It took Qi Zhong only a little while to question Song Lei Ming thoroughly. The man was nothing more than a tool obsessed with formations. Because formation arts had fallen into decline, he held the martial path in contempt, and his relationship with Ren Fei Ying had largely been one of exploitation.
Hearing him continue to criticize Ren Fei Ying for his inadequate martial arts and inability to evaluate formations, especially when Ren Fei Ying had traveled all the way to the northern lands for his sake and nearly died far from home, Fu Xi Yan was so angry that he rushed over and thumped Song Lei Ming in the stomach a few times to vent his frustration.
There was not much other useful information to be had.
Song Lei Ming knew very little about Haojing’s grand formation. Before leaving, Zheng Jiao Jiao had promised that if Song Lei Ming held Fu Xi Yan’s group back for three days, he would show him the complete Haojing grand formation.
Although Zheng Jiao Jiao had said three days, Fu Xi Yan and the others did not dare to be so optimistic. It was like taking extra money when buying something expensive, just in case something unexpected arose.
Those three days meant only one thing: Haojing was in imminent danger.
A beast caught in a hunter’s trap would panic and throw itself blindly against the sides, desperate to jump free and often unable to do so. Humans were supposed to be smarter. They could examine their circumstances and figure out how to overtake someone on a bend. Since they had already fallen behind, they ought at least to avoid unnecessary detours.
There was no plan yet, so Fu Xi Yan’s party mounted the horses they had found by a nearby stream and discussed what to do as they traveled.
Whether their enemies were Mo Xiao Ran, Zheng Jiao Jiao, or the two working together, using the iron tower as bait proved that both parties now understood the other’s goal.
One side wanted to establish the formation in hopes of ascending to immortality; the other wanted to dismantle it and save the people. Their purposes were fundamentally opposed, and negotiation was impossible. They would have to fight.
If they arranged their forces by strength, their side had three combatants at or above Martial King level: Jing Luo, Pei Yuan Jin, and Fu Xi Yan.
But Fu Xi Yan knew his limitations. A considerable gap separated him from the other two, so he ought to be put in a category of his own.
As for the others, Hu Yu and Cen Bao En could be discounted. Yan Xie’s strength and loyalties were equally mysterious. If Jin Yuan Xiu really was in Mo Xiao Ran’s hands, Yan Xie could turn against them at any moment; whether he was friend or foe was unknown. Qi Zhong would normally have counted as another useful fighter, but the disciples guarding the perimeter reported that the deputy branch manager, who had originally been overseeing the branch, had left a day earlier after receiving a letter from Jiang Xiu. Qi Zhong therefore had to stay and deal with the aftermath.
Fu Xi Yan was curious about what Jiang Xiu’s letter had said, but he couldn’t spare the attention. He could only console himself that both Mo Xiao Ran and Zheng Jiao Jiao were wading in the muddy waters of Haojing. Even if Pharmacist Jiang was in trouble, surely it would not be beyond his ability to resolve.
On Mo Xiao Ran’s side, even without knowing how many of the Shan-Mo-Da-Yan group were assembled, Mei Xia Ying alone could fight Fu Xi Yan to a standstill. However he calculated it, their chances of winning were not good.
Jing Luo had not yet spoken when Pei Yuan Jin said, “It has never been numbers that decide victory.”
“Then what is it?” Fu Xi Yan asked.
“The people.”
If anyone else had said that, Fu Xi Yan would have thought they were showing off. But Pei Yuan Jin had an actual unbroken string of victories from the Southern Yu martial arts assembly to back it up, making his words extremely convincing.
Fu Xi Yan sighed. “I don’t have any other ideas right now. I just wonder whether we could take a blue buff before reaching Haojing.”
Elio’s Notes: A “blue buff” is a video-game power-up, often associated with replenishing mana or shortening ability cooldowns. Fu Xi Yan wants a quick boost before facing the next major enemy.
“What is this ‘blue ba-fu’?” Yan Xie asked. “Is it a new medicinal herb?”
Only then did Fu Xi Yan remember they still had an unactivated potential traitor among them. He suddenly asked, “If my mother really is in Mo Xiao Ran’s hands and he threatens you to make you fight me, will you?”
“Of course,” Yan Xie answered without hesitation.
Fu Xi Yan: “…” There were plenty of infuriating people in the world, but one quite this infuriating was rare.
After a pause, Yan Xie added, “Though that’s unlikely. At most he’d ask me to remain neutral.”
“Why?”
“I’m a member of the Yan family. Yan Ke is actually my uncle. He never liked me asking about the No-Return Sect. In the past, he taught me only medicine. My martial arts have nothing to do with the No-Return Sect,” Yan Xie explained. “Mo Xiao Ran was on friendly terms with my uncle, so out of consideration for him, he wouldn’t drag me into too much trouble.”
Fu Xi Yan felt a lump in his throat, terrified that yet another person was about to emerge from Shan-Mo-Da-Yan. “Where is your uncle now?”
“Some of his personal effects were delivered here over ten years ago. I suppose he’s dead,” Yan Xie said with a mournful sigh. “If he hadn’t gone, I wouldn’t have started traveling alone as a physician, and I wouldn’t have met your mother.”
“Do you count as a member of the No-Return Sect?” Fu Xi Yan asked curiously.
Yan Xie chuckled. “You think the No-Return Sect still exists? It vanished long ago. What survives is only its ambition, springing up again like grass after a wildfire.”
“What’s the relationship between Mo Xiao Ran and Zheng Jiao Jiao like?”
“Monk Shan thinks he’s the senior martial brother and should inherit everything in the sect. Mo Xiao Ran considers himself extraordinarily talented and looks down on everyone. Naturally, those two cannot stand each other. But…”
He paused, clearly inviting further questions. Fu Xi Yan obligingly played along. “But what?”
“My uncle said something interesting long ago. He said, some people think they’re clever and a step ahead, but they’re actually cicadas. Some truly are clever and use someone else’s blade to do the killing. Others sit on the mountain to watch two tigers fight, hoping to be the fisherman who profits. The pity is me. I’m not clever at all and only want a peaceful life, yet people obstruct me at every turn.”
…
Fu Xi Yan asked earnestly, “Did your uncle provide annotations when he said that?”
“Annotations for what?”
“Which people were those ‘some people’?”
“No,” Yan Xie said matter-of-factly. “Without annotations, those words can never be proved wrong.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Yan Ke had wasted his talents by becoming a divine physician. He should have set up a banner proclaiming “Infallible Predictions” and spent his days wishing people boundless wealth and happy marriages. That would have made the fullest possible use of his abilities.
The party had spent half a day trapped in the formation and were already hungry. After traveling all night beneath the stars and moon, they happened upon a village just awakening in the early light and stopped to buy breakfast from a farming household.
At their level of cultivation, going without sleep for a few days was no great hardship. After eating and meditating briefly, they were vigorous again.
Seeing Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin still behaving sweetly toward each other over breakfast, Yan Xie suddenly felt a little wistful. “I wasn’t even there to attend your wedding.”
Fu Xi Yan stared at him blankly for a moment before understanding. Speechless, he finally said, “My mother didn’t attend either. Isn’t it perfectly normal that you weren’t there?”
Yan Xie still had something to say, but Fu Xi Yan shoved away his bowl, wiped his mouth, and urged everyone to get moving.
Once he was actually on his horse, though, he tried to reassure them. “I’ve left someone keeping watch in Haojing. If the iron tower really goes up in the city, I’ll be notified.”
Just as he said this, an “aiya, aiya” cry came from above.
They looked up and saw Fu Gui Gui flapping her wings as she flew past over their heads, utterly oblivious to the people below.
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Once he had time, he would think about how to make glass. Whether the problem was nearsightedness or farsightedness, he had to get his daughter a pair of spectacles. Surely there was some distance at which she could actually see.
Even as this thought ran through his head, he had already taken off running after Fu Gui Gui, shouting as he went. By the time he finally called her down, his voice had gone from full of life to half-dead.
Fu Gui Gui was delighted to see him. She hopped and bounced and played around… until Fu Xi Yan gave her a swat and made her settle down.
“Did Wei Li Ming send you?”
He had entrusted Fu Gui Gui to Wei Li Ming when he left Haojing. Since their trip to the northern lands, Fu Xi Yan had learned that she wasn’t good at finding people but was uncannily accurate when it came to finding places.
This time she had not disappointed him.
Fu Gui Gui tilted her head toward him and stretched her beak down to her neck.
Fu Xi Yan reached into her fluffy feathers and found a silk pouch hanging around her neck. He opened it and found only two characters: Return quickly. He was rather speechless. This wasn’t a telegram charged by the character. They already had a courier; a few extra words wouldn’t weigh any more.
All joking aside, he knew Wei Li Ming would only have written those two characters if the situation in Haojing had become dire. He immediately regrouped with Fu Gui Gui, Pei Yuan Jin, and the others. They abandoned even their horses and hurried onward using lightness skills.
It was not that Wei Li Ming had never considered writing more. When he put brush to paper, however, he realized nothing he could add would convey more urgency than those two characters.
Before Vermilion Bird Gate, a pitch-black iron tower was being assembled higher and higher, level after level. Soon it rose above every building in the imperial palace and became the tallest structure in the city.
Not far from the tower, three overseers sat at a cooling-tea stall.
Zheng Jiao Jiao and Mo Xiao Ran occupied one table; the old man sat alone at another.
“It’s been a long time since we martial brothers gathered,” Zheng Jiao Jiao said. “Why not sit together?”
The old man shook his head. “I’ve just betrayed Scholar Mo. Right now he hates me to the bone. I can’t give him a chance to kill me.”
Zheng Jiao Jiao laughed, as though he found that amusing, though a barely perceptible mockery lurked beneath it. “You two always got along well. Surely you won’t fall out over something so trivial.”
“I don’t consider it trivial,” Mo Xiao Ran said.
The old man nodded too. “Indeed, it’s not trivial.”
“Heaven’s unfairness has made small things into great ones,” Zheng Jiao Jiao said. “Once I break through my shackles, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Soul Formation will come one after another. Look back then, and it will seem trivial again.”
“Perhaps.” Mo Xiao Ran seemed uninterested in the splendid future he described and was more concerned about the tower’s position. “This is very close to the palace.”
“Absorbing dragon qi is an important part of the formation as well,” Zheng Jiao Jiao replied.
Mo Xiao Ran’s lips moved slightly, but he only lowered his head and sipped his tea.
“Victory is clearly in sight, yet I feel uneasy,” Zheng Jiao Jiao said.
Mo Xiao Ran didn’t appear to care about his feelings. But Zheng Jiao Jiao kept staring at him as though he would turn into a stone sculpture waiting for his martial brother if he didn’t answer. Mo Xiao Ran finally asked casually, “Really?”
“I’ve thought it over and over, and only you prevent me from feeling at ease.” Zheng Jiao Jiao’s face was long to begin with; now that it had fallen, it seemed longer still.
Mo Xiao Ran glanced sideways at the old man. “He’s here too.”
After a short silence, Zheng Jiao Jiao said, “Will you swear upon your three hun to help me achieve Golden Core and do nothing against my interests?”
“What if I refuse?”
Zheng Jiao Jiao looked at him seriously. “Then I’ll have no choice but to kill you before entering the formation.”
Not far away—
Dong!
The last piece of the iron tower had been installed. The tower was complete.