40 “Nothing.” Zhi Wei moved her face away, her voice already returning to normal “Just a little tired.
“Nothing.” Zhi Wei moved her face away, her voice already returning to normal “Just a little tired.” Feeling
Ning Yi’s body gave a slight tremble.
With one knee against the cliff, Zhi Wei looks up at him as she thought back to the unfocused expression in his
eyes back at the cellar, she remembered the first thing he did was to smell the fire on her, she remembered that
he didn’t know she was hurt, she finally remembered the creature he was faced with . Even glancing at the
creature out of the corner of her eyes made her teared up, so how could Ning Yi be spared after his standoff with
it?
Above her head, Ning Yi has already regained his composure as he says nonchalantly “It’s alright. I know where
the creature is from, I know how to fix this, but just can’t do it right now.”
“Hm.” Zhi Wei laughs “Then let me be your eyes now.”
Her voice sounded chipper, carrying with it a sense of carefreeness that’s not usual for her. The simple sentence
hits Ning Yi like a fierce wind, shaking him again.
Ning Yi slightly lowers his face, his vision blanketed by an endless field of grayish-white as he “looks” at Zhi Wei.
He couldn’t see her face and even if he could, it wouldn’t be real anyway but he can still imagine her expression
at that moment nonetheless. Her brows would be slightly raised with eyes sparkling in the moonlight.
This woman…the more dangerous it is, the more of her true color is revealed. She might back off, she might
compromise but you will never see her cry or wandering around confused.  Before Zhi Wei could thrust her sword forward, Ning Yi’s hand abruptly made a knocking sound on the cliff wall.
Looking up with some puzzlement when only silence greeted her words, Zhi Wei finally gets an “Alright” from
Ning Yi who has already turned his face away. The answer was simple but Zhi Wei could sense that there is some
sort of special meaning in the word but from where she is, there is no way to see Ning Yi’s expression.
“Be careful.” Zhi Wei hesitates for a moment then finally reaches out an arm to wrap it around Ning Yi’s knees.
She is below him so this was the only way to make sure a blind Ning Yi wouldn’t accidentally fall off the cliff…but
then that means she is almost half embracing him with her face pressed against his leg. Zhi Wei turns her face to
the side as she reminds herself that this was only for an emergency but the telling hint of red blush on her ears
still betrayed her true emotions.
His body gave an involuntary jerk again when he felt Zhi Wei’s arm on his legs, despite the thick fall weather
clothing Ning Yi could still feel the warmth of her small delicate face. Her ears must be red by now… transparent
and delicate as coral beads. Her delicate porcelain skin is so close…close enough as if he could feel the warmth of
her breathing on the back of his knees. Ning Yi feels his legs buckling under as sudden shortness of breath beset
him. Jerking out of his trance when his trembling fingers touch the jugged and cold cliff surface, Ning Yi “looked
up” at the sky above him. He could not see anything but he could feel the frozen darkness right before the first
ray of dawn break through the icy coldness. Taking in a deep breath to focus his mind, Ning Yi carefully moves
downward. If he loses his footing again, it would mean losing two lives.
Between trying to find her own foothold in the dark and carefully holding onto Ning Yi’s leg to guide him to a safe
spot to put his foot, it didn’t take long before Zhi Wei feels like her world is spinning. Taking a deep breath, a
sudden dizziness caused Zhi Wei’s face to fall against Ning Yi’s knee which then made his knee slam against the
cliff wall. Ignoring the stabbing pain that came with his knee bloodied against a sharp edge of a rock, Ning Yi
bends down and asks nervously “Zhi Wei, what’s wrong?”
The person beneath him just presses her face tightly against the back of his knee without answering. Taken
aback, Ning Yi, who is perpetually calm even when he lost his eyesight suddenly felt his heart beating frantically.   41
Ning Yi reaches down to touch Zhi Wei but was only able to touch her head. Under his fingertips, instead of Zhi
Wei’s usual smooth silky hair, Ning Yi finds a mess of singed hair in various length. Guessing right away that Zhi
Wei’s time in the fire must have burned quite a bit of her hair, Ning Yi’s hand paused as his mind become even
more jumbled. Just as Ning Yi is about to attempt to bend down, the person beneath him suddenly spoke in a
muffled voice laced with a trace of laughter in it “I feel odd every time you call my name…” Letting out a sigh of
relief, Ning Yi asks again “What happened just now?”
something seems off at the back of his knee, Ning Yi tries to touch what feels like a wet spot but his hand was
gently pulled away by Zhi Wei. In a pouting voice, Zhi Wei chides “Keep a tight grip on the rock, why are you
touching random things?” Normally he would’ve used this opportunity to tease her but he was in no mood to do
so right now. Pulling his hand back silently, Ning Yi increased the speed of his downward climb.
When they have made their way more than halfway down, voices came from the top of the cliff. Pressing tightly
against the cliff wall, Ning Yi and Zhi Wei hear someone shouts “Go search! Two of you go down and look
around.” Her heart sinks, Zhi Wei quickly accelerates her speed but it was no use. The assassins are from Minnan
where they are used to climbing cliffs anyway, plus they were not wounded like they are. In no time, they could
see two dark shadows descending down the cliff wall with the agility of monkeys. Pulling out her sword, Zhi Wei
pounders how she could kill two men in an instant without alerting those above.  The task seems quite difficult
no matter how she thought of it. Moreover, if one escapes then death would be certain for herself and Ning Yi.
Above her, Ning Yi suddenly stops and raised his head to “focus” his eyes on the fast descending two assassins.
Without warning, Ning Yi says “In my wasite bend, there is my prince stamp and the royal decree for this mission.
Before you leave, make sure you find those.” Caught off guard by Ning Yi’s words, Zhi Wei thought “Aren’t you
coming with me?” but she could not question Ning Yi because one of the assassins has already reached them.
Due to the darkness, the assassin had not discovered Ning Yi yet but the noise made the man turn his head and
spots Ning Yi right away. Reach out a hand towards Ning Yi, the assassin yell with joy “Her…”
Ning Yi grabs the assassin! The moment the assassin had let out the first syllable Ning Yi was able to discern the
man’s position and lunged himself at the man. With a mighty push off the cliff wall with both of his feet, Ning Yi
plunged past Zhi Wei with the assassin, falling straight towards the cliff bottom!
Zhi Wei only saw a flurry of fabric and dark shadows flying across her head followed immediately by a  muffled
sound of a thump.
Zhi Wei’s heart turned to ice at the sound only to raise her head to come face to face with the second assassin
who was stupefied to discover that his companion had disappeared without warning. Before the assassin could
process the situation at hand, Zhi Wei has already shot her sword right into the spot between his brows. Another
muffled thump followed.
Biting her lip, Zhi Wei descends the cliff as fast she possibly could. The bottom of the cliff was pitch dark since the
protruding cliff top had prevented the light above from reaching down. Groping around blindly in the dark, Zhi
Wei calls out in hush voice “Ning Yi…”
Someone from the clifftop calls down “Find anyone yet?!”
Recalling the voice of the assassin who had spoken, Zhi Wei replies with a high sharp and slightly nasal voice “Still
searching, it’s really big down here!” Ignoring the distant sounds of cursing from above, an anxious ridden Zhi
Wei goes back to her search in the dark. Her hand touches a body with a hole between its eyebrows, pushes it
away and goes on searching again. She seems to be transported back to that day in the fire when she had to
continuously drag out one charred body after another. Scared yet relieved when one body after another was not
his… That feeling was too horrendous, she really hopes that she would not experience it in her life for the third
time.
Her hand touches another body…an unmoving body completely cold to the touch. There seems to be another
body on top of the one she just touched. Zhi Wei thought back to the position Ning Yi was in when he fell and her
heart sank. Has he been crushed to death? The thought came and Zhi Wei felt something cold on her face.
Staring at her fingers in numbing confusion when she touches her face and her figures come away with
something wet, the faint light from the top of the cliff reflected off the small droplet on her finger, like a tiny
mirror reflecting her heart.
1
How long has it been since she cried? When is the last time she cried? Was it seven years ago when her uncle’s
daughter lost her gold hairpin and accused her of stealing it which resulted in her family starving for five days?
Was it ten years ago when her mother knelt in front of the Qiu manor for three days and almost died from her
sickness? Was it eleven years ago when father took them out of the mountain and burned down their house
before they left? Or was it 12 years ago when she accidentally chanced upon her mother burning hell notes for
some unknown person and she was severely reprimanded? She really can’t remember. She only knows the tears
feel foreign yet very real at this moment. The droplet of tear on her finger slowly evaporates, Zhi Wei refocuses
and gathers up the last of her remaining strength in preparation to move the dead body away so she can drag
out Ning Yi who must be trapped underneath. She doesn’t want to waste time crying before she is certain Ning Yi
is really dead. She wouldn’t waste time crying either if he really died. He, along with Chun Yu and the hundred
soldiers who died…all those lives- there are too many things waiting for her to do.
Before her hand could touch the body, a hoarse voice suddenly says lazily: “How much longer do I have to wait
before you are going to grope me?” Zhi Wei’s hand froze mid-air before her brain finally registered what was
happening. Her hand instantly forms into a fist, Zhi Wei let the fist fall squarely on a certain someone’s chest.
“Ouch!” With laughter in his voice, Ning Yi accuses “Such a callous woman” before asking “What were you
thinking about just now for so long?” Biting her lips, Zhi Wei doesn’t reply but instead touch the already stoned
cold body under Ning Yi. Relieved once she realized Ning Yi must’ve killed the man before they hit the ground
and used the body as a cushion for himself, Zhi Wei asks “You are not hurt?”
“I am fine.” Ning Yi adds “I think I just twisted my foot.”
“You didn’t damage your brain during the fall?”
Casting a surprised glance at Zhi Wei, Ning Yi thought silently: this girl sounds like she might’ve damaged her
brain. Ning Yi was tempted to tease Zhi Wei but he suddenly remembered the way her voice trembled when she
was calling his name and answered honestly “Yes.”
“Ok.” Zhi Wei smiles then falls into Ning Yi’s lap “I finally can faint now…”
Zhi Wei wakes up to the feeling of her whole body aching like she either just finished a long trek or she just had a
fight in the dream. Still a bit dazed, Zhi Wei belatedly notices the warmth on her body and looks down to see
Ning Yi had covered her with his outer robe.
The sun had already risen but only a dim ray was able to reach to the bottom of the cliff. Sitting across from her
without his outer robe, Ning Yi has his eyes closed as he tries to smooth out his internal energy (look for an
explanation about this at the end of the post). Casting a look around, Zhi Wei could see that they have moved
from where they were last night judging by the soft grass underneath and the small stream nearby. Heaven only
knows how Ning Yi managed to get her here with his hurt leg. He didn’t drag her here by her feet…did he? Zhi
Wei promptly checks herself all over, scared that she would find countless drag marks. Awaken by the rustling
noise Zhi Wei made, Ning Yi chuckles silently as he thought: Girls! So full of contradictions. She can be so strong
during a crisis but then she can also fuss over the smallest thing. Ning Yi stares at Zhi Wei with a soft smile, not
seeing the tenderness in his own eyes.
Ning Yi thought back to how she calmly asked him two questions, made sure he is alright before she was willing
to faint into his arms, Ning Yi couldn’t help but smiles again. Yet there is also an ache in his heart — what a
tenacious woman! Remembering how soft and light she felt in his heart, completely different than the gentle but
cold facade she wears normally. So fragile like a flower petal, he couldn’t help himself and then…
Ning Yi’s face turned slightly red in the next instant…a sight captured by Zhi Wei who just happened to look up at
that very moment. “You are awake? Eh, you look a little strange.” Reaching up a hand to touch his own face, Ning
Yi’s laughs “I do?” Giving Ning Yi a look of admiration, Zhi Wei thought: People like this don’t even need masks.
He can make his face turn red when he wants to and he can make it not red in the next instant.
Zhi Wei asks dryly “Where are we? In novels, don’t the protagonists always wake up in a cave accompanied by a
big roaring fire?”
“Not all cliff bottom come equipped with a cave and not everyone just happens to have a fire starter on them.”
Ning Yi replies with amusement “Especially when there are people out chasing after you, wouldn’t you be a fool
if you light a fire?”
Zhi Wei smiles and sits up “Is your leg injured badly?”
Ning Yi assures her “No.” but Zhi Wei has already made her way to him and took off his boots “We still need to
treat it or it would be even more troublesome if you can’t walk on it.”
Zhi Wei carefully begins to message Ning Yi’s swollen ankle, exerting the perfect amount of pressure. Leaning
against a rock, Ning Yi’s eyes are half-closed “You have learned this before? You are even better than those at my
place.”
Zhi Wei smiles and replies “Mother’s time on the battlefield had given her a body full of old wounds which would
act up whenever it rained. So I learned this at a young age.”
Silent for a few moments, Ning Yi finally says “Madam Feng had a difficult time.” Seemingly unwilling to continue
the subject, Ning Yi falls silent again as he lazily lays there, enjoying the magic of Zhi Wei’s nimble fingers making
his heart feel like its swimming in a warm bath….and that’s when the lady abruptly says “All done!” His eyes
snapped open, Ning Yi asks with surprise “So soon?”
Smiling sweetly, Zhi Wei answers “My apologies for not being as gentle, tender and patient compares to those at
your place to massage Your Highness for as long as you want.” Turning his head to “look” at Zhi Wei, Ning Yi’s
unfocused eyes seems suddenly brighter. His expression somewhat strange, as if he was suppressing a smile,
Ning Yi asks “You are jealous?”
“Ah?” Zhi Wei touches her own face and thought with shock- I am jealous? I am jealous? How could that be
possible!
After a long moment, Zhi Wei blurts out an explanation she thought makes perfect sense “Those who are born
with a silver spoon will never understand the resentment of those who had to struggle in poverty.”
Still peering at her strangely, Ning Yi says slowly, obviously in a very good mood “I didn’t finish what I was saying.
The ones at my place…grandmas.”
After another long moment of silence, Zhi Wei smiles brightly “Ah! Your Highness, the sun is up! Time to go!”
Staring at Ning Yi who seems to be in a really good mood after their somewhat  bizarre exchange, Zhi Wei’s own
mood sours even more and quickly changes the subject “Do you think those up top are all gone?” Handing Ning
Yi’s clothes over to him, Zhi Wei notices that the tie on his robe shows sighs of being ripped as if the rob was
forcefully taken off.
“How could they possibly give up now they’ve discovered we are still alive.” Ning Yi says nonchalantly as he puts
on his clothes “It is going to be a bit difficult to make our way out of this mountain range.”
Her arms wrapped around her knees, Zhi Wei stares at Ning Yi for a moment…then a few more moments…
Fifteen minutes later…. Her patience all gone, Zhi Wei bats her eyelashes a few times and asks “Your Highness,
are you not so skilled at putting on clothes?”
Giving up his vain struggle with his robe ties, Ning Yi nods without any hint of embarrassment and complains
“You noticed and didn’t even offer to help…”
Inching closer slowly, Zhi Wei begins to help but that didn’t stop Ning Yi from nitpicking “Your hands are not
much better at this than mine!” or “…the knot doesn’t look quite right?” or “Are you trying to do my buttons or
are you trying to choke me to death?”
Smiling sweetly, Zhi Wei cinched up the robe belt even tighter “…at least it didn’t take me fifteen minutes to fail
at dressing myself.” “….How is it not right? If you are so good then tie it yourself!” “….If I am really going to choke
you to death, then how would this be enough?”
Both unnaturally pale in the face, Zhi Wei even coughs from time to time but neither mentions it as they bicker
and jest together. The crisis has not passed. One of them is blind and the other suffered some sort of internal
injury. Enemies in pursuit behind them and unknown dangerous traps ahead– yet precisely because of this they
have to remain calm. They are both leaders, they know that panicking will just make the situation worse. After
2
being on the run all night, sustaining various wounds, they both need time to rest physically and mentally. Of
course this is easier said than done, but they are the same kind of people so they both knew the other could do
it.
Finished with dressing Ning Yi, Zhi Wei rips a piece of the sleeve and did a simple bandage job on both Ning Yi’s
knee and her own wounds before helping Ning Yi stand up. Exchanging a glance, the smile on Ning Yi and Zhi
Wei’s face instantly fade away as Ning Yi says “Let’s go.”
 
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
So a little explanation about internal energy. Some of you might be familiar with the C-novel genres of Wuxia and
Xianxia. In Chinese Wuxia novel, where most of the martial arts are influenced by Taoism and Buddism, internal
energy is something all fighters cultivate and rely on. Internal energy also exists in Xianxia novels, but Xianxia is a
genre that has demons, ghosts and gods so magic plays more heavily there. Fuyao fits in the Xianxia genre while
Phoenixes is more Wuxia but will dip into Xianxia when the story talks about the two leads in Fuyao. In this post,
after a harrowing night, it would only make sense that our hero’s internal energy is all messed up- another sure
sign of being hurt. Messed up internal energy is often compared to a tangled mess of threads that requires a
person to meditate in order to sort out. The better a person is at fighter the stronger his internal energy will be.
Remember the post where Zhi Wei was racing towards the rest stop to find Ning Yi and she cuts down a tree in
half with one slash during her fight with the assassin on the way there? There was a little sentence that says Zhi
Wei herself was puzzled at why her internal energy was growing at such a speed. That was a hint to the fact that
Zhi Wei has a store of energy sealed up in her body because of her heritage which is why she is such a good
fighter and will continue to get better at an abnormal speed.
There is another hint buried in this post…anyone caught it?
42
Ripping a piece of her sleeve when they made it to the bottom of the cliff, Zhi Wei wrapped up Ning Yi’s injured
knee and her own wounds simply. Helping Ning Yi to his feet, Zhi Wei exchanges a look with him, their smiles
disappearing in an instant. Ning Yi says “Let’s go.”
[I know we just established Ning Yi is blind right now but for some reason, the author used the phrase
“exchanges a look” here. It doesn’t make sense…but that’s what the book says. By the way, this will keep
happening so…]
Wiping away the blood on her sword with some leaves, Zhi Wei wraps her sword in a place she could easily
reach.
“The water here is moving towards a direction. If we follow the water we should be able to find a way out.” Ning
Yi continues “After a bit, those above will send men down to investigate.”
“Let’s go.” Zhi Wei leads Ning Yi forward by holding onto his sleeve. Zhi Wei could feel her wounds seem to be
better. Perhaps when she fainted earlier Ning Yi had either fed her some medicine or transferred some internal
energy to her.
She has no idea of Ning Yi’s current condition. She has no clue the extent of the harm the creature caused him
but Ning Yi doesn’t look good right now. It has been quite a few days since the wine so his weakness right now is
probably because of the creature.
“Can you hold my hand?” After walking for a while, Ning Yi says “Sleeve tears easily.”
Zhi Wei was still hesitating when Ning Yi already grabbed her hand. Their two hands, one hot one cold, made
both of them shiver when they touched. With a grin, Ning Yi says “Our hands are sure a good match for one
another.
Continuing on when Zhi Wei ignores him, Ning Yi says “When we are holding hands in the royal tomb then you
won’t be hot and I won’t be cold. Even better.” (I am not sure this is true historically but in these sort of novels, it
is understood that back in the old days, couples who really loves each other will choose to be buried together
after they die.)  emptying his nest. Losing to her “convincing” speech, the squirrel runs off, leaving behind its nest of treasures.
It took Zhi Wei a moment to realize His Highness is talking in circles about marriage. Apparently, he has even
figured out where they will be buried after they are dead. 
Zhi Wei was about to retort “Who wants to be buried with you in the royal tomb” but she is suddenly filled with
a sense of sadness as she sees in her mind the tall imposing royal tomb, with the green lantern that is never to be
put out and the white jade staircase leading down to the royal casket. Who would be sleeping in it?
And when she is old, whose tomb will she be in? Whose history book will her life be written in?
Remembering the promise she made with her mother, Zhi Wei couldn’t help herself but asks “If I leave the
Capital and disappear forever, what would you think about that?” 
Silent for a while, Ning Yi suddenly tighten his hold on her hand and says clearly “Find you.”
“What if you can’t find me?” Zhi Wei thinks she must be crazy today or else why would she be asking nonsensical
questions right now.
“You can’t escape.” Ning Yi “looks” at her, his voice calm “This world, along with the wind, the rain, the water,
the dirt all will belong to me. Even if you turns to dust, turns to bones then you will still be my dust, my bones.”
Her turn to be silent for a long moment, Zhi Wei finally forced a laugh as she rubbed her arms “Your Highness,
don’t make it sound so scary.”
Ning Yi smiles, but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes.
Staring at Ning Yi, Zhi Wei knew that if she was smiling, the smile would not have reached her own eyes either.
Chun Yu’s yell on that cliff still rings in their ears, echoing and sending a dull stabbing pain into their hearts. They
don’t bring it up, they are avoiding it, but that doesn’t mean they have or will forget.
They followed the water upstream and made their way into a mountain. Her mind slightly more at ease as they
enter into the mountain. The mountain range they are in is quite big and there is no way the people after them
could make big a ruckus searching for them. Wondering around in the mountain is much safer compared to their
situation before.
After walking for another while, Ning Yi and Zhi Wei share an exasperated smile when they hear each other’s
stomach growling. Not daring to leave Ning Yi to go hunting, Zhi Wei looks around and finally says “Maybe talk to
our neighbor above and see if we could get something to eat?”
“What neighbor above?”
Zhi Wei points at the pine tree above them, a squirrel is happily jumping around. Listening intently, Ning Yi
suggests “I think the neighbor’s meat might be even better.”
“Then you go convince him to offer up his meat.” Zhi Wei suggests with a wry smile “Your humble servant is too
unskilled and can’t manage the task.”
“Such a pretentious woman.” Ning Yi jeers “You kill people with the ease of chopping vegetables but you are
unwilling to kill a squirrel.”
“Humans can be worse than animals.” Zhi Wei replies with an unemotional voice “Beasts will rarely provoke
without cause, betray, shame, hurt but people will.”
Giving Zhi Wei a side glance with his beautiful glistening black eyes, Ning Yi laughs then gives her a push “Eunuch
Feng should hurry to go pick the nuts then. By the time you finish preaching, this Prince would be ready for the
royal tomb.” (Referring to Zhi Wei as Eunuch Feng is Ning Yi’s jab at her previous words of calling herself as Ning
Yi’s humble servant.)
After rolling her eyes at Ning Yi, Zhi Wei starts climbing up the tree. Leaning against the tree, Ning Yi waits as
small pine needles fall around him, tickling his face. Raising his face up, Ning Yi “looked” around his surrounding.
He might not be able to see, but he can still imagine the beauty of the forest in this fall season. The afternoon
sun would be shining its golden rays through the forest of green and the ground would be covered by a thick
blanket of fallen leaves.
And that girl’s willowy figure is busily working above his head. He can feel the tree vibrating accompanied by
sounds of the wresting of the leaves. In a soft beguiling voice, she is bargaining with the squirrel on a deal of
3
Ning Yi could hear Zhi Wei fearlessly scrambling around among the tree branches. Feeling playful all the sudden,
Ning Yi takes one steps forward, let out a loud yelp of surprise as he gives the tree trunk a kick.
Belatedly remembering that he had twisted his ankle once the heart numbing pain came, Ning Yi first yelp is
followed by another… a real one this time.
Alarmed by the two yelps, Zhi Wei quickly looks down. Letting out a surprised yelp of her own as the tree shakes
and she loses her footing on the narrow branches, Zhi Wei falls as her armful of spoils tumble out.
She fell right into Ning Yi’s arms.
Just as a certain someone had wanted her to.
Having already calculated where Zhi Wei would fall, Ning Yi catches her in his waiting arms as he says languidly
“How can one resist when a beautiful woman throws herself at him?”
43
Realizing that she has been tricked the moment she landed in Ning Yi’s embrace, Zhi Wei pushes him away
angrily “If the king is bad then one might as well stab him through.”
Stumbling back against the tree truck but still keeping his arms firmly around Zhi Wei, Ning Yi whispers in her ear
in a lazy drawl “Then stab away. I am waiting.”
Momentarily dazzled when she looks up to find Ning Yi’s face inches from hers, Zhi Wei feels her little heart
quivering. Turning her face away, Zhi Wei grabs a pine needle and growls “Stab!”
Letting out a yelp as he lets go of Zhi Wei, Ning Yi laughs “You really stabbed, such a cruel woman…”
Ignoring Ning Yi’s words, Zhi Wei picks up the scattered pine nuts and hand them over to him. Leaning against
the tree trunck, Ning Yi complains “I don’t have the strength to bite it.”
So he wants her to shell the nuts for him? Zhi Wei reminds him coldly “Your Highness, you hurt your eye. Not
your teeth.”
“Have you never heard of that creature’s poison?” Ning Yi explains with an expression that is hard to discern if he
is telling the truth or not “According to the legend, the creature is the offspring of the ghostly snake Nine Yins
which resides in the underworld. Since its birth, the snake feasted on poisons and the eyes of young girls. By the
time they are fully grown, they have harnessed the resentment of all the dead it devoured so anyone who looked
into the snake’s eyes would turn blind then slowly lose all functions of their body until death comes. Soooo…it is
only natural my teeth are bad.”
Zhi Wei looks at Ning Yi suspiciously and didn’t think he looked that bad…but then the man didn’t even make a
peep about being blind and she had to discover the fact herself. Her heart softening at the thought, Zhi Wei
sighed and begin the troublesome task of biting away the pine nuts shell one by one.
The “king” sits across from her as he leisurely enjoys the shelled pine nuts and even remembers to remind her
“Be careful to not get your saliva on them.”
Furious, Zhi Wei’s teeth shattered a few pine nuts shells.
A handful of pine nuts warm the palm of his hand, emitting a fragrant smell. Ning Yi lowers his head to “look” at
them. His mood that has been somewhat down due to worrying about his blindness is suddenly lifted by a slight
sense of joy…apparently being blind is not all bad. With a hint of smile in the corner of his mouth, Ning Yi slowly
eats the pine nuts.
“This could only hold off the worst of our hunger so we still need to look for something else to eat.” Zhi Wei says
“Let’s go a little further and see if we can dig up some more root vegetables.”
Ning Yi abruptly stops in his track which promptly caused Zhi Wei to fall silent.
A man singing loudly stops when he spots them and asks with a heavy northern accent “Who are you guys?”
From Zhi Wei’s observation, the man seems to be an ordinary woodcutter, carrying a basket full of wood along
with a tied up wild rabbit. There doesn’t seem to be anything suspicious about the man at all.
“Sir.” Zhi Wei replies politely “My brother and I not only got lost in the mountain but also got hurt a bit. Do you
know the quickest way out?”
The woodcutter says “Do you see that abandoned old temple over there? Go towards south for about a day and
you should be able to get off the mountain. You two look pretty hurt though, plus it seems like it will rain soon so
why don’t you go rest a bit at my house. My place is not too far from here.”
There is of course no way Zhi Wei would dare to go stay at a stranger’s house right now, so she quickly refuses
with a smile “We need to be on our way. If it rains, then we will just duck into the temple.” Zhi Wei then asked
the woodcutter if he would be willing to sell the rabbit to her. She didn’t dare to give him the gold nuggets but
she wasn’t having much luck finding any coins either.
The woodcutter shakes his head and tells Zhi Wei “It’s just a rabbit, don’t worry about the money. Take it, take
it.”
Zhi Wei thanked the man as he hands the rabbit over to her, then after hesitating a moment says “Sir, if there are
people who inquire concerning us, please just say you haven’t seen us.”
“Sure, sure!” The woodcutter agreed readily. Giving them a suggestive smile, the woodcutter walks away as
he mutters loudly to himself “Could it be a couple with the girl disguised as a boy in order to elope?”
Letting the still smiling woodcutter walk past them, Zhi Wei just pretends that she didn’t hear his rather loud self
muttering.
Ning Yi’s shoulder suddenly moved.
As quick as lighting, Zhi Wei lays her hand on Nig Yi’s.
Ning Yi looks over at Zhi Wei who holds his gaze as she slowly shakes her head, her attitude firm.
Ning Yi frowns but he didn’t try to make another move.
Completely clueless of the silent movements behind him, the woodcutter strode away while singing loudly,
unaware that Death’s scythe has just barely missed him. 
“Feng Zhi Wei, with such a good heart?” Silent for a few moments, Ning Yi finally said in derision.
“I only kill those who deserve to be killed. Taking the lives of the innocents will just add to one’s condemnation.”
Zhi Wei averts her eyes from Ning Yi’s.
“By the time he guides the assassins to come after us, you will find out then if he is innocent or not. Of course, by
that time, you and I won’t be alive long enough to kill those who deserve to be killed.”
“How can you be certain that he will lead the others to us?”
“People die for money and birds die for food.” (This is a well known Chinese saying that describes the human
tendency to sacrifice everything, including their moral for money) “Once someone promises him an ample
reward, he will certainly tell all. If you were smart, you would not have stopped me just now.”
“But there is also the possibility that he wouldn’t encounter those who are searching for us.” Zhi Wei lets out a
sigh “You can’t just kill someone over something that might or might not happen.”
“Feng Zhi Wei, I really didn’t realize that you have such a kind heart.” Ning Yi sneers coldly “A general’s glory is
built on ten thousand rotting bones. Those who accomplish great things are not concerned with trifle things.
Don’t you understand?”
(The first Chinese saying about the general is an old saying that describes the cruelty of war, as the success of
kings/generals usually come at the expense of countless soldiers’ and innocent lives. The second saying kinda go
hand in hand with the saying “People die for money and birds die for food.” as it describes that those who
achieve great success (at least in the eye of the world) are often the sort of people who really are not too
concerned with small matters such as laws…innocent lives…morals…you get the idea.)
“I understand.” Zhi Wei stands up and hands Ning Yi a root vegetable she had cleaned off in the stream “So eat
quickly then we can go to his house.”
Holding the root in hand, Ning Yi wasn’t sure how to react. Unable to find a trace of anger in Zhi Wei’s attitude,
Ning Yi’s heart feels a bit hollow, as if he had thrown out a punch only to have his fist landed in a puff of cotton.
Puff of cotton or not, Ning Yi didn’t have any trouble figuring out the meaning of Zhi Wei’s words. Zhi Wei had
already told the woodcutter they will be heading towards the old temple. If those searching for them really end
4
up making contact with the woodcutter, then they will certainly head to the old temple- which means hiding
close to the woodcutter’s house is their safest bet.
With both of them wounded, they have no hope of outrunning the assassins. So instead of exhausting
themselves needlessly by getting chased all over the mountain, they might as well play a game of hide and seek
with the assassins while trying to get rest up at the same time.
Silent for a moment, Ning Yi suddenly wonders if his words just now might’ve been too harsh but before he could
say anything, Zhi Wei has already grabbed his hand as she munches down the root in her own hand “Eat up, we
might not have time later.”
Patting the rabbit tie to her waist, Zhi Wei adds “If I am really wrong, then I will cook this rabbit as my apology.”
Ning Yi smiles and turns to look at her “If I am the one who is wrong, then why don’t I give you my jade pendent
as my apology?” (Remember the pendant is only for his wife?)
“Oh, then forget it.” Scoffing down the rest of the root in her hand, Zhi Wei says “It would be ripping you off.”
“I am willing to be ripped off by you.”
“But I am not willing to rip you off.” Zhi Wei answered quickly then softly made a hush sound.
 
It should be pretty obvious from this post that our two leads’ personality is not quite as “good/righteous” as they
were portrayed in the drama. One thing to keep in mind is that our hero was raised as a prince in a cutthroat
environment. In the drama, there was still a tiny bit of familial affection between the Emperor and Ning Yi but in
the novel, there is none at all. In the world they are in, a servent or those of lower status dying for the sake of
those in authority is seen as a matter of course. Even our heroine herself is really not a nobody. In fact, one could
argue that many many more innocent lives were sacrificed for our heroine before she was even born. So, no
matter what Zhi Wei herself feels about the value of human lives, the existence of Bloody Pagoda means there is
already plenty of innocent blood shed because of her. It could be asked if it was fair for our two leads in Fuyao to
expect so many innocent lives to be sacrificed for the sake of their bloodline? In the eyes of our two leads in Fuyao
AND those who serve them, it was a resounding yes. For the rest of us? Well, most of us probably can’t
understand nor agree with their world view…but hey, it still makes for a good story.  the old temple to take care of our target so let’s quickly cook some food and take it to him. We should cook a big
44
The two of them watched the woodcutter entered into a house by a cliffside. Quietly moving closer, they were
pleasantly surprised to discover a cave on the cliffside right by the house. The cave was covered by vines so it
made an excellent hiding place.
Appearing quite tired, Ning Yi closed his eyes the moment they settled down in the cave but was unwilling to let
Zhi Wei do a pulse diagnosis on him. (In Chinese medicine, a physician check the patient’s condition by putting
three fingers on the patient’s wrist. The physician then makes a diagnosis based on the pulse readings. In the
novel, Zhi Wei knows a bit of medicine from her time spent working with a physician. Remember from the VERY
beginning of the novel when she was more or less forced by a physician to work for him to pay off a debt (the
book didn’t say but I am assuming it was probably medicine for her mother?) That physician was actually a
member of Bloody Pagoda and we know that because he was the one who gave Zhi Wei the journal written by
the two leads from Fuyao. It is probably safe to assume Zhi Wei is actually a fairly good doctor since those who
belongs to Bloody Pagoda tend to be the best of the best in any field so her teacher would be THE best doctor
there is. )
Sitting to the side, Zhi Wei meditates but keep her ears on full alert for any noise.
The light slowly dims as the sun sets. By the time the sky finally darkens, it begins to rain just as the woodcutter
has predicted.
Ning Yi abruptly opens his eyes.
Zhi Wei sat straight up.
From a short distance away comes the sound of footsteps treading on water puddles then the sound of a door
opening followed by the woodcutter’s inquiring voice.
A voice with a somewhat strange foreign accent asks “….two young people…about this high…wounded…have you
seen?”
The woodcutter’s robust voice loudly replies “Nope, I just got back from cutting wood!”
Seemingly disappointed, the people turn to leave. Letting out a sigh of relief, Zhi Wei glances over at Ning Yi with
a smile. Knowing exactly what Zhi Wei wants to express, Ning Yi smiles in return.
Another voice suddenly sounds “You must’ve caught some game if you just got back from cutting wood. Bring it
to us.”
The voice was the assassin leader’s voice that Zhi Wei heard on the night the rest stop was attacked. His accent
was unique, one not easily forgotten.
The woodcutter seems to have brought out a few things. The leader took it and seems to be examining them.
Zhi Wei feels uneasy in the dead of silence.
A howl of pain abruptly burst out from the house’s courtyard.
Amidst the howling, the leader angrily demands “These are not fresh games! Who did you give your stuff to?!
Where are they?!”
Zhi Wei’s heart sinks. Neither she nor Ning Yi had expected this. Then again, assassins who are sent by the Chang
clan from far away entrusted with a mission like this…all of them would be cruel and merciless.
The howl of pain has turned into whimperings as the woodcutter hoarsely begs “The old temple…old temple…
don’t kill me…don’t kill me………”
The woodcutter’s voice abruptly cuts off, followed immediately by the leader’s shout of an order “Let’s go!”
The men quickly leave. After a few moments, the sound of something heavy being thrown down the cliff could
be heard.
Zhi Wei closed her eyes…she really is not sure if this counts as her sin or someone else’s.
After waiting in silence for a bit, Zhi Wei was about to stand up to leave the cave but Ning Yi abruptly grabs her
shoulder to stop her movement.
A voice came just then “We haven’t had a single bite to eat after a whole day of searching. Boss is going over to
batch of it. Boss said that once we get into town it wouldn’t be a good idea for us to go buy food.”
Another voice agreed and the two begin to light a fire and take out the food in the kitchen.
Zhi Wei glanced over at Ning Yi who nods in agreement. Standing up in unison, Ning Yi puts a hand on Zhi Wei’s
shoulder and follows her out.
Without bothering to be stealthy, the two walks right into the house.
In the middle of cooking, the two men suddenly feel a cold breeze coming in. The men look up to see two people
walking in while supporting each other, both wearing clothes that are stained with blood. The taller of the
two looks like he perhaps has some sort of unknown ailment as he is leaning on the shorter one. Despite their
rather shabby appearance, the two intruders’ expression is one of calm serenity. It was as if they didn’t drag
themselves into a rickety mountain hut but was instead two royalties bestowing their presence on their estate.
The taller of the two’s countenance was especially dazzling, making the two assassins blank out for a second.
Before the two assassins could snap out of their surprise, they both heard the taller of the two strangers say
“Left, three step.”
Giving the two assassins no time to figure out what’s going on, a sword as black as a poisonous viper has already
reached them, not giving them a single moment to think. Barely avoiding the sword as they twisted their body
out of the way, the two assassins didn’t even have the chance to pat out the fire sparks that got on their body
before the tall stranger frowns and says “Left, nine.”
The black sword attacks once again, forcing the two men to jump out of the way but before they can make a
counter move, the voice came “Back, three.”
Their way of retreat blocked, the men instinctively want to charge forward but before their legs could move, the
voice says “Forward left, one.”
5
The despicable sword showed up once again, this time, taking some blood with it.
“Left, seven.”
“Right back, four”
“Forward, five.”
The limber and long sword instantly blocking the men’s all possible escapes thanks to the voice who somehow
predicts their every move.
The two men soon discover that even though their attackers seemed to be wounded judging by the weaken
force of the sword but they work seamlessly together so that with just one sword both of them are trapped. The
sword takes more and more blood with it, as if it was a cat toying with a mouse- coldly and cruelly taking their
life bit by bit.  Zhi Wei agrees with Ning Yi’s assessment. If these people were the same ones they met before then they
Feeling their life draining from them little by little was more torturous than being killed in one stab. Finally
breaking down, the two men threw away their swords, plunked down on the ground and begs “Don’t kill
me….don’t kill me….”
Slash–
The long blade slashes across the two men’s throat in one swoop, sending a mist of blood into the air.
“I have been waiting for you to say that.” Putting away her sword, Zhi Wei says coldly.
45
After resting a bit at the hut and partaking some food, Ning Yi says “Those people should’ve seen by this point
that there is nothing at the old temple.”
“Do you think they will leave the mountain or they will come back around to search for us?” Zhi Wei asks.
“They won’t dare to linger too long around here. What happened at the rest stop should have been discovered
by now. With my three thousand royal processions waiting there, no one can sweep this under the rug. Even if it
was just for show, the local authorities will have to do something in order to report back to the palace.” Ning Yi
replies then adds “Plus according to what those two were saying, they were already planning on getting off the
mountain anyway.”
“Then let’s go. Now they’ve ascertained the old temple is empty, they won’t go back to it but they might still
send someone back here to get some food.” Zhi Wei says as she helps Ning Yi stands up.
Walking out into the drizzling rain, Zhi Wei puts the rain gear she found on Ning Yi and prepares herself to brace
the wet rain. Surprised when Ning Yi drags her under the wide rain cloak, Zhi Wei hesitates for a moment and
finally convinced herself that if she got sick then there would be no one to act as Ning Yi’s eyes.
Sharing a cloak as they walk in the rain, their arms and legs constantly touching due to their close proximity
which meant the parts of their skin that are exposed are also coming in contact frequently. Both feeling
awkward, Ning Yi turns his head to the side seemingly focusing on something far off while Zhi Wei lowers her
head, counting her steps one at a time.
The drizzling rain falls around them accompanied by the sound of their footsteps on the muddy floor. In contrast,
the world within the rain cloak is so silent that they can even feel each other’s breathing. Whose heart is
vibrating so loudly? Perhaps both of them?
Turning their head, they could each see the other person’s alluring profile in this lovely rainy night. Stealing
another look, they hardly know how to keep walking straight…
Stumbling or not, time seemed to have flown by since in no time, the old temple appeared in front.
Stopping a long distance away from the old temple, they waited and listened for a long while to make sure those
searching for them are really gone.
When only sounds of crickets complaining in the rain reached them, Zhi Wei lets out a sigh of relief as they made
their way into the old temple and took off the rain cloak “They’ve checked here already so they will assume we
are making our way out of the mountain…”
Before Zhi Wei could finish her sentence, a peal of eerie laughter abruptly sounds!
The second she heard the laughter, Zhi Wei reaches out a hand towards Ning Yi but Ning Yi had already pulled
her behind him in lightning speed. Both of them moved fast but were hindered by the rain gears and almost fell
in the process.  Zhi Wei pulls out her long sword but there were already ten bright shinning swords pointed at
them. The ten swords were perfectly aimed at both of their vitals. One small step forward would mean certain
death for them.
Looking up, Zhi Wei laughs “Good looking swords.” as she secretly writes on Ning Yi’s palm: “12 people, all
swords. Taoist Bagua position, 3, Li 2, Dui 2, Kan 1, Xun 2, Kun 2.”
Ning Yi frowns and writes back on Zhi Wei’s palm “Don’t be rash, this group might not be the same one as the
ones before.”
wouldn’t be wasting time talking right now. Moreover, those people didn’t use swords as their weapon either.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Zhi Wei asks angrily “My brother and I came into the mountain for an outing. We
accidentally got injured and ducked into this old temple to avoid the rain. Even if we disturbed you, do you all
have to pull out your swords in response?” Zh Wei’s manner was calm as someone who is a member of Jianghu
since she had already pulled out her own sword so it is too late for them to pretend to be scared ordinary
villagers.
The twelve men all wore grey and green cotton clothes. From their appearance, they obviously all belong to the
same sect in Jianghu. One of the men asks coldly “Your rain gears are the kind that is often used by mountain
villagers around here. If you were able to find someone to borrow those rain gears then why didn’t you two just
stay there to wait out the rain?”
A bit of explanation here: Some of you might be familiar with the term Jianghu. Which is a term that is used fairly
often Chinese novel of this genre but there is really no good translation for it in English. Jianghu refers to the
environment where martial artists interact and fight each other. The closest translation in meaning is something
like when we say “Out in the corporate world…” The corporate world in this instance obviously doesn’t refer to a
specific company or location but just a general sense of the environment white collar workers have to live in. So
Jiangu is pretty much the same but just one where all the fighters are in. Most of the fighters in Jiangu usually
belong to a certain sect, where they would’ve joined since they were young to be trained in martial arts.
Her heart sinks upon hearing the question, Zhi Wei’s mind is racing to come up with a believable answer but Ning
Yi is already replying with a smile “That couple we met in the mountain only had one little room and it stank
quite a bit. Us two brothers couldn’t handle the smell and would rather find another place.”
The leader of the twelve hesitates as he looks over Zhi Wei and Ning Yi. Their clothing might seem ordinary
enough but the leader could tell from Zhi Wei and Ning Yi’s mannerism that they are obviously not from a simple
background…which makes their words quite plausible.
Jumping on the leader’s hesitation, Zhi Wei raises her hand to push away the men’s swords as she says with a
friendly laugh “We are all part of Jianghu and apparently are lucky enough to run into one another so why resort
to swords?”
A hint of derision flashes across the leader’s face as he thought: you two rich boys dare to call yourselves a
member of Jianghu when you only learned a bit of novice fighting from the teacher your rich daddy hired?
The leader frowns as he took a closer look at the two’s face that is stained with blood mixed with dirt that Zhi
Wei and Ning Yi had purposefully left on themselves. After a moment, the leader abruptly says “You are right. I
apologize for offending you. Can I inquire as to how the two of you ended up in this state?”
Who points a sword at someone while trying to chat?! Zhi Wei silently complains but still put on a smile as she
replies “We are from the south and came here to visit our relatives. My brother here’s surname is Tian. We
heard the mountains in this area is very lovely so we came on an outing. But who could’ve guessed that we
ended up getting separated from our group when we accidentally fell down a hill. We have been trying to make
our way out of the mountain.” Letting out a sigh, Zhi Wei grabs Ning Yi’s hand “You all probably could tell that my
6
older brother’s eyes…are not too good. He was born with an eye ailment. One of our purpose of coming here
was to help him get into a better mood.”
The suspicion on the leader’s face finally faded a bit. The smile on Zhi Wei’s face was calm and composed the
whole time but her fingers gripped the sword tightly. Those bright shiny swords are right in front of Ning Yi. One
little push forward and no one would be able to save him. Which is why she brought up Ning Yi’s eyes. Up to this
point, she is the only one who knows Ning Yi is blind. If these men are also searching for them, then just on the
blindness alone would erase their doubts about them.
46
The leader finally waves his hand and signals to the others to put away their swords.
Zhi Wei secretly lets out a sigh of relief. Even if they end up in a fight later, it would be better than the situation
they were in just now.
“Your group is resting at the old temple for the night then where are you going after?” The twelve men spread
out to start fires and find a place to rest but they are still purposefully forming a sort of circle around Zhi Wei and
Ning Yi.
Seemingly unaware they are trapped, Zhi Wei continues to chatter on “Go into the mountain?”
The leader acts like he has no interest in chatting. A burly man walks by and shoves Ning Yi away as he shouts
“An obedient dog doesn’t get in the way, get lost!” Zhi Wei quickly goes over to steady Ning Yi who had stumbled
forward. In the dim light of the fire, there is not a single trace of anger on Ning Yi’s face as a smile slowly appears
on his face. The smile was dazzling in the shifting shadow of the fire, like a demon flower that quietly blooms in
the dark night. None of the men saw Ning Yi’s smile. The burly man is busily pulling out food that has been
wrapped in paper.
The leader suddenly frowns and yells in a low voice “Isn’t this the letter our sect leader received but then
couldn’t find later? Niu Qi, you are crazy! If he finds out that you used this to wrap food he will for sure punish
you severely!”
“What letter? What’s so precious about it?” The burly man named Niu Qi laughs as he shakes the oily paper in his
hand “We were in a rush and I couldn’t find anything to wrap the beef so I just grabbed some paper off sect
leader’s table. Is not like he didn’t read it already.”
Zhi Wei’s glanced over at the last page of the papers and her heart skipped a beat. Peaking out in between the
burly man’s fingers, there is a bright red seal…made by the private stamp of the governor. Governor Shen is in
the pocket of Cheng Clan so judging by the fact that he had sent a letter to these men’s sect leader that means
Governor Shen was afraid the two of them would escape and had hired these men to ensure that they would die
by the hand of those that are part of Jianghu. If she and Ning Yi were really killed by people from Jianghu that
that would make it even harder to investigate their death. (The affairs of Jianghu is really difficult for the
government to track especially since those who count themselves as part of Jianghu usually pays little heed to
government authority. But money, as always will go a long way everywhere so that’s why the governor was able
to hire these men.)
Niu Qi set the papers aside and begin to cut up the beef with his sword. Zhi Wei stealthily flipped through the
papers and discovered that there seem to be some drawings within it as well. What drawings? Could it be
drawings of Ning Yi and herself?
Then why didn’t these people recognize them? After thinking for a moment, it finally dawns on Zhi Wei that the
drawing in the letter was for these men all along but Niu Qi ended up using them to wrap his beef. These men’s
sect leader couldn’t find the letter and ended up having to describe the drawings to his men verbally as best as
he could. Which is why this group’s leader was a bit suspicious of them in the beginning but had no way of
confirming their identity since they didn’t have the drawings. These men probably can’t read either, so they lost
any interest in flipping through the letter the moment the saw the first page that was filled to the brim with
words and missed the chance of discovering those drawings…but they will discover soon enough because Niu Qi
is presently passing out the beef with the paper and will get to the drawings in just a bit.
Their time clearly running out, Zhi Wei suddenly hugs her stomach and let out a grunt of pain.
Zhi Wei’s moan promptly catches everyone’s attention, causing them to stop eating. Niu Qi stopped what he was
doing as well, and asks “Your stomach is hurting? Did you eat something bad?”
Those who spent their lives in Jianghu is always extra sensitive when it comes to poisons. The men all put down
the beef in their hand and looked at each other. Niu Qi chides the men “He didn’t even eat our beef, what are
you guy so afraid of?!” Despite his words, Niu Qi himself also used the remaining paper to wrap up what’s left of
the beef. 
Zhi Wei continues to yelp in pain as she stands up “I can’t hold it, I have to go to the outhouse.” Making her way
out, Zhi Wei suddenly stumbles and knocked the fire over, sending fire sparks all over, causing everyone to
scramble out of the way. Zhi Wei was happy at first when some of the fire sparks landed on the paper wrapped
beef but her hope was soon dashed by Niu Qi who promptly jumped over to smack out the fire while muttering
“This can’t catch on fire, or how am I suppose to carry this oily thing around in my backpack.” There was nothing
Zhi Wei could do but watch with disappointment as Niu Qi carefully puts away the beef.
Without warning, Ning Yi stands up and grabs her arm “Be careful, perhaps you are not feeling well  from getting
rained on. Let me help you to the outhouse.”
The men were silent as they watch them leave but the leader of the group motions with a tip of his head for Niu
Qi to follow. Zhi Wei leads Ning Yi forward while keeping a close eye on the movement behind them. Seeing Niu
Qi, disappointment flashes across Zhi Wei’s eyes– those men are still suspicious of them, plus Niu Qi didn’t bring
his backpack containing the letter wrapped beef along with him either. Through writing on Ning Yi’s palm, Zhi
Wei quickly explained their situation and her discovery to him. After thinking for a moment, Ning Yi whispers into
her ear “We take them out separately.”
Zhi Wei thought Ning Yi’s idea seems too risky but is not like they have any other options either. They can’t get
away and there is not an opportunity to destroy the drawings. They will be exposed  if Niu Qi takes the beef
package out again so no matter what, they can’t let him go back to the group. Once they kill Niu Qi, they won’t
be able to hide his death for very long. There is no chance they can win if the rest of the men attack them at the
same time, so to kill one means they have to kill all. Their only chance of survival is to attack first. The key is how
to kill in the most efficient manner. Of course, the task at hand is to kill Niu Qi first.
They’ve barely stepped into the outhouse when Niu Qi barreled inside ahead of them and jumped on a toilet
hole. Pulling down his pants, Niu Qi laughs as a foul stench soon filled the room and points at his black hairy
stomach “Dang! This feels #$%! awesome!” Ning Yi frowns in disgust while the tip of Zhi Wei’s ears turned
slightly pink as she averts her eyes. Still grunting in pain, Zhi Wei slowly makes her way over to the other toilet
hole and begins to fumble with her pants. Giving Zhi Wei a side glance, Niu Qi jeers “You are acting like a girl!
Why would it take so long to pull down your pants….” Niu Qi suddenly sees the tip of a black sword coming out
of his own mouth. His eyes bugged wide open, unable to comprehend how and why a sword would appear
there…that kid is obviously still fumbling with his pants… As a searing pain ripped through his throat, Niu Qi uses
the last of his strength to look down and sees the beautiful tall blind man slowly pulling out the blood-stained
sword. Niu Qi suddenly feels his body is sent flying through the air into the outhouse pit. The last words Niu Qi
heard in this life was “An obedient dog doesn’t get in the way, get lost.”
=====================
47
Ning Yi hands the sword back to Zhi Wei. Back when Ning Yi had helped Zhi Wei walk out of the room, that was
when he had gotten the sword from her.
In the old shabby outhouse, the two discuss what their next move should be. “Do you have any poison on you?”
Zhi Wei searched all over herself to find something that could be of use but much to her frustration it was to no
avail. She was in too much of a rush when she left so she other than the most basic medicine for treating
wounds, she has nothing else on her. Even though those people are very cautious so it would be difficult to find a
way to poison them but nothing is more perfect than poison to incapacitate a group this big all at once.
7
Ning Yi shakes his head as he thought: Ning Cheng would have some, he likes that sort of things…but too bad he
is not here.
After staring at Ning Yi dejectedly for a few seconds, Zhi Wei abruptly had a wild idea “Is your tear poisonous?”
Giving Zhi Wei a strange look, Ning Yi says after a moment “I would rather kill them one by one.” Zhi Wei starts
to ponder how to get a big fat crocodile’s tears from Ning Yi…would punching him unexpectedly work? Letting
out a sigh of resignation when she looks up to see Ning Yi had already wisely taken three steps away from her,
Zhi Wei goes to guide Ning Yi and says “Alright, we will think of something else.”
Ning Yi replies with a simple “Hm” and reaches a hand towards Zhi Wei but she suddenly lets out a cry of surprise
as she squats down then says in a panicked voice “Niu Qi, you…”
Alarmed, Ning Yi bends down to pull Zhi Wei just as she raises her head and bangs it right on his nose. Putting a
hand on his nose, Ning Yi let’s out a yelp of pain as his eyes teared up. Showing no remorse at all, Zhi Wei
promptly pulls out a gold leaf to catch Ning Yi’s tears. Looking down at her hand, Zhi Wei sighs “Catching tears
with gold. Well, at least this was worthy of Your Highness’ precious tears.” Holding his throbbing nose with one
hand, Ning Yi silently confirms in his mind the Feng Zhi Wei is really a female wolf that can never be tamed.
The female wolf glances up at His Highness’ teary eyes and thought he looked fragile and comical…completely
different from his usual sharp self. Suddenly hit with the tiniest amount of conscience, Zhi Wei smiles and
reaches out a hand to rub his nose “Ouchie goes away, ouchie goes away.”
His little heart fluttered as her fingertip softly touches him, her voice carrying it with it a hint of smile and
apology. Ning Yi grabs the finger that is turning his inside into mush and promptly laced his fingers with hers. Zhi
Wei instinctively wants to pull her hand away but Ning Yi tightens his hold and refuses to let go. His wide sleeve
falling down to cover their intertwined hands, Ning Yi pulls her with him to make their way back. Unable to
struggle too much because she is still holding the pitifully small amount of tears in her hand, Zhi Wei could do
nothing but follow Ning Yi as she mutters “It’s too bad we only have such a small amount…”
Walking over to the well in the yard, Zhi Wei says to the man who is pulling out a bucket of water from it “Sir,
would you give us a drink plus some more to wash our hands?”
Handing over the water bucket, the man complains “Rich boys are so troublesome!”
After taking a drink right from the bucket and washing her hands, Zhi Wei thanked the man. When the three
went back together, the group leader looked up and asked: “Where is Niu Qi?”
“Ah, the one that went out with us?” Zhi Wei covers her mouth and chuckles “He said he ate too much beef and
is having diarrhea.”
“That guy just can’t control his mouth!” The man walking in with them complained as he puts the bucket of
water in the middle of the room then beckon everyone to come get a drink. Thankfully, no one seems to be
suspicious of Zhi Wei’s words as they all gathered around and drank right out of the water bucket.
All smiles, Zhi Wei eagerly adds more wood to the fire. Once everyone had filled their bellies, they all went and
found a spot to settle down for the night…still making sure to surround Ning Yi and Zhi Wei in the middle, even if
they have already assigned a person to guard the door. Those who have learned to survive in Jianghu simply
don’t trust anyone easily.
The fire slowly dies down in the old temple, casting a light misty fog around. Eyes wide open, Zhi Wei lies next to
Ning Yi in the silence as she waits and wonders how long it would be before the poison would take effect. She
has no clue how much use Ning Yi’s tears would be. After all, they only a few droplets and those would’ve been
diluted greatly in the big bucket of water.
With his eyes closed, Ning Yi hasn’t moved at all but his hand refused to let go of Zhi Wei’s fingers no matter how
much she tries to pull away. Unable to free herself by brute strength, Zhi Wei resorts to tickling by wiggling her
fingers against Ning Yi’s palm. Excited when Ning Yi instinctively shrank slightly, Zhi Wei doubled up her efforts…
until Ning Yi got used to the sensation and seems completely unaffected. Turning his head towards Zhi Wei, a
small smile of amusement appears in the corner of Ning Yi’s lips as he listens to her small silent sigh of
frustration. Their hands busily battling back and forth, it was a good way to keep both of them awake after a
harrowing two days. With both of them wounded and completely exhausted, if they didn’t find something to do
they would’ve fallen asleep instantly under the dark and warm room.
Time passed bit by bit until Zhi Wei eyelids almost drooped closed. Her eyes snapping open in a flash when Ning
Yi abruptly squeezed her hand hard. Zhi Wei soon hears a soft moaning coming from a man who is not too far
from them. Is the poison working? Zhi Wei noticed that no one else seems to be stirring…perhaps the poison’s
effect will vary depending on how good of a fighter someone is.
Rushing over after hearing the moaning, the man who is in charge of keeping watch asks in a low voice “Fei Zi,
what’s wrong?” The man suddenly feels something cold in his chest. The man instinctively wants to turn his head
but the head will never turn again. Zhi Wei gingerly catches the man’s falling body and leans him against the
temple column so he looks like he is just resting. The man who had moaned feels something warm and wet
against his face. Opening his eyes, through the light mist of fog, the man sees a gentle smiling face coming
towards him. Blinking in surprise, the man starts to reach for his sword but his arm was weak without strength…
then a pain seized his chest. The last thing the man saw was something shooting up into the air then falling on his
face, it was warm and wet like he had felt before.
The slight rustle of movements woke the man who slept closest to them. The man opened his eyes and was
puzzled to be greeted not by the light of fire but a mist of fog. Opening his eyes wider in an attempt to discern
the seemingly moving fog, the man could already sense something is really wrong when no matter how wide he
opened his eyes, his vision remained foggy. Vaguely sensing where the attacker is coming from, the man throws
himself to the side then felt a sharp stabbing pain in his lower waist the next instant. Through his foggy vision,
the man could only make out what looks like his leg rolling towards the corner. Standing in front of the man,
Ning Yi pulls his sleeve back. Ning Yi was the decoy all along, while Zhi Wei and her sword had lied in waiting at
the exact location the man had rolled away to avoid his imaginary attacker.
48
Just as Zhi Wei pulls back her sword, Ning Yi who was standing opposite from her and had been listening intently
suddenly points towards her back. Not bothering to look back, Zhi Wei thrusts her sword up and backward under
her left arm. A man holding his throat crumbles to the floor, unable to figure out as the last of his life drains away
how the sword managed such a bizarre angle to pierce his throat. The death of four men obviously created some
noises and promptly woke everyone. While the remaining men blink in surprise upon waking to find everything
in front of them shrouded in a foggy mist, Zhi Wei jumped on the moment of the men’s confusion to quickly send
her sword into another man’s throat. Not even bothering to extract the sword, Zhi Wei flung her sword with the
dead body still on it towards another man. The man could only tell through his foggy vision that someone is
coming towards him and naturally assumes it must be an attacker. With an angry yell, the man strikes with his
open palm on the dead body and shuttered the poor guy’s head. In the next instant, the man felt a sharp pain on
his palm then loses all consciousness as a black sword pierces through his hand and right into his brain. Two
more down. Those who were closest to her are the weaker fighters so Zhi Wei chose them to kill first. The leader
of the group is obviously the best fighter but he slept the furthest away and there is no way to approach him
without being noticed so they might as well use this time of confusion to kill as many as they can.
Someone else is coming towards Zhi Wei’s direction, their blurry vision obviously didn’t affect their ability to
discern positions or fight. Her heart sinking, Zhi Wei knows that each subsequent enemy will become harder and
harder to kill, especially since the poison has less effect on those who are better fighters. Zhi Wei holds up her
sword against a fierce strong wind but before she can even raising the sword all the way up, a pain seized her
chest and forced her arm to slump down. (So, in Wuxia novels, good fighters can send out energy blast  which is
what the fierce wind represents. Again, not a special ability in this world…just something most fighters worth
their salt would be able to do.) Zhi Wei thought silently: I am done for! Her body suddenly pushed away to the
side, as Zhi Wei rolled on the ground she sees Ning Yi in a lighting speed slides his body under the man and thurst
his sword up. The man shouts as he tries to catch his internal organs that are spilling out but Ning Yi just sneers
coldly and twists his sword.
8
The man crumples to the ground and splashed Ning Yi a face full of blood. Ignoring the angry shouts that are
coming all over now, Zhi Wei grabs Ning Yi and runs into a side room in the old temple. Zhi Wei swiftly kicked the
door closed just as a wave of darts and short knives nail themselves into the door.  Silently thanking the heavens
that she moved out of the way in time as the door shook violently from the force of the weapon assault, Zhi Wei
leans against the door to try to catch her breath. Surprised when Ning Yi promptly yanked her away from the
door, Zhi Wei looked back to see the place she was leaning against was replaced by a small hole blasted away by
three daggers. If Ning Yi hadn’t reacted so quickly then those three daggers would be buried in her back right
now.
Letting a long sigh, Zhi Wei mutters “You saved me again…”
“You don’t have to keep count.” His face pale, Ning Yi says “You have saved me many times as well.”
Listing to the sounds coming from outside, Zhi Wei laments “This poison still wasn’t potent enough. It blinded
them but didn’t do much to their fighting abilities. We are in trouble now…” Zhi Wei suddenly stopped mid-
sentence when she remembered the way the first guy had moaned in pain. They had only used a few droplets of
Ning Yi’s tears and it was even diluted by a big bucket of water before the water was then divided up amongst so
many people. If after all that, the poison was still strong enough to cause a fighter with a robust constitution to
moan in pain, then how crazy potent is that poison? And Ning Yi, who suffers from that undiluted poison…how
much pain must he be in? Yet, it has almost been two full days since he has been poisoned and she has not heard
a single yelp of pain from him nor any complaints. Staring at Ning Yi’s pale face, Zhi Wei suddenly doesn’t know
what to say.
Leaning against the wall to support himself upright, Ning Yi listens intently to the noises outside. They couldn’t
get close to the old temple door before and ended up getting cornered into this small side room. The room has
no windows at all and the only exit is blocked. The poison wasn’t able to incapacitate their enemies. They killed
seven men but there are still five left…and they are the better fighter out of the bunch. Their situation truly can’t
get any worse. After an initial ruckus, the men outside have quieted down. They have apparently decided that
since there is no way for their prey to escape they might as well sit down and take some time to force the poison
out of their bodies.
After a moment, Ning Yi slides down against the wall then waves at Zhi Wei “Come, sit.” Zhi Wei smiles, walked
over and started a small fire with some old fabric she found. Both of them are the type to remain calm no matter
what extraordinary circumstance they find themselves in which is how they could sit side by side in front of the
fire now as they listen to the sound of the falling rain outside.
Zhi Wei says after a bit of silence “Ning Yi.”
“Hm.”
“It looks like luck is not on our side this time.” Zhi Wei coughs then stealthily wipes away the bit of blood in the
corner of her mouth. Giving Ning Yi a smile, Zhi Wei continues “We will probably die here.” She tried to keep her
smile bright but the smile felt stiff on her face. Her heart is beating fast then slow, fingers are shaking
uncontrollably and her vision is turning dark. After two days of running day and night, without a chance to take
care of her internal injuries, Zhi Wei knows well that she has reached her limit. To make matters worse, she could
feel the river of energy deep inside her is restless…as if a sleepy volcano is about to erupt any moment now.
Perhaps she really is about to die…from exhaustion. Ning Yi’s voice seemingly coming from a long distance away
“Oh, not because we lost the fight?”
“Yes.” Feeling like countless steel balls are hanging on her eyelids, Zhi Wei closes her eyes and  murmurs “I got
tinted with your bad luck.”
“I feel like I am the one that got dragged down by you.” Ning Yi retorted.
Too weak to bicker, Zhi Wei mutters “Oh…”
Zhi Wei suddenly felt a shot of pain on the back of her hand. It was Ning Yi who had reached out a hand and
pinched her hard. “Zhi Wei, don’t sleep. Don’t sleep.”
Zhi Wei gives Ning Yi another silent smile but Ning Yi just asks “Why did you come to save me?” Zhi Wei was too
exhausted to answer yet Ning Yi continues to pinch her “Answer me! You dare to not answer my question?! Did
you really want to come rescue me or did you have another purpose in mind? And why where you trying to get
me to say when you got me drunk? What do you know?”
This man is so noisy…Zhi Wei tries to use her extremely sluggish brain to think about Ning Yi’s questions but the
more she tries the more twisted her mind became until she falls right into Ning Yi’s arms and mutters “…all
bunch of stupid questions…”
Holding Zhi Wei, Ning Yi feels his own head spinning as well. At first Ning Yi thought maybe he is exhausted too,
then he thought maybe it was caused by the impact of catching Zhi Wei…until he suddenly smelled something
and realized the men outside had begin to burn some sort of poisonous incense! Zhi Wei was too tired after all
her fighting so she fell prey to it first. He was worried about Zhi Wei and couldn’t see anything either so he didn’t
discover in time. A sense of total exhaustion rushing over Ning Yi, accompanied by the pain that has been
churning away at his internal organs all this time. Perhaps…he is about to die as well…
Tightening his arms around Zhi Wei, Ning Yi could feel her small petite body against him. So soft and warm, like
everything that is seductive in this world…but at this moment none of that is in his thoughts. The only thing he
wants is to just hold her tightly and sit until the end of time.
Perhaps he should feel bitter regrets for not accomplishing his great ambitions. He should feel the ridiculousness
of it all for him to die in a shabby old temple. But when it really came, he somehow can’t muster up the energy
to be furious or to regret. Instead, all he could think of is that this kind of peace and tranquility is rare…if it really
ends like this then it’s not something he can’t accept. Lowering his gaze, trying hard to not wake Zhi Wei, his long
slender finger trembles before he gently touches her brow. As the fire dies down slowly, the sound of the rain
seems to be close by at times then far away at others….
49
Seemingly coming far far away, music suddenly could be heard. It’s the sound of a flute playing. Gentle and soft,
yet insistent as it breaks through the night, the melody of “The Dream of a Conqueror” seems to pierce straight
to the listener’s heart.
The dream of conquering, conquering is like a dream, a lifetime of ambitions and hopes, countless gold and war-
horses, but all the riches and power are destined to turn to dust in the passing of time. Nations conquered but for
what when one is left standing all alone in the end.
Ning Yi’s jumbled mind slowly regains focus as the sound of the flute come closer and clearer. It was as if a
heavenly hand had cleared the fog with a simple wave. Zhi Wei suddenly stirred in Ning Yi’s arms. Bending his
head down, Ning Yi lightly pats her shoulder “Zhi Wei, wake up. Listen.” Struggling to shake off the slumbering
fog, Zhi Wei tries to concentrate on the sound of the flute with her eyes closed. Underneath his palm, Ning Yi
could feel Zhi Wei’s boney shoulder, her already slender figure looks to have lost quite a bit weight in the last
two days. The sound of the flute comes even closer, seemingly bringing with it a mysterious power. Judging by
the panic filled rustling sounds coming from right outside of their door, the men there have stopped whatever
they were doing as well.
Looking up, Zhi Wei and Ning Yi exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of elation in each other’s eyes. Still
without any strength in their bodies, Zhi Wei and Ning Yi lean against each other in silence as they focus on
listening to the melody of the flute. Sitting on the ground of the old temple, both suddenly feel an inner peace
filling them. What’s there in this world that is worthy of dragging one down? Glory and fame all pass like a
dream. Everything in this world, from the bitter to the great, all can be thrown away in exchange for a hearty
laugh. Zhi Wei hasn’t realized she is extremely close to Ning Yi, nor is Ning Yi aware that his arm is around her
shoulder. In a moment of the deepest inner silence they have ever experienced, they have finally let down the
tall fence around their hearts. After a moment, Ning Yi whispers “To be able to express such nobility and
disregard of what everyone seeks in this world in a song…this can’t be achieved by someone who is ordinary.”
9
“Hm.” Zhi Wei agrees “What an admirable person.” The two wait patiently for the time until they can finally see right now and Master Gu is not one to answer her either. (Our heroine knows that Gu Nan Yi is probably keeping
the face of the mystery flute player but a long shout abruptly came. The flute playing cut off just as abruptly as some things from her…but she also knows it is very probable that even if Gu Nan Yi is willing to tell her, he most
the shout came, seemingly no longer coming closer to them. likely can’t manage to express something so complex.)
Both surprised, an expression of pure elation much stronger than before bursts out of Ning Yi’s eyes when he Zhi Wei took her medicine and rested. Master Gu transferred some internal energy to Zhi Wei and after some
heard the long shout. The shout had sounded like it came from a long distance away when it was first heard but pleading from Zhi Wei, very reluctantly took Ning Yi’s pulse. Seemingly quite pained as he hands Ning Yi an
in the next instant, it had arrived at where they are. A series of yells of panic came from outside of their door in extremely foul-smelling pill, Master Gu looks ready to pounce and take his pill back if Ning Yi shows the slightest
the next moment. Zhi Wei could hear amidst the chaos the leader of the group says in fear “The Heavenly War…” hesitation. Unfortunately for Master Gu, not only did His Highness not show the slightest hesitation he accepted
Before he could finish, the leader suddenly let out a cry of pain followed immediately by the sound of “Bang!” as the pill with a smile then promptly ate it. Poor Master Gu had to console himself with eight walnuts.
something heavy hit the side door. The little door shook violently from the impact, seemingly making the whole As they rested, Helian told them all about what happened while they were gone. That night, Master Gu had
room shook with it as well. Zhi Wei stares at the bright red blood slowly seeping in from the door crack with indeed gotten lost and was stuck going in circles about thirty miles away from the rest stop. Eventually, Master
amazement. Even in her best condition, she probably has little chance of beating the leader of those men but Gu met Helian who was worried about Zhi Wei and had come after her. The two men almost lost hope when
whoever just arrived, killed the leader in one move. Thinking back to what the leader had started to say they arrived at the rest stop and saw the piles of burnt bodies until they saw the secret signs Zhi Wei had left
“Heavenly War…” Zhi Wei wonders if he wanted to say – Heavenly War Family? The one who has complete behind. They followed Zhi Wei’s signs all the way but it wasn’t easy to find the signs in the mountain so that’s
control over the good and the dark side of Jianghu? This family has long been hidden from the world and has why it took them so long to catch up. Hearing that the two men had stopped at the same village as she and Ning
almost reached the status of gods in people’s eyes. No wonder there was so much panic outside. But this family, Yi did, Zhi Wei blurts out “Did you see Cheng Yu Meng…” His expression darkening, Helian shakes his head. Zhi
who are supposedly decedents from a royal lineage have never involved themselves in political matters so why Wei falls silent as Helian angrily says “On our side, we lost over ten guards. Over at the rest stop, they were
would they show up to help them? Judging by Ning Yi’s reaction, he seems to know them as well… so who are completely wiped out!”
they really? And the one who was playing the flute? Why did the person stop coming the moment he or she “What’s owed will be paid eventually.” Ning Yi says as he stands up and tells Zhi Wei to find the beef and oil
heard Heavenly War Family’s shout? Zhi Wei was about to go out and see for herself who is outside but there stained paper that had their drawings on it, “Let’s go. We will follow our original plan and go to Ji Yang. Ji Yang is
came more sounds of people approaching fast through the air. (Remember this is a Wuxia novel so while people not far from Governor Shen. It’s time we have a heart to heart talk with him.”
don’t exactly fly but they can move long distance through the air.) The person outside obviously also heard the Gu Nan Yi stands up and grabs Zhi Wei by the collar. Twisting her head around, Zhi Wei says with frustration “I
sound of people approaching and leaves after letting out a huffing snort. can walk by myself!” Unfortunately, the considerate but not considerate enough Master Gu had already thrown
Immediately after the mysterious person from Heavenly War Family left, a familiar-sounding voice came “Is this Zhi Wei on his back and set off on his way.
it? Let’s go in and see.” Zhi Wei then heard another even more familiar voice saying coldly “Too noisy, stinks!” So
stunned, Zhi Wei runs smack into the half-opened door. Helian, Gu Nan Yi! Seriously! Is this like all or nothing?!
They had no one then now they all show up at the same time! Turning to look at Ning Yi with tears in her eyes,
Zhi Wei starts to laugh.
When Helian finally sees Zhi Wei, he lets out a loud gasp then couldn’t get another sound out. Stopping long
enough to chomp on his walnut to throw one into Helian’s gaping mouth, Gu Nan Yi promptly  pulls Zhi Wei to
him so he can check her all over to check her wounds. Magically producing fists full of medicine pills (they are
more like little medicine balls…but that sounded weird so I went with pills), Gu Nan Yi stuffed them all into Zhi
Wei’s mouth and refused to hear any protests from her. Compare to Zhi Wei, poor Ning Yi had no one to fawn all
over him and even had to go rescue Helian who almost choked to death on a walnut. Finally able to breathe,
Helian yells “You directionally challenged nitwit! If it wasn’t for me, would you be able to find your way here?
You ungrateful jerk!”
Master Gu has never been the sort to listen to other people’s words so Helian’s complaints fell on deaf ears.
“Do you have medicine for eyes?” Finally able to get a word out after swallowing all the pills, Zhi Wei points at
Ning Yi and asks Gu Nan Yi. Before Gu Nan Yi could answer, Ning Yi replies “No need to ask him. He doesn’t have
this kind of skill yet.” Back to playing with the walnuts in his hands, Gu Nan Yi pays no heed to Ning Yi’s
challenging statement.
Zhi Wei looks around and spots a small porcelain bottle by the group leader’s dead body. Judging by the fact that
the bottle is clearly labeled “The antidote to Long Slumber” it must be the antidote to the poison incense the
men had used on them. With the bottle sitting so neatly by the dead body, it was probably found by the man
from Heavenly War Family and left it there for them but for some reason, the man had left the moment Gu Nan
Yi and Helian showed up. Zhi Wei could sense from the point when the flute began playing, curious things started
to happen. Obviously, the flute player avoided the Heavenly War Family. Then the Heavenly War Family avoided
Gu Nan Yi– now, that’s very interesting. Of course no matter how interesting, there are no answers to be had
10