Chapter 27: Mountain and Snow

After those scoundrels from the Wayfarers' Union had departed, the excitement over the fight also subsided. Madame Cirrus tightened a red shawl round her shoulders as she ushered everyone back inside. Smiling brightly at Zhou Fei, she said: "If Brother Li knew that he had a successor such as yourself, he would surely rest in peace."

Instead of feeling pleased, Zhou Fei was alarmed. She thought guiltily to herself: I hope this doesn't mean that the old man will visit my dreams tonight to give me a good beating?

Li Yan, who could easily make herself at home wherever she went, had gotten along swimmingly well with the young maidens of the Feathercloud Troupe. The girl had apparently run off with them somewhere, and Zhou Fei searched high and low for her to no avail, eventually trudging somewhat despondently back to her room. While she had seemed to fight with ease just now, that fight had actually taken everything out of her.

Over the last three days, Zhou Fei had barely had a wink of sleep as she contemplated the Thirteen-Stroke Lone Goose Sabre which Xie Yun had described to her that night – on the first day, she had been thinking through its possible flaws and weaknesses, preparing to actually go through with the fight. The second day however, she had admitted to herself with reluctance that Xie Yun was indeed right and there really was no need for her to take this risk. Heaving a sigh of relief, she decided to give up on the fight. And once she had settled on this, she'd spent the entire day practicing her technique, free of all distractions.

But perhaps it was precisely because she had been dwelling on her technique day and night – when Zhou Fei went to bed that night with her head full of the Snow-Breaking Sabre, she had once again dreamt of the man with the blurred face. Amidst the falling snow, he had demonstrated the Snow-Breaking Sabre for her again and again – she supposed that when he'd said 'I'm only going to teach you this once', it was just his tactic to get her to focus!

His clothes were as white as the snow, blending in with their surroundings, as he went slowly and deliberately through each move. The long sabre in his hand was like a very long and extended sutra, being recited to her in hushed tones – the hidden secrets of its movements burrowed their way inexorably into her ears through the soft swooshes of his blade, burying themselves deep into her very soul.

"The people of our generation act freely, not bound by any laws or restrictions. We do not need to be remembered for our great deeds, nor do we care should we go down in infamy. All we want is a clear conscience, before the heavens, the earth, and ourselves-"

So on the third day, before the sun had even risen, Zhou Fei very determinedly went back on her decision to give up on the fight. And somehow, she'd gotten the idea to stop trying to figure out the possible weaknesses of the Lone Goose Sabre, and instead start putting herself in Yang Jin's shoes and consider how he might approach the fight.

The strategy that she'd employed during their fight had been a huge gamble. If she had failed in delivering that one incapacitating blow to Yang Jin, the big show which she'd put on beforehand would probably become a big joke instead, and she would be greatly embarrassed. But it was fortunate then that embarrassment wasn't such a big deal to Zhou Fei, as in her view the worst thing that could happen was being laughed at by others, which she didn't mind. So she simply thickened her already-thick skin, and boldly stepped up to meet his challenge.

Until the very moment just before the Lone Goose Sabre came crashing down onto the ground, Zhou Fei herself hadn't quite believed that her plan would actually work. But just as she began to feel a little bit of glee, this was swiftly extinguished by a flood of unease and guilt, and she told herself repeatedly: I must train hard once I get back home.

"Fei, Fei!" Li Yan, who was nowhere to be found just now, came barging into her room without knocking, completely oblivious to the state of mind that Zhou Fei was in. Holding out that striking carnelian seal in her hand, she said: "Isn't this just the prettiest thing you've ever seen? That old fellow didn't say exactly who he was giving it to – do you want it? If not, I'll be keeping it for myself!"

Listening to the girl's all-too-familiar yapping, the vein at Zhou Fei's temple started to throb. Finally finding an outlet to release all of her conflicting emotions, she began 'dealing with' Li Yan as she'd promised earlier, yelling: "Why did you go running away like that? Were you so bored of living that you had to do something like this? Who allowed you to leave the 48 Zhai!"

Li Yan pouted piteously, and stealing a cautious glance at Zhou Fei, muttered: "It was Mistress Li…"

Zhou Fei blurted out: "Has Mistress Li's brains turned to mush?"

Li Yan: "…"

Li Yan looked at Zhou Fei, who she hadn't seen in almost a year, in utter shock. She stared at her open-mouthed for a good long while, stunned by the nerve of her cousin, before stammering: "You…you…you…did you just ask if Mistress…Mistress Li…"

Zhou Fei waved her hand impatiently: "Which senior brought you out here? Where were you separated from them?"

When she was with Old Madam Wang, Zhou Fei had been extremely obedient, doing whatever she was told. She was quite happy to let others do the heavy lifting and just go along with whatever they had planned, and was quite adept at playing the role of a follower. Then when she was with her shixiongs, she would be comparatively more relaxed, taking occasional digs at them since she knew that they wouldn't get mad at her. And when she was with Xie Yun, she would be quite at ease, because Xie Yun was the type of friend that she could hang out with on a daily basis. Even the knowledge that he was a Prince hadn't changed the familiar way she treated him.

Wu Chuchu on the other hand was a rare friend that was of the same age as her. Having survived the most harrowing of experiences together, the two of them had developed the kind of deep closeness borne of shared hardship. But as Wu Chuchu was ultimately still a noble young lady born and bred, and so while delicate, had a certain refined bearing, Zhou Fei treated her with a degree of polite respect, even a touch of admiration. So while she viewed her as a good friend, she wouldn't be as rowdy with her as she was with Xie Yun.

And now, before Li Yan, Zhou Fei was compelled to shift her demeanour again, into that of a furious 'parent'. After she was done scolding the girl, she started to worry, in a way that was quite unlike her usual self.

Zhou Fei's head hurt just thinking about what this ne'er-do-well had done. She furrowed her brow and thought for a minute, before saying decisively: "They must have been worried sick when they couldn't find you. Let's not dally here any longer. I'll go and bid farewell to Madame Cirrus right now, so that we can meet up with them as soon as possible."

Li Yan said softly: "Fei, there's no need for that."

Zhou Fei silenced her: "Zip it, I'm in charge here…wait a minute, what is that?"

Li Yan pulled out a little cloth pouch from within her robes, explaining: "There are a few special spices in here, that Uncle Ma – the Uncle Ma from Xiushan Hall – said to carry with me at all times. He said that if I ever got separated from them, they'd be able to use trained dogs to follow this scent. All the juniors from the 48 Zhai carry this with them when travelling outside –"

An expression of surprise crossed Zhou Fei's face.

"Oh, do you not have it?" Li Yan found this a little strange at first, but then nodded: "Ah well, I suppose it's because they thought that you were pretty reliable, and wouldn't go running about."

Zhou Fei had no words – if she hadn't known that Li Yan wasn't capable of sarcasm, she'd have thought that the girl was trying to take a dig at her.

Just then, a low chuckle was heard from the doorway. Zhou Fei looked up to see that Xie Yun was standing right there. When he saw her glance over, he made a big show of knocking loudly on the door: "Madame Cirrus has invited you to join her for a chat."

Zhou Fei had no idea why Madame Cirrus wanted to talk to her. Ever since she'd discovered that this Madame of the Feathercloud Troupe wasn't as young as she looked, she'd wondered about the woman's relationship with her grandfather, worrying that this senior would also ask Zhou Fei to refer to her as 'grandmother'.

At least Madame Cirrus still seemed to have all her wits about her, and hadn't shown any signs of madness yet.

Following the girl sent to bring her over, Zhou Fei entered Madame Cirrus' embroidery chamber.

Upon entering, a fragrance so strong and deep that it seeped into one's bones came wafting over her. It wasn't simply the smell of burning incense, but rather a heady mixture of scents from flowers, make-up, perfumes and various types of incense, all compounded together over many years till they were indistinguishable. This dense fragrance had already acquired a history, and it was infused into every single brick, tile, and wooden beam of this room.

A heavy sword hung on the wall, while the bracket atop it was empty – that was probably the former abode of the Mountain of Lost Springs.

Zhou Fei approached the wall, examining the sword on it curiously. She heard a soft voice from behind her: "That sword is called 'Snow Falling Heavily', and it's forged in the likeness of Yin Wenlan's old sword. But before I could send it to him, I heard that one of our generous friends from Penglai had already given him a set of armour and a sword. As it was the work of the famed Penglai blacksmith, that sword must have been a truly mighty weapon, far better than anything my inexperienced self could possibly procure, and so I decided not to send this sword to him and embarrass myself. But who could have known that only two years after we bid each other farewell…"

It suddenly dawned on Zhou Fei why Yang Jin's impetuous challenge had provoked such a furious reaction from Madame Cirrus, such that she had no qualms about risking a falling out with the infamous Wayfarers' Union. Zhou Fei asked tentatively: "Does Madame know about the Northern Blade's challenge to Hero Yin back then?"

"The Northern Blade died of old age in the frontier regions a long time ago," said Madame Cirrus as she emerged from behind a gauze curtain. She had a remote expression on her face as she said: "Other than Elder Guan, no one else is fit to call himself the wielder of 'Slicing Water and Tangling Silk' – come over here, child. I heard them say that your last name is Zhou. Could you be the daughter of Zhou Cun and Li Jinrong?"

Zhou Fei had only ever heard the name 'Zhou Cun' from Xie Yun's lips, and only that one time. It was as unfamiliar to her as the name 'Li Zheng' was to Li Yan, and she had to rack her brains for a bit before she realised who that was. She quickly nodded in affirmation.

"My, my, the daughter of my juniors is already all grown up now." Madame Cirrus sighed as she lifted a hand to stroke her own face, and stared into space for a while before she said: "How is everything in the 48 Zhai?"

"Everyone's doing pretty well." Zhou Fei thought for a bit before asking: "Was Madame a….good friend of my grandfather's?"

Seeing that she referred to Li Zheng as her 'grandfather', Madame Cirrus couldn't help but break into laughter. She explained to a befuddled Zhou Fei: "Oh, don't mind me, it's just that when I close my eyes, I can still see Li Zheng standing there, that gentle giant, dressed in clothes so old they had started to fade. Whenever he was with a girl, he would always maintain a respectful distance of at least three steps from her, and speak to her with the utmost politeness…I really cannot imagine his response to a maiden like yourself calling him 'grandfather'."

Zhou Fei awkwardly lowered her head, fixing her gaze on the tips of her shoes. She didn't know how to respond to that.

Fortunately Madame Cirrus was in an extremely chatty mood, and Zhou Fei only needed to listen.

When this matchless beauty started reminiscing, her age finally began to show. She recounted how she had met Li Zheng by chance, and how she had made the acquaintance of a rambunctious bunch of friends who all decided to travel together, embarking on a series of adventures from the North to the South. It was a long story.

They had first killed the Five Poisons of Guanzhong at Shanxi Mansion, then broke through the Mountain of the Living Dead's Hades Formation in Apricot Grove. Whenever they encountered mountain bandits harassing the locals, they would rob from them to give to the poor. Once, they even ran into the dying leader of an armed escort service who begged them to send his child somewhere safe. So that rowdy bunch of men had to take turns caring for this months-old baby, till they managed to safely deliver the child to his mother hundreds of miles away. And then later on, they even encountered the Sword of Mountains and Rivers, which resulted in that contest in the Heng Mountains, after which they drank themselves silly…

"At that time the two of them had created quite a commotion with their fight, which inadvertently drew the attention of the local governor. A number of major sects had been guests of the Heng Mountains at the time, and had also been snowed in there for several days. When the snow stopped, they ran into us just as they were leaving the mountain. You have no idea how fast the great Hero Yin, the Sword of Mountains and Rivers, fled once he saw that huge group of people. He was probably afraid that that bunch of old fogeys would get the idea in their heads to form a 'martial arts alliance', and force him to lead it. The rest of us followed him as he ran all over the Heng Mountains to avoid them, although they managed to find us no matter where we hid. Do you know why?"

Zhou Fei said softly: "Those men must have used the secret passageways beneath the Heng Mountains."

At her unexpected reply, Madame Cirrus looked stricken for a second, as if she had been dragged out all of a sudden from her memories of her youth, and she was once again a senior looking awkwardly down at a young maiden.

Madame Cirrus paused, and primly tucked the hair at her temples behind her ears. She smiled kindly at Zhou Fei as she asked: "Did your mother tell you that?"

No, she herself had seen the Heng Mountains empty and desolate, a network of dusty underground tunnels being all that was left of it. And the bunch of them who'd inadvertently barged inside had witnessed the resolution of a two decade-long grievance there. In that moment, Zhou Fei felt a sense of deep sorrow – she thought she now understood what her elders meant when they said 'things stay the same, but people have changed'.

'Snow Falling Heavily' had never been delivered, still hanging on the wall of this intensely perfumed chamber, while that set of armour and the sword which belonged to the Sword of Mountains and Rivers had already fallen to evil schemes and struggles for power.

And what about the 'Three Springs Inn', which had changed its owners but not its name? Both the innkeeper and its only chef had gone missing, so it would probably have to be shuttered now. Where would its sprightly waiter go to earn a living? And whose hands would the inn fall into next…but regardless of who took over, it probably wouldn't be called the 'Three Springs Inn' again, would it?

"You become long-winded when you get old." Madame Cirrus chuckled somewhat self-deprecatingly. Then she asked, almost as a casual aside: "Where did you learn the Mayfly Formation?"

Quickly going over what had transpired, Zhou Fei decided that there was no reason she couldn't tell Madame Cirrus some version of those events at least, and so started recounting an abbreviated tale of how she'd inadvertently barged into Mu Xiaoqiao's valley, and rescued the people locked up there. Zhou Fei was observing Madame Cirrus closely as she spoke, and found that each time she said the words 'Mu Xiaoqiao', the woman's slender brows would furrow slightly. This brought to mind what Xie Yun had asked Madame Cirrus in the backyard that day – when they escorted the current Emperor down south…were there one or two…less than above-board friends?

Xie Yun had used a similar phrase with Zhou Fei when they were in Mu Xiaoqiao's valley. At the time, he'd referred to 'a few less than decent friends from the martial arts world'. Zhou Fei had thought that this was meant to be disparaging, but she'd since come to realise that Xie Yun held pretty much the same attitudes towards the so-called underworld and the so-called above-board, orthodox sects. As long as the person in question had something striking about him or her, he was far less prejudiced about their backgrounds than the average person might be.

So could it be that in both instances, Xie Yun hadn't meant to emphasise 'less than above-board' or 'less than decent', but 'friends'?

Madame Cirrus asked again: "So I suppose Mistress Li had instructed you to escort General Wu's widow and children back to the 48 Zhai? Had she sent just you alone?"

Zhou Fei had completely omitted everything about Wu Chuchu from her story – including how they had released Zhang Chenfei and the rest from Mu Xiaoqiao's valley. The memory of Chou Tianji going after them in Huarong City was ingrained in her mind, such that regardless of how naive she might be, Zhou Fei was still extremely cautious when it came to this matter. Thinking fast, she let a look of embarrassment cross her face, and said hesitantly: "Because…ahem, because of certain reasons, I wandered away from my seniors and got lost…"

As she said this, her gaze shifted around uncomfortably, as if she were ashamed of this and couldn't quite bring herself to say it out loud.

Madame Cirrus looked hard at her. Zhou Fei wasn't sure if she'd seen through her little act.

It was one thing to deliberately misrepresent events, but to actually tell a lie straight to her face was another entirely – especially since Zhou Fei was very positively disposed to Madame Cirrus. Not only had the lady let her stay here for a few days, she had even given her an excellent sabre.

But no matter how positively disposed towards Madame Cirrus she might be, or how guilty she might feel – if Wu Chuchu really had something on her that even Chou Tianji was after, then Zhou Fei wouldn't have told the truth even if Madame Cirrus had threatened to cut off her tongue. When it came to such matters of importance, she was wise enough to know what she should and shouldn't do. So she deliberately mumbled something indistinguishable, hoping that Madame Cirrus would take the hint and come to her own mistaken conclusions about what had happened, instead of probing further.

Unfortunately, Madame Cirrus continued looking at her expectantly, not looking at all like she was planning to take the hint.

"My dear girl, it really was too reckless of you to wander away like that." This almost dazzlingly beautiful lady sat regally atop her wooden chair, fixing her eyes on Zhou Fei beneath a curtain of lashes that were akin to a butterfly's splendid wings. Madame Cirrus propped her chin elegantly on one hand, determined to get to the bottom of this: "And how is it that you two girls ended up here alone?"

Zhou Fei: "…"

Seeing that there was no way of fending her off any longer, Zhou Fei decided that she had no choice but to lie: "I was just following my seniors out on this particular trip. Halfway through I got mad that they were playing favourites with me and my older cousin and treating him so much better, and ran off in a huff. It just so happened that Miss Wu saw me run off, and chased after me…hm, well we ran into a couple of horse thieves along the way who were robbing innocent travellers, and in a moment of impulsiveness, I decided to go after them. We tailed them all the way to the Vermillion Bird Lord's dark prison."

As Zhou Fei said this, she didn't seem all too confident of her words, yet this didn't really make her story sound unconvincing. Because it made sense that she would be hesitant about admitting that she'd run away over something as trivial as feeling inferior. If Madame Cirrus hadn't heard of the 'great and splendid things' that this successor of the Southern Blade had accomplished, or if Xie Yun hadn't told her that Chou Tianji had captured and slaughtered General Wu's widow and son in Huarong City, she might actually have believed this girl.

Madame Cirrus found Zhou Fei's attempt at deception quite amusing, because Zhou Fei didn't seem like the extremely clever and quick-witted type. Madame Cirrus felt sure that she'd been much better with words than Zhou Fei when she was the girl's age. In front of strangers, Zhou Fei tended to behave in the reserved manner of those hermits of yore who were exclusively obsessed with honing their martial arts. She seemed to be the fairly dependable sort, not quite capable of scheming, but extremely susceptible to others' schemes instead. If she were to speak, others might fear that she would be too impulsive, or that she might speak unthinkingly, unaware of how wicked the hearts of men were…but they probably wouldn't suspect that she might be lying.

So when she really did choose to lie, she could be incredibly believable.

Biting dogs seldom bark, thought Madame Cirrus to herself. Each new generation really exceeds the one before.

Putting a teacup of fine china to her lips, she took a dainty sip and smiled: "That's quite uncommon, wouldn't people tend to spoil girls more?"

Zhou Fei laughed awkwardly.

"When I was your age, I had practically no concept at all of what it meant to feel inferior." Letting Zhou Fei off at last, Madame Cirrus turned to her own experience instead: "At that time, everyone would grovel before me, regardless of who they were. I just needed to cast a favourable glance their way for men to fall over themselves to help me get whatever it was I wanted…once, when I was playing the zither atop a balcony, I got annoyed at the noisy spectators below and flung the tassel on my zither down at them. A bloody brawl actually started as men fought each other to seize that tassel."

Zhou Fei heaved an internal sigh of relief as she gently brushed her fingers across the fine carvings on the scabbard of the Mountain of Lost Springs. Listening to Madame Cirrus' words, she could vividly imagine how men had been all too willing to go to the ends of the earth simply to obtain her favour – just like how the besotted despot King You of the Western Zhou Dynasty had set his palace's warning beacons alight simply to elicit a smile from his consort Bao Si.[1] She smiled faintly, before saying solemnly: "Those must have been truly marvellous times."

Zhou Fei was quite sure that in a desolate place like the boundary between North and South, at the foot of the Heng Mountains, nobody in this day and age would gather even to see a maiden hang herself, what more perform the zither.

Madame Cirrus said softly: "Oh, the martial arts scene at the time was really quite splendid. No matter where you went, there would be something exciting happening. Out of every ten roadside inns that you stopped at, eight would have some kind of thrilling fight taking place inside. The wandering bards back then were extremely pleased, as they had more than enough fodder for tale after glorious tale to flow ceaselessly from their lips. Young heroes roamed the earth, and young maidens were renowned far and wide for their enchanting beauty. If you were sufficiently well-known, you would start receiving invitations on an almost daily basis. Some would invite you to fight, while others to spectate at a fight. In a bid to make a name for themselves, many young people who had just emerged on the scene would prepare a whole mountain of these invitations, to issue challenges to every single one of their esteemed seniors out there…of course, the vast majority of such impetuous youths would get soundly trounced, and end up running back home with their tails between their legs."

Zhou Fei thought to herself: Had Ji Yunchen been like that too?

But seeing the look of nostalgia on Madame Cirrus' face, she swallowed those words. She didn't want to ruin her mood.

"We were very different from what you young ones are like now – when I was your age, I was foolishly bold and self-assured. I thought I held the whole world in my hands, and wasn't so suspicious of others like you are."

Zhou Fei's heart thudded in her chest. She felt that the Madame was trying to tell her something.

"Have you ever had that feeling – of how just overnight, while the mountains and rivers remain the same, everyone has departed?" Madame Cirrus sighed, and didn't speak for several moments. Only when Zhou Fei started to fidget slightly in her seat did she continue: "Girl, go back and tell Thousand Years of Anguish not to come looking for me in Shaoyang City anymore. The Feathercloud Troupe will be moving elsewhere."

Zhou Fei: "…What?"

Madame Cirrus didn't reply. She turned to look out the window, remaining silent for a good long while. Then in a breathy voice, she started singing: "But the old stones by the bridge were covered in frost, and he travels far away, never to return…"

Zhou Fei recognised that line, which was from Xie Yun's new opera.

Madme Cirrus' voice was not crisp and clear as most songstresses' were. It sounded a little hoarse and gravelly instead. She didn't enunciate her words very clearly, and when her voice travelled into one's ears, it felt as if a tiny little piece of sandpaper was gently scraping against one's scalp.

Zhou Fei couldn't help but ask: "Where will you be going, Madame?"

"Where could I possibly go? Or where couldn't I go? I've spent the better part of my life keeping a particular secret, wishing every single day just to be rid of it. Unfortunately, some fools are coming for it now. So what else is there to do but find a place to bury it, and then repay my debts of gratitude or revenge to whomever they are due." Madame Cirrus let out a brief laugh, then wiped the smile from her face as she turned to Zhou Fei, asking: "Was Zheng Luosheng really killed by you?"

Zhou Fei said truthfully: "No, I only helped to stall him for a while. It was the Northern…Senior Ji, who used the Soul-Searching Needles to forcibly revive his meridians, and killed Zheng Luosheng in the end."

Madame Cirrus nodded thoughtfully. She seemed to have talked for too long, and was too exhausted, dismissing Zhou Fei with a wave of her hand.

Zhou Fei actually still had a whole lot of questions to ask her, but since Madame Cirrus had explicitly said that this was a "secret", it would be impolite to keep probing further – in any case, she herself hadn't been honest with the woman.

She was imagining all kinds of possibilities regarding what might have happened, as well as the glorious martial arts scene of yore that Madame Cirrus had described. She walked distractedly back to her room, where she found Li Yan sitting by her bedside. The girl had found a brightly coloured strip of silk cloth, and was fastening it to that persimmon-red carnelian seal in a complicated braid.

Zhou Fei rolled her eyes: "Why are you still here?"

Seeing her enter, Li Yan spit out the strip of cloth from her mouth: "There's something important that I forgot to tell you."

Zhou Fei had no idea how Li Yan had the cheek to deem whatever she might have to say "important". She shut the door behind her and folded her arms across her chest, giving Li Yan a look that said 'spit it out quickly or get lost'.

Li Yan hurriedly said: "When you were fighting with that large block of coal, I heard that guy tell the elder sister of the Troupe something."

'That guy' could only be Xie Yun, because he was the only thorn amongst the profusion of roses in Madame Cirrus' little courtyard. Zhou Fei didn't bother correcting her reference to the middle-aged Madame as 'elder sister', and slowly unfolded her arms. Li Yan's given nickname – courtesy of that unlucky older brother of hers – was Tattletale Li, because she had been a true master at tattling since young; not only was her mouth extremely quick to rat on others, her ears were incredibly sharp as well. While others might be sharp of eyes and ears because of their martial arts training, Li Yan's proficiency in this respect seemed to be an entirely God-given talent. She was especially sensitive to people's voices, such that even if something was being whispered several metres away, she would able to roughly grasp what was being said. Amongst the youths of her generation, she was truly unparalleled in the art of eavesdropping.

Zhou Fei hesitated before asking: "What did he say?"

It was rare that Li Yan found herself useful to Zhou Fei, and so she quickly rattled off the exchange between Xie Yun and Madame Cirrus word for word.

Before she even finished, she sensed that something about Zhou Fei's expression didn't look quite right. Pausing, Li Yan asked curiously: "Fei, what's wrong with you?"

Zhou Fei: "…"

Darn it, she'd been exposed!

Recalling the faint smirk on Madame Cirrus' face just now, Zhou Fei felt as embarrassed as if she had just streaked naked through the streets. Her face flushed red, then paled, then turned green with unease, cycling through the colours like a traffic light.

She irritatedly shooed Li Yan away, then collapsed backwards onto her bed, covering her face with one hand as she nervously pondered how she would explain herself to Madame Cirrus. Should she tell her the whole truth, bringing up her exposed lies and admitting to them painfully, or pretend like nothing had happened?

The past few days had been utterly exhausting for Zhou Fei, and so before she could come to a decision, she had already fallen into a deep sleep.

Only when the first ray of dawn prickled uncomfortably on her eyelids, and the faint sounds of a flute could be heard coming from the courtyard, did Zhou Fei's eyes open with a start. She jolted upright on her bed, cracking her slightly stiff neck with a pained expression on her face. Then she quickly washed up and got dressed, taking a deep breath before pushing her door open.

And was promptly stunned.

The tables and chairs in the courtyard were unchanged, and the colourful flowers and plants were exactly the same as they'd been yesterday. The only difference was that every single one of those maidens, who would usually get up before the crack of dawn to practice here, had disappeared. And the zither on the stone table, as well as the strips of cloths bedecking the trees, had all vanished along with them, leaving only Xie Yun lounging lazily on the lonely swing.

He had removed those laughable prosthetics from his face, and was resting his long legs atop the stone table beside the swing. He was playing a lively tune from the crudely made flute in his hand.

Apart from this melody, the little courtyard that had still been bustling with song and dance just yesterday was now deathly silent, as if Madame Cirrus and her maidens were a bunch of spirits which had come and gone without a trace. They had weaved a very bizarre and vivid dream for her, before riding away on the night breeze and transforming into the drifting mists, vanishing completely.

Xie Yun broke off mid-tune, waving a hand to her in greeting: "Morning."

Zhou Fei was in no frame of mind to entertain him. She ran to Madame Cirrus' embroidery chamber, only to find that this room, which she had just visited the day before, had its doors and windows flung wide open. The decorative screen and incense burner inside remained exactly where they had been yesterday, and the two cups of tea on the table still hadn't been put away. It was as if the inhabitant of this chamber had merely stepped out for a moment to water the flowers…only the heavy sword on the wall was missing.

"Don't look around anymore, they're all gone." Xie Yun had walked over at some point, and was now slouching languidly against the wall. He stretched as he said: "This is typical of the Feathercloud Troupe."

Zhou Fei touched a teacup on the table, which she felt still had an illusory trace of warmth on it. She said: "Madame Cirrus told me yesterday that she's been keeping a secret that many people are after, does this have anything to do with the Sword of Mountains and Rivers? Or with that thing you mentioned, 'Sea Blends…"

Xie Yun interrupted her softly but firmly: "Shh–"

Zhou Fei looked up to meet his eyes. Xie Yun's gaze was lowered, and his face seemed slightly pale. He blinked gently, a touch of loneliness that could not be expressed on his face, and said in a low voice: "Don't speak of that so carelessly. As far as I know, most of the people that were linked to it have died."

Zhou Fei poked him in the stomach expressionlessly: "I think you're just trying to frighten me again."

Xie Yun gave a loud 'Ow!', grimacing as he bent over: "This is fratricide…of your…very own brother!"

Zhou Fei: "Oh, really? I didn't know I had one. Are you sure you're my brother?"

"Oh, no, no, no, I'm not worthy of being your brother, oh great one." Prince Duan and his unfettered mouth quickly backed up a couple of steps, before saying with a smirk: "This particular secret probably isn't any stranger than all of the other numerous secrets in the martial arts world. Every hundred years or so, some tale or other will spread of a hidden treasure, or an all-powerful manual, haven't you heard any of those before? Feel free to let your imagination run wild."

Zhou Fei had indeed heard a lot of those before, but most of them were tired cliches, and didn't sound like they could be true at all.

What on earth was 'Sea Blends Into Sky'?

Based on the Azure Dragon Lord's reaction, it seemed like he had brought about Yin Wenlan's death precisely because of it.

But in the great big universe of martial arts, everyone desired different things – some were after wealth, some sought power, and others did things in the name of love…and then there was also that small group of most powerful pugilists, who wanted to fight for justice and honour, even against the powers of the day, and leave their names in the annals of history. What kind of secret manual or treasure would be capable of fulfilling all these different desires, causing so many people to fight tooth and nail over it, until even grandmasters of the time were felled?

Zhou Fei curled her lips, then said suddenly: "Do you think, that after this secret has been pursued right to the very end, and after a massive fight over it, someone manages to track it down – after all that trouble of surviving various dangers to get to it, all that effort put in to acquire it, we finally dig up a little securely-wrapped box, which when opened, contains just two words?"

Xie Yun asked curiously: "And what might those words be?"

Zhou Fei said: "You – wish!"

Xie Yun looked stunned at first, and then abruptly took a step back, leaning on the wooden pillar beside him for support as his body shook with laughter.

His laughter was interrupted by the sound of dogs barking.

Someone started banging on the front door, which was followed by the booming voice of a middle-aged man: "Excuse me, is an immature little lady from my clan a guest in this esteemed establishment?"

Zhou Fei froze for a second, then her eyes suddenly brightened – she recognised that voice. It belonged to Ma Jili, who had presided over their apprenticeship test at Xiushan Hall!

Having left the 48 Zhai for so long, Zhou Fei had nearly forgotten what people back home were like. All of the trials and tribulations she had experienced thus far – a Li Sheng who was still nowhere to be found, the tragic death of Zhang Chenfei, protecting the orphaned and defenceless Miss Wu, still not being able to establish contact with Old Madam Wang, the crazed Withered Glory Hands in Huarong City, that troubling letter from Mistress Li to Zhou Yitang, and the blatantly exaggerated reputation that she had earned somehow….she had suppressed all of this deep within her, and hadn't even said a word of it to Li Yan – because it was really quite pointless to tell that girl any of this.

But in this very moment, all of those worries and the immense pressure she had been feeling burst forth, and Zhou Fei dashed out the door without a word. When she brushed past him, Xie Yun could see that her eyes were a little red.

Wu Chuchu and a bleary-eyed Li Yan had also been startled by this commotion, and rushed out of their rooms after her.

Zhou Fei took a deep breath, before flinging the front doors wide open. When the doors swung out at them, Ma Jili and the disciples from the 48 Zhai tensed slightly, but the very next second, they were all shocked speechless.

Ma Jili's hand was still frozen in mid-air, poised to knock again. He stared at her in surprise for a good long while: "Fei?"