by Jeremy Bai
“See?” Sun Mai said. “Oftentimes good fortune comes in the midst of disaster.”
Time marched by. Lady Yan continued to be of help in odd ways. Although Sun Mai didn’t like to admit it, even he admired the advice she gave. Some of her minor suggestions ended up significantly changing the Golden Dragon Sect. Organizational methods, uniforms, recruiting tactics, and other things were all touched by her hand.
Sunan grew fond of walking the city walls with her in the evenings. They would talk about many things, from food to geography to art to history. Occasionally the subject of the Demon Emperor would come up, and although she always maneuvered the conversation deftly, it was clear to him that she truly viewed him as a tragic hero in his own story. Sunan still didn’t quite believe her tales, but as time went on, he found her devotion somewhat endearing.
Something about Lady Yan changed that Sunan never noticed. In fact, neither did Sun Mai or any of the other members of the Golden Dragon Sect. Perhaps if Bao had been present, she might have noticed. Women can often see things in the eyes of other women that men were blind to. Lady Yan began to look at Sunan differently. Her eyes glittered in a way they hadn’t before, and her smiles grew slightly more bashful.
Eventually the Golden Dragon Sect reached a milestone—the total membership in the sect had reached fifty. The most powerful fighters in the sect were Sunan and Sun Mai, both of whom had achieved three breakthroughs. Yuwen Huo and Tie Gangwen had both experienced two breakthroughs, as had a few other soldiers who had been training the longest. Twenty sect disciples had reached one breakthrough, and the rest were initiates who had not yet succeeded.
To celebrate, Sunan and Sun Mai took the entire sect to the Heavenly Meat Palace for a feast. Lady Yan, despite not being a member of the Golden Dragon Sect, was also invited.
The Heavenly Meat Palace was large enough to accommodate them, as well as a handful of other guests who had been present before they arrived.
Fiery prawns and grilled meat were piled up high on the tables, and wine flowed freely. After about two hours had passed, everyone was in a wonderful mood. Suddenly a scream pierced the air, and one of the lower-ranked disciples ran back into the common room, shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Demon! I saw a demon!” She ran up to Sun Mai and Sunan’s table, panting. “Sect Leader Sunan, there’s a demon back there!”
“More demons?” Sun Mai said, laughing. “Are you sure you haven’t had a bit too much wine, Ma Ge?”
“Chief Minister Sun,” Ma Ge said, “I’m too young to drink wine. Believe me, there’s demon back there! I saw it run into one of the back storage rooms after I went to find some cumin powder!”
Sunan and Sun Mai exchanged a glance.
“I’ll handle it,” Sun Mai said. “I’m sure it’s nothing.” He turned to Tie Gangwen. “Come with me, Lieutenant.”
Sun Mai was about as familiar with the Heavenly Meat Palace as he was with the back of his hand, so he needed no help from the staff to lead Tie Gangwen to the exact place that Ma Ge had just referred to.
Soon they were standing outside one of the restaurant’s several large storage rooms.
“Sunan and I investigated this whole area once before,” he explained. “I have a really hard time believing that a—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the door crashed open, and an enormous rat burst out. It was the size of Sun Mai’s forearm, with black eyes and wide red lips that hung loosely over its curled teeth. It leapt up into the air directly toward Sun Mai, who reacted by using his technique Dance of Bixie to fly backward.
The rat demon then let out a powerful squeak that pierced the ears of Tie Gangwen and Sun Mai like daggers.
Sun Mai wasn’t affected, but Tie Gangwen found himself rooted in place, completely incapable of moving.
Having missed its initial target of Sun Mai, the rat demon landed on the opposite wall and then launched into the air toward Tie Gangwen.
“Sword of the Scholar!” Sun Mai shouted, waving his finger. An invisible sword slashed through the air, severing the rat’s tail but doing little other damage. The rat landed on Tie Gangwen’s shoulder, where it promptly bit down on his neck.
“Dammit!” he shouted, but he was still unable to move. He began to shake violently, to the point where he teetered on the verge of falling over. The rat turned again and looked at Sun Mai with black eyes.
“Father Zhen will have his revenge!” the rat said in a squeaky voice. Then it turned and leapt off Tie Gangwen. Tie Gangwen was sent down to the ground with a loud thump.
As the rat bolted down the hallway, Sun Mai crouched down to help Tie Gangwen up, who struggled to his feet with Sun Mai’s help. Now that he could move again, he reached up to feel the bloody wound on his neck.
“Are you okay?” Sun Mai asked, examining the wound.
“I think so,” Tie Gangwen replied. “I feel very weak, though.”
Sun Mai looked down the empty corridor. “That was one of the most bizarre things I’ve seen in a long time. Come on, let’s go get some food in you.”
Tie Gangwen nodded, and they returned to the main hall.
When Sunan saw Tie Gangwen’s neck, his eyes went wide. “What happened?”
Sun Mai sat down. “Apparently there really is a rat demon here.”
Sunan’s eyes went wide. “Really? Another demon? What’s going on in this city?”
A familiar voice rang out from a far corner of the room. “Isn’t that the question we would all like to know, Chief Minister Sun!”
All eyes in the Heavenly Meat Palace swiveled over to look at the dour-faced man striding toward Sunan and Sun Mai’s table.
“Smiling Luo!” Sun Mai said, looking a bit puzzled. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to do what I should have done a long time ago, Chief Minister Sun!” With that, Smiling Luo turned to Sunan. “Sect Leader Sunan, I tried to tell you before about the demons, but you wouldn’t listen to me. Now look what’s happened. People have died. Died! Well, I’m here to reveal the truth of the matter. You want to know what’s going on in this city? I’ll tell you. He is what’s going on!” In accompaniment with his final sentence, Smiling Luo pointed dramatically at Sun Mai.
“Him?” Sunan said.
“Me?” Sun Mai said.
“Yes!” shouted Smiling Luo. “Sect Leader Sunan, this man you have at your side is a fraud! I’ve known him for years, and he’s nothing but a cheater and a liar. He’s in charge of the demons in this place because he is none other than their leader! He is a demon! I could never figure out why my demon-hunting business never succeeded. The reason is because Sun Mai’s Sundry Services was always set up near my shop. He did it to spy on me and make sure that he and his fellow demons were safe. No wonder his shop never made any money. Because he didn’t need to!”
“Hey, my shop made money,” Sun Mai said indignantly. “My poetry—”
“Could be written by drunken monkey demons!” barked Smiling Luo. Then he began to laugh, which was a strange sight, because he somehow managed to frown while doing so. “You can hide your treachery no longer, Chief Minister Sun. Or should I say… Demon Sun!”
Smiling Luo then produced a small jade bottle, which he held high above his head. “It took me months to acquire this through various agents and traders, Chief Minister Sun, and it came at great personal cost. This is none other than the fabled Celestial Illusion Dispelling Powder from Zhe Valley. This powder will reveal the true form of any demon or similar creature. And now, Chief Minister Sun, it will reveal to the whole world how much of a fraud you are!”
“Stay your hand!” cried Lady Yan. “That powder… can react explosively when it contacts fire.”
Everyone immediately looked around at the numerous oil lamps that filled the Heavenly Meat Palace.
Smiling Luo hesitated for a moment. “Nonsense!”
Then he reached his hand back as he prepared to throw the jade bottle to the ground.
“NOOO!�
� Lady Yan screamed, lunging over the table toward Smiling Luo. As she flew through the air, the jade bottle descended. Her right hand stretched out, but her fingers grasped nothing but air. The jade bottle smashed onto the ground, and a banging sound rang out as powder spread out through the room.
Lady Yan landed on the ground, her red hair spread out around her like a blanket.
Some people coughed, others placed their sleeves over their noses and mouths, others pulled out fans which they began waving through the air.
As for Smiling Luo, he threw his head back and began to laugh at the top of his lungs. “And now we can see your true form, Chief Minister… uh—”
Sun Mai brushed some pink powder off of his nose and then sneezed. He looked exactly as he had moments before.
Glowering at Smiling Luo, Sunan hopped over the table and walked toward Lady Yan.
“Lady Yan, are you hurt?” he said.
She remained on the ground, her hair covering her. Just before Sunan reached her, she spoke. “Sect Leader Sunan, please forgive me.”
When she looked up, a collective gasp filled the room.
Chapter 36: The Time Has Come
Lady Yan slowly looked up. As she did, her crimson hair parted to reveal her face, a face that was most certainly not the face of Lady Yan. In fact, her face wasn’t even human. Her eyes were larger and wider, her nose flat and almost feline. She had odd markings on her face and sharp teeth that seemed capable of ripping flesh off of bones. Most bizarre of all was that she had three short, blunt horns sticking out of her forehead, one in the middle and two off to either side.
Her body was still voluptuous, but upon closer examination, she was taller and larger than she had been before. She seemed more powerful, somehow more muscular, but at the same time, enticing. Beautiful.
Her expression was a complex one, seemingly filled with pain, regret, sorrow, and guilt.
As soon as her face was revealed, gasps filled the room, along with exclamations of shock and even muttered curses.
“A demon!”
“What kind of monster is that?”
“What happened to Lady Yan?”
“What is that thing?”
A wave of shock ran through Sunan, and he subconsciously retracted the hand he had been reaching out toward her. He took a step back, struck speechless. He felt as if his mind had been struck by lightning, as if the world had been turned upside down. He thought about Lady Yan, about the curve of her lips when she smiled, about how he felt when she put her hand on his arm. And then he looked at the thing sprawled on the ground in front of him and wondered if he was dreaming. Or living in a nightmare.
“She’s not a demon. I’ve seen her before!” The words came from Tie Gangwen, who reached out to point a trembling finger at “Lady Yan.”
Some in the crowd couldn’t tear their gazes away from the figure lying on the ground, but quite a few turned to look at Tie Gangwen.
“I saw her once when Iron Awl Hu went to a meeting outside of the city. She’s… she’s the Love General. She’s an ogre!”
If the gasps of shock that rang out earlier were loud, then the response to Tie Gangwen’s words this time were like thunder.
Some people staggered backward, and a few even fell down. Swords were drawn and spears were leveled. Without even thinking about it, Sunan’s right hand twisted into the claw of a dragon, and Sun Mai extended the two fingers of his right hand.
“Sect Leader Sunan, please,” the Love General said. “Things weren’t supposed to happen like this. I mean you no harm…”
Sunan backed up another step, and Sun Mai rose to his feet. After the initial round of gasps, the room went quiet, but that lasted for only a moment.
“She’s an ogre?” someone said.
“The Love General? She’s one of the Demon Emperor’s top advisors?”
“She’s one of the Demon Emperor’s people?”
Sun Mai stepped forward to stand at Sunan’s side. “Sunan,” he said. “If what Tie Gangwen says is true…”
Sunan had recovered from his initial shock. At first, disbelief gripped his heart, but then anger sparked to life. Looking down at the Love General, he said, “Is it?”
She looked down, almost as if she didn’t dare to look him in the eyes. Taking a deep breath, she replied in a very soft voice, “Yes. It’s true.”
Sunan clenched his jaw and shook his head slowly. The anger in his heart began to grow hotter, burning away the disbelief, spreading out into his head, into his gut, into his hands and legs.
“You lied to me?” he asked, his voice quavering.
The Love General bowed her head, causing her hair to fall down and cover her eyes and mouth. It couldn’t cover the three horns, though. “Sect Leader Sunan, I… I didn’t lie… I mean, I didn’t intend to lie…”
“Don’t listen to her any more, Sunan,” Sun Mai said. “She’s been manipulating us this entire time. You can’t trust a single word she says.”
“Sect Leader,” Tie Gangwen said, “the chief minister is right. She’s one of the Demon Emperor’s top leaders. She must have been sent here to kill the two of you.”
Sun Mai took a step forward and lifted his hand. “Say the word, Sunan, and I’ll kill her on the spot. Do you know how many deaths she’s responsible for? She helps the Demon Emperor plan his massacres! She should be executed!”
In response to his words, more weapons were drawn in the room, and some of the soldiers even stepped closer to the Love General, pointing spears and swords at her, grim expressions on their faces.
Sunan’s heart and mind were trembling. He thought back to everything that “Lady Yan” had told him about the Demon Emperor and wondered if any of it was true. The sad story about him being in a coma. Was it completely fabricated? What if it was true? It didn’t make sense that she had been sent to kill them. She’d had plenty of opportunities to do so, whether by means of poison or even a knife in the back. Neither did it seem as if she’d been attempting to get him to surrender to the Demon Emperor.
Nothing made sense. Why had she come? Why had she spent so much time with him, talking about seemingly innocuous and pointless inanities? Why had they laughed so much together?
He shook his head to try to clear it.
“No,” he said. “We’re not murderers. She’s committed no crimes in this city. I’m not going to kill someone in cold blood just for being on the wrong side. Arrange a horse and escort her outside the city.”
The Love General looked up, and her expression was desperate. “Sect Leader, please, give me a moment in private to talk. I need to explain—”
“No,” he interrupted. “No explanations. I won’t have any more of your lies.”
“Please, I was telling the truth about—”
“NO!” he barked, looking away from her. “Men, take her away.”
“Sunan, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I truly have come to lo—”
“Enough with your lies! Consider yourself formally exiled from Daolu. If you ever show your face in this city again, you’ll be executed on sight! Now leave!”
The Love General bowed her head again as soldiers hurried forward and dragged her to her feet. Because her long, crimson hair covered her face, no one could see the tears glistening on her cheeks.
***
About an hour west of Daolu, on the south bank of the Chezou River, Bao’s people had set up camp and were eating a noon meal. They had taken a circuitous route to get to this point, having traveled some distance east along the Chezou River before finding a suitable place to cross.
Mao Yun approached with a bowl of prawn soup and handed it to Bao.
“Why are the prawns blue?” she asked.
“Not sure,” he replied, sitting down next to her. “The farmer we bought them from said that blue prawns only showed up in the area recently. The flavor is amazing, though. Try it.”
Bao pulled one of the strangely colored prawns out of the soup and cracked it open.
“
You’re right,” she said. “You know, I ate a lot of seafood growing up in Yu Zhing. These might be the most tender prawns I’ve ever had in my life.”
“And they go perfectly with this!” Mao Yun said, handing her a small bottle. “Local yellow wine.”
Grinning, she took the bottle, raised it up to clink against Mao Yun’s, and drank with him.
Over the course of the next few minutes, the two of them devoured the prawns and finished the wine.
“By now, the people in Daolu must know we’re coming,” Mao Yun said.
“You mean the government?” Bao replied. “Or the Golden Dragon Sect? Either way, we should be prepared for someone to ask us some questions.”
“What are you going to say? Our last run-in with the Golden Dragon Sect didn’t go very well. Even if Sheriff Song and Magistrate Pei Bai are fine with us entering, Sect Leader Sunan might not be too happy about it.”
“I know,” Bao said. Her hand came to rest on the wooden box that she always kept by her side. “But I’m sure he can be convinced.”
***
Sunan stood at the edge of the pond in the courtyard of the mansion, looking down at the fish swimming lazily to and fro.
Sun Mai sat off to the side, toying with a fan.
Sunan had finally recounted to Sun Mai what the Love General had told him about the Demon Emperor, as well as certain other things she had said. After much discussion, neither of them were able to make heads or tails of it all.
“I still can’t believe I was fooled so easily,” Sunan said.
Sun Mai sighed. “According to Kong Zhi, ‘You can cheat an honest man, but you cannot make a fool out of him.’”
“I certainly feel like a fool.”
“You’re no fool, Sunan. Sometimes the difference between what is real and what is not real can be very difficult to see clearly. If we could see the truth of all things at a single glance, it would mean that we are perfect up here.” He tapped his temple. “That is the true Perfect Realm, you know.” He cocked his head to the side. “Wait a second, that was amazing! That belongs in my great scripture!” He began patting his robes. “How come I never have writing utensils when I need them? Hold on, I’ll be right back.” Leaving his fan behind, he hurried off to find a brush and paper.
