The bright spring breeze howled into the tearoom. Two men with ramrod-straight postures sat facing each other, with a square tea table between them.
“Whoo…”
Wei Yuan gently blew away the steam rising from his cup, took a sip of the clear tea, and sighed in delight.
“Rich and mellow, with a sweet aftertaste and lingering fragrance on the teeth. I never thought I’d still be able to drink tea grown by the Flower Goddess in this lifetime. Worth it.”
Your life’s worth is a bit too cheap, isn’t it… Xu Qi’an grumbled inwardly, then said with a smile,
“I knew Duke Wei liked tea, so I specially brought an tael for you.”
In truth, it was old tea, left behind by Mu Nanzhi from before.
Wei Yuan nodded in satisfaction and said with emotion,
“First among flowers, of peerless beauty and heavenly grace, Mu Nanzhi is a stunning beauty unlike any other in the world. For her to follow you without name or status, that’s a real grievance to her.
“And Luo Yuheng is now an Earthly Immortal. Did she agree to let you marry Her Highness Lin’an?”
Xu Qi’an hadn’t expected that the first thing Wei Yuan cared about when they met would actually be his lifelong marriage prospects.
He sighed.
“None of them are easy to deal with. Just mentioning it gives me a headache. Duke Wei, do you have any advice?”
…Wei Yuan set down his teacup and looked at him expressionlessly.
Ah, this… Xu Qi’an immediately realised he’d spoken improperly. Just as he was about to chuckle and brush the matter aside, he heard Wei Yuan say flatly,
“Balance exists within all things.”
Xu Qi’an fell into thought.
Resting both hands on the table’s edge, Wei Yuan smiled.
“Her Majesty already told me in detail what happened after my death. You did very well.”
Xu Qi’an opened his mouth, about to say a few modest words, but Wei Yuan, smiling faintly, said,
“I also never expected that while only fourth rank, you could stand alone with one sabre and block the Church of the Warlock God’s army of two hundred thousand. It seems your advancement to first-rank martial artist isn’t luck at all, but the bearing of one favoured by heaven.”
You’re taking revenge for my slip of the tongue just now, aren’t you? And now you’re perfectly intact again… Xu Qi’an muttered inwardly, then said awkwardly,
“It’s all wild exaggeration from the world.”
He said no more, lifted his teacup and took a sip, hinting to Wei Yuan to let the subject drop.
“The lords of court are debating how to deal with Yunzhou. What do you think?” Wei Yuan asked.
“I don’t care much about affairs of government,” Xu Qi’an said first by way of preface, then continued,
“All soldiers with arms should be branded and pressed into military service. As for the Yunzhou officials, local gentry and prominent clans who supported the rebels, all of them should have their estates confiscated.”
This wasn’t really his own view, but a guess based on his understanding of Huaiqing.
Branding and conscription into military service was standard practice, nothing unusual. As for the officials and local great clans, this was a perfect chance, under the banner of striking down the powerful, to seize their wealth and lands, using them to appease the common people and ease the court’s shortages in money and grain.
After chatting for a few more moments, Wei Yuan turned serious.
“Do you know where my soul went after I died?”
Xu Qi’an shook his head.
“When I marched out that day, Zhao Shou paid no small price to win me a sliver of hope. Originally, after my death, the carving knife and Confucian cap were meant to bring my soul back, but they only brought back a wisp of remnant soul.” Wei Yuan said helplessly, “The Warlock God seized my Heaven and Earth souls and sealed them inside a stone statue. I still underestimated a Beyond-rank existence. Even with only a thread of power able to seep through, it was enough.”
Xu Qi’an’s heart sank.
Wei Yuan glanced at him and nodded.
“That’s right. After my soul returned, the Confucian Sage’s power loosened once more, and the Warlock God began striking at the seal again.
“I reinforced that seal with my own body. It was the combined power of the Confucian Sage and I. So when the Warlock God seized my soul back then, it was because he wanted to use me to break open a gap for him.”
Seeing Xu Qi’an’s brows knit tightly, he explained,
“Besides that, Her Majesty personally summoned my soul, which also caused the Confucian Sage’s power to loosen. In all the world, apart from you, only she could pry at the Confucian Sage’s seal.”
Warlocks can divine, could the Warlock God have foreseen from the start that I’d revive Wei Yuan? Xu Qi’an hadn’t expected summoning Wei Yuan’s soul to have such severe consequences.
The Warlock God was one of the three great Beyond-rank beings of the age, with cultivation reaching heaven and earth. If he broke free of the seal, that was no trivial matter.
Wait. A thought stirred in his mind. After a moment’s thought, he said,
“If summoning Duke Wei’s soul would loosen the Warlock God’s seal, then why would the Jianzheng agree to it?”
“Don’t ask me everything. Use your own brain a little.” Wei Yuan glanced at him. “You are now the Great Feng’s true guardian deity. Whether in strength or prestige, you’ve already surpassed me and the Jianzheng.”
“But I’m only a rough and vulgar martial artist.” Xu Qi’an reflected on himself. Whenever Wei Yuan was around, he always got lazy about thinking and simply asked when he didn’t understand.
Wei Yuan said,
“Do you remember the ‘last letter’ I left you? I once told you…”
That in your youth you had your eye on the Empress Dowager? Xu Qi’an remained calm on the surface and asked,
“That Jiuzhou is far crueller than I imagined?”
Wei Yuan put down his teacup, his expression solemn.
“At the end of last summer, the Church of the Warlock God tried to erode the Northern Frontier’s territory, using it as a foundation to march south and swallow up the Great Feng.
“At that time, Zhao Shou came to me and said that before the Confucian Sage died of old age, he had left behind a handwritten note, saying that he himself had been born in response to fortune, and was meant to dispel a calamity for the human world.
“Only then did I learn that more than twelve hundred years ago, the Confucian Sage successively sealed the Gu God, the Warlock God, and the Buddha.
“Only then did I truly understand why the Church of the Warlock God wanted to erode the Yao and barbarian territories. They wanted to expand their domain, gather fortune, and help the Warlock God break free of the Confucian Sage’s seal. Once the Warlock God broke free, the Central Plains would become the Church of the Warlock God’s prize in the bag.”
Xu Qi’an nodded slowly.
“Right. The Gu God is still sealed in the Southern Marches, and the Buddha’s situation is the most complicated, but he can’t free himself either. At that time, if the Church of the Warlock God had successfully taken the Northern Frontier, then the Warlock God would’ve been the most likely to break free first.”
As he came into contact with more and more ancient secrets, he now understood why Wei Yuan had chosen to seal the Warlock God even at the cost of his own life.
Without the battle of Mount Jing City in late autumn, perhaps the Warlock God would now be on the verge of escaping, or might even already have escaped.
“Duke Wei, do you know why the Confucian Sage sealed the Beyond-rank beings?” Xu Qi’an asked.
Wei Yuan nodded.
“Her Majesty already told me the reason for the end of the gods and demons, as well as the conversation between Baidi and the Gu God in the Southern Marches. If nothing else, the calamity the Confucian Sage referred to should be connected to the fall of the gods and demons in those days.”
Stroking his chin, Xu Qi’an said,
“The gods and demons died from slaughtering one another. Apart from beings at the Beyond-rank level like the Gu God who survived, the gods and demons had basically already vanished in the ancient age.”
And even the Gu God had only survived by luck.
Because there had been gods and demons then who were on par with the Gu God. The difference in fate between them and the Gu God might simply have been that the Gu God had better luck.
No, it wasn’t that the Gu God was lucky, but that he had the ability to glimpse a corner of the future… Xu Qi’an grasped the key to how the Gu God had managed to endure.
Wei Yuan said,
“So you should understand now why the Jianzheng not only didn’t stop you from reviving me, but actually took part in it.”
“Balance exists within all things,” Xu Qi’an answered with Wei Yuan’s own words.
The Jianzheng’s thinking was to use the Warlock God to balance the Buddha and the Gu God. The basis for that guess was that the gods and demons had all perished through mutual slaughter.
Wei Yuan sighed.
“So long ago I already guessed that the Church of the Warlock God’s actions would provoke the Buddhist sect, forcing them into an alliance with Yunzhou, while the Church of the Warlock God would most likely sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, wishing all three sides would end up half-dead.”
In the brocade bag he had left for Nangong Qianrou, he had clearly written of the Yunzhou army and the Western Regions’ monk soldiers.
“Duke Wei, do you have any guesses about the truth behind the ancient gods and demons slaughtering one another?”
This question had troubled Xu Qi’an for a long time.
“The handwritten note left by the Confucian Sage didn’t mention it. This matter most likely concerns Heaven’s secrets, and so it couldn’t be revealed. In the present age, those who know the hidden truth can be counted on one hand.” Wei Yuan shook his head.
“Then what about the gatekeeper?”
Xu Qi’an spoke in a probing tone.
Wei Yuan glanced at the empty teacup. Xu Qi’an tactfully filled it, and only then did he nod in satisfaction and say,
“Since he’s called a gatekeeper, then whatever the ‘gate’ refers to, it must be about not letting something in or not letting something out. Considering the hidden matter of the ancient gods and demons slaughtering one another, which possibility do you think is greater?”
Not letting something out… Xu Qi’an pondered.
“The Yunzhou rebellion is already over, and the people can recuperate and rebuild, but peace will be short-lived. The true great calamity is about to descend.” Wei Yuan sighed. “Fortune is what the Beyond-rank beings want to seize. In the Western Regions there is the Buddha, in the northeast the Warlock God, and in the Southern Marches the Gu God. Only the Northern Frontier and the Central Plains have no Beyond-rank. If they all break free of their seals, the first place they will contend for and target will certainly be the Central Plains.
“Everyone knows to pick the soft persimmon to squeeze, even children understand that. Once they’ve carved up the Central Plains, only then will the Beyond-rank beings truly begin competing among themselves.
“You’re now a first-rank martial artist, but there’s still a vast gap between you and Beyond-rank. Have you thought of how to deal with it?”
Xu Qi’an had already given it thought.
“First I’ll arrange flowers… ahem, first I’ll think about how to advance to half-step Martial God, like Shenshu. A Martial God has never existed since ancient times. I can’t pin my hopes on becoming one, so I need to form an alliance with Shenshu.
“Two half-step Martial Gods should barely be able to contend with a Beyond-rank, right? That way we’d at least have the power to protect ourselves. It’s a pity I couldn’t save the Jianzheng.”
Although a Master of Heaven’s Mandate wasn’t especially strong in direct combat, the Jianzheng’s greatest strength lay in his planning. If the Jianzheng were still around, Xu Qi’an would gladly have been his thug.
Wei Yuan nodded and said,
“That’s enough for today. Oh, right, Qianrou brought a woman back from Yunzhou. You should go and see her.”
Xu Qi’an’s expression instantly turned strange. After a moment of silence, he said,
“Alright.”
…
He left the Tower of Noble Spirit and headed instead for the residential area in the rear compound.
The Nightwatcher constabulary was divided into two parts. The front courtyard was for official business, while the rear courtyard was for living quarters. People like Yang Yan and Nangong Qianrou, single dogs that they were, lived in the office all year round.
Passing through the garden and courtyards, and following the address Wei Yuan had given him, he arrived at a small courtyard on the very edge of the eastern quarter.
Looking at the courtyard gate, now that the moment had come, Xu Qi’an hesitated.
He didn’t know what sort of mood or attitude he ought to have when meeting the woman inside.
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