That night I didn’t sleep at all, my mind kept thinking about what happened just now. Somehow I could guess some of the things but they were still blurry to me; I knew I must have missed out something but I couldn’t think of what was that something.
That night seemed to pa.s.s by very quickly and there’s nothing happened after that.
I got up the next morning to see Shang Lie already standing outside my room. Surprisingly, Yue Shen and Chao Ya were also standing outside; Chao Ya was playing her zither and her smiled was calm and tranquil.
I walked over to ask her. “Chao Ya, yesterday night…”
“Chao Ya, did you sleep well yesterday?” Shang Lie cut me off.
“Very good. I did sleep well and had a dreamless sleep all the way to daybreak.”
“That’s good. You should rest since you are still weak.” Shang Lie smiled and his smile was so calm but there’s already a drop of sweat in my palm. Why did Chao Ya lie?
“Yue Shen, what about you?” Shang Lie continued.
“I wasn’t here. I went out.”
“Where did you go?” I asked.
She looked at me. “My king, I discovered something last night. I shall come over to your room tonight to tell you.” I could tell Yue Shen didn’t mean to be so secretive, she must have discovered something.
“My king, I have something to tell you tonight as well.” Huang Tuo looked at Yue Shen and told me.
That night Huang Tuo told me Liao Jian didn’t die from chronic toxic because he dug out Liao Jian’s body to do a thorough check after that, and then he discovered a tiny needle on top of his head am with hair covering it and it was coated with lethal poison.
“My king, do you still remember when we first entered in the West territory, are there any suspicious people around us?” Huang Tuo asked.
Yue Shen did tell me that there were several top killers there but they didn’t make any move because Yue Shen was there and no one dared to attack before her.
“My king, did you still remember when Liao Jian went down, Pian Feng was the first to rush over to hold him like he knew that he is going to fall. I could still remember Pian Feng was holding Liao Jian’s head.”
“Huang Tuo, what do you want to say?”
“My king, I just want to let you know that I have discovered something we had missed out earlier on. You can have your own judgment, my king.”
Just then Yue Shen was already at the door, she didn’t say anything when she saw Huang Tuo in my room:
Huang Tuo glanced at Yue Shen and turned back to me, saying. “My king, I shall go back to my room first.”
That night Yue Shen told me the same thing, she told me on the night when I got a.s.sa.s.sinated, she was out checking Liao Jian’s body. Yue Shen said the gra.s.s around the tomb was all withered and that’s because there’s poison in Liao Jian’s body and there’s a tiny needle hiding in his hair.
I didn’t tell Yue Shen that Huang Tuo was already aware of this matter. I just asked Yue Shen. “Who do you is the one who killed Liao Jian?”
Yue Shen didn’t suspect anyone among us. “My king, you remembered the lady with needles on her head?” She asked.
“Zhen?”
“Correct. I want to see if the needle on her head is the same as the one on Liao Jian’s head.”
When Yue Shen was about to leave my room, she turned back to face me suddenly. “My king, don’t you find the incident weird?”
“You mean…”
“Huang Tuo is the only one who saw the black figure and discovered the person running into the rooms at North Wing. He said everything himself and the cut before his chest, have you ever wondered if it was your icicle blade that cut his clothes?”
I looked at Yue Shen, fear and coldness started piling up in my heart.
Yue Shen had removed the needle from Liao Jian’s body. It was a silvery white needle unlike those usual silver needles, it was harder than the silver ones and the tip has a creepy green glow under the light. Obviously, it was coated with lethal poison on it. The top of the needle was bright red and it was exceptionally striking. When I took a closer look at the needle, I discovered the red part was actually a crafted Phoenix head.
“Feng Huang (Phoenix)!” I gasped.
Yue Shen looked at me, nodding her head.
I was about to take the needle when she stopped me from doing so. “My king, this poison is very strong and even if there isn’t any open wound, the poison can still sip through the skin. Although it isn’t lethal, it is good enough to sustain serious injuries from it.”
I looked at that needle, not saying anything. Suddenly I thought of something from both Huang Tuo and Yue Shen’s words.
Nothing happened that night and I slept pretty well, but dreams came one after another. Maybe I have been at the mortal world for too long, I suddenly dreamt about Ren Xue Cheng. I felt everything was an illusion like the reflection in the water, a few hundreds years just went by with swing. The days I once had with Shi could never be back, I could only see the handsome and stubborn Shi in the dream. He looked so murderous when he had his cold expression on, but when he was happy, his smile was sweet like a child, so stubborn and strong. My brother, Ying Kong Shi, was now singing a sad song in the sky. I wasn’t sure if his soul would feel cold or not; was he still as stubborn as before and refused to open up his protection barrier to shield himself from the snowflakes, letting them fall onto his shoulders his hair and eyebrows like the cherry blossom petals. There wasn’t any dispute on the dream, no throne, no segregation in blood purity, no killing and betrayal. There was only the two of us, standing at the high city wall with our hair flying in the wind. Snowflakes and cherry blossom flowers flying past our hair and robes; our fluttering robes were like blooming thousands ice lotus, so pure and so transparently white. One thousand years, ten thousands years, Shi and I just stood there, overlooking at the entire Ice Kingdom, overlooking at our people; overlooking at the Ice Sea and also the blooming fire-liked red lotuses opposite of the Ice Sea.
A huge snow sleet bird flew past from the city wall, and then countless of snow sleet birds flying over our heads. I could hear the fluttering sound of their wings in the wind; those huge white birds had filled the infinite sky and the pale blue sky continued to show the faces of the people that I missed the most - bluish white haired Li Luo, the courageous Lan Sang, my siblings and the others from the Ice Tribe who had died from the holy war. Their smiles were all over the sky and disappeared slowly like the fog.
At the end of the dream, I was standing alone in the ten years long snow at Ren Xue Cheng. There wasn’t anyone or any sound except the howling sound of the wind in my ears and then Ren Xue Cheng collapsed behind so silently. Dust was flying all over, covering the sun and the sky.
My tear started to flow; it just kept flowing until the end of the dream, kept flowing till I sat up from the bed, kept flowing till I woke up from the dream.
I hugged my knees and sat on my bed with my head leaning on the wall and I heard myself whispering. “Shi, how have you been? Ge misses you a lot…”
When I woke up in the morning, the snow had already stopped. The bamboo leaves still have some remaining snow on them. When the wind blew, they started falling down bit by bit.
I walked to the main hall of the inn and I noticed Yue Shen and others were already there, eating. Other than Hua Xiao, everyone was present at the main hall. The weird part of the entire place was that Yue Shen was sitting with another person at the same table and that person was the woman that specialized in poison, Zhen.
I walked over and sat next to Zhen. The waiter came over to ask for my order and just when I was about to order, Zhen told me something. “Ka Suo, please come to my room tonight.”
I looked up at her confusingly, unsure about her action.
She smiled at me and that smile was so mysterious and vague. “My king, I know that your friend died from a poisoned needle. I will tell you about that needle tonight.” She said.
I looked towards Yue Shen. She didn’t say anything and just lower her head to drink her tea, so I turned back to Zhen and relied, “Sure. I’ll come find you tonight.”
That night I called Yue Shen to my room and told her. “Yue Shen, accompany me to Zhen’s room.”
“Yes, my king. Please be extra careful.” Yue Shen said.
Yue Shen and I waited till everyone was asleep then we left our rooms, but when we were outside of Zhen’s room, the room wasn’t lighted and there wasn’t any sound. There was only total darkness.
I curled my ring finger up and a snowy whirlwind began flying around me and it has gotten more congregated because I was afraid that countless of poisoned needles would come flying at me the moment I opened the door. I turned back to look at Yue Shen, she had already raised her left hand above her head and the moonlight on her hand has already enveloped her in it.
Yue Shen went on to open the door, and when the moonlight on Yue Shen shone into the room, we saw Zhen. She was right opposite us, sitting on the chair and smiling at us; the smile was creepily indescribable. Just when we were about to enter, Yue Shen let out a yell and backed away immediately. I followed suit because I’ve already saw the cold glow on Zhen’s hand.
She had already removed the needles from her hair and they were on her hands, ready to attack any moment.
But Yue Shen and I waited for a long time outside her room, and she has yet to make a move. We strengthen the defense around us and walked back into the room. Zhen’s smile was still as creepy as before and I’ve finally realized the reason why was her smile so creepy. It was because her smile had already been frozen and there wasn’t any change at all.
“She’s dead.” Yue Shen said as she dispersed the glow in her hand.
The second morning we buried Zhen’s body at the empty land behind the inn, everyone was standing in front of her tomb and the new dug out soil looked exceptionally striking among the snow. Her poisoned needles were also buried together with her. We knew that there wouldn’t be any green gra.s.s over her tomb because the poison on the needles would spread to the soil and this would be an evidence to show that she was a highly skilled a.s.sa.s.sin.
“So she is Feng Huang.” Chao Ya said with her hair flying before her eyes, covering her face. But it still couldn’t conceal the tiredness and helplessness on her face.
I turned back to look at Huang Tuo and he remained expressionless but the sparkle in his eyes was still there. I wasn’t sure what was he thinking again; he just stared at Zhen’s tomb, not saying anything.
The inn has reverted back its usual peace a few days after Feng Huang’s death. People continued coming in and leaving the inn. It’s only me that I wasn’t sure what should I be waiting for. Maybe just like what Shang Lie had said, I could only wait for the West Guardian to come without any ability to defend. Yue Shen was always missing in action; Huang Tuo was always in the house; Pian Feng and Chao Ya would always be playing with the owner’s son. As for me, I would always standing in the bamboo forest, looking at the snowflakes falling down from the bamboo leaves, falling onto my hair, shoulders and melting into my eyes.
