Chapter One (Continued)
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A pleasant smell, unusual but a little familiar, too, or perhaps it was that eight years had passed and she only now realized, with some sorrow, that she no longer remembered Great Demon’s scent. She sensed a strange humming in her ears, a buzzing, and her heart suddenly seized. She faltered back a step, clutching at her chest.
“Do you know why your body is so weak? It’s because you don’t have the Baize power.”
Wen Xiao tried to steady her breathing. “I know. I don’t need you to tell me.”
“Then you know that if it can’t be found again, you’ll die soon?”
Wen Xiao was shocked.
“It looks like your master didn’t tell you…” Zhao Yuanzhou continued, “After the death of your predecessor, Zhao Wan’er, the Baize power should have sought out a host to live within, passing the duties to a new goddess, but instead the Baize power vanished without a trace, unaccounted for to this day. Now, your body is completely without this extraordinary power. Unless it can be found, you will quickly grow weaker and die. I can help you. I came from the Wilderness, I came to help you find the Baize power.”
Wen Xiao looked at him. “I do need the Baize power. What about you? What do you want?”
Zhao Yuanzhou answered, “I also want the Baize power.”
Wen Xiao jerked upright, suspicious and alarmed. “Why do you want the Baize power?”
“Calm down.” Zhao Yuanzhou laughed. “I want the Baize power because the Baize goddess has been too slow in returning. If this drags on, the Wilderness will be finished.”
It had been so long since Wen Xiao had heard news of the Wilderness, she couldn’t help but feel dazed. She asked for details of its condition now.
Zhao Yuanzhou talked tirelessly.
After the Baize power was lost, the Wilderness was no longer stable. Last month, the Kunlun mountains, appearing like a mirage on the Great Wilderness Sea, began to collapse. Boulders tumbled down, breaking the waters into high swells, a scene of utter devastation. The tall tree growing in the stone chamber at the top of the White Tower has already withered. Ancient bloodstains on the stone tablet have already turned black. The stone tablet, once still, suddenly shook and split, and a white light carved new characters stroke by stroke: “Baize has not returned, the Wilderness will soon perish.”
If the destruction of the Wilderness is to be prevented, the Baize power must be found.
“After Zhao Wan’er died, with the role of Wilderness Goddess unfilled, the Kunlun Mountains collapsed without that protective power,” Zhao Yuanzhou went on. “Law-abiding demons remain in the Wilderness to await death; wicked and savage demons broke through the Kunlun Gate to the human world. Your adoptive father wants a thorough investigation into the Water Ghost bride kidnappings and murders; the lost Baize power is the cause of this, too. I once made a vow to protect the Wilderness, to return the demons who escaped the Wilderness, and restore peace to the human world.”
With this final sentence, hot tears shone in his eyes as he lifted them to Wen Xiao. She stared back at him with a cold eye, face unmoving.
“I spoke with such passion,” Zhao Yuanzhou grumbled, a little embarrassed. “What’s with that look on your face?”
“Your performance is over. Restrain yourself a bit next time and I’ll get into character more easily.”
Zhao Yuanzhou wiped his tears and resumed his normal expression. “Okay.”
“All common people know that Zhu Yan came to the world and destruction followed,” Wen Xiao said, tone placid; no waves, no billows; yet filled sharply with rebuke. “Eight years ago, you massacred the Demon Hunting Bureau, murdered countless people—among your victims were Xiao Zhuo’s father and older brother. You are filled with evil tendencies, guilty of so many crimes that deserve judgement. You are nothing like this responsible and righteous…demon you pretend to be.”
Speechless at her skewering criticism, Zhao Yuanzhou simply slumped dispiritedly into his seat. He raised his head to reveal eyes red with unexpected tears. His voice, when he spoke, was hoarse with barely contained misery. “Really? All common people think this way about me? Even you think this way about me…”
He looked so entirely mournful that Wen Xiao’s gaze softened and guilt bloomed in her heart. “I’m sor—”
Before she even finished her apology, Zhao Yuanzhou’s expression changed and he continued talking. “…It seems as though I have no choice but to cooperate with Chongwu Camp.”
Of course a dog can’t stop himself from eating his own shit! A skill learned and immediately put to use: This oily jerk almost succeeded in fooling her!
Wen Xiao sneered. “Your words don’t threaten me.”
“Your words don’t threaten me either,” Zhao Yuanzhou derided. “Looks like the two of us have a stalemate. One-word spell: Dawdling.”
Wen Xiao knew they couldn’t afford to dawdle, but if they were to cooperate, she needed to clarify his true intentions. He was not Great Demon, so he could not be trusted. If his goals were not pure, it was likely that more than the Demon Hunting Bureau’s 20 lives would be at risk—Tiandu or the whole human world might suffer disaster.
Wen Xiao again drew her dagger. Zhao Yuanzhou remained unmoved. “I won’t fall for the same trick twice,” he said. “You think I’ll let you get close to me again so you can stab me?” Then, he watched, dumbfounded, as Wen Xiao suddenly pressed the blade to her own neck.
She fixed her eyes on him. “What about this? No matter what evil intentions you hide, you still came to the Demon Hunting Bureau for me. If I die, your plan fails.” When she thought back on his behavior since he’d come to the Demon Hunting Bureau, at the core of his every action was her. She had to do something to force a true answer out of him.
Zhao Yuanzhou sighed and made a light stroke with his finger. “Move.” At that, the dagger yanked itself from Wen Xiao’s hands. Zhao Yuanzhou reached out, long sleeves unspooling, and the dagger sailed into his grasp.
Expression stern, he said, “If I want someone to die, they will not live. Conversely, if I want someone to live, they cannot die in my presence.” He walked to stand in front of her and sheathed the dagger before returning it to her. His voice softened as he said, “Live well.”
“Tell me why.” A string of questions remained in Wen Xiao’s mind.
“As I said, I came to help you retrieve the Baize power, for your sake, for the sake of the Wilderness.”
She couldn’t find her answer in his calm gaze, nor could she discern any trace of a lie. With a deep breath, she took a sheet of paper from the breast of her robes, then removed the writing brush from her hair. “Sign this contract as a guarantee.”
Idioms that appear in this section:
不翼而飞 (bùyì’érfēi) – disappear without a trace; vanish into thin air
海市蜃楼 (hǎishì-shènlóu) – castle in the air, illusion; mirage
冷眼旁观 (lěngyǎn-pángguān) – look on with a cold eye; watch critically
天下大乱 (tiānxià-dàluàn) – go disorder under heaven—a state of great confusion
恶贯满盈 (èguàn-mǎnyíng) – be guilty of countless crimes and deserve to come to judgement; be steeped in evil and deserve damnation
狗改不了吃屎 (gǒugǎibùliǎochīshǐ) – lit. a dog can’t stop himself from eating his own shit; fig. bad habits are hard to change
满盘皆输 (mǎnpánjiēshū) – One careless move and the whole game is lost
所作所为 (suǒzuò-suǒwéi) – one’s behavior or conduct
