Chapter 48: A Cure

Zhou Fei instinctively reached for the sabre at her waist in alarm, but came up empty – only then did she remember that Skies Shatter was still lodged firmly in Feng Wuyan's corpse.

Mu Xiaoqiao glanced at her coolly, pressing his hands on the strings of his lute to silence it and springing lightly off his treetop perch. Ambling through this corpse-strewn clearing, he gave a cursory glance at the many bodies lying on the ground, before turning to Zhou Fei and saying familiarly: "Did Yin Pei manage to escape in the end? Were you the one who killed Feng Wuyan?"

Zhou Fei opened her mouth, but her throat was still a little sore from her injuries, making it difficult to speak.

Mu Xiaoqiao tsked loudly as he extricated Skies Shatter from Feng Wuyan's back. He pulled out a silk handkerchief from within his robes and started to meticulously wipe the blood off its hilt and blade.

"Skies…Shatter." Mu Xiaoqiao read the inscription on the blade out loud. He cocked his head to one side as he pondered this: "Sounds familiar, is it yours?"

Given the advancements that Zhou Fei had made in the Snow-Breaking Sabre, she shouldn't need to fear Mu Xiaoqiao. But she was now seriously injured, and he was holding her sabre…she was clearly at a disadvantage.

To her great surprise, however, Mu Xiaoqiao simply tossed Skies Shatter over to her.

Zhou Fei got to her feet and caught it with one hand, heaving an internal sigh of relief. It was only when she had the solid heft of her sabre in her hand did she feel like both of her feet were securely on the ground once more. She looked this erstwhile fiend of the Mountain of the Living Dead over with slight suspicion, unsure of what he was up to this time.

"You needn't be so nervous." Mu Xiaoqiao flipped Feng Wuyan's corpse over with his foot to examine it closely, while saying to her: "I don't kill women."

Zhou Fei didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this incredible declaration. Clearing her throat with some difficulty, she said hoarsely: "You might as well have said that you're an animal-loving tree-hugger."

Mu Xiaoqiao didn't appear offended by this at all, as he said candidly: "I'm not lying. I really don't kill women. I only kill men – and people who are hideous. Unattractive women aren't considered women in my book, so I have no qualms about killing them."

Zhou Fei had no words. A person who was capable of saying that had to be seriously off in the head. But then on second thought, she concluded that this wasn't really so inconceivable after all. Mu Xiaoqiao had always been known for being an amoral monster, who'd never listened to reason, bullied the weak, slaughtered innocents indiscriminately, and basically killed whenever it caught his fancy. While he might say that ugly women weren't considered women today, he could very well change his mind tomorrow and deem girls below the age of twenty not women, and then those above the age of fifty the day after that – it was all up to him anyway, as it simply came down to who he wished to kill at that particular point in time.

People tended to apply the highest of standards when judging the behaviour of revered saints like the Sword of Mountains and Rivers: if they made even the smallest of missteps, they would be deemed unworthy of their sterling reputations, and be lambasted for hypocrisy. But people were much more magnanimous towards Mu Xiaoqiao and those of his vile ilk, for as long as these fiends didn't go around killing everyone in sight…or as long as this violence was directed at others instead, they could sometimes even find something perversely charming about these villains.

Zhou Fei was no exception, as she very quickly overlooked Mu Xiaoqiao's offensive rule, and asked: "It has been a long time since the Vermillion Bird Lord was last seen – what business might you have here today?"

Tucking an errant lock of hair behind his ear, Mu Xiaoqiao said: "I came to take a gander at that Iron-Faced Devil. People say that this youngster is in fact Yin Pei, and that he carries the scabbard of the Sword of Mountains and Rivers with him?"

Zhou Fei said: "That's right."

Mu Xiaoqiao continued: "This affair isn't any of my business really, but that old hag from the Feathercloud Troupe had lent me a hand back in Yongzhou City, and while she isn't of much use to me, I refuse to owe anything to anyone, so I decided to come here and help her in return."

Madame Cirrus had appeared in Yongzhou to vie for the Seal of Propriety – why would that be considered 'lending Mu Xiaoqiao a hand'? And why had she joined in to trap Yin Pei this time?

While Mu Xiaoqiao's words didn't quite make sense, they clearly hinted at those myriad secrets still unknown to her.

Zhou Fei decided to try her luck: "Apologies for my ignorance, but I don't understand…how exactly did you help Madame Cirrus?"

Mu Xiaoqiao shot her a wry look: "Ask whatever it is you want to ask. I don't care about any so-called vows of secrecy related to that agreement or pledge or whatever you want to call it – I'll say whatever I wish to say."

Zhou Fei had never been inclined to slyly beat around the bush, so she immediately complied: "So you too were one of the witnesses to 'Sea Blends Into Sky'."

"That's right," said Mu Xiaoqiao.

Zhou Fei said: "Madame Cirrus said that 'Sea Blends Into Sky' doesn't actually contain any treasures, and is just an agreement of sorts."

"An agreement between fools," said Mu Xiaoqiao. "As neither side trusted the other, they found several witnesses who would benefit from both sides. Take me for example – one side agreed to help me uncover the identity of one of my enemies, while the other promised to help me leave the Mountain of the Living Dead for good."

Realization dawned on Zhou Fei – that must also have been the case for Elder Yu and the former head of Mingfeng Tower. As they had both been poisoned by Bone-Deep Frost back then, one side had given them the 'Sun-Returning Pill', while the other had given them a place to retire to in safety.

No wonder the former Master of the 48 Zhai Li Zheng had taken Mingfeng Tower in against everyone's objections.

Zhou Fei asked: "So this agreement was…"

"To keep the secret of 'Sea Blends Into Sky'," said Mu Xiaoqiao. "Don't look at me like that – you can look at me all you want but it won't be any use. This secret has never been leaked, so even I don't know what it is. Those keeping this secret were figures of great prominence, making it impossible for them to run away, whereas us witnesses hailed from the underworld of the central plains, assassins and the like, lurking in the darkness. This meant that we were able to keep an eye on these parties to ensure that none leaked the secret, while also ensuring that they weren't killed by the other side to silence them…like a broker of sorts, understand?"

Zhou Fei lowered her head to ponder this tangled web.

"The water ripple diagram was meant to be used as a last resort by the parties to this secret. Should the other side try to kill them, the party in danger could entrust their token engraved with this diagram to their assigned witness, through special channels that they had agreed on. Apparently when all of these tokens are assembled, the secret of 'Sea Blends Into Sky' can still be pieced together, even if all of the parties to this secret have died," said Mu Xiaoqiao. "But in the many years that have since passed, none of these parties have leaked it. They have instead appeared to die from other causes, which can't quite be considered as being silenced. So it really is high time for this entire affair to come to a close. And it doesn't matter if others seize the tokens, since they have no idea what these mean anyway."

Zhou Fei asked: "So when Zheng Luosheng took the Sword of Mountains and Rivers all those years ago, why didn't Madame Cirrus go after him then?"

"There wasn't any point in her going after Zheng Luosheng, since that old hag was no match for him." Mu Xiaoqiao waved his hand dismissively. "But it's also true that Yin Wenlan would certainly not have revealed a single word of 'Sea Blends Into Sky' to Zheng Luosheng, and if she had gone after him just to take it back, this could risk bringing this secret out into the open. That was why she didn't do a thing, but…"

Zhou Fei cut in when Mu Xiaoqiao paused here: "But nobody could have expected that many years later, 'Sea Blends Into Sky' would be brought out into the open somehow, and even get everyone into a frenzy because of outrageous rumours. So you must have decided to go to Yongzhou City to retrieve the Seal of Propriety!"

"Ha!" said Mu Xiaoqiao with an elegant arch of his slender brow. "I don't poke my nose in things that don't concern me, unlike those twits from the Feathercloud Troupe. I went there to take Huo Liantao's life."

Ignoring this insult, Zhou Fei said: "So Madame Cirrus got involved this time to retrieve the Sword of Mountains and Rivers from Yin Pei?"

"Probably," said Mu Xiaoqiao. "That tubby Liu fellow was from the Tai Mountain Sect, but that sect and I have some pretty bad blood between us, so I didn't want them to see me. Who knew that they would be so useless as to let Yin Pei slip away…eh? What is this…"

Zhou Fei had been about to ask him if the Black Judge was also one of the witnesses to Sea Blends Into Sky, and who the fellow was exactly, but Mu Xiaoqiao was now peering down with considerable interest at the fist-sized corpse of a bug on the ground, his hands clasped behind his back: "I'd heard that the old priest from Qimen had gotten himself a Nirvana Parasite larva somehow. I thought those were merely rumours, but now I suppose something like this actually does exist…tsk, it's a pity that you've sliced it in half. That old priest was supposedly keeping it to put in some medicine or other."

At this mention of 'medicine', everything else that Zhou Fei wanted to ask Mu Xiaoqiao was instantly forgotten: "What kind of medicine was it?"

Mu Xiaoqiao: "How would I know?"

Zhou Fei stepped towards him eagerly: "I beg of you to tell me, Vermillion Bird Lord. Please."

Mu Xiaoqiao looked at her archly. Then as if on a whim, he suddenly reached for Zhou Fei's throat with his claw-like left hand, the exact same one that she'd seen him use specifically for ripping out hearts and entrails. Fortunately, while Zhou Fei was slightly disconcerted at the moment, she hadn't really believed him when he claimed that he 'didn't kill women' just now. She thrust Skies Shatter up towards him at an angle, the dull edge of the blade colliding with Mu Xiaoqiao's talons with a clang. Then with a sudden twist of her wrist, she whirled her blade around such that its sharp edge was facing him now and swung it at him, swiftly turning her parry into a slash.

Mu Xiaoqiao was forced to swerve sideways to avoid her blow, the wind from her blade rattling the strings of the lute he was holding. His long hair and robes fluttered in the morning breeze as he slowly curled his fingers back into the palm of his hand.

He had incredibly fair skin, which made his extraordinarily dark eyes seem even darker. If a young maiden had such features, she would probably have been quite attractive, but on a man well past middle age, they made him look like a vengeful ghost instead. At least he'd mercifully refrained from applying any rouge today, which made his appearance a little less ghoulish than the last few times he'd made his entrance in full regalia.

Zhou Fei said ruefully: "I knew that the Vermillion Bird Lord wasn't going to keep his word, but I hadn't expected him to forget it this quickly."

Mu Xiaoqiao cackled with laughter, raising his clear baritone several octaves into a falsetto that could easily have passed for a woman's voice. He said almost coquettishly: "Oh, don't get me wrong. It's just that Qimen has scattered to the four winds, and the Huo Clan, well, their lineage has come to an end, while Yin Wenlan's son has made the major accomplishment of enslaving himself to a monstrous bug – but it is the Li Clan, however, that doesn't seem to have completely gone downhill yet. So I'd like to have a closer look at your skills, and if you are any good, I'll tell you the story behind the Nirvana Parasite."

Zhou Fei gave a mirthless chuckle. If he had a 'closer look' at her skills and decided that she wasn't any good after all, he could very well 'accidentally kill her' while they were sparring. This renowned fiend even had a great excuse for it: you died because of your own incompetence – I didn't actually mean to kill you, oops!

Mu Xiaoqiao fidgeted with his razor-sharp nails, his gaze deliberately sweeping across Zhou Fei from the top of her head to the tips of her feet. Everywhere his gaze lingered seemed to suggest a fatal weakness in Zhou Fei's defenses. He was like a smug feline that had cornered a mouse – toying with its prey and unwilling to tear it apart until he had thoroughly enjoyed its terror.

But before this ruthless predator could make the first move, Zhou Fei beat him to it. Striding right past him without even a single glance his way, she bent down amongst the corpses to pick up the scabbard that she'd dropped the night before, and sheathed Skies Shatter with a clang.

Mu Xiaoqiao: "…"

While he'd encountered many brave fools in his lifetime, he'd never seen one this blasé about him – it was a refreshing change.

Unperturbed, Zhou Fei said evenly: "A senior once told me that amongst those of the previous generation, the Vermillion Bird Lord was considered to be its brightest young star…or one of its brightest young stars at least. But being brutal and impetuous in his youth, he chose to learn an unorthodox technique called the 'Claws of Calamity', which has adverse effects on its practitioners. While it would be invincible at its peak, once it started to decline it would do so at an alarming rate. I didn't believe it at first, but now I see that it must be true."

When she uttered the words 'Claws of Calamity', there was a subtle change in the expression on Mu Xiaqiao's face, although he was smart enough not to make this too obvious. He said nonchalantly: "Oh really?"

"When I saw the Vermillion Bird Lord three years ago in Yongzhou, I observed that your movements had already begun to drag somewhat." Holding her sabre behind her back, Zhou Fei paced slowly back and forth, before turning towards Mu Xiaoqiao with a finger pointed at his chest: "This was even more apparent when you attacked just now. The chi in the middle of your chest appears to be suffering some kind of blockage, which reduces the Claws of Calamity's vicious speed. Else if the most powerful of the Four Lords of the Mountain of the Living Dead had lunged at me with one of his deadly claws, there was no way I could have survived."

Mu Xiaoqiao said curiously: "Didn't all of you consider Zheng Luosheng to be the most powerful?"

Zhou Fei lowered her head and gave a dignified chuckle: "Zheng Luosheng? He's nothing."

Mu Xiaoqiao smirked: "Little lady, are you trying to flatter me, or intimidate me?"

Zhou Fei stopped her pacing, replying him with a question instead: "Perhaps you suffer from frequent headaches?"

Mu Xiaoqiao's brows finally began to furrow.

Zhou Fei spread her hands out and said: "But I'm no psychic – if your Claw of Calamity had been aimed just an inch higher just now, it would have collided with my hilt instead of my blade, leaving me no time to change the position of my blade and slash at you. But a person of your height shouldn't have an aim so low – it's probably from looking down too often because of persistent heavy-headedness, isn't it? That's how I came to this conclusion."

Mu Xiaoqiao said slowly: "Oh, really? So if I'd aimed just one inch higher, you wouldn't have been able to slash your blade at me in time? Then what gave you the courage to wield your sabre like that?"

"I was just trying my luck," said Zhou Fei with the brightest smile she could muster: "Guess my luck today's pretty good."

As she said this, she gave her left arm a good stretch and rotated her neck from side, as if she were still warming up her muscles after waking. Then she reached her other hand to her right temple to massage it, oh-so-casually brushing it past the right side of her neck along the way. Each of these movements looked so natural that they seemed almost unintentional.

But Mu Xiaoqiao instinctively placed his lute in front of him – for all of these body parts were precisely where she could have struck him just now, in that exact same order. When she'd slashed at him, she had clearly been lenient, as after failing to strike him she could have conveniently transitioned that slash into a 'Piercing' move thrust towards his left arm. As Mu Xiaoqiao was far too proud to keep retreating from someone much younger than him, he would definitely have retaliated right then.

But given the position he was in, as Skies Shatter was being stabbed at his left arm there was no way he could raise it to strike her, which meant that he would have to rotate his body towards his left and use his right arm to force her back. And as 'Piercing' was the most easily variable move of the Snow-Breaking Sabre, such that it could smoothly morph into others such as 'Cutting', 'Breaking', and even the beginnings of 'Mountain', 'Sea', and 'Wind', if Zhou Fei's sabre had been quick enough – it didn't need to be extremely fast, the speed of her blade in Yongzhou three years ago would have sufficed – she could have changed 'Piercing' to 'Wind' quite comfortably, which would have brushed her blade past the right side of his neck!

Seeing Zhou Fei earnestly massage her temple, as if she really had a headache, Mu Xiaoqiao started to feel the now-familiar stirrings of his own migraine as well.

"I have always muddled through my technique on my own. Only rarely have I had the privilege of receiving guidance from great pugilists," said Zhou Fei. "Since the Vermillion Bird Lord is so kind as to offer this today, it would be rude of me to refuse."

Zhou Fei abruptly lunged at him, Skies Shatter emerging from its sheath in midair. This legacy from the Shao Dynasty's very first 'Teacher of the Nation' was indeed extraordinary, streaking brilliantly through the air like a shooting star. By the time Mu Xiaoqiao heard it whistling towards him, this blade was already far too close for comfort. Alarmed, he thrust his lute out in front of him – but Skies Shatter made a series of complex twists and turns in midair, evading this lute completely and heading for the hand holding it instead, forcing Mu Xiaoqiao to retract his lute and pivot away from her to avoid injury.

Mu Xiaoqiao had expected this young maiden to have grasped some of the Southern Blade's true essence by now, but he was surprised that someone of her age could wield it this well already. He stood there in brooding silence, his face clouding over. But when he turned towards her again, he saw that the scintillating motion of her blade had abruptly stilled. Zhou Fei seemed to have ceased as suddenly and without warning as she had begun. Sheathing Skies Shatter once more, she gave him the tiniest of smirks: "Perhaps the Vermillion Bird Lord has gotten a sufficiently close look at my skills?"

Mu Xiaoqiao stared hard at her for a while, before saying brusquely: "Your technique isn't quite the same as Li Zheng's."

Zhou Fei tore off a clean piece of fabric from a corner of her clothes and carefully wrapped the queen parasite's corpse in it: "I can't compare to my grandfather, of course – might you be able to tell me about this parasite now, as you promised?"

Ignoring her question entirely, Mu Xiaoqiao set his lute down on the ground, staring hollowly at the rays of morning sun dappling the grass. Only after a full minute had passed did he speak again, muttering as if he were still lost in thought: "Li Zheng's technique was very good, as it drew from the various schools and sects of martial arts, and therefore it exuded an air of almost scholarly profundity. When I saw him in action, his moves did not have the same all-encompassing intent to kill as yours. Your internal strength and depth of skill are certainly not as good as his yet. But if he were still alive today, he might not necessarily best you in an actual fight."

Zhou Fei was stunned. She hadn't expected Mu Xiaoqiao to give her such high praise.

Everything seemed to appear grey and dull to Mu Xiaoqiao all of a sudden. All his life, he'd always done as he'd pleased, with complete and wanton disregard for his reputation. He'd cared little for his own life, but he definitely wouldn't give it up in service of lofty ideals like justice and righteousness either; he was decidedly and unabashedly without principles or morals or sentiment, and looked askance at the so-called heroes of this world. Only now did it occur to him that those 'heroes' which he'd so scorned were all old or dead by now. Almost overnight, youths who he'd deemed unworthy of even a second look had started to rise to the fore.

No matter how highly he might think of himself, how removed from the pathetic masses, he was old now, and his hair was gray.

He said flatly: "Legend has it that the Nirvana Parasite was unearthed from the tomb of a mysterious shaman in the frontier regions. It had been buried for many years and was already a dried-up shell of a thing, although it was still alive. Upon its emergence, it instantly turned the tomb raiders who'd dug it up into creatures under its control. These creatures wreaked havoc in the central plains for a period of time, and even established some kind of 'Nirvana' cult. As the Nirvana Parasite thirsted after the flesh and blood of top pugilists, it drove its puppets to kill a good number of them, which naturally caused this Nirvana Cult to arouse widespread anger. Led by the head of the martial arts community at the time, sixteen sects from the central plains advanced on the Nirvana Cult to crush it. The great master Lu Run was just an eager young disciple of the Great Medicine Valley then, who represented his sect in the endeavour. He brought with him seven different types of special bug-killing medicinal powder, all of which have since been lost to us forever. One of these happened to be exactly the thing to counter the Nirvana Parasite, rendering the queen parasite powerless. That was how they managed to destroy the cult…but all this is just the stuff of legends, and I have no idea if there is any truth to it. These events took place several centuries before I was even a foetus."

"At the time, Lu Run himself confirmed that the Nirvana Parasite had been poisoned to death. And as for why it was resurrected later on…" Mu Xiaoqiao snickered. "You'd probably have to ask your brethren from all of those oh-so-upright and orthodox sects how that came about. However, there are also rumours that this Nirvana Parasite was so named because it has the power to bring things back to life."

Zhou Fei: "…."

If she'd been told that this thing could alleviate coughs and colds, heal wounds, cure poisons…or even boost virility, for heaven's sake, she might have believed it. But to bring things back to life? This sounded too preposterous to be true – it was obvious that this was made-up rubbish. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

Yet on further thought, it occurred to her that she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up in the first place, as if this queen parasite truly had any medicinal value at all, the information would surely have been recorded in her much-skimmed copy of Lu Run's Book of A Hundred Poisons.

"I've also heard other rumours about it," said Mu Xiaoqiao after some thought. "Some say that Lu Run kept the Nirvana Parasite because he wanted to use it to bring the General Zhao Yi back to life. As for that old Qimen priest, in his younger days he was quite firm friends with disciples of the Great Medicine Valley. I have no idea how the Nirvana Parasite ended up with him, but since it did, he must have other good stuff from the Great Medicine Valley stowed away as well. If you are still burning with curiosity, you can always try finding the secret base of the Qimen Sect to get yourself some answers. It's been deserted anyway, so you wouldn't exactly be breaking and entering. This base appears to be located in the region of the Xiang River, which isn't too far from your home. However, those old priests tend towards secrecy, and love to employ all manner of treacherous mazes and tactical formations to fool outsiders. So whether or not you manage to find it is entirely dependent on your abilities."

While Zhou Fei had lost interest in the Nirvana Parasite already, her eyes immediately brightened when she heard him say 'other good stuff from the Great Medicine Valley': "Thank…"

"There's no need to thank me. I've only said more than usual because I like the way you look. This world is just crawling with people hideous enough to be killed." Mu Xiaoqiao gave a little sigh at this, then turned his attention from her to Feng Wuyan's corpse. He examined it for a bit, using his foot to flip it back and forth as he sneered: "This poor old thing – while his martial arts was mediocre, he got himself involved in all manner of disgraceful deeds, racking up more enemies than even me. Under the better-sounding cover of being a 'witness', he's had to hide out amongst the Qimen Sect for the last few years just so he could live in peace. And when the Qimen Sect scattered he started to fear for his life once more, only daring to roam the martial arts world using his brother's name. Alas, they never came to view him as one of their own – he was never given even the smallest of clues as to the location of Qimen's secret base. It's no wonder that he hated Yin Pei so much."

Zhou Fei: "…"

She now realised that Feng Wuyan had in fact been using her to kill Yin Pei at first. And afterwards, this jittery assassin felt compelled to silence her only because Yin Pei had inadvertently revealed Feng Wuyan's true identity as the 'Black Judge'.

What had she done to deserve such bad luck!

Having said all that he wanted to, Mu Xiaoqiao strolled leisurely away without a single backward glance at her. He sang to himself while strumming lightly on his lute: "The letter of tender words has yellowed, spotted with tears of red rouge, two lonely tracks of tears streak the face, and the old garden is covered in frost…"

It was Xie Yun's 'Tower of Parting Sorrow', which hadn't been sung in a long, long time.

Mu Xiaoqiao was already many metres away by the time he reached the end of that line. His voice echoed endlessly through the trees, soft but penetrating, reverberating far and wide. It was probably his way of telling Madame Cirrus that he'd been here – he had 'repaid' her in a most perfunctory manner.

Zhou Fei was just about to head back to the Liu Manor immediately to find Li Sheng, when something seemed to occur to her. Glancing back at Zhu Chen's corpse with a mix of emotions on her face, she walked slowly to his side to observe a moment of silence. As she gently shut his one remaining eye, she spied a small token that had fallen out from his sleeve. She picked it up and dusted it off to take a closer look. This little token made of wood had been rubbed down so much over the years that it was slippery smooth, and most of the engravings on it were too shallow to make out anymore, although the words 'Xing Nan Escort Agency' were still recognisable – this was an old heirloom of the Zhu Clan.

Zhou Fei stood there for a second, deep in thought. Then tucking that wooden token away, she found a spot on the ground where the earth was loose and dug a shallow grave. Cutting off a branch overhead and carving it into a gravestone, she laid Zhu Chen there to rest in peace.