Xu Rucheng hadn’t been good at arithmetic as a child, and he didn’t know business like Wei Chengxiang. For a moment, he could hardly count up how many “Zhao Qindan”s were running around all over the world. At any rate, apart from him, they all seemed real. 

He quickly said, “Senior, can you stop her?” 

Xi Ping watched Zhao Qindan’s figure recede, swift as the wind. His fingers brushed the Tai Sui Qin’s strings. “Yes.” 

“Then don’t let her come back! Isn’t it enough of a mess over here?” 

Xi Ping didn’t move. He was silent a while, then asked in turn, “Why should I keep her from coming back?” 

Xu Rucheng: “…” 

“She’d have to go back eventually, if not now then in the future,” Xi Ping said coolly. “If she comes back now, she’ll be right in time for the start of the performance. Perfect, no?” 

Supposedly Zhao Qindan was both clever and diligent. She had spent all her time in the Yanhai Building when she was at the Latent Cultivation Temple. She was one of the small number of disciples Luo Qingshi could look at without getting angry. 

Though he wondered whether this young mistress was erudite enough to have heard of a “spiritual image stamp.” 

Xi Ping turned and passed word to Wei Chengxiang, asking her to follow in secret. 

Before she had finished listening, the veins on the back of Wei Chengxiang’s fist had emerged like earthworms. Gravely, she said, “Senior, set your mind at ease. I will look after her.” 

Xi Ping said in bewilderment, “Why would you look after her?” 

Wei Chengxiang: “…” 

“It doesn’t matter to us whether she’s going to look from afar or to get herself killed. If she’s an idiot who can only mess things up, I have the means to stop her. There’s no need for you to worry about it,” Xi Ping instructed. “The Zhao family wants to give the young lady a stamp, so they won’t stamp it stealthily behind closed doors. At least they’ll let Yu Family Bend’s local despots bear witness. I’m telling you to follow her to see if you can find an opportunity to feel out Yu Family Bend’s foundation. But you must not advance rashly, whatever you do. Yu Family Bend is next door to a den of evil cultivators. To have been able to keep a firm hold on so many resources for so many years, they certainly can’t have been relying on a third-rate imperial grandson. Be careful.” 

Xi Ping’s reckoning was very accurate—from Tao County to Yu Family Bend, it took a full day to travel by horse-drawn carriage, but flying a sword, it took only the blink of an eye. When the sun was just about to climb to its zenith, Wei Chengxiang, tailing Zhao Qindan the whole way, arrived at the location of the Zhao family hidden realm, running right into the Yu family’s carriages rumbling as they drove near. There were horse-drawn carriages, and there were also new steam carriages from Great Wan, all with red silk tied on and towing a string of boxes of all sizes. 

The Zhaos had been waiting at the entrance to the hidden realm for a long time to welcome the local thugs. Yu Family Bend’s upstarts were subdued by the Zhao clan’s mystique as a family of immortals, and the Zhaos, seeing the Yu family’s abundant property, were impatient to integrate into Western Chu’s Sanyue. 

The two sides agreed readily, outdoing each other for enthusiasm.  

Zhao Qindan had an inscription that let her enter and exit the hidden realm freely. She cautiously drew some very unorthodox arrays on herself, concealing her traces, and snuck in through another of the hidden realm’s entrances. 

Inside was her home, after all. She knew every little bit of it like the back of her hand. She easily knocked out a guard patrolling on his own and blended in among the welcoming party. Wei Chengxiang, following her, did as she did. Wearing the Luwu mask that Senior Tai Sui had snatched from the Snake King’s Immortal Palace, she attached herself to the end of a team of guards. 

She heard Clan Leader Zhao, leading the guests inside, saying, “…yes, the sooner we get it settled, the better we’ll feel. Dandan is ready. My daughter is untalented, of only average abilities. It took her nearly nine months after entering the Latent Cultivation Temple to enter the Way. She only has a slightly stronger than usual spiritual sense…” 

Not one person in the household had discovered that she had run away. Zhao Qindan became increasingly surprised and bewildered. She thought, “Perhaps I wasn’t dreaming, and there really was someone pretending to be me?” 

Zhao Qindan had gone to Tao County wanting to buy some convenient weapons on the black market, not expecting that before she even reached Wild Fox Country, she would have been repeatedly hunted out of nowhere and lose about half of the spiritual stones she was carrying. She’d had neither food nor water for a whole day already and was in an extremely pitiful condition. She didn’t know where she was injured, but at any rate everywhere hurt. This made the pampered young mistress wonder in spite of herself whether her rebellion hadn’t been meaningless. 

Now, returning to familiar surroundings, an uncontrollable thought emerged. Zhao Qindan thought: Is it really so unacceptable to marry into Western Chu’s Xiang family? Sanyue’s inner sect couldn’t possibly be more dangerous than that cursed Wild Fox Country… Thinking about it carefully, her righteous indignation had only been unwillingness, unwillingness to become the kind of fine lady she had always secretly disdained. 

But without her family background, without her father’s coddling, would she really have been any different from those women? She had just left home, and the bloody winds of the outside world had nearly whipped her to death. 

“I also won’t conceal from you,” Clan Leader Zhao continued, “while Yu Family Bend is a beautiful environment that breeds talent, indeed a good place, it is too close to the border. Recently, we received word from our fellow clan members in Southern Shu saying that their hidden realm had already been infiltrated by Southern Wan’s Luwu. And just yesterday, we heard that tokens bearing our family inscriptions had appeared in Wild Fox Country… We’ve already sent people to look. Though the so-called ‘inscription tokens’ are fake, we have yet to understand the intentions of the person who spread this rumor. Ah, truly we must act with utmost caution, as though balancing on the edge of a cliff or treading on thin ice.” 

Zhao Qindan had never seen her father so obsequious. Her heart tightened. 

The person from the Yu family seemed to be able to empathize with this feeling. He nodded repeatedly in response, but his eyes were floating all around the magnificent hidden realm. Hearing a gap in Clan Leader Zhao’s outpouring of grievances, he saw an opening and went in: “How many spiritual stones does maintaining a hidden realm like this burn per day?” 

Looking miserable, Clan Leader Zhao responded, “Ten whole liang of white spirits.” 

The people who had come from the Yu family heard this and immediately began making comments right in front of his face, one after another saying “Not costly at all,” “Money-saving and impressive,” and so on. 

The lead Yu complimented: “Our clan, in order to make our juniors make progress, has built a ‘small spiritual mountain’ for that crowd of worthless good-for-nothings at home. It cost us two hundred thousand white spirits, yet it has less of a celestial air than this hidden realm of yours. No wonder not one of those monkeys has opened their spiritual eyes.” 

For a time, Wei Chengxiang had no attention to spare to look at the young mistress’s changeable expression. She and Xi Ping drew in a breath simultaneously: two hundred thousand white spirits! 

Even Clan Leader Zhao’s eyelids twitched when he heard. At first, he didn’t know what comment to make. 

Just then, a person ran over and told them that “The auspicious hour is nearly here, and the young mistress is prepared.” 

Zhao Qindan temporarily came back from her remorse and unease. Hearing these words, she was a little perplexed. She thought: wasn’t the Yu family here to take a look at the Zhao family for the imperial grandson? Whether they were taking a look at each other or exchanging betrothal gifts, what did it have to do with her? And also…what “auspicious hour” did they need? 

It was currently near noon, the time of the “utmost yin” in folk customs, with the big sun shining directly overhead. How could that be auspicious? 

While doubt after doubt popped up in her mind, the Zhaos and the Yus, affectionately holding each other by the arms, walked towards the ancestral offering platform within the hidden realm. 

From far away, Zhao Qindan’s spiritual sense was touched. She felt that practically all the family’s masters were here. Zhao Qindan, fearing that she would give herself away, didn’t dare to approach rashly. She placed all her spiritual sense in her eyes, carefully avoided the consciousness of that established foundation shixiong, and glanced towards the ancestral offering platform. 

Soon, she saw some maids walk over, supporting a splendidly-attired, veiled woman. 

A person is always more sensitive to their own figure. When Zhao Qindan saw that “woman,” she was astonished. 

She almost unconsciously glanced down at herself, for a moment almost absurdly suspecting that she was the fake… Wasn’t it a man passing himself off as her? Yet he could seem so much like her. What kind of divinity was he? She remembered the imposter she had seen. When he had seen her through the water, not only had he not seemed to fear being seen through, he also seemed to have a great deal to say to her. Since leaving the Zhao family, that was one of the rare gazes that hadn’t looked at her with malice. 

The Zhao established foundation cultivator took out a complete set of materials for prayer and divination and made a circle around the “imposter,” inspecting her. 

Zhao Qindan tensed. Inexplicably, she was a little concerned about the strange man who had taken her identity, afraid that he would be discovered by her eldest shixiong. 

Wei Chengxiang followed her gaze and suddenly felt a bit of unease. She asked Xi Ping, “Senior, a spiritual image stamp is no joke. Is that really a paperman?” 

At the same time, Xu Rucheng, who had used the Luwu mask to change his appearance, becoming a “maid” supporting the young mistress, asked Xi Ping the same question: “Senior, I really can’t see how she’s anything like a paperman. Please check again. Just in case… If you make me stand here watching that damned stamp fall upon a living person, I’ll never get over it.” 

Xi Ping responded to them both with “As if I’d let a little half-immortal like you see a flaw,” but inwardly he also felt a throb of anxiety out of nowhere. He couldn’t resist playing a note towards Zhao Qindan’s spirit. Only when he had startled her into a jump did he relax. 

That was a paperman that he had made himself. The Law Breaker Bracelet and the transport array had both confirmed it. 

Neither the Zhao established foundation, nor the cultivators the Yu family had brought along, nor that set of ancient immortal tools could tell that there was anything wrong with that paperman. The immortal tools showed her horoscope, the age of her bones, her abilities, her spiritual sense, put on display one by one like the teeth of horses and oxen for the Yu family to see. 

The Yus were very satisfied with the “goods.” Whispering to each other, they nodded repeatedly. 

Witnessing this scene, Zhao Qindan’s mind buzzed. Her faint self-reproach and indecision suddenly vanished. She looked at her own shixiong in disbelief, inexpressible humiliation submerging her for a time. 

Just then, there was a dull sound on the ancestral offering platform. The big clock standing at the southwest corner had yet to reach wu hour, but it was already puffing out steam in advance, ready to report the time. 

Her shixiong solemnly bowed to heaven and earth and to the ancestors, his expression grave and gloomy. Then he instructed someone to blindfold his eyes and with both hands picked up a spike three chi long or more. Its shaft was carved full of inscriptions. 

Zhao Qindan’s pupils contracted sharply: What is he doing? 

The Zhao established foundation raised the long spike and stood unmoving on the ancestral offering platform where steam curled. The atmosphere was too portentous. All those present couldn’t resist holding their breaths. 

The big clock reached wu hour and gave a click. Then the sound of the clock striking resounded throughout the whole hidden realm. All at once, the established foundation cultivator pierced the long spike through the center of the brow of the “Zhao Qindan” on the platform. 

As soon as the long spike entered skin, all the inscriptions on the shaft lit up brightly. The pointed end merged into the center of “Zhao Qindan”’s brow as if turning into nothing, not damaging any of her flesh…not even a strand of hair. 

To the mortals, “Zhao Qindan” didn’t move a muscle. She only seemed to be sitting there, letting her family put a pointed hat on her head. But all the cultivators with their spiritual senses attached to their ears heard an extremely woeful woman’s scream. 

Wei Chengxiang was appalled, her scalp prickling. Xu Rucheng nearly threw himself forward. The Zhao family cultivators nearby involuntarily averted their gazes. 

Zhao Qindan’s mind went completely blank. All that remained was something she had once read long ago in the Yanhai Building: A spiritual image stamp must be applied at wu hour, pierced with the stamping implement through the spirit of the guilty slave. The slave’s flesh and meridians will be undamaged. There will only remain a stamp upon the spiritual image, and the consciousness will receive a punishment as if of the hot brand. 

The one who receives this punishment will never escape it. 

It wasn’t only the cultivators inside the Zhao family hidden realm who heard that scream; there was also Xi Ping. 

Xi Ping gave a start. The Tai Sui Qin nearly tumbled from his knees. 

To start with, he hadn’t taken the consciousness he had duplicated in the Law Breaker Bracelet for a living person, because a living person could change, while the copy was “static.” He had thought that the duplicated consciousness was something like a special portrait, but because of his superior “artistry,” it could fool the eyes of idiots. 

But when he heard that scream, Xi Ping suddenly realized that no matter what “she” was, no matter whether her flesh came from a father and mother or whether it had been made of paper and music, she could still feel pain like a living person. 

No wonder Wei Chengxiang and Xu Rucheng had been so uneasy. A…whatever she was, never mind that—if everyone felt that she was alive, then perhaps she really was alive! 

He’d messed up. He shouldn’t have made a “living person.” 

The paperman and the consciousness wrapped up in the paperman had come from the Law Breaker Bracelet. As the established foundation cultivator branded the stamp on the paperman’s spiritual image, inside the Law Breaker Bracelet, a sound like rusty iron machinery grinding against itself sounded, digging into one’s ears. 

Next, the paperman’s consciousness appeared in the little pond in front of Xi Ping. A lacquer-black, sharp spike drew a stroke on her face. 

Without hesitation, Xi Ping sank his consciousness into the pond. The Tai Sui Qin sounded, interrupting the noise. With a thought, the Tai Sui Qin played like heavy rain, weaving a thin protective shield over the paperman’s consciousness. 

The stamping spike hit the shield, and it was as if Xi Ping had been hit right in the chest by a Cloud Soaring Flood Dragon. He went numb.