by Jeremy Bai
Looking down at the stone in front of her, she could tell that it was very different from the fallen star. This rock looked almost like liquid, with blue streaks running through it that emanated soft light.
Remembering her experience with the fallen star, she quickly produced a handkerchief from within her sleeve that she placed over the rock. The wind died down.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she gingerly wrapped the rock up in the handkerchief and then did her best to straighten her hair. Wiping the blood off of her nose and lips, she began to fumble her way through the darkness back toward her room.
I wonder if a magic wind rock will be enough to impress Sunan.
Chapter 40: Poetry and Dreams
“Wind stone?” Sunan asked, looking skeptically down at the box he held in his hands.
“I know it sounds unbelievable,” Bao replied. “But it’s true. I think wind stone is a fitting name, but you can call it anything you want. Whatever you do, don’t open that box without proper preparations.”
“And where did you find it?”
“The rock? I discovered a secret passage in the mansion you provided for us. Halfway through the passage is a chamber where I found the rock. The passage itself ended in a locked iron door. I can’t be certain, but based on the direction the passageway follows, I think it leads… here…”
Sunan and Sun Mai exchanged a glance.
“I can show you the passage, of course,” Bao said.
Sunan looked back at the box. “That would probably be good. Later. It wouldn’t surprise me at all that the residences of the Golden Immortal and Iron Awl Hu were connected. But why would they have a magic rock like this?” With that, he handed the box over to Sun Mai.
Sun Mai took the box and began to examine it closely. “Those two were wrapped up in all sorts of things. Maybe they were planning to sell it? Or make it into a weapon?”
“Sect Leader Sunan,” Bao said, “I know of a man who can forge things like this into weapons or objects of great power. Perhaps it would be worth visiting him.”
Sun Mai knocked on the lid of the box with his knuckle. “You know, I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, but I’ve never seen anything as overtly magical as you describe. It really creates a tempest around it?”
Bao nodded. “It can be quite destructive.”
Sun Mai fingered the latch that held the lid shut. “But how could someone forge a weapon out of it if creates a tempest? And how could this tiny little box contain a storm?”
“I’m not sure, Chief Minister Sun. When I first acquired the rock, I covered it with a piece of cloth, and that was enough. Furthermore, the tempest seems to be limited to a range of about six paces.”
“I don’t know, it all sounds a bit unbelievable to me.”
Time seemed to slow down for Sunan as Sun Mai unlatched the lid of the box. Although Sunan didn’t particularly like Bao, nor did he trust her implicitly, he saw no reason why she would be lying about the gift of the magic rock. She seemed to be trying to get on his good side with it, and she had repeatedly warned them not to open the box without making advance preparations.
When Sunan saw Sun Mai unlatch the lid, his scalp began to tingle with foreboding. “Sun Mai, don’t—”
Before he could finish his statement, Sun Mai lifted the box up to eye level and cracked open the lid by just a hair.
Bao’s eyes went wide. “No! Don’t—”
As soon as the lid opened, the entire room filled with a raging tempest. Sun Mai let out a shriek as he was sent spinning off to the side and was slammed into the wall. Sunan and Bao were both thrown violently to the edge of the room, smashing through tables and other room decorations. The members of the Golden Dragon Sect and Pure Phoenix Sect were likewise flung head over heels in all directions.
As for the box, as soon as Sun Mai was thrown off of his feet, he loosened his grip on it, allowing it to fall to the ground. Being at the very middle of the tempest, it seemed to be completely unaffected by the wind. As screams and bellows filled the room, along with the howling of wind, the box landed on the ground, and the lid snapped shut.
Just as quickly as it started, the tempest in the room vanished. A protracted silence followed, which was broken when one of the scroll paintings in the room fell off the wall and landed on the ground with a crash.
Sunan struggled free from the wreckage and looked over at Sun Mai, who was slumped almost upside down against the wall.
“Still seem unbelievable?” Sunan asked.
***
No one was seriously injured by the tempest blast, although one of the Golden Dragons ended up with a broken arm. By the time everyone was out of the room and checked on, it was getting near the dinner hour, and Sunan suggested they continue their conversation at the Heavenly Meat Palace.
Bao agreed, and before long they were chatting over mounds of meat and jugs of alcohol.
When Bao suggested they drink sorghum wine, Sunan agreed.
Sunan was well aware that Bao’s visit and gift came with an underlying purpose. She was clearly trying to earn his favor, or perhaps make a request. However, as the evening wore on, she made no mention of any such thing.
This dinner went much more smoothly than the last, and no fighting challenges were issued.
Sunan was surprised to learn that Bao enjoyed reading and had even read some of the same adventure stories he had enjoyed when he was younger. He soon noticed that Bao avoided talking about her childhood or family background, something he was more than happy to accommodate, as he himself did the same.
The evening wore on, and the sorghum wine began to take effect on some of the other disciples. Even Sun Mai eventually slumped over on the table and started snoring.
Because it was the eve of the Butterfly Festival, there was no ward curfew, and thus no need to leave the restaurant early.
Eventually, it was late, and the only customers left awake in the Heavenly Meat Palace were Sunan and Bao, and both of them were quite drunk.
“Did I ever tell you I can write poetry?” Bao said, her speech only slightly slurred.
“No, you didn’t. That’s incredible. I couldn’t write poetry to save my life! Can you write some now?”
Bao’s eyes widened. “Of course! Do you have a brush and paper?”
Sunan called a waiter over, who rushed to fetch some paper, a brush, and ink.
After dipping the brush into the ink, Bao closed her eyes. “Okay, let me think for a moment.”
She took a deep breath, and then began to write in her flowing calligraphy.
The fiends, a tempest dark and foul,
A shining—
As she wrote the second line, Sunan jumped in and said the words, even before she could finish writing them.
“‘A shining pillar paints the sky!’” he said. “I’ve seen that before. I even know the next line! ‘Golden droplets spin and howl!’”
Bao looked over at him, her jaw dropping and her eyes going wide. “How did you do that?”
Sunan shrugged. “I’ve seen that poem before…”
Bao looked down at the poem. “But where? I composed this poem just now. The words were on my tongue, just waiting to be put onto paper.”
A chill ran up Sunan’s spine. “An intruder was spotted outside my window recently, a girl in a gray robe. My lieutenant Yuwen Huo chased her to the temple of Supreme Judge Yu, but when Sun Mai and I went to investigate, she had just left, and all that was left were some burning papers. That poem was written on one of the pieces of paper. There were some lines before it too. ‘The graceful Bird due south takes wing, from north to east the clouds surge forth, from south to west fair feathers sing.’ There was another line before the first, but it was too badly burned to understand, and the same with the lines past the passage I read.”
Bao’s hand began to tremble. “They all go together…” she said, her voice quavering.
“What do you mean?”
“I wrote all the lines separately, but they
go together. And they even rhyme. ‘The shining Wyrm strides ever north, the graceful Bird due south takes wing, from north to east the clouds surge forth, from south to west fair feathers sing. The fiends, a tempest dark and foul, a shining pillar paints the sky, golden droplets spin and howl…’ Except, I never wrote that last line…”
She quickly wrote the last line onto the piece of paper, then looked back up at Sunan. “You said it was a woman in a gray robe?”
“Yes. And apparently she’s adept at using qi.”
“This… this… I don’t understand. When I wrote the first two lines of the poem, a woman in a gray robe caused a huge scene. She even supposedly caused a man’s head to explode as she fled. This woman already has the entire poem written down? I’ve never seen it before, I’m certain. So how did the poem come to be in my thoughts?”
Sunan felt the hairs on his arms and neck standing on end. “It’s not the first time this woman in gray has been seen around me, either. Sun Mai claimed to have seen her before. In fact… it was the same night I had those strange dreams.”
“Dreams?” Bao said.
“I often have strange dreams, almost visions. Golden light shining… and a black wind. Golden clouds. A strange symbol…”
Their eyes locked, and it was almost as if both could feel the other’s heart pounding.
“Sect Leader Sunan, may I ask, when was the first time you had a dream like that?”
Sunan took a deep breath. He had never talked to anyone about his dreams before, and he had most certainly never talked about the first time he experienced them. Perhaps it was because of the alcohol, or perhaps it was because of the bizarre connection between his dreams and Bao’s poetry, but he felt the overwhelming urge to speak.
“I was raised in a village near the Bay of Yu. Life was happy there. I had a dad and a mom, and three sisters. But the Demon Emperor destroyed all of that. The village was burned, and my family… they all died. I fled into the Huang Mountains, where I lived alone for a long time. It seemed like years, but I guess it was only a few months.
“That was where I learned about qi, and in fact, it was shortly after the qi entered me that I started dreaming. I’ve always thought that the dreams had to do with the qi, but now I’m not so sure.
“Chieftainess Bao, I’m not sure where you come from or what your background is, so I don’t know if you’ve ever seen things like what I’ve seen. Horrible things.
“I think about my family a lot. My parents. My sisters. I miss them. And that’s why I don’t think I can ever work for that bastard, the Demon Emperor.
“He sent his people to try to recruit me, you know. Trying to decide what to do is torture. Objectively, it would make sense to give in to him. That would be best for the city here, for the Golden Dragons. I’ve even heard stories implying the Demon Emperor is actually a good person, and that he’s being manipulated into doing evil. But I’m not sure if I believe those stories.
“I don’t know what to do, Chieftainess Bao. I hate the Demon Emperor, but I can’t fight him! He has armies and magic and demons on his side. I mean, he himself is demon! He’s so powerful that even if I ran from him, he would probably be able to chase me down and kill me.” He shook his head.
“I really don’t know what to do.”
He looked over to see Bao staring him in the eyes.
Chapter 41: Urgent News
Bao held Sunan’s gaze for a moment that, on the one hand, seemed like an eternity and yet also passed as quickly as a raindrop splashing into a puddle.
Then she looked down into her empty drinking vessel.
“I’ve never told anyone my surname,” she said quietly. “I always worried that if my people knew what it was, they would reject me. I think that in the beginning they actually would have, but by now they probably don’t care. My surname is Shangguan. Have you heard of it?”
Sunan’s eyes widened. “You mean the Shangguan Clan from Yu Zhing?”
“Yes,” she said with a nod.
Sunan thought for a moment. “When I was young, I read a book about the noble clans of Yu Zhing. Shangguan. Nangong. Gongsun. Sima… There were some more, I think.”
“Yes,” Bao continued. “I was born Shangguan Bao of the Shangguan clan. Originally there were ten noble clans. Shanguan. Nangong. Gongsun. Sima. Gongye. Dongmen. Zhongli. Xuanyuan. Yangzi. Situ. There was a rebellion when I was young, and some of those clans were completely wiped out. Nangong. Dongmen. Zhongli. Those clans were executed en masse, even the elderly and the babies. Although the other clans survived as a whole, none of them escaped completely unscathed.
“I was very young, but I’ll never forget watching my mother be tortured and burned alive. It was at one of the mass executions that the Demon Emperor himself presided over. I remember one of my cousins… I really loved her, like a sister. The Bone Slicers cut her hands and feet off, then extracted the bones and stabbed her to death with them.
“I still have nightmares about those days.” Bao shuddered slightly, then shook her head to clear it. “Later I was kidnapped by some criminals. When the Bone General invaded their headquarters, I fled with some of them, which was how I escaped Yu Zhing. But the Bone General doesn’t give up so easily. He sent people after us, including an ogre.
“I managed to kill it, and we wiped out the entire force that had been sent against us. Unfortunately, the Bone General still managed to find out what happened, and he’s been chasing me ever since.
“Sect Leader Sunan, the reason why I gave you the wind stone is because… I know that the Bone General will come for me. It might be tomorrow. It might be next month. It might be a year from now. But he will come. And just like you… I don’t know what to do. At least, not at this moment. As far as the future, I know exactly what I’m going to do.
“The Demon Emperor is a vile bastard who is turning Qi Xien into a living hell. He deserves to die. He must die. And I will kill him. I might not have an army, but I have people who will follow me into battle. I might not be a warrior, but I become a better fighter every single day.
“I have complete and utter confidence in being able to do this, Sect Leader Sunan. The only question is when. Maybe I’ll lead an army into battle to crush him. Maybe I’ll sneak into his chamber at night and slit his throat. I don’t know exactly how I will do it. But I know that in the end, the Demon Emperor will die, and I’ll be the one to make it happen.”
The truth was that the sorghum wine was fueling Bao’s speech just as much as her self-confidence. She had never given voice to any such sentiments in the past, nor had she ever really pondered the matter in any detail. In the heat of the moment, though, the words spilled out of her mouth with burning passion.
As she spoke, a fire seemed to flicker to life in Sunan’s eyes, and by the time she finished speaking, his hands were clenched into fists and a smile just barely turned up the corner of his mouth. Without a word, he reached out and grabbed the nearest flagon of alcohol, which he used to fill both of their drinking vessels.
“Chieftainess Bao, your words have pierced my heart and soul. I felt lost before, but now I realize why that was. I was ignoring the truths that existed in my own heart. The Demon Emperor killed your family, he killed my family, and he has killed countless other families across Qi Xien. If we do not put an end to his reign of horrors, then who will?
“Regardless of how qi came into the world, it is a gift, and its greatest recipients are the two of us. I don’t know if I believe in the Upper Realms, and the immortals, and Xian Nu Shen. Even if they do exist, it seems that they have no regard for the world of man. We must be responsible for our own fates and destinies. If you wish to slay the Demon Emperor, I will stand by your side, and so will my people. What do you say we swear an oath?”
With that, he raised his drinking vessel into the air.
“I, Fan Sunan, hereby swear that I will devote my life to the downfall of the Demon Emperor. Be it by sword or flame, be it by fair means or foul, he shall die. As sect lea
der of the Golden Dragon Sect, I hereby swear loyalty to Chieftainess Shangguan Bao and the Pure Phoenix Sect. Henceforth, we shall strive relentlessly toward our mutual goal of bringing peace and justice to all of Qi Xien!”
Bao’s eyes shone with a cold, piercing light as she raised her own glass and said, “I, Shangguan Bao, hereby swear to devote my life to the death of the Demon Emperor. Be it by sword or flame, be it by fair means or foul, he will be exterminated. As chieftainess of the Pure Phoenix Sect, I hereby swear loyalty to Sect Leader Fan Sunan and the Golden Dragon Sect. Henceforth, we shall live with one goal in mind: bringing peace and justice to Qi Xien, and bringing destruction to the Demon Emperor!”
And then, they drank.
***
Two years went by.
The Pure Phoenix Sect and the Golden Dragon Sect entered a formal alliance. Both sects increased their recruitment and training efforts, although they did their best to do it in the most discreet method possible.
Because of their various duties, as well as their focus on personal training, Bao and Sunan had little time for personal matters. Although they saw each other fairly often at formal banquets and other occasions, there was little time to develop their friendship.
There always seemed to be some matter that needed to be handled in Daolu that required the attention of one or the other. A few of the incidents that occurred would become tales told for years to come.
For instance, Sun Mai had a famous debate with An Jian, the mysterious owner of the Delightful Wind Shop, a debate which lasted for three days and three nights. Another time, Sunan dueled the leader of the beggars in Daolu in front of a packed house in the Green Elephant Emporium. After gaining victory, Sunan also won the respect of the beggars in the city. One of the most famous stories was how Bao outdrank the ten most famous drinkers in the city, all in one night.
Every month or two, a letter would arrive for Sunan from the Love General, but he refused to read even one of them and demanded that they be burned.
They made a few attempts to do further research and investigation into the so-called wind stone, but all such attempts were useless. Even just cracking open the box unleashed a huge tempest.
