Chapter 87
Chapter 87: Ink Turns to Devil and Slips Inside
In the study, candlelight trembled.
Lin Qing Xuan sat cross-legged before the bamboo basket, solemn now—nothing like the man who had stalked into the courtyard moments ago.
His fingers moved in swift, precise patterns, forming a complicated seal.
“Om, ma, ni, ba, mi, hum.”
The Six-Syllable Great Bright Mantra flowed from his lips in a low chant, each syllable clear, each one carrying pure Buddhist power.
That power became an invisible stream, pouring gently into the basket and wrapping the black cat within.
Buddhist light suffused the air, meant to soothe the wild thoughts inside it and return its heart to stillness.
Tuan Tuan lay limp in the basket, barely more than a black bundle. Bathed in that light, it finally twitched—the tip of its tail flicking weakly against the bamboo.
Lin Qing Xuan looked down, eyes cold enough to cut. “Where did you go to come back reeking of desire?”
“And you even dared to act it out. You’ve truly grown more and more outrageous.”
Tuan Tuan let out a weak “meow,” its golden eyes half-open, half-lidded, the look in them equal parts grievance and spite.
Lin Qing Xuan snorted inwardly.
Too tired to spar, Tuan Tuan answered in the fewest words possible. “The princess’s private residence. Devil qi everywhere.”
Lin Qing Xuan’s brows drew together.
The princess’s private residence?
Devil qi?
A warning bell hammered in his chest, and an old memory stirred awake.
Not long ago, the Bureau of Astronomy’s divination had cast its shadow across the court—
“The Demon Star offends the throne, close at hand.”
The Emperor had worried, voice heavy, that this Demon Star might be a beloved relative within the imperial family.
And now, with what Tuan Tuan brought back, suspicion sharpened into a blade aimed straight at the Emperor’s most favored daughter: the Third Princess, Xuan Ji.
In the Director of the Bureau of Astronomy’s reading, the Demon Star had indeed been a woman.
“Is Tuan Tuan okay?” Xiao Man hovered beside the basket, her heart tight at the sight of its weakness. Without thinking, she reached out to touch its head.
Heart demon Tuan Tuan immediately leaned forward, eager to rub against the warmth of her palm—
“Don’t touch it.”
Lin Qing Xuan’s voice cut through the room, harsh and absolute.
Xiao Man’s hand froze midair.
“It’s tainted with lustful Devil qi,” he said, gaze sharp. “It will affect you.”
“Miaow!” Tuan Tuan protested, indignant.
Lin Qing Xuan’s eyes flicked to Xiao Man. “Earlier, in the courtyard—did you touch it?”
Something about his stare made Xiao Man’s scalp prickle, but she nodded honestly. “I did.”
“Good.”
His expression didn’t change as he pronounced her sentence. “Then tonight you’ll copy scripture in the study.”
“The Heart Sutra. Eighty-one times.”
Xiao Man’s eyes went round. “Again?!”
She nearly exploded.
“I touched it once and I’m ‘affected’? This spreads faster than COVID!”
“Eighty-one times? That means I’m moving into the study tonight!”
She was fuming. She couldn’t feel any “Devil qi influence” at all; Lin Qing Xuan was obviously seizing an excuse to bully her.
She inhaled hard, forced her temper down, and tried to bargain. “Fine, I’ll copy. But you have to tell me what happened. You can’t make me copy to my death without even explaining why!”
The moment the words left her mouth, the cat in the basket suddenly brightened, voice turning sly and filthy.
“The princess’s private residence—three men to one woman. Oh, that scene was spectacular. If I told you everything, you’d get styes in your ears.”
Xiao Man’s mind buzzed.
She understood in a flash.
“Never mind! I get it! Don’t tell me the details!”
She regretted asking at all.
That old pervert had been spying on the princess’s private life… and it was a one-versus-three.
She couldn’t think about it. Truly couldn’t. Her brain was already slapping mosaics over everything.
“You did think about it.”
Lin Qing Xuan spoke without warning, eyes deep and unreadable.
“No! Absolutely not!” Xiao Man snapped on instinct, but her cheeks warmed anyway.
This damned empathic resonance—she couldn’t even hide what crossed her mind. Not a shred of privacy.
Beside them, Tuan Tuan bared its teeth in an eerie grin.
It had heard it too.
Lin Qing Xuan’s face darkened completely. A vein jumped at his temple, but he swallowed whatever storm rose in him; if he lashed out, Xiao Man would accuse him of invading her thoughts again.
“Copy,” he said, voice clipped. “Don’t fall asleep. Sleep after you finish.”
Xiao Man stared at him. “Huh?”
So tonight was destined to be sleepless.
“I’ll take it to the inner room and dissolve the Devil qi,” Lin Qing Xuan said, and lifted the basket with one hand.
He didn’t even look at her as he went, his steps oddly brisk, as though fleeing the very room.
The study, suddenly vast, was left with only Xiao Man.
She sighed, dragged herself to the desk, spread out rice paper, and picked up her brush.
Resigned, she began the long road of copying.
The room felt hollow.
Only the small candle flame on the desk flickered, quiet as breath.
“The Heart Sutra… eighty-one times…”
She muttered, but the brush in her fingers felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
This was worse than lifting weights.
The characters she wrote leaned and staggered like ghosts.
No.
She was too sleepy.
Her mind had turned to paste.
Annoyed, she set the brush down and rubbed her eyes hard, trying to force herself awake.
It didn’t help. The drowsiness came in waves, one after another, unstoppable.
She picked the brush up again. Her left hand held up her cheek, barely keeping her head from drooping.
The brush scratched across the paper, slower… slower…
Then stopped.
Her head dipped once.
Then again.
Finally, it dropped—her forehead thudding softly onto the paper—and she slipped fully into sleep.
The brush slid from her fingers and left a blunt ink blot across the fresh lines of scripture.
Silence reigned.
The instant her breathing deepened, the candle flame jumped—its light dimming by a shade.
The wet ink smear on the page wriggled as if alive.
A thread of faint black mist rose from it, spiraled, and slid soundlessly into Xiao Man’s brow.
The room fell still again.
In the inner room, where Lin Qing Xuan was dissolving the Devil qi from heart demon Tuan Tuan, he seemed to sense something…