The trees and bushes became blurs of colour as Yuelong raced back towards the village.

Yuelong: Who knew that the snake would go back to Xiao-Ling? 

Cangming: It isn’t human.

Yuelong: True...it makes sense that since it’s an animal, we can’t use a human mindset to predict its actions.

The dim lights of the village slowly came into view. From a distance, Yuelong could hear the night patrol banging on their hourly gongs.

Yuelong travelled on the rooftops, sprinting towards Xiao-Ling’s courtyard. Like flashes of lighting, his silhouette lasted only for a split second on every rooftop he landed on before appearing on another.

He landed in the courtyard and looked around for its residents. The door was shut, and there were no signs of light anywhere. Only under the dim light of the moon did Yuelong see the dead black tree. Its leaves, like shattered clay, were scattered across the ground.

“Xiao-Ling!” Yuelong called. “Xiao-Ling!”

No response.

Yuelong frowned and clenched his fists. The joyful, bright laugh of Xiao-Ling rang distantly in his mind. The young girl that held a basket half-full with steamed buns faded from his thoughts.

Cangming: Over there, quick!

Yuelong kicked down the door. At the back of the room, Xiao-Ling’s mother sat slumped in front of the bronze mirror, her head and hands sprawling across the dresser. Broken bottles and containers lay at her feet. The room stank heavily of perfume and herbs.

“Madam? Madam?” Yuelong gently shook her arms. He pressed his fingers into her wrist and felt out the weak rhythm of her heartbeat.

With his index and middle fingers, Yuelong then touched her forehead and started to transfer his energy into her. He felt the wild movement of the poison within her. The moment the Yang-based energy came into contact with the Yin-based poison, the poison scattered all throughout her body, seeping into blood, hiding between bones. Yuelong launched a larger wave of Yang energy. Cornered by the warm Yang energy, the poison finally disintegrated into nothing. No longer sensing the Yin qi in her body, Yuelong halted his energy flow.

Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. His breathing was slightly faster than normal. Yuelong felt his vision blur in and out—he had used too much spiritual energy. He felt the chill of the air around him. Yuelong reached up to wipe the sweat from his brow and flinched slightly at his own cold touch.

A moan came from the woman at the dresser.

Yuelong shook his head and made his eyes focus.

“What happened?” asked Xiao-Ling’s mother.

“The snake returned,” said Yuelong in a weak voice.

She turned to face Yuelong. “What do you mean the snake—gong-zi! Are you alright?”

Yuelong’s face was as white as a sheet of paper.

“I’m fine. Where’s everyone else?”

She stood up and supported Yuelong’s arm. “Everyone else? I thought you would know?”

“You’re the first person that I saw, and rescued.” Yuelong replied. “I have to get to Xiao-Ling and the others.”

With the mother’s support, Yuelong staggered out of the room.

“Xiao-Bao! Xiao-Ling! My Lord! Where are you?” she cried.

Cangming: They’re over there!

Yuelong pointed to the room behind the dead tree. “They’re behind that door.”

“That’s the book room. Gong-zi, let’s go.”

With his free hand, Yuelong opened one door as Xiao-Ling’s mother opened the other.

“My boy! My lord!”

On the ground lay the bodies of the girl’s father and younger brother.

The mother quickly escorted Yuelong to a chair. After settling him in, she immediately knelt.

“Gong-zi, I feel so ashamed asking you, but please! Help them! Help us!” she begged.

“Please, madam, get up,” Yuelong reached for her hands. “I will definitely do my best.”

“Oh, thank you so much! The Chen family will forever be in your debt!”

Yuelong reached into his robes and searched for the bottle of antidote. Wait, that’s right—I didn’t bring anything with me.

“Madam Chen, can you bring me some paper?”

“Yes! At once!”

Madam Chen reached over and grabbed a stack of paper from the desk.

“Will these do?”

“Yes.”

Yuelong grabbed a slip of paper and sliced it in half with a stroke of his finger. He brought his index finger up to his mouth and bit. The bitter taste of iron seeped onto his tongue. Using his blood as ink, he started drawing up a charm on the paper.

Finishing two, Yuelong handed the charms to Madam Chen. “Put these on their foreheads. It’s a Yang Gathering Charm. It gathers Yang qi from the environment to repel the Yin-based poison from the body.”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

“This charm cannot cure the poison; it can only temporarily repel it. I do not have enough strength to fully cleanse them. So please remain quiet as I meditate,” said Yuelong.

“But where is Xiao-Ling?”

Yuelong frowned as the reminder struck him, the echoes of “newbie” ringing in his thoughts. He suddenly felt acutely the weariness in his eyes and the weight of his own spine. He was tired. Just as Yuelong prepared to leave the room, a voice called out from the yard.

“Mother? Father? Where are you?”

Xiao-Ling!

Yuelong’s eyes caught Madam Chen’s and he quickly held a finger up to his lips. Slowly and cautiously, Yuelong approached the doors, steadying Cangming in a defensive position across his chest. He peered out from the paper screens and noticed the slim figure outside.

Yuelong opened the door in relief. “Xiao-Ling!”

“Gong-zi!”

“Where have you been, Xiao-Ling?” Madam Chen cried, running out from the room. She embraced her daughter in a tight hug. Faint sniffling noises punctuated the cool moonlit night.

“I was…” Xiao-Ling looked up at Yuelong, glancing away quickly when their eyes met. “…looking for gong-zi.”

“Don’t go running around anymore!” scolded Madam Chen. “The spirit has returned! And if it weren’t for gong-zi, we would already be dead by now!”

Xiao-Ling placed her hands on her left hip, right over left, and curtsied to him.

Yuelong held up a hand. “Now is not the time for gratitude. I must replenish my energy in order to investigate further into this snake spirit. So, please, I will need peace and quiet. It would be nice if you could assist Madam Chen in looking after your father and brother as well.

“Yes, gong-zi.”

The three silently made their way back into the book room, closing the doors behind them.

Sitting in the double lotus position and closing his eyes, Yuelong slowed his breathing. He focused on the peacefulness of his surroundings and on the tranquility within his mind, on the slow intake of air and on the leisurely release of breath.

After a shichen, Yuelong opened his eyes. He felt more refreshed and relaxed compared to before. Returning to the book room, he looked at the bodies of the lord and the son, with the Yang Gathering Charms placed on their foreheads. He could feel the room becoming gradually colder as Yang qi was being drawn from the air. Madam Chen sat in a chair with her head resting on her hand, while Xiao-Ling sat opposite her. Their eyes were closed in a peaceful state of slumber.

Something bothered Yuelong: The snake spirit was here threatening the lives of the villagers, yet Lady Jiutian hadn’t shown up, let alone helped. And if Deng Lu, the evil Daoist, was worshipping Lady Jiutian, wouldn’t she already know by now that he was being possessed by the snake spirit?

Yuelong’s eyes widened. Lady Jiutian is a fake!? Yuelong shook his head. No, that can’t be. The pavilion spirit acknowledged Lady Jiutian’s existence. So, what’s wrong here?

He got up from his double lotus position and silently exited the book room. The gentle night breeze further refreshed his tired state. From the distance, he could hear the hooting of owls and the chirping of insects.

“I must see the statue again.”

Within an incense stick’s time, Yuelong found himself standing once again in the courtyard of Shengyu Temple. Under the shadow of the giant oak, the temple appeared gloomy and sinister. The octagonal window frames were like the eyes of the giant, peering at the unwanted visitor.

Yuelong pushed open the door. The inside was dimly lit with candles placed on the offering table in front of the statue. The tables had been cleared of any food and offerings. The donation boxes, emptied, stank of copper and metal coins.

The gold statue reflected the dim light of the candles and appeared as if to glow. Lady Jiutian’s blank expression, trained on her palms, left Yuelong pondering.

Why was she looking at her palms?

Yuelong frowned at the statue. He sat cross-legged in front of it.

“Lady Jiutian, forgive this little cultivator for intruding upon you,” apologized Yuelong. He closed his eyes and once again focused energy at his forehead. Having already suffered far too much use this one day, the passages burned from the raw energy.

Yuelong grunted.

Just this once. One look and I will finally be at the bottom of this mystery, he coaxed himself.

But the mighty Yixiao Zhenjun wasn’t born with a naturally opened third eye, hence the overuse and the pain that followed. People with a naturally opened third eye were able to see the intangible, and some even had the ability to communicate with immortals. These people were rare cases. That said, naturally opened third eyes were not the rarest. The rarest form of the third eye gives its bearer the ability to see another person’s energy column. A cultivator’s energy column is what determines how much power a cultivator can encompass. These were the people who were scarcer than scarce.

While Yuelong wasn’t gifted with a naturally opened Tianmu¹天目 "Heavenly Eye" is another term for the third eye ability, he had attained it through his cultivation at Qianyang. Quite a few cultivators on Qianyang Summit were able to open their third eye, but the majority of them weren’t able to, mostly because of their lack of tranquility and peacefulness of the mind.

Yuelong opened his eyes. His forehead stung terribly. It felt as if the Sanmei Pure Flames had erupted from his head. He focused on the statue.

“Huh?”

Yuelong now realized what was strange about the statue. There was definitely one thing weird about it, and he was sure that it had to do with what Lady Jiutian was holding in her hands, since the statue had nothing godly or powerful about it except for that.

A sharp burning feeling ripped through his forehead. Yuelong grunted and immediately shut off the energy channel to his third eye. His teeth clamped shut as he fell to the ground, rolling and twisting. He held his forehead in his hands, trying to soften the pain.

The pain eventually faded. Yuelong found himself soaked in his own sweat. Tenderly, he got up from the floor. Putting one trembling foot in front of the other, he slowly made his way to the incense table.

“Forgive me…” he whispered.

Yuelong climbed up and reached into the statue’s hands. Surprisingly, the statue was a lot smaller up close.

He clasped his long fingers around the item, and he was met with something light and fluffy. Yuelong pulled it down and looked at it in the candlelight.

A feather?

The feather was longer than his hand and was of an odd colour. In the dim light of the temple, it appeared to be violet, but the closer to the light he held it, the bluer it seemed.

Crack!

The sound of cracking porcelain echoed through the temple. Yuelong quickly and gently placed the feather inside the hidden pocket at his chest. Like a cat, he crept towards the storage room behind the statue.

Pieces of what seemed to have been a fine porcelain vase lay scattered across the floor. And a shadowy figure was standing in the middle.

The figure caught sight of Yuelong’s tall build and immediately opened a window. Before he jumped out, he turned his face to Yuelong for one last look, the planes of his profile suddenly catching in the moonlight before he disappeared.

Yuelong stood frozen, his mind blank with shock. The room was dead silent except for the rapid beating of his heart.

That man… Lanyue!