My Lady Always Lacks Ambition

The plague now has a marvelous prescription for both cure and prevention, and the officials have issued public notices: all commoners can go to the clinics to receive a bowl of Gypsum and Turtle Shell Soup for prevention—if sick, it treats illness; if not, it strengthens the body. As for the clinics’ expenses, the officials will negotiate with them, and many good people have donated money, Silver, and medicinal herbs to help.

Besides using decoctions for prevention, they also warned the commoners not to eat animal carcasses and to burn them instead, so as not to contract the plague and lose their lives by mistake.

This particular regulation, however, relies entirely on the people’s own discipline. After all, there are many natural disasters these days, prices are rising steadily, and some commoners have no grain left to cook. When they’re starving, there are always people who take a chance and deal with those carcasses; after all, that’s meat, something that can fill an empty belly. Better to die as a full starving ghost than a hungry starving ghost.

While disasters were occurring everywhere in the south, in mid-sixth month, some good news reached the court: Prince Xinyang, who had proclaimed himself emperor, was finally put to death. When the city fell, Prince Xinyang tried to flee but was seized by the commander of the relief army and slit his own throat with a drawn blade on the spot—and this commander was none other than Prince Rui, the imperial envoy who had previously been ordered to provide disaster relief.

Yes, word was that after Prince Rui finished his relief efforts and was on his way back to the capital, he hadn’t even had time to enter the city before the Saint sent him off with reinforcements to attack the rebel Prince Xinyang.

After receiving the imperial edict, Prince Rui mustered troops and ordered the main army to set out, while he himself took only four trusted aides, rode fast horses to the outskirts of Xinyang City, and, risking his own life, slipped into Xinyang City disguised as a mad, foolish beggar. After he had scouted out the deployment of troops and the terrain inside Xinyang City, he first burned the rebel army’s grain supplies, then spread rumors in the city that the rebel army of suppression was about to press in on the city, that there were too few troops within the walls, that the grain had been destroyed, and that Prince Xinyang planned to abandon the city and flee, and that when the relief army breached the walls, they would burn Xinyang City to the ground.

As soon as this rumor spread, people in the city were thrown into panic. It reached a peak when Prince Xinyang ordered a forcible requisition of the commoners’ grain.

For one who is lord and king, if the people’s hearts are not united and the soldiers’ morale scatters, it is very hard to gather them again.

Prince Xinyang was a rebel to begin with, not some true dragon in accord with Heaven’s mandate. Once those things dispersed, he immediately lost what little Qi Fortune he still had and was utterly defeated.

"The reason the rebel was defeated is that his actions angered the Heavenly Saint God, who then sent down Divine Punishment. His sins are beyond the tolerance of Heaven and earth; otherwise that pit of ten thousand children would not have been exposed to the world. The Heavenly Saint loves the people as his own children. Only by believing in the Heavenly Saint can you be healthy and live long, free from illness and calamity. This lady Bodhisattva, I see your Heaven is dark and your complexion is cold—are you perhaps unwell, plagued by illness? After being bathed in Holy Water and drinking this cup of Holy Water, the Heavenly Saint God will protect you!"

Qin Liuxi, face full of cool indifference: After being a God Stick for so many years, someone is finally telling me my Heaven is dark again, trying to cheat me out of my Silver Coin!

She looked at the so‑called missionary Saint in front of her, dressed up in a white robe and looking like a human in dog’s clothing, and her hands itched. She really wanted to step forward and peel off that skin. Just because you wear white you think your black heart will turn white too? What bullshit!

"You say my Heaven is dark?" Qin Liuxi looked at the man and said, "Then I’ll read your face as well. You are headed for a blood‑disaster, and your life won’t last much longer."

The hand with which the man in the white robe was holding the Holy Water suddenly stiffened. His gaze toward Qin Liuxi turned a bit cold as he said, "It would be better if this lady Bodhisattva refrained from speaking evil, lest you bring karmic retribution upon your tongue."

"Exactly, how can you be so ungrateful, girl? The Holy Sect Follower kindly bestows Holy Water to protect your Ping’an, yet instead of being grateful, you curse him?" an auntie shouted.

"That’s right, this person really doesn’t know what’s good for her."

"Drive her out, she’s not worthy to come to this Holy Temple."

Once one person spoke up, the others all gathered around, as if Qin Liuxi had done something heinously unforgivable, pointing at her and hurling abuse.

The Holy Sect Follower made a show of trying to calm them, but only made their emotions rise even higher, repeating over and over that those who show disrespect to the Heavenly Saint God will be dogged by misfortune and so on.

Seeing this, the Holy Sect Follower glanced proudly at Qin Liuxi, but when he met her icy eyes, a sudden chill ran down his back. It felt as though something had burst in his head, stabbing sharply with pain, and his nose went cold and prickly.

"Ah, blood, Follower, you’re bleeding!" someone screamed.

The Holy Sect Follower touched his nose and found his hand covered in red. He froze, the corner of his eye twitching. Blood‑disaster.

Seeing the surrounding Saint followers fall silent all at once, the Holy Sect Follower hurriedly recovered and said, "The weather has been hot lately; I’m just overheated!"

"B‑but she said you have a blood‑disaster and that your life won’t last much longer!" someone murmured.

The Holy Sect Follower’s heart gave a thump. "Nonsense!" he snapped.

Then he saw Qin Liuxi standing there with her arms folded, looking completely confident, which only made his heart pound even more chaotically. Pointing at her, he barked with a fierce facade but a guilty heart, "Who are you, to dare spread demonic words and confuse the crowd?"

"Me?" Qin Liuxi looked down at herself. Dressed in a green dress, with only a Qiankun Bag and Jade Talisman hanging at her waist, she indeed didn’t look like anything in particular. So she reached into the Qiankun Bag and drew out a horsetail whisk, tucking it under her arm. "My surname is Qin and my given name I do not change whether walking or sitting. I am the temple master of Li City Qingping Temple, Daoist name Buqiu."

The crowd was dumbstruck.

It wasn’t her identity as a female Taoist that stunned them, but the fact that she suddenly produced a horsetail whisk like that—where had she taken it from?

Was this sleight of hand, or immortal arts?

"Is she a Taoist?"

"Qingping Temple, I’ve heard of it. The incense there is very prosperous."

"And she’s even the temple master? So young, and a female at that."

"Shh."

The Holy Sect Follower, seeing Qin Liuxi’s bearing, felt a lurch in his heart, but he forced a smile and said, "So you’re a fellow Daoist..."

"Enough. I entered Dao since childhood and have never heard of any Heavenly Saint God. Your so‑called Tiansheng Sect is just a stray, wild path, walking crooked and evil ways, yet you dare call me fellow Daoist?" Qin Liuxi sneered. "You boil your Holy Water with sesame and Golden Flower Hallucinogenic Mushroom, luring innocent commoners to drink it so they will obey your every word. That’s because they don’t know this Holy Water will only make them more and more addicted, isn’t it?"

The Holy Sect Follower’s face changed drastically.

Qin Liuxi turned to look at the red‑eyed commoners around her. "All of you have drunk this Holy Water. Don’t you feel uncomfortable all over if you go a day without drinking it, and as soon as you drink it, your whole body feels relaxed and floaty?"

"T‑this is the miraculous effect of Holy Water," said a brainwashed commoner. "I’ve had headaches for many years, and after drinking it, they stopped hurting."

"Right, I used to be constipated, and after drinking it, I can shit smoothly."

"Fools. What miraculous effect? Sesame is inherently good for moistening the intestines. If you’re lucky enough to eat just that one ingredient, it can cure your constipation. Golden Flower and Magic Mushroom are both highly hallucinogenic and addictive. Once you drink them, your mind becomes somewhat muddled, so of course you feel like you have no illnesses and no worries. You’ll even treat a Holy Sect Follower like him as your own father and hand over all your gold, Silver, and money with both hands." Qin Liuxi said with mocking disdain.

The crowd was startled and instinctively looked toward the Holy Sect Follower. Qin Liuxi wasn’t wrong; that really was what they’d been doing.

The Holy Sect Follower felt as if his skin had been stripped off. He was just about to speak when Qin Liuxi, looking at the deathly aura on his face, said, "You’re about to die!"

What?