Chapter 92:
Interconnected
THE MEMBERS of the Department of Exorcism convened once again at Lanling Amber.
The carp yao, after being separated from Hongjun and A-Tai in the imperial gardens, had discovered a huge clue. While the manifestation of a late emperor of the Li family was throwing the palace into chaos, the carp yao snuck up to the rooftop to look for Hongjun. Instead, he had discovered a pair of poisonous gu apes lurking behind the walls of Xingqing Palace. They were undoubtedly two of the four cardinal vices: the yao known as Wine, Lust, Greed, and Wrath.
As the gu apes departed, one mentioned that “Lord Mara” had sent some of their fellows to Luoyang to hunt down Yuan Kun. They had no idea whether they had succeeded in capturing the divine kun, so it was critical they move as quickly as possible to avoid further complications.
As soon as Zhao Zilong finished his report, Li Jinglong made his own: He informed everyone that Yang Guozhong was indeed Xie Yu and gave a brief account of what had transpired inside Xingqing Palace.
Everyone else followed suit. A-Tai told the others about Li Guinian’s true identity; Mergen and Ashina Adarvan had gone to the Chancellor Estate but noticed nothing unusual; Lu Xu and Qiu Yongsi reported that two of the burly generals under An Lushan’s command had left Chang’an that night, and that their present whereabouts were unknown.
A thoughtful silence fell over the room. Hongjun still had yet to return. Rationally, Li Jinglong knew Yang Guozhong was trying to scare him—he hoped Li Jinglong would assume the yao king had taken Hongjun hostage and thus seriously consider his terms. Nevertheless, Hongjun’s absence preyed on his nerves.
“Now that we know Xie Yu’s identity, things will be easier,” Qiu Yongsi said.
“He wouldn’t dare reveal himself now unless he’d already made his preparations,” Li Jinglong responded. “As it stands, the yao king will be an extremely difficult adversary.”
“Have you guys noticed something?” Mergen asked after a moment of thought. “Xie Yu established himself as Yang Guozhong in the imperial court, but none of the yaoguai under his command are at his side.”
Li Jinglong nodded. “He doesn’t have any subordinates in Chang’an right now. As for An Lushan, we’ve confirmed he has at least four powerful yaoguai at his disposal. If it comes down to pure strength, it’s possible Xie Yu has already lost.”
“Perhaps that’s precisely why that jiao has no choice but to come to you for help,” Ashina Adarvan said.
The curtain twitched. Everyone jumped in surprise as Hongjun ducked beneath it to join them in the room.
“Hongjun!”
“Are you all right?!”
Hongjun seemed tired but offered everyone a reassuring smile. Li Jinglong examined him with a look of worry, and Hongjun gave him a small nod. He fell into a lengthy silence before gesturing to the seat beside him. “Xie Yu is lying to us,” Li Jinglong concluded.
“Well, of course,” Qiu Yongsi said. “That black jiao is devilishly cunning. There’s no way he’ll honor his promises.”
Hongjun was distracted; the question Yang Guozhong had asked him seemed to echo in his ears: What did the divine kun say when he gave you the heart lamp?
Why was Yang Guozhong so fixated on Yuan Kun? Since childhood, Hongjun’s only knowledge of the divine kun came from what Qing Xiong told him. According to Qing Xiong, it was Yuan Kun who had entrusted him with the heart lamp. Thinking back on it now, all these coincidences seemed too neat somehow. Yuan Kun had passed the heart lamp to Hongjun through Qing Xiong. On the night Hongjun arrived in Chang’an, he had just so happened to encounter Li Jinglong, who had absorbed the heart lamp into his body. The two of them had fallen in love, allowing Li Jinglong to use the heart lamp to temporarily seal his demon seed. Everything was interconnected, pushing him step by step, through a chain of cause and effect, toward an unknown destination.
At last, after the death of the fox yao, Yuan Kun had revealed himself in Chang’an and disclosed that, as a yao king, he possessed a powerful ability…
“The golden-winged great peng can read minds, and the divine kun of the North Sea can see the future,” the carp yao said, interrupting Hongjun’s thoughts. “Perhaps the heavenly demon wants to know what the future holds.”
Hongjun glanced up, his eyes meeting Li Jinglong’s. He looked to the carp yao and asked, “Does the divine kun really know what will happen in the future?”
“Legend says he can show people their destiny, but it’s not always accurate,” the carp yao replied. “Sometimes, a person’s fate can be changed.”
Hongjun fell silent. Yuan Kun hadn’t shown him anything. He had no way to answer Yang Guozhong’s question.
Lu Xu looked at Hongjun with worry. “Hongjun, are you all right?”
Hongjun hastily nodded and forced a smile. As a matter of fact, several pieces of information, hazy until now, had suddenly become clear.
Li Jinglong crossed his arms in thought. After pondering at length, he spoke up. “Zhao Zilong’s information is significant. The divine kun recently came to Chang’an. At some point, unbeknownst to us, he fought Xie Yu.”
“Xie Yu must be in possession of an extremely powerful spiritual device if he managed to injure the divine kun and drive him away,” the carp yao said. “You mustn’t provoke him under any circumstances.”
Raising a hand, Li Jinglong said, “Yuan Kun’s wounds may be serious; we should try to find him.”
“I can go,” Mergen offered.
“I’ll go,” Li Jinglong said firmly. “I’m a wanted man right now—”
A terrible racket outside cut off the rest. Amid the chaos, someone shouted, “The fugitive Li Jinglong has escaped custody! Step aside! The Longwu Guard will conduct a search of the premises!”
“Speak of the devil,” A-Tai said, torn between laughter and tears.
Mouth twitching, Li Jinglong looked around for some place to hide when there came the crack of a whip, followed by the soldiers’ pained howls. A tumultuous clamor ensued, accompanied by Turandokht’s furious scolding.
No one in the Department of Exorcism had ever been struck by her whip, but each of their scalps nevertheless went numb with fright upon hearing the Longwu Guard’s agonized wails. They all sat frozen for a moment; at last, Li Jinglong calmly issued his orders over the sound of screams.
“Hongjun and I will go to Luoyang and track down the gu apes that left Chang’an,” Li Jinglong said. “Perhaps we can force An Lushan to reveal himself if we use them as hostages. The rest of you are responsible for identifying the spiritual device he’s using to guard the heart demon in his body. Either find a way to destroy it or—”
A-Tai opened his mouth, then seemed to hesitate. Noticing at once, Li Jinglong turned to him. “Do you want to take on this task?”
Everyone looked at A-Tai. After a long moment of consideration, he slowly nodded.
“You’re sure you can do it?” Li Jinglong asked.
“I don’t know,” A-Tai admitted quietly. “But I’ll do my best.”
“What about me? What about me?” the carp yao asked.
“You stay put,” Li Jinglong said.
“But I want to go with you.”
“I said, stay put!”
Their bickering continued until Hongjun said, “Zhao Zilong, you stay here.”
Hongjun had spoken, so the carp yao had no choice but to stay. Li Jinglong glanced around the room, deep in thought.
“Assuming everything goes according to plan, how do we turn the tables?” Mergen asked. “And when should we make our move?”
Li Jinglong thought for a moment. “The noble consort’s birthday. We’ll reveal the gu apes and attack An Lushan then, forcing him to show his true colors. As for how, we won’t know until after we’ve caught the yaoguai.”
Everyone nodded.
Struck by a thought, Hongjun asked, “What if An Lushan decides to sacrifice his subordinates instead of revealing his true form?”
“Then we’ll use the heart lamp to exorcise him,” Li Jinglong answered calmly. “It’ll be just like what we did at Dunhuang. As long as we can separate him from his spiritual device, I’m confident we can force him out of hiding.”
Hongjun fell silent as he recalled the battle at Dunhuang. The demon seed inside him seemed to have a natural command over demonic energy; if he wanted to, he could absorb it from anyone, at any time or any place, even if it was drifting untethered between heaven and earth. If he could absorb An Lushan’s demonic energy…that would be the easiest way to defeat their enemy.