An hour after Puhuna disappeared, the rain finally stopped.
Two or three watches later, Lu Songping arrived with several Black Feather hidden guards. Due to the landslides, the entire Black Feather battalion had been delayed for a long time, forced to dig through mud and silt to enter the valley. The entire valley was a mess; the rain had extinguished the fires in the brush and woods, but it had also soaked the loose mountainside through. Silt and sand continued to tumble down, re-burying the paths that had been cleared earlier that morning.
Xiao Nanhui held the iron shovel she had used to transplant the plum tree the day before, digging into the mountainside one scoop at a time.
She had been digging for three full hours. After the rain ceased, the chill of early autumn began to spread through the mountains, yet she was drenched in sweat, her layers of clothing soaked through.
Lu Songping stood not far away beneath a small pine tree that had been tilted by the mudslide. The other hidden guards stood further back, upright and silent in the morning mist, looking no different from the pines and cypresses themselves.
"Stop digging."
Lu Songping finally spoke, but Xiao Nanhui had no intention of stopping.
"There is a cave entrance here. They all left through it. If I dig it out, I can take men and pursue them..."
"They have been gone for hours. How do you intend to pursue them?"
"Even if I cannot catch them, there will be clues. Once we know which path they took, we can send men to set up checkpoints at the provincial borders to block them."
"If that is the case, I could simply deploy troops to block the main roads. That would be faster than you digging through a mountain here."
Irritated by his words, Xiao Nanhui slammed the shovel into a crevice in the rock.
"Lu Songping, you seem to have plenty of leisure! Why aren't you looking for Ding Weixiang or that man Luo He? Why must you pester me here?!"
Lu Songping’s expression remained impassive; he had clearly mastered seventy or eighty percent of his master's composure.
"Lieutenant Ding has other matters assigned to him. As for Mr. Luo He... he has not been found yet. For now, my mission is to take you away from here."
"Away from here?" A light laugh escaped through her teeth, sounding more painful than a sob. "Away to where? Are you taking me to chase them? Or back to the Black Feather camp?"
"Back to Que City."
Lu Songping took an object from his sleeve and unfurled it.
Xiao Nanhui had seen such a thing before. It bore three jade buckles that had to be undone one by one when read.
It was an imperial decree.
"I have come under orders to escort Lady Xiao back to the city."
Xiao Nanhui snatched the decree and hurled it to the ground. The four black-clad hidden guards standing nearby lowered their heads at the sight.
"He isn't even here! Whose orders are you following?! Lu Songping, this is deceiving the Emperor—deceiving those above and hiding the truth from those below!"
Lu Songping looked at the woman’s furious face, then simply bent down to pick up the decree, gently brushing the dust from it.
"To see the decree is to see His Majesty. This act of yours is enough to have your head taken ten times over."
Xiao Nanhui let out a cold snort.
"If you want my head, say so plainly. There is no need to be so circuitous."
With a flick of his wrist, Lu Songping thrust the front of the decree directly before her eyes.
"The decree was written a month ago. It bears His Majesty’s private seal. You may see for yourself."
The surrounding air suddenly fell silent.
She stopped speaking, her head slowly drooping. Blood began to seep from between her fingers where they gripped the shovel, a result of the friction and force, yet she seemed not to notice. She only gripped it tighter, desperately exerting even more strength to dig at the sand and stone that could never be finished.
Lu Songping watched her quietly for a moment before suddenly speaking.
"Lady Xiao, I have accompanied His Majesty for over a decade. When there is something he wishes to do, no one can stop him. When there is something he wishes to prevent, he always finds a way to ensure he is not placed in a passive position." He paused, weighing his words, before finally delivering the last sentence. "His decision to leave with the Xiao family was one he made long ago. Do you understand?"
Xiao Nanhui still did not speak, digging one shovel at a time.
The mountain rocks loosened and came crashing down, instantly smoothing over the gap she had spent the entire morning digging.
She stared at the rampart forged by the heartless stone, as if seeing herself struggling before a heartless fate.
At the foot of the mountain not far away, a few surviving hens scurried about in panic, yet the distant mountains were exceptionally tranquil. Even the ethereal, formless mist following the rain had dispersed, leaving the sky clear and bright.
Xiao Nanhui finally set down the shovel.
Though she was somewhat slow, she was no fool. She understood what Lu Songping was saying.
If he did not wish it, even if ten Xiao Zhuns or a hundred Xiao Dais came, he would have calculated an opportunity to escape.
In the end, he had decided long ago that he would face everything alone this time—to bring about what he called a "resolution."
But why? Why did she feel this miserable, this frustrated, this disappointed?
She still remembered after they had escaped Se Qiu, after the interrogation of An Lü in Governor Sun’s water dungeon, he had said to her: *The world is vast; how could it not have room for the one who stands by my side?*
But in the end, she had not become the person standing by his side. At the most critical, final moment, he had chosen to step forward, leaving her behind.
He had also said: *If a relationship cannot withstand a test, then do not subject it to one.*
Yet in the end, he had thrown the harshest test of all to her.
After a long time, she finally spoke in a low voice.
"Fine. I will go with you."
She slammed the iron shovel into the earth and said, word by word, "But before I go, I must take something."
****** ****** ******
In front of the collapsed stone house, Li Yuanyuan shattered a rock pinning down a roof beam with a single palm strike, then bent over to move the fragments away one by one.
Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from the side, helping to push the heaviest piece away.
Li Yuanyuan brushed off her hands, thumped her back, and turned to work on another side. Those hands followed her like a shadow.
After this repeated three or four times, the owner of the hands finally spoke.
"This junior has a request. I ask for Senior’s permission."
Li Yuanyuan didn't even lift her eyelids, continuing to clear the earth and rocks from the chicken coop.
Seeing this, Xiao Nanhui stepped back a few paces, dropped to one knee, and performed a formal salute.
"This junior has a request. I ask for Senior’s permission."
Li Yuanyuan did not stop her movements, but she finally spoke.
"And if I do not permit it, what will you do?"
What could she do? She could do nothing but kneel here until the world went dark and her heart broke. But if the other party was determined, what could she truly do?
Xiao Nanhui’s mind raced through a hundred thoughts before she suddenly said, "Does Senior no longer want her plum tree?"
Li Yuanyuan finally turned her head, her drooping lips pressed thin like a curved blade.
"You dare threaten me?"
"This junior would not dare." She had finally learned the art of sophistry and crooked logic. "I am merely speaking the truth. If Senior does not help me this time, I will most likely be hacked to death by a chaotic swarm of blades because I am unarmed. When I am gone, I naturally will not be able to fulfill my promise to care for that tree."
A long silence followed her words. Realizing she might have played the wrong hand, she began to pick herself up.
Xiao Nanhui turned to leave, but returned a moment later, cradling several grey, fluffy bundles in her arms.
She crouched down and set the things down. The lost hens had finally found their way home and scurried toward Li Yuanyuan in a line.
A small smile finally appeared on the rigid face of the old Sword Master, though it turned cold again when she glanced at Xiao Nanhui.
"Take it." Li Yuanyuan counted the surviving chickens and herded them into a temporary coop. "I knew you had your eye on it from the first moment."
Xiao Nanhui froze, almost unable to believe her ears.
"You knew... what I was asking for?"
Li Yuanyuan snorted.
"In this desolate wilderness, I am an old woman with nothing anyone would want except my martial arts and that piece of scrap metal. Or could it be that you’ve taken a fancy to these frightened chickens?"
Xiao Nanhui waved her hands repeatedly, wanting to say more, but Li Yuanyuan had already turned with her hands behind her back toward the ruined back mountain. Xiao Nanhui could only follow.
The woods that had been lush with life yesterday were now a stretch of scorched earth. Li Yuanyuan walked along, using her feet to stomp out the sparks remaining in the embers, her expression growing increasingly grim.
Without the cover of the brush and trees, the Sword Tomb appeared even more abrupt, looking for all the world like a solitary grave.
"Wood governs benevolence; it can blunt the sharp metal of a blade. I hid it in these woods for many years, but now a great fire has forced it out into the world."
Xiao Nanhui looked at Li Yuanyuan’s silent profile and tried to offer comfort.
"A madman once told me: Wood becomes charcoal, charcoal becomes mud, and mud gives life to the forest. All things in this world cycle in such a way."
"When it's gone, it's gone. You actually believe the words of a madman?" Li Yuanyuan kicked aside a piece of charred wood and stood before the Sword Tomb with her arms crossed. "Most who practice the sword are solitary. This sword is even more so; from the day it was forged, it has been driven by a spirit of solitary courage. As the saying goes, the weapon is like the person. Have you truly made up your mind?"
Xiao Nanhui did not speak. She simply stepped forward and gently gripped the hilt, which had grown dull from the wind and rain.
The hilt was thin and narrow, cold to the touch. Just as Li Yuanyuan had said, it carried a sense of desperate resolve.
It was said that there was a certain invisible resonance between a warrior and their weapon. At the moment she gripped the sword, she seemed to hear a silent cry and vibration within the blade.
She drew the sword with a single pull.
****** ****** ******
In the eighth month, the winds in Que City were high and the clouds were light—a fine season.
Xiao Nanhui looked out from the window of the carriage. Dingyu Road in the evening was bustling and noisy. Vendors selling hot soup and fish stew lifted their pot lids, letting white steam drift into the center of the street. Bright red lanterns hung under the eaves like strings of ripe persimmons, casting a warm glow on everyone’s faces.
Spring went and autumn came; their lives had always been like this. Time both flowed and stood still here.
If she could, she wanted so much to jump off the carriage, grab two jars of wine, and run toward Wangchen Tower to return to those leisurely days. But she knew that this time, she would not stay here for long.
The carriage traveled slowly for another half-hour before finally stopping in an alley in front of the West Drum Tower. The bright moon already hung over the corner tower of the southwest palace. As she lifted the carriage curtain, the night chill slowly crept in.
Xiao Nanhui had some idea of where she was going.
"Lady Xiao should put on her hat."
Xiao Nanhui paused, then realized.
Lu Songping had prepared a hooded cloak for her early on. She had initially thought it was for the heavy dew and wind, but now she understood it was actually to hide her face.
It seemed that Que City at this moment was not as peaceful and harmonious as it appeared on Dingyu Road.
The Emperor’s whereabouts were currently unknown; had the court already heard rumors? During his absence, had anyone taken the opportunity to stir up trouble? If something truly happened to him, would all of Que City be plunged into a bloodbath...
Her heartbeat sounded even more chaotic in the quiet night. After a long while, she spoke.
"We have arrived. Can you tell me now why I was summoned back to the city?"
Lu Songping’s shoulder was partially visible outside the carriage door, his voice heavy.
"There are two reasons for summoning Lady Xiao back to the city. First, there is an object that needs to be handed over. Second, there is a person you need to meet. I do not know if the lady wishes to take the object first or see the person first?"
Xiao Nanhui thought briefly and said calmly, "It might be inconvenient to see someone after taking the object. I will trouble Lieutenant Lu to take me to see that person first."
Lu Songping slowly turned and handed the palace lantern hanging from the front of the carriage to Xiao Nanhui.
"Lady Xiao, follow the West Passage all the way north. Someone will be waiting for you outside the West Gate."
Xiao Nanhui was somewhat surprised. She looked up at the silhouette of Jingbo Tower in the night before taking the lantern and jumping down.
Lu Songping drove the carriage away, the sound of the wheels disappearing on the stone road. Xiao Nanhui lifted the lamp and walked slowly north along the palace wall.
In the long passage, not a single palace servant or eunuch could be seen, nor even a guard. After walking a hundred paces, she saw a figure standing at the end of the road. As she drew near, the person turned around; it was Sui Pingchuan.
Today he wore a well-tailored, exceptionally sharp official uniform, his hair neatly bound in a cap. He looked like a completely different person from their last meeting.
When he saw her, there was an irrepressible light in his eyes, but the moment she called out to him, that light extinguished.
"General of the Left."
Sui Pingchuan composed himself and returned the salute.
"Greetings, Officer Xiao."
Her official rank had changed again and again, to the point where even she was confused, but he still preferred to call her "Officer Xiao" rather than "Lady Xiao."
He was keeping his promise, and she had no reason to break it.
"Lieutenant Lu said someone wanted to see me. Could it be the General?"
Sui Pingchuan looked at the woman’s candid gaze. The words of admission were on the tip of his tongue, but he ultimately swallowed them.
"No." He shook his head gently. "The one you are to see is someone else. I am here to lead the way."
Xiao Nanhui still had doubts, but since he did not volunteer the information, she did not press him.
The two walked one after the other in silence.
They passed through the first palace wall, heading toward the guards of the side gate in the northwest corner. It wasn't until she saw the gates of the dungeon that she finally reacted.
She had been wondering who could possibly require the son of Prince Xuanyuan himself to lead the way. Now she understood.
A death row prisoner.
And a death row prisoner held within the Guangyao Camp dungeon under the command of Prince Xuanyuan. This dungeon was located between the second and third palace walls; if the prisoner was not a major criminal, they were someone connected to the Imperial family.
The guards saluted Sui Pingchuan and opened the heavy iron doors, allowing the two to go deep into the pitch-black dungeon.
There were twenty steps leading down to the dungeon level. She reached the nineteenth step and suddenly stopped.
She heard the sound of coughing.
The person coughing did not speak, but even so, she recognized the sound.
She would have recognized that voice even if it were buried in a crowd of hundreds.
Sui Pingchuan, sensing her abnormality, also stopped. He paused before speaking.
"Mr. Zong brought him back personally. His Majesty is currently away, and no one else dares to take charge, so he is currently held under my father’s command. Most of what needs to be asked has been asked. If there is anything you wish to know..."
"You shouldn't have let me see him." Xiao Nanhui’s fists clenched until they creaked, her voice trembling. "As long as I see him, I will surely kill him."
Sui Pingchuan seemed to have known her reaction long ago. He simply took the palace lantern from her hand.
"His Majesty signed his execution warrant long ago—stating that if he were captured alive, he would be left to your disposal. Whether to go in or not is for you to decide."
He had arranged all of this in advance again? What was this? Settling his affairs?
She stood on that last stone step, staring at the flickering shadows on the ground, silent for a time.
No matter. She would walk the bridge he had built for her step by step, and then cross the river she had to cross herself.
The jailer at the final cell door opened the lock. As he passed Xiao Nanhui, she suddenly drew the man's sidearm.
"I will borrow this sword. I shall return it shortly."
The jailer was startled, then stole a glance at Sui Pingchuan’s expression and hurriedly complied before retreating.
Sui Pingchuan took a deep look at the woman’s back and then left as well.
The vast lower level of the dungeon was now left to only two people.
Xiao Nanhui finally stepped down the last stone stair, passed the empty cells, and entered the only one illuminated by firelight. She looked down at the figure sitting upright on the stone platform.
He was finally no longer wearing those loathsome purple robes. Like all death row prisoners, he had been changed into a prisoner’s garb of coarse hemp.
She stared coldly at that face. She had a thousand words of accusation, but in the end, she could say nothing. She only felt a burning sensation trapped in her chest, an unbearable heat.
*Clang.*
She threw the jailer’s sword before him.
"Pick it up."
The other man did not move, not even lifting his eyelids.
The rage finally erupted, burning from her core to her throat. She drew the Jiejia sword from her waist and pressed it against his throat.
"I told you to pick it up!"
She screamed with all her might, her hoarse voice echoing through the dungeon.
The man before her finally moved, but he only slowly opened his eyes, staring with arrogant eyes hidden behind disheveled hair at the cold edge of the blade.
"Such a common blade is not worthy of my use. If you wish to kill me, then kill me. To die by the legendary Jiejia sword—what is there to regret?"
Xiao Nanhui laughed.
She didn't know if she was laughing at his near-idiotic bravado or at the fact that he was still obsessed with a famous sword even at death's door.
She stepped forward quickly, grabbed his collar with one hand, and slammed him violently to the ground. Her fingers tightened into a fist, but just as she was about to strike, the force of her punch stopped half an inch from his face.
Her gaze fell on the collar of his prisoner's garb, and only then did she realize that both of his collarbones were shattered. He could not lift a sword, let alone hold a spoon.
Yan Zi spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm and looked at her sideways.
"In the end, you will never be able to defeat me fairly and squarely. I cannot even play out a good scene of revenge for you. What? Are you disappointed?"
Xiao Nanhui’s rage turned into grief and indignation.
She did not understand how such a person could exist. Indifferent to the lives of others, and equally indifferent to his own.
"In your eyes, besides victory, martial arts, and famous swords, what else is there?!"
"Are those not enough?" The prisoner coughed twice more and continued with a near-obsessive seriousness. "As a warrior, one's soul should belong only to the weapon in one's hand. Yet you waste your bonds on those insignificant people. Is that not foolish?"
A sense of powerlessness rose from her heart. She gritted her teeth.
"You only have people you serve, but no one you are close to. You wouldn't understand."
"So what if you have them? Are you not alone now, just like me?" Yan Zi began to laugh, a rattling sound that seemed full of delight. "Your talent is impure; you have plenty of boorishness but lack focus. Only that bit of solitary courage you show when you want to kill me is somewhat interesting. But looking at it now, you are nothing more than a mediocre person."
The wind stirred the flickering firelight in the dungeon, and the two shadows on the ground swayed with it.
Xiao Nanhui’s profile was hidden in the shadows, but her raised fist slowly unclenched.
"So that's it. This is what you fear most." She paused, then said word by word, "You fear mediocrity."
The man on the ground finally showed a distorted expression. He struggled to rise, only to be pressed back down by the woman.
"Mediocrity? My life has only been accompanied by the extraordinary! How could I be mediocre?!"
"If you truly reached the pinnacle of martial arts, how could your techniques be destroyed in a single move, leaving you in such a state?"
"That was... that was..." The once proud and peerless swordsman was now howling in the filthy dust of the prison cell. "That was unfair! Besides, Xie Li is in his twilight years. I only needed a little more time, and he would have been no match for me! Just a little more time, and I would surely have killed him..."
"You don't have that time." Xiao Nanhui finally let go, leaving the figure to struggle on the ground. "I truly hoped to fight you properly to avenge Bo Lao, Du Juan, and Uncle Chen. But killing you requires no reason, and certainly no more time."
She slowly sheathed the Jiejia sword.
"To die by the Jiejia sword... you are not worthy."
With that, she hooked her toe under the jailer’s sword on the ground, flipping it into her hand. With a most ordinary horizontal sweep, a flower of blood blossomed at the man's throat.
"Let this common blade send you on your way. In your next life, remember not to provoke us mediocre folk. After all, mediocre people do not have as many 'extraordinary' pursuits as you; we only understand the principle of a life for a life."
Blood flowed slowly down the edge of the blade. Her heart was colder and harder than ever before.
Yan Zi was right. She truly wasn't anything special; she only had this bit of solitary courage to sustain her.
The gates of hell had opened, and the person she loved was on the other side. Even if the darkness was boundless and the dangerous path endless, and she held only a flickering lamp and a moment of light, she would walk on alone.
Xiao Nanhui raised her sleeve to wipe the blood from the sword. Without looking back at the writhing figure on the ground, she turned and walked out of the dungeon.
***
