The Star Moon Sect's chief purpose in coming to the capital this time was to rescue Yinye, who had been taken by the Six Doors.
The Star Moon Sect had no shortage of people. They were everywhere under heaven, hidden pieces planted in every corner; girls of Meng Lan's caliber could be counted by the cartload across the Divine Land, and the sect ranked among the very greatest houses of the Demon Sect.
But because their arts were hard to master and their screening strict, inner sect disciples were far fewer, and true-line core disciples fewer still.
In Xue Qingqiu's generation there had been only three direct sisters: the eldest had vanished for some reason, Xue Qingqiu had been forced to take up the burden of leadership from her early teens, and after her came the youngest, Yinye.
The eldest senior sister had taken plenty of disciples, but left no direct heir behind. Yinye had not yet begun taking disciples at all, so the sole descendant of the next generation was Yue Xiaochan, one lonely seedling—which was why she had long since been raised as the sect master in waiting.
Apart from the few elders and protectors currently holding the sect's home, Yinye—Xue Qingqiu's junior sister—was one of the sect's soul-level figures, absolutely core. Add to that the singularity of her cultivation art, and the sect truly could not do without her. Only because a person so important had been captured did Xue Qingqiu set her own cultivation aside and leave the sect's main base in Lingzhou, bringing her beloved disciple into the capital overnight—and meeting Xue Mu on the road.
As for the businesses losing money, that had never been the point of the trip; it was merely a problem to be swept up along the way. In Xue Qingqiu's thinking, it was also a chance to season her disciple's head for business and for dealing with the court.
These last two days Yue Xiaochan had been fussing over her plan to revive the businesses, and Xue Qingqiu had watched it all. She did think her disciple was getting a little too close to Xue Mu, but the girl was still young and her heart had not opened to romance, so surely nothing would come of it.
And seeing that Yue Xiaochan's efforts were bearing real fruit, she was quietly pleased. That was why tonight she had not brought her disciple to the negotiation with the Six Doors—she left her to her scheming and went to the Six Doors herself.
What she had not expected was for the talks to collapse so utterly…
Xue Qingqiu called the sect members inside for a meeting to hash out a response. Xue Mu plainly had not earned the trust to sit in on that kind of discussion, so he went back to the bamboo tower and slept.
Yue Xiaochan turned and looked at Xue Mu's retreating back, then tugged at the corner of her master's sleeve. "Master…"
"Hm?"
"I was thinking, maybe we ought to call Xue Mu in…"
"…" Xue Qingqiu said, exasperated, "Have you lost your mind? A matter this critical, and you want to let some outsider we picked up on the road sit in?"
Yue Xiaochan puffed out her cheeks. "Xue Mu is really impressive. He'd definitely have good ideas."
Xue Qingqiu said coolly, "That is precisely the problem, Chan'er. You and I once thought him no better than a blade of grass; even when his background was unclear, we never troubled ourselves over it. But now that we know he is no ordinary man, can you really afford not to keep your guard up?"
Yue Xiaochan opened her mouth and found nothing to say. Put that way by her master, she had to admit she had been leaning on Xue Mu a little too much lately. The moment anything required thinking, she instinctively wanted him to come up with the plan. That was not so good—I'll bring myself up stupid at this rate…
If everyone failed to come up with a plan, she would quietly go ask Xue Mu tomorrow. As for keeping her guard up—that part this girl simply ignored.
Back in the bamboo tower, Xue Mu was untroubled. He knew perfectly well that winning the trust of a Demon Sect sect master in so short a time was pure wish-fulfillment fantasy. Since transmigrating, apart from the one night he had spent unconscious, his brain had been running at full speed the whole time; right now he was genuinely worn out. Better to sleep well, build his strength back up, and think about the rest later.
So he was asleep almost the moment his head touched the pillow.
In a daze he seemed to see two figures fighting in the sky. He could not make out their features, only feel that every punch and kick turned the wind and clouds, shifting the stars and swapping out the Dipper. A great bronze cauldron floated between them, and with one earth-shattering clash it nearly shattered, then came plummeting from the sky and smashed into the ground, blasting out a crater several li across. Groundwater welled up from the pit and swiftly became a cold pool.
That one heaven-shaking clash seemed to carry the terrifying force to shatter the dimensions themselves. At the instant the bronze cauldron struck, a tiny fragment of its pattern was shaken loose from the vessel, whooshed through who knew how many dimensional spaces and how many years of time, and finally became a streak of light that sank into the palm of Xue Mu—watching from who knew where—with a sharp sting.
Xue Mu jerked awake and realized it had been a dream.
He leaned against the headboard and gulped for breath. In his heart he understood that it had probably not been a dream at all, but the origin of the bronze shard that had caused his transmigration. Because his contact with this world was growing ever tighter, the shard's energy had finally resonated with his sea of consciousness in some form and revealed to him where it began.
In that case, landing in midair above a pool had been no accident—he had arrived exactly where the bronze shard last left the cauldron.
The master and disciple bathing in that pool had been the true coincidence. Without them, he really would have died on the spot.
Xue Mu sighed, got up and washed. He had just wiped his face when he heard a clamor outside, along with blasts of qi and the ringing clash of weapons.
Naturally… either the righteous path has come knocking, or that constable getup has stirred up trouble.
Xue Mu slipped over to Baihua Garden's back gate to watch the show. Sure enough, several groups were drawn up in the great hall, all in identical uniforms, staring at the Baihua Garden girls wearing those very same uniforms with fire in their eyes.
Qingqing and Meng Lan stood before them, both gauze-veiled, entirely at ease, not treating the drawn swords and bristling tension in front of them as anything worth minding. The righteous sects each squatted in their own corner, but there was no great figure among them here in the capital, and their own sect master was still standing behind them—how could they take these little shrimps seriously…
Across from them, a long-bearded Daoist priest who seemed to be the leader raised his sword and raged, "Zhuo Qingqing! Your Star Moon Sect insults my Xuantian Sect like this—do you take my blade for blunt?"
So the Daoist robes were Xuantian Sect's after all, cloud-mountains and green bamboo embroidered along the hem in a very distinctive pattern. Xue Mu glanced at the Baihua Garden girls wearing the same cut of robe and couldn't hold back a laugh.
Zhuo Qingqing said unhurriedly, "I'm afraid this Qingqing doesn't quite follow you, Daoist Dongfeng. Girls wear whatever they please—which law of the court does that break?"
"You pass yourselves off as our sect's disciples and carry on your filthy, scurrilous trade, and you still think you're in the right?"
"We've told the customers plainly all along that our girls are not truly from any of your sects—ask them if you like… Or how about this: Baihua Garden will put up a sign stating outright that none of our girls have anything to do with any of you?"
"Insolent!"
"Aiya, and to think you're a cultivator—what a temper." Zhuo Qingqing smiled enchantingly. "I hear that in his youth the Daoist confessed his love to a certain someone from the Wenjian Sect, was flatly refused, and has had crooked tastes ever since—a fondness for going through all three gates. Take a look, how does our Qianqian compare with that person? Who knows, we might even make the Daoist's dream come true. Half price, just for you…"
"Pfft—" A whole crowd of Baihua Garden girls on the sidelines burst out laughing, and even among the righteous disciples a few were sneaking laughs, shoulders shaking.
Then again, there really were quite a few righteous disciples eyeing the girls decked out in the very outfits they fancied, spring stirring in their hearts, eyeballs rolling every which way—who knew, some of them might even be considering a sneaky visit tonight?
Daoist Dongfeng was so angry his beard stuck straight out. He swung his longsword. "Enough talk! If your Star Moon Sect won't come to its senses, today we tear this Baihua Garden of yours down!"
"And who's going to tear down our Baihua Garden?"
A voice clear as an oriole came from somewhere unseen; then a slender figure flitted past, swift as a ghost. Where the fragrant breeze passed, blood suddenly sprayed from Daoist Dongfeng's throat, and he toppled over backward.
The slender figure made one neat little spin and landed between Qingqing and Meng Lan, revealing Yue Xiaochan's sweetly smiling face. "Yue Xiaochan of the Star Moon Sect—formally making her debut in the jianghu! I do hope my senior brothers and sisters will be so good as to instruct me."
A pretty, lovely face past all reason, white robes and bare feet without a speck of dust, sweet smiles amid a sky full of blood mist—the jarring, bewitching wrongness of it left the whole scene struck silent. Even the Xuantian Sect members whose leader had just been killed stood dumb as wooden chickens, unable to react in time.
Xue Mu, watching from the shadows, pressed a hand to his forehead. Like master, like disciple. So she's a big shot too, huh…
Honestly, you Demon Sect lot run around stirring up chaos like this, offending the authorities and the righteous path unto death—how are you even still alive? And you can run your businesses right out in the open, too. It makes no logical sense at all…