by Feng Yue
Yunlou Chaoyue listened without replying. After a while, she nodded. “I heard that Yunlou Qingxi’s Eunuch Chang appeared here too, but I didn’t believe it then. So you’re all looking for her…” She paused, regret flashing through her cool eyes. “Then I won’t keep you here.”
“You boast shamelessly!” The beasts on the old nanny’s—no, she could not be referred to as an old nanny anymore—skin roared soundlessly. Sharp blades sprung from between her five fingers, turning her hands into wolf claws, and she clawed at Yunlou Chaoyue’s face. “Watch me gouge out your eyes, b*stard!”
Yunlou Chaoyue looked up, watching the incoming claws. Her long eyelashes trembled, but there was no fear in her bright eyes, only pity. Soundlessly, the wolf-woman’s claws froze a hair’s width away from those eyes.
“Righteousness and title again. Are they really so important?” Yunlou Chaoyue asked, gazing at the three. “Because of them, you’ve killed so many people and will kill yourself too.”
“What are you waiting for? Go! Kill this witch!” The wolf-woman attacked wildly, but her claws could only scratch against air. Sparks flew, but she could not move an inch closer.
Wordlessly, the pipa musician strummed his instrument, clanging sounds resonated in the air! A giant torrent swept through the alley.
—
Hot wind blew out of nowhere, flying crazily to the beat of the pipa’s music. There was manic heat in the wind, eradicating the humidity from the ocean, turning the alley into a scalding desert. A mirage of the setting sun rose from the wind, radiating heat. A crescent moon rose from the other side. It was so cold, but burned one’s soul like fire. Amidst the hot wind, the neighs of battle stallions suddenly sounded. The century-old tiles on the floor of the alley cracked. On the shattered tiles were the imprints of hooves, as if the battle stallions had galloped across them. The thunder-like gallops sounded along with the pipa. It was the “General’s Mandate!”
The musician plucked the pipa’s strings, releasing the clang of swords clashing. The echoes were full of murderous intent. As he played the instrument, the music notes flew above the hoof prints, flying and dancing in the air. The neighs of the stallions grew closer.
Finally, dozens of black shadows broke through the yellow sand and torrential wind, galloping out of thin air. The hooves actually stepped on the shattered tiles, turning them to dust.
Sitting atop the armored black horses were bodies that looked like demons. Their bodies burned with wild desert fire. The fire transformed into black armor, burning radiantly on the shells of their bodies. They breathed greedily, sucking in the flames as if they were galloping in Hell. They roared in the furious wind. Even the setting sun and crescent moon shattered in the madness.
Sixteen demonic knights charged in the tight alley like a steel wall pushing forward. The quick blades in their hands sliced at the brick in the walls, leaving ugly marks and flying pieces of brick. Swords sang in the air; steel hooves clattered! Like a tidal wave, the black knights rushed out of nothing. They charged toward Yunlou Chaoyue, leaving shattered tiles and flying dust in their path. Even the air was ripped apart by the burning murderous intent.
The huqin floated above the din. Its notes were long like plaints in the night. and they came in from all directions, creating an inescapable trap. Like strands of affection, they intertwined around one’s body. Not only did they constrain the body, but they also wormed their way into the girl’s mind, awakening the lust and love in her. It worked to make her forget where she was and drown in the attack.
But throughout all of this, Yunlou Chaoyue only gazed coolly at the thread around her body, the eerie Foehn wind, and the Asura that came in the wind. She closed her eyes and sighed in pity.
Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosive cracks sounded in an instant. They built on each other, overlapping into a fulmination! The threads of affection snapped and disappeared. The Foehn winds stopped and disappeared. The steel knights stopped and disappeared…Everything that had been created by aether was stopped as if an invisible hand from the sky reached down and plucked the aether away from man, holding it in its palm. This was Taiyi!
The immensity of aether manipulation sapped all color from Yunlou Chaoyue’s face. Following her hands, the aether grouped in the wind and transformed into a vortex, like a deposit of rain, snow, and lightning.
The three paled at the thunderous cracks.
Following Yunlou Chaoyue’s hands, the quiet emptiness was filled with a deafening roar. Metal clanged and electric sparks flew. A bronze bell rang, full of power, restricting all change in aether. Different instruments overlapped, distinct from each other. The music was grave and serious, pushing down one’s spirits. The echoes were enough to shake one’s soul.
It was only the overture but the three already lost all ability to fight back.
This was not a level that any ordinary person should be able to reach, and it had nothing to do with skill. In the west, this was an advanced technique that required the cooperation between multiple musicians—orchestra. In the east, this was the powerful scepter of an Imperial Nine Musician.
Yunlou Chaoyue’s strength and talent were not the only terrifying things. There was also the grand melody that appeared from nothing. It rose to the top like a pathway to heaven…It was the heavenly music of ‘modification.’
“Da Shao!?” The pipa musician muttered in shock, “Is it Da Shao?”
“What is this? Only descendants of Yunlou can use the artifact Dijun!” The huqin musician stumbled back, his expression changing.
“She’s a counterfeit! How is she able to…”
“You are here to kill me for something grand, like righteousness. I can understand and I agree with you,” spoke Yunlou Chaoyue’s amidst the heavenly music. Even the sound of the sky falling and earth shattering could not drown out her quiet voice. This was the strength of Taiyi: nothing has meaning other than me! Despite the storm, her eyes were still full of pity. “But since the beginning, you’ve never realized…who I really was.”
—
In an instant, the three seemed to understand something. They faces turned as white as chalk.
As the loud bells rang, Yunlou Chaoyue moved her fingers, and thunder and lightning enveloped everything. All sound vanished. Even the thunder disappeared without a sound. There was only darkness in the alley. The darkness and electricity surged, occasionally flashing through the thick clouds. A dragon seemed to slither in the black clouds, showing a fierce horn every now and then. Da Shao · Stolen Ash Movement!
After a moment, the black clouds scattered and the electric light was nowhere to be seen. All that remained in the air was flying dust, floating like gray-white snow.
In the falling snow, Yunlou Chaoyue’s cool eyes studied her enemy quietly.
The three musicians were still standing in their original spot, as if turned to stone. The strange images wrapped around their bodies had disappeared, regardless of whether they were clouds, ghosts, or beasts. Their resonance with the world had been obliterated and so the images no longer existed.
After a long time, the corners of the huqin musician’s lips curled. As if mocking himself, an ugly crack cut across his face. “The Dragon blood of the Yunlou family…there is no doubt,” he murmured. “She’s real.” He had realized that the “disappearance of the Princess” was only a lie fabricated by Yunlou Qingshu to weed out traitors. But sadly, it was too late. His body cracked, fell apart, and melted into the gray ashy snow.
“Hate, such hate!” the pipa musician cried before fading away as well.
The musician who had disguised herself as the nanny gazed at Yunlou Chaoyue’s face without speaking. Close to death, her eyes softened and were no longer dark and wild. She opened her mouth and murmured something before her body collapsed into the ash. The world returned to peace.
As the gray snow swirled, Yunlou Chaoyue remained silent. She had heard the nanny’s last words.
Ma
ybe those last few days of interactions had softened her, or maybe her inevitable death had blurred things. Maybe she had never hated the usurper princess. She had said, “Your Highness, please take care.”
Yunlou Chaoyue lowered her head and closed her lonely eyes.
—
She seemed to sense something in the silence. Looking up, she gazed past the high walls and saw the white-haired girl again.
“Are you leaving?” the girl asked softly.
There was no reply, even after a long time. But Yunlou Chaoyue’s gaze never wavered. Perhaps understanding the meaning of the silence, she sighed. “If it wasn’t for your allowance and talent Zhaodang, Da Shao wouldn’t have had any effect. Bai Xi, stop hiding. Dijun had sensed you.” As if hearing the girl’s long breaths, Chaoyue asked quietly, “How are you?”
[1] Da Shao: this is one of the six generations of ancient Chinese dance and song.
88 Zhaodang
“How are you?”
“Good, of course. Better than ever. So please don’t put me together with the high and mighty Yunlou family ever again.” The girl’s voice sounded disgusted. “You can go back now. The dirt outside isn’t suitable for you. If you want to be a white lotus, go and stay in the clean pond.”
The light in Yunlou Chaoyue’s eyes dimmed. “But you are…”
“I’m nothing!” Bai Xi raised her voice, full of aversion. “I’m a wild kid without parents. I don’t know anything about Yunlou City, and have nothing to do with the Yunlou family. ‘Your Highness’ need not worry. Now, I’m going home and you can leave too.”
“…” Chaoyue was quiet and lowered her head. After a long time, she whispered, “Thank you for saving me. If it wasn’t for Zhaodang, I would’ve died today.”
“I said you can leave. Do you not understand my Eastern language?”
Yunlou Chaoyue’s shoulder trembled. After a while, she nodded, “Then…I’m going now. Be careful.” She touched the high wall, as if wanting to touch the girl’s cheeks. After a long time, she turned and left.
Everything was completely still in the alleyway, except for the ash floating in the wind.
—
Behind the high walls, Bai Xi listened as Yunlou Chaoyue’s footsteps faded. After silence finally fell again, she collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion. As if her blood was boiling, fuchsia vessels bulged on her bare hands and face. One could faintly see her blood flowing like lava.
Metallic blood dripped from her nose. Some of the blood fell onto the ground and turned the stone red as if the blood were scalding. Other droplets were bone-numbingly cold. Some blood droplets were black-purple. They sizzled on the ground, leaving behind signs of erosion.
Beside her, a beautiful man with golden locks that hung to his waist leaned on his cane and watched her quietly. Seeing her pain, he offered her a handkerchief, but there was not any pity in his emerald eyes, nor was there any cruelty, but just an understanding that surpassed sympathy. The image of two black snakes entangled around each other was on the back of his hand. It was Hermes.
“Riding over the orchestra, pushing down demons from the three worlds…was it Taiyi?” Hermes said quietly in awe. “As expected from the most powerful of the Dragon Bloodlines.”
In the East, the Dragon Bloodline was a symbol of power because of the talent it contained. Taiyi was the best of the best. No matter where she was, as long as Yunlou Chaoyue made a sound, her voice would drown out all other sounds. The aether would only listen to her and ignore everything else. It was like an emperor’s ultimate, irrefutable demand.
It was because of this that she could easily destroy others’ music, even if the strength of the three adversaries had been comparable to hers. But it had not been Yunlou Chaoyue who had called forth Da Shao…It had been Bai Xi, who had been nearby.
“It is an honor to have seen both Taiyi and its equal…Zhaodang in one day.”
“Don’t put me on the same level as that little doll.” In the stillness, Bai Xi pushed herself up, panting.
Hermes offered her a tube of medicine. The girl pushed it away in aggravation, but he pushed it back stubbornly. “Don’t keep pushing yourself. You know the side effects of Zhaodang more than I do.” Using more patience than ever before, Hermes advised, “Just see it as taking advantage of me. It’s not like I don’t have enough money.”
“Are you kidding me?” Bai Xi’s eyes filled with annoyance. “You sent a message for me to come here just so I could take advantage of you?”
—
Twenty minutes prior, Bai Xi had received a letter after taking Ye Qingxuan to the hospital. The letter only had two lines, as well as Hermes’s stamp:
I know your relationship with the Yunlou family. I’ll be waiting in the alley outside the Academy’s South Gate.
“Actually, I just wanted to see Zhaodang.” Hermes shrugged. “You didn’t lose anything, did you? You even saved her life. As Easterners say, that’s better than a nine-level tower.”
“And now you’ve seen it. Are you happy?”
“Aw, don’t say that. I’m never unhappy with a pretty girl. I’m still your boss though. You have to think highly of me.”
“Ha.”
While Hermes was still sighing sadly, Bai Xi scoffed and turned to leave. Hermes sighed again and reached for her shoulder. “Wait…”
Crack!
In an instant, it was as if he had crossed a line and hot electricity jumped from Bai Xi’s shoulder! The electricity struck Hermes’s finger, creating a charred ring around the finger and splitting the nail. There was the smell of meat burning.
Bai Xi stumbled and turned to glare at him.
“As expected.” Hermes looked down at his hurt finger. Murmuring something, the wound healed quickly. He squinted at the aether wrapped around the girl’s body, finally certain that, “The back bite of Zhaodang is deep inside your bones.”
—
All descendants of the Dragon Bloodlines were born with specific talents. Some said that talents were gifts from the gods. But Zhaodang was a curse…It was an extreme talent of the Dragon Bloodlines.
Once awoken, it would go crazy in the aether. Wherever Bai Xi was would be cast into a black zone with wild aether. All aether would be uncontrollable, unable to be manipulated by anyone. But aided by it, even the simplest rune would be increased one hundred times its original strength. It would be powerful enough to destroy anything it touched, no matter who or what it was, including the one wielding it.
“You can’t control it anymore.” Hermes lowered his head, gazing at the bulging bruised vessels on the girl’s wrist. Under her practically transparent skin, the vessels pulsed angrily. The flow of blood sounded like a tidal wave. That was one of the side effects of using the talent—the mildest effect.
“I just want to chat with you. Why must you try to escape, Bai Xi?” Hermes sighed. “If Taiyi is the Emperor, then Zhaodang is the destructive civilian. Like wildfire, you can’t control it or restrain it.”
“I can control it!” Bai Xi interrupted.
“I found another similarity between you and Little Yezi. You both like to lie to yourself…” Hermes chuckled, as if laughing at a child’s naivety. “It’s useless, Bai Xi. You’ve felt it too. Even if you try to forget them, they won’t go away. The more you try to restrain it, the wilder it will become. Every time they awaken, it’ll only become more powerful.
“If you can’t control it, it will take your life, expanding like a tumor until you collapse from your own strength. You’re what, seventeen? You still look like a fifteen year old. Two of your most precious years were taken by it, and it will take even more…”
“None of your business.” Bai Xi glared at him coldly. Raising a hand, she wiped the blood away from her face with her sleeve. Transforming back the girl with the porcupine disposition, she no longer seemed weak. Her eyes arrogant and cold, she stated, “Sorry, but I don’t need you to worry about me. Now, if you don’t mind, please disappear and stop wasting my time. I hav
e night lessons to attend.”
“Lessons?” Hermes laughed as if it were a joke. “Your Highness, who in Avalon has the qualifications to teach you? Abraham? A retired executioner? Just give up. Abraham can never teach you, but…” He looked at Bai Xi, fire in his narrow eyes. It was not lust, but was like an artisan studying rough diamond, overjoyed at finding treasure. “But I can.”
Bai Xi froze. She had never thought that her strange and mysterious boss would call her for that reason. She had been ready to end everything, but now she was taken aback. It had always been her dream to control Zhaodang and live freely. But now, it felt as if reality was joking with her, but she could not laugh. “Why?”
“Why? Haha, maybe this is fate?” Under the darkening night sky, Hermes turned around. Gazing at the fog, his eyes curved as if mocking something. “Some things are going to change, and someone or something will come find me. When it comes to that, I don’t know if the result will be what I predict. Something will be ended, or I will be ended.” Hermes raised a hand, waving away the annoying mist before him, his eyes focused and gazing faraway. “Before that, I want to find a student and pass down some things.”
“I can’t trust what you’re saying so easily.”
“I think it’s strange too, isn’t it?” Hermes shrugged, mocking himself. “So let’s use what I’m best at. A lot of people call me ‘the trader’ because I’m too lazy to hide and lie. Since the world likes to price things clearly, why don’t you make a trade with me? I get a student, and you get a new road to freedom.”
As Bai Xi remained silence, the man mocked a chivalrous bow. As if meeting a king, his grave tone had a tinge of mockery and his eyes were deep, as if seeing her future. “My princess, what do you say?”
—
Ye Qingxuan woke up in the deep night to find that he had been pushed to the edge of his bed. Helpless, he turned and saw the little girl that had taken over the center of the bed. He could only sigh and carefully move her foot away from his neck.