He knocked softly on the door, pushed it open, and a familiar, graceful figure walked in. It was Qinong.
Her face was as sweet as ever, her eyes just as beguiling. Cai Zhao felt a jolt of disbelief, as if Qinong had simply strolled down from the second floor of some roadside inn, untouched by any hardship on the way here.
Qinong seemed mildly surprised to find Cai Zhao in the room. She walked past her without pause and knelt respectfully before Duan Jiuxiu, holding out a stack of snow white silk ribbons streaked faintly with dried blood.
"Reporting to my lord," she said. "Qinong has managed this without disgracing you."
Duan Jiuxiu took the silk strips and scanned the lines written across them. His face broke into a smile. "Well done. Qinong, you've worked hard."
Hu Tianwei still looked uneasy. "There's a chance some of it is fake."
Qinong reached out and pinched his ear, gently enough to be called affectionate. "I like being spoiled, but Awei worries too much." She turned serious for a moment. "The man was already dying. He was kind to the end, foolishly kind. Why would he lie to me?"
Hu Tianwei yelped. "I was wrong, I was wrong, Sister Qinong, spare me. My fingers already hurt just imagining what you went through to get this. That poor, heartbroken young man wrote out that formula in his own blood."
Qinong shot Duan Jiuxiu a soft, private glance, then answered Hu Tianwei anyway. "Even a man that far gone can have a conscience, I suppose. He dictated the formula stroke by stroke so he wouldn't miss anything. Whatever hardship I went through, it was worth it. I've completed what my lord asked of me."
Cai Zhao wanted to throw a bucket of ice water over this whole performance. Watching the two of them trade barbed affection made her stomach turn.
Duan Jiuxiu threw his head back and laughed, long and loud. "Heaven truly favors me! Qinong's devotion, I accept it gladly." When he finished laughing, he turned to Cai Zhao. "Miss Cai, if you'd only abandon the dark and step into the light, I would never treat you poorly."
He caught the coldness in her expression and pressed on. "Why don't you believe I can accomplish something?"
"I believe it completely," Cai Zhao said, voice flat. "Miss Qinong here can be tender as silk with a man whose face looks like a dried orange peel left out in the sun. A woman with that kind of patience will only get better at fooling ordinary men."
Duan Jiuxiu and Qinong's expressions changed at once.
"So this whole journey, Miss Qinong played her part beautifully, singing along with Young Master Hu, all just to trick the mental formula out of Chen Fuguang's mouth." Cai Zhao's eyes stayed fixed on Qinong. "Now that you have what you wanted, where is he?"
Qinong arranged her face into a mask of sorrow. "Ah, Young Master Chen's injuries were too severe. He didn't want to be a burden to me, so he threw himself into a bottomless ice cave. By now he's surely gone from this world."
"Chen Fuguang was never injured at all," Cai Zhao said coldly. "He had a fever from shock, nothing more."
Qinong didn't so much as blink. "Oh, then I must have misremembered. Young Master Chen's illness was too severe. He didn't want to be a burden to me, so he threw himself into a bottomless ice cave. By now he's surely gone from this world."
Cai Zhao understood exactly what had happened. The moment Qinong wrung the formula out of Chen Fuguang, she had shoved him into some ice pit without a second thought, a woman as lovely as peach blossom and as cold as a viper underneath. It matched what Cai Zhao had already expected. Duan Jiuxiu and his disciple had never planned to share Nie Hengcheng's secret manual with anyone else.
"Congratulations, Duan. You're halfway to what you wanted. Now finish the other half." She met his eyes. "Kill Zhou Zhiqin, and I'll hand over the snow scaled dragon beast's saliva."
On the ground, Zhou Zhiqin flinched and curled tighter into himself, terror written across his face.
Duan Jiuxiu's eyes turned sharp and dark. "My feud with the Six Beichen Sects runs deep. You should be trying to kill me, not handing things over so lightly. I can't help but suspect a trick somewhere in this."
"Why would I need to fight you to the death?" Cai Zhao said. "My guards already went down the mountain to spread word of what you've done. You stole and practiced Nie Hengcheng's forbidden technique. That's the one crime the Demon Cult won't forgive. Someone will come looking for you soon enough, and the Six Sects will be happy to watch from a distance. Why should I waste my strength?"
It was the truth, and the truth cut deeper than any lie could. Duan Jiuxiu forced himself to stay calm. "You just admitted the technique I'm practicing belongs to Nie Hengcheng. Why would you still hand over the saliva?"
"Why would I need some secret motive? I'll tell you exactly what I'm thinking." Cai Zhao's voice didn't waver. "The Demon Cult isn't what it was in Nie Hengcheng's prime, but even a sinking ship still has three pounds of nails in it. The three of you are already dogs at a funeral. Once the Cult starts hunting in earnest, it won't be long before you're three dead dogs instead. That would be far too quick and far too boring. I'd rather you train harder, so the Cult has to fight you longer and bleed more for it. We in the Six Sects can sit back and enjoy the show. Why wouldn't I?"
Duan Jiuxiu's face flushed dark red, then went pale.
Her words were vicious, but she'd said them plainly, and he had no answer for them. The Demon Cult and the Six Beichen Sects were blood enemies. Of course she wanted them to destroy each other. It made perfect sense.
"Aren't you afraid that once I master this technique, I'll kill Nie Zhe and then turn around and wipe out all six of your sects?" he said, low and rough.
Cai Zhao almost smiled. "Do you really think you're another Nie Hengcheng?"
Duan Jiuxiu's hand clenched into a fist. "What are you trying to say?"
"Back then, you and Nie Hengcheng were both taken in by the Demon Cult's leader. He assigned the same master to teach you both martial arts, the same guidance in everything. But before Nie Hengcheng even turned twenty, he had already left you far behind."
"My aunt grew up training at Peiqiong Villa, following the same routines as everyone else, including Zhou Zhiqin's father. But she was the only one who went on to found her own style, unmatched by anyone. The same manual, studied by different people, produces wildly different results. Do you really think the power would come out the same for you?"
"It took Nie Hengcheng years of rare, exceptional talent to reach even the first stage of that technique. How many years will it take you, Duan? And that's assuming you manage to stay alive long enough to keep practicing."
Since his youth, losing to Nie Hengcheng again and again had been the deepest wound in Duan Jiuxiu's life. Cai Zhao had just torn it open in front of everyone, decades of buried resentment laid bare. His hatred for her flared hot enough that he wanted her dead on the spot.
Hu Tianwei had already gathered, from Cai Zhao's tone and Qinong's earlier hints, roughly where all this was heading.
Seeing Duan Jiuxiu's whole body shaking, Qinong snapped at him instead. "You sharp tongued little wretch, watch yourself. Don't think that jar of dragon beast saliva makes you untouchable. You're testing my patience. Push it further and I'll make sure you regret ever being born."
"Miss Qinong, no need to posture. Your back must be sore from all that kneeling earlier." Cai Zhao's tone stayed even. "You're young, you have time on your side. There's no rush. You can search for the snow scaled dragon beast at your leisure, whenever you like. Duan, on the other hand, might not have that kind of time left. He's waited over a decade for a chance like this. Why throw it away over a small squabble?"
"That's easy for you to say." Qinong tried to sound careless. "The manual's already in hand. What difference does it make if we wait for Duan to die of old age and then go hunting for the saliva ourselves?"
She'd meant to stir trouble between them, and it worked. Qinong's face changed color instantly. "My lord, please, I meant nothing by that."
Whether she'd meant it or not didn't matter. Cai Zhao's words had already found their mark, striking straight at the wound Duan Jiuxiu carried closest to his heart.
He was old. Once he died, the manual would fall to his disciple and to Qinong, and the two of them would live on together, happier for his absence. When people set their sights on something large, they stopped caring about the smaller costs along the way. What good was it for a man his age to keep competing against a girl barely out of her teens?
Once he mastered the technique, he told himself, he'd be able to summon wind and rain at will. He'd hunt down everyone who had ever wronged him and make them beg for death. That was what it meant to be a real man.
"Why exactly do you want Zhou Zhiqin dead?" he demanded, his voice thick.
Cai Zhao's eyes were dark and steady, as if they could see straight through him. "The same reason you've been dragging your feet about killing him."
"Speak plainly," Duan Jiuxiu said.
"There's no wall in this world the wind can't eventually blow down. These past years, you and your disciples have been hiding out east, terrified the Demon Cult would find you. Practicing a forbidden technique takes delicacy. You can't do it out in the open while constantly on the run. One wrong step and it all falls apart. So where do you plan to hide? There's no better place in this world than inside the Six Beichen Sects themselves."
"You've probably thought this through from the start. People like Lantian Yu and Chen Fuguang, once they've outlived their use, you'd discard them without hesitation. But Jin Baohui and Zhou Zhiqin, you'd want them to survive. Hide inside a manor under Siqi Gate, or at Peiqiong Villa. Someone to shelter you, feed you, look after you. A safe, quiet life where you can finally settle down and train properly."
"Jin Baohui is already dead. If Zhou Zhiqin dies too, where does that leave your hiding place?"
Duan Jiuxiu had never shared this plan with either of them. Qinong and Hu Tianwei spoke almost in unison. "My lord thinks far ahead, always prepared. I admire him greatly for it."
On the ground, Zhou Zhiqin listened to all of this with a strange mix of feelings. Part of him dreaded being coerced later into serving the Demon Cult's scraps. Part of him felt something close to relief, because if he was useful to Duan Jiuxiu, he probably wouldn't die today.
"Since you've already guessed what Zhou Zhiqin is worth to me," Duan Jiuxiu said, "I won't be killing him."
"You will," Cai Zhao said. "If you don't, you'll never manage to master Nie Hengcheng's technique in this lifetime. Killing him carries risk, yes, but it's a risk with a real chance of paying off." As she spoke, she tossed the jade vase in her hand and caught it again, letting it drift close to the fire beside her.
Duan Jiuxiu might dismiss her as a young girl with a pretty face, but she was ruthless and calculating in ways most people never expected. He ground his teeth. "If you let Zhou Zhiqin go, I'll give you a great treasure, or do you some great favor, something you could call on for the rest of your life."
"I don't need it." Cai Zhao's refusal was flat and immediate. "I already worked out everything I needed to before I came here. I took the risk of coming alone specifically to kill Zhou Zhiqin. Whatever happens after this, whether you succeed in your glorious ambitions or Nie Zhe cleans house within the Cult, that's your business. But you will not smuggle the Demon Cult's poison into the Six Beichen Sects. That much is not negotiable."
"My aunt used to say that outer wounds heal easily, but sickness from within is hard to cure. Chen Fuguang is dead, and the Six Sects don't even know Chen Shu had a younger brother. There's no one left who could vouch for Zhou Zhiqin's identity. Which means we have to cut this rot out before it spreads."
There was one more thing Cai Zhao hadn't said aloud. The Six Beichen Sects were already surrounded by danger on every side. Qi Yunke and Cai Pingchun were dead, and there were still six or seven imposters hiding somewhere inside the ranks. If Duan Jiuxiu and Zhou Zhiqin managed to slip in on top of that, the consequences didn't bear thinking about.
Duan Jiuxiu's thoughts churned, one consideration crashing into the next.
Some of what Cai Zhao said was undeniably true. For him, the technique and the saliva mattered more than anything else. Even without a hiding place from Zhou Zhiqin, he was prepared to be ruthless about it, to disappear into the deep mountains and forests and drink blood to survive if he had to. A few years living like an animal, and he might still master the technique in the end.
"You'll need to give me some assurance," he said, "if that bottle turns out to be empty." He hated the idea of striking a bargain with her, but he hated the alternative more.
Cai Zhao looked straight at him. "I swear on my late aunt's memory, this jade bottle genuinely holds the saliva of a snow scaled dragon beast."
Thinking of the integrity Cai Pingshu had been known for in life, Duan Jiuxiu found himself trusting Cai Zhao a little more than he wanted to. "Give me the bottle, and I'll kill Zhou Zhiqin right now. I won't go back on my word."
Hearing this, Zhou Zhiqin's eyes rolled back and he fainted from pure terror.
Cai Zhao's mouth twisted into something like a sneer. "Funny, I never said anything about trusting you. Duan seems to think very highly of his own word."
"Then what exactly do you want!" Duan Jiuxiu's temper snapped.
Cai Zhao smiled faintly and swung the sun blade hard against the roof beam overhead, striking a hidden mechanism. All four bamboo walls of the snow house collapsed at once, leaving only the roof and the four corner posts standing. Wind and snow, sharp as steel blades, tore through the open space, and the cold swallowed everything except a faint glow of charcoal still burning in the stove beside her.
"First, I'll ask Miss Qinong and Master Hu to walk back thirty feet," she said, "not far, just to that cedar tree on the cliff's edge."
Qinong and Hu Tianwei turned and saw the lone cedar in the distance, hunched and small against the driving snow.
Duan Jiuxiu's face darkened. "So you had this planned from the start." The snow house had clearly been rigged in advance. The bamboo walls had been carefully weakened beforehand, left standing only just enough to hold their shape.
Cai Zhao smiled. "Don't flatter yourself thinking I planned every detail. I left the ice cave long before any of you arrived, so I haven't exactly had time to sit around dressing up traps. I found this snow house a while ago. My original plan was simple. If Zhou Zhiqin showed up, I'd kill him in one stroke and be done, no complications. You three just happened to arrive together, so I had to improvise."
Duan Jiuxiu refused to keep trading words with this cunning girl. He turned to the others instead. "Qinong, Tianwei, get back."
The two of them obeyed, clearly unhappy about it, and leapt away as fast as they could. The wind and snow made every step a fight, and it took them nearly the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea before they finally reached the cedar tree. From this distance, their figures shrank to almost nothing.
Duan Jiuxiu turned back. "Are you satisfied now? What next?"
"Second," Cai Zhao said, "Duan kills Zhou Zhiqin."
Zhou Zhiqin's martial skill was no match for either of them, and he had no way to escape the bargain now. Duan Jiuxiu snatched up Zhou Zhiqin's own sword and swept it across his throat in one motion. Zhou Zhiqin's expression froze, then emptied entirely.
It was an end this particular scoundrel had earned many times over.
Cai Zhao nodded slowly. "This spot sits about ten feet from the western cliff. Eight feet below the edge, there's a flat shelf of ice that juts out. I built a slope there out of loose snow, ten feet long, and past that is the true drop. Anything that goes over the edge falls straight down the mountain."
"I'm going to count to three, then throw the jade bottle toward the cliff. I already tested it earlier with a chunk of ice roughly the same weight. It moves fast, fast enough that I couldn't catch up to it eight or nine times out of ten. You'll have to go down onto the slope yourself to retrieve it. The slope is gentle enough that the bottle won't roll quickly, but if you're not quick about picking it up, it'll roll right off the edge anyway."
Duan Jiuxiu had run out of patience. He only laughed, short and humorless.
Cai Zhao began counting. "One, two, three."
On three, she hurled the jade bottle toward the cliff and threw herself in the opposite direction at the same instant.
Duan Jiuxiu moved like a shadow. An ox tendon whip shot out from his sleeve, its tip darting like a snake's tongue, and wrapped precisely around the jade bottle. His other hand was already angled to strike at Cai Zhao.
She reacted fast, spinning back and slashing her blade through the whip before it could reach her. The tendon snapped clean in half. The jade bottle, caught between two opposing forces, veered off course and sailed toward the northern cliff instead.
Duan Jiuxiu felt a stab of regret. At least the western cliff had snow banked beneath it. The northern cliff had nothing. If that bottle hit bare rock, it would shatter without question. Had he known, he never would have wasted a moment attacking Cai Zhao first.
In that split second, he abandoned everything else and dove after the bottle. Cai Zhao spun away like a hawk on the wind, and no one noticed as a slender, flowing figure dropped straight off the mountainside. A moment later came a deep, grinding roar as the roof collapsed in on itself. Duan Jiuxiu was buried under a crush of broken beams and tile, and even Cai Zhao, half turned away, was caught by the edge of the fall.
"What's taking you so long to come down the mountain?"
A voice rang out above her, familiar, sharp, and thoroughly unimpressed.
Cai Zhao didn't even need to lift her head to know exactly who it was.