Zhan Zhao Adventures - Chapter Four (Part VI)

Chapter Four: Partridge Sky (Part VI)

With a sharp screech, what sounded like a night bird took fright, fluttering its wings as it flew straight up into the sky.
 
Looking up, a crescent mountain moon had unwittingly peeked out from between the dark clouds, which must have been what startled the night bird from its sleep.
 
The dark clouds among the mountain peaks could lock away the crescent moon, but they could not lock away the clear brilliance of its light. For a moment, even this small temple in the mountains was graced with a layer of pale, lingering moonlight.
 
The mottled moonlight made Zhan Rifei's face appear even more pale. But looking at him now, the face of Huo Little Brother opposite him did not look any better.
 
Huo Little Brother's face was filled with shock; hearing Zhan Rifei's words, it was as if he had seen a ghost. "Are you saying—are you saying this child is the Hanshui Palace's Chang Hongbi?"
 
The legend that no poison could resist the Hanshui Palace's Chang Hongbi had long been an enduring myth in the martial forest. There were also all kinds of riddle-like tales regarding the true nature of this precious jade. It was just that no one had ever seen the reality behind this piece of jade.
 
Zhan Rifei said, "I would rather he were not. I am only afraid that the various rumors we have heard in the martial forest are actually a deliberate smoke screen laid down by the Hanshui Palace."
 
Huo Little Brother still had not recovered from his astonishment, muttering, "'Born near water, it yields a fragrance; nurtured by the Water of Three Lives and Green Flames'—"
 
"Then, then what the women from the Hanshui Palace forced him to drink was the 'Water of Three Lives and Green Flames'?"
 
"I could smell the medicinal fragrance on him; it really was back in the Little Hammer Mountain inn after the heavy downpour!"
 
Zhan Rifei gazed at the sleeping boy, nodded slightly, and sighed softly, "Perhaps in the eyes of the Hanshui Old Mother, he is not actually a child at all, but merely a poison-dispelling treasure kept by the Hanshui Palace. Therefore, although he was born in the Hanshui Palace, he has never been treated as a human being."
 
Huo Little Brother's brow quickly furrowed again. "I heard that the Chang Hongbi has been held by the Hanshui Palace for over a hundred years. If this child is the Chang Hongbi, could he already be over a hundred years old? If so, why does he still look like a young child?"
 
Zhan Rifei said, "Do not forget that the 'Water of Three Lives and Green Flames' is actually a poison that corrodes the intestines and rots the bones. If it is as the Month-Managing Envoy said, and this child has been drinking this medicine since infancy, perhaps he was born with an extraordinary constitution. Furthermore, though the Chang Hongbi is a century-old treasure of the Hanshui Palace, it does not necessarily have to be the exact same person. Even in your Linglong Mountain Villa, has not the eldest daughter of every generation been named Huo Linglong?"
 
Hearing him speak the three words "Huo Linglong," Huo Little Brother's body could not help but shudder. He stared at him strangely for a long while without a word, and finally, he could not resist letting out a long, wistful sigh. "Sometimes I truly want to know whether you are a man or a ghost. You certainly know a great deal about the affairs of our Linglong Mountain Villa!"
 
Zhan Rifei smiled faintly. "Perhaps it is not that I know a great deal, but rather that your Linglong Mountain Villa is simply too famous."
 
Everyone in the martial forest knew that half the reason the Linglong Mountain Villa enjoyed its current status was because of Huo Linglong. Every time the eldest daughter of the Huo family married, it was a major event that shook the martial forest; and whenever the eldest daughter of the Huo family was of age and unwed, suitors seeking her hand would cross the threshold until they wore down the villa's doors.
 
Yet, for the first time, a trace of pain appeared in Huo Little Brother's eyes—could it be that everything about the Linglong Mountain Villa, just like its master, was already growing old and frail?
 
Zhan Rifei felt a sudden touch of surprise between his brows, but he did not press further.
 
And Huo Little Brother seemed perfectly satisfied with this response.
 
Perhaps implicitly, he also knew that this was the best answer Zhan Rifei could give him. Moreover, within his heart, too many doubts had already arisen regarding this child named Chang Hongbi.
 
"Since Ge Yunfei already knew this child's secret, could Jiao Chaogui, as the Grand Master of the Xingyun Manor, really be unaware that he is the Chang Hongbi?"
 
Zhan Rifei said in deep thought, "Perhaps although Jiao Chaogui learned that the Chang Hongbi was in Ge Yunfei's hands, and had also received his message to come and provide backup, Ge Yunfei did not have enough time to tell him the secret of the Chang Hongbi."
 
"Perhaps the people of the Tang Sect had already discovered by then that Ge Yunfei possessed the Chang Hongbi, and closely pursued him like a shadow, giving him no opportunity to write a new message."
 
"This might explain why Jiao Chaogui was so overconfident that he brought only Mu Xiuquan to the Little Hammer Mountain inn to provide backup. They simply did not expect that those fighting for the Chang Hongbi would arrive so quickly, and that you would unexpectedly launch a surprise attack halfway through."
 
Huo Little Brother imitated his manner, pondering, and asked in return, "Among all those fighting for the Chang Hongbi, only the Tang Sect has a completely different purpose. They want to seize the Chang Hongbi just to destroy him! Since this child was in the Hanshui Palace, he should at least be well-informed; knowing of the conflict between the Xingyun Manor and the Tang Sect, he ought to be glad. Why did he look absolutely terrified the moment I suggested sending him to the Xingyun Manor?"
 
Zhan Rifei said, "I am afraid he already knows that whether it is the Xingyun Manor or the Tang Sect, both are bound to be formidable and dangerous characters. If the Tang Sect wants to destroy him, would the Xingyun Manor make life any easier for him? Given his situation, although he would rather fall into the hands of the Xingyun Manor than the Tang Sect, his secret would be discovered sooner or later regardless of which side held him. Rather than allowing himself to be slaughtered by others, it was better to take a desperate risk. That is why he incited your dog, 'San'er,' to strike and wound people while the assassins of the Tang Sect's 'No-Flattery Hall' were locked in a fierce battle with the Xingyun Manor."
 
Huo Little Brother felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his voice trembling as he said, "What did you say?"
 
Zhan Rifei knew that he had understood his meaning, and continued, "If you think back carefully, when the people from the Tang Sect's 'No-Flattery Hall' fought Jiao Chaogui and Mu Xiuquan, if your San'er had not suddenly charged into the battle, the people of the Xingyun Manor might have found it difficult to win."
 
Once awakened by this reminder, Huo Little Brother's thoughts raced like lightning. "At that time, he was indeed the only one beside my San'er. My San'er is highly intelligent and understands human nature. Since I had already barked a command to restrain it, it would absolutely never have defied my orders to act on its own unless it was incited by someone else."
 
At this thought, his eyes grew wide. His mouth still uttered a total refusal to believe it: "You are lying! My San'er has been with me for so long, how could it be manipulated by him!"
 
Yet how much did he himself believe those very words?
 
A complex look flashed through Zhan Rifei's eyes. "If your San'er cannot be manipulated by others, why did it show absolutely no hostility toward him from the very beginning, and kept turning circles around him? Knowing San'er's temperament, don't you think your dog was inexplicably over-affectionate toward him from the start?"
 
His deep gaze looked toward the moonlight streaming through the broken door, seeming to blend into one with the light.
 
"I also hope these deductions are completely wrong. But looking at the situation, your San'er appears to have been subjected to a Mind-Bewitching Art. According to ancient lore, this Mind-Bewitching Art must be practiced by a youth who maintains his virginity, and upon reaching a certain level, it requires internal energy to supplement it. This child knows no martial arts, so even if he did learn this art, he could not achieve great mastery; but to deal with your clever dog, it is likely more than enough."
 
"The only thing I do not understand is, if he grew up in the Hanshui Palace, where did he learn this Mind-Bewitching Art?"
 
"Could this be the reason he left the Hanshui Palace?"
 
He looked at the boy's small face, which remained tense and guarded even in his sleep, and shook his head gently. "I am afraid the reason behind this is something only you can discover."
 
Huo Little Brother's head finally drooped down. "No wonder San'er suddenly lunged forward to bite someone out of nowhere. It turns out—it turns out it was actually him—"
 
When he raised his head, a look of resolve had filled his eyes. "I never expected that he would harm San'er. If it really was him, I will absolutely not let him off!"
 
Zhan Rifei let out a soft sigh and said, "Brother Huo, up until now, we are still merely guessing; we cannot draw a definitive conclusion. Everything we have is only the most likely answer, but we cannot judge another person's guilt based on this."
 
Huo Little Brother ground his teeth and said, "What if our guess is correct?"
 
Zhan Rifei said, "In that case, if you were in his place, would you have done the same?"
 
Huo Little Brother gave a blank start.
 
Zhan Rifei's words, though kept very low and spoken very slowly, sounded like the resonance of great ceremonial bells in his ears, striking his heart blow after blow.
 
"If our guess is correct and he truly grew up in the Hanshui Palace from infancy, then who was there to teach him right from wrong, good from evil? What would he have seen and heard to influence him?"
 
"If you were in his place, and every day you lived, you knew the price of your survival was endless, helpless pain at the hands of others, and the misery of being forced to swallow poison day after day; and everyone around you looked at you not as a human being but as a mere object, who would you trust?"
 
"If our guess is correct and he truly is the Chang Hongbi, then when he finds himself cast adrift alone in the martial forest, why must he believe that you harbor no ill intentions toward him? How could he know that you came to rescue him not because he is the Chang Hongbi?"
 
"Even for someone younger than him, he ought to understand that once his secret is discovered, it is bound to incite everyone's greed. He possesses no martial arts, yet everyone in the martial forest desires to capture him; to save his own life, what kind of methods could he not bring himself to use?"
 
"Can it be that just for the sake of a dog, you would want a human life? Is his life truly more lowly and cheap than a dog's?"
 
For the first time in his life, Huo Little Brother was left tongue-tied, unable to speak a word. Having been born into the most privileged position in the world's number one manor, accustomed to ordering others around at will, how could he have ever considered that a human life could be as light as a feather, as cheap as a worn-out shoe?
 
After a long time, he finally let out a long sigh and said, "I understand. —I do not blame him."
 
Zhan Rifei's brow finally relaxed. He also let out a soft sigh and said, "I did not misjudge you; Brother Huo truly possesses a broad and magnanimous mind. For the Linglong Mountain Villa to hold sway over the martial forest, it truly possesses a noble righteousness and an extraordinary—" Before he could finish the word "quality," he suddenly failed to draw a breath and broke into a cough!
 
The campfire crackled gently. Amid the dancing of the faint flames, Huo Little Brother only now noticed that, without his realizing when it had started, Zhan Rifei's voice had grown weaker and weaker.
 
With this cough, he discovered that Zhan Rifei's face looked worse and worse.
 
Under the pale, mottled moonlight, his lips seemed to have turned a purplish blue. The muscles on his face were also twitching faintly. A dense layer of sweat beads had already seeped out from his forehead.
 
Huo Little Brother's brow furrowed slightly. "You have taken two Linglong Honey Pills in succession; why is your wound still in pain?"
 
Although Zhan Rifei had not allowed him to see the wound on his back, Huo Little Brother knew that his Linglong Mountain Villa's Linglong Honey was a miraculous healing medicine famous throughout the world, something that could only be encountered by chance and not sought out. Now, he had casually given it away for Zhan Rifei to take two pills in a row, yet it still could not last; could there be some kind of dark sorcery upon the Hanshui Palace's "Long Phase Yearning" that even the Linglong Honey could not resist?
 
Zhan Rifei forced a smile, but just as he was about to speak, a surge of bloody air rushed straight up within him, leaving him entirely unable to speak; his body went limp, and he collapsed onto the ground.
 
Huo Little Brother only now realized that ever since his clash with the two people from the Hanshui Palace, Zhan Rifei had been forcing himself to hold out continuously using his internal energy; at this moment, his wound had flared up, and he could no longer support himself. He could not help but cry out in alarm, leaping up to rush to his side.
 
Zhan Rifei took a deep, long breath, finally catching his bearings. Seeing the look of deep concern on Huo Little Brother's face, a relaxed expression actually reappeared on his countenance: "Do not worry, I won't die from this, it is just that I still need to ask you for another favor."
 
Huo Little Brother had not been with him for long, but he knew that although he appeared gentle and refined on the outside, his character was remarkably unyielding. At this critical juncture, how could he care about joking about favors or debts? He said anxiously, "Just tell me how I should help!"
 
Zhan Rifei's eyes were in too much pain to open, and his words had become slurred and indistinct. Huo Little Brother had to lean down close to his lips to barely manage to hear clearly: "Ink-Fire conquers Cold-Water, I cannot care about that much anymore; I can only trouble your 'Yin-Yang Han' to work."
 
Huo Little Brother said, "My 'Yin-Yang Han'?"
 
Zhan Rifei said, "That is right, it is a long story. A piece of that 'Long Phase Yearning' was once driven deep into my back—”