CHAPTER 24

Creator of ‘The White Vulture’

LUO FAN

“Hurry up, I’ll wait for you in the carriage,” Ruan Yanjun told me before he walked out of the room.

Alone at last, I quickly changed my clothes and fixed my hair. Ruan Yanjun almost did not want to give me some space I had to beg before he finally gave in to my request for privacy.

Had he not been acting strangely, especially with the scheme he had pulled in the restaurant the day before, I would not have minded getting naked in his presence since we were both men, to begin with.

I had all the reasons to doubt Ruan Yanjun’s sexuality.

Who knows what kind of filth would fill his mind if I undressed in his presence, especially since I am almost blind and cannot see where his eyes would stray.

When I was done, I put all my things inside my bag and grabbed my stick. The moment I walked out of the door, a hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me away.

Before I could utter a word, that same hand covered my mouth from behind.

“A-Fan, it’s me,” he said.

I stopped struggling and he dropped his hand off my mouth. I quickly turned around to face him. “Yuan, why are you still here? I told you to leave last night.”

“A-Fan, I will not leave unless you come with me.”

“Sect Leader Ruan is waiting for me downstairs. If I don’t go down this instant, he’ll come check on me.”

“That’s why we need to take this opportunity to escape. There’s a way out from the backcourt. He won’t be able to catch up with us.”

“Yuan, I have made myself clear last night. I will not come with you. I made a deal with Sect Leader Ruan and I need to honor that.”

“Is it really about that deal or you just don’t want to leave him?”

I was perplexed.

He smirked. “Tell me the truth, A-Fan. Do you have a relationship with Ruan Yanjun?”

“I have no relationship with him.”

“Then why don’t you want to leave him? I’m giving you this opportunity to escape from him, but you refuse.”

“I already told you the reason why.”

“A-Fan, where did you put your brain? Do you actually believe that the devil will honor whatever deal you have made with him? What did he promise you? That he’ll be true to you forever? I’m telling you, soon he’ll tire of you and throw you away like garbage, or he’ll even kill you so you won’t speak out about your illicit affair with him.”

I clenched my knuckles. My anger was about to explode but I used the last ounce of my self-control to hold myself back from hitting his mouth.

“Liang Yuan,” I said calmly even if my blood was roiling. “Leave now before I lose my temper.”

“Did I just blurt out the truth, Your Highness?” he taunted. “To think that even until now, despite the crime that you were accused of, despite the fact that you’ve lost your cultivation, the disciples of Frost Moutain still regard you so highly. If they see what you’ve become, how you’ve disgraced yourself when you succumbed to the devil, can you imagine the disappointment they’ll feel? When I heard about your involvement with Ruan Yanjun, I was also disappointed, but I still recognized our brotherhood. I thought that you were probably pushed to the edge and had no option but to cling to the devil. I thought you needed rescuing, and that’s why I’m here, to rescue you. But since you refuse to be rescued, it means you’ve involved yourself with the devil willingly. Have you been blinded by his charm, Your Highness?”

I clenched my teeth hard until it felt like they would break. No one had ever insulted me this way before. I never thought that even my senior sect brother saw me in such a way. “I’m giving you one last chance, Yuan. Leave now before I forget that you were my senior.”

“You heard what A-Fan said,” Ruan Yanjun’s voice came from behind me, but I did not fear for Liang Yuan’s life anymore. I was probably too angry I did not mind anymore if Ruan Yanjun decided to teach him a lesson.

Liang Yuan did not move. The corridor was narrow and the only way out was right where Ruan Yanjun was coming from. Liang Yuan had nowhere to escape.

“General Liang,” Ruan Yanjun said and stood beside me. “Hasn’t Wei Jiayi ordered you to kill Luo Fan? You had plenty of opportunity to do so. Why didn’t you?”

I stiffened. When Liang Yuan was unable to make a defense, I realized that Ruan Yanjun must have spoken the truth. “Is that true?” I asked.

“A-Fan, if I had any intention of killing you, I would have done so already.”

I was stunned when I heard a slap. It happened so fast that all I saw was Liang Yuan taking a step back.

Did Ruan Yanjun just slap Liang Yuan?

“You have no right to call him A-Fan again,” Ruan Yanjun said. “You’re not worthy.”

I did not try to intervene. I thought he only deserved that slap. He was lucky Ruan Yanjun did not pull his tongue out instead.

“How dare you!” Liang Yuan grunted and unsheathed his sword.

Before I could take a step back, Ruan Yanjun pulled me behind him. “General Liang, be glad that A-Fan still recognizes you as his senior sect brother, otherwise, I would have scattered your small brain all over the floor right now. Do not push me, or even A-Fan will not be able to save you.”

“Yuan, leave,” I said. Hearing Ruan Yanjun’s warning made me suddenly fear for my sect brother’s life.

Liang Yuan did not move.

“Ah, it seems you’re tired of living and want to die instead,” Ruan Yanjun said and raised his hand.

I quickly reached for Liang Yuan’s hand and pulled him towards me. “Leave now.” I pushed him away in the direction of the stairs.

“We will meet again,” Liang Yuan said and fled.

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When he was gone, Ruan Yanjun smirked. “He has insulted you, and you let him go just like that? You should have at least hit his contemptuous mouth.”

“As much as possible, I don’t resort to violence,” I replied. “Soon, he’ll find out he was mistaken and he’ll take back everything that he’s said.”

“Mistaken?” he returned. “Is he?”

“Lord Ruan, you know very well that he is.”

He laughed. “But you’re right. Why resort to violence when he’s already so bitter? A-Fan, let’s continue showing our affection in public until he gets poisoned by his own bitterness. That’s a lot better than knocking his teeth out, don’t you think so?”

“Lord Ruan, what exactly was your intention for misleading people?”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” he returned. “That’s to let them know that you belong to Ruan Yanjun, and anyone who dares to touch what Ruan Yanjun owns will pay dearly.”

His explanation was thorough enough, but I did not think it was necessary. In my opinion, he was trying to provoke some people, particularly the Ethereal Frost Sect or even the royal court of Kan Empire. He wanted to send them a message that if they wanted me, they’d have to get through him first.

His intention was probably to ward them off, but it would actually draw more danger to me. Crown Prince Jiayi hated losing. Instead of ordinary guards and low-level disciples coming after me, the crown prince might be sending elite disciples and soldiers instead.

“Lord Ruan, I don’t want to play your game anymore.”

He sighed. “A-Fan, why do you have to be so boring all the time? Don’t you even indulge yourself with some fun?”

“That’s not my idea of fun,” I replied and turned away.

He sighed again and followed me downstairs. “Do you know that those two months we’ve spent traveling together is the most boring moment of my life?”

I ignored him. As far as I recall, within those two months, he had constantly spent every day amusing himself at my expense, until I had decided not to give him any reaction hoping that would make him stop.

It did not. He continued teasing and playing mind games with me that made me look stupid, and then he’d laugh at my face.

I was not brainless. Back in Frost Mountain, I also had excelled in academics. But Ruan Yanjun’s wisdom was beyond me he could easily make a witless laughing stock out of me. If only he’d use that wisdom for something good and not waste it on bullying someone not of his level.

*****

Inside the carriage, Ruan Yanjun continued to tease me but I kept my face blank and my mouth shut. When he noticed that I was annoyed, he changed the topic to politics, which was a subject I was always interested in. The moment he got my attention, he started teasing me again.

How many times have I fallen on that trick and yet I still have not learned my lesson? Stupid me.

The carriage stopped before a modest house in a secluded location. Ruan Yanjun told me earlier that we were going to meet a special person there.

Ruan Yanjun went out of the carriage first and I followed right after him. The place was so quiet and there was an eerie atmosphere that sent chills down my spine, but knowing that Ruan Yanjun was with me, I did not have to worry about anything.

I myself was surprised why I seemed to believe that Ruan Yanjun was being true to his words that as long as he was with me, nothing could harm me.

Maybe because so far, he had actually been protecting me. I just did not like his awkward teases and spine-chilling games. Other than that, I actually felt safe with him, even though I still had no idea what he really wanted from me.

When we entered the gate, a man met us. His head was shaved, and he spoke so solemnly, so I assumed that he must be a monk.

There were two other men with him who both dropped to their knees to greet Ruan Yanjun. Their gesture meant they were disciples of the Eternal Damnation Sect, but I could not understand why they were accompanying a monk, who was a light cultivator, while they were supposed to be enemies.

The monk invited us inside the house and we all sat down by the table.

He offered us tea. I accepted, but when I was about to drink it, Ruan Yanjun grabbed the cup from me.

“A-Fan, do you just drink anything that a stranger has given you?” he asked. “Especially from someone who has poisoned you?”

My lips parted, puzzled at first but eventually, it sank into me.

Could this monk be Han Bao?

Ruan Yanjun smirked. “A-Fan, allow me to introduce to you the former Divine Mage that you have dethroned, the creator of ‘The White Vulture’ that has been wreaking havoc in your internal organs.”

I was frozen stiff, my fingers suspended in the air.

I could not believe that I was sitting right before the crown prince’s murderer.

I heard Han Bao heave in a sigh. Even though I could not see his face, I knew he was too embarrassed to look at me.

“So how does it feel to be face to face with your surviving victim?” Ruan Yanjun taunted the monk. “The other one has already died. This one here is blind and dying. It will be such a waste if we’re going to lose such a beautiful priest, don’t you think so? Or is that exactly what you’ve wanted all along?”

Han Bao sighed again. “Priest Wei,” he said to me. “I have committed a terrible crime and I do not expect you to forgive me. I’ve been driven by hatred, by jealousy, but I had not expected things to get this far.”

“You did know that the medicine you’ve created is an untraceable poison, am I correct?” Ruan Yanjun asked.

“I did.”

“Then how come you have not expected this outcome?”

“I made that drug under duress. I was threatened by Empress Biya and her men had been harassing me for days.”

“Empress Biya of the Northern Empire?” Ruan Yanjun asked.

“Yes. She did not tell me who her intended victim was. I had not expected that they would use it to murder the crown prince of Xianru.”

In my mind, I tried to make connections from what Han Bao had revealed.

I knew Empress Biya. She was the shrewd wife of Emperor Yuan of Xue Empire, otherwise called the Northern Empire. I also knew that she had two daughters, one became consort to the emperor of Wun, and the other also became a consort to the emperor of Xianru. That consort in Xianru must be Consort Xi, the one suspected by Consort Fei to have poisoned the crown prince.

“That explains how the poison had gotten into the crown prince of Xianru,” Ruan Yanjun said as if the involvement of Empress Biya did not surprise him at all. I could only surmise that he had known that all along. “But it does not explain how it had gotten into the legitimate crown prince of Kan.”

I turned to Ruan Yanjun. Even Han Bao was unable to speak.

Legitimate crown prince?

What nonsense is he talking about?

Who else could be the legitimate crown prince of Kan but Wei Jiayi? Why must he include the word legitimate?

Unless there is an issue that I didn’t know.

“Is the crown prince of Kan poisoned, as well?” I asked.

“He is,” Ruan Yanjun replied. “You should know that better than anyone else.”

How could I have known? It’s not like I have any access to information regarding Kan Empire.

“This monk has not heard of the news that the crown prince has been poisoned,” Han Bao said. “And if he is, this monk has nothing to do with it.”

Ruan expelled a sigh. “Did you two have your brains cooked in your mythical cauldrons and lost your common sense?”

Clueless about what he meant, I could not utter a word. Even Han Bao remained silent. He was probably as puzzled as I was.

Ruan Yanjun sighed again. “Never mind.” He turned to Han Bao. “If you’ve made that poison for Empress Biya as you claimed, how come another one had found its way to Frost Mountain?”

“Empress Biya and Empress Ying of Kan are close friends,” Han Bao replied. “They must have exchanged information and Empress Ying became interested.”

“Are you saying that it was the empress of Kan who had come to you for the White Vulture?”

Han Bao shook his head. “It was a man. He did not tell me his name. He kept his face hidden underneath a veil, but he came to me bearing the seal of Empress Ying.”

“Hmm…” Ruan Yanjun hummed pensively.

I wondered about it too.

Empress Ying of Kan had been known as a very tender woman who had never even yelled at her servants. Although she had failed to bear the emperor a child, the emperor had retained her status and had favored her among his hundreds of wives. Even Prince Jiayi’s mother could never replace Empress Ying’s place in the emperor’s heart.

I just could not think of a reason why she would want me dead.

“Did you know as to who the poison was for?” Ruan Yanjun asked.

“Initially, no, but when the man assured me that I’ll get my title back as a reward, I had surmised that it must have been intended for the Divine Mage.”

“And that’s why you had happily obliged,” Ruan Yanjun concluded.

“I was still too bitter at that time so I accepted the deal. When I regretted it, it was already too late. They had already taken the drug.”

Ruan Yanjun smirked. “It must have taken you weeks to refine that poison. Your so-called regret has taken a long time to dawn on you.”

Han Bao could not speak.

“I have a question,” I said, trying to retain a calm voice despite the chaos of emotions stirring inside me. “How did the drug get into me? I don’t remember anyone feeding me anything.”

“I’m afraid I cannot answer that question. That same man in a veil came to get it. I have no idea what they had done with it afterward.”

“Were you also the one who poisoned Master Wei Yusheng?”

“I provided the pill, but it wasn’t a poison, but rather… a paralyzing drug that temporarily stops the heartbeat.”

I was once again shocked. “Are you saying… my master did not die at that time?”

Han Bao did not give me a response, but his silence was a louder confirmation than any word spoken.

“Is he alive?” My voice trembled along with my erratic heartbeat.

“…He is.”