MOST FIRES STARTED small. But Fan Yun and the others were in the center of the cave, far away from anywhere a fire might have started. If they could smell it from here, the flames had already spread.
A low rumble sounded as the ceiling trembled; more stones came clattering down. Outside the cave, the promised storm had arrived: Wind and thunder raged, but there was no rain. Lightning struck the cliffs, shaking the mountainside.
The cave had several vents, too small for even a child to crawl through. Now, wind howled through these crevices and filled the inhabitants' hearts with unease. As cries of "Fire!" went up through the caverns, a small uproar broke out. Fanned by the wind, the fire quickly spread.
Even ants strove to preserve their own lives. No matter how numb their training had made them, the maids and guards were still human. This was a remote place, far from help, and getting in or out was nigh impossible. Unable to escape, they began to panic.
The kitchen was the only place with firewood, as much of the cave was lit by night pearls—the fire could only have started there. Everyone crammed into the corridors. Some rushed to the kitchen to help douse the fire, while others fled to the entrance of the cave without looking back. Those who went to the kitchen soon found they were too late. Some villain had poured out a trail of lamp oil to feed the flames; there was no hope of getting the fire under control.
In the midst of the chaos, Feng Xiao ran in a different direction entirely.
He'd struck Cui Buqu's sleep acupoint, sending him into a deep slumber. If no one brought him out of it, Cui Buqu wouldn't wake in time to notice the fire. By the time it reached his door, there would be no escape; the mighty chief of the Zuoyue Bureau would burn to death. Such a death was jarringly unsuited to his crafty, resourceful personality—Feng Xiao was afraid Cui Buqu would come back as a ghost and drag him to hell too.
Someone had plucked the night pearls from the stone walls of the corridors. Without their light, the cave was dark, the air thick with sparks and smoke. Even Feng Xiao found it hard to breathe. After finally groping his way to Cui Buqu's chambers, he pushed open the door, only to be greeted with an empty bed.
Feng Xiao's heart sank. Before he could turn, a mocking laugh came from behind him. "So you really did fake joining us! But your collusion with him was real!"
A palm blast carrying the pungent smell of smoke accompanied his words, sweeping toward the Gate of Life—a fatal acupoint—on Feng Xiao's lower back. Feng Xiao's reaction was instantaneous. The moment Yuxiu spoke, Feng Xiao was already drifting forward. Without looking back, he leapt into the air and pushed off the stone wall before him, reversing course to meet Yuxiu's palm with his own.
There was a loud bang, and the tiny chamber quaked, unable to withstand the violent force of their true qi. Debris tumbled down, but the combatants were unscathed. They sprang apart so fast they appeared as little more than smudges of shadow. In the darkness, those shadows interwove. Only their opponent's breaths gave a clue as to their next move. Each judgment was made in a split second; the combatants seemed to flicker between the land of the living and the realm of the dead.
If not for Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao, Yuxiu would still have been beside the Prince of Jin as his confidant and counselor. The Prince of Jin was young, and an admirer of all things beautiful. Though he hadn't laid a hand on Yuxiu, a subtle and inexpressible suggestiveness had colored their relationship as the two had grown closer. Yuxiu had been only too happy to use this intimacy to his advantage.
The plans of the Thirteen Floors of Yunhai were vast and sprawling, their agents embedded both within the court and without. Yuxiu, confidant to the Prince of Jin, was one of them. He didn't mind serving the pavilion leader and helping with his grand plans, but the only person he truly cared for was Princess Qianjin. If the pavilion leader succeeded, Princess Qianjin would gain her freedom, and she and Yuxiu could be together. After several years of scheming, everything had seemed to be falling into place; they had merely lacked a timely opportunity.
Yet their perfect game of chess had been completely overturned by Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao.
Originally, the Jiejian and Zuoyue Bureaus were designed to keep each other in check. But at some unknown point, they'd begun working together instead. Cui Buqu was sly and cunning, while Feng Xiao was a powerful fighter. Alone, neither of them was much to fear—but together? Yuxiu had seen the results with his own eyes. Back in the Western Khaganate, he would have killed Cui Buqu easily had Feng Xiao not intervened and thrown all his plans into disarray. If Cui Buqu had died, the Zuoyue Bureau would be a dragon without a head. And though Feng Xiao might be the strongest martial artist in the land, without Cui Buqu's crafty plots and astute observations, what could he achieve?
Yuxiu hated these two for repeatedly foiling the Thirteen Floors' plans, and he hated Feng Xiao even more for taking his eye. Now that he was certain Feng Xiao had feigned his loyalty and was here to make trouble, he showed no mercy. Every move was meant to kill—if he had his way, he would put Feng Xiao in his grave today.
Feng Xiao was in no mood to entertain him. Cui Buqu couldn't have woken up on his own so quickly, yet he was missing. The only possibility was that someone had taken him—and wherever they were going, no good fate awaited Cui Buqu.
Yuxiu could sense Feng Xiao was anxious to extricate himself from the fight, but he didn't understand why.
Everything he understood about their relationship was from a time before they'd left the capital. As far as he knew, the Jiejian and Zuoyue Bureaus served their own interests and had their own plans. Any cooperation between them was a short-term affair—there were no deep ties there. Seeing Feng Xiao in a hurry to find Cui Buqu, Yuxiu could only surmise that Cui Buqu was in possession of something important.
Once the thought sparked, it blazed through his mind, and he rushed off in pursuit of Feng Xiao. They flew through one secret passage after another. Every time Feng Xiao sped up in an attempt to throw Yuxiu off his trail, Yuxiu swiftly caught up. Evading him was impossible in such a narrow passage.
Feng Xiao soon wearied of playing chase. He changed direction and raced toward the exit.
By now, the cave was in chaos. Some desperately sought a way out, while others looked for a safe place to hide from the fire. No one paid Feng Xiao and the other directors any mind. Fan Yun and Yuan Sansi were nowhere to be found.
Feng Xiao was beginning to have a sneaking suspicion that this chaos had something to do with the sickly Cui Buqu. But the man in question was gravely injured and could scarcely stand. How could he have the wherewithal to unleash such havoc on the enemy?
After Yuxiu had fled from Feng Xiao in the Western Khaganate, he'd been personally treated by the leader of the Thirteen Floors. The pavilion leader had even given Yuxiu a powerful and deadly hidden weapon, the needle Liaoyan Shuipo. It was colorless, nearly formless, and light as a feather. But when stimulated with internal energy, it could pierce an opponent's true qi and penetrate their acupoints. By melding into the enemy's body and disrupting their meridians, it would act as a poison, plunging them into terrible agony.
Yuxiu had made several previous attacks with Liaoyan Shuipo, but Feng Xiao had slyly evaded them all—until now. Feng Xiao, mere inches ahead, slowed as rocks came tumbling down into his path. Yuxiu brought his saber up in a sharp slash. Though a flick of Feng Xiao's sleeve and a palm blast dispersed Yuxiu's saber qi, Yuxiu was undeterred: He snapped his fingers, and spears of wind pierced Feng Xiao's shoulder. Feng Xiao swayed in place as he realized something was wrong.
But Yuxiu gave him no chance to breathe. He crooked his fingers, infusing them with internal energy as he lunged forward and clawed at Feng Xiao's head. Before his fingers pierced flesh, Feng Xiao vanished into thin air—Yuxiu had missed.
It was surely some trick; Feng Xiao must have darted behind the boulder in front of him. Yuxiu rushed forward, but there was nothing there. Instead, he found himself surrounded by a thick mist. The light of a scant few night pearls seemed to hover in the distance, floating and warped. It was as if that one step had brought him into a different world entirely.
Blast, thought Yuxiu. He'd fallen into a trap: Feng Xiao had lured him into the Ursa Major Twin Jade Array.
He'd listened as Fan Yun explained the workings of this array before, and under normal circumstances, he knew how to leave it. But now, many stones had shaken loose from the walls, and the crash of rolling waves filled his ears, as if rain were pouring down directly overhead. It felt nothing like the array he'd previously passed through.
Gusts of chill air surged around him, slicing past his clothes like arrows of ice. He evaded them, narrowly avoiding being sliced to ribbons. Yuxiu advanced carefully, wary of the quicksand traps he knew lay ahead. A single misstep would see him captive within the sand, its demonic hands yearning to drag its victims into the abyss.
Fan Yun had once said this array could mutate endlessly. Yuxiu had thought it an exaggeration at the time. Only now did he truly appreciate Fan Yun's abilities, and why the pavilion leader valued him so highly. For a sufficiently skilled user of this array, trapping a martial expert or two was nothing—even if hundreds of imperial guards stormed in, this labyrinth would ensure they'd never see the light of day again.
The metallic clash of swords rang in his ears. Yuxiu couldn't tell if they were sounds from a real battle or an illusion born of the array. He pressed his back to the stone wall and fell still, his handsome face darkening with anger. After a moment, his lips twisted in a sneer.
Liaoyan Shuipo had found its target; Feng Xiao would feel its effects very soon. Yuxiu was sure to find him before he escaped the array. Their next encounter would spell the death of the chief of the Jiejian Bureau.
***
When Cui Buqu awoke, he didn't know his sleep acupoint had been struck, nor that someone had come to unseal it. He groped around and found something beside his bed.
A jar of lamp oil.
It was a trifle that could turn small fires into raging infernos. He was certain it hadn't been in his room earlier. The Thirteen Floors of Yunhai were champing at the bit to torment him. Why would they give him lamp oil? If this unexpected gift wasn't from Feng Xiao, it had to be from Fan Yun.
He'd parted ways with Fan Yun years ago. They had their own places to be, their own things to do; they'd never so much as exchanged a single letter. But his image of Fan-xiansheng was not as someone easily enticed to join a revolt. The Thirteen Floors of Yunhai might attract more volatile types like Yuxiu and Yuan Sansi, but that didn't mean they could impress Fan Yun. That Fan Yun himself had hinted so several times was as good as proof.
Cui Buqu slowly sat up. After fumbling around for a while, he found several more items of interest: A dagger—the same one Feng Xiao had stabbed him with—as well as the fire starters Cui Buqu had been carrying, which hadn't been confiscated. A set of maid's clothing was folded beside them. Even if Feng Xiao had left them to Cui Buqu for his protection, Fan Yun was a careful man. He would have noticed.
From all Cui Buqu's observations, the pavilion leader of the Thirteen Floors of Yunhai was no fool. Fan Yun must have taken great pains to join and done much to earn the pavilion leader's trust in order to become his advisor and gain control over the organization's grand designs.
Yet now, Fan Yun was assisting Cui Buqu in wreaking havoc. He'd even left him a jar of lamp oil, as if afraid Cui Buqu couldn't make enough trouble on his own. Regardless of where Fan Yun's true intentions lay, of course Cui Buqu would put it to good use.
The night pearls served as the main source of light in the cave. There was only one place that used fire, and that was the kitchen. He saw at once what Fan Yun wished him to do. In this case, he didn't mind being used—inciting chaos was just what Cui Buqu wanted. He'd lend Fan Yun a hand, despite the risk. There was no other chance of escape.
Cui Buqu coughed, and the salty-sweet tang of blood rose in his throat. His broken-down body was no good for these sorts of capers—but if he enjoyed keeping out of trouble, he wouldn't be Cui Buqu.
He took the dagger and the lamp oil. His gaze landed on the set of maid's clothing, and his mouth twitched.
Most of the guards carried sabers. He might have passed himself off as one on a normal day, but right now his feet were unsteady and his limbs weak. The maid disguise would indeed be more convincing.