The out-of-control red sandalwood carriage came hurtling down the road.
Its wheels screeched against the ground.
The coachman let out a terrified cry.
The carriage lurched and swayed before crashing through the gates of the Imperial Uncle’s residence in Great Yan.
The entire estate instantly descended into chaos.
The maids and servants, normally so strict and orderly, now ran about the courtyard like headless chickens.
Some carried hot water, others fetched towels, while still more stumbled outside to summon a physician.
“Quick! Carry the master into the main room!”
The Imperial Uncle’s principal wife was frantic, her face drenched in sweat and her eyes red and swollen from crying.
Several burly servants hurriedly lifted the Imperial Uncle, who was writhing in agony, and carried him to the bed.
But the physician employed by the household took one look at him, dropped to his knees in terror, and repeatedly declared that there was nothing he could do.
The Imperial Uncle rolled about on the bed in unbearable pain, even banging his head against the bedpost.
His fine clothes were soaked through with cold sweat, and it looked as though he might literally die from the agony.
Just as the principal wife was about to enter the palace to seek an imperial physician, and the entire estate was falling into utter panic, a loud, arrogant commotion suddenly erupted outside the main gate.
“Out of the way! Everyone, out of the way! The Red-Robed Deacon of the Netherworld Divine Sect has arrived!”
After the shrill jingling of bewitched-looking bronze bells, the Red-Robed Deacon led a group of religious charlatans swaggering into the Imperial Uncle’s residence.
He held aloft a skull-topped ritual staff covered in bizarre talismans, his face brimming with arrogance and contempt.
Earlier that day, on the streets of the capital of Great Yan, he had personally witnessed the Imperial Uncle clutching his stomach and rolling about inside the carriage.
To him, this was nothing short of a gigantic windfall from heaven!
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to claim credit and make a fortune.
If he could cure the Imperial Uncle in front of everyone, he would not only crush the newly opened Scientific Cultivation Hall on the other side, but also earn great merit in the eyes of the sect master—and take the opportunity to fleece this fabulously wealthy household.
“Madam, there is no need to panic. The Imperial Uncle’s illness is not something an ordinary quack physician can treat.”
The Red-Robed Deacon strode to the bedside with his legs spread wide and pretended to examine the Imperial Uncle, who was writhing so violently that only the whites of his eyes were visible.
“This is an evil spirit that has entered his body. Only the divine beings of my Netherworld Divine Sect can bestow their protection and cure him instantly!”
The principal wife seemed to have seized a lifeline and dropped to her knees with a thud.
“Please, Deacon, save my husband! As long as you can cure him, we are willing to offer as much incense money as you require!”
A greedy glint flashed through the Red-Robed Deacon’s eyes. He gave a cold snort and raised the skull-topped ritual staff high into the air.
“Form the array! Prepare the divine water!”
At his command, the seven or eight charlatans behind him immediately surrounded the Imperial Uncle’s bed.
They began a bizarre, frenzied exorcist dance.
Their mouths moved constantly as they chanted obscure, incomprehensible incantations.
The group repeatedly tossed yellow paper and funerary paper money into the air, filling the lavish room with choking smoke and dust.
The Red-Robed Deacon joined in personally, brandishing a peachwood sword as he leaped around the bedside, pretending to battle an invisible evil spirit.
He danced for the better part of an hour, until his face was slick with sweat and he was panting heavily.
Only then did he stop.
He pulled several strange talismans covered in red cinnabar from inside his robes.
With a flick of his fingers, he used his inner power to set them alight.
He tossed all the ashes into a large black porcelain bowl filled with murky well water.
Then, from the ragged cloth bag he carried, he grabbed a large handful of blackened ash scooped from a temple incense burner.
He dumped it all into the talisman water and stirred it a few times with an unwashed finger.
The murky well water instantly became a thick, foul-smelling black sludge that reeked of soil and other nauseating odors.
Never mind using this stuff as medicine.
Even a perfectly healthy person would probably suffer from three days and three nights of diarrhea after drinking it.
“Quick! Pry open the Imperial Uncle’s mouth and force him to drink these three bowls of priceless, supreme divine water!”
The Red-Robed Deacon shouted, his face an inscrutable mask of profundity.
Two thickset charlatans immediately lunged forward.
They pinned down the Imperial Uncle from either side like a pig being slaughtered. He was in so much pain that he had nearly lost consciousness and was completely incapable of resisting.
They forcibly pried open his mouth and poured the filthy ash-and-talisman water down his throat.
“Gulp, gulp…”
Choking on the foul black sludge, the Imperial Uncle rolled his eyes repeatedly. His hands clawed at the bedsheets as his body convulsed and thrashed in agony.
One bowl was not enough.
The Red-Robed Deacon ordered them to pour down two more.
Only when the Imperial Uncle’s stomach had swollen outward and black water was dribbling from the corners of his mouth did the Red-Robed Deacon finally wipe his hands in satisfaction.
“Madam, do not worry. Once the divine water reaches his stomach, the evil spirit will be banished. The Imperial Uncle will soon be hale and hearty enough to get out of bed and walk.”
The principal wife gazed at her husband with desperate hope, clasping her hands and praying incessantly.
But no miracle occurred.
Disaster, however, arrived right on schedule.
The Imperial Uncle had been forced to swallow three large bowls of ash-filled black sludge. The severe cramps in his stomach did not ease in the slightest.
Instead, the filthy ash and muddy water irritated his already badly inflamed intestines, triggering an even more violent and terrifying reaction.
“Gaaah!”
The Imperial Uncle let out a shriek so horrible it barely sounded human. His body arched upward like a bow drawn to its limit.
His eyes rolled back until only the whites remained.
His mouth gaped open as he vomited froth, with some of the black sludge mixed into it.
His limbs jerked as though an immense current were coursing through them. The expensive canopy bed shook violently beneath him, creaking as if it might collapse at any moment.
“My lord! What’s wrong with you? Please, don’t frighten me!”
The principal wife was scared out of her wits. She screamed shrilly and threw herself forward, trying to restrain him.
The room once again dissolved into utter panic and confusion.
“Deacon, what is happening? Why does my husband look as though he’s about to die?”
The principal wife clutched the Red-Robed Deacon’s sleeve, sobbing hysterically.
The Red-Robed Deacon stared at the Imperial Uncle, who was convulsing all over, foaming at the mouth, and seemingly on the verge of death. His own heart gave a violent jolt.
Damn it!
Had he given him too much ash water?
This was the Imperial Uncle of Great Yan! If he died at his hands, his days as a Red-Robed Deacon would be over. The Regent would flay him alive!
But with so many members of the household watching, he could not possibly admit that his quackery had harmed the man.
His eyes darted about. Then he quickly put on an expression of lofty indignation.
He slammed the skull-topped ritual staff against the floor, producing a deafening boom, and roared furiously:
“Foolish mortals! Cease your senseless clamor!”
“The Imperial Uncle is not suffering from any ordinary worldly illness. He has been possessed by a hundred-year-old evil spirit!”
“The divine water I administered just now possesses boundless power. It has forced the evil spirit to reveal its true form, and now the creature is making its final, desperate struggle. That is why he is in such agony!”
The principal wife wailed in despair, having completely lost her senses.
“Then what should we do? Please, Deacon, have mercy and hurry up—drive out the evil spirit!”
The Red-Robed Deacon gave a cold snort and affected a hypocritical expression of sorrowful compassion, as though he were powerless before fate.
“This evil spirit’s resentment is simply too great. The Imperial Uncle has clearly been struck by divine punishment after angering the Netherworld God!”
“To quell the gods’ towering rage, those few bowls of divine water just now are nowhere near enough.”
The Red-Robed Deacon seized the opportunity to make an outrageous demand, revealing his avaricious, repulsive nature.
“You must immediately donate half of your household’s fortune to the gods. Only then can the evil spirits be completely driven away!”
“Otherwise, even the immortals themselves won’t be able to save him! You’d better start preparing the Imperial Uncle’s funeral today!”
Half their fortune?!
This was the Imperial Uncle’s residence—the most powerful household in all of Great Yan. Half its wealth would amount to an astronomical sum, enough to rival an entire nation!
The Imperial Uncle’s principal wife was struck as if by lightning. She collapsed limply onto the cold floor, utterly devastated.
This was nothing less than naked extortion!
Taking advantage of their misfortune!
But when she looked at her husband on the bed—already barely breathing, with only air going in and none coming out—she, a woman with no mind of her own, had no other choice.
“I’ll donate it… As long as it can save my lord’s life, we’ll donate half our fortune!”
The principal wife burst into tears, her psychological defenses completely shattered.
The Red-Robed Deacon was ecstatic inside, but on the surface, he continued to put on an expression of reluctant sacrifice, as though everything he did was for the sake of the common people.
“Very good. The gods will see your pious heart.”
He turned around and cast an impatient glance at the charlatan behind him who served as his trusted aide.
The lackey immediately understood. From his wide sleeve, he pulled out a property-transfer contract that had clearly been prepared long ago.
Even the red inkpad for the seal was ready and waiting. He crouched down and handed it to the principal wife.
“Since you are so righteous and far-sighted, Madam, please sign and affix your seal to this contract at once.”
“Once you do, this Deacon will immediately invoke supreme divine power and ensure that the Imperial Uncle enjoys a lifetime of peace and safety.”
The principal wife’s pale hand trembled as she reached out. Her fingers, wet with tears, were filled with humiliation, helplessness, and despair.
Bit by bit, her finger drew closer to the box of red ink.
The Imperial Uncle’s family members wailed desperately all around them, yet no one dared step forward to stop this despicable act.
The entire estate was shrouded in a suffocating gloom.
Just as the corners of the Red-Robed Deacon’s mouth lifted, ready to welcome this heaven-sent fortune—
just as the principal wife’s finger was about to press down onto the seal and complete this deed of servitude—
“Boom!!!”
A terrifying explosion, like a thunderbolt from the heavens, erupted in the middle of the Imperial Uncle’s residence.
The powerful shock wave made the floors in every room tremble violently.
Everyone inside was jolted by the sudden thunderous blast. They all turned toward the main gate.
The Imperial Uncle’s residence had a grand entrance made of century-old nanmu, a full two inches thick and sturdy beyond compare.
Yet someone had kicked it clean off its hinges from the outside!
The two heavy doors tore through the air with a howl, tracing a brutal arc across the sky before crashing down and smashing to pieces in the center of the courtyard.
Amid the clouds of dust,
a dainty little girl stood with one foot planted on the shattered nanmu door.
Balanced on her thin, frail shoulder was a massive lump of iron several times larger than her entire body!
Little Dumpling lifted her chin high and swept her eyes arrogantly over the stunned crowd inside.
Her crisp childish voice rang through the Imperial Uncle’s residence like a clap of thunder:
“Quack doctors are killing people! Everybody, move aside, move aside! The real immortal has arrived to steal your business!”
