How could it be the Jade Beauty? Could it really be the Jade Beauty?
Ren Yijue’s thoughts went blank, and for a moment he could not respond at all. Fortunately, Jing Pu seemed to have anticipated this. He did not press him for an answer on the spot, but walked away to leave him in peace, setting the little pinwheel on a dead tree and staring as it turned.
In the whirring of the pinwheel, Jing Pu could almost hear his parents laughing as they coaxed him to play. Though those memories had grown blurred, there were mornings when he woke barely able to remember his father’s or mother’s face.
But the little pinwheels and tops stained with blood were things Jing Pu could never forget.
After a long time, Ren Yijue spoke. “Lord Pu, you were very young then. Could it be that…?”
“You want to ask whether I might have mistaken the person, don’t you?”
Ren Yijue was silent. Jing Pu did not take offense. “Of course I’ve worried about that, and more than you ever could. If I spent decades hating the wrong person and took revenge on someone innocent, wouldn’t it be the height of absurdity?”
After that, the likelihood of a mistake seemed very small. Before Ren Yijue could say anything, Jing Pu added, “If you don’t believe me, you can see for yourself.”
“See for myself?” Ren Yijue asked, perplexed. “How?”
Jing Pu replied coldly, “When I was young, watching my parents die left me plagued by nightmares. I suffered terribly and grew thinner by the day. My adoptive mother couldn’t bear it, so she found a dream-eating mo beast to consume my dreams. The nightmares condensed into a pearl, which I’ve treasured ever since. If you wish, you can look inside.”
As he finished speaking, he held out a black pearl.
Thick mist churned within it, and the faint shape of a green mountain was visible. Ren Yijue considered for a moment, then slowly accepted the pearl into his palm, closed his eyes, and immersed his spiritual consciousness in it.
Darkness fell over his sight. When Ren Yijue raised his head, all around was lush grass as tall as trees. Alarmed, he tried to move and found his body writhing in a wholly unfamiliar way. Only then did he remember he was inside Jing Pu’s dream.
Naturally, to a tiny snake slithering through grass and flowers, the world would look this way.
Ren Yijue played for a while among the grasses. Suddenly the sky darkened, and for no reason he understood, dread and urgency overwhelmed him. He slithered desperately toward the mountain. Dreams held no physical pain, yet Ren Yijue felt wave upon wave of anxiety that burned like fire.
He knew the dream was formed from what Jing Pu had seen and thought: a desperate wish to prevent his parents’ deaths.
A thunderclap suddenly boomed in the clear sky, nearly frightening Ren Yijue out of his wits. Turning sharply at the sound, he spotted a corpse among the grass. The man was utterly unfamiliar, yet he felt a rush of warmth and affection toward him. This must be Jing Pu’s father, Silver-Ring Sheng.
Silver-Ring Sheng’s dead face was twisted, with traces of fear and worry still upon it. Ren Yijue’s chest tightened. As his little body twisted, he instinctively lifted his head and saw a yellow-clad woman lying some distance away, soaked in blood. She faced him, her chest heaving rapidly; plainly she had little breath left.
As Ren Yijue looked at her, her eyes suddenly opened wide. She stared straight at him in utter shock and despair. Her lips moved soundlessly. Then, despite injuries that had brought her to the brink of death, she forced herself to stand again.
Blood trickled from beneath the Golden Buddha Maiden’s skirt. She cried mournfully, “Imm… Immortal Lord…”
Ren Yijue heard a wet rattle in her throat, as if bubbles were swelling there, and knew blood foam was rising. The Golden Buddha Maiden’s wounds were so grave that she would die even if no one struck her again. He heard her plead, “I have a beloved child. I cannot stop worrying about him. I cannot bear to leave him. Please… please show mercy… let me settle him somewhere safe… then… then I will return to accept death…”
At that moment Ren Yijue heard a voice more familiar than almost any other. “You think you deserve that?”
Unlike Jing Pu’s voice, brimming with venomous hatred as he had repeated those words, Qian Xuelang’s held not the faintest trace of joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure. There was neither contempt nor murderous intent in it. He sounded as though he were stating a fact.
Then Ren Yijue saw the Golden Buddha Maiden fly lightly toward him and fall heavily to the ground. She was already dying; this had only brought the end a moment sooner. Her tear-filled eyes gazed at him with love and pity. Her head tilted slightly, and she died.
Ren Yijue stared at her. He felt as though tears were rolling in his eyes, but no matter what he did, he could not cry. His mind was empty, stripped of all thought.
All he could see was the Golden Buddha Maiden’s loving gaze, seeming to look at him forever. Even as the light faded from her eyes, she would not close them.
Ren Yijue’s chest ached so fiercely that he felt he had died with her. There was no longer anyone in the world who loved him, no one who cared whether he lived or died. Hatred and fury surged through him, and he could not help raising his head.
At last he saw the enemy’s face: a figure he knew all too well.
Snow-white robes, an indifferent face. Qian Xuelang lowered his gaze to him, as tranquil as still water, as though he had merely passed by rather than incurred another debt of blood.
He spared the small snake just one glance, utterly unmoved, regarding the love and hatred of the mortal world as beneath his notice.
Ren Yijue watched Qian Xuelang walk past at an unhurried pace. The wind stirred the hems of his robes, spreading that white cloth through the world like a length of mourning silk, like a desolate funeral banner.
Even the wind seemed to possess more compassion than he did.
It truly was the Jade Beauty himself.
The dream ended there. Ren Yijue withdrew his spiritual consciousness and returned the dream pearl to Jing Pu. He closed his eyes and endured the ache swelling in his chest. A long time passed before he recovered himself.
“Well?” Jing Pu asked. “Did you see his true face?”
Ren Yijue’s head felt ready to split. Pressing a hand to his forehead, he suddenly asked, “Lord Pu, were you the one who placed a bounty with Elder Silkworm for news of the Jade Beauty’s whereabouts?”
“Yes, it was me,” Jing Pu said coldly. “When I saw him that day, I nearly forgot everything else and missed the trail of you both. So I sought out Mister Huanqing and Elder Silkworm, learned what had happened to you, and asked Elder Silkworm to watch for you.”
Ren Yijue no longer had the heart for jokes.
Jing Pu’s dream ruled out the possibility that he had been deceived or framed. The nightmare had originated in Jing Pu’s childhood. The Jade Beauty descended the mountain only once every ten years and disliked associating with people. How could Jing Pu have dreamed of him this way unless he had truly seen him as a child?
“The Jade Beauty cultivates the Emotionless Dao, but he is no cruel and bloodthirsty man.” Ren Yijue raised a hand to stop Jing Pu from speaking, his face grave. “You need say no more. I saw the scene in your dream with my own eyes, and I felt the anguish in your heart as though it were my own.”
“And even so, you still hope that man is innocent?” Jing Pu asked.
“It isn’t that I’m clinging to false hope. I simply think there’s something unusual about this. In your pain you’ve overlooked one thing. The Jade Beauty clearly saw you at the end. If he killed both your parents, why didn’t he kill you too? That shows he doesn’t kill the innocent.”
Jing Pu was momentarily speechless. He had spent years believing the killer had merely considered him beneath notice. Now that Ren Yijue had raised another possibility, he could not honestly rule it out.
Seeing him remain reasonably calm, Ren Yijue continued, “Suppose someone deliberately set the Jade Beauty against your parents. Wouldn’t the true instigator be more reprehensible still? Fighting the Jade Beauty would only serve that person’s wishes.”
“What are you suggesting?”
Ren Yijue explained patiently, “You’ve already contacted Elder Silkworm and Huanqing, so you must know I’ve just returned from Daihai…”
He briefly told Jing Pu what had happened to Shui Wuchen, tapping his fan against his palm. “Sixty years later, the hidden mastermind can still kill witnesses and manipulate everyone involved. If Shui Wuchen’s husband, Jiufang Ce, hadn’t risked everything to protect her, she might long ago have died under an unjust accusation. Do you truly want to avenge a blood feud this deep without knowing how it began? Without asking why?”
Jing Pu faltered, hesitating for the first time. “Did that really happen?”
“If you don’t believe me, we can ask Elder Silkworm together,” Ren Yijue said. “And if you still have doubts, we can go to Daihai ourselves. A blood case from sixty-one years ago can hardly have been invented by someone my age.”
Jing Pu shook his head, his expression resolute. “There’s no need. I believe you. In that case, for your sake I’ll meet him, hear what happened from beginning to end, and decide what to do afterward.”
Ren Yijue watched Jing Pu’s hatred give way to uncertainty, and he was quietly delighted by his growing calm. Fortunately Lord Pu is reasonable, and the Jade Beauty is no indiscriminate killer. There must be more to the story. If they can talk it through, nothing could be better.
But then…
A new worry seized Ren Yijue. Master never said anything bad about the Golden Buddha and Silver Ring couple, but they were terribly poisonous. Perhaps they killed many people. If the Jade Beauty was carrying out Heaven’s justice, I couldn’t blame him. But how would I comfort Lord Pu? If that’s what happened, perhaps I could mediate. If the Jade Beauty offered a few kind words, Lord Pu might let go of his determination to avenge them… I might not be able to reconcile them, but perhaps I can keep them from fighting.
As they hurried back, Jing Pu suddenly asked, “Cangyuan, you trust him so much and take his side. Have you developed feelings for him?”
His eyes became a snake’s in the demonic qi. His vertical pupils stared coldly at Ren Yijue, sending a shiver down his back.
Ren Yijue laughed. “What an odd question. Don’t I take your side too? Don’t I trust you? Does that mean I have no feelings for you? You think I’m devoting all my thoughts to the Jade Beauty, silly Lord Pu, but consider this: if you poured out your hatred on the wrong person and became someone else’s pawn, would you feel any better when you learned the truth?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ren Yijue felt his heart skip a beat and an inexplicable guilt. It was like telling a small lie as a child: even if his master had not scolded him, he would toss and turn all night for fear of being found out. Now a thin film of sweat dampened his palms.
Jing Pu’s expression gradually eased. Remembering how hatred had distorted his thinking, he felt a little embarrassed. “Yes… you feared I’d chosen the wrong enemy because you were concerned for me. I misunderstood. Please don’t take offense.”
Ren Yijue smiled. “Why speak so formally between friends?”
Jing Pu smiled too, then asked, “I nearly forgot. Why have you been traveling with this man?”
Ren Yijue was lost for words. There seemed to be ten thousand things to say, yet they still could not encompass everything between him and the Jade Beauty. After a long silence, he forced a wry smile. “Nothing much. We merely… have something each of us wants from the other.”
Jing Pu took his vague answer as a sign that Ren Yijue could not disclose more, and asked, “Has this man done you a favor?”
A favor? He’s saved my life several times over.
Ren Yijue nearly said it aloud but forced himself to hold back. “Why do you ask? Is something wrong?”
Jing Pu studied him closely and said evenly, “This is a blood feud. If there’s some instigator behind it, that settles matters. But if there isn’t, you’ll be caught between us. How could you not be torn? I don’t want to put you in that position.”
Ren Yijue could find no words. After a long while he said softly, “Don’t worry about that. I have my own plans.”