“Okay,” Zhou Ying said, putting down his brush, “proceed according to established practices.” 

Bai Ling, used to this, lowered his head, then made to withdraw. But when his body had half turned to paper, he was called back by Zhou Ying. 

Zhou Ying said, “The Luwu lack experience and preparations, and they haven’t developed a complete set of established practices. Before, they remained hidden because no one knew about them. This is their first time dealing with domestic rebels. Though there has been an incident, those involved can be seen as pioneers. Double the compensation for the families of the bereaved. Whether this affair succeeds or fails, it will be recorded as a meritorious service. The names of the dead can be entered into the Kaiming Department Memorial Forest.” 

Bai Ling was surprised. He quickly turned his head, almost suspecting that the person in front of him was an imposter wearing a spiritual image mask. 

Luwu and enemies alike were like game pieces in Zhou Ying’s eyes. He didn’t care if a few of them died. He was too lazy to put on a show of humanity in front of Bai Ling. He had never glossed over anything. Because Bai Ling had been alone at the bottom of the Impassable Sea with him since childhood and was like one of his limbs, and he had nothing to conceal from his own hands and feet; and also because Bai Ling, impeded by being a half-demon, had nowhere to go in the human world. He wouldn’t betray him. 

Hearing this kind of news, when he was in a good mood, he would simply nod and instruct him to proceed as usual. When he was in a bad mood, he might very well say any kind of rude remark that could drive a person mad. 

So this time, why…

“Find some time to go to the Yongning Marquis Manor and ask the Marquis to write a personal letter. Northern Li is the domain of the sword cultivators, a tight as a drum, not like chaotic Western Chu. If the Luwu there hit a dead end, they can take the Marquis’s personal letter to the Beijue Mountains’ Blind Wolf King. That old cripple is cruel and vicious. Don’t stint on goods, just give him whatever he wants. That can save their lives.” Zhou Ying seemed not to have noticed his astonishment. He continued: “No need to worry about Chu, Shiyong is in Tao County, and he’s pretty reliable when he isn’t making mischief… I’m mostly worried about him getting himself into trouble—notify him, tell him that the situation is tense at the moment. Since he’s already successfully placed someone inside the Zhao family, tell him to hold off for now. No matter what he wants to do, tell him to put it off.” 

Bai Ling finally came back to himself, gave an affirmative, turned into paper, and flew away. For some reason, he was feeling a little better. 

He handled everything concerned with the Luwu. He had heard many people’s stories, put together many papermen for them. He could remember the names of the vast majority of them. When they died, the names would remain empty on his paper. If he could take those names out and carve them onto stone tablets, he supposed that would be a suitable arrangement. 

It was rare for his lord to be thinking of them. 

Zhou Ying lowered his eyes to look at the tips of his fingers. He had been about to say “The Luwu were going to be found out by the other nations sooner or later. This day was always going to come. What can that bunch of good-for-nothings do if they don’t get properly hammered into shape a few times?”—that was in fact what he thought. 

But when the words had come to his lips, seeing Bai Ling’s somewhat gloomier than usual expression, Zhou Ying had suddenly thought that no matter what he said, Bai Ling would only answer “Yes, my lord,” and everything would remain as before. It wouldn’t change anything, except that the paperman would be upset. 

Just the same as it wouldn’t have changed anything whether he went to the Marquis Manor to see the old lady one last time or not: mortals had their allotted lifespans, and when those ran out, they died. A person’s death was like a flame being extinguished; they didn’t bring with them the sorrows, joys, and regrets of the world of the living. 

Except that he found it hard to meditate late at night, his thoughts always hard to calm. 

That being the case, when it was a matter of nothing but flapping his lips, why should he deliberately torment a person who wouldn’t betray him? As if that was the only bit of power he had. 

He was no longer a bird trapped half in the Impassable Sea and half in a cage in Jinping. He might as well stop living so pitifully. 

When Xi Ping received Bai Ling’s message, Yu Chang had just finished making a circle around the valley in Yu Family Bend. 

Xi Ping, calm and unruffled, responded to Bai Ling: “Understood, you two can set your minds at ease about me.” 

Then he softened his voice slightly: “Bai Ling-da-ge, look after the brothers in Southern Shu. Don’t worry about the Luwu in Western Chu, just leave them to me.” 

Then he heard Yu Chang say composedly, smiling, “Well, Tai Sui, have you seen everything clearly? If not, shall I take you around again?” 

Xi Ping turned to Xi Yue. 

Xi Yue rubbed the center of his brow. “No need, I’ve memorized them.” 

Good child! 

If Xi Ping hadn’t been worried about getting another bite mark, he would have stepped up to slap him on the back. 

He was just about to respond to Yu Chang when he heard Xi Yue continue: “There are nine core great arrays in the valley in all, connected to the other arrays throughout the valley, letting them work together and communicate amongst themselves. If the arrays in one place lose effect, the ones somewhere else can immediately make up the deficiency and organize a counterattack. He just showed a hundred and two arrays in all. That doesn’t match up with the arrangements of the core arrays. If I’ve guessed right, there must be about forty hidden arrays… As for how to disable them, I have to do research. Many of the great arrays are too complicated, not something an open-eyed cultivator will usually encounter.” 

Xi Ping: “…” 

The main reason he had called Xi Yue over was that he wasn’t especially good at arrays, and most of the ones he knew were unorthodox ones he had learned in Wild Fox Country, and he couldn’t conveniently locate an immortal tool that would record these for him. He knew Xi Yue had a perfect memory and had wanted him to come act as a brain, so he could save his mental energy to focus on working out how to deal with Yu Chang. 

With Yu Chang’s nasty attitude, if he discerned anything about Xi Ping, he would be able to lead him to his death in Yu Family Bend a hundred times over. 

Xi Ping had just thought up what to say, but his plans couldn’t keep up with the changing situation. A few sentences from little Xi Yue beat anything. 

Xi Yue didn’t understand his expression and once again unconsciously touched his neck. The dragon-taming chain was gone, he could no longer sense the other’s emotions. He felt helpless. “Is there something wrong?” 

“Nothing’s wrong!” Xi Ping gave him a thumbs-up. 

He turned to Yu Chang and responded in an affected tone, “That’s all? Fine, I don’t have anything to do. If you aren’t busy, let’s go around again.” 

Yu Chang’s eyelids drooped. He thought, As I thought. 

Xi Ping said, “I’ve counted up the arrays, and there are still forty-something missing. What, are you afraid I’ll get the upper hand if I see them?” 

Yu Chang felt chilled. 

Yu Family Bend’s great arrays had centuries of history behind them. They had gone through thirty and more major alterations and countless tweaks to improve them. A famous array master from the Sanyue Mountains had even been called in to advise on them. Common cultivators who fought on their own led difficult lives; those who were especially adept at inscriptions or arrays were very few—they didn’t have a chance to come upon the relevant resources. 

Those hidden arrays were the Yu Family Valley’s true trump card. Yu Chang had deliberately not mentioned them. On the one hand, it was a test—on the other hand, he thought it would be for the best if Tai Sui charged in ignorantly and went to his peaceful rest in Yu Family Bend, not troubling him afterward. 

If Tai Sui could tell that he was holding back, his strength would have to be reevaluated. But Yu Chang absolutely hadn’t expected him to state the number right away! That showed that with a single glance, Tai Sui had eaten up the whole protective array formation of Yu Family Bend… No, this person frequently revealed only part of the truth. He might even know the approximate locations of the hidden arrays! 

Yu Chang immediately became cautious: “Yes, I didn’t finish just now. There are also hidden arrays that don’t appear on the surface, they need to be brought out with spiritual energy. It will be suspicious if I look them over for no reason. For that part, I can draw a plan.” 

Xi Ping inwardly ground his teeth: Why didn’t you say so before, asshole? 

But he only gave a meaningful laugh, as if he didn’t care at all about Yu Chang’s attempt and wasn’t worried about whether he would tamper with the plan. His attitude said he understood everything perfectly well. 

Yu Chang’s heart stuttered in spite of himself. He suddenly felt uncertain. 

Wait, Yu Chang thought. Before, when this Tai Sui sent that unweaned little girl to see Bu Zhichou, Bu Zhichou even had to give them the spirit-gathering array. It was as if they understood neither the immortal sect’s filth nor had any skill in arrays. Starting then, Yu Chang had somewhat looked down on this “good neighbor” who had moved in only a few years ago. 

Now it seemed likely that Tai Sui had deliberately gone to see Bu Zhichou in Yu Family Bend, deliberately revealed that he wanted a hundred thousand white spirits, all in order to hook him! 

Including the spiritual image brand stamping spike in the Zhao family hidden realm. 

That he could swap a living person for a paperman right under the noses of the Zhaos showed that Tai Sui had infiltrated them long ago. If they had really only wanted to use the identity of the Zhao young mistress to enter Sanyue’s inner sect, couldn’t they have just substituted her after the Dragon and Phoenix Symbolizing Good Fortune had been stamped? Why would they need to run the risk of stealing the spiritual image brand right in front of his face, right in front of the faces of dozens of cultivators from the Zhao and Yu families? 

They had deliberately stolen it to show him! 

This thread had been buried very deep. Yu Chang involuntarily broke out in a cold sweat, feeling that all his schemes were a joke. He had even guessed that this person was an ignorant youngster. “Who are you, anyway?” 

“A person who bears you no ill will.” Tai Sui seemed to be laughing. Then he said unfathomably, “Merely an old acquaintance of the immortal sects.” 

Yu Chang’s pupils contracted almost imperceptibly. He thought he understood the implication behind these words—the inheritor of an ancient demonic god suppressed by the immortal mountains planning to seize power and take vengeance…another Qiu Sha! 

Qiu Sha had single-handedly slaughtered a batch of ascended spirits in Tao County and caused the Silver Moon to come down to the mortal world…and when Qiu Sha had become an ascended spirit, it had also been the fifteenth day of the eighth month. 

Yu Chang was silent a moment, then adapted to the circumstances, bending accordingly. “Very well. As long as you remove my brand, apart from the blood covenant, I’ll help you legitimately take over Yu Family Bend.” 

Xi Ping was a master at puffing himself up. He knew he couldn’t say too much. If he said too much, he was sure to slip up. So he gave an elusive laugh and left Yu Chang to scare himself, breaking off contact. 

Next to him, Xi Yue had heard the whole thing. Before they could start catching up, he frowned. “What are you going to do?” 

“Bring in the harvest.” Xi Ping waved a hand. The pool in the Law Breaker turned back into an observation pavilion. “Come here, let me have a look at you… Hey, kid, before, you and Ancestor Luo would be like brothers standing next to each other, and now you’re nearly as tall as I am. If my shifu hadn’t been injured in the East Sea and been forced to go into seclusion, it would have been good for him to bring you back to Flying Jade Peak. If our Yue-bao’er with his natural talents can’t get into the inner sect, then what idiot is worthy of it?” 

Xi Yue ignored his flattery. Not letting him off, he said, “I just heard that His Highness Prince Zhuang said that the Luwu were exposed recently and the situation in Western Chu is tense, and he wants you not to act rashly.” 

With exaggerated astonishment, Xi Ping said, “You remembered so many arrays at once and you still had attention left to spare? Heavens, never mind the inner sect, why hasn’t the Marquis sent you to become the Number One Scholar in the imperial exams? All our ancestral tombs would start smoking from blessings because of you!” 

Xi Yue said, “Xi Shiyong!” 

Xi Ping clicked his tongue and flicked Xi Yue on the forehead across emptiness. “Where are your manners! Don’t go around calling your big brother’s courtesy name.” 

When he had gone home last time, he had seen Xi Yue performing the salute appropriate to a family junior and known that his parents had taken this boy who had also received the name “Xi Yue” as one of the family. Now, as was only to be expected, he acknowledged it. 

Xi Ping thought: “Giving him this name back then might be the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.” 

With the difference in cultivation level bearing down on him, Xi Yue couldn’t dodge. He took the hit, but he only felt it as a slight cool breeze blowing by. 

The headstrong and bossy young master understood propriety now. Without being taught, he had learned how to be an older brother. 

“I know what’s appropriate, relax. You heard wrong just now. I wasn’t talking about anything coming up immediately,” Xi Ping said, placating him. “Don’t tell san-ge. You won’t get taller if you tell secrets—do Mom and Dad treat you well? When Cui Ji gets new products in twice a year, does Mom hang bits and bobs all over you each time and try out any new rouge color on your face first?” 

Xi Yue’s eyes strung. “No, she said I have to wear the blue clothes, so I have to keep my dignity.”

“What the hell? What kind of favoritism is that?!” Xi Ping swayingly crossed one leg over the other and shook his head, saying accusingly, “Loving the new and tiring of the old. She gets a little one and suddenly she’s a stepmother…” 

Xi Yue interrupted his nonsense: “Why don’t you come back to take a look? Stay a while in Jinping, show yourself. How much of your time can that use up, immortal?” 

Xi Ping was speechless for a moment, not knowing where to start. 

When a person has millions of words in their heart and nowhere to start, they’ll always look older, no matter how youthful their face. 

“I can’t yet,” he said at last, as though nothing were the matter. “I… Well, hasn’t Xuanyin Mountain said all along that Flying Jade Peak is sealed? In fact, there’s an inside story. I still have things to do. When I’m done, I’ll come back at once. Mom and Dad are getting old, don’t make them worry.” 

At this point, he paused, and suddenly added with a smile, “What am I telling you for? You’re much more reliable than I am.” 

At a glance, Xi Ping was just the same as five years ago in the East Sea, without a trace of wear on his features. But as soon as Xi Yue met those familiar eyes, he felt half a lifetime’s separation. 

Xi Yue lowered his voice and asked, “What do you have to do?” 

“I can’t say, so don’t ask.” Xi Ping wiggled a finger at him. “If you lack for anything, ask me, and if I can’t get it, there’s still san-ge.” 

Xi Yue abruptly clenched his half wooden and metal fists. For five years, he had desperately studied arrays and followed Pang Jian, changing his half-puppet body from the inside out with stroke after stroke of the knife, trying to become a little stronger, a little stronger… This way, the next time he met stormy seas in the East Sea, he wouldn’t be tossed aside with a single talisman. 

But he was like Kuafu chasing the sun. When he had run until his legs were broken, he would still be further than ever from the goal he was chasing¹. 

“What?” The dragon-taming chain was gone, but Xi Ping still seemed to be able to read his emotions. He said, smiling, “I’m not deliberately concealing it from you. You’re always around that old fox Pang Jian. If you fart he knows what restaurant you went to the day before. What’s the difference between telling you and notifying Heaven’s Design Pavilion? There are some things that can’t be divulged yet.” 

Xi Yue said stubbornly, “Then I’ll stay with you.” 

“That’s disgraceful. Don’t go on distant travels away from your parents. Can’t you pick up any of my good qualities?” 

Xi Yue: “…” 

Xi Ping considered. “Fair enough, apart from being handsome and elegant and especially lovable, I don’t have any other good qualities… Alas, I was born this way, there’s nothing I can do about it—all right, aren’t I asking for your help with something? Go home, I have a lot of guests here today. When you get back, copy out the arrays for me. Afterwards, if you miss me, just give a shout, and I’ll bring you here to play. You can see me whenever you want.” 

“You…” 

Before Xi Yue could say anything, he felt emptiness beneath his feet. It was as if he had fallen from a great height. 

The next moment, he woke up in his own body. He abruptly opened his eyes and looked around. He found that he had returned to the Marquis Manor in Jinping. It was broad daylight. 

As Xi Ping listened to Xi Yue’s curses coming through the reincarnation wood, treating it as amusement, he played the qin for a while inside the hidden realm—the Luwu had been exposed, san-ge’s message had said, so Sanyue Mountain would also know. How would they react? 

San-ge had only sent a message, indicating that Wild Fox Country must be comparatively safe. Because of Qiu Sha, Tao County had just been plowed by the Silver Moon. As soon as the shed skin had left, the ascended spirits had arrived. If Sanyue only had a bit of faith in their own masters, they wouldn’t be too nervous about the Wan-Chu border here. At most they would send a few people to come look it over. The Luwu masks had been upgraded. As long as Xuanwu didn’t come in person, others wouldn’t easily be able to see through the Luwu masks. 

But…it was only a few days until the fifteenth of the eighth month. 

Once the spirit-gathering array was activated, Tao County’s veins of the earth were certain to change. Even with the cover of the Law Breaker Bracelet keeping Sanyue from seeing clearly what was happening here, any Qilin Guard who came along would still be able to discover it. 

What should he do? 

Wei Chengxiang and Zhao Qindan had finished cycling their energy, so Xi Ping sent the two of them out—after all, their bodies were still in Yu Family Bend. If their consciousnesses stayed here too long, they might change. 

Then he himself also left the Law Breaker Bracelet and turned into a barefoot doctor with a medicine chest on his back, appearing in the countryside in Tao County. He walked along the bleak little lanes. Perhaps it was his mistake, but Xi Ping felt that Tao County seemed to have become a little more still. 

As he passed a little village, he heard a creak. He turned his head and saw a familiar-looking little boy come outside yawning and stretch sleepily. Then the kid found a big tree at the gate to his house, opened his pants, and turned on the waterworks. 

The tree was a reincarnation wood tree. 

Didn’t this bunch of wild kids have anyone to mind them?! 

Xi Ping instantly remembered that this rotten brat was the one who had wiped snot on a reincarnation wood tree. The new grievance added to the old resentment surged up in his heart. 

He got his revenge at once. He used spiritual energy to gently nudge a bird in the tree. The bird, which had been laying in its nest, was immediately startled awake and dropped a big load of sky fertilizer, hitting the child’s bald pate dead on. 

At first, the boy didn’t realize what had happened. He reached out to touch his head, brought it in front of his face, and only realized after a long while what this was. He burst into tears. 

The wicked Xi Ping walked by him slowly with his medicine chest on his back. When he was near him, he deliberately pulled a face at the kid. “Oh, hey, have you got a new hat there?” 

The kid howled even harder. 

“Heh…” Xi Ping was amused. He was just about to continue adding oil to the fire when his gaze suddenly paused, and the corners of his mouth froze—there was a new full moon scab on the back of the child’s hand. He remembered that it hadn’t been there when he had wiped the snot before. 

Xi Ping frowned and carefully cast a beam of spiritual energy like a strand of hair into the child’s meridians and circled through them. He found that this lively-looking child’s undeveloped meridians were like a pot of grass that hadn’t been watered in a month, nearly dried-up. On the back of his hand, on his back, under his ear, on his foot…all over his body were no less than ten full moon scabs of all sizes, with an outer circle glistening like a snake’s scales and a black center, viciously sucking out his life force. It made a person’s scalp go numb to see. 

“Yu-xiong,” Xi Ping immediately sent word to Yu Chang. In a grave voice, he said, “I’d like to ask you about something. If the Sanyue Spiritual Mountains have already decided to allocate a batch of pills to Tao County, why have they only come to collect medicinal herbs from Yu Family Bend now?” 

On this schedule, even if Xuanyin Mountain’s Rosy Cloud Peak picked up and moved to Tao County, there would still be no time to refine enough pills for the whole county to take before Mid-Autumn. Had Elder Xuanwu gone senile from having to hold his breath all the time? Didn’t he know that Mid-Autumn was the deadline? 

Yu Chang was silent a moment, then responded, “Well—as far as I know, all the types of herbs that pill needs are actually aquatic. Yu Family Bend’s medicinal herb fields don’t produce them.” 

Xi Ping said, “What?” 

Then who are you turning out in such force to sell to? 

“Medicine given to mortals naturally won’t be refined by inner sect immortals themselves. The high elders only issue the order to set aside the funds and spiritual stones.” Yu Chang sighed and said, “As for whose medicinal herb field the money ultimately winds up in, that depends on the connections of the various families, not what their fields grow… I suppose there aren’t so many of these things in Great Wan. It’s a skeleton in the closet. How embarrassing.” 

Xi Ping’s figure bearing the medicine chest disappeared around a corner where no one could see him. Finally, he sent Yu Chang a message: “Before noon, prepare your stamping spike and come over as fast as you can.” 

That day, Xi Ping copied three Yu Changs inside the Law Breaker Bracelet. Using the same technique he had used to steal the Dragon and Phoenix Symboling Prosperity, he drew the brand from Yu Chang into midair. 

It was as if Yu Chang had had a layer of skin peeled off him. His strength exhausted, he lay flat on the ground, free but wretched. He spent ages gasping for breath before he gathered the strength to laugh aloud. 

He panted as he laughed, nearly going off key towards the end with an odd sobbing note. “Tai Sui, which members of the Yu family do you want to kill? Which of their things do you want to steal? For…for this, I’ll kill for you, I’ll steal for you… I can also…I can also kill the whole clan, dig up their ancestral tombs, fuck their ancestors… Over four hundred years… Over four hundred years!” 

The sound of the Tai Sui Qin paused. Behind the qin, Xi Ping raised his eyes—