Chapter 563: Vanished In A Puff Of Smoke
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation I Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“If the forbidden art succeeds, the person who cast the spell will come back to life.”
It s been so long. Has she not been resurrected yet?”
“Your Imperial Highness, even a forbidden art requires time to work. It will take at least 7 times 7, a total of 49 days for the evil art to take effect. It so happens that tomorrow is the 49th day.”
In other words, if this were true, Zhou Xiangrong had yet to be reborn into another person’s body.
“When are you performing the ritual?”
“Tomorrow will be the day when the Yin energy is at its strongest in this month. It will also be the day when she succeeds but she will be at her weakest.”
Su Ying nodded slightly. Zhou Xiangrong was a scheming and ambitious woman. If she was allowed to come back to life, who knew what trouble would ensue?
Su Ying didn’t know much about this kind of occult stuff. Perhaps it had something to do with changing one’s force field.
Nonetheless, it didn’t matter. The only thing was that Zhou Xiangrong had to die thoroughly!
“I not only want you to ruin her plans, but I also want her soul to disperse and never reincarnate for all eternity!”
The Imperial Astronomical Bureau official didn’t dare to be negligent when he saw Su Ying’s ominous expression. He immediately went back to prepare for the ritual the next day.
This Zhou Xiangrong really has a lot of devious thoughts!” Zhou Qing didn’t expect that Zhou Xiangrong would even plan for the things after her death. Her thoughts were more twisted than a pig’s intestines.
The Imperial Astronomical Bureau official said that because it was a ritual that was extremely Yin in characteristic, it had to be done in the place with the strongest Yin energy. Therefore, the Banishment Palace was picked as the location for the ritual. The time of the ritual was also at midnight when the Yin energy was at its peak.
What evil arts feared the most was the suppression by the dragon energy. Therefore, Xiao Jin had to be present when the Imperial Astronomical Bureau official performed the ritual to prevent the official from suffering the backlash from the evil art.
When it was close to midnight, Su Ying and Xiao Jin stood in a bleak courtyard in the Banishment Palace. They looked at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau official, who was preparing for the ritual, and said with a frown, “Is this business really that occult?”
Xiao Jin didn’t believe in demons and gods, but Zhou Xiangrong’s strange behavior was really repulsive. As long as there was the slightest possibility of success, they wanted to extinguish her spark of hope.
“Your Majesty, your lowly official is ready,” the Imperial Astronomical Bureau official came up to Xiao Jin and said in a low voice.
Xiao Jin nodded slightly and followed the Imperial Astronomical Bureau official to the area that he had drawn with runes and stood there.
As midnight arrived, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau official picked up the peach wood sword and began performing the ritual with it.
Strangely enough, what was previously a sky with a clear moon and very few stars became covered by dark clouds after the ritual began.
Su Ying raised her head to look at the sky and raised her eyebrows.
At this moment, a chilly wind suddenly started blowing, causing the gravel in the courtyard to make rattling noises.
The chilly wind quickly swept toward the altar, and the Imperial Astronomical Bureau official was almost blown to the ground by this demonic wind. He picked up the talisman paper on the altar counter, set it on fire with the candle’s flame, and threw it in Xiao Jin’s direction.
The demonic wind that was about to attack the talisman suddenly stopped when it got near Xiao Jin. It quickly retreated as if it was frightened.
The talisman was quickly swallowed by the flames. The Imperial Astronomical Bureau official raised another talisman in his hand. There was a loud rumble in the air and everything returned to calm. The demonic wind also disappeared in an instant.
Xiao Jin brushed off the sand from his face and looked at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau official, who had collapsed to the ground.
“Is the ritual done?”
At this moment, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau official’s face was deathly pale. His condition did not look too good.
“Your… Your Majesty, the spell from the evil art has been broken.”
upon hearing this, Xiao Jin told the eunuchs to help the Imperial Astronomical Bureau official away.
Xiao Jin walked back to Su Ying’s side. She didn’t know if it was an illusion, but the moment he walked toward her, Su Ying seemed to see a five-clawed golden dragon on his body.
“Let’s go back. It’s cold at night.”
He held Su Ying’s hand and walked towards the Conjugal Phoenix Palace.
As they walked out of the Banishment Palace, the dark clouds in the sky suddenly dispersed, revealing the earlier appearance of the sky. A dim and faint star on the horizon had also disappeared.
In a back courtyard of a house that no one took notice of in the capital city, two old women dragged a person and threw her into the woodshed. Under the pale moonlight, the person lying on the ground had an ashen expression and was no longer breathing.
“You cheap slut. How dare you to fight with the Eldest Young Miss. Don’t you know what kind of status you have?” The old maidservants cursed and swore as they closed the door of the woodshed.
However, the moment the wooden door was closed, the woman lying on the ground suddenly opened her two eyes.
She endured the pain in her body and sat up from the ground. She looked at the chilly moon in the sky through the only window in the woodshed. Her eyes were filled with venomous hatred, and there was no brightness in those eyes that a young girl should have.
“Su Ying, do you really think you can kill me? This time, I’ll make sure you’re consigned to eternal damnation!”
However, before she could rejoice, she felt a stuffy feeling welling up in her chest as if an invisible hand was trying to pull her soul out of this body.
“Argh!”
She groaned in pain and fell to the ground on her knees. She bit through the skin of her finger and pressed it on the spot between her eyebrows to stabilize her own soul, but the invisible force was simply too strong. She could not gain control of herself at all.
At the moment when she became exhausted, her spiritual body was suddenly pulled out by a force.
Zhou Xiangrong frantically tried to return to that body, but she couldn’t move at all.
“No, no!”
A powerful light hit her face. Zhou Xiangrong screamed in despair, and her
soul instantly vanished in a puff of smoke.
Seven days later, Mo Tu sent a message to Su Ying.
The capital city’s branch of the Red Demon Sect was indeed under the deputy branch leader’s charge. He might have heard about what happened at the headquarters in the Jin State and felt that the Sect Master couldn’t reach him here. In addition, he had been hired by the late Emperor in the past and had tasted the benefits of working for the Imperial Family. He completely ignored Su Ying’s order stipulating that no member was allowed to accept any job orders that involved the state or the Imperial Court.
The deputy branch leader wasn’t willing to comply so he secretly accepted the mission to assassinate Prince Yu. However, Li An had stolen his Fire Token when he was making a deal with Li An. Li An said that he was afraid that the Red Demon Sect would go back on their word and wanted to retain something to hold them ransom. That was why he had stolen the Fire Token.
Now that Mo Tu had captured the deputy branch leader, he asked Su Ying how he should deal with him.
A person without loyalty should never be allowed to live. Su Ying simply told Mo Tu to settle the matter in accordance with the sect’s rules. A few days later, the Fire Token was delivered to Su Ying.
Mo Tu’s intention was that he could help Su Ying manage the Red Demon Sect,
but since she was now the leader of the Red Demon Sect, she still had to establish her authority among the Red Demon Sect’s assassins to prevent such incidents from happening again.
Su Ying had already planned to establish her authority before this. She told Mo Tu to summon all the branch leaders in the Chu State to the capital city. When they arrived, she would proceed with her own plans.
Su Ying had just sent Mo Tu a message and returned to the Conjugal Phoenix Palace when she saw that Xiao Jin had already returned after the court session ended.
“How’s the situation in Kun City?” It had been some time since the disaster, and
Su Ying hadn’t asked for any details.
The moment she mentioned Kun City, Xiao Jin’s expression relaxed a little.
There were fewer casualties among the commoners than expected.
This was mainly because the houses in Kun City had a special feature. Most of them were built with wood. Other than the house’s corner supports in the four cardinal directions, there was another wooden pillar in the middle propping up the roof. Even if such a house collapsed, because the roof was mostly made of straw, the death rate would be relatively low..