The Jade of Heaven's Lake in his hands did not need to lend the light of stars and moon as it radiated a faint glow; switching between dark blue and light green inconsistently like moving spring water.
There was confusion on Cui Buqu's face as if he was wondering why the Jade of Heaven's Lake was suddenly in his hands.
He held the jade in his hands, yet he didn't feel any sensation of chill or warmth.
Was this inside a dream?
His mind was in chaos, like he was submerged in deep ocean water, a thread that had entangled itself into a fast knot while struggling, unable to untie itself no matter what and could only slowly sink to the bottom.
He knew it was a dream, yet he couldn't wake up; muddling along aimlessly like there was something important he had forgotten to do.
In front of him, someone walked forward.
He walked from a distance till he was up close, gradually becoming visible to the eye.
It was Feng Xiao.
The other held a long sword in his hand, the intention to kill enshrouded his entire person as if he had just weathered through the most courageous of battles, killing a countless number of enemies.
The blood on the sword had not yet dried, trailing along its blade as it trickled down the ground, creating a crimson trail from where he came from.
Feng Xiao came before Cui Buqu, "Give me the jade."
Cui Buqu, "You really feigned your surrender?"
Feng Xiao nodded, "If not it, how could I penetrate deep into the enemy's den and gather all of them in a single draft?"
Cui Buqu, "Who is the Pavilion Lord of the Thirteen Pavilions of Yunhai?"
Feng Xiao, "I have not managed to gather that information, but I have killed Fan Yun and the rest. The mastermind will not be able to contain himself for long, he will show himself soon."
There was also blood on his face, his hair was unruly, a few strands falling loose. However, Feng Xiao paid no attention to it. The corner of his lips was cold, devoid of the usually cheerful and humourous casualness he carried.
"Give me the jade." Feng Xiao repeated, reaching a hand out towards the other.
Cui Buqu said coldly, "You stabbed me and caused me a grave injury, I need the jade to prolong my life. For what means should I give it to you?"
Even if this was a dream, they remained to stare daggers at each other, unwilling to take a step back.
Cui Buqu had no friends. He didn't need friends. There were endless mysteries in the Zuoyue Bureau waiting to be solved and it was enough to fill in all the free time he had. However, it was unknown since when it began, this name 'Feng Xiao' was indivisible from all the cases he solved. His frequent appearance by his side had even replaced Qiao Xian and Zhangsun. On the surface, both of them often battled with wits and courage, refusing to let any opportunity to pit the other pass, but in reality—
Cui Buqu suddenly recalled that time in Boling county; Yuan Sansi making use of his identity as Maiden Yu's shixiong to get close to him on purpose, step by step getting him on the hook, yet he didn't even have the slightest suspicions. Because during that time, another heavier factor had numbed his deductions.
When Feng Xiao eavesdropped on his conversation with Yuan Sansi on the tree and proudly declared he wanted the split of profits, he had, unbeknownst to him, given a hint: Everything Yuan Sansi said was the truth.
Delving deeper, since even Feng Xiao believed it, then the matter cannot be far from the truth.
Isn't this just another indirect form of thrust?
As things have progressed, him being in this dream, only now did he come to this sudden realization.
How laughable that he, Cui Buqu, who was a man of wisdom in his lifetime, would also have botched it.
Chilled winds swept into his face, its coldness coming from his memories, yet from the jade he still felt nothing, it was light as a floating cloud.
He already knew it was a dream, but no matter what, he was unable to shake himself awake. On the contrary, he was sinking into the edge of an abyss that felt surreal yet genuine.
This 'Feng Xiao' in his dream heard his mockery, and he laughed instead.
"If you want the jade, then it depends on whether you're capable of holding on to it."
As he finished speaking, his sword aimed for Cui Buqu, his speed quicker than lightning. Before Cui Buqu realized what was happening, the sword had already pierced his chest.
Searing pain surged through his body like the weight of the sky itself; Cui Buqu lowered his head, fresh blood rushing up to stain his robes red. The wave of pain he had just experienced came rolling back; Cui Buqu couldn't help bending his back, wanting to minimize the amount of such pain.
The blood-stained jade in his arms was taken away, 'Feng Xiao' gave a mocking laugh before he pushed him off the cliff!
The fall was endless, the abyss opened its mouth wide to swallow him in; above his head, the figure staring at him gradually became smaller and smaller.
His pain became more vivid, Cui Buqu wanted to yell, but in the end, there was only a groan.
A stone-cold bed appeared beneath him.
He gasped frantically, cold sweat plastered all over his forehead as he blinked open his eyes gently before closing them back.
The gentle light from those luminous pearls was blinding for someone who had just woken up.
Yet this sensation of being blinded gave him a feel of reality.
Cui Buqu didn't raise his hand to shield his eyes.
He felt someone was by his bedside.
"It's me." Feng Xiao's voice was gentle as if he'd hushed himself on purpose, but it was enough to hear clearly in this combat hall.
Is this another dream? Cui Buqu moved his lips in a seeming sigh.
He didn't know for how long he slept, watching a countless number of dreams replay before him and exhausting all his emotional strength.
His body and his heart were tired, there was nothing he could do.
"Your lungs and heart were not harmed. That time, I avoided fatal spots on purpose; a lot of blood flowed, but if it can be stopped in time, once the wound heals it's nothing serious."
Feng Xiao helped him up slowly and fed him water. However, it was obvious that the Second Commander Feng seldom did, or perhaps he had never done, chores such as attending to someone else. In a careless movement, he accidentally spilt the leftover water onto half of Cui Buqu's face.
Cui Buqu: "…"
He suspected that he was still in a dream, but this time it was an extremely absurd and ridiculous one.
"My hand slipped. My hand slipped." Feng Xiao waved with a 'haha' and raised his sleeve to help him wipe away the water on his face. Looking at how calm he looked, Feng Xiao couldn't help asking out of curiosity, "Don't you have something to say?"
"How did you," the pain in this throat made Cui Buqu raise his eyebrows in question, but he finished his words in a hoarse voice, "avoid my fatal spots within such a short time with so little effort, managing to avoid even my meridians?"
"Take a guess." Feng Xiao left him in suspense.
Say if you want to, and forget about it if you don't want to. Which motherfucker would have so much free time to guess riddles in a dream? Cui Buqu didn't even have the strength to roll his eyes; he immediately closed his eyes, waiting for the other to pierce him with a sword again without another word, so that he could once again enter the dream.
However, there was no sword this time.
"Hey, don't sleep." Feng Xiao reached out with a hand, pinched his eyelids and pulled them upwards.
Cui Buqu was forced to open his eyes, a face thrusting itself towards him.
"Are your heart diseases acting up again? Didn't I just feed you medicine just now?"
"Please just give me another stab to grant me a quick death." Cui Buqu spoke weakly and said in this heart that this dream was honestly too much of a bother.
Feng Xiao, "I will just tell you; it's not easy for you to wake up, so why are you feigning death like that? Back when you were in the City of Six Crafts, you were drugged with Naihexiang and fell into a high fever with your breath hanging by a thread. That Pei Jingzhe was scared stiff, wanted to seek a doctor for you, but I stopped him. What use is there to look for a doctor? Such a waste of money. People of the martial arts are also familiar with medical arts, so I took your pulse in person."
Cui Buqu: "…"
Feng Xiao, "So I discovered that your pulse is a mess and your breathing was weak. Even your heart was slanted by half an inch compared to usual people. So that stab I made wasn't only to avoid all your fatal spots but to just brush past your heart as well. Even your meridians were not harmed. If I hadn't taken the initiative at that time, or if I wasn't cruel enough, once Yu Xiu had his turn, you would not even have the opportunity to live."
He placed his hand on top of Cui Buqu's wound, his gesture so gentle that Cui Buqu felt nothing.
Feng Xiao was practically speaking against his ear, making him feel that this dream wasn't only realistic, but it had some warmth to it as well.
Cui Buqu slowly opened his mouth and wanted to confess that he owed him a deed, but Feng Xiao finally concluded it himself.
"See, an attempt to save some money saved your life in the end."
Suddenly, Cui Buqu didn't want to say anything at all. Feng Xiao held his wrist, slowly transferring some energy to him through that.
All four of his limbs gradually warmed up and from his chest rose a fiery warmth; even his pain has been lessened greatly.
This really is beginning to not feel like a dream.
In the midst of the soft and gentle light, Feng Xiao could see that the light of the other man's eyes flickered, his fragility undetermined like two floating lights on top of a river; it felt near at a distance, yet out of reach when it's far away.
Feng Xiao immediately reached out with a hand to close that pair of eyes, as if he was taking those floating lights into the palm of his hand, suddenly feeling a sense of peacefulness.
Cui Buqu's eyelids tingled gently, his eyebrows brushing across the palm, tickling it.
"Don't be ridiculous." The other exhaled as he said.
This person's looks were ordinary; on usual days only his eyes and mouth were arguably beautiful, and now that he has endured a stab, his face turned paler, there was even a dried layer of skin on his lips and his overall looks were even more unsightly, without a flicker of life on him. The more Feng Xiao thought, the more this seemed to be an unexpected turn of events for him. He moved his head forward, up until he touched a gentle warmth that jolted him awake, he immediately leaned backwards with force.
Compared to his usual playfulness prior, just for the sake of seeing the other's expression changed into something different, Feng Xiao suddenly realized that there was nothing on his mind just now.
It was just a pure instinctive move, but this was exactly why it felt terrifying.
Him, a rare breed of man who could look at Fong Xiaolian no differently than wilted bones, would lose himself to a sickly invalid like this person?
Cui Buqu who had his eyes covered, oblivious to whatever was happening at this moment, found that the hand had removed itself.
Feng Xiao sat steadily on the bed like a pole, not moving even an inch, as if he had fallen under a spell.
Cui Buqu became suspicious for a moment, determined that he shouldn't be busying himself with things that didn't matter at the moment.
"When… When did you come into contact with Fan Yun?"
Feng Xiao did not pay him any attention, submerged in his own trail of thoughts.
Cui Buqu remained silent for a moment, "Your hair is unruly."
"Hm?" Feng Xiao leisurely returned to the present and took out a mirror as big as his palm from his sleeve, facing towards a luminous pearl, using the eyesight of a grandmaster of the martial arts to examine for a moment, adjusted his hair, before letting out a breath, "It's still good. It's not unruly?"
Cui Buqu: "…"
He's really had enough.
He thought in his heart, even during such a time when their life hung by a thread, surrounded by dangers beyond volumes, he could still pay attention to these kinds of things. This really is Feng Xiao's true nature!
The only good thing that came from this is that this is definitely not a dream.
"If you have no ideas left up your sleeves to remain here for too long, then be swift in telling me everything so I can prepare myself." Cui Buqu was lacking strength, his word scattering as he spoke.
As things have progressed, there was no meaning in holding back. Feng Xiao coughed lightly, "Not Fan Yun. The one who sought me out at first was Lin Wei. It was during the time we returned to the capital from Qiemo city, this man delivered himself to my door and gave me some news. He told me that Khan Ishbara had implanted a few spies within the city."
Cui Buqu nodded his head, "I remember, he held admiration for you."
Feng Xiao twitched his lips, didn't respond to these words as he resumed speaking, "We have been investigating each other in secret. I let slip to him on purpose that my skills in the martial arts faced threat, then feigned a drunk and told him that the Emperor did not trust the Jiejian Bureau, so he had established the Zuoyue Bureau so they may balance out each other. He thought that the opportunity had come and finally exposed his identity to me. Lin Wei's position in the Thirteen Pavilions of Yunhai isn't powerful, he ranked seventh, and this was only because the Pavilion Lord wanted to utilize his knowledge of the Northern regions that he allowed him to rank before Ning Shewo."
Cui Buqu, "Has he seen the Pavilion Lord?"
Feng Xiao, "No. The one who nominated him was Yu Xiu, and before that, ambassadors of the Pavilion Lord sent his orders in his stead. However, Ning Shewo should have seen him before."
Cui Biqu's wound did not affect his response. Very quickly he said, "It seems that the Pavilion Lord is a permanent resident of the Southern regions."
Feng Xiao, "That is right. I've come to similar conclusions. During that time, Lin Wei gave me three conditions to fulfil. Firstly, the title of a member of royalty with a different surname. Secondly, the 'Forging Jade' technique. Thirdly, the ability to mobilize resources from the Imperial Court to aid me in ruling all the demonic sects. He even came upon orders of the Pavilion Lord to deliver a valuable meeting gift to me, the Śarīra1 from the demonic grandmaster of that year, Cui Youwang."
This time, even Cui Buqu's expression changed.
He sighed, "This really is valuable beyond imagination!"
The Śarīra was usually believed to be an object of wisdom, left behind by eminent monks who achieved Dao after their bodies were cremated when they passed away mediating. However, grandmasters of the martial arts who had achieved a certain level would also leave behind Sarīras after they were cremated. Śarīras of these sorts contained the essence of martial arts that previously belonged to their owners. If people of Jianghu acquired them, they could increase their abilities in the martial arts beyond imagination.
However, these sort of Śarīra that belonged to grandmasters can only be met by fate, let alone Cui Youwang's Śarīra. Towards someone who was trained in martial arts of the demonic sect like Feng Xiao, it was immensely tempting.
Cui Buqu, "But I do not understand. Cui Youwang's Śarīra is far more valuable than 'Forging Jade'. Why did he not make this part of your agreement, wouldn't that be even better than 'Forging Jade'?"
He spoke too much in a single breath, thus afterwards his breaths were curt after every half-sentence, coughing non-stop. However, once he coughed, blood surged up and hurt his wound.
Feng Xiao pressed on his wrist, continuing to pour his inner strength into him.
His martial arts never lost its grace, but this time his inner strength was warm and gentle, controlled in just the right manner. It didn't allow Cui Buqu a single ounce of discomfort.
"Because he is not a disciple of the demonic sect and neither could he verify whether that Śarīra was genuine, thus he leisurely treated it as a favour and gave it to me. Through this he could even establish himself as a man of generosity, making a name for himself as a person worth pursuing."
Cui Buqu, "It seemed like the Śarīra is genuine."
Feng Xiao smiled, "It is genuine. Although there is just one, it is absolutely beneficial for my martial arts. When I think about how once the Pavilion Lord knows that he'd given me something so valuable, he would have regretted it until he vomited blood. He spoke to me through Lin Wei and told me that there are two more Śarīras in his hands. If I joined the Thirteen Pavilions of Yunhai, he would offer me those other two on the day we come out victorious."
Cui Buqu laughed at himself, " 'Victorious', surely this is referring to the vast act of treason. It seems like drawing me into a trap was only worth a set of 'Forging Jade'."
Feng Xiao, "The reason I didn't consult you before, was because during that time, through the messages delivered by Lin Wei, I realized there were people within the Thirteen Pavilions of Yunhai who knew you like the back of their hand. They even knew many things from your past. I thought it was very likely they were either Qiao Xian or Zhangsun."
Cui Buqu raised an eyebrow, "So that is why you said nothing when you saw me deploying Zhangsun to Donghai Prefecture."
Feng Xiao, "That's right. I do not know who they've placed to spy on you, what position they're taking, and how much they knew. Naturally, I would say nothing about it for the best. I anticipated that they would want to recruit you, but I hadn't anticipated that while you had many tricks up your sleeves on usual days, when it came to times like this, you would remain so faithful and unyielding. Had it not been me doing it myself, were you really intending to allow yourself to be tortured by Yu Xiu?"
Cui Buqu canted his head to the side, "When you looked at me that time, weren't you hinting me not to agree to it?"
"…I was hinting you to feign sincerity." Feng Xiao saw through the other's intentions, "Don't you even think of pushing the responsibility on me and ask for any sort of compensation. Let me tell you, this time you've earned it yourself. It's completely your own fault."
Cui Buqu blinked his eyes slowly, speaking with great difficulty, "That time you had already surrendered to them. Adding me, how could everything go so smoothly? If you were someone from the Thirteen Pavilions of Yunhai, wouldn't you become suspicious? Fan Yun definitely would have suspected you as well. My sacrifice, is entirely for you—"
Feng Xiao's response was to clasp his hand on his mouth, forbidding him from saying anything more.
"Shut your mouth. If there was another time, I would not miss," Feng Xiao suppressed his voice low and said cruelly, "Guaranteed I'd finish you with a single stab!"
Cui Buqu didn't struggle or fight back, neither did he whine. He simply stared at him in silence.
A Cui Buqu who was obedient was hard-earned, making him even more precious.
Feng Xiao was finally satisfied. Just as he was about to taunt him with a sentence or two, a noise came from the outside.
He quickly turned his head!
[1] Śarīra: Śarīra is a generic term referring to Buddhist relics, although in common usage it usually refers to a pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are purportedly found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters. More info here.