"THIS DISTINGUISHED MASTER is Songxue-xiansheng?"
The man smiled. "I don't dare claim the address of xiansheng. This good brother can simply use my name. Songxue is a nickname I use when fooling around with my friends. A joke."
The Zuoyue Bureau was well-informed, and Cui Buqu had a deep knowledge of important names across the various royal courts and the jianghu. Still, he wasn't a god; it was impossible for him to recall every detail about someone the moment he heard their name.
Xiao Lü was an exception. This man was a low-ranking official from the Southern dynasty. Specifically, he was the lowest-ranking secretary in the Eastern Palace, an inconsequential position that wasn't even permitted to attend court. As far as his career was concerned, he was a complete and utter failure. This, however, was not the whole story. Xiao Lü was descended from a branch of the Xiao family in Southern Liang, and had studied under the renowned calligrapher Gu Yewang and the monk Zhiyong from a young age, excelling in both regular and cursive script. He was known for incorporating calligraphy into his swordplay, creating his own techniques, and was unrivaled with both the pen and the sword.
Yet when people discussed Xiao Lü, their conversations always included the words what a pity. What a pity the heavens envied talent. Considering Xiao Lü's abilities, he shouldn't have met a dead end as a ninth-rank official in Southern Chen.
Cui Buqu couldn't guess whether Xiao Lü was an enemy or a friend. There was no time to ask all the questions he wanted, so he chose the most pressing: "Is Xiao-gongzi not an official in the Southern dynasty? Why have you come to Qiemo?"
"I resigned my position and came to save someone." Xiao Lü met Cui Buqu's direct questions with an equally direct answer. "Sir, how should I address you?"
"My surname is Cui. Does Xiao-gongzi know the way out?"
"I only just came in myself. I'm looking now."
Cui Buqu was becoming increasingly certain there was more than one entrance to this chamber. But if Duan Qihu had created this underground passage purely to aid his own escape, why employ such a complicated design?
They fell silent, and Cui Buqu coughed a few times. He endured the pain in his back as he and Xiao Lü split up to search for an exit.
"I had a look around before you fell down here," Xiao Lü said. "There're no levers of any sort on the ground; the tunnel can't go much deeper. If there's a way out, we'll find it on one of the walls."
As Cui Buqu murmured in acknowledgment, his palm brushed over a small gap. Feeling inside, his fingers met a loose brick. He pressed down; sure enough, there was a rumbling sound, and dim light seeped into the room. Behind him, a stone door ground open, accompanied by the feeble moans of women.
What are women doing in an underground passage?
The question rose simultaneously in both their minds. As the stone door opened fully, a peculiar scene was revealed. Cui Buqu was the type who wouldn't bat an eye if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, yet even he stood dumbfounded.
Beyond the darkness of their surroundings lay a world of light. Hanging red veils of silk and satin gave off the aroma of sandalwood and apricot. The air was sweet and fragrant, as intoxicating as any earthly paradise.
Those wavering moans came from behind the veils.
Cui Buqu and Xiao Lü approached the doorway. That heady scent seemed to stir their minds, and both frowned and took a step back. Xiao Lü flicked his wrist, and the wind from his sword swept away the cloying fragrance.
As light spilled into the chamber, Cui Buqu finally saw that the beast they'd fought was a tiger. Two men were collapsed next to its corpse, sword wounds carved into their abdomens. Xiao Lü had probably slain them before Cui Buqu's arrival.
Other than the two men and the tiger, they found none of the traps they'd imagined. Several beds were scattered within the stone chamber on the other side of the doorway, each holding a woman wreathed in thin gauze. The women weren't naked, but what they wore left little to the imagination. Their cheeks were flushed and their eyes dazed as they ran hands over their bodies, movements and poses unconsciously seductive. Thin iron chains wound around their ankles and attached to the bedposts, imprisoning them within their scarlet curtains. Even without the iron bonds, they were drugged and trapped within a chamber guarded by a ferocious tiger. They had no chance of escape.
Xiao Lü's face was black with anger. He strode over to one of the beds. "Mei-niang!"
The woman looked at him with teary, hazy eyes; she didn't seem to have heard him.
Xiao Lü grabbed her wrist and inserted a thread of true qi into her arm, then kneaded a couple of acupoints across her face and head. The woman trembled, her eyes slowly gaining focus. When she saw Xiao Lü, calling her name, she was stunned. She bucked on the bed as if to leap up, and her pale complexion turned green as fat tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Qi-ge?"
Now Cui Buqu understood. This wasn't merely Duan Qihu's escape route—it was also his pleasure den. The women he'd imprisoned here were likely from good families, tricked or kidnapped into captivity. He'd be too easily exposed if he kept them openly in his estate. Down here, they were hidden away from prying eyes, never to see the light of day. These women were powerless to resist—Duan Qihu could do anything he wanted in this chamber, satisfy any kind of secret or twisted fetish.
Since joining the Zuoyue Bureau, Cui Buqu had seen too much of the abundant filth of this world. The scene before him wasn't particularly surprising, but he hadn't expected Xiao Lü's loved one would be a victim as well. He walked a circuit around the room, kicking over the incense burners in each corner. That intoxicating fragrance instantly faded.
Mei-niang clung to Xiao Lü and wailed, as if pouring out a lifetime's worth of grievances. The other women, still under sway of the drug, lay insensible; even Mei-niang's weeping failed to wake them.
Cui Buqu frowned. "Xiao-gongzi…"
Xiao Lü smiled bitterly but took his meaning. He knocked the woman in his arms unconscious and laid her back down on the bed, then approached the others to wake them as he had Mei-niang.
"Wait, Xiao-gongzi," said Cui Buqu. "These women have been tortured; when they wake, they may react like your sister. It'll be difficult to bring them all out with us. Why not free them from their chains now, and after we find a way out, we'll send someone down to rescue them."
Xiao Lü nodded. "Cui-xiong has considered this thoroughly."
He did as Cui Buqu suggested, slicing through each of the chains binding the women. But they'd been under the influence of the drugs for too long; recovery would be slow. Even freed, they weren't going to suddenly spring up, cry, and run about. They remained on their beds, faces desperate as they twisted seductively against the bedding, bodies covered in bruises old and new—evidence of the torment they'd endured.
Lamenting now would do them no good. Cui Buqu wasn't a soft-hearted man, and Xiao Lü similarly wasted no time on useless expressions of sympathy. Together they began looking for an exit from the stone chamber.
After a few moments, Cui Buqu heard his companion sigh. The short huff of breath contained unconcealed anger and frustration, yet Xiao Lü suppressed his emotions, letting reason guide his actions.
This was the kind of man Cui Buqu admired—someone with an eye always on the bigger picture, never letting his own weaknesses drag him down.
"Take heart, Xiao-xiong. I've heard there are several skilled doctors in Qiemo. Take your sister once we leave." Xiao Lü had just saved him, after all. It would be rather too callous if he showed no concern.
Xiao Lü's smile was strained. "She's not my sister, but the daughter of my father's friend. When she was young, a fortune teller claimed she'd be robbed and killed, and to avoid this fate, she must leave home and seclude herself for a few years. Her family sent her to Mount Huang Sect to learn martial arts; we haven't seen each other for over a decade. Last year, her family's elders told me she'd gone missing on her way home from the sect, leaving no word or message. They feared she'd met with an accident and implored me to look for her. I followed all sorts of clues to find this place, but I didn't expect…"
For a woman from a decent family, an experience like this was a fate worse than death. Even in the less inhibited northern regions, it would be a stain on her life forever.
After searching the stone chamber at length, Xiao Lü and Cui Buqu had still found nothing like an exit. They had no choice but to return to the room from which they'd entered. The dead tiger and the two corpses were still strewn across the floor. As they passed over the threshold, the scent of blood and lingering incense interwove to create a subtle yet odious fragrance. Instead of arousing desire, it aroused nausea.
Xiao Lü searched the walls again but found no additional mechanisms. His brows knit faintly with anxiety, though not for his own sake—Mei-niang was still inside, in poor condition. The longer he tarried, the worse her situation would become.
"Here," said Cui Buqu. "A tile that's sunken in."
Xiao Lü's spirits lifted. He strode over and crouched to see what Cui Buqu had pointed out: one of the floor tiles near the corner of the wall was a hair lower than the ones next to it. Using all his strength, Xiao Lü pushed down.
"It's moving!" he cried.
Suddenly water poured down from above, soaking both their heads.
"Blast!" Cui Buqu suddenly understood why there were two guards. There were likely two mechanisms in this chamber that had to be activated at the same time. When Xiao Lü's side was activated alone, it didn't reveal the exit but triggered this trap.
The water showed no sign of stopping; it poured down endlessly, like they'd opened a hole at the bottom of a lake. The water level rose quickly; within seconds, it was at their calves. If this continued, forget rescuing the women—they'd both drown here today.
Cui Buqu and Xiao Lü exchanged a quick glance, forming a belated plan to save themselves. Cui Buqu quickly felt around for a second sunken tile. When he found it, he pressed down, while Xiao Lü simultaneously bore down on the first.
With a rumble of stone, the gap admitting the water gradually closed and was replaced by a brick that rose from the wall's surface.
Xiao Lü smiled wryly. "Is Duan Qihu trying to build an underground palace?"
"He couldn't have built all this by himself," said Cui Buqu. "Judging by the structure, it looks more like an ancient tomb. Duan Qihu must have emptied it, then put the mechanisms and stone chamber to his own purposes."
Xiao Lü pressed the protruding brick. Finally, a stone gate opened next to him—and beyond it, stairs leading up.
The true exit.
Both men breathed a sigh of relief. Cui Buqu walked in front, while Xiao Lü carried Mei-niang on his back and followed behind. As for the other women, they couldn't do anything for them at the moment. Cui Buqu and Xiao Lü would have to help them after they escaped themselves.
The stone staircase wasn't long; after half an hour of climbing, they reached the top. As light dazzled their eyes, they heard Duan Qihu scream.
Cui Buqu burst from the secret passage. He'd gone through too much trouble chasing Yan Xuexing, all to save Duan Qihu. If Yan Xuexing wanted to kill him, it would have to be after Cui Buqu got some answers about the Thirteen Floors of Yunhai. Feng Xiao might grab Yuheng, but he alone wasn't enough. They needed both men's testimonies to dig up the truth.
Yet he'd just glimpsed the black of the sky when he saw Yan Xuexing drive his sword into Duan Qihu's gut.