The black-robed man raised a foot and casually wiped the mud from his shoe on the face that still held an expression. Once both shoes were clean, he reached down and lifted the stupefied Zhang Xiaoyan, glanced at the fire talisman on his forehead, and crushed the bones in both his legs.
Zhang Xiaoyan's hoarse, distorted screams rang out across the countryside. The black-robed man drove another surge of true qi into him, destroying his vocal cords. A living boy became a grotesque shape that could only tremble and rasp, "Huh, huh."
Carrying that shape, the black-robed man continued west, vanishing in flickering bursts.
Excruciating pain did not disappear simply because of an emotional shock.
Pei Ye squeezed his eyes shut and endured. After roughly a quarter of an hour, the first wave finally began to subside. He kicked aside the wheat stack, lay there for a couple of breaths, then pushed himself up and staggered toward Cheng Feng's body.
Blood covered the ground in broad pools, washed far away by the rain. Mud and shoeprints marked his face, and his once-lively eyes had gone utterly dull.
Perhaps it was an aftereffect of the pain, but Pei Ye found it difficult to breathe.
He suddenly understood the source of his irritation when Cheng Feng had said, "I'll follow you."
It had not been because Cheng Feng insisted on dithering and arguing with a formidable enemy before them.
Pei Ye had faced many aggravating situations. He had always been able to conceal his emotions and handle them with generosity. By comparison, Cheng Feng had merely chosen an ill-timed moment to value loyalty above his own life.
The person he had truly been angry with, all along, was himself.
When he saw Lin Lin's anguished face, when he picked up Lin Jue's torn, soiled undergarment, when he untied that sword tassel... how many times that day had fury burned in his heart, making him yearn to cut the murderer into a thousand pieces with his own hands?
Yet reason had kept telling him that courage and hatred could not bridge the gulf in strength. He ought to follow the officials' arrangements and play his assigned role, even if all that role allowed him to do was hide and run.
Once he chose to handle this through reason, the suppressed self within him had thrashed and roared without cease.
That self was, in truth, another Cheng Feng.
So when Cheng Feng voiced what he had struggled to suppress, so easily and so thoughtlessly, it ignited his anger-What do you know?! Do you think you're brave and noble?! The officials and I are playing turtles, playing rats, even hoping those murderers can escape unhurried, even if those six deaths can never be avenged, rather than let anyone else die tonight. Yet you dare throw away your life so lightly?
In silence, Pei Ye wiped the face clean with his sleeve, took off an outer garment to wrap the head, and lifted the corpse onto the horse. Then he mounted and rode toward the county office.
Had hiding all day truly saved so many lives? Or, for that matter, what would one more death-his own-amount to?
He could no longer crawl like a maggot into dark places in pursuit of that miserable scrap of life. At the very least, he had to face the enemy and swing his sword once.
You son-of-a-bitch bastard. Kill me with one stroke, the way you killed Cheng Feng, or let me see whether you, too, will howl in terror when a blade pierces your throat.
Chapter 16: Flood Dragon Heart and Quail Head
The county office had become a wasteland of shattered walls.
Buildings had collapsed. A pillar as thick as a man had snapped in the middle. Broken branches and leaves from the old locust tree lay scattered everywhere, leaving only half its bare trunk. Everything was covered in the marks of sharp cuts.
No lamps burned in the courtyard. It seemed entirely deserted.
Shen Yanping's corpse had suffered unimaginable cutting and leaned, mangled beyond recognition, in a corner by the wall.
Pei Ye lowered Cheng Feng's body from the horse and laid him beside Shen Yanping.
More than a dozen bodies of white-robed men and constables lay in the courtyard. There were even two Martial Arts Hall instructors, who must have come to help after seeing the water dragon.
Judging by the carnage, there might indeed have been a chance of victory. In the end, however, misfortune had prevailed.
Pei Ye hurried across the courtyard to the room where he had waited earlier. Water had ravaged this place too, but since it stood in the rear courtyard, the damage was not severe.
He searched beneath the overturned tables and chairs for the wine and medicine he had brought, took a dark-brown pill from the cloth bundle, and swallowed it with wine.
Soon, it felt as though a fire had kindled in his belly, melting those hundred icy iron needles. A burning pain gradually arose, replacing the twisting agony that had been poised to erupt in a second wave.
Pei Ye leaned against the wall and took several deep breaths. Color returned to his face. Then he pushed himself upright and went back to the main hall.
With one pillar broken, the roof had collapsed at an angle, but the other three still held up a pocket of space.
Pei Ye dug through the wreckage but found no sign of Chang Zhiyuan's corpse. Perhaps Lord Shen had told him to leave before the fiercer fighting began.
The soul bird was nowhere to be seen, but the jade box had fallen beneath the table. Pei Ye picked it up. Inside were two sheets of correspondence.
By lamplight, Pei Ye took one out and held it before his eyes.
"To Shen Changjian:
We have learned of Fenghuai's peril. However, a letter arrived from the Divine Capital some days ago, stating that a delegation of special envoys charged with an important mission had reached our prefecture and must receive our full cooperation. Commandant Jing departed this morning to meet them in Zhengshou County. Upon receiving your letter, we immediately sent word to him by soul bird and first requested that Lords Zhang Xiu and Zhao Yizhang come to your aid. Yet I fear none will arrive in time. Thus, we have entrusted the Little Flood Dragon Heart to the soul bird, hoping only that it may relieve your immediate peril.
Reading your letter, my heart scorched and burned. Shen Changjian, Lord Feng, and Zhiyuan, my friend—take the utmost care!"
Pei Ye set down the letter and picked up the other. The handwriting belonged to someone else.
"Little Flood Dragon Heart..." Pei Ye murmured, carefully reading the second letter again.
The very first sentence read, "Shen Yanping, the Little Flood Dragon Heart has already been soaked and wrapped in its seal. It is ready for use."
Below that, after a large blank space, another passage began.
"If Shen Changjian has met with misfortune, whoever opens this letter should use the Little Flood Dragon Heart according to the instructions below.
The Little Flood Dragon Heart is refined by practitioners of the Nourishing Intent Tower. It is ordinarily stored in a dehydrated state and must be soaked in water before use to bring it 'alive.' The soaking time depends on the concentration of spiritual energy in the water.
To use it, wrap it in the specified talisman and swallow it. It has two wondrous properties: the first, 'Flood dragon flesh,' strengthens the body so blades cannot penetrate bone and grants the strength to withstand five oxen; the second, 'Water spirit,' allows one to move through water like a fish and command two specific water arts.
The first art, Crocodile Binding, uses water as shackles to imprison; the second, Turtle-Breaking, turns water into blades. Those without spiritual power must use both in places abundant in water vapor. Their effects vary from person to person.
Note one: without experience in wielding Spirit to cast spells, do not attempt to command either water art!
Note two: the Little Flood Dragon Heart must be used by a martial artist whose meridian tree has reached fourth growth or above. Without true qi to protect the body, the Little Flood Dragon Heart will corrode the five viscera even when wrapped in its talisman. Anyone wishing to survive its use must have attained at least two births.
Note three: even those qualified to use it must extract it with another talisman within four hours of swallowing it. This talisman is attached to the bottom of the box; activate it with the blood of the person who swallowed the heart. It may be used three times. Once four hours have elapsed, within ten days you must either find a practitioner of the Nourishing Intent Tower to perform the appropriate art or a physician of the Mount Tai Medicine Lodge to cut open the abdomen and excise the flesh. Beyond that deadline, person and pearl become one, and only an immortal can save you."
"A magical artifact..." Although he had already suspected as much, Pei Ye was momentarily speechless.
Something he had only heard of in storybooks truly existed in this world.
He lifted the lining at the bottom of the box. Sure enough, a black talisman inscribed in gold lay flat beneath it.
Pei Ye took out the talisman and went to Shen Yanping's side. Kneeling on one knee, he took a final look at that hideous face covered in bloody gashes, drew his dagger, and plunged it into the abdomen.
He cut open the belly. The sight inside was horrifying.
Shen Yanping had unquestionably been qualified to wield the Little Flood Dragon Heart, but after death, naturally, no true qi remained to protect his body. Like a seed taking root in soil, the walnut-sized artifact had extended rootlets into his flesh.
The yellow talisman wrapped around it had not been pierced. Instead, like some highly stretchable substance, it still clung to those spreading rootlets, preventing them from touching the flesh directly.
Pei Ye took out the black talisman and dabbed it with a little of Shen Yanping's blood. Fortunately, it still worked. As golden light flowed across it, the yellow talisman inscribed in black flew like a young swallow returning to its nest, dragging the Little Flood Dragon Heart free of the flesh.
He caught the artifact. Its root buds were still writhing and swaying.
By his reckoning, Lord Shen had been dead for less than half an hour. In that time without true qi, the Little Flood Dragon Heart had almost completely colonized his stomach. Pei Ye had no true qi himself and should fare no differently from Lord Shen's corpse. He could last, at most, an hour under the Little Flood Dragon Heart's influence.
It was time to find that black-robed man.
Pei Ye rose and had just taken a step when his foot landed on something protruding from beneath Shen Yanping's robe. He raised the lamp, bent down, and picked it up.
It was a thin booklet. The instant the lamplight fell on its curled yellow cover, that sense of familiarity exploded in Pei Ye's mind, rooting him to the spot.
"The Illustrated Guide to Mountains and Seas..." Pei Ye murmured. The book he had searched the office rooms for in vain had been on Shen Yanping all along.
He opened the first page. The named author was Du Wuzhen of Jin. He had paid no attention to that when reading it as a child, but this time the name made his gaze sharpen.
-"I dug out all of Du Wuzhen's books. I'm still going through the others."
No wonder... Pei Ye's mind reeled. So this was 'fated affinity'...
He flipped rapidly through the pages. The book was really an illustrated collection depicting the strange beasts from various accounts of mountains and seas, with little text. No wonder he had loved leafing through it as a child.
At last, Pei Ye pressed down on a page. He had found that hazy memory.
The page's contents were clear at a glance. It depicted a phoenix-like firebird, with a small line of text beneath: "On Kunlun Hill dwells a bird named the Quail Bird, which oversees the Emperor's hundred affairs."
This was where his memory of "quail" had originated.
At first glance, a simple picture and a brief line of text seemed to contain nothing that could connect to [Quail Head].
Pei Ye studied it intently. Du Wuzhen's brushwork truly possessed remarkable spirit. The Quail Bird's head was slightly lowered, lending it an air of calm elegance, but there was nothing else unusual about it.
Yet when his gaze moved to the wings, his eyes twitched. A dangerous familiarity flashed and vanished, and his hair stood on end.
The feeling came from nowhere. Pei Ye frowned deeply and looked again, only to feel that the Quail Bird in the picture had suddenly acquired a human bearing.
Its head was bowed, its right wing folded, and its left wing extended before its chest, like an old monk. Was it... paying homage to something?
As though moved by an unseen impulse, Pei Ye suddenly felt he recognized the wing's gesture. He slowly raised his left hand, lifted his little finger, pressed his thumb against the lower joint of his middle finger, and held it beneath his chin.
This hand seal was so unfamiliar. Why would he-
His thoughts abruptly halted in shock. Pei Ye froze where he stood.
Everything slowed.
The flame in his oil lamp seemed to dance slowly. Raindrops beside him crawled down through the air like snails. A bird's cry stretched into a long note...
His mind became incomparably clear. Every movement around him appeared before his eyes in the finest detail.
"The Quail Bird, which oversees the Emperor's hundred affairs." This ability to set all the Heavenly Emperor's affairs in perfect order had now been bestowed upon the boy. The world before his eyes was as clear as a blazing fire.
Bewildered, Pei Ye formed the hand seal again. That strange state instantly faded, and he plunged back into the real world.
The flame still flickered and danced in the wind. Raindrops fell in dense succession. The bird chirped rapidly...
Pei Ye looked at his hand. "So this is... [Quail Head]?"
He knew clearly that it had not been a dream. This immortal-like ability truly existed within him.
Just then, a distant, lofty call suddenly arose in his heart. Pei Ye whipped his head toward the west of the city.
The ritual had begun.
The activated [Quail Head] had taken effect.
This time, Pei Ye distinctly felt that soul-stealing call, yet it did not affect him in the slightest. He felt he could even sever this thread of connection whenever he wished, as he had last night, making that "deity" lose him as its target.
A chance to live appeared before him, so close he could reach out and touch it.
The black-robed man had headed west, and the ritual was also taking place west of the city. Pei Ye could sense the location calling to him, just as they could sense his location at that moment.
There were still horses in the rear courtyard. He only needed to sever the connection and get far away from the western outskirts, and they would never find him again.
Pei Ye stood dazed for a moment, then suddenly gave a soft laugh.
Chapter 17: The Sacrificial Rite
In the western outskirts, a two-story tavern loomed dimly in the night, a sign reading "Closed" hanging beneath its eaves.
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