Just as Cai Zhao had always believed, Ning Xiaofeng was the luckiest woman in the world.
She and her son Cai Han reached Mount Jiuli two days later. Her elder brother, Master Juechan, had kept her husband's disappearance from her so she wouldn't worry for nothing. She had only been told that Qingque Sect had been attacked and that her daughter was safe. Only after she arrived and found her husband already four or five parts recovered did she learn how harrowing the past half month had been.
From beginning to end, she had never suffered a single day of the anxiety her daughter had.
Standing outside the medicine hut, Cai Zhao watched her mother cling to her father and weep. She couldn't help sighing. "Old Sect Master Yin wasn't entirely wrong, you know. A woman doesn't have to train herself half to death to be strong. Look at my mother. Everyone around her protects her and dotes on her, and none of them can bear to see her suffer even a little. If you aren't capable, no one expects you to carry the blame. When the sky falls, the tall ones can hold it up. Isn't that right, Senior Sister Lingbo?"
Qi Lingbo gave a heavy snort, lifted her chin, and stalked off.
The biggest change since their return was Qi Lingbo. She had stopped picking fights with Cai Zhao. Whenever the two old rivals met, Qi Lingbo either studied her with a complicated look or said nothing and walked away with her nose in the air.
"What's gotten into Senior Sister? She's so mild all of a sudden," Cai Zhao said, startled. She herself had just come through a brush with death on the snowy mountain and had learned to let a great deal go. But Qi Lingbo had been safe at Madam Sulian's side the whole time. Why would she change too?
"You don't know," Fan Xingjia said, lowering his voice. "After that day you charged down the mountain alone with a single blade, Junior Sister Lingbo had several rows with Madam Sulian. Once, when I went to Shuanglian Huachi Palace to deliver calming pills, I heard her scolding Madam Sulian. She said it was all Madam's fault. Madam never pushed her to train hard when she was little, and only let her slack off and chase comfort."
"Senior Sister actually said that?" Cai Zhao asked in surprise.
"Believe me, I was just as shocked." Fan Xingjia had finally found his little junior sister again, someone to share gossip with, and he went on eagerly, eyebrows dancing. "Junior Sister Lingbo said Madam not only never pushed her to improve, she kept telling stories about how women with great martial skill always come to a bad end. Um..." He hesitated.
Cai Zhao didn't mind. "Just say my aunt's name. As if I don't know Madam Sulian."
Fan Xingjia gave an awkward smile. "Anyway, it's that kind of story. The point is, Junior Sister Lingbo doesn't even listen to Madam's orders anymore." He changed the subject. "Have you been to see Senior Brother yet, Zhaozhao? He's finally speaking properly today."
Cai Zhao sighed. "Poor Senior Brother. He was under the Soul-Scattering Needles for so long, and his inner strength is weak to begin with. When he woke up he was muddled and couldn't even get his words out straight."
He had been saved, but the interrogations weren't over, and Sect Master Song kept at them tirelessly, shining in his element. By questioning the dozen or so Demon Cult operatives, both open and hidden, everyone had finally sorted out the whole thing.
It began with Nie Zhe. He had served as the Demon Cult's acting leader for ten years. Half a year ago, for reasons no one knew, he had decided to drop the word "acting" and become the cult's true leader.
Song Shijun burst out laughing at this. "Everyone knows what Nie Zhe is worth. Nie Hengcheng must be mortified to have a nephew like that. Back when we fought over the treasure at Jiuqu Huigu Valley, I'd have torn him apart if Lu Shinan's men hadn't covered for him in time."
Zhou Zhizhen mused, "A weak cultivator becoming leader is not without precedent in the Demon Cult. They say the eighth leader was frail and sickly from childhood, yet he was deeply calculating and full of schemes, and his underlings were fiercely loyal to him. He cost our Six Sects of Beichen dearly in his day. He was a true villain of his age."
Song Shijun sneered. "You've dealt with Nie Zhe yourself. Would you call him calculating, or full of schemes?"
"Perhaps he isn't either, but someone formidable must be behind him, giving him advice," Zhou Zhizhen said.
Song Shijun fell silent.
He had led his sect for ten years. He could see perfectly well that something about this affair was off.
"There's something strange about all of it, and I can't say what," he said hesitantly. "This whole string of moves by the Demon Cult has felt mismatched to me, from start to finish. As if... as if..."
Cai Zhao thought of what Murong Qingyan had worked out and couldn't help cutting in. "As if the idea was brilliant, but the execution was full of mistakes."
Zhou Zhizhen slapped the table in approval. "Zhaozhao has said it in one line. That's exactly it."
From what the captured men confessed, everyone learned that a year ago the Demon Cult had accidentally captured a survivor of Qianmian Gate. Nie Zhe (or whoever stood behind him) had seized on this and designed the entire plan.
They would use the two hundredth memorial of Ancestor Beichen to wipe out the Six Sects in one sweep, or at the very least seize the six sect leaders. Once he threw Qi Yunke and the other leaders down before the Demon Cult's followers, who would dare object to his becoming the true leader?
The heart of the plan was a single word: chaos. First throw the sects into disorder and weaken them, set everyone's nerves on edge, then swap people out in the confusion.
But he hadn't expected Luo Yuanrong to cause a scene at the memorial ceremony. The ceremony ended in haste, every faction left with troubles of its own and chose a different route home, and in the end only a little over a third of the men Nie Zhe had hidden along the way achieved their purpose.
Even so, the plan went ahead as designed.
The first to be replaced was Zeng Lou.
As the man in charge of the sect's general affairs, he came and went every day and was the easiest to get at. Then, with the false Zeng Lou and a bribed outer-sect steward helping, they smuggled Demon Cult followers into Qingque Town a few at a time.
By the original plan, Qi Yunke and Song Yuzhi were to be gravely wounded in the ambush by Wu Gang and Wu Xiong, making it easy to replace them, and after that to replace Song Shijun, who would come rushing in, worried for his beloved son. But Cai Zhao had thrown the plan into disorder. Qi Yunke was only lightly wounded. Song Yuzhi's injuries were serious, but his mind was clear, and he immediately summoned the Guangtian Gate guards to surround and protect him.
That left them no choice but to risk using the Soul-Scattering Needles. After the false Zeng Lou brought the masked Qiu Jie into the sect, the two of them working together managed to knock down Qi Yunke, who was recovering in bed, and then replace him.
Two quiet days passed. Then Cai Pingchun, who by the plan should already have returned to Luoying Valley, turned up in Qingque Town and asked to see Qi Yunke the next day. To keep Cai Pingchun from noticing anything wrong, the false Zeng Lou repeated the same trick that night and took Cai Pingchun with the Soul-Scattering Needles.
But this enraged Cai Zhao, someone who had never been part of the plan at all.
Before Qiu Jie could recall the sect leaders under the pretext of "discussing how to counter the Demon Cult's ambush of the righteous martial world on the road home," Cai Zhao killed the false Zeng Lou in front of everyone and fully exposed the identity-swapping technique.
By that point the original plan had already collapsed, and everyone had begun to guard against the possibility that the people beside them had been replaced.
"Zhaozhao, you decided in an instant, and you were bold and clever about it. You will surely make something of yourself," Zhou Zhizhen said, both pleased and wistful. "I still remember the year Pingshu hid your snacks and your little face went red from crying. It feels like yesterday, and now you can shoulder a great matter on your own. Ah, if your aunt knew from beyond, I can't imagine how happy she'd be."
Song Shijun couldn't help adding, "Yuzhi did remarkably too. He was badly hurt and still hadn't recovered, yet he forced himself up and steadied the situation. That Yunke and Little Chun came back in one piece is thanks first of all to him!"
"Father," Song Yuzhi said, frowning.
Cai Zhao agreed with this wholeheartedly. "Sect Master Song is right. We got an ending that made everyone happy thanks to Third Senior Brother, who decided at once and insisted that Uncle Li surround Muwei Palace completely, with no one allowed in or out."
"You'd better remember that," Song Shijun said proudly.
Just as Zhou Zhizhen had predicted, after sending out wave after wave of men and losing many of them, Nie Zhe had few usable people left. The first group sent to overthrow Qingque Sect was only a handful, and the false Zeng Lou had already led them up Wanshui Qianshan Cliff to wait for the sect leaders to arrive. Even if the swap failed, they meant to catch everyone off guard and slaughter them, as had been done to Qingfeng Temple years ago, to establish Nie Zhe's authority and cow the world.
But they hadn't expected that less than two days after Cai Pingchun was captured, Cai Zhao would suddenly strike, and that Song Yuzhi and Li Wenxun would then block them inside Muwei Palace, with no way in or out, in the name of "protecting the sect master."
So they truly had no spare hands to escort Qi and Cai back to the Demon Cult. Everything happened so abruptly that they never even had the chance to deal with the two sect leaders before going up Mount Jiuli. As for the hidden sentries at the coffin shop, the earlier order to keep the prisoners alive meant they never dared to harm the two leaders or Zeng Lou on their own.
Cai Zhao and Fan Xingjia marveled for a while at how lucky her master and Cai Pingchun had been, then agreed to deliver Qi Yunke's medicine together. But as they reached the small garden in the inner courtyard of Muwei Palace, they suddenly heard Yin Sulian and her daughter quarreling behind the rockery.
"...I won't go, I won't, I won't!" It was Qi Lingbo's voice. "You're the one who told me to make other plans when Third Senior Brother's martial arts were crippled. Now Uncle has come and Third Senior Brother is recovering bit by bit, and you tell me to rush over and fawn on him. Is Third Senior Brother a fool? Do you think he'll let you fob him off, drawing close when it suits you and keeping your distance when it doesn't!"
"You stubborn girl, why are you fighting me? Everything I do is for your sake!" Yin Sulian said urgently. "If Yuzhi's martial arts were truly gone, the best he could be is a wealthy idler at Guangtian Gate. Why would you marry him then? What your aunt and I settled back then, Yuzhi knows perfectly well. What fobbing off?"
"Either way I won't go!" Qi Lingbo's voice shook with tears. "Third Senior Brother has never liked me. No matter how gently I speak or how carefully I behave, he keeps that cold face. When he was badly hurt this time I visited him only twice. If I go now and act as though nothing happened, how thick-skinned do you think I am!"
Yin Sulian was shocked and furious. "You wretched girl! Our Yin family has built its place in this sect for generations. Will you stand by and watch the position of sect master's wife fall into someone else's hands for nothing?"
"Back then you were first betrothed to that man Qiu, and then you married Father. Now you're forcing me to fawn on Third Senior Brother. It's all because our martial skills are poor and we can only hold on to power through our husbands. If Mother and Aunt had had Cai Pingshu's ability, if I had Cai Zhao's ability now, I could inherit the sect master's seat myself. Why would I have to depend on someone else's good graces!"
Yin Sulian snapped, "What nonsense are you saying? How dare you criticize your elders!"
Qi Lingbo burst into tears. "It's all Grandfather's fault. Everyone says he doted on his daughters, but deep down he looked down on women. It never once occurred to him that a woman could be sect master. Only after he met Cai Pingshu did he learn that a woman could astonish the world and sweep all before her. You and Aunt saw his sore spot, so you held a grudge and made trouble for the Cai family at every turn. You even use Cai Pingshu's bad luck to warn me, to make me walk the same road as you."
"But if I could have one blazing life like Cai Pingshu's, it would be worth it. What does a few years less matter!"
Yin Sulian was beside herself with rage and slapped her daughter across the face.
Qi Lingbo covered her cheek and ran off in tears.
Cai Zhao and Fan Xingjia hid behind the rockery and didn't dare move.
Yin Sulian stood there dazed for a long while, then finally sighed and walked away.
Fan Xingjia watched her go and said quietly, "Old Sect Master Yin was a man of extraordinary talent himself. How could his two daughters have poor aptitude? It's just that Old Madam Yin was frail, and both births were difficult, so Madam Qinglian and Madam Sulian were born weak and sickly from childhood. I don't think Old Sect Master Yin looked down on women. He really did ache for his two daughters and couldn't bear to see them suffer."
Cai Zhao shot back, "That's a pointless thing to say. What's the difference between someone with poor aptitude who can't learn high-level martial arts and someone with good aptitude but a frail body who can't learn them? By that logic, Madam Qinglian and Madam Sulian have even more reason to hate my aunt. They were born weak, and my aunt was strong and lively as a tiger. How could that not make them bitter!"
"At least have a little sympathy for Madam Sulian," Fan Xingjia said with a wry smile.
"I won't," Cai Zhao said flatly. "They only see the thief eating meat. They never see the thief getting beaten. No matter how gifted my aunt was, her skills didn't fall from the sky. She earned them bit by bit, and she didn't skip a single hardship she was due. Ever since I was small, unless I was too sick to get out of bed, my aunt wouldn't let me slack off for a single day, even if knives were falling from the sky. And she held herself to even harder work. Senior Sister Lingbo talks nicely about it now, but if she had to endure that suffering, I wonder how many days she'd last."
She remembered how, when she first learned inner strength as a child, opening the eight extraordinary meridians had meant sixty-four minor acupoints aching and swelling day and night. She also had to keep her mind calm and guide her inner force through the meridians of her whole body, or she risked deviation. Back then the pain made her bite her lips raw, her whole body drenched in cold sweat, too wracked to sleep. Her aunt would rather stay up all night holding her than let her stop and rest.
Having been through that ordeal, Cai Zhao understood her aunt's intentions all the more.
On this trip back she had clearly noticed that the people around her treated her differently. It wasn't that they flattered the strong and snubbed the weak. Before, she had been a "child." Now she was an "adult" who could take part in discussing important matters.
The jianghu was no paradise apart from the world. It was a place where the strong devoured the weak and only ability counted. Qingfeng Temple had once been famous throughout the region, but after Duan Jiuxiu slaughtered nearly everyone there, most people like Yin Dai had only said "let us plan carefully" and "the greater good comes first." Apart from Cai Pingshu, who had stood up for them?
Family background could earn you a little extra respect, but in the end you had to stand on your own feet.
"Ah, Junior Sister Lingbo spoke without thinking. Never mind women: if you put men and women together, how many people in the world are like Heroine Cai? Most people are ordinary. There's nothing wrong with ordinary people living ordinary lives and knowing their place. Madam and Junior Sister's trouble is..."
Fan Xingjia didn't finish, but Cai Zhao understood what he meant.
The Yin sisters' problem wasn't weak martial arts. It was wanting to keep a power and position that didn't match their own ability. Yin Qinglian at least had cunning and intelligence. Yin Sulian was mediocre even in that. If they had chosen husbands according to their own hearts, they could have lived in comfort and contentment on the lingering prestige of Old Sect Master Yin.
Fan Xingjia shook his head and sighed again, then suggested, "Madam is upset right now and may still be wandering the garden. Let's go around by the back door and enter through the inner room, so we don't run into her."
Cai Zhao agreed.
But the moment the two of them slipped into the side room, they heard Yin Sulian speaking with Qi Yunke.
"...I'm talking to you about Lingbo and Yuzhi, so why are you dragging this up? What did you promise my father and my sister back then? Have you forgotten?!" Yin Sulian's voice was high and sharp.
"I haven't forgotten," Qi Yunke said in a low voice. "I promised Master I would look after you well and never let you suffer the slightest wrong. I haven't broken that promise. I also promised your sister I would train Yuzhi well, and I haven't broken that one either. But as for Lingbo and Yuzhi's marriage, they should both be willing. If they have no feelings for each other, what is the point of forcing them to wed?"
"What do you mean, no feelings?! Lingbo has admired Yuzhi since she was little. It was Yuzhi's cold face and cold words that made her give up. Yuzhi listens to you, his master, more than he listens to my brother-in-law. Can't you talk to him properly?! You just stand there with your hands folded, watching the fire from the other bank. Isn't Lingbo your daughter?"
"It's precisely because Lingbo is my daughter that I want her to be happy every day, and not to choose a bad marriage for the sake of being sect master's wife!"
The room suddenly went quiet. After a long while Yin Sulian spoke. "What... what do you mean by that? Did Senior Brother Qiu... did Qiu Jie say something?"
Qi Yunke said, "He said nothing. He never said a word until the day he died."
"He... he's dead?" Yin Sulian's voice trembled.
"Yesterday. He tricked Yuzhi's father into believing he would confess the Demon Cult's secrets, and took his own life while Sect Master Song was off guard."
Yin Sulian stumbled and sank to the floor. Through the mist before her eyes rose the slender, ever-smiling boy of twenty years ago, the gentle boy who had pulled bird's nests and picked flower buds for her and gave in to her every wish.
He had always been good to her, but she had always found him not outstanding enough. First she had coveted Zhou Zhizhen's handsome looks and strong martial arts, and then she had married Qi Yunke, who was about to take over as sect master.
Qi Yunke said quietly, "I mean nothing else by it. I've already had Senior Brother Qiu buried on the back mountain. Go and pay your respects when you have time. Even if he wronged everyone else in the world, he never wronged you. If he had meant to mistreat you, he wouldn't have shut you out again and again. A real spy would have pretended, at least, to be a little close to you. He refused to let you near him no matter what, to protect your reputation, and that is what let Yuzhi see through him."
Yin Sulian left, her mind elsewhere.
Cai Zhao and Fan Xingjia stood awkwardly. They had overheard a private conversation between their master and his wife. Should they go in now, or slip away?
"You two, come out," Qi Yunke said, calling out their hiding place at once.