Poetry Chants, Saber Howls – Chapter 16
by Little PandaTruth and Falsehood in the Chaotic Mortal World; I Walk My Own Path, Bold and Unabashed (Part 1)
Shan Lan ultimately passed away that night at Zi Hour — the boundary between today and tomorrow.
It was the first time Xie Miao had ever watched life slip away before her very eyes.
Jiuru’s expression remained as calm as ever, without the slightest trace of grief. She gathered Shan Lan’s remains and said evenly, “I promised Daoist Master Shan Lan to deliver her farewell letter to the Dingshan Sect. Tomorrow I’ll leave the valley to send it. With no one watching over you — do you still plan to slip away?”
Xie Miao’s heart was a tangle of emotions — grief and sorrow, along with a thread of remorse and resentment. She resented her own helplessness.
Had she not been frail and sickly, utterly lacking in any skill, good for nothing but burdening others — why would Daoist Master Shan Lan have forced her qi circulation to protect her, letting the poison seep into her vital organs and ultimately claim her life? As she was now, even if she left the valley, how could she find Fuli? And even if she found Fuli, how could she protect her?
At this thought, Xie Miao’s tears at last began to subside. She suddenly turned to face Jiuru and asked, “Last night Qin Jiao said her medical and poison arts were no inferior to yours. I didn’t believe her for a moment, but… from the way she put it, you know poison arts too, don’t you?”
Jiuru wasn’t sure why she’d changed the subject so abruptly. She studied Xie Miao with a hint of suspicion for a moment, then nodded. “Medicine and poison share one origin.”
Xie Miao bowed deeply before her. “Then… could I learn medicine and poison arts from you?”
Jiuru said, “Oh? Last night Qin Jiao wanted to take you as her disciple, and you refused point-blank. Why the change of heart today?”
Xie Miao said, “She’s a wicked person. She uses poison to do evil things — of course I wouldn’t want to learn from her. But… but I think she made one fair point. Poison arts are like saber, sword, and fist techniques — any martial discipline, taken to its utmost, can be used however one wishes. So couldn’t I use poison to heal the good and punish the wicked? If I’d mastered it, then when something like last night happens again, I wouldn’t be… wouldn’t be…”
To protect the people she cared about, she would naturally need extraordinary strength. That feeling of utter powerlessness — Xie Miao never wanted to experience it again.
Yet she had spoken on impulse, blurting out her request to become a disciple without a second thought. Now that the words were out, her heart couldn’t help but flutter with unease. She had stayed in Longevity Valley for over a month, and in all that time, Dharma Master Jiuru had never exchanged a single word of small talk with her beyond her routine inquiries about her symptoms. Jiuru probably didn’t even like her — so why would she agree to teach her medicine and poison arts?
To Xie Miao’s surprise, Jiuru did not immediately answer yes or no. She stood quietly by the window in the moonlight, as though bathed in frost and snow, and after a long while said, “Once the Dingshan Sect’s people come to take Shan Lan’s remains, I will take you somewhere.”
“Where?”
“You’ll know in due time.”
Seeing that Jiuru’s expression remained as cold as ever, Xie Miao murmured an “oh” and dared not press further. After a moment, she suddenly raised another matter: “I’d like to write a letter to send to my Father.”
Though she had decided not to leave the valley on her own anymore, she still needed to ask her father for the full truth behind the Ling family’s treason case. At this thought, Xie Miao unconsciously raised a hand, pressing it through her clothes to the wolf tooth pendant at her chest, and gazed out at the clear, bright moon.
— Fuli, where are you now?
The moon set and the sun rose. The sky was luminous, rosy light radiating brilliantly through white clouds, painting the unbroken chain of green mountains in shades of tangerine and rose. The fresh scent of grass and trees carried on the breeze woke Ling Cheng. She lay on a wooden bed, opened her eyes, and found herself facing a wide-open window — and this was the scene before her, so beautiful she almost wondered if everything she had been through was nothing but a dream.
But when she sat up quickly and looked down at her right arm — only half of it remaining, already bandaged — and felt the pain at the stump, her heart seized with grief, and she knew: the ruin of her family, the deaths of her parents — all of it was real. She just didn’t know where she was. Hell surely couldn’t have such beautiful scenery. Could this be the immortal realm? Ling Cheng had never believed in gods or buddhas, but since her parents’ deaths, she couldn’t help thinking that if immortals truly existed, her Father and Mother had done so many good deeds in life that they must have ascended to become celestial beings.
She fought through the pain and ran eagerly out of the cabin. In the distance, layered peaks rose like a row of blue-green folding screens. A young woman in colorful robes and jade pendants lay using a flowering tree as her bed and the rosy dawn clouds as her quilt, the slender branches swaying beneath her — yet she somehow maintained perfect balance. Ling Cheng stared, utterly dumbfounded, until the woman yawned, sat up on the branch, stretched languidly, and asked in a lazy, unhurried voice:
“You’re finally awake?”
Only then did Ling Cheng snap back to her senses and ask in astonishment, “Who are you?”
The woman’s beauty was beyond compare — every glance radiated brilliance, surpassing anyone Ling Cheng had ever seen by no small measure. At Ling Cheng’s words, she smiled, and that smile carried an almost soul-stealing charm. “I did save your life, after all. Shouldn’t I be the one asking the questions first?”
“You saved me?” Ling Cheng could scarcely believe it. She had fallen from such a high cliff — even if the base was a wide river, the impact would still be tremendous. How could she be completely unharmed? Could this woman be some kind of divine physician too? She immediately thanked her, but didn’t dare give her real name. She said only that she was called Fuli, then raised her sole remaining left hand to her chest, clenching it into a fist. “Your grace in saving my life is something I’ll never forget. May I ask your honored name? I will surely repay you someday!”
She saw that the woman sat with effortless grace upon the branches, and from the neighboring peach tree hung a ring-pommel saber with an ornate scabbard — so she guessed this must be a martial artist of the jianghu. Following the jianghu etiquette she had learned from Su Ying, she asked with genuine sincerity. Though she was now in dire straits, she still held gratitude in her heart. Even if she was presently capable of nothing, she would firmly remember this woman’s name and repay her kindness in the future.
The woman, however, said dismissively, “I only saved you to satisfy my own curiosity. I’m not your benefactor — so forget about repaying me.”
“Curiosity?”
“That’s right. I simply couldn’t fathom how anyone in this world could be ruthless enough to cut off their own arm. So I wanted to wake you up and see whether you’d lost your mind. Now that I look at you, your wits seem normal enough — which makes me even more curious. Did you dislike your right arm?”
Ling Cheng was startled. “How… how did you know I cut off my own arm?”
“I could tell, naturally.”
“How could anyone possibly tell that?”
The woman seemed mildly impatient. “You ask too many questions. Answer mine first.”
Ling Cheng hesitated for a long while before saying, “I… I slipped and fell from a cliff. An elder caught hold of me, but if she hadn’t let go, she would have fallen with me. So… one person dying is better than two…”
As for why she had fallen from the cliff and who that elder was, Ling Cheng was still debating whether to tell the full truth. Then a thought struck her: if this woman was truly a jianghu martial artist, perhaps she knew Aunt Su? She immediately asked her name again. “Even if you don’t want me to repay you, there’s no harm in letting me know your name, is there?”
The woman raised an eyebrow, her gaze brimming with bright sunlight. She studied Ling Cheng for a long moment before saying, “Zhao Yao.”
Ling Cheng’s heart lurched. Her eyes flew wide open. “Zhao Yao? You… you’re saying your name is Zhao Yao?”
“You look surprised.”
“That name… isn’t common…”
It was indeed uncommon among ordinary folk, but Ling Cheng had encountered it more than once in the pages of jianghu storybooks. And every single one of those tales, without exception, described her as eccentric and lawless, someone who had stirred up carnage throughout the martial world, provoking the wrath of heaven and the resentment of all — yet her martial arts were so extraordinary that no one could do a thing about her. She was, in truth, the World’s Foremost Enchantress.
Ling Cheng had always assumed the characters and events in those storybooks were pure fiction. But since Aunt Su had confirmed that the Qin Jiao from the tales was real, she figured Zhao Yao must be real as well. And sure enough — here she was, laying eyes on this legendary enchantress in the flesh…
— But why would a great villain like her bother saving my life?
— Oh. She just said she was curious about why I cut off my own arm. That’s why she woke me up — to ask.
Before all this, Ling Cheng would never have passed judgment on a stranger so hastily, branding her a wicked enchantress based on a few dubious tales. But now, she couldn’t afford to take that gamble. She couldn’t afford to gamble on anything.
Even if there were only one chance in ten thousand that Zhao Yao was not a good person — that upon learning her identity, she would hand her over to the imperial soldiers… Ling Cheng was not afraid of death anymore. She was only afraid of dying before she could avenge her parents. She thought it through: if she could survive even this, then it must be the will of Heaven that she live to exact her revenge. How could she defy Heaven’s will? How could she fail her parents beneath the Nine Springs?
Therefore, she had to stay away from any potential danger. She immediately went on, “H-Heroine Zhao… thank you for saving me. I’ll remember you, truly. But… I’ve been separated from my family for so long. She must think I’m dead and be heartbroken. I need to go back to her as soon as I can.”
Zhao Yao laughed. “Can you find your way alone? You don’t need me to see you back?”
Ling Cheng said, “You’ve already helped me once. I couldn’t possibly trouble you again. I can ask for directions.”
Seeing that Zhao Yao made no move to stop her, Ling Cheng turned and ran as if flying. The mountain forest paths twisted and turned, but she paid no mind to direction — she simply ran straight ahead. It was a good while before she looked back and could no longer see Zhao Yao or the cabin. Only then did she stop, gasping for breath, and look all around.
— Which peak did I fall from, anyway?
Whichever peak it was, Aunt Su was probably no longer up on the cliff. Ling Cheng felt suddenly lost, not knowing what to do. She stood blankly for a moment, then resolved to first make her way out of the forest — at the very least, she needed to know where she was.
Fortunately, this stretch of forest wasn’t far from the city outskirts. There were no tigers or wolves in the woods, and villagers from nearby settlements occasionally came to chop firewood to supplement their livelihoods, gradually wearing a narrow path. Ling Cheng finally found this trail and walked for nearly an entire shichen, until she was utterly exhausted, before emerging from the forest. In the distance, she spotted what appeared to be a mountain manor. She was about to head over to ask for directions when, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a dozen or so figures on the road to the other side.
Every one of them wore the uniform of the Golden Feather Guard.
Ling Cheng came from a noble household and had been exceptionally perceptive from a young age — how could she not recognize the Golden Feather Guard as the personal imperial guards of the Son of Heaven? This sent a jolt of alarm through her. Fortunately, she was still small for her age, and a large tree beside her provided perfect cover. But if those soldiers walked past and spotted her behind it, she’d be in trouble. Ling Cheng thought for a split second, then scrambled up the trunk, hands and feet working together. She might not know soaring lightness skill, but she had studied martial arts under Su Ying for over a year — climbing a tree was easy enough, even with only her left hand remaining.
Below the tree, the dozen or so soldiers looked thoroughly exhausted, their faces drawn, mouths running with complaints. Ling Cheng caught a few snippets and knew for certain — their mission from the capital was to track down her whereabouts. She dared not make the slightest sound. Shielded by the dense canopy above, she curled into a ball and prayed they would hurry past. But just then, several common folk emerged from the manor up ahead. The soldiers exchanged glances and smiles, and came to a halt.
Ling Cheng’s suspicion deepened. A moment later, the common folk reached the spot in a group. They glanced at the soldiers by the roadside and, seeing each one with a saber at his waist, naturally didn’t dare provoke them, stepping aside in fear. But suddenly one soldier drew his blade and blocked the path of a young girl.
“Where do you think you’re running off to?!”
The girl jumped, her body trembling, nearly stumbling. “Sir, this lowly girl doesn’t know… doesn’t know what she’s done to offend you… I… I… you…” Staring at the gleaming blade tip before her eyes, she couldn’t get out a single complete sentence.
The soldier sneered. “Young Lady Ling, stop playing dumb. The Ling family has committed high treason. The court has spread an inescapable net and sworn to bring you to justice. Where exactly do you think you can hide?”
Ling Cheng crouched in the treetop, her face draining of color at these words. Anyone with eyes could see that this girl was at least sixteen or seventeen — clearly much older than her. The Golden Feather Guard had been ordered to capture her — didn’t they even know how old she was?
The author has something to say:
The new character didn’t just pop up out of nowhere. Earlier, when Su Ying told Fuli and Shejia about Jiuru and Qin Jiao, there was already foreshadowing planted — at the time, Fuli thought to herself that of all the storybook tales she’d read, Qin Jiao and Zhao Yao were the two villains whose deeds were the most despicable.
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