Chương 37: Chapter 36: WHY, HELLO

He turned. Meiyao stood right next to him, facing him, one eyebrow raised, full lips pressed into a thin line. He might have said she looked amused, in a prickly sort of way, if it weren't for her gaze. It was deep, unreadable. He could pick out something lying behind her green eyes, but he couldn't tell what it was.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something," she said, and there was no mistaking the dryness in her tone, "but unless you'd rather start up some rumors, I'd stop batting eyes at the pretty boy over yonder." Jieyuan's mind ground to a halt. He blinked at her as his thoughts played catch-up.

"What?" Meiyao said nothing, just kept her unreadable gaze fixed on him. Then she glanced to the side, over at Daojue, who'd already turned around. Eyes on Jieyuan again, Meiyao snorted, murmured something under her breath, then shook her head gently.

"Never mind." Before he could react, she hooked her arm around his (though it wasn't as if he'd have avoided her hold, had he managed to react) before she started dragging him away. Jieyuan let her lead, matching her steps. And doing his best not to notice the softness pressing into his arm. Meiyao was facing firmly forward, not looking at him anymore. His eyes flitted from her, to Daojue, then back to her. He thought back to her words. You couldn't have his upbringing and grow up dense.

Heavens, he'd even had lessons on seduction. Any tool was a tool, as his old man used to say; and he'd speak from experience. Before marrying his father, Jieyuan's mother had been the heir to a rival merchant family. A family that had been absorbed by the Haoyujin through his parents' marriage. Laughter bubbled up his throat. But before it could spill out his mouth, another thought occurred to him. The laughter fizzled out, as a hot, fuzzy shot of warmth ran through him.

A different emotion took control of his face. He did his best to contain it, but his lips were determined to quirk upward. Finally he allowed himself a smirk. He didn't have much of a choice in the matter. It was either that, or give in to the full-on, face-splitting manic grin that wanted out. Meiyao's misunderstanding was of little importance. Her reaction to it, though. Now that was something.

Meiyao only let go of his arm when they were back in their usual place by the edge of the floor, a good distance from everyone else. Everyone else except for Yongyi, who'd been standing there waiting for them. He was smiling, yellow eyes gleaming with clear amusement. Though Meiyao had let go, she kept well within arm's reach. Yongyi looked between the two of them—then focused on him, face suddenly growing serious, yellow eyes narrowing.

"So, I'd like my win back." Jieyuan blinked, but then figured out where this was going. He played along.

"You do?"

"You lost," Yongyi said.

"We agreed you'd win the whole thing. I demand a refund." Jieyuan scoffed, then gave a sharp nod over to where Daojue was standing.

"Beat him first, and we'll talk." Yongyi tried to hold on, but failed, a smile breaking out on his face. He laughed.

"I think I'll pass, thank you." But then he gave Jieyuan a deep, long look; and this time, Jieyuan was fairly sure he wasn't faking it.

"Seriously, though. What in the Heavens was that duel? Not even Daojue, but you. You were holding out on me."

"Rot that." Meiyao stepped in between him and Yongyi, casually shoving her brother out of the way, and glared up at Jieyuan.

"You held out on me. I can't believe you held back in our duel."

"You know what they say." Jieyuan shrugged.

"You save the best for last." Seeing the darkening look on the half-siblings' faces—Meiyao's in particular—he quickly amended.

"But I didn't hold back. Not against either of you. The thing with soulforce is something I just figured out yesterday." Both Meiyao and Yongyi just stared at him in response. It was Yongyi who broke away first.

"The worst part is I believe you," he said, though his words didn't quite match his expression.

"You owe me a rematch, then." Meiyao's gaze lingered on Jieyuan a while longer. It felt like she was seeing through him. Unlike her brother, Meiyao knew about Absolute Will Command, and though she didn't know about the Fatebloom Heart, not exactly, she did know he'd gotten something from the fatebloom Woods. Something that gave him unusual powers. Meiyao understood his situation better than anyone alive. But instead of pressing the issue, she shot Yongyi a glare and said, "Get in line." She turned back to Jieyuan.

"We're fighting as soon as we're back in the palace." It wasn't a request; her tone left no room for discussion. Normally, he'd have been all for it. But this time around…

"Can't do," Jieyuan said.

"I just used up over a third of my soulprism. And I'll probably need all the chroma I can spare in the coming days, given…" He trailed off, letting his frown say the rest. Meiyao caught on immediately. She sneaked a glance to the side—over to where Elder Yiming was standing with the other elders. Yongyi also tensed up, visibly. Ah. Jieyuan hadn't been sure whether he was also in the loop, but suspected he'd been told, if not by the palace head, then by Meiyao. Now he had confirmation.

They were all on the same page, then.

"Any news on that front?" he asked, quietly. He hadn't really had time to ask before now. The duel had occupied all his thoughts.

"Not really," Meiyao said.

"Uncle Yiming went to the Mysterious Night House last night. They didn't know much, only confirmed that there have been some unusual stirrings in the Xiyunfeng Clan lately. But Yiming's brought in some other Liangshibai elders: Aunt Yuyan, Aunt Wanxin, Grandfather. Everyone above suspicion. They're making preparations."

"And the envoy?" Jieyuan asked.

"Does she know?"

"I'm not sure," Meiyao said. She looked across the floor, over to the envoy, and so did Jieyuan. Envoy Guodan and Sovereign Aoxin were standing close together—closer than usual. The two seemed to be talking.

"But if he hasn't already," Meiyao carried on, "I'm fairly sure he'll be telling her today. There's not much time left. That aside…" Meiyao leaned in even closer. Close enough he could feel her breath on his face, smell her scent. She smelled fresh and alive, like wildflowers. They stood almost eye to eye; she couldn't be more than two inches shorter than him.

"Be careful." Her voice was soft.

"You might have given away too much today." Jieyuan caught some motion in the distance and focused on it. Past Meiyao, on the other side of the floor, Envoy Guodan had fully turned to their side. And she wasn't looking at Daojue this time. No. The Orangesoul was staring straight at him. There was nothing threatening about her look. If anything, she looked thoughtful. But Jieyuan went still all the same; and he stayed that way until the envoy turned back to Sovereign Aoxin.

It didn't last more than a second or so, but Meiyao had looked back at the same time as he'd noticed the envoy's glance, and she'd caught all of it. As Meiyao turned back to him, he saw that she now looked uneasy. Troubled.

"You've just drawn a lot of attention, Jieyuan," she continued, softly.

"Maybe even more than Daojue. Everything else so far, you could probably explain away. But it's not supposed to be possible for a fourth-step Redrealm to use soulforce like that. If you haven't already, start thinking of an excuse. Because the questions will come."

"I know," he said.

"I've got it." That was no empty reassurance. Maeva was nothing if not thorough. Yesterday, they'd considered just about all possible ramifications of what he'd do today. He didn't need to worry much about the other elders (they couldn't really touch him anymore, not when he'd been all but scouted by the Howling Lighting Sect already), but the same couldn't be said about Envoy Guodan.

And even if she didn't try to get to the bottom of it, once she reported his duels back to the higher-ups of the Howling Lightning Sect, they'd certainly like to know more. He'd kept quiet about his Absolute Will Command so far, but that was mostly because of the circumstances he'd gotten it in. He'd gotten it from the inner disciple Rongkai, back in the Fatebloom Woods, and he hadn't wanted anyone looking further into Rongkai's matters to figure out where Rongkai had gotten the bondskill from.

But his business with the Fatebloom Woods was over, and enough time had passed. Nobody should dig too deeply. He also didn't have to worry about anyone hunting him down for his bondskill; he wasn't some lowly outer disciple anymore, and others would have no way of knowing that what he had was a Violetrealm bondskill. Everyone would assume it was a Redrealm one, and the people he did have to worry about wouldn't be interested in something like that. He wouldn't even have to reveal what his bondskill really did.

Given how he'd used it so far, he could pretend that all it did was split his mind, give him the ability to do several things at once. That'd be enough to explain his soulforce use. Even his ability to fight so well could be explained that way; he could claim his bondskill allowed him to split his attention between his own movements and tracking those of his opponent. Taking things so far in the duel had been a calculated risk. And while he was nothing special at math, Maeva was a genius.

She could calculate like no one else. Meiyao gave him a searching look. She must've found something that reassured her, because she backed down, nodding.

"Good." Yongyi, on the other hand, didn't look nearly as reassured. Meiyao's brother didn't know nearly as much about Jieyuan's circumstances as Meiyao did, and if that hadn't been clear to him before, Jieyuan's exchange with Meiyao just now should've made that glaringly obvious. Yongyi looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't really get the chance as the sound of footsteps came closer. Jieyuan's soulsenses caught someone's approach. They turned. A white-robed woman was sauntering easily over to them.

In the entire summit, only one person wore that color.

"Meiyao, Yongyi," Protector Wanxin said once she was close enough.

"Yuyan would like a word with you two." Meiyao frowned slightly, looked past the protector (at her stepmother, probably), then said, "All right." She gave Jieyuan a nod, then got moving, Yongyi following suit. She stopped, though, when she realized Protector Wanxin wasn't going along with them. The protector had stayed put in front of Jieyuan.

"Aunt Wanxin?" Meiyao asked.

"I'll be along shortly." Protector Wanxin smiled, and waved a hand like she was shooing them.

"I'd just like a little word with Jieyuan here first." Meiyao's frown deepened.

"What—""Relax, dear girl." The protector's smile turned sharp, teasing.

"I'll leave him in one piece. Gemstone's promise." This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Meiyao looked like she'd tasted something sour, but she resumed walking, Yongyi with her. Jieyuan watched them go. Because of that, he noticed Yunzhu. She was standing with the other Liangshibai, where Meiyao and Yongyi were headed. But she wasn't taking part in the conversations; she was staring at her mother.

Jieyuan didn't know if it was his proximity to Protector Wanxin, or because Yunzhu had noticed him looking at her. Either way, she shifted her gaze over to him. Earlier, Envoy Guodan's gaze had unsettled Jieyuan. Not because of the stare itself—she'd looked thoughtful, not murderous or anything alarming—but because of the person behind it. Not even half an hour ago, the envoy had come very close to killing him in the middle of his duel with Daojue, if Huaxin's warning at the time was to be believed.

The situation was the same with Yunzhu. There was nothing particularly awful about the way she looked at him; her gaze was curious, friendly, warm. In fact, there was nothing awful about Yunzhu at all, as far as appearances went. Yunzhu didn't look much different from other Liangshibai women around her. The same angular lines, sharp chin, and fine features. All she really lacked were the Liangshibai gemstone eyes. And yet as Yunzhu's eyes bore into him, Jieyuan felt a shiver slither up his spine.

Like with Envoy Guodan, it wasn't the look itself, but the person behind it that unsettled him. Except Yunzhu was no Orangesoul who had almost murdered him, not like Envoy Guodan was. By all rights, his reaction to her should've been much tamer. But it was the opposite. When the envoy had looked at him, Jieyuan had gone still. When Yunzhu looked at him, his instincts screamed at him—to fight, to flee, to do something. Then Yunzhu smiled. Brightly, like a blood lily in full bloom.

Jieyuan forced a nod and polite expression in return. Then he looked away, and did his best to ignore how Yunzhu's gaze stayed on him and her mother. Quiet, watchful. Disturbing.

"It's a good thing you looked away," Protector Wanxin said the moment he turned back to her. She smiled slyly, giving him a knowing look.

"I know my daughter's stunning, but if you'd kept it up, I'd have to tattle to Meiyao." Jieyuan froze.

"That's…" He knew where the protector was coming from. From what he'd gathered so far, the woman was wholly blind to her daughter's knack for making skin crawl. As far as she was concerned, he'd probably just been smitten by her daughter's looks. But the sheer absurdity of what she was implying stumped him. Him, interested in Yunzhu? Heavens forbid and forfend.

"That… no." He tried to come up with a polite enough way to tell Protector Wanxin that her daughter set his nerves on edge like nothing else. That he'd sooner jump headfirst down the railing and get his head cracked open like an egg before he got involved with Liangshibai Yunzhu. He came up short. Some things just defied language. Polite language, at any rate. He settled, lamely, for, "That wasn't it." Protector Wanxin smirked, wearing obliviousness like a second skin.

"Good. Not that you'd stand a chance, mind you; my girl's all smitten with that Daojue boy." Her smirk gave way to a frown.

"Although that's not happening, either. Yunzhu will be heartbroken when he's gone. And then there's that chipped mess with Qingshi not too long ago…" The protector sighed deeply, shaking her head.

"My poor baby girl. She has the worst luck in love." Yunzhu's love life—or the lack thereof—wasn't quite the last thing in the world Jieyuan wanted to talk about. But it was right up there. He didn't know what she'd stayed behind to talk to him about, but he sure hoped it wasn't about Yunzhu. Of the three Liangshibai siblings—Wanxin, Yuyan, and Yiming—she might be the one he was closest to.

He'd probably spent the most time around Elder Yiming, but Protector Wanxin was the one who had initiated him as a cultivator all those months ago, at the end of the Gleaming Stone Sect's entrance trials. He couldn't be more relieved when Protector Wanxin's face cleared, and she said, "Well, enough of that. I noticed my sister had a talk with you yesterday. I happened to overhear a little of what she said. Don't… Look, I wouldn't take her words too seriously. I love my sister, but Yuyan can be rather… extreme.

And she's terribly protective of Meiyao." Jieyuan nodded politely—even though, for the most part, he agreed with Protector Yuyan's words. He just didn't really see the point in having a discussion with Protector Wanxin over the merits of envy—or over that whole there is no peace, only power business. Some things you either understood, or you didn't.

"Hmmm." Protector Wanxin gave him a thoughtful once-over, then nodded approvingly. She really wasn't the most perceptive of people.

"Anyway, that was quite the show you put on today. I'd known you were good, but that… That was just something else. It also seems like you've got quite a few secrets of your own." Apparently she didn't think the expectation dripping off her voice would get the message across on its own, because she gave her eyebrows a little wiggle for good measure. That settled it. Protector Wanxin was definitely Elder Yiming's sister. Jieyuan found himself smiling.

"Don't we all?" He wouldn't have minded telling her the cover story he and Maeva had thought up, but the opportunity to get back at her for her earlier teasing was too good to pass up. Protector Wanxin pouted, and the expression looked so natural on her that Jieyuan wasn't sure it was just pretend. It was so easy to forget how old she really was. Even though he'd been a cultivator for a while now, he was still wrapping his head around how much younger cultivators looked than their actual age.

It wasn't just their lengthened lifespan; even accounting for that, time and age treated them much more kindly than it did mundanes. He knew, from Meiyao, that Protector Wanxin had turned seventy-two last year. Given a Redsoul's lifespan was twice that of a mundane, that would've put her at around thirty-six, in practice—physically and mentally. And yet she didn't look—or act—a day over twenty. Not to mention that when they did show signs of aging—wrinkles, graying hair—it'd all be cosmetic.

Cultivators stayed in their physical prime until their last breath.

"You're no fun at all." Protector Wanxin glared at him, but there was no heat in it.

"Fine, keep your mysterious little secrets. See if I care." Then she giggled and tapped him on the shoulder.

"I'm just chipping your gem, kid. You're right; we all have our secrets. But you know what you're doing, right?" She jerked her head sideways, just a little. Jieyuan didn't need to look over to know it was Envoy Guodan she'd pointed to. Huh. Meiyao and Protector Wanxin might not share any blood, but they sure were family.

"I've got that covered." The protector cocked her head.

"What's with that smile?"

"No, it's just—Meiyao just about asked me the same question just now." No sapphire, no matter how pure or well-cut, could match the way Protector Wanxin's eyes gleamed.

"Oh, she'd have," she said, that sly smile making its way back to her face.

"You should've seen her before… Well, before what happened with Lianhua. Just this tiny, bossy thing, tottering around trying to mother everyone in sight, whether you wanted it or not." She let out a breath, eyes going soft, lost in remembrance.

"Lianhua was much the same way. Consummate Woodsouls, the both of them. Mother and daughter. Always fussing, always fretting. They couldn't not care. I'm glad she's warming up to it again. Seems like you've been good for her, kid."

"Huh. Glad to hear it," Jieyuan said, more out of reflex than anything else. He couldn't really see Meiyao fussing or fretting, as Protector Wanxin had put it. Meiyao had always struck him more as another Firesoul (a proper, fiery one, unlike himself), rather than a Woodsoul. But he'd take the protector's word for it.

"Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about," Protector Wanxin said.

"I wanted to check with you, how you're feeling about what's coming next. About the Howling Lightning Sect. I know you haven't got anyone to talk with about this, and… Well, I was there when you became a cultivator. I figured if anyone was having this talk with you, it should be me."

"I…" Jieyuan frowned. He was flattered, sure, by Protector Wanxin's concern. Touched, even. But… He didn't really see the point.

"I guess—""You're a Firesoul, all right," she cut him off.

"It never crossed your mind to refuse, did it? I remember our talk back in the entrance trials—from the start, you only really saw my sect as a stepping stone." She lifted a hand.

"Don't worry. I'm not offended. It's just… You're mundane-born. I wanted to be sure you knew what you're getting into. Higher sects, higher realm… It all sounds so great, so grand, but… You have to think of yourself whether it's worth it. Redrealm sects are as tame as it gets."

"Tame?" Jieyuan asked. Protector Wanxin nodded.

"When you climb up the ladder… In theory, your lifespan gets higher with your realm, but life expectancy actually goes down. The higher you climb, the more danger you get involved in. And that's not to mention the pain, the struggle. Power isn't everything. Sometimes, you're better off…" She narrowed her eyes at him, studying him for a long while. Then she sighed.

"Never mind. Not a single word I'm saying is getting through to you, is it?" He could only give her a wry smile.

"I am a Firesoul."

"Oh, you definitely are." Protector Wanxin smiled back, though hers was rueful.

"Well, I tried." He turned her words over in the quiet that followed. There was something he'd always wondered about, since he'd found out about who Protector Wanxin really was.

"Is that why you decided to stay in the Gleaming Stone Sect? Because you felt that it was enough?" She was the Liangshibai born with the greatest potential in recent history, her sapphire eyes as proof of that. Her heavenly affinity was fifth-order. She could've gone as far as Bluerealm—the second-last realm of cultivation. And yet she chose to stay a Redsoul.

"Hmmm? That's part of the reason, I guess," she said.

"My husband also played a part in it. And of course, there's my daughter now. But mainly…" She paused, mulling over her words.

"I'm sure you've heard the rumors, about how no trueblood Liangshibai has ever left the sect. There have been other sapphire-eyes in the past—even amethyst-eyes, who could've made it to Violetrealm. Gems and stones, you don't need to look much farther than my nephew, Yongyi. He's a citrine-eyes; he could've made it to Yellowrealm. Yet he's staying behind. Just like all the Liangshibai before him."

"I'm aware," he said; and if he had been curious about Protector Wanxin's reasons before, now he was properly interested. The Liangshibai and all their peculiarities—their gemstone eyes, their obsession with crystals, that strange alignment all their own, Crystalsoul—had always intrigued him. That sentiment had only grown after he found out that the Violetrealm who'd created the Fatebloom Heart, Yikongwei Beidao, had apparently been studying them before he ended up converted into gleamstone.

"We call it the Pull," Protector Wanxin said.

"The Pull of the Valley. It's… Well, it's exactly what it sounds like. We're drawn to gleamstone. To the Valley. To the Depths. We feel it in our blood. It doesn't matter how far we go; we know where it is. Always. It's always there, calling to us, pulling us.

"And we can't stay away from it too long. That's why we have that gleamstone room in the palace. We grow restless, antsy, away from it. Even the little ones feel it. They have it worse, actually, because they can't resist it at all. It's common practice to keep our babes locked up at night, to stop them from crawling towards it." Her gaze drifted past Jieyuan's shoulder, slow and unfocused, like something had tugged at her from the corner of her eye. He didn't need a map to know where she was looking.

"The higher your heavenly affinity, the worse it gets," she went on.

"Ruby-eyes already have a hard time staying away. Can't spend even a week outside the sect without getting twitchy. Me? A sapphire-eyes? When I'm in the palace, I have to spend all my nights in the gleamstone room just to stay sane. And even then I can feel it, calling, stronger each day." Her voice had gone quiet.

"You should've seen me as a girl. I'd space out for hours, just… staring. Staring towards the Valley. More than once, I made it over halfway to the Gleamstone Twins, walking all the way there in a daze, before someone noticed I was gone and went searching for me." Jieyuan watched her warily. She seemed like she was going into one of those dazes right now, in fact. But before he had to intervene, her gaze suddenly cleared, and she focused back on him. There was a tense moment of silence.

Then she let out a soft, breathy laugh.

"So, yes, you could say I've got more reasons than most for staying behind." Jieyuan laughed in response; but he had to force it. Force the laugh, and force down the chill that had come over him. Because just now, the way she'd looked, staring off in the direction of the Gleamstone Valley… It wasn't all that different from how Yunzhu looked at Daojue. —∞— Night was falling by the time they left the Radiant Gold Palace. Elder Yiming and some of the other elders—all of them Liangshibai—were leading the way back.

The remaining elders had remained behind to take part in the first round of post-tournament negotiations and arrange tomorrow's tie-breaker match-ups. Jieyuan and the other disciples walked in the middle, the elders around them. The standard formation for when they were outside the palace. Meiyao and Yongyi were at his sides. Daojue was a little further ahead and resolutely ignoring Yunzhu, who, in the absence of her mother, was back to doing her best impression of Daojue's shadow.

Jieyuan hadn't had the chance to confirm yet if Elder Yiming had approached Envoy Guodan yet. The envoy didn't really strike him as the subtlest of people, so the fact she hadn't gone on a rampage against the Xiyunfeng Clan would imply she didn't know yet. Granted, he didn't have the best impression of the woman. It could be that she'd already been alerted, and she was making her own preparations. He hoped that was the case. There wasn't much time left until the end of the Summit.

Jieyuan had just sighted the Gleaming Stone Palace up ahead, its silhouette against the skyline, when the world went white. A blinding flash tore through everything, and a split-second later came the sound: a deafening, bone-shaking, ear-rattling rumble, consuming all sounds. He staggered back, disoriented. His balance gone, ears screaming, vision washed out. A hand clamped onto his shoulder, steadying him. Meiyao. Her lips were moving, fast, but he couldn't hear a thing. Everything was too bright.

The shadows were wrong. He looked around wildly, then whirled on his feet. And he saw it. Blue fire. Licking at the sky. A wall of it. An ocean of flame had risen where buildings had been moments ago. Rolling, rising, swallowing half the horizon. Around him, disciples reeled. Some clutched their heads. Some seemed to be speaking, but Jieyuan couldn't make out anything. Then a voice cut through the ringing, cracking like thunder.

"TO THE PALACE!" Elder Yiming. That got everyone moving. Say what you will about cultivators, but they knew discipline. As he ran, Jieyuan slid the Shifting Sisters free of their sheaths, bringing them up in front of him. The explosion had rattled him hard, knocked him off balance. But he wasn't one to stay down for long. The ringing in his ears had already faded. In its place came distant screams: thin, ragged sounds carried on the wind. Mundanes, most likely, as their city burned around them.

The Gleaming Stone Palace was just up ahead, less than a minute's sprint. But as the group surged forward, the front line staggered. Came to a dead halt. Jieyuan saw why. By the entrance, in front of the open palace gates, were bodies. Several dozen of them, piled up haphazardly on the floor. All of them in Gleaming Stone Sect colors. Where there wasn't a body on the floor, there was blood.

Sprays and splashes and pools of it, gleaming in the light of the nearby brightgold posts and the blueish glow of the flames consuming the city. Behind and around the piles stood about twenty men and women: half in Gleaming Stone Sect robes, the rest in the black of the Xiyunfeng Clan. All of them were armed. But it was the man standing at the front that really caught Jieyuan's attention. Caught and held it. The man was tall, draped in an inner disciple's topaz robes. Neat, tidy, crisp.

In his right hand was a plain, slender sword, which he let hang loose at his side. The blade was almost entirely red from the hilt down. Blood dripped from it in a slow trickle. On his face was a thick white blindfold, wrapped around the eyes. While everyone stood frozen, Elder Yiming stepped forward.

"You— Qingshi?" Dajinzhi Qingshi. The man who'd tried to kill them in the Gleamstone Valley. The man Yunzhu had obsessed over before Daojue. The man who should have been sentenced to death by his master, Elder Taishou.

"Why, hello there," Qingshi said. His voice had a breathless, giddy lilt, like he couldn't quite hold it all in.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Father?" He smiled.

"Thought it might be time for a little family reunion." And then he reached up and ripped off the blindfold.