A Toast from Afar

"Out of the way!" Qin Sang swept a cold glance over the surrounding soldiers. Not a single drop of blood stained his clothes, yet in the eyes of the troops, he was no different from a fiendish demon. He took a step forward. Without waiting for orders from their officers, the soldiers parted like a tide to open a path, gazing at Qin Sang with dread and awe. Not a single man dared to bar his way. Qin Sang seized a horse and, under the watchful gaze of the crowd, galloped straight for the city gate. Back at the Estate of the Marquis of Jiang Prefecture, the newly hung plaque had been pierced clean through by a longsword. The Crown Prince's corpse hung from the blade, still swaying. At the foot of the steps lay a pool of blood, glaringly red. *Clip-clop, clip-clop...* Spurring his mount down the wide avenues, Qin Sang dashed to the city gates of the Imperial Capital, where he found Wu Chuanzong guarding the gate with a squad of soldiers. Seeing Qin Sang approach, Wu Chuanzong personally opened the gate and shouted, "Sir, take care!" "Marquis!" It was Zhou Ning, the Water Monkey, leading a fine steed over. "Fresh mounts have been readied at every military relay station along the way. Marquis, take care on your journey!" Seeing Zhou Ning, Qin Sang could not help but recall their first meeting upon the Wuling River. Filled with emotion, he patted Zhou Ning's shoulder where his severed arm had once been, at a loss for words. "Take care. Until we meet again!" Switching horses, Qin Sang galloped out of the city. He had not ridden far when, struck by a sudden premonition, he turned his head to look back. There atop the city wall stood a sumptuous banquet table. Princess Dongyang sat behind the table, gazing intently at Qin Sang. Flanking her on either side, Bai Jianglan and Elder Yue cupped their hands in salute toward him. Princess Dongyang wore the armor of a city guard. Under the moonlight, her eyes shone like stars. Raising an amber goblet, she toasted Qin Sang from afar and drained it in a single gulp. Rising, she departed, her crimson cloak vanishing into the dark. *** Qin Sang traveled along the official post road, making swift and unimpeded progress. Heading southwest from the Imperial Capital all the way to Zhenshui Commandery, Sanwu City remained just as it was, while Qingyang Temple was irrevocably changed, now overrun by refugees. Qin Sang then turned west, crossed the Wuling River, and arrived at the banks of the Chenshui River, revisiting the place of his past. The scars of that great fire had long been erased by time, yet Qin Sang could still uncover scattered white bones. After searching for a while beneath the grass roots and soil, he found the skeletons of the youth surnamed Song and the black-robed fiend. The two sets of bones were easy to tell apart. Qin Sang gathered the youth's bones and erected a burial mound, and he laid the black-robed fiend to rest as well; after all, it was from the fiend that he had obtained the *Nether Scripture*, which had opened the door to the immortal path for him. After offering his respects, Qin Sang set out on the road once more. Now completely unafraid of wolves, tigers, or leopards, he swaggered through the mountain forests without care. Before long, he reached the northern border of the State of Ning. Further west, crossing one more nation would bring him to the Tianlu River. Qin Sang hesitated. Ever since arriving in the State of Ning, an inexplicable urge had tugged at his heart, urging him to visit Wang Family Village. He did not know whether this empathy arose from having integrated Qin Sanwa's memories, or from a desire to make amends to the boy whose body he inhabited. Even with a detour, it would only cost him a few days. Compared to the vast journey to the State of Biyun, it amounted to very little and would not hinder his main objective. Qin Sang did not deliberate for long and decided to pay a visit to Wang Family Village. It was the dead of night when he arrived at Wang Family Village. Over the years, this humble hamlet, detached from worldly conflict, had hardly changed at all. Everything matched Qin Sanwa's memories piece by piece, evoking an odd mixture of familiarity and estrangement within Qin Sang. Qin Sanwa's home lay at the northernmost edge of Wang Family Village, backing onto the fields. It had a sizable courtyard and a row of five stone-walled rooms. When disaster had struck Qin Sanwa, only the eldest brother had taken a wife, while the second brother was merely betrothed and yet to marry, and the whole family lived together under one roof. Mother and the eldest sister-in-law had bickered often; back then it had seemed irritating, but looking back now, it carried a touch of warmth. An owl hooted twice from a nearby tree. Qin Sang started, suddenly realizing that he was smiling, nearly lost in Qin Sanwa's world. He sternly reminded himself that he was Qin Sang, an outsider from another world. Qin Sanwa was already dead, and those memories were like watching a long movie, populated entirely by strangers. By now, the Qin family's courtyard stood right before him. Little had changed since Qin Sanwa had left. Steadying his mind, Qin Sang channeled the *Shadowless Steps* and slipped inside. In the quiet of the night, everyone had gone to sleep, broken only by an occasional cough. Judging by their breathing, nine people lived in the courtyard in total. Three of the breaths were faint and shallow, clearly belonging to young children. Both his eldest and second brothers now had offspring. Standing outside the windows, Qin Sang looked into each room one by one. Among the sleeping faces were those he recognized and those completely new to him. Suddenly, he paused, coming to a halt before one particular room. Inside, where the Qin family ancestral tablets and shrine to the household spirits usually stood, an additional spirit tablet had been placed. Because Qin Sanwa had died before coming of age, the tablet bore only the childhood name "Qin Sanwa." Suddenly, a faint stirring came from the room at the very end—the bedroom of Qin Sanwa's parents. "Old Qin... Old Qin..." It was Mother Qin's voice, kept very low for fear of waking the children in the adjacent room. After a moment, Father Qin's sleepy voice muttered, "What is it now? Can't you sleep in the middle of the night? What's gotten into you... dreaming of Sanwa again?" "Aye, I dreamt of him." "So you had a dream. How many times has that been now..." Father Qin grumbled, then suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise. "How come you aren't crying this time? In the past, whenever you dreamt of Sanwa, you'd weep the whole night through. Wait, are you smiling?" "Why shouldn't I smile?" Mother Qin gave a soft huff. "I hadn't dreamt of my third boy in so many days, I was too terrified to eat a bite. Today I finally got to see my child again—you tell me whether I should smile or not!" "Sanwa's been dead for years now..." "You're the one who's dead!" Father Qin gave a muffled yelp of pain, having apparently been pinched by Mother Qin, and grumbled testily, "You stubborn mule! If he weren't dead, why hasn't Sanwa come home? Old Wang never came back either. His shop was snatched away, his house was taken over. If it weren't for the old clan patriarch of the Wang family stepping in, Old Wang's wife wouldn't even have kept those few mu of land. What a pitiful family..." "Oh, aren't you concerned about Old Wang's wife? Why don't you bring her home and support her yourself!" "What's there for me to be concerned about? Weren't we just talking about it? Don't you often take food to them as well? ...In the middle of the night, where are you going?" "I only do that because Old Wang looked after my third boy!" Carrying an oil lamp, Mother Qin pushed the door open. "I dreamt again that my third boy came back. I have to go out and see, and unlatch the door for him." Qin Sang swiftly melted into the shadows. "You've had that dream eighty times if not a hundred, and every time it's for nothing. You just won't give up! Wait up, I'm coming out too..." "Didn't you say you didn't believe it?" "I'm going to take a dump!" Motionless, Qin Sang watched Father Qin and Mother Qin return to their room with faces full of disappointment, and blow out the oil lamp. Once the two elders had fallen sound asleep, Qin Sang reappeared. Silently pushing the door open, he picked up the cup before the spirit tablet, poured a cup of cloudy wine, and gently splashed it onto the ground. "You are already dead." Qin Sang sighed softly, speaking to himself, unsure for whose ears the words were meant. *** Before departing, Qin Sang visited the Wang household, leaving a pouch of broken silver before Shopkeeper Wang's spirit tablet, severing his final ties to the mortal world.