“Mother, it was this little sister who saved me.” Lin Qingyi wiped away his mother’s tears, looking gratefully at Nuonuo.
Tang Wanqing held her son with one hand and Nuonuo with the other, saying, “This is Nuonuo. She saved me too.”
After speaking, Tang Wanqing followed the two children to see the box.
Nuonuo couldn’t clearly explain what the box was; she only knew it contained something very, very bad.
To get to the bottom of it, Tang Wanqing took the box, gave Lin Qingyi a few instructions, and went with Nuonuo to the Qintianjian.
Upon hearing of Madam Lin’s visit, Qintianjian Director Wen Zheng was quite surprised. Madam Lin was in poor health and never attended any social gatherings. Her visit today surely meant she had important business. He hurried out to greet her.
Madam Lin got straight to the point: “Director Wen, I’ve come today to ask for your insight on something. Do you know what this box is?”
Upon hearing this, Wen Zheng picked up the box, examined it carefully, put on lambskin gloves, opened it for inspection, and sighed, “This is the Evil Arts of the Heart-Devouring Nightmare.”
“Director Wen, what is the Heart-Devouring Nightmare?” Tang Wanqing asked with a puzzled expression.
Director Wen frowned, his expression serious, and said, “The Heart-Devouring Nightmare is a wicked art from Miaojiang.”
It is said to be made using seven strands of hair, a single tear, and a drop of blood from the cursed person, mixed together to create a medicinal catalyst, which is then administered to the victim.
Then, the names of both parties are written on a specially crafted Heart-Devouring Talisman, sealed with evil arts, and hidden in the victim’s residence at a specific time. The victim will then demonize the other person; the closer the relationship with the cursed person, the more severe the demonization.
In the early stages, the afflicted person feels restless, tosses and turns unable to sleep, and often hears faint whispers in their ears. Out of the corner of their eye, they catch glimpses of distorted shadows, and familiar faces suddenly turn grotesque. In later stages, they become unable to distinguish reality from illusion, haunted day and night by the ghostly phantoms of their deepest fears, gradually descending into mental collapse.
After learning about the severity of the Heart-Devouring Nightmare, Tang Wanqing finally understood what Qingyi had endured. For three years, he had lived through such dark and hopeless days. Who would use such evil means to torment an eight-year-old child?
While Tang Wanqing was still deep in thought, Director Wen asked, “May I ask, Madam, where did you obtain this box?”
Tang Wanqing then recounted everything about Lin Qingyi’s situation and asked, “Today, Yi’er no longer showed the same fear toward me as before. Can we conclude that the Heart-Devouring Nightmare has been broken?”
“Indeed, it seems so. However, there is one thing I don’t understand: how was the evil art of the Heart-Devouring Nightmare broken?” Wen Zheng asked with curiosity.
It must be known that to break the Heart-Devouring Nightmare, one must use the birth dates of both the victim and the cursed person, the time the medicinal catalyst was administered, and the sealing incantation to deduce a person with a specific fate who, at a specific time, must retrieve the box, place it in the corresponding direction, and expose it to the scorching sun to kill the nightmare entity.
If any part of this process is even slightly off, the nightmare art cannot be broken. It can be said that aside from the person who cast the nightmare, no one can break it.
Naturally, Tang Wanqing didn’t know all this. She pulled Nuonuo in front of her and said with heartfelt gratitude, “Thanks to Nuonuo. She sensed something amiss in Yi’er’s courtyard, dug up this box, placed it in the sun, and exposed a lot of Black Qi.”
“You’re saying she was the one who took out the box?” Wen Zheng, usually composed, was so shocked his expression changed. The Heart-Devouring Nightmare carried an extremely heavy malevolent aura; the slightest carelessness could lead to karmic backlash. For such a little toddler to so easily break it—impossible, absolutely impossible.
Over there, Nuonuo tilted her little head up, saying with a proud expression, “Yep, it was me who found it, and the bad thing was also chased away by me.”
Wen Zheng crouched down and asked patiently, “How did you know there was a Heart-Devouring Nightmare in the courtyard, and how did you know the method to break it?”
“The black qi in the little brother’s courtyard was floating out from under the tree, and the box was so cold—the bad thing inside must be afraid of the sun.” Nuonuo thought this uncle was a bit dumb; how could he not know anything?
Wen Zheng found it increasingly unbelievable. He considered himself an expert in this field, yet even he couldn’t guarantee he could smoothly break a Heart-Devouring Nightmare. How was it that for this little toddler, everything seemed so natural?
The little toddler before him piqued his curiosity. Still half-crouching, he asked patiently, “How did you learn to see the black qi on this box?”
“You can see it if you have eyes. Besides black qi, there’s also gray, white, and colorful ones. Uncle, can’t you see them?” Nuonuo blinked her big eyes, innocent and naive.
Wen Zheng was left speechless. Yes, despite years of hard study, he still needed tools to see. Today, the revered him was utterly outmatched by this little one who didn’t even reach his knees.
“Then Uncle can’t see the black qi above your head either?” Whether it was psychological or not, Wen Zheng felt Nuonuo’s gaze held a hint of sympathy.
Master Wen was the head of Da Wan’s Qintianjian, proficient in Qimen Dunjia arts. How could there possibly be black qi from Evil Arts on him? Even if there were, it shouldn’t be pointed out by a little child.
Tang Wanqing quickly intervened, “Nuonuo, don’t be disrespectful.”
Unexpectedly, Wen Zheng didn’t mind at all; instead, he grew more interested. “Nuonuo, tell Uncle, what do you see?”
“There’s a bad thing always suppressing you. Uncle, you must be very, very tired every day, right? Things you want to do never turn out well, do they?”
At first, Wen Zheng thought Nuonuo was just seeking attention, but now he truly believed there was an Evil Spirit around him. Eagerly, he asked, “Is there a way to break it?”
“That’s easy.” After saying this, Nuonuo put her little hands behind her back and looked around Wen Zheng’s room.
Soon, her gaze settled on a golden compass on the table. She said triumphantly, “Found you, hiding so secretly.”
Then, she told Wen Zheng to destroy that compass. Tang Wanqing felt things were taking a bad turn. Though she wasn’t close to Wen Zheng, it was known throughout the land that Master Wen carried this golden compass everywhere. How important it was to him went without saying. No matter how good-tempered Master Wen was, he was likely to lose his temper this time.
Worried that Wen Zheng’s anger might frighten Nuonuo, Tang Wanqing pulled Nuonuo behind her and apologized repeatedly, “Master Wen, children’s words carry no harm. Please do not take Nuonuo’s words to heart.”
Then, she patiently instructed Nuonuo, “Nuonuo, that compass is a very important thing to Master Wen. You must not speak carelessly.” To make it convincing, Tang Wanqing’s tone was slightly stern.
The always gentle and kind beautiful auntie raised her voice a little while speaking to Nuonuo, making Nuonuo feel quite wronged. Pouting, she said, “But the bad thing really is inside.”
That pitiful, aggrieved look tugged at Tang Wanqing’s heart. She silently scolded herself—Nuonuo was just a child, alone and helpless, how could she be so impatient? Hurriedly, she pulled Nuonuo into her arms and softly comforted her, no longer caring whether Sir Wen would be angry.
Just then, with a loud clang, the golden compass was smashed onto the ground, its parts scattering everywhere.