Chapter Ninety-Six: An Old Friend

Li Changhe hurried along the streets of the prefectural city of White Spring.

In his hand, he tightly gripped a palm-sized stone-carved idol.

The carving was crude, almost sloppily made, depicting a deity with three faces: one smiling, one wrathful, and one sorrowful.

The Li clan held a little influence in Peace County. His fourth uncle served as a constable at the yamen, he himself was a clerk in the Six Offices, and there was even an elder in the clan who held a petty clerkship in the Household Office.

A family like that was neither topmost nor obscure, respectable enough to count as a local notable house.

From childhood, Li Changhe had been clever beyond measure, with a memory like a carved seal. Gifted in both letters and arms, he grew up accomplished in every respect.

Alas, because of his background and status as a minor official, he had no way to sit the imperial examinations and display his talents.

Still, Li Changhe did not sink into self-pity. On the contrary, he worked even harder. He was full of ambition and refused to give up merely because he had been born into the rank of a petty clerk.

In this dynasty too, there had been men who rose from the lowest scribal posts to the very summit of power, standing high among ministers and nobles. Li Changhe often drew strength from that thought.

Yet all of it came to an end several months ago, in the pirate invasion.

At the time, Li Changhe had been away on official business in a neighboring county and narrowly escaped disaster. But his parents, his wife, and all his kinsmen, more than a hundred in all, perished in that slaughter.

He had once believed it an accident. Only later, through a series of chance discoveries, did he learn certain hidden truths and glimpse the world’s concealed underside.

That blood feud was one he could scarcely hope to avenge in a lifetime.

How could he ever accept that? The murder of his parents, his wife, and his entire clan was a vengeance so deep that even the waters of the Eastern Sea could not wash it clean. How could he simply let it go?

For the sake of revenge, Li Changhe chose to seek aid from the gods.

Of course, these were evil gods. This world had no benevolent gods at all.

With his intelligence, he understood after the briefest contact what these evil gods truly were: greed, desire, destruction.

But by then, his heart had long been consumed by the flames of vengeance. So long as he could settle that blood feud, what did it matter if the whole world were destroyed?

So long as those lofty beings, who looked upon mortals as though they were no more than pigs and dogs, were dragged down with him into ruin and hell.

Then it would all be worth it. After his parents, wife, and clan were dead, he had already been left with nothing.

Li Changhe came to a residence in the prefectural city and looked at the closed gate before raising his hand to knock.

Three heavy knocks, three light, then three heavy again.

After a short wait, a voice came from within.

“Fire descends upon the world,”

“to cleanse away sin.”

“Ice freezes over,”

“to purify the earth.”

“Divine thunder resounds,”

“and all living things are reborn.”

Question and answer, the countersign matched. After another pause, the courtyard gate was opened from inside.

...

The ship was about to set sail, and Fang Yue was preparing to return to his cabin instead of standing at the prow in the wind.

From White Spring Harbor to the dock at Balin County, the journey would take about two days and two nights, so it was a long passage.

Fang Yue wore a plain blue robe and looked like some down-on-his-luck scholar, though he carried a thick stack of silver drafts on his person.

Since he had money, he did not shortchange himself. He had specially rented a small private cabin on the ship, so for the two-day journey he would not have to squeeze into the common sleeping quarters with everyone else.

“Boatman, wait. We want to board too.” A clear, melodious voice called from the shore.

Fang Yue turned in surprise and found, to his astonishment, that it was yet another familiar face.

The ones boarding in haste were two women, one in white and one in green.

“Miss Lin,” Fang Yue greeted the woman in white.

Back in Peace County, he had crossed paths with these two women once before. He had not expected to meet them again here.

To run into “old acquaintances” twice in the same day filled Fang Yue with genuine pleasure.

For if they could meet again, it meant they were still alive, and had not perished in the man-made catastrophe from several months earlier.

The woman in white heard herself being called and turned around. A trace of surprise appeared on her jade-like face.

“It’s you. You’re on this ship as well?”

Fang Yue stepped forward and smiled. “I never imagined I’d see you again here, miss. We parted in such haste that I never even gave my name. I’m Fang Yue. Fang, as in square and round; Yue, as in a carp leaping the dragon gate.”

The woman in white smiled faintly. “Young Master Fang, from your appearance, have you been traveling for study?”

The woman in green yawned. “Sister, this fellow’s blood and qi burn like a furnace. He’s clearly at the peak of the acquired realm. This ship is bound for Balin County, and that region is hardly famous for its literary culture. What kind of study could he possibly be traveling there for? He’s surely heading to the northern part of Cloud Province to seek a master and learn a craft, merely dressing himself up as a scholar on the road. I don’t believe for a moment that you can’t see it, Sister.”

The woman in white immediately looked a little embarrassed. Since they were only chance acquaintances, a couple of polite words would have sufficed. Why expose someone’s background so casually?

But Fang Yue was secretly alarmed. He had already known these two beautiful women were no ordinary people, since they dared to roam about alone.

Yet with his current keen martial intuition, he could not sense the slightest danger from either of them, while they, by contrast, could see through his cultivation level with ease.

This was even though he had not deliberately restrained his aura. The gulf between them was still unmistakable.

But with that thought, Fang Yue felt more at ease. Since the difference was so great, excessive vigilance would serve no purpose.

“I truly do intend to go to the northern reaches of Cloud Province to seek a master and learn a craft. I wonder where the two of you are headed, and whether our routes happen to coincide?”

The woman in white said, “We’re going to Wind Province. After we reach Balin County, we’ll need to transfer to another ship.”

Wind Province and Cloud Province were not neighboring regions; Wind Province lay to the northwest of Cloud Province, separated by a considerable distance.

Each province covered an enormous expanse of land, so traveling from Cloud Province to Wind Province was a journey of many thousands of miles.

The woman in white did not say precisely what they were going there to do, and Fang Yue did not press the matter. To probe too deeply with someone one barely knew was poor manners indeed.

“All right, Sister. We should go ask the boatman for a room, or we’ll have nowhere to sleep tonight. I’m so sleepy already. I feel like sleeping right now.”

The woman in green yawned again. She spent most of every day asleep.

If the woman in white had not insisted on going to Wind Province, she would never have wanted to wander about. She would only have wished to find some quiet place to stay in peace.

The woman in white said, “Young Master Fang, then we’ll take our leave.”

Fang Yue nodded. “Please, Miss Lin.”

Just as the two were about to leave, Fang Yue suddenly called after them, “May I ask the lady’s given name?”

Ordinarily, it would be improper to inquire casually after a maiden’s personal name. But this white-clad woman was clearly no ordinary person. Fang Yue treated her as a high-level cultivator or martial expert, so asking her name should not be a problem.

The woman in white turned back and looked at him deeply with her lovely eyes. “Qingmiao.”

“Lin Qingmiao. Fresh and ethereal. What a fine name,” Fang Yue praised.

The woman in green, who had been half-asleep a moment ago, suddenly became alert.

“Sister, I told you before that this won’t do. You met him for the first time and told him your surname, and now you’ve even told him your given name. If there’s a next time... Ow, Sister, why are you pinching me?”

Fang Yue watched the graceful backs of the two women as they departed, and listened to their exchange, feeling momentarily stunned.

The implication in their words was rather languid and suggestive, stirring all sorts of imaginative thoughts.