LUOYANG FADED INTO THE DISTANCE as they steadily approached the capital.
The skies were dim, with thick clouds looming overhead. The night dragged on, seemingly endless. Cold winds howled past their ears, but worse than the wind was the bone-piercing chill.
They veered off the main road onto a narrow path flanked by dense forest. Most of the leaves had fallen, and the flickering light of the lanterns at the head of the carriages imbued the bare woods with a sinister glow, as if something might leap from the shadows at any moment. Pei Jingzhe lifted his eyes to the sky, wondering when day would break. The longer he looked, the more he felt the sky was defiantly refusing to brighten.
They were almost halfway through the forest when the horizon began to gray, but true daylight was still a while off. The branches, once a mass of darkness, metamorphosed into a jagged network of interwoven silhouettes.
The good news was that it wasn't snowing; the bad news was that a thick fog had rolled in.
Great swirls of mist rose from the ground, which even the harsh winds failed to blow away. Fog quickly blanketed the entire forest, lapping at the bases of the withered trees. Their gnarled branches rose, claw-like, above the white haze.
Pei Jingzhe looked around with a sinking feeling. The road was long, the forest large, and yet—
That tree on the right up ahead looked a little familiar.
Cui Buqu's voice came from within the carriage. "We're going in circles."
It seemed one's greatest fears would always come true. Several stories of ghosts trapping travelers in the mist sprang to mind—but it wasn't the supernatural Pei Jingzhe feared.
Since the horrifying incident at Yandang Mountain Estate, an air of foreboding had permeated their journey. Zhou Lao-Qi's corpse, too, had been an ill omen. At Cui Buqu's insistence, they'd returned to the road, but a gnawing anxiety plagued the whole group. Pei Jingzhe had an ominous premonition that they were walking into a trap.
His heart constricted in his chest. But a moment later, the tension drained out of him as he was hit with a feeling almost like relief. It was better for trouble to come knocking than linger silently outside your door, leaving you uncertain as to when it might intrude.
By now, the others had all realized they were retreading the same ground. Pei Jingzhe ordered the procession to stop. "My lord, Chief Cui, let's wait for the fog to clear before—"
A scream pierced the air, drowning him out. He jerked his head toward the noise.
Within the fog, a dark shadow separated itself from a tree trunk and lunged at one of the eagle riders from the Jiejian Bureau. Caught off guard, the man was yanked from his horse and dragged into the mist.
Pei Jingzhe leapt forward without thinking—but Feng Xiao was faster. Pei Jingzhe barely saw him move before the dark shadow slammed into the ground, releasing the eagle rider.
"Playing at being ghosts now, are we?" Feng Xiao sneered. His sleeve billowed, and the shadow screamed and went limp.
When Pei Jingzhe looked again, he saw only a man dressed in black. He didn't vanish into the air or sink into the ground. He really had been playing a ghost—a petty trick.
More shadowy figures materialized from the fog, springing toward the carriages from all directions. Pei Jingzhe quickly realized their attackers were all only average in skill. He and Qin Miaoyu, along with a few eagle riders from the Jiejian Bureau and the Zuoyue guards, held them off with ease.
"They're from the Chiyang Guild," said Cui Buqu, watching the battle. "Most of their martial arts originate from the Jinhuan Guild."
The leader of the Jinhuan Guild, Ning Shewo, was also chief helmsman of the Nine Guilds of Water Transport. Though the nine guilds were allied, the leaders of the other eight maintained a high level of independence; they weren't mere puppets for the Jinhuan Guild to command. The Chiyang Guild was the exception—their position had been given to them by Ning Shewo, so they followed the orders of the Jinhuan Guild's leader.
After the tavern brawl in Guangqian County, the young leader of the Jinhuan Guild, Leng Du, had brought a cadre of his elite to confront Feng Xiao and his people. Feng Xiao had taken his life in that fight. But though Leng Du was gone, Ning Shewo remained.
The sly old fox still refused to show himself and had sent others to perish in his stead. The figures in black stood no chance against Pei Jingzhe and the rest; they were clearly expendable. Yet he still felt a sliver of doubt. Was the combined might of the Chiyang and Jinhuan Guilds truly enough to massacre all of Yandang Mountain Estate? Hadn't the old coroner claimed fifty-some people lost their minds and slaughtered each other? And if the Chiyang and Jinhuan Guilds weren't the culprits, who else was watching from within the fog?
Amid the scuffle, a man dropped from the sky, striking straight for the middle carriage containing Cui Buqu. The roof of the carriage crumpled and split open beneath the man's palm. But the man didn't have the time to do the same to Cui Buqu's skull.
Feng Xiao had already arrived.
The two exchanged several blows in midair. In an instant, they'd leapt from the carriage's battered roof to the branches several feet away, their movements too swift to follow.
Feng Xiao didn't need to see his opponent's face to recognize him. The moment they clashed, he knew his identity. "Lao-Yuan, do you love me so much you insist on dying by my hand?"
Yuan Sansi's expression was like a thundercloud. Truly, when it came to encountering your enemies, the world was a small place.
After their last battle, Yuan Sansi had fled with heavy wounds. He still wasn't fully recovered. He dared not confront Feng Xiao's full power and retreated as he fought, slipping out from under Feng Xiao's blows. Feng Xiao had long since surpassed Yuan Sansi in skill, but killing him was easier said than done when he refused to engage.
Yuan Sansi found the pressure on him significantly alleviated when two more joined the fray. The leader of the Jinhuan Guild, Ning Shewo, and the leader of the Chiyang Guild, Hong Li, surged forward to join the fight.
Ning Shewo was cunning to the core. During the battle on Mount Tiannan, he'd seen the writing on the wall and slipped away, thus escaping Yuxiu's fate. For years he'd successfully led the Nine Guilds of Water Transport and roamed the southern jianghu. Though he wasn't in the top ten, he'd established himself as one of the elite. Had he joined Yuxiu in battle, they might have defeated Feng Xiao in the caves. And while the Chiyang Guild may have served as the Jinhuan Guild's lackeys, their leader, Hong Li, was famous in his own right for his imperious Iron Sand Palms.
The three of them quickly surrounded Feng Xiao. Now it would be even more difficult for Feng Xiao to kill Yuan Sansi—he might even escape his clutches entirely.
Back at the carriages, the battle was in full swing.
After force-feeding the bowl of silver ear soup to the ducks and chickens, they'd brought the birds along in case any signs of poisoning emerged over the next few days. In the chaos, the birds broke free, clucking and quacking as they bolted toward freedom without looking back.
Cui Buqu was standing beside the ruined carriage watching the fight when he heard a rustling sound behind him.
A man had appeared at the back of the carriage. He was deathly pale, his eyes bloodshot. His gaze—cold and empty, with a hint of madness—slid over Cui Buqu as if he were no different than the surrounding rocks and trees.
Cui Buqu knew him at once. "Lu Ming."
The Zuoyue spy who'd gone missing during the Yandang Mountain Estate massacre.
If Lu Ming recognized his own name, he showed no reaction. Nor did he recognize his superior in the Zuoyue Bureau. He clawed at Cui Buqu with the crooked fingers of his right hand, the strike swift and savage and aimed right for Cui Buqu's neck.
As Cui Buqu reeled backward to evade the blow, he realized Lu Ming's steps were stumbling and erratic. Yet Lu Ming leapt unhesitatingly forward, refusing to let his prey flee.
It was Qin Miaoyu who came to Cui Buqu's rescue, plunging her sword into Lu Ming's chest. The man paused for only an instant before seizing the blade and yanking it out with inhuman force. What normal person could do such a thing? Qin Miaoyu was stunned. She looked at Lu Ming, then thought back to Zhou Lao-Qi in the carriage and made a horrific connection.
Cui Buqu seemed to guess the direction of her thoughts. "He's not dead! He's been poisoned with something that's destroyed his mind!"
Qin Miaoyu shuddered. Wresting her sword away, she beheaded Lu Ming with a single clean slash. Blood misted the air.
She took great care with her appearance. Fearing the blood might stain her clothes, she grabbed Cui Buqu and retreated a few steps as Lu Ming's head soared through the air, then rolled a short distance and stopped at Pei Jingzhe's feet.
"What is that?!" exclaimed the black-clad man fighting Pei Jingzhe.
Everyone turned to see a black worm, roughly the length of a finger, wriggling its way out of the stump of the man's neck. Qin Miaoyu snatched up a stone and hurled it, smashing the worm into bloody paste before it could abandon its host.
"There's a third party at play here," said Cui Buqu coldly.
Qin Miaoyu had been as baffled as any of them, but with this comment, everything clicked into place. Judging by the terrified reactions of the men in black, they had no connection to Lu Ming and the worm. The enemy had probably also lured them here, hoping to pit the two groups against each other.
But other than the Thirteen Floors of Yunhai, who else could be scheming against them?
Qin Miaoyu's heart sank. It seemed they weren't out of danger yet.
***
A distance away, Yuan Sansi and Feng Xiao were still fighting. By now Yuan Sansi had realized Feng Xiao had no intention of killing him.
"Were you the ones who attacked Yandang Mountain Estate?" Feng Xiao asked between blows.
Yuan Sansi grunted, refusing to answer.
"Were your bureaus not the true culprits?" Ning Shewo asked.
Feng Xiao sneered. "Enough with your games!"
As if they'd reached some tacit understanding, all four eased their attacks. Ning Shewo knew they were at a disadvantage. Hoping to de-escalate the situation, he spoke in an amiable tone. "Deputy Chief Feng, you misunderstand. We came to attend the swordsmanship contest and were stunned by the tragedy at Yandang Mountain Estate. When we discovered such legendary investigators as Deputy Chief Feng and Chief Cui had taken charge of the case, we believed it was safe to leave. We certainly didn't expect to run into you here." Despite his meandering answer, his point was clear: He and his people were not responsible for the massacre, and they hadn't been following Feng Xiao's group.
Impatient at Ning Shewo's rambling, Yuan Sansi cut in. "Some of our subordinates went missing. While we were tracking them, we came across you by chance."
It was a remarkable sight: Two parties that had been as opposed as fire and water set their weapons aside for a peaceful conversation. All saw it at once—someone had drawn them here deliberately.
Feng Xiao paled. Ignoring the other three, he rushed back the way he'd come. His speed was extraordinary. In a blink, he was standing before the carriages. But they and the horses were all that remained—the people had disappeared without a trace.
"Cui Buqu! Hey, Cui bastard!" Feng Xiao called for him, but the desolate woods responded only with swirling mist. Even if Cui Buqu had been abducted, Ming Yue and the others had been here too. They couldn't have all vanished without a trace.
He drew a deep breath and detected a faint fragrance, like the warm scent of wood. It was the middle of winter. Where would a scent like that come from?
A hint of red flashed at the corner of his eye. Feng Xiao looked down.
Blood.
A meandering trail of blood left by an open wound. It stretched away and into the dense fog ahead. Step by step, he slowly followed the trail. The coppery scent grew stronger as he walked—so strong it was as if a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood lay before him.
But Feng Xiao saw neither. When the fog parted, he saw Cui Buqu lying collapsed on the ground not far ahead. Qin Miaoyu half-sprawled over him, taking great bites out of his flesh. At the sound of approaching footsteps, she jerked her head up. Her face was smeared with blood. Bare white bone showed through on Cui Buqu's arm where she'd been feasting.
A chill raced down Feng Xiao's spine. Face ashen, he rushed forward without thinking.
A dark shadow drifted soundlessly toward him from behind.