While Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin were still traveling at an unhurried pace, even stopping to shop and eat whenever the mood struck them, news of what had happened in Yuzhang finally reached the imperial palace in Lin’an with Feng Huai Gu’s memorial.
It was not snowing in Lin’an. But the emperor inside the palace tore the letter into pieces so fine they looked like snowflakes and scattered them across the hall.
This was a thoroughly pointless act, because unlike real snow, the scraps would not melt once they reached the floor. In the end, palace attendants still had to sweep them into dustpans and throw them away. At most there would be an additional step of burning the pieces. A whole sheet of paper would actually have been easier to dispose of.
Qin Xiao Xun’s gesture existed purely to express anger.
His trusted civil and military officials stood before the scattered paper with matching expressions of righteous outrage. What they truly thought inside was something only they themselves knew.
After venting, Qin Xiao Xun remembered Wu Xuan Yin’s warning. Losing his temper only made him, a young ruler, appear rash and immature, causing his ministers to doubt his ability to govern. He quickly forced himself to calm down.
His gaze swept across the officials standing before the desk. “What do you all think of this matter?”
No one wanted to step forward. Unfortunately, Qin Xiao Xun began calling names one by one, and anyone singled out could only answer.
The Vice Minister of Rites said, “Ban Qing Yu was the Spirit Sect’s Holy Maiden. This matter should be handed over to the Spirit Sect’s Sect Leader. It would be inappropriate for the court to overstep its authority.”
That answer established the tone for everyone after him.
One official after another argued that jianghu people should handle jianghu affairs and that the court ought not interfere.
Qin Xiao Xun exploded. “So what if they’re jianghu people? He killed someone on Our soil. Are We not even allowed to say anything?”
The officials remained silent.
When it came to killing people on Southern Yu territory, the Spirit Sect had done things a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times worse. Apart from the small number of Southern Yu officials who had known in advance and kept silent, most had been furious about the new-city incident. Several ministers had even retired, claimed illness, and refused to return to court. Yet what had changed?
Qin Xiao Xun continued as before and even ignored official opposition to marry Wu Xuan Yin as empress.
The ministers feared death and dared not say this openly. But how could they have no opinions in their hearts? Their silence now was itself a form of protest.
Qin Xiao Xun naturally understood.
He looked at the rows of officials with lowered heads. A vicious light slowly appeared in his eyes. Ever since Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin had once taken him hostage from the palace, then later stormed back inside and questioned him face-to-face while Zheng Yu died before his eyes, his hatred for the pair had been self-evident.
Now they had returned from Northern Zhou. Naturally he wanted to wash away that humiliation. But Ban Qing Yu’s death had struck a warning bell. Zheng Yu could die. Ban Qing Yu could die. Then who would be next? Wu Xuan Yin? Or perhaps himself?
His hand clenched into a fist on the desk. Looking carefully, one could see it trembling faintly. Months had passed, yet the scene of Fu Xi Yan breaking into the palace remained vivid enough to disturb his sleep night after night. Officially, he still lived in Funing Palace. In reality, he had not slept there for a long time.
The devastating strength of Martial Kings, combined with their complete disregard for ordinary rules, forced him to feel fear. That was also why he had finally decided to marry Wu Xuan Yin.
Having a Martial God sleeping beside him naturally provided an enormous sense of security.
Angry and disappointed, he dismissed the officials and summoned Xiao Jin Zi. Since Ban Qing Yu lost power, the Spirit Sect’s Four Great Protectors had returned to Wu Xuan Yin’s command. Xiao Jin Zi, who had once disguised himself as a junior eunuch to protect the emperor, resumed his old work and returned to the palace once more.
He had adapted to the job quickly. Kneeling, bowing, and kowtowing now came as naturally as flowing water.
“Where are the Taoshan brothers?” Qin Xiao Xun asked in a low voice.
Xiao Jin Zi replied, “Today should be the elder brother’s turn on duty, but around noon he took his younger brother and left the palace.”
Qin Xiao Xun frowned.
When Pei Yuan Jin and Fu Xi Yan had joined forces to storm the palace, Wu Xuan Yin had not been in Lin’an. The Taoshan brothers had risked themselves to protect the emperor and rendered tremendous service. But the two of them acted according to their own whims and were difficult to use.
He said, “You should already know what happened to Ban Qing Yu, correct?”
Xiao Jin Zi said, “We only knew after Your Majesty knew.” He denied that the Spirit Sect’s intelligence network was more efficient than the emperor’s.
Qin Xiao Xun had no patience for word games with him. “Go ask Xuan Yin what she intends to do.”
Because their wedding was approaching, the two of them actually had fewer chances to meet than before. The imperial palace and Lingyun Palace were separated by only two palace walls, yet even a conversation now had to be carried by a messenger.
Xiao Jin Zi personally made the trip.
One reason was to show Qin Xiao Xun his loyalty. The other was to make his presence known before Wu Xuan Yin. With Ban Qing Yu dead, the Spirit Sect had become Wu Xuan Yin’s domain alone. No second person could threaten her position anymore.
Unfortunately, his calculations came to nothing. Wu Xuan Yin never appeared and merely had someone send back three words.
“I know.”
It was not an especially respectful reply.
“I know?” Qin Xiao Xun actually smiled after hearing those words. When he had first fallen for Wu Xuan Yin, had it not been precisely because of this air of treating even a collapsing sky as something ordinary?
Perhaps he ought to learn more from her.
That very night, however, Lingyun Palace received a challenge letter.
The challenge had been delivered to the gate by pigeon. Elder Wei, one of the Spirit Sect’s Four Great Protectors now guarding Lingyun Palace, tried releasing the pigeon again in hopes that its homing instinct would lead him to the sender. Instead, the bird flew to a little-known mass grave outside the city.
Elder Wei returned empty-handed. On the way back, he ran into Zhu Shou Xin leading the Imperial Guard in a citywide search. After asking, he learned that the imperial palace had also received a challenge letter.
After exchanging information, Zhu Shou Xin insisted on dragging Elder Wei back to the palace with him to report.
The matter had reached a point where the emperor had to be disturbed. Two people sharing the emperor’s anger was better than one man bearing the full brunt of the imperial temper.
By the time they entered the palace, Qin Xiao Xun was already awake. Wrapped in a heavy cloak, he leaned beside the tea table and read the letter. His young face looked especially sinister in the flickering candlelight.
Zhu Shou Xin and Elder Wei hurriedly knelt in salute.
Qin Xiao Xun slapped the table and shot to his feet. “Qin Zhao, what enormous gall!”
With a sweep of his sleeve, he sent everything on the table crashing to the floor. A candle fell and nearly started a fire, but Zhu Shou Xin reacted quickly and extinguished it with a palm strike.
Qin Xiao Xun was in the middle of a rage and did not notice the small incident.
The challenge letter Qin Zhao had sent fabricated a tale of a false emperor usurping the throne. It implied that the late emperor’s succession had been illegitimate, that the Regent had actually been named Emperor Xiaorui’s heir in the imperial edict, and even produced a former Funing Palace eunuch named You Bai as a witness. It was shameless beyond measure!
Everyone knew that Prince Yue had troops under his own command, ignored imperial orders, and openly opposed the court, but Qin Xiao Xun was still the emperor, the Son of Heaven. Everything Prince Yue did had therefore existed in that unspoken state where everyone understood but no one said it aloud.
This time, however, Qin Zhao had sent out this challenge letter. He was clearly using this fabricated story to build public justification for rebellion.
Thinking again of Ban Qing Yu’s death, Qin Xiao Xun was now certain that the reason Prince Yue had delayed for so long was fear of the court’s superior high-level martial power. Now that he had the Immortal Treasury Palace backing him, he had nothing left to fear.
At Zhu Shou Xin’s prompting, Elder Wei had no choice but to add fuel to the flames and report Pei Yuan Jin’s challenge to Wu Xuan Yin.
Perhaps Qin Xiao Xun was already so furious that there was nowhere higher for his anger to rise. On hearing this, he did not explode again. “Does Xuan Yin know?”
Elder Wei said, “We did not dare disturb the Sect Leader’s sleep. We intended to report it tomorrow.”
Qin Xiao Xun considered it and also felt that while both matters were infuriating, there was little difference between becoming angry one night earlier and one night later. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Attendants. Summon the Taoshan brothers.”
The privilege of being allowed to wait until tomorrow applied only to Wu Xuan Yin. He showed no such courtesy to anyone else.
To ordinary people, their impression of the Southern Yu court rested on its sheer size. Fu Xi Yan, however, understood all too well how clumsy such size could become. Turning was difficult. Rolling over was difficult. Even when sitting cross-legged, it could not tuck its feet neatly beneath itself. That was why they had traveled this whole way without interception. It was unexpected, yet somehow entirely predictable.
They passed a bandit stronghold in the greenwood, where the bandit chief stood atop a large stone in an open clearing, addressing his men.
Southern Yu had many mountains and forests, and mountain banditry could never be completely stamped out. Even after repeated government campaigns, the problem always returned like grass after spring winds. Zhang Wei had once been an agent under Prince Yue who entered the Immortal Treasury Palace under the identity of a bandit and became the chief manager of the Lin’an Thunder Division.
Whether the man before them was another Zhang Wei or not, his clear thinking and articulate speech showed that he was no ordinary person. Nor was his speech about robbery and plunder. He spoke instead of ideals, ambitions, and doing something real for the common people.
Listening longer, Fu Xi Yan realized that although the group dressed very much like outlaws, they were actually a rebel militia, and a comparatively organized one at that. They had a banner, a slogan, financial support from local people, and allied groups watching one another’s backs.
Seeing how fired up they all were, Fu Xi Yan tugged Pei Yuan Jin away, intending to leave quietly. The chief suddenly bellowed, “The false king usurped the throne and defied Heaven and justice! Aid Prince Yue and restore the rightful order!”
The roar came without warning and startled Fu Gui Gui out of her nap. Believing herself challenged, she immediately refused to be outdone and began shrieking “aiya, aiya” at the top of her lungs.
The rebels rushed toward the sound, but Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin had already used qinggong to disappear.
The mountain was full of branching paths. They had fled in such haste that they soon lost their direction, and by the time they emerged from the forest, they discovered they had veered north and reached a tiny mountain village called Chakeng.
The village was named after the wild tea growing on the mountain. Fewer than a hundred people lived there, and because of the steep, difficult terrain, they lived in near isolation. Two young men handsome enough to seem unreal, accompanied by a bizarre-looking “wild chicken,” suddenly emerging from the deep mountains gave everyone quite a fright.
There was curiosity. There was wariness. There was admiration too.
Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin stayed one night at the village chief’s home and, as a bonus, listened to the chief and his wife whispering to each other for half the night.
In their eyes, Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin had to be either demons or immortals. Bringing such a large wild chicken meant they clearly did not lack meat, so perhaps they had simply descended from the mountain to see the world. Whether immortal or demon, they had supernatural powers. If the villagers fed and housed them well today, then perhaps one day, if war truly came, they could climb the mountain and ask the immortal-demons for help.
Ordinary people kept very careful accounts of favors indeed.
Fu Xi Yan was speechless.
Money was easy to repay. Favors were not.
More importantly, if even a village this isolated was worrying about war, then the foundations of the Southern Yu court were clearly shaking badly.
When they left the next morning, Fu Xi Yan left behind a silver ingot, more than enough to cover their food and lodging. The unspoken message was that the village chief should abandon any notion of climbing the mountain for help if trouble came. Fu Xi Yan feared nothing else so much as the villagers wasting precious escape time on superstition and harming themselves in the process.
Knowing they had lost their way, the village chief specially found a peddler who happened to be selling goods there. Since Fu Xi Yan paid generously, the peddler happily accepted the role of guide. He not only led them along the road, but even began giving a rather formal introduction to the scenery nearby.
Fu Xi Yan had spent his previous life surrounded by concrete and steel, so an unpolluted green mountain village really was beautiful to him. But in this world, green mountains and clear water were everywhere, and the peddler lacked the gift of turning ordinary sights into gold with his words. Even though Fu Xi Yan tried to play along, he quickly ran out of responses.
Foreigners liked to talk about the weather when they had nothing else to say. Southern Yu people talked about current affairs.
At first, the peddler spoke cautiously and avoided anything too taboo. But Fu Xi Yan was far too skilled at playing the encouraging listener. After a few well-placed “Really?” “No way,” and “I don’t believe it,” the peddler’s mouth opened and would not close again.
After carefully laying the groundwork step by step, he finally began sharing his real opinions. First he analyzed, from a lofty strategic perspective, the pressure Southern Yu’s capture of Yuzhang had placed on Rongcheng. Then he delivered a full discourse titled, in spirit, My Views on the Death of Ban Qing Yu, declaring with complete certainty that Ban Qing Yu had died in a conspiracy orchestrated by Feng Huai Gu.
He leaned in mysteriously. “Do you know about the new city?”
Fu Xi Yan paused. “What about it?”
The peddler raised his right hand and pointed upward. “That one was seriously ill. To extend his dragon life, they filled that place with this many.” He spread five fingers and flipped his hand back and forth.
“The Holy Maiden left after that incident. She was speaking up for us common people. But it was useless. Her senior sister was the Sect Leader and is about to become empress. She stood up for ordinary people, and that broke a taboo. That’s why she was…” He sighed.
Fu Xi Yan stared at him in stunned disbelief.
Even if this story were burned as an offering to Ban Qing Yu’s ghost, she herself would probably say, Like hell I believe you.
Fu Xi Yan asked curiously, “How do you know?”
The peddler raised his brows. “Everyone says so. You don’t know? Actually…” His eyes flicked upward again. “That seat was stolen too. The old emperor’s father originally intended to pass the throne to the Regent, but the old emperor changed the succession edict. The Regent never became emperor. And when the old emperor died, he had the Regent…” He made a chopping motion with one hand.
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
If nothing else, the expressions and hand gestures were extremely convincing. But after hearing “Ban Qing Yu stood up for the people,” Fu Xi Yan no longer knew whether he should believe any of the story that followed.
He had no choice but to ask again, “How do you know?”
The peddler said, “A eunuch stole out the edict and gave it to Prince Yue. Prince Yue is the Regent’s own son. If the Regent is dead, then that chair ought to pass to him. Just watch. He and the emperor are definitely going to fight. When that happens, life will be hard for us ordinary people.”
Better to be a dog in times of peace than a person in an age of chaos.
Everyone understood the principle. Unfortunately, the people making decisions were often not the ones who understood it.
When the peddler had led them to the main road and they were about to part, he suddenly bowed to them, then turned and walked away without looking back.
Fu Xi Yan stared blankly after him. Had this man learned his customer-service etiquette from Dongying?
Pei Yuan Jin said, “He was probably one of Prince Yue’s people.”
Fu Xi Yan was startled, then quickly decided it made sense. The “Baize” spies they had encountered in Northern Zhou had already shown him how thoroughly Southern Yu could infiltrate places. There was nothing strange about Prince Yue being good at the same game.
The peddler was quite a character. He had spent the whole journey spouting nonsense, only to hint at his identity at the very end. Was he trying to say, Everything above was merely entertainment. Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental?
Since Fu Xi Yan had only ever intended to maintain a tacit, unspoken cooperation with Prince Yue’s faction, the fact that the man had not announced his identity from the start was actually preferable. Fu Xi Yan put the matter behind him and continued walking leisurely along the road with Pei Yuan Jin.
Toward evening, the outline of city walls gradually appeared ahead. Only after drawing nearer did they learn that they had reached Xiuning.
The two entered openly and immediately sensed that the atmosphere in this county town was different from the places they had visited before. Shops on both sides began shutting their doors. Pedestrians suddenly changed course and flowed away toward the sides of the street like water retreating from a channel.
If that was not obvious enough, the yamen runners who came jogging over and planted themselves on both sides of Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin like upright spears made it perfectly clear that the Southern Yu court, which had deliberately ignored them until now, was finally giving them the attention Pei Yuan Jin deserved after killing Ban Qing Yu.
The runners seemed to be ordinary county yamen runners with little experience dealing with dangerous criminals. Their bodies stood there, but their minds clearly wanted to be somewhere else. Looking closely, one could see sweat beading on their foreheads in the middle of winter and both legs trembling nonstop.
Even so, they did not dare stay away.
The county magistrate had issued a death order. If they failed to appear, not only would the uniforms on their backs be stripped away, but the skin underneath might go with them.
Fu Xi Yan was surprised for only a moment before continuing forward at ease.
Some shops closed faster than others. One restaurant owner was broad-minded in spirit and broad-bodied in physique, which made him comparatively slow. Fu Xi Yan beat him to it and sat down inside.
The owner froze, utterly at a loss.
Fu Xi Yan ignored him and ordered several dishes from the signboard nearby.
The owner looked toward the yamen runners. The runners could only look at the ground.
Fu Xi Yan continued urging him. The owner glanced left and right and finally had no choice but to agree before hurrying into the rear courtyard to relight the stove. The runners said these two were ruthless murderers. He did not want to be murdered, so obedience seemed wise.
The runners glared at his retreating back but did not dare go in and stop him. In the end, they chose seats near the entrance.
Fu Xi Yan lifted the teapot and used hot water to rinse his chopsticks. He asked Pei Yuan Jin, “What do you think this is about?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “The invitation probably arrived.”
Fu Xi Yan said, “Your invitation didn’t specify a time or place, only the person. What if Wu Xuan Yin seizes on that loophole and delays for ten or eight years?”
The two chatted as though no one else were present, seemingly unaware of how awkward it was to have more than a dozen pairs of ears listening nearby.
Unfortunately, although the runners had ears, they wished they did not. Everyone knew these great figures were discussing matters that ordinary people could neither influence nor make use of. Hearing too much might only get them killed.
They exchanged looks and suddenly stood with perfect mutual understanding, then moved outside to a distance where they could still see the pair but could no longer hear them.
Pei Yuan Jin ignored everything around them and continued, “She can’t afford to delay.”
Fu Xi Yan nodded.
Even ordinary people knew war was coming. That meant Southern Yu’s situation truly had deteriorated to a certain point. At a time like this, the fewer unexpected variables the better. Qin Xiao Xun probably wanted nothing more than to send the two of them thousands of li away.
Fu Xi Yan suddenly understood. “So the reason we’ve been walking is because…”
Pei Yuan Jin looked at him.
“A hundred steps after every meal keeps you alive to ninety-nine?” Fu Xi Yan deliberately teased him.
Pei Yuan Jin shook his head. “Ninety-nine is too little.”
True. For a cultivator, dying at ninety-nine would count as an early death. Fu Xi Yan hurriedly spat several times in superstition. Fu Gui Gui watched curiously and stretched her head over to peck at his mouth, only for Pei Yuan Jin to push her back with a chopstick.
Fu Xi Yan immediately felt sorry for her. “A daughter should be spoiled. If you want to hit someone, go hit your son.”
Far away on the rear mountain of Fujun Mountain, the white tiger suddenly began sneezing repeatedly for no apparent reason, frightening its keeper into hurriedly draping a bright red floral padded jacket over it.
Back to the present.
Fu Xi Yan stroked the increasingly thick fluff on Fu Gui Gui’s head and lowered his voice. “You want to wait for them to come to us?”
Pei Yuan Jin said calmly, “I sent Wu Xuan Yin a challenge letter. Qin Xiao Xun won’t ignore it.”
As the Spirit Sect’s Sect Leader and Pei Yuan Jin’s senior in the martial world, if Wu Xuan Yin avoided the challenge, she would be ridiculed by everyone. She therefore could not retreat from this fight.
But after Pei Yuan Jin had killed Ban Qing Yu with a single sword strike, Qin Xiao Xun would certainly not trust his future wife to take that risk without interference.
Fu Xi Yan said, “So his best option is to get rid of you before your duel with Wu Xuan Yin.”
They had deliberately traveled at an unhurried pace all this way in order to give Qin Xiao Xun time to act.
Fu Xi Yan said, “I was always worried Ban Qing Yu, Wu Xuan Yin, and the Taoshan brothers might attack together.”
Two fists were already no match for four hands, much less three Martial Kings and one Martial God, eight hands altogether.
That was why he had persuaded Pei Yuan Jin to disguise himself when they entered Southern Yu. If Pei Yuan Jin had not suddenly triggered his Golden Core advancement and ended up with his meridians sealed, Fu Xi Yan’s original plan had been assassination, taking their enemies apart one at a time.
Approaching Ban Qing Yu later had been an improvised response to circumstances.
Once the bow was drawn, the arrow could not turn back. Pei Yuan Jin’s Dao was essentially, “We’ve already come this far,” so stopping halfway was out of the question. Fu Xi Yan had therefore intended to catch Ban Qing Yu off guard, exploit her weakness, and attempt to kill her without a direct battle.
Unfortunately, before he could carry out that plan, Ban Qing Yu saw through them first. If Pei Yuan Jin had not acted with his usual unwavering forward momentum, the two of them might already have fallen into a passive position.
Compared with Fu Xi Yan’s reluctant “schemes,” Pei Yuan Jin had chosen open strategy, and the effect had been immediate.
He used Ban Qing Yu’s death to pry open the iron plate of Southern Yu’s top-level fighting power, then used a single challenge letter to force Wu Xuan Yin into a duel she could not refuse. That left Qin Xiao Xun with only the Taoshan brothers readily available.
But Fu Xi Yan still had one concern. “At the new city, besides the giant-eagle martial artist and the Ghostshadow leader, both already dead, there was also the Lingnan Sect leader.”
If it were only the Taoshan brothers, Fu Xi Yan could rely on the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror and, even at the cost of his life, keep at least one of them from leaving. But if they added a Lingnan Sect leader whose true depth remained unknown, the battle would be much harder to predict.
Pei Yuan Jin remained perfectly calm. “Then let them come.”