"Just keep them on your person," Lu Zhaoling said as she handed two talismans to Nanny Qing and the Butler. She also drew a Sleeping Talisman specifically for the Butler.
They hurriedly tucked the charms away, moving with extreme care. Lu Zhaoling watched the Butler's hand as he stowed the paper.
Suddenly, the Butler felt a stinging, burning pain in his palm. "Ouch!" he cried out, nearly dropping the talisman in his shock.
"Old Yun, what are you doing?" Nanny Qing barked, startled by his sudden outburst.
The moment she had taken her talisman, a soothing sensation had washed over her. Before she could even marvel at its power, she had witnessed the Butler's reckless reaction. Was he trying to get himself killed? Did he want to keep having those nightmares?
Cold sweat broke out across the Butler's brow. His hand trembled uncontrollably, and a searing pain pulsed through his palm, as if red-hot needles were being driven into his flesh one by one.
Fortunately, he had already tucked the talisman into his robes. For a split second, he suspected something was wrong with Lu Zhaoling's talisman, so he glanced at Nanny Qing to gauge her reaction. But she seemed perfectly fine. It was only him.
"Second Young Miss, this is..."
Lu Zhaoling pointed at the three white lanterns. "Didn't I say I would show you what was wrong with them? You touched the lanterns, and my talismans carry spiritual energy. They allow you to sense the filth on your skin. To put it simply, your hand touched something unclean."
Everyone gasped. The Butler stared wide-eyed at the lanterns. "These lanterns are... unclean?"
He realized now that when Lu Zhaoling said "unclean," she wasn't talking about common dirt.
"Bring me some white paper and candles."
Lu Zhaoling placed a sheet of white paper on the table and picked up one of the lanterns.
"Second Young Miss, those lanterns are filthy! Why are you touching them?" the Butler exclaimed in horror.
"I'm not afraid."
Lu Zhaoling placed the lantern in the center of the paper and had Qingyin light four candles, one for each corner. Clutching her Cinnabar Brush, she traced a talisman in the air.
In that instant, the flames of the four candles flickered simultaneously as if caught in a breeze, yet no one felt any wind.
Before they could recover from their surprise, blood-colored shadows began to emerge on the white paper under the lanterns' glow. Irregular at first, the stains gradually spread until they covered the entire sheet. They looked like spatters of fresh blood. Yet, the lantern itself remained unchanged.
Everyone held their breath as the bloodstains darkened, turning from bright red to a deep crimson, and finally to a heavy, ink-like black. The black shadows began to flow, swaying with the candlelight until they formed a shape
A woman's face, her eyes streaming with tears of blood! The sudden, terrifying image seared itself into everyone's vision.
"Aah!" the Butler shrieked, stumbling back. Nanny Qing's face turned ashen.
But when they looked again, the paper was just pape perfectly blank. It was as if their eyes had played a trick on them.
However, a bone-chilling cold gripped them all. Even Qingyin and Qingbao, who were somewhat prepared for Lu Zhaoling's abilities, were visibly shaken.
"Second Young Miss... what was that?" Nanny Qing asked, her voice trembling.
Lu Zhaoling gazed at the lantern with a complex expression. "What you just saw was the pattern revealed on the inner walls once the candle was lit. You can't see it from the outside."
She sighed. "That means once these three lanterns are lit at night, it's like three bloody ghost faces hanging from the trees. These faces would be staring into the front courtyard of the Prince's Mansion."
The Butler imagined the scene and shuddered violently. A chill rose from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
"This is actually an evil curse. When a lantern is infused with a curse and lit, it becomes a vortex that sucks away fortune. If hung for three days, the residents of this mansion will grow weak and fall ill. If hung for fourteen, someone will die."
Lu Zhaoling gave a light wave of her hand, extinguishing the four candles.
She continued, "If there were already someone sick in the mansion, they would be the first to go. And currently, the person with the weakest constitution in this mansion is Prince Jin, isn't it?"
The Butler and Nanny Qing both sucked in a sharp breath. "They're trying to take the Prince's life?"
"However, Prince Jin possesses great fortune, so he might hold out longer. The first to die might very well be you, Butler, since you handled and touched the lanterns. Once you're dead, the lanterns will absorb the energy of death and become even more potent. Then, it will be Prince Jin's turn."
Lu Zhaoling wasn't one to sugarcoat things. Even though she saw the Butler turn pale, she spoke the truth plainly.
The Butler swayed, nearly losing his footing. They all believed her! After all, they had seen that woman's face with their own eyes.
Nanny Qing was both terrified and furious, her hands shaking. "The Prince must be informed! Marquis Qingfu has a lot of nerve!"
Lu Zhaoling pondered for a moment. "It's not certain yet if Marquis Qingfu knows these lanterns can kill the Prince, but the person who made them must be apprehended first."
"Right! The Liu Family... they are truly insane to use curses on lanterns!"
Lu Zhaoling felt a seed of worry in her heart. She turned to Qingyin and Qingbao. "Didn't you two say you had rarely heard of people drawing or selling talismans?"
Based on what they had said before, she had assumed there was no Xuanmen in Great Zhou. But seeing these three lanterns proved otherwise; even the vicious curses used by evil cultivators had appeared.
Then there was what had happened to Lin Yanran...
She despised those who committed such inhuman acts. The reason she had died in her previous life was that a group of evil cultivators had been bribed by a foreign nation to sever her country's Dragon Vein.
Because she had the strongest spiritual power, the highest cultivation, and the most formidable talisman arts, she had taken on the task of repairing it.
But it involved the fate of an entire nation. The spiritual backlash during the repair was too powerful, and it had blown her into oblivion. Consequently, she held a deep grudge against the scum of the Xuanmen who used their powers for evil.
Nanny Qing shook her head at Lu Zhaoling's question. "Second Young Miss, Qingyin and the others simply haven't had the chance to encounter such things. In truth, seeking talismans, consulting feng shui, and setting up arrays are not uncommon within the walls of deep estates and grand courtyards."
Qingyin and Qingbao were still young; Nanny Qing had intended to train them to serve the Prince, so she naturally hadn't let them near such things.
"Even in the palace..." Nanny Qing lowered her voice, "people are constantly requesting talismans."
"Yes, the noble ladies and young misses also like to request Peace Talismans," the Butler added with a nod.
However, they had never heard of anything so horrific and malicious.
Qingbao stared at the lantern, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. "Miss, is there a talisman pasted inside the lantern? Can we just burn them to fix it?"
"No," Lu Zhaoling replied. "There are no talismans inside. Instead, the lantern covers themselves are made from the skin of dead creatures, soaked in medicine and corpse oil."
"C-Corpse oil!" The Butler's face morphed again in horror.
It was over. Could he even keep his hand now?
He had touched it!
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