As a grand metropolis, the city of Pingyuan Commandery stood at a vital land and water hub along the middle reaches of the Lan River.
A branch of the Yishui River flowed straight through the city.
Further downstream, Chuanlai Commandery stretched past Yunzhou Prefecture all the way to Qingzhou. The waterways between the two commanderies were linked, and large barges plied them constantly. Along the riverbanks, shops bustled and medicine merchants gathered in crowds.
Various colorful shop banners hung on both sides of the inner river, bearing the emblems of different herb-producing mountain lords.
Backing these mountain lords were not only mountain bosses, but also immortal cultivation clans.
As a result, many Qi Refining cultivators frequented the area.
Whether mortal folk or Jianghu wanderers, whenever they obtained spirit herbs, they would trade them here for spirit stones, which could then be exchanged for pills that prolonged life.
Thus, it was hardly unusual to see Qi Refining cultivators haggling with ordinary commoners.
Along the river embankment, several old women sat on small stools with freshly gathered roots and stems laid out before them. Still dusted with soil and glistening with morning dew, the herbs carried the crisp scent of the mountain wilderness.
Just as Qin Xuan passed them, a man clad in a short tunic stepped up and bought out their entire stock with a small pouch of broken silver.
They were merely common varieties like cnidium grass and bone-penetrating root, used in cultivating external arts.
To Qin Xuan, they were of little use.
Qi Refining cultivators did not reject body refinement outright, but ordinary methods yielded gains far too slowly for anyone to bother with.
After browsing for quite a while, he had yet to find the herbs he needed.
He scanned his surroundings, then snapped his head around, his gaze locking onto the cloth banner of an itinerant doctor.
The banner fluttered in the breeze, but with a motion that was far from natural.
Qin Xuan ambled over, caught the corner of the banner, and casually pulled it aside. Behind it, a figure in yellow seemed startled, letting out a delicate gasp before complaining:
"Young Master, why must you frighten people?"
Qin Xuan sized up the maiden. She looked no more than sixteen or seventeen, her slender figure still budding yet already gracefully contoured. She wore a goose-yellow tunic tied over a blush-pink crêpe skirt, with delicate features as lovely as a painting—a truly striking beauty.
She held a small woven bamboo basket in both hands, clutching it against her chest in guarded caution. Her slender brows were knitted tightly; she looked annoyed, yet she could not muster an ounce of genuine ferocity.
"That's turning around to blame the innocent," Qin Xuan said, pointing behind her. "Did I frighten you, or have you been tailing me this entire way?"
"The road doesn't belong to your family. I walk where I please—who'd want to follow you?"
She let out a soft huff and turned her head away, though her eyes peeked back at Qin Xuan from the corner of her gaze.
"Fine. If you follow me any further, I'll feed you to a fiend. Tender young skin like yours must be soft and sweet to eat—a fiend's absolute favorite."
Issuing that mock threat, Qin Xuan turned and walked away.
A rapid patter of footsteps hurried after him from behind, and the maiden swiftly darted ahead of him.
From then on, no matter which way Qin Xuan turned, she anticipated his direction and always stayed a step ahead.
After he shifted course three times, the girl offered a sweet smile. "Young Master, if I walk ahead of you, will you set your fiends on me as well?"
"Impressive,"
Qin Xuan praised. "Who taught you this Nine Palaces Displacement Art?"
"You actually recognize it?"
"What's so strange about that?"
The girl's interest was piqued. "Very well, let's see how much you truly know. Right now, I'm using the Central Palace as my pivot, and you're already caught within my Nine Palaces Array. This is called 'Lock the Palace and Trap the Foe.' I wager you cannot step thirty feet beyond me."
Qin Xuan was amused. "Putting on airs, are we? Do you really have the skill for that?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
Qin Xuan ceased his leisurely stroll and cast aside any complacency.
Though her execution was unpolished, he had only ever read about such strange arts in Daoist Wang's Travels in the Central Provinces; they were far beyond anything among Yuansong Temple's Twelve-Storied Tower spells.
Circulating Spring Letters, Autumn Post, he artfully channeled his Immortal Gate Sword Art.
A realm like sword qi sounding like thunder was still far beyond his reach.
Yet he could blaze an alternate path—using himself as the sword to sunder the Nine Palaces Array.
In the span of a single breath, his feet traced illusory steps that seemed to tread and not tread all at once. With a sudden burst of speed, he turned into a green blur, piercing through the array like a bolt of lightning and landing thirty feet away in a single stride.
The maneuver had cost him a fair amount of spiritual power, but Qin Xuan showed not the slightest trace of strain on the surface.
Without looking back, he continued forward.
The maiden froze for a moment, then her eyes sparkled with astonishment. Clutching her little basket, she trotted after him. "Young Master, wait for me!"
Qin Xuan had roughly guessed her background, so he paid her no heed.
Falling into step beside him, the girl acknowledged her loss in the contest. Taking his threat about the fiend to heart, she behaved with far greater decorum.
To dispel Qin Xuan's wariness, she explained in a gentle voice:
"My name is Gu Mei'er. That Nine Palaces Displacement Art was something my grandfather stumbled upon on a cliff wall while packing our belongings. But from the Nine Palaces Array, I only learned the Gen Palace, and not even very well."
Taking advantage of the opening, she asked, "Young Master, your magic power just now was fierce and chilling, brimming with lethal intent. Was that an immortal sword art?"
When Qin Xuan gave no answer, she took it as tacit confirmation.
"Ah, so you truly are a sword immortal! My grandfather always says sword immortals have terrible tempers and walk around with their noses in the air, especially those old Daoist priests from the grand orthodox sects..."
At that point, Gu Mei'er stole a glance at Qin Xuan and smiled cheekily:
"Yet Young Master Qin's temper is so gentle. You listened to all that and still haven't summoned any fiends. You must be a tenderhearted little sword immortal."
Qin Xuan could hardly stomach the praise and waved his hand dismissively:
"Go back where you came from. Let's pretend we never met, and there's no need to dwell on past karma."
Acting as if she had not heard a word, the maiden lifted her bamboo basket and opened it for him to see. Inside was not only a large bundle of duck-tongue vine, but also several thick curled lily stamens.
Their colors were vivid and striking, a delightful sight.
She had been following Qin Xuan all along, so naturally she knew what herbs he was searching for.
Though Qin Xuan remained guarded, most of his hostility melted away. "Where did you get these herbs?"
"They were shipped in from Qingzhou Prefecture. You have to go downstream along the inner river, out past the city to the distribution yards near Baiji Hall. Rare herbs have to be intercepted right at the source, or else they all get bought up by outfits like Lianyun Manor. Lately, whenever they secure this sort of herb, they refuse to sell it to outsiders."
She blinked. "The only reason I have them is because I needed these two ingredients myself."
Lianyun Manor?
That made things simple. If he needed more later, he could ask Zhu Gui and Zhu Ping for help.
Qin Xuan swept all the herbs from her basket into his hundred-treasure pouch and said calmly, "These herbs are of great use to me. Consider them settlement for when I stepped in to help you before. Our debts are cleared."
Gu Mei'er parted her lips in astonishment. "How did you guess?"
"Did I even need to?"
Qin Xuan pointed a finger. Peeking out from her glossy black hair were two furry fox ears, red as flame, twitching faintly.
"Oh!" she gasped, frantically pressing her hands down to hide her ears.
Above Eagle Beak Cliff lay the Snow Mountain. When Qin Xuan had climbed up to pay homage at the ancestral shrine, he had seen her wounded and helped her down the mountain to spare her from becoming a meal for the cliff's eagle demons.
Gu Mei'er's shape-shifting art was remarkably subtle, unlike Elder Wu's method of consuming a shape-shifting herb, but much like her Nine Palaces Array, she had yet to master it.
Feeling that familiar demonic qi, Qin Xuan had recognized her at once as that little fox.
However, Guanjiang Mountain had never been on good terms with the surrounding demon factions. He did not know the little fox's background, so it was naturally best to minimize contact.
Seeing Qin Xuan about to leave, Gu Mei'er asked, "Young Master Qin, are you heading back to Yuansong Temple?"
"I am."
"May I come visit you to play?"
Her words held a touch of naivety. Without waiting for him to reply, she murmured softly, "I only have my grandfather left in this world; all my other kin are gone. I was only tailing you earlier because I didn't know how to greet a human."
"Pingyuan Commandery city has hundreds of thousands of hearth fires, yet Mei'er doesn't have a single friend."
She drew an embroidered handkerchief from somewhere and gently dabbed at the corners of her eyes, her movements tender and pitiable. She exuded a natural charm that no courtesan could ever learn in a lifetime.
Yet the corner of her eye quietly peeked toward Qin Xuan, gauging his reaction.
Her grandfather had always said sword immortals were colder than ice, especially those from the Dao Sect.
"Your transformation is unstable and your arts are clumsy. The city is a treacherous mix of people. If other Qi Refining cultivators spot you, there's no telling what foul intentions they might harbor."
Qin Xuan turned away. "You would do better to find a quiet place to cultivate and keep yourself safe."
With that, oblivious to sentiment, he strode away.
In this world, there was the most tender of swords, and the most heartless of men. Deep affection was itself heartlessness, and heartlessness could sever all mortal dust.
At this moment, Qin Xuan was a sword.
A sword that cut clean through gentle fragrance and tender words.
Qin Xuan had walked seven paces when a voice drifted into his ears from behind:
"Young Master, I've studied the wondrous Nine Palaces Displacement Array of Zhongzhou's Great Xia Dynasty for so long, but I've never managed to grasp the secret. Could you teach me?"
Then again...
Qin Xuan felt that the senior who penned Spring Letters, Autumn Post had been quite right.
A sword may be ruthless, but a man cannot be devoid of feeling.
"When you have free time, come have tea with me at the temple. But send word in advance; do not climb the mountain unannounced."
"I'm naturally timid, so rest assured, Young Master Qin..."
Along the inner riverbank, beside the misty willows, the east wind swayed the maiden's skirts. The little fox demon watched the green-clad figure vanish into the crowd, curiosity flickering in her eyes. Then a smile blossomed on her face, rippling softly like the spring sounds of the Yishui River.
……
Yuansong Temple lay in the northeast corner of the commandery city. Below its peak ran a winding mountain trail that traced the river. Whenever the east wind blew each year, the area became a lush carpet of green grass strewn with drifting red petals.
Six li down the mountain road stood a double-eaved octagonal pavilion.
Past noon, the sun shone fiercely, and the east wind had grown stronger, scattering the fragrance of blossoms everywhere.
As Qin Xuan walked along the path back to the temple, he suddenly spotted a man sitting upright in the pavilion.
"Junior Brother Qin, the mountain scenery is splendid today, wouldn't you say?"
The man turned around, his triangular eyes fixed dead on Qin Xuan, resembling a venomous viper.
This person was none other than Qian Fan.
Qin Xuan recognized him immediately, well aware of his sinister reputation at Fengling Temple.
"Senior Brother Qian, I heard you were returning to Fengling Temple. Why linger here?"
Qian Fan laughed heartily, raising a large bowl and drinking deeply. "Junior Brother Qin, do you know what I'm drinking?"
"Water."
"Correct. I never touch wine, because wine warms you the more you drink, and my practice of the Three-Nine Cold Light Art forbids such warmth above all else. Only bone-chilling cold allows one to comprehend the essence of this art. Have you ever wondered what the coldest thing in this world is?"
Qin Xuan replied, "The human heart."
Hearing this, the venom in Qian Fan's eyes sharpened, yet a solemn respect took hold of his expression. "Brilliant! No wonder Shen Yunfei said you were not to be underestimated. He spoke the truth."
He asked abruptly, "Junior Brother Qin, is your heart colder, or is mine?"
No ordinary person could possibly know the answer.
"Do you truly wish to know?"
"I do. Do you have a way, Junior Brother Qin?"
Walking toward the pavilion, Qin Xuan mused, "Senior Brother Qian, then let us carve our hearts out and compare them, to see whose heart is truly colder..."
……
Chapter 15