Within the Enchantment Maze, the storm had just cleared, yet outside its bounds the gloom lingered.
On Mount Bujun, a third disciple had suddenly perished, struck down by the taint of a malevolent spirit. This occurred the very night before Pei Jun and his companions arrived at the mountain. As with the previous two deaths, it happened at the dead of night.
Since Master Yun Xu’s passing, the disciples had taken turns keeping vigil by his spirit hall, each according to seniority—one person per night, with the watch changing at midnight.
That night, the disciple who had just finished his vigil carried a lantern back to his quarters. In the stillness, every sound was sharp and clear. Soon he noticed footsteps trailing close behind.
At such an hour, most of the sect had already retired. Who would follow silently in the middle of the night without a word? The more he thought, the more uneasy he grew. He turned his lantern back—and was horrified to see a corpse-like face, ashen-gray, with eyes bulging as if ready to fall from their sockets, blood seeping faintly from the seven orifices. After a few ragged breaths, the figure collapsed lifeless to the ground.
The incident was so sudden that Luo Xuan, the sect’s senior disciple, had to deal with the corrupted body through the night. When he met Pei Jun and the others the next morning, his exhaustion was plain.
Even now, the source of the evil spirit remained unknown.
With the memorial service approaching, sects from across the cultivation world were arriving one after another. To guard against calamity, Luo Xuan ordered his disciples to distribute talismans in pill form to the guests. Though they might not withstand such a virulent, poisonous spirit, they were better than nothing.
Pei Jun accepted one, pinched his nose, and swallowed it. The pill was bitter, spicy, sour, and astringent all at once, stinging his eyes with tears. Even after swallowing, a strange, indescribable taste surged up from within. Unable to hold back, he cursed: “Who concocted this recipe? It’s vile!”
Xie Yusheng, watching him turn pale from the taste, raised his fan to cover his mouth and chuckled.
Pei Jun shot him a sideways glance. “What are you laughing at?”
Pei Ling patted Pei Jun’s shoulder and said earnestly, “I just heard from the sect disciples here that this warding pill was personally devised by the clan head—your uncle—back when he cultivated on Mount Bujun. Your uncle has practiced fasting since childhood, never touching grains. A man with no appetite at all—how could you expect him to concoct something palatable? It may taste awful, but it works. Bear with it.”
Xie Yusheng casually chimed in, “There are countless warding pills, each with its own name. Do you know what name your uncle gave to the one he made for himself?”
Pei Jun shook his head. “No idea.”
Xie Yusheng struggled to hold back his laughter. “Hahaha—it’s called the *Black Pill*. It’s black, so he named it Black Pill—hahaha!”
Pei Jun froze, then thought about it. That really did sound like the sort of humorless name his uncle would come up with. At that, he secretly felt relieved—thank goodness he was only the man’s nephew and not his son. Otherwise, when he was born, his uncle might have named him *Pei Bai (white)* just because his skin was fair.
Though the pill was foul-tasting, Xie Yusheng, convinced his handsome looks would make him a target for evil spirits, asked the mountain disciples for several more and swallowed them all. He might as well have carved the words *afraid of death* across his forehead.
Of course, not everyone was so cautious—for instance, the crooked-mouthed heir of the Qu family from Luling. Upon learning that the warding pill was a formula Pei Su left behind years ago, he flatly refused to take it, declaring he would never use anything devised by a hypocrite. His companions tried to persuade him, but their efforts were in vain. Instead, he mocked them for their lack of backbone.
“We of the cultivation world devote ourselves to driving out demons and capturing spirits. Today’s gathering brings together many renowned figures—do you mean to say we still fear a trifling evil spirit?”
Having spoken so, no one could press him further.
Pei Jun had half a mind to curse him out, but for some reason, the urge suddenly faded, and he held his tongue.
With several hours left before the memorial service began, sect disciples led Pei Jun and the others to rest in the courtyard. On the way, they encountered several masked disciples in white, carrying a chest plastered with talisman papers, heading toward the pill furnace.
Curious, Pei Jun asked, “What are they doing?”
The disciple guiding them replied, “They are handling Senior Brother Lu’s belongings. He was the one who succumbed to the evil spirit last night. No one knows where he was tainted, and since the source cannot be found, all the items he touched in life must be destroyed.”
Xie Yusheng glanced at the chest plastered with talismans to ward off evil. When he saw what was inside, he remarked, “Your Senior Brother Lu seems rather fond of antiques and jade. Aside from some brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, this chest is filled with such trinkets.”
The guiding disciple replied, “Yes, Senior Brother Lu is quite obsessed with these things.”
Xie Yusheng chuckled. “That’s very much like our late master—he too loved collecting antiques and jade.”
Pei Ling asked curiously, “Master Yun Xu had such a hobby?”
“Of course,” Xie Yusheng said. “In his years of roaming the world, he gathered many treasures, some of them extremely precious. He cherished them so much that he wouldn’t even let me look at them.”
As they spoke, the group stepped into the courtyard.
In the distance, the flames of the alchemy furnace roared high. The scarlet blaze from burning offerings lit up the murky sky, while black smoke drifted upward with the mountain wind, gradually staining the heavens with a thick, sooty hue.
They passed through the gate and along the corridor.
When Pei Jun lifted his eyes toward the sky, his peripheral vision caught something odd on a nearby pavilion. “Why are the roof tiles up there a mix of old and new?”
The guiding disciple answered, “This place hasn’t been repaired in many years. A while back, a thunderstorm struck—lightning, torrential rain, even hail—and many roofs were damaged. Senior Brother ordered new tiles to be laid, so some rooftops now look patched with both old and new.”
Pei Jun gave a soft “Oh” in response.
On Imperial City Mountain, repairs were never done piecemeal. If damage occurred, the entire roof would be replaced at once. After all, under Pei Su’s management, the Pei clan never lacked for money. A patchwork of old tiles here and new tiles there was considered unsightly.
The guiding disciple suddenly sighed. “Junior Brother Tian was the one who died after that thunderstorm, struck down by evil influence.”
“Junior Brother Tian?” Pei Ling guessed. “You mean the second disciple on the mountain who died so suddenly?”
The disciple nodded.
“I still remember—he was on vigil during the first half of that night. Outside, lightning flashed and rain poured until nearly midnight. Just as the brother who was to relieve him reached the mourning hall, he heard Tian’s anguished cries from within. He rushed in, but it was already too late. Junior Brother Tian had strangled himself, snapping his own throat bones—the exact same manner of death as the first.”
The disciple’s face showed fear. “In short, it was horrifying.”
“By rights, the evil thing that killed them should have been hidden among the belongings they touched in life. Yet we burned all of those to ashes, and still someone was possessed.”
Pei Ling said, “Then it must mean there is still something left in this mountain—an object the three of them all came into contact with, but which was never destroyed.”
What could it be? Pei Ling fell into deep thought.
The guiding disciple added, “Of course we considered that possibility. But those three were not particularly close. Their interests, habits, and daily lives were all different. Before their deaths, they hadn’t done the same things or visited the same places.”
Pei Ling said, “So apart from the fact that all three died at midnight and were fellow disciples, there’s no other common link between them?”
The guiding disciple replied, “Exactly so.”
Xie Yusheng added, “They were all men.”
Pei Jun rolled his eyes at Xie Yusheng’s pointless remark.
As they walked and talked, the group soon arrived at the guest quarters. The guiding disciple led the three honored guests inside, seated them, and then departed.
In the empty room, Xie Yusheng’s voice suddenly drifted out, low and eerie: “Do you two know why all three met their end at midnight?”
Pei Ling answered, “Midnight is the hour when yin energy is strongest. Malevolent spirits often choose that time to act.”
Xie Yusheng smiled. “Indeed.”
Pei Jun shot him a glance. “Why even bring that up? Any fool in the sect could answer such a question.”
Xie Yusheng waved his fan. “I only meant to remind you that besides midnight, the night of the full moon—when yin energy peaks in the month—is also a time when spirits are most likely to appear.” He paused, gazing out the window. “And tonight happens to be a full moon.”
Not far outside, Xu Yanxing was staring absently at a pot of jasmine.
One of the accompanying sect members, seeing him so absorbed, asked curiously, “Does Sect Master Xu like this flower?”
Xu Yanxing replied with a gentle smile, “Not particularly. It just reminds me of my wife—she often tended such things at home.”
Shen Xiyin always loved planting flowers and greenery outside her quarters, especially jasmine, a hardy bloom much like herself.
The sect member sighed. “To see a flower and think of a person—Sect Master Xu, you and your wife must share deep affection.”
Xu Yanxing kept his polite smile. “Yes.”
But in truth, his wife was likely at that very moment in the throes of intimacy with another man. The more restrained and austere one is, the stronger and more irresistible the trials of desire become once trapped in the Enchantment Maze. And with the fertility elixir she carried, it would not take many trials before she succumbed to joining with that man. At the thought, Xu Yanxing’s smile faltered.