"Huh? Taoist Yuan Qi? Isn't he the sorcerer invited by the Chen family? Are they related?!"
Qi Wen asked in a daze, "Lady Jiang, how did you figure it out?"
Ye Wanmian remained calm. She glanced at the clay pot shattered into eight pieces on the ground and said, "The Taoist priest must have anticipated that I would come to find you. So he was waiting for me at the market that day, right?"
"If I'm not mistaken, the clay pot you brought just now contained his baby hair, essence and blood, as well as his three souls and seven spirits. Taoist Yuan Qi is the one who cast the spell and imprisoned his soul."
At first, Ye Wanmian couldn't understand why Yuan Zheng was still carrying a black clay pot. It was not until the pot broke during the soul - summoning process that Ye Wanmian finally figured out the key. Naturally, she also realized that Yuan Zheng had been well - prepared and had made predictions.
She thought everything was under her control, but unexpectedly, someone was hiding deeper.
After being exposed so directly, Yuan Zheng showed no sign of panic. He tidied up his patched robe and replied, "My lady is truly intelligent. You saw through it so quickly. My Taoist name is Yuan Zheng, and Taoist Yuan Qi is my fellow senior brother."
Qi Wen was greatly shocked and instinctively stepped in front of Ye Wanmian, "You pretended your identity and got close to us. What do you want to do?"
Yuan Zheng said speechlessly, "I didn't pretend my identity. It was you, my lady, who never asked my Taoist name from the very beginning. Besides, it was you, my lady, who came to me first."
Ye Wanmian patted Qi Wen on the shoulder, motioning him to step aside, and then said, "But you, Taoist priest, deliberately revealed your whereabouts to let me know, didn't you?"
Yuan Zheng laughed and walked towards them with his hands behind his back. "Everything depends on fate. Although I deliberately revealed my whereabouts, it was only because you had the intention to find me that we could meet in the vast crowd."
"If it weren't for your kindness, my lady, wanting to solve the problem for the nobleman behind, even if I had that clay pot in my hand, it wouldn't have been of much use. All this is a reward for your great kindness."
Ye Wanmian was stunned.
Was it really like this?
Having sorted out his thoughts, Qi Wen finally understood. He couldn't help asking, "Taoist Yuan Qi sealed his soul. You two are fellow senior brothers. Shouldn't you be on the same side?"
Ye Wanmian came back to her senses and also looked at Yuan Zheng, waiting for his explanation.
Yuan Zheng sat down on the chair in the room and poured himself a bowl of water. "Those who follow different paths cannot work together. Even biological brothers can turn against each other and harm each other for a little bit of benefit, let alone we are just fellow senior brothers."
"My senior brother left the sect and went down the mountain half a year ago. After that, there was no news of him. One and a half months ago, I noticed that the Purple Star was dim and the celestial phenomena were changing. So I secretly divined two hexagrams. Both hexagrams showed great misfortune. There would be changes in the world, and our sect might suffer from bloodshed. So I went down the mountain."
"After going down the mountain, I followed the indication of the hexagrams and came to Dongli Town, and found the residence of my good senior brother..."
Then, Yuan Zheng found that clay pot in Taoist Yuan Qi's room. The pot was filled with evil qi, and it was obvious that some forbidden art had been used. Just as he was about to take it down for a closer look, Taoist Yuan Qi came back.
The two senior brothers hadn't seen each other for a long time. They should have exchanged greetings, but the moment Yuan Zheng saw Taoist Yuan Qi, he saw the fierce look between his eyebrows.
A person's character can be seen from their appearance. In the past, he only thought that Taoist Yuan Qi was cold - tempered, unsociable, and eccentric. But now he saw a villain who would do anything to achieve his goal and was willing to use his years of learning to harm innocent people.
But he was not a rash person. He immediately suppressed his doubts and waited for a suitable opportunity to get the clay pot.
In any case, he would never let his senior brother succeed and shake the foundation of the country.
At first, he really didn't know that the soul sealed in the clay pot was that of the crown prince of a country. He only knew that it should not be an ordinary person. After being found by Ye Wanmian and coming to this medical center and seeing the body with his own eyes, he finally connected all the dots.
After learning the whole story, Ye Wanmian couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
As long as Taoist Yuan Zheng and Taoist Yuan Qi were not on the same side, the situation would be beneficial to them.
She said in a low voice, "They tried to harm the crown prince of a country. In order to achieve this, they also killed two innocent people. I don't know the identity of one of them. They sank his body in the lotus pond and pretended it was the crown prince to deceive the world."
"The other one was only twelve or thirteen years old. They hid the crown prince's body in a coffin and buried it in the mountain, trying to get rid of the crown prince completely. They are really crazy."
Yuan Zheng didn't know the details. When he heard Ye Wanmian's words, he couldn't help taking a deep breath.
Ye Wanmian said meaningfully, "Since you, Taoist priest, have intervened in this matter, you should also know their real purpose. If they find out that it was you who cast the spell to save him, they will surely not let you go. Have you, Taoist Yuan Zheng, thought about how to deal with it in the future?"
"Hey!" Yuan Zheng looked at Ye Wanmian innocently. "It was you, my lady, who found me. If I hadn't been forced by you, how would I have intervened in this matter? It should be me asking - what are you, my lady, going to do?"
When it came to being shameless, he was a step ahead of Ye Wanmian.
Ye Wanmian wasn't angry. Instead, she found it funny in her heart. "It depends on whether you, Taoist priest, are willing to stay or if you plan to 'leave after the task is done, hiding your merits and fame'?"
Yuan Zheng laughed heartily, stroking his short beard. "I do want to stay, but after breaking this situation, my fate with Dongli Town is over. If I force myself to stay here, it may backfire."
Ye Wanmian frowned. "But..."
There was Taoist Yuan Qi on the other side. If that person used some evil spells against her, how could she deal with it?
Yuan Zheng said, "Don't worry, my lady. They were outsmarted by their own cleverness. They found a 'scapegoat' to take his identity. So they must get his personal belongings to detect his whereabouts again. Let me set up a formation in this small courtyard. You will be safer."
Ye Wanmian let out a sigh of relief. "Then I'll trouble you, Taoist priest."
Following Taoist Yuan Zheng's instructions, Ye Wanmian found some utensils at home and handed them to him. He dipped his finger in cinnabar and quickly drew complex runes on those utensils. Then he placed them in several hidden corners of the courtyard. Thus, the formation was completed.
"As long as someone steps into the backyard, they will instinctively want to leave and dispel their suspicion of this courtyard."
Then, he dipped his finger in cinnabar again and drew a yellow talisman on the spot. He handed it to Ye Wanmian.
"As long as he carries this yellow talisman with him, others will see him as if he were the moon in the mirror or the flower in the water, and will forget about him in a blink of an eye. But remember, this yellow talisman must never get wet. If it does, it will lose its effectiveness."
Could this yellow talisman really have such an effect?
Ye Wanmian's heart skipped a beat. She tightened her hand holding the yellow talisman and said to Taoist Yuan Zheng, "Could you, Taoist priest, bestow a few more such yellow talismans on me?"