66 Epilogue

Zhou Li frowned as he saw the latest note in his little black book. Many messages had popped up over the last few hours since morning. They arrived once the ink on his notebook had faded. He saw many notes about updates to the plan, warnings about potential intruders, and finally, some notes about the failure of the operation in Fairweather.

The latest note he received was the most infuriating. Protector Song had located Du Cha Ming and the little fox. They had just survived a calamity, but they somehow escaped using a heavily damaged spatial-transmission talisman. Who knew if they were dead or alive? Unfortunately, he discovered a few short minutes later that the thread of karma between him and Cha Ming had vanished.

Lightning, the nemesis of karma and evil. What rotten luck I have. What's worse, this confirms my guess. That the little fox is a Godbeast descendent. It now has a second tail, and its growth rate is astonishing. Well, on the bright side, this court case is going well.

Zhou Li continued his plotting and planning as he waited for the court procedures to wrap up.

***

"Wang Jun, I regret to inform you that your case has been rejected from the highest court with no chance for appeal. The trade laws and regulations in the Song Kingdom are not for you to question, and the termination of the contract was perfectly legitimate." The old judge's announcement didn't surprise Wang Jun.

He calmly looked over to the other side of the room with a pleasant smile on his face. Zhou Li was smirking while engaging in what Wang Jun could only assume was congratulatory small talk.

Smug bastard. He doesn't even know he lost yet.

"However," continued the judge, "I advise the plaintiff and the defendant to note the recent trade agreement and its impacts on matters discussed in court these past few days. Of course, this has no bearing on the current case, as the case was filed before the agreement was made. Court is adjourned."

Wang Jun and his group calmly walked out of the courthouse, past the frowning Zhou Li and his entourage.

"Congratulations on your monumental victory, Zhou Li," Wang Jun said before exiting. He didn't walk for long before he heard a yell from the courthouse.

"Why do you look so happy, Wang Jun? You just lost. Do you know something I don't?" Zhou Li had walked ahead of his entourage and stopped only a few feet from Wang Jun. Protector Ren began stepping up, but Wang Jun held him back.

"Of course I do," Wang Jun said, still smiling. "You didn't really think I cared about this court case, did you? It was all just a smokescreen to eat up your time. A black cover on a window, or ink on a notebook. Whatever way you want to put it. But since I'm in a charitable mood today, I'll share a bit of information.

"A trilateral trade agreement was just ratified last night by the Song Kingdom's ambassador between the Song Kingdom, the Xia Empire, and the Ming Empire. The Song Kingdom has just agreed to eliminate trade barriers for alchemical products in exchange for the unrestricted trade access to products containing significant portions of soul alloy, blue gold, cold iron, and elemental dust. Therefore, the court results were meaningless. The Song Kingdom Alchemist's Association is now a sinking ship, and you're the captain. Congratulations!"

"Bullshit," Zhou Li spat. "There isn't a vein for any of these products in the kingdom, and these are all highly restricted trade products. The Song Kingdom might have the skill to forge these, but we have no access to raw materials. I refuse to believe that the king would authorize this. I'll make sure the Crown Prince tears this agreement apart."

"Go ahead," Wang Jun said. "Coincidentally, it's no great secret that the Wang family has begun developing a mine for these very products in conjunction with the third prince. We're very happy to be conducting business jointly with the royal family. The mine is located near Greatwood Bridge. But you should already be very familiar with that area, shouldn't you?"

Wang Jun walked away calmly after saying these words. He was in a very good mood. His obstruction had been successful, his trade deals had been established, and Zhou Li was now extremely upset. This was all small news, of course. After all, he had just divined the fate of his dear friend before arriving at court.

Cha Ming was alive.

***

Gong Lan dragged her feet as she hopped off a wagon and entered Green Leaf City. She felt so tired, so empty. Something was missing from her life, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Oh well, she thought. I'll go see Brother. He always knows how to cheer me up.

Feng Ming had entered the city at the same time. Apparently, he needed to report to his father as quickly as possible. It was understandable but tedious. She sighed as she realized that there were many tedious things she should do soon. Like eating and showering. She didn't like showering. It washed away her natural fragrance, covering it with smelly perfumes and herbs.

She continued walking lifelessly down the street. A few blocks down the road, she bumped into a young street urchin, who was sent flying a few feet backward as a result of their collision.

Whatever, that's his problem. He should look where he's going.

Suddenly she realized that her belt pouch was missing. In a flash, she appeared beside the young street urchin and pressed her saber to his cheek. A dribble of blood leaked out from the small cut.

"You should watch where you're going!" she said in a heated manner. The street urchin gulped and kowtowed in apology. "All right, all right. Leave the belt pouch, stop robbing, and scram!" she said. After dropping the pouch, the little boy scampered off in the distance and didn't look back.

All of a sudden, she felt refreshed. She began running off toward her brother's place. Several people on the streets gave her a quick nod as she flashed past. Life was wonderful. Or was it?

Fatigue hit her once again like a sack of bricks. Is it excitement that's missing from my life? She limped a few more blocks before sitting down on a bench to rest. Just in front of her, she saw several people moving barrels of wine into a bar nearby.

"Liu Bai, make sure you get me the thirty-year barrel next. I need to stick it in the back of the cellar," an older man said from behind a large cart.

"Are you sure? It's a little awkward to get to you. How about you wait until we get a few barrels out?" a younger man asked.

"No need. Just pass it over the rest. I'll catch it," the old man replied. The younger man complied and began rolling the barrel.

Gong Lan rolled her eyes as she saw the scene. They were practically begging to get hurt.

Predictably, the young man tumbled as he struggled to push the barrel over a few others. The barrel clanked down the ramp, and the old man screamed as he was pinned between the barrel of wine and the earth. The momentum ensured that it rolled over his face, leaving him with a crushed, bloody nose.

Gong Lan's heart thumped when she saw the scene. She felt her emotions stirring, like life was worth living. She looked at the scene painted in red. It was beautiful.

That was when she realized why she was down. It's not excitement I'm missing, she thought. It's blood. She had chased after power and lost herself in the process.

***

Feng Ming was standing at attention in front of his father. The latter was massaging his temples as he read the report. It only took him an incense time to finish.

"In short, you discovered a sinister plot and escaped miraculously. Then, instead of reporting to your commanding officer, you ignored the chain of command and fled to Green Leaf City to report to me, your father. Then, when you were ambushed halfway, you didn't even bother to finish your report and rushed back to the city. According to the report, you saved the situation. You even brought a letter of recommendation from Zhang Yifeng, the master alchemist in Fairweather, or what's left of it." Feng Ming's father paused for a moment before affirming the obvious.

"You're a terrible scout," he concluded.

"I realize that, but—" Feng Ming started, only to be interrupted by his father.

"No buts! You should have done your duty. It's not like you're a commando or anything. You're just a soldier, and soldiers follow orders. Now, how to deal with reporting this to your commander…"

Feng Ming sweated while he waited for his father's decision. By all rights, he should be court martialed for his insubordination. However, he had performed great merit and should be rewarded. All he could hope for was that these canceled each other out.

"I've got it!" his father suddenly exclaimed. "The perfect reward, and the perfect punishment. I'm going to recommend to your commander that, in light of the circumstances, you decided to do what's best for the kingdom. However, since you did break military protocol, the merit for this will cancel itself out. Now, the problem is that the general is a stickler for order in his army. You can't stay there. So I'll request that you be transferred to a good friend of mine. He loves crazy people like you."

Feng Ming trembled when he heard this. "Which good friend might you be talking about?" he asked.

"Colonel Long Ping," he replied. "Commanding officer of the Special Forces."

***

A young girl wearing a large cloak was trotting down the road at night on an old brown horse. It was exhausted, but so was she. Besides, where would they stop to rest if they had no money? Running away was hardly the smartest thing Hong Xin had ever done. However, anything was better than facing her friends and family.

"Little brown," she whispered, "it looks like I'm going to have to sell you. Otherwise we'll both starve." The horse couldn't understand, of course. It was just a regular farm horse.

"I wish I wasn't so useless," she said aloud. "I wish I was brave like Gong Lan, smart like Wang Jun, and strong like Cha Ming." Unfortunately, this didn't seem to be her lot in life. Being abandoned by Wang Jun had been a crushing blow to her self esteem.

She looked into her purse and noted the contents: twenty pieces of silver, her purple hair clip, and a few days' worth of dried rations. A night's stay at an inn would cost her five pieces of silver, but then she wouldn't be able to keep running for very long.

Perhaps I'll find a stack of hay we can rest on. She didn't know where she was going, but one thing was certain: She would find her place in life or die trying.

***

Dawn.

A small fox licked his lips as he saw a nearby spirit wolf walking toward his small cave dwelling with a dead spirit rabbit in its jaws. It was Huxian's first day in the area, and he had luckily stumbled upon the perfect temporary dwelling as he recovered from his wounds. Heck, it even came with servants!

The wolf placed the fresh prey in front of Huxian and then backed away with his head down. It didn't turn around until it left Huxian's line of sight.

The nice thing about these servants is that I only had to beat up one of them and they all came begging to serve. So what if that wolf was a little bigger than the rest? He sighed and shook his head in contempt. Spirit beasts nowadays have no self respect.

He bit down on the chunk of raw meat while wagging his two tails. It wasn't very filling, but it was better than nothing. Besides, he wasn't in peak shape. The space storm had broken several of his bones and cut up his flesh quite badly. He figured it would take a few months until he fully recovered.

I wonder how Cha Ming is doing? he wondered. I know he's still alive, but he was almost dead even before he used the talisman. The transmission function didn't even activate. Rather, the talisman created a spatial storm and sent us both god knows where. If only I wasn't so weak.

Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done besides recovering and finding out where he was. And what that dreadful presence was at the peak of the mountain.

Yep, it's better to lay low for now.

***

It was a beautiful, sunny day in the Ming Empire. The fertile plains at the base of the mountains were filled with droves of farmers and oxen. It was the fourth day of spring, and according to local tradition, this was the best time to plant crops. The poor farmers would spend the next week planting like their lives depended on it. Farming had always been an unforgiving occupation, and everyone whose livelihood depended on it scrambled to obtain all the luck they could get.

The children were tasked with drawing water from the village, loading it onto oxen so that it could be delivered and poured on the freshly planted seeds. Hundreds of children traveled to and from the nearby river. This large river came from a nearby mountain chain. It passed by the smaller mountains and gathered water from tributary rivers. Given it massive size, it was no wonder that they didn't see the figure of a naked man as he was washed downstream.

The young man was somehow holding onto a large log, despite being unconscious. He was riddled with cuts and covered in black burns. It was a miracle he was still alive. Despite his injuries, he continued floating past one village after another. Every so often, his eye would twitch.

Like this, Cha Ming continued to flow downstream toward an unknown destination. As he traveled, he dreamed of friendship and adventure, of a journey in the spirit woods. He dreamed of finding the Clear Sky Brush and sparring with the Monkey King.

Eventually he fell down a steep waterfall. He surfaced soon after, somehow having survived the fall and the rocks below. He washed up on shore where he was discovered by a few young children. They tried to wake him, but they couldn't. He was having a nightmare, one that wouldn't let him escape. In the nightmare, there were devils and angels. There was a final battle, and jade eyes with orange pupils.

There were mountains of jade and a throne of bones, and finally, a blood-red moon.

-- End Book 2 --