Yuan Sansi walked over slowly.
"Are you surprised?"
Cui Buqu replied in all honesty, "Seeing you a moment ago, I truly felt surprised. Thinking about it now though, it seemed to be within expectations."
It seemed like Yuan Sansi felt a little stunned, "What do you mean?"
Cui Buqu, "Because your appearance had been too convenient. Around the time I returned to Boling, you were transferred to the post of the Prefecture's Magistrate of Boling. When I returned to the Cui family, naturally, I needed to handle old matters regarding the Cui clan. With your identities as the new Prefecture's Magistrate and the senior apprentice-brother of Maiden Yu, it definitely could prompt me to lower my guard and believe everything I've previously investigated. Your background was not hard to uncover and you knew that the Zuoyue Bureau would definitely be able to uncover it and inquire about the location of the treasure stove through you. However, if you delivered yourself to our doors, all of this wouldn't be so abrupt, and I wouldn't have become so suspicious easily."
Yuan Sansi, "I heard that Commander Cui had always carried a heart as cold as steel, but when faced before your late mother's old friend, you were still soft-hearted in the end."
Cui Buqu said plainly, "There is no need to be humble. It was not I who was soft-hearted, but it was you who were too brilliant."
As Yuan Sansi watched him returning the favour, he couldn't help but laugh, "Commander Cui, you really are an extraordinary person!"
To watch your own life in the grasp of the enemy's hand; Cui Buqu carried no martial arts on himself, being on foreign territories, he had nothing to defend himself. It was as if sentiment for Cui Buqu still existed within him, for Yuan Sansi didn't move a muscle, his manner of speech still decent.
But behind Cui Buqu, within the deep and dark abyss of the array, Feng Xiao and those two Zuoyue guards have yet to show themselves.
Cui Buqu asked, "That is to say, your background had been a lie?"
Yuan Sansi shook his head, "It was real. I really am the apprentice-brother of your mother and I truly had been a recipient of kindness from the Yu family, raised by your grandfather in the Yu manor for a few years and brought up with the utmost care. On that day when I left the Yu family, it was because I was troubled by my past, a thunderstorm of mixed feelings within my heart. I wished to seek a way of escaping, not willing to tread the path your grandfather had made for me—to farm and take in a wife—and to spend the rest of my life like that. Although I feel a sense of guilt for Maiden Yu, I still had to leave."
Recalling the past, he sighed with regret, "I travelled across the four seas and encountered unexpected adventures, thus walking down an unorthodox path. If I had remained in the Yu family, I fear that all of my life would have been just that, one without accomplishments; the day for me to see the daylight would have never been."
Cui Buqu said coldly, "Is the Yunhai Thirteen Stories a place for you to spread your wings then?"
Yuan Sansi smiled, "My gracious nephew, you are wrong. The Yunhai Thirteen Stories did not exist in that year, and there is nothing bad about the Yunhai Thirteen Stories. He could give you everything you ever wanted."
Cui Buqu, "If I want you to die, would you go kill yourself?"
Yuan Sansi waved his hand, "You are a talent that's hard to come by. You are not similar to the other mortal men, wasting all your efforts on the sparring of tongues. I know that presently you have a lot of questions, perhaps after you've gotten your answer, you will change your mind. It's not all yet set in stone."
Cui Buqu, "Then I will wait for your tongue to prove itself artfully persuasive."
Yuan Sansi laughed at the hint of mockery in his speech, standing in the brightness of the candlelight as he watched Cui Buqu's figure in the dark, like a child who didn't know better.
This child was unarmed; even with a mouth that was sharper than even the swiftest sword found under the sky, by the end of the day, it was still just a mouth.
Towards Yuan Sansi, before someone who was holding a butcher's knife, Cui Buqu was like an infant, even if he had a thousand schemes up his sleeve, it was impossible for them to be executed.
Moreover, Yuan Sansi prided himself on not being a boorish fellow.
If he had only been someone with a polished exterior, then he wouldn't have gained recognition from the Yu family back in that year. An intelligent and smart woman like Maiden Yu too wouldn't have permitted an arranged marriage between them.
It was a pity that Maiden Yu had not anticipated the ambitiousness of Yuan Sansi.
Yuan Sansi's dreams were never simply just this piece of land called Boling.
"Actually," Yuan Sansi said, "The capability of the Yunhai Thirteen stories transcends your imagination; but, let's leave this aside for now. Could you have predicted our once brief confrontation in the capital?"
Cui Buqu's expression froze. He looked at the vague contours of Yuan Sansi's silhouette.
The other raised an arm and did a flourish.
With Cui Buqu's memory, even if he couldn't tell a minute ago, once he saw this gesture he was able to recall everything.
"The Thousand Lantern Banquet from the Dragon Boat Festival. Princess Leping's Qingli Garden. Those firearms that were secretly hidden. An attempt to assassinate in the name of treason." Word by word he uttered.
Yuan Sansi snickered, "That's right. That night, the one who hid below the horse carriage, the one who crossed hands with Feng Xiao, was me. Didn't you notice that during that time, I was intentionally merciful towards you? Otherwise, with my level of martial arts, how could I have slipped?"
Putting it this way, after Yuan Sansi left the Yu family, he really did encounter something that normal people would not have dreamed of.
Because the fight that night had proven that this man's martial arts were not inferior to Feng Xiao and he was more skilled than Fo Er.
With this realization, everything came together.
Although Yuan Sansi knew martial arts, on the surface he was properly obeying the laws, step by step he walked down the path to serve as an official of the Imperial Palace. The surname Yuan was a famed surname in the northern regions. After the destruction of the former Wei Dynasty, there were no few numbers of people like him who took up posts in court. Yuan Sansi was only one of them—in these few hundred years, the changing of dynasties occurred frequently. The Emperor wouldn't forsake the use of any clans just because their ancestors had once sat upon the throne.
According to the law, when a new official succeeded, the Emperor would summon him to the capital for a debriefing. Before he was promoted as the Prefecture Magistrate of Boling, he did have such a chance. On the surface, he travelled to the capital for official matters, but in reality, he was contacting the rebelling faction. With his identity, it was not difficult for him to obtain an invitation to Qingli Garden, therefore no one would have noticed that on the way to the banquet, one of the guests had mysteriously left the venue and hid under the horse carriage.
A proud hero who stood at the peak of the Jianghu world, carrying such an important identity on himself and peerless martial arts, indeed, he wouldn't have set his eyes only on a very ordinary Yu family.
That night, Yuan Sansi's display of mercy was also for him to put on airs and flaunt his weight.
To expose himself at this moment wasn't just to tell Cui Buqu that he had every capability to kill him, but it was also to hint at him that the Yunhai Thirteen Stories possessed overwhelming powers.
As a rebelling faction that was originally eliminated by the Zuoyue Bureau, they could still come and leave Qingli Garden as they pleased and assassinate the people inside of it. Naturally, they could have done even more.
Cui Buqu said slowly, "The complete annihilation of the Wei Dynasty took place a long time ago. The present Emperor was not the same man who destroyed the Wei Dynasty. What use is there for you to take vengeance on him?"
"It is not for revenge." Yuan Sansi shook his head, "Graceful nephew, you look too lowly upon me. The world itself is a board of chess for the Yunhai Thirteen Stories and everyone is a chess piece themselves. If you join us, naturally, you will know more."
The corner of Cui Buqu's lips curled upwards, "Is this not just treason? Why are you speaking so loftily about it? Your skill in persuasion would be able to persuade nobody at all. From the way I see it, your leader's mouth should be more skilled than you are. If he stepped out, perhaps I will consider it."
Yuan Sansi laughed, "Why would the great sire step out himself? There is an honoured guest that you have not met for a long time. He has been missing you. I could invite him to take a step out and allow you both to reminisce the past. Please."
He gestured towards the light in the inner room, gesturing for Cui Buqu to walk over there.
Cui Buqu, "I have three friends who are still in the array. If I were to promise you benefits, shouldn't you at least let them out first?"
Yuan Sansi, "There is no need to be in a hurry. They are all safe and sound. In a while, you will see it for yourself."
Judging by his manner of speech, it seemed like even Feng Xiao was taken under control.
Cui Buqu raised his eyebrows.
It was the first time he found himself in a situation where it seemed difficult to control.
He even had a premonition that in the small room ahead, perhaps he would be seeing someone he did not wish to see.
Cui Buqu rose to his feet and threw away the bamboo stick.
He walked agitatedly.
Since there was already a faint source of light, there was no need to rely on a bamboo stick.
Step by step.
Very quickly he came before Yuan Sansi and saw for himself the scenery in the small room.
It was bright and clean. Luminous pearls within inlaid walls glowed faintly, unlike the candlelight he had imagined just now.
A man was sitting down crossed-legged on a cattail mat, his back facing him.
That figure was more familiar than anything else he knew.
It was so familiar that Cui Buqu could not retain the expression on his face. Even his eyes betrayed a hint of shock.
Yuan Sansi smiled slightly as if he had expected this reaction.
The other turned his head around at the opportune moment.
His hair was white like snow and the clothes he wore were washed till their colours paled. His face retained the handsome look he once had many years ago.
His smile was so intimately familiar, he even waved at Cui Buqu.
"Why are you torturing yourself to such a state? The colour on your face has drained." His voice carried concern and at the same time reprimand, like the elder within a family speaking to his long far-off disciple.
However, Cui Buqu could also feel blood surge all over his body. At that moment, he felt cold.
He stood motionless in silence.
The other did not urge him on, in fact, he was very patiently awaiting his reaction.
After a while, Cui Buqu found a mat in front of the other and sat down, going straight to the point, "I cannot believe it would be you, teacher."
Fan Yun smiled warmly, "If you could anticipate this from the beginning, how could I be worthy enough for you to call me your teacher?"
Cui Buqu, "I remember you telling me once, you were unrestrained by birth, a man of recluse with no definite abode. Even when the Liuli Palace recruited you, you were only willing to be a guest tutor. To come and leave as you please."
Fan Yun, "That is right. I have said that before."
Cui Buqu, "You even said before, that you were the descendant of the famed minister, Fan Ju. Your life-long wish was to abide by the code of the Fan clan, to seek out a monarch of wisdom as a gift to the Heavens and watch the world flourish in peace."
Fan Yun smiled, "That is right. I have said those things before, and they are indeed what I am doing right now."
Cui Buqu gave an abrupt cold laugh, "I cannot see how a hidden place like this and the Yunhai Thirteen Stories who resemble a swarm of flies that spend their time around dog shit would be more promising than Yang Jian!"
"After so many years that we haven't met, your attitude remained as penetrating as ever. However, a sword is a double-edged blade. When it's too sharp, sometimes it hurts others, but it will also hurt you as well." Fan Yun shook his head.
After his prior state of shock, Cui Buqu's expression very quickly pacified. Even though this was Fan Yun, he could not see through his mind at the moment.
"No wonder ever since I delivered myself into this place hiding the treasure stove, I couldn't stop feeling that everything here is familiar. The Twin Jade Compass Array was an array made by your own hands. That year you even told me that only a handful of people knew how to set up an array like this beneath the sky, and even fewer know how to free themselves from it safely. So, was all of this a scheme?"
Fan Yun, "No. The treasure stove is real. Originally, this place is indeed the backdoor made by the Wei Emperor for his descendants. Only that, everything here was moved out by us earlier."
Cui Buqu gave Yuan Sansi a glare, followed by a mocking laugh, "In order to commit treason, he donated his entire legacy, going so far to become a dog for the enemy undercover. Being an official for many years, Uncle Yuan, you really are made for big things."
Yuan Sansi's skin was thick on the same level, so he replied mannerly, "I thank my graceful nephew for the compliment."
Those who didn't know better would think that these three people were discussing poetry, finding great enjoyment in themselves.
Author's Notes:
Are you surprised? The mystery will soon be revealed.