Zhan Zhao Adventures - Chapter Four (Part III)

Chapter Four: Partridge Sky (Part III)

The night birds outside the broken temple let out a few "gu-gu" calls, and then fell quiet again.

 

When the night birds called, a trace of alertness had once flashed across Zhan Rifei's face, and immediately relaxed down again.

 

The crackling campfire reflected Young Master Huo's meditating face in flashes.

 

The thin and weak boy was still within dreamland, but Young Master Huo's thoughts had already turned to Zhan Rifei's question.

 

Unprecedentedly, for the first time he sat quietly for a very long time before opening his mouth.

 

Zhan Rifei suddenly discovered that when he did not make a sound, the way he frowned was very like the Young Villa Master of Linglong Villa, Huo Feng.

 

Only, although the times Young Master Huo frowned were very many, yet to want him both to frown and not to make a sound was, however, as if more difficult than ascending to heaven.

 

Young Master Huo finally admitted straightforwardly and thoroughly: "What I originally wished to know was indeed that secret known by this child."

 

He could not help but cast a glance at Zhan Rifei, a look of "count it as you guessed it." Under his deep gaze that seemed able to see through everything, his tone of voice was already unconsciously defending himself.

 

──"First it was Xingyun Villa and the Tang Clan, now there is additionally the Cold Water Palace, all appearing to be extremely interested in that secret known by this child. Can I not be curious?"

 

──"Ge Yunfei is already dead, and the various people of Xingyun Villa who came along with him have already been completely exterminated by the people of the Tang Clan; right now, the whereabouts of that item disputed by Xingyun Villa and the Tang Clan can perhaps truly only be known by this child."

 

He let out a light sigh, and said further: "Only, thinking about it now, it seems instead that everything has already become tangled into a mess of hemp."

 

Zhan Rifei weighed it, saying slowly: "In truth, this matter from the very beginning was very strange and ingenious. I think about it back and forth, and inside here there seem to be two lines, yet they are two lines that cannot be connected together."

 

Young Master Huo said: "Which two lines are you speaking of?"

 

Zhan Rifei said: "The first line is this line of Xingyun Villa and the Tang Clan. Since this child is disabled, and furthermore possesses no martial arts, how did he mix together with the people of Xingyun Villa in the first place? What I could not understand all along the way is that Xingyun Villa has always taken those who are useful and abandoned those who are useless; how could they carry a child who possesses no martial arts to walk around everywhere? According to what Brother Huo said, this child knows the secret of that treasure, but how could the location of that treasure of Xingyun Villa be allowed to be known by this child?"

 

Hearing him say this, Young Master Huo also felt unable to let it go, tilting his head and saying: "When I originally met this child, I wanted to find someone to send him to Xingyun Villa. But the moment he heard it was going to Xingyun Villa, he was scared to death. If this child is an enemy of Xingyun Villa, or an enemy's son, then that can perhaps be explained. ──The people of Xingyun Villa either want to take him back to the villa, or use him as a hostage. Having stayed long with these people along the way, he accidentally discovered their secret!"

 

Zhan Rifei shook his head, saying in a low voice: "If it were an enemy, then within the inn upon Small Hammer Mountain, at the moment Ge Yunfei was near death, even if he wanted to kill that child, it would be extremely easy; how could it be merely one blade cut wounding his arm, rather than one blade cut ending his life?"

 

Young Master Huo said: "Correct, this point I am also surprised. Brother Zhan, that child's arm is heavily scarred, covered everywhere with cuts varying in newness and oldness. Could it be that he originally had nothing to do with Xingyun Villa, was not an enemy of Xingyun Villa, but rather his clan mistreated him, and he thus fled out from home, running into the people of Xingyun Villa on the road?"

 

The moment his words left his mouth, he immediately thought of the words Zhan Rifei had just said regarding Xingyun Villa, and instantly felt this deduction of his own was full of flaws.

 

Zhan Rifei shook his head again. His face under the reflection of the campfire remained pale, and at this moment appeared extremely fatigued; as if feeling somewhat cold, he slowly moved closer to the fire pile.

 

"If it were done by his clan, having nothing to do with Xingyun Villa, why did Ge Yunfei also have to wound him before dying?"

 

Young Master Huo's eyes lit up, saying excitedly: "Mostly his clan is precisely the people of Xingyun Villa! Otherwise, if it were not done by people of Xingyun Villa, why was he unwilling to go back?"

 

Zhan Rifei said: "Brother Huo, did you not see that when Jiao Chaogui entered the inn, his eyes merely glanced toward this child for a brief moment; clearly the two of them were not familiar with each other. Xingyun Villa's reputation is illustrious in the Central Plains, and in the court it furthermore has Ma Chaoxian backing it up; that Jiao Chaogui is a person meticulous in everything, expert in calculation. This child's cuts are both new and old, clearly having suffered this hardship since childhood; if he were a person of Xingyun Villa, how would Jiao Chaogui not recognize him?"

 

His pair of deep gazes looked toward the night curtain, murmuring: "The 'No-Flattery Hall' assassins of the Tang Clan actually came out three people in succession, distinctly determined to obtain this object. They clearly had already seized that bundle, yet went and returned again; clearly that item was not within the bundle. Just now in the great hall they had already searched all the dead bodies thoroughly, yet it was a complete lack of harvest, ──could it be, that thing is truly hidden upon this child's body?"

 

Young Master Huo frowned and said: "But this child is thinly dressed, unable to hide anything."

 

Zhan Rifei said: "Correct! The bundle upon Ge Yunfei's body was, I am afraid, to draw away the sight lines of bystanders. Only, if he deliberately wanted bystanders to believe that treasure was within his bundle, he would have to do it exquisitely and lifelike. This bundle of his was not small; judging by this, the people of the Tang Clan's 'No-Flattery Hall' should also know that the item they were looking for would also not be too small. Furthermore, since this object could make the Tang Clan covet it, it is naturally of no small consequence; whether this child is an enemy of Xingyun Villa or met by chance, being the Third Master, how could Ge Yunfei place the treasure upon his body. ──Unless──"

 

He suddenly fell into deep thought.

 

Young Master Huo said: "Unless it is what?"

 

Zhan Rifei said: "Unless I thought wrongly. Within this, I am afraid there is still a third line!"

 

Young Master Huo had already thought until his head was big. Hearing him say there was still a third line, he hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Wait! You speak first, what is this second line instead?"

 

Zhan Rifei said in deep thought: "This second line is precisely the line of the Cold Water Palace."

 

Young Master Huo said: "The Cold Water Palace's, what clue is that again?"

 

Zhan Rifei said: "It is a turn of words spoken by that Moon-Wielding Envoy of the Cold Water Palace."

 

Young Master Huo curled his mouth and said: "What words did that demonic woman speak again?"

 

Zhan Rifei said: "What that Moon-Wielding Envoy spoke was regarding this child. She once stated: 'He is the lifeblood that the Old Matriarch thinks of day and night.' She stated further, 'As for this medicine, he has been used to drinking it since he was a small child. ──If he does not drink it, how could he have lived until now?'"

 

Young Master Huo lowered his head, and also began to ponder over these few strange sentences.

 

Zhan Rifei said faintly: "I saw with my own eyes, what they forced this child to drink was indeed a bowl of bone-penetrating poison. This child is young in age, so how could he be willing and content to drink poison every day? If he drank this poison since childhood, how could he endure until now without dying?"

 

Young Master Huo frowned, blurting out: "I have heard that several unorthodox sects practice poison palms, poison skills; perhaps it was for his use in practicing skills?"

 

Zhan Rifei said: "If it were so, he should at least have a bit of skill upon his body, but look at his bones, muscles, and meridians, they are, however, having never practiced skills."

 

Zhan Rifei continued: "Only one point is extremely clear; this poison that this child was forced to drink since childhood, the Cold Water Palace at least knows the formula. So either this child and the Cold Water Palace have a massive involvement, even possibly being a person within the Cold Water Palace, or it is that the Cold Water Palace knows him extremely deeply!"

 

"Perhaps the Cold Water Palace also knows what that secret of his is, yet is unable to obtain the location of this secret, so much so that even a figure like the Cold Water Matriarch thinks of it day and night, compounding this poison to coerce him into revealing the location of the secret."

 

Speaking up to here, he shook his head, as if he himself also felt this reason was not too good.

 

──"This child, what exactly is his relationship with the Cold Water Palace?"

 

──"If this child is indeed a person of the Cold Water Palace, then no matter how overbearing the people of Xingyun Villa are, they mostly would not dare to go to the Cold Water Palace to offend the Cold Water Matriarch for the sake of this child."

 

Young Master Huo followed: "Correct, I have also heard that within the Cold Water Palace, everyone's skills are out of the ordinary; even the servants who sweep the ground and cook food are also each and every one harboring unique skills. Looking at it by this, at least this child should also not be a person within the Cold Water Palace. Otherwise why does he not know half a bit of martial arts? Why did the Cold Water Matriarch coerce him since childhood to drink this poison?"

 

Zhan Rifei seemed not to hear his words, yet seemed to have understood his words. He murmured: "The various people within the Cold Water Palace are indeed all receiving the utmost favor of the Cold Water Matriarch, managing to be taught martial arts; the Cold Water Matriarch, naturally, would also not coerce the followers under her hand with poison."

 

Speaking up to here, the muscles upon his face gave a tremor, as if the injury upon his body broke out, and he could not help but suck in a breath. "Only, sometimes matters that look unreasonable are, however, in reality the most powerful explanation."

 

His words suddenly broke off. ──Only because with a light "da" sound, a small porcelain bottle had already been thrown across the campfire, falling into his lap. Young Master Huo's voice, pretending to be completely careless, also traveled across the campfire.

 

──"The wound is painful again? Then take another pill of Linglong Honey."

 

──"Your wound is painful, why do you always force yourself to hold out? If it were Little Zhao, he would have long been groaning and moaning, turning his body and rolling around upon the bed, crying to heaven and earth. I have also not heard other people say because of this that he is not a hero but a bear."

 

Although his voice was severe, his gaze was very warm, only because the person on the opposite side of the campfire, within his gaze there was also a kind of warmth. This warmth, unknown whether because of the reason of that person the two of them mutually recognized, had already begun to faintly pervade between the campfire, pervading between the two people beside the campfire.

 

Young Master Huo's eyes stared at him without a single blink as he took the medicine pill, short only of holding a whip to supervise by the side.

 

Zhan Rifei could not help but say with a smile: "Never expected that people of Linglong Villa, at certain times, are even more careful than girls."

 

The moment this single sentence left his mouth, he wished he could quickly take another kind of medicine: the medicine of regret.

 

──Only because Young Master Huo was just as if he were a tiger whose tail had been stepped on, unable to help but jump up. His two rabbit teeth had also, like a tiger whose tail was stepped on, bared out. His two hands had already crossed onto his waist. His stance was already prepared to begin a quarrel.

 

Zhan Rifei, however, at this time spoke one sentence. One sentence that made the tiger suddenly change into a cat.

 

──"Why do you love to mention Little Zhao so much tonight?"

Having heard this sentence, Young Master Huo gave him a fierce glare, and then actually, with a look of being full of grievances, sat back to his original place. Only, although he sat down, from his mouth he was nevertheless muttering: "If it were not for seeing you injured, and furthermore waiting to hear your reasoning, I would not be bothered to take your temper!"