Qin Xiao Xun woke before dawn, yet it was almost as though he had not awakened at all. After opening his eyes, he simply stared at the canopy overhead. The imperial physicians called to him and asked questions beside the bed, but he remained silent, as though the dragon bed contained a tiny world of its own that had nothing to do with anyone else.
The Chief Grand Secretary hurried in, saw his condition, and immediately told the physicians to use acupuncture.
The head imperial physician stepped forward awkwardly. “It isn’t that we dare not. There simply is no need. His Majesty is conscious right now.”
The Chief Grand Secretary looked at the man on the bed, then waved the physicians away. They tactfully withdrew. He turned toward Xiao Jin Zi next, and Xiao Jin Zi bowed and followed them out, leaving only the emperor and the Chief Grand Secretary in the enormous room.
The Chief Grand Secretary walked to the bedside and bowed. “Your Majesty, the investiture ceremony for the empress had not yet taken place. How should Sect Leader Wu’s funeral rites be arranged?”
At the words “Sect Leader Wu,” Qin Xiao Xun’s eyes finally moved, but he still did not answer.
The Chief Grand Secretary said gently, “Zhu Shou Xin is still kneeling outside. He was the last person to see Sect Leader Wu alive. Would Your Majesty like to ask whether she left any final words?”
Qin Xiao Xun finally looked toward him. Yet those eyes hardly seemed like eyes anymore. Eyes were meant to see, while his were so hollow that it seemed there was nothing left in the world he cared to look at.
“Let him in.” His voice was hoarse.
When Zhu Shou Xin heard the summons, his heart gave a violent thump. Treasonous as the thought was, during the time he had spent kneeling outside, it was not as though he had never entertained the dark hope that if the Son of Heaven simply died now, Zhu Shou Xin himself might escape disaster.
Unfortunately, given Qin Xiao Xun’s age, the chance of him simply being angered to death was still rather small.
Zhu Shou Xin drew a deep breath, cast one lingering glance at the vast, dark night above the palace, and stepped inside.
Qin Xiao Xun sat on the dragon bed with a robe draped around him while Xiao Jin Zi helped him rinse his mouth. The Spirit Sect had made too many enemies. Now that both its Sect Leader and Holy Maiden were gone, the emperor’s protection was the only thing it had left to rely on.
Xiao Jin Zi wanted to become Sect Leader of the Spirit Sect, but he had no desire to become its final Sect Leader. Naturally, he served the emperor with twice the care.
Unfortunately, Qin Xiao Xun’s mind was elsewhere. Only when Zhu Shou Xin entered did he glance sideways.
That single glance was enough for Zhu Shou Xin to know disaster was likely waiting for him. He knelt and said heavily, “This subject failed in his duty and has no face to appear before Your Majesty. I remained alive only because the Sect Leader entrusted me with words I had to deliver.”
After a long silence, Qin Xiao Xun slowly asked, “What did she say?”
Zhu Shou Xin hesitated for an instant.
Wu Xuan Yin’s final words were supposed to be his greatest protection against blame. But if he repeated them exactly, would they still protect him at all?
The extreme silence inside the palace was a slow fire of torment, while time continued moving and gave him no room to hesitate. He quickly made up his mind. “Sect Leader Wu hoped Your Majesty would take good care of yourself and not lose heart over one temporary defeat. The future is long. There will always be a chance to rally again.”
Qin Xiao Xun threw back the covers and slowly got out of bed. Xiao Jin Zi hurried to support him, only to be pushed away. Qin Xiao Xun walked slowly to Zhu Shou Xin, bent down, and stared at his lowered head. “Look up.”
Zhu Shou Xin hesitated briefly, then slowly raised his head.
Qin Xiao Xun asked coldly, “Did she truly say that?”
Without hesitation, Zhu Shou Xin answered, “Yes.”
Qin Xiao Xun raised his hand and slapped him hard across the face. Zhu Shou Xin did not dare dodge. He straightened and took the blow, then hurriedly bowed low again.
Qin Xiao Xun gritted his teeth. “You dare deceive your sovereign?”
Zhu Shou Xin hurriedly said, “This subject would not dare.”
“Did she leave final words or not?”
“This subject would not dare deceive Your Majesty. She did. Chief Constable Chai can bear witness.”
Qin Xiao Xun asked, “What did she say?”
With the imprint of a slap across his face, Zhu Shou Xin no longer dared play clever games or fabricate anything. Words passed between lovers were hardly something a third person could invent at will.
“Sect Leader Wu said…” He lowered his head and spoke softly. “Just a disappointed old woman. If she dies, let her die.”
Qin Xiao Xun’s body suddenly went rigid, almost as though Zhu Shou Xin had slapped him back. An unnatural flush spread across his face. He stared blankly at the floor for a long time before turning his eyes toward Zhu Shou Xin again.
After saying those words, Zhu Shou Xin had already prepared himself to become the target of Qin Xiao Xun’s rage. Instead, the emperor merely stared at him for a while, then walked step by step back toward the bed and collapsed heavily amid Xiao Jin Zi’s cry of alarm.
He awakened quickly from this second fainting spell, but even the Chief Grand Secretary, who knew nothing of medicine, could see that the young emperor was far more listless than after the first. His complexion had turned ashen and ugly.
The imperial physicians lined up to take his pulse one after another. Then they exchanged looks, none daring to speak, and all turned toward the head imperial physician.
The head imperial physician sighed and walked into the outer hall. The Chief Grand Secretary and other senior officials were all waiting for news. The moment he appeared, they crowded around him with questions. Only after the Chief Grand Secretary cleared his throat did the physician finally gain room to breathe. He leaned close and said quietly, “My lord should make preparations early.”
The Chief Grand Secretary’s expression changed and his gaze sharpened, but the physician only shook his head and sighed, silently indicating that the emperor’s body truly had reached the end of its road.
Ever since his abduction, the young emperor had slept poorly. Later, after Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin stormed the palace and killed Zheng Yu before his eyes, the problem had grown much worse. He could go entire nights without sleep. Only when Wu Xuan Yin entered the palace to accompany him would his condition improve.
An illness of the heart required medicine for the heart. Wu Xuan Yin was dead. His heart’s medicine was gone. Naturally, the illness had become incurable.
The Chief Grand Secretary’s face darkened.
The unrest outside and the ministers’ fear did not reach Qin Xiao Xun at all.
His mind was filled entirely with the words Wu Xuan Yin had left behind. He knew her too well. Zhu Shou Xin’s first version had been false, while the second could only be true.
“Disappointed old woman” was something Qin Xiao Xun himself had once said carelessly while chatting in private with Zheng Yu. He had been twelve that year. The first time he saw Wu Xuan Yin, he had been dazzled by her. A boy’s shyness, inferiority, pride, and awkwardness had tangled together and made him lash out without thinking. Later, as the two came to know each other more deeply, he had long forgotten those childish words. He had never imagined that she knew about them, much less that she had held them in her heart all these years.
“If she dies, let her die.”
Lying in bed, he repeated that short sentence over and over beneath his breath until he gradually became lost in it.
After leaving the drill ground, Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin did not hurry out of the city. They stayed behind to gather information, mainly to see whether the court or the Spirit Sect would take Wu Xuan Yin’s death out on the jianghu figures who had attended the martial assembly that day.
If anyone tried settling accounts afterward, the two of them would handle the cleanup. They could send people into Prince Yue’s territory, or perhaps visit the imperial palace again and personally ask the emperor what had been making him unhappy lately… Well, there was no need to ask. They could already guess. But they could always make him even unhappier.
On the way back to Qifu Inn, Fu Xi Yan had already devised Plans A, B, C, D, and several more besides. Yet from dusk, to deep night, to the pale light before dawn, the palace never made any major move. Even the spies originally scattered around the inn had withdrawn.
The first time they entered the inn, the atmosphere had felt noisy with a storm about to break. Now everything had returned to the calm of clouds dispersing after rain.
Although neither of them slept that night, they were hardly idle.
Fu Xi Yan began with the library hidden inside the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror, moved on to his brief glimpse of the Great Ascension Era, and then told Pei Yuan Jin about the No-Return Sect, which seemed to have spent all of history scurrying everywhere like a rat crossing the street.
Pei Yuan Jin listened very carefully.
After battle upon battle, both his body and mind should have been exhausted to the limit. Yet the lingering aftershock of combat had kept his mind in an intensely excited state. Going straight to sleep would not have calmed his body at all. Instead, talking with Fu Xi Yan gave him a rare sense of relaxation.
“The No-Return Sect?” He frowned in thought. “The people who besieged it back then belonged to the previous generation. Father had only recently entered the Dao-Entry Stage and was occupied with stabilizing his state of mind, so he did not participate. The previous Mirror Master was in seclusion as well, and missed it. Perhaps the Qinling Ancestor knows.”
Fu Xi Yan asked, “Do you have his address? Should we write and ask?”
Pei Yuan Jin thought for a moment. “If we send it to the Qinling Sect, it should reach him eventually.”
Fu Xi Yan nodded. “If that doesn’t work, send it to Chu Shao Yang. He’s basically a Qinling connection anyway.”
Pei Yuan Jin searched his memory. “Father said that after the No-Return Sect was destroyed, the phrase shan mo da yan began circulating in the jianghu. Supposedly, disciples of the No-Return Sect shouted it before they died. People assumed that when death approached, they finally awakened to their mistakes. Unfortunately, they understood their wrongs too late to correct them.”
“Wasn’t there a rumor that Cheng He Cheng was the Sect Master of the No-Return Sect, and that Mo Xiao Ran and Yan Ke might both have been his disciples? Leave Yan Ke aside for now. No matter how I look at it, Mo Xiao Ran hardly qualifies as someone who realized his mistakes and changed. Shan mo da yan, my ass.”
Fu Xi Yan paused. “Wait. Mo Xiao Ran. Yan Ke… Their surnames sound exactly like two parts of shan mo da yan. Is that a coincidence, or…”
Elio’s Notes: Shan mo da yan comes from the classical phrase 善莫大焉, “there is no greater good than this.” Fu Xi Yan notices that Mo matches 莫 exactly, while Yan in Yan Ke’s surname 鄢 is pronounced the same as the final 焉. He starts treating the four syllables Shan–Mo–Da–Yan as possible name clues.
He looked at Pei Yuan Jin.
Pei Yuan Jin clearly thought it was coincidence. “Yan Ke denied being Cheng He Cheng’s disciple.”
Fu Xi Yan said, “People can lie. Even if he wasn’t lying and really wasn’t Cheng He Cheng’s disciple, he could still have been his subordinate, his son, his nephew, or even his father.”
Pei Yuan Jin: “…”
Fu Xi Yan grew increasingly excited by his own discovery. “What kind of demonic-sect disciple screams shan mo da yan before dying? ‘I’ll be back!’ would make way more sense! Mo Xiao Ran, Yan Ke, shan mo da yan… Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “By that logic, there should also be a ‘Shan’ and a ‘Da.’”
Fu Xi Yan found this extremely reasonable. “Then hurry and think. Who in the jianghu has Shan or Da in their name? A surname would be even better.”
Pei Yuan Jin looked at him wordlessly.
Fu Xi Yan said, “I had examples in my previous life. There were domineering CEOs surnamed Shan, and people whose names started with Da… well, not exactly surnames, but there was a singer whose first character was Da. Come on, think!”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “If they shared a lineage with Mo Xiao Ran, then misdeeds should have circulated about them over the years.”
Fu Xi Yan said, “Then think of someone about as vicious as Mo Xiao Ran.”
That did make Pei Yuan Jin think of someone.
At the same time, Fu Xi Yan thought of someone too.
They looked at each other and spoke simultaneously.
“Zheng Jiao Jiao.”
“White Tiger King!”
Perfectly synchronized in timing, completely different in answer.
After an awkward silence, Fu Xi Yan broke it first, clapping his hands. “See? Haven’t we already found two candidates?”
Pei Yuan Jin: “…”
Pei Yuan Jin asked, “Why did you think of the White Tiger King?”
Fu Xi Yan said, “He Si Yu is already at the peak of the Martial King Stage, yet he still hesitates to go through with the killing and wanted to borrow the Spirit Sect’s strength. That alone shows how powerful the White Tiger King must be. On top of that, he belongs to the City of Ten Thousand Beasts. Its City Lord is Tong Fang Yu, and Tong Fang Yu is Mo Xiao Ran’s disciple. See? The line connects! And White Tiger King is only a title. Maybe his real name is Shan Hu or Da Hu.”
Pei Yuan Jin: “…”
Fu Xi Yan asked, “You just said Zheng Jiao Jiao…”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “We’ll use yours.”
“Hm?”
Pei Yuan Jin said blandly, “Compared with Shan Hu and Da Hu, Zheng Jiao Jiao has no chance.”
Fu Xi Yan nodded. True. Zheng was obviously a surname. Even putting Da in front of it sounded strange. “Then keep him on the candidate list.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Even if shan mo da yan refers to four people, some of them may already have died in the battle back then. Yan Ke is known as the Divine Doctor and has saved countless lives. Without solid evidence, we should not drag him into the No-Return Sect.”
Fu Xi Yan pouted without answering.
Pei Yuan Jin knew the Little Divine Doctor might be connected to Jin Yuan Xiu’s disappearance, so he added, “Even if we investigate, we do it secretly.”
Half the jianghu owed favors to two generations of Divine Doctors. If they wanted to investigate them, they would need not only evidence of their identities, but proof that they had committed evils comparable to Mo Xiao Ran’s. Otherwise, whether the Immortal Treasury Palace could withstand half the jianghu questioning them was one problem. Having no moral ground to stand on was another.
Only then did the corner of Fu Xi Yan’s mouth rise slightly.
* * *
After sleeping for two days and two nights, Qin Xiao Xun suddenly announced that he would hold court. The ministers who had spent several nights sleeping inside the palace were overjoyed. A country could not go one day without a ruler, and especially in a time of turmoil inside and outside the realm, keeping the same emperor on the throne was the best way to stabilize the court and resolve the problems that remained.
Only the Chief Grand Secretary’s faction kept their brows tightly furrowed.
During court, everyone understood without being told. They reported only harmless, inconsequential matters and avoided anything that might anger or distress the young emperor, lest his condition relapse.
When court ended and the young emperor still seemed steady, the ministers finally breathed a collective sigh of relief.
The Second Grand Secretary saw the Chief Grand Secretary walking quickly away. After hesitating, he caught up and whispered, “I heard Prince Ningguo is considering coming to the capital to attend upon His Majesty?”
The Chief Grand Secretary stopped abruptly and snapped, “What back-alley rumor is this? How dare you bring such talk into the palace?”
The Second Grand Secretary took the outburst as a show of strength masking inner weakness and reminded him quietly, “Prince Ningguo’s blood relation is somewhat distant. I also heard the Vice Minister of Rites and his entire household were imprisoned this morning. His Majesty is young and hot-blooded and acts according to his mood. You and I would be wiser to follow his wishes.”
The Chief Grand Secretary looked at him and suddenly asked something profoundly treasonous. “Do you truly believe His Majesty can survive this?”
The Second Grand Secretary did not seem surprised. “That is a matter for later.”
The two had spent many years navigating Southern Yu officialdom and possessed plenty of eyes and ears within the palace, including inside the Imperial Medical Bureau. The moment they heard the emperor planned to hold court, they had immediately asked the physicians about his condition.
The head imperial physician remained evasive, but physicians friendly with them spoke bluntly. The emperor was being kept alive by spiritual medicines.
So both men had already prepared themselves for the possibility that the emperor would die young.
The difference was that the Chief Grand Secretary had chosen to act first, intending to support Prince Ningguo for the throne and seize the merit of having backed the new sovereign, while the Second Grand Secretary preferred to watch and wait.
Yet every movement they made was under Qin Xiao Xun’s surveillance. With Qin Xiao Xun’s tacit approval and the assistance of Zhu Shou Xin and Chai Mi, Xiao Jin Zi was now temporarily controlling the Spirit Sect.
To curry favor with the emperor, he devoted most of the Spirit Sect’s manpower to watching both the inside and outside of the court, effectively turning it into the role of the Jinyiwei that Fu Xi Yan remembered from his previous life.
The court officials had no idea. The old Spirit Sect had shown little interest in court politics. Its people had focused almost entirely on ascending to immortality, with dominating the martial world as a distant second choice.
Because the officials had never guarded against it, the Spirit Sect now moved among them like a fish in water.
Report after report concerning the ministers soon appeared on the young emperor’s desk.
Qin Xiao Xun merely flipped through them and tossed them aside. Instead, he asked about Prince Yue. “How far has he advanced?”
Zhu Shou Xin and Xiao Jin Zi, standing beside him, exchanged horrified looks.
For the emperor’s health, neither had reported that Prince Yue was attacking Yuzhang. Xiao Jin Zi stayed beside Qin Xiao Xun day and night and truly could not imagine where he had obtained the information.
Qin Xiao Xun sneered. “Since Qin Zhao had those scholars beat the Petition Drum, he must already have prepared to support them. Only by sending troops can he make every prefecture and county hesitate to act, too afraid to deal harshly with the scholars. Otherwise, once Prince Yue takes the realm, wouldn’t they lose even the chance to surrender?”
Xiao Jin Zi hurriedly said, “General Feng is there. Prince Yue will never set foot in Yuzhang.”
Qin Xiao Xun slowly asked, “And what if Pei Yuan Jin kills Feng Huai Gu too?”
Xiao Jin Zi immediately fell silent. Zhu Shou Xin hesitated, then dropped to his knees. Qin Xiao Xun had said “too.” That single word showed how deeply the deaths of Wu Xuan Yin and the Taoshan brothers had lodged in his heart.
Zhu Shou Xin did not know why the emperor had imprisoned the Vice Minister of Rites and his family but had left him untouched. Perhaps his time had simply not come yet. Or perhaps he still had some use.
Qin Xiao Xun said, “Send someone to negotiate peace with Prince Yue.”
Xiao Jin Zi assumed he had become afraid of Pei Yuan Jin and Fu Xi Yan and wanted to coexist peacefully with Prince Yue. It might look humiliating, but there seemed to be no other choice.
The Spirit Sect truly no longer possessed the imposing power of the third-greatest sect under Heaven.
Qin Xiao Xun said, “If Qin Zhao agrees to my conditions, I will pass the throne to him.”
Xiao Jin Zi and Zhu Shou Xin both froze.
In their minds, agreeing to divide the realm with Prince Yue would already have been difficult enough, yet now he wanted to pass him the throne… Wait. He said pass the throne to him, not formally abdicate in his favor?
As though he had not seen their stunned expressions, Qin Xiao Xun continued, “He may not show disrespect to the late emperor. He may not posthumously elevate the Regent to emperor. The late emperor’s consorts must be properly provided for. I alone will bear responsibility for the New City massacre. Whatever monstrous infamy follows me after death, let it follow me. Wu Xuan Yin must receive the rites of an empress and be buried with me in the imperial mausoleum. Any civil or military officials willing to remain and assist the new emperor may not be punished for their past…”
“Your Majesty.”
Listening to him arrange everything as though dictating a final testament, Xiao Jin Zi grew terrified. He knew perfectly well that his current position depended entirely on the young emperor. Without Qin Xiao Xun, given Pei Yuan Jin and Fu Xi Yan’s hatred of the Spirit Sect, its destruction would be right before his eyes.
Qin Xiao Xun glanced at him and said calmly, “The Regent and Prince Yue both dislike using jianghu people. You can only return to wherever you came from.”
Xiao Jin Zi’s lips trembled, and he lowered himself even farther.
Zhu Shou Xin watched his back with a slight frown.
* * *
A two-deck passenger ship moved slowly along the river. This time there were no other passengers aboard, only Pei Yuan Jin, Fu Xi Yan, and an increasingly fat bird.
Its skirt could no longer hide its tail. Every so often, the tail slipped out for a little stroll.
Fortunately, as its wings grew fuller, the snake tail’s coloring also became brighter, shifting through a gradient from pink to orange-red. From a distance, if one did not look too closely at the scales, it was actually rather pleasing to the eye.
The more Fu Xi Yan tried to keep his distance, the clingier Fu Gui Gui became. Their constant chasing and fleeing became one of the few forms of exercise available on the boat.
The boatmen were still members of the Chen family.
Although Pei Yuan Jin and Fu Xi Yan had not gone to Rongcheng to meet Prince Yue this time, they had killed experts such as Ban Qing Yu and Wu Xuan Yin, clearing away the greatest obstacles to Prince Yue’s campaign against Southern Yu. Their contribution could hardly be overstated. So the moment they left Lin’an, Prince Yue sent a ship to see them on their way.
No one knew who leaked the news, but as the ship traveled, Southern Yu martial artists came by from time to time to visit.
Some had fought beside them at the martial assembly. Some had missed the assembly and could only come eagerly to admire Young Master Pei, who had shown such astonishing brilliance there. And some… had nearly killed themselves completing a quest, only to discover that the NPC responsible for handing out the reward had disappeared, leaving the poor suckers with nowhere to complain except here.
Yu Xiong Jian wore a mournful face. “The Lingnan Sect Leader promised he would take me in, then disappeared in the blink of an eye. I asked around and heard they went to the western frontier. But the western frontier is enormous. Where am I supposed to find them?”
Fu Xi Yan said, “Well, every grievance has its debtor. Don’t you think coming to us about this is a little misplaced?”
Yu Xiong Jian’s small, shrewd eyes glittered. “I did help the two of you, after all. Could you see whether the Immortal Treasury Palace or the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror has any position that could take me in?”
Joining the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror or the Immortal Treasury Palace would obviously be even better than joining the Lingnan Sect.
Fu Xi Yan said, “Actually, on the day I inherited the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror, I became its only member. If I add you, I honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to do with you.”
Yu Xiong Jian stared in shock. “Then the people on Huaying Mountain…”
“They’re retainers.”
Yu Xiong Jian struggled violently inside. He had worked himself half to death for all this, certainly not merely to become a retainer. His sincere gaze therefore drifted to Pei Yuan Jin beside Fu Xi Yan.
Pei Yuan Jin poked Fu Xi Yan.
The Young Madam of the Immortal Treasury Palace had no choice but to step forward. “The Immortal Treasury Palace has been downsizing lately.”
Yu Xiong Jian blinked his clever little eyes. “What does ‘downsizing’ mean?”
“It means streamlining the organization. Mm, throwing out the ones who only eat without contributing, the ones who work without trying, and the ones whose bodies are in one camp while their hearts are in another.” Fu Xi Yan paused, then added regretfully, “We only just finished downsizing, so it would be awkward to insert someone new right away.”
Yu Xiong Jian understood, and his face immediately collapsed.
Seeing how pitiful he looked, Fu Xi Yan could not resist painting him a bigger pie. “How about this? Why don’t we set our sights a little higher?”
“Huh? How much higher?” Yu Xiong Jian wondered. He already dared dream about the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror and Immortal Treasury Palace. How much more ambitious could he get?
Fu Xi Yan said, “How about joining Prince Yue and drawing a government salary?”
Yu Xiong Jian froze. “Me? But my martial arts are pretty average.”
Fu Xi Yan said, “That’s exactly why joining Prince Yue is a good idea. Prince Yue doesn’t recruit people with very high martial arts.”
Yu Xiong Jian: “…”
In the end, Yu Xiong Jian still did not accept Fu Xi Yan’s suggestion. Pei Yuan Jin did not let him leave empty-handed, however. He made a few small improvements to Yu Xiong Jian’s original martial techniques. They were only minor adjustments, yet Yu Xiong Jian immediately felt the old sense of obstruction disappear, while the circulation of his true qi became much smoother.
He asked in delight, “Can I teach this to my brothers in the Beishan Sect?”
The Beishan Sect was a small sect whose martial arts were very basic. That was why its elders did not forbid disciples from transferring to other sects, and even quietly encouraged it, hoping those disciples would one day return after mastering new skills and strengthen Beishan in turn.
Pei Yuan Jin said indifferently, “As you wish.”
Watching Yu Xiong Jian row away in high spirits, Fu Xi Yan felt some of the joy infect him too. “Suddenly I kind of want to keep him.”
Pei Yuan Jin watched Yu Xiong Jian laboriously rowing the little boat, then abruptly sent out a palm strike that propelled the boat straight to shore.
Fu Xi Yan: “…”