Only after Li Jiyan disappeared from sight did Yu Qingdai come to her senses and ask Yu Yuanchu in a serious tone, “What exactly happened? Where is Ziyu?”
Yu Yuanchu, always eager for drama, exclaimed, “Who knows? She said she was imprisoning a demon in the house, but it turns out she was hiding a man! Sister, Ziyu has gone this far, and you’re still protecting her! Qiu Niang and I are deeply in love, and you’re still trying to break us up!”
Yu Qingdai glanced at Zhu Shuqiu, who kept her head down, and said, “Who broke up the couple? Qiu Niang never said she liked you.”
The commotion attracted Yu Ningying as well. Everyone was unsure of the situation and could only wait for Yu Ziyu to return.
Yu Ziyu led Ling Xuzi into the mansion and rushed to the door of her room. Seeing so many people, she was full of questions: “Mother, sister, second brother, what are you doing here?”
”Ziyu, what did you do last night?” Yu Ningying asked first.
”What else can I do but cultivate immortality…” Yu Ziyu muttered weakly, took out a bunch of keys hanging from her waist, skillfully unlocked three iron locks, pushed open the door and called Ling Xuzi in, “Grandmaster, come in and help me!”
After opening the door, Li Jiyan was not seen.
”Where is he? Where did he go?” Yu Ziyu searched frantically in the messy room, climbed onto the bed, and pulled back the covers.
Yu Qingdai said at the door, “Ziyu, stop looking, Young Master Li has already left.”
She rushed out of the house: “He’s gone! I locked the door. How did he get out?” She looked at Zhu Shuqiu, her eyes questioning.
Yu Yuanchu pulled Zhu Shuqiu to his side and said, “It has nothing to do with Qiu Niang. Li Jiyan climbed out of the window and left on his own.”
Yu Ziyu slapped her forehead hard: “I’m usually so smart, but I’ve made a stupid mistake. How could I forget to lock the window! How awful!”
”Grandmaster, come with me quickly to find Li Jiyan. He’s possessed by an evil spirit and might go somewhere to harm people.” She grabbed Ling Xuzi’s hand and pushed her down the steps.
Yu Ningying stopped her: “Ziyu, did you hide Young Master Li in your house last night? I heard from your sister that when Young Master Li came out this morning, he was covered in injuries. What exactly did you do?”
”I didn’t do anything. I just spent the whole night discussing Dao with him. You can leave it to me. I have my reasons for doing things.” She held Ling Xuzi’s hand tightly and tried to leave by bypassing Yu Ningying.
”You hit Li Jiyan?” Yu Ningying pressed down on her shoulder.
“He was possessed by an evil spirit. I am a cultivator, and exorcising demons and ghosts is my duty. I was helping him, and I was doing a good deed!” Yu Ziyu retorted logically.
”Your second brother said that Young Master Li is covered in blood, and he looks quite badly injured.” Yu Ningying’s expression was grave. “Daughter, you usually don’t hurt anyone, so why did you go so far this time? Young Master Li is no ordinary person. What if Grand Commandant Li comes to hold you accountable for hurting him?”
Yu Ziyu also felt wronged: “There was no blood. The red color was an exorcism talisman I drew with cinnabar.”
“Then the injuries on his face couldn’t have been drawn on, could they?” Yu Ningying pulled her aside. “Ziyu, what did you promise your mother before that you would only cultivate immortality and not hurt anyone? How did things turn out like this?”
“Li Jiyan is possessed by a ghost, and I’m helping him exorcise it. This is doing a good deed!” She was stubborn and firmly believed in her own Taoist heart.
”But you can’t hit him. If nothing goes wrong, your marriage is going to be arranged. What will happen to the marriage now that you’ve done this?”
Even her own mother didn’t understand her. Yu Ziyu shed a few tears, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand: “I’ll take responsibility, okay? I’ll marry him tomorrow, we’ll be husband and wife, I’ll beat him up behind closed doors, and then none of you can stop me.”
Ling Xuzi coughed, signaling Yu Ningying not to reply yet.
She said to Yu Ziyu, “Ziyu, I have taught you that the most important thing in cultivating immortality is to accumulate virtue and do good deeds, and to comprehend the Dao with a kind heart. You beat and hurt people indiscriminately, which violates morality and fails to uphold the virtues of immortality. How can you cultivate immortality?”
”I didn’t hit anyone, I hit the evil spirit inside him!” Yu Ziyu cried anxiously. “Besides, it was Li Jiyan who was not a virtuous husband. He said he would listen to me, and I told him to stay in the house, but he wouldn’t listen.”
Ling Xuzi: “No matter what, hurting people is wrong. Your initial intention to exorcise ghosts was good, but your method was wrong, and you really shouldn’t have done it this way.”
Yu Ningying was deeply worried about Yu Ziyu’s condition.
Yu Ziyu used to talk about killing demons, but it was just venting her anger on plants and trees. Now she’s repeatedly attacked people. Last time she slapped Li Jiyan in the graveyard, and this time she locked him in a room and tormented him. She’s becoming more and more insane.
”Ziyu, later your mother will prepare a gift and take you to apologize to Young Master Li. If you do something wrong, you should admit it.”
Yu Ziyu cried until her ears turned red: “I did nothing wrong, how could I be wrong! Li Jiyan let me fight him willingly. Isn’t he a general? Isn’t he highly skilled? If he didn’t want me to exorcise the demon, why didn’t he run home!”
Yu Ziyu cried harder and harder. It was clearly Li Jiyan who voluntarily stayed in her room and allowed her to exorcise the demon. She wasn’t unreasonable; Li Jiyan told her not to hit his head, so she didn’t. She had considered the bigger picture.
She kindly exorcised the demon, but in the end, no one understood her.
She rushed into the house, packing her bags while tears streamed down her face, crying out, “Truly, everyone else is drunk while I alone am sober. Mixing with you mortals will only disturb my Daoist heart. Today I will become a nun, go to the mountains to live in seclusion and cultivate immortality alone.”
Yu Qingdai stepped forward to stop her: “Ziyu, it’s not that serious. Didn’t your master say that your intentions were good, but your methods were wrong? Since you hurt Li Jiyan, you should apologize.”
”I injured an evil spirit, a spirit that has committed many evil deeds and even licked my hand. If I don’t get rid of it, it will go and harm others.” Yu Ziyu didn’t take her clothes or travel money, but only packed up her pile of Taoist books and ritual implements.
She carried her bundle on her back, held her long sword, and said to the crowd, “You don’t need to persuade me anymore, my mind is made up.”
Yu Yuanchu casually fanned himself with a folding fan, walked up and pulled at the bulging bundle on her back: “Which mountain forest are you going to live in seclusion? Will you come back to see us in the future?”
“I’m going to the Taoist temple of my ancestral master and I will never come back. You don’t need to worry about me.”
As she spoke, she came up to Yu Ningying.
He knelt down and kowtowed loudly: “Mother, I am an unfilial daughter and will not be able to stay by your side from now on. Please rest assured, Mother, I have grown up and will take good care of myself.”
Yu Ningying was extremely embarrassed by her and quickly pulled her up, saying, “Oh dear, why are you looking so aggrieved? It breaks my heart. If you don’t want to apologize, your father can apologize for you when he comes back later. Don’t cry anymore.”
“I will apologize.” Yu Ziyu stood up and wiped her face with her sleeve. “But I have to wait until I return after I have achieved enlightenment. Then I will first get rid of the evil spirit in his body and then apologize to him.”
She turned to Lingxuzi and said, “Grandmaster, let’s go.”
”Go up the mountain, or go catch ghosts?” Ling Xuzi couldn’t figure out Yu Ziyu’s thoughts either.
“Li Jiyan has already escaped, and we probably can’t catch him now. Let’s go up the mountain first, and I’ll tell you about the evil spirit in detail. Then we can discuss our countermeasures.”
Yu Ziyu was determined to live in seclusion and cultivate immortality, and her family could not stop her.
Lingxuzi said to Yu Ningying, “Madam, let her come up the mountain with me for a few days. Life in the Taoist temple is simple and frugal, and I’m sure she won’t be able to stay for long.”
”Very well, please take good care of her, Taoist priest.”
Yu Ningying had no choice but to let Yu Ziyu and Ling Xuzi go up the mountain first. Jueyin Mountain had long been contracted by the Yu family, and that mountain was where Yu Ziyu usually played and cultivated immortality, so there was no need to worry too much.
After Yu Ziyu left, Yu Ningying selected several skilled bodyguards and sent them to guard outside the Taoist temple to protect Yu Ziyu in secret.
Li Jiyan returned to the general’s mansion, changed into clean clothes, and went to the military camp.
It wasn’t until he returned in the afternoon that he heard from his godfather, Li Fanglian, that Yu Ziyu had become a nun.
”She has become a nun? How did you know?” Li Jiyan asked anxiously, wondering if he had angered Yu Ziyu by not waiting for her to return home this morning.
Li Fanglian didn’t reply immediately; his attention was drawn to the bruises on Li Jiyan’s face and neck: “What happened to your injuries?”
Li Jiyan gently pulled up his collar to cover himself: “It’s nothing. I accidentally injured myself while leading soldiers in Sanda training in the army. Father, you said Yu Ziyu has become a nun, is that true?”
”Really? I just ran into Minister Zhao. I wanted to ask when your marriage with Yu Ziyu would be settled, but Minister Zhao said that Yu Ziyu has become a nun, and they don’t know what to do now.”
Li Jiyan: “Where did she go to become a nun?”
”Her ancestral master is at the Tou Tian Xuan Guan Temple on Jue Yin Mountain, the very mountain where she attacked you last time.” After pondering for a moment, Li Fanglian asked again, “You really want to marry her?”
”Hmm.” Li Jiyan picked up his sword and was about to leave.
”Where are you going?” Li Fanglian called out from behind.
Li Jiyan didn’t even turn his head: “Go find Yu Ziyu.”
Li Fanglian scratched his head and loudly warned, “Don’t you dare become a monk with her! If you dare, I’ll make you pay!”
Hidden in the mountains, outside the Heavenly Mystery Temple.
Third Prince Xiao Jin and Yu Ziyu strolled side by side through the woods. Xiao Jin said softly, “Have you made up your mind that you will never go back again?”
”I won’t go back. The world’s chaos and turmoil are most likely to disturb one’s mind. From now on, I will roam freely in this world, focusing on cultivation and enlightenment.” Yu Ziyu held her long sword and casually slashed at the periwinkle vines by the roadside. Her sword was sharpened to an exceptionally sharp edge, and with a single slash, a pile of green leaves fell to the ground.
Xiao Jin nodded: “Yes, you always have your reasons for doing things. Since you want to become a nun, then go ahead and do so. I will come to see you often.”
After thinking for a long time, Yu Ziyu turned her head and stared at Xiao Jin’s handsome and fair profile, asking the question that had puzzled her for many years.
”Your Highness, why do you never try to persuade me? My parents all advise me not to cultivate immortality, not to become a monk, everyone tries to persuade me. But you never do, and you are even willing to listen to my discussions.”
Xiao Jin smiled gently: “It’s rare for a person to have their own beliefs. Most people in this world are busy all their lives and don’t even know what they’re doing. I admire you so much for finding something you love and sticking to it for so long.”
”And what about you, Your Highness? What do you want to do in this life?” Yu Ziyu asked curiously.
Xiao Jin naturally didn’t hide anything. The old emperor was obsessed with concocting elixirs of immortality, the crown prince was a good-for-nothing, and various factions were stirring with ambition. Princess Ningyuan was already secretly recruiting soldiers, making no attempt to conceal her burgeoning ambition. He had nothing to hide either.
He bluntly stated, “As a descendant of royalty, I naturally aspire to rule the world.”
He stopped, his eyes brimming with love, and looked into Yu Ziyu’s clear almond-shaped eyes. “Ziyu, when I hold absolute power, I will give you whatever you desire. At that time, will you stay by my side?”
Yu Ziyu lowered her eyes in thought, then asked seriously, “Can you make me an immortal? What I want most is to attain immortality.”
Xiao Jin couldn’t help but chuckle, reaching out to tidy her wind-blown hair, shaking his head and laughing, “You…you…”
When Li Jiyan went up the mountain, he saw this scene.
He hid behind the bushes, watching them intently. His fists clenched involuntarily; these two were truly childhood sweethearts, a perfect match in every way.