THE SECOND PRINCE'S yurt wasn't as spacious as the khagan's, but it was luxuriously furnished, cluttered with everything from Jiangnan porcelain to wood carvings from the north. Combined with the ever-present tapestries from the Western Regions, it dazzled onlookers, extravagant to the point of disorder. Yet what immediately drew the eye was the bed covered in an impressive number of stitched-together arctic fox pelts.
Two people were lying unconscious atop it—a man and a woman, both in various states of undress.
Such a scene would set anyone's imagination running wild. Ade hadn't ordered anyone to barricade the door, so all the crowd that could fit had streamed in behind him. It was too late to chase them out now.
"What's going on?" Jinlian exclaimed in surprise. It took her only a moment to recognize the pair on the bed: the man was Feng Xiao, and the woman was the second prince's favorite concubine.
The faint smell of blood hung in the air within the yurt. Upon closer inspection, both Feng Xiao and the concubine were bound with ropes and splattered with various bloodstains. A dagger was tossed to the side, and the ropes had been loosened, but they showed no sign of waking.
Ade was still reeling when Cui Buqu stepped forward. "What on earth has happened here?" he cried. "Why is my deputy envoy on the prince's bed?"
Fiery rage burst through the second prince. He rushed toward Feng Xiao on the bed, thinking to drag him up.
But before he could pounce, Feng Xiao's eyes finally fluttered open; he brought a hand up to knead at his temples with a pained expression. When he saw Ade's face mere inches from his own, he shouted in alarm and struck out with his fist.
Ade was only capable of pushing slaves around; he was no match for Feng Xiao. Feng Xiao used no internal energy, only his bare hands—yet within a few blows, the prince was beaten into a howling lump. The guards, who'd been blocked from the yurt thanks to Cui Buqu and the others standing in the entranceway, finally squeezed their way inside and pulled Feng Xiao and the second prince apart.
"How dare you strike me! I'll fucking kill you…" Ade spat a veritable flood of curses in Turkic.
The Göktürk guards rushed forward to seize Feng Xiao. They were overconfident; within seconds, they too were kicked to the ground to join the second prince.
At a gesture from Cui Buqu, Qiao Xian darted over to help as well.
"Everyone stop!" Jinlian shouted. She planted herself in the middle, blocking any more guards from coming forward.
"He slept with my woman," roared Ade. "How dare you get in our way! Have you sold your soul to these Central Plains bastards?!"
Jinlian doubted Feng Xiao would do something so crass. But with so many eyes bearing witness to their adultery, she could only guess that Feng Xiao intended to pick a fight with the second prince and had slept with his concubine to provoke him. "Feng-langjun. If your lordship desires women, I can find you as many as you want. Why would you offend the second prince?!"
"Nonsense!" Feng Xiao snarled in fury. "With my face, I could have any woman in the Central Plains! Have you any idea how many beauties would line up to spend a night with me? Yet none of them interest me in the slightest. Your second prince doesn't discriminate between men and women. He must have drugged me while my guard was down—he was hoping for a threesome! Have you ever heard of a man who sleeps with someone else's woman while bleeding all over himself?! I suggest you ask your prince about his shameful proclivities first!"
Few of the onlookers spoke Chinese, so Jinlian translated Feng Xiao's words. The listeners looked at Feng Xiao, then at the woman on the bed. It was true that Feng Xiao was extraordinarily handsome. Why would he need to steal the second prince's concubine? On the other hand, the second prince, like his father, was renowned for his lasciviousness. Dragging a pretty foreigner into his bed didn't seem outside the realm of possibility.
Upon seeing everyone's dubious expressions—including those of his own attendants—Ade almost coughed up a mouthful of blood. For heaven's sake. He was licentious, true, but he didn't bed men—let alone have any strange fetishes like making his partners bleed!
Yixun raised his voice. "Ade, even if you dislike these Central Plainsmen, they're honored guests recognized by our father the khagan. How could you treat a guest like this? Do you think nothing of the Eight Tribes Conference? The envoys from Kucha and Qocho are all here—can they expect similar treatment if they happen to catch your eye?!"
The envoys of the various tribes were all watching this spectacle. At this, the ones who considered themselves handsome all took a large step backward.
They were dependent on the Western Khaganate, it was true. The Sui dynasty was immensely powerful, a nation anyone would be wary of humiliating—yet the second prince had dared to ravish one of their envoys. There was no guarantee he'd restrain himself with anyone else.
His own brother had leveled such an accusation at him. Ade was about to pass out from rage. Breathing through his nose, he spat back at the first prince: "You're the one who likes men! Don't think that I'm the same as you! You think Father doesn't know? He's always known, that's why—"
"Ade!" This time it was the Göktürk khatun who stopped him. Her gentle face appeared shrouded in darkness, her aura suddenly fierce. "Look what you've done, yet you're still trying to shirk responsibility? Guards! Call the khagan!"
"What's all this noise? What is going on here?"
After the whole camp had been turned upside down, the main character finally lumbered his way over.
Apa Khagan held a young woman's hand as he walked. Even now, he refused to let his Kuchean concubine go; anyone could see how besotted he was.
Cui Buqu's gaze swept over her beaded headdress and Kuchean robes. She was indeed an incredible beauty, no less than Qiao Xian. But if Qiao Xian was aloof and untouchable, this woman possessed an arresting gentleness. The slightest smile at the corner of her mouth seemed to exude a charming air of decadence. No wonder Apa Khagan had been bewitched, even refusing to attend his own banquet.
As for the khagan himself, there was a spring in his step and a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead, as if he'd been pleasantly exerting himself only moments ago. Like father, like son indeed.
Apa Khagan paid no heed to the knowing looks. He cast around for his son. "Ade!"
"Father, it's all this man's fault!" The second prince jabbed a finger at Feng Xiao. He was apoplectic with fury: nine of ten words out of his mouth were curses. His explanation tumbled out in a heap, leaving Apa Khagan both bewildered and increasingly irritated.
"The shaman is dead, and you're worried about a woman?!" The khagan shook a finger at Ade, giving him a thorough scolding before turning to Yixun. "And you! You have time to watch? Where is the body of the Black Moon Shaman? I must see his esteemed self at once!"
"I've ordered some men to tend to his body, Khagan," said the greater khatun. "Let me go with you."
"Khagan!" Cui Buqu's brows were drawn low in a scowl. "I'm deeply sorry for the loss of your shaman, but I must have a word. The second prince has accused us of murder while taking liberties with my deputy in secret! I demand an explanation!"
"Once I have seen to the body of our shaman, I will of course give you a satisfactory answer." Apa Khagan raked his gaze over the assembly. "I hope this matter will not affect tomorrow's conference, nor the friendship we all share."
The envoys hastened to express that it wouldn't. With a final nod, Apa Khagan hurried off with his wife, concubines, and a group of close officials at his heels.
"Father!" Ade shouted, unwilling to let it go. But the khagan didn't turn or even slow his steps. It seemed he'd see no results tonight. He shot Feng Xiao a fierce glare and dropped a final curse, lest Feng Xiao think matters settled between them. At last, he dashed after his father.
Only Cui Buqu, Qiao Xian and Feng Xiao remained, along with Ade's lovely concubine, still unconscious on the bed. "Qiao Xian," Feng Xiao finally said. "Give my venerable self a hand."
Qiao Xian had assumed Feng Xiao faked the bloodstains all over his robes to rattle the second prince. But as she approached, the smell of blood grew noticeably thicker. She looked at him quizzically.
Cui Buqu seemed to have understood. "Help him back to our yurt first."
***
The three of them returned to their yurt, where Feng Xiao sat down on the soft bedding and began to undress. Before Qiao Xian could explode at him, he'd removed his shirt and turned to show his back. A bone-deep wound marred the skin near his shoulder blade, surrounded by dark fingerprints—evidence of internal injuries.
Cui Buqu sent Qiao Xian to find some salve and bandages for Feng Xiao's back. She bent to dress the wound, comprehension finally dawning. "So you purposely cut yourself and that woman earlier?"
Feng Xiao sat as she applied the salve, his body loose and relaxed, as if he felt no pain. "Of course I did. How else to disguise the smell of blood?"
"The second prince is quick to anger, but he's not a fool," said Cui Buqu. "It won't take him long to realize. Even if he doesn't, Fo'er will remind him."
Feng Xiao was a master martial artist. No matter what methods the second prince used, he shouldn't have been able to subdue him, let alone wound him. Yet Feng Xiao seemed unconcerned. "Let's get through tonight first."
Cui Buqu furrowed his brow. "Few can rival your skill, especially in a place this remote. Who here is capable of injuring you?"
"My opponent seemed to have anticipated my visit," said Feng Xiao. "They set up an illusory array around the stone house and lured me inside. Their martial arts weren't much inferior to mine. Combined with the territory advantage, I admit I fell into their trap."
Fortunately, he'd spotted Ade's subordinates during his escape and tailed them to his yurt. He'd knocked the poor girl out, then taken advantage of everyone's surprise to make a fool of the second prince.
"So you did kill the Black Moon Shaman?" asked Cui Buqu.
"That's the strange part," said Feng Xiao. "I did injure them, whoever they were, and it was more than a flesh wound—but they were a powerful martial artist; I couldn't have killed them. The fire only started after I left."
"Could someone stronger than you have arrived after you and killed the Black Moon Shaman?" Qiao Xian speculated.
"Looking at the entire Western Khaganate," said Feng Xiao, "the only one capable of such a thing is Fo'er."
He looked at Cui Buqu, who shook his head. "Fo'er was sitting with us at the table the whole banquet," he said. "He never left."
"Then it's even stranger," said Feng Xiao.
"There's one more possibility," said Cui Buqu.
Feng Xiao and Qiao Xian both looked at him.
Cui Buqu spoke slowly. "The Black Moon Shaman might have been dead before you arrived."
Feng Xiao sat up in surprise. The movement pulled at his injury, and he sucked in a breath.
"Whomever you fought is likely the Black Moon Shaman's murderer. If they'd managed to kill or trap you there, the Black Moon Shaman's corpse would have sealed your guilt. But since you managed to flee, all they could do was burn the body and destroy the evidence."
Feng Xiao mulled this over. "But how did they know I'd come? I only thought of it myself at the last moment. Not even Jinlian knew."
"Their target might not have been you—you just happened to run into them. But why kill the Black Moon Shaman? That's what puzzles me. Could it be someone from the Western Khaganate? Or one of the envoys who came to attend the conference?"
"Perhaps it was a personal grudge against the man," Feng Xiao offered. "All kinds of people are here for the conference; it wouldn't be hard to blend into the crowd."
The plots of men would never overcome the will of the heavens. The world's most intelligent man couldn't have predicted the circumstances they found themselves in. Even Cui Buqu was flummoxed, unsure where to start.
Qiao Xian seemed to sense his worries and spoke up to comfort him. "I thought the first prince would cower on the sidelines, too afraid to speak. I never expected him to stand up to the second prince. Your lordship's move to befriend him was the correct one."
"Those brothers have a long-standing feud between them. Even the most timid man has his breaking point. The first prince has endured a long time; he's far past his limit. I just fanned the flames. But it appears the first prince does have some ability."
The greater khatun usually stayed quiet, yet she, too, had stood with her son in that critical moment. This wasn't the cowardly and incompetent character Jinlian had described. But these were the Western Khaganate's own internal politics. They might be exploited to encourage the Western Göktürks to lean toward the Sui dynasty, but they weren't much help in the current situation.
"Tomorrow is the Eight Tribes Conference," said Cui Buqu. "Our original plan was to have you steal the spotlight, but once the second prince comes to his senses, he'll do all he can to get in your way. Fo'er is also sure to exploit the situation to kill you, so…"
He looked at Feng Xiao but didn't continue.
Feng Xiao gazed back at him.
The chief of the Zuoyue Bureau, ever dispassionate in the face of mortal affairs, seemed to hesitate, as if unwilling to let Feng Xiao take such risks. He sat silent, his gaze clear and open. But that look alone was worth a thousand words.
For the first time, Feng Xiao's stony heart cracked open just a hair, softening the tiniest bit. "This injury is nothing," he told Cui Buqu. "Tomorrow, let them try if they dare."
Cui Buqu looked relieved. "Wonderful. Then we'll leave everything to Feng-xiong," he said, smiling faintly.
Feng Xiao was taken aback. Wasn't that a little too quick? Cui Buqu couldn't even try to talk him out of it for a few more seconds?
He had volunteered on his own, so why did he feel like a nice girl being forced into prostitution?! To hell with that clear and open gaze!