Guiling reached—Daliang far off? Not at all, a mere two days' journey at most. Otherwise, Sun Bin's ploy to besiege Wei and rescue Zhao wouldn't have sprung from ambush here, capturing Pang Juan alive and forging Sun Bin's legend.
Passing the ancient battlefield, Li Haime poured a cup of plain water as libation—to heaven and earth, and to the heroic shades. Right or wrong mattered little; the fallen had all bled for hearth and homeland.
From Guiling to Daliang, prosperity bloomed. Towns and travelers thickened the road; no more wind-lashed camps for the pair. Crowds swelled, rags yielded to modest garb, cheeks flushed with vigor. After all, this neared the capital—a nation's face to the world.
"Xue Nu, in Wei—who do you most yearn to meet?" Li Haime asked with a grin. Second visit to Daliang for him, though scant talk last time.
"Lord Longyang," Xue Nu replied.
"Lord Longyang?" Li Haime paused, first thought leaping to cut-sleeve tendencies. But that was a past life's echo.
By Daoist intel, this Lord Longyang was no simple soul. Wei's premier swordmaster—likely a Unity of Heaven and Man powerhouse. A man like that, queer? Secondly, the era's unmatched diplomat, bar none. Thirdly, depths of scheming: could thrive on talent alone, yet his fame across the Seven Kingdoms was all seduction and allure.
"Yes! They say his beauty dims the world's women to shadows." Xue Nu beamed. Wonder how he'd stack against Master in drag.
Li Haime nodded. Records told of Lord Longyang angling with King Wei: a dozen fish hooked, then tears. The king asked why; the lord lamented—initial joy soured as bigger catches displaced the small. So too with his beauty serving the king: it bred envy in the realm's lovelies, who'd swarm like those fish, ever fairer. Thus, the king decreed: no tales of beauties in the land.
But Li Haime, versed in scholars' silver tongues, saw deeper. Swap a phrase, and it echoed Zou Ji's remonstrance to the Qi king: kings often fished with aides—a commonplace. Likely, Lord Longyang advised the king mid-cast: fish mirror beauties—one beauty arrives, fairer follow, till the realm floods the palace with sirens. Hence the decree against such tributes. But leaked abroad, one line twisted: the lord serves with his looks. Abruptly, the king's wise counsel warped to farce.
Cut-sleeve leanings? Same sleight. King and lord debate statecraft, nap follows; the king spares the dozing aide, slicing his own sleeve free. Pre-Qin norm—Qin Duke Xiao and Shang Yang's neck-gift bond; lords and ministers shared carts, beds to bind talent. Han end's Liu-Guan-Zhang, feet entwined for days. Omit the policy talk in retelling? It blooms to ribald yarn.
Neck-gift ties, entwined sleeps—dime-a-dozen then. Bai Qi returns triumphant; Qin king gifts a pear. Midway munching, Bai dozes; the king shrugs off his robe to cover him. Swap to Longyang: king gifts pear; lord eats half, leaves it. King finishes, then strips his cloak over the lord. See?
Underestimate Lord Longyang on such fluff? That's true folly. Wei's foreign envoy ranked outer minister—second only to the chancellor. And a sword savant to boot. Eleven missions flawless—including three to Qin. Beauty's ladder? Not every throne's a Wei king's whim.
"Don't let Lord Longyang's looks fool you. Some jianghu master's ma once said: the prettier the woman, the deadlier the deceit. Holds for men too. Fellas in skirts? Your gender's out of the game." Li Haime warned Xue Nu.
"The prettier the woman, the deadlier the deceit?"
Xue Nu blinked her limpid pools—profound. But men in skirts sidelining women? Hmm... spot on. Master dolled up? I'd fade to nothing. Stunning, with that heroic edge—lethal in this age.
"Lord Longyang: Mohist Titan's nod as Wei's top swordsman, outer minister post. Beauty's no crutch." Li Haime added.
"Master... in drag?" Xue Nu slipped.
Li Haime's forehead veined black; he wheeled, flicking her brow sharp. Drag version of me? As if skirts could outshine the original. Ah—pfah!—no skirts for this one. Ever.
Xue Nu rubbed her reddened forehead. No drag talk 'round Master. But damn, who'd win: dolled Master or Lord Longyang?
"Master, how do we meet him?" she asked, nursing the spot.
"Daliang first—then decide." Li Haime pondered too: worth a sit-down? Truth, he craved glimpse of this infamous charmer. Straight shot: Daoist card to his gate—audience guaranteed. But too flashy. Pass.
"Boss, two deluxe rooms." Dust-caked in Daliang, Wei's heart, they claimed the finest inn: Dongxiang Spring.
"One!" Xue Nu countered.
The owner eyed them, smiled sly. To Li Haime: "Apologies, sir—full house. One deluxe left."
Xue Nu thumbed up at him. Shrewd merchant—Daliang's top for a reason.
"One it is." Li Haime shrugged. Hugging a piglet en route? Old hat.
Scratched a Daoist sigil in the corner—contact for Human Sect kin. Daoists sealed mountains, sure, but outer disciples and affairs hall churned on. Capitals like Daliang crawled with them; Longyang's doings? Child's play.
A wait, then the knock: Daoist cadence—one rap, two in train, three unbroken. Dao begets one, one begets two, two begets three, three begets all ten thousand.
"Enter!" Li Haime confirmed—Daoist kin. Confucians faster, but their blackwash of Longyang? Sift their prattle for truth.
In stepped a Daoist in brocade finery—like a plump merchant. Sans the clasped hands flashing a Daoist lin seal, who'd guess?
"Daliang affairs steward Xing, greets the Sect Leader." The disciple bowed.
"Probe Lord Longyang for me." Li Haime waved off ceremony.
"Which facet, Sect Leader?" Xing queried.
"Him entire—habits, haunts." Li Haime specified.
"Lord Longyang's Daliang arrival: unknown date. Xinling Lord's nod lands him outer minister. Beauty-famed across Seven. Eleven embassies in term—all triumphs, thrice to Qin. Swordplay: Wei's pinnacle, half-step to Unity. Disciple surmises: he's Yin-Yang School's Xiang Lord and Lady this cycle." Xing detailed.
"Xiang Lord and Lady?" Li Haime arched a brow. One man claiming Yin-Yang's dual elders?
"Aye. Cloud Lord: Metal Elder. Grand Adjutant: Fire. Lesser Adjutant: Wood. Xiang Lord: Earth. Xiang Lady: Water. Eyewitnesses spied him wield Xiang Lady's Nine Winds Over Water. His blade, though? Earth-attuned sword arts. Thus: Xiang Lord too." Xing dissected.
"Yin-Yang elders?" Li Haime mused. He'd pegged Longyang for Hundred Schools kin—School of Names, maybe. Not Yin-Yang. And dual roles?
"Lord Longyang craves fresh fish—every third day, riverside quay for angling. Unwavering these three years. Day after tomorrow: his cast." Xing added the routine, the when.
"Sect Leader—mobilize?" Xing mimed a throat-slash. Dao-Yin-Yang feud? No quarter given.
"After I meet him." Li Haime demurred.
In Qin Shi Ming Yue, Xiang Lord and Lady stayed shadows. His own Yin-Yang brush: Mohist Titan slays them, Eastern Sovereign gifts to Dao via Jianjia—Xue Nu's own. Slay Longyang anew? Could Yin-Yang forge replacements? Plus, Celestial Sect runaway Xiaoling fled there. From Longyang's lips: why, and lives?
"This: Human Sect's jie mudra. One demo—grasp it or not, yours." Li Haime offered.
"My thanks, Sect Leader!" Xing fist-palmed, elated. Dao's Nine Seals: pinnacle arts each. United? Outstrips Yin-Yang's Qi Blade or Yin-Yang Grand Palm.
Li Haime slowed the form—run the horse, feed it hay first. Xiaoyao You and kin: sword ways. Dao's apex? Arts arcane. Heaven-Earth-Man Seals strongest: Heaven-Flipping, Earth-Covering, paramount Human Sovereign. Nine-Character Mantra: Dao's Nine Seals supreme—lin bing dou zhe jie zhen lie forward, each a divinity. One seal: lifetime boon.
"Jie Seal: attunes sense—world's flux, self-peril, hearts' weave to sway them. Paired with qing jing wu wei wu ran wu wu zhou chant. Slender in fray, but with your xing seal? Dodge doom eternal; no slayer catches you unwilling." Li Haime passed the form, the incant. (Jie hid one more: Heavenly Sovereign's Qi-Gaze—elders' rite alone.)
The Nine-Character Mantra true-form: lin bing dou zhe jie zhen lie xing qian. Lin bing dou zhe jie zhen lie qian: Japanese Esoteric's Tang pilfer—flubbed, or spiteful? Xing evokes wayfarer of time-space, not mere advance. Pre-Baopuzi's mantra, zhen as jing (well)—fancier, that.
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