The echoing caw of the voidbird had pierced the air as soon as they entered the kitchens. It was sitting somewhere above the stove, and dove right for Qian Shanyi as soon as she entered, coming to a stop just in front of her face. Linghui Mei - the maid, not the jiuweihu - squeaked behind her in surprise.
The bird had about the same shape as a raven, if a bit larger, but even a single glance could tell you that this was no ordinary animal. There were no feathers, or skin, or fur, or even eyes: merely an inky black gap in space in the shape of a bird, filled with bright pinpricks of light, like stars over the night sky. Its wings flapped, yet moved no air; its beak opened, yet the caw did not come from it, but from the whole bird at once. Neither living nor dead; a spirit, but a safe one.
“I am Qian Shanyi,” Qian Shanyi calmly told the voidbird. Her eyes, unused to such contrast, refused to properly focus on it, so she decided to look just above the bird’s head. “I have been told you have a letter for me?”
The voidbird cawed again, and put its beak under its wing, drawing a thick envelope from within its own body, like a rock pulled out of a pond. It flipped it around, and turned the front to face Qian Shanyi.
There were two lines of text, written clearly on the bright white paper.
To Lan Yishan, from the offices of Lunar Intent Trading House.
Three minutes to turn the key into a fool.
Qian Shanyi reached for the envelope, but the voidbird cawed, and sucked it back into its body. Qian Shanyi lowered her hand, and the envelope appeared again.
The voidbirds were very clever creatures. Not as much as humans, not by a long shot - but they had incredible memories. They always remembered people they’d seen before, and while they could not truly understand language, they learned enough to understand simple directions and descriptions of people. More than that, they could memorize a password, and only give up their letter once they heard it a second time. Because of this, they could be relied on to securely deliver a letter to any city in the world, traveling as fast as a cultivator on top of a flying sword.
They were also very, very expensive.
“Do you have some meat I could buy?” Qian Shanyi asked, turning away from the voidbird and towards Linghui Mei. The maid was watching it curiously, hiding behind Qian Shanyi. “I would like to feed it.”
“Oh! Of course,” Linghui Mei said, and hurried into the small kitchen, ducking her head to stay far away from the voidbird. She almost fell on her face, trying to twist her neck to look back, while also walking forwards, and Qian Shanyi snorted at the image. She could see some of the same mannerisms that she saw in the other Linghui Mei - inherited alongside with her appearance, it seemed.
Qian Shanyi paid Linghui Mei - the maid, not the jiuweihu - five silver yuan - mostly because she still felt a little guilty that Linghui Mei - the jiuweihu, not the maid - stole her clothes and fed on her soul, and quickly left the kitchens, voidbird on her shoulder and a plate of fresh meat in hand. She retreated to her rooms, locking the door behind her, set the plate down on the table, and let the voidbird hop off, directing it to enjoy the snack.
“Well, what are we going to do with you?” she asked the bird.
The bird angled its head at her, and cawed with what Qian Shanyi could only describe as sarcasm. Qian Shanyi snorted in amusement, and sat down to do a bit of thinking.
Lunar Intent Trading House belonged to Wu Lanhua - and if Qian Shanyi was right about what that riddle meant, it implied it was the merchant herself who sent the letter. The only question was - why? Why send a letter, and why by voidbird?
No, back up. Take this step by step. How did Wu Lanhua even know where to send the damn bird? By Qian Shanyi’s count of days, it was unlikely that her own letter would have already reached the merchant.
Well… Back on the ship, Qian Shanyi asked Wu Lanhua about traveling from Lake of Peace to Reflection Ridge, and left the ship shortly thereafter. Qian Shanyi never said she would stop there - but Wu Lanhua could have simply decided to take the gamble, and send the letter blind. From there, the voidbird could have flown into the post office, presented the letter, and been led to her tavern by a runner.
It was possible. Definitely possible. But it was also possible this was a convoluted trap by Fang Jiugui. Unlikely, but she could see how he could make it happen - tie her to that sketchy sword gamble she made to get some spirit stones, perhaps.
Qian Shanyi sighed, glancing at the corner of the table. Her writing set was on the left - that meant Wang Yonghao was in the room as well, but hidden within his world fragment. She desperately wanted to know what he found out in Fang Jiugui’s residence, or to at least have him available to bounce some ideas off - but who knew when he’d come out. They didn’t agree on a specific time when she’d return in the morning. It could be within the next minute, or it could be hours.
It was midday, now. Three hours of walking around with Jian Shizhe, and her plan for handling Fang Jiugui had only improved incrementally, if that. It simply wasn’t good enough, not when he still had cards stashed up both his sleeves - such as whatever he saw in her hands, or the way he managed to track her in the first place. It wasn’t good enough, not when he was still plotting, making moves.
She was running out of time. She felt it, deep within her soul. She didn’t know when she would run out - but she was already running out.
There were two elements she needed in order to escape from the man. A way to vanish from his immediate observation, and a way to prevent him from tracking her. She needed to solve both issues, or she would go nowhere.
She was stalling, and she knew it. She needed more information, and she even had a letter right in front of her that might contain some. Not opening it was insane, but she was still thinking up excuses, coming up with convoluted ways in which it could be a trap by Fang Jiugui to justify keeping it closed.
Because once she read it, she’d know what was inside. And if there was nothing - then even that vain hope she had for something, anything to grab onto would vanish like a mirage.
Get yourself together.
“Wang Niu,” Qian Shanyi said the obvious answer to the riddle, and reached for the voidbird, that was beak-deep in the plate of meat. Her letter appeared out of the voidbird’s back, and she snatched it, pulling it away without any resistance.
“Do you even need to eat meat?” Qian Shanyi asked rhetorically, tearing into the envelope. “Does it do anything for you?”
All she got in return was another sarcastic caw. The voidbird didn’t even pretend to open its beak this time.
Inside the envelope was a letter, a small card of fine wood about the length of her finger, a metal sigil in the shape of a lotus and about as big around as a very large coin, and a second envelope. The letter was written on fine linen paper, with thin golden decorations around the edges, and the symbol of the Lunar Intent Trading House at the very top.
Qian Shanyi sighed again, and began to read.
Dear Yishan,
I hope this letter finds you well. Forgive this old woman for her worrying - it must be my heart - but if I have not seen how you have departed the city with my own two eyes, I would never have believed it. But perhaps I simply fear for the worst, as usual. You seemed to be in such a hurry to leave the meager accommodations of my yacht, and I dearly hope that your further travel had passed with no lesser comfort.
Lest I worry you in turn, we have returned to Xiaohongshan quite safely. This little excursion had really been a balm upon my nerves. The sunsets above the Golden Snake river, with the glitter of the cities tucking themselves in for the night reflected in the waters always take my breath away. But now, it is back to work.
Still, I simply must tell you of some exciting rumors! Would you believe it that just two short days after we have returned home, a spirit hunter by the name of Fang Jiugui had appeared in our humble town? My dear Fakuang told me that his realm was very impressive, and he could even ride a flying sword. He asked around about some “Qian Shanyi” - even talked to me for a while, charming old man that he is. Would you believe it, a fugitive of some sect downriver? In my very own town?! Such incredible drama.
Unfortunately I could not tell him much, and he left, no doubt despondent. I do wonder where he headed. If this “Qian Shanyi” had left us by ship - well, even if by some accident she was left out of the ship manifest, nobody could conceal where the ship itself went. I wish her the best of luck, that she realizes the danger before she is caught!
But back to the business at hand. I took the liberty of opening up an account for you with Lunar Intent, my trading house. Should you require our shipping services, you may simply come to one of our offices, and my people should assist you for a very reasonable fee - at least, as soon as they see the sigil that marks you as one of our clients, that I have placed within this envelope. I’ve also included a list of our offices on the other side of this page for your convenience.
Finally, as I have already informed you, I have decided to marry - even in my advanced age, love can still be found! We have finally settled on a date: it will be exactly one month after the spring ghost festival, on the 15th of the fifth month. My heart aches to see you at the celebration, but I understand the flights of youth - if you could not make it after all, for one reason or another, then I would at least expect a gift.
I have also included a letter from postmaster Lan, who asked me to forward it to you, though I have not read it.
Your eternal friend,
Wu Lanhua
The wooden card was, sure enough, a formal wedding invitation - a small, idyllic scene burned directly into the wood, with a description of time and place on the back. After admiring the picture, Qian Shanyi set it aside.
The lotus sigil was flat, and Qian Shanyi could tell that it could serve as a stamp, or be pinned to the clothes and worn on your chest. There were some small characters engraved into the leaves of the lotus - small parables of luck and fortune. Perhaps their variation simply helped to make each such sigil unique.
Qian Shanyi set the sigil down on top of the wooden card for now, and picked up the second, thinner envelope, opening it up as well.
Fellow cultivator Qian,
I apologize in advance for failing to fulfill my duty as the postmaster to keep all your mail entirely private. I believed that the information contained here would benefit you enough to justify this severe overstep.
In the course of my duties I take some effort to keep track of the relations of the cultivators within my area, and your contractual relationship with merchant Wu had been known to me. As I was not aware of any proper method of contacting you, I have asked her if she could direct this letter to you. I cannot make any guarantees regarding the honorable merchant; however, I have taken an effort to make sure that all the information within this letter was already known to her beforehand. Hopefully this letter reaches you just as safely as it would in the hands of our great postal office.
Twelve days after your departure from Xiaohongshan, a retired spirit hunter by the name of Fang Jiugui had entered my office, and requested any information I could provide regarding Qian Shanyi, a fugitive disciple of the Luminous Lotus Pavilion from the Golden Rabbit Bay. In accordance with general imperial policy regarding cultivator privacy, I have refrained from discussing our private conversations; however, I have provided him with all the records we are required to keep - specifically, the logged requests I made regarding your swords, and the access records of the library. I believe that shortly after leaving my office, fellow cultivator Fang had headed to the other imperial offices in town, and made whatever other requests he could, before leaving town by evening.
As I have mentioned in our talk, the empire is not legally required to assist any sect in locating their runaways until a concrete request is made. This assistance is often offered as a courtesy, in cases where it seems this request is inevitable; but in cases where it is not, we simply do our best to keep conflict to a minimum.
From my brief conversation with fellow cultivator Fang, you have not been accused of theft, or violating any of the core imperial laws or edicts. Perhaps your suspicions have already been proven correct. But the empire believes in the right of all cultivators to determine their fate, sect or no sect, and I felt it necessary to offer my assistance - to the extent that my duties permit me.
To that effect, on the second sheet included in this envelope, you will find the request form PIL-13. It is based on a recently passed instruction, and as of yet, it is still not well known among the civil service; I am afraid that many of my colleagues routinely fail in their duties when it comes to self-education. At a guess, I would imagine only one in five postmasters would know of it by name. Nonetheless, it is a legal and enforceable request. I have also attached an explanation of the relevant laws - you may simply copy it over, as it would make explaining the purpose and legal basis of the request itself that much easier.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
If you were to give this form to a postmaster, then they would be bound to silence on the matter of your person, and would be obligated to abridge your mentions out of some of the public documents - such as the cultivator almanac, as well as communicate this request to other imperial institutions in their jurisdiction. Perhaps this would make it easier for you to evade pursuit.
However, I must sadly admit that I cannot vouch for how many of my fellow postmasters would listen. The form itself is not well known, and is controversial, as it lies at cross purposes with many of our institutions; the informal instruction is to avoid relying on it except in unusual circumstances. Many would simply not believe this to be a legal request, and would not bother to verify it with the law. Others would know it to be legal, but will violate it, out of personal conviction or simple carelessness.
I leave the decision of wherever to rely on it in your hands. And I implore you to remember: our empire was built on bloodshed, to avoid bloodshed. We do not throw honorable cultivators to the dogs.
Postmaster Lan Yu.
Qian Shanyi leaned back in her chair, considering the two letters in front of her. Sure enough, neither of them solved any of her immediate problems. The information within them was either indirect, or simply confirmed what she had already suspected.
Still. She felt a warm glow of gratitude in her chest, looking at these two simple pieces of paper.
They tried to warn me…
She sniffled, and then chuckled slightly, wiping an errant tear that formed in her eye. She barely did anything for these two women - aside from gifting two extremely expensive swords to Wu Lanhua, she supposed - yet they still took the time out of their day to give her so much advice. Even from so far away, she had allies, such as they were.
Then again, perhaps a simple confirmation of what she knew was exactly what she needed. She thought back on her theories for how Fang Jiugui had found her. That he headed to Xiaohongshan first pretty conclusively proved that he must have been tracing her letter, instead of her person. From there, he probably followed the traces of Wu Lanhua’s yacht - even if, as she heavily implied, she left Qian Shanyi off the manifest.
That was good. It meant he was limited. It meant he could be beaten.
The question of how he tracked her letter remained unresolved. If there was something obvious - such as secret marks on the envelopes of the postal office - then Lan Yu would have surely mentioned it, though it wasn’t a guarantee. His true limitations still remained unknown. But she could work with this.
Qian Shanyi glanced at her gloved hands. She had not taken her gloves off in public ever since she noticed Fang Jiugui watching her hands. Was there a connection there, with him tracing her letter? She couldn’t really imagine how, but the mysteries between Heaven and Earth were without limit.
Well, there is always the drastic option.
She really didn’t want to use it, especially without a decent plan that could be built on top of it.
At least this PIL form would surely help them with the second part of her plan, but on its own, it was more than a bit of a two-edged sword. If she were to simply give it to the postmaster in every town they visited, it would be as good as leaving a paper trail - all Fang Jiugui would have to do was ask about her, and get an answer of “I am not allowed to talk about this” more often than not. Conspicuously erased trail was still a trail.
But with a bit of work, they could find a way around this weakness.
The voidbird had long finished its meat while Qian Shanyi was busy reading, and was now staring at her expectantly. Awaiting a response, or a lack of one.
Qian Shanyi sighed, and reached over to her writing set. Best to be short and to the point.
Dear Lanhua,
My travel had passed blissfully quickly, and that is as much as I will say on the matter. Unfortunately, as I have discovered that I am thoroughly unsuited to that form of rapid travel, and other affairs occupy my time, I doubt I will make it back in time for your wedding. I will try my hardest, of course, and yet I offer my excuses all the same. I wish you and Liu Fakuang the deepest love between Heaven and Earth, and an eternal future unblemished by Heavenly machinations - or perhaps even blessed by them, in the case of fellow cultivator Liu.
I have some happy news of my own. I have found the goal of my pursuit - and have been successful beyond my wildest expectations. The details must remain private for now, but let it be said that I have a provisional deal with the Northern Scarlet Stream sect for provision of certain items. I hope the fact that they supply your competitors will not put you off our beautiful, burgeoning friendship.
The affair of this mysterious and no doubt stunningly handsome “Qian Shanyi” certainly intrigues me greatly, yet I sadly cannot dedicate any time to looking into it further. I have placed twenty five spirit stones within this envelope - if you would be so kind as to hire an investigator, and look into the origin of this “Fang Jiugui”, I would be forever in your debt. If that is still not enough, then do not hesitate with your own funds - I would repay you two-fold. I will contact you once I have more free time on my hands.
And now I am afraid I must go. You may find some more detail about my fate in a letter I have sent to your offices through the post office some time ago - as I expect this voidbird will return much faster than it will reach you.
Finally, please convey my deepest gratitude to postmaster Lan. Her advice to me will prove to be invaluable. If you have not done so already, please invite her to your wedding in my stead.
Your eternal friend,
Lan Yishan
“Response,” she said to the voidbird, folding up the letter into a new envelope, and writing the address on the front. “Back to Wu Lanhua. Password: Wang Niu.”
The voidbird swallowed the envelope just as it did the meat, and rose into the air. Qian Shanyi opened the window, and it flew out with a final, triumphant caw, turning into no more than a blur in the air as soon as it rose above the rooftops.
Just as she was closing the window, Qian Shanyi heard the quiet whooshing sound of the world fragment’s entrance being opened, and turned around to come face to face with Wang Yonghao.
“Oh, you are finally back,“ he said, and grinned deviously. “How did the Jian Shizhe date go?”
“Within expectations,” Qian Shanyi grumbled, giving him her angriest glare. “Which is to say, miserably. How about you?”
“I talked to the kid,” he said, smiling, and pulled out a folded-up scrap of paper. “You won’t believe what I found.”
Qian Shanyi took the paper with trepidation, and unfolded it. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she whistled at the contents. “This is pretty good,” she said, looking through the list. “This is very good. He had all of this?”
“Yep,” Wang Yonghao said, “I’ve looked through the window myself. I mean, you can’t exactly tell some things apart just by looking, but…”
“But is this enough?” Qian Shanyi mused, then folded up the paper and put it into her robes, tapping her cheek in thought. Finally, finally, the picture started to come together for her. Like the last puzzle piece slotting into place - insignificant on its own, yet invaluable for the whole.
It would be a risky play, but it would be a play. It would all hinge on Jian Wei - how he would value her contributions, and his own loss of face.
She would still need to wait until the evening, once her bank account had been processed, and then somehow convince Liu Yufei to get rid of that letter - but it was a path forward. And in the meantime, they needed to secure their escape route.
She motioned to the table with the letters. “I got a message from Wu Lanhua, and I think I finally have a plan. We are going to write a lot of letters.”
“Letters?”
“Yes,” Qian Shanyi said. She glanced at her gloved hands again. With her plan coming together - she might as well use the drastic option too. It wouldn’t do to underestimate Fang Jiugui, after all. Even if Wang Yonghao would hate doing it. “I think it’s just about time for us to bring this play to a close.”
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Five hours later, Qian Shanyi finally re-emerged from Wang Yonghao’s world fragment. She was carried like a princess by the man himself, her arms delicately curled up in front of her, bags of letters hanging off both her shoulders. When Wang Yonghao stepped out, she accidentally bumped one hand into his shoulder, and winced.
“Sorry!” Wang Yonghao immediately apologized.
“It’s fine,” Qian Shanyi stood up, letting her gloved hands rest carefully at her sides, held away from her body. “Necessary, even.”
“Was it necessary?” Wang Yonghao said in a tense voice, looking at her hands.
Qian Shanyi went over to the table, and began to put the rest of the bags on her shoulders, wincing throughout. Wang Yonghao stepped close to help. “Too much risk otherwise,” she hissed through her teeth. “I need the safety margin.”
“You can’t even touch anything.”
“I can and I am getting better at it. Barely even hurts anymore,” Qian Shanyi lied through her teeth. It was agonizing, but she could manage. “It’ll heal quickly enough.”
Not like she had to touch much for the rest of the day.
Wang Yonghao gave her an unconvinced look. She just shrugged, pulled the final bag onto her shoulder, and headed for the doors.
“Come on,” she said, glaring hatefully at the door and willing it to open. She really didn’t want to put more pressure on her fingers to turn the key, but the wood and steel refused to simply obey. “We only have a couple hours left until the evening.”
Wang Yonghao sighed, and stepped up to the door, opening it for her. She gave him a grateful nod, and stepped out.
As they headed towards the tavern’s exit, she caught a glance of Scar and an unfamiliar, lanky cultivator from the Northern Scarlet Stream sect heading for the tavern through one of the windows. She froze in her tracks.
No, no, no! Not now!
She bit her lip, whirled around, and rushed back into their rooms.
If she hadn’t noticed the tail in the morning, she probably wouldn’t have given them any mind, and walked right into their ambush. But they were careless too, walking in the open like that. Scar kept his distance the entire day, but now he walked in the open, and even changed back into his uniform. That meant it was official.
She wasn’t ready.
Wang Yonghao nodded.
After the Linghui Mei crisis, she made sure to study every good way to leave the tavern without being noticed - those two never stood a chance of catching her here.
But in town, it would be another matter.
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Junming stared at Qian Shanyi. Qian Shanyi stared at Junming.
“Is there a problem?” she finally asked calmly, doing her best to keep her agitation away from her face. Seconds were quickly ticking by, but she couldn’t rush them.
Junming looked down at the dozen massive stacks of letters she dumped out of her bags on the postal office counter. Each was a good foot thick, and they had to get out of their chair to look over them.
“A lot of letters,” Junming croaked.
“I was informed that the imperial postal office does not charge cultivators for postage,” Qian Shanyi said, arching an eyebrow.
“For personal correspondence. Is this all personal? Not… by other people?”
Not letters written by other people, and sent by Qian Shanyi in their stead, to avoid postage fees. She wondered how many cultivators got caught trying to exploit their privileges like that.
“Of course,” Qian Shanyi said, grinning slightly. “These are all requests PIL-13, sorted by the closest major city, for convenience. You may open them if you do not believe me.”
Junming looked over the massive pile of letters, and wisely decided not to test her word.
Having a given town refuse to give out information about her was suspicious. So instead, she sent out Wang Yonghao to fetch the Geographical Index, huddled up in their world fragment with him and Linghui Mei, and spent an entire day writing requests to every single postmaster in a town above five thousand residents in the entire province. Wang Yonghao had to leave twice to fetch more paper, and it was grueling work, but they got it done.
Once these letters flooded out of the town, on their way to their destinations, it would be like a wave of fog that would cover all their movements. But only as long as this wave stayed ahead of them - that was why she rushed here, to send the letters out as soon as possible.
“It’s fine,” Junming croaked. “Anything else?”
“I’d also like to return this Geographical Index.”
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Scar and his hanger-on had finally caught up to her just when Qian Shanyi had been leaving the Thrifty Bat Bank, her finalized bank documents in hand. The bank had only one entrance, so there really was no way to avoid them.
“Honorable immortal Qian,” the Scar said, “Elder Jian would like to see you immediately.”
Qian Shanyi pursed her lips. She was this close. The letters went out. She had the bank documents. Now she just had to meet with Liu Yufei and hopefully deal with that letter…
Could she flee from them? Only one of the two was a cultivator, and of a lower realm than her at that.
No. It would only make her position worse. She needed Jian Wei on her side, and if she reneged on such a direct invitation, she would be slapping him across the face.
With that letter still in play, she’d have a glaring weak point at her side. But you played with the hand you were dealt, not the hand you wish you had.
“Very well,” she said, putting her documents away into her robes. “Lead the way.”