in the basket and said in a sleazy sing-song: “Princess’s Private Estate. Three men against one woman. Oh, the scene was very exciting. If the Young Master tells you everything, your ears will grow pimples.”
Xiao Man’s mind buzzed, and she got it at once. She waved both hands fast: “Stop. I think I get it. Spare me the details.”
She regretted asking. The dirty old tom had gone to the Princess Manor to peep on the Princess’s private fun. And it was a one against three. She refused to picture it. Her brain slapped censor bars over everything.
“You pictured it,” Lin Qing Xuan said suddenly, voice cool and eyes deep on her face.
“No, absolutely not,” Xiao Man blurted, even as unwanted heat climbed her cheeks. This rotten Empathic Link. It gave her no privacy at all. [But being a Princess is wild. So many male favorites. Even a one against three experience.]
In the basket, the Black Cat Tuan Tuan actually curled its mouth into a human-like grin. It heard her too. [Tsk. A soul from another world has broader taste. Knows how to play.]
Lin Qing Xuan’s face went completely black. A vein beat at his temple, but he could not blow up or she would accuse him of invading her privacy again. [She thinks one against three is good. Is she not satisfied?]
“Copy the sutra without falling asleep. Sleep after you finish,” he reminded her flatly.
“Huh,” she groaned under her breath. This was going to be a sleepless night.
“I will take it to the inner room to resolve the Demonic Qi,” Lin Qing Xuan said. He grabbed the basket one-handed and walked straight to the inner chamber, not even looking back. His steps were a little quick.
The wide study felt even emptier with only Xiao Man left. She sighed, dragged herself to the desk, spread fresh paper, lifted the brush, and resigned herself to a long, long road of Sutra Copying.
The study was silent, lit only by a bean-sized flame dancing on the desk. Xiao Man propped her head with one hand. Her eyelids felt too heavy to lift. She mumbled as she wrote, the brush weighing a thousand pounds: “The Heart Sutra… eighty-one times…”
The work was more tiring than lifting weights. Her characters leaned and wobbled like ghost scribbles. No good. She was dying of sleepiness. Her brain had turned into mush.
Annoyed, she set down the brush and rubbed her eyes hard, trying to wake up. But the drowsiness rose like tides, wave after wave. She picked up the brush again, left hand cupping her cheek to hold up her nodding head. The brush scratched slower and slower, until it stopped.
Her head dipped once. Twice. Then thumped onto the paper, and she fell completely asleep. The brush slipped from her fingers and dropped a dark dot right on the fresh scripture.
All was still. In the instant she fell asleep, the candle flame jumped high and the light dimmed. On the desk, the wet ink blot twitched in a strange way. A faint strand of black mist rose from the ink, coiled in the air, and slipped soundlessly into the space between Xiao Man’s brows.
Everything fell quiet again.
In the inner room, where Lin Qing Xuan was clearing the Demonic Qi from the Heart Demon Tuan Tuan, he seemed to sense something…