Two Names on the Weiyang Ranking
A-Xu played Go under the gaze of the southern clans and the people of Chang'an City, while Li Shiyi was stumped by a difficult problem.
Li Shiyi was interrogating a criminal from the north in the Celestial Prison-a strange man, and a wicked one.
It was a task his father had given him, one that left him utterly perplexed.
The criminal in the prison came from a distant northern kingdom. His crimes were too numerous to write down, and had aroused the wrath of both gods and men.
He was a Demonic Cultivator.
At ten, he became a disciple of an Evil Cultivator, sacrificing the lives of his entire family of thirteen to set foot on the Dao Path.
At fifteen, he took the essence from his own kin, causing them to die young, and used blood to break through a realm.
At eighteen, when he came of age, he used the Devouring Forbidden Technique to devour his benefactor's flesh and cultivation, breaking through a realm and becoming a demon.
At thirty, having reached maturity, he used the fortune of an entire kingdom to cultivate a Devil Artifact, coldly watching a million of his own people die unnatural deaths, leaving mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
He had committed almost every evil people could imagine.
The middle-aged man in the prison was an out-and-out great villain, a mistake that could never be undone from the moment he was born.
But at the same time, he could not simply be killed, because only this devil knew where the Devil Artifact that had sealed a million wronged souls was hidden.
The wronged souls would not disperse, and the million corpses could not be buried or reincarnated.
The northern kingdom had tried every method it could think of, but none had managed to pry open the middle-aged man's mouth. No matter how harsh the torture, he remained unmoved.
So this devil was escorted from the Northern Border to Chang'an City.
Grand Secretary Du handed him over to Li Shiyi's father, and his father then entrusted the middle-aged man to him to watch over.
"My father didn't think I could pry open his mouth. He was just too busy. Everyone in Chang'an City was busy then, and I was the only one with nothing to do. He got annoyed watching me wander around the streets, so he stuck me in the Celestial Prison and gave me a job."
"He didn't think I could do anything, and I never thought I could do anything to that devil either. But Old Du told me that if I wanted to pry open that man's mouth, I had to figure out what his inner demon was, what he valued most in this life."
Li Shiyi had no clue at all. The devil had not spared even his own family, and his beloved had died at his hands. What could there possibly be in this world that he valued?
Li Shiyi didn't know, and he didn't ask the silent middle-aged man in the prison.
The Celestial Prison was utterly silent. Outside, the summer wind scorched the air, and the cicadas called without pause.
But the stone wall beside the Water Prison entrance was cool, perfect for escaping the summer heat and soothing inflammation.
A middle-aged man was locked inside the Water Prison, while Li Shiyi squatted outside the entrance, staring blankly at the sky.
Neither of them felt they had anything to do with the other. Li Shiyi had barely even spoken to the middle-aged man in the prison.
Without a word between them, they waited to part ways.
Then one day, after A-Xu finished her game of Go, she habitually came to the Water Prison entrance to find her indolent older brother and escape the heat with him.
That was also the day Li Shiyi learned what the devil truly valued.
"That man has no desires, no human emotions. All he thinks about is cultivation, cultivation, reaching the summit of the Immortal Path and obtaining eternal life."
"He thinks the path he's taken is the most correct one, and the quickest shortcut. Though he fell short at the last step, he doesn't think he did anything wrong."
"Cultivators should sever their seven emotions and six desires and free themselves from the shackles of the mortal world."
He saw himself as the most clear-eyed cultivator in history. No one on the continent had reached such a terrifying level of cultivation at his age.
Every record for breaking through a realm belonged to that devil. No one was stronger or more talented than he was; he was the only one in the right.
"He said the whole world was wrong."
"But Grand Secretary Du said that before killing a person, you must first destroy their heart."
There was indeed no one in Chang'an City who could surpass the devil's talent. So Grand Secretary Du began cultivating with a white-clad girl who had just finished a game of Go.
That day, at the Water Prison entrance, A-Xu lazily yawned and glanced inside. The middle-aged man seemed to sense something too. He tugged at the heavy iron chains around his wrists and opened his cloudy eyes.
When she first came, she had only just begun cultivating.
A few days later, she broke through a realm for the first time.
A few sunsets later, A-Xu broke through another realm, as easily as drinking water or eating a meal.
Day after day, the middle-aged man in the Water Prison grew more and more silent, watching helplessly as the white-clad girl kept poking her head in to look around.
With light steps, she crushed all his pride and stubborn resolve.
"Cultivation doesn't seem that hard... Brother, do you want to give it a try?"
The day before Li Shiyi left Chang'an City, the devil finally relented.
He asked to meet A-Xu in the Water Prison. He could reveal where the Devil Artifact was hidden, but he would tell only A-Xu.
No one knew what A-Xu and the devil had said to each other. The devil kept his promise and revealed the Devil Artifact's hiding place.
But after leaving the Water Prison, A-Xu seemed to suddenly become quiet and taciturn.
She sat on the roof, staring at the stars and the night sky all night, lost in thought without saying a word.
At dawn the next day, A-Xu told Li Shiyi she wasn't planning to return to Luoyang with them.
A-Xu stayed in Chang'an City and followed Grand Secretary Du to cultivate in Weiyang Palace.
Weiyang Palace was the most mysterious place in the Tang Kingdom. People knew only that Grand Secretary Du was its deputy palace master.
It was said that Weiyang Palace housed a Weiyang Stele, on which the Weiyang Ranking was inscribed. It recorded the most talented young people on the continent, those who stood at its summit.
Half a month later, a newcomer appeared on the Weiyang Ranking.
A white-clad girl took the top spot: the youngest daughter of the imperial family, named Xu.
The top spot on the Weiyang Ranking. It really sounded quite impressive.
A-Xu lived in Chang'an City and cultivated in Weiyang Palace with Grand Secretary Du.
Li Shiyi returned to Luoyang, still without lofty ambitions. He idled his time away, a sunbathing salted fish content to eat his fill and wait to die.
It seemed nothing had changed much. As before, he left early to work in the fields and returned at dusk. When it rained, he brought in the laundry; when he had nothing to do, he picked a fight with the old farmer at home.
Life here wasn't as bustling and exciting as it was in Chang'an, but Luoyang was peaceful and quiet.
The people of Luoyang City had grown used to it too. The young master of the Li family wandered the streets all day, looking carefree and as if he didn't have much of a brain.
But whenever Willow Catkins covered the lakeside, this idle young man would always sit alone in Mid-Lake Pavilion, holding an old, battered book and staying there for the whole day.
Back then, Luoyang and Chang'an often exchanged letters, and Li Shiyi and A-Xu sent each other a letter every two days.
A-Xu often complained to Li Shiyi about how heavy the workload was in Weiyang Palace, and how nagging the old men were.
Every letter she sent Li Shiyi was thick, as if she wanted to tell him everything that had happened in Chang'an City.
Li Shiyi's replies, on the other hand, were very brief. Sometimes he told her about trivial little things; sometimes he tucked in a few clumps of Willow Catkins from Luoyang City.
The most outrageous time was when Li Shiyi used the flush toilet A-Xu had left behind in Luoyang and accidentally sprayed water all over his own backside.
He took out his grievance on the innocent girl in Chang'an City.
He sent only one letter in half a month, and wrote just one word... "Slightly."
The little girl in Chang'an City flew into a rage and wrote more than ten letters to condemn and curse him.
But the rotten young man beneath the Willow Tree in Luoyang City laughed happily, as if even the dull life at the manor had become much more interesting.
At the time, Li Shiyi didn't feel that being so far apart had changed anything. In his eyes, A-Xu was still the same clingy, talkative little girl.
It was only that he sometimes wondered what the fabled Weiyang Palace was like, and how those powerful cultivators differed from ordinary people like them.
The top of the Weiyang Ranking. Tsk, it really did sound imposing.
In fact, ever since the Weiyang Stele changed that day, A-Xu's name had remained at the very top of the ranking.
The people in Chang'an City thought that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this record would stand for a long time.
Perhaps a more talented figure would appear in Chang'an City far in the future, but that should be a very long time from now.
The storyteller in a teahouse had even finished writing the tale of the white-clad girl in Chang'an City, intending to tell it to the visitors from afar.
The teahouse was fragrant with tea, and every seat was occupied. The guests held plates of fruit and snacks, eagerly waiting for the storyteller to begin.
But one day, not long afterward, the Weiyang Stele changed again, without warning.
An especially unfamiliar name replaced A-Xu at the top of the ranking.
The weather was clear that day, and a gentle breeze blew.
A young man entered Chang'an City, solved A-Xu's Go puzzle, and broke the record for the top spot on the Weiyang Ranking.
The bells and drums of the Northward Wandering Pavilion rang out.
He walked to the top of the pavilion and stood beneath the dazzling sunlight. His face could not be seen clearly as he gazed down at the throngs below, calm and cold.
He was Li Shiyi.