Chapter 37: The Arrival of the Daoist Master
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When it came to acting, Liu Wushuang was truly in a league of her own.
Before this, Wang Feifei had always been the one stirring up trouble, while Liu Wushuang stood quietly behind her.
“Elder Sister” this, “Elder Sister” that—back then, no one could have seen through her at all.
Who would have thought that the moment Wang Feifei fell, she would leap straight to the front?
Who knew how many other concubines in the Ye household were just as skilled at putting on an act?
Hmph. A mere concubine was still a mere concubine—she would never be fit to appear in public!
“The koi died unjustly!”
“The Ye household is probably finished!”
“Boo-hoo, I don’t dare leave the house anymore!”
The entire Ye household descended into utter chaos.
The servants were scared out of their wits.
They wished they could walk with their backs pressed against the walls.
They were terrified that something might be following them.
Terrified that, if they were not careful,
they might run into some unclean thing.
Concubine Liu watched the scene unfold.
Her heart was blooming with delight.
Yet on the surface, she wore an expression of deep concern.
She dabbed at the corners of her eyes, where not a single tear actually existed.
“Master, this cannot go on!”
“We must invite an expert to our household and drive out the evil spirits!”
It was hard to tell whether Master Ye was pretending or genuinely failed to see it.
Concubine Liu was a textbook scheming innocent.
Was it really so obvious, and he still could not see it?
Or did men simply like women who were good at pretending to be delicate and helpless?
Master Ye had always been superstitious.
Or rather, he was guilty. Only the guilty were truly afraid.
With one strange incident following another,
he had long since been frightened out of his wits.
The moment he heard her words,
he seized upon them like a drowning man grasping at a lifeline.
“Yes! Yes, exactly!”
“Invite an expert! Hurry and invite one!”
“Wushuang, do you know anyone?”
Liu Wushuang “happened” to remember someone.
“Oh, Master, have you forgotten?”
“A few days ago, by a stroke of luck, I happened to meet a Daoist priest named Qingfeng.”
“He is a renowned living immortal in the capital!”
“His fortune-telling and exorcism are absolutely accurate!”
Master Ye’s eyes lit up.
“Quick! Invite him!”
“Hurry and bring the Daoist here!”
As luck would have it,
in less than half an hour,
a Daoist priest with an otherworldly bearing
stepped through the gates of the Ye household.
He wore a gray Daoist robe
and held a whisk in his hand.
His steps were light and graceful.
He had a long beard and hair tied high atop his head.
He truly looked like some secluded master from beyond the mortal world.
The moment he entered,
Daoist Qingfeng began calculating with his fingers.
Then he abruptly opened his eyes.
“Oh dear!”
he cried.
“This place is overflowing with demonic energy!”
“The energy of yin and evil rises straight into the heavens!”
Everyone’s heart leaped into their throats.
The Daoist swept his gaze around the courtyard.
At last,
his eyes locked firmly onto the direction of Ye Qingyan’s residence.
His brows drew tightly together.
“The source of this demonic energy…”
“Why, it actually comes from the eldest young lady’s courtyard!”
The moment those words fell,
the crowd erupted.
The servants stumbled backward in terror.
The way they looked at Ye Qingyan
was filled with fear and revulsion.
They were terrified of provoking some unclean thing.
Master Ye’s face turned livid.
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He had already believed Ye Qingyan to be a bringer of bad luck.
Now that the Daoist had said as much,
he became even more convinced.
The way he looked at Ye Qingyan
was practically the way one looked at an ill omen made flesh.
Ye Qingyan stood among the crowd,
watching Daoist Qingfeng’s clumsy performance.
She could not help but mutter inwardly.
That is it?
Was his acting not a little too exaggerated?
Without revealing anything on her face,
she silently recited a phrase in her mind:
“See Through the Secrets of Heaven.”
The Daoist Qingfeng before her
instantly grew blurred.
And in her mind,
another future scene appeared, complete with the system’s imperial filter.
She saw Daoist Qingfeng
sneaking around
and crouching beside a fish tank.
He held a small bottle in his hand
and poured something into the tank.
Then
the scene became utterly absurd.
A robe of dazzling golden light suddenly appeared on Daoist Qingfeng!
His expression turned solemn
as he poured the “medicine” from the little bottle
into the fish tank.
Under the imperial filter,
that medicine transformed directly into a glittering golden “immortal pill”!
The koi in the tank
began leaping out of the water one after another,
as though they had been drugged.
With their mouths wide open,
they cried out,
“Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!”
Then,
with a splash,
they all turned belly-up.
The system’s infuriatingly smug narration
rang out at precisely the right moment.
[Before the majesty of My Imperial Presence, even plants, grass, fish, and insects must bow their heads in submission!]
Ye Qingyan: “Uh…”
For heaven’s sake!
Was this supposed to be “the ten thousand nations coming to pay tribute”?
This was clearly “a fight to the death with the fish”!
She desperately held back her laughter
and nearly burst out laughing on the spot.
This blasted system—
was it here purely to make jokes?
Even so,
she managed to extract the crucial information
from that ridiculous vision.
Daoist Qingfeng
was indeed the mastermind behind everything.
He had poisoned the fish tank
and killed all the koi.
He had even deliberately created the character for “wronged”
in order to frame her.
Ye Qingyan gave a cold laugh inwardly.
Very well.
Since you enjoy putting on a performance so much,
I shall play along to the very end.
Let us see who will be the one disgraced when the curtain falls.
She drew a deep breath
and put on a frightened expression.
“Daoist.”
“I… what should I do?”
“Please, I beg you, save me!”
Her voice trembled with sobs.
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The rims of her eyes reddened slightly.
Small, helpless, and frightened,
she looked utterly pitiful.
Seeing this,
Daoist Qingfeng felt a surge of triumph.
So Ye Qingyan was scared witless after all!
He deliberately shook his head with an air of profound mystery.
“Alas.”
“Eldest Young Lady.”
“You are beset by baleful energy.”
“Your situation is extremely grave!”
“If you wish to overcome this calamity,”
“we must hold a grand ritual!”
“You must abstain from meat and bathe for three days.”
“You must personally offer prayers and sacrifices.”
“Only then can the disaster be dispelled.”
His words sounded as though he were trying to help Ye Qingyan.
In truth,
he intended to use the ritual
to humiliate her publicly.
He wanted to pin every accusation
on her,
so that Ye Qingyan would be utterly ruined
before the people of the capital.
Ye Qingyan understood perfectly well what they were planning.
She gazed at the Daoist with “tears of gratitude.”
“Thank you, Daoist!”
“I will do exactly as you say!”
“As long as the disaster can be dispelled, I am willing to do anything!”
She acted docile and terrified,
causing them to lower their guard completely.
They believed Ye Qingyan had been scared senseless
and had become nothing more than a plaything in their hands.
The moment Ye Qingyan turned around,
the fear vanished from her face.
In its place was a cold smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
Back in her courtyard,
she immediately opened the Mysterious Secrets Manual
and began studying the formations concerning “Breaking Illusions” and “Borrowing Momentum.”
At the same time,
she summoned her most trusted man.
“Go.”
“Find out for me”
“what tricks that Daoist Qingfeng”
“usually uses to deceive people.”
“The more detailed, the better.”
The man accepted the order and left.
The day of the ritual
was set for three days later.
Concubine Liu was already unable to contain her excitement.
She hurried everywhere, spreading the news.
She invited numerous high-ranking officials and noblemen
to come and “observe the ceremony.”
Her intention was to make Ye Qingyan
lose everything before the entire capital
and suffer complete ruin.
Ye Qingyan knew this trick all too well.
She had been familiar with it since childhood.
Who would have thought these vile people
would still take such delight in using it?
Ye Qingyan looked down at the Mysterious Secrets Manual in her hands.
Then she spoke softly to the system.
“Your Majesty.”
“In three days,”
“please watch”
“the true ‘Ten Thousand Nations Paying Tribute.’”