The Nine-tailed Fox discovers something terrible

Wu Yun clutches his smarting left cheek and glares at Lian Feng. If she had hit him only a few months prior, he would have slapped her twice as hard for the outrage. But he understands how the world works better now, and he knows it's not a good idea to bite the hand that is offered in help, even if that hand has claws.

Lian Feng must regret how badly she lost control, because she opens a smile and tries to smooth over the situation with platitudes. "Forgive me, that was incredibly disrespectful, but that name brings very bad memories for us of Immortal Mountain. I'm deeply ashamed for my actions."

Wu Yun assesses her with a cold look, he wonders what else Lian Feng does when she loses control. He thinks he got off easy with just a slap. He has the impression that many people aren't so lucky.

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you hear that name?" Lian Feng asks, her dainty hand flying to her pale throat to hide her nervous dry swallowing.

A much greater offense than slapping him is that Lian Feng must think him stupid.

He smiles amiably at her. "That's not important, but I'll remember not to bring it up again. We should join the others."

He opens the sliding doors and walks into the other room, where everyone else tries really hard to pretend they weren't trying to listen in on their conversation.

Wu Yun goes to Lan Tian's side, who whispers, "What happened?"

"I'll tell you later," Wu Yun says, whispering back just as quietly.

Lian Feng enters the room with a charming smile, as if nothing unusual has transpired. She walks towards the eastern wall of the room, where a wide cabinet sits besides a fragrant flower arrangement of plum blossoms and pine needles. She opens one of the small drawers and takes out a fine silk pouch.

"These pills have been refined using the root of the rare cadaver flower. It will allow you to pass through the gates of the Underworld undetected." Lian Feng says, spilling the pouch's contents on her palm, to display five dusty red pills.

"These are all the pills we have left," she says, and closes her fist around the pills. "Refining these pills is a very long and arduous process, and as you've seen, after helping you only two pills will remain."

Wu Yun's upper lip curls in distaste. So much for helping friends. "What does the Immortal Mountain sect leader want, in exchange for her help?"

"Oh nothing much, the usual exchange of raw materials so that we might refine more pills and brew more elixirs. Of course, we will be just as willing to share them with the Kunlun mountain clan."

Looking at Lian Feng's self-satisfied smirk, Wu Yun deeply regrets not having slapped her.

"What raw materials does Master Lian want?" Zou Qiao asks, seemingly unbothered by the open greed in Lian Feng's eyes.

"I think for these pills, two phoenix feathers, and a qilin's gallbladder should be sufficient payment." Lian Feng says, as if asking for turnips at the market.

"A gallbladder? Doesn't the qilin need that?" Lan Tian asks, looking from Zou Qiao to Lian Feng.

"Qilins can grow their body parts back," Zou Qiao informs them.

The flippant assurance does nothing to quell the revulsion coiling in Wu Yun's stomach. "You would maim them like that for some pills and elixirs?"

Lian Feng's condescending smile widens. "Would it bother you if I asked for a rabbit's gallbladder? Why is the qilin different from the rabbit? As Zou Qiao said, the process won't harm them in any way."

Wu Yun snarls, showing his sharp canines. "The difference? The difference is that the qilin isn't an animal."

Lian Feng cocks her head to the side, that enigmatic smile never leaves her lips.

Wu Yun understands it then. As much as she plays at politeness, and "friendship", she doesn't consider Beasts people. They're all a collection of valuable body parts to her.

"Would you ask for one of your disciple's gallbladder? Even if they could grow another?" Wu Yun asks, trying to rattle, trying to wipe that awful smile off her cold face.

"Of course I would. Even if they weren't able to grow another one at all. Many sacrifices have been made in the name of medicine and alchemy."

Lu Meng looks at the clenched fists at Wu Yun's sides, coiled with tension and ready to unleash it on someone, and decides to intervene before the situation escapes their control. "We don't need the pills, maybe we can find another way to reach the Underworld."

Lian Feng raises her arms. "Please there's no need to get upset. I understand that our friend found the price too steep. I'm not unreasonable, and as a show of good faith, I'm willing to lower it to only the phoenix feathers."

Zou Qiao intervenes before Wu Yun can tell Lian Feng where she can stuff those feathers. "Sect leader is most kind, we accept."

Lian Feng nods. "Very well. The three of you making the journey to the Underworld need to rest and fast until dusk, before taking the pills. Then I will personally guide you to the gates."

She pulls the string around the pouch and closes it. She walks towards a door leading to the courtyard from where they came. "Allow me to show you to rooms where you can rest."

Wu Yun follows begrudgingly behind her, Lan Tian silent at his side.

---

Lian Feng shows them to separate rooms in the east side of the courtyard. Zou Qiao excuses himself with the pretext of visiting his friends in the sect. Wu Yun only waits for both of them to be out of sight before joining Lan Tian in his room.

"I hate that woman," he says, pacing the small, sparse chamber as Lan Tian rests his head against a wall and watches him.

"Who the fuck does she think she is? You could see it in her eyes, she asked for a qilin's gallbladder like it meant nothing, like that wouldn't mean maiming a sentient creature for an ingredient for her potions!"

"I have the feeling that's not an uncommon mindset," Lan Tian says, remembering Lu Meng's words.

"Doesn't that anger you?" Wu Yun asks, his nostrils flaring.

"It does, but that anger is useless if we don't know what to direct it at." He gets up to his feet and moves towards Wu Yun, stilling his pacing with a gentle hand at his waist. "We still don't know enough about what it means to be a Beast."

"I hate that we have to ask her for help," Wu Yun says with a sigh, some of his anger deflating. "I hate it here."

"What did you say to Lian Feng, when the two of you were alone?"

"She slapped me because I asked if she knew who Ling Yan was," Wu Yun says with a chuckle.

Lan Tian fails to see the humor in that. "She did what?"

He cups Wu Yun's face in his palms, and runs his thumbs over his cheeks, trying to sooth a hurt that's no longer there.

"I must have one of those faces..." Wu Yun says with a shrug, remembering that even Jiang Tanmei couldn't help himself.

"If she touches you again, I'll break every bone in her hands." Lan Tian says, the fire in his amber eyes making it clear that it's no idle threat. "And then I'll feed her her own gallbladder."

That makes Wu Yun let out a dry laugh. He's glad that he's the only one Lan Tian shows this side of himself to. No one else gets to see that under his fine features and melodic voice hides someone capable of such petty violence.

"I'll break the fingers in her left hand, you take the right," he says, smiling up at Lan Tian. "I'm going to have a look around, see what I can find about Ling Yan, stay here and cover for me."

Lan Tian isn't happy about it, but he doesn't try to dissuade Wu Yun. He knows him well enough to know how fruitless that would be. "Be careful," he says, instead of what he really wants to say, which is 'take me with you.'

Wu Yun grins. "When am I not?"

He slips out of the room without a sound.

---

Sneaking around the Immortal Mountain sect grounds is easier than he expected. There are very few disciples around, and he can dodge the ones he sees easily. They are all headed somewhere, either to lessons, weapon's training, or meditation, and there aren't many people in the courtyards.

He follows a path he remembers from his dreams, during the month he was unconscious. He knows this place like the back of his hand, and it isn't long until he finds what he is looking for.

The secluded courtyard where Ling Yan spent so much time alone, sitting on a swing under the weeping willow's crying branches.

He knows he has the right places, a small square of space at the corner of two perpendicular pavilions. However, where the weeping willow should be there's only a patch of scarred earth on which nothing seems to grow.

He touches his fingers to the dead soil, trying to understand what could have happened. A strong wind rustles his hair, making him tighten the fur collar around his neck.

Wu Yun looks around the small courtyard, searching for any signs that might tell him what happened to the weeping willow. Above all he wishes he could find Ling Yan's Shizun and ask him directly. He's an immortal cultivator, it's likely that he's still alive, but he has no idea what he looks like, since he didn't have a chance to see him in his dreams.

He walks around the sect grounds some more, until he sees a small building in the distance. It's away from all other pavilions and seems deserted.

When he enters he realizes it's a memorial chamber. Dozens of funeral plaques rest upon an altar surrounded by incense sticks and food offerings.

He runs his eyes through the names, but none of them spark any recognition. They detail the deceased's name, birth year, and death year, as well as the cause of death. All of them died honorably in their sect's name, if the words in the plaques are to be trusted.

He stops in front of one where the most offerings seem to be gathered.

The plaque reads, "Situ Yi, revered master, killed by his own disciple Ling Yan. Died bravely protecting Immortal Mountain."

---

A.N.: A wild two-character family name appears. They aren't as common today, but were more prevalent in ancient China (loosely defined). I didn't mention this in the chapter where the word first appeared, but shizun is an equivalent for shifu, they both mean master, but shizun is a gender neutral word, while shifu has a male root, despite being used in a gender neutral way. I've read that addressing someone as shizun shows more deference as well, but I just think it sounds really cute.