When Pei Yuan Jin saw Fu Xi Yan leap onto the roof, he seemed to know what Fu Xi Yan was thinking and shook his head. “There’s been no signal.”
With Lu Qing at the Fu residence, there was naturally no need to worry. If a genuine enemy appeared, he could certainly make enough noise for everyone to know. Members of the Hidden Dragon Unit and Phoenix-Roosting Unit were also following Fu Fu and Fu Xuan. Under ordinary circumstances, they were more than capable of handling things, and even if a powerful enemy appeared, their skill at moving and hiding in the shadows would let them find an opening to send a distress signal.
No signal meant the situation had not yet slipped beyond control.
Wang Ku and Miss Huo, who had come to cause trouble, had already enjoyed the delicious food Madam Fenfang personally prepared. When Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin left home, however, the Fu family had not yet eaten. A hungry man was rarely in a good mood.
As Fu Xi Yan pulled Pei Yuan Jin across the roof tiles toward the Liu residence, he was still cursing Liu Tan Du viciously in his heart.
One only had to look at the Spirit Sect and Southern Yu to see what happened when jianghu forces became too deeply entangled with the imperial court. After becoming the Master of the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror and marrying Pei Yuan Jin, Fu Xi Yan was no longer in a convenient position to meddle in court affairs.
As long as no one endangered the Fu family, he would turn a blind eye and leave matters to Fu Fu and Fu Xuan. The Liu family and the north ought to know where his bottom line lay. Surely they would not go too far.
At the thought, his steps suddenly stopped. Pei Yuan Jin, still holding him, pulled him forward so abruptly that Fu Xi Yan pitched ahead. Pei Yuan Jin turned helplessly, steadied him, and stared at him in silence as though asking why he was daydreaming while running.
Fu Xi Yan said, “I was thinking, why should I believe what that monk said just because he gave me a sachet?”
“He gave you a sachet?” This was clearly a detail Pei Yuan Jin had not known and cared very much about.
Fu Xi Yan hurriedly explained, “Poor choice of words. He passed a sachet on to me.”
“What is the difference?”
There was a huge difference. Fu Xi Yan desperately wanted to explain it properly from the perspective of a Chinese-language teacher, but he really was not in the mood right now.
A tiny flame of suspicion sprang up in his mind, and he could hardly wait to test it. “I’ll explain later. You go to the Liu residence first. I’m going back to take a look.”
Without waiting for Pei Yuan Jin to answer, he pulled his hand free and ran off at top speed.
Pei Yuan Jin knew Fu Xi Yan had meant nothing by it, but having his hand shaken off still put him in a poor mood, especially since that monk who “ate pungent foods” had also given Fu Xi Yan a sachet.
A monk who handed out sachets was naturally no proper monk.
Elio’s Notes: Fragrant sachets were personal accessories in historical China and could also be exchanged as tokens of affection. That romantic association is why Pei Yuan Jin immediately finds “a monk who gave Fu Xi Yan a sachet” suspicious.
When Pei Yuan Jin was in a bad mood, his face went cold. And when his face went cold, everyone else’s heart seemed to chill along with it.
* * *
At the Liu residence, matters had reached a critical moment.
Madam Liu did not know who the expert behind her was. She only knew that if she turned to defend herself now, she had at least a sixty percent chance of evading the attack. The other party had locked onto her, but had not actually struck yet. Yet the moment she turned around, Fu Xuan and Liu Tan Du would definitely save Zhang A Gu.
Those two men’s lives were both exceedingly valuable. If they were willing to risk themselves to protect Zhang A Gu, her side would be forced to hold back and might very well lose everything at the final step.
At this point, everything was ready except the east wind. If the east wind refused to blow, then she would let the west wind blow instead!
Elio’s Notes: “Everything is ready except the east wind” comes from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story of the Battle of Red Cliffs, where the missing east wind is the final condition needed for the fire attack. Madam Liu deliberately twists the saying here: if the expected “east wind” will not come, she will force events forward with a “west wind” of her own.
Her eyes remained fixed straight ahead as though she could not see anything behind her. Her wrist tightened around the whip, and the lash instantly constricted. Zhang A Gu’s throat gave two short, urgent choking sounds, blue veins bulged across his forehead, his eyes protruded slightly, and his feet kicked hard against the ground before he quickly stopped breathing.
He had followed in the footsteps of his adoptive father, Zhang Yuan, climbing with great difficulty to his present position. He had thought the road beneath his feet was broad and open, with splendid prospects ahead, never imagining that he would fall here.
Through a haze, he remembered that before his departure, Emperor Jianhong had warned him to act carefully and told him that if he encountered trouble, he could ask Fu Xi Yan for help. Zhang A Gu had taken that advice to heart. On the journey, he had even thought of using the familiarity from their previous meeting to make himself a familiar face to Fourth Young Master Fu, so that if swords truly flashed one day, he would have somewhere to call for help. He never imagined the other side would act so quickly. Before his plan could even be put into practice, it had already died before it could be born.
Zhang A Gu died filled with regret, his eyes refusing to close, but the battle before them continued.
From Madam Liu killing him to Liu Tan Du and the unfamiliar expert attacking, less than the blink of an eye had passed.
Many things could happen in the blink of an eye, but Madam Liu escaping completely unscathed was not one of them.
Just as Liu Tan Du’s palm was about to strike her back, his heart softened. He withdrew seventy or eighty percent of the force.
With so little force behind it, calling it an attack was less accurate than calling it an assist.
Madam Liu borrowed that force to launch herself forward, bending her knees exactly as before in an attempt to repeat the same trick and evade the truly lethal attack coming from behind.
But since the opponent’s killing intent had failed to frighten her, this strike was no longer a warning. It had become retaliation for the disregard and contempt she had just shown him.
A sword came. Its cold gleam seemed to pierce the lungs, so chilling that anyone who saw it might feel even a cough freeze in their throat.
Liu Tan Du had not yet withdrawn the palm he had struck out when the sword-light brushed past it and thrust forward. Arriving with the sword-light was the gold-threaded whip.
The whip lashed around Madam Liu like a vine. Before it had even fully bound her, it pulled impatiently toward its owner. Madam Liu had only just lowered herself, and her balance wavered slightly, but she adapted almost instantly. Without turning her head, she borrowed the force of the whip and launched herself forward.
Yet every reaction Madam Liu made seemed to have been anticipated by the sword. Every movement and every change was like the futile death struggle of a mouse beneath a cat’s paw. She had no eyes on her back, but Liu Tan Du and the owner of the gold-threaded whip could both see clearly that no matter how she moved, and no matter how far the whip dragged her, her body never left the sword point’s range.
The sword was like the killing intent itself, locked firmly onto her. Just when she thought she should have moved beyond the opponent’s range, it came like a summons from the King of Hell, calmly and precisely piercing her back, sliding through her body and straight through her heart.
A tragic flower of blood bloomed across Madam Liu’s chest. The silver sword point was like a stamen rising from the open blossom, cold and aloof.
The swordsman succeeded with a single strike and showed no attachment to it. He withdrew the blade at once and returned it to its sheath.
The movement was so clean and simple that it looked like an ordinary practice drill.
Madam Liu lay sprawled on the ground, the whip in her hand still wrapped around Zhang A Gu’s neck.
The mantis had stalked the cicada, only for mantis and cicada alike to be destroyed, both dying together.
Liu Tan Du, Fu Xuan, and Fu Fu were all stunned by the sudden turn of events and momentarily at a loss, but the battle between sword and whip had not ended.
The gold-threaded whip wrapped around Madam Liu rose like a spirit serpent. It was only a single whip, yet its dance produced the illusion of ten thousand golden snakes coiling over one another, like a vast nest of serpents baring their fangs as they surged toward the swordsman.
The swordsman, meanwhile, stood unmoving with the sheathed sword in hand, like an impassable mountain. As long as he stood there, the overwhelming sea of serpent shadows remained only illusion, unable to project their strength into reality.
When the one genuine golden snake thrust its head from among the phantoms, the scabbard gave a soft hum. Just like the killing intent that had arrived before the sword earlier, it issued a warning before the blade was drawn.
Clearly, the swordsman was a very particular man. Before every move, he followed proper procedure and gave advance notice, advising the other party that it was better to know what was good for them.
Unfortunately, if everyone in the world knew what was good for them, there would not be so many incidents of people slapping faces and getting their own faces slapped.
The golden snake soon vanished among the illusions, then reappeared behind the swordsman’s left side, in the blind spot of his vision. No one knew how the whip had curved around to the rear, but the instant it appeared, it bared its fangs.
The swordsman’s feet did not move an inch, yet his body rocked back and forth and side to side like a roly-poly toy, evading every strike from the gold-threaded whip. The lash filled the air without gaps, as urgent as a sudden torrential downpour, but no matter how fierce the attacks were, if they could not touch him they amounted to nothing more than loud thunder with no rain.
After a while, everyone could see that the gold-threaded whip could do nothing against that sheathed sword.
The whip cut through empty air in a streak of gold. Just when everyone assumed another strike would immediately follow, it withdrew. The swordsman finally extended a hand, caught the whip between his fingers, and looked toward its owner.
A young woman stood against the light in a silver-black cloak, heroic and sharp. Killing intent shadowed her refined features. Faced with the swordsman, she did not retreat by even half a step. Instead, her left hand turned, producing a bamboo tube.
One end of the tube had a small lever. She flicked it with a finger, and several streaks of silver light shot out. Each streak split into several more, then split again. By the time they reached the swordsman, the silver lights had divided three times, dense as fine rain and covering him from head to toe.
Taking advantage of the opening, the young woman rushed to the side and blocked Liu Tan Du, who was quietly retreating with Fu Xuan and Fu Fu.
“General Liu, General Huo is ready. He is only waiting for your order!”
Xiao Sang revealed himself at that moment and stood in front of Fu Fu and Fu Xuan, watching the young woman and Liu Tan Du warily.
Anxiety showed on the young woman’s face. “General Liu, even if you won’t think of yourself, you should think of the hundred thousand soldiers under your command! Think of Madam Liu, who did not hesitate to die for the great cause! If you fall, what are they supposed to do?”
Seeing that General Liu seemed to hesitate, she immediately reached out and seized his arm. “Come with me.”
Once she pulled Liu Tan Du to her side, she said rapidly, “Zhang A Gu is dead. You have no other choice!” She tore off her cloak and swung it hard, trying to wrap Liu Tan Du inside it. Liu Tan Du instead struck her waist and abdomen with his palm and shoved her away.
The young woman stared at him in shock.
At the same time, the swordsman had already withdrawn his hand and drawn his sword. The instant the blade left its sheath, the silver rain filling the air seemed to have been exposed beneath sunlight and quickly vanished. On closer inspection, the sword itself was covered in tiny needles like biting midges.
He turned his wrist, shaking the needles to the ground. Then he pointed his sword downward and lifted it lightly. The needles rose with the wind, weightless as willow fluff. Compared with their sudden assault moments earlier, they now seemed to dissolve into the air, staggered front and back, some fast and some slow, almost impossible to guard against.
The young woman retreated again and again, her whip dancing so densely that no opening could be seen. Her eyes remained fixed on Liu Tan Du, searching for a chance to seize him.
At that moment, the faint sound of fighting came from outside.
The guards loyal to Liu Tan Du had already been transferred away by Madam Liu. Those stationed outside now all belonged to the north. If they were fighting someone, it meant reinforcements for Zhang A Gu or the Fu family had arrived.
The young woman could not help growing anxious. Time was running out. This was already their last chance.
They had two objectives. First, kill Zhang A Gu and cut off Liu Tan Du’s path of retreat, driving a permanent wedge between him and Emperor Jianhong. Second, help Liu Tan Du take complete control of the Southern Border and push the Fu family out.
The first objective had now been accomplished. According to their expectations, once Zhang A Gu died, Liu Tan Du would naturally recognize the situation. Even if he had to hold his nose, he would still have no choice but to stand on the Northern Alliance’s side. Yet Liu Tan Du’s reaction was completely unexpected.
The young woman looked angrily at the swordsman who had appeared out of nowhere. He seemed to be in his thirties, with two neatly trimmed strips of mustache above his lips. The bags under his eyes were a little heavy, making him look listless, but his martial arts were above her own and should be roughly on par with Third Elder Wu Kuan.
Speaking of the Third Elder, he had been assigned to provide support from a central position. After hearing the commotion at the Liu residence, he should have appeared already. Just as she thought this, the ground beneath her feet suddenly trembled. A plump figure flashed past her and attacked the swordsman.
The Third Elder had arrived!
The young woman’s eyes lit up. She stopped hesitating and charged toward Liu Tan Du.
Liu Tan Du struck out several palms in succession, his resistance unexpectedly fierce.
Like Fu Xuan, he possessed only mediocre martial talent. If he had not happened upon the Heaven-Mending, Future-Opening Art, he could never have entered the martial path at all. But the Heaven-Mending, Future-Opening Art could only give him so much. Even after cultivating day and night and nourishing himself with all manner of miraculous pills and medicines, he had stopped at peak Vajra Stage and remained unable to undergo that complete transformation of body and bones.
By comparison, while the young woman’s martial talent was not monstrous on the level of Pei Yuan Jin or Fu Xi Yan, she was still an exceptionally rare talent. At only twenty years old, she had already reached peak Mortal-Shedding Stage.
She had been pushed away by Liu Tan Du earlier only because she had been caught off guard. Once prepared, dealing with him was practically effortless.
Seeing Liu Tan Du about to “enter the tiger’s mouth,” Fu Xuan attacked again.
He had tried to save Zhang A Gu because of their shared position as officials of the same court. If anything happened to Zhang A Gu, Liu Tan Du might have been unable to explain himself, but Fu Xuan, as a chiliarch, and Fu Fu, as Governor of Hubei, would also find it difficult to escape blame.
His intervention on Liu Tan Du’s behalf, however, came more from friendship. He knew that even if Liu Tan Du stayed, explaining matters to Emperor Jianhong would be extremely difficult and staying might not necessarily be the wiser choice. But if Liu Tan Du had chosen to remain, then Fu Xuan would help him.
The young woman frowned slightly when she saw him rush in.
Fu Xuan alone was naturally not difficult to handle, but the people behind Fu Xuan forced her to think carefully. If she accidentally injured him and provoked the two ferocious tigers Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin, the loss would far outweigh the gain.
But once Fu Xuan moved, Xiao Sang could not stand by either. The young woman held Liu Tan Du in her grasp, which made her wary of hurting him, so she did not dare use lethal force. Forced to fend attacks from both sides, she actually fell into the disadvantage.
Just then, Wu Kuan suddenly shouted, “Go!”
The young woman was still hesitating when she felt a terrifying pressure rise from within her heart. Her movements were not physically restrained, yet her spirit suddenly wilted, and even her attacks became timid and hesitant.
She glanced toward Wu Kuan and saw that he was not faring any better. The swordsman was clearly a Dao-Entry Stage expert, at the same level as Wu Kuan, and the two had originally been evenly matched. Now, however, cold sweat covered Wu Kuan’s forehead and his movements had clearly slowed. The cause of all this was:
The man standing on the eaves, watching the battle.
In truth, Pei Yuan Jin had not released any oppressive aura at all. He merely looked displeased, and his gaze was a little cold. Yet anyone he looked at felt an indescribable suffocation, like a sheep meeting a wolf or a mouse facing a cat.
Wu Kuan did not see it that way.
It was not as though he had never met Martial Kings or Martial Gods before, yet he had never encountered someone who could make him tremble in fear without even releasing pressure. From this, he reached an incorrect conclusion: Pei Yuan Jin had intervened in Jiangling’s struggle.
The Heaven-and-Earth Mirror and Immortal Treasury Palace were unlike the Spirit Sect. They were pure jianghu organizations and had always avoided the rights and wrongs of the imperial court. During Southern Yu’s civil war, they killed the Taoshan brothers and Wu Xuan Yin, who were fellow members of the jianghu, yet did not attack the young emperor after he lost his guards. That alone made their position clear.
But there were exceptions to everything. After all, two members of the Fu family were present, and Pei Yuan Jin’s relationship with Fu Xi Yan was known throughout the land.
“Go!”
Wu Kuan shouted the word again, more firmly than before. Seeing Fu Xuan and Xiao Sang clinging to her without letting up, the young woman had no choice but to release Liu Tan Du.
The moment Liu Tan Du regained his freedom, he ran to the other side.
The young woman’s face went pale with anger, but she did not dare delay. Under Wu Kuan’s cover, she slowly retreated. As she left the courtyard, she could not help raising her head and looking from afar at the figure standing high above.
Husband.
She remembered that when she was little, Pei Yuan Jin’s father had jokingly used that word. He had told her that on a distant mountain lived a boy around her age, and when she grew up, he would come in an eight-bearer bridal sedan to marry her.
But when she grew up, no sedan ever came. Instead, she only heard that he had married someone else.
Even though it had been an arranged marriage between two people who had never met, at the age when a young girl first dreamed of love, she had secretly imagined what he looked like and how their first meeting might unfold. Never had she imagined it would be like this: he stood above her as though no one else were worth his notice, while she fled in disarray, unwilling to accept it in her heart.
The person who noticed something was wrong and led men into the Liu residence was Chu Shao Yang. He had originally been gathering information around the city. The unusual movement of troops had not escaped his notice, nor had the group of men who hurried from the Liu residence toward the western part of the city. Soon afterward, the area around the Liu residence was sealed off.
The arrival of an imperial envoy made tighter security reasonable enough, but when even the spies Chu Shao Yang had sent out could no longer pass messages, it was clear something unusual was happening.
After thinking it over repeatedly, he still chose to break in.
If nothing had happened, so be it. There was no such thing as being too cautious. And if something really had happened, then he would have earned himself a major merit.
Unfortunately, that merit was not easy to claim.
The men he had brought were all originally selected by the Brocade Guard. They had gone from operating openly to working in the shadows and entered the city in separate groups over time. Their individual combat ability might have been ordinary, but they had trained together for years and excelled at coordinated fighting. Yet the opponents they encountered today were clearly battle-hardened too, and the two sides actually fought to a standstill.
At that moment, Wu Kuan and the young woman burst out. Chu Shao Yang had not even figured out what was happening before a single punch knocked him so senseless that he forgot east, west, north, south, and even the center. By the time he regained consciousness, the fighting was over and Zhang A Gu was dead.
Fu Fu and Fu Xuan were discussing with Liu Tan Du how to deal with the aftermath.
The swordsman’s identity was finally revealed. He was Li Mu He, a Qinling Sect expert sent by Emperor Jianhong to protect Zhang A Gu and a direct disciple of the Qinling Ancestor.
He was willing to testify for Liu Tan Du and confirm that Liu Tan Du had not been acting together with Madam Liu and the others. But judging by how little he seemed to care about Zhang A Gu’s death, it was obvious that apart from his martial arts, he was not especially dependable. There was only so much anyone could expect from him.
Seeing Liu Tan Du looking utterly dejected, Fu Xuan said, “I didn’t expect you would actually choose to stay.”
Given what had just happened, it would have been perfectly understandable if Liu Tan Du had left. After all, very few people would insist on remaining when they knew they were likely to be falsely accused.
Liu Tan Du smiled bitterly. “They’re all poisons. The only difference is which one kills faster. I merely had a little contact with them, and they schemed against me like this. If I truly joined them, I’m afraid they wouldn’t even leave my bones behind. Rather than drag out my life while carrying the name of a traitor, I might as well stay and fight for a sliver of survival.”
Fu Xuan said, “With us and Hero Li testifying for you, His Majesty should find it difficult to vent too much anger on you.”
Fu Fu said, “Not only us. There’s also Young Master Pei and General Chu.”
At the mention of Young Master Pei, Li Mu He stopped wiping his sword and looked outside. Pei Yuan Jin was standing in the courtyard, apparently admiring the spring scenery. But after the battle just now, what spring scenery was even left in that courtyard?
Anyone could tell he was waiting for someone.
At that moment, a figure stumbled in.
Chu Shao Yang saw Pei Yuan Jin, paused, and nodded in greeting before hurrying inside. The moment he saw Liu Tan Du still there, his expression changed. Then he looked toward Fu Fu and Fu Xuan, afraid that the two of them had “switched sides.”
To the two Fu men, Chu Shao Yang was not only a junior, but a junior from a family with whom relations were not especially good. They merely glanced at him and did not greet him. Liu Tan Du, however, wanted to pull a few more people to his side, so he lowered himself and voluntarily explained what had happened here.
When Chu Shao Yang heard that Madam Liu had killed Zhang A Gu, his eyes flickered and he looked at Liu Tan Du with greater suspicion. When he heard that Madam Liu had then been killed by Li Mu He, he relaxed slightly.
The murderer of the imperial envoy had been executed on the spot. That would at least make matters somewhat easier to explain when they returned to the capital.
When he heard that the other side had tried to take Liu Tan Du away but Liu Tan Du had refused to go, suspicion returned to his eyes. He clearly did not quite believe it, but when Fu Fu, Fu Xuan, and Li Mu He all failed to contradict the story, he accepted it somewhat.
He asked, “Then what do we do now?”
The best solution would actually be to let Zhang A Gu have “died of illness.” Then none of them would bear responsibility. But they were not the only people who knew the truth of Zhang A Gu’s death. The Northern Alliance knew as well. If the truth were exposed, the crime of deceiving the sovereign alone would be enough to make all of them suffer dearly.
So telling the truth was the only path left.
The problem was what to do with Liu Tan Du.
Chu Shao Yang knew Zhang A Gu’s mission on this trip had been to escort Liu Tan Du to the capital. But seeing how the Fu family seemed to be standing faintly behind Liu Tan Du made him doubt whether that mission could still be completed.
Without making it obvious, he looked toward Li Mu He.
Li Mu He said, “I can’t beat Young Master Pei.”
…
Chu Shao Yang gave a dry laugh. “Why would you need to fight Young Master Pei when everything is perfectly fine?”
Li Mu He glanced at him, then lowered his head and said nothing.
Chu Shao Yang: “…” Fine. He could be certain now. If they could not deal with the Fu family, they would never be able to take Liu Tan Du away!
And the best way to deal with the Fu family was:
He asked, “Where is Fu Xi Yan?”
Everyone froze and turned in unison toward Pei Yuan Jin in the courtyard.
Pei Yuan Jin remembered the monk who had eaten pungent foods and passed Fu Xi Yan a sachet, and his already cold expression immediately turned even colder.