Chapter 50: The Dark Currents

Their journey south took them across the Huai River, into the territory of the Southern Dynasty. They headed west from there, and reached the Chu region in no time.

While the trees in the Jinan District were already bare, the summer heat here had still yet to subside. The roads in this mountainous region were rocky, and little makeshift tea houses could occasionally be spotted along them. These allowed local farmers and passing travellers alike to rest their weary legs, for the price of a few copper coins.

The roof of this particular teahouse had a leak in it, which a teenage boy with rolled-up sleeves was using some straw to patch up. There were only three stools and a single table in here, that were all fully occupied at present. Any other travellers would have to eat and drink while standing, or take their victuals to go.

Placing a handful of copper coins on the counter, Li Sheng received a pot full of tea from the waiter and passed it to Zhou Fei through the curtained window of their carriage. He raised a heavily chipped bowl to his lips and slowly sipped the hot liquid, savouring this well-earned moment of rest. Just as he'd taken his first few sips, he heard one of those men on the benches say: "I've been hearing that everywhere, so I guess the Iron-Faced Devil really is dead."

Li Sheng stopped drinking. He looked across at the men through the steam rising from his bowl.

His companion declared with great certainty: "He's dead for sure! How could he not be dead? I've heard that that this Iron-Faced Devil had three heads and six limbs, and fell into a trap laid by a young hero from the Li Clan. While the hundred over pugilists there couldn't stop it at first, fortunately this Young Master Li was fearless in the face of great danger, and calmly led the charge to seize that devil. He even hacked off every single one of its three heads and six limbs. All of that devil's ghastly bugs were killed and burned. Apparently a monstrous howl was heard coming from within the flames, so loud that the earth shook, and while those bugs had already turned to ash, a dark figure could be seen standing in the fire, taller than a human and with horns on its head, and with furious, unblinking eyes…ain't that strange?"

Li Sheng nearly choked to death on his tea right then. The scalding liquid that went down the wrong way sent him into a massive spluttering fit, making him go completely red in the face.

Those three men turned to look at him curiously. Seeing that he was just a harmless-looking lad, they promptly dismissed him and continued with their conversation: "So who exactly is this young hero from the Li Clan?"

"How can you not know this? Haven't you ever heard of the Southern Blade? That great pugilist from the 48 Zhai! This young hero is the eldest grandchild of the Southern Blade Li Zheng."

"Wow, he really made a name for himself overnight! Ha, looks like the younger generation is overtaking the old…"

Li Sheng couldn't bear hearing any more of this. Downing the rest of his tea in one gulp, he hurriedly whispered through the carriage window to Zhou Fei and the girls, looking as queasy as if he'd just seen a ghost: "Let's go go go!"

Given her excellent hearing, Zhou Fei had already picked up every single word of the three men's conversation. Once the carriage started moving, she said: "Ah, so Young Master Li didn't slice up two hundred and fifty Yin Peis, but the three heads and six limbs of the Iron-Faced Devil – my deepest apologies for getting it wrong, great hero!"

Li Sheng scowled at her: "Another peep out of you and good luck finding the way there all on your own."

Zhou Fei and the two girls in the carriage burst into a fit of giggles.

But apart from several more outrageous rumours that they overheard along the way, their journey was fairly peaceful.

This morning, their little party reached the region of Jiangling County. The roads and rest stops here were utterly deserted, causing Li Sheng to wonder if they were heading in the wrong direction. As it was still early in the day, they decided to stop by the roadside to water their horses. Not long after they had settled down, they suddenly heard the sound of thundering hooves, galloping down the road at full tilt towards them. This horse's rider seemed to be in a tremendous hurry, as he was cracking his whip fiercely. He had already unsheathed his sabre before reaching Zhou Fei's side. Standing atop his saddle, he raised his goose-wing sabre high above his head, the large golden rings on it making a menacing racket, and brought it mightily down on Zhou Fei's back.

Li Yan shrieked.

But Zhou Fei merely spun round towards him, cool as a cucumber. She had already parried that blow with Skies Shatter, which was still in its scabbard. Without a single hint of panic on her face, she pushed her sabre back against his, attempting to make him retract his blade. Yet this extraordinarily stubborn assailant continued to lean his weight into his sabre, refusing to give in. Unfortunately for him, while Zhou Fei wasn't exerting a lot of force, the little strength being used was employed very ingeniously. A gentle shove of her blade was all it took for her to disrupt the delicate balance between the rider, the horse he was poised on, and his outstretched goose-wing sabre.

The man was knocked off-balance and nearly fell off his horse, just managing to grab the reins and steady himself with much difficulty. But his goose-wing sabre had already slipped out of his grasp, and went sailing through the air.

Zhou Fei hadn't even needed to see her assailant to know who it was. Her head was still lowered as she said: "Coalface Yang, don't you have anything better to do?"

This man was indeed Yang Jin. He glared brazenly at Zhou Fei, unashamed in the slightest even though he'd just crept up behind her like a thief: "Time and time again, you pretended to accept my invitation to a duel – but asked me to help you with some errand or other first! And then when I'd done what you asked, you went back on your word and didn't show up: Every. Single. Time. All of you people from the central plains are really…"

Li Sheng quickly cut the aggrieved fellow off, asking: "Brother Yang, why are you here alone? Why aren't you with the others from your sect?"

In his brief tussle with Zhou Fei just now, Yang Jin had already sensed the disparity between their skills, which only made him even angrier. With a disgruntled wave of his hand, he said: "There's no way I can continue as Chief of the Cloud-Bracing Valley – those fellows pester me the whole day long over trivial matters, demanding that I attend to dumb things like ridding their herb fields of weeds. I don't even have any time to train because of those idiots."

Li Yan stuck her head out from behind Zhou Fei: "Well, your sect has always specialized in medicine, never in martial arts. If you ask me, you clearly became its chief only because you threatened them with force. And now, after seizing the position, you're complaining about what a terrible bother it is and don't want it anymore – are you a fickle child?"

"Nonsense! They tricked me into fighting for it!" Yang Jin's brows drew together in a deep scowl: "While there wasn't much satisfaction to be had from defeating a bunch of herb farmers, since they said that it was a martial arts competition, of course I had to win it – but no one told me that it was actually a competition to select the next chief! This bunch of…forget it, let's not talk about that – hey, Brother Li, those pugilists back there are all trying to find you right now. Where are you guys going?"

Li Sheng replied politely: "We're taking a southern detour back to the 48 Zhai, to run an errand for Mistress Li along the way, before returning home."

Li Sheng didn't want to bring a whole bunch of people along unnecessarily – especially since Yang Jin was almost as big a magnet for trouble as Zhou Fei was. Not a single thing he'd told Yang Jin about their journey was true, in hopes of deceiving this naïve fool into leaving them alone.

But to his chagrin, this blockhead couldn't take a hint at all, and said readily: "Alright then, let me send you there."

Li Sheng: "…"

Zhou Fei snickered as she drummed her fingers on the hilt of Skies Shatter.

Yang Jin glared fiercely at her. Zhou Fei rolled her eyes at him and said: "Do you think we need you to send us there?"

But she very quickly regretted opening her mouth. This number one dunce of the southern frontiers very solemnly reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, which he managed to smoothen out after much careful unfolding and straightening, before thrusting it brusquely at Zhou Fei.

Zhou Fei: "…"

The ink on it was all smudged together. It looked like it might have been a jumble of words, and required one to squint really hard to get a vague idea of what these were supposed to be. It was so horribly smudged, and the handwriting so bad, that it could probably be mistaken for abstract art. Zhou Fei read out loud as best as she could: "A 'Chairlunge'…In Nugget…no, August of this year, the Cloud-'Braysing'…what? Oh, Valley…the Cloud-Bracing Valley Chief Yang Jin, 'invits' the Southern Blade to….a 'chairlunge', to decide the victor once and for all…"

'Challenge' was horribly misspelled, as was 'bracing', and 'invite' was missing a letter. He'd only mentioned the 'Southern Blade', but not Zhou Fei – perhaps Chief Yang didn't know how to spell her name.

Yang Jin knew that he'd made a fool of himself long before she could finish reading the whole thing. Blushing a bright red, he snatched that ratty piece of paper back.

While Li Sheng and Wu Chuchu were still polite enough to maintain their best poker faces, Li Yan couldn't care less, and was the first one to burst into hearty peals of laughter.

Zhou Fei said wryly: "Chief Yang, you're so half-arsed even when issuing someone a challenge – couldn't you have bothered to learn the words properly first?"

Yang Jin's dark face was burning like a glowing ember. He bellowed at Zhou Fei: "Draw your sabre!"

As Zhou Fei was in a hurry to find the Qimen Sect's secret base, she was in no mood to entertain him. Calling out "I refuse!" over her shoulder, she leapt onto her horse and galloped away.

Yang Jin immediately chased after her: "Afraid, are you?"

Zhou Fei agreed readily: "Indeed, I'm terrified to death!"

With a long-suffering sigh, Li Sheng slowly got up to ready the carriage, taking his time to catch up with those two idiots.

Several minutes into her hasty escape, Zhou Fei pulled abruptly on her reins, prompting her horse to rear back and take a half-step to the side. She looked at the side of the road with furrowed brow.

Several corpses in tattered clothes were lying strewn across the grass here. They were dressed like farmers, and there was a rattan basket stuffed full of straw beside them. There seemed to be a live being inside it, as the basket was moving. Frightened by the sound of the horses' hooves, it shuddered violently, and then froze in fear.

Leaping off her horse, Zhou Fei used Skies Shatter to lift the lid of that basket. The thing inside started to tremble again. It curled itself up into as tiny a ball as possible, peering fearfully at her through its fingers.

This was a young child, who looked to be only a few years old. The child was extremely small and thin, and he had straw plastered all over him.

Glancing at the corpses beside him, Zhou Fei recalled how this area had been unusually devoid of human life, and knew that something was amiss. She bent down and said to the child: "Where are you from, and where are your parents?"

The child bit down hard on his bottom lip. Looking at that long sabre in her hand, he was so frightened that he couldn't speak. His tiny chest was heaving uncontrollably.

Yang Jin and Li Sheng had both caught up with her by now.

Emerging from the carriage, Wu Chuchu grabbed Skies Shatter and pushed it behind Zhou Fei as she said: "Hide your sabre…stop crowding the child, let me try."

Zhou Fei didn't object, moving aside to examine the corpses here – there were four in total, three men and one woman, who appeared to be young and healthy. Their bodies were already cool, but there were no signs of decomposition, which probably meant that they hadn't died too long ago.

"These are ordinary peasants," said Li Sheng as he examined the hands and legs of one of these corpses. Then he said: "Hm? That's strange, they were killed by the sword, and a single slash across the throat at that…"

Li Yan asked: "Who would do this? Why would they kill a couple of regular peasant folk – could they be highwaymen?"

"Probably not," said Zhou Fei. "These peasants have quite a few scrapes and blisters on them. It seems like they've been travelling for some time. And the fact that they hid the child in the basket could mean that they were being chased."

As she said this, her brow furrowed again – while revenge killings were a common occurrence in the martial arts world, these corpses were all thick-set and stocky, with a under-nourished tint to their sallow skin, and the callouses on their hands didn't seem to be the product of practicing martial arts. They were clearly just regular folk.

Li Yan said: "Jiangling County is now under the control of the Southern Dynasty – the local government would look into this, wouldn't they?"

Li Sheng shook his head: "This region is quite close to the frontlines, so the battle over these parts has been fierce. It might belong to the South today, but it could very well change hands and become part of the North tomorrow. The government wouldn't send real officials to govern such a place just yet, so it's being overseen by people from the army for now. If anything happens, these soldiers will simply up and leave together with the rest of the troops, and they only do what the army tells them to – they probably don't really care about the locals here…"

But before he could finish, Zhou Fei abruptly drew her sabre. Several arrows had suddenly come hurtling towards them through the trees!

There was a soft clang, as metal collided with metal –

And right at this moment, on that little hidden island in Penglai, Liu Youliang was sweeping the floor of Xie Yun's cave, gathering the incense ash that had fallen on the ground. His metal wrist guard collided with the incense burner,[1] knocking it askew. He quickly reached over to right it again. Using his forearm to wipe the sweat off his brow, courtesy of the intense heat in here, he glanced over his shoulder at the person who was lying there unconscious.

And promptly stared straight into a pair of incredibly bright eyes.

Liu Youliang nearly gasped in surprise. Then he quickly recovered and dropped to his knees: "Your Highness!"

Xie Yun didn't have the strength to reply, so he simply blinked back at him, although there was a smile in his eyes.

Liu Youliang quickly bowed to Xie Yun, before springing to his feet and yelling: "Venerable Master, Venerable Master Tong Ming!"

While they were the only ones on this island, a huge commotion ensued. Scholar Lin jumped to his feet with a loud "Oh my!", while Chen Junfu anxiously flung his fishing nets down with a clatter. Only the Venerable Master Tong Ming seemed to have been expecting this. The old monk entered this cavern at a stately pace, bearing a steaming bowl filled to the brim with a medicinal concoction that was dark as night: "It was about time you awoke."

Having lain there motionless for a long while, Xie Yun still didn't have the strength to feed himself yet, and needed the old monk to bring that bowl to his lips. Then with Liu Youliang standing deferentially by the side, these three old men each took their positions at Xie Yun's head and limbs, placing their hands on his body with perfect coordination, and channelling their internal energy through his key pressure points. Shortly after, steam started to rise from the top of Xie Yun's head, and his deathly pale face started to regain a little colour. And after about an hour of this, while he was still quite weak, he had gained enough strength to speak.

Xie Yun said lowly: "My deepest thanks to you, shifu, shishus."

Scanning this little cave, he spied a soft skin-coloured mask hanging below one of those luminous pearls on the walls. There were several strokes of black ink on it, which looked like a hideous and messily-drawn human face.

Scholar Lin chuckled: "Ha! We had to peel that off your face. That little lady of yours is a real rascal! She really is too much – drawing on your face would've been bad enough, but she actually wrote a '王' on your forehead, and two little marks above your brows in the shape of a '八' – doesn't that come together to mean cuckold?"[2]

Xie Yun raised a hand to touch his face in dismay. Then smiling at Scholar Lin, he said: "You are absolutely right in scolding her, shishu. I'll be sure to tell her you said that in my next letter to her."

Unlike his peer, the Venerable Master Tong Ming had nary a hint of humour on his face. Setting the medicine bowl down, he said gravely: "There are three courses of this medicine. As of today, you have already taken two of them. After the next course, there is nothing else I can do for you."

At this, both Scholar Lin and Chen Junfu fell silent.

After a good long while, Chen Junfu broke the silence: "Brother Tong Ming, what…what do you mean by that?"

"He means that I'm living on borrowed time," said Xie Yun as he got to his feet, leaning on the rock wall beside him for support.

It was quite amazing – while he hadn't even been able to speak just now, after downing that bowl of medicine he was actually managing to stand up on his own, albeit somewhat unsteadily and with great exertion. Having gotten himself upright, Xie Yun now tried to take a step forward. He must have felt quite comfortable doing so, as he said breezily: "The last time, I needed several rounds of treatment before I could walk around this cave, and only for a little while. But this time I feel much better."

Sighing heavily, the Venerable Master Tong Ming said: "The incense from the Slithering Dragon's bile boosts your energy, while the three courses of this medicine keeps you just barely alive. A combination of the two stirs the very last bit of vitality still left in you, so that you do not deteriorate and die at once. But this fails to address the root of the problem. And each time the medicine prolongs your strength a little more, you lose yet some more of your life force. So after you have consumed all three courses of this medicine, if we still can't find a cure…"

Chen Junfu's face darkened as he asked: "Why did you subject him to something so hazardous?"

The Venerable Master Tong Ming said: "Right now, Bone-Deep Frost is only being held at bay by that little bit of internal strength left in his body. So if he is weakened completely, it will overcome him and there will be absolutely no way to save him anymore. Forgive me, for my knowledge is limited – after scouring the Book of A Hundred Poisons, this was the only way I could think of."

Xie Yun didn't seem too bothered by this, as he said calmly: "Shishu Chen, life and death is predestined – precious few people have managed to be as sprightly as me after being poisoned with Bone-Deep Frost. This medicine has even given me three whole chances to prolong my life. Why wouldn't I be content with that?"

Despite these words, the deep crease in Chen Junfu's brows remained. He fixed Xie Yun with a solemn stare, which elicited a sunny smile from Xie Yun in return. Then he sighed heavily, shaking his head as he departed this oppressively hot cave.

His eyes and lips drooping into a comically mournful frown, Scholar Lin said: "How can you possibly be content? You haven't even gotten married yet!"

Xie Yun smirked: "What's the big deal – Scholar Lin, haven't you failed to get married too?"

At the young man's jibe, Scholar Lin's sorrow was swiftly replaced by anger. Stomping on the ground in indignation, he gave his white whiskers a haughty tug and flounced out of there as well.

Xie Yun refused to let up, calling after him: "Shishu, at least I've managed to give her a token of my affection. As for you, ah, I suggest that you get a cat, if you really can't find anyone."

Scholar Lin howled: "Insolent child! You bastard!"

Xie Yun sat down on his bed and gleefully reached for this 'token of his affection' – that little box filled with clam shells sitting on his bedside table. He opened it to find that the neatly organised rows of shells looked like they had been run through with a cat's restless paw, and that while Zhou Fei had accepted his 'affection', she hadn't accepted all of it, as she'd only taken the better-looking ones with her. Any with chips or deformities had been left behind for him.

Xie Yun: "…"

This girl really was a hard one to please.

The Venerable Master Tong Ming turned to Liu Youliang, who was still standing anxiously by the side, and said: "Commander Liu, you should go and have some rest now. You've already done quite a lot today, and since An Zhi is now awake, he can do the rest of the cleaning in here."

Liu Youliang hesitated, unsure if he should be letting His Highness Prince Duan soil his royal hands with such household chores. But then realising that the old monk wanted to speak to the Prince in private, he dutifully bowed, walking backwards out of the cave in this posture of deference.

When he'd left, Xie Yun asked: "Who is this Commander Liu?"

"He used to be the commander of Cao Zhongkun's royal guard. He is apparently the very last party to 'Sea Blends Into Sky' who is still alive," said the Venerable Master Tong Ming. "He fled from the old capital not too long ago, with Tong Kaiyang hot on his heels. He happened to run into Fei along the way, who saved him, and entrusted him to your Shishu Lin."

Xie Yun arched a brow in surprise – perhaps at how Zhou Fei had managed to snatch him from Tong Kaiyang's clutches, or at the fact that the very last party to Sea Blends Into Sky had been exposed.

The Venerable Master Tong Ming lit a fresh incense stick and placed it in the burner, as he said: "Cao Zhongkun is dead."

At this sudden news, Xie Yun exclaimed in shock: "What? Have I actually outlived the great Cao Zhongkun?"

The Venerable Master Tong Ming: "…"

Xie Yun used the wall for support as he got to his feet again, seeming quite excited as he started to pace around this cave. The intense fragrance of fresh incense was a little suffocating. Raising his hand in front of him, Xie Yun watched as those white tendrils of smoke curled round his fingers, as if they were alive, and slowly made their way up his arm and into his body.

Each time he made one round of this cave, a little more colour suffused his cheeks, and his steps grew lighter and lighter.

By the time he had walked ten rounds, Xie Yun no longer had to lean on the walls for support, and there was even a spring in his step. Then all of a sudden, he thrust his hand out before him, sending a surge of chi through his palm, and with a gentle wave of his hand, unfurled the rolled-up paintings lying on the stone table several feet away. They sprawled out across the table with a rustle.

The girl in red was so vividly drawn that it seemed like she might step right out of the painting any second now. The life in those rich brushstrokes instantly brightened up this dark cave.

Xie Yun withdrew his hand, folding it behind his back as he sighed: "Shifu, I feel like I'm almost all better now. Are you sure that those three courses of medicine are a poison, and not the antidote?"

The Venerable Master Tong Ming said: "Amitabha. Since ancient times, illness has always struck in one fell swoop, but recovery is a slow and arduous process. Even the great master Lu Run himself never discovered any instant cures – what hope do mere mortals like us have of finding something like that?"

While Xie Yun had said that in jest, it had prompted a dead serious answer from the old monk. He quickly said: "I was just joking, you needn't be so solemn."

As he said this, he walked over to the wall and unhooked the soft skin-coloured mask hanging there, admiring Zhou Fei's handiwork up close. He asked: "Shifu, would you permit me to travel outside for a bit?"

The Venerable Master Tong Ming didn't reply. In the deathly silence of this stone cave, only the sound of him slowly and methodically fingering his prayer beads could be heard. After a good long while, he finally said: "Do as you please, but remember to take the incense with you."

Xie Yun instantly understood what he meant. Since Tong Ming had agreed to let him leave, it must mean that he would have no problems staying alive until the time to take the third course of that medicine came around. Pondering this for a while, he changed his mind: "Forget about it. I've only got about a month, or perhaps half a month. Even if I were to leave, I wouldn't be able to go far. There's no point in it. I'd rather stay on this island and chat with you, shifu."

The Venerable Master Tong Ming finished a Buddhist chant under his breath. Then resting a withered, bony hand on Xie Yun's shoulder, he said: "Thank you for not finding us three old men a nuisance."

Xie Yun smiled: "Shifu, you were descended from ancient royalty, yet you willingly took in even one such as I, a descendant of the mutinous Zhao Clan. How could I possibly turn on you now, and think you a nuisance?"

The faintest hint of a smile emerged on the Venerable Master Tong Ming's wrinkled face as he said: "You only need to know who you yourself truly are. As for whose son you are, or who you are descended from, is any of that important? Moreover, I live close to the ground now, drifting along on the currents of this world, and everything is but vanity to me. If I were still hung up over trivial things that took place hundreds of years ago, wouldn't my entire life of spiritual cultivation have been a waste?"

Xie Yun held a finger up and shook it, asking: "If things like death and old age are simply the sorry fate that befalls all mortals, and an acceptance of this is a tenet of Buddhism, then Venerable Master, since you care not for worldly matters, why did you disapprove when I decided to give all of it up and become a monk back then?"

Tong Ming was struck speechless for a moment.

Xie Yun continued: "Shifu, I had a dream just now – a very long dream."

Tong Ming asked: "What did you dream about?"

"I dreamed about the days of my youth…at the time, I refused to listen to your counsel, and insisted on returning to Jinling. I thought myself ready to rule the world, and having mastered many skills, was duty-bound to return to the old capital and take my revenge." Xie Yun sat on the edge of his bed with his leg leisurely crossed over one knee, speaking softly amidst the billowing clouds of incense: "But in actual fact, I only had the vaguest impression of the old capital and my parents. I couldn't quite remember all of that anymore, and shouldn't have had such a strong desire for revenge. I must have been influenced by the constant laments of Eunuch Wang, who smuggled me out of the old capital and cared for me after the rebellion."

While the Venerable Master Tong Ming had his suspicions about how exactly Xie Yun came to be poisoned by Bone-Deep Frost all those years ago, this was the very first time that he was hearing it from the young man's lips. So he stood there and listened, without interrupting him.

"When I got to Jinling, the Emperor embraced me and wept. I'd thought all along that everyone in the imperial court badly wanted to reclaim the kingdom, and that they were raring to charge back up North to have their revenge. Only later on did I realise that this was not the case at all. Nobody wanted to wage war. All they wanted was to reign peacefully over the Southern half of the land, continuing to lead their lives of comfort and luxury. No one was willing to risk losing all of that simply to 'restore the kingdom to its former glory'. The Emperor was at his wit's end. He frequently invited me to drink with him at the time. He would always get drunk, and when he was drunk he would pour out his frustration over this state of affairs. As I already had fire in my belly, and was furious over the court's cowardly inaction, this eventually spurred me into action. In successive sessions of the imperial court, I argued hotly with the pro-peace camp, kicking up a real fuss. And then after that, I requested to be sent to the border to guard it, where I foolishly lured the Northern army into attacking us. I exaggerated the gravity of the situation to the imperial court, tricking them into sending three thousand more troops to the border. I managed to re-take three border towns from the North this way, and used this stunning victory to incite my father's old comrades and others of low birth in the imperial court to push for war…"

Tong Ming sighed: "You were young and immature then."

"Young and immature and ignorant," said Xie Yun with a smile. "This was in fact not a good time for us to go to war. The Northern Dynasty's army was in its prime then, while the Southern Dynasty had just seen two years of floods, and its people were suffering. The imperial court was also highly divided. Even the Emperor was only using the conflict between the pro-war and pro-peace camps to play Jinling's new factions and noble families off against each other. Everyone understood this but me."

Zhao Yuan had dangled this 'last descendant of the Yide Crown Prince' tantalisingly before the pro-war camp, declaring time and time again that he was ready to hand the throne over to Xie Yun. This had caused the old and entrenched noble families of the South to fear daily that the imperial court of Jinling might soon be controlled by a half-grown youngster who had nothing but war and revenge on his mind.

The Venerable Master Tong Ming asked: "And then what happened?"

"Then the Emperor issued a decree granting me a princely position," said Xie Yun. "And got the imperial secretariat to pen yet another decree, which said that he would officially make me Crown Prince on the day that I returned to the capital from the border. When I got married, he would hand the throne over to me. As this decree had yet to be issued, it should have been top secret. But someone leaked it somehow, and it spread across Jinling like wildfire overnight."

While his tone was nonchalant, his words were foreboding enough to send shivers down one's spine.

Like an errant spark, this leaked imperial decree set ablaze the longstanding fears of the entire aristocracy of the Southern capital all at once. They hadn't expected Zhao Yuan to be this 'weak', and were left with no choice but to make one last desperate bid to eliminate their soon-to-be-crowned 'despot' before it was too late.

"I was far away on the frontlines at the time, busy the whole day long with shoring up our defenses and fending off the North's attacks, and thinking of how to re-settle the poor peasants there who had suffered the ravages of war…I was completely oblivious to this." Xie Yun lowered his head to examine his deathly pale fingers, swallowing the slightly self-loathing "after all, I was young and foolish" that had been on the tip of his tongue. Continuing in the tone of a neutral observer, he said: "And you probably know what happened after that. The food and supplies that I'd requested were deliberately delayed, and the petitions I sent back to Jinling never reached the court. I was left with no choice but to attempt a risky ambush to try to bring the battle to a decisive end. Yet it just so happened that a traitor amongst our troops leaked my plans to the enemy, and we ended up getting encircled by Cao Ning, with no back-up in sight."

"All these years, even though I've written A Jackdaw's Cry – exploiting the story of my own sorry life to make some money – I've never actually told anyone about this." Xie Yun said: "But all of it came back to me just now in my dream, each memory as vivid as if it'd happened yesterday, and I suddenly had the urge to talk to someone about it."

After the truth came out, the Jian Yuan Emperor flew into a rage, and the entire imperial court was in an uproar.

Prince Duan was after all of legitimate royal blood, yet he'd nearly died on the frontlines because of his own people. The scholars of the Imperial College wrote numerous petitions pleading with the imperial court to severely punish those 'traitors of the nation' who'd tried to do the young prince in, which had further magnified the incident. The old noble families of the South were forced to produce a few dozen scapegoats to appease the masses, and the imperial guard raided their homes and seized them…more than a decade after arriving in the South, Zhao Yuan used this incident to drive his very own stake deep into the ironclad ground of its entrenched power factions. Through incredible patience and resilience, this 'weak' young emperor had taken step after step to get to where he was today.

The Venerable Master Tong Ming remained silent for a good long while. Then he asked: "When you were surrounded, some of your soldiers were willing to act as a decoy and draw Alioth and Cao Ning away, allowing you to escape. Why did you refuse?"

If only he'd just thought of saving himself then – given the prestige and standing he had amongst the army and the people of the South, in addition to having learnt his lesson after being bitten once, he could very well have ended up the victor still.

Xie Yun smiled and said: "I don't know, perhaps things were just meant to turn out that way."

Then stretching his arms, he briskly changed the topic: "Shifu, where's that sabre I forged many years back?"

"It's been melted down," said Tong Ming, taking the hint. "Your Shishu Chen said that your craftsmanship is horrible, and you'll just disgrace yourself by giving it to others."

"Ah, then forget about it," said Xie Yun. "I'll ask him to teach me again, and forge a new one."

Tong Ming said: "What about Fei…"

Xie Yun said: "There's no need to tell her that I've come to. Such things are all up to fate – there's no use in hurrying her here. If there ever comes a day when I can't hold up any longer, you can always ask her to come and send me on my way."

As he said this, he got off the edge of the bed and rolled the paintings back up. He tucked away Zhou Fei's letter to him that lay on the table, intending to savour it slowly later on. Then taking a deep breath, he walked out of this little cave, towards Chen Junfu who was standing on the shore: "Shishu Chen, do you have any good iron?"

While the iron or steel used to make legendary weapons were typically of some impressive provenance, Skies Shatter seemed to be the exception. The iron it had been forged from was entirely lacking in renown, and it didn't have any mysterious origins either – such as being harvested from a meteor that had fallen to earth on the night of the full moon, or anything of that sort. It was made of plain old ordinary metal, made extraordinary only by its former and current masters – the great master Lu Run, and the Southern Blade.

Yang Jin looked enviously at Skies Shatter, thinking to himself that every single blade on this earth seemed like mere clay before it. He couldn't help but ask: "What sabre is this? Can I have a look at it?"

Before Zhou Fei could reply, Li Sheng said testily: "Brother Yang, this isn't the right time for that! We're being ambushed, for heaven's sake! And the way we're being fired at mean that these definitely aren't ordinary bandits…what are you doing, Fei?"

Zhou Fei had leapt towards those incoming arrows, fearlessly hacking out a path for herself through the shafts raining densely down, and darted into the surrounding trees. Shortly after, tortured cries were heard coming from all around them, and the barrage of arrows started to thin out. Li Sheng and the rest hastened after her, to find that Zhou Fei had already taken out roughly half of the assassins hiding amongst these trees, like an autumn breeze shaking the yellowed leaves off their branches.

As arrows needed to be fired from a certain distance, they lost their effectiveness once their target was right in front of them, especially since the disparity in the martial arts of both sides was huge. Seeing that the situation was no longer in their favour, these archers immediately started to retreat, intending to make a hasty escape. Li Sheng quickly shot Yang Jin a look. The two of them leapt ahead to block the way of these fleeing men, forming a triangle round them together with Zhou Fei. In a matter of minutes, they managed to dispatch of all these assassins.

"Fei, you…" Li Sheng was just about to speak when he saw that there was an arrow buried in Zhou Fei's ribs. Nearly jumping out of his skin, he exclaimed: "What's that – hang on, hang on, don't move!"

Zhou Fei glanced indifferently down at her ribs and proceeded to yank that iron arrow out. There was nary a drop of blood on the arrowhead. In fact, it'd been blunted by the impact.

Li Sheng: "…"

There was a sharp intake of breath from Yang Jin. He hadn't expected Zhou Fei's martial arts to have reached such heights already – the girl's skin was now as tough as steel! Grievous indignation rose up inside of him – he had clearly been on par with her just a few years ago. How had she managed to advance so much further than him?

It was all the fault of that bunch of herb farmers from the Cloud-Bracing Valley, who'd distracted him from his training!

"Stop staring at me like that – I'm wearing body armour." Tugging at that little rip in her top, Zhou Fei rolled her eyes at these two country bumpkins who evidently hadn't seen very much of the world. She bent down to examine these bodies lying on the ground. These assassins were all strong and strapping young men. They'd stuck leaves and bits of bark on their clothes to camouflage themselves amongst the foliage, and wore masks to conceal their faces.

Zhou Fei asked: "Who could these people be?"

Li Sheng flipped over one of the corpse's hands, bending down to examine it, then unfastened its collar: "Body armour, a flag…what's that painted on the flag? I haven't seen anything like it before."

There was a bird painted on that flag. It didn't look like it was a falcon or eagle. While it was elegant in form, there was a vicious look in its eyes.

Li Sheng continued: "All of these men are skilled archers, and have also been trained to wield weapons like spears and axes. They know how to camouflage themselves, can successfully launch an ambush, and move in a disciplined and orderly fashion…they do seem a little like soldiers to me. And look at these arrows that they're using – well-made and identical. Most bandits don't have the kind of money to make weapons of such quality. Let's search their bodies to see if we can find anything that might reveal their identity."

Li Sheng glanced over at Zhou Fei as he said this, and the two cousins shared a slightly grave look – while there wasn't much law and order in this area at the moment because of all the fighting, it did after all still lie within the territory of the Southern Dynasty, and the soldiers that passed through these parts…would probably be Zhou Yitang's men.

"Don't jinx us," said Zhou Fei. But she still said softly: "Well…we didn't just kill my father's men, did we?"

Before she finished her sentence, one of these black-clad corpses furthest away from them suddenly sprang to his feet – they had missed one. Seizing his chance when everyone was distracted, he leapt up and dashed further into the forest like the hounds of hell were after him.

Zhou Fei just so happened to be feeling a little uncertain about who these assassins might be, and couldn't decide whether she should let the man go or chase after him. She took a hesitant step forward, but before she could catch up to him, that black-clad man started to take step after backward step out of the dense forest towards them, a long sabre pressed against his neck.

As the three of them were pursuing these assassins, Wu Chuchu had been busy tending to the foundling in the basket, while Li Yan had reached them a little later – just in time to seize this lone escapee.

Overjoyed that she was being useful for once, Li Yan kept one hand on her sabre while waving the other excitedly at Zhou Fei, saying gleefully: "Fei, there's another one here!"

This archer who had nearly managed to get away seemed to be in his mid-thirties, and sported a long scar on his tanned face. He was evidently a crafty fellow – before he even opened his mouth, his eyes had started to dart around at them all, the cogs in his head swiftly turning. He'd most likely been forced to stop playing dead and make a break for it after hearing Li Sheng say that he wanted to "search their bodies".

Forcing the man to his knees and sealing his pressure points to prevent him from moving, Li Sheng asked: "Who are you people?"

This archer blinked innocently, tentatively giving him a conciliatory smile: "Dear hero, oh dear hero, spare my life! We had no idea that we were in the presence of such greatness – we simply coveted your strapping steeds and fine clothes and were hoping to earn a little extra for ourselves, I'm certainly no…owwww!"

Yang Jin roughly wrenched out one of the iron arrows that were sticking out of the ground, and thwacked the shaft right across the face of this archer. This was an extremely skilful blow, which landed directly on the tender skin of the archer's eyelids, but avoiding any damage at all to the eyeballs beneath.

Nevertheless, the stinging pain on his eyelids was enough to make the man fear he was going blind. As he couldn't move, all he could do was squeal like a pig at a slaughterhouse.

Yang Jin shot Zhou Fei a taunting glance. Zhou Fei had no idea why anyone might want to compete over something like this, and so very 'humbly' stepped back, and gestured at him to 'please go ahead'. Yang Jin prodded this archer with the tip of that arrow, saying threateningly: "If you don't tell us the truth, I'll get your eyeballs next – how'd you like that?"

Chief Yang was dark-skinned, and harsher of feature than those from the central plains. If one didn't know that he was in fact a silly oaf who could barely spell, when he grinned menacingly like that it was easy to mistake him for a cannibalistic savage from the desolate frontier regions.

Covering his now-swollen eyes with his hands, the archer pleaded mournfully: "I…I…I am…just a lowly soldier from the 'Turtle Dove' division, and am only in charge of following orders! Dear hero…nay, great hero! My dear great hero! I'm sure you won't hold such a petty offense against me…pl-please spare, spare my life."

That name sounded slightly familiar to Zhou Fei. She shot Li Sheng a look – could these be Cao Ning's men?

"Cao Ning is known to have a division of reconnaissance scouts under him, which are named the 'Turtle Doves'," said Li Sheng slowly. "They move with incredible speed, and are said to be able to cover a hundred miles in a day, even over the most challenging of mountain ranges, and can make their way anywhere."

This archer – or scout, rather, quickly nodded and said: "Yes-yes-yes, I was given orders to go to the frontlines to gather information about enemy positions, but who knew…"

Li Sheng cut him off with a snort, and said to Yang Jin: "This fellow still isn't being honest with us. Brother Yang, give his eyes a good thrashing, so we can hear him squeal again."

Li Yan made a show of covering her ears with her hands.

"No-no-no! Please don't! I'll answer your questions!"

Bending down to look the man hard in the eye, Li Sheng said: "I've heard my uncle speak of the famous Turtle Doves before. They specialize exclusively in war reconnaissance. Under normal circumstances, who would use such top-class scouts as archers? There can only be two explanations for this: one is that the Northern army is a bunch of fools, and the other is that you're lying through your teeth…which do you prefer?"

This Turtle Dove scout immediately exclaimed: "We're fools! Fools! Complete fools! Oh great hero, you'll know once you take a look at our flags, isn't that a turtle dove on them? His Highness Prince Duan assigned the Turtle Doves and other troops to Lords 'Merak' and 'Alkaid', but these two excellencies have been deploying men on missions without much thought – believe you me, I feel the exact same way: why would anyone ask scouts to do a soldier's job?"

'Merak' Gu Tianxuan and 'Alkaid' Lu Yaoguang were of course good ol' enemies of the 48 Zhai. Folding her arms across her chest, Zhou Fei asked: "What are all of you here for?"

This scout glanced fearfully at Skies Shatter, saying tentatively: "To…to scout the area, His Highness Prince Duan wants to…"

Zhou Fei cut him off tersely: "Say the words 'His Highness Prince Duan' one more time, and I'll bash your teeth in."

This scout very obediently corrected himself at once: "Cao- Fatty Cao has been facing much pushback from the imperial court…I mean, the false dynasty of late, and so he urgently wants to seize all six cities in Jiangling, to shut down his opposition led by the Crown Prince…I mean, his brother. He's drawn up a plan of deception to do this, remaining on the frontlines while getting those two exce-….extremely large Northern Dogs and a contingent of elite troops to sneak past the frontlines and attack the enemy…no no no, I mean us, the great Shao Dynasty, from the rear…"

"I see," said Zhou Fei flatly. "Go ahead then, Brother Yang."

Yang Jin glared at her – this pair of cousins was making him do their dirty work!

"Everything I said is true! Miss! Oh great heroine!" The scout cried out in desperation. "I swear on my own mother's life, and on all eighteen generations of my clan!"

"Just a small matter of sneaking past the frontlines, eh," said Zhou Fei with an arch of her brow. "I suppose those 'two excellencies' are capable of flying then, or teleportation? If it were that easy, I'd long since have plucked Cao Ning's head off his shoulders to throw around for kicks."

"No-no-no, listen to me," said the scout. The more frightened he was, the faster he spoke, barely even taking a breath between sentences: "To prevent a deluge of refugees to the south, His High-…Fatty Cao previously ordered his men to spread all kinds of terrible rumours about the Southern Dynasty, saying that they were ruthless tyrants, that they would seize and kill any refugees who didn't have official documentation from the South on suspicion of spying for the North, and so on and so forth, the more horrifying the rumour the better. And since both sides were at constant war, life in the South probably wasn't much better than it was in the North anyway, so these rumours actually worked to stem the southward flow of refugees…"

Yang Jin said impatiently: "Can't you be brief?"

This scout thought he was already being as concise as possible, and felt quite aggrieved that his efforts at summarizing were being scorned like this. With all the skill of a professional bard, he rattled off his next words so quickly that it looked like his lips were about to fly right off: "But not long ago, the scouts at the frontlines discovered that there was a steady trickle of refugees down south, and that this had been going on for some time. Thinking this quite strange, we seized several of them and found out that there was in fact a secret route cutting through the region of the Xiang River. It led to a deserted and extremely well-hidden valley which was nestled within the mountains, making it near-impossible to find. Gradually, more and more peasants started to re-settle there, farming the land to survive. And when their friends and relatives heard about this, they too fled there along with their families. However, they could only find this valley when guided by someone who was already staying there. When Fatty Cao heard about this, he immediately hatched a plan and put Merak and Alkaid in charge: some of us were to disguise ourselves as refugees and sneak in amongst them. After we'd determined that this route indeed existed and would allow us to avoid the Southern troops completely, the rest of the troops would move here progressively. We plan to assemble forty thousand elite troops here, to give that scoundrel…I mean, that great general of the Southern Dynasty a nasty shock by attacking him from behind. Oh great heroes, everything that I've said is true, every single word!"

Li Sheng looked extremely doubtful.

The scout added: "To keep this a secret, we detained everyone who had been living in this valley. However, a few days ago some of them managed to escape somehow. Lord Merak was furious when he found out, and sent three squads of men after them. We arrived here simply to clean up after the first two squads, and didn't expect to encounter you, so…"

Li Sheng asked: "How many of you are here already?"

When the scout started to hem and haw again, Li Sheng dealt him a swift blow to the ribs. With tears in his eyes, the scout yelped: "More than twenty, twenty thousand troops, almost thirty thousand, and the rest are on their way."

It suddenly occurred to Zhou Fei that this secluded valley sounded very much like the 'Qimen Sect's secret base' which Mu Xiaoqiao had mentioned. It was difficult to find, and the path to it was hidden…all of this seemed to match what he'd described. She asked: "Where is this valley you speak of?"

The scout said plaintively: "This place is extremely bizarre – anyone that goes in is liable to get dazed and confused. Only the Turtle Doves' 'Listeners' aren't as affected…oh, the 'Listeners' are blind. They have incredibly sharp hearing, which makes them excellent at picking up information from a distance. Each of our squads must include a Listener in order to enter and exit this valley smoothly."

As he said this, his glanced towards a corner of this forest. Everyone followed his gaze to see a corpse lying there. Flipping it over, they found that it didn't have any eyeballs – it was indeed blind.

Scowling, Yang Jin said; "So this means that you're of no more use to us, then?"

He stepped menacingly forward, fingering the iron arrow in his hand.

"I can help! I can!" exclaimed the scout frantically. "Turtle Doves have a photographic memory of the roads we've travelled, and while that place is indeed mystifying, but…but-but if I focus hard enough I should- should be able to find it, I- I- I- I…"

Li Sheng raised his hand and flicked a pill into that scout's open mouth.

Caught unawares, this Turtle Dove scout reflexively swallowed, and nearly choked to death on the foreign object suddenly shoved down his throat. Li Sheng showed the man the queen parasite's gruesome corpse from the little sack around his waist and grinned mischievously: "I fed you a Nirvana Parasite – that should help you with being a good guide."

Frightened out of his wits by the strange voodoo magic that this bunch of pugilists was apparently dabbling in, the Turtle Dove scout stumbled ahead of them on knocking knees. Li Sheng had leashed him like a dog, and only unsealed the pressure points on his legs, such that he had to walk with the upper half of his body still stiff as a board. Li Sheng whispered to Zhou Fei: "I know that you're set on finding the Qimen Sect's secret base. But if what he said is true, we'd better not barge in like this. We should just take a look first, then inform your father of their plans."

Zhou Fei nodded.

Li Sheng glanced over at the child in Wu Chuchu's arms. At first glance, he seemed to be only two or three years old, but on closer inspection, it became clear that he was probably several years older than that. Alas, life during wartime was difficult, and malnourishment had rendered him pitifully small and skinny. He must have developed the instincts by now to discern who intended him harm or help, as he clung obediently to Wu Chuchu, as quiet as can be.

The Turtle Dove scout led them through seemingly unending mountains and streams for a good four hours, from noon all the way till dusk. Even martial arts practitioners like them would grow fatigued from seeing this exact same scenery over and over again. While Zhou Fei's sense of direction had improved vastly since her younger days, it was still a tad poorer than that of others. She was experiencing again that once-familiar feeling of being utterly lost, the same way she'd felt on the outskirts of Yueyang City three years ago.

Giving this Turtle Dove scout a swift kick to the legs, she said coldly: "Are you deliberately leading us in circles?"

The scout's legs were already trembling beneath him, and with this kick he promptly collapsed to the ground on all fours. As Li Sheng had sealed the pressure point at his vocal chords, he couldn't even protest. All he could do was shake his head vigorously, with abject fear on his face.

Running up to the foot of a large tree, Li Yan pointed at a little depression in the soil there: "We've been here before – look, I even left a mark here!"

Yang Jin said icily: "I don't need to make any marks to know where I've been."

Li Yan glared at him.

"You people from the central plains are always so soft," muttered Yang Jin. Yanking the Turtle Dove scout up by the hair, he snarled: "Each time we pass the same tree, I'm chopping off one of your fingers."

As he said this, Yang Jin retrieved a dagger from the inside of his boot, and cleanly sliced off the scout's left thumb. Li Yan quickly stepped away, but several drops of blood still landed on her shoes. She shrieked: "You southern savage!"

It was too late for Wu Chuchu to cover the child's eyes, so she quickly turned her back with him in her arms.

The child started to wriggle about, perhaps frightened by the grisly scene. Wu Chuchu had obviously never been taught how to carry a child, and accidentally let go of him as she fumbled to keep him in her arms. The child fell to the ground right smack on his bottom, but he didn't seem to mind. He dusted himself off and sprang to his feet, running straight towards a nearby outcropping of mountain rock. Rising on his tip-toes, he reached a hand up to scrabble at a protruding rock on its surface.