~~~
There is a poison called Bliss of the Foolish. It has the unique effect of making the one who drinks it believe himself to be wise and knowledgeable. Some would say there is no merit to it as everyone is already suffering from this malady. Still, Old Jiang had made Liu Jin drink it, so that he might know its effects. This was back when Liu Jin was still developing his resistance to poisons, long before he received Nine-Headed Snake God’s test. The experience had left him with one of the worst headaches of his life.
This one might just be worse.
He’s been laid on a soft bed with an even softer pillow, but it is hard to focus on anything other than the pain. It is as if his head has been split open with a spiked mace. Liu Jin groans and tries opening his eyes, but the light punishes him for it. It is bright. Far too bright. Liu Jin snaps his eyes shut in an instant.
“Careful, you’re still recovering.”
He recognizes the voice as Lu Mei’s. Though his eyes are closed, Liu Jin can feel her Qi, hear her breathing, and smell her perfume. Most likely, they are alone in one of the rooms of Patriarch Wong’s mansion.
“What happened?”
“As Young Master Feng Zhi suspected, Wong Shou was involved in the attacks.”
She makes no effort to disguise the surprise in her voice, and really, why should she? Who could have suspected it would be Wong Shou who’d been creating the shades?
All those shades…
Bubbling. Festering. Screeching.
“Careful,” Lu Mei warns once more. She does something with her Qi. Not an attack. Liu Jin can feel her Qi reaching out to his and… redirecting something outwards? “Do not agitate yourself. The effects of Wong Shou’s attack still linger on you.”
“Attack? He barely touched me...” As soon as Liu Jin says it, it dawns on him. “The emotions.”
Lu Mei hums her affirmative, gently massaging Liu Jin’s forehead.
“Wong Shou used Yin Qi to project negative emotions onto you. Their intensity overwhelmed you and caused you to lose consciousness.”
“It is similar to your technique then,” Liu Jin notes. Now that he knows what he is looking for, it is easy to locate the excess Yin Qin in his system and expel it. That is what he felt Lu Mei doing earlier. She has probably been helping him while he was unconscious.
“The principle is the same, although my technique is far more subtle and elegant than his.” Liu Jin can almost feel her eyes narrow. “And yet, you fell to such brutish tactics despite expertly dealing with mine.”
Liu Jin manages a smile. “As you said, it was a brutish attack. I was caught off-guard.”
There had been too many emotions all at once for him to deal with. So much doubt. So much fear. So much self-loathing. It had been too much, too fast. The emotions had been so intense Liu Jin had felt them as his own. How could anyone mount the will to defend themselves while feeling so wretched?
“A weak excuse.”
“Not an excuse but the truth. I am an honest person.”
“I wonder. Are you?”
The air in the room changes. Liu Jin opens his eyes and blinks to adjust his vision. His gaze flicks down before rising to meet Lu Mei’s amber eyes.
“I must say. This does send some mixed signals.”
Wind.
While one of Lu Mei’s hands massages his forehead, the other one is surrounded by sharpened wind, mere inches from Liu Jin’s neck.
“Since Young Master Feng Zhi and the others have left to deal with the situation, I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to speak plainly.”
“I don’t know if I’d like that. The last time a person told me to speak plainly to him, it didn’t end well.”
“What a pity. You’ll just have to bear it.” Lu Mei’s tone and expression are completely at odds with what she is doing. Just by listening to her, one would never think she is threatening Liu Jin’s life. “You’re doing a remarkable job of it already. I expected you to be more nervous.”
“You have had me all alone for quite some time.” Liu Jin points out. He wants to shrug but refrains from doing so out of caution. “If you wanted to kill me, you’d have done so by now. Instead, you helped me expel that foreign Qi. You have my thanks for that, by the way.”
“A trifle. Your body was already doing a fine job of getting rid of it. At best, I speeded things up by an hour or two.”
“Nevertheless, I thank you.”
Lu Mei holds his gaze for several seconds before pouting. “You are just determined to take all the fun out of this, aren’t you?”
“It is my nature.” Liu Jin replies, keenly aware of the blade of wind pointed at his throat. “I could pretend to be scared if you wish.”
“No, I hate my men who fake it. That is a woman’s prerogative.”
“I thought changing her mind was a woman’s prerogative.”
“We have many prerogatives.” Lu Mei doesn’t bother fighting her smile. Then again, neither does he. What does that say about him? “We are unfair like that.”
A lull falls over them. Lu Mei’s smile slowly fades away, replaced by a frown.
“Why do you know [Ceaselessly Refining Breath]?”
Liu Jin blinks.
“What?”
“Do not take me for a fool!” Lu Mei snaps at him, her golden eyes flaring with anger. It is the first time he has seen her angry with him. “I might not have noticed it at first, but you have never once stopped using the technique. I began suspecting when I saw you deal with the alcohol back when we became Inner Disciples. Now that I have felt your body expelling Wong Shou’s Qi, I know for sure. You are using [Ceaselessly Refining Breath].”
Lu Mei moves to straddle him, but there is nothing sensual about it. The wind in her hand does not allow his mind to wander.
“Can you imagine my confusion? Why does someone like you know a technique that belongs to the Red Sky Pavilion? Did my father send you? Did my mother?”
Liu Jin just keeps blinking.
“I am afraid I do not understand.”
Out of all the things Li Jin had expected Lu Mei to confront him about, this one hadn’t even been on the list.
“You are using a breathing technique known only by select members of the Red Sky Pavilion,” Lu Mei explains, her voice deliberately slow, a sign of her thinning patience. “You can even maintain it constantly, something few ever manage to achieve. You either thought I wouldn’t notice, or you wanted me to notice. One is an insult. The other one is foolish. Which is it?”
Breathing technique?
He doesn’t use any breathing technique. The only thing Lu Mei could have sensed is… the method to purge himself of poisons and impurities Old Jiang taught him. Was Lu Mei confusing it with a Red Sky Pavilion technique or was there a connection there?
It is not impossible.
Old Jiang had been an Emperor Realm cultivator even after being diminished by the foul poison inside him. With that sort of power comes longevity. The number of things his Master could have done throughout his life is not one Liu Jin dares speculate at. Old Jiang could have easily created the technique and taught it to someone in the Red Sky Pavilion centuries ago.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“The technique I use to purge impurities from my system is one taught to me by my master,” Liu Jin says, deciding there is no harm in being honest. “Whether he had any ties to the Red Sky Pavilion is not something I know about. He taught me, and he died. I can assure you my being in the Eternal Flame Clan has nothing to do with you.”
Lu Mei looks at him in the eyes, face completely blank at first, then with dawning realization.
“Oh, dear. You’re telling the truth.”
“Like I said, I am an honest person.”
Usually.
“Well.” The wind blade vanishes. “This is rather awkward.” She gives him a measuring look. “Not entirely unwelcome, though.”
“Really?” Liu Jin raises an eyebrow. “I’d have thought you’d be offended that I know one of your Sects’ techniques.”
Supposedly.
Lu Mei waves her hand. “As long as you have no ties to my previous Sect, I could care less.”
“I am also married.”
Her hand freezes.
“Now, that is unwelcome.” Her fingers play with his hair. “Why would you bring up something like that now?”
Why, indeed.
“It seemed like the right time,” Liu Jin replies, all too aware he’s alone in a room with an attractive girl who is no longer threatening him.
“Your sense of timing is atrocious,” Lu Mei says bluntly. “What’s next? Are you going to tell me you’re in the Eternal Flame Clan to rescue her?”
Liu Jin chuckles. “No. Nothing like that. We married years ago.”
“And yet you’re here. Alone.”
“Life made demands of her.”
“What an interesting way of not saying anything of substance.”
“It is not an easy topic to talk about,” Liu Jin says, well aware it is he who brought it up. He takes a moment to gather his thoughts. “You have to understand we married young.”
How many years has it been since then? Whenever Liu Jin thinks back to those times, it feels like a lifetime ago. Even though he knows he was married to Xiao Shuang for just a few months, it feels much longer than that.
Sometimes Liu Jin wishes he could go back to those times.
“There were reasons for it. It was a way for our families to reaffirm their bonds with each other.”
“Isn’t that the case for every marriage? You make it sound as if you don’t care for her.”
“Do I?” Liu Jin frowns. “That was not my intention. I quite care for her and would like to see her again one day, although I am not sure if that will ever happen.”
And if it did, how would Xiao Shuang react? Certainly, they had said many things to each other, but that was a lifetime ago.
Before his foolishness had doomed Eastern Port City.
“Interesting.” Lu Mei hums softly, neither happy nor angry. “Do you care for me?”
Did he?
“Against my better judgment.”
Is it because he finds her attractive? That’s part of it. Liu Jin can freely admit he is not blind to Lu Mei’s beauty, nor is he immune to it. However, it is not just that. If Lu Mei were just beautiful, it’d be easy to look past it. There is something else.
For good or ill, there is part of him that enjoys spending time with Lu Mei.
“I see. I suppose I can forgive a few imperfections. I am a magnanimous woman.”
Liu Jin leans his head to the side. “I’d have thought your interest in me would have diminished just now.”
“On the contrary, I am relieved to know you have nothing to do with the Red Sky Pavilion. As for your wife...” Her lips form a thin line. “Regrettable, but not unworkable.”
Liu Jin’s eyebrow goes higher still. Lu Mei shamelessly shrugs.
“Do not misunderstand. I am not about to demand that you demote your wife to a concubine or profess my undying love for you. You have not earned that. I merely see no reason to distance myself from you. You were interesting before, and you’re more so now.” She leans in even closer to him. Their noses are almost touching. “That is why it is such a pity we have other things to worry about right now.”
In the blink of an eye, Lu Mei leaves the bed and opens the windows. Liu Jin tries not to focus on the disappointment he feels at that and instead makes sure he has purged all the foreign Qi from his body before rising.
There is only one thing he can say once he looks out the window.
“That was not there before.”
A tower rises from the Night Forest. It has no doors or windows Liu Jin can see. It’s an ugly, misshapen thing pulsing with Qi. Parts of it look like crystal; others, like flesh. However, what is truly concerning are the scores of shades in the forest. There are so many even the mist fails to hide them.
“The Elders are busy reinforcing the barrier around the city to prevent the shades from getting in,” Lu Mei says, pointing to the skies. The barrier had been completely invisible before. Now, a translucent dome surrounds Night Phantasm City, and a smaller one covers the Bright Phantasm Sect’s compound.
“And Feng Zhi?”
“Where else?” Lu Mei lowers her finger until it points to the tower. “He took Bei Hong and Huang Shing with him.”
Liu Jin is about to ask about Patriarch Wong, but Lu Mei beats him to it. “Feng Zhi deemed it important for Patriarch Wong to stay here in case the situation changes. Of course, the real reason is that he is Wong Shou’s father. His judgment cannot be trusted right now.”
Liu Jin cannot say he disagrees. Under these circumstances, Patriarch Wong is a potential burden. Even if he is on the same level as Feng Zhi, he cannot be trusted to remain impartial, not when his son is so clearly involved in this. It is better for him to remain here to keep the city safe.
“And because Wong Shou is involved, Feng Zhi can’t just destroy that tower. Is that how it is?”
Feng Zhi is on the First Level of the Earth Realm. His strength should be more than sufficient to destroy that tower as well as the surrounding area. It would not even make him break a sweat.
However, doing such a thing would also kill Wong Shou.
“Correct.” Lu Mei glances at him. “So? How is he related to this? Bei Hong was following you from a distance, so he could only tell Wong Shou suddenly created many shades. Do you believe he’s the sole responsible party?”
Or do we have to worry about yet another enemy? Liu Jin has no trouble reading the question in her eyes.
“I am not sure,” Liu Jin admits. A frown forms on his face. “Wong Shou… till the very end he claimed he was innocent.”
Lu Mei gives a pointed glance to the dark tower.
“Clearly, he was lying.”
Was he? Liu Jin is not so sure. Wong Shou had seemed genuinely confused by it all. Even when the shades started swarming Liu Jin, there had been not a single moment when Wong Shou’s panic had faded. He had remained fearful until the very end.
Furthermore, all those emotions Liu Jin had felt…
“We’ll know for sure when we deal with that tower.”
That’s right. There will be time to question Wong Shou about everything later.
Right now, it was time to finish this.
~~~
“We can only open the barriers for an instant,” Elder Wong tells them. They are standing at the gates of the Bright Phantasm Sect’s compound. The streets have been cleared. Their path to the Night Forest is a straight line. ”As I am sure you understand, it is not safe to keep them open for too long with all those things out there.”
It isn’t as though the Elders cannot deal with the shades, far from it. However, the collateral damage they would cause would be a little too much. Even now, Liu Jin can see hundreds of shades trying to push against the barrier, crawling around like maggots.
All of them are in the Nascent Realm.
It wouldn’t be just the civilians who’d get caught in the crossfire. Even the disciples of the Bright Phantasm Sect would have a hard time surviving against those numbers.
“As soon as it opens, I’ll clear the way. After that, you’ll have a small window to make it out of the city. Do not dally.”
Useful as it would be to have someone of Elder Wong’s level with them, he is needed to keep maintaining the barrier. Besides, he is still not fully clear of suspicion.
“We won’t,” Liu Jin assures him as he and Lu Mei ready themselves.
“Also…” Elder Wong hesitates. His mouth opens and closes before he bows to them. “I will not deny what you saw, yet I believe there is more to this story. Wong Shou would never betray the Sect. This old man only asks that you keep that in mind when dealing with him.“
He sounds sincere. He looks sincere.
“I’ll make sure to heed Elder Wong’s wisdom,” Liu Jin promises.
“You have my deepest thanks.”
The barriers open.
At that moment, the many shades surrounding the city see their chance and rush for the opening. Elder Wong roars and strikes. The sheer strength of his Qi kills the shades who try to enter and pushes the rest back.
“Now!”
Liu Jin and Lu Mei burst forward. Each one uses their own movement technique to clear the distance to the city gates and beyond in an instant.
The barriers close behind them, leaving them alone against the horde.
They tear through them by the dozen. For them, foes of this level are simply not a threat. One shade. Seven. Thirteen. Thirty. Fifty-eight. The shades keep coming, and Liu Jin and Lu Mei keep killing them as they make their way to the tower.
“Above!”
Liu Jin shouts just in time. He and Lu Mei jump to the sides to avoid the sudden hail of blue flames coming down from the skies.
“We”
“Were”
“Waiting”
“For”
“You”
Each word is spoken by a different mouth. Liu Jin leaps and runs as a new wave of shades comes after him. These ones are different. So far, most of the shades, save for the invisible one, have been in the mid-stages of the Nascent Realm. However, there are more than a few shades in the Spirit Realm among the ones chasing Liu Jin right now.
“Stop!”
“Come back!”
“Get away!”
“Because!”
“I will!”
“I won’t!”
“Kill You!”
As the shades keep running after him, Liu Jin distantly realizes Lu Mei is nowhere near him. Blue fire rises from the forest in the distance. The attack just now has successfully separated them. Lu Mei is dealing with whoever cast that fire. That leaves him alone against this horde.
Very well, then.
“Stop!”
“Don’t!”
“K-Ack!”
Liu Jin’s spear pierces right through the shade’s mouth.
“No, I don’t think I will.”
~~~