Blade in the Snow

Chapter 8: The Eastern Star

The wealthy prodigals of Lingzhou City sincerely admired the Heir apparent's level of arrogance as sky-high. After three years of lying low, he had been back in Lingzhou for only a few days before desecrating Flower-Queen Yu.

Xu Fengnian carried the clumsy assassin, whose real name was Yu Xuanji, back to the Royal Palace. Following behind was Li Hanlin, disheveled. Yan Chiji, who did not enjoy visiting prostitutes, had merely sat upright in the tower engaging in elegant conversation about wind and moon with refined courtesans. Seeing Brother Feng stay in the Banana Courtyard for only a moment before dragging Flower-Queen Yu out, he secretly praised: Domineering.

Upon arriving at the residence, Li Hanlin, knowing how to read the situation, dragged Yan Chiji to visit the White Dragon Studio.

Xu Fengnian threw Yu Youwei onto the large bed in the inner chamber. He took a handful of silk ribbons to bind her hands and feet. Not feeling reassured, he tied another layer.

Rummaging through boxes and cabinets, he found the "Jade Mud Powder" that Li Hanlin used with unfailing success across a hundred flower fields. This was far superior to the anesthetic powders or bone-softening powders essential for flower-plucking thieves traveling the martial world. After a woman consumed it, her mind remained clear, but her body became soft and weak like a pile of warm jade. It was difficult for her to bite her tongue to commit suicide, yet it did not hinder her from moaning melodiously.

Dissolving it in a wine cup, he pried open Yu Youwei's mouth and poured it in. Having finished these tasks, Xu Fengnian slapped her hard. A bright red five-finger print appeared on her powder-tender cheek. She did not wake. Xu Fengnian slapped her twice more. Finally, Flower-Queen Yu woke up.

Yu Xuanji opened her eyes. She did not struggle, did not resist. Closing her eyes again, she said softly in a sticky voice words that nearly made Xu Fengnian fly into a rage: "Heir apparent, please act quickly. I will just pretend I was bitten by a beast."

Xu Fengnian leaned over and stroked her cold face, reddened from the beating. With the tenderness of a beloved lover, he asked: "Does it hurt?"

Yu Xuanji remained motionless. Xu Fengnian stopped pretending. He picked up a spring palace picture book prepared long ago on the bed. Painted on silk, accompanied by erotic poems and intimate phrases, the illustrations were vivid and lifelike. Lifting one sheet, which described how to play with slender feet, Xu Fengnian removed Yu Xuanji's socks. Continuing his actions, he spoke: "Plump yet moderate, length fitting the standard. Cannot lack one, cannot have two. Only then is it a divine product. Youwei, your jade feet feel truly comfortable. With deep winter approaching, you can help warm my quilt in the future. As for these feet, the spring palace picture says they combine the best features of eyebrow curves, fingertip sharpness, twin peak roundness, lip color redness, and the secrecy of private parts. Tell me, should I play with them for half an hour, or a full hour?"

Yu Xuanji possessed a pair of feet that could be called a divine product. In her five years in the trade, she needed no labor. Soaking in fragrant baths daily, she maintained every inch of her body meticulously. Due to the instinctive tension brought by Xu Fengnian's molestation, the instep of her foot arched like a crescent moon.

True to his promise worth a thousand gold, Xu Fengnian played for a full hour. Especially when he extended a finger to rub between her two jade-bead toes, he could clearly feel her suppressed trembling.

Next, climbing upward, he caressed her legs through Yu Xuanji's last layer of close-fitting velvet trousers. Long, slender, and white-tender. Wielding a sword with such ethereal spirit, her beautiful legs were unsurprisingly full of elasticity. After tormenting her for another half hour, instead of tearing off her undergarment to "open the door and see the mountain," he removed his own clothes. Lying sideways beside Yu Xuanji, he took her earlobe into his mouth.

The beauty was already drenched in fragrant sweat, tears blurring her vision. She bit her lips tightly until blood seeped out.

Xu Fengnian whispered softly by her ear: "Gazing at the City Wall. Sword dance. Yin Study Palace. Following the vine to find the melon, I do not believe that with the power of the Beiliang Royal Palace, I cannot dig out the secret of your background. When that time comes, everything you care about, I will destroy. Living people, I will kill. Dead people, I will dig up their graves. After slowly growing tired of playing with you, I will sink your corpse to the bottom of the lake. I will ask the old Daoist from Wudang Mountain to perform a Dharma service, making you a wrongful spirit and wild ghost, unable to reincarnate. Opposing me, this is your fate."

Tears covered Yu Xuanji's entire face.

Xu Fengnian suddenly spread his five fingers and gripped her breast. There was none of the previous gentleness. Yu Xuanji felt a bone-chilling pain. Xu Fengnian smiled ferociously: "I am kind-hearted. I will sell you one dose of regret medicine. As long as you are willing to serve me until the day you grow old and fade, I promise you can remain Yu Youwei. I will not investigate whether you are an orphan of a former Western Chu minister or a refugee crushed by the Beiliang Iron Cavalry in the martial world. I will not pursue it. Everything will be peaceful and good. You can be my golden canary. In this world, is there a cage more magnificent than the Beiliang Royal Palace?"

Yu Xuanji sobbed with choking breaths.

Xu Fengnian suddenly administered a heavy dose: "I remember now. There is also that Wu Meiniang. Such a likable little thing. Pitiful and tragic. Soon it will become food for wild dogs' mouths. I will get up now, go to the Banana Courtyard, pick it up, chop it to pieces before your eyes, and then throw it to the starving wild dogs."

Yu Xuanji fainted.

Xu Fengnian was speechless. Fainted from fear just like that? There were even fiercer harsh medicines in the plan that he hadn't revealed yet. He felt unsatisfied.

Xu Fengnian pinched the two pink jade pigeons twice. Satisfying. But since Flower-Queen Yu lay straight as a dead person, after touching her a few times, Xu Fengnian lost interest. If it were merely a beautiful body, Xu Fengnian could summon them with a wave of his hand and dismiss them just as easily. He could have as many as he wanted.

Sitting up, he dressed. Looking down at Yu Youwei, who lay in a faint with tears like pear blossoms carrying rain, the resentment in Xu Fengnian's chest and the gloom in his eyes faded slightly. Just a silly girl, nothing rare. Wasn't there a Princess Taiping in the residence?

Xu Fengnian covered her with a cotton quilt; her head rested on a large red money-python bolster. In the Heir's heart, there was a scale for measuring the beauty and demeanor of women in the world. One hundred wen, equaling one tael of silver, was the extreme. Sixty wen was average beauty. Only those reaching eighty wen could enter Xu Fengnian's eyes.

In his view, setting aside the White Fox Face's male identity, she could score ninety-five wen. Originally, he wanted to rate her at one tael of silver, but felt it inappropriate; he needed to save some longing for himself. Jiang Ni had ninety wen, but she could become even more beautiful in the future.

The Yu Youwei before him scored eighty-six wen, similar to his eldest sister. In the residence, there were not many, but not few, beautiful women and maids scoring over seventy wen. However, eating this kind of "grass by the nest" that only required a crook of the finger was, in the Heir's terminology, "truly not a technical skill." Xu Fengnian did not practice martial arts and dared not indulge in lust excessively. He selected carefully, preferring none to poor quality, maintaining a "high-class" character.

Having busied himself for two hours, Xu Fengnian ate some warm pastries kept in an exquisite food box. Regaining strength, he sat by the bed and slapped Flower-Queen Yu awake again with a single strike. Speaking in cold words and cold language, he asked: "Do you want to eat buns made from Wu Meiniang's meat?"

Yu Xuanji finally began to cry hoarsely.

Xu Fengnian rolled his eyes: "I was lying to you. Let me tell you the truth. I want to vent my anger. At most, I will have issues with you and your family background. After throwing you into the lake, I will raise Wu Meiniang for you. I will ensure it becomes white and fat."

She stared blankly at Xu Fengnian.

Xu Fengnian sneered: "Outside the bed, when have I ever lied to you?"

She said aggrievedly: "At this moment, you are sitting on the bed."

Xu Fengnian, ashamed and angry, suddenly rose and said: "Donkey grass! A woman who remembers beatings but not kindness! I am going right now to chop Wu Meiniang into meat sauce!"

Just as he rose, he heard Yu Youwei say softly: "I will be your slave. From today on, I am only Yu Youwei."

Xu Fengnian turned and gazed at Flower-Queen Yu, whose expression was dead still. He asked: "Can I trust you?"

She closed her eyes and said sorrowfully: "Then kill me first, and then go kill Wu Meiniang."

Xu Fengnian hesitated for a moment, then untied the bindings on her hands and feet. Moving far away, he said: "Sleep here today. Tomorrow I will arrange a courtyard for you. Consider it being my warming-room concubine. Do not expect a title; there is none. Without permission, you are not allowed to walk around."

She said calmly: "I miss Wu Meiniang."

That very night, the Heir apparent sent someone to the Purple Gold Tower to redeem Yu Youwei's freedom. Apart from one white cat, nothing from the Banana Courtyard was brought back to the Beiliang Royal Palace.

...

Under a bright moon and sparse stars, two figures slowly walked up the foundation of the Tide-Listening Pavilion. The pairing was strange: the Great Pillar of State Xu Xiao, and the White Fox Face summoned by Xu Fengnian.

Because the late Princess Consort had believed in Buddhism all her life, beneath the majestic foundation stood a square Buddhist pagoda. Carved with an eight-petal plum blossom Sumeru base, the pagoda body was bowl-shaped. In the center, a boat-shaped niche was opened, inside which a Buddha was carved sitting cross-legged on a lotus platform, with a solemn expression. Eight Vajra stone carvings at the base held up the pagoda spire.

This building was undoubtedly the feng shui location of Lingzhou City. Lingzhou lacked water, so King Xu Xiao of Beiliang expanded the lake into a sea by human effort, implying a "water brush." The Tide-Listening Pavilion, towering and majestic, was built facing the water, gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and absorbing the essence of the sun and moon.

Under the eaves of the main tower's first floor hung three horizontal plaques. To the due east was the "Kui Wei Xiong Jue" (Great and Heroically Unparalleled) nine-dragon plaque bestowed by the Emperor.

Before entering the tower, the Great Pillar of State smiled lightly: "Exchanging one life saved for Fengnian to allow Master Nan Gong entry into the tower. No matter how you look at it, I profited."

The White Fox Face's expression remained normal. She did not answer.

Pushing open the great doors, a huge white marble relief titled Dunhuang Flying Immortals came into view in the hall. The flying immortals fluttering with robes in the painting were all life-size. Even the well-traveled White Fox Face paused for a moment, lost in thought.

The slightly hunchbacked King Xu Xiao of Beiliang chuckled and introduced: "On the west hall of this first floor are placed thirty thousand volumes of introductory martial arts under heaven. Not very valuable things; I collected them merely to occupy space and add a scholarly atmosphere of 'a family collection of ten thousand books.'

The second floor is a hidden layer. Besides four thousand unique editions of Yin-Yang studies and Vertical-Horizontal studies, there are also forty-nine strange weapons and sharp tools under heaven. This is where my second daughter loves to stay most.

The third floor holds twenty thousand volumes of profound treasure manuals and secret scriptures. The fourth floor's hidden layer treasures some strange stones and antiques, always scolded by Fengnian as reeking of merchant vulgarity.

The fifth and sixth floors contain the objects sought by those martial heroes who risk danger to infiltrate the palace. Higher up, I believe ordinary experts would not understand even if they saw it.

As for the top floor, it is empty. Master Nan Gong, if you wish to climb high and gaze into the distance, you may go to the White Crane Tower on the mountain peak to view the scenery."

The White Fox Face heard the meaning behind the Great Pillar of State's words and nodded.

Xu Xiao narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Then shall we go straight to the fifth floor?"

The White Fox Face shook her head and finally spoke: "After going up, I may never be interested in looking at the sixty thousand volumes on the lower floors again."

Xu Xiao was not surprised. Laughing loudly, he walked up the stairs alone, disappearing into the shadows.

The White Fox Face, with the blades Embroidered Winter and Spring Thunder hanging at the waist, stood before a jade stone screen, radiant with spirit.

The Great Pillar of State arrived at the eighth floor. Bamboo slips and ancient books were scattered chaotically everywhere. A long red sandalwood table held a dim, flickering candle lamp. At the corner of the table rested a green gourd containing wine, a red string tying the gourd's mouth to a person's withered arm.

That person sat on the ground, hair hanging loose, a face pale as snow. Between the eyebrows was a touch of pale red; looking closely, it resembled an inverted phoenix eye. Dressed in hemp clothes, barefoot and cross-legged, he wrote with flying speed.

Great Pillar of State Xu Xiao picked up a dozen bamboo slips, arranged them neatly, and only then found a place to sit. Apologetically, he said: "Came in a hurry, forgot to bring wine. I will have Fengnian make up for it later."

Xu Xiao was obviously accustomed to the strange man's silence. Speaking to himself, he said: "Without a true Super First-Rank Grandmaster-level expert stationed in the palace, I ultimately cannot sleep peacefully. I hope this Nan Gong Pu She does not disappoint me. Strangely enough, spies investigated for half a year but could not dig out this person's background. It seems he can only be from Northern Han. Yishan, what level of strength do you say he currently possesses?"

The haggard, ghost-like man spoke, his voice like the sound of metal and stone: "From First-Rank. Cultivating within the tower for ten years, he can stand below all living beings, and above him, there is no one."

The Great Pillar of State clicked his tongue in admiration: "Fengnian has found a treasure."

The consumptive man picked up the gourd, shook it, and found no wine. Instantly losing interest, he stopped writing, his eyes becoming dull.

Xu Xiao stood up, looking at a Map of Earthly Immortals on the south wall. Clasping his hands behind his back and frowning, he said: "Yishan, Fengnian will soon reach adulthood and undergo the capping ceremony. Gift him a 'courtesy name'."

The man thought for a moment: "Xu Fengnian, courtesy name Tianlang."

Great Pillar of State Xu Xiao suddenly burst into unrestrained laughter, quite proud.