Chương 83: Chapter 82: SETTLING SCORES

Qingshi, at the door. Blindfolded and white-robed. Arms by his side, posture casual. What little of his face was bared under his blindfold was neutral. Yongyi, who had grabbed onto Meiyao to hold her back. There was no way he hadn't noticed Qingshi, but all of his attention was on Meiyao. The Viridian Death cultists, who like Yongyi weren't looking at the Orangerealm at the door but rather at Meiyao in alarm.

Meiyao, whose bright green eyes had gone wide—Jieyuan couldn't tell if it was in rage, surprise, or both—and who was already reaching for her saber, white strands appearing in her black-dyed hair, white-furred and green-tipped animal ears sprouting out the top of her head. Xiaohu, coiled around Meiyao's shoulder, mirroring her master's rage, hissing menacingly at Qingshi. Daojue, who hadn't wasted a moment before snapping into a ready stance, no expression on his face but ready for a fight. Jieyuan took it all in.

And he understood just why Yongyi had been so unwilling to disclose who his helper was. And even though that particular revelation left him reeling, he didn't hesitate before making a move. Before Meiyao could break Yongyi's hold, Jieyuan threw one arm out to the side, blocking her path with Ruby.

"Meiyao, Daojue, don't." He'd have gone as far as using a command, but against Daojue, Jieyuan suspected it'd be a waste of chroma if his friend put up any resistance, and with Meiyao resonating with Xiaohu, it wouldn't have worked on her.

"Jieyuan," Meiyao said quietly, not taking her eyes off Qingshi, "what do you think you're doing?" Her transformation, coupled with the situation, rendered her voice low and threatening. Yongyi still had a grip on her shoulder, but Jieyuan knew that she could break it in an instant in her current state. The same went for Ruby; it'd pose no real obstacle to her. But it let her know he didn't want her to take action, and it was that knowledge that held her in place. She'd at least hear him out.

If Meiyao didn't like his explanation, though, she'd attack Qingshi. Jieyuan was under no illusions about that. They might be lovers now, and she might respect his decisions, but Meiyao just wasn't the type to follow orders she didn't agree with, regardless of where they came from. Regardless, even, that attacking Qingshi would be suicidal; Jieyuan wasn't sure if Meiyao hadn't realized that yet or if she just didn't care.

He considered telling as much through their mind-link, but there was a chance that'd just have the opposite effect and tip her over the edge.

"Qingshi over there," Jieyuan said, "is the helper your brother has been talking about." Even as he talked, Jieyuan split his mind and set the Twin to reviewing every single word Yongyi had said about his mysterious helper, who'd turned out to be none other than Qingshi. He needed to get a better grip on the situation, and fast. That did get a reaction out of her. Her head whipped over to him, her eyes still wide, but now clearly in shock.

"What?" Her gaze stayed on Jieyuan for just a moment before she directed her penetrating stare at Yongyi. Her eyes dipped down to her brother's hand, still on her shoulder, and then to the alarmed expression Yongyi wore. Alarmed and chagrined. Her eyes widened further.

"No," Meiyao said.

"He… Qingshi's… Yongyi, you— It can't—" Yongyi pressed his lips together.

"Let's just calm down, and I'll—" Jieyuan winced. It really had been a while since Yongyi had last dealt with his sister, if he thought telling Meiyao to calm down would do any good. Sure enough, Meiyao didn't let him finish. With a violent shrug, she shook Yongyi's hand off her—with far more force than was necessary—and took a few jerky steps away. She settled into a stance like a predator cornered, defensive but feral, shoulders hunched and saber held close.

She looked back and forth between her brother and Qingshi as if they were both threats.

"You can't be rotting serious," Meiyao said. She sputtered a few broken words before shutting her mouth, frustration creeping into her expression, like she couldn't put her thoughts to words. Like words weren't enough. Her transformation wasn't making things better, Jieyuan knew. A voice came from the doorway: "It's good to see you as well, Meiyao. I'd say you haven't changed, but that'd be a lie. The animal ears and claws are… curious. And is that an Orangerealm beast on your shoulders? It looks precious."

Qingshi. The Orangesoul had crossed his arms over his chest. There was a dry smile on his face. Meiyao's expression darkened. Xiaohu growled louder. Jieyuan quickly weighed whether to match Qingshi's tone. The Twin finished reviewing their talk with Yongyi earlier, and had already drawn a few connections with some of the other things they'd found earlier that day, in the Mysterious Night House. With all of that in mind, Jieyuan cut in just as Meiyao was about to snap something at Qingshi (or worse).

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Jieyuan said.

"Her hair's dyed black, too." Meiyao leveled Jieyuan with an incredulous look, like she couldn't believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. Qingshi, likewise, turned to Jieyuan, but rather than glare at him, the older man shot him a thankful little smile.

"It is? Why, that overshadows the claws and ears; Meiyao, dyeing her hair? Yunzhu was always quite adamant about how protective Meiyao is of her hair. And I'm heartened to see you're faring well, Jieyuan. How did the Viridian Dome treat you?" So soon into their reunion, and Jieyuan was already reminded that for all their grievances with the man, Qingshi really was someone easy to get along with.

"Well enough," Jieyuan said, keeping his attention split between Meiyao and Qingshi. He shrugged.

"Could've been better, granted. What about you? How's life as the new lord of all he surveys treating you?"

"Honestly, it could've been better, too," Qingshi said, "but we'll get to that shortly. Now, you—Daojue, old friend, don't think I didn't notice you. I won't lie and say I've missed you, but I am glad to see you, believe it or not. And that is Gleaming End you're holding, yes? Very good." Qingshi gestured toward the table.

"How about we all take a seat? There's quite a lot you three have missed; I believe cousin Yongyi here might have already explained some things, but I asked him to leave the more important points to me."

"Sure," Jieyuan agreed, quickly.

"Let's—""No." Meiyao's voice was a saber; it slashed through the illusion of cordiality Jieyuan and Qingshi had been making a concerted effort to maintain. She was back to glaring at Qingshi.

"No. What is even this? You— You killed Uncle Yiming. You rotting hanged him, ripped off his eyes, you—" She turned abruptly, looking wildly around the room, at everyone there." What the rot is this? Did you all just rotting forget that Qingshi is the rotting enemy? He overthrew the Liangshibai Clan. He led the rotting Gleaming Nobles. Yongyi, he killed our rotting uncle. Uncle Yiming. Tortured him. And now you're what, working with him? With Qingshi? With rotting Qingshi?"

Yongyi's fine lines warped darkly, grief and sorrow and guilt warring on his face.

"Meiyao, you don't understand—""Oh, I understand well enough," Meiyao snapped.

"I understand you're a rotting traitor, brother. And Jieyuan, I don't know what the rot you think you're doing, but you'd better drop this act and help me kill the rotter over there"—she jabbed her saber at Qingshi like you'd point your finger at someone—"or I rotting swear Jieyuan, you'll—""This rotter," Qingshi said, "would like to say a few words first, yes?" His voice was quiet, but it cut through Meiyao's deadly tone.

"You're right. I did overthrow the Liangshibai. I did lead the revolution. But do you know what else I also did? I saved the Liangshibai." Meiyao made to snap back at him, but he put up a hand and spoke up before she could get a word in.

"If the Gleaming Nobles and Xiyunfeng Clan had their way, the Liangshibai Clan wouldn't have just been put to the sword; they'd have been dissected and studied, in an attempt to figure out their unique connection to the Gleamstone Valley," Qingshi said.

"I ensured that didn't happen. Instead, Liangshibai casualties were kept to a minimum during the revolution, and all the surviving ones were merely put on house arrest." Qingshi sighed, and with the little of his face that was exposed, he somehow managed to convey a great deal of weariness.

"I admit that, at one point, I did intend to exterminate the Liangshibai Clan. I joined the sect with that goal in mind. But I started having doubts after I met dear Yunzhu. And after I got into contact with the Gleaming Nobles and discovered the revolution, I understood something—that they were far worse than the Liangshibai could ever be." Qingshi's words so far hadn't had much of an effect on Meiyao, but this last bit seemed to stump her, for once.

"My reasons for taking down the Liangshibai Clan were personal. Revenge over my grievances with my father, your dear Uncle Yiming, and the mistakes he made. But I also meant to take over the district, to also overthrow the Radiant Gold Sect. And that's because I believed the institution—the system— was also at fault for what I suffered. What many mundanes suffer. And that is a total and utter lack of law." Qingshi nodded to Jieyuan.

"You'd know that better than anyone, Jieyuan. Cultivators don't care about mundanes. As long as there aren't any major problems, people dying in droves or the collapse of society, they're happy to let us be, yes? To let us police ourselves, yes? Except we don't—we turn that freedom against each other. And while some thrive, others suffer. Granted, you and your family were exploiters, but you at least understand, yes?" Jieyuan frowned, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable, and also more than a little mystified.

He'd been planning to give Qingshi a shot at pacifying Meiyao; he hadn't expected to be brought into it.

"Well, yes. There's a lot we get away with. As you said, cultivators couldn't really care less as long as we don't step on their toes. But that freedom, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It could be worse."

"Exactly. It could be worse. That was my realization when I got to know the Gleaming Nobles and the Xiyunfeng Clan better. The Wujinyao of the Radiant Gold Sect were absent, that is true, but they could've been abusive. Could've made servants out of us. Same for the Liangshibai, who wielded nearly as much influence in the district. The Liangshibai and the Wujinyao weren't good rulers, but they could've been much worse." Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Qingshi sighed.

"Honestly, if anything, the Liangshibai were extraordinarily benevolent towards mundanes by cultivators' standards. Once I understood that, I realized that I couldn't possibly allow the Xiyunfeng and the Gleaming Nobles to take over. I also realized that I'd be wrong to extend my revenge to the Liangshibai as a whole. The clan wasn't at fault for what happened to me; the blame lay solely on my father."

"That's right. Your father, Uncle Yiming," Meiyao said, latching onto that, clearly finding familiar ground again.

"You can spout whatever rot you want about freedom and benevolence or whatever the rot, but nothing's changing the way you tortured and killed Liangshibai Yiming."

"That is true," Qingshi acknowledged calmly. He leaned his side against the doorway, perfectly at ease.

"I did do those things. And I will not apologize for them. Dear Father abandoned my mother, and that drove her insane. I was left to suffer the consequences."

"Rot off," Meiyao snapped.

"We got the story from the Mysterious Night House. And I know Uncle Yiming, anyway. He didn't abandon you. You can't abandon someone you don't know exists. That day, when you attacked in front of the palace, he was as surprised as everyone else when you called him your father. I don't care what your insane mother did to you. None of it was Uncle Yiming's fault. None."

"Oh, but it was," Qingshi said, still talking like this wasn't some deeply personal matter, but now Jieyuan was noticing there was a fragile, artificial quality to his calm.

"It's his fault because he didn't care. My mother was just one in a thousand paramours, yes? My father was notorious for his womanizing. And, before you start, I am aware he was called back to the sect before I was born. He did not know about me, that is true." Qingshi nodded, almost to himself; there was an odd, jerky stillness to his movements now. His mask was cracking.

"But if he'd bothered to check in on my mother once—just the once—after he returned to the palace, none of this would have happened. I asked him about her, later, after I had joined the sect. Subtly. He didn't recognize the name. One in a thousand." Qingshi paused, then. Pursed his lips. Jieyuan could tell he was mulling something.

"But I see I've been too abstract about just what kind of life my father's unconcern subjected me to. You mentioned the Mysterious Night House. You asked them about me, yes? Were they perhaps aware of just what kind of treatment I suffered at my mother's hands? Or did they suspect it? No doubt they've cut deep into my past, given my sudden rise to prominence." Meiyao glared at Qingshi, then said harshly, "What, that she was the one who took your eyes? You think some sob story will change anything?" Another pause.

A shudder ran through Qingshi, and this time he took a longer, more deliberate breath.

"So they did find that out. Do they know how it happened?" Meiyao growled. But there was less heat in it now. Jieyuan could tell that Qingshi had managed to get through to her, at least a little, with all this information he'd dumped on them. Meiyao didn't forgive Qingshi, not by a long shot—she never would—but her temper had cooled a bit. That didn't mean she meant to play nice, though.

"Qingshi," she bit out, "I don't care—""My mother was obsessed with my father's eyes. The Liangshibai eyes. Eyes I was born with, albeit the wrong color. My mother never let anyone see me until I had learned to turn them mundane. She knew the Liangshibai could do it, and she had me try it again and again. I figured it out when I was six, after which she finally started taking me outside. Inside, however, I'd always wear the Liangshibai eyes for her. My amethyst eyes, she called me." Amethyst?

Jieyuan caught it immediately, growing still. A Liangshibai's talent and heavenly affinity were reflected in the color of their eyes. Amethyst was the highest color ever recorded. It meant a heavenly affinity of at least sixth-order. It looked like the Mysterious Night House had been spot-on with their suspicions.

"But just seeing those eyes and keeping them to herself wasn't enough," Qingshi continued.

"One day, well… She was mad even before my father abandoned her, but I understand she could hide it better. Being abandoned threw her over the edge; in public, she still managed to put up a good enough facade. At home, however, she'd sometimes have these… bouts, where her madness really took over." Qingshi paused again. Took a deep breath, the deepest one so far. He pushed off the wall, stood firmly and fully in the doorway.

"I was ten years old. Mother and I were having dinner. Suddenly, she vaulted over the table and held me down. She was strong, and I had learned not to resist. She'd done this before. Normally, she'd just molest me and call me my father's name, and I had long since learned it was better to just bear with it. But then she plucked my right eye out. Just gouged it out. I watched her eat it with my left one." Eat it? Jieyuan's stomach lurched. Rotting Heavens.

"She took the other one right after. By then, I was scratching at her, fighting back with everything I had, but she was stronger. Everything went dark. This time, fully blind, I only heard it as she swallowed it. Then she crooned, happily, how it was finally hers, her gleamstone eyes. How nobody could take them away from her now." Qingshi put his fingers into his blindfold, then pulled it down his face, revealing the ruinous stretch of scars that took up the upper half of his face.

"She rolled away, left me bleeding on the floor. But I believe she retained a shred of sanity, because she came back after a while and pressed a white-hot iron poker to my face to stem the bleeding." He rolled his blindfold back up.

"I killed my mother three years later by pushing her off the stairs. I wish I had gone further, but I was still too naive back then, thinking I wouldn't have gotten away with more. What I couldn't do to her, I did to my father last year. It was good enough for me. I repeat: I will not apologize for what I did to my father, nor do I expect you to forgive me. Frankly, I enjoyed it." He took a step forward. Meiyao tensed, but didn't otherwise react.

"Now, if you still insist on fighting me over that, be my guest. I will murder you where you stand. I know you've got unusual powers. I understand you've killed a third-step Orangesoul in the city earlier today. This will not be the same. I am at tenth-step Orangerealm, and I've dispatched several others at my step with little effort. So you could fight me and die, or you could swallow your temper and help me save our family." He kept walking.

He paused, briefly, right in front of Meiyao, who had yet to move so much as a muscle even as her body vibrated with tension. Standing less than an inch from her, disregarding her, Qingshi sent Jieyuan and Daojue brief nods before stepping around Meiyao and taking a seat at the table. Yongyi bit his lips, looking troubled; Jieyuan shot him a look before he could speak up, though, warning him off. Yongyi hesitated, then sighed and sat down next to Qingshi. Ignoring everyone else now, Jieyuan walked over to Meiyao.

She was still staring fixedly at the doorway, at where Qingshi had been before. Jieyuan stepped in front of her. Meiyao twitched, her eyes finding his eyes. He sighed and reached forward, taking her into his arms. Meiyao resisted for just an instant as he tried to pull her in. But then she pressed herself against him hard, wrapping her arms crushingly tight around his chest. She burrowed her head into the nook of his neck.

"I don't care," she murmured, quietly, her voice muffled, her breath warm against his skin.

"I want to kill him. He killed Uncle Yiming. I don't rotting care about his reasons. He deserves to die."

"I know," Jieyuan whispered.

"But you can't kill him, not right now. And it looks like, for the moment, he wants the same thing as us. To save the Liangshibai. To save your family. We need to at least hear him out." Jieyuan wasn't so sure about Qingshi's intentions. About his game. It was well established that Qingshi was not just a consummate actor, but also someone who planned things long in advance.

He'd become a blacksmith after killing his mother, pursuing Metal for years, just so he could fake his heavenly affinity in the Gleaming Stone Sect's entrance exams. That was not something a normal person could pull off. Jieyuan also suspected Qingshi wasn't nearly as stable as he pretended to be; it was clear the scars his mother had left on him weren't just physical.

"He killed Uncle Yiming," Meiyao repeated, her voice so faint now he could only just barely hear it. Jieyuan would've hugged her tighter if it were possible.

"I know." Meiyao took a long, shuddering breath. Then she broke their embrace, stepping away. She was still communing with Xiaohu, her eyes unnaturally bright. She held his gaze for a moment, then grabbed onto his arm. Jieyuan got the message; she wouldn't sit at the table with Qingshi out of her own initiative, but if he took her along, she would allow it. Jieyuan walked over to the table. To their side, Daojue finally moved too, following suit. He wondered what Daojue thought about all of this.

The whole business with Qingshi had started as Daojue's problem. But Daojue had stayed quiet throughout, and now was simply taking their lead on how to proceed. The pair of Viridian Death cultists, who had been staring warily but also in wonder at Meiyao all this time, also returned to the table. They all sat down. Except Meiyao, who stayed standing by Jieyuan's side, pointedly not looking at the table or anyone in it.

"I'll keep this short, as I'd rather not stay out of the sect for long," Qingshi said.

"The Liangshibai are disappearing, and I'm working with Yongyi and the Viridian Death Cult to stop it. You are aware of that, yes? Now. I don't know how they're being taken, but I do know who's behind it. Luoyefen Taishou, my former master. If that's even his real name." Meiyao shook. Her gaze snapped down to Qingshi. But she still didn't say anything.

"It was Yunzhu who revealed it all to me. She disappeared during the revolution, yes? After she saved Yongyi. But I spent those first few days searching for her. I didn't find her, but she found me. She wanted me to run away. And she told me why I should do so. Her father is, in fact, a Yellowsoul. A tenth-step Yellowsoul." Silence. Jieyuan's heart went still in his chest. He couldn't have heard that right.

But Qingshi was a tenth-step Orangesoul himself, and only a Yellowsoul could explain the tight set of his jaw. Yongyi and the Viridian Death cultists looked similarly grim. Shock slipped through Daojue's stony facade; never mind Meiyao, whose breath hitched and suddenly gripped onto his shoulder.

"Yellowsoul?" Jieyuan croaked." Tenth-step Yellowsoul?" They wouldn't stand a chance against a tenth-step Orangesoul like Qingshi, and the man after Meiyao's family was supposedly a full realm higher than that? Jieyuan recalled how he'd been in the same room as Elder Taishou before. After the Gleamstone Hunt, after the man had supposedly saved them from Qingshi. Except Qingshi had turned out to be a tenth-step Orangesoul, and now, Elder Taishou a tenth-step Yellowsoul.

"Indeed," Qingshi said.

"He's got a chromal bloodline just like the Liangshibai do—and he's obsessed with ours. He's been researching it. The Liangshibai disappearances started decades ago, but they were far more sporadic. He's always been behind them. It's why he joined the Justice Hall, so he could take over the investigation. But his research's apparently reaching an end, and with all the upheaval of the revolution, he's decided to stop pretending and speed things along."

Jieyuan forced himself to think it through, to set the shock aside. There were a lot of points to mention there—especially this whole chromal bloodline thing—but there was one thing he needed to know first: "But if he's a Yellowsoul, then why did he even bother pretending? Why not just take—""I asked Yunzhu the same thing. The Incandescent Serenity Sect. They don't concern themselves with Orangerealm and Redrealm matters, but they'll take action if there's a rogue Yellowsoul in their territory." A Yellowsoul.

Chromal bloodline. Bloodline research. Jieyuan recalled the names of the three Yellowrealm sects in the region, two of which he'd found out from the jade books left behind in the Viridian Dome. The Incandescent Serenity Sect, the Obscuring Shadows Sect, and… the Immaculate Blood Cult. He kept it to himself for now, though. He still wasn't sure about Qingshi's angle and didn't feel like just volunteering information.

"I've considered reaching out to the Incandescent Serenity Sect," Qingshi continued, "but if they send their forces over and it comes to a fight, this whole district may be destroyed. We might all very well die in the ensuing fight. And—Yunzhu's a Yellowsoul, as well. They might target her as well, and I can't let that happen."

"Yunzhu's what now?" Jieyuan asked, at the same time as Meiyao said something to that same effect, except with a lot more rot in it.

"Yellowsoul," Qingshi said.

"I don't know which step. But she is a Yellowsoul. She showed me proof. Materialized yellow chroma right in front of me." Jieyuan slumped in his seat. It was bad enough that Elder Taishou, whom they'd only met once, was a Yellowsoul. But Yunzhu—how many times had he been around the woman? How many times had the woman disturbed him with her staring alone? And she was a Yellowsoul? Not just that, Yunzhu wasn't that much older than them.

How high was her real heavenly affinity that she managed to reach Yellowrealm so fast?

"What's her deal?" Jieyuan asked.

"Is she helping her father?"

"No," Qingshi said.

"But she won't stand against him, either. She cares for the Liangshibai. But she cares for her father more. She's… torn." Jieyuan stared at Qingshi. Hard. Not because of his words but because of his tone and the way his lips pursed in worry and anguish. Like he was distraught over Yunzhu. Concerned for her. Yunzhu, the Yellowsoul. At least one thing about all of this was clear, then: Qingshi's feelings for Yunzhu—or perhaps his obsession with her, Jieyuan was starting to suspect—weren't faked.

Heavens, what an utter and unmitigated disaster.

"All right," Jieyuan said.

"What you're saying, then, is that we're up against a tenth-step Yellowsoul. Do you have a plan?"

"Yes. I am no match for a tenth-step Yellowsoul, but I do have in my possession something that can kill one. I just need to get Taishou out into the open to use it. I originally put the Liangshibai on house arrest so I could keep them safe while I dealt with the Gleaming Nobles and the Xiyunfeng, but then my clansmen started disappearing, so I kept them contained to figure out how it was happening. I haven't. Taishou's good."

"Bait," Jieyuan said.

"That's what you need us for." Now he understood Qingshi's hints when he'd greeted Daojue. How Qingshi was glad to see Daojue and how he'd explain it later. Yunzhu was obsessed with Daojue. Yunzhu's father was apparently after bloodlines and had acted rather suspiciously around Daojue, himself.

"Yes. Meiyao and Daojue, specifically," Qingshi said; the two who were just named jolted slightly, Meiyao more so than Daojue.

"Especially Daojue. Meiyao has the Linzushen Bloodline, and I have little doubt Taishou's interested in it. But Daojue's the real prize. Taishou's especially interested in it, if the way he and Yunzhu behaved around Daojue is any indication. He's also interested in Gleaming End, I believe." Qingshi leaned forward over the table.

"Meiyao, Daojue—I know we've had our disagreements. We still do, in fact. And I could simply force you to go along with my plans. But I'd much rather have your cooperation." Qingshi slowly turned his blindfolded face, as if he was looking between them.

"Do I have it?"