Little stick-in-the-mud, weren't you going to arrest me and call me to account? Why haven't you come over yet?
(I) Big Dipper Star
Ji Chengxuan stood before Red Adornment, his face betraying little expression, and simply asked, "Where is she?"
Red Adornment pointed toward the inn's eaves. "Heaven-class rooms, room two."
As though he had not heard, Ji Chengxuan asked coldly, "Where is she?"
His tone sounded unchanged, but the edge of the saber in his hand grew ever colder-a sign that a saber wielder was about to draw blood.
The saber was named Wind Chaser. True to its name, it was an exceptionally swift blade.
The Ji Clan head's saber arts were unmatched beneath heaven, while Red Adornment's specialty was neither saber nor sword. If they truly fought, she would certainly be at a disadvantage.
Red Adornment had long since experienced how far Ji Chengxuan's martial attainments surpassed hers, yet she remained perfectly at ease, turning and stepping back with a mocking smile.
"This isn't part of the exchange we agreed on. I've said everything I should. As for the rest, I have nothing to tell you."
At those words, Ji Chengxuan abruptly fell silent.
After a long while, he said, "I'll trade Hanchu for it."
Red Adornment spun around, her lips curling in mockery. "That was the price last time."
"No, it's the price this time." Ji Chengxuan lifted his eyes, an unyielding stubbornness gathered between his brows. "If you refuse to speak, I'll take him away. Since I could let you take him from the Ji Family, naturally I have ways to bring him back."
"Go back? Your Ji Family is so chaotic it's nearly become the laughingstock of the martial world. A word of advice: you'd best hurry back yourself instead of chasing me everywhere. Otherwise, I'm afraid the Gusu Ji Clan's illustrious reputation will all end up in a dog's belly in your generation."
Ji Chengxuan looked up at her and said, each word distinct, "After everything that's happened, do you think I still care?"
Red Adornment's fingers abruptly tightened.
"What if I simply refuse?"
Ji Chengxuan reined in his breathing. At some point, his right hand had settled on Wind Chaser's hilt. His entire body tensed, and he released his killing intent without restraint.
Red Adornment laughed, her smile wicked. "You wouldn't dare kill me. If you really did, no one in the world would ever tell you where your senior sister is."
"I'll find her myself."
"You've searched for twenty years. Have you found her?" Red Adornment raised a brow. "I doubt you've found so much as a strand of her hair."
Ji Chengxuan's expression was cold, his blade's menace intensifying. "I can imprison you, for years, for decades. I don't believe she won't come looking for you."
Only then did a trace of panic appear on Red Adornment's face. At a loss, she bit her lip.
She was not afraid of Ji Chengxuan attacking. If she were alone, she was absolutely confident her lightness skill would let her escape. But Ji Hanchu was still in the inn, dosed with the bone-softening powder she had given him, and she would never abandon him to escape alone.
But if she really were captured and locked away, never mind recovering Ji Hanchu's memories-she might scarcely get to see him even once in the rest of her life.
The Yin Clan and the Ji Family were related by marriage, and the Yin Clan bore a grudge against her. Naturally, they would never let her go.
Red Adornment pressed her lips together and silently snapped out her long whip.
Ji Chengxuan held his saber down and frowned. "You're her junior sister. I don't want to hurt you."
He was giving her one last chance. Ordinarily, he would never have shown such patience.
Red Adornment said, "We'll only know whether you can hurt me after we fight."
The wind swept past, and the whip came, carrying a ferocious assault straight toward Ji Chengxuan's heart.
She held nothing back, every move aimed to kill, but Ji Chengxuan dared not use his full strength.
As she had said, if she truly died, no one else could tell him what he most wanted to know.
And so one unleashed killing moves while the other only defended without attacking. After more than a dozen exchanges on the rooftop, Ji Chengxuan had actually suffered more wounds.
Ji Chengxuan turned sideways, dodging a lash aimed at his face, and frowned. "If you truly force me to draw my saber, things won't remain as they are. Don't regret it."
Red Adornment gritted her teeth. "Then strike if you have the ability. Stop putting on an act."
She stepped forward. Just as her right hand drew back the whip, her left deftly took hold of a curved blade, switching from ranged attacks to close combat.
Her aim was not to wound his body, but to attack his heart.
"Ji Chengxuan." Red Adornment stared intently at him. "Have you seen that child in the ice coffin?"
The man's expression stiffened, and his movements slowed.
"How pitiful. Bruises all over her, such a tiny little thing lying in that ice coffin. Well, she was dragged to a snowy mountain and buried alive before she was even a month old. Naturally, she died horribly."
Ji Chengxuan's fingertips nearly dug into his palms. A savage fury spread through his eyes, forcing Red Adornment to retreat again and again.
"Senior Sister visits her every day and talks to her. Poor thing, she can't answer a single word. Such a little child, laid to eternal rest before she even learned to call her father. If I were you, I wouldn't sleep peacefully even with my eyes closed. I'd pray every day for her to be born into a good family in her next life, where she could at least grow up safely."
Every single word struck Ji Chengxuan's heart with unerring precision.
A saber wielder needed a clear mind above all, but at that moment, Ji Chengxuan's thoughts were tangled like hemp. With those words in his mind and ever-denser attacks coming at him, he could not help being distracted.
Red Adornment immediately seized that opening. She drew out her curved blade and hardened her resolve, pressing forward at the risk of injury. Unable to dodge in time, Ji Chengxuan struck her shoulder with his palm, and blood immediately spilled from the corner of her mouth.
But Red Adornment's blade also sliced his arm, leaving a shallow streak of blood.
The cut was not deep-it hardly counted as a wound at all-yet a relentless pain spread from it, like needles piercing his heart, leaving him barely able to stand.
Red Adornment wiped the blood from her lips and smiled. "I told you, we'd only know whether you could hurt me after we fought."
Ji Chengxuan's eyes were bloodshot. He forced himself upright, making the pain in his chest flare even more fiercely.
"Don't move. The more you move, the more it hurts." Red Adornment put away her whip and curved blade, covering the wound on her shoulder. "I only smeared on a tiny bit of poison. It won't kill you, just keep you from using your martial arts for a few hours."
Breathing lightly, she leaped down beneath the eaves in a few bounds. Looking back at the figure on the rooftop, she said softly, "Sect Master Ji, how nicely you put it. After everything, you've finally stopped caring about the Ji Clan's hollow reputation. But those words might have been useful twenty years ago. Now twenty years have passed. You stopped caring far too late."
Red Adornment's face was pale. Only by biting hard on her lower lip did she barely manage to make it back to the heaven-class room.
The light inside was still burning. That little stick-in-the-mud stubbornly believed men and women should keep their distance and had insisted on giving her the room. She had stormed off in annoyance, and he would surely keep the lamp lit while waiting for her.
Red Adornment wanted to smile, but could not.
She had taken Ji Chengxuan's palm strike head-on. Now her breathing was unsteady, and her shoulder hurt so much it was nearly numb.
She drew a breath. Without even the strength to raise her hand, she could only lean against the door, her lips trembling as she rasped, "Ji, Ji Hanchu... open the door..."
As her words fell, the door opened with a creak. The little stick-in-the-mud stood inside, the lamp behind him still burning, the bed showing no sign of having been slept in.
Just as she had expected, he would not sleep until she returned.
Red Adornment's lips were deathly pale. She managed a faint smile. "Catch me..."
Before she could finish, her body abruptly went limp.
Without thinking, Ji Hanchu immediately reached out. She fell into his arms, a faint medicinal fragrance lingering at her nose, so much like the scent from before.
Looking at her bloodless face, Ji Hanchu froze for a moment, an inexplicable stabbing pain rising in his heart. Almost frantically, he lifted her and laid her on the bed as quickly as possible. Even he did not notice that his hands, always so steady when wielding acupuncture needles, were trembling slightly.
He reached for Red Adornment's wrist and set his fingers on her pulse. Just as he was about to examine it carefully, she abruptly pulled her wrist away.
"There's no time. Hurry, go." She took a palm-sized medicinal herb from inside her clothes and swallowed it whole, barely recovering a little strength.
Red Adornment said, "We can't stay here. Let's leave first."
Ji Hanchu did not know how badly she was injured, but seeing the insistence in her eyes, he swallowed his objections. He stepped over, slipped an arm around her back, and gently lifted her onto his back.
Red Adornment leaned against his shoulder, no longer strong enough to move, her two thin arms hanging over his chest as her consciousness gradually blurred. She said softly, "Find the best, swiftest horse. Remember, it must be the fastest. Let's go..."
Ji Hanchu agreed and carried her down the stairs.
Afraid that she might never wake if she fell asleep, he gently shifted his back and asked, "How did you get hurt?"
"Your third uncle hit me just now. But I got him too. He's surely still stuck on the roof in the wind."
Ji Hanchu stopped, standing motionless for a while. After a long moment, he slowly moved again, descending one step at a time.
"Why did Third Uncle hurt you?"
"He asked where my senior sister was... I wouldn't tell him, so he said he'd take me back and lock me up. If I were locked up, I'd never see you again."
"You shouldn't have argued with him." Ji Hanchu hitched her higher on his back. "If he really took you back, I'd find a way to get you out."
Red Adornment lay against his back and laughed sweetly. "Why are you saving me again? The first time you met me, you said you'd definitely save me... Why are you always saving me..."
Ji Hanchu said, "Oh? Why did I save you the first time?"
"I tricked you. You're so easy to fool. I said I was a bedchamber maid, and you believed me..."
Ji Hanchu shook his head. Though his memories were unclear, hearing her say this did not surprise him, as though those things really had happened to him.
"Am I easy to fool?"
He smiled, set her on the horse, then swung up behind her and enclosed her in his arms.
Red Adornment's eyelids grew heavier and heavier, but the jolting horse would not let her sleep. She mumbled, "You are. You believe anything I say."
His broad hand held her arm, and Ji Hanchu chuckled.
"What are you laughing at?"
Ji Hanchu said, "It's not that I'm easy to fool. You're just too clever."
"Really? I've always been clever..."
Beneath the night sky, the horse galloped through the deserted streets.
Ji Hanchu held the reins and urged the horse on. Lowering his gaze to Red Adornment, he asked, "What school or sect do you belong to? Why exactly did you abduct me?"
Red Adornment had long since sunk into a daze, answering whatever she was asked in her confusion. "Southern Frontier, Seven Stars Valley... you... husband..."
Every word reached Ji Hanchu's ears clearly, truly startling him for a moment.
Seven Stars Valley in the Southern Frontier was a place almost everyone in the Central Plains martial world knew.
Seven Stars Valley stood between the righteous and evil paths. All its arts were unorthodox, all its deeds sinister and secretive, yet it never took part in the conflicts of the jianghu and remained removed from worldly affairs year-round.
The masters of Seven Stars Valley were the "Seven Stars," said to number seven, each taking an alias from one of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper. No one knew their true identities or names. All anyone knew was that after each "Big Dipper Star" died, their disciple abandoned their own name and identity to succeed them as the next "Big Dipper Star," passing the title down through the generations.
Ji Hanchu thought back. According to intelligence submitted by the Ji Clan's Second Gate, the Seven Stars practiced an extremely wide range of martial arts, and some even studied witchcraft and gu arts. But there seemed to be only one who specialized in whip techniques and poison-making.
Ji Hanchu asked, "Are you Yaoguang's disciple?"
Unfortunately, Red Adornment's eyes were tightly closed. Completely unconscious, she could no longer answer him.
About an hour later, Ji Hanchu drew on the reins and stopped the horse before another inn. He carefully carried Red Adornment upstairs on his back. Unable to concern himself with propriety between men and women, he sent the attendant away, sat beside the bed, and took out a dagger to cut open the clothing over her shoulder.
The clothing fell away, revealing her fair, tender shoulder and a frightening purplish-red palm print that had darkened almost to black.
Ji Hanchu did his utmost to steady his somewhat panicked mind. Taking Red Adornment's wrist, he gently laid his fingers on it.
But strangely, something seemed wrong with the pulse beneath his fingertips.
Ji Hanchu frowned, switched wrists, and checked her pulse again.
Feeling the pulse beneath his fingers, he knit his brows slightly and silently withdrew his hand.
Both readings were the same. He had not imagined it. Her heart meridians were badly damaged, her pulse so faint it was almost impossible to detect.
This was certainly not Third Uncle's doing. Though that palm strike had caused a serious injury, the mark on her shoulder showed that he had already held back most of his strength. He could not possibly have injured her this badly.
Then why was this... Even a martial artist with heart meridians this weak ought to be bedridden. How had she managed to take him away, then fight Third Uncle and even trap him?
For a long while, Ji Hanchu could not recover from his shock.
He did not know where to begin.
At that moment, however, Red Adornment murmured from her stupor.
Her eyes remained tightly shut, and she did not wake. Only her lips moved, a soft voice emerging from her throat as she called something over and over.
Ji Hanchu bent down, bringing his ear to her lips to listen closely.
"What are you saying?"
Warm breath brushed his ear, and her soft lips accidentally grazed his earlobe. The tingling sensation made him straighten as though he had touched fire, and he sat rigidly motionless.
But he had clearly heard what she said.
"Ji Hanchu, Ji Hanchu..."
"Ji Hanchu... you little bastard..."
Ji Hanchu lowered his head to look at her face, then drew his gaze away as though he had been scalded.
After calling weakly a dozen or so times, Red Adornment's voice grew quieter, until she finally murmured, "Little stick-in-the-mud, it hurts..."
Ji Hanchu babbled, "You, I... I..."
A blush spread across his face. At a complete loss, he could not think of how to respond and was terribly flustered.
"Ji Hanchu..."
"Brother Ji San..."
"My dear Ji..."
Ji Hanchu's cheeks grew redder and redder. He wished she would stop calling him, for every call sent his heart into a panic, like a little deer bounding wildly in his chest.
But she would not relent, calling again and again, sounding ever more pitiful.
Ji Hanchu turned slightly aside, his thoughts in disarray, and repeatedly steadied his breathing.
"Little stick-in-the-mud..."
Ji Hanchu closed his eyes for a moment and tentatively reached out. Finding Red Adornment's fingertips, he gently hooked them and drew her fingers into his palm. Holding that soft touch felt like a blade returning to its sheath, fitting perfectly, as though this was how it had always been meant to be.
He did not dare turn to look at her. Only when she called "Brother Ji San" again did he answer in a voice so low it was barely audible.
"Mm. I'm here."
He said, "Red Adornment, I'm here."
(II) Fair Jiangnan
Many years earlier.
"Fair Jiangnan, its scenery once so familiar. At sunrise, riverside flowers glowed redder than flame; with spring, the river turned as green as indigo..."
Red Adornment leaned over the windowsill, her head pillowed on her arms, her catlike eyes narrowed to slits as she contentedly enjoyed the river breeze at night.
The riverside inn charged a little more, but Seven Stars Valley had always maintained the fine rule that its disciples should never have to worry about money. Thus, she had immediately booked a superior heaven-class room.
The attendant had probably rarely seen women from the Southern Frontier. Looking at her face, he had fallen into a daze, only to be jolted out of it by a silver ingot from Senior Uncle Tianshu, his face turning as red as fire.
Remembering the attendant's flustered appearance, amusement surfaced in her eyes.
"People from the Central Plains are so interesting."
She shifted from leaning over the sill to sitting and gently closed her eyes.
Women from foreign lands were rarely seen in the Central Plains, yet she showed her face without the slightest concealment, brazenly fearless.
Let them get a good look. Better still, even in hell, they should remember which she-devil had taken their worthless lives.
The door creaked as someone pushed it open from outside, and someone walked slowly in.
Leaning sideways against the window as she watched the riverbank, Red Adornment smiled. "You've come, Senior Uncle Tianshu."
The old man, dressed in white robes and a black cap, was roughly seventy or eighty, with a head full of white hair. He approached with his hands behind his back, every inch an immortal sage. Apart from eyes that lacked an elder's kindness and warmth, he looked no different from the old people commonly seen by the roadside.
But Red Adornment knew that he was no ordinary old man.
Among the Southern Frontier's "Big Dipper Stars," Kaiyang ranked first in martial prowess, but the most dangerous was Senior Uncle Tianshu, standing before her.
He specialized in gu. Back then, to refine the Living Dead Gu, he had joined forces with the Southern Frontier's royal family, which had yet to submit. During the battle against the Central Plains at Green Mist Pass, he had turned living people into puppets on a massive scale, single-handedly reversing the Southern Frontier's losing fortunes.
One man could match Yinzhou's twelve cities.
Yet Red Adornment was not afraid of him. Her smile grew even brighter. "Why didn't Senior Uncle Kaiyang come?"
"Why bring up that madman?" Tianshu said breezily. "He heard the master of the Gusu Ji Clan's First Gate was highly skilled, so he took Crescent Moon and went to challenge him."
Red Adornment raised a brow. "Crescent Moon?"
She touched her waist, where a small scimitar lay concealed, its blade curved like a crescent moon, hence its name.
The Hooked Moon Scimitars were a pair. Kaiyang had one, and she carried the other.
Tianshu said solemnly, "Your Crescent Moon and his Crescent Moon are different."
Both were fine blades; only their wielders differed.
Red Adornment withdrew her hand in mock anger. "You're teasing me again, Martial Uncle. I've never been good with a saber. Crescent Moon is only for self-defense."
That look of mingled pique and anger made her already stunning face even more captivating.
As though she could hollow out a person's heart.
"Better not to use a saber," Tianshu said without looking up. "I wouldn't even chop vegetables with that madman's lousy blade. Too blunt."
Kaiyang was a true battle maniac, devoted to martial arts and fighting all his life. Each of them had come with a different purpose, and Kaiyang's was to challenge skilled opponents.
As for whether he lived or died afterward, Kaiyang had told them to stay out of it.
Only...
"The master of the Gusu Ji Clan's First Gate?"
Tianshu poured a cup of tea and dipped his fingertip into it. A tiny insect crawled down his finger into the cup, and soon the tea turned bloodred.
Tianshu said, "Ji Jingsheng, Sect Master Ji's second elder brother."
The Ji Clan had five gates. The First Gate handled assassination, the Second Gate intelligence, and the remaining three medicine, weapons, and finances.
"I hear the master of this First Gate is mad too?"
Tianshu said, "Yes. One madman and one fool. Birds of a foul feather."
But their madness was not the same. Kaiyang was a madman, while Ji Jingsheng was a genuine prodigy.
Ji Jingsheng was simple-minded, but his talent for martial arts was extraordinary. His Precarious Leaning Saber Technique had reached mastery, no less formidable than Sect Master Ji's Wind Chaser.
Tianshu said, "Why bother with them? Just two madmen, either way."
Red Adornment thought that was true. With Martial Uncle Kaiyang's martial prowess, only his opponents would suffer.
She hopped lightly down from the window and walked over to Tianshu, leisurely pouring herself a cup of tea. Just as she brought it to her lips, she suddenly heard him speak-
"Yin Yuanya isn't dead."
Red Adornment's hand froze around her tea. The cup was barely a hair's breadth from her lips, yet she could no longer drink.
"How is that possible?" she asked incredulously. "That was Rebirth!"
Rebirth was a deadly poison, colorless and odorless. The slightest contact would send it seeping into flesh and blood in an instant. Nothing seemed amiss at first, but it slowly rotted the internal organs, until the decay reached the throat, the tip of the nose, the eyes and lips, leaving nothing but a thoroughly putrid, stinking corpse.
The death was hideous, the process agonizing. Whoever administered it was vicious beyond measure, their very heart deserving execution.
Tianshu said, "Didn't Yaoguang give you the antidote before you left?"
"She did," Red Adornment replied. "But I didn't give it to him!"
Tianshu cast her a sidelong glance. "If Yaoguang can concoct an antidote, naturally someone in the Central Plains can too. It's hardly anything so remarkable."
"But-"
Tianshu raised a hand, cutting off what Red Adornment was about to say.
"I told that woman long ago not to keep holding something back. If it's poison, it ought to make certain of death. But no, her ears grow on her eyes. She never listens to me."
Red Adornment said, "..."
Tianshu said, "A woman's soft heart. She'll never accomplish anything great."
"..."
Martial Uncle Tianshu had loved her master for decades, his devotion unchanged to this day. The two had been entangled for more than half their lives, yet had still not pledged themselves to each other.
Red Adornment privately believed Tianshu's mouth had a great deal to do with it.
But she knew better than to say so, even if keeping the words in killed her. Apart from Yaoguang, everyone in the world, herself included, was no more than an ant in Tianshu's eyes. She had no wish to offend him and be bitten by his precious insects again.
By comparison, Yin Yuanya's survival interested her more.
That someone could neutralize Rebirth was something she had never imagined.
Red Adornment found it interesting. The people of the Central Plains were far more interesting than she had imagined.
Among the Southern Frontier's Big Dipper Stars, her master Yaoguang was the only woman. She specialized in poison-making, hidden weapons, lightness skills, and the like. In Martial Uncle Tianshu's words, Yaoguang had mastered every underhanded way of killing.
Yet even when Yaoguang held something back, few had ever been able to counter her handiwork.
Now someone from the Central Plains had undone it.
Rather interesting.
Red Adornment had underestimated her enemies. The people of the Central Plains were more capable than she had imagined.
Red Adornment stood. "I'll go see what's going on."
Tianshu folded his arms and nodded approvingly. "More eager to learn and improve than your master."
The great powers of the martial world were now divided, dragons coiled and tigers entrenched, each occupying its own domain. Foremost among them was the Gusu Ji Clan, with five major sects in all.
Though they were called the five major sects, there were really only four. The Yin Clan, likewise based in Jiangnan, had gradually declined. Many years ago, they had formed a marriage alliance with the Ji Clan, offering their uniquely created Snow-Bearing Sword Manual as dowry.
Ji Clan head Ji Chengxuan's wife was the Yin Clan's second young lady, Yin Qiqi.
Together, the Ji and Yin families could not dominate all others, but they had secured an undisputed leading position among them.
Yin Yuanya was precisely the Yin Clan's Second Master, Yin Qiqi's father.
Under cover of night, the Yin Clan's guards and disciples stood ready with swords in hand, their expressions grave. Maids hurried between the medicine hall and the side courtyard. Occasional murmurs of conversation could be heard, then quickly vanished into the wind.
"What happened to Second Master? How did he suddenly fall ill?"
"With only one hand and one ear left, you'd think he'd take a look at himself. Still spending all day among women-perhaps he's caught the pox."
"Stop talking nonsense! I heard from an older maid serving in the clan leader's courtyard that an enemy plotted against Second Master and slipped him a deadly poison."
"What poison? Second Master looks perfectly fine to me."
"That's all thanks to the Third Young Master..."
The maids came from the medicine hall carrying bowls of medicine, only to be stopped by the guards. Several of them tasted the medicine in turn, then tested it for poison with silver needles before letting the maids inside.
The defenses enclosed Yin Yuanya like an iron barrel, almost without a single gap.
But to Red Adornment, such protection amounted to little.
She lowered her eyes, carefully recalled the route the maids had taken, and, with a turn of thought, headed for the medicine hall.
She easily skirted the maids and guards and nimbly slipped onto the roof. The guards stared wide-eyed, seeing only a passing breeze. Beneath the night sky, they could not catch the slightest glimpse of a figure.
Lamps burned in the medicine hall, but no one was around. Only a medicine pot remained heating on a small stove.
Red Adornment simply dropped from the rafters and looked around openly, without the slightest attempt at concealment.
Reaching the small stove, Red Adornment touched the medicine pot. It was still warm, with some dregs and liquid left inside. She poured out half a small bowl. The broth was brown, its medicinal scent slightly bitter. Wafting it toward herself, she caught a distinctive cool fragrance, something like crimson-dot grass...
To learn what the antidote was like, she would have to taste it. Better still, she should let the poison and medicine clash within her body; only then could she discern some clues.
Red Adornment frowned in vexation.
She did not want to test the medicine.
Testing it meant taking poison first. She had no desire whatsoever to experience Rebirth, and this medicine might not even cleanse it completely.
But without taking the poison, she could not fully gauge the antidote's effects.
What an impossible dilemma.
It was all that Central Plains man's fault. Why had he gone and neutralized Rebirth for no reason? If Yin Yuanya was going to die, he should have let him. Why meddle!
Just as she wavered between the two choices-
"Who are you?"
A voice abruptly rang out.
Red Adornment looked up.
In the darkness, a slender figure stood by the door, his long hair tied high. His features were warm and refined, and standing there with his hands behind his back, he looked like an immortal banished to the mortal world.
He had exceptionally beautiful eyes, as though brimming with spring water, their gentleness almost overflowing. The smile on his lips was the same, kind and accepting, as though he feared his sudden voice had startled her.
The wind sent the candle flame swaying, with occasional crackles that jolted Red Adornment's thoughts.
An inexplicable wave of annoyance rose within her.
She had underestimated someone a second time.
(Three) The Third Young Master
The man stopped a short distance away. Afraid of offending her, he softened his voice further. "Don't be afraid. I'm a physician invited here by the Yin Clan. I mean you no harm."
Unable to judge his intentions, Red Adornment merely held the bowl of medicine without speaking.
She appeared to fidget helplessly with the hem of her clothes, but had already secretly gripped a U-shaped nail.
She watched warily as the man approached and took the bowl from her hands. As she raised a surprised brow, he poured every drop onto the floor.
Red Adornment frowned. Killing intent flashed through her heart, and viciousness surged in her eyes.
"What are you doing?"
She put her hands behind her back, gripping the U-shaped nail in one hand and reaching for the Hooked Moon Scimitars in her sleeve with the other.
Both the blade and the nail were coated in deadly poison. At the slightest sign of anything wrong, she would kill him without hesitation.
"You don't understand, madam. This medicine contains several deadly poisons. Second Master Yin was poisoned in a plot against him, and the poison ran deep. Only fighting poison with poison could cure him."
The man placed the medicine bowl on the counter and washed it carefully. His outstretched hands were fair and slender, without unnecessary calluses.
He looked at her. "I saw you about to test the medicine on yourself, madam. That was why I took the liberty..." He paused, then added, "Your devotion to Second Master Yin is witnessed by the sun and moon. But life is precious. You mustn't throw yours away for another. As the physician, testing the medicine is my responsibility."
Red Adornment finally realized something was wrong. Somewhat surprised, she asked, "Why are you calling me 'madam'?"
However little she knew of Central Plains etiquette, she had read in books that "madam" was used only for married women. She was an unwed orphan with an unblemished reputation. How had she suddenly become a "madam"?
The man looked down at her clothing. For ease of moving at night, Red Adornment wore simple coarse hemp clothes with tightly fastened cuffs. Her attire was plain; apart from being cleaner and newer, it was no different from that of the lowliest servants in the Yin Clan's side courtyard.
The man said quietly, "I heard Second Master Yin had taken a girl from a foreign land as a bedchamber maid... Do not belittle yourself, madam. Since you are already Second Master's woman, in my eyes, you are a lady."
It took Red Adornment a while to piece everything together.
As it turned out, the inveterate womanizer Yin Yuanya had just taken a foreign woman as a bedchamber maid, and a twist of circumstance had led to this mistaken identity. This physician thought she was so devoted that she had come running to the medicine hall on a dark, windy night to test Yin Yuanya's medicine.
Her fingers gradually loosened around Crescent Moon.
Interesting. She no longer wanted to kill him.
Not only did she no longer want to kill him, she even felt a little inclined to tease him.
Her senior sister had said Central Plains men were the finest liars. This innocent physician suddenly made her want to test him, to see whether his kindly demeanor was merely a mask, and what filthy thoughts lurked beneath that skin.
If he harbored evil intentions, she would not mind letting Crescent Moon taste blood again.
Red Adornment's eyes shifted, and she reached out to seize the man's wrist. Her beauty was already bewitching and bold. Now she blinked, and tears instantly gathered on her lashes. Looking straight at him, she appeared utterly pitiful.
"What are you doing, madam? Please let go."
The man started, his breathing faltering. His throat bobbed slightly as he swallowed. His fingers caught her wrist, wanting to push her away yet hardly daring to touch her.
Red Adornment released his hand and clutched his sleeve instead. "Save me, young master."
Red Adornment said, "You don't know, young master. My family fell on hard times when I was little. I was never cherished because I was a girl. Then famine struck my homeland, and my parents both died amid people eating one another. I barely managed to escape, only to fall into prostitution..."
She sobbed softly, tears streaming down her cheeks, then tilted her face up slightly, her eyes full of grievance. "After suffering so much, I had resigned myself to my fate. But then Second Master Yin took me by force. Seeing my beauty, he toyed with me for some time, but eventually he tired of me. Testing the medicine just now was a desperate last resort. Without his favor, my life is worse than a pig's or a dog's."
Weeping sorrowfully, she raised a hand to stroke his cheek. Seeing his fluster, she struggled to conceal the smile at her lips and made her expression still more innocent.
"Do you understand how I've suffered, young master?"
Her face was enchanting, like a peach blossom spirit stepped straight out of a book. That a woman like her should be cast aside was truly the most unreasonable thing in the world.
But the man had no time to consider all that. Her bold words set the imagination wandering, and within her sight, his ears had already turned scarlet.
He carefully avoided her touch and retreated several large steps. "Y-you mustn't cry."
"Then will you save me, young master?"
A faint blush spread across the man's face as well. His nimble tongue now seemed drugged, so stiff he could not speak.
"If you've suffered any grievances, tell me. If there's anything you need my help with, please say so."
Red Adornment gazed at him sorrowfully, her tears unceasing. "I can see you're a good man, young master. All I ask is that you save me from this pit of fire. Will you?"
The man pressed his lips together, then nodded. "If you truly are alone and suffering, of course I'll save you."
"Really?"
The man said earnestly, "My father taught me from childhood that a physician must have a compassionate heart and love all things beneath heaven. To cherish benevolence and treat everyone equally is a physician's duty."
"How will you save me, young master?"
"I'm a physician, and I saved Second Master Yin's life. I'll ask him to repay that by granting your freedom, mad... miss."
Red Adornment smiled. "Demanding repayment for a kindness isn't the act of an honorable man."
"If it means you no longer have to suffer sorrow and injustice, my reputation counts for nothing."
She finally let him go. The man hastily withdrew his hand, the lingering sensation on his skin faintly tingling, as though that spot had reddened along with his ears.
"But I've suffered hardship since childhood. Even if you win my freedom, young master, I'm afraid it will be in vain."
Hearing this, the man thought she had a point. The martial world was in turmoil, and a woman alone had no means of establishing herself. With looks like hers, if he truly let her go free, she would likely only pass from Second Master Yin to some Third Master Yin or Fourth Master Yin.
At this thought, he said gravely, "If you don't mind, miss, you may return to the Ji Family with me."
Red Adornment asked, "Which Ji Family?"
"The Gusu Ji Clan."
So it was that Ji Clan.
A cold light gleamed in her eyes. Enemies truly did meet on narrow roads.
The Ji lineage was not prolific. The current family head, Ji Chengxuan, was the third and youngest of his generation and should not have inherited the position. But the eldest Ji son had died young, and the second was mad and simple-minded, leaving him to take charge of the Ji Family.
Rumor had it that the man was an utter martial fanatic. His saber was called Wind Chaser, his saber technique fierce and extraordinarily swift. As a person, he was just like his blade: cold, stern, and unfeeling.
Red Adornment could not help touching the blade in her sleeve again.
Wind Chaser, Crescent Moon.
The Wind and Moon Twin Sabers, two peerless blades of the martial world.
Hah.
The Ji Clan.
Red Adornment fought to suppress the sneer at her lips and carefully recalled what she knew. Perhaps the Ji Family truly was fated to have few sons. By this generation, their numbers had dwindled still further, with only two surviving.
It was said that Ji Chengxuan and Yin Qiqi had originally had two sons. Unfortunately, they had not developed well in the womb and were gravely ill from birth. One died young; the other was crippled, bound to a wheelchair for life.
The other survivor was the young son left behind by the eldest son who had died early. He was said to oversee the Third Gate, responsible for medicine, among the Ji Family's Five Gates. Friendly, dignified, and upright, he enjoyed the fine reputation of the "Little Medical Immortal."
At this thought, Red Adornment deliberately asked, "You're actually a member of the Ji Clan, young master?"
The man nodded slightly, lowered his eyes to her, and offered a formal bow, his deep voice accompanying it-
"I am Ji Hanchu of Gusu."
(IV) The she-devil
It really was him, the only son of the Ji Family's eldest son, who had died young.
Red Adornment felt nothing in particular at this revelation. Yaoguang had always taught her to distinguish gratitude from grudges. He had nothing to do with that incident, so he could not be counted as an enemy.
She smiled sweetly. "Young Master Ji San, aren't you afraid your family will object if you take a bedchamber maid like me into the Ji Family?"
Ji Hanchu said, "Come back with me to the Third Branch of the Ji Clan. I oversee that place. I can keep you safe."
Every word he spoke was sincere. He had arranged every possible safeguard for this "poor girl" he had met only once. Red Adornment now believed the good reputation he enjoyed outside. He truly was gentle and refined; it was no act.
An upright gentleman, as warm and lustrous as jade-such things could not be feigned.
Her eyes darted as she put on a show of weeping with joy. "Young Master Ji San, I will remember your great kindness for the rest of my life."
The tears that had stopped halfway rolled down again. "But I am only a lowly bedchamber maid. I truly don't know how to repay you. If you do not disdain me, I am willing to serve at your side forever, asking for no title."
Ji Hanchu frowned instead. For the first time, he brushed aside the hand she tried to extend and stepped back, slowly but firmly.
He said, "I already told you, miss, you should not belittle yourself. I am not saving you for any reward."
"Young master..."
"But," Ji Hanchu paused, then said, "but don't lie to me."
Red Adornment startled, panic flaring within her. Fortunately, she believed her disguise was sound and quickly steadied herself, saying solemnly, "I never lie."
Ji Hanchu smiled. "I believe you."
In truth, Ji Hanchu had harbored doubts.
A faint medicinal fragrance lingered about her, as though she had spent years handling medicines. Her steps were unusually light, and she rose onto her toes from time to time. Most people of the martial world walked that way, a result of practicing lightness skills...
But tears still clung to her lashes, falling in a flurry when she blinked. Her eyes were red, as though a thousand unspoken sorrows weighed on her heart.
The look she gave him was clearly full of hope.
Ji Hanchu steadied his breathing and swept every distracting thought from his mind.
Women were naturally lighter on their feet. She tested medicines for Second Master Yin and came and went from the medicine hall. It was hardly strange that she smelled of medicine.
He called to her, "Miss."
Red Adornment answered meekly.
He asked, "What is your name?"
He had to ask her name before he could request her from Second Master Yin.
Red Adornment smiled, her eyes just like a cunning little fox's. Her gaze rippled, bewitching charm spilling from her, and a wild streak ran through her expression, yet her eyes remained clear and innocent.
Ji Hanchu stared in a momentary daze. Flustered, he lowered his head, his heart pounding like a drum.
He had never felt anything like this. His chest rose and fell sharply, fierce emotions surging at him with such force that he could not respond. He could only let secret joy and relief linger in his heart.
The Ji Clan's Little Medical Immortal had saved countless people, yet this was the first time he felt grateful that he had not refused when the Yin Clan asked him to help treat a poisoning.
Otherwise, otherwise...
His face reddened. He dared not think about why, only telling himself-otherwise, this poor girl might have been trapped in the Yin Clan for the rest of her life.
Fortunately, she had met him.
Naturally, Red Adornment did not know what he was thinking, nor did she want to. Once she had played enough, she reined herself in, and so she smiled at him all the more alluringly.
She said, "Red Adornment."
Then she smiled again. "My name is Red Adornment. Young master, I'll be waiting for you to save me."
Leaving the medicine hall, Ji Hanchu bade farewell to the Yin Clan servants who escorted him out. His steps light, he left through the main gate and boarded a carriage parked beside it.
When he opened the door, the person inside was dozing. The sound jolted him awake. He opened his eyes, saw who it was, and relaxed his taut back. Letting out a long yawn, he asked, "Second Master Yin is all right now?"
Ji Hanchu said, "He's fine."
The man narrowed his eyes and said softly, "Good. You've been working hard these past few days too. Let's head back so you can rest."
Ji Hanchu nodded.
The carriage sped along the stone-paved road. In truth, it was not only Ji Hanchu; the whole Ji Family had been troubled over Second Master Yin's condition and had kept busy for some time. Now that the matter was resolved, everyone wanted only to go back and relax properly, finally releasing the breath they had been holding.
In the silence, only the clop of hooves and the wheels rolling over the road could be heard, the carriage gently rocking.
"Liyou."
The man who had been about to fall asleep jolted again. He lifted his round face, his eyes full of bewilderment, and asked, "What?"
That figure in red kept reappearing in his mind. Restraining the ripples in his heart, Ji Hanchu asked, "Do you know what sort of man Second Master Yin is?"
"Do you really need me to tell you?" The man called Liyou scratched his head. "Who in the martial world doesn't know? He's no good at all."
"How does he treat those close to him?"
"I already told you he's no good. He's the same dog of a man to everyone."
Ji Hanchu lowered his eyes and rubbed his hands against his cuffs. Despicable. Everyone knew Second Master Yin was despicable, yet he was even more despicable than Second Master Yin. That man was an outright villain, while he was about to become a hypocrite who used a favor to demand repayment.
But if he could truly save her, then a hypocrite he would be.
"If I said I wanted someone at his side in return for saving his life, do you think he would agree?"
"Someone? Who do you want..."
At this, Liyou stopped. Looking at Ji Hanchu's uneasy expression, he froze, a vague suspicion surfacing in his mind.
Surely not?
Surely not!
He swallowed, his throat tightening. "Ji San, you haven't fallen for Second Master Yin's woman, have you?"
"You're still half asleep."
"Not denying it means admitting it."
Ji Hanchu's entire body went rigid. After a long while, his expression relaxed, resolve settling over it inch by inch. He released his rumpled sleeves and said, "We've only met once. It hasn't gone that far."
Liyou said, "It hasn't gone that far? If it hasn't, why are you going to use saving his life to threaten him into handing her over? Look, the clan head has never looked kindly on Second Master Yin. He certainly won't be pleased if he finds out. And Eldest Miss Yin-anyone with eyes can see what her treatment of you means."
"Liyou." Ji Hanchu interrupted him, his expression earnest. "You should know me."
Know him? Of course Liyou knew him. It was precisely because he knew him that this seemed even more unbelievable.
Liyou looked at Ji Hanchu and said incredulously, "Ji San, I don't think you're that sort of person."
Love at first sight-the words seemed utterly at odds with this Young Master Ji San, who was like a clear breeze and a bright moon. Yet it had truly happened.
Ji Hanchu smiled faintly and answered, "I used to think I wasn't either."
Liyou shook his head. "Fine, fine. I'm your sworn elder brother, after all. Since you like her, how could I stop you? Tell me her name and what she looks like. I'll have someone make inquiries. Best not to damage either the Ji or Yin Clan's dignity. If we can bring her straight to you, all the better."
Ji Hanchu coughed softly and quickly put on a serious expression again. But meeting Liyou's eyes, he could not help laughing once more.
He said softly, "Her name is Red Adornment. She's very..."
With him looking so hesitant, words hovering on his lips, what was there for Liyou not to understand?
He rolled his eyes at Ji Hanchu. "Is she really that beautiful?"
Smiling, Ji Hanchu gave a restrained nod.
"Tch."
While Ji Hanchu dwelled on what had happened at the medicine hall, his heart burdened with concern and his thoughts tangled, Red Adornment was enjoying herself immensely.
To her, that night's events were no more than an amusing incident, soon tossed to the back of her mind.
She had come to the Central Plains on her master's orders to take revenge, and her only target was the Yin Clan. Though she knew the Ji and Yin Clans were related by marriage, revenge was revenge: it concerned the people, not their connections.
Yet when she wound the Bone-Setting Whip around a wailing Yin Clan disciple, just as Crescent Moon was about to slice through his heart meridian, her thoughts still drifted to him.
Ji Hanchu, the third young master of the Gusu Ji Clan.
That moment of distraction gave the dying man an opportunity.
The disciple was in his thirties or forties. Knowing he would likely not escape death, he struggled on the brink with near-mad desperation. Summoning a breath, he rasped, "Do you know who I am? If you dare kill me, believe me, one day you'll die without an intact corpse..."
The gleam of a sharp blade flashed past, reflecting the woman's ravishing face before him. Only the murderous intent in her eyes was too heavy. She looked less like a beauty than a herald of death.
After that brief flash, the disciple turned his head and saw the severed limb that had fallen to the ground.
It was an entire hand. His hand.
"Ah-"
A piercing scream piled up in his throat, but even with all his strength he produced only a faint sound, his voice like grinding gravel, broken beyond recognition.
The disciple's alarm turned to terror, yet even that faint sound was nearly extinguished.
His voice had already been poisoned, the dose measured just right. He could still speak, but he could not shout for help.
Soon, however, he would have no need to speak either.
Red Adornment admired his despair, her smile radiant. She drew out Crescent Moon, blood dripping from its tip, and caught a drop on her fingertip. With a seemingly casual flick, she sent it flying through the air into the disciple's right eye, making him convulse with pain.
She smiled and drawled, "I don't believe you."
The disciple was on the verge of breaking down. "You... who exactly are you-"
"Shh." Red Adornment smiled, her smile both wild and wicked. She pressed a finger to the disciple's lips and said gently, "Be quiet. You're giving me a headache."
She flicked the Bone-Setting Whip and stroked its barbs, her smile deepening. "You should count yourself lucky. I met someone amusing a few days ago, and I'm in such a good mood that I don't intend to be too harsh with you."
The Bone-Setting Whip brushed the tip of the disciple's nose. The she-devil looked down at him as though looking at a filthy dog.
"This whip is called 'Bone-Setting.' It's one of my martial uncle Tianxuan's toys. You know, he's the real madman." Red Adornment grinned. "His own sinews and bones are diseased, yet he insists that everyone else's bones are crooked. His greatest pleasure is using all sorts of toys to 'set their bones.' That companion of yours was terribly annoying. I wanted to have a good long play with him, but who knew he'd die after only a few lashes? The stench of blood was so strong that it sickened me off killing for days. That happened to let you live a little longer. Once you're down in Avici Hell, make sure you thank him properly."
The disciple gritted his teeth, his expression furious, and slammed his head against the floor like a madman, trying to make a sound.
Red Adornment kicked him, making him vomit blood and leaving him unable to move.
She stepped on the severed hand on the ground. "Tell me, when you buried that child alive back then, was this the hand you used?"
The disciple's face went deathly pale. Filled with terror, he asked shakily, "Wh-which child?"
Red Adornment's gaze turned icy. She said darkly, "It seems it wasn't this hand."
Squelch-
Crescent Moon plunged deep into his other arm, and blood gushed out.
"Ah!"
Red Adornment said coldly, "Do you remember now?"
The disciple met her eyes, and memories suddenly surged through him. He remembered an incident from more than ten years ago, and the woman and child they had dragged up the snowy mountain. The baby in the swaddling clothes had not even been carried to full term, but was as lovely as carved jade and snow. The woman had been terribly weak, yet she had forced herself to kowtow, begging them over and over, begging them to spare the child...
But they had refused. They had buried that child alive.
The disciple said, "You're... who are you? What are you to Hongxiu?"
Red Adornment clamped down on his neck so hard that he could not breathe. Her eyes reddened slightly as she said sinisterly, "Red. Adornment. Remember it. If you want to claim a life, come for mine."
Perhaps knowing he was certain to die, the disciple threw caution aside and cursed shrilly, "Demoness! I won't let you off even as a ghost! So what if I buried that child? I wasn't the only one! Let me tell you, we didn't just bury the child. We raped that bitch too! She cried far more pitifully than the child! Who told her to be shameless and throw herself at Ji Chengxuan? She must have been so lonely in her empty bedchamber. Having me was her good fortune..."
The curses stopped abruptly.
Blood spread beneath Red Adornment's feet, flowing past the hem of her skirt. Great splashes of red stained her snow-white clothes, like enormous begonia blossoms bursting into bloom.
The disciple had stopped breathing. Like a piece of fish on a chopping board, he lay dead with his eyes still open.
Looking at that ashen face steeped in death, she said coldly, "What's the hurry? I won't spare a single person in the Yin Clan."
With that, she hoisted the disciple's corpse and slammed it hard onto the ground, leaving a glaring smear of blood.
"Just wait in hell."
(V) Calling her to account
Red Adornment left the Yin Clan's separate residence and ran straight to the river.
The smell of blood was too strong. She was not afraid of drawing people seeking revenge; she simply found wearing it ugly and uncomfortable.
She could not be bothered to return to the inn for water, nor did she want any trouble, so she scattered a sleeping drug around the riverbank and readily entered the water to bathe.
She washed the blood from her body and cleaned her bloodstained outer robe as well.
Humming a little tune, Red Adornment spread her clothes over a large rock by the river and waited for them to dry in the wind.
The wind blew, and leaves rustled.
Red Adornment looked back, a faint smile in her eyes. "Since you're here, Young Master Ji San, why not look openly?"
A sound came from behind her. Before long, a figure in blue robes appeared before her.
He did not dare look at her in the river, so he turned partly aside and averted his eyes. But his bearing was no longer as gentle as before. The hands held behind his back kept tensing, and there was no smile in his eyes as he gazed into the distance, his brows tightly knitted.
Red Adornment was completely naked, the river barely covering her chest. Entirely unconcerned, she swam toward the bank with a smile.
"Don't be shy, Third Young Master." Her eyes curved with her smile.
Ji Hanchu laid a hand on the object at his side. It was an exquisitely crafted fan, black, with jade ribs, looking as warm and harmless as the man himself.
Red Adornment giggled. "You brought a weapon? Let me see... Oh, it's 'Star Pendant.' Are you planning to fight to the death, Third Young Master?"
Ji Hanchu remained motionless, quietly looking into the distance. He said hoarsely, "You said you never lied."
"What did I lie to you about?"
Ji Hanchu lowered his eyes and fell silent for a moment before saying, "Red Adornment."
Red Adornment scooped up water to play with. "That wasn't a lie. It really is the name my master gave me."
"You were unloved because you were a girl, your family died in a famine, and afterward you wandered homeless."
"That's true too."
Back then, war had left everything awaiting restoration, and her hometown had also suffered a famine seen only once in a century. Both her parents had died while fleeing. If her senior sister Hongxiu had not happened to pass by and save her, she would likely have long since become food in someone else's belly.
A fire smoldered in Ji Hanchu's heart. He was angry that she had lied. Who knew how much of what came from that mouth was true and how much was false?
"And being forcibly taken by Second Master Yin, left with no choice but to become his bedchamber maid?"
Red Adornment looked innocent. "You said that. I didn't."
"..."
Ji Hanchu lowered his eyes. The cool moonlight cast small shadows beneath his lashes, and his voice gradually sank. "Over the past month, several Yin Clan disciples and collateral descendants have died violently. Was that all your doing?"
"What if it was?"
Ji Hanchu gripped Star Pendant tightly and asked in a muffled voice, "Why did you kill them?"
Red Adornment did not answer, only sneering, "Never mind them. I could kill even you." She put on a careless smile. "If you want to avenge them, come ahead. I'm right here. Kill me or cut me to pieces, as you please."
At the end, she did not forget to tease him. "So long as you dare come over."
Ji Hanchu silently drew Star Pendant and finally turned, looking quietly at Red Adornment in the river. His gaze was like still, deep lake water. He seemed to have something to say, but said nothing.
The black jade-ribbed fan was almost invisible in the night.
Jade was the warmest and most lustrous of things, the finest match for a gentleman.
But Red Adornment could not imagine him killing anyone. Even knowing Star Pendant was a weapon that sealed a victim's throat at the first sight of blood, she still found it refined.
That fan ought to have been an emblem of elegance in his hands. A man like him should not have had his hands sullied by bloodshed.
Ji Hanchu gazed at her for a moment, then said, "I won't kill you."
"Oh, can't bear to?" Red Adornment said with a smile.
Ji Hanchu said, "Come back with me."
"What for?"
Ji Hanchu answered curtly, "To answer for your crimes."
Red Adornment drew out an "Oh," looking as though she had suddenly understood. Her smile was open, as though she had been put at ease. "So you didn't come to kill me. Look how you frightened me into soaking in here for so long. If you'd said so sooner, why would I have needed to suffer like this? It's only answering for my crimes. I'll just go with you."
With that, there came a splash, and she rose from the river of her own accord. With a light leap, she landed nimbly on the large rock where she had laid her clothes out to dry earlier.
She wore only a thin underrobe, leaving every delicate curve of her figure exposed. Moonlight gilded the fabric covered in beads of water, which slid down drop by drop, over her prominent collarbones, over her slender waist, and over the pair of dainty little feet planted on the rock.
Most of the long hair trailing down her back was wet as well, clinging damply to her skin. A few strands nestled intimately against her neck, and her dark, dewy eyes watched him, brimming with teasing amusement.
A beauty emerged from her bath, allure steeped into her very bones.
"Little stick-in-the-mud, weren't you going to arrest me and make me answer for my crimes? Why haven't you come over yet?"