That night, after taking a bath, Ji Zhaoxi tried to tie her inner robes by herself.
But the more she tried, the messier it got. Ji Zhaoxi frowned. What was going on? She had tried tying them before without any problems.
Yet today, no matter how she tried, she just couldn't tie them properly. In the end, she even made several dead knots that couldn't be untangled.
Ji Zhaoxi's palms began to sweat, and she started to feel anxious.
Xie Qingyan casually asked from outside the door, "Miss Ji, are you done washing?"
Ji Zhaoxi replied in a panic, "Not yet."
She kept her head down and continued trying to tie the knots.
After a while, Xie Qingyan's voice sounded again, "What's wrong, Miss Ji? Is there a problem?"
Ji Zhaoxi cleared her throat awkwardly.
"No problem, I'll be out in a moment."
She was doomed. Just this morning, she had claimed she knew how to tie them, and now this had to happen tonight.
Creak—
The door was pushed open.
Xie Qingyan looked over. Ji Zhaoxi's face was flushed red, and the ties on her clothes were a complete mess. She turned her head away, refusing to look at him.
Neither of them spoke. Xie Qingyan approached her, his tall figure completely blocking her. Ji Zhaoxi still carried a warm, damp scent, and drops of water from the ends of her hair fell onto his hand.
Ji Zhaoxi leaned against the door while Xie Qingyan stood in front of her. He patiently untangled the knots and then tied them properly one by one. The air between them grew increasingly tight, their breaths intertwining.
Looking at her red ears, Xie Qingyan pulled her into his arms and quietly dried her hair.
Ji Zhaoxi buried her face in his chest, refusing to look up. Xie Qingyan let out a low chuckle and gently pinched her ear.
After that night, Ji Zhaoxi never again mentioned wanting to dress herself.
Soul-summoning banners and wine shop flags fluttered in the wind. The constant sound of peddlers crying their wares echoed from the streets, and occasionally, someone would ride a horse through the crowd.
A few government officials and the Taoist priests from before were sitting at a stall eating, looking very relaxed.
The disciples of the Taichu Temple really couldn't stand it anymore.
"We are here to hunt a malicious spirit, not to eat."
"If you only spend this little time searching every day, when will we ever find it?"
"People are panicking right now. If we don't catch the malicious spirit soon, what will the commoners think?"
An official sat with his legs crossed, looking at them sideways. "We can't just stop eating to catch a ghost, can we? Can you catch a ghost on an empty stomach? I really don't understand you Taichu Temple people."
A seated Taoist priest said sarcastically, "Alright, alright, only you disciples of the Taichu Temple are capable. Only you care about the commoners, and no one else does."
They had been annoyed with these Taichu Temple disciples for a long time. Every single one of them pretended to be so righteous.
"You!"
The Taoist priest kept a cold face. "You what? It's just you Taichu Temple Taoists who love stealing credit."
"Since fellow Daoist feels so wronged, this humble priest can go explain it to the State Preceptor," a cold, clear voice sounded from behind.
The eyes of the Taichu Temple disciples lit up. "Eldest Martial Brother."
The officials immediately stood up and offered a dry laugh. "Daoist Xie, we were really just hungry, we didn't mean anything else."
"We'll go look right now, right this instant."
The leg of the person next to him was stuck in the stool, and the man wearing a hat quickly pulled him out.
"Hurry, let's go."
"Okay, okay!"
The disciples from the other temples were still sitting on their stools, their faces turning pale and green by turns.
Xie Qingyan stopped in front of the City God Temple.
An official next to him quickly spoke up, "Daoist Xie, last time you told us to find places with strong incense offerings. We've already searched this City God Temple."
The City God Temple was the place with the strongest Yang energy and the most incense in the city, but Xie Qingyan sensed a trace of coldness.
He looked toward an inconspicuous tailor shop not far away. Xie Qingyan remembered that last time, Ji Zhaoxi had stared at this tailor shop for quite a while.
Xie Qingyan closed his eyes. Aside from the temple bells and the chatter of passersby, there was also the faint sound of a fine needle scratching against something.
The officials stood next to him, not daring to make a sound.
Xie Qingyan directly pushed open the door of the tailor shop. As soon as it opened, a faint trail of black smoke rushed out the door. The expressions of the Taoist priests turned serious.
The shop was extremely quiet. Xie Qingyan remembered that last time, there was an old woman sitting in the corner, along with a few young servants. But today, there was no one.
"Daoist Xie, is the ghost hiding here?"
"It's so cold."
"Stay a bit closer to me."
The officials whispered among themselves.
Following the aura, Xie Qingyan found an unfinished Baijia Yi, a hundred-families robe. It was brightly colored, but the patterns on it squirmed bizarrely.
A spark of Daoist fire ignited on Xie Qingyan's fingertips. He brushed it over the Baijia Yi, and the garment instantly let out bursts of miserable crying. A moment later, the scraps of cloth transformed into twisted black shadows.
The silhouette of each cutout looked exactly like the children who had fallen into a coma.
The officials turned pale with fright and quickly took a few steps back, hiding behind the Taoist priests.
Taoist priests dealt with these kinds of things often; ordinary people like them were better off staying out of it.
"The incense of the City God Temple can mask ghostly auras. The malicious spirit took advantage of the commoners praying for safety to cut out their children's shadows," Xie Qingyan said calmly.
Talisman papers fell to the ground, bursting forth with several grains of spirit sand. A spirit-locking array immediately enveloped the entire tailor shop.
Just then, a shrill scream came from upstairs. Black mist continuously surged downward, frantically crashing against the crevices of the shop.
The officials were so scared their legs trembled. The three of them hugged each other tightly and huddled in a corner.
The black mist grew thicker, emitting a dense ghostly aura, and the screaming constantly tore at their eardrums.
The Taoist disciples of the Taichu Temple had already begun to set up their array, their faces filled with excitement. This time, they would definitely capture this malicious spirit.
The other Taoist priests in the back frowned deeply. The Taichu Temple disciples already had so much, yet they still came to snatch this from them.
The Emperor valued the Taichu Temple disciples, as did the State Preceptor and the commoners. Was it true that in this world, aside from the Taichu Temple, other Taoist temples didn't even count?
They exchanged glances with one another.
Just as Xie Qingyan was forming the final hand seal, a Taoist priest suddenly grabbed the officials in the corner and, using Daoist energy, hurled them straight toward the doorway.
The array was forcefully smashed open. The malicious spirit cowering in the corner instantly caught sight of the gap and rushed out like a madman. Ghostly energy violently invaded the chests of the nearby Taoist priests.
"Pfft—" Zhixuan crashed to the ground, violently spitting out a mouthful of blood.
The officials who had been used to break the array lay at the shop's entrance, having fainted from pure terror.
Xie Qingyan quietly looked at the Taoist priest holding the magical artifact.
The priest hurriedly put away his artifact, stumbling over his words as he explained, "Daoist Xie, I just..."
Before he could finish his sentence, his neck was clamped shut. He was lifted forcefully off the ground. Xie Qingyan's grip tightened inch by inch, and the priest convulsed madly, his eyes full of pleading.
"Seeking immortality and asking about the Dao is about cultivating a heart to save the world. To unleash a ghost and harm lives just for a paper of reward—how can you even speak the word 'Dao'?"
Xie Qingyan's voice dripped with absolute disgust.
Just as the Daoist priest thought he was going to die by his hands, Xie Qingyan released his grip.
The other two priests were so terrified that they scrambled away in a blind panic, fleeing without sparing a single glance at their dying companion on the ground.
