Volume Five: Fallen and Destitute, Looking North to the Cloud Stele Chapter One: First Encounter

“So you are one of the Smoke Clan!” The girl put her hands behind her back, tilted her head toward the sky, and scuffed one foot idly against the ground. “The Smoke Clan is a great house in Western Qi Province! How did you end up in such a state?”

“My family? Only a declining collateral branch,” Zhuo Hua said. Seeing that she kept her head raised and would not speak further, he decided to take his leave.

“Thank you for your kindness, miss. I, Yan Ruojun, shall never forget it. We shall meet again beneath mountain and river.” With that, he clasped his hands and turned to go.

“Hey, hey, hey.” The girl ran a few steps to catch up, seized his sleeve, and refused to let go. “I still don’t know where your ancestors came from, or which branch of the Smoke Clan you belong to! How can you leave?”

Zhuo Hua stopped and looked down at the girl as she strained to tug his sleeve and drag him back to where they had stood before.

“Miss, though you have shown me kindness, I have matters of my own and cannot be entangled here with you. If you wish to be repaid, please tell me the address of your residence and your name. When I return home, I shall repay it many times over.” A trace of irritation had crept into his voice.

“Who wants your repayment! I just still don’t know which family you’re from!” The girl clung to him with all her strength, unwilling to let go.

Zhuo Hua could not help but laugh in exasperation. “Then would you kindly tell me why you absolutely must know which family I come from? And rest assured, I am not leaving. You may let go now.”

“You... you really won’t run?” Her eyes were full of doubt and mistrust.

“I won’t run.”

“Then all right! You have to keep your word!” She hesitated, half-convinced, and slowly loosened her hands.

“All right, you can tell me now. Why must you know which family I am from?” Zhuo Hua was no longer angry; instead, his curiosity had been stirred.

The girl lowered her head in embarrassment and began once more to stand with her hands behind her back, scuffing the ground with her shoe.

A long silence passed. Beneath her feet, the earth had already been worn into a small hollow.

“If you won’t say it, then I shall have to take my leave,” Zhuo Hua said, his patience nearly exhausted.

At that, the girl panicked. “Don’t go, I’ll say it, all right? I’ll say it!”

“My name is Su Mengling, and I am sixteen this year. Ten years ago, once when I went out of the city with my father and the others for an outing, we encountered a tiger demon in the far outskirts. My Su family has always been a house of letters and propriety; none of us had ever studied martial arts. We had hired some guards, but they only knew ordinary skills. The tiger demon we met that day must have just come to Moonwatch City from some desolate mountain waste and happened to run into us by chance.”

“Several ordinary guards against a tiger demon? You were in grave danger,” Zhuo Hua said, growing concerned. He lifted his eyes slightly, signaling for her to continue.

“Big brother, you’re right. More than a dozen guards only managed to protect us for five or six li before they were all killed. By the time we fled to the ruined temple, aside from my father, only my martial instructor remained with us.”

“With no village ahead and no inn behind, that was a dead end indeed.”

Su Mengling blinked her watery eyes and pouted. “Big brother, could you please listen properly and not interrupt me?”

Zhuo Hua immediately felt he had been rude, so he closed his mouth tightly to show that he would speak no more.

Her expression softened somewhat, and she continued: “By then the three of us were already exhausted and starving, and we truly could not run anymore. That tiger demon would not let us go and was determined to kill us all. It rushed into the ruined temple and sprang at me first. I was only six then, and I was so frightened I could only stand there, forgetting even how to cry. My instructor threw himself in the way to block that strike for me, but the tiger demon tore open his back with one claw. He fell at my feet, struggled twice, and then died. Just as my father held me tight and prepared to close his eyes and await death, we suddenly heard the sound of someone breaking in through the window. When I opened my eyes, I saw a man fighting that tiger demon. Big brother was so powerful; in only two or three moves he had slain the beast.”

“Could it have been some wandering knight-errant passing by?” Zhuo Hua murmured to himself without thinking. Only then did he realize Su Mengling was watching him, and he quickly shut his mouth.

“After killing the tiger demon, that big brother only asked my father whether he could make his own way back. My father said yes, and then he prepared to leave the ruined temple. My father called after him to ask the hero’s name. That big brother only said one thing: the Smoke Clan of Western Qi Province, and then he left.”

“But what does that have to do with me?” Zhuo Hua asked, deeply puzzled.

“Because that day I only ever saw his back. When I saw your back on the street just now, it was so much like his. So... so I came over with those steamed buns for you. Really... I only wanted to see your face.” Su Mengling lowered her head again, blushing and saying no more.

“So when you heard that I was also of the Smoke Clan, you wanted to keep me here and find out exactly where I came from, is that it?”

“Mm-hmm.” Su Mengling nodded. “I’m sorry. I... I truly wanted to know whether you were that big brother.”

Ten years ago, Zhuo Hua had indeed passed through the territory of Moonwatch City, though not in person but through his divine consciousness. After Lanling departed that year, he had entered a long dream. His consciousness wandered freely through the four continents and four seas, all in search of the clues Lanling had left behind.

That year, as his consciousness drifted above Moonwatch City, he heard cries of battle from below. Sensing the spiritual source, he discovered a tiger demon that had only just stepped into the mortal rank, hunting down a group of common folk. Zhuo Hua despised nothing more than the strong bullying the weak, so he descended into the ruined temple and rescued that pitiful father and daughter. He had not expected to meet them again today on this ancient city street.

“What are you spacing out about?” Seeing Zhuo Hua silent, lost in thought, Su Mengling found him somewhat curious. Such a ragged, towering man looked utterly down and out, and yet he gave off an indescribable elegance; more importantly, his smile carried just the right warmth.

“Back then, were you wearing a floral little coat and skirt, with your hair in two tiny braids? And on each braid, did you have a little jade butterfly hanging from it?”

“Yes! Yes! You...” In Su Mengling’s wide eyes there was astonishment, delight, and a trace of disbelief. “It really is you?”

“It was me. I remember the tiger demon clearly; it was a rare black-and-white tiger, so I took a second look at it.” Zhuo Hua nodded and answered.

His face was plainly smiling, so why could those eyes not stop shedding tears?

His heart was plainly bursting with wild joy, so why did his body remain utterly rigid and unresponsive?

The reunion he had rehearsed countless times in his mind—why, when it finally came, was his mind blank as a sheet, as though turned to wood and stone?

Seeing Su Mengling standing there in silence, smiling through her tears, Zhuo Hua feared he had said something else to offend the girl. He asked carefully, “Are you... angry?”

With a sudden burst of laughter, Su Mengling threw herself against his stomach and clung to him tightly, repeating over and over, “I found you. At last, I found you.”

At the far northern reaches of Northern Luan Province, the land was covered in vast, bleak snow mountains. The highest of them all was where the roof of the void, Mount Cangwu, stood.

At the summit of Cangwu Mountain’s snow peak rose a stone stele entirely black, five-ridged and five-sided, its top tapering into a cone that pierced straight into the heavens.

Yet within, all was a different world.

An unprecedented heaviness hung over the Cloud-Top Heavenly Palace.

In the Azure Dragon Palace, the four palace lords were in council.

With a crash, a cup was hurled out and shattered across the floor.

Then came the sound of a fierce argument from within.

At the gate, two guards shrank their necks. One asked the other, “How many times is that today?”

“The seventh or eighth, I think! Soon it’ll probably be Lord Serpent going up to mediate again.”

The one who had asked fell silent, turning his head slightly to peer into the great hall.

“Are you crazy? Things are different today—look at what it’s like in there!” As he spoke, he could not help glancing once more at the bickering hall.

Soon enough, Lord Serpent’s voice indeed came from within. This senior-most elder of the Cloud Palace spoke with ringing authority: “The nation is in crisis. Yet here you sit in the halls of state, not thinking how to quell the bandit scourge and recover the Sovereign, but quarreling all day over whose fault it is. Do you think yourselves worthy of the court robes upon your backs?”

All fell silent.

Qin Ying’s face was streaked with tears as she was about to speak in her own defense, never expecting Lord Serpent to abandon all his usual warmth and calmly lay into her without mercy. “You girl from the Vermilion Bird Palace—when it comes to war or to handling matters of intelligence here in the Cloud Palace, I have always seen you as steady as a mountain and orderly in all things. But ever since that boy Zhuo Hua was taken, look at yourself: you have been in tears every day. If you were like this in private, so be it—that would be your own affair. But you do it in front of everyone as well. What are the others in court to think? What are the countless people of the Cloud Palace to think?”

Qin Ying could hold herself back no longer and erupted in anguish. “I never wanted to be this palace lord to begin with. I only wanted to stay by his side every day, even if it meant being nothing more than a maid attending to his daily needs. But he said I was careful and thoughtful, and asked me to help him with some of the intelligence work. Before, although he would sometimes sleep for long stretches, I could still see him every day and know where he was. Now he is gone, and my whole mind is filled with thoughts of him suffering somewhere. How am I supposed to calm down and analyze those reports? If you think I am unfit to be palace lord, then dismiss me. I would be relieved, and I could go look for him. That would be better than staying here every day and living in fear. I’ve had enough.”

Doumu Kang said, with dreadful ill timing, “Removing a palace lord requires an edict from the Sovereign. It only takes effect after two refusals and three proclamations. It is not something the few of us can do just because we say so. You know full well the Sovereign is absent right now—you said that on purpose for everyone’s ears, didn’t you?”

Lan Sheng suddenly snapped, cursing him. “You old thing, I’ve never liked that half-smiling, half-sour look of yours. When the Supreme One was here, you wouldn’t dare act out. Now that no one can keep you in line, do you think you can grow even more brazen? My Sister Qin would never be the sort to covet power. Don’t use your filthy thoughts to judge others.”

“Impudent!” Kui Wood Wolf shouted furiously, offended on behalf of his elder by Lan Sheng’s criticism. “The elder you insult has great virtue and has made outstanding contributions to the Cloud Palace. You, Lan Sheng, are nothing but a lowly commoner from below, with no office and no rank in the Cloud Palace. Allowing you to listen in was already an exception, and yet you dare speak disrespectfully and disturb the court! Guards! Drive Lan Sheng out of the Heavenly Stele!”

The two golden-armored guards waiting outside immediately rushed into the hall at the command and lunged toward Lan Sheng.

“Let’s see who dares?”

Jiao Wood Dragon stepped in front of Lan Sheng in a single stride. In an instant, his protective true qi gleamed a dark red, and with a face full of deadly intent, he glared at the two men charging toward them.