*
When Ye Shijiu finished folding the one hundred ninety-ninth paper figure, the formations that had fallen silent throughout the princely residence suddenly lit up. Shimmering green light illuminated half of Zhongzhou, and in the next instant countless streams of black qi tried to flee.
Ye Shijiu’s expression sharpened. Following the method Yue Jingming had taught him, he scattered all the paper figures around him. More than a hundred paper figures surrounded the residence as he sprang onto the highest pavilion, formed seals with both hands, and drew together the blood dotted on the paper figures into innumerable red threads. They converged in his hands, weaving into an inescapable net that trapped every mass of black qi inside the estate.
The red threads stretched taut to their limit and bit deep into his flesh. His true qi was draining far faster than he could replenish it. Ye Shijiu gritted his teeth and clung desperately to the threads. After holding on for a full quarter of an hour, his strength finally gave out and he released them. The bundled red threads abruptly collapsed, and his legs went weak as he tumbled from the pavilion.
Before he could hit the ground, a horsetail whisk suddenly flew over and wrapped around him. A figure brushed past him, and the next thing he knew, the whisk had flung him through the air and someone caught him.
“Good kid!” Liang Yun grabbed him by the belt, set him upright on the ground, and thumped him hard on the back.
The blow sent Ye Shijiu staggering forward. He hurriedly looked up and saw that all the scattered red threads filling the sky had been gathered into one person’s hand. The red fox crouched on that person’s shoulder suddenly swelled in size, then leapt into the air like an enormous crimson cloud and swallowed every wisp of black fog trying to escape.
Yue Jingming wound the red threads around the Clear Breeze Sword, twisted them tight, and planted the sword atop the pavilion. True qi radiated from his body as he began dismantling the formations one by one.
Before long, lightning flashed and thunder rolled above Prince Wenren’s residence, and a torrential downpour crashed from the sky.
Ye Shijiu stared upward and said in shock, “Fox… fox.”
Liang Yun looked up too. “What fox? There’s only Brother Yue up there.”
As he spoke, Xiao Chunhe’s true form landed directly in front of him and opened its enormous jaws to bite a demon trying to attack him to death.
Liang Yun felt a cold gust pass by, and every hair on his body stood on end.
Xiao Chunhe narrowed his fox eyes and turned toward Ye Shijiu.
Ye Shijiu stared at the huge fox towering taller than he was and swallowed nervously.
Xiao Chunhe raised one front paw and tossed him a small jar, then turned and flew into the air again. With a twist of his body, he curled himself completely around Yue Jingming, blocking the black fog darting everywhere so Yue Jingming could concentrate on breaking the formations.
By the time daylight filled the sky, everything had fallen quiet.
Yue Jingming sheathed his sword and landed on the ground. Xiao Chunhe jumped out of his arms, transformed back into human form, and tugged at his sleeve to shake off a few strands of fox fur clinging to it.
Yue Jingming had long known that the fox was Xiao Chunhe, but this was the first time he had actually watched a fox turn into a man before his eyes. As he stared at Xiao Chunhe’s striking face, he could truly see a faint resemblance to that little fox.
Xiao Chunhe slowly narrowed his eyes, then gave him a sly smile. “What? Afraid of me?”
“No.” Yue Jingming lowered his gaze and noticed a strand of fox fur on his sleeve.
Xiao Chunhe reached over and plucked it away, complaining, “Taking demon form uses a lot of true qi. Of course I shed a little. Fine, fine, I’ll be more careful next time.”
Yue Jingming did not stop him. Xiao Chunhe instantly beamed, slung an arm over his shoulders, and tilted his head against him. “My good Rongxi, let me lean on you for a bit. I’m really about to die from exhaustion.”
Yue Jingming caught his wrist and silently began transferring true qi into him, with every indication that he intended to keep going indefinitely.
“Hey, hey, hey, enough, enough, that’s really enough.” Xiao Chunhe jumped in alarm and hurriedly pulled his hand away. “You used up nearly all your true qi breaking those formations. I’m not even that tired.”
Yue Jingming glanced at his leg. “Does it still hurt?”
“No. That was fake to begin with.” Xiao Chunhe raised a brow. “That illusion may have been Cen Shuang’s memory, but it also mixed in plenty from our own subconscious, so you can’t take everything in it as truth. I really did break my leg when I was little, but I never even made it off Zixu Mountain. I starved for days before a kind old fox passing by picked me up in its mouth and carried me home.”
Yue Jingming frowned. “I meant the gu parasite.”
“That hurts even less. It hasn’t stirred in ages.” Xiao Chunhe’s eyes rolled, then he sucked in a breath dramatically. “Hiss, though now that you mention it, it suddenly does seem to hurt again. Quick, quick, pick me up!”
He immediately began collapsing theatrically into Yue Jingming’s arms. Yue Jingming instinctively reached out to catch him, but just as his hand touched Xiao Chunhe’s waist, Liang Yun and Ye Shijiu came running over.
“Brother Yue, Brother Xiao!” Liang Yun rushed toward them anxiously. “Neither of you is hurt, right?”
“Cough, cough.” Xiao Chunhe straightened at once, pulled out his fan, and began fanning himself vigorously. “We’re fine.”
Yue Jingming lowered his hand somewhat awkwardly. “All the evil formations in the residence have been broken. They will no longer drain Zhongzhou’s fortune.”
Liang Yun said bitterly, “Zhou Ran has lost every shred of conscience. Dying a hundred times would still be too good for him.”
Ye Shijiu signed as he haltingly asked aloud, “Cen Shuang… dead?”
At the mention of Cen Shuang, complicated expressions appeared on all three of the others. Ye Shijiu looked at Yue Jingming in confusion.
“He is dead,” Yue Jingming said. “Your master and senior brothers can finally rest in peace.”
Ye Shijiu’s eyes immediately reddened. First, he bowed deeply to them. Then he knelt, faced the direction of Changyu County, and knocked his forehead against the ground three times before crouching there and breaking down in tears.
He could already produce some sound. His sobs came broken and uneven, suppressed and hoarse, carrying a chest full of hatred and pain that could not be dissolved. He wept until his voice was torn raw.
Liang Yun’s eyes reddened as well. He raised his sleeve to wipe at the corners of his eyes, but the suffocating heaviness in his chest only grew. He abruptly turned and walked away.
“Where are you going?” Xiao Chunhe asked.
“I’m going to see whether Zhou Ran is completely dead yet!” Liang Yun snapped. “If not for him, Cen Shuang never would have committed so many monstrous acts!”
He too had experienced the entire illusion, and the memory of it made his teeth itch with hatred.
Yue Jingming said heavily, “The evil Cen Shuang committed against innocent people is no different in essence from the evil Cangyangzi and Zhou Ran committed against him. Whatever the reason, once an evil cause has been sown, its evil fruit must be borne.”
Liang Yun frowned. “But…”
“Brother Liang, you have principles of your own that you hold fast to. Do not let Cen Changsheng’s memories sway them,” Yue Jingming said, looking at him.
One could sympathize, one could pity him, one could be angry on his behalf, but none of that meant Cen Shuang’s wanton slaughter of innocent people had been justified by circumstance or unavoidable.
Xiao Chunhe hooked an arm around Liang Yun’s neck and pulled him forward. “Brother Liang, if we threw you into Ning Chuping’s memories, or into Shijiu’s, or those refugees who nearly died, you’d discover that everyone has their own suffering… Who in this world isn’t pitiful in some way?”
Liang Yun stood frozen, then slowly calmed down.
“Everyone says wealth and status can dazzle the eyes, but who knew pity for suffering could cloud the heart just as easily?” Xiao Chunhe rapped him hard on the head with his fan. “Some people cling to life, some cling to death. Let them. Just don’t let yourself get dragged in with them.”
He deliberately raised his voice so the people behind them could hear every word.
Yue Jingming remained silent for a long while before finally pulling Ye Shijiu to his feet and following.
Inside the room, all that remained of the Undying Demon was a heap of dried flesh. Cen Shuang had long since stopped breathing, while Zhou Ran, drenched in blood, clutched him tightly and kept calling to him. “Senior Brother… you can’t die. You can’t die… What am I supposed to do if you die… I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die…”
“Zhou Ran.” Liang Yun frowned at him. “Cen Shuang is dead. The Undying Demon is gone too. That so-called shared-life technique of yours will never work again. You have already made him suffer enough. Let him go.”
“Why should I?!” Zhou Ran jerked his head up and glared at him. “If he decided to help me, then he should have helped me all the way to the end!”
“Then why should he have had to help you at all?” Liang Yun shouted. “Why are you always like this? Why do you think everyone should obey you and help you? You have been selfish since you were a child!”
“I had already accepted that I wouldn’t live long. I had already accepted my fate. It was you. You came into the palace and insisted on dragging me outside, telling me about scenery I had never seen and things I had never done. You were the one who kept telling me I had to live!” Zhou Ran glared at him viciously. “I treated you as my best friend, closer even than Imperial Brother. But I said one wrong thing at the competition and you never spoke to me again!”
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became, until he was nearly roaring. “Do you know how much it hurts to have a yuan core cut out of someone else and put into your body? I couldn’t sleep night after night. The pain was so bad I wanted to die. So many times I wanted to smash my head into something and end it. Every moment of every day I lived terrified, afraid I would suddenly die!”
Liang Yun said, “You brought that on yourself.”
“I brought it on myself? I fought desperately to survive so I could find you, only to hear you telling someone else I was selfish and cold-blooded and that you would never be close to me… Do you know what I thought then?” Zhou Ran laughed, his expression turning dark. “I should have taken your yuan core and used this shared-life technique with you. I should have made you experience what it feels like to live a life worse than death. You gave me hope and then abandoned me. That is why I became what I am now.”
He released Cen Shuang, rose to his feet, walked up to Liang Yun, and said softly, “Cousin. Liang Yun. Do you know? Last night, while we were drinking and making merry, I had already sent men to bury all those refugees in the hunting ground alive… Hahahaha. Countless people have died by my and Cen Shuang’s hands over the years. Really, every one of those deaths should be counted against you. Wouldn’t it have been better if you had just let me die back then? Hm?”
Liang Yun slapped him hard across the face. “Shameless beyond belief!”
Zhou Ran covered his cheek and burst into loud laughter.
Liang Yun raised his sword to kill him, but Zhou Ran stared at him with a sinister expression. “You had better kill me right now. Imperial Brother has been looking for an excuse to destroy your Liang family of Lintu. I am His Majesty’s own full younger brother. The shadow guards in this residence already sent word to the capital last night that you were here. Go on, kill me with one stroke, and give the entire Liang clan a crime worthy of extermination so they can accompany me in death!”
Liang Yun trembled with rage, but the sword in his hand would not fall.
Zhou Ran placed a hand on his shoulder and sighed. “Cousin, now that Senior Brother Cen is dead, I won’t live much longer either. Heaven wants me dead, so I accept my fate. The people who died by our hands should have accepted theirs too… Don’t be greedy yourself. Your good name or your life. Choose.”
At the doorway, Xiao Chunhe twirled his fan while his finger hovered back and forth over the mechanism that released its poisoned needles. He looked up at Yue Jingming.
Yue Jingming shook his head.
*
The sky was dark and heavy. The sudden rain had caught the merchants and pedestrians along the street unprepared, sending everyone running in search of shelter.
Under the eaves, Ye Shijiu had fallen asleep hugging his sword. Liang Yun sat on the steps in a daze, staring blankly at the people on the street dodging the rain.
The air was thick with the damp, earthy smell of rainfall. Xiao Chunhe shook the water from his sleeves, edged farther beneath the shelter, then turned toward Yue Jingming, who stood with his sword on his back.
Yue Jingming’s expression was cold and still, his brows drawn low. He stared downward, lost in thought, though one hand moved faintly inside his sleeve. He seemed to be casting a divination.
No one knew how long passed before he lowered his hand, his expression growing even more distant.
“Hey.” Xiao Chunhe called to him. “What are you calculating?”
Yue Jingming turned toward him. “When the rain will stop.”
Xiao Chunhe did not believe him. Something as simple as when the rain would stop could be known with a glance and would never require that much effort. Still, he followed Yue Jingming’s answer. “So when will it stop?”
“In a quarter of an hour.” Yue Jingming glanced at the sky and answered without thinking.
Xiao Chunhe walked over, sat on the steps beside him, and patted the space next to himself. “Sit.”
Yue Jingming was clearly reluctant. Xiao Chunhe grabbed his sleeve, hauled him over, and forcibly pressed him down onto the step. “Talk with me for a bit.”
Dust kicked up by the rain splashed against their boots. Yue Jingming did not move. “Are you still hungry?”
Xiao Chunhe covered his stomach with a hollow stare. “I wasn’t until you mentioned it.”
Yue Jingming took a bag of magnolia pastries from his sleeve and held it out to him.
Xiao Chunhe’s eyes widened in shock. “When did you buy these?”
There were no strange warming talismans stuck all over the bag, yet the pastries were still hot, clearly purchased not long ago.
“Before the rain started.” Yue Jingming smiled faintly at his astonished expression. “Eat them while they’re hot.”
Xiao Chunhe stuffed one into his mouth, only to feel even hungrier. He leaned weakly against Yue Jingming and said, “At the critical moment, my good wife is still the one who takes care of me. Otherwise I’d have starved until I was as thin as a paper figure.”
Yue Jingming let him lean there. Perhaps it was simply a fox’s nature, but this fellow loved pressing close to people and leaning against them. It always made Yue Jingming think of litters of puppies or kittens, always squeezing together in a heap. Perhaps being close like this made him feel safer.
With his head resting on Yue Jingming’s shoulder, Xiao Chunhe sighed. “Let me ask you something. During the competition in the illusion, why did you suddenly want to kill me?”
Yue Jingming said, “Why did you suddenly recover your memories?”
“That morning you insisted on feeding me a raw chicken without even plucking it. I got so angry I bit the phantom stone. The charm incense inside can break an illusion.” Xiao Chunhe poked Yue Jingming’s cheek. “Daoist Yue, answer my question.”
Yue Jingming’s gaze darkened. “I smelled that fox on you.”
Xiao Chunhe lifted his head. “The fox demon that killed your parents?”
“Mm.” Yue Jingming lowered his eyes. “The illusion must have magnified the memory. Fox demons probably all smell somewhat alike. Even if—mmph.”
Xiao Chunhe stuffed the half-eaten magnolia pastry from his own mouth into Yue Jingming’s.
Yue Jingming stared at him in astonishment. Xiao Chunhe raised a brow. “Eat it.”
Yue Jingming hesitated for a moment, then chewed the pastry and swallowed.
“Even if I truly am connected to the fox you hate, you still wouldn’t spare that fox merely because of your feelings for me.” Xiao Chunhe carefully wiped a crumb from the corner of Yue Jingming’s mouth. “Good Rongxi, don’t think too much. The world is always tangled and complicated. Sometimes the harder you try to divine some definite outcome, the less likely things are to go the way you want.”
Yue Jingming nodded in agreement. “Brother Xiao speaks wisely.”
“I’m not only good at flirting with you.” Xiao Chunhe stuffed another pastry into his mouth and sighed mournfully. “I only hope that by then we’ll already have shared a bed many times. At least then I could accept it with some peace of mind.”
Yue Jingming said, “…”
Xiao Chunhe’s eyes curved slyly. “Was my true form impressive?”
Yue Jingming immediately remembered the frail, sickly little fox that had nestled in his arms, then realized Xiao Chunhe meant the enormous demon form he had taken earlier. A trace of amusement appeared in his eyes. “Mm. Very imposing.”
Xiao Chunhe snapped open his fan and leaned close to Yue Jingming’s ear. “Call me good older brother, and tonight I’ll turn back into my true form and let you use me as a pillow. I’ll even cover you with my tail. How does that sound?”
Warm breath brushed Yue Jingming’s neck. He tilted his head slightly away. “You may not be older than I am.”
“I’m twenty-five this year. My birthday is the ninth day of the eleventh month.” Xiao Chunhe grinned at him. “And you?”
“Twenty-five. The eighth day of the eleventh month.” Yue Jingming’s brow lifted slightly, and for once he looked faintly smug.
“Well, look at that.” Xiao Chunhe laughed and collapsed against him. After counting briefly on his fingers, he said, “What perfectly compatible birth dates. You and I were clearly born to be a pair, my good older brother~”
Yue Jingming said, “…”
Xiao Chunhe pinched his slightly reddened earlobe. “Feeling better now?”
Yue Jingming nodded. “Much better.”
He had experienced all of Cen Changsheng’s pain inside the illusion. It was impossible for his state of mind to remain completely unaffected. Xiao Chunhe had probably noticed, which was why he had gone to such lengths to distract him. The effort was not small.
Xiao Chunhe relaxed. “Then let me kiss you.”
Yue Jingming stiffened for an instant but did not move. His gaze fell on Xiao Chunhe’s crimson lips, then dropped abruptly. “How improper.”
“Alas, your heart really is made of iron.” Xiao Chunhe did not take it to heart. He stretched and stood. “Brother Liang, have you decided?”
Liang Yun abruptly returned to himself, as though he had finally made up his mind. “Brother Xiao, Brother Yue, I have. You’re right.”
Behind him stood the entire Liang family of Lintu, while behind Yue Jingming stood the whole Zushan Sect. If they openly killed Zhou Ran here, it could bring disaster down upon both family and sect.
“Zhou Ran has to die, but not now.”
“Good. As long as you’ve thought it through. We have plenty of time.” Xiao Chunhe casually knocked awake Ye Shijiu, who was still sleeping. “The rain’s stopped, Little Ye. Time to go.”
He hooked one arm around Ye Shijiu’s shoulders and the other around Liang Yun’s, all while generously offering them the pastries he had not finished. “Hey, want some magnolia pastries?”
Liang Yun grabbed three at once and stuffed them into his mouth. “Yes. I’m starving to death!”
Ye Shijiu nodded as he ate.
Xiao Chunhe clicked his tongue. “My wife bought these for me. If it weren’t for—”
“Xiao Chunhe.” A cold voice sounded behind him.
Xiao Chunhe turned in confusion. “Huh?”
Yue Jingming said coolly, “You dropped something.”
“What?” Xiao Chunhe removed his arms from Liang Yun and Ye Shijiu and reached toward the front of his robes.
Naturally, Liang Yun and Ye Shijiu kept eating as they walked ahead. Yue Jingming stepped up to Xiao Chunhe and handed him the phantom stone.
“Oh, you keep this for self-defense.” Xiao Chunhe was unusually generous. “It’s somewhat useful against illusions.”
“No need.” Yue Jingming placed the stone in his hand. “If I need it, I’ll borrow it from you.”
“All right.” Xiao Chunhe did not care much either way. He tucked the stone into his sleeve, then casually draped an arm around Yue Jingming’s shoulders and leaned against him. “Quick, quick. Those two are almost out of sight.”
Yue Jingming glanced at the hand on his shoulder. The man had eaten pastries without wiping his hands, but even so… it was not entirely unbearable.
“Let’s go.”