Guiguzi sat inside the house, watching Du Yu and Zhongli Chun a short distance beyond the window. He raised his right hand and calculated on his fingers, visibly startled. "There is... such an extraordinary person in this world?"
After a while, Guiguzi shook his head and murmured:
"Through heaven and earth, through past and present, over all the world's legends you reign.
Yet neither freedom nor ease is yours, nor can your heart stir or your voice ring."
Guiguzi laughed several times, then stopped watching the pair and closed his eyes to rest.
Du Yu straightened Zhongli Chun's clothes for her and said, "Let's not be sad anymore. I have several days this time, so we can enjoy them together!"
Zhongli Chun nodded slightly and tried hard to muster a smile.
"Didn't Master Guigu just ask you to find flowers? I happened to bring you one!" Du Yu took a small white flower from his time-travel gift pack and handed it to Zhongli Chun.
"This is the second time you've given me something..." Zhongli Chun accepted the little flower with a touch of delight, loving it dearly.
"Huh? Junior sister, what are you doing here?" Sun Bin approached with a vase in his hands. "Who's this?"
"He's..." Zhongli Chun was about to introduce him, but did not know what to say. She did not even know Du Yu's name.
"Oh, I'm Miss Zhongli's household servant. My master sent me to see how she's doing! Don't mind me, Master Sun. Carry on!" Du Yu said, smoothing things over.
"Oh, then I'll... Huh? How did you know my surname was Sun..." Sun Bin scratched his head, thinking that this man really was strange.
"Disciples, if you have picked your flowers, come inside and sit down," Guiguzi said from within the house.
Hearing this, Sun Bin dared not delay and went inside with his vase.
"Little Zhongli, you go ahead!" Du Yu said. "I'll wait outside! I'm not in a hurry to leave this time. We can catch up later."
Zhongli Chun looked at Du Yu and said, "I'm not going. I'll stay with you."
Just as Du Yu was at a loss, Guiguzi spoke from inside:
"Wuyan, bring your servant inside as well. The wind is strong out there. Don't let yourselves catch a chill."
"Huh?" Du Yu froze. "Isn't this your internal business? Brother Gui, is it really appropriate for me to come in?"
Guiguzi smiled faintly and said, "Our internal business needs your care all the more. Come inside."
Du Yu did not understand what Guiguzi meant, but it seemed that if he stayed outside, Zhongli Chun would too.
"All right, Brother Gui. I'm coming in. Sorry for the trouble."
"Don't call me Brother Gui. My surname is Wang."
"Got it, Ghost King."
Du Yu led Zhongli Chun into the bamboo house.
After a short wait, Pang Juan returned. Seeing so many people inside, he said nothing and found an empty seat. He had intended to ask who Du Yu was, but seeing him standing behind Zhongli Chun the whole time, he lost interest.
Su Qin and Zhang Yi were the last to return. Their noisy voices could be heard from far away. They seemed to be arguing over something, though their tone was playful.
"Oh? We have a guest?" Su Qin remarked when he saw Du Yu.
"Do not be rude. Sit down, both of you." Guiguzi surveyed his five disciples, seated neatly inside, then said, "I asked for a flower. Have you all brought one?"
His disciples wore different expressions, making it impossible to tell whether they had found any.
"Juan, you first. Give me the flower you found," Guiguzi said, looking at Pang Juan.
Pang Juan pursed his lips and said, "Master, I didn't find a flower."
Guiguzi replied calmly, "If you have no flower, what is that inside your sleeve?"
Pang Juan knew that his master possessed vast Divine Abilities and could not be deceived. He had wanted to find a flower so fresh and lovely it seemed ready to drip before returning to fulfill his task, but in this season... Helplessly, Pang Juan pulled a somewhat dried flower from his sleeve. It was exceptionally ugly. He handed it to Guiguzi. "Master, please have a look."
Guiguzi studied the flower in Pang Juan's hand, then lowered his head in thought for a moment. "This flower withered beneath the sun of Ghost Valley. Place the characters for 'ghost' and 'wither' together, and they form 'Wei,' indicating that you will rise above others in the state of Wei. But you should not have lied to me. You are eager to win and skilled in deception. I fear that deception will be both your making and your undoing. I now give you eight words of truth: meet sheep, find glory; meet horse, meet death. Remember them well."
Pang Juan hurriedly knelt in thanks. "Thank you, Master, for showing me my future!"
"Go down the mountain." Guiguzi gave Pang Juan a meaningful look.
"Yes!" Pang Juan was rather excited. After waiting so many years, he had never expected that today would finally be the day he could leave the mountain and spread his wings.
Once Pang Juan had left, Guiguzi turned to Sun Bin. "Bin, your turn."
Sun Bin nodded and brought out his vase. Inside was a chrysanthemum he had picked in summer, now completely dried. He found it beautiful and had kept it in his room. When he heard that his master wanted flowers, he knew there would certainly be none on the mountain in this season, so he had simply brought the vase from his room.
Guiguzi looked at the dried chrysanthemum and said, "Bin, you are honest and easygoing, with no love for competing against others. I could foresee that you would bring me this faded, dried flower. Yet this flower is damaged, and I fear that you, too, will one day suffer bodily loss. It was a summer flower, but even after being damaged, it stands proudly through the bitter winter. This shows that, in the end, you will emerge from hardship despite your loss. Someone will protect you from being struck down, just as this vase protects the flower. I will give you a brocade pouch. If your life hangs in the balance, open it and look inside."
Sun Bin felt heavyhearted upon hearing this. It seemed his life would not be smooth sailing. He could only accept Guiguzi's brocade pouch with trembling hands.
"Sister Qianqiu, Master Guigu is incredible," Du Yu murmured. "What kind of power is that? He can tell someone's future from a single flower?"
"It's divination," Dong Qianqiu said. "Many people throughout history practiced various forms of divination, but most paid for it with years of their lives. This time, Guiguzi is revealing heaven's secrets for his disciples, regardless of the cost."
"I'm curious," Du Yu asked. "What's written inside that pouch?"
Du Yu had once received a brocade pouch from Master Zhuge, and felt an inexplicable fascination with such things.
"I just had the colleague responsible for Sun Bin check. The pouch says: 'Between fellow disciples and nation, both loyalties cannot stand; to survive, feign madness.' This pouch will save his life when Pang Juan tries to kill him in the future."
Du Yu nodded silently, unsure what to say. Perhaps Guiguzi was the one who suffered most. His disciples were always fighting to kill one another. Had he foreseen that long ago?
"Then, Master..." Sun Bin asked, "may I go down the mountain too?"
"Your time has not yet come. I cannot let you leave for now. When spring returns next year and the flowers bloom, you may depart on your own."
Hearing Guiguzi say this, Sun Bin dared not disobey. He knelt in thanks, then withdrew to one side.
"Qin, what about you?" Guiguzi turned to Su Qin.
Su Qin and Zhang Yi actually stepped forward together. Su Qin took a misshapen flower from inside his robe. It was clearly two flowers, yet they had grown together, one vertical and one horizontal.
"Master, we searched for ages before finding this flower. It should count as two, right?" Zhang Yi asked as well.
Guiguzi lowered his head in thought. "You searched long before finding this flower, foretelling that you two will remain unrecognized for a long time, only to be discovered at the very end. Its vertical and horizontal blossoms intertwine, representing how your arts of vertical and horizontal alliances will make your names resound throughout the world. Since Su Qin presented the flower, he will likely initiate these arts, with Zhang Yi following. Yet this is not the right time for either of you to descend the mountain. As for when you wish to leave, that is up to you."
Su Qin and Zhang Yi immediately knelt in thanks.
Finally, Guiguzi turned to Zhongli Chun. "Wuyan, where is your flower?"
Zhongli Chun said, "Inside my robe. I don't want to give it to you."
Guiguzi shook his head. "I do not want your flower. I only wish to look at it."
"Really?"
With great reluctance, Zhongli Chun took the little white flower Du Yu had given her from inside her robe and held it before Guiguzi.
Du Yu felt uneasy. Guiguzi could read all the world's myriad manifestations from a flower, but he had given this one to Zhongli Chun himself. Wouldn't that cause a bug?
Guiguzi looked at the flower in Zhongli Chun's hand and smiled. "This flower is not of this age. That Wuyan obtained it means she has the aid of a benefactor. It traveled across a thousand years without fading, foretelling that your heart will remain unchanged even after a thousand years, Wuyan, as pure and flawless as this white flower."
As soon as Guiguzi finished, Zhongli Chun hastily hid the white flower inside her robe, afraid someone might snatch it away.
"Old man, when can I leave the mountain?" Zhongli Chun asked.
"When you have learned all my military strategy, politics, and arts of alliances."
"Hmph." Zhongli Chun snorted. "Listening to you all drone on every day, I learned it all ages ago."
"What?" Sun Bin exclaimed from beside her. "Junior sister, don't overestimate yourself. How could you master our teacher's learning after listening in for just a few days?"
Zhongli Chun glanced at Sun Bin, then pointed at Du Yu behind her. "I really have learned it all. I want to leave the mountain with him."
"Oh?" Guiguzi's interest was piqued. He knew Zhongli Chun had never lied in the past ten years. "Bin, your mastery of military strategy is the highest among my disciples. Would you discuss a few rounds of warfare with Wuyan?"
"Well... As you command, Master!"
Du Yu had no idea where this was going. By rights, Zhongli Chun should indeed leave the mountain after completing her studies, but had she?
What happened next was beyond everyone's expectations: for an entire afternoon, Sun Bin experienced the most terrifying nightmare of his life.
They played twelve full rounds of military strategy. Aside from one narrow victory for Zhongli Chun, the other eleven were all crushing wins.
"Extraordinary... extraordinary..." Sun Bin pointed at the little pieces scattered across the table. "You were already outnumbered, yet you divided your forces into six routes and deployed six stratagems in succession, launching feints and a full assault simultaneously to strike straight at my main camp. Such a way of commanding troops actually exists?!"
On the map board, Sun Bin's main force was still fighting at the front while a small unit of six hundred men had razed his headquarters.
Zhongli Chun asked coldly, "Another round?"
Sun Bin shook his head. "No more, junior sister... I bow to your superiority... With such abilities, you are no less capable than any man. I truly hope I never meet you on the battlefield."
"Master, we'd like to try too..." Su Qin and Zhang Yi had long been unable to contain their excitement. The existence of someone who could defeat Sun Bin twelve times in a row in military strategy was truly inconceivable.
"Junior sister, your command of troops is divine. You won't mind if the two of us combine our vertical and horizontal strategies, will you?"
Zhongli Chun remained expressionless. "What a nuisance. Come on."
Su Qin and Zhang Yi brought all their lifetime's learning to bear and indeed fought Zhongli Chun to a standstill.
"Time to finish this," Zhongli Chun said coldly. Then she picked up a small piece she had hidden near their headquarters long ago and suddenly launched a fierce assault. "Assassination unit, move out."
Su Qin's face drained of color. Fortunately, Zhang Yi had prepared for this. He flipped over the wooden marker for their headquarters, revealing a piece underneath-a unit of three thousand men he had concealed long ago.
"Junior sister, I knew you would try this! That's why I kept three thousand troops at headquarters the entire time, even if it made the fighting harder!"
Zhongli Chun did not answer. She gently placed her hundred-man unit's piece on top of the three-thousand-man piece, then tapped it lightly. The three-thousand-man piece shattered.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Zhang Yi shouted. "Junior sister, you're cheating! You can't smash the pieces with brute force!"
"I didn't use brute force. Against my assassination unit, your three thousand men would lose without question."
"That's twisted reasoning!" Zhang Yi said. "Junior sister, tell me how a hundred men could kill three thousand. What stratagem are you using? What plan have you devised?"
Zhongli Chun quietly picked up her little piece. "Because I'm leading this unit."
They looked closely. There was indeed no commander's flag in Zhongli Chun's headquarters, indicating that her commander was absent. Instead, a commander's flag stood atop the piece called the "assassination unit."
"What?!" Su Qin and Zhang Yi were both dumbfounded. "As commander of the entire army, you actually led an assassination unit to kill the enemy commander?!"
"Why not?" Zhongli Chun tossed down the piece. "Do you think three thousand men could stop me?"
At those words, everyone fell silent.
Indeed, could three thousand men stop Zhongli Chun?
It was truly hard to say.
"Hahahaha! Brilliant! Brilliant!" Guiguzi laughed. "Not only is this strategy sublime, but Wuyan alone could wield it!"
Du Yu smiled along with him.
"You're smiling. Did you understand?" Dong Qianqiu asked.
"I didn't understand a thing, but I'm deeply impressed."
Guiguzi slowly walked toward Zhongli Chun and said, "Wuyan, go down the mountain. Your fortunes changed the moment this servant appeared."
"Really?" A rare look of happiness appeared on Zhongli Chun's face.
"Yes." Guiguzi nodded, his heart filled with a thousand emotions. Perhaps, of all his disciples, only Zhongli Chun would meet a good end.
This was probably the second farewell Zhongli Chun had faced in her life, and her heart felt strange.
"Junior sister... you're really leaving?" Sun Bin was reluctant to part with her.
"Will we never see each other again..." Su Qin said.
"Junior sister, remember to write..." Zhang Yi said.
Zhongli Chun bit her lip, feeling an ache she could neither express nor explain.
"Old man, Sun Bin, Su Qin, Zhang Yi." Zhongli Chun looked at their faces and called their names one by one.
"Yes?" They looked at Zhongli Chun.
"It's so cold. You should wear another layer."
"Huh?" They exchanged glances. Was Zhongli Chun showing concern for us?
Zhongli Chun took Du Yu's hand and silently walked toward the doorway. Just before stepping outside, she turned back, bowed deeply, and said:
"For these twenty years... truly... thank you."
Watching Zhongli Chun walk away, Zhang Yi burst into tears with a wail and shouted, "Call me senior brother from now on, you little brat!"
Sun Bin and Su Qin quietly wiped away their tears as well. They looked at their master, whose aged face was already streaming with tears.
Before you continue