Volume 3, Chapter 24 – Capital Upheaval (1)

Late at night, in Baishan Dojo within Yujing, Song Ruhua was pacing back and forth inside the side room.

“Senior Brother.” Song Chengqing had been staring at his figure all this time and finally couldn’t hold back, calling out, “About Little Junior Sister… can’t you at least come up with a plan?”

“What Little Junior Sister!” Song Ruhua was already irritated enough; as soon as he heard that, his brows knit tight. “Master has clearly taken Xiangnü as a disciple as well. When are you going to change how you call her?”

“I don’t care!” Song Chengqing turned her head away, face full of grievance. “All these years… the one who grew up alongside us and supported us has been Little Junior Sister. If Master wants me to change what I call her, fine, I’ll accept that. But you, Senior Brother… are you just going to ignore all these years of feelings between us?”

“I’m the one ignoring them?” Song Ruhua stared in surprise, eyes going wide. “If I were ignoring them, would I have gone out of my way, thanklessly, to try and persuade her?”

“Come on then, Junior Sister… let’s work through the logic here.”

He simply dragged over a stool and sat down opposite Song Chengqing, then started laying things out for her, counting them off on his fingers one by one.

“Back then she borrowed our names, saying we all supported her using pills to exchange for Master not publicly taking in disciples. Does that or does that not count as deceiving her superiors and hiding the truth?”

“Senior Brother…” Song Chengqing frowned. “Little Junior Sister is a bit spoiled, yes, but how could anything she did possibly be hidden from Master?”

Song Ruhua frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“What else could I mean?” Song Chengqing butted heads with him. “When it comes to the art of calculation and deduction, Junior Brother Guo is called the double prodigy of pills and numbers, but how could he possibly compare to Master? If even Junior Brother Guo can see something, you think Master can’t?”

Song Ruhua glared. “And what exactly does that prove?”

Song Chengqing spoke with complete conviction. “Of course it proves that some of what Little Junior Sister has done over the years… Master has actually been tacitly allowing.”

“For example, in the face of those rumors about her being the ‘closed-door disciple,’ Little Junior Sister didn’t agree with them, but she didn’t deny them either. What she was really doing was watching Master’s attitude.”

“And Master didn’t show any reaction to it, did she? So why can’t that be taken as tacit approval?”

“Eh?” Now Song Ruhua really couldn’t stay seated. He rolled up his sleeves and stood up. “I’ve realized you womenfolk really do love to overthink and connect things… and this counts as Master’s tacit approval?”

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“Why not!” Song Chengqing snorted. “It’s like training a dog. When the dog does something wrong, you have to punish it—and you have to punish it right away. Only then does it know that thing was wrong, and only then will it not offend again next time.”

“But if you don’t punish it, the dog won’t know it did wrong. Then it will keep making the same mistake over and over. By the time it finally causes real disaster and you start blaming it, how is that the dog’s fault?”

“Put that twisted logic away already.” Song Ruhua couldn’t listen to any more. “Master will be back any moment. If she hears you, she’ll throw you out, and I’m not begging for mercy on your behalf.”

Song Ruhua was a relatively rational person. He knew there was some twisted logic in Song Chengqing’s words.

But things had to be looked at from multiple angles!

From Song Chengqing’s perspective, she was close with Liang Yu, the two of them like sisters, like mother and daughter on both sides. With her reason suppressed by emotion, saying Xiang Xian also bore some responsibility in her teaching—she might honestly feel that logic wasn’t wrong.

The problem, however, was that under the moral code and rites of Great Yu, when it came to matters like this, teachers and parents simply held absolute authority!

Whether a teacher wanted to take on another disciple, whether parents wanted to add to the household—when did that ever become something for disciples and children to comment on?

Let alone the fact that Xiang Xian was their benefactor. She had once saved their lives, and she had passed on her art to them. She never needed to bestow so much kindness upon them, yet she still gave them the greatest care.

With a Master like that, was she not even allowed the right to take disciples?

How she took disciples, when she took disciples—was she supposed to sit down and discuss that with her disciples?

Wasn’t it the disciples’ own job to think to themselves, this is a line I shouldn’t cross ?

What sense was there in obsessing over it like this?

It was utterly absurd!

Outrageous!

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Song Ruhua was so angry he could barely stand it… It was only because the one speaking was Song Chengqing—his own younger sister, and also his Dao-companion. If it had been anyone else, Song Ruhua would have drawn his sword and cut them down on the spot!

“I don’t need you to plead anything,” Song Chengqing’s eyes went red the moment she heard him. She grabbed the bundle beside her and slung it onto her sword. “If you won’t save Little Junior Sister, I’ll go myself!”

“Junior Sister? Junior Sister!”

Song Ruhua tried to stop her several times but couldn’t block Song Chengqing’s resolve to leave. He stared blankly at the back of his Dao-companion of many years as she went down the mountain, as if today were the first time he’d ever met this closest of kin.

“Heh heh…”

A quiet chuckle drifted over from the mountain path. Song Ruhua looked up and saw a Daoist in black standing over there, a long sword at his waist and a feather fan in his hand.

“Junior Brother Guo…” Song Ruhua said sheepishly, “I’ve let you see a joke.”

“Senior Sister is deeply sentimental. She once said to the rest of us, ‘If you fall into devilry, I’m willing to follow you into ruin.’ That’s putting personal affection above human ethics and law.”

The Daoist in black—this was Guo Rongzhi—spoke lazily. “It may be out of step with the times, but doesn’t it still count as a form of true feeling?”

“But this matter isn’t that simple!”

Song Ruhua muttered under his breath, his gaze gradually firming.

“Right is right, wrong is wrong!”

“Disciple-criminal Liang Yu spread false news, slandered her fellow disciples, and even reported her own Master. Her conduct can practically be called betraying her master and ancestors!”

“By the rites of Yu, a crime like that would likely mean being subjected to lingchi in the streets. Being merely imprisoned in the Hall Prison already counts as cheap for her—how could she be saved? In what world is there any logic that says she can be saved?”

“Senior Brother.” Guo Rongzhi suddenly put on a serious face. “Let me ask you—living between heaven and earth, is right and wrong really that important?”

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“Of course it is!” Song Ruhua didn’t even need to think. “Junior Brother, don’t try to persuade me. In any case, the Hall Prison is not a place Qingqing can enter. If she wants to make a fuss, let her make a fuss!”

In a huff, he stormed back to his room. Song Ruhua shut the door and even petulantly put out the lamp.

“Ha…”

Guo Rongzhi couldn’t help it; he almost burst out laughing, feather fan swaying as he chuckled.

“With him acting like this, he really is worthy of the trust and cultivation Master’s given him.”

“But after all these years calculating people and situations, he’s somehow failed to calculate the person on his own pillow.”

“If she truly kicks up a storm, do you really think you’ll be able to sit still?”

Guo Rongzhi shook his head and sighed inwardly.

“Let’s watch a little longer.”

“Just watch a little longer.”

……

On the other side, after leaving the mountain, Song Chengqing took a carriage to the Yong’an Residence and knocked at the door, saying she wished to see the Princess.

Because Song Chengqing counted as a familiar face, the servants brought her straight in and left her waiting in a courtyard.

Restless, Song Chengqing kept silently reciting the background of “Princess Yong’an” in her head.

The girl was sixteen this year, bearing the imperial surname Yao, with the single given name Ying. She could be considered the most favored little princess. People often said she could influence decisions in Qianyu Palace—though no one knew if that was true.

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Even as a familiar face, Song Chengqing didn’t dare claim she could persuade this girl to help.

Before this, she’d only run into Yao Ying a few times at the hunting grounds, the drill grounds and such. Their pleasantries had been genuinely pleasant, and the little princess had patted her chest and promised, “If anything happens, you can always come to me for help.” But Song Chengqing wasn’t sure whether that had been heartfelt—or just courteous, polite talk for the occasion.

But she really couldn’t think of anyone else to turn to.

The mess Liang Yu had made was far too big. Slandering her fellow disciples was one thing, but what she absolutely shouldn’t have done was report that Xiang Xian was also entangled with demonic cultivators!

And now, of course, Master and Xiangnü stood there bearing the merit of quelling the rebellion, as if they’d been gilded with a golden body. No matter who judged the case, they couldn’t wipe away Liang Yu’s stain. If they really followed the law to the letter, there was no way her life would be spared.

Song Chengqing had her own information channels. From some married women she was on good terms with, she’d heard that Liang Yu was originally going to be arrested and executed on the spot, and only because she had once been “chief of Yuming” did they stay the process and suspend proceedings to wait for Xiang Xian’s return.

Wait?

What was there left to wait for?

Song Chengqing was burning with anxiety. She wasn’t sure what Xiang Xian intended, but just looking at how Xiang Xian had stayed in Xinzhou for three months without wanting to return to the capital—how could she not see that Xiang Xian had completely taken the side of her new disciple?

We and Little Junior Sister accompanied Master for so many years, and we still can’t compare to this so-called Xiangnü of a few months?

At that thought, Song Chengqing couldn’t help clenching her teeth, resentment and anger showing between her brows.

A thought leaped up in her heart: If Master were to die in the lands of Qi…

The clouds grew heavy, moonlight flickering in and out. Song Chengqing herself didn’t know that, at the very moment she entertained that crooked thought, a layer of black qi rose from beneath her collar, spreading over her entire face until it looked like a ghost mask.

…This is bad!