"Qingshuang. Mingyu."
"From today, the two of you should pack and set out for the Northern Domain."
Divine Gate.
Atop an immortal terrace wrapped in cloud and mist.
The white-robed celestial maiden with crane-white hair and golden pupils stood with her hands clasped behind her back, drawing two brand new Divine Gate Sacred Artifacts out of the void. One sword shaped as a bow, engraved with golden veins. One sword shaped as a ring, carved with cold sorrow.
Iris swept a hand out and bestowed the two artifacts on the pair of immortal-robed Disciples below the terrace. Mingyu took the bow and Qingshuang took the ring, and both cupped their fists together.
"Remember. First, make certain Lin Che inherits the Primordial True Inheritance."
"Second, if Yino dares to go, kill him along with the rest."
She gave the order without inflection. Below, Qingshuang and Mingyu bowed their heads in acceptance.
"I have already sent down my will to the Demon Venerable Luo Sushang. When you reach the Northern Region Ruins, Luo Sushang will have her own means of sending people to kill Zhihan. You need not act at all. Simply make sure Che comes to no harm from the shadows."
Here her golden eyes flashed, as if something had occurred to her. "As for that eldest young master of the Lin mansion, he covets Pei Zhihan and bears a grudge against Che. On no account may you let him ruin the Luck of our immortal Dao."
Mingyu lowered his brow, puzzled.
"Can we not simply have the Demon Venerable Luo Sushang kill Yino or Lin Yuchen outright..."
"Lin Yuchen is the eldest son of the Lin mansion. If Sushang truly moved against him, the Lin clan’s Old Ancestor would be drawn out... As for Yino, I have already made an agreement with the National Advisor Changli that no elder generation may bully the young."
Iris sighed, and the trouble of it showed in her eyes.
Below the terrace, Qingshuang and Mingyu cupped their fists and withdrew.
"This Disciple accepts the command."
Brother and sister walked out of the Divine Gate together and started down the celestial stair leading to the mortal world, step after step. Along the way the immortal-robed girl with blue-green coiled hair turned her head and gave the preoccupied Mingyu a resigned look.
"When we reach the Northern Domain, if we run into Yino, let me be the one to kill him..."
She said it softly.
Qingshuang knew that during the hunt for Yino at Liuli Sect her brother had been caught by the illusion techniques of an ancient artifact in Yino’s hand. Ever since, nightmares had come to him every night, as if an Inner Demon’s shadow had been planted in him. So on this mission she meant to keep her brother clear of Yino and face the man herself.
Mingyu turned around, missing her meaning entirely.
"How would that work? Your brother still has to repay the ambush from last time!"
"Little sister is good with blades and quick on her feet, better suited to the hunt..."
Qingshuang sighed and waved a hand as if the explanation were tedious. "Yino is cunning by nature, and brother carries a bow, which is not suited to running a man down. You are better on held ground... So, all things considered, brother stationing himself at Che’s side and protecting the child of destiny is the perfect arrangement."
There was nothing but earnestness in her tone.
Mingyu looked into her eyes and pulled a face. "So that’s it. Here I thought you were looking down on me..."
"How could I?"
Qingshuang laughed bitterly and fixed her gaze on the stair ahead. "That eldest young lord of the Lin mansion means to kill Che, and he’s at the Great Vehicle stage. Protecting him from that is clearly the harder job."
"Yino is only at the divine transformation stage. He’s the easy quarry. Your little sister has plainly picked herself the lighter work..."
She said it as if it hardly mattered to her, but in her mind rose the scene she had watched from within the crowd that day at the tournament in the Imperial Capital.
Mingyu listened in silence, then nodded and laughed.
"Don’t worry. So long as I am there, that Lin Yuchen will never kill the child of destiny under my nose!"
"Yes indeed, brother is the strongest..."
She smiled at him without much attention. Her thoughts had long since drifted somewhere far away.
------
Early in the fourth month...
At Jianlan Sect, in the Primordial Sacred Land, another argument broke out.
"Honored master!"
"If this Disciple finds the Primordial Sacred Relic for you in the Northern Region’s Secret Realm, then honored master won’t have to throw herself away and marry that Lin Yuchen from the Grand Tutor’s Mansion, will she?"
The crop-haired boy clenched his teeth and shouted it at the top of his voice, eyes red with tears, as if he had just been wronged past bearing. Ahead of him, the black-skirted Sword beauty had only just come chasing out of the room, and the suddenness of it left her without an answer.
"Lin Che, calm down. It isn’t what you think..."
"Don’t say anything! Honored master, just leave it to me! Back at the immortal alliance tournament this Disciple beat Ji Zichen and slapped the Noble Family’s elders in the face. Now that the Northern Region Ruins is opening, this Disciple can just as well take the Primordial Sacred Relic our ancestor left behind and pull honored master out of the fire! Never again will honored master have to watch that man’s face for permission!"
Lin Che wiped his eyes one last time, then turned and bolted out of the sacred land without looking back.
Once the boy was gone, the Primordial Sacred Land was left to her, alone with her sword and the silence.
Alone beneath the snow pine, Zhihan pressed her lips together and watched him go, with nothing she could do about it. A loneliness crept over her, and she went back inside in a daze.
But this time, no sooner had she pushed open that cold door than she found a white-robed woman seated at the tea table, cradling a cup in both hands and sipping with lowered lashes.
"Senior Zhihan, your sword is broken."
Yuyan’s gaze was clear as a blade, and it saw straight through a person. In one instant it ran Zhihan through the chest.
"The way Yuyan sees it, sister’s sword has grown weak past saving; sister’s Dao has long since strayed from her own heart..."
"Walking on like the living dead, I’m afraid the only thing left worth looking at on Sister will be her face."