The Half-Spirit Princess - Chapter 6

The duke and his family left in excellent spirits after all.

My wily old father was a master at managing people. A few words had the duke and duchess laughing happily, forgetting the rebuff Mother had given them.

They not only stayed for supper that day but played two rounds of mahjong afterward. Only at dusk did they reluctantly return home, and before leaving they agreed to play together again.

When Father came back, he spoke to me earnestly. “Marriage is a grave matter and must never be forced. If my daughter truly has no affection for Qi Zhao, I shall report to His Majesty at once. The proposed imperial betrothal may be deferred.”

I nodded. “You don’t have to sound so literary when you’re talking to me, Father.”

…

Then I gave him a wicked grin. “Tiring work, smoothing things over for Mother, isn’t it?”

There seemed to be glistening tears at the corners of his eyes. “After all these years, I’m used to it.”

…

The matter of Qi Zhao was settled, but I grew more anxious by the day.

The Wei family’s medicine could keep Leyun alive for no more than half a month. Seven days had already passed. During that time, I’d sent countless Muqi jackdaws to gather information, but learned nothing.

Muqi jackdaws sensed spiritual power as keenly as sharks smelled blood. If they couldn’t detect Leyun’s spirit core within a thousand li, there was a very good chance it had already been destroyed.

Perhaps a stronger spirit had eaten it. Perhaps some unscrupulous old Daoist had used it to refine pills.

Whatever the case, it was gone.

Throughout this time, no matter how I asked, Leyun refused to tell me what had really happened when her core was taken.

Once, when I pressed too hard, she broke down sobbing. “Xiaoya, I don’t want to live anymore.”

I didn’t dare ask again. I could only transfer my spirit power to her every day, hoping to help her hold on a little longer.

I’d thought it through. With the support of the Wei family’s medicine, the worst outcome would be that Leyun reverted to her original form: a little spider with no knowledge or awareness, who would have to cultivate all over again. I would keep helping her.

Or I could hunt down some spirit cores for her, allowing her to maintain human form until she could one day produce a new core of her own.

There were plenty of little spirits hiding in Tiandu. Weak in power, they often lived among humans as peddlers or laborers.

I followed several, only to discover that, like Leyun, they lived honestly and earned their own keep. They were kinder than actual humans.

I couldn’t do it.

Leyun’s plight hung over my head like a sword. Before it was resolved, something even harder struck without warning—Mother went mad.

Without any warning, she attacked Father in a frenzy. Guards rushed in at the noise and stopped her, but her eyes were blood-red, and she bit everyone she saw. More than a dozen guards were badly mauled before they managed to tie her up.

Father immediately sent a household attendant to fetch Physician Wang. A short while later, the attendant came running back, drenched in sweat. Physician Wang’s father had died of a sudden illness, and he’d gone back to his hometown early that morning for the funeral. He couldn’t come.

The attendant suggested asking the palace to send imperial physicians. Surely their skill would surpass that of a wandering doctor.

Physician Wang had been checking Mother’s pulse for years without ever suspecting she was a spirit. Another doctor might not attain that level of medical expertise.

The moment the attendant spoke, terror gripped me. Father and I cried out together, “No!”

The attendant didn’t understand, but immediately shut his mouth and slunk out.

Only Father and I remained in the room, staring at each other. After so many years as father and daughter, I could read everything in his reaction. Finally, we spoke at the same time.

“You know Mother is a spirit?”

“You know your mother is a spirit?”

Father nodded. “So you know too. I thought your mother would keep it from you.”

“Father, when did you find out?”

“Just after we married.”

What? That early?

“But she doesn’t know you know! She thinks she’s hidden it perfectly. She even makes fun of Physician Wang to me, saying his medicine is so poor he can’t diagnose that she’s a spirit.”

“Yes. She’s an innocent fox.”

“How did you find out?”

“When she’s sleeping soundly, her tail often comes out…”

Fortunately, I’d been born in human form. No tail for me.

In the end, Father sent people to haul Physician Wang back from the countryside anyway.

After examining Mother, Physician Wang’s brows knotted tightly. “I’ve practiced medicine for decades. If I haven’t treated a thousand spirits, I’ve treated eight hundred. Yet I’ve never seen such a bizarre condition…”

Leaving us with “Find someone more capable,” he hurried home for the funeral again.

No one could treat Mother. Her fits came unpredictably, and ordinary guards could scarcely fight her. Only I could restrain her and bind her with iron chains.

Over time, the chains cut bloody lines across her body. She howled in pain, breaking Father’s heart and mine.

Leyun’s situation was even less hopeful. Her body worsened by the day, and she could maintain human form for only four hours daily.

Trying to care for them both left me exhausted in body and mind. I couldn’t be in two places at once.

One day, after visiting Leyun, I encountered a female spirit on the way home. As though possessed, I followed her to a doorway in a shabby alley. The moment she opened her courtyard gate, I kicked her in the lower back, knocked her inside, and pinned her down.

Just as I drew a blade to cut out her spirit core while she was still alive, a little child in split-crotch trousers ran out of the room, crying loudly and rushing toward her.

The spirit panicked. “Xiaobao, don’t come here! Run, run!”

The child didn’t leave, but ran over, screaming heartbreakingly for his mother.

My knife fell. I released the spirit, collapsed on the ground, and sobbed into my hands.

I left her every coin and piece of jewelry I had on me and departed, utterly defeated.

Who could have expected that when I returned to the residence, Mother would be much better?

Her mind was clear again. She recognized Father and me, and no longer flew into a frenzy.

I wept with joy and held her for a long time.

Mother cradled me as she had when I was little, resting her chin on the top of my head and gently patting my back.

Early the next morning, she asked me to go to the cave where she’d cultivated and fetch some storybooks she’d once liked.

Thinking she was bored while recuperating, I cheerfully agreed, saddled a horse at the stables, and set out.

Before I’d ridden two li, I suddenly sensed Leyun’s spirit core nearby.

Her core still existed!