2 - The Infinite Heart

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blog/2018/07/20/legend-of-fu-yao-book-2-chapter-19-part-b/
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Chapter 1 – Pillage Wealth and Plunder Beauty
Infinite Empire’s Zhenning 15th year, winter.
Southern border of Infinite Empire, Crimson Rock Mountains.
The mountain formations ran over from extremely far away, continuously stretching and
unceasingly rolling up and down on the vast land, until it came to an end on red stone flat
plains. There it abruptly stopped, as if it were the tip of a blade.
At the sudden termination was a stretch of rugged sheer cliffs, that cut the winds into
fragmented and broken pieces. Looking down from the high cliffs, at an extremely far
distance away on the horizon, lofty city walls would suddenly be in one’s field of view.
The geographic center of the Five Regions Continent, as well as the unofficial political
center – Infinite Empire’s capital city, Zhongzhou.
Despite being separated by a large distance, one could still feel the towering nature of the
city. Its walls were like iron, while the vast area it took up and the denseness of its
buildings made one exclaim in wonder. Even just gazing from far away, one still could not
help but hold their breath and settle their movements, and almost worshipfully look at that
great city famous in the Five Regions Continent.
Unfortunately, the sound of a wolf-like howl broke through the solemn, breathtaking
silence.
“Why don’t you give me give me a man! Let me happily joyfully cheerfully excitedly hug
him back home …”
On top of the cliff, a certain person stood welcoming the wind with a wide embrace. She
opened her mouth to sing loudly while her whole face yearned, yearning to “happily
joyfully hug a man back home.”
Behind her Yao Xun plugged his ears, his whole face filled with misery. The thought of
betraying this wolf-howling person once again arose in his mind.
He didn’t fear the singing – the scariest thing was the out of tune howling. If you wanted to
live a long life, it was better to stay far away from Meng Fuyao.
After Meng Fuyao finished howling, she dusted off her clothes and said to her number one
little brother, “Ai, even though Zhongzhou is right in front of us, getting over there will still
be a long distance. Our traveling expenses are all gone, I’ll go borrow some.”
https://trackest.blog/2018/07/20/legend-of-fu-yao-book-2-chapter-19-part-b/
“This kind of desolate mountain wilderness, where are you going to borrow money from?”
Yao Xun wailed. “Surely you don’t mean you robbing me and me robbing you?”
“Pei!” Meng Fuyao spat out, the eyes that were looking downward suddenly brightening.
“Isn’t a carriage coming over from over there? Let’s go, go loot them! I’ll plunder the
beauties and you pillage the wealth!”
She bundled herself up while wearing the usual habitual ginger juice face. Using a black
cloth to cover as a mask, she jumped down with several leaps.
“I cut through this mountain …”[1]
On the twisting, long road, Meng Fuyao stood with her arms akimbo, loudly yelling with a
high voice to attract attention. The two-person bandit gang’s other member, Yao Xun,
sneakily flashed towards the back of the horse carriage.
“This Crimson Rock Mountain was indeed cut through. The first Infinite Emperor, Divine
Martial Emperor, and the Fierce Martial Emperor of the state of Polaris once fought a great
campaign here. Meeting this mountain’s obstruction, the Divine Martial Emperor ordered
the mountain to be cut through to directly engage the other side, and eighty thousand
soldiers tunneled through in one month. Thus, this mountain was not cut through by you.”
The voice that traveled out from the horse carriage was soft, mild, and contained a bit of
apathy.
Meng Fuyao choked a little. Then she loudly shouted yet again, “I planted this tree …”
“The red stone plains are near the Red River. Year after year the Red River will flood, and
the erosion and washing away of mud is severe. Eight years ago Crown Prince Wuji
ordered for the commoners on the outskirts of the city to move to this mountain range, and
plant trees on the red stone plains and the mountains. Thus, this tree was not planted by you
either.”
……
A certain person who had been choked twice had finally run out of patience. She yelled, “I
can’t cut through this mountain! I’m too lazy to plant this tree! If you want to pass through
here! Offer up beauties and money!”
After a long period of silence, the carriage curtains were lifted up.
Under the sunlight Meng Fuyao suddenly narrowed her eyes.
The wind was cold, cutting over like an icy blade. When exhaling a breath of air, it seemed
like one could immediately hear the sound of those tiny ice particles crystallizing, then
falling in an instant. The Crimson Rock Mountains behind them was covered with a layer
of light frost, causing the natural red tint to become even more vibrant by a few degrees.
Those evergreen trees and plants in the rock seams became greener like emeralds.
This was a southern land’s chilly winter day. All of the surroundings were invaded by the
frigid air – although it managed to preserve its vibrant colors, it was brightly rigid and stiff.
Only that man inside the dimly lit carriage, despite his indistinct appearance, made one feel
tranquilly soft with those white robes like snow, and his slightly cherry blossom-tinted lips.
Even the face-slicing wind suddenly seemed to not be as cold.
Meng Fuyao slanted her head, muttering, “I hate people who wear white robes the most,
pretending to be pure!”
The white-clothed person inside the carriage seemed to be faintly smiling. He lifted his
hand all of a sudden, his movements unclear. After which, the Yao Xun behind the carriage
fell out while wailing.
“Lady, with just this, and you want to make this one offer up money and beauties? It seems
hardly justifiable?”
Meng Fuyao stood unaffected, grinning. “I don’t know that person in the back. Only, I
suddenly feel that your beauty is not up to par, and your wealth is not worth it for me to
take. How about this, everyone just go their separate ways. Bye bye, see you later.”
She dusted off her butt and turned to walk away, ignoring Yao Xun who was crawling up
from behind the carriage.
“When the weather is cold, things that warm the body are needed most. Even if Miss feels
detest for this one’s wealth and beauty, you shouldn’t have any objections towards ‘A Taste
of Spring’, right?” The voice drifted over with the wind. It was not spoken with a alluring
tone, yet Meng Fuyao felt that it was very alluring all the same.
“A Taste of Spring”, ai, a top-grade vintage wine renowned throughout the Five Regions
Continent. Every drop was like a drop of gold. Unimportant princes and nobles would be
unable to get their hands on it, and even if they did they would hide it in the wine cellars of
their homes. Most commoners had never heard of it before. The only reason why Meng
Fuyao knew of it, was thanks to her master that alcoholic old Daoist. Whenever his
addiction flared up, he would wander throughout the various states and flip open trunks,
push down cabinets, pry open doors, and dig up graves just to find this wine. Meng Fuyao
once curiously tried it, and ever since then she had a deep impression of this wine.
This kind of extreme velvetiness and richness would burst out in taste on the tip of the
tongue, sending you to heaven with its lingering flavor.
Ai … it was a cold day. Getting a jug of good wine to drink, would be true enjoyment …
Meng Fuyao started to lightly smile, and when she turned around her face was already
contentedly grinning. Raising her leg she clambered up the carriage. “Ai ya this Sir is too
generous, it would be disrespectful of me to decline. Actually I see you have quite a lot of
wealth, and your beauty … is not bad either.”
“Thank you Miss for the praise.” The man smiled faintly. Seeing Fuyao entering he
unconsciously shifted his body to let her in, but for some reason his movements stopped
half-way.
Meng Fuyao saw that the decorations inside of the carriage were simple yet refined. Three
sides had seats, while in the middle was a small table. On top of the two empty seats, one
side was covered with a very luxurious snow mink cloak, its fur tips glistening with silver.
The other side, though, was a cotton jacket that was wrapped around something. Feeling
that it was in the way, Meng Fuyao extended a hand to push at that thing.
However, that bundle of cotton suddenly flew up and landed in the man’s hand. The jacket
scattered open, revealing that it was actually a basin of plants with deep purple-colored
leaves.
Fuyao widened her eyes, after a while chuckling, “You let plants wear cotton jackets and
ride a horse carriage? What kind of top-grade rare flower is this?”
“It is only common purple grass.” The man carefully put down that basin, saying,
“Someone left it outside the village, and it almost froze to death. After seeing it I picked it
up. Plants are intelligent, and they also fear the cold.”
Meng Fuyao shook her head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Her gaze drifted up, and
after seeing the man’s appearance clearly, her heart jumped. Wasn’t this that extremely
cleanly white-clothed man, who was following behind Qi Xunyi that day at the foot of the
Profound Origin mountains? His waist strap was still hidden in her robes right now.
Instinctively she rubbed her face. Remembering that back then at the Profound Origin
mountains she had worn a mask, plus right now her face also was changed, she was no
longer afraid of him recognizing her, and so she calmly smiled. “This Sir’s name?”
“My surname is Zong.” Zong Yue quietly watched her, the depths of his eyes containing
some shining radiance. Bringing over the wine, he personally poured a cup for Fuyao.
“Please.”
Meng Fuyao didn’t receive it, laughingly saying, “I still have a companion.”
Zong Yue slightly inclined his head. Outside the horse carriage a human figure flashed,
after which Yao Xun was thrown onto a carriage in the back. Meng Fuyao’s pupils shrunk a
little, and her smile towards Zong Yue became more amiable.
She raised her wine cup. The color of the alcohol in the cup was light yellow, and was
precisely the genuine “A Taste of Spring”. This type of alcohol, because its color was
unique, was extremely hard to add poison to. Once any impurities are introduced turbidity
would appear. Now that the wine’s color was pure like the light yellow beaks of the ducks
floating on the blue waters of spring, or like the great patches of blossoming winter
jasmines in the middle of the mountain rocks, there was naturally no need to fear poisoning.
Fuyao’s mood was excellent and she consecutively downed several cups. In the end the
drinking didn’t satisfy her craving, so she simply heaved over the whole jug. When she
reached out her hand she almost touched the other’s finger. Zong Yue’s hand hurriedly
shrunk back.
Meng Fuyao only pretended she didn’t notice, very quickly drinking herself drunk, then
circled around in the carriage singing. When she was singing the coachman trembled from
time to time, and the horse carriage bumped and jolted with extremely dangerous tipping
over movements. Finishing her song, Meng Fuyao flipped open all of her robe pockets for
Zong Yue to see, slurring, “… brother … no more … money … I’ll have to … rely … on
… big brother … you … to survive … now …”
She wobbled around three times. Her left foot stepped on her right foot, and unable to
steadily stand upright, she simply planted herself on top of Zong Yue’s seat with a peng
sound.
At the same time rolling around, Meng Fuyao splayed out her hands and feet and rested
them on the seat. She raised her head, contentedly sighing out a long breath. The horse
carriage immediately billowed with the heavy scent of alcohol.
Zong Yue slightly furrowed his brows, overlooking the Meng Fuyao who could not wait to
take up as much space as possible. Silently retreating a few steps, he carried that basin of
flowers carefully to one side to prevent a certain person from clumsily crushing it, then
went to open the window.
The window frame lifted up and refreshingly cool wind rushed inside. The wine smell
instantly lessened by a few degrees. With only this one action, when he turned back again
he saw that a certain person had already finished conquering three seats – the head on his
mat, feet put on the other side, and her hands conveniently draped on top of his silver mink
cloak.
Her soiled boots had kicked the silk cushion into a dirty heap. Zong Yue stared at that seat
helplessly. He hesitated for a bit, and finally turned around to climb down the carriage and
head towards the other carriage in the back.
The moment he had just left the carriage, in the next second Meng Fuyao immediately
opened her eyes. Her eyes were clear like the virgin mountain springs on top of polar
mountain ranges – there was not even a tiny amount of drunken haze.
With a flip of her body she rolled under the seat, and her fingers began to swiftly yet softly
drum on the mattress. Suddenly she stopped, and the hand that was feeling under the mat,
slowly pulled outwards.
All of a sudden the carriage curtains were lifted up by someone, and a line of light landed
on a certain thief’s panicked back figure. At the same time it hit onto the bronze mirror
inlayed on the carriage wall, reflecting a white-clothed tall man’s figure whose hands were
carrying a tray.
Meng Fuyao’s heart jumped up, her hand freezing underneath the mat.
Footnotes
1. This is the first sentence of a famous saying that bandits would yell when robbing people
in Ancient China: “I cut through this mountain, I planted this tree, if you want to go
through here, leave your buying passage fee.”
Chapter 2 – Who Will Discipline Who?
Right now, she already had no more time to retract her hand. Fuyao’s fingers curled,
straightforwardly grabbing the whole mat and fiercely pulling. In a great backwards fall she
forcefully seized the mat and tumbled onto the ground.
She hugged the mat in front of her, even using her cheek to rub it with a face full of bliss.
Meng Fuyao’s legs leaned on the wall of the horse carriage, and with a flip of her body her
two hands hugged her chest as she continued to “deeply sleep and snore”.
Vaguely she felt Zong Yue kneel down and take away the mat from under her body. When
pulling the mat his hands suddenly paused, as if he had noticed something, after which
came a moment of silence.
Meng Fuyao was closing her eyes, but her thoughts continued to spin quickly – what was
he looking at? Ai ya not good, that waist strap was still in her robes, just then her
movements were too large, did he see it when he was pulling out the mat?
Also just then under that seat board, just what was that thin strip? Stupid Zong Yue,
returning so fast!
Taking advantage of the time when Zong Yue turned around, the corner of her eye peeked
out, but didn’t see anything wrong. Meng Fuyao then settled her heart. A tipsy feeling came
over her, drowsiness surged, and not long afterwards, she unexpectedly genuinely fell
asleep.
It was a deep sleep. When she opened her eyes again, the day was already bright. Morning
light shone in through the rosy embroidery of the window paper, landing on the face of the
cross-legged sitting Zong Yue opposite. The illumination made his cherry blossom-colored
lips seem even more vivid, and his skin seem translucent, like mutton jade.
Wearing a whole body of white clothing, he sat cross-legged on a stretch of pure white,
unmottled fox pelt. Like a jade pond or snow drift, moonlight or floating cloud, he was pure
like an unpicked snow lotus in the high mountains – a type of extreme purity and brilliance.
Yuan Zhaoxu was dignified and elegant, infinitely talented. Zhan Bei Ye was distinctively
fierce, his aura rising to the clouds. Yun Hen was tall like a jade tree, his eyes filled with
star fire. They were all outstandingly handsome men uncommonly seen in the world. Meng
Fuyao thought that her luck was good, and that she had already seen the most beautiful
kinds of men – in this life she would not be stunned by anyone else. Yet today the Zong
Yue under the dawn light, and that type of crystalline flawlessness that exuded from his
skin, still made her not help but sigh in amazement.
After finishing her sighing and admiring, Meng Fuyao shook her head. She lightly lifted
her hands and feet to climb down the carriage, when suddenly behind her someone said,
“Where are you going?”
“Brother Zong, this one still has urgent business, it will be inconvenient to travel together.”
Meng Fuyao turned back, respectfully saying, “Many thanks for last night’s generous gift,
farewell now.”
Zong Yue raised his eyes to look at her. He gave a leisurely smile.
“Since you realize it is a generous gift, then how could you only give a sentence of thanks
and leave?”
“Huh?”
“‘A Taste of Spring’ is very valuable.” Zong Yue suddenly said. “Most people don’t know
that this wine also has medicinal usages. During winter, if it is buried underground for three
months with the snow lotus, blood knotweed, and jade cicada, one can dig it up and drink it
early spring of next year to cure withered and blocked meridians.”
“So what?” Meng Fuyao’s eyebrows lifted up as she stared at him, her heart vaguely
feeling that something was not right.
“That jug of wine we drank last night, was entrusted to me by Prince De of Zhongzhou.
When cultivating he suffered qigong deviation, with his qi and blood clogged up and
unable to be cured despite many treatments. Helpless, he came to find me. Now I had just
found the three things for him, and was preparing to send it back to Zhongzhou and nurse
wine for him.” He extended out a slender long arm, pointing at that empty wine jug on the
table. “Yet, just yesterday, I met a road-blocking robber. With no other choice, that well-
known, rare wine that was supposed to be used to save a life was stolen.”
……
Meng Fuyao clenched and grinded her teeth as she glared at Zong Yue – just then who was
the fool who thought he was “pure”, “crystalline”, and “flawless”?
Zong Yue’s expression didn’t change, calm and undisturbed.
After Fuyao thought for a bit, she suddenly smiled.
“The jug may be empty, but this one certainly didn’t see any ‘A Taste of Spring’, nor any
robbers – this one was only a wandering guest you took in. Have you ever seen anyone
invite bandits to enter their horse carriage and travel together?”
She crisply finished speaking, dusted off her hands, and turned back to get out of the
carriage. “As for how your wine went missing … just go ask your stomach.” Laughing with
a ha ha sound, Meng Fuyao reached out her hand to lift the curtains.
“Prince De’s character is ruthless and cruel. He is sure to pay back any grievances.” Behind
her traveled over Zong Yue’s unhurried voice.
“So what?”
“If he discovers that his own life-saving divine alcohol was drunk by someone, he most
certainly will fly into a great rage, en … I’ve heard his subordinate Tearing Wind Unit are
masters of tracking and assassination …”
The hand Meng Fuyao was raising the coverings with paused in mid-air. After a long time
she fiercely flung the curtains down, immediately turning around and loudly saying, “With
all these tricks you are playing, isn’t it just because you want to leave this aunty here? Sure
thing.”
With large strides she turned back, unrestrainedly sitting down, at the same time pulling
open a hidden drawer on the small table. From within the drawer she pulled out pickled
fish, ham, dried bamboo shoots, and lotus pastry, orderly piling them in front of her, then
impolitely taking out jade cups and silver chopsticks. Her chopsticks flew as she dug into
the huge pile of food, at the same time saying, “Leaving me, means you have to be able to
support me. After today, every day I require at least the amount of food in this meal, also
these jade cup and silver chopsticks. I’m not picky about if you have used them before, just
give them to me. Also clothes, that silver mink cloak of yours is pretty good, but I don’t
like that nauseating white color, give me a black one. Alright that’s it for now.”
Zong Yue played with that bowl of purple grass, lightly saying, “Sure thing, but you can’t
just eat without working right? Look at you, so fat, do you even have a human shape
anymore?”
……
Meng Fuyao gaped, her tongue twisted – I’m fat I’m fat I’m fat? My figure is perfectly
delicate and curved with swells where appropriate and definitely no swells where there are
supposed to be valleys, were those little eyes of yours installed correctly?
This person gave one the feeling of crystalline purity like snow, how come when he spoke
his words were so vicious? A truly poison tongued man, did he not feel that he really
dishonored that pure white outfit of his?
Meng Fuyao was stunned for a while. Turning her grief and indignation into appetite,
several small dishes were cleared before she finally coldly laughed in reply. “Even if I eat
myself to death it still has nothing to do with you.”
“It does have to do with me.” Zong Yue still had on that composed expression. “My page,
cannot be too ugly, cannot be too fat, cannot be too dumb, and cannot be too pretty.”
“Your page? Who?” Meng Fuyao narrowed her eyes.
Zong Yue didn’t reply to her words, first inspecting her up and down once, then nodding
without much satisfaction, saying, “Not too bad, you’re not pretty, not smart but not
considered dumb, as for fat … that can be fixed.”
……
Fuyao’s teeth clenched with ge ge ge sounds for a time. She started smiling all of a sudden,
saying, “Not too bad, you’re also not pretty, not smart, a little fat, clearly a wretchedly
poisonous-tongued man who just has to pretend himself to be tall handsome and dignified.
Thinks himself to be Ximen Chuixue[1], despite a vile character, a mouth full of lies, and
taking advantage of others through framing and blackmailing … even though your
problems are many, I believe, that can be fixed.”
Her smile was hair-raisingly horrifying. She slowly said, “I will spend a little effort, to
discipline you.”
“Alright.” Zong Yue actually didn’t get angry at all, only nodding his head and saying:
“Then let us see, who will discipline who.”
Footnotes
1. Ximen Chuixue (literally “West Gate Blowing Snow”) is a character that is unfeeling and
cool in a popular wuxia novel called The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng. Link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu_Xiaofeng
Chapter 3 – Thief of the Xinggong[1]
“I’m not just a regular kind of page, I require treatment that befits my outstanding
qualities!” Meng Fuyao crouched in front of the “De Xin Courtyard” gates inside Prince
De’s palace, located at Zhongzhou city’s eastern corner streets. She clutched a page-
servant’s outfit while loitering around in protest.
Inside the building was completely still. Yao Xun looked at Meng Fuyao askance, pulling
on her. “Ai, Lady Meng, you drank their priceless wine, being a page to repay your debt is
still deservedly so. How should I say this, if you still demand more it seems to be taking it a
little too far …”
“What do you understand!” Meng Fuyao cut him off. “So what if I am annoying him? This
person is so calm and so clean, I precisely want to annoy him until he voluntarily
surrenders.”
With deng deng deng sounds she climbed up the window. The window was closed very
tightly, so Fuyao went to poke the window paper. I’ll poke, I’ll poke poke poke poke poke
…… puchi puchi puchi, the window paper was quickly almost turned into a hornet’s nest.
Thinking of the cold night wind passing through the holey window paper to blow onto a
certain person’s body with hu hu sounds, and how beautiful that scene would be, Meng
Fuyao grinned with absolute joy. I’ll poke I’ll poke I’ll continue to poke … ouch!
Her fingertip suddenly pained, as if it were pierced by a needle. Fuyao retrieved her hand in
a hurry, with a look discovering that on her finger had already squeezed out a round blood
droplet. She couldn’t help but burn in fury, cursing, “That scum’s viciousness actually goes
this far! There actually was an ambush!”
With a hua la sound the window frame was quietly pulled open. Zong Yue with an outfit
like snow sat cross-legged in front of the window, while behind him was a large silk screen
with white silk and embroidered maple leaves. On the edges of those vibrant deep red
maple leaves were inlayed with slight yellow. Inside the brilliant gorgeousness was a type
of frosty vicissitude of life, contrasting with the Zong Yue in front of the maple illustrations
whose expression was mild yet elegant.
In his fingers was twisting a hollow needle. He observed the thinly flowing blood liquid
inside the needle with a pondering expression, lightly saying, “Recently at Lifting Wind I
met the sacred Saintess, Exalted Lady Fei Yan. She said to me, if there were a seventeen
year old young girl who successfully cultivated a peerless mental technique, she would be a
uniquely rare blood sacrifice body. She had searched for many years without results. If I
had stumbled upon one, I definitely should let her know.” Waving the needle in his hand,
he deeply thought, not looking at Meng Fuyao while muttering, “Exalted Lady Fei Yan
wants a blood sacrifice body, while I have tried many times and all were unsuitable. I don’t
know if this one will be or not?”
Meng Fuyao crouched on the window, laughing back at him with extreme anger while
mumbling, “In your whole life, besides the kinds of stuff like threatening blackmailing
coercing and framing, what else can you do at all?”
Zong Yue raised his eyes, throwing her a basket at a distance from the window, saying,
“Right now I’ll let you see what I can do – I’ll bother you to go pluck the delicate tips from
the seven-leaf grass in the courtyard garden and grind them into pieces inside a medicinal
cauldron, I need to use them. Remember, it needs to be fine like powder, using the most
tender and delicate grass tips.”
Meng Fuyao’s nose pointed towards the sky, while her hands were in her sleeves, not
moving. Instead it was Yao Xun who went forward to pick it up, pulling Fuyao to leave.
“Since you picked it up you go pluck.” Meng Fuyao stomped outside, when the corner of
her eye caught a glance of the grass besides the road. Suddenly she said, “Hey, this grass is
really similar to the seven-leaves grass, almost identical … hey, you go pluck it, after
grinding it give it to Zong Yue. Didn’t he want to let me see his abilities? Let me see if he
can tell them apart or not.”
Not waiting for Yao Xun’s reply, she waved her hand saying, “I’m going for a stroll.”
—————–
Zhongzhou was worthy of being the number one most prosperous, bustling city of the Five
Regions Continent. It was unlike the legendary high-walled thickly fortified, primitively
grim Nemesis capital city Pan; Zhongzhou was wealthy and flourishing, the local people
idle and relaxed. Throughout the city were the traces of satisfaction and leisure that is
unique to people governed during times of peace and prosperity. From the snow white bare
feet of the young girls selling flowers; to the guests who spend half a day enjoying tea
inside teahouses; to the eloquently discussing scholars inside the meeting halls; to the
merchants from various states trading goods at the market; to the red sleeves fluttering in
the wind from the tops of the qinglous[2]; to the smell of rouge, wine and meat from the
gambling houses; from all this one could see this city’s diverse and all-embracing nature,
its abundant and wide-encompassing scope.
According to a famous wandering poet’s romantic saying, Pan was like a tall and mighty
man, its bearing dignified as it stood unmoving like a mountain. Zhongzhou was an elegant,
ceremonially attired, and spaciously robed young man, with indulgence and culture
coexisting, splendor and idealism born together.
Meng Fuyao aimlessly wandered around on the streets while arbitrarily buying some small
knickknacks. She had money now – even though Zong Yue was not a good person or
anything, but what he furnished this little page with was not considered too bad. If not for
her discovering that she had found this free financer that could be responsible for her food
and shelter, Meng Fuyao would have long started to think of ways to escape.
On the way she randomly wandered around, gradually passing through the main streets.
The people slowly thinned out, and the roads gradually widened. In front, a magnificent
and superbly crafted crowd of buildings came into view, but from its appearance it didn’t
seem like an imperial palace either. The encircling walls were so short that Meng Fuyao
could just lift her feet and leap over. The surroundings had some scattered locals, and
Fuyao stopped an old person who was passing by to inquire. The old person kindly smiled
at her, saying, “Miss must not be from around here. This is His Highness the Crown
Prince’s xinggong.”
“The Crown Prince’s xinggong?” Meng Fuyao was stunned. “Isn’t it only Emperors who
can have a xinggong?”
“Is Crown Prince Wuji a regular crown prince? He has held major authority in the Infinite
state for a long time already, he just hasn’t ascended to the throne yet.” The old person
showed some displeasure. “If, according to your logic, only Emperors can have honorifics,
doesn’t Crown Prince Wuji have his own honorific just the same?”
“Ah? What honorific?” Fuyao absentmindedly asked. It seemed like Zhangsun Wuji was
really loved and esteemed by the common people in his country.
“How could the types of people like us be worthy of mentioning the Crown Prince’s
honorific?” The old person hastily walked forward. “Miss you can just stay here and look
around, the Crown Prince very rarely comes over. This xinggong is a quiet place, it looks
like today the Crown Prince definitely isn’t here.” The old person then pointed at that stout
palace wall saying, “Do you see that low palace wall? In the flower garden outside the
xinggong is planted a lot of medicinal plants, making it easy for the commoners who have
no money to get medical treatment to pick and use. You just have to flip over the wall and
grab some inside. Actually, wanting to see the Crown Prince is not hard, it’s just that
everyone is responsible enough to not go and bother him.”
Meng Fuyao gave an “oh” sound, whispering, “Not defensible at all, better be careful of
assassins mixing in.” She turned around, and sure enough she saw inside the medicine
garden was planted many herbs. Meng Fuyao suddenly had an urge – if she stole a little to
sell, wouldn’t that be money?
A quarter-hour later, the Meng Fuyao who had passed into the garden straightened her
waist furtively, her robes bulging and swelling with a large pile. Fuyao knew some
medicine, so she only chose the herbs that were relatively more expensive – she planned to
bring them back and sell them to Zong Yue. She definitely had to fiercely make a profit off
of this.
After stealing for half a day she felt a little hot, and her hands were also dirtied with a lot of
mud. Meng Fuyao looked left and right, wanting to find some water to wash her hands. One
of her eyes vaguely spotted a clear pond behind a false mountain in front. On the opposite
side of the clear pond seemed to be an iron red-colored tree, blooming with black-colored
flowers. Meng Fuyao frowned, feeling that this tree had some similarity to the Qingtong
Divine Tree that the old Daoist had once mentioned. This thing’s tree bark was excellent
medicine for establishing foundations and nurturing spirit, also able to give great help to
her own “Breaking Nine Heavens” technique. Immediately having covetous designs, she
sneakily went nearer.
Before she had gotten close, from behind the fake mountains suddenly came out a pair of
golden armored guards. Their spears interlocked in an X as they blocked the way, and one
said, “Going further is the area of the Crown Prince xinggong‘s Outer Palace. Those who
have come to pick herbs, please stop here.”
“Oh,” Meng Fuyao turned her eyes in thought, then humorously chuckled, “I won’t go
over, but big brother soldier, could you let me climb up that fake mountain to take a look at
the xinggong? That way when I go back I could tell those at home about it.”
The two guards looked at each other. Because frequently commoners would make such a
request out of the admiration they had for the Crown Prince, the guards had long become
used to it. Generously smiling one said, “Then you go up and take a look, don’t slip.”
“Ah, thank you.” Meng Fuyao bounced over to go climb the mountain. When passing by
their sides, her fingers flipped once, and the two guards fell to the ground.
“Wow, Zhangsun Wuji sure has trained these soldiers well, their quality is great. They fall
whenever you tell them to fall, so obedient.” Fuyao looked in four directions. As far as she
could see there actually was no one around, it truly was empty with no one else to guard.
She couldn’t help but perk up in joy, with two or three leaps climbing up the fake
mountain. Without taking a look at the xinggong at all, she immediately jumped down.
Under the wide skies, above the fake mountain, the dai-colored figure directly leapt up.
Like a young swallow shooting through the woods, it dived down towards the pond water
behind the fake mountain.
“Freestyle swimming technique! Here I come!”
Footnotes

1. 行宫 = xinggong, a temporary imperial palace for short stays by the Emperor

2. 青楼 = qinglou, name for brothels in Ancient China
Chapter 4 – Beauty at the Lake Heart
In mid-air Meng Fuyao’s fingers flicked, and a piece of broadleaf grass she had picked
previously was shot out, brushing past the water surface. With a flip of her body, Fuyao
swept past like an eagle shearing the waves, and the tip of her foot had already landed on
the broadleaf grass.
With such a cold day, only an idiot would actually go for a dive.
Fuyao’s foot stood on the leaf tip as she smiled and assessed the surroundings. As she
expected, behind the fake mountain was hidden beautiful scenery. Before she could only
see a corner of the pond water, but now she could see it was actually a quite large man-
made lake. The lake water was clear blue like jade and reflected the exquisite, strangely-
shaped rocks in the surroundings. Large swaths of sweet-smelling camellias blossomed
with scarlet red, light red, pink, and white, intermixed with vividly blooming pure
wintersweets, and tender and delicate azaleas. Vibrantly colorful and gorgeous, the scene
drew in one’s eyes.
While in the heart of the lake there was a pavilion of white jade that connected with
emerald green-colored long corridors. Upon careful inspection, those corridors were
actually constructed with bamboo that were supported on top of the blue ripples. It was
unknown how that quiet and beautiful pure blue color could be maintained; light green
bamboo reflected in the crystal-like lake water, creating a very clean and soothing visual
feeling.
Wind brushed past. The lake water folded with layers of elegant ripples, while from inside
the white jade pavilion, the ding ling sounds of golden chimes sounded without end. The
white silk drapes in the pavilion were lifted up by the wind, layer upon layer like a dream
or mirage. There could vaguely be seen a human figure inside the curtains, who was
currently playing a zither with their head lowered. The sound of the zither was clear and
melodious, as if strings of jade pearls rolled and fell into the heart of the lake, yet it was not
known from which beauty’s hands these sounds came from.
Meng Fuyao took in a breath, her chest immediately filling with the winter day’s refreshing
air, intermixed with flowery fragrance. She couldn’t help but mumble a little. “So
enjoyable!”
From her fingers continuously flew out broadleaf grass, and her person also neared the
pavilion at the heart of the lake step by step. Halfway there she suddenly paused. She felt
that there seemed to be killing intent in the surrounding air.
That kind of killing intent was formless and traceless, yet was omnipresent at the same
time. It seemed to be hidden in plant life, hidden in the wind and moon; it followed the
flowers and trees as they waved, followed as the wind blew and the moon shone, the force
approaching little by little.
This place was clearly silent besides the zither’s sounds, there were no other sounds at all…
Meng Fuyao’s thoughts paused here all of a sudden. Right! Why was there no other sounds
at all besides the zither? Where did the world’s natural sounds all go? Where did the wind
blowing and grass moving, the night bugs chirping sounds go?
She swiftly flew up, yet her thoughts were a little sluggish. Her whole body’s senses spread
outward, detecting that the surrounding killing intent was dispersed everywhere; only the
person in the pavilion in front had no strange feeling, and they were the only gap in the
midst of the ominous aura.
This one, she thought, must be the Crown Prince’s beautiful concubine who didn’t know
any martial arts, right? Even though this xinggong didn’t have anyone in sight, it seemed
like there was an ancient array set up; since she had stumbled into the array, then she could
only exit from that gap. Meng Fuyao made up her mind and directly shot forward.
At this time the opposite person behind the veil seemed to have also discovered her. They
slightly raised their head, their hands that were pressing on the zither strings suddenly
pausing, then relaxing. In the air, a stream of faint zither music unfurled, its sound deep yet
distant.
The killing intent in the surroundings suddenly dissipated. Meng Fuyao immediately felt
her whole body loosen, as if some kind of binding was untied, and she felt completely
relaxed. She couldn’t help but look towards that hazy shadow in the center of the lake while
laughing obscenely. Beauty … you also know that I don’t have any malicious intentions
towards you huh … he he.
She flung out her last piece of broadleaf grass and calculated the distance, it was exactly
enough to reach the inside of the pavilion. Seeing graceful beauty behind the veil who was
pressing the zither without speaking, as if they were lifting their eyes to look over at her,
Meng Fuyao began to smile even wider.
Closer … closer…
The drapes were suddenly lifted up, yet it wasn’t the slender jade fingers of a beauty lifting
the curtains, but a bundle of white fat. That guy waddled out, its claws hugging a super
small slingshot. Heavily setting the sling against the pavilion bamboo railings, it used a foot
claw to firmly press down on the slingshot, and a front claw to pull against the rubber band.
Valiantly posturing, its white fur flowing, its eyes burning with hatred, it drew the bow!
“Pa!”
A piece of rock shot out, landing on that broadleaf grass and hitting it to spin round and
round, yet because of water tension the leaf didn’t sink.
At this time, Meng Fuyao didn’t lift her head to look at the events in the pavilion. Her
vision was currently n the process of lowering to prepare to land on that leaf tip.
Unexpectedly, the grass was hit spinning, leaving the area of her calculations. Fuyao cursed
loudly. “Which bastard is making trouble?” As her body flipped in mid-air she tried to land
on the grass tip again.
She didn’t realize that the rock would actually be smeared with a strong corrosive poison.
When the leaf contacted it, it immediately began to decay and shrivel, in a blink
disintegrating into nothingness.
After Meng Fuyao’s somersault that grass tip she could land on was no longer found in her
vision. In shock, with her true qi used up after flipping two times, she let out an “uh” sound,
and splashed into the lake water with a “pu-tong”.
That certain Master on top of the pavilion instantly threw away its slingshot, holding its
stomach with a joyful rodent heart, laughing with zhi zhi sounds. With a whoosh it slipped
back into the drapes again.
A “hua la” sound. The completely soaked Meng Fuyao surfaced her head from the lake, her
black hair wet and sticking to her forehead, while the yellow ginger juice on her face had
already been mostly washed away. Amidst the water flowers she crazily made a ruckus like
a water demon, her brows almost vertical as she shouted, “Which one? Which rat-faced
scoundrel dared to scheme against me?! Come out! Come out!”
The rat-faced scoundrel laughed in a zhi zhi sound from inside the drapes.
Fuyao suspiciously perked up her ears, then splashed over. She held onto the pavilion
railing and prepared to crawl up, when the drapes were suddenly lifted. A person chuckled.
“Fuyao, why is it that every time I see you, you always cut such a sorry figure?”
Chapter 5 – Vividly Beautiful

The voice was low and elegant, containing a never-changing smile.
Meng Fuyao started. The hand grabbing the bamboo railing couldn’t control itself, and with
a “pa” sound the railing broke.
She raised her head. Above her, the drapes were lifted up by a maidservant. The hands of
the person inside the pavilion were pressing against the zither strings, looking at her with a
shallow smile. Dark hair scattered in the wind along with his lilac robes. Graceful like
moonlit still water, ethereal like lofty flowing clouds, boundless splendor, unmatched in the
world.
Sure enough it was a beauty, a male beauty.
The beauty pushed the zither forward and stood up. Softly stepping over on the pavilion
surface, he slightly leaned his body downwards. That face that could cause one’s heart to
beat even faster and one’s breathing to stricken upon close inspection, slowly drew closer.
It was so close that it almost touched Fuyao’s striped cat-like face, the long eyelashes
practically brushing against her. That clear, delicate orchid pine-like fragrance swept over
with the chilly lake wind.
Meng Fuyao was about to ripple and sway like the lake water. She muttered, “Isn’t every
time because of you …”
The sound of her voice had not yet fallen, before she awkwardly sneezed, inelegantly
ruining the beautiful atmosphere.
Yuan Zhaoxu faintly smiled, stretching out his white slender hand to Meng Fuyao.
Fuyao’s eyes landed on his palm. The skin was glossy while the palm lines were distinct[1].
Hey, the wisdom line was straight and long, peerless intelligence … the affection line was
pretty deep, just a little entangled up … how many marriage lines? One …
Her thoughts blindly ran in random directions, in a manner unbefitting of the current
situation. The person above her head suddenly laughed, and with a light pull of his fingers
Meng Fuyao used the force to fly up. In mid-air she drew out a dai-colored arc as she
landed in the middle of the pavilion. The direction she landed in was directly facing
towards the back of the drapes. With a turn of her gaze, she noticed that slingshot beneath a
certain rat-faced scoundrel, and she immediately found the true culprit.
When the true culprit noticed she had crawled up, it moved its legs to escape. Fuyao leaped
over like a wolf, viciously grabbing it, and not caring for that guy’s struggles she ruthlessly
rubbed her face on its body’s downy fur. As she rubbed she cried out, “Ai ya Yuanbao, ai
ya baobao[2], ai ya my Master Yuanbao, I’ve missed you to death …”
The pitiful Master Yuanbao desperately thrashed, yet was still unable to escape her evil
clutches. As it struggled it miserably turned its head to look for Yuan Zhaoxu to save it,
however brother Yuan only folded his hands and stood to the side watching – wearing the
same attitude as when he watched Meng Fuyao fall into the water just then.
By the time Fuyao had finished expressing her love, infatuation, admiration, and
wistfulness for Yuanbao, the originally noble-blooded, snow white Divine Enigma Rat
Master Yuanbao had already become a yellow and white-patched suspiciously hamster-like
damp rodent – Meng Fuyao had already rubbed her dirty face clean on its body.
Only then did Meng Fuyao smile and release the fat rodent, conveniently moving her foot
to crush that preposterous slingshot into pieces.
Master Yuanbao sprinted to a bright pearl at the corner of the pavilion to view its own
appearance, after which it let out a piercing whine that was tragic beyond mortal compare.
“Putong!”
From the water surface splattered out small ripples.
The Master Yuanbao that forced others to drop into the water, had now jumped into the
water to bathe on its own ———-
After getting her revenge on Master Yuanbao, Meng Fuyao turned around. The Yuan
Zhaoxu who was leaning against the pavilion grinned as he watched her. Suddenly he
waved his hand, and a lilac-colored outer robe gently draped down like a cloud, tightly
wrapping around Fuyao.
Then he clapped his hands, and immediately a couple maids gracefully walked over. One
carried over an exquisite little furnace, then used weight stones to press down on another
heavy layered curtain behind the pavilion drapes. The four directions were covered by the
curtain, and the inside of the pavilion was instantly warm like spring. Another maid
delivered over a bundle of clean clothes. Yuan Zhaoxu personally received it and put it on
top of a small table, flipping through the clothes to look at something. Only then did he
give it to Meng Fuyao. Fuyao happily said, “It’s rare for you to be so considerate.” Just
when she was about to enter to change her clothes, she suddenly heard him say, “Do you
mind changing together?”
“What!” Meng Fuyao twirled around in shock about to vehemently deny this perverse
request, but she saw that Yuan Zhaoxu’s fingers were extended towards the water surface.
Soon a certain drenched fat rat crawled up on his fingers, also sneezing with a-choo a-choo
sounds.
Fuyao was so angered by that intentionally insinuating fellow that her face darkened; yet
when she saw the bedraggled state that Yuanbao was in, she turned cheerful again. That
Master’s miserable appearance was completely unlike its usual beauty – white fur was
stuck together in clumps, sodden with dripping water. On its stomach its skin was a patch
of pink. Fuyao reached out a finger and flicked, while Master Yuanbao opened its mouth
wide to bite. With a loud laugh, Fuyao grabbed Master Yuanbao into her grasp and ran into
the curtains.
The Yuan Zhaoxu left behind faintly smiled as he reclined on the pavilion railings, listening
to the natural-born pair of foes, one human one rat, unceasingly squabble at each other.
“Hey, was the bath refreshing?”
“Zhi zhi!”
“What, can’t you talk in human speech?”
“Zhi zhi!!”
“Oh, I forgot you’re a rat-faced scoundrel, you can’t speak human, sorry sorry …”
“Zhi!!!”
Yuan Zhaoxu slightly tilted his head to listen. In his eyes gradually surfaced a humorous
shine. Compared with his usual ethereal, capricious smile, at this moment his expression
was genuine and warm.
He smiled as he looked at the curtains – the firelight from the stove was faint red, shining a
shadow onto the bright yellow curtains. A graceful neck, slender arms like delicate jade
bamboo; reaching the waist was a shocking convergence, flowing and beautiful; and going
down further, was a breathtaking curve that rose and fell like an upside-down pipa; all were
absolutely perfect creations.
In the winter the pavilion was warmed by the fire, yet its golden curtains shone out with
spring. A certain person was unaware that she had already been completely seen. With an
abrupt turn of the body, the gracefully firm chest traced out a heart-stirring arc, making one
feel hard-pressed to imagine that a person’s figure could grow to be this kind of perfection;
not a sliver more in the slender portions, while not a degree less in the full portions.
Yuan Zhaoxu, however, had already slowly turned his gaze away, looking towards the
depths of the lake. With a sudden chuckle he said, “Does the moxiong[3] fit?”
“Ah!”
The shadow on the curtains jumped up in panic. She comically rushed around in circles,
most likely trying to find where Yuan Zhaoxu was peeking in from – he even knew that she
was trying on the moxiong! After going around in a circle she discovered that the curtains
were tightly woven and the gaps closed. Only then did she manage to figure out a general
idea of how she was seen, and hurriedly extinguished the charcoal fire in the stove.
With the disappearance of the firelight, the curtains dimmed, and the vividly beautiful
feminine figure was no longer able to be seen. However, Yuan Zhaoxu was still lightly
smiling … that charcoal fire was not an ordinary heating fire. It used charcoal formed from
the iron trees on top of the snowy mountains of Heaven’s Court, and the flame that rose
from it could condense qi and strengthen the spirit. Unfortunately, the strong blaze was
overbearing, with most ordinary people unable to endure for long. Even though her
cultivation base was solid, continuing to be baked by the fire would not be a good thing
either – stopping now would be for the best.
He lazily sat down and raised a white jade cup, his head facing the azure sky as he waited.
As expected, in a short while the curtains were viciously flung up. Meng Fuyao strode over
in large steps, her whole face gloomy, her dark eyes hatefully staring at Yuan Zhaoxu. It
was a pity that that person only turned a blind eye to her. Lifting his cup towards her, he
said, “How does it fit?”
With a black face Meng Fuyao replied. “Too large.”
Leisurely sipping some wine, Yuan Zhaoxu didn’t say anything else. Fuyao was feeling
pleased at his silence until she suddenly heard him mutter, “How could the measurements
that I personally made sure of, be too large? Could it be that recently your chest has gotten
smaller?”
……
Fuyao helplessly stared at the sky, deciding not to bicker on that topic with this ill-
intentioned fellow. Flopping down by his side, she grabbed the wine jug and poured a cup
for herself without asking, then resentfully said, “You’re so despicable, you saw me fall
into the water yet you didn’t help at all.”
Yuan Zhaoxu replied with a slight smile, “The world loves joyous occasions the most, and
nothing is more joyful than a beautiful woman falling into the water. It can be a feast for
the eyes, it can let her dress up, and it can even let us warm ourselves by the fire together. If
the beauty catches a cold from falling into the water, one can even treat her by the sick bed
and serve her medicine and tea, completely attentive to her needs; there would no longer be
a need to worry whether her heart belongs to me. I am not a fool, why would I give up on
this kind of great opportunity?”
Listening to his words, at first Fuyao scoffed and was about to go pinch him, yet after
hearing him continue on her face began to blush red. She felt that Yuan Zhaoxu’s tone was
half-teasing and half-serious, and especially when he said that phrase “there would no
longer be a need to worry whether her heart belongs to me”, his eyes drifted with a faint
hint of a smile. The whole lake’s smoky, murky waters seemed to flow like the ripples in
his eyes.
Because of this Fuyao’s heart also skipped a beat, and she suddenly recalled that night in
the Tai Yuan coup. Yuan Zhaoxu’s smile and steady gaze in front of the palace gates, had
some deeper meaning to it; however this type of inscrutable intent seemed like it was
covered by a layer of paper, hazy and obscured, containing a mystery that made one afraid
to dig deeper.
Or maybe, it was because she didn’t want to dig deeper.
Meng Fuyao silently sucked in a breath of air, downing the rest of the wine in her cup.
When she put down her wine cup she had already asked another question. “Why are you
here?”
It wasn’t that she didn’t realize there was a possibility of meeting Yuan Zhaoxu when she
came to the Infinite Empire, but she didn’t expect that they would meet so quickly and so
coincidentally. It almost seemed like a certain person had predicted that she would come,
and had intentionally waited for her here.
However this thought only flashed through her mind before disappearing. Meng Fuyao felt
this was absolutely impossible, how could Yuan Zhaoxu know that she would come to the
Infinite Empire? And how could he predict that she would come visit the xinggong? Herself
appearing here today was completely due to a temporary impulse too.
Her thoughts twirled and circled randomly, while Yuan Zhaoxu next to her unhurriedly
answered, “I have always been one of the staff of Shangyang court under Zhangsun Wuji,
and at the same time the manager of this Canglan xinggong.”
“Oh, Manager Yuan.” Meng Fuyao smirked as she looked at him. “Aren’t you going to
invite me on a tour of this xinggong?”
“There will be plenty of opportunities in the future.” Yuan Zhaoxu lifted up her hand. “First
accompany me to a place, I think you will definitely be interested.”
“Where?”
“Qinglou.”[4]

Footnotes
1. Palmistry: Part of traditional Chinese superstitions, here is a basic guide to palm

lines: http://www.wikihow.com/Read-Palm-Lines
2. baobao = “宝宝”, means my precious or my baby

3. Underclothes that woman in ancient China (specifically Song Dynasty) would wear, also a
general term for bra.
4. Qinglou = “青楼”, name for a brothel in ancient China
Chapter 6 – Drinking at the Qinglou
There was a type of person in this world, whose words and actions would always be
different from the masses.
For example, Yuan Zhaoxu.
Meng Fuyao felt she had never met a man who could speak of going to the qinglou so
directly and unashamedly, to a woman he was interested in.
Alright … Fuyao thought with a bit of shame, she was probably being a bit narcissistic.
When had Yuan Zhaoxu ever clearly said that he was interested in her?
Alright … Fuyao said to herself, even though she might have a very favorable impression
of Yuan Zhaoxu, in reality she didn’t hope for anyone to be interested anyone – it wasn’t
like she was planning to fall in love or anything.
Then what was she being depressed about? Even after thinking a long time Meng Fuyao
still couldn’t figure it out, and the more she wracked her brains the more irritable she
became. Raising her hand, she gave herself a slap.
Yuan Zhaoxu held back a smile, as if he didn’t see her strange actions.
When Master Yuanbao heard the sound, it poked its head out from Yuan Zhaoxu’s bosom.
Seeing Fuyao’s slap, its eyes immediately shone, and it suddenly leapt out, with a “pa”
sound also giving Fuyao a slap.
Being attacked while caught unawares, Meng Fuyao instantly blazed up with fury. Master
Yuanbao bared its teeth at her, making zhi zhi noises nonstop.
Yuan Zhaoxu automatically translated for her. “The gist of its words is, this kind of
symmetry, is more beautiful.”
Speechless, Fuyao suddenly shot out her hand, pulling out a whisker from each side of
Master Yuanbao’s mouth like flashing lightning, then smiling. “You’re right, symmetry is
beautiful.”
……
The human and rat endlessly squabbled. Yuan Zhaoxu only raised his head, his eyes
profound, looking at plaque of the elegant pavilion tower in front of them.
“Deep Spring Pavilion” ——–

“Deep Spring Pavilion” was the top money-squandering love nest in Zhongzhou – its wine
was the finest, its madam[1] the most cunning, its song and dance the most excellent, and its
beauties the most numerous.
Yet, the owner of the “Deep Spring Pavilion” was not a local of Zhongzhou, but was a
powerful merchant from the Gaoluo nation on the other side of the sea.
Carrying a large pile of gold he crossed the sea to get here, and used great amounts of
money to open doors at all levels of the bureaucracy. Only a few months after he arrived he
opened the Deep Spring Pavilion amidst fanfare. On the opening day, the pavilion used
high-nosed, beguiling-eyed, snow-skinned and golden-haired dancing girls from the
Western Regions to attract the gazes of the people of Zhongzhou; ever since then, the
pavilion’s business boomed every day, and the pavilion was always full of deep spring.
It was rumored that even this name “Deep Spring Pavilion” was not chosen by this
foreigner, but was from him successively visiting the attendant of the Crown Prince, Master
White, more than ten times while gifting uncountable quantities of famous antiques and
exquisite golden watches – only then did Master White finally agree to help him write out
the pavilion’s name plaque.
The moment they entered the main hall[2] the scent of meat, alcohol, and rouge mixed with
body sweat odor, as well as various unknown stenches intermingled together, all rushed
towards their faces; following that was wave after wave of teasing laughter that tumbled
over like the tide. Scarlet ribbons and jade sleeves fluttered throughout the first floor,
western region belly dancing filled the second floor, the shouts of bets sounded on the
gambling house on the third floor, and as for the fourth floor … the fourth floor was quiet.
A guigong[3] came over and politely inquired. Yuan Zhaoxu smiled, saying, “I’m looking
for a fresh one, slightly tender.”
The guigong immediately loosened his brows in a smile, deeply bowing. “This way to the
fourth floor!”
Yuan Zhaoxu pulled the Meng Fuyao in male dress with him as he walked. Fuyao used her
fingernails to viciously pinch his palm – why do you seem like a frequent visitor here, you
even know the code phrases!
After pinching him for half a day that person finally turned his head back and smiled. He
lowered his head to the side of her ear and softly said, “Are you being jealous right now?
Fuyao?”
The tone of the two words Fuyao was slightly upturned, sounding like it had a teasing
meaning to it. Meng Fuyao’s face blushed red while she stubbornly replied, “I just wanted
to ask you, what do you mean by ‘slightly tender’?”
After hearing her words Yuan Zhaoxu grinned back at her, lightly saying, “You’ll see.”
Although Meng Fuyao was reflexively upset at him inviting her to a qinglou, she knew that
Yuan Zhaoxu was definitely not coming to actually be a customer. She obediently followed
him into a elegant room on the fourth floor. The room was decorated opulently, not even
losing out to the homes of royalty. Like a flowing stream, the servants delivered up wine
and plates of food, and not long afterwards Master Yuanbao was already drunk on the
alcohol. It hugged two Lifting Wind jujubes to its left and right as it slept.
Meng Fuyao was drinking together with Yuan Zhaoxu. She had always boasted that her
alcohol tolerance was exaggeratedly outstanding, and today she vowed to drink Yuan
Zhaoxu to the ground so that she could let this person who always had the upper-hand over
her to finally lose once. Unexpectedly, even Yuan Zhaoxu’s ability to hold his liquor was
unfathomably deep – cup after cup was downed, yet the more he drank the more sober he
became, the more his eyes brightened, and the more he caused Fuyao to collapse.
Fuyao was never one to easily give up and not put up a fight. The more she drank the more
energetic and unrestrained she became – she drank from the seat to on top of the table,
drank from the table to the pile of empty wine jugs. Exquisite, flower-engraved wine cups
stacked up into a small mountain at her feet as she continued to raise her cup and toast
Yuan Zhaoxu. “Drink! I’d rather drink a hole … in my stomach, than cause a crack … in
emotions.”
From start to end Yuan Zhaoxu reclined in his chair, leisurely sipping wine. Even the way
he held his wine cup was extremely elegant; this further highlighted the huge distance
between the two’s postures.
When the door drapes were lifted and several delicate and timid girls came into the room,
Meng Fuyao had already started to lisp. She pulled on Yuan Zhaoxu’s sleeve and evilly
demanded, “How about you go change into female dress for me to see? I bet you are an
awesome cross-dresser …”
Those girls looked at each other, then bowed towards the two people. Fuyao raised her
head, and with a “ha” laugh she drunkenly pointed. “… who do you … lolis … belong to
… did you come to the wrong room …”
Was this a joke, the ages of those four added together Meng Fuyao thought couldn’t even
add up to forty! The smallest one’s stature was still immature, her childishness still present,
and actually looked like she was only around six or seven years old. Was this a nursery or a
qinglou?
Fuyao gave a wine belch. She held her dense, suddenly twice as heavy head with two
hands, jolting and shaking her dazzling multicolored fantastical vision. She saw the curtains
were circling, saw the beauties were upside down, saw Yuan Zhaoxu step over wearing a
faint smile, pull over the smallest one and ask something, then said something. Those
children first shook their heads, then for some reason began to cry and kneel down begging
Yuan Zhaoxu.
… Kao, child prostitutes …

That was Meng Fuyao’s last thought as she collapsed under the table.
Footnotes
1. The mistress and caretaker of the prostitutes in a qinglou, here madam is the closest term
in English.
2. Qinglou were actually decorated quite beautifully in ancient times (at least the ones in the
cities):
3. guigong, “龟公”, is a male steward or bouncer who works in qinglous.
https://trackest.blog/2017/10/05/legend-of-fu-yao-book-2-chapter-6/
chapter-7 – My Longing Heart
Everything was spinning.
The dark red curtains were spinning, the ivory bed was spinning, the flying dragon and dancing
phoenix caisson[1] was spinning, the dimly flashing pearl drapes were spinning.
Yuan Zhaoxu’s beautiful face that would make both gods and men angry, was also spinning.
Meng Fuyao squinted her eyes, attempting to grasp that most beautiful thing in the turbulently
spinning pile of random chaos, yet her whole body was limp and unresponsive. She grabbed a
couple times but failed to hold onto anything. Regretfully sighing, she muttered, “… fuck, it’s like
this every time.”
The vague sound of shifting robes came from nearby, and a light fragrance floated over. It seemed
as if a person sat down beside her, his voice deep yet warm. “Every time like what?”
A finger like slightly cold jade extended out, little by little brushing away the strands of hair stuck
on her face. Following that a lightly aromatic piece of washcloth, moist with warm water, gently
rubbed and wiped on her face. The temperature was just right, and the originally sticky skin from
her sweat after drinking turned fresh and clean. Chilly midnight wind blew past, and every pore on
her skin comfortably opened wide, enjoying the soothing feeling. Meng Fuyao let out a satisfied
sigh, grabbing onto the hand that was just about to move away with some clinginess. She
affectionately rubbed the palm while whispering, “… what I want, I cannot want …”
“What do you want?” The sound was steeped inside a blurry dreamscape, even more entrancing
than the dream, making one want to wallow inside it.
“I want …” Meng Fuyao softly said something. She was extremely sleepy, while her drunken mouth
also whispered unclearly. Those words were said with indecipherable vagueness, making the
person beside her have no choice but to lean his body down by her ear, wanting to hear more
clearly.
With this leaning down, he would have come close behind her ear; yet just as he did so, the
originally sideways Meng Fuyao who was facing the inside suddenly turned her body. Her face
turned over, precisely delivering up a pair of delicate and beautiful red lips.
Lips and lips connected, rubbed together, in that unwitting instant. It was as if the sky suddenly
rumbled with stunning electric arcs – lightning flashed in that moment, crossing thousands of
years crossing time and space crossing life and death, arriving at a silent lake that had long before
been buried inside the heart. Like a pearl dropping into a rippling heart, that flash created crystal
clear, jade-like waves.
That kind of flavor, soft, wavering, calm yet tempestuous at the same time.
Yuan Zhaoxu was frozen for a second, but then slightly relaxed. Smiling he leaned down and
extended his finger, lightly stroking Meng Fuyao’s exquisitely smooth yet burning hot cheek. His
fingertip lightly traced her pretty appearance, outlining her delicate contours, eyebrows, eyes,
nose, lips …
The girl below was still unconsciously murmuring. That moment of lip contact just now made her
feel seemingly warm and pleasant, while Yuan Zhaoxu’s lightly stroking fingers made her feel
slightly ticklish. Suddenly, she gave out a light laugh while extending her two arms. With a grab she
pulled on Yuan Zhaoxu’s neck, and her pearly teeth closed down on his lips, softly biting.
After biting she was still not done. She stretched out her hand to pinch Yuan Zhaoxu’s face, closing
her eyes while pulling. As she pulled she muttered, “Hey … why do you always win? How boring,
why can’t you lose something to me for once?”
Yuan Zhaoxu, being bitten and pulled on by her, suddenly had rippling shadows fluctuate through
his eyes. His jade white finger touched near the side of his mouth, where his lips were bitten red,
and the contrast made his lips seem even more alluringly red like early cherry blossoms. Only,
because his cheek was being stretched by this girl, his appearance was ruined a little. With a half-
smile he glanced at the drunk and gullible Meng Fuyao. After a while he softly said, “I can.”
“What …?”
Yuan Zhaoxu’s smile deepened, yet he only smiled and didn’t respond. Lightly pulling off Meng
Fuyao’s demonic claws, he covered her with a blanket, stared at her for a while, then softly
opened his mouth.
Outside the window were scattered plum flowers and the faint moon. From the top of the fake
mountain flowed down gurgling spring water, pouring into the crushed jade pond, while
moonlight hovered inside the rippling pool, beautiful like a serene woman.
The night was tranquil like so. The night was pure like so.
Yuan Zhaoxu’s voice was quiet like the midnight breeze that whistled through the window gaps,
yet was soft as well.
“One day, you will know the answer.”

chapter-8 – The Shocking Abandoned Courtyard
A wind blew over from somewhere she didn’t know, lifting her in a slow, leisurely swaying motion
… on top of a distant mountain slope seemed to be an ancient temple, the eaved and bracketed
corner suddenly vanishing in a flash … it was very soft under her body, she could see rattan strips
and a beautiful mattress … murky waves of mist in the surroundings … a person in the water.
A wrinkled, old hand reached over … low, rueful sighs … a sudden glimpse, amidst the dim,
claustrophobic space, of a bit of purple light shining through the gap … an instant of shock, endless
fright … a glint of sword light sweeping down, bright illumination filling her view, within the
brightness vaguely a delicate-featured face … the next moment the drifting started again … as if a
white puffy dandelion being blown past high hills and valleys … something landed on her face, a
tickling itch.
Itchy …
Meng Fuyao reached out her hand, erratically rubbing everywhere on her face – huh, why was it
so itchy?
Drowsily opening her eyes, she saw a snow white butt.
That butt was currently stuck on her face, rubbing over and over again, a tiny short tail swishing
over and over again, on her face sweeping over and over again.
The origin of the itch was from this.
Meng Fuyao lazily stretched her hand to pull, pulling that ball of stuff down while mumbling and
complaining. “Don’t shed hairs on my face.”
She squinted for a while, before sleepily realizing something was not right. How could this
Yuanbao thing be so caring, even coming to wake her up?
After that she felt there was something sticky on her face, seemingly also having a bad odor.
Sticking out her finger to wipe it off, on her fingertip was a bit of suspiciously yellow, dubious
substance.
“What is this?” Meng Fuyao narrowed her eyes.
Master Yuanbao crouched far away on top of the table, watching her with a suspicious gaze that
looked extremely indecent.
Fuyao sat up while shaking her heavy head. Just as she thought to crawl up and wash her face, the
door suddenly opened. Outlined by bright sunlight, Yuan Zhaoxu entered, and behind him
followed two maids.
He first smiled at Fuyao, then said to the Yuanbao who was about to slink away, “Little Cai De said
that you didn’t wait for her to wipe clean your bowel movement this morning before running
away. What were you doing running so hurriedly?”
Bowel movement … didn’t wipe clean … the dubious substance on her face …
Did this thing use her face as toilet paper just now, rubbing its butt that had just pooped, on her
face?
“AH!” Meng Fuyao exploded with a ferocious roar, leaping up to find her dagger. “I’m going to cut
this rat up and make it into soup!”
Master Yuanbao had already started sprinting towards the window with a “chi liu” sound, as if
wind currents picked up under its claws. With a wave of Meng Fuyao’s hand, the blanket shot out
to crush down against the window frame, shattering three vases with “pa pa pa” sounds. Yet,
Master Yuanbao had long ago disappeared from view.
Still brimming with unreleased fury, Fuyao jumped down from the bed to chase, but was suddenly
pulled back by Yuan Zhaoxu.
“Careful.”
Then, her body suddenly felt lighter – she had already been embraced by Yuan Zhaoxu. Meng
Fuyao was stunned, suddenly realizing that she was wearing her underclothes. Furthermore, they
were skin-tight underclothes with uncommon meaning – they were the camisole and shorts that
she had made herself.
The camisole was very small, wrapping her body so tightly that it was vividly contoured. The shorts
were very large, fluttering in the air and extremely chilly.
This type of dress, not mentioning this ancient time period, even if it were seen in the modern era
it would still be considered inappropriate. Even worse, right now a certain person’s hand was
impolitely pressing on her waist. That warm palm was like a small furnace, and the places it
touched burned with a fiery blaze.
Blazing flames also seemed to be burning inside Yuan Zhaoxu’s eyes. That young woman’s body in
front of him, full yet not lacking in slimness, with her slender neck and jade limbs, long legs and
fine fingers; no place was not beautiful, no place was not exquisite. The strange and odd clothing
not only didn’t detract from her beauty, but instead outlined her outstanding figure even more
fantastically. He could see that enticing arc in front of her chest, see those delicate and slim long
legs underneath the drifting wide shorts, and even more so feel the shocking softness of the
waistline under his hand, amazingly elastic.
This scene where both purity and flirtation, naivety and allurement coexisted, was like a brilliant
warm seasonal breeze, carrying vivid color that dazzled one’s eyes as it swept over from the front.
Even the level-headed and respectable Yuan Zhaoxu could not help but have a slight hitch in his
breathing.
Suddenly he lightly smiled. His finger stroked his own lips, as his expression showed a lingering
remembrance as if he were savoring an aftertaste.
Meng Fuyao lifted her head and saw his expression. Despite not understanding the meaning
behind his movement, and not remembering her indecent actions last night, she still unconsciously
felt her face redden. She hurriedly reached out to push him back while jumping back with a
“shua”. Before she even reached the ground, she was pulled still by Yuan Zhaoxu again, only in this
short instance his eyes had already recovered their usual brightness. He faintly said, “Be careful,
there are shattered vase fragments on the ground.”
His tone was light, yet his line of sight didn’t shy away from anything, sweeping past all of Meng
Fuyao’s exposed regions. Seeing this Fuyao quickly slipped into the blankets, wildly gesturing. “Go
out go out, I want to change.”
Chuckling, Yuan Zhaoxu left and closed the door behind him. His tall form floated past the window
frame, which was when he heard a light sound from outside the window. With a “pa” sound the
window flap was pulled open, and a certain round ball was thrown tumbling inside.
“Yuanbao, sneakily peeping from outside will lose me a lot of face, if you want to watch then
watch out in the open.”
The person’s voice floated in from outside the window, serene, noble, elegant, completely
unmoved.
The pitiful Master Yuanbao that was sold out by its own master widened its eyes with panic in
mid-air, its eyes staring at the Meng Fuyao it was falling towards. While in front of it, on the bed,
its arch nemesis and love rival Fuyao had a wide, sinister smile on her face as she stretched out her
arms, awaiting Yuanbao’s landing.
In that moment the ten great punishments flashed through Master Yuanbao’s mind … [1]
“Zhi zhi!”
An extremely tragic, piercing howl suddenly came out of the mouth of the self-respectable Divine
Enigma Rat Master Yuanbao – Meng Fuyao grinned as she blew out some snot, and while
chuckling, she rubbed it onto the snow white fur of Master Yuanbao …
In the early morning, the alleyway outside Prince De’s courtyard was tranquil and calm,
undisturbed by people.
Sunlight shone on top of the south-western corner of the courtyard walls. A clump of grass on the
wall top shook, and a head popped out.
The head warily glanced east then west. Seeing that the Dexin Courtyard was completely silent
with its doors and windows closed shut, she thought that the inhabitants must be currently in a
deep sleep. Unable to help but lightly let out a quiet sigh, she nimbly crawled over the wall.
This wall-crawling daytime intruder was naturally Meng Fuyao. After she had awoken from her
alcohol-induced daze at the Canglan[2] xinggong, she suddenly remembered that she had not
returned at all that night. Not wanting Yao Xun and Zong Yue to think her missing, she hurriedly
ran back here. Before leaving she thought of those child prostitutes, but Yuan Zhaoxu only said
that there was another reason for them and told her not to worry about them, causing Fuyao to
have no choice but to resentfully return to the courtyard.
Just when she lifted her leg to vault over the wall, with her other leg yet to land on the other side,
a calm voice lightly traveled over all of a sudden.
“The door is open.”
The implied meaning behind those words, was that there was no need to climb the wall now.
The “drinking outside, not returning all night” Meng Fuyao originally felt just a tiny little bit of
shame. In order to enter her room she needed to pass by Zong Yue’s building, so she planned to go
over the wall route; yet who could have predicted that she was called out by the uncooperative
Zong Yue almost immediately?
Whatever, who cares about being called out? Fuyao decided to simply not continue anymore. She
maintained her one leg in one leg out position as she sat on top of the wall, her two arms crossed
in front. She raised her head to exclaim: “Today’s sunlight sure is bright …”
From the sky fell down a few drips of cold rain, frigid and icy. A couple snowflakes lazily drifted
down.
Amidst the snowflakes Fuyao drunkenly shouted, “The weather sure is comfortable …”
After thoroughly praising the scenic weather and temperate climate, Meng Fuyao unhurriedly
came down from the wall top, then placidly walked past Zong Yue’s building door.
Suddenly stopping in front of the door, she drew her head over to sniff, saying, “This medicine
odor sure is smelly.” When her eyes shifted, she discovered Zong Yue sitting cross-legged on the
ground. Observing him through a window obscured by horizontally hanging plum blossoms, she
noticed his face color seemed a little pale, while on top of a table besides him was an empty bowl
with some residual traces of liquid that had not dried yet. The medicinal smell was coming from
there.
Seeing Fuyao was looking at the medicine bowl, Zong Yue’s vision contracted. With a wave of his
sleeve the window slammed shut with a “pa” sound, nearly hitting Fuyao’s nose.
Meng Fuyao rubbed her nose as she walked back to her room, wondering if Zong Yue was making
prescriptions, or was he wounded himself? This poison-tongued man was so furtive and sneaky, it
would probably be better to stay away from him.
After entering her room she washed and groomed herself clean. Yao Xun knocked on the door
carrying a box of food over to eat breakfast. Having ran around for half the night Fuyao just
happened to be quite starved, and so without caring about anything else she swept towards the
food like a whirlwind. Only once she finished the food did she wipe her mouth and ask: “This green
rice porridge had a pretty unique flavor, was it rice cooked with good quality herbs or something?”
Yao Xun shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know either, this porridge was what Sir Zong instructed
for you to eat after you came back.”
“Ah?” Meng Fuyao leapt up, revolving her qi in a hurry, but in the end didn’t find anything out of
the ordinary. Still not assured of Zong Yue’s character, Fuyao sat there and thought hard for a
while. She suddenly blurted, “The fake seven-leaves grass you picked yesterday, did you give them
to Zong Yue afterwards?”
“Yeah,” Yao Xun replied with some satisfaction, “I originally wanted to obediently pick some real
seven-leaves grass, but who knew that the real stuff was too tough, and hard to mash up? In
contrast, the grass you pointed out was smashed into paste much more easily. When I gave it to
Zong Yue he actually didn’t realize, haha, looks like the much-lauded medicine saint is only worth
this much.”
Without even listening to the rest of his speech, Meng Fuyao had already sprinted out. Yao Xun
followed her out with confusion, only to see Fuyao crouching down besides a patch of grass,
wailing.
“Kao … this is Yin Yang Grass … are my eyes blind or something …. !?” ——–
Fuyao crawled on the ground with her butt sticking up. Her eyes had widened into the size of
abacus beads as she scratched and dug at the ground.
As she dug into the ground, she continuously rubbed her face – the major side effect of Yin Yang
Grass was to reverse yin and yang. If a person of yang ate the grass during the nighttime, it could
cure deficiencies; however if a person of yin ate the grass during the daytime, their internal yang
fire would rise and their entire face would start sprouting acne, making them look like a teenager.
Unlike a teenager, though, if the antidote was not ingested the pimples would grow bigger and
bigger, unable to be treated.
The rock Fuyao lifted had ended up smashing her own foot, so now she could only crawl on the
ground to find the antidote. The antidote was the seeds of the Yin Yang Grass – those things were
extremely small, and when scattered on the ground they were extremely difficult to find. Fuyao
searched for half a day, yet the amount she managed to scavenge was still not enough for one
dose of antidote.
Huffing and puffing as she stood up straight, Meng Fuyao clenched her teeth as she threw daggers
with her eyes towards Zong Yue’s house. Only after doing this for a long time did she remember
that Zong Yue had already left to treat Prince De, and so couldn’t see her at all – she could only
bitterly lower her head to continue searching. Suddenly, she thought of an abandoned courtyard
they had passed by a couple days ago. She remembered that Yin Yang Grass was very plentiful
there, so finding the grass seeds should be a lot easier. Thus she promptly dragged Yao Xun over.
That abandoned courtyard was at the northwestern corner of the Prince’s residence. From far
away one could see its walls peeling, and its hanging eaves broken and deformed. However, the
outer walls were built quite sturdily, and covered with ancient spider webs. The tree and plant
branches that hung over the walls rustled in the wind, withered and old. In the frosty yin haze of
the winter day, the courtyard was sunk thoroughly inside a deep, deathly chill.
As expected, Fuyao and Yao Xun found Yin Yan Grass outside the courtyard, and ater digging for
half a day they easily managed to gather the needed amount. Just when they were about to leave,
Yao Xun suddenly stopped in his tracks, suspiciously saying, “Lady Meng, look, this courtyard
actually has people living in it.”
Meng Fuyao turned her head, and only then did she notice on a tree branch was draped a piece of
white clothing, most likely blown up there by the wind. She couldn’t help but be startled for a
moment.
Just the fact that this opulent and luxurious Prince De’s residence would have such a place of
squalor was already very strange. That there would actually be someone living here, would make
one even more surprised.
Fuyao advanced forward several steps and instinctively went to push open the door. The door was
locked but the lock was already rusted. She thought for a moment, then turned to climb up the
wall.
When Yao Xun wanted to stop her, he was kicked down with a foot.
Jumping down from the wall, Fuyao saw that the scene inside the courtyard was even more
desolate than outside. Withered flowers covered the ground, while wild grass was everywhere.
The building door that faced towards the courtyard was half-closed. Meng Fuyao walked over step
by step. The surroundings were very quiet, and she could hear her own breathing.
Her vision suddenly landed on the door knocker[3]. That wasn’t an ordinary door knocker, but was
a pair of small golden bells, delicate and elegant. They had fancy patterns engraved, but inside the
engraving seams were now filled with muck and dirt, and the lines were murky black.
The wind blew past, yet the golden bells didn’t sound, making the surroundings seem silent like
death. The shriveled leaves on the ground rubbed against each other to create the “si-si” sound of
a snake’s rattle.
Yet at this moment, a shrill, forlorn cry suddenly shattered this instance of stillness!
“Zhangsun Wuji! You bastard blood descendant! You conniving, position-stealing, evil and ignoble
person!”
—————————————————————————–
Footnotes
Ten Great Punishments – cruel punishments used on criminals in Ancient China

沧澜, “Canglan”, is the name of the xinggong building that Fuyao visited in the previous
chapters. It means “cold and magnificent”
chapter-9 – The Hero Under the Heavens
The cry was ear-piercing, as if a person had torn a bloody cloth with a “chi-la” sound, then
suddenly raised their hands to fling the pieces into the air. It seemed like the whole sky and earth
were filled with that sanguine color, drowning a person’s senses with piercing stimulus.
“Huo-la!” With a sound, a window covering by Meng Fuyao’s side was suddenly ripped apart. From
inside darted out a pair of shriveled black hands, grabbing hold of Fuyao’s left arm with lightning
speed!
At the same time, the shattered yet piercing woman’s voice that had sounded just then, rose up
even nearer: “… you’ve come! You’ve come! Let us die together, perish together! HAHAHA …”
With her eyes contracting, Fuyao saw that the hands clenching her arm were so emaciated that
blue veins protruded out. The insides of the sharp fingernails were filled with mud and dirt, while
on the back of the hands were smudges of brown. This pair of ferocious but sickly hands, actually
couldn’t even grab onto her arm steadily. They uncontrollably shook in the wind, yet the hands
still desperately clung onto her flesh using pinching fingernails.
Fuyao’s finger flicked and a thread of wind shot out. That ghoul-like pair of hands instantly shrunk
back, accompanied by a hoarse exclamation as an echoing collision noise traveled out from the
inside of the empty room. The sound had yet to fall before Fuyao had already pushed open the
door and walked in.
Inside the room was, as expected, even more dilapidated than she imagined. With a look she could
see that it was a room inhabited by a lunatic – tools randomly littered the ground, and the dust
layer on the floor was almost several cun thick. The woman wore rotted clothing of dubious
coloring as she shrunk back into a wall corner, her visage covered by scatteredly draping hair and
her body exuding a sour stench.
Meng Fuyao’s eyes fell upon the battered, mat-like bed on the ground, and saw patches of light
yellow and dark yellow on the straw bedding, their odor suffocating. After walking closer she
realized it was traces of excretion.
That woman stared at her in panic, her pair of eyes amidst the tangled hair crazily bewildered.
Inside the eyes flickered murky indigo yet also fiery light; that gaze jumped here and there, and
the places that were touched upon seemed to be lit up with devilish flame.
“Zhangsun Wuji … you demon …”
The voice, thin as gossamer, drifted through the stillness of the empty room. Deep with ghostly
aura, yet also filled with hatred, each word shattered gold and splintered jade as it ground out
through the gaps of her teeth. One listening could not help but believe that if Zhangsun Wuji were
here, this woman would definitely lunge over to tear him apart, and then devour him bite by bite.
A hint of doubt flashed through Fuyao’s eyes. Who was this woman? Why was she imprisoned like
this inside a broken-down courtyard at Prince De’s residence? And how did she have a grudge
against the Infinite Empire’s most noble prince? Since this person was a dangerous character due
to her insane ramblings that slandered the current crown prince, logically speaking Prince De
ought to restrain her carefully. Yet why was there not even a guard assigned, was she just left here
to die?
Fuyao tried to get a better look at the woman as she unconsciously stepped forward.
However, a light cough suddenly sounded behind her.
Meng Fuyao stopped in place as she squinted, staring into the widened pupils of the crazy woman.
In there was reflected a tall figure, wearing pure white clothes – it was Zong Yue.
Strangely, even though Zong Yue had clearly coughed to signal at her, he was not looking at her
back. From the eyes of the lady Fuyao could see that his eyes were directly staring at the crazed
woman’s eyes.
Fuyao’s gaze swept behind the madwoman again. Then she laughed all of a sudden, and slowly
retreated out. Before exiting through the door she even carefully closed it.
Turning around, she saw that Zong Yue was calmly looking at her. His voice was also calm, but the
words that came out of his mouth made Fuyao’s temper rise up in great billows.
“Even if you are only my lowly page, you should still know the most basic of etiquettes – for
example, not randomly wandering in other people’s houses.
Meng Fuyao’s vision immediately lit up like knives. Grinding her teeth, she thought that they were
even sharper than those of the madwoman. Only then did she cynically say, “Even if you are only
an arrogant chauvinist, you should still know that some actions are despicable and mean – for
example, following a woman and spying on her.”
Zong Yue unconcernedly looked at her. “You are a woman? Oh, you are a woman. Sorry, I always
forget.”
Afterwards, he actually bent at the waist to express his apologies.
Fuyao was so angry that smoke was about blow out from her nose. After a long while, she
straightened her back, and without saying a word she walked past Zong Yue’s side.
As she passed him, her shoulder suddenly collided with him. At that moment Zong Yue seemed to
have been distracted, and he unexpectedly staggered sideways from the impact.
Meng Fuyao immediately turned around with a sweet smile. Bathed in the sunlight, her disguised
appearance was ordinary; yet her two eyes beautifully shimmered, their radiance frightening.
“Ai ya, how come you fell down with one touch? Are you sure you’re a man? Sorry, I always
thought you were a man, so it turns out you actually aren’t.”
She bowed at the waist. Her pretend apology wasn’t even finished before she ran off laughing
heartily, leaving Zong Yue deep in thought as he stood in the wind.
The winter gale was heavy and ominous. In the wind was still the lingering light fragrance of a
maiden, seemingly there and not there at the same time. If one didn’t carefully smell for it, they
wouldn’t be able to detect the faint trace; yet upon finding it one would feel delight and
lightheartedness.
After a while, Zong Yue lightly smiled. He thought of that evil-intentioned straightening of her
chest just then. Sunlight brushed past her delicate figure in a scattering of crimson and green,
splashing into his eyes and causing him to falter for a second. As a result, he who usually never
allowed anyone to get close, was actually struck off balance.
His smile, like the blossoming of unostentatious yet still eye-catching winter flowers, lightened up
degree by degree.
“Actually, you very much are a woman…” ————
Dusk fell. Tonight, faint stars and a dim moon hung in the sky. From a restaurant at the end of the
eastern corner alleyway, lantern light shone distantly over, stretching Meng Fuyao’s long shadow
on the ground.
With veil obscuring her face, Fuyao hugged a bundle of medicine plants that Zong Yue wanted to
buy. As she returned from the market, her eyes were distant, as if she were deep in thought.
She was thinking about the stuff Yao Xun had mentioned about Zhangsun Wuji yesterday.
That night after meeting the crazy woman, someone from Prince De’s came over. He spoke about
some unknown thing with Zong Yue, and Zong Yue then cautioned her repeatedly to not go close
to that courtyard ever again. Originally, Fuyao didn’t place much importance on this matter that
had nothing to do with her; now, however, her interest was piqued. She couldn’t resist asking the
always well-informed Yao Xun if he knew about this woman and Zhangsun Wuji’s inside story.
Unfortunately, Fuyao didn’t expect that the moment Yao Xun heard Zhangsun Wuji, he would
immediately start spouting a huge stream of words. For a whole night, she was forced to listen to
the valiant heroics of the Crown Prince.
At the age of seven, he sketched a military diagram of the entire Infinite Empire, reforming both
the military strength and organization of the empire. Singlehandedly expanding the originally
hundred thousand strong army to seven hundred thousand, he then proceeded to clamp down on
the neighboring three countries.
When he was ten, the southern territories fell into turmoil. Northern and southern tribes exploded
into conflict over control of fertile lands, endangering the commoners of the surrounding
provinces. Again, it was the young Zhangsun Wuji who traveled thousands of li, only bringing with
him a dozen guards as he delved deep into the area of infighting. Everyone thought that the youth
was embarking on a suicide mission. No one could have expected that only after three days, the
grinning boy would walk out of the tent with his left hand pulling on the southern tribal chief, and
his right hand pulling on the northern tribal chief. The two hulking warriors, in front of tens of
thousands of soldiers, knocked their heads together – from then on, life-and-death brothers
instead of sworn enemies.
At the time, the ten-year-old boy stood with his hands clasped, smiling. On the boundless grass
plains his stature was the smallest; yet of the tens of thousands of tribesmen kneeling at his feet,
none of them dared to stand taller than him.
When he was thirteen the Linjiang king turned rebellious, plotting to kill Zhangsun Wuji first. He
held a banquet and invited the Crown Prince, and Zhangsun Wuji agreed to the invitation without
fanfare. After three rounds of wine the Linjiang king offered up a cup to the prince as etiquette
demanded, but in actuality he was carrying a goblet of colorless, odorless poison. Furthermore,
behind the king followed the disguised shadow of a famous assassin. Zhangsun Wuji drank the
entire cup of poison in one gulp, yet when he placed the wine cup back down on the tray, the
hand that was setting down the wine cup suddenly pierced through the then-complacent king’s
chest, firmly grasping the heart of the shadow behind him.
Amidst the entire hall’s shock, Zhangsun Wuji leisurely retracted his hand, then spit the mouthful
of poisoned wine back onto the Linjiang king’s face. Pointing at the rotting-away face of the
Linjiang king’s body, he chuckled and said, “Since you definitely will have no face to meet my
Zhangsun imperial ancestors in the afterlife, this descendant will save you some effort!”
Afterwards he took off the skin-like glove and threw it on the ground, promptly standing up and
leaving. From start to finish, not even a drop of blood had managed to stain him.
From then on, among the Zhangsun royalty, none dared to have even the slightest thoughts of
betrayal.
At fifteen years old Zhangsun Wuji went as an envoy to Lifting Wind. For some reason, after he
traveled around Lifting Wind, the two large clans in the country suddenly started to battle. After
three years of conflict the two large clans splintered into three factions, and had no more time nor
strength to be able to eye the neighboring Infinite Empire.
As for after this incident, the various states almost set Zhangsun Wuji as one of their blacklisted
guests – being “shown attention” by this kind of person was an absolutely terrifying thing.
Fortunately, after the age of fifteen Zhangsun Wuji suddenly became much more reclusive, and
stopped constantly performing anymore of those world-shaking feats. He actually never
participated in any of the political struggles of the various states, and seemed to have no interest
in expanding the Empire’s territory either. Throughout everything he seemed to be content with
existing underneath the Nemesis Dynasty, as the Five Regions Continent’s number two state. It
was fortunate that he became less conspicuous as well, or else it was quite possible that the
assassin organizations of the different states would compete to be the first to score him – his
placement on the assassination lists would only rise higher and higher.
It was precisely because of Zhangsun Wuji’s shocking talent, and his huge contributions to the
Empire, that the Infinite Emperor specifically used the dynasty name to bestow upon him the title
of Zhangsun Crown Prince. In the Five Regions Continent, this was an utmost honor unsurpassed
by any other possible gesture.
Finally, Yao Xun emotionally sighed a final phrase to complete his long tirade – Zhangsun Wuji,
Hero Under the Heavens!
Meng Fuyao squinted as she thought back to Yao Xun’s exaggerated tone, and couldn’t help but
laugh a little.
Her humor had not yet faded when the light in front of her eyes dimmed all of a sudden. With a
peng sound, the head-lowered Fuyao walked into another person’s chest.
The feel of the collision was very strange – under her forehead was both hard and soft, and a slight
squeaking noise seemed to travel out.
This sound gave Fuyao an idea of who it was, and she hurriedly lifted her head while already
retreating several steps.
From the front robes of the opposite side immediately tunneled out a snow white ball. It held its
stomach that had been hit, while another claw mercilessly slashed out, its killing intent filling the
air.
Unfortunately before the attack had traveled far, the claw was suddenly stuffed with a fruit. The
certain “Master” also had quick reactions, instantly retracting its “rodent claw fist” and hugged the
fruit to start nibbling on it.
With this Fuyao raised her head, and met a pair of bright, fluctuating pupils.
When that gaze floated amidst the biting winter wind, the four seasons turned to eternal spring.
Besides Yuan Zhaoxu, who else could have it been?
“What were you thinking about?” That person’s mouth corner curved up with his eyes. Despite
him wearing a mask, just his pair of eyes was enough to intoxicate.
“Thinking … about you …” Meng Fuyao turned her eyes in thought, dragging out the syllables with
a teasing tone in hopes of seeing Yuan Zhaoxu turn red.
The result, though, was that the strong-willed person didn’t even blink, only looking at her with
amusement while waiting for her next words.
“…r boss Zhangsun Wuji.” The resentful Fuyao quickly finished speaking.
On the contrary, it was after hearing the latter part of her words that Yuan Zhaoxu seemed
surprised. He tilted his head to look at her, asking, “How come you suddenly thought of the Crown
Prince?”
Meng Fuyao didn’t immediately respond, instead first looking left and right. Suddenly she furtively
grabbed Yuan Zhaoxu’s hand, pulling him to the outside of the southwestern wall corner of Prince
De’s mansion.
With all the thoughts running through her head, she didn’t notice her own actions. Yuan Zhaoxu
only chuckled while obediently allowing her to pull him along. Master Yuanbao poked his head out
of Zhaoxu’s robes, hatefully eyeing Fuyao’s hand as if it wanted to use its glare to repel that
horrible claw.
Meng Fuyao pulled Yuan Zhaoxu to climb up the wall. With an ungraceful posture she squatted on
top of the wall, then reached out to grab a rock, flinging it towards the dark courtyard far below.
“Zhangsun Wuji you bastard blood descendant …”
Sure enough, the woman’s shrill screaming immediately sounded up again. However, this time she
only said half a sentence before seemingly having her mouth be covered by someone. At the same
time, torches lit up one after the other, and the clattering of footsteps traveled over from afar –
the guards of Prince De had been alerted.
Fuyao let out an astonished sound, exclaiming, “There were no guards yesterday, how come
they’re present today?” She turned back to look at Yuan Zhaoxu. He was standing up on the wall,
hands clasped as he gazed down into the dark abandoned courtyard. From the depths of his eyes
slowly emerged a strange expression.
From the distance the shouting of a guard was heard. With a pull Yuan Zhaoxu retreated with
Fuyao from the outer wall, escaping all the way to a small alleyway outside the Prince’s mansion.
Before they had time to catch their breath, they suddenly heard the whistling of a flying arrow!
Chapter 10 – Picking Flowers Under the Moon
That sound came with extreme speed and savagery, seemingly piercing through the darkness in a
flash. Like a fierce wind blade slicing through the Nine Heavens it cut over, its sharp sound fast and
low.
“Xiu!”
A row of arrows instantly pierced into the ground in front of Meng Fuyao and Yuan Zhaoxu’s feet.
The arrow row was extremely orderly, as if someone had measured it out using a ruler. Even after
a time, the blood red fletching on the arrows still faintly trembled without stopping.
Those arrows closely stuck next to the two people’s feet tips, almost tearing Fuyao’s boots. It
could be seen that if the opposite side wanted to, a hole could be shot in Fuyao’s feet as well!
In front of them, atop the high walls of Prince De’s courtyard, a shadow had appeared. Holding a
bow while standing, the mysterious person sneered as they looked down. A pair of pupils glittered
with arrogance in the dark.
Seeing the two lifting their heads to look over, that person slowly drew the bow. The bowstring let
out a tense noise, intentionally or unintentionally giving off a murderous, compelling aura.
The bow had now stretched into a full moon, as four arrows neatly pointed towards the two
people down below. Looming over them, the person grimly laughed. “Where did this heaven-
daring couple come from? You even have the guts to disturb the Prince De residence? That shot
just now was only a courtesy, if you guys take one more step, my arrows will be greeting those
thick skulls of yours!”
Meng Fuyao slowly raised her head. Facing the disdainful gaze of the person above them, her
pupils shrank – she hated being warned by others!
The moment she moved her head, the other side instantly lifted their hand as yet another arrow
flew out! The arrow wind tore the air apart as it shot straight at her forehead. At the same time
the person grimly said, “Trespassers of Prince De’s residence, kill without mercy!”
Not only was this person’s archery skill unrivaled, even their voice didn’t fade over such a long
distance. It was clear their inner qi was not normal. Despite this, Fuyao absolutely didn’t think this
meant she had to just sit there and accept this trigger-happy person’s warnings!
Forming a backward bridge in a flash, her back stuck close to the ground while the arrow feathers
brushed past her nose tip. While she was half-crouched on the ground, she suddenly twisted her
waist up and kicked out with her feet. A feathered arrow that had sunk half a chi into the ground
was hit into the air, flipping around and changing direction. With a sharp whistle it shot straight
towards the shadow on top of the courtyard wall.
The eyes of the person hidden in the darkness also seemed to flash – that kick of Fuyao’s looked
deceptively simple, but was in fact quite hard to execute. The arrow was sunk halfway deep into
the ground. In that awkward back-crouching posture, not only did she manage to recover, but she
managed to kick the arrow up without snapping it in half. What kind of monstrous core strength
and flexibility did that simple movement require?
The man gave a mirthless chuckle, his fighting spirit raised. Gesturing with his hand, the arrow
suddenly split into two. The arrowhead flipped around in midair, and it once more launched itself
towards Meng Fuyao.
Fuyao leapt up from the ground, giving out two powerful exhalations: “Pei pei!”
Two consecutive collisions sounded out. Those two broken arrow pieces were actually blown into
four separate pieces by the true qi Fuyao shot out through her teeth, doubling back to fly at the
person on the wall!
That person also didn’t seem to expect Fuyao to be such a tenacious scoundrel, and couldn’t help
but laugh out. The laughter echoed out, suddenly splitting the four shooting arrow fragments into
eight, once more hurtling towards Fuyao.
The long arrow had already been divided into eight, with each piece only as long as a palm.
Wanting to split it again would be very difficult. The stranger folded his arms and stood, smugly
chuckling, “Let me see how you’ll split it this time —”
His words had not yet settled before his eyes bulged out – Fuyao didn’t even look at the eight
arrow fragments, instead suddenly bending down to grab the remaining two feathered arrows at
her feet. With a soaring leap she had already sprinted towards the wall. In midair, she forcibly
launched the arrows like javelins to shoot straight for the person’s waist, as she laughed, “Stupid,
it’s not like we’re competing in woodcutting, you thought I would continue to split?”
Her movements were sudden as she rushed over with extreme swiftness, throwing the javelins
with her entire strength as she hung in the air. That person’s entire attention was focused on
anticipating the sixteen arrow fragments to be launched back at him; how could he have expected
her to despicably throw the other arrows all of a sudden? Being caught off guard, the person saw
that the arrows had already flew close. However, their martial skill was indeed exceptional. Even
when the arrows had almost arrived, the person was still unpanicked. With a horizontal chop of his
palm, the feathered arrows were directly cut down by true qi.
The person let out a breath, slanting his head to laugh towards a guard down below. “Those rats
are so daring they can’t tell life from death! How could they ever be worthy of fighting with this
general …” Before he finished speaking, the wind intensified behind him, after which he felt his
waist suddenly go cold …
His pants suddenly fell down —
The chilly moon shown down onto the wall top. Pants soundlessly fell down, piling around the
ankles in the blink of an eye. From Meng Fuyao’s angle, she clearly saw the two bare, hairy legs.
“Aha, bowlegged!” With a backflip Fuyao landed back besides Yuan Zhaoxu, then raised her head
and laughed.
Her hand played with a silk belt. Just then when she pulled and threw the arrows, she had already
tied the silk strip to one of the arrowheads. When the person cut down the arrows, assuming that
Fuyao wouldn’t be his opponent, he unconcernedly turned his head back to talk. Unfortunately he
didn’t realize Fuyao took the opportunity to swiftly tug back on the arrow – as the arrow flew
back, it severed his pant string.
As she shook with unsuppressed laughter, she watched the arrogant fellow hurriedly try to pull up
his pants. A loud and crisp snapping of fingers sounded out. “The two arrows just then was me
being polite. If you continue with your arrogance, the next thing I’ll be severing won’t be your
pants, but your family jewels!”
Chuckling, she pulled at the smiling Yuan Zhaoxu who had just been observing from the darkness
without moving. “Let’s go.”
Just as she turned back, she suddenly heard a cold humph from the man on the wall, a sound filled
to the brim with murderous fury. Then following a low noise, it seemed as if the sky exploded with
ten thousand streaks of light without warning! Magnificent and scintillating, the streaks rose up
from the distant heavens, then rushed towards the boundless shattered void like eternal flames,
parting the darkness like breaking waves. Faster than the eye could see, in a blink crossing sky and
covering sea – filled with the primitive aura of the universe!
Fuyao only caught a glimpse of the light out of the corner of her eye, yet she still felt her heart
shake. That type of scintillating glow overwhelmed the pupils, causing one’s spirit to tremble and
numb for a moment.
It was only that one instant before the streak had already arrived before them.
As the glow neared, Yuan Zhaoxu suddenly turned.
Previously he was as still as a maiden, yet when taking action, his movements were swifter than
even the hard-to-describe streaks of light by a few degrees. His figure spun as his sleeves roiled
and his dark hair scattered. A white light flashed in the darkness, turbulently screeching to a halt!
A second of deathly silence.
Moonlight spilled down from over the wall, illuminating that small alleyway. Around the blind
corner of the alley extended out a slender hand, its pale jade fingers holding a strangely shaped
five-petaled flower.
The flower petals were translucent like carved ice, every corner glittering with the light of
innumberable stars. It was so beautiful that it awed the spirit and soul; even so, it was still
incomparable to the exquisite jade sculpture of a hand that held it.
The shadowy corner covered the person’s body, with only the flower-holding hand bathed in
moonlight. A pure white, slender hand that beautifully held the deadly flower; an elegant, tranquil
posture that still managed to hold the entire world in disdain.
At that moment.
Under the moon.
A quiet plucking of the flower.
The surroundings were sunk in a heavy silence. The wind that blew past the petals of the five-
petaled flower was suddenly forced to stop by a huge amount of true qi between the white
fingers. Two currents of true qi collided, forming numerous whirling eddies at the site of the
collision. The swirling turbulence soon combined into a whirlwind.
At that moment, the wind lightly swelled, blowing Meng Fuyao’s mask off.
Moonlight brightened for an instant.
An entire sky’s starlight seemed to pour like seawater into the young girl’s pupils, those eyes
encompassing everything yet still pure like spring water. When her eyes moved, light streaked for
thousands of zhang, as if they could illuminate the vast mortal realms and the wide boundless
seas.
Her boldly rising brows drew out the most meticulously perfect angle, as if they flew and danced
among clouds and the nine heavens.
In this dim small alleyway, there seemed to have risen another moon.
The gaze of the person on the wall was quickly attracted. In his narrow pupils flashed amazement
yet also greed, causing him to even forget for a moment about Yuan Zhaoxu using the flower to
break his sky-covering killing strike.
Underneath his shocked stare, that hand holding the flower finally moved.
With a sweep of a finger, a hand movement gentle as the breeze, that five-petaled flower
suddenly fluttered upward. It drew out a strange arc in midair, then exploded outward into a
massive bloom that covered half the sky, immediately trapping the man!
That person standing on the wall felt extreme alarm – he naturally knew how powerful his own
killing move could be once it was fully displayed! In his panic he could no longer care about his
image anymore, and directly fell backwards off the wall.
Soon after from behind the wall traveled over the sound of something heavy impacting the
ground. It could be imagined how miserable the man must have been, to have not even been able
to control how he fell!
Yuan Zhaoxu withdrew his fingers. Under the moonlight, a faint black glimmer could be seen
where his hands held the five-petaled flower, but was swiftly covered over by his billowing robe
sleeves.
Master Yuanbao peeked its head out from within the robes, lifting its head to zhi zhi at Yuan
Zhaoxu. Zhaoxu only grinned and shook his head, causing Master Yuanbao to resentfully tunnel
back into the robes while giving Meng Fuyao a glare.
Fuyao looked at the rat with a baffled expression, why did it suddenly get angry at her? Did its
menopause arrive earlier than expected or something?
Yuan Zhaoxu turned back to look at her. His brows slightly furrowed. He didn’t think that the Meng
Fuyao who had always disguised herself, actually had on her true appearance underneath the
mask.
Fuyao awkwardly chuckled while feeling her face, saying, “I fell victim to a little trick the past two
days, and a rash grew on my face. I didn’t dare to put on makeup and harm my skin, so …”
Yuan Zhaoxu laughed, pulling her to leave the alley before saying, “This time you have met some
trouble. Next time you should try not to show your true appearance to others, especially not to
that person from just now.”
“Who was that?”
“Jianwu General Guo Pingrong, one of the best generals in this state, who commands the
expedition against the southern tribes. He was of poor birth, originally the captain of the Scarlet
Wind Unit under Prince De. Later fate and coincidence allowed him to become the disciple of the
ninth strongest martial artists under the heavens, ‘Divine Star Hand’ Fang Yimo, whose legendary
secret weapon ‘Brilliance of Heaven and Earth’ was only able to be fully learned by a handful in the
martial arts world! In the most recent True Martial Conference Guo Pingrong depended on this to
place fourth, directly casting off his low class standing and becoming a military officer. Thus purely
from a martial ability standpoint, in the Infinite Empire and even the entire Five Regions Continent,
Guo Pingrong could place within top ten.”
“Then what about you?” Meng Fuyao tilted her head, her mouth corner curling up in a
mischievous grin. “You only needed to reach out a hand to break through his ‘Brilliance of Heaven
and Earth’, so where should you be ranked?”
Her lopsided smile was like a miraculous flower blooming in the darkness of midnight. A faint,
sweet fragrance drifted in the wind. In her face was strangely contained both the charming naivety
of a young girl, and the natural forthrightness of a mature woman. As Yuan Zhaoxu looked at her,
even his typically abstruse expression seemed to show a few glimmers of gentleness. However, he
still maintained his silent smile, only lightly lifting her hand.
Meng Fuyao started for a moment. Looking at their intertwined hands, her face couldn’t help but
reveal a hint of red, and she promptly forgot what she was about to ask.
Then Yuan Zhaoxu’s voice, mild like a spring evening breeze, sounded by her ear.
“You must be careful. Guo Pingrong’s mind is narrow, and he has a sovereign’s sickness…”[1]
“A sovereign’s sickness …” Fuyao numbly repeated. Only after saying it out loud did she realize
what this meant; but before she could react, she heard that despicable person’s voice brush even
closer to her ear. “The night is dark. How about we find a room?”
Footnotes
Sovereign’s sickness, or 寡人之疾, is a proverb that means a person is very lascivious or lustful.
Chapter 11 – Sacrifice In Place of Another[1]
Midnight settled in the small alley, still and soundless.
Yet suddenly, a yell containing both humor and exasperation rang out.
“You scoundrel!”
Moonlight shone on the foot of the wall, allowing one to faintly see a pretty damsel lifting her foot
and giving the man opposite her a kick. Swiftly afterwards, she ran off like a butterfly fluttering
under the moon.
The Yuan Zhaoxu left in her wake could only faintly smile. Unexpectedly, behind him suddenly
emerged a black shadow. The dark-clothed man slightly bowed, then quietly said, “Master … your
wound …”
Yuan Zhaoxu lifted his hand. Only this time, his finger had already been almost completely covered
by a layer of dark gray. With his expression calm he lightly replied. “No need to worry.”
Raising his head to gaze towards the direction where Fuyao vanished, Yuan Zhaoxu’s expression
remained unchanged. “Guo Pingrong is becoming more and more of a good-for-nothing. Not even
stopping to ask before using the almost divine artifact-grade weapon ‘Brilliance of Heaven and
Earth’, on a single woman no less. He even poisoned the weapon! Is this how a high disciple of one
of the Ten Emperors behaves?”
His back figure was straight like bamboo, while his sleeves fluttered despite the windless night.
The black-clothed man subconsciously retreated a step, and his waist bowed deeper by another
degree. It was rare for his master to be temperamental – the black-clothed man had even once
thought that nothing in the world could move his master to anger. However, from the chilly aura
emanating from his master’s body, it could be seen that Guo Pingrong’s actions had actually
touched upon Yuan Zhaoxu’s reverse scale.[2]
After ruminating for a while, the black-clothed man forced a smile. “Well, Guo Pingrong is of
common birth after all, and his roots are of slums dwellers. It is a given that he does things in a
crude and uncivilized manner. On the other hand, this person is adept at battle, similar to the
honorable Prince De. He still has contributed much to the Empire.”
Yuan Zhaoxu barely lifted his lips in a small smile, staying silent. Only after some time did he reply:
“Send someone to keep watch. Protect her to the best of your capabilities.”
“Very well.”
“However, as long as she can handle it, you must let her solve problems by herself.”
“Very well.”
“For the next few days I will enter seclusion. Fang Yimo’s ‘Brilliance of Heaven and Earth’ is not
some common attack, and even I cannot treat it lightly. Your team will handle outside matters
yourself.”
“Very well.”
Slightly turning his body, Yuan Zhaoxu looked towards the direction Fuyao had gone in for a long
time. After a while, he left with a chuckle.
Left behind was the black-clothed man who had stood in place the entire time, gazing forwards
with a complicated expression. Suddenly, he thought of something his master had said a long long
time ago.
“I hope to meet outstanding women, she who freely grows even amidst the weathering of wind
and waves, she who can soar at the same heights as men. Not those golden canaries forcibly
protected by layers of feathers, those who can never know of the thrill of flying through curtains
of howling rain, who can never understand, how to pursue their own beliefs.” ————-
During the past couple of days, Meng Fuyao could clearly feel that the atmosphere at Prince De’s
mansion was somewhat abnormal.
Most likely this was because from that night onwards, Guo Pingrong had appeared on the
premises of Prince De’s mansion time and time again. It was unknown what he had said to Prince
De, but the prince had now brought a team with him to scour the whole residence several times,
with a pair of piercing, narrow pupils that swept back and forth across every person they
encountered. Due to this matter Zong Yue forbid Fuyao from going out again. Fuyao naturally
knew a formidable opponent when she saw one, and so actually listened to Zong Yue for once. Not
only did she not go out, she even purposefully applied a bodily disguise, turning herself completely
unremarkable: a yellow-complexioned and flat-chested scrawny brat. In the couple of times Guo
Pingrong happened to meet her, his eyes didn’t even waver before passing over her.
Today, Meng Fuyao went to Zong Yue’s medicinal garden to procure some herbs. Along the way
she weighed her options. Considering the persistent, tireless actions Guo Pingrong was taking, it
seems like he had already determined the person who cut his pants off was within this royal
mansion. From the looks of it, she would be better off if she left as soon as possible – aye, she
should have left a long time ago! It was just her greed for the free and exquisite food and board
that had been holding her back.
And if she was to be honest, there was another reason for staying that she didn’t want to admit –
Yuan Zhaoxu had not appeared for several days already, and she was afraid that if she just took off
like this, the guy wouldn’t be able to find her. Despite Fuyao herself knowing full well that this
person had extraordinary power and would not encounter trouble under ordinary circumstances,
but .. but, what if?
Fuyao absentmindedly grabbed a garden spade. Before she could even use it, she suddenly heard
a crisp shattering sound.
At the same time, a girl’s panicked pleas sounded from the direction of a small garden’s pavilion,
outside the medicine garden.
Fuyao stretched out her neck to look. From behind the cover of foilage, she saw an outer court
maid named Qiao Ling kneeling on the floor, hastily trying to gather up a whole floor littered with
broken porcelein. In front of her was Guo Pingrong, his expression ominous as he loomed
overhead. Opposite him was Prince De who berated the servant with a heavy face: “What an inept
and stupid maid, scram!”
Qiao Ling was so shocked that her whole body faintly trembled, and she retreated as fast as she
could. Meng Fuyao silently sighed – recently Guo Pingrong’s mood had been terrible, and whoever
met him was sure to meet with bad luck. In the end, it was actually her fault that Qiao Ling was
implicated.
Qiao Ling turned around to quietly wipe her tears, and her small crying face flashed past Fuyao’s
field of view for an instance. Watching her, Fuyao suddenly felt some shock.
The girl was attractive in all aspects. Her palm-sized little face had a pair of pretty, limpid eyes.
Generally she was not very noticeable, but now that her glimmering pupils were awash with tears,
for some reason she looked kind of familiar.
Before Fuyao could recall just what part of her was so familiar, she heard Guo Pingrong give an
“En?” noise. He suddenly strode up, reaching out a hand to grab Qiao Ling’s jaw and roughly
turning her face towards him.
Squinting his narrow eyes, his gaze raked up and down Qiao Ling as if scouring flesh from bone.
When had the sixteen year old Qiao Ling ever been this wantonly looked at by a man before? Not
to mention Guo Pingrong’s tall figure and steely face, and that pair of long eyes that always looked
at people with some degree of malevolence! All said the man could be considered as attractive.
Qiao Ling was so embarrassed that even her neck flushed crimson, yet this gave her even more of
a charming, elegant grace.
When Meng Fuyao saw Guo Pingrong’s gaze, she thought of Yuan Zhaoxu’s remark “sovereign’s
sickness”, and inside her heart she silently cried not good. She suddenly realized who Qiao Ling’s
eyes resembled just then – her own! Despite the child’s eyes not being as clear as her’s, a slight
brushing of tears would definitely bring it close. It must have been that pair of pupils that attracted
Guo Pingrong’s attention.
Guo Pingrong truly was focusing on Qiao Ling’s eyes. From his high vantage point that night, the
wind caused by his hidden weapon had whisked her face cover off. Although the darkness
obscured her appearance, that pair of resplendently clear eyes held a type of heart-pounding
beauty and fierceness.
In that moment, he had almost forgotten all of his previous rage, and the only thing left in his mind
was that shocking glimpse. In that moment, he who had experienced all the central plains could
offer, could only give up on his previous plans to cleave Fuyao in half and start to consider
capturing this beautiful woman who was daring yet sly. If her pair of lively eyes only directed their
smile towards him; if her clear, crisp voice sweetly panted underneath him; if her strong, slender
legs tightly held on to his body … what kind of heavenly feeling would that be?
Wasn’t a man’s pride to command all under heaven when sober, and lie across the legs of a
beautiful woman when drunk?
As for that other man who countered his secret weapon and forced him to fall off the wall – Guo
Pingrong sneered. Could his “Brilliance of Heaven and Earth” really be that easy to receive? The
deadly southern borderlands poison that was smeared on the weapon would immediately attack
the heart upon contact with skin. That person was probably a corpse by now, and even if he
managed to luckily survive, he would still suffer an even crueler fate! The moment Guo Pingrong
found out who he was, he would be destined to be cut into pieces under the general’s sword – let
him know that the disciple of the tenth-ranked master was not someone that any random nobody
could afford to provoke!
His thoughts turned again and again in his heart, yet his expression was indecipherable. The
fingers clenching Qiao Ling’s chin subconsciously tightened, hurting her so much she let out a cry.
“Ah!” Only after hearing the sound did Guo Pingrong loosen his hand. After vulgarly assessing Qiao
Ling up and down once more, he turned around and spoke to Prince De. “I didn’t expect that in
Prince De’s court, even a lowly maidservant could be this good-looking.”
The tall-statured Prince De exuded a solemn and majestic air as he sat in the main seat, almost as
tall as a person despite being seated. Although his face was originally quite attractive, a narrow
scar wound directly streaked across his brows, jarringly breaking immersion. It was rumoured that
during the revolt of the king of Linjiang, the wife and partner of the shadowy assassin who was
killed by Zhangsun Wuji, Luan Mei, plotted to murder the Crown Prince. Prince De had to use all
his might to block her all out sword strike, and ever since then he was left with this irremovable
mark. The loyal official, famous in the Infinite imperial court for his courage, smiled as he looked at
his close subordinate who had followed him ever since birth. Indifferently he said, “You are
typically so high-minded, it is rare for someone to catch your eye. Since you like her, just take her
with you.”
“Truly?” Guo Pingrong’s eyes brightened.

Prince De laughed loudly, saying, “It is just a maidservant, did you think this prince would be so
stingy as to not give her to you?”
“Your highness may see her as just a maid, but I see a treasure.” Guo Pingrong turned back to
appraise Qiao Ling, then gave a meaningful laugh. “It is rare to find someone to my liking, so I
suppose this can be considered fate as well. I would hate to wrong her, so I’ll bring her back with
me right now to clear face[3] and take as a concubine.”
“Since you like this girl so much, it is her fortune. As it is though, my mansion cannot just casually
neglect this Jianwu general’s first concubine.” Prince De grinned. “Come, bring the girl Qiao Ling
away, and tell Lady De to prepare Qiao Ling’s marriage affairs. Tomorrow we will send her off to
the general’s household in style!”
Guo Pingrong smiled as he gave thanks, and ordered people to take the both shocked and
delighted Qiao Ling off to prepare. As Fuyao watched the girl enter the back courtyards with a
dazed expression, her fist forcefully collided with her palm.
“This is bad!”
Footnotes
Original title in Chinese was 李代桃僵, literally “the plum tree shriveling in place of the peach
tree”. Used to mean sacrificing oneself in place of another
Reference to a dragon’s reverse scale, which if touched will cause them to go berserk
开脸, referring to clearing off the fine hairs on the temples and neck of a bride, a custom before a
traditional wedding
Chapter 12 – The “Sorrowful” Page
Late night at Prince De’s residence. Lamp lights extinguished one by one, and besides patrolling
night guards, there were no other sounds. At some point during the night it began to drizzle. The
gossamer strands of winter rain fell onto the dark stone ground with “sha sha” sounds, faintly
shimmering with the reflections of distant torch fires. The figures of the patrolling guards,
obscured by curtains of rain, became even darker and even more indistinct.
At this time, a more lively and slender shadow ghosted past each of the buildings along the road.
Her figure projected onto the mirror-like ground as only a dab of gray-black shadow, in an instant
dashing past the marching troops.
Prowling the night amidst dim moon and light rain, for the express purpose of smacking a pair
mandarin ducks with a stick.[1]
Before setting off Meng Fuyao had already gathered some information on Guo Pingrong’s
situation. How could Guo Pingrong not have had any concubines before? It was only that all the
women who stayed by his side, had committed suicide! Qiao Ling lived isolated inside the princely
residence and so was not privy to inside information, but among outside residents rumors had
already spread wide and far – girls from good families would all take the long route around the
Guo residence gates. Now that Qiao Ling had been noticed by Guo Pingrong because of her pair of
eyes that looked similar to Fuyao’s, it was ultimately impossible that Guo Pingrong would treat
Qiao Ling well. Fuyao had no choice but to brandish her stick!
Fuyao sprinted the whole way while wearing dark clothes and covering her face. Because of her
qinggong and familiarity with the area, she quickly managed to vault into Prince De’s back
courtyards.
Lady Qiao Ling flew onto the treetop and became a phoenix in one short day, already moving into
the Fragrant Lotus Pavilion to prepare for the wedding procession tomorrow. Perhaps it was
because suddenly becoming a bride was too shocking, but right now just past midnight the
Fragrant Lotus Pavilion’s lights were still unextinguished.
With a lift of her feet, Fuyao brushed through the half-closed shutters like a cloud, lightly landing
inside.
The young girl sitting in front of the dressing table jumped in fright, quickly whipping her head up.
Under the lamp light the fair hair on her temples shone beautifully – it was Qiao Ling, who had
already changed into a wife’s wedding attire.
Seeing Fuyao, she was shocked and was just about to yell out, before in a swift move Fuyao rushed
over to cover her mouth. In a low voice Fuyao said, “Don’t shout, I’m here to save you.”
Qiao Ling widened her eyes in astonishment, staring at the suspicious person who was coming to
“save her” despite her situation not needing any saving at all. Suddenly she thought of a scary
possibility, and her whole body started to tremble.
“Hey hey, what are you scared of.” Meng Fuyao grinned cheerfully. “I have no interest in stealing
your first time, it’s not like I’m a handsome man or anything.”
Fuyao patted Qiao Ling’s shoulder. “Long things short, you should quickly leave with me and not
marry Guo Pingrong.”
Qiao Ling, however, suddenly pulled away Fuyao’s hand. Staring intently at Fuyao she asked, “Why
shouldn’t I?”
“Ai … how should I explain?” Fuyao felt a little panicked. “That guy is not anything good.”
“If you marry a chicken follow a chicken, if you marry a dog follow a dog![2] Besides General Guo is
a second-rank high official in the Empire, how could you slander my dear husband like this!” Qiao
Ling’s willowy brows leapt up, as she became angry all of a sudden.
“Your dear husband?” Fuyao skeptically raised an eyebrow. It couldn’t be, she embraced her
position this fast?
Meng Fuyao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she looked at Qiao Ling. “Don’t tell me that
after only meeting him once today, you have already set your heart on marrying Guo Pingrong?”
“Why not marry him?” Qiao Ling threw aside Fuyao’s outstretched hand as she indignantly
widened her eyes. “I’m just one of the lowliest coarse labor servants in Prince De’s residence.
Starting from when I was sold into the household at five years old, every day I would rise early and
sleep late busying myself with errands, and of the less than three silvers I earn every month I send
more than half back home! Regularly finishing work on an empty stomach, while my underclothes
have so many stitches they can barely maintain my decency! In the residence first waiting for
Master to order me about, second waiting for momo[3] to bully me, third waiting for the older
maids to extort me, even the outer court page servants would give me the eye when I meet
them!” She thrust out her forearm to show Fuyao a bruise on her wrist. “Do you see this scar?
From momo’s pinches! Today I will finally leave this bitter life. As the first woman of a second-rank
general, this is good fortune that I wouldn’t be able to gather even with several lifetimes – I would
be a lunatic if I didn’t marry him!”
Meng Fuyao was silent, for the time being not sure how to explain the situation to the girl. What
Qiao Ling said was not wrong either. For her type of lowly maidservant, now that she had this fate-
changing opportunity to rise in status like a dragon or phoenix, what kind of excuse would make
her give it all up? But for Fuyao to just watch as the naïvely excited girl went to face an ill-
intentioned Guo Pingrong who was even rumored to be sadomasochistic, to face an uncertain fate
that was solely caused by Fuyao herself – Meng Fuyao truly could not.
After thinking for some time, it looked like Fuyao could only bring out what she believed was an
absolute trump card: “You might not know this, but Guo Pingrong is a … sexual sadist!”
“Sadist?” Qiao Ling widened her eyes. Only after thinking for a while did she realize the general
meaning of Fuyao’s modern day term. Suddenly becoming bashful, she demurely lowered her
head. With her finger twisting around in her waist strap and a rosy face, she quietly replied, “My
mother taught me this before, when a woman marries out she must follow her husband. The
affairs between a man and a woman on the bed … as long as us women act more submissive and
mild, and tolerate for a time … it will pass just like that.”
Meng Fuyao looked at the sky with a face full of despair. How could she forget about the huge
contrast in views between ancient and modern women when it came to marriage and family!
“Ai, it doesn’t matter!” Fuyao clenched her teeth. Why was she still wasting her words on this girl,
might as well just knock her unconscious and carry her away. Even if she hates me later, at least
her life was saved, and as long as my conscience is appeased nothing else matters.
Just as Fuyao was going to reach out to jab her pressure point, she instead heard Qiao Ling
suddenly raise her head and say, “You are little brother Meng from Sir Zong’s place, aren’t you?”
“Huh?” Meng Fuyao inspected herself in shock, was her disguise this horrible?
“Even when I was little, I was good at discerning people’s voices.” Qiao Ling continued. “Your voice
is now changed a little deeper on purpose, but I am still able to hear the difference.” She suddenly
sighed, saying, “Dear little brother Meng, I know that you … like me, but, we are not meant to be.”
In that instant, Fuyao suddenly turned to stone. Even her outstretched finger aimed at Qiao Ling’s
pressure point had been petrified into a sculpture.
What and what now … ?
“You often came to the little kitchen to make small talk with me, and even smiled at me … in
actuality I already knew all this …” Qiao Ling tilted her head to look at Fuyao. With her face filled
with pity she quietly said, “I also quite … like you. If it wasn’t for the honorable general choosing
me, I had thoughts of you and me before … but now … little brother Meng, please, it would be best
to let go of your feelings!”
Mamma mia!
About me going to the kitchen often – it was to steal some sweets when you weren’t paying
attention!
About me smiling at you – who don’t I smile at!?
The blow Fuyao had received tonight was too heavy, so heavy that even if she cracked open her
lips to speak nothing would come out. Her long sighing figure, staring at the sky, to Qiao Ling
looked just like a sorrowful page whose “loved one was about to marry off, yet even if he wanted
to leave her he couldn’t”.
Qiao Ling’s eyebrows faintly knitted together. All of a sudden, in a higher voice, she decisively said,
“Me marrying the general is my fortune! Little brother Meng, please stop standing in the way of
my happiness, or else I will hate you!”
“Your mother, hate me then …” Meng Fuyao hopelessly grumbled a little, then without another
word she shot out with her palm. The wind stirred, enveloping Qiao Ling’s acupoint. Seeing her
expression of consternation, mixed in with hopefulness, Fuyao’s heart suddenly jumped and she
had a faint feeling of unease.
It was late midnight. Why was the Qiao Ling who was going to get married tomorrow still not
asleep?
Why was her hair already brushed into the style of a married woman?
And also, her suddenly louder voice just then …
“Pa!”
Meng Fuyao instantly leapt up, somersaulting in the air. Like a dark swallow Qiao Ling tumbled 360
degrees and in a blink had already flown out of the window.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
A deep bellow rose from the inner chambers. The door-hanging pearl curtains suddenly scattered
out with a shua sound, fragmenting into a shining, eye-dazzling waterfall. Then it was fiercely
collected together by an invisible hand, transforming into a tight pearl whip that impacted Fuyao’s
lower back with a slapping sound!
Even before the pearl whip had reached her, the person had already arrived – without even a
greeting Guo Pingrong had already arrived at Meng Fuyao’s back.
Not even turning her head, Fuyao reached out a hand to grab a different long whip. The whip left a
faint jade shadow as it cracked twice in two directions, and with a hua la la all the pearls scattered
onto the floor once again.
Pearls rolled across the whole floor, with some getting under the feet of the chasing Guo Pingrong
and quickly causing him to stumble and trip. Hateful thoughts flashed through Fuyao’s mind, and
she yelled “Take this palm!”
She suddenly stopped fleeing, and with a turn she thrust out a palm strike towards Guo Pingrong.
Delight rose in Guo Pingrong’s heart – he had always been an expert in palm arts, so now that the
enemy wanted to contest him with a palm it was just to his liking. A lift of his hand brought his
palm to meet Fuyao’s.
However just then several jet-black steel needles suddenly appeared in between her fingers.
Guo Pingrong’s hand immediately shrunk back, but unexpectedly Fuyao retreated even faster than
him! The palm strike was an empty pretense and the needles she wasn’t even planning to use in
the first place – before her hand had reached out, her legs had already risen up. In a mid-air
backwards vault, her long legs fiercely swung out above her head and with a “pa” one leg kicked
over a dark object.
At the same time she laughed out, “Eat my bomb!”
Her Grand Jeté[4] splayed out like a cloud-soaring crane. A mass of black shot over from her kick,
and the word “bomb” made Guo Pingrong and the guards rushing over instinctively think of
firebombs and the like, causing them to hurriedly fall back.
“Poof!” The mass landed on the ground, following which putrid gas spread in four directions and
dark mud flew out!
It was the fertilizer that Zong Yue specially used to raise blood fleeceflower root, “putrid mud”,
further added with some nose-offending ingredients. Fuyao had hidden a small package of it,
originally planned to be used on Master Yuanbao for fun, but now it was perfect as a gift for great
general Guo!
“Does it taste good? Eat more if you want, don’t be polite!” Meng Fuyao cracked up laughing as
she flew past the rooftops like a shooting star. By the time Guo Pingrong escaped the black mud
bath and went to chase, she was long gone.
As she sprinted out of Prince De’s residence, it escaped her notice that on some distant eaves tops
were some dark-clothed figures, who seemed to have melded into the night. After she left the
figures exchanged a glance, and quietly left the mansion as well.
As for Guo Pingrong who stood in the wind staring at the ground full of black dirt, when he
thought of that young girl’s slender waist and legs during her backflip, a hint of bloodthirst
gleamed deep in his eyes.
Footnotes
Mandarin ducks is a term for a loving couple, and “smacking a pair of mandarin ducks with a stick”
means to forcibly break up a couple.
An old saying for wives to remain faithful to their husband no matter how bad they were. Yes,
ancient times were quite backwards in terms of gender equality.
嬷嬷, a nanny or older maid who was in charge of all the servants in a large household
Ballet move where your back leg would be thrown into the air at a high angle
Chapter 13 – Green Pearl Meeting
In the southwestern parts of Zhongzhou, there was a mountain named “Green Pearl”. The
mountain with the same name as a famous concubine from ancient China, was similar to the
beautiful Green Pearl in many ways – small and charming, with wisps of clouds drifting across its
fair temples, it was emerald-colored in the breeze and delightfully placed between sparkling blue
bodies of water.
On Green Pearl’s peak existed several stacked terraces, seeming like a woman’s hair bun from
afar. Besides the terrace was a rushing creek filled with long swimming fish, an absolutely
picturesque scene.
Meng Fuyao dangled her leg as she laid on the terrace. She held a strand of grass in her mouth,
absentmindedly thinking.
Ever since her hurried escape yesterday, she hadn’t returned to Prince De’s residence. She was
afraid that if Qiao Ling told Guo Pingrong about “little pageboy Meng”, Zong Yue would be
wrapped up in the mess as well, so she directly ran here and slept.
The daylight beside her darkened all of a sudden. A person lay down by her side in an even lazier
posture than her’s, after which a certain fat white ball marched out to his side, falling down into
an identical posture as its owner.
A row of three, laid out orderly.
Fuyao didn’t turn her head, her gaze still wandering among the floating clouds in the sky. In the
depths of her eyes, however, a hint of a smile rose up.
This person, could always find the most unlikely places to “accidently chance upon” her.
At this point, saying things like aiya what a coincidence would just be pure sophistry; Yuan Zhaoxu
very clearly knew of her whereabouts. If such a secretive person wanted to play the “unexpected
encounter” game, then she would just humor him.
In reality, after several days of not seeing him, Fuyao unexpectedly felt that she really liked his way
of suddenly popping out of nowhere.
It was only Master Yuanbao whose expression was a little unsightly, its mouse face hung so low it
looked like a sweet potato. Of course, Meng Fuyao had never really payed any attention to the
feelings of this extraneous rat.
The person who had just appeared leisurely laid back by her side. His long eyelashes traced out an
elegant arc under his eyes. Today his face color looked a little pale and his mood a little lazy as
well, somehow seeming to fit the casual image of a noble descendant even better. Resting on his
elbows with his eyes half-closed, in his hand was held a tree branch that looked at-odds with his
previous image.
Meng Fuyao tilted her head over, holding back a smile as she anticipated the lousy suggestion he
would come up with next. What she saw, though, was Yuan Zhaoxu clearly sitting facing her with
his back to the slightly iced-over creek, yet with his head turned away, and backhandedly stabbing
out with a “cha” sound.
Water drops flew into the air. Silver scales flashed. On the branch was immediately pierced a
lively, jumping fish.
Fuyao’s eyes widened as she watched Yuan Zhaoxu, his back facing the creek, casually poke out
again to catch yet another fish. His movements swift and accurate, and in a blink a pile of wriggling
fish appeared on the floor.
On this wintery day, ice had formed on the creek surface. Yuan Zhaoxu could actually use only his
hearing, back facing a layer of ice, and still be able to sense the trajectory of the swimming fish,
then accurately catch one of the slippery things every time he stabbed out! Not even considering
the martial skill needed, just the sharp hearing and accuracy required was something very few
people in the world possessed.
“The lenok fish[1] in Green Pearl spring become even fatter during the winter. You and I are going
to feast today.” The person who used his unfathomable martial arts to spear fish had just turned
his head, before he saw that the super motivated Meng Fuyao had already jumped up and gone to
collect the fish.
Fuyao rolled up her robe sleeves as she squatted by the creek bank, preparing the fish. After
thinking for a bit she asked Yuan Zhaoxu, “Who was the crazy shouting woman from that night? It
looked like she had enmity with your Crown Prince, aren’t you an attendant of the Crown Prince?
You should know right?”
Yuan Zhaoxu sat crosslegged on withered grass. No matter what kind of pose he was in, it couldn’t
cover the elegant air that surrounded him. After hearing her words he gave a small chuckle, and
his raised eye corners seem to flicker with light as he said, “She is Prince De’s consort.”
“Ah?” Meng Fuyao looked up in surprise.
“Prince De’s consort was the Linjiang King’s eldest daughter. Back when the king of Linjiang
rebelled and was killed, his whole household was put to death. Only his eldest daughter escaped
this fate because she was already Prince De’s consort at the time, but in the end she suffered a
large change and went mad.” Yuan Zhaoxu gave a basic explanation.
“Then why did she say your Crown Prince was of impure bloodline and stole the throne?”
“Among the royal descendants of the Infinite Empire the is a legend.” Yuan Zhaoxu replied very
cordially. “In his infancy the Crown Prince had once disappeared for a period of time. People with
ill-intentions soon spread false rumors, saying that the current Crown Prince was not a Zhangsun
descendant, but was a substitute.”
“Ridiculous!” Fuyao sniffed with contempt. “That old Infinite Emperor isn’t some retard, how could
he not know if his own son was real or fake?”
“That is hard to say. People are dull-minded, and mistaking real and fake is something that might
always occurred.” Yuan Zhaoxu’s expression was the same serene look as always. Seeing Fuyao
had finished preparing the fish, he unhurriedly scooped out a little multicolored cloth bag object
that had many pockets on top.
Meng Fuyao curiously leaned over. “What is that?”
Her long eyelashes fluttered, almost brushing against Yuan Zhaoxu’s hand. He chuckled as he used
his fingers to pinch out.
“Woah, so neat.”
“Ah!” Fuyao leapt away while hatefully glaring.
Pretending nothing happened, Yuan Zhaoxu reached into the brightly-colored sack to look for
something. From a red pocket came out a little white bottle, from a green pocket scooped out a
black bottle. Yellow, purple, green, blue and other little colored bottles quickly piled up. The
bottles were very tiny, each sculpted from an entire piece of crystal and were very valuable.
Once the Meng Fuyao who was acting all cold saw these cute little bottles, she immediately forgot
about the thing from before, and animatedly bounded over. “What are these cool thingies?”
Soon however, she watched with disillusionment as Yuan Zhaoxu leisurely rubbed the contents of
the bottles onto the fish. From the odors she could smell – salt, plum, wine, ginger, soy sauce,
vinegar, and even some white pepper.
Fuyao stared numbly at a certain person’s extravagant way of cooking fish, and for the time being
couldn’t give any response. These flavorings might seem basic to modern people, but this was an
ancient era. In the Five Regions Continent, these spices were expensive and rare, especially the
latter three. Vinegar was called cu[2], and besides highly ranked officials and lords, others could
not enjoy it. Further, pepper was a special product unique to the Gaochang Kingdom of the
western borderlands, and the states of the Five Regions did not even possess its seeds. For these
seven types of flavorings to come together, perhaps only national banquets would be a suitable
occasion. Now, they were casually poured out to use on fish randomly speared from a small creek!
Exorbitance, lavishness, a reckless waste!
What kind of person would bring these kinds of stuff with them when traveling!
Also what was this garishly decorated palm-sized thing covered with seven pockets?
Fuyao picked up that “suspicious cloth”, a big question mark in her eyes.
“That is Yuanbao’s robe.” Yuan Zhaoxu helpfully explained.
Meng Fuyao dully turned her head, only to see Master Yuanbao crouching in the distance,
cheerfully waiting for Yuan Zhaoxu to dress it in its “seasoning robe”.
“It … usually brings these kind of things with it?”
“Occasionally.”
“Is it not heavy?”
“It’s pretty fat, so it can carry the weight, also Yuanbao really likes crystals.”
“Why didn’t it wear it earlier?”
“Well the weather got colder, it wants protect its belly.”
Fuyao stopped talking. Like master, like pet. As long as she got used to it everything should be fine
right?
The bottles were very small and the seasoning was limited, only able to cover one fish before
running out. The fish meat roasted on top of the firepit quickly began to exude an oily fragrance,
pulling out Fuyao’s memories of eating barbecued meat in her previous life. She couldn’t help but
sniff her nose then rub her suddenly very empty stomach.
Despite this Fuyao was very responsible and knew the preciousness of the seasoning. After the fish
were cooked, her gaze drifted around but she resisted the urge, directly grabbing another piece of
unseasoned fish.
In front of her eyes appeared an intensely fragrant fish.
Looking up, she saw a man across from her holding back his mirth. Long brows jumped up in a
smooth arc, while the deep eyes, straight nose, and relaxed lips were so elegant they moved one
to tears. The beautiful image was like a mountain of maple trees with red-tinged leaves, with a
slight hint of vibrant yellow hidden in the deep scarlet coloring. In the brightness was a perfect
amount of grace – not only did the eyes feast, but the spirit was also bewildered.
Fuyao squashed down the feelings in her heart. Ai, stop jumping erratically, it would be over if
someone heard it!
Yuan Zhaoxu was still looking at her with a smile, his eyes placid. Fuyao cleared her throat, calmly
reaching out to receive the roasted fish. Meanwhile, inside she tried to console herself – he looked
like he often enjoyed these kinds of fully-seasoned foods, not like the her who was stuck living
with no money in these ancient times. Besides salt there was only salt, with her mouth so
flavorless a bird could fly out of it![3]
It’s hard to avoid unusual behavior when doing anything with conflicting thoughts. Fuyao clutched
the barbecued fish, munching on it with an extraordinarily fierce expression. Her teeth collided
with bone letting out ge ge noises, causing the Master Yuanbao on the side, who was eating wild
fruit with dignified grace, to stare at her with contempt while shifting its butt away. The only
thought it had was to leave this crude barbarian farther and farther away.
After scarfing down the meal with the ferocity of wolves and tigers, Meng Fuyao threw the bones
away to rub her uncomfortably full belly, muttering, “A beauty gifted me freshly roasted fish, how
should I return this …”
“Return what?” The handsome beauty’s ears were sharp, and immediately he inquired while
smiling.
Footnotes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenok
酢, a Chinese synonym for the regular word for vinegar, 醋
The word flavorless, 淡 dan, is a homonym for egg, 蛋. Thus this saying is a pun, the rough
meaning is that her mouth was so lacking flavor/egg-like that a bird could fly out.
Chapter 14 – Whose First Kiss?
Fuyao picked up that chewed, almost broken piece of fish bone, then blinked her eyes as she gave
it over. “Fish bone.”
“Good job.” Yuan Zhaoxu’s face didn’t change at all, smiling as he took the bone in his palm and
scrutinized it a couple times. “En, scraped viciously and dextrously, with not even a bit of meat
left. The killing intent emanates out unhindered, truly a great teeth technique.”
After his words he actually took out a square handkerchief and neatly folded the bone, preparing
to store the fish bone away.
Fuyao’s face immediately went scarlet. That bone still had her own teeth marks and saliva on it!
She only gave it over as a joke, thinking that this person who seemed so cultured and picky would
definitely refuse to even touch the bone. Who would have thought that Yuan Zhaoxu’s way of
doing things was always one step ahead of her! She could guess the beginning, but she would
always be shocked by the end.
Hurriedly moving over, with a swipe she yanked the bone backwards then patted her hands,
saying, “Next time I’ll chew something prettier and sign my name, then I can gift it for you to
treasure. Who can say, maybe after a couple years it’ll become a rare antique and you can get rich
from selling it!”
Yuan Zhaoxu chuckled as he took back his handkerchief. Playfully eating a couple bites of roasted
fish, he suddenly said, “Fuyao, have the past few days been good?”
“Yeah.” Meng Fuyao looked over wide-eyed with a forthright smile.
“Nothing noteworthy happened?” Yuan Zhaoxu didn’t look at her, but instead flipped a fish in his
hand over to continue cooking.
“Nope!” Fuyao’s response was swift and clear, with no sense of guilt at all.
“Then … is there anything you need my help with?” Yuan Zhaoxu set the cooked fish in front of
Fuyao.
“Not a thing.” Fuyao’s eyelashes fluttered, the very picture of innocence.
Only after answering did she realize her previous words might have been a little cold, and she
quickly added on, “What kind of problems can I have that would need you to help? You’ve helped
me too many times already, so many times that it would be embarrassing if you helped any more.”
Yuan Zhaoxu laughed but didn’t respond. The firelight lightly shone red on his originally pale skin,
and thick lashes formed an angle under his eyes. He meticulously picked out the larger bones from
the roasted fish, then gave it over to Fuyao. Fuyao took it, taking the chance to examine his
expression. However, she couldn’t make out anything at all.
Dejectedly biting at the fish meat, this time Fuyao couldn’t taste much of the flavor. Even though
nothing was out of the ordinary about Yuan Zhaoxu, she thought that he seemed to be a little
unsatisfied.
Ai, from his tone, he seemed to know something. However, Fuyao absolutely would not form the
habit of relying on someone everytime she met an obstacle. In the future she had to travel
through all the states, and had to make the long pilgrimage to the Heavenly Court. She would face
danger and the unknown future, and these things were all her own; there was no reason to hope
for someone to shoulder all the problems along the way. She would need to learn to overcome
malice and storms, learn to resolve conflicts on her own, learn to take care of herself while
constantly improving herself.
This was also the reason why her annoying old Daoist master had thrown her out of the sect gates
with a kick, forcing her to go train in the jianghu. The “Breaking Nine Heavens” technique could
only be advanced in the outside world; only amidst the wider world and the polishing of countless
life-or-death battles could she truly struggle to the peak of martial arts.
Starting with Guo Pingrong, she should solve her own problems with only her own abilities from
now on.
Besides, if Yuan Zhaoxu knew of last night’s events, and knew her intention to steal away a person
from the tiger’s mouth was still undeterred by her previous failure, he would probably disagree
with her silly plan. Fuyao glanced at Yuan Zhaoxu from the corner of her eye again, then again …
ai, would his manly pride be wounded or something?
Her peeking came too frequently, causing discontent in Master Yuanbao. It suddenly sprinted
over, doing a “Back-handed 180 degree spin flip forward mid-air 540 degree somersault” in front
of her!
Fuyao sat eating fish while sneaking glances at Yuan Zhaoxu, and was already quite distracted.
Before her eyes was suddenly a confusing blur of motion. The fat white ball spun over and over,
making her dizzy and subconsciously swallow some saliva.
After that, a pain rose in her throat – a fish bone was stuck!
With an “ah” sound Fuyao jumped up, grabbing a bone to pursue the despicable Master Yuanbao!
I’ll stab! Stab stab stab!
Master Yuanbao fled like the wind, and Fuyao didn’t even manage to chase a few steps before she
was pulled back by a pair of hands. Turning back, she saw Yuan Zhaoxu lying on his side. His mirth
lightly floated over like mountain mist, as he said, “Aren’t you afraid of the bone digging deeper if
you go chase Yuanbao with it stuck in your throat?”
With a slight tug, Fuyao’s body sat down on its own. Opposite her, Yuan Zhaoxu smiled as he
leaned over, lifting her chin. “Say ahhh.”
Meng Fuyao numbly opened her mouth, but only after opening did she realize her current position
seemed really silly. Then she thought, is he going to reach his hand in to take out the bone? This
this this this … wasn’t this action a little too ambiguous?
Before she could finish processing the implications, the scene in front of her eyes dimmed, and a
light fragrance met her nose. A certain person’s matchlessly stunning face had already leaned
down. Long thick eyelashes brushed out little shadows on her face, and a faint trace of a smile
could be seen in his eyes. The atmosphere around them swirled like wine. Fuyao froze in place,
forgetting how to move for a moment, as she stared blankly at the sweet-smelling shadow that
steadily grew closer before her….
“Gulp.”
In the last 0.01 cm before lips and lips were about to meet; in the last 0.01 seconds before skin
and skin would contact; Meng Fuyao finally, due to excessive shock, managed to forcefully
swallow and ruin the mood.
After which, the bone stuck in her throat was dislodged and swallowed …
In almost the same instant, the beautiful features that were limitlessly enlarged returned to their
usual angle. Sunlight shone, and the fragrance dissipated. Before Fuyao could return to her senses,
Yuan Zhaoxu had already sat back smiling by the firepit. Unconcernedly stirring the flames, he
asked, “What are you doing still frozen there? Disappointed?”
Naturally, she would rather die than admit this. Straightening up, she leapt up in an inwardly timid
but outwardly fierce pose, firing out an accusation hoping to gain the initiative. “I was scared by
you! You wanted to steal my first kiss!”
Yuan Zhaoxu stayed unaffected as he put another fish onto the fire to roast. Only after did he give
a nonchalant reply to Fuyao, who was flushed with indignation.
“Well, my first kiss was long stolen by you. What should I do about that?”
“Huh?” Meng Fuyao’s eyes widened. Not possible not possible, how could I not know if I tasted
you before or not? Trying to confuse me huh? But looking at this fellow’s expression, it doesn’t
seem like a lie … there’s absolutely no way …
However, Yuan Zhaoxu had already moved on from his statement. He paid even more attention to
picking out fish bones one by one. Only until he was certain every bone was gone, and that Fuyao
had no possibility of getting another one stuck, did he say, “Open up.”
Meng Fuyao was still sunk in the bewildered thoughts just now, so she subconsciously opened her
mouth.
In her mouth was suddenly stuffed some fragrant, tender roast fish.
She heard him chuckle as he stood up. In the rustling of his robes he softly said:
“Since you won’t let me take care of the big things for you, then at least let me take care of small
things like fish bones for you?”
Chapter 15 – Breaking Encirclement by Herself
Meng Fuyao hunkered down on the edge of the outer walls of the Jianwu general’s residence, her
whole face filled with melancholy and annoyance.
Annoyance reason number one: it seemed like that person really did get angry. That day he stuffed
her mouth with fish, then dusted himself off and left just like that! Even Master Yuanbao, when
leaving, purposefully peed in her direction in a show of contempt.
Annoyance reason number two: It had already been three days since Qiao Ling married into the
general’s residence. She had set her mind on not caring about the little girl who wanted to cling
onto the dragon and phoenix to rise in society. Fuyao thought, if Guo Pingrong truly treated the
girl differently then wouldn’t she just be meddling in other people’s affairs? Plus, Guo Pingrong
was already on guard, and if she wanted to act she would just be walking into a trap – she wasn’t
so dumb as to do that. Who could have known that today outside the residence she would
coincidentally meet a couple grandmas who were going out to buy? From their conversation she
could gleam the tragic situation of the general residence’s new concubine. After hearing this,
Fuyao sulked by the wall corner for a while, in the end letting out a sigh and going to prepare.
Before midnight, she had ended up crawling up onto the roof of the Guo residence inner hall.
Night wind gusted past the roof eaves. It was already nearing the 12th month, and with the night
chill snowfall seemed close. The unfortunate Meng Fuyao sadly had no red clay furnace or Luyi
alcohol to enjoy[1]; a person up high still cannot escape the cold[2]. Deep gusts blew in the four
directions, bringing a bone-chilling bite as it swirled over. After Fuyao crouched there for some
time, even her eyelashes began to gather a layer of white frost.
Despite this, her two eyes still shone like starlight in the darkness, sparkling like jewels. No trace of
weariness or hesitation could be seen, and instead she even seemed cheerful.
Far below her, under the roof ledge, a light quiet noise traveled over. Even though the sound was
small, in the frozen stillness of night it still possessed an astoundingly piercing quality. It was a
woman’s dismal weeping sighs and a man’s aroused panting. On the light rosy window paper was
dimly outlined the ambiguous shadows of an intertwined man and woman. It could be imagined
that while the furnace flames fiercely danced, the inside of the room was warm like spring. On the
brocade bed and between the jade curtains was a tumbling red sea. The contact of skin, mixing of
sweat, and slightly fishy smell of scattered rouge and body fluid transformed into a tumultuous yet
sentimental scene, breaking the night’s originally calm state.
The people inside the building rolled and tumbled all night without rest. Meng Fuyao leaned on
the eaves listening, not uncomfortable in the least. Her clothes were thick anyways. A couple days
ago Zong Yue gave her a fur undercoat, and although it looked thin, when worn it was extremely
light yet warm. There was just a light medicinal odor on the coat collar, but then again anything
that medical saint Zong gave out would always have a bit of medicinal odor, so Fuyao wasn’t picky
about it.
When deep night arrived, heavy snow suddenly fell. Snowflakes like plum blossoms showered
down unceasingly from the pitch-black heavens, and soon a layer of snow buried the person lying
on the roof. From afar she looked like a snow-cast statue.
At the fourth watch, the door underneath sounded. Wrapped in colored robes and heavy fur, Guo
Pingrong opened the door and came out. Immediately the guard waiting in the hall hurried
forward. Carrying a rain coat and umbrella, the guard shielded the man as he walked.
After the footsteps meandered through the snowy ground into the distance, the surroundings
gradually returned to silence. It was only then that Fuyao pushed herself out from under a couple
pieces of tile. Like a snow blossom, she floated down from the roof.
Fuyao landed and brushed off some snow. To the Qiao Ling who lay weeping on the bed she
smilingly said, “I’ve come again.”
Qiao Ling raised her head in shock, her tear-filled pupils staring her. Fuyao rolled her shoulder and
said, “Last time my luck was bad and I happened upon your man in your room wanting to
consummate the wedding night early. This time I watched him leave, I shouldn’t have the honor of
meeting him again, right?”
Qiao Ling straightened her back as she looked at Fuyao numbly. After a while, tears tumbled down
again like a waterfall.
Fuyao let out a sigh, not wanting to say anything. Her eyes were sharp – the moment Qiao Ling
straightened up she could see that the girl’s whole body was covered in horrible wounds and
bruises. It could be imagined what kind of pitiful sight was hidden underneath the blankets.
However, Fuyao didn’t immediately walk forward, instead walking in front of the dresser table.
Picking up the bronze mirror and admiring for a bit, she put the mirror back, then chuckled, “After
the snowfall my face got all wet.” Casually grabbing a handkerchief on the table, she wiped her
face and neck.
Only after cleaning herself up did she turn around and walk in front of Qiao Ling. Pulling aside the
girl’s covers, Fuyao’s gaze landed on her lower body, and Fuyao instantly sucked in a breath and
turned away. Taking off her own cloak, Fuyao wrapped it over Qiao Ling, then knelt with her back
facing Qiao Ling.
Qiao Ling woodenly clutched the cloak without knowing what to do. Fuyao patiently said, “Are you
really going to refuse to leave again?”
Opposite her on the dressing table was the bronze mirror which had already been placed at an
angle by Fuyao. It directly reflected and showed the Qiao Ling behind; her panic seemed very
genuine.
Meng Fuyao watched the mirror – she wasn’t a fool. Among veterans of the jianghu there was an
inviolable practice, and that was to never expose one’s back to anyone else, even if the person
behind them had no martial ability whatsoever.
Tonight, she had walked into the mountains despite clearly knowing the mountain had a tiger, and
Fuyao would naturally advance carefully with every action she took. If she were dumb enough to
cause herself to be caught while saving someone, it would just be too shameful! If Yuan Zhaoxu
knew about it he would also disdain her to death.
Qiao Ling finally timidly crawled on her back. Sniffing her nose, she quietly said, “Little brother
Meng … it was all my fault …”
“Who in the world hasn’t made mistakes? If there are still chances to fix those mistakes, none of it
matters.” Fuyao carefully lifted her up, then tied the girl tightly to herself with a ribbon.
Qiao Ling’s tears, drip by drip, began to soak the clothes on Fuyao’s back. Her voice was quiet, yet
still choked with sobs. “He isn’t human … he isn’t human …”
Fuyao was speechless. A type of moving sadness arose in her heart. She had originally been a little
on guard against Qiao Ling, and was prepared to abandon her at a moment’s notice to escape.
However now seeing her miserable injuries, at once Fuyao realized this poor girl had most likely
suffered harm that would be difficult to ever recover from. Even a self-inflicted wound intended to
lower her guard wouldn’t be done to this severity. Sighing, Fuyao reached out and patted Qiao
Ling’s back, saying, “You’ve been here a couple days, are you familiar with the way back?”
Qiao Ling shook her head, holding back tears. “I was always locked in that building.”
Fuyao let out an assenting “en” and prepared to follow her previous route. Suddenly she heard
Qiao Ling say, “… but I did hear the nannies taking care of me mention something once. The
general’s residence doesn’t have very many guards due to the general himself being a skilled
master. The southern side at the ceremonial hall has more guards, while the west side where the
servants live has very few people. I heard there is even a back-door route on the west side, where
one can directly exit.”
“Why would they talk with you about this?” Fuyao turned her head to look at her.
Qiao Ling began to sob. “I don’t know … but it seemed like their gazes were filled with pity … little
brother Meng, every day … I waited for you to come …”
Fuyao let out another “en”, then suddenly said, “Today on the streets I heard that general Guo
had once said, as long as someone could beat him, they could ask him to do anything that was
within his power.”
Without waiting for Qiao Ling’s response, she suddenly pressed on Qiao Ling’s paralysis pressure
point. Blasting the door flying with a kick, she dragged over a chair and leapt on top of it, yelling
loudly, “Guo Pingrong! Come out, let’s have a fight!”
“Pa! Pa! Pa!”
From the darkness at once came the sound of applause. Guo Pingrong walked into view from
around a hallway corner and coldly said, “Good. Good ear. To actually realize that I hadn’t walked
far. Quite brave, to actually want to have a one-on-one duel with me.”
Meng Fuyao gave out a burst of laughter, saying, “You waited for me for so long, how could I have
been willing to leave? As soon as I came out I would have instantly been ambushed by you. After
all, there are precious few people in the world who have the ability to take off your pants;
naturally you must properly receive a guest like me.”
Guo Pingrong’s expression changed. Up until now he had always been prideful and arrogant,
where even small grievances had to be repaid in full. That day, when in front of so many guards
Meng Fuyao tricked him and cut off his pants, was the greatest disgrace of his life up until then.
Now that Fuyao didn’t even hide in the least and mentioned this event to his face, he became
even more infuriated.
“I had guessed it was you. As I thought, I was not wrong!” Guo Pingrong deeply sucked in a breath
of air, his face like iron. In a surge of his robes, the man turned into a comet, flashing forward!
Fuyao raised her foot. With a kick the chair underneath her was sent flying with a fierce wind,
spinning as it shot towards Guo Pingrong. He sent out a horizontal palm sweep, and the chair
shattered into countless shards. At this time, though, Meng Fuyao had already took advantage of
the brief moment to leap out of the window.
Upon passing out the window, she saw that a group of guards suddenly rushed out from the
surroundings. The front row of guards orderly bent their knees. Stretched bows and sharp arrows
aimed straight at the two. Exclaiming “yi ya”, Fuyao stumbled suddenly and cried out in
consternation. “So many?”
Following her trip, a bundle suddenly rolled out from her robes. When the cloth unfurled, an
entire ground of golden pearls spilled out, bouncing to the feet of the guards! Fuyao began to
shout in an even more panicked tone as she waved her hand and chased. “That’s all my savings for
the rest of my life, don’t touch!”
Golden light sparkled from each of the smooth round pearls, scintillating on the dim snowy
ground. After the bow-holding guards saw this their eyes lit up.
A month’s salary for them wasn’t even five liang silvers. Now that this youth’s bag had fallen, a
massive fortune was right in front of them! Although they didn’t know what Fuyao was doing here,
she looked like she was trying to save and elope with the new bride. The treasures in the bundle
also seemed like they were stolen from some other residence. If they didn’t choose to collect the
treasure now when would they have the chance later?
At this time Guo Pingrong had already charged over. With his attention solely focused on Meng
Fuyao, he didn’t see any of the treasures on the ground, harshly shouting “What are you hesitating
for? Shoot, shoot her lower half!”
The guards’ eyes, however, were still stuck on the ground. Their eyes wandered as if guarding
against others trying to steal the goods. One skinny soldier hesitated for a second before finally
giving in to the gold’s allure – in the instant he raised his bow, one of his fingers stealthily curled,
tightly grabbing onto an ingot of gold by his hand.
With his movement, the others also lost their self-control, and began to start picking up the pearls
from the ground.
Only now did Guo Pingrong notice the treasure in the man’s hand, and immediately his expression
broke, yelling, “Put it down!”
“Pu!”
An extremely quiet shattering sound traveled into the snowy night, not much louder than the
sound of falling snow. The faces of the people present all fell.
The sound came from the hand of the first guard to pick up an ingot. In his agitation he had
clutched too tightly, and the “gold” unexpectedly shattered in his palm.
“Cha!”
From within the cracked gold suddenly shot out a stream of black liquid. As it scattered out amidst
the indistinct white snow, it drew out a heart-stopping, life-threatening arc.
“AH!”
The guard and the several guards beside him were instantly drenched with black water. The
substance started to corrode with sizzling sounds, quickly burning through cloth and darkening the
skin, causing several people to scream and collapse. When the blackened skin contacted the
ground surface it immediately split skin and bloodied flesh, and streaks of bloody trails appeared
on the ground.
At the same time, more of the people who had picked up the pearls began to miserably yell as
they curled up on the ground. Guo Pingrong was filled with so much rage that his face turned
black. Seeing Fuyao, he coldly sneered and shot forward like a gust of wind. In the chilling, snowy
night her voice jumped like the pearls, colliding with the darkness’ silence.
“Gold is valuable poison isn’t, buying one and getting one free isn’t a bad deal! A man’s nature is
to be greedy, no one is an exception! Great General Guo, you seem to pay your workers too little,
otherwise why would they go and pick up poisoned gold? Hahaha!”
Her figure wavered in front of a tree, yet she didn’t run, instead tapping her feet and provokingly
crossing her arms as she looked at Guo Pingrong.
Guo Pingrong bellowed out. His gray-colored robes flattened into a streak amidst the flying snow,
as if a sturdy steel board, sweeping through the space between them in an instant. Only after
seeing his sudden closing of distance did Fuyao stride out to run.
Upon reaching the tree, Guo Pingrong raised his head to see that a drawing was hung on the tree
at some unknown time. On the picture was man dressed in fancy clothes with an obscene
expression, hugging a bow while standing on a high wall. His upper body was nobly dressed, but
the pants on his lower body had fallen to his ankles, revealing two hairy bow-legged legs.
After only a glance, Guo Pingrong already felt faint in his head, and hot blood built up in his chest
with no relief. He was so infuriated that even his vision blacked out for a moment, after which he
exploded with a shout filled with trembling hatred!
The yell caused even the dark night to shake, yet the slight smile on Fuyao’s face didn’t even
flicker. When striking someone one always had to strike the face; when insulting someone one
always had to hit their weak points – Meng Fuyao’s life motto.
Guo Pingrong stared at the humiliating picture, finally unable to hold back his rage. He viciously
shot out his hand, sending a tiger-like fist out to punch the drawing into shreds.
“Boom!”
A heaven-shaking explosion suddenly erupted. Up on the tree scattered out a cloud of black smoke
interspersed with fire light, that in an instant gathered around Guo Pingrong’s shoulder like a
twisting dragon! Bringing with it torn paper scraps and bloody flesh, the dark turbulent smoke
covered over the people near the tree.
Guo Pingrong’s pained scream shattered the still snowing night, even causing wild dogs in the
distance to begin to bark.
Just then underneath the drawing was hidden yet another bomb. Guo Pingrong was incited in his
anger to madly punch out, causing the fire bomb to immediately explode, wounding his hand.
Now Meng Fuyao’s poisonous scheme had succeeded: poisoned ingots to harm the guards – draw
Guo Pingrong’s attention – take the chance to stick the wicked drawing that hid a fire bomb on the
tree – causing Guo Pingrong to erupt with rage as predicted – attack and destroy the picture – in
the end, the fire bomb exploding.
At the instant that the fire bomb detonated, Fuyao finally stopped lingering around. Cackling with
laughter, she gave the middle finger, then carried Qiao Ling towards the servant’s quarters in the
western courtyards.
Freezing snow particles flew towards them, blowing onto their faces with a comfortable feeling.
Even though Fuyao carried a person on her back, she ran faster and faster, rushing past clusters of
buildings like the wind. Soon the thick smoke, miserable yells, and bloody stench were left far
behind.
In front appeared disorderly strewn buildings. Fuyao inspected the surroundings, and as expected
saw a section of suspicious wall behind the distant compound. There seemed to be a small door
there, so she sent off sprinting over without hesitation.
Nobody stood guard at the courtyard and the surroundings were empty. Steps extended upward
to an indistinct temple, dark and foreboding, like a huge gaping mouth. At the very back of the
temple was a dimly flashing plaque, yet because of the distance the words could not be made out.
Fuyao squinted and slowed down, doubtfully saying, “What is this place? Doesn’t look like the
servants’ quarters…”
Before her voice fell, a numbness suddenly spread from behind her ear, after which her entire
body’s blood began to flow sluggishly and stop. Her consciousness also began to blur bit by bit.
The snowflakes covering the sky spun and enlarged, sinking down like huge rock monoliths.
Sounds that reached her ears seemed to travel from far away, as if she were listening someone
speaking through three layers of leather skin. It vaguely sounded like Qiao Ling’s cries.
Cries filled with shock, shame, helplessness, and sorrow.
“I’m sorry, so sorry … the general promised me as long as you were captured, he would treat me
well … the rest of my life … I beg of you!”
From even further away drifted over another voice, filled with killing intent, exultation, coldness
and maliciousness. It was Guo Pingrong’s voice.
“To dare trespass in the general’s ceremonial hall! This must be reported to the Crown Prince, and
the criminal’s entire family shall be arrested and executed!”
After which there was a pause, then with a bit of confusion he said, “The Crown Prince actually is
traveling over from Shangyang court? What is the urgent matter? Is the southern border acting up
again?”
Another period of silence. In Fuyao’s slowly fading mind, she heard Guo Pingrong’s cold laugh. The
sound of robes, sword, belt, and adornments being taken off one by one seemed sometimes near
and sometimes far, like oscillating waves washing over.
“Just in time! First, I’ll enjoy you to my satisfaction, then after I’m tired of playing with you I’ll use
the heavy crime of trespassing to pass you to His Highness to take care of!”
Footnotes
Reference to a Tang dynasty poem
A pun on the Chinese saying that means “a person in a [high position or office] still cannot escape
the coldness [that comes with being so lofty and having no friends]”. Here it is used literally.
Chapter 16 (Part A) – Your Heart, My Heart
As the hazy field of view flickered, everything seemed sunk underneath massive waves, turning
even more dream-like and unstable. In the swaying scene there was a half-undressed man who
gripped his bloodied fists, savagely grinning as he came over.
That grin was like a beast or ghoul, wicked and icy. That face was slanted, those eyes were flat,
that wide gaping mouth was like a black hole, in which sharp white teeth glinted with light.
The quiet weeping of the woman behind her was very irritating. Fuyao struggled to reach out a
hand. Pulling out the needle on the nape of her neck, she suddenly stabbed out behind her.
The crying immediately stopped, while the man opposite showed astonishment, saying, “You can
still move?” Not hesitating anymore, he strode forward with large steps. First, he picked up Qiao
Ling from Fuyao’s back and threw her aside, then grabbed onto Fuyao and carried her horizontally.
With a kick aimed at the wall, the building wall instantly shifted in a rumbling noise, revealing a
secret room. He then carried Fuyao inside.
Meng Fuyao’s mind drifted in and out, yet strangely she didn’t completely lose consciousness. She
vaguely smelled a faint herb fragrance. The scent was sharp and stimulating, traversing her
muddled brain like a keen sword. Those star fire-like fragments of consciousness that had
scattered in different directions immediately began to revolve and coalesce once more, like sand
trickling into a tower, congealing and piling up, gradually piecing together a completed blueprint.
The sound of ripping cloth suddenly met her ears, after which she felt a chill on her chest. A pair of
burning hot hands that smelled like blood moved closer, touched her skin, and shivered.
Guo Pingrong didn’t know of Meng Fuyao’s change in state. His bloodshot eyes stared desperately
at the spring scene in front of him. The disguise on Fuyao’s face had already been wiped off,
revealing the beautiful features that he had caught only a glimpse of that night. Long eyelashes
trembled lightly and the color of her lips was full like pomegranate blossoms. Guo Pingrong’s gaze
slowly slid down … with the young girl’s front robes being torn, her snowy skin seemed to be a few
degrees brighter than even the snowfall outside, yet still holding a type of icy jade sheen that
mere snow was lacking. One could sense the softness and aroma of a virgin just by looking. With a
caress of his bloodied hands fresh blood stained on pure white. When the shocking delicate
beauty of the scene met the eyes, it was like seeing red leaves gently falling off a tree branch – like
a pitiful, submissive enticement, begging to be savagely deflowered.
This kind of silent invitation was the most effective at arousing a man’s bestial nature and wild
desires. Guo Pingrong gave a low growl, waving his hand to extinguish the candles in the room,
before lowering himself down, panting.
With the sudden dimming of inside light, the room seemed even more cramped and narrow.
Someone lit an uncommonly seen light purple-colored lamp outside the room. A bit of faint mauve
light shone out from a crack behind the wall.
Fuyao suddenly shuddered.
A claustrophobic space … a purple glow shining from a crevice … this scene was so foreign yet so
familiar, as if a long, long time ago she had seen this every day …
“Ah!”
As if a heavy sword had savagely cleaved through her mind, an incredible pain passed through her
consciousness in a flash, and her already swaying vision shook heavily. Amidst the churning of
heavens and earth, a long past event, deeply buried and sealed in the farthest corners of her mind,
was slightly uncovered. Scenes flickered past … a narrow, constricted space … a purple palace
lantern hung in the distance … a middle-aged uncle’s lascivious smile … a blue veiny hand reaching
towards her body …
Like a nightmare the events of the past replayed themselves and awoken hidden sealed memories.
Her last strand of scattered awareness finally returned, and some sparks of long-awaited grief and
rage were instantly set ablaze. Inside her was scorched by fire yet frozen by ice. Her whole body’s
true qi gathered into her dantian and surged, charging upward like a river breaking its dikes, as if it
wanted to explode out of her chest!
Meng Fuyao suddenly shot up and raised her head. A mouthful of fresh blood spurted out, then
showered down like rain, falling onto Guo Pingrong’s head and body.
Guo Pingrong scrambled up in shock, holding his pants as he hurriedly retreated. He looked at
Fuyao in astonishment. No matter how he hard thought, he still couldn’t understand how Meng
Fuyao was able to break through and recover from the paralysis of his “Sealing Soul Needle”!
With a leap Fuyao got up, while blood rain dropped down. In the burning red her anger also rose
up like raging flames. She lowered her head to look at the disarray her frontside clothes were in,
then immediately looked back, staring at Guo Pingrong.
Her stare held bleak ice yet blistering fire, like a resurrection lily amidst scorching flames, emitting
an aura of death and destruction that belonged to the opposite riverbank of the Yellow Springs[1].
Her gaze’s expression formed metal chains that shackled Guo Pingrong’s soul in an instant, then
tied it to hellfire and transformed it into dust!
Being stabbed by those eyes, Guo Pingrong actually felt sweat trickling down his back, and he
instinctively unsheathed his sword and backed up three steps.
Even he didn’t know the reason why he backed up. Despite the young girl’s martial arts clearly
being unable to threaten him, in this instant her gaze was absolutely terrifying. He had never seen
this type of piercing keenness, as if just those eyes alone could kill him!
No, that wasn’t right. He had actually seen it once, many years ago. When the His Highness the
young Crown Prince was listening to a report, he had also once revealed an expression that looked
exactly like now, causing the him at the time to feel his legs go soft …
Many years later, under another person’s gaze, he unexpectedly saw this kind of boundless killing
intent yet again!
Guo Pingrong slashed out. The starting move of his world-famous “Starry Brilliance Sword Arts”
had just been displayed, before he saw Fuyao in front of him, her dark hair scattered, suddenly
charge forward like an enraged tiger.
As she shot over, the roiling true qi surrounding her body pushed over the furniture inside the
room and sent the drapes flying. With a “pa” sound, the candles stuck on candle dishes on the
table were orderly shattered! In the darkness the drapes twisted with a howl, while Meng Fuyao
flew over like a black cloud. Grabbing a stool on the way she hatefully smashed it down towards
Guo Pingrong’s head!
Guo Pingrong’s pupils instantly shrank to needles – when did this girl’s martial skill rise to this
level? This attack actually held a heaven-breaking, earth-splitting power!
Only, how could the disciple of one of the top ten masters flinch from this, and how could he fear
the rage-fueled strike of a woman?
Guo Pingrong’s long sword furiously carved out a stretch of shockingly huge waves, layer after
layer solidifying into a person-tall crystal wall, rising up in front of him. At the same time, with a
slight “chi” sound, a razor-thin line split through the crystalline wall and directly cut towards
Fuyao’s bare front.
The whole universe’s star light flowed into a shining line, moving faster than comets sweeping
through the sky, as the heavenly brilliance stretched as far as the eye could see.
Even as the starry glow encompassed Fuyao, she let out a huge shout.
“Break!”
Her wrist flung out, and a streak of azure light brightened. In the blink of an eye her wrist became
cast from jade, and as the radiant jade color grew strengthened, it seemed like an indestructible
azure pestle.
“Breaking Nine Heavens” fifth layer, “Resplendence!”
The true breakthrough that Fuyao usually couldn’t achieve, under today’s intense stimulation,
finally exploded out with her unrestrained full power. Her forearm immediately swept out
crushing all before it. In one swift motion it shattered Guo Pingrong’s steel-like light barrier,
directly grasping towards his throat.
Guo Pingrong grunted out and blocked Fuyao with a horizontal sword. Nimbly leaping up, he
changed sword movements instantly. Weaving out countless threads of sword shadows like
drawing silk off a cocoon, he quickly wrapped Fuyao into a bind.
The two people were soon drawn into a battle. Within the dim interior there was no sword wind,
no curses, no chairs falling or objects breaking; even the low bellows from the start could not be
heard anymore. Only the vague scene of two streaking shadows flashing back and forth could be
seen. Only the whistles of overly-swift movements darting through the air could be heard. And,
only the scattered odor of sweat and fresh blood could be smelled.
It was a desperate, soundless struggle. Those slender figures were forced back time by time, then
leaped up and rushed forward time and again. The mind of Meng Fuyao, who had just broken the
shackles of her muddled past nightmares, was almost completely blank. Her only strand of
thought was: to destroy him! To destroy the memories that I feared!
The thirtieth bout … the hundredth bout … the three hundredth bout!
Sweat oozed out of Guo Pingrong’s forehead, reflecting light in a patch.
This woman is insane!
He had never seen anyone fight like this, never seen someone who could disregard everything to
fight!
From their battle until now Fuyao had left seven bloody wounds on his body, while he had left fully
twelve sword wounds on hers!
He had painstakingly cultivated his muscles and tendons since youth, and his age was much older
than Fuyao’s. The wounds Fuyao gave him were still not enough to restrict his movements, but his
sword, even if it just lightly brushed past, would cause Fuyao to scatter out a cloud of bloody mist!
It was only because of this that the more Guo Pingrong fought on, the more his heart shook. He
was familiar with a person’s pain threshold. When he struck, it was always at the most painful
joints. A normal person, under these vile sword wounds, would have long lost the ability to fight.
Yet, this slightly skinny young girl could actually explode with such powerful attacks, and possess
such tenacious steadfastness!
What made him even more astonished, was that his opponent became more invigorated the more
she battled, yet he became weaker the longer time went on! It wasn’t that his mentality was
lesser, but rather his strength that was faltering! Only now did he realize, the purpose of that
shameful drawing was far more than just enraging him to attack the picture and injure his hand –
an even deeper objective was to exhaust his true qi.
His cultivation technique traveled the Dao of unyieldingness, and any extremely yang or extremely
ying skills would result in qi deviation. Being infuriated again and again, as well as the evil
intentions that arose in his heart earlier, caused his true qi to unwittingly travel down the wrong
path. After the swift back and forth, his situation was becoming bleaker and bleaker.
This girl was exceedingly formidable, actually managing to assess his inner techniques just from
receiving his one arrow! To be able to calculate his personality and every action – arriving
prepared, with every step laid out!
Guo Pingrong’s aura gradually retreated, shock in his eyes. Meng Fuyao only laughed coldly.
What could this amount of injury count for?
If a person began to endure never-ending beatings and training ever since they were five; crawled
through the mountain valley’s corrosive mud every day and night just to fight to the death with
wild beasts; buried oneself in a gulley just to cultivate the pure true qi of “Breaking Nine Heavens”;
and even ate earthworms in extreme hunger, how could this bit of pain count for a fart’s worth?
For unparalleled cultivation techniques, only by combating experts, hovering in the boundary
between life and death, could one make a breakthrough the easiest!
What could a mere first-rate master count for?
As long as their martial body was thoroughly investigated, and they were fed medicine tailored to
act against them, even a master could be attacked at their weak points and cruelly struck down!
Today I will take your blood and your sword, to consolidate a further boundary!
The fifth hundredth bout!
The blood-drenched Meng Fuyao suddenly rushed forward. Thrusting out her arm sideways, she
used her own limb to block a sword strike from Guo Pingrong!
The long sword pierced through her elbow and passed out underneath. As the sword tip collided
with bone, it let out a back-crawling friction sound.
Guo Pingrong couldn’t avoid being shocked by this crazy coldblooded move to block his sword
with flesh and blood.
In only that short moment of hesitation, Meng Fuyao wouldn’t give him the chance to withdraw
his sword. She suddenly stepped sideways with a twist of her pierced arm. The long sword inside
her arm immediately bent out almost 180 degrees, and with a “kacha” sound it abruptly split
apart!
The broken sword flew up into the air as the fresh blood on its steel splattered everywhere. In a
jump Fuyao flew into the air like a phoenix. She raised her head and shot out a piercing howl from
her mouth, clear like a phoenix cry, drilling through the clouds like thunder that could reach the
heavens. Inside the sound waves could even be seen a bright jade glow. In midair, Fuyao stomped
out and launched the broken sword piece directly towards Guo Pingrong’s lower body!
The bloodstained sword light flew like lightning, flashing in Guo Pingrong’s appalled, endlessly
magnified pupils. Realizing Fuyao’s intent, he gave a strange, horrified yell, scrambling up with
utmost haste like a rocket.
Unfortunately, he was already too late.
The severed sword shard shot past Guo Pingrong’s lower half, while in midair he used all his
strength to desperately twist. A quiet swish sounded. A thin line of blood shone as it stretched out,
bringing along with it a fleshy object as it flew out of his body.
“AH!”
Guo Pingrong tumbled down from his leap and flopped on the ground like a dying fish. He reached
out a trembling hand that was clutching his pant crotch, showing that the palm was covered in
fresh blood.
Meng Fuyao, however, silently complained to herself, “Damn! Only got one egg!”
Hefting the sword, she wanted to give him another slice, but before she even took a step her mind
fell into a daze and she stumbled. She knew that once she lost too much blood, she would be
unable to muster enough energy to kill.
Unsteadily walking over, she lifted the sword, preparing to slowly give Guo Pingrong a cut. If he
struggled they would just have to fight another battle.
Suddenly a drawn-out, heralding cry came from the distance.
“The Crown Prince has arrived!”
That announcement was clearly made far away, yet some footsteps quickly came closer. They
sounded like those of a martial expert, so light they made almost no noise, and they arrived
nearby in an instant.
Fuyao lurchingly turned her head back. At this moment her whole body was soaked in blood and
sweat, and she had long lost all energy, her mind existing in a half-conscious state. The drug that
was on that needle was also beyond her expectations and preparations, even somewhat affecting
her mental ability. She had only vaguely heard the last two words of the announcement.
Furthermore, from the nearing footsteps she felt as if an irresistibly powerful master was nearing,
and even more people would be surrounding the area.
Forcefully stamping her feet, Fuyao sucked in some air, then rushed off the ground. She kicked
aside the secret chamber door and leaped out from the back window.
At almost the same time her figure vanished out the window, the chamber door was opened again
by someone. A stream of daylight shone in from outside the door – the sun had risen.
With the daylight came surging in two uniform-dressed guards. They were unlike the typical
princely residence guards: these guards had cold expressions and piercing gazes, and when
standing there not a trace of aura escaped. With one look they could be recognized as high skilled.
On their bodies were adorned azure gilded ruyi talismans, which had the two seal script characters
“Shangyang” engraved upon them.[2]
They were the exclusive guards of the Infinite Crown Prince’s Shangyang Court, the renowned
“Shangyang Riders”.
These elite soldiers, who usually wouldn’t take care of mundane matters, had actually come as a
whole detachment today. Upon their arrival, the residence soldiers were all scattered to the side
and watched carefully. The rest of the squad entered the ceremonial hall, quickly finding the
secret room, then lined up in orderly rows by the door to bow in unison.
Snow fell for the entirety of last night, causing the day to already brighten by the fourth watch
sunrise. Looking out from inside the hall, the glittering trees in the courtyard were pure white like
cotton, with the speckled red plum blossoms like blood.
On the snowy ground, in the middle of the crowd of soldiers, steadily strode over a slender figure.
His steps didn’t seem fast, yet in the blink of an eye he had already reached nearby. Light indigo
with grey-white dragon trimmed long robes drifted quietly. He wore a silvery fox coat brighter
than the snow, and a pure warm-colored jasper belt, the mild jade color suddenly painting a bit of
spring onto the snow-covered scenery.
The man walking over, despite half his face being obscured by a mask, had hair like ebony and a
face like jade. The pair of pupils, matching with the gleaming fur tips of the silver fur coat, seemed
deep like the sea, and their sparkling tides able to peer straight through to one’s soul.
When they saw this man, those prideful and aloof Shangyang soldiers all respectfully gave deep
bows.
The most prominent figure of this era, the emperor among dragons, the one who enjoyed the
nation’s highest love and esteem; the one who dictated national affairs at fifteen, who led the
Infinite Empire to become powerful and renown among the Seven States; the one who even the
loftiest leaders of the Seven States held in awe and fear, not daring to provoke: Crown Prince
Zhangsun.
Zhangsun Wuji.
Footnotes
Resurrection Lily/equinox flower/red spider lily: flower often associated with death and the Yellow
Springs, the Chinese underworld river.
“Shangyang” 上阳 literally means “above sun”

Chapter 16 (Part B) – Your Heart, My Heart
In the snow the ultimate elegance of a generation, Zhangsun Wuji, strode gracefully without
disturbing even the smallest bit of dust. Wherever he went not even a snowflake would be
crushed.
After the night of snow, the steps of the ceremonial hall were very slippery. Guards came forward
to support him, yet Zhangsun Wuji didn’t even pause, reaching the inside of the hall with a swirl of
his sleeves.
The troop leader froze there, doubtfully turning his head to stare at the Crown Prince’s retreating
figure. For some reason His Highness seemed out of sorts today; even though his posture and
expression had no flaws, the old man who had followed him for many years felt that the Crown
Prince seemed a little panicked. In the Prince’s typically impenetrable pupils, also seemed to
contain a murky anxiousness, and even some … anger.
As the man pondered, Zhangsun Wuji had already passed straight into the open secret chamber
door.
He stopped near the entrance, and his hand that was stroking the fur coat slowly lowered. As he
swept the interior with his gaze, he deeply took in a breath.
The guards lowered their already lowered heads even further.
Inside the room furniture was strewn messily on the ground. The whole ground was covered in
bloody streaks that splattered from this corner to the opposite, shocking anyone who saw the
scene. There was also a small thing lying in the middle of a large pool of blood. When those whose
eyes were sharp discovered what it was, they all raised their heads in dismay.
At the end of the room, Guo Pingrong gazed numbly at nothing, pressing against his lower half. He
wasn’t so injured that he had lost all strength. However, the shock of having his treasures being
destroyed was entirely too sudden, and for the time being he still wasn’t able to react.
When Zhangsun Wuji’s eyes swept past that thing, his pupils shrank, and he slowly took a sudden
step forward.
The step was extremely light, but following the completion of the step all the objects in the room,
including the curtains, chairs, and candles, were bizarrely and completely silently transformed into
fine powder that drifted onto the ground.
All the guards looked at each other with astonishment in their eyes. These things had already long
been destroyed, and were only tenuously maintaining their original form. It only took one outside
disturbance to immediately turned them to ash! It could be imagined what kind of heaven-
shaking, desperate battle had occurred just now in this hidden room. Almost everything had been
used as a weapon, then broken down by the true qi!
Zhangsun Wuji’s eyes, though, only stared at the ground of blood. Glancing at Guo Pingrong’s
body, he immediately confirmed that this volume of blood could not have flown out of only the
general’s wounds. In that moment, Zhangsun Wuji’s pupils transformed, as if a tsunami had risen
up in the blink of an eye; yet in the next blink, it vanished.
He lifted his hand, and the guards silently left at once.
The hidden chamber’s door was once again closed. Snow-reflected light brightly shot through the
half-shut door crack, illuminating the shifting expressions in the Crown Prince’s eyes, as if
turbulent clouds swirling in the heavens.
At this time Guo Pingrong had already recovered his awareness. Deeply prostrating himself on the
ground he kowtowed and choked out, “Your Highness … Your Highness …”
Lying on the bloody floor surface, he could smell the fresh blood of both himself and Fuyao. He
thought of that overbearingly arrogant girl who always had a hundred tricks up her sleeves, who
had pierced that broken blade covered in her own blood into his lower body, forever ruining the
rest of his life.
In this chilling, bloody atmosphere he couldn’t stop trembling. He felt that the previous shining,
wonderful half of his life had ended in this instant, like a firework fading or a beautiful dream
shattering, in but a moment turning into a helplessly powerless finale.
“Your Highness … I want to report …”
The blood ripples in front of his eyes shone with drifting shadows, reflecting a corner of the noble,
light purple robe. The robe corner stopped in front of him. Guo Pingrong lifted his head with a
heart full of hope, as he looked toward His Highness who he held in both respect and fear.
He stared at that pair of familiar eyes. Those eyes were usually placid like the spring wind,
profound yet always holding a hint of a smile. However, at this time deep within those eyes was
actually an emotion that he felt impossibly foreign; it was a flying dragon heartlessly gazing down
from the Nine Heavens, gazing at a mortal who dared to trespass into an absolute forbidden zone.
Distant, forceful, ruthless, with a slightest hint of killing intent.
His pledge to execute the criminal suddenly vanished in his throat. His body began to shudder on
its own.
Zhangsun Wuji carefully kneeled down in front of him, in the ground painted entirely in blood red.
As he examined the warm blood, his eyes shone like flames smoldering, and he quietly said,
“Pingrong, you have committed a crime.”
Guo Pingrong raised his head in panic. He couldn’t understand, why did His Highness Crown Prince
suddenly say these kinds of words, and why didn’t he call for a doctor to treat his wounds?
“Your crime is being arrogant and condescending, being too self-righteous. Born lower-class and
suffering too much hardship before you became famous, you became unrestrained after reaching
success, narrow-minded and seeking revenge for even the smallest grievances. Once traveling
three hundred li in the night just to exterminate the entire household of someone who spit on
you; once ordering the gang rape of your sister-in-law just because she ignored you when you
were in need; once pulling out your sword in drunken anger to murder a man just because he
collided with you in an alley, and even murdering his innocent friend who helped you up and tried
to stop you from fighting!”
Hearing these secrets that he thought no one else would ever know, Guo Pingrong felt his whole
body shaking. Looking at the unfathomable Crown Prince, Guo Pingrong didn’t understand why he
only mentioned these past events now; and since the Prince knew of these things, why did he not
mention a word at the time?
“I use generals, not saints.” Zhangsun Wuji seemed to see through his doubt as he calmly
overlooked him. “Generals, don’t need morality or civilization, only a murderous aura so sharp it
can cut men down. As long as you can excel at battle, can defend and kill foes, can stand guard
over the eighteen clans of the southern border who I have always been cautious of, can contribute
to the Infinite Empire – then what do your private flaws and personal shortcomings have to do
with me? Have to do with the nation?”
The Crown Prince stood up, clasping his hands behind his back. As his robes fluttered even without
wind, a strange light fragrance floated out.
“However, Pingrong, today you have done something I cannot ignore.”
Meeting Guo Pingrong’s even more bewildered eyes, Zhangsun Wuji suddenly gave a humorless
laugh, then leaned down to quietly say a couple words by Guo Pingrong’s ears.
The general’s face instantly changed as if he had gulped down burning charcoal. His whole face
distorted unnaturally from shock. Opening his mouth, he seemed to suddenly gulp down breaths
as if suffocating, and at the same time seemed to be trying to express some words. However, no
matter how much he tried, he was still unable to successfully say even one word.
As he gaped at Zhangsun Wuji, his whole body was teetering. The initial consternation gradually
transformed into regret, disbelief, despair, and various other emotions. In the end he loudly cried
out as he walked on his knees, crawling over to desperately clutch Zhangsun Wuji’s robe corner.
“Your Highness! Spare me!”
Zhangsun Wuji’s hands were clasped inside his robes. As he looked at the favored general whose
personality had been warped by deviant morals, his eyes were completely emotionless.
“… another thing … those child prostitutes at Tuo Li’s qinglou ‘Deep Spring Pavilion’, are because
of you, correct?” Zhangsun Wuji wore a faint smile. “You sure know how to play, truly acting
recklessly with no regard. Did you really believe these girls were children from Zhongzhou’s poor
rural families? They are the daughters of the eighteen southern border clans who were captured
and brought here for you to enjoy. As the general in charge of the southern expedition, you
actually took the initiative to provoke the ferocious and uncontrollable southern borderlands –
Pingrong, you greatly disappoint me.”
Guo Pingrong numbly loosened his bloodstained hands, staring at Zhangsun Wuji in disbelief. He
couldn’t understand how the Crown Prince who had thousands of other matters to attend to every
day, could actually know of the hidden girls in the “Deep Spring Pavilion”! Furthermore, he didn’t
understand why Tuo Li would lie to him. He looked at Zhangsun Wuji in despair, yet could not find
any answers in the other’s eyes.
“NO …” Guo Pingrong suddenly jumped up like he had gone berserk. Rushing towards the door he
bellowed, “You want me to tie my hands and go willingly to my death? I can’t! I am a Jianwu
General! I’m the fourth-place master of the True Martial Meeting, I’m the disciple of the seventh
of the Ten Emperors, Star Brilliance! I …”
His voice suddenly stuck in his throat.
The light snowfall outside the door had yet to stop. Fragile snow blossoms drifted inside from the
partially closed door and window. As they flew towards the heat-exuding human body, the
snowflakes unexpectedly seemed to meet some kind of invisible obstacle around a chi away,
paused for a moment, then fluttered to the ground.
The daylight was bright, revealing the still figures, one standing and one kneeling, inside the room.
The light reflected off several snowflakes that had landed on a finger. The finger was slender like
jade as it touched the forehead of the half-kneeling person.
With only a gentle gesture, the incredibly strong mad tiger Guo Pingrong was no longer able to
charge forward even one chi in front of Zhangsun Wuji.
Guo Pingrong’s mind churned into chaos at once. In his brain there were horizontal and vertical
and tilted lines, and strand by strand they tangled and met, joining into ropes. The ropes tightened
and pulled, constricting then distorting his memories and consciousness, directly twisting them
into formlessness.
He slowly swayed downward. Within his jumbled sea of awareness suddenly flashed his last clear
thought.
“My own Master is ranked seventh among the Ten Emperors, yet Zhangsun Wuji …”
“I regret offending the wrong person …”
Before this thought could finish, he had already collapsed onto the floor.
Zhangsun Wuji calmly retracted his hand, once more putting it back inside his fox coat.
He raised his head imperceptibly to glance at the daylight outside the window. In that moment,
the emotions in his eyes were hard to describe, as if he had seen a cherished flower suddenly wilt
under the battering of wind and rain. Even when he reached out wanting to protect it, that flower
pricked his hand instead.
After a long period of silence, he suddenly lifted his foot, disdainfully giving Guo Pingrong a kick.
“I won’t kill you … only from now on, you will truly become only a weapon. I originally didn’t want
to use this technique on my imperial officials … for you to become the first, is your fortune.”
He turned around and left with a flick of his sleeves. Guards jogged over to receive him, while
further in the distance, the general residence’s soldiers were all kneeling on the ground, not even
daring to breath heavily.
Zhangsun Wuji got onto the royal carriage without looking back. In the instant the carriage drapes
fell down, he softly ordered:
“Heed my order.”
“Yes.”
“The eighteen clans of the southern borderlands have been making abnormal movements, most
likely harboring thoughts of disloyalty, and should be culled. Change Prince De Qin’s title to King of
Rong and confer upon him the three provinces Rong, Zhen, and Li, in order to forever suppress the
southern clans. Have the Jianwu general be subordinate to the King of Rong. In order to charge
forward to quell the rebellion, have this done within the next few days.”
“…”
“En?” Zhangsun Wuji’s eyes turned. Because the guard captain had been shocked into hesitation
by the commands, he stood still for a period of time with a back filled with cold sweat. Then he
hurriedly saluted with a clattering of his scale armor while loudly affirming. “Yes!”
As the guard captain watched the carriage roll off into the distance, his eyes gradually filled with
haze of incomprehension. After some time, he raised his head to stare at the skies that were still
yet to clear after the snow. Layers of clouds swirled and surged like the ever-repeating tides.
Later, he let out a low sigh that dissipated into the chilly winter air.
“Something terrible is coming …” ————
“Peng!”
Meng Fuyao flopped down on a tree branch with a body full of cold sweat. On the tree trunk was
immediately scattered her whole body’s blood and sweat. Freezing, howling gusts sliced over from
behind her. Her back felt frigidly icy, yet her front was scorching as if by flames.
Forcibly flipping over, she opened her mouth to gasp for breath. She pressed down on her chest to
try to sit up and regulate her internal qi. However, inside her seemed to exist countless flame
snakes that twisted and tumbled; everywhere inside her body, her meridians seemed to have
caught on fire, each one turning into a burning streak.
Just what kind of strange ingredients were in that absurd needle? It seemed like an aphrodisiac yet
not quite. Something inside incited her desire, yet the moment it stirred she felt shooting pain in
her organs. If it wasn’t for the crisp medicinal fragrance that wafted from her coat collar and
focused her mind every so often, as well as her fully revolving the “Breaking Nine Heavens” true qi
to suppress the effects, Fuyao would have long lost control. Unfortunately, after this desperate
battle that used up almost all of her true qi, plus her heavy injuries, how could she still be able to
suppress the poison?
Fuyao grinned dazedly, vaguely thinking, she had still underestimated Guo Pingrong. As the
disciple of one of the top ten masters, even if his personality were worse, his abilities definitely
couldn’t be that bad. Despite coming prepared and carefully executing every step, she had still
almost failed.
All her many preparations were focused on the expert, while her vigilance against the “victim” was
lacking due to her instinctive sympathy. In reality she truly did prepare though – from the start she
had pressed Qiao Ling’s acupoint, but she didn’t think that the paralyzed Qiao Ling had actually
been hiding the poisoned needle in between her teeth the whole time. Once Fuyao had ran to the
ceremonial hall, the girl then heartlessly made her move against her.
On the other hand, this could also be considered a blessing in disguise. From her all-out struggle
with Guo Pingrong, her “Breaking Nine Heavens” had expectedly made a breakthrough. One thing
she didn’t account for, though, was the ineffectiveness of the detoxifying smell from her light coat.
This was a wonder medicine personally prepared by the medical saint Zong Yue, that could cure
hundreds of poisons, even the effects of aphrodisiacs! Yet, it was actually not able to completely
block the poison inside that wretched needle!
“Damn!” Fuyao cursed quietly. “Crackpot! Witchdoctor! Quack!”
A dark shadow suddenly flashed in front of her eyes. Someone was closing in. Meng Fuyao
immediately struggled to get up, grasping the dagger in front of her.
The new arrival stopped in front of her, his appearance haggard and ordinary. Surprisingly, it was
that dark-clothed man who sometimes appeared by Yuan Zhaoxu’s side.
He hesitatingly looked at Fuyao with some regret in his eyes. His master had closed up to recover
and ordered him to protect her, yet because of an outside matter his attention had been
distracted, causing her to fall into trouble. Now that the person in trouble was in front of him, he
still couldn’t get close; her two cheeks were peach red and she was clearly in an unusual state.
How would he dare to get any closer?
Standing in place he hesitated for a while, before suddenly hearing a person shoot over like the
wind behind him. The dark-clothed man instantly turned back, only to see a white-dressed man
standing behind him, calmly looking at him.
Exhaling a held breath, the dark-clothed man bowed. “Sir has arrived at just the right time.”
“Leave it to me.” Zong Yue sent the dark-clothed man away tersely, while he walked up to inspect
Fuyao. She muddleheadedly lifted her gaze. In her confused vision she managed to make out a
familiar face, causing her to split a smile, then reach out to push him away. “You … get away from
me …”
Zong Yue didn’t speak, instead crouching down in front of her, extending a hand to try to measure
her pulse. Meng Fuyao waved her hand to prevent him from touching, muttering, “Quack doctor, I
think I somehow … despicably … am suffering from an aphrodisiac …”
Zong Yue smiled and said, “Those who were fed aphrodisiacs in the past were all beauties. How
could you have the honor?”
Fuyao weakly smiled. She already had no energy left to exchange volleys with this poison-tongued
man. She lazily said, “Can you cure it or not? … if you can’t why don’t you … just get out of my face
already … don’t give me some ying yang exchange will naturally cure it crap … if curing needs to
rely on this … I’ll … despise you for the rest of my life.”
Zong Yue suddenly laughed. Even though he usually looked amiable, he very rarely laughed. This
laugh, however, was like sunlight softly scattering from behind the clouds, pitying and gentle.
He softly said, “To be honest, I wouldn’t mind you despising me for the rest of your life …” He
reached out an arm to carry Fuyao up. Her whole body jolted and thrashed as if shocked by
lightning, but Zong Yue lightly said, “This is the back door of Prince De’s residence. Since you have
already managed to charge back here, do you really not have the ability to endure until inside the
residence?”
Fuyao quietly complained, “… you clearly could have hit my pressure points, but instead you want
me to endure through it …”
Zong Yue lowered his eyes to look at her face surging with the rosy color of sunset, and her fluid
glance that could enthrall one’s senses. It was like a spring tamarisk in March, a peach blossom in
April, clear azure water in May, a lotus-filled pond in June; it was the most ripe and beautiful
collection of things in the world.
Seeing this kind of appearance, even his previously steady hand couldn’t help but shake. Then,
Fuyao suddenly opened her eyes. Inside them was a faint yet clear rosy glow, as if seeing clean
white sands on the river bed of a translucent, tumbling creek, forever cloudless and crystalline.
Zong Yue looked away. Without saying anything more he carried her back to his courtyard. First,
he personally hit several of her acupoints, fed her a pill, then massaged her meridian nodes to
promote blood flow and wrapped up her wounds. After treating her, he stood in front of the
room’s window for a long time, deeply sighing without speaking.
When Meng Fuyao awoke, her first reaction was to inspect her clothes, and check if she had done
something bad with someone when she was enflamed by desire. At the same time as she made
her inspection, she felt the body-scorching fire snakes seemed to have already shrunk back to their
hollows, curling themselves up and no longer wrecking havoc. However, in the deepest parts of
her dantian, she found that there suddenly was a new dry burning sensation that lingered without
dissipating. When Fuyao circulated her qi to test it, she was struck with sudden insight. Sitting up
cross-legged she said, “Even you can’t completely eradicate this medicinal power?”
Zong Yue turned around to look at her, frowning a little. “What you were affected by can’t be
considered an aphrodisiac, or to put it another way, it is much stronger than an aphrodisiac. The
drug is called “Love Lock” and is made using the essence blood of a thousand-year bustard hen.
Those under its effects will have their libido skyrocket, and desire to mate day and night, yet every
time they intercourse their bodies will be harmed. After a crazed, roiling three months, they will
die without a doubt.”
“Using longevity to fuel desire?” Fuyao murmured. “Who could be so depraved to make
something like this?”
“Guo Pingrong’s teacher, Divine Star Hand Fang Yimo.” Zong Yue’s expression was a little strange.
“Rumors say when Fang Yimo was still young he had loved a girl. That girl, however, had an affair
when he was out journeying through the world. When Fang Yimo returned, he created this thing
to make the woman and her illicit lover passionately entangle every day from dusk until dawn,
causing the man to exhaust his essence and perish, and the woman to wither and die as well.”
Meng Fuyao sucked in a cold breath, then shook her head sighing, “No wonder Guo Pingrong was
such a deviant, turns out his master isn’t anything good either.”
Zong Yue calmly said, “Guo Pingrong’s body has been ruined by these years of indulgence, and his
cultivation cannot match up to even thirty percent of his master’s. Furthermore … Sir Fang is very
shielding of his faults.”
He looked at her face, which didn’t contain any hints of dread or fear at all, then sighed. “Actually
the ‘antidote fragrance’ mixed from seven-leaved grass and stained on the coat truly makes one
impervious to hundreds of poisons. You originally should have been completely safe, but just now I
discovered a secret poison, long hidden within your body, that synergizes with and amplifies the
effects of ‘Love Lock’. This poison is traceless, and usually you would have had no symptoms
either, but upon encountering certain harmful poisons it would send you to your death.
Fortunately, in your previous seventeen years, you actually did not meet any of those poisons.
Today, if it wasn’t for the antidote fragrance, just the outburst from the combination of ‘Love Lock’
and your hidden poison would have caused you to die in only a moment …”
“After spouting all these words, in the end you’re still afraid of me calling you a charlatan, even
taking the time to explain that my poisoning wasn’t because of your medicines, but instead
because of my own hidden maladies! Yet from your tone, it seems like you’re still helpless with
regards to this poison?” Fuyao raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. “That can’t be, right,
medicine saint?”
“If I have no solution, others naturally will be even more helpless.” Within Zong Yue’s collected
words held a hint of pride. “However, I do have ways to alleviate the symptoms.”
“What is it?”
“The first method is to use drugs to transform the poison into a true aphrodisiac, as long as you
and a man are willing to …” Before he could finish his words, Meng Fuyao had already put on her
shoes and started walking out.
Zong Yue forced a wry smile. He waited until she had walked to the door before saying, “There is
another way. This medicine is the mixing of an aphrodisiac and a poison, and given that it can be
transformed into aphrodisiac, naturally there are ways to turn it into purely a poison as well. You
can change the remaining efficacy into poison – but for every day before the poison is dissolved, is
a day that you cannot fall in love. Otherwise, you will immediately hemorrhage blood from the
seven orifices and perish … make your own choice.”
Fuyao walked back, nonchalantly crossing her legs and sitting down, saying, “Do you even need to
ask which one I’ll choose?”
Zong Yue stood by the window and watched her. His features were bathed in the shallow daylight.
The pupils and lips that were paler than those of normal people seemed even whiter in the light;
he seemed a little indecisive, his thoughts deep. After a pause he said, “You … are certain?”
Meng Fuyao waved her hand in a very direct manner. “You’re too fussy.”
“Do you really think your heart will not move for anyone, for the rest of your life?” Zong Yue
observed her. “You are in the spring of your life, blooming with youth. What reason do you have to
reject the coming of love?”
“The direction of my affections does not belong here in the first place.” She pursed her lips, and in
her expression suddenly appeared some despondency. “Now that I have been afflicted with this
thing, it can act as an extra shield, and may as well remind me to refocus and harden my resolve …
ay, it isn’t a bad thing.”
She raised her head and laughed. In her smile contained the slightest trace of regret and sorrow, a
consoling and helpless acceptance of life’s unfairness. In the end, she quietly but resolutely said:
“Let it be so.” ———–
During the winter of Infinite Empire’s Zhengning 15th year, the southern border clans of the
Infinite Empire erupted into revolt. With a written decree from the Infinite Crown Prince, the royal
Prince De Zhangsun Jia received orders and was bestowed the title King of Rong, leading 200,000
troops to suppress the southern rebellion. Jianwu General Guo Pingrong was to be the vanguard.
Because Prince De had old ailments that he had yet to fully recover from, he used heavy rewards
to ask the medicine saint Zong Yue to accompany him. Hearing that the southern border had many
uncommonly seen flora that could be used for medicine, he gladly agreed.
Fuyao and Yao Xun, being the “pages” of Sir Zong, naturally followed the great army in their
charge. On the road out of the city, Fuyao passed by the “Deep Spring Pavilion”, discovering that
the previously packed money-squandering den had now been shut down. Despite the thriving of
days past the clouds had now scattered. As Fuyao stood in front of the empty courtesan quarters,
it was unknown what was passing through her mind. Her mouth corner slightly lifted up in a small
smile, but it then slowly disappeared.
Only after standing there silently for a long time did she finally turn away. Suddenly, she heard a
faint breathing sound that came around a wall corner behind her. Reaching out her hand to grab,
she unexpectedly pulled out a little child.
The kid was only around six or seven years old, yet on her little face was applied a heavy layer of
makeup that was so dirty it lost its original appearance. Being pulled out from behind the wall
corner, the girl only widened her eyes in trepidation, but didn’t cry.
Fuyao felt that this child seemed familiar. Only after inspecting for a while did she realize the child
was actually one of the child prostitutes she saw that day when she came here with Yuan Zhaoxu.
She couldn’t help but frown and ask, “Didn’t the ‘Deep Spring Pavilion’ get shut down precisely
because it illegally kidnapped young girls from the southern clans, while you girls were all took in
by the government? How come you were left here alone?”
The child used a pair of brown-tinged wide eyes to stare at her, after a while saying, “Little Dagger,
wants to go home.”
The girl’s words were short, her voice containing a rare metal-quality to it that sounded like an
unconcealable sharpness. Fuyao raised her eyebrows. She was a bit concerned if the kid had
undergone too many hardships and had been shocked into an abnormal state of mind. However,
the girl called Little Dagger only tightly gripped the corner of her clothes, repeating again and
again, “Little Dagger, wants to go home.”
Fuyao wanted to leave several times, yet still had no way to completely pull off the child’s skinny
hands. She also didn’t want to use her martial skill to forcefully yank her away. In the end Fuyao
could only drag and drag the little girl back along with her. When Yao Xun saw she had dragged a
kid over with the back of her clothes, he questioningly lifted his eyebrows, but before he could
even ask Fuyao had already grumpily replied: “Little Dagger wants to go home.”
Thus, from then on, the troop had gained a new page called Little Dagger. The page was very silent
and her gaze was always riveted in the southern direction.
When the army left the city, Fuyao looked back to stare towards the Canglan xinggong, and a trace
of a smile shone out – over there, were a certain inscrutable beauty and a certain plump,
narcissistic and master-loving rodent enjoying the rare warmth of sunlight during in this winter
season? Was the fat rat sleeping in its master’s palm and revealing its cute pink belly? Meanwhile,
was the newly melted snow on the rooftops flowing drop by drop into the sparkling and crystal-
clear lake center?
She hadn’t bid her farewells to Yuan Zhaoxu.
She chose to follow Prince De and leave, the first reason being that Prince De would be managing
the southern border as well as all the official affairs of the nearby provinces. This included the
distribution of command seals for the states that neighbored the Infinite Empire’s southern
border, so Fuyao hoped to maybe obtain something there. The second reason was that she still
wanted to find a chance to get an antidote from Guo Pingrong who was rumored to have suddenly
changed his ways. The third reason, was to leave Yuan Zhaoxu.
Because they were close, she had to leave.
She shouldn’t be fettered by affection or secular affairs on this alien continent in the first place –
that would be a form of cutting her past into pieces. After transmigrating, from the burning anxiety
at the start to the acceptance of reality at the end, she had experienced raging waves and
turbulent tides that served to transform her mentality and will. Once the heart-shaking sea of
emotions had recovered their calm, it definitely didn’t represent giving up; instead it represented
willingness to accept, the willingness to accept a never-ending battle against time and opportunity.
She believed that as long as she continued forward, there would always be a day when she would
finally reach her goal.
On the other hand, there would always be unknown variables that would appear in life. These
variables would arrive with the inevitableness of fate. She had already seen, and nearly
experienced, the final results of these variables – her seventeen years’ worth of struggle and hope,
all disappearing unfulfilled.
She sincerely hoped that, before Yuan Zhaoxu could truly become the variable that would subvert
and burn away all her dreams, she could personally extinguish this bit of smoldering flame. In the
future, she would not have to falter at the most critical moment due to some debt or worry.
She hoped that she herself would be able to pass through this unscarred. She hoped that she
wouldn’t leave any traces behind that would change her own or another’s fate, in this world that
didn’t belong to her in the first place.
During her battle with Guo Pingrong, her “Breaking Nine Heavens” found fortune within
misfortune, breaking through to nearly the fifth layer, yet at the same time awakening a life-
threatening poison. Fuyao felt that this was almost like the invisible will of the heavens –
increasing her power to push through obstacles and advance forward, while using fate’s sword of
wisdom to sever certain entangling ties that had unknowingly crept around her.
She lingered around the city gates for a long time. In the end, when Zong Yue looked back with a
possibly intentional, possibly unintentional glance, Fuyao finally urged her horse on determinedly,
hurriedly chasing up to the army.
Her dark hair drifted in the wind. Her slender back silhouette was highlighted by the large, scarlet
setting sun. Far away, the sunset’s glow covered the sky, the layers upon layers of colored sky
radiant and beautiful. The girl spurring the horse traveled into the distance, her back gradually
fading into the gold-tinged red.
However, she did not know.
In the direction she had been staring, at the highest point of the Canglan xinggong, the top of the
“Changing Spring Tower”, was a noble man whose sleeves drifted in the wind as he stood there for
a long time. On top of the high tower, the gusts blew his long clothes fluttering, while jet-black hair
scattered like ink. The floating strands of hair covered his gaze; only a trace of a profound smile
could be seen, dancing on the corner of his lips.
He looked towards the city gates. A while later he tilted his head to talk to a certain animal on his
shoulder. “She just left like that, without even a farewell. A lady’s heart is most cruel …”
The animal happily stretched out its claws, taking the chance to confess its love: I will never treat
you like that …
Before it could finish its confession, it heard its master murmur with a faint smile, “No matter. If
you don’t come, then I will. I will come to you.”
Chapter 17 (Part A) – Something That Must Be Done
East wind blew, battle drums thundered. The brave men of the eighteen clans of Southern Rong
formed an encirclement.
Long having submitted under the rule of the Infinite Empire, the Southern and Northern Rong,
who worshiped the human-head bird-bodied sun god Ge, had been somehow provoked to war
this time. After a peaceful twelve years, the two regions allied to rise up in rebellion. The sturdy
and valiant soldiers of the two regions of the Rong province rushed out of the mountain villages
and valleys like flooding water, quickly taking over the neighboring Ping City and Yellow County.
They then threatened to charge into Zhongzhou, wanting to make Zhangsun Wuji come out and
welcome them while kneeling before the great Chang’an Gate. The King of Rong dispatched Guo
Pingrong’s vanguard troops to garrison the city of Jing, while the king’s main camp was entrenched
at the Sui River thirty li away. The two armies mirrored each other’s movements to form a pincer
formation to encircle the city of Ping and Yellow County.
Meng Fuyao and Zong Yue, however, left the main army and arrived at the city of Yao that was
closest to Ping city. This was because according to sayings, in the vast mountain forests on the
outskirts of the city and bordering the Rong clans, there existed the rarest and most diverse types
of medicine plants and exotic beasts in the Five Regions Continent. Zong Yue, being a medical
practitioner, naturally would not miss out on this chance, while Fuyao also hoped that he would
suddenly strike it lucky and be able to discover a cure for herself.
Since Yao city was the city closest to the Rong clans, both Rong and Han[1] lived within the city.
The imperial government, as a gesture of peace, had always created two positions of authority in
the city – central and vice. The central administrator was called the magistrate in the name lists of
the imperial administration departments of the Ministry of Revenue, while according to local Rong
customs the position would be called city master. Responsibilities included the household census,
taxation, justice, irrigation, agriculture, civil administration and finance, all overseen by a Rong
official. The vice administrator oversaw the warehouses, the prison and official documents, and
was a Han person from Zhongzhou. From this it could be seen that the Rong held the highest
executive position and had great power, yet they also sent out a detachment of defending troops.
Under the highest military officer in the local region, three thousand soldiers were garrisoned at
White Pavilion Village twenty li away from the city of Yao, not subordinate to the commands of
the main camp. The Empire’s treatment of the valiant and difficult to control Rong people could be
said to be both kind and stern – the dynasty had put much thought into the two different yet
effective ways of governing.
Before coming Fuyao had long drawn a mental image of Yao city from the words of the guide that
led the way for medicinal saint Zong – it was beautiful and peaceful, with Rong and Han coexisting
in harmony while the whole ground was filled with colorful and vibrant flowers.
However, upon walking into Yao city, Fuyao suddenly sucked in a cold breath.
Dilapidated alleyways. Burnt-out buildings that were scorched by smoke and flames everywhere,
downtrodden flowers hiding low in the mud everywhere, Rong people bare-chested and wearing
gaudy, multicolored pants everywhere, walking around in the winter sun. Snow-bright scimitars
swaying while sheathed behind the men’s waists, moving with every brash, swaggering step. The
Rong looked around with narrowed eyes, their gazes surging with murderous intent, as if even
rocks that dared to obstruct their paths would be immediately be chopped into rubble.
In contrast, the domestic citizens had mostly shrunken and timid expressions, their eyes darting to
avoid others. Even their paths would avoid those Rong people who were clearly looking for
trouble.
The air was charged with brutality, murderous intent, and provocation, like the unsettling tension
of a gunpowder barrel about to explode. This atmosphere made anyone who entered it
unconsciously smell a scent of danger.
The moment Fuyao’s group of “foreigners” entered the city, they immediately felt hostile glares
shooting over from the surroundings. Even all the city’s open inns were closed to outsider Hans.
Meng Fuyao and Zong Yue originally could directly move into the national office due to their token
from Prince De, yet the two felt it was too limiting, and wanted to search for a family residence to
take them in. Who knew that even after asking several households, there were none that dared to
lend them residence; only when it was very late did they finally find a family of elderly who took
them in.
That night, they ate a simple but clean meal at the elderly’s house. The old man’s son was honest
but dull, while the son’s wife had a large belly and would likely give birth soon. Under the small oil
lamp, the old man unceasingly used chopsticks to move food into the two travelers’ bowls, his
whole face wrinkled into a smile like a chrysanthemum. “This is a small city in the mountain wilds,
we don’t have much delicious things. Here, eat up, eat up.”
As Fuyao sat in front of the little table filled with cracks and black dirt, she hugged her bowl in a
daze. It had been seventeen years. Seventeen years, since she had sat together with someone in
front of a table, to enjoy a family supper; since she had felt a little room’s dim yet warm lamp light;
since someone had pinched over food for her with chopsticks; since she had accompanied others
in a cozy building, eating rough greens and rice that was a little bland.
That dumb old Daoist had only made her train and train and then train some more. Being his
disciple, every meal was desperately shoveling down a couple mouthfuls while practicing at the
same time. Certain memories of family warmth, belonging to her previous world, had traveled far,
far away, a long time ago. They were akin to a wisp of cloud on the distant horizon, and it seemed
like with only a gust of wind, they would disappear without a trace.
There was one brief second where she panicked. She seemed to see that pair of white, wizened
hands that was offering her vegetables, turn into a pair of slender, sickly hands, so pale the veins
shone through the skin – the hands that belonged to her mother. Yet, that vision vanished in but
an instant. She was still sitting in that alien and strange world’s little city, in a certain room under
the lamp light, watching a heart-warming domestic scene that belonged to someone else.
As she sat there, staring at the bowl full of food, tears suddenly started to flow.
She instantly lowered her head and started to shovel food at flying speeds. One of her teardrops
suddenly landed on a green vegetable, and Fuyao unhesitantly grabbed it, ready to devour the
taste of her own tears.
But at that moment, a pair of chopsticks appeared from the side, quickly taking away that piece of
cabbage.
The snow-clothed Sir Zong had previously been eating using his own bowl and chopsticks, taking a
couple greens and standing far away by the window while making a token effort to eat. For some
reason though, he suddenly walked over. As if he didn’t mind that the cabbage had already been
touched by her chopsticks, he leisurely took away the piece of vegetable, saying, “There’s a bug.”
Fuyao was speechless. She watched flabbergasted as he awkwardly picked up another piece of
vegetable with unaccustomed movements, then placed it into her bowl.
“You’re too fat, eat this to get skinnier.”

She looked at the piece of wild vegetable, revealing an odd expression. After a second she let out a
scoffing chuckle.
“Can’t you not be so poison-tongued all the time? Even clearly good-hearted actions can be
described so ugly by you.”
In the depths of her eyes still remained some tears that wavered. Those originally dark pearl-like
pupils seemed even more resplendently bright as they reflected both the firelight inside the room,
and the bitter frost outside of it.
Zong Yue’s chopsticks halted in mid-air for a second. He then moved his gaze away, turning
towards the moonlight outside the window.
His eyes fluctuated indiscernibly. His side figure in this moment seemed a little lonely, like a stalk
of bamboo weathered by the autumn wind, bleak and unyielding.
Fuyao observed this mysterious yet young medicine saint of this generation, and fell into thought.
Despite the honor and respect that he enjoyed from the various states due to his important status,
in his heart, he was probably still lonely.
It was because of his loneliness, that he could understand her own loneliness.
She bit her lip, then moved a chopstick full of leeks into his bowl, even evilly mixing the vegetables
deep into the rice. She then bad-heartedly laughed. “This stuff is good for you, helps build up your
yang.”[2]
……
A thick-faced fellow has no match.

The poison-tongued Zong Yue met the completely shameless Meng Fuyao, and could only concede
defeat and pretend he heard nothing. He lowered his head to eat, not even fussing about the
cleanliness of the food anymore.
Fuyao busied herself with her own food and no longer paid attention to Zong Yue. In her mouth
corner, however, floated a faint smile.
After living there for several days, Fuyao had already gotten quite familiar with the family. She had
also grown to love the peaceful life of bringing a small knife to gather herbs with Zong Yue during
the day, and returning to the house to eat dinner and enjoy a family’s warmth at night. She passed
these chaotic days of southern rebellion by living a life full of local flavor.
Unfortunately, Meng Fuyao’s luck wasn’t too good. Her peaceful times were never able to be
enjoyed for too long. On this day, as she journeyed out and passed a certain street, she heard a
clamoring din. Turning her head to investigate, she saw many household doors that were hung
with colored cloth at some unknown time. The residents of those buildings were all packing their
things and locking their doors as if trying to escape!
Fuyao looked on astonished, as she said, “What’s happening? They’re dressed so garishly like
colonists or something.” She pointed to the colored drapes on the buildings and asked, “What’s
that? A bunch of national flags?”
“Little brother please stop kidding around,” another passerby said in a low voice, “That’s the mark
of the Rong seeking revenge. If there is a debt that needs to be settled, they will hang this cloth to
warn outsiders from visiting that family, to prevent others getting harmed in their personal
disputes.”
“So openly?” Fuyao narrowed her eyes. “Wasn’t it said that Rong and Han lived together
harmoniously in the past couple years? How come now there’s so many colored cloths looking for
revenge?” “The circumstances are also important for so called ‘living together peacefully’.” Yao
Xun suddenly interrupted. “The Rong are people with battle and arrogance in their blood, their
whole lives dedicated to the pursuit of freedom and supremacy. If they meet someone stronger
than them, they will submit, but won’t be loyal forever. The moment there is an opportunity they
will all assuredly rebel and fight! In the history of the Infinite Empire, this demographic has
revolted a total of thirteen times, seven of the times almost being wiped out; yet the indomitable
nature in their blood still cannot change. Because of this, they are like the southern Qiang who live
in the territory already split into the Upper Yuan, and called ‘migrating war chariots’ by citizens of
the Infinite Empire!”
He motioned towards the colored cloth, saying, “In the many years that Rong and Han lived among
each other, there seemed to be unbroken peace. However, to the Rong people who are prideful to
the point of perversion, even a small slight can become a reason for shedding blood. Being the
overlord race, the Han would have an innate sense of superiority, and sometimes would be hard-
pressed to stop lapses from occurring in their actions or words. These Rong remember their
grudges but only store it away in their hearts due to the control of the Empire. Now that the
eighteen clans have joined together to revolt, they would definitely think that the time to repay
debts has come.”
Fuyao shook her head and bemoaned, “What kind of indomitable pride is this, this is clearly just
bullying the weak and fearing the strong.” But she didn’t pay any more attention after that, only
continuing with Zong Yue up the mountain. In the evening, they descended from the mountain. At
a place not far from the old Han’s home, Zong Yue suddenly stopped walking.
In the distance, the sounds of crying and yelling could be heard from the old man’s residence,
piercing yet forlorn. Then the crashing of upturned drawers, the dull thuds of bodies colliding with
furniture, a crazed laughter and cursing, a woman’s shrill scream and a child’s shocked cry
sounded out in succession, mixing together in a cacophony of noise. Neighboring residents
listened raptly, revealing sympathetic and furious expressions; however, after the anger passed,
they all hurriedly shut their own doors.
The Rong people filling the street laughed uproariously. Someone even grabbed a jug of wine from
an alcohol shop, fiercely chugged it with glugging sounds, then shattered the half-empty jug on the
building roof while whooping “Burn! Burn!”
Even more people seemed to have been awoken by the sound. They rolled up their sleeves and
came over in a circle, excitedly flourishing their hands and dancing their feet while their howls
surged like the tide.
“Burn! Burn!”
As Fuyao stood in the middle of the street, her pupils shrank. With a look she saw that a colorful
drape had suddenly appeared on the old man’s house door.
The old man’s family was so honest, so how could they have also wronged the Rong people?[3]
With a grab Fuyao stopped a neighbor who was surreptitiously dumping out some water, asking,
“What’s happening?”
“A Rong man walked into that family’s young hooligan at the market three years ago, and the
young son called the other a ‘moron’! Now look at the result, they’ve come for revenge.” After the
neighbor furtively spoke her words, she quickly shook Fuyao off and ran, leaving Fuyao behind
who could only curse. “Shit, even this can be a reason to burn down someone’s house in
revenge?”
“Looks like the Rong people in the city can no longer hold themselves back and want to make
trouble.” Zong Yue walked over and stood beside her saying, “Your injuries haven’t recovered fully
yet so don’t interfere. If his house is burned, we can gift some silver and find residence elsewhere.
Right now, the Rong have much power in the city and are just looking for a reason to raise trouble,
so you better not provoke them.”
Fuyao deeply inhaled and clenched her fists, forcefully suppressing her urge to act. The deep
enmity built up from centuries of race wars was an exceedingly hard to solve problem that every
dynasty and every new government had to face. She was well-versed in history, so how could she
not know. In the larger picture of conflicts and war, sometimes an individual’s beliefs truly could
not be acted upon. Just the impulsive act of saving others wasn’t the problem – rather, if those
actions managed to enrage the entire city of Rong and escalated the situation, the death toll
would only get higher.
Fuyao retreated a step while gripping Little Dagger’s hand. The child kept looking back with her lips
pressed tightly, while in her eyes was a burning exhilaration. When Fuyao lowered her head and
glanced at the kid’s eyes, she frowned, saying, “Little Dagger?”
Little Dagger turned her head. Her pupils shone oddly as she distinctly uttered, “Deserve to die.”
Meng Fuyao twitched in shock, and stopped walking. With some disbelief she asked, “Who
deserves to die?”
Little Dagger pointed towards the old Han’s house. “Kill them all.”
Every one of her words was extremely clear, and contained a deep-rooted killing intent that didn’t
belong to her age. Her voice, filled with bloodthirst and iron, sounded like nails steadily drilling
into a murky black coffin.
Yao Xun let out a hiss, saying, “What kind of little girl is she …”
Zong Yue, however, suddenly gave Little Dagger a look, his expression as if in deep thought. Then
he said, “Is that right?”
A cold smile floated on the corner of his lips. He stretched out a hand to slowly pat Little Dagger’s
shoulder.
The child stared at him not understanding. She watched his bright clean bearing, his warm and
tranquil expression, as he stretched his hand out.
That slender, pure hand was suddenly grabbed by another pair of swift hands. Fuyao moved the
hand up, raising her eyebrows, as she looked directly at Zong Yue.
“Only an error of speech, her crime does not deserve death.”
“Spoken words come from the heart,” Zong Yue refused to back down. “This child is too
dangerous.”
He spoke simply, yet it was obvious his gaze had more to say. Fuyao raised her eyes, and felt her
chest suddenly tighten. In those eyes she could clearly read the words, “Too dangerous to leave by
your side.”
The poison-tongued man actually cared this much. Fuyao was touched for a second, but her hands
didn’t retreat even a sliver. She only raised her chin, obstinately looking at him.
A snow-colored robe sleeve lowered bit by bit. Her hands were halted in mid-air. Sweat slightly
gathered on her forehead, yet she didn’t move and said word by word, “At the very least her
hands don’t even have the strength to kill a chicken. She is still a child, I can’t do it.”
“You only need to let me do it.” Zong Yue examined her, his expression seeming both hot and cold.
“You are tenacious and intelligent, resolute and kill decisively. Your only weakness is that your
character is too compassionate. Just like last time, if it wasn’t because you didn’t want Qiao Ling to
be trapped in the Guo residence because of you, why would you have needed to knowingly risk
danger to save her? In the Five Regions Continent where strong prey on the weak, if your heart is
this soft, how will you survive?”
Fuyao was silent. After a while she said, “Some things cannot be done. Some things must be done.
But for this reason, even if I die I will have no regrets.”
On the long silent road, the young girl’s body stood pencil straight. Gusting wind swept past in
between her hair, bringing her harsh words into the distance. Those unyielding syllables born from
passion, born from persistence, and born from belief pierced through the cold barriers of the
world time and time again like needles, revealing the bright light of day.
Zong Yue’s white robes seemed to tremble a bit. He fixedly gazed at Fuyao as if in a trance, the
flowing light in his eyes like glaze. Afterwards he gave a small chuckle and retracted his hand,
saying, “I hope you will not regret it someday.”
Fuyao released her hands and wiped her temples. Looking back at the Little Dagger who had been
silently staring at their confrontation, she smiled and said, “I believe human nature is innately
good. I believe that originally good human character always goes down the wrong path due to the
meddling of fate, but in the end, will always have the chance to return to the domain of
brightness. If we refuse to give even the smallest opportunity to them, with massacre as our only
means of fixing problems, then the ones who will become demons in the end will be us.”
She heroically reached out to pat Zong Yue, laughing, “Don’t worry. I am not someone who cannot
bear to kill. Those who deserve to die, I will not spare even a single one.”
“Not even one!”

Footnotes
汉 “Han” is often used to mean Chinese nationality, but now it is being used to refer to people of
the Infinite Empire. “Rong”, of course, is referring to the people of Rong
Leeks supposedly can treat erectile dysfunction
3. Sounds like a funny pun in English but actually 戎 ”Rong” is pronounced like ronin.
Chapter 17 (Part B) – Something That Must Be Done
As if in reply to her words, a huge uproar suddenly erupted behind her. A crowd of men exploded
with jeers, along with a woman’s shrill and tragic cry.
“Don’t touch my child!”
With a bang, a door panel suddenly flew over, heavily smashing into the center of the street and
filling the air with dust. It had almost hit Little Dagger, causing Fuyao to use a hand to move her to
a safer area. Turning back, she saw half a door panel crookedly hanging from the building
entrance, as if a dark mouth that was missing some of its teeth. From the hole came crawling out
the old man’s daughter-in-law with her clothes stained with blood. She moved herself out with
difficulty, trying again and again to get over the door sill, yet every time collapsing because of lack
of strength. Behind her followed a crowd of Rong people who coldly crossed their arms while
watching the spectacle.
An almost 13-foot-tall Rong man tightly narrowed his lips as he held his scimitar backwards. The
blade was still dripping blood, and it snaked a trail of blood on the ground. Step by step he
followed the woman still struggling on the ground, and with every step the scimitar in his hand
lightly jumped up, cutting open the clothes on the woman’s body with tearing sounds.
Strips of clothing danced fluttering in the air like butterflies. As the woman crawled forward, more
and more areas on her clothes were torn, and more and more skin was revealed. The flashing
snow-white color outlined with the scattered cloth and fresh blood on the ground, creating a
primal, vibrant contrast that lit the savage eyes of those beast-like men on fire.
The belly of the old Han’s daughter-in-law rose high up. Her child was almost carried to term. She
desperately shielded her stomach as she painfully crawled on the floor, and afraid of hurting her
baby, she only dared to move with her face facing up. She could only arduously drag her body inch
by inch as she looked towards the sky.
The Rong man unhurriedly followed behind her, a slice with every step, and a fluttering torn scrap
of clothing with every slice.
Soon, the wife’s dress was almost completely ripped apart. Even the blue veins on her swollen
belly, caused by late-term pregnancy, were now revealed.
That Rong man suddenly laughed wildly. “Hu Bendao, you just watch! Your daughter-in-law and
your little grandson are about to be stabbed by the bastard who just happened to collide with your
daughter-in-law!”
The Rong man wore a contemptuous smile. Sword-light flashed, piercing towards the woman’s
stomach.
The neighbors watching in the surroundings all showed unbearable expressions. They sighed and
turned their heads away.
The old Han and his son, tightly pressed back by the remaining Rong, let out throat-tearing yells.
“HUAN`ER!” Their voices broke through the clouds, stirring out furious yet despairing echoes in
the silence.
Sword wind cut down. Merciless killing intent spread in all directions. The stretched-thin stomach
skin was already at the breaking point, and seemed about to split apart under knife light, bringing
about a tragic finale where one chi of distance was exchanged for two lives.
“Keng!”
A thin vibrating noise could be heard extremely clearly in the breath-held silence. Then, a person’s
distinct, piercing words: “A dignified man bullying a pregnant woman in the streets. Is this what
the Rong consider pride and honor?”
The wife who had long resigned herself to certain death, terrified beyond measure, only felt the
sword wind rushing towards her suddenly cease, then a tickling feeling on her face. Opening her
eyes, she saw some of her hair strands, severed by the scimitar, were currently brushing down her
face and gently landing on the ground.
Raising her eyes, she saw in front of her a pair of pure white yet powerful fingers. They pinched
the scimitar tip to a halt only a centimeter away from her abdomen.
The whole street was silent. Everyone was staring at the pair of fingers that delicately grasped the
knife tip of the Rong man. The long steel-cast knife was actually unable to lower at all. That Rong
man used strength to jerk the scimitar down a couple times, yet it didn’t budge even a sliver.
Astonished, his gaze moved upward following the fingers, and saw that opposite him was a skinny
youth clad in dai-colored robes, coolly looking at him.
Naturally, it was Meng Fuyao.
Some things cannot be done, yet some things must be done. Some things must be endured, yet
some things cannot be endured.
Some things, had to have a bottom-line in the end. If she was able to endure this savage person of
Rong, underneath the gazes of all the people on this long street, stabbing through that stomach
filled with palpitating life, then she wouldn’t be Meng Fuyao.
Meeting the Rong man’s shocked eyes that shone with a ferocious gleam, Fuyao suddenly took in
a deep breath, then cursed. “Get the fuck out of here!”
With a cracking sound, she fiercely pinched off the Rong man’s scimitar tip, and in the same
motion threw the shattered knife point with a flip of her hand. A miserable yell erupted out. A
Rong man who was attempting to sneakily approach her immediately let out a cry and fell down,
and a broken piece of blade glittered on the back of his hand.
“Sun God Ge has risen! Where did this death-seeking scoundrel come from!” The imposing Rong
man who had his knife broken gave an angered bellow, then lunged forward barehanded. His fist
wind was full of savagery, showing that he was actually an expert.
Unfortunately for him, even a pile of these types of experts would be of no use against Meng
Fuyao.
Fuyao sneered, clasped her hands behind her back, then strode out.
Only one step.
The step landed precisely on the pommel of the half-broken sword on the ground, flipping the
scimitar hilt upward. As the scimitar revolved and flew up, it directly met the Rong man’s bowl-
sized fist, causing the man to panic and withdraw his hand. However, the surge of fist wind
currents caused by his hurried retreat caught the flying scimitar and changed its direction, and
with a tumble it collided directly on his nose with a “pa”!
Blood rushed out from the Rong’s nose and his forehead was black and bruised. The man
stumbled back with his face covered with the colorful wound.
Zong Yue had stood silently to the side all this time. Seeing Fuyao not even need to move her
hands to finish her opponent, a strand of praise flashed through his eyes. Not only were the arts
she cultivated unordinary, her comprehension of them was extremely high. Even though presently
she still couldn’t rise to the apex, there would undoubtedly be a day when the highest peak of
martial arts in the Five Regions Continent, would belong to her.
After forcing back the Rong man, Fuyao turned back to help up the old Han’s daughter-in-law.
Feeling her pulse, Fuyao realized the baby was not harmed, and nodded in relief, saying, “You can
no longer live here. Every city in the Infinite Empire has citizen shelters for those who have
nowhere to go, or have fallen on hard times. Your family can go seek protection from the district
official.”
The woman looked up with a tear-streaked face, still yet to calm from her shock, and choked out,
“Many thanks …”
The old Han and his son charged scrambling over, their faces covered in tears as they supported
their daughter-in-law and wife while repeatedly bowing gratefully towards Fuyao. In their hearts,
they rejoiced their decision to give shelter to the group, who had actually saved their lives in a
time of crisis.
Fuyao waved her hand, turning back to face Zong Yue, saying, “You can leave first. I’ll send them to
the shelter first.”
A strange expression appeared in Zong Yue’s eyes, yet he didn’t say anything, only standing there
not moving. Fuyao glanced at him, about to leave, when suddenly she heard a rush of wind behind
her. Without even turning her head she abruptly gave a back kick. Under the sunlight, the long
rising leg drew out a beautiful arc that surpassed the body’s limits of flexibility, contacting the
ambusher’s chest with a thudding sound.
“Ah!”
That seemingly light kick caused the heavy body of the attacker to fly away at almost a straight
line. He heavily landed on the ground, letting out a sky-piercing, wretched shriek, before his body
spasmed on the ground a couple times, then stopped moving.
A moment later, scarlet blood flowed into view from underneath his body, gradually twisting and
collecting into a pool. The rich smell of blood immediately assaulted the nostrils of all the people
present.
“Murder!”
The alarmed cry caused the Meng Fuyao who was already walking away to halt in her steps.
Turning her head, she saw the tall Rong man was already lying in a puddle of blood. Quickly
striding over to flip his body over, she discovered a half-broken blade buried in his back – precisely
the front part of the scimitar that she had broken off then thrown into another person’s hand,
after which that person had pulled out and thrown on the ground. From the looks of it, just then
she had flung the fellow directly onto the broken blade, taking his life.
No that wasn’t it.
Fuyao inspected the knife, her heart jumping. She remembered that after she stabbed the blade
into that Rong man’s back of hand, that person had randomly thrown the knife tip onto the
ground after pulling it out. Now, however, the blade was facing upright. Who had moved the
shattered blade’s position?
She instantly looked up, only to see a figure hurriedly squeezing into the crowd.
Wanting to fly forward to chase, she instead saw many more people suddenly surge towards her.
Those Rong people who had come here looking for revenge suddenly all erupted with fury!
Waving huge scimitars they desperately charged forward, screaming, “Murder! He killed Han
Mutie!”
“Grab him! Grab him!”
Countless long scimitars shone with sunlight, as if streak after streak of snow-colored spring water
was shooting over. The tumbling, roiling springs wildly surged over, as if they wanted to drown the
skinny youth in the center of the crowd.
The shouts spread even further, traveling over the rooftops with extremely piercing volume and
passing through the alleyways.
Han residents of the surrounding areas all began to panic, frantically shutting the building doors of
their homes with peng peng peng sounds, while alerting each other, “You must not go outside,
great trouble is coming!”
The people on the streets close to Fuyao all hastily ran away while loudly proclaiming, “I don’t
know him! Don’t know!”
There were even some who, while retreating, flung up their sleeves to ingratiatingly yell to the
outraged Rong, “Rong brothers, that scoundrel violated Sun God Ge’s honor and murdered a Rong
brother! We also can’t stand this, we’ll go report to magistrate …”
The street fell into a cacophony of cries, immediately devolving into a pot of chaotically swirling
oatmeal.
Fuyao threw the Rong man’s body onto the ground, letting out a cold laugh. “The lives of people!
The lives of people!” [1]
Zong Yue was unmoved as he stood behind her, saying, “It’s not the time to sigh about the lives of
people. Right now you have to worry about not worsening the situation.”
His words were simple, but when Fuyao heard them her eyes flashed.
Not worsening the situation, meaning not allowing the news that this Rong man was murdered to
spread and the entire city’s Rong people to erupt in violence, causing the deaths of even more
people. The only thing that could be done was to completely eliminate all the Rong people at the
scene!
The tempest was on the horizon, while weapons would soon be lifted. Once the Rong people who
occupied the majority of the city all exploded into violence, the only thing awaiting the people in
Yao City would be a catastrophe!
Thinking of this kind of outcome, Fuyao’s expression transformed. A layer of web-like blood
strands gradually covered her eyes. She abruptly looked up.
The Rong sprinted over while raising their scimitars with a howl, but soon saw that the eyes of the
skinny youth opposite had suddenly turned extremely horrifying. If just then the youth was only a
sheathed sharp knife, now the knife had tasted blood, killed, and truly become a deadly weapon
capable of massacre!
In those eyes, they saw fearlessness … and death!
The man leading the charge, upon meeting this kind of chilling gaze, inadvertently felt his heart
suddenly jolt. He subconsciously let out a cry and retreated backwards. However, he moved too
suddenly while the people behind him were all crazily charging forwards, and they instantly
collided with one another, bringing about a string of angered curses.
Before the curses could finish, Fuyao had already moved.
With a flourish of her robes, she suddenly shot forward like a bullet.
Her figure had passed through the air too quickly, causing a long dark streak to linger like a bullet’s
trail. At the very instant when the image of the black figure arrived at the crowd’s eyes, Meng
Fuyao had already reached the center of the Rong crowd, drawing her blade without another
word.
“Qiang!”
Sword light flashed underneath the shallow sunlight like a rainbow, in the space of a blink arriving
at the heads of the crowd. The knife’s glow outshone the sun as it cut down like spilling water!
Pierce, slay, stab, crush!
Leap up, elbow out, leg kick, overpowering stomp!
Body and body collided for only the briefest moment of star light, separating right after contact.
Yet right after contact, great blooms of blood would blossom out. Just when a bloody bloom
erupted out over here, there would be another blow and another occurrence, in that instant yet
another vibrantly scarlet burst.
Fuyao shot into the crowd like a dai-colored typhoon passing through a fortress made of muscles
and long scimitars. Around her blood rain splattered out left and right, and she stabbed and
retracted her knife just as quick, scything through lives as simply as scything grass!
Hesitating in moments of decisiveness would conversely bring harm. When killing was required,
Fuyao would not give herself time to think.
It was a scene of silent slaughter – with every slice she would also jab the acupoints of her
enemies, preventing their wails from traveling outside the alley and bringing over even more
people. The sound of the sword body unceasingly chopping into then pulling out of flesh was
muffled, but still horrifying. Corpse after corpse fell down silently. This kind of hushed death could
only cause one’s heart to chill with dread. Once the thirteenth person was mowed down like grass,
everyone stopped in their steps. Those who had taken out their knives now dragged them along
while retreating; those who had escaped stood shell-shocked in place; those who had rolled up
their sleeves to help now had trembling legs, and suspicious dampness appeared on their pant.
Those who had shut their doors and snuck glances outside, now moved away from the gaps as
their weak backs hit the door boards – and it was only then that they realized their backs were
soaked with ice cold sweat.
Meng Fuyao had never killed so many people before, and had never killed in this way before, yet
her hand did not falter at all. As a transmigrator, she did not clearly distinguish between Rong or
Han, but she knew that a woman’s kindheartedness had no place in this lawless world. Sometimes
killing to stop killing was the only way to change the greater picture. Inside this gunpowder barrel
that was Yao City, she didn’t fear using a small amount of fresh blood to stifle the incoming
explosion instigated by persons of malicious intent, and to halt the rivers of blood that a general
panic inside the city would entail.
Before her were still three Rong men who finally began to run. Fuyao’s foot rose up, and she flew
over their heads like a dark cloud. Landing in front of them, she chopped down to wrest away the
scimitar of the front-most person, then flung it backhandedly.
The knife pierced through and nailed the three Rong who were running in the same direction onto
the ground, as if it were cutting through hemp. The last one, struck by the powerful impact,
escaped the sword body. He unsteadily charged forward a couple steps, then collapsed by a street
gutter, his fresh blood staining half the gutter red.
It wasn’t just the gutter. On the entire street surface, fresh blood had already flowed into the
depressions. The blood slowly crawled on the dark stone road in haphazard squiggles, like
countless huge snakes twisting and coiling.
The entire street of people was turned into clay sculptures. They froze there not knowing how to
move. Fuyao stood by herself in the middle of a lake of blood, her head staring up at the sky. She
sighed.
After which, she wiped her two hands on her clothes, then caringly re-sheathed her knife. Usually
she used three types of weapons. Her small dagger, hidden on her elbows or in her sleeves, was
convenient for surprise attacks or self-defense. Her long whip curled around her waist, and was
used for escape or when fighting enemies she didn’t want to kill. Only this knife that she wore on
her back – in these many years only her second time needing to use it – was used for mass
slaughter.
The blade’s name was “Sky Slayer”. When the old Daoist had passed it to her, his expression was
severe. He claimed inside the blade contained an utmost secret. Fuyao had never discovered what
this secret was, but the knife was truly an extreme treasure, keen like the eyes of a master
assassin staring at their enemy.
As she looked up at the sky, she realized that at some point in time the sunlight had faded away,
replaced with layer upon layer of hazy clouds like fish scales.
Behind her, Yao Xun and Zong Yue’s subordinate, who had blocked the alley entrance to draw
away the attentions of those passing by, finally released a held breath. They wiped away the cold
sweat that arose because of the heart-shaking massacre just now, and when looking at Fuyao their
gazes were completely different. The old Han’s family had long collapsed onto the ground
completely speechless.
Only Zong Yue, who even though did not participate in the events, but had stood in the most
important position right behind Fuyao, maintained his previous calm to perhaps purposefully
encourage her. He even slightly grinned while saying, “It’s finally time for me to be of use.”
As he walked forward, he took out a small bottle and shook it over every corpse. The body wounds
instantly widened gruesomely as the flesh let out the sizzling sounds of corrosion. Blood and
muscle gradually dissolved, bones gradually melted, and in the end, the mass transformed into a
pile of grainy bone ash that was blown away, scattered between heaven and earth.
The traces of a person’s entire existence, gone with only the flick of a finger.
The old Han stumbled over and hurriedly pulled Zong Yue and Fuyao. “Quickly go, quickly go!
There’s a group of Rong wandering about outside, a crowd is about to come!”
Fuyao helped up the old Han’s daughter-in-law, saying, “With this group disappearing, there will
certainly be compatriots finding their way to your house. You must quickly leave with me.”
She urgently left. Zong Yue had originally wanted to stay and see that the rest of the bodies were
completely dissolved before leaving. Suddenly, though, his brows furrowed and his face paled. He
reached his hand out to press against his chest. The subordinate waiting on him quickly came over
to support him and leave.
Only once all the instigators of the massacre had completely left, did the people in the alleyway
awaken as if disturbed from a dream. Pale-faced, they looked at each other, seeing in each other’s
eyes a bone-deep horror. However their gazes only met for a brief moment before dropping away.
Everyone wiped away the splatters of blood on their bodies, then silently walked away. Once
home, door latches were firmly bolted tight, and heavy rocks barricaded into place.
Although they originally had the urge to seek shelter with the stronger side when under threat of
death, now they all responsibly safeguarded the situation created by Fuyao, preparing to stay
silent. They would bury the events of the afternoon deep in their hearts, until the danger was truly
over.
Yet was the danger truly over?
The pale-yellow setting sun descended. Obscured moonlight rose up.
Tonight’s moon seemed to have been covered in a layer of haze, vague and hard to make out.
Alleyways, small streets, tree trunks, and buildings – all were engulfed in a stretch of flowing gray
mist.
In the small alleyway’s water gutter, the fresh blood that had floated on the surface earlier had
now diluted away, with the water surface reflecting a sheen of light. Besides the gutter grew dark-
brown wild grass. Their shape seemed quite odd.
In the gutter, the “corpse” that had been the last pierced through by Fuyao’s knife floated on the
water. It suddenly twitched.
Footnotes
众生相 A Chinese Buddhist phrase that means the lives and actions of humanity, and sometimes
carries bad connotation when used to describe chaotic debauchery of society.
Chapter 18 (Part A) – Every Desperate Step
The gloomy, shadowy moonlight shone onto the ditch.
Wild grass grew all over in the ditch, shielding the body that lay submersed within. A long time
later, the “corpse” curled its fingers, grabbing ahold of the wild grass. After struggling for a time,
he slowly straightened his body.
Gasping for breath, he finally crawled up bit by bit from the mud. The fresh blood and clumps of
mud covering his whole body rained down from his clothes nonstop.
A terrifying gash trailed down his back. It was almost a huge hole, with exposed flesh and white
bone. In the deep darkness it still looked completely sickening.
That was the wound cut from Meng Fuyao’s last knife that struck through three men. Originally it
actually was not this large. In the moment he was struck, this man used the force of the blow to
leap into the gutter, and the wound on his back was not life-threatening at all. However with the
help of Zong Yue’s corpse-dissolving powder, the gash spread much larger.
As for why his injury did not get even worse and transform him into bone dust like the other dozen
corpses, if Zong Yue were here and saw the bizarre grass by the gutter, he would immediately
understand.
“Hooked Grass” was the greatest counter to the main ingredient in the corpse-dissolving powder.
Usually the grass would grow by steep cliffs, yet now it actually appeared inside the gutter. When
falling, the man had crushed some of the Hooked Grass. When the snapped grass fell into the
water they were picked up by the agitated waves, surging into his back wound, and halting the
more extreme rotting effect of the corpse-dissolving powder.
The rare corpse-dissolving powder had actually happened upon Hooked Grass; the endangered
Hooked Grass had actually grown in this small, urban water ditch; the grass had further
coincidentally saved the life of the Rong man who had landed in the gutter, allowing him to
become the fish who slipped out of the massacre net! These mysterious coincidences of life, could
only vaguely be explained as heavenly will.
Heaven desired for the dense web of secrets to tear with a small gap, igniting a flaming beacon
heralding troubled times, and finishing a girl’s critical plans.
The Rong man stood up with difficulty. He panted to catch his breath underneath the off-white
moonlight. Stagnant gutter water shone on his face, filled with a putrid expression of
unreconciliation.
Unsteadily staggering while trying to straighten up, he bent over and held onto the wall and trees
to steadily move out of the alley.
On the dark stone slabs of the alleyway road, two trails of fresh blood and mud were left behind,
barely visible under the moon. The footsteps led into the distance —-
As the moonlight was rising, Meng Fuyao was supporting the daughter-in-law of the old Han
named Hu as she knocked on the office gates of the Official Su Xuanyong. At first, she had gone to
the citizen shelter, but unexpectedly the assistant officer had refused to allow this family to live
there without the city master’s or vice-master’s personal written command. Fuyao had no choice
but to bring them to the county administration. She and Zong Yue would have needed to come
here and meet with the city master anyways.
To her surprise, the large gates of the offices were tightly shut. Only after knocking on the door for
half a day did an office attendant lazily come out and say, “Look at the time! What are you
knocking for? If you disturb the elder official’s rest, there will be consequences!”
Fuyao held back her indignance. She didn’t want to fuss around with this snobbish lackey who
could only bully others with his backing, so with as calm a tone as she could manage she said,
“Respected bureaucrat, can I bother you to send a message? This woman’s entire family was
bullied by the Rong, with even their house burned down, and they need the elder official’s
personal order to seek refuge at the shelter …”
Before she could finish, the attendant’s face changed and he hurriedly waved his hand saying,
“This office does not accept cases of personal disputes between Rong and Han, without exception!
Shoo shoo!”
Fuyao blanched, then angrily said, “You don’t accept? Is this your opinion or the city master’s?”
“Are you stupid?” The lackey looked at her strangely as he laughed at her, “The city master isn’t at
the county offices, he resides at his own villa in the eastern city. Only the honorable vice-master is
here, and this is naturally his honor’s will.”
“Then give my message to the vice-master.”
“Who are you?” The attendant looked at her askance. “Do I have to report just because you said
so? Let me tell you, Sir Su definitely doesn’t care about this kind of stuff. Don’t loiter around here
anymore. Why don’t you just get out of here already?”
Fuyao lifted her eyes to glance at him, then suddenly laughed.
With her laugh, the old Han’s family looked at the attendant as if they were looking at a dead man.
This fellow actually didn’t know his place! He actually dared to provoke the god of slaughter!
All Fuyao did, though, was to suddenly twist her body and walk with large steps to the complaint
drum out in front of the bureau gates. [1] She grabbed the mallet and fiercely flung a strike.
“BOOM!” A huge pounding noise.
The sound was deafening to the point of shock, rolling like gigantic thunder bolts, and in the space
of a blink it had pierced through the darkness and scattered the clouds. With a crushing “PA” a
hole suddenly appeared on the front of the complaint drum out to the back. The mallet shot out
from within the drum and heavily smashed onto the large gate of the imperial offices, sending out
yet another great boom.
Amidst the sounds of destruction came Meng Fuyao’s clear words. “With three blows of the
complaint drum blood stains the robes [2], yet this useless drum actually broke after one hit! I
guess the next blow will have to be on your big gate, and then after the gate is finished I’ll pound
someone’s head in. At that time I won’t be able to promise whose blood will stain my robes!”
The attendant stood dismayed in place. Numbly staring at the originally very sturdy, but now
completely collapsed drum, then looking at bronze dent on the gate, bashed in by the flying drum
mallet, he reached out a shaking hand to rub his head while quickly saying, “I’ll go to report, I’ll go
…”
“No need!” A cold yell traveled over. The large gate suddenly opened. A sharp-faced elder was
already standing behind the door, and behind him followed a large group of attendants. The door
guard lackey panicked, sprinting over with small steps to pay his respects. “Sir!”
Official Su Xuanyong hefted his sleeves with an iron face, angrily shouting, “Presumptuous person!
You actually dare to destroy the complaint drum and stain the honorable administration’s dignity!
Do you really think nothing of my Infinite Court?”
Meng Fuyao gave him a glance. This was a county’s vice-official, Elder Su? The solemnly standing,
clearly important Han official who didn’t care at all for the tens of thousands of citizens, and
allowed them to be downtrodden by the Rong and fall into desperate straits? That Elder Su?
Fixedly glaring at him, Fuyao subconsciously grinded her teeth. After a while of grinding she
suddenly put away her sharp teeth, then walked forward smiling to give a long, well-mannered
bow. “Greetings Elder Su. This little one was discourteous.”
“Only now do you know your disrespect? Unfortunately, the crime of disturbing this official won’t
be merely washed away by some words!” Su Xuanyong seethed as he gazed at the rascal that
suddenly changed arrogance to humility, and became even more convinced that the rascal had
been suppressed by his great imperial power. He very sternly swished his sleeve. “Come, take him
away, pillory him for three days. Teach these unruly mobs the consequences of not having any
sense of propriety!”
The attendants chorused their assent and went forward to grab Fuyao. She narrowed her eyes,
allowing them to bind her with no resistance at all. Zong Yue stood serenely by the side watching,
not interfering either. Only when an attendant clumsily bumped into Fuyao’s shoulder did his
expression slightly flicker.
Meng Fuyao was shoved forward by the crowd of imperial attendants, their hands tightly holding
onto her slender shoulders. Zong Yue’s eyebrows jumped again and he suddenly said, “Wait.”
Fuyao turned her head back to look at him sadly – really, you are way too impatient, I still want to
fool around with them some more.
Zong Yue ignored her. He clasped his hands and mildly said, “Elder Su, you can’t afford to pillory
this person.”
“En?” Su Xuanyong frowned as he looked at Zong Yue. “Who do you think you are? You think you
can just make remarks indiscriminately in front of this official?” His nose upturned towards the
sky, he didn’t bother with Zong Yue anymore, only impatiently waving his sleeve. “Bring him away
…”
His words suddenly stopped.
In front of him, Zong Yue had stretched out his palm. A dark command token quietly sat there,
engraved with a golden “De” character that sparkled with light. [3]
Prince De’s command token, a symbol of an imperial descendant, and was the same as the Royal
Prince De personally arriving.
“This one’s surname is Zong, personal name Yue.” Zong Yue’s tone was warm and polite as if he
was speaking with a close friend. “This one is not very capable, however by receiving His Highness
Prince De’s favor, the royal estate bestowed me land and passage rights. Let alone a seventh-level
court such as Elder Su’s, even if it were at His Highness Prince De’s Tiger’s Might Court, if this one
wanted to stand in the hall to say some words, it would still be acceptable.”
Su Xuanyong froze in place.
Zong Yue!
This was a mysterious man who was a legend among legends!

His origins were shrouded in mist and unknown by all. His teacher from youth sent him out from
Medicine Saint Valley, and his natural talent made him a genius that surpassed his teacher. From
twenty years of age he began to travel the Five Regions Continent, where uncountable numbers of
people lived. The Five Regions Continent valued martial arts, with nobility all learning from birth,
so injuries and illness were inevitable things. Furthermore, ailments wouldn’t go away just
because of high societal position; because of this, the lofty status of doctors had never been in
doubt, let alone a peak character like Zong Yue, who would make even the various state rulers
have to cordially come out and welcome. He had long been given special permissions by every
ruler of the Five Regions Continent – not needing to bow when seeing rulers, while kings and
princes had to submit a request to even meet him! The number of aristocrats who owed him a life-
saving favor wasn’t just a couple. Even though he was only a healer, his standing and influence far
surpassed a typical king’s. It could be said that with a beckon he could summon tens of thousands
to follow his commands!
If Zhangsun Wuji was a god of the political realm, Zong Yue would be the god of the living realm.
The former reaped domains, power, and lives; the latter cured suffering, illness, and lives.
Those of Su Xuanyong’s background would typically be unable to even touch Zong Yue’s robe
corner. As he stared at the clean young man wearing snow white robes, the elder gulped,
completely speechless.
Zong Yue, though, only chuckled and pointed to Fuyao, politely saying, “Can you release my friend
there?”
“… Ah, of course of course!” Su Xuanyong hurriedly waved his hand to order them to release the
person.
Yet, although he wanted to release her, the shameless Fuyao had her own thoughts. Jumping
forward with a shua and pushing away the attendant coming to untie her, “Release who? I still
want to be pilloried, take me away!”
“No untying! No release allowed!” Shameless Fuyao nimbly leapt left and weaved right, resolutely
refusing to be released by the attendants. “Pillory me! Put me in the stocks already! If you release
me, how will you let the residents of Yao see the consequences of ‘not having propriety’?”
As she shouted, she ducked and weaved into the large gate, sprinting into the inner hall along the
dark stone road. “Where’s the stocks? Where are the cages? Bring them to me! Don’t waste
time!”
When the attendants saw her face full of a scoundrelly satisfaction, they all helplessly let go and
pleadingly looked towards Elder Su. The official was shocked for a while, then resentfully stomped
and walked up with quick steps, personally reaching out to untie Fuyao’s ropes. “Little brother, it
was this old man’s rudeness, please don’t take offense …”
Fuyao turned aside to reject his hand, severely gritting out, “This commoner is a law-abiding
citizen and will steadfastly follow the Elder’s re-education. If the Elder says to pillory, then I must
be pilloried, if the Elder says to lock me in the cages, then I must be locked up! This uncultured
commoner will follow one-hundred percent, and determinedly carry out the punishment.”
“You … you … sigh!” Su Xuanyong’s face was ugly as he woodenly stood there. Only a while later
did he awkwardly say, “This elder was inferior … this old man will give you an apology …”
Meng Fuyao was waiting for exactly these words. She cheerfully turned her head, saying, “Elder
will truly give me an apology?”
“It was this Elder who was rude and disrespectful …” Su Xuanyong wiped away some sweat. He
had always been slippery marble that could deal with anyone and yield when needed, otherwise
he wouldn’t have been dispatched to this Rong-Han mixed region to act as the vice-master of the
Rong city master. After arriving he discovered the head-strong temperament of the Rong city
master Ah’Shi, and so became even more submissive and flattering, thoroughly managing the
heavy responsibility of advancing “reconciliation” between Rong and Han. As long as it was a
dispute between Rong and Han, the Rong would always be favored; as long as any Han dared to
resist, he would always suppress the Han. It was only like this that peaceful days would be possible
under the stringent rule of Ah’Shi. Now that Prince De’s great army was only thirty li out, and Zong
Yue was also Prince De’s honored guest, even if you killed him the Elder still wouldn’t dare to
offend the friend of Zong Yue.
“Then good.” Fuyao smiled even more politely than him. “The elder has apologized so sincerely, so
how could I not accept? Since you are sincerely apologizing, then whether or not the elder
releases me isn’t important right now. Why don’t you first help that family get settled? Once they
are settled down, my mood will be better, and when my mood gets better, I’ll decide to not go to
the stocks anymore.”
Su Xuanyong angrily stared at her, then entered the hall to write a command, handing it over to an
attendant and telling him to bring the old Han’s family to get settled. Only after she saw the family
depart did Fuyao lazily stretch her waist. Pa pa two sounds – the tightly-bound ropes, following
her casual movement, all snapped into pieces, one by one falling onto the ground.
As Su Xuanyong fixedly looked at the effortlessly broken ropes, his face turned black, but a trace of
fright flashed through his eyes. He frantically smiled and invited his guests, “Please, this way to the
rear hall, please.”
However, Meng Fuyao only stood there not budging.
“Elder Su has no need to be polite, and right now is not the time to be polite either.” Her
expression slowly sank as a chilly air appeared between her brows. “Elder, a crisis is around the
corner, and commoners will soon fall into disaster. Do you really have no plans for this at all?”
Dazed for a moment, Su Xuanyong gave her an assessing look. As he guessed whether she was an
inspector sent over by the imperial court, he carefully replied, “This … the power the Rong hold is
great, and their temperaments are brash and unyielding. We cannot afford to provoke them, we
have to take it slow, gradually plan …”
Slow your ass! Fuyao’s temper billowed up in waves. She stepped forward gritting out, “Elder,
acting slow right now might be fine, but once the dagger enters your body, do you think there will
still be time for ‘acting slowly’?”
“What is the purpose of Little Brother’s alarmist talk?” Su Xuanyong forced a smile. “The family of
Han and Rong have already lived in complete harmony for the past ten years, how could it come to
the point of soldiers and daggers pointing at each other …”
“Ptui!” In her heart Fuyao hatefully spat in disgust, but she had to forcibly restrain her face as she
slowly said, “If Elder wants to deceive yourself and your lackeys then do as you like, but you are
the guardian of Yao City! If the Han people of the city of Yao meet with disaster, how could the
Elder escape blame and the thundering anger of the imperial court?”
Su Xuanyong could no longer maintain his pretense. Gloomily he asked, “And what does this have
to do with your esteemed self?”
Fuyao attentively observed him. She shook her head. “Nothing.”
Not waiting for Su Xuanyong’s ridicule, she continued on.
“It is only because of a person’s basic conscience – seeing an imminent catastrophe, seeing people
about to be engulfed in the fires of war, seeing the unfortunate being bullied and humiliated – as a
human being, I have no way of just sitting back and watching.”
She scoffed as she gave Su Xuanyong a derisive glance. “As a master of Yao City, for you to be able
to bear such a burden up until now, without feeling the least bit of shame, is something this lowly
one admires very much.”
“Then what do you want me to do?” Su Xuanyong’s face bloated purple from her pressuring, and
only after some time did he manage to force out some angered words. “I’m just a scholar, my
hands don’t even have the strength to wring a chicken! How do you expect me to oppose the city
master and his personally-reared army? How do you expect a single person to protect these tens
of thousands of commoners!?”
“Third rule of conflict – use intelligence above all.” Fuyao glared at him, proclaiming, “The
methods that Elder has available to him, are actually many.”
“Ah?”
“Shelter Han citizens, amass soldiers, invite armies to station in your city, using military power to
suppress the Rong – this is the worst plan.”
“Preposterous! Not even considering that I don’t have the authority to invite the White Pavilion
armies, even if they came, the moment the armies entered the city the Rong would immediately
erupt in rebellion. At that time it would only be a scene of meaningless fighting!”
Fuyao gave him an “oh I guess you aren’t completely hopeless” type of look, then continued on
unaffectedly, “Using His Highness Prince De’s expedition as a cover, recruit young, healthy Han
men to train. This citizen group is supposedly for sending out of the city, to bolster Prince De’s
ranks, and the Rong definitely won’t interfere. At crucial moments, this can be a city militia – this is
the middle plan.”
Su Xuanyong didn’t speak anymore. His eyes flashed as he stroked his beard in deep
contemplation.
“With only this Elder has already been convinced?” Fuyao grinned as she shifted closer to Su
Xuanyong, quietly whispering, “There is still the upper plan – without wasting even one soldier or
pawn, inviting the Rong themselves …”
“Eh?”
Fuyao lowered her head to say some words by Su Xuanyong’s ears. His eyebrows instantly jumped
up in alarm, and his gaze transformed. A little later he shouted, “You’ve gone mad!”
She only sneered and looked at him, not speaking.
“The villa of Ah’Shi has extremely tight security. Ah’Shi himself is also a martial expert. How could
putting him under house arrest be as easy as you say!”
“That is my problem.” Fuyao lightly said, “Elder doesn’t even need to appear personally. As long as
you can lend me a couple attendants to make up the numbers and accomplish the goal.”
Su Xuanyong stood dumbstruck in place. His eyes wavered as he swiftly analyzed the pros and
cons of the situation. A while later he clenched his teeth, heavily stamping his foot and saying,
“Alright! I’ll give them to you!”
“The Elder spares no pains to keep his people in his heart. This lowly one greatly admires you.”
Meng Fuyao’s eyes brightened as she generously praised with a smile.
“Ai …” Su Xuanyong sighed, slowly saying, “Little Brother must be unsatisfied by this official’s
previous behavior. To be honest, if this official were able to use all of my meager strength, how
could I cherish my body? I was just being constantly suppressed by higher authority, and was
completely helpless.” He turned his head, waving his hand to call over a few attendants. “You
there, follow this brother to the city master’s villa.”
“That can’t be blamed on Elder. Elder was just biding his time for the right opportunity. Now that
the heavy duty of saving the citizens has come, who else would be able to bear it but you?”
Fuyao’s smile was absolutely brilliant. “As such, many thanks for Elder’s unwavering sense of
loyalty.”
Giving a light bow, she then walked past Su Xuanyong’s side. He also subconsciously gave a bow,
but the moment he leaned down, a jolt went through his heart.
It suddenly felt like a gap was opened in his back, and ice-cold snow was then shoved in.
Twisting his head back with difficulty, he saw the slender youth leisurely pulling out a dark dagger
from his back. Fresh blood dripped unceasingly from the blade. The youth calmly blew lightly,
causing the blood to splatter off and fall.
The blood … was his own …
Before this thought could fully form, Su Xuanyong felt an abrupt tearing pain centered around the
small of his back, bursting out like an explosion. In a flash, it drowned out the last vestiges of his
consciousness.
He gasped, then collapsed onto the ground like heavy rotten wood.
The attacker was naturally the “blood blowing” lady Meng.
Fuyao quietly observed the Su Xuanyong who had died with his eyes open, lying in a pool of blood.
She withdrew the dagger and shook her head. “Don’t act like others are all fools. Do you really
think I have zero intellect like yourself?”
Su Xuanyong stubbornly refused to even shelter Han citizens. How could he so easily agree to her
daring plan?
Such secretive, life-or-death matters, and he would allow the attendants by the side to hear?
When signaling to the attendants, why were his eyes blinking non-stop, a cramp?
The people she hated the most were those self-serving, disloyal, villain-helping scum, who ignored
the hardships of the common people. If she left alive this old veteran who was familiar with city
management and attendants, she definitely couldn’t prevent him from sending out a message. It
was very apparent that he and Ah’Shi were partners of mutual benefit, and sooner or later he
would be put under the Infinite Empire’s knife; Fuyao was fairly proactive, so she helped them get
rid of him a bit earlier.
Zong Yue’s eyes drifted over with a questioning look. She knew his question was “are you sure you
want to act against the city master right now?”, so she lightly nodded. For some unknown reason
her heart had a constant, faint premonition of unease. Despite silencing all the Rong previously,
the blade that was flat but then placed upright at an unknown time kept flashing through her
mind, as well as that hurried figure that had slipped into the crowd of Rong afterwards. It was
precisely because of this figure that drifted in front of her eyes like a ghost and gave her unease,
that she thought of acting first, wanting to wrest control of the situation in front of her.
If Su Xuanyong was willing to show his face and help her, then that would be the best case. If he
wasn’t willing, then she could only send him to an eternal rest.
The fact that Su Xuanyong had turned into a corpse in a blink of an eye shocked all the attendants.
Fuyao walked over without a rush, flicking a pill into the mouths of all the Han attendants, while
jabbing the scruffs of every Rong attendant.
“The medicine is an immortality pill.” She folded her hand in a friendly manner, saying, “It’s not
much really, if there isn’t an antidote, you really will become immortal. The soul is immortal after
all.”
“That point on the back of your necks, though,” She glanced at the clearly rebellious Rong
attendants whose eyes were flickering, “that’s even less of a worry. It neither cuts tendons nor
grinds bones. I know the thing you guys fear isn’t death, but rather corrupting the mind. So all I did
was block one of your meridians. After a day, without my personal techniques to release it, then
sorry, your heads will fade and your spirits will daze. Something like attacking the city master with
a knife, or burning down the city, or even urinating on your all-mighty Sun God Ge – anything is
possible.”
Disregarding the attendants whose faces all paled, Fuyao’s smile turned even more amiable as she
said, “Now, let everyone accompany this lowly one on a trip to the city master’s villa.” ———
Footnotes
登闻鼓 Deng Wen Gu, was a drum placed outside courts for commoners with grievances to pound
on.
From a Tang Dynasty poem
德 the “De” in Prince De, means morality or virtue

Chapter 18 (Part B) – Every Desperate Step
Stars flickered in the deep night.
A line of dark iron clouds crushed down on an eccentric courtyard in the eastern city.
Eccentric, because in the midst of the layers of white-walled, dark-tiled courtyards built in the style
of the inner continent, a completely Rong-styled wooden villa suddenly protruded out. Besides the
Han-styled boundary walls and gate, the buildings within the villa were all made of the most
primitive cedar-bark structures. The hallway pillars were constructed from iron-grain wood, a
southern border specialty. Ox horn-shaped lanterns could be vaguely seen, slowly swaying from
pavilion eaves, while a faint yellow glow spread out into the distance.
Clearly, the builder of this villa that didn’t conform to the rest of the city had to be obstinate and
unyielding – he held the deepest respect and belief for his birth culture.
Late night. The villa was silent. Wind rustling past the tips of the bayroots had yet to blow over in
this direction.
“Honorable City Master!”
A sober cry suddenly shattered the moment of peace. Before the sound fell, someone already
began frantically knocking on the door’s bronze knocker!
“Which person is making such a ruckus!” In almost an instant, the inside of the seemingly silent
villa suddenly erupted out with a deep yell with no sign of drowsiness.
On top of the bark-layered building also came faint glints from some dark objects that pointed
guardedly at the night visitor.
“This lowly one is Second Guo! Head of the attendants!” The person desperately clanged the door
knocker. “City master, something major has happened, something major!”
“His Honor doesn’t see anyone at night! Why wait until midnight to come disturb!” The voice
didn’t back off. “Scram back to Su’s hall!”
“Elder Su was assassinated!”
The loud shout cracked stone and shook sky. The deep voice inside the gate suddenly hesitated, as
if processing the shocking information, after which scattered footsteps could be heard inside the
villa. A while later a voice rose again, but was not the previous deep voice, but a steely, fierce
tone. “What is the matter?”
“This subordinate isn’t clear either … there was an assassin … the killer even left a letter on Elder
Su’s body!” Second Guo stood back from the door to let the lantern light within shine on his face,
then held out the letter over his head in a deep bow.
Some light slowly passed out from inside the gate, passing over Second Guo and the couple of Guo
attendants beside him whose features seemed familiar. Then the light moved aside, and after a
while, a person vaguely gave an affirmative “en”.
The large gate, thicker than normal doors, finally opened.
Two ox-horn lanterns drifted out guarded by a group of people. A middle-aged man strode out
with steady steps. Following with Rong tradition, even in the winter he still was bare-chested, only
draped with a multi-colored felt robe. However, he wasn’t as tall-statured as normal Rong – he
was actually of average height. A pair of light brown eyes darted around with a flash of ferocity
that quickly faded.
He lifted his head, seeing that inside a wheelbarrow in front of him was Su Xuanyong’s body
covered in grass. He couldn’t help but pause in shock, saying, “How come you even moved the
body over?”
“Your honor.” Second Guo bowed down. “Elder Su was assassinated nearby. He had heard that the
Han inside the city were making strange movements. As he hurried over to pass notice to you, an
unexpected mishap occurred, and us servants couldn’t do anything, that’s why …”
Ah Shina [1] frowned, saying, “Nearby?” He suddenly thought of something. “Let me see the
wound, perhaps I can discern the killer’s origins.”
Second Guo bowed down to deliver the letter. When Ah Shina frowned, the guards beside him
immediately rebuked, “Don’t move your filthy hands close to His Honor!” while shoving Second
Guo aside, grabbing over the letter in his hands. Only then did Ah Shina take it. As he opened the
letter, he walked over to the wheelbarrow. Su Xuanyong’s ghastly pale face was exposed to the
moonlight. His dead fish eyes gazed towards the sky, creepy and chilling.
Ah Shina naturally was not afraid of the dead. He unhurriedly opened the letter, but the paper seal
was stuck very tight. As he studied Su Xuanyong’s corpse, he subconsciously licked the seal to wet
the paper, then tore it open in a fluid motion.
In the moment he opened the letter he had already walked to Su Xuanyong’s side.
As he lifted up the corpse’s grass covering, he went over the thin piece of paper inside the
envelope.
The parchment was thin and soft. The characters on the paper were large and powerful, like
coiling dragons and dancing phoenixes. “Let me borrow you as a hostage for a moment.”
In almost the exact instance his gaze touched the paper, Ah Shina was immediately on guard,
swiftly reacting and retreating backwards.
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
A pair of hands – a pair of bloody yet dexterous hands suddenly pierced out of Su Xuanyong’s
chest, in a flash passing through the corpse and clawing towards Ah Shina’s throat!
The hands were like a lightning bolt chasing after starlight, darting and jumping in the air. When
Ah Shina tried to evade, he suddenly felt the breath in his chest stifling, while his feet
unexpectedly turned rubbery! With that moment of softness, the hands had already reached his
throat, clamping around his throat like steel.
Once the fingers gripped him, Ah Shina instantly felt in his heart that his life was forfeit. Despite it
only being two hands, the steady power exerted from the other’s fingers could crush boulders,
causing one to feel that once caught, they would never be able to escape.
The fingers flicked out, sending the bits of flesh stuck on them flying out. Then, Su Xuanyong’s
corpse slowly sat up. Under the cold moon, the pale corpse had a huge hole in its chest, within
which stretched out two hands that grasped Ah Shina on the neck – no matter how one looked at
it, the scene was truly bizarre and horrific.
Some were already so scared their feet went numb. With a pa sound one of the ox-horn lanterns
fell onto the ground, quickly setting ablaze, yet no one scolded the person. No one spoke.
In their stifling shock, a laugh unexpectedly sounded out like silver bells.
“Zhangsun Wuji’s schemes are so good. A pity I don’t have transparent gloves.”
With the laugh, Su Xuanyong’s body suddenly crumpled to the side. A dai-colored figure stood up
from the wheelbarrow, their hands still clenched around Ah Shina’s throat. Chuckling they said,
“Many thanks city master, you truly are generous. I asked to borrow, and you let me borrow.”
Ah Shina stared at the unfamiliar youth, sucking in a breath saying, “Who … are you?”
The youth didn’t answer him. They tilted their head to sniff the death odor on their body, then
gave a vicious glance toward the distant darkness. “Lazy bum, I did all the dirty work, are you still
not going to come out!”
A person gave a quiet chuckle. A white shadow materialized from the darkness, his pale lips
smiling calmly. It was Zong Yue.
The youth was naturally Fuyao. She extended her arms to push Ah Shina back. “Come, come
honorable City Master, it’s so late in the night, why are we standing outside the door?”
She shoved Ah Shina to walk towards the door, swaggering the whole way to the inner room. With
a sweep of her sleeve the room door shut, after which she pulled over a piece of paper, saying, “I
talk, you write.”
When she said the first couple words, Ah Shina’s face changed, and he furiously yelled, “No way!”
Before his voice fell, a hubbub arose outside, sounding like people’s war cries that shook like
thunder. From the distance it sounded even more city-shaking and mountain-splitting, while
within the bellows was vaguely the clashing sound of swords and knives, wave after wave crashing
into the room.
Meng Fuyao’s face changed. She carefully listened. Zong Yue beside her suddenly spoke. “A large
crowd of people are coming this way, perhaps … something was leaked.”
Following his words, torrents of bashing sounded on the door like the cracking of whips. With only
a couple bangs the gate was broken through. A stream of colorfully dressed men howled as they
charged in, and in their leader’s hands was carried several human heads. Fresh blood splattered
out a long trail on the ground.
“Honorable City Master, this family of Han conspired with outsiders to kill the Sun God Ge’s
descendants! We’ve already slaughtered his entire household! We ask the City Master to send out
troops and capture the murderers!”
A head swayed in the grasp of the Rong leader’s hand. The hair on the temples was aged, its whole
face covered in scars. From its features, it was tragically apparent it was the old Han named Hu.
The Meng Fuyao who had already retreated into the building recognized the head with only a
glance, and immediately her expression twisted. Zong Yue was near her, and could hear her teeth
grind, as her entire body shook uncontrollably. Worried that in her explosive fury her true qi would
deviate, he lightly steadied her with a palm on her back.
Fuyao, though, didn’t register his actions at all. She only felt her entire body alight in flames, while
her limbs were immersed in icy coldness. Inside her chest seemed to be battering fierce surges of
water, great stretches of pain spreading out, swiftly radiating out to encompass her entire body
and causing her heart to almost split apart.
It was her who arranged for old Hu’s family to enter the shelter; it was her who couldn’t
completely eliminate all the Rong, which caused the man’s entire family to be implicated; it was
her careless assumption that nothing would be leaked, that let the old Han’s family leave her
protection; it was her, who was an unintentional accomplice in their murders!
The entire family killed, three bodies, four lives!
I didn’t kill Bo Ren, Bo Ren was killed because of me! [2]
Boiling rage made Fuyao’s vision go dark. Her strength also went out of her control, and her
fingers clutched on the man’s throat slightly convulsed. Ah Shina only felt the hands on his throat
clench tighter and tighter. He desperately tried to pull away but had no strength to. His face
bloated with purple-red, looking as if he were about to suffocate to death.
When Zong Yue saw this, he quickly pointed over, and Fuyao’s mind cleared. Her hands loosened.
Ah Shina sucked in large gasps of air, desperately straightening his throat to breath. Fuyao turned
her head. In her pupils were red veins. As she coldly looked at Ah Shina, the glow in her eyes
causing even the Ah Shina famous for his cold-heartedness to unconsciously shiver.
Meng Fuyao slowly enunciated her every word. “Everyone is here? Very good. Aren’t you the
master here, why don’t you quickly ask them in?” ——-
Infinite Empire Zhengning 15th year, twelfth lunar month. On a bitterly cold winter night, in the
Rong-Han split Yao city on Infinite Empire’s southern border, the city’s first ever rebellion arose.
The origin of the situation arose from a typical incident of Rong seeking revenge, but because of
the interference of a woman, it became a scene of secret-keeping slaughter. The only Rong man
who escaped gathered many clansmen to march to the City Master’s villa and plea for justice.
Unexpectedly, the woman was a step ahead, taking initiative to kill the vice-administrator and
forcing the City Master Ah Shina to “invite the tribesmen into the villa to discuss matters”. Due to
the respect the Rong had for the City Master, they sheathed their knives and entered. Once inside
the building, several people among them were “summoned for a private meeting”, and they
excitedly entered the inner chamber.
No one knew what happened afterwards, only knowing that several people had disappeared from
then on. The only traces they left of their former existence, was several days after, when a servant
complained that the room’s door sill had some fresh red marks that couldn’t be wiped away no
matter what he tried, as if it had been soaked through with blood recently. The blood marks on
the sill were around a foot off the ground – put in another way, only fresh blood that had filled up
to a foot off the ground, covering the whole floor and soaking for a long period into the tough
wooden door sill, could have resulted in these marks.
What volume of fresh blood would have needed to flow for that to happen?
Whose blood could it have been?
The disappearance of those Rong would forever become a frightening mystery of Yao City’s
history. Along with a certain slender shadow billowing with killing intent that night, their blade tip
dripping with blood, the entire event would be buried under the flows of time.
Besides these unlucky fellows who only themselves knew what they provoked, the others were all
invited to the formal hall to await the City Master. As they envied their compatriots who were
“privately discussing matters with the City Master”, they also chatted eagerly while drinking tea.
Before managing a couple mouthfuls, they all orderly fell to the ground.
Once they awoke, they all met the same fate as the City Master – separately imprisoned in the
basement jail cells of the City Master’s villa. The tribesmen were all of one enraged mind and were
determined to resist the enemy until their deaths. Unexpectedly, however, the enemy didn’t even
show themselves. They only courteously sent over food and water. For some reason the clansmen
were all particularly hungry and thirsty, and once they were sure that the opposite side wasn’t
planning to kill them, they ate and drank without hesitation. After dining, though, their stomachs
began to turn, quickly making them find a toilet; there was a communal toilet in the jail, only a pity
that on the toilet was engraved a carving of their exalted Sun God Ge!
Even if you killed them they would still refuse to commit such blasphemy against their Sun God Ge,
plus the toilet outrageously used the God’s mouth as the opening. If anyone dared to use the
toilet, they could give up on the rest of their lives.
Then do the duty in public on the ground? Everyone still had their own pride, this was still
absolutely impossible. But as the saying went, hunger could be endured but shit couldn’t – not
even a day passed, and from Ah Shina to the other clansmen, they were all tortured to their last
breaths.
At this time a piece of paper was placed in front of them. Someone shouted it out – write out my
demands, and I will give you the freedom to shit! Thus the men who didn’t fear death or
interrogation, yet could not blasphemy their god, all obediently wrote out the orders, handing
over all of the swords and weapons of the clan. Afterwards if they needed to use them, the Rong
would need to request the county government, as well as set down a blood oath towards Sun God
Ge to never have thoughts of rebellion.
The only one who refused to cooperate was City Master Ah Shina. He stubbornly squatted in a
corner, not budging for three days and three nights, afraid that any movement would cause the
foul stench in his pants to waft out. This willpower was quite admirable. Thus he continued to sit in
the cell, while his tribesmen continued to enjoy the freedom of defecation.
An event that originally was enough to embroil the entire city, a great catastrophe to the city’s
Han residents, was erased into nothing by such crooked methods. While the cause of the events,
that world-moving woman, quickly announced to the entire city with a document with the
magistrate’s seal: City Master cannot oversee his duties due to sickness, vice-official has died of a
sudden flu. First have a substitute City Master control all of Yao City’s daily administration.
This was a considerably insignificant commotion in the small city of Yao on Infinite Empire’s
southern border, and originally would have vanished into the pages of the long scroll of history like
a wisp of foam. However just like a needle in a bag couldn’t have its sheen be covered, some of
the high-level figures of the Seven States were still able to smell out some abnormalities within the
situation.
“A deep conspiracy, a brutal slaughter.” Polaris leader Feng Xuan[3] reclined in front of a light
purple lamp in his chamber, carelessly playing with the draped tassels in front of the bed while
chuckling.
“In light of the events and how they controlled the people and opportunities first and foremost;
the originator must be extraordinary.” Xuanyuan State’s prince regent carefully finished reading
his state cavalry’s secret report, then quietly praised.
Lifting Wind’s Sacred Saintess Fei Yan leaned against the wall atop of Lifting Wind’s tallest building.
Through the fluttering golden curtains and floating clouds, her obscured gaze looked towards the
south. After a long time, her fingers lifted. In between her originally empty fingertips suddenly
appeared a black crystal. She silently stared at the black stone that looked like an eye, then quietly
said, “God’s will, her direction.”
Nemesis State’s Fierce Majesty sat on horseback in the Geya Desert. Amidst the vast expanse of
yellow sand, he looked into the distance towards the Infinite Empire. The pupils darker than those
of normal people had glimmering light shining in them, flickering with a blaze of exuberant flame,
just like that unceasingly burning sun above the desert.
“Woman, is that you?”
Suddenly he threw his head back in a great laugh. The Fierce Majesty spurred his horse with his
whip, causing the steed to whinny and rise up on its hind legs, then charge forward while splitting
through the wind. He left behind a trail of deep hoof marks, a trail traveling ever south.
Near the city gates of Yao was an elegant man wearing light indigo robes. He inspected the
proclamation near the city gate with a small smile, then murmured:
“I was only slightly late by a step, and now you’ve even stolen my city …”
He raised his brows and looked in the direction of the City Master’s villa. There, was the willowy,
slender girl whose smile was resplendent like the blazing sun, yet acted like an unstoppable force
of nature. What was she doing right now? Would she sometimes think of that person she had
abandoned without even saying goodbye?
Presently, inside the City Master’s villa, the new city master Meng Fuyao was not thinking of the
Yuan Zhaoxu she had heartlessly thrown aside, and couldn’t even have dreamed that her actions
in the small city of Yao would result in the attentions of the highest figures of the Seven States.
She was crouching in the jail of the villa, her eyes dazed with disbelief as she stared at a corpse on
the ground.
The great tribe leader of tens of thousands of Rong in Yao City, the true leader of Yao’s Rong
people who held absolute prestige in their eyes. The previous city master of Yao, who, if anything
happened to him would cause a great revolt – Ah Shina.
Had suddenly died.
Footnotes
Name in previous chapter should be “Ah Shina” not “Ah’Shi”
Phrase that means “even though I didn’t kill him, his death was my fault”
凤旋 = Feng Xuan, means “Twirling Phoenix”

Chapter 19 (Part A) – The Infinite Heart
“Really, not dying any earlier or later, only waiting until the worst moment to kick the bucket.”
Fuyao had a mournful face as she crouched in front of Ah Shina’s body that had not even a scratch
on it, biting her fingernails while muttering curses at him.
Right now, despite her substitute city master position seemingly secure, the reality was that she
was treading a thin steel wire. She had to rush in circles just to stabilize the situation, first sending
Zong Yue over to Prince De to detail the specifics of the event, in order to get his approval to
become the temporary city master. Then she screened a couple relatively suspicious Rong in the
district government, and recruited fresh Han attendants. Next, she began to train a militia to
bolster the defensive power of the Han residents who had lesser numbers. She also redrew
household residency boundaries, separating the Rong who had become used to living with each
other to let them live mixed with Han households, while some of the fiercest Rong who hung
colored cloth most prolifically were executed. Although some covert movements were impossible
to prevent in the city, it could still be considered peaceful.
She couldn’t support everything on her own – a lot of the details were managed by people found
from who-knows-where by Zong Yue. He also obtained the trust of Han residents who were
familiar with the local situation, formulated a plan for citizen self-protection, and when the
completely incompetent City Master Fuyao blindly struggled through official documents, he
scolded her with a poisonous tongue while taking care of all the various miscellaneous things
himself. When handling matters his movements flowed fluidly and dexterously through the
documents, skillfully reaching the heart of the issue every time, and the mountains of piled scrolls
all quickly disappeared in a blink. Meng Fuyao could only exclaim in wonderment, more and more
getting the feeling that Zong Yue’s origin was far from ordinary. What kind of doctor was so good
at bureaucracy? Once, when she raised the question, Zong Yue acted like he didn’t hear anything.
The next day he went off to continue collecting his herbs, refusing to help her, causing her to have
no choice but to stay silent on the matter. The two’s partnership was unexpectedly working quite
well.
Yet even with all this hard work, it seemed that with Ah Shina’s sudden death, everything would
dissolve like flowing water. The Rong of Yao City fervently esteemed this City Master. If the news
of Ah Shina’s death spread out, the volatile blazes that they had just managed to calm would
immediately explode out again!
Clearly, there was a spy inside Yao that was acting for the Rong military and purposefully fanning
the flames of the situation. By collaborating with outside forces, they could take Yao City without
needing to sacrifice even one soldier.
While her, this city master who suddenly fell from the sky, would likely not be able to completely
clear the local government branch of all enemies. Fuyao shook her head, lazily standing up. She
said to Zong Yue who had been calmly staring at Ah Shina’s body, “Let’s dissolve it.”
Zong Yue frowned. “You think that the Rong wouldn’t come looking for the missing previous City
Master just because you dissolved it? In the next couple days will be the Rong’s ‘Deity Festival’ and
Rong everywhere will celebrate. If Ah Shina doesn’t show in this type of event, you will have no
way to explain.”
Fuyao gave a mournful sigh. Just as she was hesitating, she suddenly heard the pounding of the
complain drum in the front hall. The sound was extremely bizarre, booming over and over, neither
fast nor slow. It didn’t have any of the grieving or frantic rage of a funeral crier, but was drawn out
and distant, the sounds passing all the way into the basement jail. There even seemed to be some
disharmonic noises interspersed with the drumming, faintly traveling over.
The discordant noises sounded like something soft impacting the drum surface.
Fuyao rose uncertainly, muttering, “Yi, someone is actually drumming to voice a grievance? Under
the blue skies of the rule of Meng, shouldn’t there only be peace and harmony, with no injustices
at all?”
Zong Yue gave her a glance and revealed a bit of a helpless smile. This Fuyao’s spirit must be made
of steel – even such a terrible situation couldn’t stop her from cracking jokes all the time.
Fuyao bounded outside, brushing aside the unlucky stuff for now. She was full of anticipation for
presiding over her very first case in her city master career! The attendants all stood ready fully
armed. She shook her custom-tailored robes, solemnly and formally ascending to her seat. Hearing
that the drum outside was still thundering, she impatiently turned her head and shouted, “What
are you still pounding for! This elder has already arrived!”
With this turn, she saw clearly the person who was drumming.
Letting out a surprised gasping sound, with a tumble she fell backwards off of the raised platform.
… in front, looking out from the wooden stake fortifications, a light purple-robed man held the
mallet up high in front of the complaint drum. He calmly swung down, his posture elegant his aura
composed, pounding the complaint drum as if playing a musical instrument. A crowd of young
women surrounded him, infatuatedly staring at his slender wrist exposed to the sunlight from the
sliding down of his robe sleeve.
What made one even more speechless was, at the bottom of the drum, a snow white furball
crawled on the drum rack, using its head to pound out “peng peng peng” noises. Every three times
its master hit the drum, it collided with the drum once in a precise interval, its attitude completely
focused.
Who else could it be other than that unscrupulous pair of master and pet?
Meng Fuyao’s mouth opened wide enough to fit Master Yuanbao inside. She froze in her seat, not
knowing whether to pound her wooden gavel, or to quickly flee. Before her thoughts could
complete, the man pounding the drum had already gracefully set down the mallet. He
nonchalantly tidied his clothes, even smiling and nodding to the ladies gathered outside, then
strode inside amidst a chorus of stunned gasps.
A certain fat ball squatted on his shoulder, its gaze dignified as it gazed around complacently.
Upon careful observation, a bit of scorn could be detected in its eyes – that official’s robe was so
ugly!
Fuyao was struck speechless for a while. Suddenly she sniffed and raised her head, encouraging
herself.
Ai … wasn’t it just someone running over to plea a case? Even if this person was just a little teeny
bit special, and his true motives for filing the case just a little teeny bit suspicious, she definitely
could just pretend he was a commoner who was actually bringing a case.
Only … why did she keep feeling a little guilty in her heart?
Fuyao’s eyes drifted around without stopping. She drifted to the crossbeams, drifted to the tables,
drifted down to the ground, only unwilling to drift and face the front. She touched the documents,
touched her robes, touched her hair, only unwilling to touch that judge gavel to start the case.
On her face was clearly written, “I’m heartless, I’m so guilty”. The light-robed man in front of her
was unable to resist grinning, but Master Yuanbao only rolled its eyes.
Outside the hall stood many citizens, all wanting to see how the new city master would preside
over a case, and see what complaints this unusually striking man had. The crowd’s fervent eyes
fixed on young delicate substitute city master on her podium, then examined the good-looking
case-bringer underneath. No matter how they looked, it seemed like the two people’s expressions
were quite strange; the new city master’s face was particularly odd, and there seemed to be a bed
of coals placed beneath her, causing the judge to twist and shift constantly.
It had been silent for a long time. The commoners began to whisper to one another. Fuyao had her
hand forced, and could only cover her face while feebly knocking down the gavel. Hoarsely she
said, “Who are you down in the hall? What is your purpose of complaint?”
Her gaze furtively glanced over Yuan Zhaoxu, uncertain what kind of bad idea he had in mind. She
saw Yuan Zhaoxu raise his eyes in a smile, then drag out, “Honorable Elder …”
Fuyao shivered.
Yuan Zhaoxu didn’t relent. With a lift of his robes, he actually prepared to kneel down.
She directly leapt up in horror and was just about to yell stop. However, Yuan Zhaoxu was only
misleading her. His knees bent a little then straightened again. He scratched his head chuckling,
“Aiya, Honorable Elder, this one forgot that I was bestowed an official rank, when I meet Elder
there is no need to kneel.”
Fuyao’s teeth were on the edge as she glared at him. Suddenly she didn’t feel guilty anymore,
what was she feeling guilty about? This guy never took a loss. He would always eventually return
the favor to her! Then, what was the use of feeling apologetic about him?
She immediately stood straight and savagely slammed the gavel, loudly yelling, “Hand over the
formal complaint!”
With a smile, Yuan Zhaoxu took out a piece of cloth from his robes. The temporary court overseer
Yao Xun went up to receive it. His finger lifted up a little so that he could see the thing inside the
cloth, and immediately he revealed a conflicted expression, not daring to laugh. He held back a
smile as he tiptoed over with the fabric.
Fuyao curiously took it – this guy actually had a complaint?
When she opened it up to look, a complete fish’s head rolled out from the bundle.
She stared at that treasure with an exasperated look. Fuyao recognized the thing as the remains of
that fish she devoured on Green Pearl Mountain.
Strange, didn’t she throw it away? When did he go and retrieve it?
Truly an exceptionally strange “complaint”, huh …
Before she thought things through, she heard the person below speak in a speed neither fast nor
slow. “Junior, Yuan Zhaoxu, sues the Tai Yuan native surnamed Meng who took advantage of me
then left me, deserted me and my feelings, and turned completely fickle and heartless …”
Meng Fuyao almost spat a mouthful of blood out.
What kind of stinking complaint was this?

Yuan Zhaoxu, Brother Yuan, this is a court of law, this is the Infinite Empire’s central administration
in Yao City! How can you speak those words?
I … took advantage of you and left, deserted you, spurned your feelings, was fickle and heartless?
Her fingers trembled. She really wanted to pick up the fish bones and throw them in Yuan
Zhaoxu’s face! Unfortunately, this was a court of law, and she really couldn’t afford to lose face.
Thinking of Yuan Zhaoxu’s phrase “take advantage and leaving”, her face involuntarily flushed
scarlet. She furiously glared at Yuan Zhaoxu for a time, but to no avail – the person’s face was
serious, just like that white-furred rat on his shoulder, with no hint of shame at all.
Fuyao had no choice but to deepen her voice and hatefully say, “This sir’s complaint does not
seem to fulfill requirements.”
“Really?” Yuan Zhaoxu faintly smiled, then pointed at that piece of cloth. “Would Honorable Elder
give the citizens here a look at the complaint? This junior feels that it should fulfill the
requirements for a complaint quite well – even a token of love has been attached to the complaint
as proof.”
Gossip was an ability that all people in all eras would possess. The moment they heard “token of
love”, the various citizens below all surged forward with a hubbub, wanting to get a look at the
treasure that was mysteriously bundled in the cloth. Honorable Elder Meng, however, could only
weep without tears with regards to the fish bones … alright … the token of love.
With a couple swift movements she quickly put away the “token of love”, in the same motion
pinching it into dust. Then she solemnly stated, “What you said is also reasonable. This official has
already taken a look. Since it’s like this, this official will take care of this complaint. Only, we are
within the Infinite Empire, and you reporting a Tai Yuan citizen is not something that this one has
jurisdiction over. How about you go to Tai Yuan and file a complaint?”
Once she was finished, she felt very pleased with her own quick thinking. In her view, Yuan Zhaoxu
definitely wouldn’t be able to say anything else now. She shifted her butt in preparation to leave
the hall, yet at that moment the man only gave another chuckle.
The moment Fuyao saw his smile, goosebumps rose on her skin, and she instantly stopped
moving. As expected, she heard him say, “Elder, although this girl is a Tai Yuan citizen, she is fond
of traveling. Recently she has lurked within the Infinite Empire’s borders, precisely here in Yao
City. Furthermore, she swindles wealth and seduces men – it’s hard to say, after tormenting me, if
she will continue to harm others. Please, Elder, for the sake of all the common people, arrest and
bring this woman to justice as soon as possible!”
“Swi-swin-swindle wealth and … se-se-seduce … men …” Elder Meng began to stutter out,
“Swindle wha-what wealth … wha-what seducing …”
“She swindled away a strand of fur from my pet’s butt. This pet’s fur is not mere common fur.
Usually a servant will groom the fur, and every strand of it is worth thousands of gold.” The
“precious pet whose fur is worth thousands of gold” on Yuan Zhaoxu’s shoulder immediately spun
around, raising its plump rear end to show the Honorable Elder its “precious fur that was cruelly
plucked out”. Of course, it was basically impossible to discern the spot where the strand had been.
“As for seducing …” Yuan Zhaoxu lightly smiled, lowering his long eyelashes. His pupils glowed with
a brilliant light that rippled like water. “This junior is too embarrassed to say. Honorable Elder
should already know.”
Most shameless didn’t exist, only more shameless! This partnership of master and pet that loved
to put on their “comedy duo” skit was really going too far! Fuyao struggled with herself for a
while, then suddenly leaped up. With a bang of the gavel she loudly proclaimed, “In consideration
of this case’s special circumstances and the private affair of the strange precious fur, the public
hearing will stop here! Attendants, close the gates and bring out the dogs!”
The great door rumbled as it closed over the curious gazes of the citizens. Some still didn’t give up
and crowded around the gate gap, wanting to peek inside, guessing that “the new Elder and this
mysterious victim must be an adulterous couple” and so forth. Fuyao ordered people to toss water
out from the gate gaps, successfully driving away the master gossipers.
Finally, Honorable Elder Meng kicked and pushed away the snickering Yao Xun and the bright-eyed
Little Dagger who were watching the show, and afterwards collapsed onto her seat to miserably
wail, “Alright … Prince Yuan, Master Yuan, Elder Yuan, spare me and stop playing around anymore,
please?”
Yuan Zhaoxu slowly stepped over. He leaned over to look at Meng Fuyao, then chuckled, “The
Honorable City Master looks quite well. Seems like you’ve been living a carefree and nourishing
lifestyle.”
“I’m not carefree, I’m not nourished.” Fuyao lifelessly replied. “I’m regretful, I’m a sinner.”
Yuan Zhaoxu’s eyes flashed. He was a little suspicious that she was being so well-behaved. Then,
he smiled imperceptibly; this girl seemed fierce and merciless on the surface, but actually she was
still too naïve inside. Otherwise how could her heart be filled with so much guilt that she retreated
time after time? He had originally thought she would jump up to counter his words just now.
In front of others, Fuyao was never this agreeable.
Yuan Zhaoxu good-naturedly patted her shoulder, saying, “Honorable City Master, are you not
planning to receive your old friend who traveled so far to get here?”
“Oh,” Fuyao crawled up like a dog, replying, “There are no more extra courtyards, do you mind
squeezing in with Zong Yue?”
“Sir Zong has gone to the Sui River,” Yuan Zhaoxu carelessly answered, “Prince De’s sickness
worsened, and asked for him to go over to treat him.”
Fuyao turned her head back to stare at him. “You and Zong Yue, what’s your relationship?”
“Friends of mutual interest. If one day our interests conflict, we would be enemies.” Yuan Zhaoxu
replied without hesitation.
“You must be really idle,” Fuyao continued to interrogate, her eyes craftily bright as she fixed him
with her gaze. “Can the assistants of the Crown Prince casually run about at anytime?”
“The Crown Prince dispatched me to the southern border as a military inspector, this is official
business for me.” Yuan Zhaoxu held back a smile as he looked at her. “What else do you want to
know?”
“I still want to know how black your heart is, and how many twists and turns you still have in your
stomach …” Fuyao grumbled.
Yuan Zhaoxu only pretended he didn’t hear anything. He followed her and stepped into the inner
courtyard, and the two walked through the little flower garden. The southern border’s climate was
humid and warm. In the flower courtyard was growing winter bougainvillea, their leaf petals large
and brilliantly purple and scarlet. The swathes of colorful flowers were a kind of intense yet wild
beauty.
Gazing over from afar, the mauve-colored, wide sleeve-robed man and the nimble youth dressed
in dai walked together, their auras elegant; they themselves were also a rare picturesque scene.
Meng Fuyao passed through the flowers as her fingers brushed the silk-textured petals. In her
heart suddenly arose an unusual tranquility and silence. Everything that had happened ever since
arriving at Yao City, the slaughtering and flowing of blood, the coups and revolts, had continuously
charged towards her like blood-colored smoke. She had been valiantly persisting through
everything, but now she suddenly felt tired. A fatigue that arose from within her blood swept
through her entire body in the blink of an eye.
She tilted her head to look at the man beside her. Was it because of him? It seemed that as long as
he was present, she would relax for some reason. She would begin to unshackle herself, from the
depths of her soul, and feel a quiet peacefulness. This man, this man who could influence her
inner emotions, whose effect on her couldn’t be considered small – did she really only meet him
for the first time a couple months ago?
Her humorous expression and interested gaze in this instant, revealed the gentle flowering of a
young girl, that even she herself did not realize. Yuan Zhaoxu discovered this, and leaned his head
towards her in a smile. He suddenly bent down to pick a bougainvillea. Taking off her judge’s cap,
he made a motion as if to place the flower in her hair.
Fuyao’s face reddened and she subconsciously shifted away. Suddenly a white glow flashed. The
love-rival of Fuyao took advantage of her instance of embarrassment to shoot up, baring its teeth
in excitement as it neared the flower!
A big red flower … the master is giving it … the blooming of youth … the fluttering of emotions …
Master Yuanbao’s teeth had bared so wide that its eyes couldn’t even be seen anymore, and its
entire body’s white fur rippled in agitation.
The hand holding the flower, however, suddenly shifted away. Then, a darkness appeared in front
of Master Yuanbao’s eyes. Something huge came covering down over its head all of a sudden,
engulfing the mouse within.
With an unchanged expression, Yuan Zhaoxu used the cap to wrap up his pet, then with a lift of his
hand he hung the hat onto a neighboring tree. Smiling as if nothing had happened, he gently
placed the flower in Fuyao’s hair.
The hair was dark, while the flower was fiery scarlet, pairing with the young woman’s naturally
resplendent eyes. It was a spellbinding, soul-stirring beauty of the mortal world.
A light breeze caressed, bringing over a delicate fragrance. Yuan Zhaoxu stood with his hands
clasped amidst the flowers, carefully examining the person in front of him. Deep conflict rose up in
his eyes as past memories flitted past. After some time he said, “I still prefer it more when you
wear female attire and flowers.”
His words were slow as if there was deeper meaning to them. When Fuyao heard him her heart
jumped, and she felt that something wasn’t right with what he said. Forgetting her embarrassment
for the time being, she was just about ask, when Yuan Zhaoxu turned and continued to walk.
Behind him, Master Yuanbao clutched onto the official’s cap, piteously crying out for rescue.
Meng Fuyao grumpily picked up the hat, and with a couple shakes, she flung Master Yuanbao
straight into the air, causing it to dive into its master’s merciless embrace.
“Since you are the military inspector, you should be at Sui River, why have you come here? Yuan
Zhaoxu’s steps were not large, but he was walking very fast. Fuyao struggled to keep up behind
him.
“Is Yao City not considered the front line?” Yuan Zhaoxu’s head didn’t even turn. “Here Rong and
Han intermingle in the border between the Rong clans and the inner territory. This city is the true
place of strategic importance …” Halfway through his words he suddenly reached out his hand,
with a grab pulling out a little person out from behind a tree besides him. “En? Is this part of the
pretty scenery? Does the garden look really beautiful?”
The child eavesdropping was suddenly dragged out by him, giving her a scare, but she only glared
silently with her eyes that were like a little animal’s. It was Little Dagger. She lifted her eyes to
meet Yuan Zhaoxu’s pupils, without the slightest hint of fear. Fuyao silently admired her – she
knew how intense Yuan Zhaoxu’s gaze could be. It was rare that such a little kid could remain so
unshaken.
Yuan Zhaoxu’s brows furrowed as he looked at the kid. A strand of profound thought flashed in his
eyes, after which he slowly closed his eyes, as if trying to recall something. Then he opened his
eyes and smiled.
When Fuyao saw his expression she couldn’t help but curl her mouth in disapproval. Ai, this
person just loved to act mysterious all the time!
Originally, she thought Yuan Zhaoxu would say something about Little Dagger’s appearance, but
Yuan Zhaoxu didn’t say anything at all. He released the child, then asked Fuyao as if he were the
host, “The building beside the garden is not bad, I’ll have some people tidy it up?”
Meng Fuyao blankly gave a sound of assent, after which Yuan Zhaoxu very familiarly dispatched
the various attendants to go clean. She even heard him smoothly give the order, “City master lives
in the back? No, the city master is going to move, she’ll live next to here, right, switch her to here.”
With a face of exasperation, Fuyao watched the entire courtyard’s attendants obediently running
around under Yuan Zhaoxu’s command, in only a moment moving her living quarters. She asked
with shock, “Why move?”
“I want to place you somewhere I can see.” Yuan Zhaoxu pulled her with him. “This way I won’t
have to worry about you disappearing again all of a sudden.”
There was slight discontent in his tone. Fuyao awkwardly looked away, muttering, “Wasn’t it just
leaving once without saying anything, I didn’t even leave the Infinite Empire, so narrow-minded.”
Yuan Zhaoxu chuckled but didn’t respond. At this time, Fuyao suddenly thought of that body in the
jail, and showed worried frown. She couldn’t help but ask Yuan Zhaoxu how she should handle the
matter, so Yuan Zhaoxu followed her to the jail to look. Kneeling in front of Ah Shina’s body, he
was silent for a while, then suddenly said smilingly, “This is not hard. Don’t things like human skin
masks exist?”
Fuyao was speechless as she looked at him – this was an official of the Infinite Empire, he was your
subordinate! Do you really have so little conscience as to take their face to make a mask? Even I’m
not as heartless as you!
Yuan Zhaoxu understood the message behind her eyes, and glanced at her humorously. “You have
a conscience, then just leave Ah Shina a whole body. As for what will happen during the ‘Deity
Festival’, who cares? If the sky falls down you’ll be the one to hold it up.”
Fuyao plaintively looked at that mind-reading fellow who never did things half-measure. She
waved her hand to arrange for Yao Xun to find someone whose body shape matched Ah Shina’s.
Yuan Zhaoxu closed the door, then an hour later handed her a box, saying, “It can be used after
air-drying for a couple days.”
She opened it and took a peek. A while later she asked, “Is there still anything in the world that
you can’t do?”
“Yeah.” Yuan Zhaoxu answered without hesitation.
“Yeah?” Fuyao tilted her head, thinking that he would say something really difficult.
“Something I can’t do,” Yuan Zhaoxu stared at her until Fuyao felt a little shy inside, upon which he
leisurely said, “I would never leave someone who cared about me without even a word of
warning.”
Fuyao wailed in her heart.

Mother of … I’m never going to offend this guy ever again!

Chapter 19 (Part B) – The Infinite Heart
In the southern border’s winter night, beneath a waxing crescent moon, there was a type of bone-
penetrating clamminess. A layer of light frost crystallized on the window paper was suddenly
evaporated by a burning charcoal fire.
Fuyao nibbled on her bedsheet corner as she sat on the bed. She couldn’t get into the state of
mind to cultivate her qi – there was no way she could, since in the next room was a certain person
who was apparently bathing.
Yes, bathing …
Flowing and splashing water. Lamp light shone through a crack in the wall.
Yes, a crack in the wall.
This building was relatively unique – Ah Shina’s building architecture was half Rong-styled and half
Han-styled, all constructed of wood, with the separating walls all made of wooden logs. Some of
the gaps between the wood were relatively large, so basically, if one quickly shifted from side to
side in front of the gaps between the columns of logs, they could roughly see all of the spring
scenery of their neighbor.
Currently, Fuyao’s bed was positioned directly towards a fairly large gap in the wood. She sat there
with complete seriousness, desperately trying to prevent her eyes from wandering directly in front
of her to catch a glance.
If she looked boils would grow on her eyes … she was an honorable person!
The honorable person focused her eyes on her nose, and her nose focused on her heart. She
listened to the flowing water as she practiced her cultivation.
Before she finished revolving qi in her dantian, her gaze suddenly slid. She glimpsed through the
largest crack and saw a white shadow, strange, it wasn’t there before, what was it?
The incredibly curious Fuyao immediately found herself a completely reasonable excuse to act as a
peeping Tom – let’s check out what that was?
She jumped off the bed barefoot and tiptoed closer. After she walked in front of the gap, her eyes
moved closer. Suddenly, a strand of overhanging white fur poked her eyelid.
Fur?
Fuyao looked at the crack in the logs with shock – a white-bellied fat ball was currently spreading
its four claws out to its maximum extent, firmly plugging in front of the gap. It was precisely the
white shadow.
Once it felt someone near, the well-prepared Master Yuanbao turned its head. Jet-black, beady
eyes met the stare of the peeping pervert. The two large pupils widened. Inside Master Yuanbao’s
gaze was instantly conveyed all of its contempt:
“I knew you were going to peep!”
Master Yuanbao was the tragic hero that plugged its own fat body, into the only gap where its
master could barely be made out bathing. It was much more righteous and noble than any of
those other soldiers that blocked bullets and charged bunkers!
Only I can look at the master!
Fuyao looked at it speechlessly. Her heart’s depths were filled with extreme awe at Master
Yuanbao’s almost perverted persistence and possessiveness.
She decided she would transform this awe into actual action! She would make everything clear
between her and her heart’s role model.
Grinning at Master Yuanbao, Fuyao suddenly shot out a hand. She broke through the gap and
grabbed Master Yuanbao in one swift motion.
The latter instantly erupted into squealing cries and desperate wriggling. It wanted to protect both
its own safety and its master’s spring beauty, so it thrashed its arms and legs crazily! Fuyao
chuckled, “Don’t worry, I won’t peek at your spouse, I just want to have a heart to heart talk with
you.”
Just when she was clutching Yuanbao and about to walk away, she heard a person’s voice
suddenly pass through the crack, holding a hint of humor.
“You said you wouldn’t look, but just then when you grabbed Yuanbao, what were your eyes
desperately trying to catch a glimpse of through the crack?”
Meng Fuyao stroked her nose. She loudly proclaimed, “I saw a stinkbug sneak to the other side. I
was helping you search for it.”
“Really?” The man’s voice brimmed with humor as usual. Suddenly he quietly gave an “ow!” Then
with an extremely seductive tone: “There actually is a stinkbug here, so itchy! Fuyao, quickly come
over, help me scratch my back.”
“…”
A pause.
An object emitting a bizarre odor flashed through the crevice like lightning. It directly shot towards
the bathtub of the neighboring room.
With it came a person’s great yell, that carried billowing killing intent.
“Insect-Extermination Pill, buy one get one free! Guaranteed effect, will kill in an instant! An
essential item for baths both home and abroad!” ——–
“Ai, Master Yuanbao. To be honest you really had no need to block the gap. Look, your body is so
out of shape, and you are so heavy! Aren’t you tired when you plug the wall?”
Master Yuanbao leisurely turned around. Its butt faced Fuyao, indicating a breakdown in
negotiations. She immediately stretched out a hand to turn it around.
“Don’t you feel like there’s been a misunderstanding between us? And you know, when dealing
with stuff like misunderstandings, communication is key! Come, come, stop hiding and ducking
around. Spill out the secret sinful love and forbidden incest and interspecies fetishes and all the
bad stuff that he hides to me!”
Master Yuanbao stretched out a claw, agonizingly covering its face. It felt ashamed for the Meng
Fuyao who didn’t know how to use implication at all. Ah ah ah, why did master have to like this
kind of living treasure …
“If you won’t tell me, then I guess I’ll tell you first?” Fuyao was extremely garrulous tonight. She
casually reached under the bed to pull out a jug of wine, and heavily slammed it down on the
table.
“I’m really annoyed, and I really want to talk. But I don’t know who to talk to. Us bosom brothers
have a pretty good relationship, and I have no worries that you’ll divulge any of my secrets, so
come! Let’s be merry, drown our worries with a mouthful …”
In its uncontrollable rage, Master Yuanbao almost plucked out one of its super duper precious furs
– bitch, who are you calling your bosom brother! One of me only appears every hundred years,
but you’re finished in only ten months! How can we even compare?
“… ah, my miseries …” Fuyao thumped her chest again and again, chugging wine with gudu gudu
sounds. “Ah, my conflicts …” Thump thump thump she pounded again, then drank again. “What
will I do, sigh …” Thump thump thump …
Master Yuanbao gaped at the crazed alcoholic in front of it – what was happening? This cockroach
Meng Fuyao, wasn’t she always harder to hit and tougher to hurt than even a real cockroach?
What happened tonight? Was she really so hurt and miserable just because she didn’t get to see
master take a bath?
The kindhearted Master Yuanbao felt like it couldn’t bear it any longer. It began to seriously
consider if it should grant Fuyao one peek through the crack.
En … only a glance … perhaps could be allowed? The master should be finished bathing by now
anyways.
How could Fuyao have known that the white mouse was traveling down a completely different line
of thought than her? She was purely depressed for herself. Ever since arriving at Yao City she had
always been on the edge, and the self-blame and fury she felt for the murder of old Han Hu’s
family made her self-consciously take on the burden of protecting this entire city. In her diligence
she had no time to consider the things she had and didn’t have; yet when Yuan Zhaoxu suddenly
appeared, he was like a great boulder that crashed into the emotional calm she had barely
managed to recover. She was first shy, and then came a gradual joy and peace. However, after her
joy, she was suddenly submerged beneath a great tide of sadness.
Her head ached and she felt dizzy. Her hands and feet grew hot. Unease and annoyance battled.
Her inner heart surged with the colliding waves of happiness and anxiousness, throwing her into
the tug-of-war between yielding to her inner urge, and the admonishment of her logic and
reasoning. The rope could not be severed, nor could there be an order amidst the chaos.
Hey, it couldn’t be the poison flaring up, right? Fuyao murmured while patting her face. Turning
her eyes, she saw Master Yuanbao curiously staring at her. Its dark, glimmering eyes sparkled
translucently, like a pair of high-quality agate gems.
“Hey, I know you understand human speech. However, you can’t possibly read characters too?”
Fuyao craftily smiled. She reached out to pet Master Yuanbao, but the latter immediately ducked
away with dislike. She didn’t mind, though. She sprawled on the table in a daze, dipping her finger
into tea to write some words on the table.
Master Yuanbao wiggled its butt, originally preparing to leave. When its head lowered and it
caught a glimpse of the characters on the table, however, its claws suddenly stopped. After some
thought, Yuanbao faced Fuyao and sat down on its rear end with a plop. From its underbelly it
scooped out a little piece of fruit, which it slowly began to munch on with relish.
Seeing Master Yuanbao actually looking like it was prepared to listen to her confession, Fuyao
couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. Thinking it through, she then thought, the rodent is a rodent
after all. I can’t think of its intelligence too highly. Its probably staying for the cool breeze?
Although, no matter what, even if the mouse was sitting right in front of her, Fuyao still couldn’t
hold herself back anymore.
Tonight’s moon was chilly in color. Flowery fragrance danced in the air. A long wind blew through
the night, and a person stood at heaven’s edge.
It was better to pour out all the things in her heart.
“Fortunately you’re a rodent, otherwise I really wouldn’t have dared to say anything.” Fuyao
grinned at Yuanbao. “I just do not believe you can translate my words into your zhi zhi zhi and say
them to your master.”
Master Yuanbao crunched down on its fruit. It didn’t even lift its head.
“Your master, sigh …” Meng Fuyao made a bitter face as she gazed at the faint light that passed
through the gap in the walls. The expression was like she saw a treasure vault, but could not enter
to take anything. She slowly traced out words on the table. “I think I like him a little, what should I
do?”
With a crunching sound, Master Yuanbao bit down even more ferociously. In only a bite, the core
of the fruit was revealed.
“Don’t be so angry.” She smiled as she looked at it, saying: “Love that passes species boundaries is
doomed to have a tragic outcome. Yuanbao, I urge you, you should put away your fluttering spring
heart. Even if your master won’t belong to me, he still wouldn’t be yours. Aren’t you tired of
rushing around trying to flirt with him all day?”
Master Yuanbao immediately flung its claw. The fruit core inside the claw very accurately shot into
Meng Fuyao’s laughing mouth. She wasn’t prepared for the fellow’s swift revenge, and almost
choked to death. She roughly coughed out the core and shouted, “You horny rodent!”
She cursed for a while. Suddenly, her anger melted away. Fuyao’s chin rested back on the table,
and she started to trace words out again in a half-dead state. “Ay, won’t belong to me … so I
cannot like him, I absolutely cannot.”
Master Yuanbao fixed her with a disdaining gaze. Its eyes filled with a “you’re such a coward” kind
of meaning.
“What do you know.” Fuyao lazily waved her hand, then wrote: “You think I’m one of those
unreasonable women who want to love to don’t dare to? I just don’t want to hurt him. Since I am
destined to leave, why would I willingly create a burden of affection, and cause them a lifetime of
pain?”
She stared blankly at the half-moon hanging on the sky’s edge. Suddenly she slapped the table,
pulled over the wine jug on the table, and desperately started chugging.
Innumerable worries in her heart, a chest filled with melancholy. These were things that shouldn’t
appear in the bold, carefree Fuyao. She hated the feelings, and needed to drown everything away
with strong drink.
As she raised her head to swallow mouthful after mouthful of alcohol, the clear wine flowed down
tracing her chin, wetting her jacket collar.
After three consecutive flasks, Fuyao was finally drunk.
“Yuanbao … Yuanbao …” She hiccupped while holding more wine. Her blurred, dazed eyes
wandered around searching for the rodent. “Listen to me … hey, where’d you go? Hey ….” ——–
The neighboring room’s lamp light glimmered. Yuan Zhaoxu had finished bathing and was reading
underneath the light. Suddenly he heard a light sound – there was something squeezing and
wiggling in the wall crack. Master Yuanbao crawled out bit by bit.
It directly shot in front of Yuan Zhaoxu, and from a far distance Yuan Zhaoxu could already smell
the faint odor of wine. He involuntarily put down his book, chuckling, “You went to steal some
wine again?”
“Zhi zhi!”
“Not you?” Yuan Zhaoxu raised his eyebrows. “Her?”
Master Yuanbao stood up straight, wriggling its stubby tail.
“You have something to tell me?” Yuan Zhaoxu looked at Master Yuanbao. With a stretch of his
hand, the fat rat obediently crawled into his palm. “What do you want to say?”
Yuanbao scratched its head. It felt like expressing what it had just saw Fuyao draw out would be a
little difficult. Master Yuanbao could read the characters, yet had no way to translate them into
Yuanbao speak! It rolled around in a panic on Yuan Zhaoxu’s palm.
When Yuan Zhaoxu saw this, he seemed to have thought of something. After a while he smiled
and said, “I remember there was one time when we played something like the character guessing
game.”
He clapped his hands. Immediately a black-clothed man appeared outside the window. Yuan
Zhaoxu ordered, “Yuanbao’s toys.”
From his sleeve-pockets, the black-clothed man scooped out a box and handed it over, after which
he disappeared into the night.
Master Yuanbao was overjoyed, and immediately crawled up to rummage. The little box was filled
with small paper slips, and upon closer inspection they were not paper, but meticulously crafted
thin cookies made of Fu-ling[1] that had characters printed on them. This was a toy that Yuan
Zhaoxu had once used, on a whim, to teach Yuanbao to recognize characters. In order to act as a
gastronomic reward, he had specifically used food to create the slips – every character Yuanbao
recognized, was another cracker for it to munch on.
Yuanbao dove into the box, but after a while of searching, it seemed like it didn’t find the
character needed, causing Yuanbao to spin around in agitation. Yuan Zhaoxu chuckled, “You don’t
have to look, there’s no character for ‘Meng’[2]. This character isn’t commonly used so I wasn’t
planning on teaching you.”
Master Yuanbao turned around with pleading eyes. Yuan Zhaoxu gently smiled and said, “You
don’t have to look for the three characters ‘Meng Fuyao’[3]. I already know you running over in
such a panic must have something to do with her. She seems a little off, did she tell you
something?”
“Zhi zhi!” Master Yuanbao turned around and started a new round of rummaging. After some time
it retrieved the character “part”. A little later it flipped out another word, “from”.
The humor in Yuan Zhaoxu’s eyes disappeared. He studied the two words silently.
Master Yuanbao continued to rummage. These words it actually could express, but it didn’t want
to. A moment later it pulled out the word “like”.
The light in Yuan Zhaoxu’s eyes flashed. Master Yuanbao, though, didn’t continue to search. Its
two claws hugged out the word “you”. It angrily looked at the word for a while, really not wanting
to show it to Yuan Zhaoxu. After thinking a bit, it savagely munched up the word.
Yuan Zhaoxu carefully looked at the two words, then leaned back on his chair. He beckoned over
the rebellious Yuanbao to gently stroke its smooth white fur.
As he leaned, his long, slightly damp hair that hadn’t been tied up covered his shoulders, bringing
an extra sense of poetic elegance to the scene. In the dim yellow lamp light, the expression in his
eyes glimmered with calmness, its flowing brilliance like starlight.
Only after a long time did he stand up with his hands clasped behind his back. Pacing in front of
the window, he stared into the distance, towards a certain direction. Wind blew his hair flying and
fluttering like a banner.
Firelight outlined his back shadow onto the wooden walls. A slender and profound shadow, that
seemed like it would never be submerged by mortal schemes, nor by life’s highs and lows, nor by
the world’s changes.
The light shown through the wood wall. The binge-drinking girl had finally fallen into a stupor. Her
outstretched hand knocked over the wine jug, causing it to fall onto the ground and roll with
tumbling sounds.
Candlelight extinguished. Cool moonlight shone inside.
In the stillness, the wood door suddenly creaked, and a slender figure quietly walked in. They
stopped in front of the heavily drunk Fuyao, then used their arms to carry her up.
Fuyao disobediently rolled around, her body weight shifting. The dark figure’s center of gravity
dipped, and caught unaware, he was pulled down stumbling. She instantly hooked her arms
around like an octopus. Tightly clinging to him, she murmured, “This blanket is so warm … so
good.”
The dark shadow paused, but didn’t pull aside her evil hands. Firelight from the other room
flickered into this room, illuminating his breathtaking eyes. The supremely elegant Yuan Zhaoxu
had eyes full of gentleness in this instant.
He lowered himself down to lie by Meng Fuyao’s side. They rested on the slightly chilly wooden
floorboards.
Yuan Zhaoxu rested sideways on his elbow. Using the scattered lamp light, he intently studied
Meng Fuyao’s peaceful, slumbering face. He listened to her breathing and his breathing,
synchronize and meld into an inseparable whole.
It was a quiet hour. In the garden in front of the buildings, a flower petal delicately gathered a
drop of dew.
Time passed. Yuan Zhaoxu lightly reached out a hand to brush away some stray hairs on Fuyao’s
face.
His quiet but graceful words dissipated into the silent space.
“Fuyao … everything will be alright.”
Footnotes
A type of mushroom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfiporia_extensa
孟 The family name Meng in Meng Fuyao’s name
孟扶摇 = Meng Fuyao

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2 - The Infinite Heart

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Chapter 1 – Pillage Wealth and Plunder Beauty

Infinite Empire’s Zhenning 15th year, winter.

Southern border of Infinite Empire, Crimson Rock Mountains.

“I cut through this mountain …”[1]

Under the sunlight Meng Fuyao suddenly narrowed her eyes.

Chapter 2 – Who Will Discipline Who?

Zong Yue’s expression didn’t change, calm and undisturbed.

After Fuyao thought for a bit, she suddenly smiled.

“Your page? Who?” Meng Fuyao narrowed her eyes.

“Then let us see, who will discipline who.”

Chapter 3 – Thief of the Xinggong[1]

“Freestyle swimming technique! Here I come!”

1. 行宫 = xinggong, a temporary imperial palace for short stays by the Emperor

Chapter 4 – Beauty at the Lake Heart

Chapter 5 – Vividly Beautiful

The voice was low and elegant, containing a never-changing smile.

Sure enough it was a beauty, a male beauty.

From the water surface splattered out small ripples.

“Hey, was the bath refreshing?”

“What, can’t you talk in human speech?”

With a black face Meng Fuyao replied. “Too large.”

Or maybe, it was because she didn’t want to dig deeper.

1. Palmistry: Part of traditional Chinese superstitions, here is a basic guide to palm

2. baobao = “宝宝”, means my precious or my baby

Chapter 6 – Drinking at the Qinglou

For example, Yuan Zhaoxu.

“Deep Spring Pavilion” ——–

… Kao, child prostitutes …

3. guigong, “龟公”, is a male steward or bouncer who works in qinglous.

chapter-7 – My Longing Heart

Everything was spinning.

“One day, you will know the answer.”

chapter-8 – The Shocking Abandoned Courtyard

Drowsily opening her eyes, she saw a snow white butt.

The origin of the itch was from this.

“What is this?” Meng Fuyao narrowed her eyes.

“The door is open.”

Ten Great Punishments – cruel punishments used on criminals in Ancient China

chapter-9 – The Hero Under the Heavens

“Zhangsun Wuji … you demon …”

However, a light cough suddenly sounded behind her.

Afterwards, he actually bent at the waist to express his apologies.

“Actually, you very much are a woman…” ————

“Zhangsun Wuji you bastard blood descendant …”

Chapter 10 – Picking Flowers Under the Moon

His pants suddenly fell down —

As the glow neared, Yuan Zhaoxu suddenly turned.

A second of deathly silence.

Under the moon.

A quiet plucking of the flower.

Moonlight brightened for an instant.

“Who was that?”

Chapter 11 – Sacrifice In Place of Another[1]

Midnight settled in the small alley, still and soundless.

“Truly?” Guo Pingrong’s eyes brightened.

Chapter 12 – The “Sorrowful” Page

What and what now … ?

About me smiling at you – who don’t I smile at!?

And also, her suddenly louder voice just then …

“Where do you think you’re going!”

At the same time she laughed out, “Eat my bomb!”

Chapter 13 – Green Pearl Meeting