Fang Canran's appearance had changed completely from how he had looked in Lingxu City. There was now a cleft in the center of his chin, giving him a far more resolute air.
Even his voice had deepened.
Only his expressions and mannerisms still felt somewhat familiar to He Lingchuan.
If the two had merely brushed past each other on the street, He Lingchuan would never have recognized him.
"Are you wearing a mask?" After causing such catastrophic destruction in Lingxu City, concealing one's name and changing one's face was indeed the only way to settle things once and for all.
"No. An elder on Lingshan performed the art of the knife and spoon on me." Fang Canran patted his cheek. "No divine ability or spell can see through it, because this is real skin and a real face."
The art of the knife and spoon? Just plastic surgery, then.
He Lingchuan instinctively glanced at Dong Rui. There was another man here whose face had been altered, though National Preceptor Shuangye's method hadn't seemed nearly so complicated.
"Over the past year, you vanished without a trace. It was only by watching Beijia's imperial directives that I figured you were still alive." Fang Canran looked toward Dong Rui as well. "And this is?"
"His surname is Dong. He had a hand in the mischief we pulled off, too."
Fang Canran understood at once, and his attitude toward Dong Rui immediately turned warm and welcoming. "So he's a good friend as well! Come, sit down and let's talk."
Back in Lingxu City, though he and He Lingchuan had cooperated, they had guarded against each other, separated by deep mutual mistrust. Yet because they had pulled off an earth-shattering deed together—one that could never be spoken of to outsiders—their reunion in a strange land felt extraordinarily close.
Both had proved their loyalty through action, and proved they shared a common enemy: Beijia.
Brothers who had fought in the trenches together shared a different kind of bond.
Fang Canran guided the two into a waterside pavilion within the garden to take their seats. It was essentially a small kiosk beside a pond, but enclosed on four sides by walls with paper-paned lattice windows that kept out the wind and provided quiet seclusion, perfect for host and guests to enjoy the scenery, dine, and converse.
This was an island after all; while the architecture lacked exquisite refinement, it possessed plenty of rustic charm.
Dong Rui glanced through the lattice window out at the pond and suddenly remarked, "There's a golden lotus in the pond."
Lotuses bloomed in midsummer, yet now, in late autumn, the pond should have been filled with withered leaves. Instead, three or four lotus pads remained lush and green, cradling a budding golden water lily floating between them.
"That's a little lotus demon. With it there, our conversation is safe; we needn't fear eavesdroppers." Fang Canran lifted a silver basin from a brazier, its hot water just beginning to form fish-eye bubbles.
He submerged the wine vessel in it.
The weather had turned cool, so warming some wine was in order.
He Lingchuan asked him, "You're a disciple of the Taihang Sect?"
"Please, sit." Fang Canran casually opened a curio cabinet beside him and retrieved an exquisite set of four square dishes containing four kinds of savory tidbits to accompany the wine. "Indeed. I grew up in the Taihang Sect and only went to Lingxu City later. After exacting my revenge, I returned to the sect. I thought Platinum Island was a fine place, so I came over. Those two seafarers you entrusted arrived just in time; had they come a day later, I would have set off on another journey."
On his voyage to Blade Harbor, He Lingchuan had befriended two seafarers. Getting along splendidly, they had agreed to deliver a letter to Fang Canran along their route.
Of course, Fang Canran went by an alias and a secret code in these foreign parts.
"Congratulations on having your vengeance, Mr. Fang." He Lingchuan picked up a piece of dried squid and tore off a bite. Mmm, savory, rich, slightly sweet, and pleasantly chewy. "How did the Ke family end up?"
Over a hundred and eighty years ago, an ancestor of the Ke family had informed Lingxu City, forcing the Yuan Kingdom to rise in revolt prematurely. After a bitter thousand-day resistance, they were ultimately defeated. The officials and citizens of Thousand Stars City were slaughtered, and the descendants of the Yuan Kingdom were demoted to base slaves, doomed never to rise again.
Yet by virtue of informing and retrieving the Qianling Treasure Lid, the Ke family had reveled in nearly two centuries of wealth and glory. Such extravagant decadence had provoked envy even among the high nobility of Lingxu.
As a descendant of Shao Jian and a scion of the Yuan Kingdom, Fang Canran bore both national and personal vendettas against the bloodline of that traitor.
He had lain in wait in Lingxu City for nearly twenty years, partly to carry out Lingshan's orders and partly to bide his time for vengeance for his fallen realm. When He Lingchuan had spoken with him in the past, Fang had firmly believed that calamity falling upon the Ke family was the inevitable cycle of heaven, justice manifest.
During the chaos in Lingxu City, Fang Canran had schemed to lure the Thunder-Wielding Behemoths through the Jinghong Crossing teleportation array and into Tiantong Island, trampling the Ke family underfoot. In this way, having fulfilled his official mission, he had settled his personal vendetta on the side.
He Lingchuan had already heard the aftermath from Elder Dao of Mount Rong, but Fang Canran's account was undoubtedly firsthand news.
Fang Canran smiled. "In the rampage of the Thunder-Wielding Behemoths, the Ke family's initial losses exceeded ten million taels, including garden structures, artistic sculptures, rare treasures, and the like."
He Lingchuan immediately recalled the Ke family's outrageously lavish ancestral estate, a monument to worldly splendor built upon more than a century of celestial imperial favor. Each generation had refined and embellished their predecessors' work; every single brick and tile was a work of deliberate craft.
Coral trees taller than a man, golden branches, and jade foliage were mere ordinary decorations tucked into the corners of the gardens. Even the roof tiles of the Qingyin Pavilion: in the wind, they whistled like flutes, and in the rain, they chimed like the plucked strings of a guqin, ethereal and celestial. Those tiles had been selected from eight hundred firings by renowned kilns and master craftsmen over a span of more than seventy years, costing well over twenty thousand taels of silver—a staggering expenditure of both labor and time.
When the Thunder-Wielding Behemoths crashed into the Ke estate, it was like elephants stampeding through a porcelain shop; who knew how many ancient relics and treasures were crushed to dust.
"Yet wealth is a minor matter compared to the rest," Fang Canran continued. "Over forty members of the Ke clan died, and more than twenty went missing. Although the family head, Ke Shouyi, suffered only light injuries, his favorite fifth son, Ke Yanjing, was killed. His third and fourth sons were critically injured, with the fourth son crushed and paralyzed on one side of his body, unlikely ever to stand again. What's more, of his nine grandchildren, by sheer coincidence, six grandsons were trampled to death that night, leaving only three granddaughters alive."
A thriving, populous clan had suffered a devastating blow overnight.
"That bad?" With nothing else to do, Dong Rui fished out two pieces of Sichuan pepper rice crust and crunched on them noisily.
"After such upheaval, Ke Shouyi fell gravely ill and nearly kicked the bucket, barely holding on by consuming medicine bestowed by the celestial gods. Of all the nobility on the Floating Isles, the Ke family suffered the worst devastation. Officials and commoners across Lingxu are all analyzing it, concluding someone took revenge against the Kes. But the Ke family made far too many enemies and rivals over the past two hundred years; just screening the list of suspects would take over half a year."
Fang Canran's face beamed with gratification. "And while the Ke family was reeling from this blow, Juju, the mountain spirit of Mount Xu, accused them of shortchanging its offerings, claiming it only wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace because prolonged hunger had bred resentment. Both the Demon Emperor and the Heavenly Palace reached an agreement with Juju, raising the offering standards for the mountain spirit and strictly ordering the Ke family to adhere to them from now on."
"In other words, the Ke family will have to offer even more to Juju going forward?"
Juju had broken free of the Mount Xu Grand Array and could now freely enter and leave the bowels of the earth; even the celestial gods could do nothing to stop it. If the Heavenly Palace didn't want fire constantly lit beneath their asses, they had to treat this great fire spirit with deference.
He Lingchuan was immediately reminded of the king of the yin hui deep within Longji Island. Compared to the insatiable Juju, Longhao was truly an honest and simple great monster, asking for the least valuable fiend beads as his tribute.
As for whether the Heavenly Palace would find a way to bind Juju again in the future, that was a matter for another day.
Chapter 952