Chapter 192: 191: Fortune-telling to Find Someone

Words : 1571 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

Chapter 192: Chapter 191: Fortune-telling to Find Someone Qin Liuxi firmly believed that the girl from the Zhao Family would come back. Indeed, the next morning, just after she had completed a Grand Circulation, the little Taoist knocked on her door, saying that the Zhao family’s people had arrived at the temple and were waiting in the rear hall. Qin Liuxi got herself together and briskly made her way to the rear hall. As she approached the hall, she could hear Qing Yuan gently comforting the believers. “Everyone, please don’t panic. My little Taoist sister is on her way. Oh, she has arrived,” Qing Yuan pointed towards the hall door. The Zhao family’s people turned around, and indeed, it was Qin Liuxi who had arrived. The elderly nanny, supporting Zao Qingman, was overwhelmingly excited and said, “Madam, it was that little Taoist who divined the life borrowing for the young lady.” Mrs. Zhao, in a silver brocade robe and two jade hairpins in her hair, looked sickly, her face pallid and frail. It was unclear whether it was from a night without sleep or due to her illness. When she saw Qin Liuxi, her eyes flashed with an excited and sharp glimmer. When Zhao Qingman almost got stabbed by her son’s toy gun yesterday, followed by a false alarm and seeing the self-igniting peace charm, she felt as though everything was an illusion. Only when she came to her senses did she realize she was sweating coldly with fear. Later, it was the wet nurse who informed her in detail about Qin Liuxi saying her daughter’s life was borrowed. Mrs. Zhao felt weak, both shocked and enraged. She was shocked because someone had borrowed her daughter’s life without her noticing, as she had thought it was just a streak of bad luck, oblivious to the influence of malicious magic. She was angry, wondering if someone really did borrow a life, who could it be? Could it be, as Qin Liuxi said, someone close to them? Mrs. Zhao could not sleep all night, and before dawn, she had someone ready the carriage and took Zhao Qingman out of the city to personally seek help at the Daoist Temple. The notion of life borrowing was too horrifying, and that self-igniting peace charm was too miraculous for her not to believe. After all, had not the charm prevented a disaster when the sharp gunpoint would have stabbed Zhao Qingman? Such a sharp gunpoint, even if it did not kill, would have caused severe injury, and neither outcome was acceptable to her. It was better to believe it to be true and be cautious. It was about her daughter’s life, so she had to make the trip. Zhao Qingman stepped forward and bowed to Qin Liuxi, “I thank you, little Taoist, for gifting the talisman that saved my life.” The gunpoint was right before her eyes, nearly piercing her, but it was stopped as if someone had grabbed it, all thanks to that self-burning peace charm. It was truly a mystery. It was that peace charm that Qin Liuxi had given that saved her from a calamity and averted a bloody mishap. She wasn’t exaggerating at all. Mrs. Zhao was also brought over with support and expressed her gratitude to Qin Liuxi, “Thank you, little Taoist, for saving my son’s life.” “The young lady has her own fortune to thank for,” Qin Liuxi replied with a smile, gesturing them not to be overly polite. Mrs. Zhao asked anxiously, “The house servants mentioned that the Taoist said my daughter’s recent misfortunes are due to someone borrowing her life. Is that true? She was first nearly stabbed by a toy gun, which was resolved, but does that mean this calamity is over?” “As long as the magic of life borrowing is not broken, this calamity may be followed by another,” said Qin Liuxi. “Until the young lady has no life left to be borrowed, then...” Mrs. Zhao turned pale with emotion, her chest pained, and she bent over coughing violently, as if she were trying to cough up her lungs. The old ladies and maids were all extremely nervous, rushing to her side to pat her back. Zhao Qingman turned to Qin Liuxi and said, “My mother has been unable to cure her cough for a long time. She’s now agitated and has been impolite in front of the Taoist. Please do not take offense.” “It’s fine,” Qin Liuxi stepped forward, asking the maids who were patting her back to step aside, “Madam, may I assist you with your cough?” Through the clothing, she pressed on Mrs. Zhao’s Tiantu acupoint, neither too light nor too heavy, then massaged the Dazhui acupoint clockwise before rubbing the Lieque acupoint. Mrs. Zha was shocked to see Qin Liuxi take action so quickly, but then, given her young age, she did not speak for a moment. As her own cough gradually subsided, she couldn’t help feeling a sense of wonder. “Daoist, do you practice medicine?” “Nine out of ten Daoists know a bit about healing, and I have some knowledge,” Qin Liuxi replied with a light laugh. Zao Qingman immediately said, “Daoist, my mother has been coughing up phlegm for a month now, do you have an effective remedy?” “Man’er, your situation is the most pressing right now, why talk about my illness first? I am fine,” Mrs. Zha tapped her hand and said to Qin Liuxi, “Daoist, do you see any solution for my child’s issue? And who could have done this?” “To borrow a life, one would need to know the girl’s birth dates. You must have some ideas about who would know such details,” Qin Liuxi said. Mrs. Zha frowned. A person’s birth dates are highly confidential and not easily divulged. Only very close and trusted individuals would know her daughter’s birth dates. Who would use Zao Qingman’s birth dates for evil magic? “If you really can’t think of anyone, shall I divine a character to help you find out?” Qin Liuxi sat down and said to Zao Qingman, “Miss, close your eyes, concentrate on who is borrowing your life, and give me a character.” Is divining characters really possible? Is it that miraculous? Zao Qingman instinctively looked at Mrs. Zha, who nodded her head, indicating it was worth a try to test the Daoist’s abilities. If he had no skill, then she would ask a high monk or a practitioner of the Divine Dao to rescue her daughter from this calamity. Seeing her mother nod, Zao Qingman also sat down, closed her eyes, concentrated on the matter of life borrowing, and wrote a character. Borrow. “The character ‘borrow,’ drawn from the character for ‘person’ and the sound of ‘past,’ implies the borrowing of another’s possession. ‘Past’ indicates bygone times, and just now, when the young lady wrote ‘borrow’ with the ‘past’ component, a bird flew by—a magpie, suggesting the idea of a pigeon occupying a magpie’s nest,” said Qin Liuxi. “The character ‘past’ corresponds to the metal element in the Five Elements, which is overcome by fire. When ‘past’ is deconstructed, it has the grass radical over the character for ‘sun.’ If the young lady’s name contains the character for ‘green,’ coupled with ‘sun,’ it forms ‘sunny,’ associated with the fire element and fittingly overcomes metal.” Qin Liuxi looked up at Zao Qingman and her mother and said, “In your household, if there is a girl named ‘Sunny’ with speckled doves, she must be the person involved in the life borrowing.” Zao Qingman’s fingers trembled. Mrs. Zha’s face turned ashen, clearly realizing something, and she felt a dull ache in her chest. The old nanny muttered in disbelief, “Madam, isn’t the young lady from the extended family...” Mrs. Zha shot her a look, and the old nanny quickly lowered her head, swallowing hard. This was too frightening—to think that the young lady from the extended family engaged in life borrowing by evil magic? She was Mrs. Zha’s own niece, whom she pitied for frail health, often sending nutritious things to help her recuperate, and whom she respected and approached with affection, just like her real sister. Even now, despite being ill, she had personally traveled to Prefecture City to celebrate a birthday. And yet, such a person turned against their own girl. If not for their visit to Qingping Temple and encountering Qin Liuxi’s revelation, would their family have remained in the dark while their daughter perished? This was life borrowing—an invisible murder. The old nanny shivered and looked anxiously at her young mistress. Mrs. Zha now composed herself, her face set with determination, and said, “Little Taoist, can this magic be undone? Please, Daoist, help my child escape this disaster.” “It is not difficult, but wouldn’t Madam want to verify the accuracy of the character I divined?” “No need for that. I heard from house servants that once this curse is undone, both the spell caster and the life borrower will suffer retribution. Someone innocent will remain unaffected; if someone is guilty, then they bring it upon themselves with no one else to blame!” Mrs. Zha said coldly, “In this world, there is no one more important to me than my child.”

Chapter 192: 191: Fortune-telling to Find Someone

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