Yan Wushi laughed. “Why do you sigh, A-Qiao? You climbed all this way up the mountain, ignored all dangers to protect me. How could I not do you a favor? You don’t like seeing me kill people, so I’ll let them go this time. Not an issue. And it’d be such a pity if that little girl Bai Rong died now. With her around, Hehuan Sect has quite a lot of fun to look forward to!”
He rose, then bent down to lift Shen Qiao. But the moment his hand touched the other man’s back, Shen Qiao shuddered—probably because his robe rubbed against his wound.
Yan Wushi noticed and pulled Shen Qiao onto his back instead.
He’d just had a qi deviation and been in a perilous situation, but now he seemed perfectly fine, treading down the cliff from the cave as if it were flat ground. With a moment’s effort, they were already at the foot of the mountain.
After they returned to the guest complex, Shen Qiao applied medicine, regulated his breathing for recuperation, and then entered straight into a three-day seclusion.
When he emerged three days later, the envoys of Zhou had already completed their mission and were preparing to return home.
On hearing that he’d been wounded, Yuwen Qing sent many people to the guest complex with tonics. He harbored secret curiosity about the conclusion of Yan Wushi and Ruyan Kehui’s battle—he’d heard it came to a draw, but he didn’t know any details. As he didn’t have the courage to ask Yan Wushi in person, he wanted to find Shen Qiao. Unfortunately, Shen Qiao had entered seclusion and was unable to meet him, so Yuwen Qing waited for three days, anxious out of his mind, until Shen Qiao finally came out.
He then set off in haste to find Shen Qiao. First, he asked after his health, then said awkwardly, “I didn’t think it would be so crowded that day. I almost got separated from Yu Zi. I hope you weren’t seriously injured.”
“Many thanks to Yuwen-xiong for your concern,” said Shen Qiao. “It was only a few minor injuries. Most of them have already healed.”
“I’ll be honest with you,” said Yuwen Qing. “We are about to head back to Zhou, and if all goes as expected, some from Linchuan Academy will be there to send us off. But who exactly won when Junior Preceptor Yan and Academy Master Ruyan dueled? You watched the fight from the sidelines, so you must know everything. The Junior Preceptor said nothing, and I’m too afraid to press him for answers, but if he won, then I can taunt the people from Linchuan Academy a little and show off the prestige of our Great Zhou!”
Shen Qiao hadn’t expected Yuwen Qing to rush over and see him for something so trivial. He thought it somewhat comical. “Sect Leader Yan won by a narrow margin, I believe.”
“Ah.” Yuwen Qing’s brows curved in pleasure, but there was also some disbelief. “Truly? I’ve heard that Ruyan Kehui is a very powerful martial artist, enough to rank among the top three in the world. Perhaps he might even qualify for number one?”
Yuwen Qing wouldn’t be able to understand martial arts even with a thorough explanation, so Shen Qiao picked the simplest answer. “In truth, both of them were injured. For Sect Leader Yan, it triggered some old injuries, but in the case of Academy Master Ruyan, if my guess is correct, his meridians were damaged. He likely won’t be able to use his true qi freely for a month.”
“Why only a month? I’d say he won’t be able to fight anyone for three months.”
A cool voice came from the door, and Yan Wushi walked in.
“If you had something to ask, why didn’t you come ask me personally?”
For some reason, the sight of Yan Wushi always rattled Yuwen Qing. The moment Yan Wushi’s terrifying gaze fell on him, it was as if needles sprouted on his chair, leaving him squirming uncontrollably. “The Junior Preceptor has thousands of things to attend to everyday,” he immediately replied, with a nervous laugh. “So I dare not disturb you—didn’t want to disturb you at all. I’m about to go supervise them and make sure the packing’s getting done. Once we’re ready to set out, I’ll send someone over to tell you.”
The moment he finished speaking, he sped right out the door.
Yan Wushi turned to Shen Qiao. “How was it?”
Shen Qiao knew what he was asking about. “Your battle with Ruyan Kehui was brilliant—it was exceptional. Perhaps others gleaned some new insights, but during my three days of seclusion, I made no progress beyond healing a few old wounds. It feels as if there’s some sort of barrier preventing me from advancing any further. I’m left spinning in place. The only good things are that my circulation of true qi has smoothed out a bit, and my eyes have improved somewhat—I can roughly make out light and shadow now.”
What a pity, said a voice deep inside Yan Wushi’s heart.
Cold and unfeeling, callous and heartless.
But none of that showed on his face. Instead he gave Shen Qiao a small smile. “That’s good.”
Soon, word of the duel between Yan Wushi and Ruyan Kehui spread like wildfire.
What everyone most cared about was who had won.
In Southern Chen, Ruyan Kehui wasn’t only famous in the jianghu, he was also a significant figure in the imperial court. The Lord of Chen treated him with utmost respect, and Empress Liu was also from Linchuan Academy. Hence, in the eyes of many southerners, Linchuan Academy’s status was so special and noteworthy, he may as well have been the head of Confucianism and martial arts in the Southern Dynasty.
With that kind of status and reputation, even the idea of Ruyan losing to Yan Wushi was practically unimaginable.
However, everyone who’d watched the fight that day said it was a draw—that was fact. And ever since Ruyan Kehui had returned, he’d shut himself inside Linchuan Academy and never left. No matter who came around to visit, they couldn’t get a meeting with him. Yan Wushi was the same—he stayed in the guest complex and never went elsewhere. This only spurred on the rumor mill further. Some said that both had been grievously wounded, some that Ruyan Kehui had won by a slight margin, and now Yan Wushi was too ashamed to show his face.
At the same time, Yuwen Qing sent a message saying that he wished to invite Academy Master Ruyan to a banquet that Sect Leader Yan was throwing at the guest complex. He said that he hoped the Academy Master could take the time to honor them with his attendance. This was purely his own concoction: a method of embarrassing the southerners that he’d come up with after hearing Shen Qiao’s report on the duel. If the Linchuan Academy Master didn’t make an appearance, he could mock them relentlessly. And if Ruyan Kehui did attend, that’d work too—after all, he’d never said that Yan Wushi would show up at the banquet.
Though the two countries had formed an alliance, everyone knew it was only temporary. They all shared the same goal right now, but the moment that goal disappeared, the allies would return to being enemies. Keeping up the pretense on the surface worked well enough; underneath it all, the fighting had never ceased.
Quite a few southerners were upset about the invitation. They all thought that Yuwen Qing was going too far. One after another, a good number who thought highly of their own martial prowess came to the guest complex asking to challenge Yan Wushi.
But Yan Wushi was the kind of man who reserved even his egotism and conceit for those on his level. The mediocre remainder weren’t worth his attention, so he couldn’t care less what they said or thought. And if he really were to “personally greet” them, they wouldn’t so much as greet the sun the next day.
In fact, Yan Wushi didn’t need to do anything at all. The men who’d come with Yuwen Qing were enough to deal with the martial artists who occasionally came knocking.
Two days later, news finally arrived from Linchuan Academy. They graciously declined Yuwen Qing’s invitation, saying that the Academy Master was in seclusion and unable to meet with anyone.
This reply seemed to confirm Yuwen Qing’s insinuations, and those voices chastising the Zhou envoys for being too arrogant vanished overnight. Of course, Yuwen Qing was completely gleeful, and he happily went to inform Shen Qiao, only to hear the news from Ruru that Shen Qiao had already left.
As Ruru was completely in the dark, Yuwen Qing was forced to look for Yan Wushi, even though he was terrified of speaking to him.
“Junior Preceptor,” he said, “does your esteemed self know where Daoist Master Shen has gone?”
“What, do you yearn for him that much?” asked Yan Wushi in return.
Yuwen Qing tentatively gave him an apologetic smile. “Nothing of the sort. Daoist Master Shen traveled here with us, so he should be returning with us as well. But now he’s disappeared, so I ought to ask about it.”
“He left,” said Yan Wushi.
“Eh?”
Originally, Yan Wushi had no interest in telling him too much, but Yuwen Qing’s disappointed and bewildered expression amused him. “He told me a while ago that he would leave on his own after he’d seen my venerable self’s duel with Ruyan Kehui.”
“But where can he go by himself?” Yuwen Qing muttered. “Didn’t he say he couldn’t return to Xuandu Mountain?”
Yan Wushi laughed. “Yuwen Qing, you brought your beloved concubine along for the trip, but now you’re wavering? You’re so worried about Shen Qiao—is this venerable one nothing to you?”
Though he was smiling as he spoke, a shudder ran through Yuwen Qing. Losing the nerve to ask any further questions, he excused himself and beat a hasty retreat.
Watching the pathetic figure Yuwen Qing cut as he ran away, Yan Wushi languidly put down the book in his hand and looked out the window.
A smile still hung on the corner of his lips, but in his eyes was a bone-chilling amusement.