Heartlessly, she tried in vain to seduce him into destroying his cultivation.
“I heard Lin-niang, the young daughter from the Zhao family, had her heart ripped out by something, then tossed in the river to die.”
“Who said that? She’s not dead!”
“Her heart was ripped out, how could she not be dead?”
Not only was Lin-niang still alive, her personality had changed drastically. Dressing in vibrant reds and greens, she wandered along the banks of the black river day and night.
People said she was possessed, that she had lost her soul.
On a foggy and rainy day, a cleanly dressed, elegant-looking young cultivator came to the village to offer free medical consultations.
A few villagers helped the Zhao couple to bring Lin-niang to the cultivator’s bench.
Beyond the eaves, the raindrops pitter-pattered on the ground. The cultivator reached out to remove the talisman on her forehead and asked her: “What is your name?”
She recalled that when she was napping at the bottom of the black river, she heard a scholar reciting this poem —
“The divine pill stops Heng’e* from aging, desperate for a way to preserve beauty.”
She didn’t know what it meant.
But she smiled slowly. “My name is Ah Heng”
She was not Lin-niang, but a naturally-formed evil spirit.
Ah Heng wanted this mortal cultivator’s heart, to fill the hole in the chest of her new body.
Cheng Jing Zhu was a student of the Palace of Pure Amethyst Clouds. Shouldering the heavy responsibility of the Hall of Medicine, he ventured out into the world to alleviate mortal suffering for the first time. Then, he met Ah Heng.
Dressed in bright red and green, she was forcefully brought to his bench. She smiled innocently at him. Ever since then, she constantly revolved around him.
Everyone said that Ah Heng was pitiful for falling in love with a cultivator.
No, she was not pitiful at all.
Cheng Jing Zhu knew that, hidden underneath her human skin, was the root of an evil spirit.
I love her.
I know she wants my heart.
But I — will never give it to her.
The gods are faceless. All rules come from the heart.
*T/N Heng’e = Chang’e
