The snow gradually eased, the clouds slowly thinned, and the sun arrived late. It brought little warmth, but at least the clouds had finally parted, casting down long-awaited light.
Fu Xi Yan had a thousand things he wanted to say, but when he saw the sedan chair Wu Xuan Yin had crawled toward even as she died, an ominous feeling rose in his heart.
“Who is that?”
Pei Yuan Jin turned his hand, and the Crimson Dragon King dropped back into his palm.
Today he had fought four Martial Kings and one Martial God in succession. His body was exhausted to the extreme. Worse, when the surrounding spiritual energy had been emptied just now, he had been forced to rely continuously on the true qi inside his body, nearly causing his true essence to lose its pill-like form and revert to what it had been before. Now that spiritual energy had returned, he could only recuperate little by little, and he was still some distance from the peak condition the Earth Mirror had restored him to earlier.
Fu Xi Yan glanced at the sky and asked quietly, “Why wasn’t there a lightning tribulation today?”
Pei Yuan Jin lifted a hand and stroked his head without answering.
Everything today had happened too suddenly. He had forcibly broken through his true essence, and only after his left shoulder was injured had he faintly sensed the lightning tribulation approaching. But once the Earth Mirror repaired his wound, that sensation disappeared as well. Fortunately, the true qi inside his true essence was still usable.
He did not regret it. Today’s battle had been dangerously unpredictable, and Fu Xi Yan had suddenly lost consciousness. If Pei Yuan Jin had recklessly advanced in the middle of all that, whether it would have brought fortune or disaster was impossible to know.
Fu Xi Yan watched Wu Xuan Yin speaking with the person inside the sedan and was wondering whether he should find something to launch a sneak attack with when a hand emerged from the sedan, pinched toward Wu Xuan Yin, and plucked her soul away. His pupils contracted.
He had just learned the first three forms of The Soul-Essence Art inside the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror and had thought he finally possessed a trump card capable of keeping Mo Xiao Ran under his thumb. Now he discovered that someone else was even better at the whole “keeping people under your thumb” business.
Fu Xi Yan asked again, “Who’s inside the sedan?”
He was not the only one wondering. Everyone present had the same question.
Someone Wu Xuan Yin would beg for help on her deathbed, someone who could make two Martial Kings carry his sedan… Could the person inside be even stronger than a Martial God? No matter how far they stretched their imaginations, looking across Southern Yu, Northern Zhou, the western frontier, and the northern lands, who possessed enough stature for such a display?
Fu Xi Yan thought of Mo Xiao Ran, a man even the previous Mirror Master’s desperate final strike had failed to kill. Perhaps he had the qualifications?
Wu Xuan Yin’s final request had not gone unheard. Since the person in the sedan had agreed to kill Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin, it meant today’s martial assembly was not over yet.
Even the jianghu figures who had previously stood with the Southern Yu court could not help admiring Pei Yuan Jin as he remained proudly upright after battle after battle.
Yun Zhong Bei, who had been trying to slip away unnoticed, looked at the two of them. His feet seemed to take root in the drill ground. After a long while, he sighed and circled around behind them.
At that moment, everyone on the drill ground was holding their breath, waiting to see what the sedan occupant would do next. Even those whose legs had gone numb merely shifted from standing at attention to standing at ease. The moment Yun Zhong Bei started walking, he naturally drew attention.
He Si Yu’s gaze swept toward him. By now, no one dared underestimate the Moon-Soul Spear in He Si Yu’s hands. The very same weapon could produce vastly different results depending on who wielded it.
Yun Zhong Bei paused. Fu Gui Gui, held in his arms, spotted her two fathers and immediately began crying “aiya, aiya” at the top of her lungs.
The moment Fu Xi Yan saw his daughter, he hurried to get down. Only when he moved did he realize he was still tied to Pei Yuan Jin. As he worked at the knots, he muttered a cold joke only he could understand: “In an era without phone numbers, I guess this is the only way to stay bound together.”
He untied the cloth strips, slid down from Pei Yuan Jin’s back, and ran to Yun Zhong Bei with his arms outstretched. Yun Zhong Bei suddenly felt a little reluctant to part with her, but unfortunately Fu Gui Gui had no such attachment to him. She kicked off with both claws, flapped her wings twice, and launched herself straight into Fu Xi Yan’s arms.
Holding his plump little daughter, Fu Xi Yan suddenly felt as though he were picking his child up from kindergarten. He instinctively thanked him. “Thank you, Teacher Yun.”
When Yun Zhong Bei first heard “Thank you, Elder Yun,” he thought Fu Xi Yan had at least some sense of propriety. But when it turned into “Teacher Yun,” he became almost alarmed by the respect. Fu Xi Yan did not need to display any power at all. His identities as Mirror Master and partner of the Young Master of the Immortal Treasury Palace were already enough to make him stand out from the crowd. Even if Yun Zhong Bei lived another hundred years, he would never dare accept the title “teacher” from him.
His face flushed dark red. “I wouldn’t dare.”
Fu Xi Yan did not realize he had said anything strange. Hugging his daughter, he was about to turn back when Yun Zhong Bei could no longer hold himself back. “Mirror Master Fu, please wait. There is something I do not understand.”
Fu Xi Yan turned to look at him.
“Why did you entrust the Red Peng to me?” This was the question he had never been able to understand. His meeting with the two of them that day had clearly been anything but pleasant.
Several possible answers flashed through Fu Xi Yan’s mind.
There was the perfunctory one: “It was convenient.”
There was the cunning one: “Because we had contact three days ago. If I dumped Fu Gui Gui on you, the Spirit Sect would assume you were on our side.”
And there was one that sounded sincere while somehow also asking for a beating: “You looked old enough to have experience raising children.”
In the end, he chose the respectable answer. “Yuan Jin welcomed you back to Northern Zhou. I trust he wouldn’t welcome a bad person.”
Yun Zhong Bei’s expression shifted, and he secretly felt ashamed of some of the calculating thoughts he had once entertained.
Fu Xi Yan returned to Pei Yuan Jin’s side. He You You suddenly asked in a small voice, “Am I not a good person?”
Fu Xi Yan remembered the red-clad girl who had come galloping on horseback and smiled. “Of course you aren’t.” Then, before her expression could change completely, he quickly added, “You’re a very good person.”
While the two were speaking, Fu Xi Yan suddenly felt a gust sweep past him. Holding the Crimson Dragon King, Pei Yuan Jin shot several zhang forward and stopped abruptly just before the black sedan.
Directly ahead of him, an Imperial Guard rushed toward the sedan with lightning speed. Helmet and armor scattered from his body halfway there, revealing a graceful, weightless figure like an immortal descending from beyond the heavens. In the next instant, he disappeared into the sedan.
At the same time, the round-faced monk whose leg had been half severed suddenly sprang up and struck the Southern Ridge Sect’s second disciple beside him with one palm. The blow was so fast and vicious that it left no room for mercy. The disciple’s heart meridians shattered, yet his soul immediately left his body and charged at the monk.
Then both souls dissipated into Heaven and Earth at the same time.
The black sedan, meanwhile, fell into an eerie silence.
It was almost as though the person who had just flown inside had been nothing more than a collective hallucination.
Holding Fu Gui Gui, Fu Xi Yan hurried to Pei Yuan Jin’s side and asked quietly, “What’s going on?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Someone just flew inside.”
“So now there are two people in one sedan.” After saying something completely useless, Fu Xi Yan followed it with a much more suggestive cold joke. “Is the sedan shaking yet?”
“…”
Pei Yuan Jin, a married man, understood instantly.
When the sedan remained motionless for so long, Zhu Shou Xin could no longer endure it. Wu Xuan Yin’s final request had been for the person inside to kill Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin. If those two died here today, the young emperor would still have a chance to control the situation. Otherwise, the entire Southern Yu court would fall into a passive position.
Everyone knew Fu Xi Yan was the Mirror Master, but how many people still remembered that he was also the fourth son of the Yongfeng Earl of Northern Zhou?
Zhu Shou Xin stepped forward and called softly, “My lord?”
Inside, there was only deathly silence.
The people outside exchanged uncertain looks.
Even if the person who had entered was an assassin, surely he should come back out after succeeding?
And if the assassin had failed, shouldn’t the person inside throw the corpse out?
Even in the most absurd case, if the two had somehow died together, there should at least have been the sound of a fight. Why had the original occupant stopped speaking the moment the other man went inside?
Zhu Shou Xin asked several more times but received no answer. The more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt. Gathering his courage, he stepped forward, quietly lifted the sedan curtain, then calmly lowered it again and announced loudly, “Yes. My lord commands: the assassin has an extraordinary identity. Return to the palace immediately.”
At his wave, Imperial Guards immediately came forward, moved aside the bodies of the round-faced monk and the Southern Ridge Sect’s second disciple, lifted the sedan, and carried it away.
Zhu Shou Xin walked behind the sedan, constantly watching Pei Yuan Jin and Fu Xi Yan from the corner of his eye. The jianghu figures who had just been loudly supporting the Southern Yu court immediately realized something had gone wrong with the person inside the sedan. Panic broke out. Someone took the lead and leapt over the surrounding wall, and the others quickly followed. Even the neutral parties no longer dared remain and fled one after another.
In less than half the time it took to drink a cup of tea, only those who had supported Pei Yuan Jin remained on the drill ground.
Fu Xi Yan repeatedly cupped his hands toward them. “Thank you all for standing with us today! A great kindness needs no words of thanks. I, Fu Xi Yan, will remember it.”
Someone immediately returned the salute. “When disaster struck New City, it was the Immortal Treasury Palace that stepped forward. We were deeply ashamed. Today’s battle was nothing more than repaying Palace Lord Pei and the elders for helping the people of Southern Yu! Mirror Master Fu, please don’t take it to heart.”
Others chimed in. “Mirror Master Fu’s questions when you stormed the Lin’an palace were enough to shake the deaf awake. We are ashamed!”
“My only regret is that I wasn’t at New City to fight alongside Palace Lord Pei, nor in Lin’an to cheer the two of you on. At least I finally caught this one. I can consider a wish fulfilled!”
“I have admired Palace Lord Pei for years! Seeing the Young Master’s bearing is almost like seeing Palace Lord Pei himself. Truly, a tiger father has no dog for a son!”
Everyone spoke over one another. Fu Xi Yan was genuinely moved, but seeing people still bleeding made both his heart and chest hurt. “Thank you, thank you. But, uh… maybe we should find somewhere to treat everyone’s injuries first?”
A man bleeding from the chest was still thumping himself there. “For martial artists, as long as the true essence remains, life remains! Nothing to fear!”
Just watching him made Fu Xi Yan’s chest hurt.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “To prevent the court from turning back and striking again, you should leave Lin’an as soon as possible.”
“Exactly! The court is treacherous. They actually used a wheel battle today. Fortunately, the Young Master’s martial arts are unmatched, so they tried to steal a chicken and lost the rice they used to lure it! Serves them right! Pah!”
“We’ll take our leave. Young Master, if you ever have time, come visit my Fengxing Mountain!”
“We await the Young Master and Mirror Master at White Crane Lake!”
“…”
The crowd bid the two of them farewell one after another. Yun Zhong Bei and He Si Yu with his daughter stayed until the end.
Yun Zhong Bei asked somewhat awkwardly, “Something clearly happened inside the sedan just now. Why didn’t you press the advantage and pursue them?”
Fu Xi Yan asked, “Pursue whom?”
Yun Zhong Bei was stumped.
Zhu Shou Xin was the emperor’s lackey, but whether he lived or died had little effect on the larger situation. The person inside the sedan had indeed agreed to kill them for Wu Xuan Yin, but had never actually acted. They did not even know who that person was. How were they supposed to attack?
Yun Zhong Bei gave Fu Gui Gui, sitting obediently in Fu Xi Yan’s arms, one last reluctant look. “Farewell!” Then he turned and left without looking back.
That left He Si Yu and his daughter.
Fu Xi Yan looked at He Si Yu with a complicated expression. He Si Yu seemed to sense something and returned an equally complicated look.
The girl who had been so cold at Qifu Inn knew nothing of the turbulent undercurrents between the two men. Abandoning her icy-beauty persona, she smiled at Fu Xi Yan. “Did you see the note I gave Yu Xiong Jian?”
Fu Xi Yan nodded. “He pressed it under the cup. Thank you.” It was the second time the girl had secretly warned them, telling them which people at the martial assembly had already been bought by the court. The Southern Ridge Sect had been among them.
He You You said, “A great kindness needs no words of thanks. Just remember it.”
Fu Xi Yan hesitated before looking at He Si Yu. “Actually, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask. Sect Leader He, why did you change your mind and part ways with the Spirit Sect?”
He You You frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
Fu Xi Yan said, “Did Sect Leader He go to New City that day?”
He Si Yu looked at him expressionlessly. “I did.”
“Did you fight?”
“Mm.”
“Were you protecting the people of Southern Yu, or Ban Qing Yu?”
He You You’s expression changed drastically, and she instinctively stepped forward, only for He Si Yu to hold out an arm and stop her. He said, “That day, I had been invited to reinforce the Spirit Sect.”
It was precisely because of that connection that Wu Xuan Yin and the young emperor had invited him to the martial assembly. Neither had ever imagined he would turn against them midway through.
Fu Xi Yan asked cautiously, “Were there extenuating circumstances?”
He Si Yu thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I wouldn’t call them that.”
Fu Xi Yan sighed. “So you helped us today because you regretted what you did then and wanted to make amends?”
He Si Yu answered bluntly, “No. I want to explore a higher realm, but the formation at New City was broken, and Ban Qing Yu reached the Martial King Stage only to die beneath Pei Yuan Jin’s sword. I no longer have any hope in the Spirit Sect. I helped you today because I want to use this favor to ask the Immortal Treasury Palace for something.”
Fu Xi Yan said, “Go on.”
He Si Yu said, “I want to kill someone. I’m worried I may fail, so I want to exchange this favor for the Immortal Treasury Palace avenging me if I die.”
He You You said anxiously, “Father?”
At her call, He Si Yu seemed to suddenly remember she existed. He added, “Also, if it isn’t too much trouble, please look after this child for me. She isn’t my biological daughter. I adopted her.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Where had this steel-plated straight man come from? Even if she was adopted, was there really any need to announce it loudly to people he barely knew? Look at Old Fu. He had handled that kind of thing beautifully. He had even kept it from the person sharing his pillow.
Seeing Fu Xi Yan’s disapproving expression, He Si Yu explained, “You practice Puppet Arts, and he hunts the Puppet Path. Perhaps one day the two of you will meet Fei Yu. I don’t want her to misunderstand.”
Thinking of Aunt Feifei made Fu Xi Yan’s heart ache. He forced a smile. “I heard people talk about your story before. How did the two of you separate?”
He Si Yu said calmly, “We were being pursued. I went to draw the pursuers away. When I came back, she was gone.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
That did not sound like the same version the heroine of the story had told.
He did not know whether He Si Yu had truly been sincere back then. Fu Xi Yan was no matchmaker and had no interest in judging other people’s relationships. Since someone else still held a sliver of hope in his heart, why should Fu Xi Yan be the villain who crushed it?
“Who are you planning to kill?”
He Si Yu said, “Tong Fang Yu.”
Fu Xi Yan was shocked and instinctively glanced at Pei Yuan Jin, as though asking just how strong Tong Fang Yu could possibly be if a Martial King felt the need to write his will before daring to go after her.
The thought that he himself had once escaped from a super-expert who might have been at the Martial God level using nothing but his mouth filled Fu Xi Yan with an enormous, truly enormous sense of achievement.
He Si Yu said, “Tong Fang Yu herself isn’t difficult to kill, but the City of Ten Thousand Beasts has a White Tiger King. I went to the western frontier once and tested him. I nearly didn’t make it back alive. They say his martial arts have already reached the level of Palace Lord Pei and the previous Mirror Master.”
Fu Xi Yan said, “Have you considered attacking while Tong Fang Yu is away from the City of Ten Thousand Beasts?”
He himself had once seen her strolling around outside with only Xuan Ou Zi!
This was the cruelty of fate. What he had desperately wanted to avoid was exactly what someone else had been begging to encounter.
“By the time I learned of it, she had already returned to the City of Ten Thousand Beasts. The Northern Zhou court is hunting her, so she won’t leave again in the short term. And I’m already at the peak of the Martial King Stage. I don’t have many opportunities left.”
As he spoke, he retreated two steps, the silver spear held behind his back with its tip angled toward the ground. “Come.”
Fu Xi Yan froze.
“If I lose, kill me, then help me kill Tong Fang Yu. If I win, let me go so I can kill Tong Fang Yu myself. And if I fail afterward, you still help me kill Tong Fang Yu.”
In short: Tong Fang Yu absolutely had to die.
Pei Yuan Jin had just raised the Crimson Dragon King slightly when Fu Xi Yan caught his hand and slowly pressed it back down.
Fu Xi Yan said, “Fine. I’ll fight this round.”
He Si Yu looked at him. After a moment, he nodded.
Relief finally appeared on He You You’s face. As far as she was concerned, Fu Xi Yan, who was only at the Dao-Entry Stage, making such a request clearly meant he intended to go easy on her father.
He Si Yu obviously thought the same. In the past, he might not have accepted such an arrangement, but right now his desire to kill Tong Fang Yu with his own hands outweighed everything else, so he decided to accept the favor.
The Moon-Soul Spear trembled in his hand, and he was already charging forward.
Fu Xi Yan remained where he stood without moving a muscle, but the world in his eyes shed its material shell and transformed into a world of spiritual energy: the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth, the souls of the people around him, and the white soul condensed within that spear.
He lifted one finger and crooked it slightly. The Moon-Soul Spear in He Si Yu’s hand suddenly shuddered, sending a tremor through He Si Yu’s soul. Fu Xi Yan could even see several wisps of it scatter loose.
He Si Yu instinctively released the Moon-Soul Spear.
Taking advantage of the opening, the spear flew into the air, turned its point around, and gently knocked He Si Yu on the head.
He Si Yu blocked with one hand, only to feel a tremor rising from the depths of his soul. His entire mind nearly sank into a daze. Dropping to one knee, he raised his right hand toward the sky, true qi hovering over his palm to hold off the Moon-Soul Spear’s next attack as he asked, “How can you use the Moon-Soul Spear?”
Not long ago, Fu Xi Yan had been knocked unconscious by that very spear.
Fu Xi Yan answered with complete honesty, “I just learned.”
He Si Yu raised his head slightly. “I am of the Moon Clan. The Moon-Soul Spear is our clan’s sacred artifact. For several hundred years, no one has been able to bring out its true power. With the bloodline of the Moon Clan, I can probably use one-tenth of it. You can do even more than I can. Why?”
Fu Xi Yan thought, I learned The Soul-Essence Art. It was practically made to deal with souls, so I suppose this counts as matching the right specialty to the right job.
But he had no intention of telling the truth. “Maybe we’re just fated? It hit me once, and suddenly everything became clear.”
Something in those words seemed to touch He Si Yu. He abruptly said, “We don’t need to fight anymore. I concede.”
He You You could not help crying out, “Father?!”
He Si Yu said, “A wager is a wager. The City of Ten Thousand Beasts has committed no fewer evils than the Spirit Sect. I hope you two will keep your promise and kill Tong Fang Yu within your lifetimes. Also, the Moon Clan has withered. Other than me, there probably isn’t a second person in the clan who can use the Moon-Soul Spear. Rather than let a spiritual weapon gather dust, I would rather lend it to someone with whom it has affinity. There is only one condition: if one day Mirror Master Fu ascends, or another member of the Moon Clan appears who can use it, return it to the Moon Clan.”
Fu Xi Yan stared at the spear, hesitating.
He Si Yu said, “Mirror Master Fu, there’s no need to refuse. Consider it payment for looking after my daughter.”
Fu Xi Yan thought, I’m not being polite. The main problem is that the Moon-Soul Spear is too big to carry around conveniently. While he was still thinking, the Moon-Soul Spear had already hooked up the cloth strips he had tossed onto the ground and, without asking his permission, began tying itself to Fu Xi Yan. Once it finished, Fu Xi Yan heard a loud duang! as the shaft fell straight to the ground.
A smooth, bare spear shaft was obviously not very easy to tie down.
He Si Yu stood and said calmly, “One last thing. I hope you two will bury me in New City. If the people there have awareness in the afterlife, they should be quite pleased to see me dead. Mm. I can also take them the news of Wu Xuan Yin, Ban Qing Yu, Guo Ju Ying, and the Taoshan brothers’ deaths.”
Fu Xi Yan realized that although He Si Yu kept claiming he felt no guilt, he had apparently kept very careful accounts in his heart.
Fu Xi Yan added, “The Ghostshadow Organization Leader is dead too.”
He Si Yu froze. “So I’m the only one left.”
He slowly raised a hand. He You You screamed and rushed toward him, only to be pushed back by one palm. Seeing that He Si Yu truly intended to die and was not putting on an act, Fu Xi Yan hurriedly shouted, “Wait!”
He Si Yu looked at him.
Fu Xi Yan pulled the cloth strips off himself and tossed the Moon-Soul Spear, which had been leaning against his back, back to him. “If there’s someone you want dead, it’s better to do it yourself. Try not to take out a loan and leave the debt to other people.”
He Si Yu caught the spear, thought for a moment, and said, “Fine.”
Afraid Fu Xi Yan might change his mind, He You You grabbed He Si Yu and dragged him away. Fu Xi Yan called after his back, “You want to kill Tong Fang Yu because of Yin Fei Yu?”
He Si Yu stopped. “Yes.”
“What if Yin Fei Yu doesn’t care at all?”
“I’ll still kill her.”
Fu Xi Yan watched his broad strides carry him away and could not make sense of it. “What does that mean? That whether you want it or not, I’m giving it to you anyway?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “If Tong Fang Yu had not hunted them, he and Yin Fei Yu would never have separated.”
“But Aunt Feifei said he was clearly the one who ran off, and he even pushed her…” Fu Xi Yan stopped halfway through, suddenly understood, and shook his head. “Middle-aged love really is…” realistic and magnificent.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “The White Tiger King has been famous in the western frontier for many years. In martial arts, he should be far above Tong Fang Yu, yet for some unknown reason he willingly serves her as City Lord.”
Fu Xi Yan said, “Either it’s because of love, or because Tong Fang Yu is stupid enough.” Wouldn’t an idiot be especially suitable as a puppet?
He and Pei Yuan Jin exchanged a look. If the White Tiger King was simply hopelessly lovestruck, that would be one thing. But if it was truly the latter, then his martial arts were not the only thing to fear. His scheming might be unfathomably deep as well.
Fu Xi Yan shook his head and temporarily set those worries aside. Whatever else happened, Ban Qing Yu was dead, the Taoshan brothers were dead, and Wu Xuan Yin was dead. The purpose of their journey to Southern Yu had already been achieved!
“Still…” Fu Xi Yan looked toward the place where the black sedan had stood. “I can’t shake the feeling that the sedan and that later assassin were strange. Strange in a way that feels familiar.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “The way the monk suddenly turned on them looked a lot like Puppet Arts.”
Fu Xi Yan slapped his palms together. “Spirit-Control Art!”
If the assassin had been Mo Xiao Ran, then who was the person inside the sedan? Someone even Mo Xiao Ran had only dared attack by ambush?