Volume 41 - Chapter 2

Xu Ziling was still pondering the meaning of Zhu Yuyan’s words of advice on parting, ‘sweetheart’, when the answer appeared by his side. Wearing men’s clothing, her expression serene, Shi Feixuan sat down next to him. Tranquil and calm, she said, “What business deal are you making with Zhu Yuyan?”

A stab of pain attacked Xu Ziling’s heart, Shi Feixuan’s misunderstanding to him was obviously getting deeper by the day. Just with this seemingly ordinary remark, she was actually showing a bit of disdain, which in the past, would never come out of her fragrant lips.

Hiding the emotions in his heart, his gaze fell on her calm-as-still-water jade countenance; shrugging his shoulders, he calmly said, “Just having a little chat.”

The pupil of Shi Feixuan’s pretty eyes darkened, she looked him up and down, and then said, “There’s some discontent in Ziling Xiong’s words, I wonder if in your heart you are feeling that you have been wronged?”

Xu Ziling never expected that she was able to glimpse inside his heart; smiling ruefully, he said, “What do you mean by discontent? The fact is that we do have a single big business deal with Zhu Yuyan, the goal is to kill Shi Zhixuan.”

Sighing lightly, Shi Feixuan said, “Why does our relationship become so vile?”

Xu Ziling picked the cup, which was placed in the middle of the table, and put it in front of her. Filling the cup full of hot tea, he said, “In my heart, Shi Xiaojie has always been the person I respect.”

Shi Feixuan’s pretty eyebrows were slightly knitted, revealing some ‘so what if you respect me?’ pained expression. This kind of expression rarely appeared on her charming face, hence it was particularly touching. Raising the cup, she took a sip, and then spoke softly, “In the area beyond the Great Wall, the sky and the earth are turning upside down because of the three of you. Anybody that I met along the way is always unable to bear not to talk about you. This time you are coming to Longquan, is it to deliver the Five-Colored Stone to Bai Ziting?”

Xu Ziling’s heart was swelling with an intense urge, he really wanted to explain that he did not violate his promise to part ways and divide the escorted goods, that he would not be sucked into Kou Zhong’s great undertaking of contending for hegemony over the world. However, that would be tantamount to him exposing the secret of the Duke Yang’s Treasure. He had no choice but to swallow the words that have been at the edge of his lips. “The Five-Colored Stone is indeed in my possession,” he said, “But I still have not decided how to deal with it. What brought Shi Xiaojie here?”

Unconcerned, Shi Feixuan replied, “Zhou Laotan has escaped from Da Ming Zun Jiao people’s hands, too bad that Jin Huanzhen has been taken away from Shanhai Pass. Fortunately Zhou Laotan has a skill to follow his wife’s track; he pursued her straight to this place. I only came to town this morning.”

Emotionally moved, Xu Ziling said, “Unexpectedly it was Da Ming Zun Jiao again? What kind of following-the-trail method was that? Unexpectedly it could be this brilliant?”

Shi Feixuan replied, “Zhou Laotan, husband and wife have always had close relationship with Da Ming Zun Jiao. In the past, in order to escape Yin Gui Pai’s pursuit, they fled to Huihe to seek protection under Shan Mu. After returning to the Central Plains, in their helplessness, they had no choice but to seek help from Rong Jiaojiao, hence the reason Jin Huanzhen was captured.”

“And you knew as well that Rong Jiaojiao is Da Ming Zun Jiao’s disciple,” Xu Ziling said.

Shi Feixuan said, “I heard it from Zhou Laotan. Rong Jiaojiao is the Miao Feng Ming Zi [bright son of the wonder wind] of the Five Bright Sons, so she is a leadership figure within the Da Ming Zun Jiao. Pi Chen is Da Ming Zun Jiao’s closest ally in the Central Plains; they work hand in glove with each other, stirring the wind and disturbing the rain.”

Xu Ziling said, “So it seems like Da Ming Zun Jiao also wants to dip their finger into the Xiedi Sheli. Who actually is the Da Zun?”

Shi Feixuan replied, “Da Zun’s identity is mysterious, I am afraid only the leaderships of the Da Ming Zun Jiao would know. The Shan Mu Sha Fang current identity is the most beloved great imperial concubine of Sijin, the Shijian of the entire Hui. Toward her, Shijian sees, hears, and obeys.”

Xu Ziling could not help feeling worried for Pusa. “Is Shan Mu going to personally come to fight over the Sheli?” he asked.

“That possibility is quite high,” Shi Feixuan replied, “But the most urgent task at the present time is to rescue Jin Huanzhen back from Da Ming Zun Jiao’s hands; this is what I promised Zhou Laotan.”

“I wonder if you’ll let us lending a hand and spending some effort for Xiaojie?” Xu Ziling spoke in low voice.

Meeting his gaze, Shi Feixuan looked deeply into the abyss of his eyes, a hint of gentle smile escaped out of the corner of her mouth, she spoke serenely, “Ah, Xu Ziling! What kind of person is the real you?”

Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling said, “Most probably you are thinking that I am a man who would do anything, by hook or by crook, to achieve my goal. Ay! The Sheli fell into Shi Zhixuan’s hands, the guilt in my heart is really excruciating; therefore, although I have to cooperate with Zhu Yuyan, as long as I can kill Shi Zhixuan and retrieve Xiedi Sheli back, I would be happy to do so.”

Furrowing her brows, Shi Feixuan said, “What happens if the Sheli fell into Zhu Yuyan hands?”

“I hope Zhu Yuyan did not deceive us,” Xu Ziling replied, “She told us that only by being ready to die in such a way that Shi Zhixuan also perishes will there be any possibility of killing Shi Zhixuan. If these two very top figures of the demonic school are done for, Shi Xiaojie’s days in the future will be a bit easier.”

Revealing a thoughtful look, Shi Feixuan spoke softly, “You are still unwilling to answer my question honestly.”

Stunned, Xu Ziling asked, “What question?”

Staring at him, Shi Feixuan said, “What kind of person Xu Ziling really is.”

Dumbstruck, Xu Ziling could only stare at her, meeting her deep, limpid, bright eyes; a difficult-to-explain emotion welled up in his heart. It was quite a while later that with bitterness in his voice he said, “Why does Shi Xiaojie want to know what kind of person I am?”

A faint blush appeared on Shi Feixuan’s pair of whiter-than-frost, surpassing-the-snow cheeks, but the tone of her voice was extraordinarily calm. “Because Feixuan really wants to know,” she responded slowly.

Xu Ziling wiped out the intense longing in his heart. If he could ride alongside this pure, clean, beautiful inside and outside, superior to the immortal [esp. female] beautiful woman galloping across the prairie, pursuing the water and the grass, grazing the livestock, what else could he possibly seek in life?

But very quickly he realized that this matter would never happen. He sighed and said, “What kind of man I am, it should not come out from my mouth. I am afraid nobody will be able to answer the same question. Kou Zhong and I grew up on the street, our nature insolent and difficult to tame. In a lot of things, it is difficult to control, otherwise Shi Xiaojie would not be so angry with us.”

Shaking her head, Shi Feixuan said, “There has been time when I was indeed angry with you! But when I saw you just now, my anger suddenly faded away, disappeared without any trace; otherwise, how could I be willing to come out to see you.”

Staring blankly, Xu Ziling said, “You really are no longer angry with me?”

Shi Feixuan sighed and said, “Right now I am angry with myself for underestimating the brotherly feelings between you and Kou Zhong. With you helping Kou Zhong conquering the world, and now you even have Tuli standing on your side, when will the Central Earth have happy days in peace and security?”

Xu Ziling solemnly said, “Xiaojie can rest assured that I will definitely not be drawn into Kou Zhong’s great undertaking of contending for hegemony.”

“What about that?” Shi Feixuan said, “Kou Zhong has Song Que’s full support behind his back, even if he lost in the north, establishing power in the south is still like handling a butcher’s cleaver with ease. I did not expect that the unified world under the Great Sui could only be maintained for such a short period of time, and the world is back to the North-South confrontation, attacking and fighting each other. Therefore, Feixuan wanted to ask Xu Ziling, what kind of person are you? If you are really like what I think you are, shouldn’t you think a little bit about this situation?”

Forced by her sharp rhetoric, Xu Ziling was unable to resist; blurted out laughing, he said, “How about if we wait until Li Shimin ascending to the emperor’s seat before we discuss this matter again?”

Rolling her eyes at him, Shi Feixuan said, “Remember that it’s you who said that. Feixuan still have something I want to ask you.”

Xu Ziling’s entire body relaxed, simply because Shi Feixuan’s attitude toward him now has returned to what it used to look like. “Xiaojie, please speak up,” he calmly said.

Getting straight to the point, Shi Feixuan asked, “The Duke Yang’s Treasure, what exactly happened there? If you guys did not know about the storehouse within a storehouse, how did you steal the Sheli out?”

Kou Zhong felt that although the three had not drawn their swords, the momentum had already firmly locked on him. As soon as he made any move, it would be like throwing himself into the hot spring, he would immediately provoke the three people’s full-strength joint strike, and that would not be a joking matter.

Han Chao’an was one of the three men that Zhai Jiao wanted him to kill, and now that he finally met him, he was afraid that he was the one that would be killed instead; it was indeed discouraging.

Due to his relationship with Fu Junchuo, subconsciously he did not regard the young martial aunt Fu Junqiang as an enemy; hence his heart was without any intention to guard against her, to such an extent as to fall into this no-room-to-advance-or-to-retreat situation. If they fought, Fu Junqiang would certainly show no mercy, while he could not be ruthless toward her.

Without even fighting, he could already predict the victory or defeat of this battle.

Jin Zhengzong, who claimed that using any weapon he could move it in what-the-heart-wishes, the-hand-accomplishes way, was wearing plain white Gaoli warrior outfit; whether the head scarf, the belt, the riding boots, everything was plain white. In fact, from head to toe, he was spotlessly white. With Fu Junqiang, who was blocking the bridge, they made a matched-up pair, giving the impression that anything rich in color was not the local custom of Gaoli people.

Kou Zhong paid more attention to the two swords hanging on his waist, left and right, one long, one short, which definitely would not be easy to use, but if he could use it well, it would be dangerous and marvelous at the same time, extremely hard to block.

When he fought against him in the past, upon self-examination, Kou Zhong realized that he was still a notch inferior to him; fortunately he was able to borrow the wind and the waves of the ocean to get away. This moment, seeing his spirit and bearing, obviously his power had enjoyed great progress, so that even fighting one-on-one, to whom the deer falls was still difficult to foresee.

On the surface, Han Chao’an was the most polite to him. Taking a step forward, he smiled and said, “Didn’t Shaoshuai travel together with Ba Xiong and Xu Xiong? Why only Shaoshuai alone now?”

Seeing the with-swords-drawn-and-bows-bent, battle-could-happen-any-moment situation on the bridge, one after another all pedestrians took a detour; they crossed the river via the two other bridges nearby on the left and right. Some people even stopped by at a distant place to watch the excitement.

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “It is very easy if Han Xiong wants to see them; all you have to do is walk a few steps with Xiaodi.”

“Still babbling nonsense?” Fu Junqiang spoke angrily, “I now give you two roads to take; one, you hand over the Five-Colored Stone and crippled your own martial art skill, two, you splash your blood on the bridge, lay down your dead body in here.”

Scratching his head, Kou Zhong said, “Niang has never taught me how to cripple my martial art skill, Xiao Shiyi, you’d better pass on the secret technique to me first, and then we’ll talk.”

Letting out a long laugh, Jin Zhengzong said, “Good guts! Apparently Shaoshuai does not consider us worthy in your eyes.”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Jin Xiong must be joking. You think I am Fu Cailin or Bi Xuan? How could I dare not to consider you worthy in my eyes? The problem is I really don’t know the method to disperse my power, plus I do not have the Five-Colored Stone in me. Looks like I have no choice but to experience three gentlemen and lady’s Gaoli’s pinnacle art.”

With a tender shout, Fu Junqiang’s long sword was out of its sheath, it slashed down swiftly toward his head.

Han Chao’an’s double short-halberds, Jin Zhengzong’s long and short blades, moved out together to attack him.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud. Completely ignoring Fu Junqiang’s slashing sword, not even pulling the Moon in the Well out, he ducked low and charged forward, aiming to crash against Fu Junqiang’s fragrant chest.

“Scoundrel!” Fu Junqiang shouted loudly, unexpectedly she pulled the sword back and retreated.

It turned out that Kou Zhong’s style that was not really a style – was entirely focused on dealing with her Yijian Technique. The inspiration came from the last time they met at Yuwen Huaji’s palace, he did not follow any saber technique, yet Fu Junqiang was unable to unleash the formidable power of Yijian Technique instead.

He also had no choice but to use inappropriate move, because if he let Fu Junqiang to unleash her sword technique, she would surely be able to pin him down, so that he would be unable to divide his attention to deal with Han Chao’an and Jin Zhengzong’s combined violent attack.

Within the little gap before Fu Junqiang changed her move to attack, Kou Zhong spun around, took off the sheepskin outer robe along with the Moon in the Well, and then like a clump of white cloud swept it across Han and Jin, two men, carrying a vortex of energy, like a tornado or violent storm coming right at them.

The two had never encountered such a fierce and severe marvelous move.

The sheepskin robe swept Han Chao’an’s double-halberds first. This man was worthy to be the boss of horse thieves, whose name, together with Shen Mohuan and Huyan Jin, subdued the three sides. His left-hand halberd slashed the sheepskin robe, while the other halberd, fast as lightning, stabbed straight out to take on Kou Zhong’s face. He thought that as long as he could block Kou Zhong’s strike, Jin Zhengzong would be able to seize the opportunity to penetrate deeply, to kill the enemy in one move.

Who would have thought that ‘Dang!’ his left-hand halberd slashed not the sheepskin robe full of stored-up qi power, but the Moon in the Well, still inside its scabbard, hidden inside the robe. His counting-his-chicken-before-they-are-hatched plan immediately failed, he was jolted forcefully backward and staggered, the web between the thumb and forefinger of his hand went numb.

The tail of the robe slapped the tip of his right-hand halberd stabbing forward, the momentum suddenly exploded so that it even swept Jin Zhengzong, who was about to pounce toward Kou Zhong.

Jin Zhengzong had never expected that Han Chao’an unexpectedly failed to block Kou Zhong’s sweep. Overwhelmed with shock, he retreated suddenly in an extremely sorry situation.

Kou Zhong pulled the Moon in the Well in one fluid move, and chopped it down backhandedly.

‘Dang!’

Fu Junqiang was launching her second round of attack, but it was as if she was delivering the long sword to be chopped by his saber. Spiraling energy, like mountain flash flood breaking the dam, rushed forth.

One side was sending out full-strength saber strike with the momentum like a rainbow, the other side was changing move in haste, therefore, even with Fu Junqiang’s brilliance, she was hacked by this young martial nephew, using Yijian to face Yijian, so that her follow-up move could not be released, and she was jolted back miserably as if she was struck by lightning.

Kou Zhong did not take this opportunity to run away, he did not follow up a victory and press home the attack either. He even returned the saber to its scabbard, and unhurriedly put on his sheepskin robe. Letting out a long laughter, he said, “Everything can be discussed. The matter between Xiao Shiyi and me is just a misunderstanding. With two Dage, there is no his mother’s deep enmity, big hatred even more. His granny’s bear, why do we need to fight? If we all go to eat Xiangshui rice, won’t it be better than beating each other up, which may result in someone losing his life?”

Fu Junqiang pointed the tip of her sword to Kou Zhong from a distance; she could not stop trembling, as if she was shivering in fear. Only Kou Zhong, who bore the brunt, felt that it was some kind of abstruse sword technique, which could accumulate the power of the entire body into the blade of the sword; moreover, the direction and the changes were indeterminate, so that it was difficult for him to guess.

If this sword attacked, it would carry penetrating-mountains-and-rivers momentum, both sides had neither buffer nor leeway, one side must suffer defeat, injury or death, before the other side could rest.

This was Fu Junqiang’s true skill.

Kou Zhong groaned inwardly. Considering his Niang’s face, how could he kill or injure her younger martial sister?

Han Chao’an and Jin Zhengzong regrouped and steadied their footings, once again they pressed on toward him. The former laughed involuntarily and said, “Shaoshuai, this is not the first day you are mingling in Jianghu, is it? These past dozen of days we have been waiting respectfully for your good self; it’s rare that you finally show yourself, I am sure it’s not because you want to drink wine, eat rice, or something like that.”

Suddenly they heard the sound of hoof beats. A group of cavalrymen galloped over as if they were flying. The onlookers immediately scattered away, so that the situation was chaotic.

The leader of these Sumo Mohe warriors shouted from afar, “Shaoshuai is gracing Longquan with your presence, Da Wang [great king] requests the pleasure of inviting you to the Palace immediately to meet in person.”

Steeling himself, Xu Ziling calmly said, “The Duke Yang’s Treasure not only has storehouse within a storehouse, moreover, there is the difference between the real and the fake storehouses, the main and the secondary storehouses. Shi Xiaojie, please understand.”

Shi Feixuan’s jade countenance was still as calm as still water, as if she already knew that it must be the case; tranquil and calm and at ease, she said, “Why only now you are willing to tell me?”

Xu Ziling swept his gaze over at the foreign, exotic city, at the market that was bustling with noise and excitement; he thoughtfully said, “Maybe because this place is too far away from the Central Earth, far enough to make me feel that what happened in Chang’an was just a surreal dream. Or perhaps because I feel that Xiaojie definitely will not betray us, by passing on this information to Li Shimin.”

A hazy, like a gentle and soft moonlight, like water or like fog rose-tinted sky colored light rose up in Shi Feixuan’s pair of beautiful eyes. She spoke softly, “Of course Feixuan will not say. Ay! Feixuan has already tried my utmost; Feixuan no longer has any place in the great whirlpool of contention over the world. After this matter is concluded, Feixuan will return to Jingzhai; unless there is no other alternatives, Feixuan will no longer set foot on the world of the living.”

“What?” Xu Ziling blurted out.

Without even blinking Shi Feixuan stared fixedly at him and spoke softly, “I wonder if Ziling is willing to listen to Feixuan’s advice.”

Although Xu Ziling was well aware that this day would come, which was Shi Feixuan returning to Jingzhai to cultivate the Way of the Heaven in seclusion, that she would never set foot on the mundane world anymore, yet when he came face to face with this fact, he was still unable to control the overturning-the-heaven-shaking-the-earth intense emotion inside the lake of his heart, the soul broken, the spirit wounded feeling that he was losing her forever.

Hanging her head low, Shi Feixuan spoke softly, “You know what? Feixuan really loves to see you revealing your true feeling. You, this person, have your shortcoming, which is you love to hide everything at the depth of your heart, which no one can pry into; everything is tightly closed inside, you are neither willing to express it, nor are you willing to fight for it. This is the advice Feixuan is giving you.”

Xu Ziling looked at her with blank expression. It was quite half a day later that he exhaled slowly and said, “Is Feixuan encouraging Xiaodi to take advantage of the time while you are not back in Jingzhai yet, to do everything in my power to pursue you?”

Suddenly sunset clouds arose on Shi Feixuan’s jade cheeks; a bit awkward, a bit cross, she glowered at him, as if she was displeased and annoyed, but not really angry with him, her attitude was so touching, so moving. Her pretty eyebrows lightly knitted, she said, “You! How could you think that far? I was referring to you and Shi Qingxuan. Ay! I really can’t believe those words could come out of your mouth.”

Xu Ziling felt like he was high in the clouds and suddenly lost his footing, and heavily tumbled down straight to the mortal world. Smiling bitterly, he said, “The first time I am revealing my true feeling and I already received the reproach of being frivolous due to misunderstanding. It seems like it’s always better to have a bit more reservations.”

Returning to her ‘normal’ self, Shi Feixuan smiled and said, “Good medicine tastes bitter, loyal advice jars the ears. Feixuan is finally able to reach the way of friendship with Ziling to the utmost. This was the first time that you called me Feixuan!”

Xu Ziling suddenly felt extremely relaxed. It was unclear whether it was because he had poured out his feeling, spitted out the words buried at the bottom of his heart, or because he realized that Shi Feixuan was really not as heartless to him as it appeared on the surface. Her last sentence even slightly swept away the lake of his heart.

He laughed to his heart’s content, and then slyly said, “I don’t want to fight for it. I did not dare to reveal my true feeling because I do not wish to force someone to do something. Isn’t this called what you don’t want done to you, don’t do to others [idiom, from the Confucian analects]?”

Shi Feixuan lightly shrugged her fragrant shoulders. Changing the subject, she said, “I wonder if Ziling knows, if Shi Zhixuan could really use the Relics to patch his flaw, who would be the first person that he is going to kill?”

His countenance changed, Xu Ziling asked, “Who?”

Fixing her gaze at him, Shi Feixuan said, “Ziling already guessed the answer, am I right?”

Sucking in a mouthful of cold air, Xu Ziling spoke in horror, “Could it be his daughter?”

Shi Feixuan spoke heavily, word-by-word, “Shi Qingxuan is the embodiment of Bi Xiuxin, Shi Zhixuan’s only flaw.”