Please, Don’t Die - Chapter 43

Dai Xianyun’s expression turned grave. She stepped in front of Cong Shuang, her gaze fixed warily on He Qingsheng.

Cong Shuang pulled Dai Xianyun back behind her and bowed low to He Qingsheng. “This humble girl was blind. I hope the immortal will not take offense.”

“What would the immortal like to know? This servant will surely tell you everything I know, holding nothing back.”

Her confession was surprisingly forthright.

No wonder the two of them alone had managed to keep an anomaly from spilling into the mortal realm for decades.

Cong Shuang was, in fact, the real Dai Xianyun.

From her narrative, He Qingsheng was able to complete her own deductions.

After Shang Lehe’s death, Dai Xianyun had vanished for a time.

The first to be implicated in the matter of life-swapping were not the poor, whose lives were treated as grass, but the vast and intricate web of powerful aristocratic families. The long-lived wished to live longer, and the powerful wished for more power.

Those with short lifespans swapped for the fates of the long-lived. Those with unworthy descendants swapped for the fates of those blessed with literary fortune.

Beneath the veneer of power, a boundless and chilling greed festered.

Having witnessed the full spectrum of human nature during the first half of her life in a brothel, Dai Xianyun lacked Shang Lehe’s noble and benevolent heart. She had no desire to get involved; she only wanted to live out the rest of her days in peace and prosperity.

Until she lost a child.

She had originally thought that once Lord Zhou was dead, she could change her name, move elsewhere, and the twins in her womb would be safe.

But those people were so audacious that they abducted her son right off the street.

He was such a small child. Dai Xianyun could not save him.

She finally understood what the information Shang Lehe had entrusted to her meant, when it came to the matter of life-swapping, she could not remain a bystander.

It was then that Wei Chunfeng happened to find her.

The immortal with the air of a clear breeze and daoist bones fell, and the insignificant mortal lived on under his protection.

Dai Xianyun took on a new identity and opened the Tianxiang Tower.

On the surface, the Tianxiang Tower was a flower house, but in private, it received guests who needed to “swap lives.”

She didn’t have to go to great lengths to find people with wicked intentions. She needed only to release a bit of information, and those people, like hyenas that had caught the scent of blood, would don human skins and come flocking, starved and eager.

Then, without exception, they became skeletons at the bottom of the cold pond.

Perhaps there were exceptions, but Dai Xianyun dared not gamble on the probability of an accident.

If she were to show mercy, she would be doomed beyond redemption.

In the early years, Dai Xianyun managed things alone. In recent years, as her daughter Cong Shuang grew up, Dai Xianyun began to teach her, entrusting her with her secrets and showing her how to cleanly dispose of these special guests.

Receiving Prince Liang was a test Dai Xianyun had set for Cong Shuang.

Madam Wang, was completely unaware of what she was doing. However, most of the people who came asking about the Zhou Trading Company looked wealthy and influential. Wanting repeat business and more money, she had always kept a tight lip about it.

As for He Qingsheng’s group running into Dai Xianyun disguised as Cong Shuang, that was, in a sense, a coincidence.

“If the immortal wishes to pass judgment for this, I am willing to accept my punishment. However, my daughter Cong Shuang has not truly taken a life. I pray the immortal will spare her.”

Having spoken, Dai Xianyun assumed the air of one calmly facing death.

It was true that she had killed, but it was also true that she had saved people.

Qi Wan and Shangguan Ding’an exchanged glances. Yan Xingyi remained silent, his eyes lowered as if in deep thought.

Ying Qujie looked at He Qingsheng. Everyone was waiting for her to make the final decision.

He Qingsheng tapped Ying Qujie’s palm, musing, “Do you have a record of the people you’ve met?”

Dai Xianyun nodded hastily. “I have kept a secret ledger.”

He Qingsheng gestured toward Prince Liang with her chin. “Killing is your transgression, but saving the world is your merit. I have no intention of judging right and wrong, life and death. Since there is a record, let the matter be handled according to the laws of the Su Dynasty.”

“Thank you, Immortal-”

“Hold on.” He Qingsheng smiled. “Your past has nothing to do with me, but it’s true that you set me up. Let’s settle one thing at a time.”

Dai Xianyun said, “Please instruct me, Immortal.”

“Lady Cong Shuang is to run an errand for me, in your name.”

…

A sliver of fish-belly white appeared on the horizon.

It was still early when the group arrived at the city gate.

They had not taken more than a few steps into the city when a squad of soldiers intercepted them from behind.

“Lord Imperial Preceptor, Lord Shangguan, may I ask what has happened to His Highness?” the leading officer asked, bowing to Yan Xingyi and the others with a look of alarm.

Yan Xingyi and Shangguan Ding’an were supporting the unconscious Prince Liang, which certainly did not look good.

“It is nothing.”

Yan Xingyi’s expression darkened as he looked at Prince Liang’s profile. The prince had suddenly fainted on their way back to the city.

After checking his pulse, Ying Qujie had discovered that his body was severely depleted. This was partly due to the toll the Frozen Lake and the illusion had taken on his body and spirit, and partly because he had not taken a sufficient dose of the medicine he had previously been given.

Yan Xingyi recalled the recent dispute between Miss Chu and Prince Liang, and instantly guessed that the prince had given the medicine to her.

Ying Qujie had given Prince Liang some medicine, but he asserted that the prince needed to set out for Mount Tianyu that very day, or his life would be in peril.

Yan Xingyi and Shangguan Ding’an had already planned to take Prince Liang directly back to the palace to report to His Majesty.

“His Highness has been missing for many days, and the capital is under lockdown. Please allow this subordinate to escort His Highness and you, my lords, back to the palace.”

Yan Xingyi asked, “Many days?”

Only then did He Qingsheng notice the date printed on a small newspaper by the city gate. Six days had passed since the day they went to the Tianxiang Tower.

By that calculation, today was Ying Qujie’s birthday!

After bidding farewell to Yan Xingyi and the others, He Qingsheng hurried Ying Qujie toward the Ying Estate.

“It’s still early. We won’t be late for the ceremony. There’s no need to rush,” Ying Qujie said, unconcerned.

He Qingsheng declared righteously, “No, that won’t do. You need to go back and get some sleep, then freshen up. We can’t let your stepmother get her way.”

In a side courtyard of the Ying Estate.

Ying Wen watched the two adults he hadn’t seen in a long time flash past, feeling utterly bewildered.

So undignified, Ying Wen thought, shaking his head like a little adult before puffing out his chest and proudly praising himself.

The little ghost Ying Wen didn’t maintain his composure for long. His true nature revealed, he clambered up onto the wall.

The estate was so lively today.

He wanted to go play with Ying Qujie, but Sister He had looked so rushed just now that Ying Wen worried he might disturb her.

Torn, he could only lie on the wall, dangling his feet and counting flower petals out of boredom.

“Go find Little Uncle, don’t go find Little Uncle, go find Little Uncle…”

Suddenly, Ying Wen’s eyes lit up.

It was his mother!

Inside the room, Ying Qujie was pressed onto the bed to catch up on some sleep.

He Qingsheng set the skeletal puppet aside and switched to the small wooden puppet that came with its own clothes.

Then, she began to focus on her cultivation.

What she had expended in the illusion and the secret passage far exceeded the rate at which she could absorb the evil entity.

If she continued to be depleted like this, she didn’t know when she would ever be able to cross the Spirit Realm and return to the Twelve Walls.

No, that’s not right, He Qingsheng’s eyes snapped open.

She remembered the runes on the stone pillars.

He Qingsheng hastily fumbled for the half-vertebrae belonging to Ying Wen and Dai Xianyun’s son.

She connected the two.

A bone-chilling cold spread from the base of her spine to the crown of her head. He Qingsheng stared at the vertebrae in her hand in disbelief.

During her studies at the Wenxin Sect, she had seen fragments of information in the Forbidden Pavilion.

They were not written words, but the unique symbols were deeply etched in her mind.

The forbidden art, “Sun and Moon Swap.”

In this art, life-swapping was merely a low-level application.

The highest level was to swap the fortune of heaven and earth, to overturn the universe itself.

The forbidden art had been almost completely destroyed. He Qingsheng and her old friend had only seen a small part of a ruined scroll, yet they were punished by being made to sweep the thirty thousand steps of the Wenxin Sect for a month to ensure their spiritual platforms remained clear.

This showed just how dangerous the forbidden art was to a cultivator’s state of mind.

He Qingsheng lowered her gaze to the vertebrae in her hand.

The Zhenyuan Sect was making frequent moves in the mortal realm, and her junior brother was also coming and going as he pleased.

Perhaps it wasn’t that their cultivation had greatly increased, but that a loophole had appeared in the Spirit Realm.

They were exploiting the Spirit Realm’s loophole to experiment with the evil art of life-swapping in the mortal realm. It surely wasn’t for the sake of a single individual.

That old bastard Liang Qiuji, he’d better hope I don’t find out he slaughtered the entire Fuliu Sect to swap lives and seize fortune.

He Qingsheng gritted her teeth, her eyes bloodshot, wishing she could kill her way back to the Twelve Walls right now.

“Shengsheng? Is it the old injury acting up?” Ying Qujie’s voice, tinged with the laziness of someone just waking up, drifted from far to near, instantly dispersing the baleful aura around her.

Half an hour had already passed.

“It’s nothing.” He Qingsheng reined in the turbulent emotions in her eyes and pressed down on the hand Ying Qujie extended toward her. “Next time, unless I ask for it, you are not to let your blood.”

“Mm,” Ying Qujie replied noncommittally. He looked at He Qingsheng as he put on his outer robe. “Come out and let me see.”

Clearly, he was highly skeptical of her claim that it was “nothing.”

“No, I’ll be struck by lightning if I go out.”

“I don’t believe you. You’re nowhere near the level where you’d be struck by lightning,” Ying Qujie stated frankly.

He Qingsheng: “?”

In the end, He Qingsheng couldn’t win against him. She floated out of the small wooden puppet and drew close to Ying Qujie, their noses almost touching. “Is this how you want to look? Physician Ying.”

Her voice was teasing and laced with a smile, and the words “Physician Ying” sounded exceptionally tender on her lips.

Ying Qujie gazed at the ghastly, grim face so close to his, and his heart stirred.

The female ghost’s eyes were far too bewitching.

By the time Ying Qujie realized what he was doing, his hand had already touched her face.

Perhaps “touched” was not the right word.

There was only a cool sensation in his palm.

She, too, was stunned by his action and took a step back first.

“Finished looking? I told you I’m fine.” He Qingsheng spun around to hide her awkwardness, but it only made it more obvious.

“Let’s go to the main hall. See if there are any other shenanigans.”

Only after a careful inspection did Ying Qujie reply, “Alright.”

…

In the main hall.

Word of Zhuang Zhixing publicly embarrassing Ying Qujie had reached the ears of Duke Zhuang.

The Duke was old and naturally held a reverence for matters of life and death, let alone the prospect of offending a renowned and extraordinary physician like Ying Qujie.

Zhuang Zhixing had been severely reprimanded upon returning home.

For Ying Qujie’s coming-of-age ceremony, Duke Zhuang had repeatedly instructed him, ordering him to mend their relationship at all costs.

Zhuang Zhixing had arrived at the General’s Estate early.

After a look around, he still saw no sign of Ying Qujie.

He instantly felt relieved.

He had been reluctant to come and offer congratulations in the first place and was naturally more than happy to watch the drama unfold.

After arriving at the General’s Estate, Zhuang Zhixing stayed close to General Ying, afraid of missing the slightest development.

Under his gaze, General Ying’s expression grew increasingly foul. He asked Lady Su in a low voice, “Has Qujie still not been found?”

Lady Su looked troubled.

“This is absurd. What kind of ceremony is it without the person being capped?” General Ying flicked his sleeve and started toward the rear courtyard. “Mother still refuses to cancel it. I, for one, can’t afford to lose this much face.”

“Ying Song, where do you think you’re going?” the Old Madam berated, stopping General Ying.

“Mother! He disappears for days without a word, only to turn up in a brothel! I can’t afford to lose this much face,” General Ying retorted stubbornly to the Old Madam.

Zhuang Zhixing pricked up his ears to listen in, his heart filled with the schadenfreude of kicking a man when he’s down.

After all, he was the one who had passed the news to the Ying Estate that Ying Qujie was last seen at the Tianxiang Tower.

“Nonsense, don’t speak such rubbish,” the Old Madam cursed in a low voice. “This is a ceremony I’m holding for Ningning. How could he not return?”

Su Lan stood by the Old Madam’s side, patting her back to soothe her, her eyes filled with worry. The several groups of people she had sent to investigate had all come back empty-handed. She hadn’t dared to tell the Old Madam the full situation, only hoping that the Eldest Young Master would truly return on his own.

“Grandmother, I’m late.” Ying Qujie’s warm and clear voice sounded.

Everyone turned toward the sound, only to see the newcomer dressed in a black xuan duan robe. The dark red inner collar set off his jade-like face, and the wide sleeves billowed gracefully with his steps, giving him a transcendent and carefree air.

“I was delayed on the road with His Highness Prince Liang and the Imperial Preceptor. I’ve made Grandmother worry.”

Ying Qujie’s words were cleverly phrased.

Most of the guests who had arrived early were the well-informed ones who had come to see a joke. But instead of a joke, they were informed that the person in question had been away attending to important business with Prince Liang and the Imperial Preceptor, figures they couldn’t even dream of currying favor with.

At once, they all felt a surge of bitter frustration.

Zhuang Zhixing, in particular, felt it most keenly.

But no one paid him any mind.

The Old Madam was beaming, her eyes full of approval. She pulled Ying Qujie over and patted his hand. “Not late, not late at all. Most of the guests haven’t arrived yet. Our Ningning’s medical skills are superb; official business is more important.”

Ying Qujie gracefully followed the Old Madam to greet the guests.

Standing there, he was a radiant and imposing figure, drawing frequent praise from the later arrivals.

The skeletal puppet was broken, and the puppet with its own clothes now looked somewhat out of place on Ying Qujie’s shoulder.

He Qingsheng informed Ying Qujie and slipped into the main hall.

She idly scanned the ceremonial implements, and sure enough, she discovered something amiss.