Once the affairs in Haojing were settled, Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin finally found time to return to Immortal Treasury Palace. They had been running all over the country for so long that they wanted to see home again. They also wanted to congratulate Pei Xiong Ji and the elders on the great joy of advancing to the Golden Core Stage.
But while they were still on the road, word came from Mount Fujun that Jing Luo had resigned and left.
Fu Xi Yan was shocked. He and Pei Yuan Jin hurried toward Mount Fujun, where a combined celebration and farewell banquet was already under way. Since the two arrived dusty from their travels, the banquet also became a welcome-home feast.
Fu Xi Yan made the rounds toasting everyone. When he reached Jing Luo, a thousand things crowded his mind and he could find no words. Jing Luo gently encouraged him a few times, helping him recover enough to ask about the steward’s future plans.
Jing Luo smiled openly. “In the end, I’m a man of the jianghu. Where else would a man of the jianghu go but back to the jianghu?”
“Immortal Treasury Palace is part of the jianghu too.”
“I’ve stayed at Immortal Treasury Palace for too long. If I remain any longer, I won’t be able to leave.” His eyes held memory and regret, but above all, the resolve of someone who intended to depart and never look back.
Fu Xi Yan’s chest tightened. “Then don’t leave,” he said instinctively.
“When people follow different paths, they eventually have to part. But perhaps someday our paths will converge again.” Jing Luo paused and smiled. “My path is the Dao of Artifacts. Surrounded by all you martial cultivators, I’ve always been rather out of place. Besides, there are so many palace affairs to handle that as long as I’m on Mount Fujun, I can’t stand aside from them. Better for me to leave and seek my own Dao.”
After that, it was hard to keep trying to persuade him.
Many others came to offer Jing Luo toasts after Fu Xi Yan. Even Yi Jue, who avoided speaking whenever possible, offered a blessing. The scene was lively and crowded, yet the song When the Performance Ends, Everyone Scatters kept circling through Fu Xi Yan’s mind.
After the banquet, Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin were walking back to their room when Fu Xi Yan suddenly said, “Are we really just going to let Chief Steward Jing leave like that?”
The two stopped at the same instant and looked at one another. They had never discussed what either of them thought about Jing Luo, yet at that moment they seemed to understand each other perfectly.
Fu Xi Yan cleared his throat. “How about we write what we’re thinking in each other’s palms and see whether we have the same idea?”
“All right.”
They each opened a hand and held it out to the other.
Fu Xi Yan confidently wrote the character da, “great.” Pei Yuan Jin wrote…
What?
Fu Xi Yan widened his eyes and leaned closer to inspect the complicated strokes.
Pei Yuan Jin said flatly, “Jiang, as in Great General. Just writing da could mean Great Uncle, Great Aunt… or Big Wife.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…” Could he at least look somewhere else when saying those last two words?
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Actually, even if that really is who he is, I don’t mind.”
Immortal Treasury Palace had fought the Puppet Path because Mo Xiao Ran treated human lives as worthless and had committed countless crimes. But the Great General’s existence was nothing more than hearsay. No specific evil deeds could be attributed to him. There was no need to see an enemy behind every tree.
After a pause, Pei Yuan Jin added, “Yan Ke was also a disciple of the No-Return Sect, and he saved countless lives.”
Fu Xi Yan opened his mouth, then laughed at himself. “Once bitten, twice shy.” Yan Ke had spoken so highly of the Great General that Fu Xi Yan was frightened they might be facing another demonic monster on Mo Xiao Ran’s level.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Mo Xiao Ran is dead now.”
Fu Xi Yan muttered, “Thanks to Palace Master Pei making sure of it.”
Pei Yuan Jin glanced at him coolly and said nothing, merely kept staring. The moonlight was cold as water, but it was not nearly as chilling as his gaze.
Fu Xi Yan cleared his throat. “Shall we discuss it with your father?” So many television dramas ran to forty or fifty episodes because the characters never communicated. The villains exploited the information gaps to make trouble. Fu Xi Yan intended to nip that possibility in the bud.
Pei Yuan Jin frowned unhappily. But something apparently occurred to him, and to Fu Xi Yan’s surprise, he relented. “Very well.”
Fu Xi Yan seized the chance and went with him to find Pei Xiong Ji. But Pei Xiong Ji was not in his room. Fu Xi Yan was still wondering where the man could have gone in the middle of the night when Pei Yuan Jin led him toward the back mountain.
As soon as they entered the forest, the white tiger rushed out. Its thick, soft fur felt wonderful to the touch and reminded Fu Xi Yan of Fu Gui Gui, whom he had left in Qi Zhong’s care.
Fu Xi Yan said, “Come to think of it, when Qi Zhong brought Chu Shao Yang to ask for help, he didn’t bring Fu Gui Gui along.”
Pei Yuan Jin raised an eyebrow, apparently waiting for the rest.
“Otherwise,” Fu Xi Yan said with a sigh as he stroked the furry white tiger, “we wouldn’t have forgotten it when we came back.”
Pei Yuan Jin: “…”
In fact, he had not forgotten at all. He simply had not wanted the bird along. After a year of rushing from place to place, he and Fu Xi Yan had barely had time alone. Now that they finally had a chance, why would they bring a bird to spoil the atmosphere? Besides, the Shaanxi branch served good food. Fu Gui Gui would hardly be neglected.
Fu Xi Yan stroked the tiger’s head as it burrowed into his arms. “Son, you’re about to have a little sister. Are you excited?”
The white tiger looked up at him with bewildered eyes.
Fu Xi Yan kneaded its cheeks. “I knew you’d be happy! In the future, your little sister can take you flying.”
The white tiger tilted its head, clearly not quite understanding.
After playing with the tiger for a while, Fu Xi Yan followed Pei Yuan Jin farther into the woods. Seven or eight zhang later, he caught the faint scent of something roasting. Looking carefully, he saw Pei Xiong Ji grilling birds over a campfire.
“Tsk. You always wait until I’ve finished cooking before you show up.” Pei Xiong Ji gave Pei Yuan Jin a meaningful look.
Pei Yuan Jin pulled Fu Xi Yan down to sit beside him without the slightest politeness. “Would you rather we waited until you’d eaten everything?”
Pei Xiong Ji snorted. He tore off a bird’s leg for Fu Xi Yan and handed his own son the neck, then grabbed the bird and began eating heartily.
Pei Yuan Jin held the bird’s neck without eating it and asked with studied nonchalance, “Are you feeling bad because Chief Steward Jing is leaving?”
Pei Xiong Ji sighed. “We’ve been old friends for so many years.”
While father and son talked, Fu Xi Yan made himself invisible and concentrated on eating his bird leg. The first bite nearly brought tears to his eyes. Delicious food really was the best medicine for an aching heart.
Pei Yuan Jin continued, “Once Chief Steward Jing is gone, you’ll have to manage all of Immortal Treasury Palace yourself.”
Pei Xiong Ji’s face visibly darkened. After thinking for a moment, he fixed his eyes on Pei Yuan Jin. Without looking up, Pei Yuan Jin said, “I’ve married into the Count Yongfeng household. I’ll be staying in Haojing as a live-in son-in-law from now on. I won’t have time to come back.”
“Cough! Cough, cough…”
Seeing Fu Xi Yan choking so badly, Pei Yuan Jin hurried to pat his back and help him breathe.
Watching them, Pei Xiong Ji found, for the first time in his life, that fragrant roasted bird tasted bitter. “Then why did you bother coming back?” he snapped.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “To tell you a story.”
…
Could it be a love story?
Pei Xiong Ji looked from his son to his son’s husband. He had good reason to suspect that the pair had stayed up half the night simply to come and stuff their old father full of displays of affection.
Before he could object, Pei Yuan Jin began. He started with the false tower that had lured them away from Haojing.
At first, Pei Xiong Ji did not think much of the tale. But the longer he listened, the more wrong it began to sound.
Pei Yuan Jin had never liked talking. As a storyteller, he offered neither sparkling wit nor a flowing narrative, not even a proper beginning, development, or conclusion. Pei Xiong Ji’s whole face wrinkled up, wearing the expression of an elderly man confronted with a smartphone.
Fu Xi Yan wanted to add a few details and help him out, but Pei Yuan Jin spoke too quickly. By the time Fu Xi Yan had prepared what to say, the tale was already over.
Pei Xiong Ji frowned. “You suspect Jing Luo is connected to the Great General of the No-Return Sect?”
By the time he asked, he had already prepared a dozen arguments. A person’s origins did not determine whether he was a hero. There was no evidence Jing Luo had ever belonged to the No-Return Sect, and even if he had, why should it matter so long as he had done nothing wicked?
But Pei Yuan Jin said, “If the No-Return Sect ever causes trouble in the jianghu again, it will mean your judgment of people was faulty. I ask Father to take responsibility for his own choices and personally clean up the mess.”
Only then did Fu Xi Yan understand why Pei Yuan Jin had been so enthusiastic about coming to warn his father.
Pei Xiong Ji understood too. Both annoyed and amused, he asked, “My judgment of people is faulty?”
Pei Yuan Jin slowly pronounced a name. “Ban Qing Yu.”
Pei Xiong Ji froze. He glanced instinctively at Fu Xi Yan before explaining awkwardly, “When I discussed marriage with Hu Luo Luo back then, Ban Qing Yu was still little. All I could see was that she’d grow into a beauty.”
Pei Yuan Jin continued, “Wen Ping.”
Pei Xiong Ji opened his mouth. “The Northern Alliance only colluded with Borrowing from All Living Beings after the marriage was proposed.”
“Zhao Tong Qu.”
“Zhao Tong Qu and this marriage of yours…” Halfway through his explanation, Pei Xiong Ji suddenly realized what was wrong and stopped. By then, Pei Yuan Jin had already taken Fu Xi Yan away.
Clutching the roasted bird that was growing cold, Pei Xiong Ji paused for a long time before laughing and cursing, “You little brat.”
* * *
News of Jing Luo’s departure from Immortal Treasury Palace spread swiftly through the jianghu. Many people speculated eagerly about where he might have gone. But once he descended Mount Fujun, he seemed to vanish from the world, leaving no trace of his movements.
Only on the day Shou Nan Shan advanced to the Golden Core Stage did an escort agency deliver a congratulatory gift in Jing Luo’s name. The escorts had merely been hired to make the delivery and knew nothing about their employer’s whereabouts.
Several other joyous occasions later took place on Mount Fujun. Every time, a gift arrived from Jing Luo, but Jing Luo himself never appeared. Over the years, Immortal Treasury Palace grew accustomed to treating these presents as its only proof that he was alive and well.
* * *
Deep within a forest, a great clearing had once been cut from the trees and more than a hundred buildings erected. At its height, the sect had over a thousand disciples, and the grounds swarmed with busy people. Later, internal strife and foreign enemies brought the place to ruin.
Few people in the jianghu still remembered that this forest had once housed the No-Return Sect, supreme among the unorthodox powers.
But today, movement had returned to the decaying stronghold.
A dozen or so people wearing masks and black clothes cautiously filed into the central ceremonial hall. Someone was seated inside, likewise dressed in black but crowned in jade. His mask was carved from white jade as well, setting him apart from all the others.
After they had all entered, the door was closed. Torches provided the room’s only light.
The white-jade-masked man surveyed them. “The Ghostshadow Organization is no more. From today onward, you are disciples of my Asura Dao.”
All of them had once belonged to the Ghostshadow Organization. After it was disbanded, members who had committed crimes faced punishment. With nowhere else to go, they had taken refuge with the white-jade-masked man.
They did not know his identity, but his martial arts were unfathomably profound. The newcomers trusted him completely and knelt without hesitation, shouting, “We greet the Sect Master!”
The masked man pointed to three memorial tablets nearby. “These are your three martial uncles. They are also the sect’s Guardian Elders.”
This was the first time anyone had heard of guardian elders who protected a sect from the afterlife. After a moment’s bewilderment, they kowtowed to the tablets. One person grew curious and secretly raised his head to read the names. There were Zheng Jiao Jiao, Mo Xiao Ran…
The white-jade-masked man seemed to notice and glanced over calmly. Everyone lowered their heads in fright, not daring to peek again.
The masked man declared, “Those who enter my sect must follow three rules. First, do not betray your teachers or destroy your ancestors. Second, do not harm fellow disciples. Third, do not indiscriminately kill the innocent.”
Those… weren’t those the rules of an orthodox sect?
Just as the newcomers began to hesitate, the white-jade-masked man stood up. “Anyone who breaks them will be killed without mercy.”
Everyone immediately became models of willing obedience.