59 The End Goal

The sound of clinking dishes could barely be heard amidst the murmuring and gentle zither music in the Radiant Dynasty Pavilion. She was the best zither player in the entire kingdom, and this famous restaurant had spared no expense in roping her in. Her music ran like water and soothed the soul, calming even the most agitated and stressed individuals. As such, the people that came to this pavilion invariably came out with straightened backs and lightened shoulders.

The seating arrangement in this establishment was quite peculiar. There were no such thing as private booths. Instead, there was only a single floor with no differentiation in status. Attendance was a clear indication of social class, as both status and wealth were required to enter in the first place. Any attendants, Dao protectors, or chaperones were strictly prohibited. They were hosted in an adjacent building, where they waited for their charges to leave the premises.

Wang Jun and Xiao Li were seated at a table for two, one of twelve such tables surrounding three larger tables in the center. All tables were occupied, as this restaurant never lacked a waiting list. In fact, Elder Jin had pulled several dozen strings to arrange for this "date." Xiao Li clearly relished the opportunity, and she had spent the whole afternoon dressing up for the occasion. She wore a slim green dress covered in vines and beautiful mauve blossoms. Unfortunately, she lacked matching earrings, but settled for a mauve hairclip that fastened her long jet-black hair.

Wang Jun was dazzled for a moment when he first saw the dress. It made him recall his first date with Hong Xin. After the pain in his heart subsided, he brought her over to the restaurant with a fake smile plastered on his face.

"The Song Kingdom boasts some of the best spiritual blacksmiths. It's a pity that their alchemists are so lacking," Wang Jun said casually to Xiao Li, who agreed with him profusely. They both ignored cold stares from multiple directions.

"Of course, dearest," Xiao Li said. "Everyone outside the kingdom knows the alchemists here are garbage. They even have to hide behind trade barriers to make a living. You'll teach them a lesson in court tomorrow though, won't you?" Wang Jun was amazed to hear such vicious words coming from the sweet woman's mouth. Should I get her a raise? he wondered.

"Of course I will. I just hope that Zhou Li is man enough to attend. Maybe he'll be too busy making love to his sister. Have you heard the latest rumor?" Wang Jun's latest comment was followed by a loud crash. Several attendants rushed over to another table in a panic, picking up pieces of broken glass and sweeping away spilled wine with their qi.

Wang Jun continued as though nothing had happened. "I heard that he and his sister make love every three nights, the same schedule as she's together with the crown prince. It's amazing that he hasn't clued in yet. I guess that makes it exciting. The mere thought of getting caught in the—"

"You dare?" an angry voice shouted. A man and a woman, both with long black hair and dressed in purple robes, walked out from the rubble that was once their table. The scent of fire and sulfur was thick in the air as the man walked toward them with a murderous aura.

"How dare you slander me in this city. You might talk big to impress women, but I dare you to leave your name." As the man spoke, the woman beside him gave both Wang Jun and Xiao Li a blood-chilling glare.

Wang Jun finished eating a few bites before looking up, unperturbed. "And who might you be?" he said nonchalantly. "Oh, you said I was slandering you. Well, I didn't slander anyone that I know of; I just stated facts. Speaking lies and deceit is morally reprehensible. In fact, we were only discussing the cuckold crown prince and his incestuous consort. Now, where was I?"

The young man, who was clearly Zhou Li, couldn't take it anymore, and black flames began to accumulate in his open palm. The woman beside him glanced at the fistful of flames nervously and whispered to him, "Brother dearest, you know we can't act as we wish here. Just let it go, and we'll keep tabs on him later."

"You should listen to your sister. She clearly cares a lot about you. If my eyes don't deceive me, she might just be willing to bear your children. Now, I'm not one to stand against forbidden love, but the citizens in the Song Kingdom—"

Crash.

The table in front of Wang Jun was smashed to bits. None of the food flew out, however, as it was instantly incinerated by the strange black flames. The pale-faced Xiao Li was breathing quickly, while Wang Jun was still holding a cup full of tea. He drank a few sips, then looked up to a set of stairs leading to the establishment's second level.

"Manager," Wang Jun said, "is this how you allow guests to treat each other in your establishment?"

A cold voice snorted, and a blur of a figure shot out, placing himself between Wang Jun and Zhou Li. The black flame summoned by Zhou Li was quickly extinguished by a mysterious force.

"Of course not. I'll be seeing these two out shortly," said an aged man with short-cropped hair. Many of the people in the group gasped audibly when they saw the figure. Few people dared to disturb the peace in this restaurant, as it was backed by a higher power than the Song Kingdom's royal family.

"That's quite all right. We were just leaving anyway. I'm not sure if this guest can afford it, so here is a little extra for the damages."

A small bright crystal shot out from his hand, and the old man pocketed it before anyone could see it. Wang Jun was sure the man knew what exactly had transpired and didn't want to leave a bad impression. Problems that money could solve weren't real problems.

As Wang Jun and Xiao Li were leaving the establishment, Wang Jun turned around and looked Zhou Li straight in the eyes. "You have such a childish temper. You really need to learn to control it, or you'll never be worthy to touch the hems of my robes. By the way, my name is Wang Jun. I'll see you in court tomorrow, if you dare."

***

Crash.

Zhou Li smashed a piece of furniture to vent his frustration at his failed divination. His divinations should yield information on anyone below core formation. Yet here he was, surrounded by broken chairs and shattered pottery. He could not help but think of the shadowy figure in the painting.

Is there really such a coincidence? The Wang family is reputed to be very rich and overbearing. However, they wouldn't send anyone important to this backwater kingdom. No, they must have just supplied Wang Jun with a shielding treasure, one that can protect him from my immature seer's eyes.

His red pupils glowed slightly as he changed his focus. He needed to monitor a key operation tonight, and it would begin any moment. He took out an ornate mirror from his bag of holding and muttered an incantation that caused it to darken. In that darkness, figures in white began to materialize, followed by the contours of a city. It soon revealed a perfect aerial picture of Fairweather City.

"Good," he muttered. "At least some plans are going well. Mirror, please focus on my brother." At his command, the mirror shimmered, revealing a hooded figure. Zhou Xian was currently busy painting an elaborate, blood-red rune on a stone floor. He wasn't painting the full rune, of course. Such a rune was beyond him—he was simply performing some finishing touches on a product at 90% completion.

It was then that he noticed an inky substance seeping from the side of the mirror. Zhou Li frowned and tried to dispel it, but to no avail. "Mirror, show me the Merchant," he said. By the time the image changed, half the mirror was covered by darkness, but he could barely make out the contours of a golden formation, which was almost complete. This was the last thing he saw in the mirror before it became completely coated in what seemed like black ink.

Zhou Li cautiously touched the surface of the mirror and pulled away his finger. It was coated in a thick, shadowy layer, which attempted to dive into his skin. He quickly burnt it away with his qi, and seeing that fire was effective on the ink covering his finger, he tried the same on the mirror without any results. He massaged his temples in frustration, taking a deep breath before realizing that he had another means of communication.

He picked up his black notebook to write a message. Magical treasures were very difficult to tamper with, after all. When he opened it, however, he saw that the pages were illegible. They were similarly coated in black. Seeing this, he tossed the small black book against a far wall, causing a precious painting to fall to the floor.

Could it really be him? Is Wang Jun the shadow? he pondered. Since he couldn't scry and couldn't communicate, he sat down in meditation. I'll try again in an hour. Let's see if whoever is blocking me is willing to do it all night.

***

Feng Ming arrived at Fairweather City just in time to see the sun setting beyond the horizon. His pace had been agonizingly slow, but he could hardly blame the horse. It was born and bred for the plow, and a full day's trot had completely exhausted it. He shook his head as he realized that he could now walk faster than the horse could move, so he found a lone tree and tied it off. The horse didn't eat the nearby grass or drink from the nearby puddle. Instead, it collapsed from fatigue.

Feng Ming wasted no time and ran toward Fairweather on foot. As he approached the city, he noticed that the gates were closed.

Strange, he thought, the gates don't usually close until one hour after sundown. Fortunately, he hadn't planned to waltz through the front gate in the first place. He approached the city from the river, which ran right through the city wall. The setting sun screened him as he darted out from the trees and plunged into the cold river near the wall. He swam underwater for twenty meters before surfacing just before the grate, where water passed into the city.

After observing the thick grate for a while, he retrieved his lucky spear from his back of holding. He used it to cut away at the pieces of metal holding the grate to the city wall. He replaced the grate after pulling himself through. The process was very loud, so he thanked his luck there were no guards on patrol nearby.

Quick as a viper, he snuck through the various alleyways, past beggars and orphans. He followed the winding alleys to the workshop district, where he had no choice but to run out in the open toward Bei Ling's rundown shack. He was surprised to see that there was no one walking on the empty streets, and there were no guards patrolling either. This was uncharacteristic for such a busy town.

Regardless, he let himself into the shack, lest he be discovered. A pleasant smell made his mouth water as he walked through the door to the dimensional abode. After all, he hadn't had a proper meal in two days. He walked into the dining room, where four dishes and two sets of cutlery had been laid out. Hong Lai and Bei Ling were just about to eat supper when Feng Ming appeared out of nowhere.

"Didn't you set out toward Green Leaf City two days ago?" Bei Ling asked, frowning. The younger man nodded his head in response.

"Yes, I did. I didn't make it, unfortunately. After a day's travel, I was attacked from behind by the man the county lord sent to accompany me. The horses were all killed or escaped, so I came back as fast as I could with a farmer's plow horse. Something fishy is going on with the county lord, and I had a hunch that I didn't have time to ride for reinforcements."

"Hong Lai, have you noticed anything unusual lately?" asked Bei Ling.

"Well," Hong Lai replied, "the guards have been very active lately. However, everything calmed down today. For some reason, the gate closed early, and they called a curfew. I didn't know what was going on, but it didn't seem like something worth fighting over. Maybe they just have something to do tonight, and they don't want to deal with manning the gate for the extra hour or two."

Bei Ling pondered for a moment before grabbing his coat off a rack. "I have a bad feeling. I'm going to go pay a visit to the county lord. You guys stay put."

Hong Lai looked at the abandoned supper and back to Feng Ming, who seemed positively exhausted. "Well, are you hungry?" he asked.

"Starving," Feng Ming replied.

***

A half hour later, a soldier and a blacksmith were sneaking through the alleys toward a nearby guard house.Because of the curfew, no one was walking on the open streets. Instead, the undesirables in the city had all huddled into the concealed alleys, where the guards wouldn't cause them any grief.

"Master Bei said to stay out of trouble," the blacksmith whispered angrily to his lightly armored companion.

Feng Ming chuckled and said, "I wanted to, but I got an itch. I want to go check out what those guards are so busy with. Don't worry, we'll be back in a jiffy. Besides, I can hardly cause trouble with you around, right?"

He ignored Hong Lai's whining and darted into another alley. They arrived at a dead end. Ignoring Hong Lai's puzzled expression, Feng Ming used his Burst Steps Technique to scale a small wall, propelling himself to the roof of a secluded shop. "Are you coming?" he whispered. Hong Lai sighed as he also executed a movement technique and landed beside Feng Ming.

"Do you do this a lot where you come from?" Hong Lai whispered as they walked on the rooftops while crouching.

"Not really. Only when I go peek at the bathhouse. I'm a master at sneaking and hiding, you know. I never get caught," Feng Ming replied, silencing the curious Hong Lai.

Soon they reached the other side of the rooftop adjacent to the guard shack. Feng Ming looked down and saw multiple guards stationed at the entrance, looking out at the street vigilantly. Of course, they never thought to look at the rooftops. Feng Ming took advantage of this blind spot and leapt across the gap. Hong Lai shook his head and followed, but his less than nimble movements caused a tile to fall from the roof and onto the street near the guard shack.

One of the guards walked to check the source of the ruckus, only to find a few broken tiles. "I told them to fix the roof last summer," he muttered. He looked up, barely missing Feng Ming and Hong Lai's shadows as they ducked into a half-open window.

"I really wonder who hired these guards," Feng Ming whispered. "They left a window open in an empty room. It doesn't get any more unprofessional than this."

Hong Lai glared at him, but just as he was about to speak, Feng Ming held up his hand to silence him.

"What's the lord thinking with this sudden curfew? And what's with those people downstairs? They give me the creeps," they heard a muffled voice say from behind the wooden wall.

"I heard that it's some kind of auspicious ceremony. That's why they're painting runes down there," another voice said.

"But those runes give me the creeps. And so do those people. I don't trust them one bit," a third voice said. He didn't continue speaking, however, as a man with a heavy set of footsteps walked down the hallway and opened the door.

"Ceremony's almost done," a grating voice said. "This day will be a turning point for Fairweather City." The voice then continued to elaborate in a loud voice. Feng Ming had heard enough. This distraction was a golden opportunity, and he signaled Hong Lai to follow him as he stepped out toward the hallway.

The wooden floor didn't creak as they walked, despite its aged condition. And neither did the stairs as they walked to the halfway point, where they crouched down to observe what was happening on the first floor. There, a few robed figures were busy chanting in the center of the room. They were surrounded by blood-red runes, which pulsed with light as the chanting progressed. The chanting and the bloody runes gave Feng Ming the willies. It was like a voice inside his head was yelling at him to immediately charge down there and stop them, yet he held himself back and continued to observe.

Right beside the chanting figures, a glowing golden rune hovered in midair, and many golden lines intersected that same rune. The runic characters were all gibberish to Feng Ming, so he focused on the other figures in the room. There were no guards here, only five men. Three of them were large men, while the others were lanky. His eyes narrowed as he focused on one man whom he'd seen before. He'd caught a glimpse of his face just before he cut down his fellow soldier as they tried to escape Crystal Meadows.

Hong Lai tensed as he saw Feng Ming's grip tighten on his spear. "Are you going to start a fight with those people?" he whispered.

"Those aren't people," Feng Ming replied, then he darted out with his spear and slashed the lanky man in half. He had avenged his friend, but it was far from enough. As this thought ran through his head, he felt a tingling sensation and decided to lean backward, causing a heavy blade to barely miss him. The blade came from one of the larger men, who had now doubled in girth.

"Complete the ceremony, quickly!" one of the lanky men with red eyes yelled angrily. In response, the hooded figure's chanting sped up. Feng Ming tried to break away toward the hooded figures, only to be intercepted by yet another large figure, who tried to grab him with his meaty hands.

"Tch." Feng Ming darted between them quickly and slashed at the large man's stomach. It felt like he was cutting through mud, and he realized immediately that the abomination was unharmed. They surrounded him once again, attacking him from three sides. He deflected some blows with his spear, dodging others. He followed his heart as he slashed out at random, and his spear always seemed to hit its mark. Before long, he had decapitated another two of the creatures.

"Hong Lai, stop them!" Feng Ming bellowed. Hong Lai, who hadn't moved since the fight started, suddenly pulled out his own weapon, an intricate longsword. He darted toward the three figures, two of which continued chanting as he hacked down one of them. Seeing that this hadn't stopped them, Hong Lai decapitated a second hooded figure, then stabbed the last one through the heart. This last figure chuckled as blood oozed out of his mouth.

"You're too late," the figure said hoarsely as he coughed out blood. "This town is ours now." With these words, he muttered one last syllable, and the red array lit up, concentrating its light into a glowing red rune that floated out from the floor.

The entire room was bathed in an eerie red light. Feng Ming, who had just decapitated the last creature, suddenly saw Hong Lai collapse to the floor. As he ran up to support him, he saw the strong man was resisting something with all his might. His eyes were bloodshot.

Just beneath Hong Lai, Feng Ming saw a slender red thread connecting him to the nearby rune. There were countless red threads leading out from blood red rune at the center of the room. With every breath that passed by, the rune pulsed. And with every pulse, it grew a little bit brighter.