Chapter 30 - 27: Ink-Wash Painting
The black rain had turned Upper Jade Capital into something of an ink-wash painting, but this painting was missing its most important person.
"Young Master, where are we going now?"
"Liuqing Lake."
Xia Lianxue’s snow-white wrists swayed back and forth in front of Lu Changyuan. "Aren’t we going to get the Elixir?"
"The Elixir hasn’t emerged yet. We’ll find a good spot first and wait for it."
"But what’s so special about Liuqing Lake? Young Master, both you and Noodle Granny seem to place so much importance on it."
Lu Changyuan said casually, "There’s a Great Demon at the bottom of Liuqing Lake. It’s been sealed there for fifteen hundred years."
Xia Lianxue glanced into the distance and said softly, "I know."
Of course she could tell.
A giant, disgusting tentacle was writhing in the center of the lake, looking as if it wanted to ascend and pierce the very heavens. Plumes of black mist emanated from it, dyeing the rain black.
"Young Master, the Third Princess is here too."
Lu Changyuan looked up to see a figure holding an umbrella in midair. The young woman wore a deep-green Daoist robe cinched at the waist with a cyan-jade sash, revealing a slender and graceful figure. The black rain couldn’t get within a foot of her, which only made her fair skin, tinged with the faintest cherry-blossom luster, stand out all the more.
Lu Changyuan smiled. "It seems her family’s troubles have gotten so big that she’s decided to step in."
By the shores of Liuqing Lake, several Cultivators were entangled in black energy. Their faces were twisted in pain, seemingly unable to break free no matter how they struggled. Their Cultivation and very flesh were being siphoned away bit by bit, transferred through the dark energy to the Great Demon at the bottom of the lake.
"Young Master Lu." Su Youwan descended slowly, walking on air as if on solid ground. "What brings you here?"
Lu Changyuan replied, "What became of the Elixir that emerged?"
"As always, Young Master Lu, you answer a question with a question."
"You too."
Su Youwan shook her head, her snowy hair drifting with the movement. "Rumor has it the Sword Control Sect got their hands on the Elixir. They’re likely still hiding somewhere in the city."
Those who got the Elixir and those who didn’t—none of them had time to leave Upper Jade Capital. All were caught in the black rain and pulled into this dream.
Lu Changyuan asked again, "So, what are you going to do?"
Su Youwan was as placid as ever. "I don’t know what to do either. What about you, Young Master Lu? What do you plan to do?"
Before Lu Changyuan could answer.
A clear male voice came from behind. "Fellow Daoists, we should work together to sever that tentacle. Otherwise, every Daoist in this city is going to die by this monstrous thing’s hand."
The newcomer carried a sword and held a gourd in his hand. He wasn’t carrying an umbrella and was soaked to the bone, but not even the rain could hide the sharp edge about him.
Li Qingcao, the Sword Son of the Qingcao Sword Sect.
As a Sword Son of the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces, his Sword Heart was as unyielding as if it had been forged by a decade of slaying Snow Demons atop a snowy peak. A mere nightmare like this could only trap him for a fleeting moment.
When he looked upon that rainy night again, he no longer felt anything, only a sense of nostalgia.
It was, after all, the path he had walked to get here.
No matter how deeply it had been etched into his heart, it was nothing more than a youthful passion. How could that ever compare to the wine in his gourd and the sword in his hand?
Li Qingcao glanced at Su Youwan, then at Xia Lianxue. "Ah, the Third Princess and Lady Xia... And you, brother, I don’t believe I’ve had the honor."
He paused, then remembered to introduce himself. "Li Qingcao, of the Qingcao Sword Sect."
Lu Changyuan smiled. "Lu Changyuan. Just a physician."
"So it’s Brother Lu." Li Qingcao, who made friends with ease, walked right up to Lu Changyuan and held up his wine gourd. "The moment I saw you, Brother Lu, I felt it was a shame we hadn’t met sooner. Brother Lu, do you drink?"
Lu Changyuan looked at Li Qingcao with a nostalgic expression, as if he were seeing that Sect Leader of the Qingcao Sword Sect from many years ago.
The same easy familiarity, the same love for a gourd and a traveling sword.
So Lu Changyuan replied, "I’ll pass. I’ve heard that people from the Qingcao Sword Sect love wine more than life itself. I appreciate the kind offer, Brother Li, but I wouldn’t want to take something so precious from you."
Li Qingcao was quite surprised. "Then I’ll have to treat you to a drink another day, Brother Lu." He slung his sword over his back. "I’m going to try my hand at it first. If I can’t handle it, I hope you’ll lend me your aid."
The Sword Son was truly a man of swift action. He raised his sword and charged, becoming a streak of cyan light.
The tentacle was severed and fell.
Li Qingcao said in disbelief, ’Has my Swordsmanship improved again? No, wait! What’s that sound?’
The tentacle fell into the water, and the surface of the lake began to boil as if saltpeter had been poured into it.
A grating, creaking sound that set one’s teeth on edge suddenly rose from all directions. It sounded like something being assembled, or perhaps like rats gnawing on human bones.
Soon enough, they all knew what that sound was.
It was bones. Countless bones.
The skeletons of the countless dead from the bottom of Liuqing Lake were crawling ashore, one by one. The creaking was the sound of their bones grinding and rotating into place.
No.
It wasn’t just skeletons. There were also the Cultivators who had died on the night the Elixir appeared. This horde of the dead had vacant eyes, and bloated chunks of waterlogged flesh hung from their bodies, emitting a putrid stench.
Li Qingcao glanced back and said coldly, "What manner of foul creatures are these?"
He swung his sword again.
Skeletons fell in swathes, like weeds cut down by a scythe. The sharp crack of splintering bone hitting the ground and the surface of the lake was clearly audible.
Lu Changyuan said, "It seems Demonic Qi is controlling the corpses, moving them like puppets."
’They aren’t a major threat on their own,’ Lu Changyuan thought, ’but if they get loose, they could easily harm the common people.’
Li Qingcao refastened his gourd. "Everyone, why don’t we split up? I’ll hold the line here by the lake and keep these skeletons from getting out. The rest of you can spread out and save the Cultivators trapped by the dark energy. I already woke up my two junior sisters on my way here; they’ll help as well. What do you say?"
Lu Changyuan smiled, thinking, ’The Qingcao Sword Sect is as meddlesome as ever.’ He said aloud, "A benevolent suggestion, Brother Li. I have no objection."
"And the Third Princess?"
Su Youwan turned around without saying a word to Li Qingcao. She gave Lu Changyuan one last look before gently drifting away under her umbrella, slowly vanishing into the curtain of rain.
Li Qingcao sighed and looked at Lu Changyuan. "Women are so hard to understand, aren’t they, Brother Lu?"
Lu Changyuan didn’t dare agree, not with Xia Lianxue standing right beside him with a smile on her face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A sweet, melodious female voice echoed within the Imperial Palace Treasury.
"And here I was, wondering when a new top courtesan had emerged."
A woman cloaked in black robes, her face completely obscured, was now sitting on the other dragon head, though no one knew when she had arrived. Her laughter echoed throughout the treasury.
The voice had a bewitching quality that could stir a listener’s heart and fill their mind with unruly thoughts.
The Second Prince, Xue Yanluo, and the Town Elder had all failed to notice when she had followed them down into the treasury.
"I thought some promising new talent had appeared. I was even prepared to take them back and train them properly. I rushed here for days, only to be so disappointed."
If Lu Changyuan were here, he would have had a word or two for this woman in black. After all, she had stolen a jar of his wine and still hadn’t paid him the silver for it.
"So it was you, you Yin Yang Person, up to some shady business behind the scenes," the woman in black said with contempt. "I’m rather curious. With your Blood Demon Palace meddling so openly in the affairs of the Glazed Dynasty, aren’t you afraid the Daoist Sects will call you to account?"
Xue Yanluo stared at the churning waves on the water’s surface. Plumes of red mist were rising, and one could feel the scorching heat just by looking at them. The lake in the treasury had actually begun to boil.
He recognized the black-robed woman’s identity, so he remained unflustered. "The Daoist Sects won’t necessarily get involved in this. But you... when did you get in here? Have you come to fight my Palace for the sword?"