WHEN QIAO XIAN brought in the medicine, Cui Buqu regarded the bowl with disgust, his expression more hateful than when he'd looked upon Xiao Lü. He had no good opinion of those landlords—they were the type who wouldn't weep until they saw the coffins.
"If they refuse to cooperate, kill them."
Qin Miaoyu was stunned. "All of them?"
She could tell he wasn't joking. Qin Miaoyu was no bleeding heart, but these wealthy families were part of a complicated web of relationships within Guangqian County. Since the mastermind Yang Yun was a relative of the emperor, it was possible his collaborators might also have connections at court. It was easy to say kill them, but if someone went after the Jiejian Bureau for it later, then she, a simple spy, couldn't bear the responsibility.
Feng Xiao was in seclusion, and Ming Yue was in a coma. Everyone with decision-making power was absent. Someone of her low rank had no authority to dictate the Jiejian Bureau's actions.
Cui Buqu fell silent. He too realized it was inappropriate to leave this to Qin Miaoyu. After all, she wasn't the head of the Jiejian Bureau. Currently, only Cui Buqu had the rank and status to act.
"After a disaster like this, plague is bound to follow. Gather all the doctors and recruit the largest pharmacy in the city. Have them prescribe some preventative medication for the refugees and order mugwort burned around the city to dispel disease. Yang Yun left us plenty of gold and silver; deduct the expenses from that first. Keep a record. Rong Qing has already reported this matter to the court—when he returns to the capital, he can present the record along with his list of Yang Yun's crimes."
He thought a moment. "After that, go to the villa and find a few corpses. Fresh ones—the more gruesome their deaths, the better. It's fine if their faces are damaged. Just choose ones that will scare people with a single glance and give them nightmares if they look again."
Qin Miaoyu looked at him strangely. She'd likely never heard such a bizarre request, but she quickly recovered. "Quite a few of our enemies died at Fengyun Tavern. We can bring them here; that will save us from having to search."
Cui Buqu nodded. "That's fine."
"Lord Chief," Qiao Xian reminded him. "It's time for your medicine."
The two engaged in a silent standoff, which ended when Cui Buqu picked up the bowl.
Qin Miaoyu quickly left to carry out Cui Buqu's orders, leaving Qiao Xian and Cui Buqu alone.
After hesitating for a long moment, Qiao Xian silently knelt.
Cui Buqu seemed unsurprised. "Have you thought it over?"
Qiao Xian lowered her head. "Yes. As long as I can stay in the Zuoyue Bureau, this subordinate will remain at your lordship's beck and call. I'm yours to command, always."
They'd had a long talk earlier that day, in which Cui Buqu had offered her two choices. One was to leave the Zuoyue Bureau forever. The other was to stay—but not with him. The Zuoyue Bureau had hidden sentry posts all across the land; Qiao Xian would be stationed at one of those and start over. Only after proving herself would she have a chance to be promoted.
The latter path was naturally much more difficult. Qiao Xian had been with Cui Buqu since the establishment of the Zuoyue Bureau and was currently a seventh-rank official. This demotion effectively returned her to the bottom to start again from scratch.
"I thought you'd choose to leave behind your official position and be free," Cui Buqu commented. "It wouldn't be such a bad thing."
"I want to stay," Qiao Xian insisted. "Whatever it takes."
The Qingcang Sect from which Qiao Xian hailed was small, with mediocre teachings and no secrets worth stealing. Their only skill of note was the art of disguise, but even this wasn't particularly impressive: In the face of raw martial power, disguises counted for little. Consequently, the sect had few disciples. Hoping to revitalize it, the new sect leader had married the only daughter of the leader of a large sect from the southeast. She was an arrogant woman, pampered since childhood, and after marrying in she wasted no time ordering everyone about and meddling wherever she could. Qiao Xian's beauty inevitably drew her ire, and ultimately resulted in her expulsion from the sect.
Exiled and with nowhere to go, Qiao Xian received instructions from the Thirteen Floors of Yunhai that sent her to Chang'an, the capital of the former Zhou dynasty. Per her orders, Qiao Xian waited at a teahouse on the outskirts of Chang'an for half a month, exhausting all her remaining money and facing numerous mishaps due to her lovely face. She was left utterly miserable. She had gradually broken away from her small sect's mindset and realized there was a larger world out there. Perhaps the Thirteen Floors of Yunhai had hung her out to dry so she could experience the warmth and coldness of the world, that she might be convinced to submit to them fully.
But she never encountered any messenger from the Thirteen Floors. Instead, she met Cui Buqu.
Cui Buqu hadn't yet been put in charge of the Zuoyue Bureau then, though Lady Dugu already trusted him deeply, and he was a guest in the Duke of Sui's residence. Few people knew of him; Qiao Xian had never heard his name. Later, when Cui Buqu learned of her origins and asked her if she wished to come along with him, she'd vaguely realized that her value to the Thirteen Floors might lie herein.
She came from a small sect and had no skills except the art of disguise. Cui Buqu found people to teach her medical science and some ancient texts on disguises for her to learn from. After the Zuoyue Bureau was founded, he took her with him as they traveled the world handling cases.
Not only did Qiao Xian benefit from receiving Cui Buqu's direct teachings, she felt needed by the Zuoyue Bureau—and by Cui Buqu himself. She thought that she'd found her place, and was far more at home than she'd ever been in her original sect. Only in the Zuoyue Bureau did she feel her heart was beating and alive, that there would always be goals for her to accomplish and someone she could look to for guidance.
Later, she was threatened by a messenger from the Thirteen Floors. Qiao Xian was forced to choose between two options: exposing her identity and being cast out of the Zuoyue Bureau, or delivering irrelevant messages that wouldn't endanger Cui Buqu. One misstep led to another, and by the time she tried to turn back, she found her path had already changed beyond recognition.
She went to Zhao's Teahouse determined to die, but unexpectedly, Cui Buqu had left her a path to life.
"Your body needs long-term care. Refining the ice-fungus pill requires time and labor, and there are few left. I'll refine a bottle for your lordship before I leave and write down the prescription. The old doctor at Huize Hall knows the method; you can ask him to refine it for you."
Neither her words nor her reluctant actions softened Cui Buqu's resolve to send her from his side. Everyone must pay a price for their actions; regardless of the hardships they might have suffered, they should be prepared to bear the consequences of their decisions. Since Qiao Xian had chosen to stay, she had accepted her punishment.
In any event, leaving the capital for a secret post might not be the misfortune she thought.
Cui Buqu grunted. As the medicine gradually took effect, his head began to swim. He'd wanted to wait for news from Qin Miaoyu before lying down, but his body was warning him he had reached his limits: All the willpower in the world couldn't counteract his fatigue. Qiao Xian's words grew foggy and confused, as if he heard them through a paper window screen.
Even his sleep was restless. Countless dreams came one after another, whirling through his mind like a revolving lantern. The dead—former enemies, many of whom Cui Buqu had killed or plotted against—crawled up from the underworld, loathing and resentment wrapped like spider silk around Cui Buqu's body. They screamed for revenge, demanding his life, but Cui Buqu had a will of iron and a heart of stone: Even in his dream, he remained impassive as he allowed the evil spirits to spiral around him and howl.
He felt as if a massive boulder was tied to his body, dragging him down to the bottom of a deep pool. Cries echoed in his ears, as if trying to call him back, but the nameless force below was too strong. He flattened his hand into a blade and sliced through the silk, strand by strand, but his consciousness was adrift in the sea of his dreamscape, unable to find solid ground.
He had no idea how much time had passed when the voices in his ears gradually sharpened and became clear. Qiao Xian was talking, answered by another familiar voice. Cui Buqu's reflexes were sluggish in the dream. Cui Buqu frowned and pondered for a long time before realizing the other voice must belong to Pei Jingzhe.
The two of them spoke fast and low. It didn't sound like an idle chat—their voices were tight with unconcealed anxiety. He seemed to hear the words my lord and Deputy Chief Feng.
Suddenly he heard a short, shrill scream. Cui Buqu opened his eyes.
His heart ached dully at being forced awake, as if tugged by an invisible thread. He felt pain shoot up his injured shoulder.
The scream hadn't come from Pei Jingzhe or Qiao Xian, but from the neighboring courtyard—it was the terrified scream of a young woman. Pei Jingzhe rushed over to take a look. Qiao Xian was about to follow when she glanced back and saw Cui Buqu with his eyes open. She stopped in her tracks and hurried back to help him sit up.
"What happened?" Cui Buqu had woken too abruptly, and his mind was still slow.
"Deputy Chief Feng is in seclusion to heal his wounds. Something seems to have gone wrong," Qiao Xian said.
Pei Jingzhe had arranged for maidservants to deliver food and water daily to Feng Xiao's quarters, ensuring he would have what he needed upon waking. But while Cui Buqu had been sleeping during the day, a maid had encountered Feng Xiao, who was supposed to be in seclusion behind closed doors. He'd struck and injured her, and it'd taken the combined efforts of Pei Jingzhe, Qin Miaoyu, and the freshly awakened Ming Yue to subdue him. The incident had triggered a qi deviation in Feng Xiao, and he'd fallen into a coma.
Cui Buqu's vacant gaze gradually gained focus. "Just now, I thought I heard you talking about the ice-fungus pill. What does the pill have to do with this?"
Qiao Xian instinctively shook her head. "Nothing. Your lordship misheard."
Cui Buqu stared at her in silence, and Qiao Xian stared back.
***
Pei Jingzhe knew there was an enormous gap between his own martial skills and Feng Xiao's, but he'd never before felt it so clearly. A hand was squeezing his neck, its grip growing tighter and tighter. Breathing became impossible; at this rate, he'd be meeting the ruler of the underworld any minute.
"My…lord," Pei Jingzhe forced between gritted teeth.
Feng Xiao seemed not to hear. His hair was disheveled, and a red mark ran vertically between his brows—a sign that his qi was blocked at the Yintang point, and his mind was greatly affected.
After absorbing the two sarira, his internal strength had increased by leaps and bounds, but his progress had come with a latent danger. Taking shortcuts would always lead to disaster. Feng Xiao hadn't entered qi deviation when fighting Xiao Lü, but that was only due to his extraordinary willpower. Sooner or later, this moment was bound to come.
In desperation, Pei Jingzhe raised his palm and struck at Feng Xiao. The blow was instantly deflected; Pei Jingzhe spasmed as his own internal energy rebounded back on him. Deputy Chief Feng's martial skills were no weaker when in qi deviation. On the contrary, his temporary loss of lucidity meant no one could restrain him.
Pei Jingzhe could have cried. He deeply regretted not being harsher on Feng Xiao when he'd subdued him the first time with Ming Yue and the others. Who could have imagined his lord would break free of his confinement so quickly? Now, he might not last long enough for the third chief to arrive—by the time he did, Pei Jingzhe would be dead and buried.
Wouldn't his lord be sad to realize he'd killed Pei Jingzhe with his own two hands?
"It's… It's me, Jingzhe!" Pei Jingzhe choked out, trying to buy himself time and a chance of survival. He needed Feng Xiao to wake up.
The words had no effect. Feng Xiao wasn't in a mindless rage where he was killing people with every strike, but his consciousness was turned inward, lost and chaotic. He was completely oblivious to the outside world.
Pei Jingzhe's eyes welled with tears. At the edge of his vision, he caught movement—Ming Yue, Cui Buqu, and the others had arrived. It was as if a savior from heaven had descended. His eyes lit up.
"Erlang!"
"Feng-er!"
They were familiar voices.
At that moment, Feng Xiao was like an untethered soul. The voices floated in from a distance and entered his ears, but his soul was caught in a tug-of-war with the sarira of the grandmaster it had formed from. His qi was roiling, seeking an exit it couldn't find; he could spare them no attention. All he could do was allow his body to follow its instincts and fight.
The voices grew slower and closer. Only then did they start to register.
Ming Yue?
And that Cui fellow.
Feng Xiao sighed and looked at the faint apparition in front of him.
Not far away, a tall man with a beard and mustache stood opposite him, his hands behind his back. His face oozed arrogance, as if nothing in the world was worthy of his attention. The owner of the two sarira: Cui Youwang, former grandmaster of the demonic sects.
I knew it, Feng Xiao thought. How could Xiao Lü be so generous as to give the sarira away for nothing? He was waiting for this.
Such treasures were not meant to be possessed by ordinary people. If Feng Xiao hadn't come from a demonic sect and trained in their martial arts, he'd be facing more than just qi deviation right now—his body might have exploded, killing him instantly.
Pei Jingzhe had no idea what drastic transformations Feng Xiao was experiencing within. He only knew that the hand gripping his throat relaxed minutely at the sound of Cui Buqu's voice.
Ming Yue seized the opportunity to step forward and seal Feng Xiao's acupoints. With the help of Qin Miaoyu, he supported Feng Xiao's feverish body as he collapsed again.
Pei Jingzhe had faithfully served at Feng Xiao's side for so long, yet he couldn't compare to this man who'd known him less than a year. The thought made him deeply unhappy. Before he could dwell on it, he heard Ming Yue say gravely, "We can't let this go on. We must find a supply of ice fungus. It's the only thing that can help Erlang through his crisis."
"The deputy chief is suffering from qi deviation," Qin Miaoyu said, puzzled. "What good is medicine? Shouldn't we work together to channel him qi?"
Ming Yue smiled bitterly. "Absolutely not. He doesn't lack qi right now; his qi is about to explode. He can't rely on anyone but himself to regulate his meridians. The ice fungus can't change his situation, but it can help."
Qin Miaoyu sighed, her brow creasing. "That may be more difficult than you think. I checked at every pharmacy in the city earlier. Either they haven't heard of it, or their knowledge is half-complete, and they just say it's hard to find. Only the major pharmacies in the capital stock it. We'll never get it in time."
"You don't have to go to the capital," said Cui Buqu. "I have some right here."
Qiao Xian's eyes widened in alarm. Before she could object, Cui Buqu pulled out a porcelain bottle. He poured out the last three pills, pried open Feng Xiao's mouth, and stuffed them inside, then closed his jaw and forced him to swallow.