# Chapter 101: The Eight-Hundred-Li Clear River
When the white light faded, a pit at least ten zhang deep gaped where the scene had been.
From within that pit, White Lotus slowly rose to her feet.
"Cough, cough, cough!" She coughed and looked up into the sky. "If it weren't for this robe, I'd have been done for."
The black robe she wore was clearly a rare magic artifact, one that had shielded her from the attack just now. But it hung in tatters now, here and there showing gashes of pale, snowy skin.
A figure draped in the Office of Inquiry's signature red-black robes descended slowly from the night sky. His features were gaunt, with a three-inch wisp of a beard. Even his voice was lean and dry. Yet his whole presence radiated a weight that felt almost tangible.
"To react in time to my Blazing Light Burst, you are no ordinary foe. I wonder... who exactly it was you just sent away."
Then, abruptly, he twisted and lunged toward the direction Jiang Wang had fled!
White flames blazed up. White Lotus hurled herself skyward and, at a bewildering speed, interposed herself before this master of the Office of Inquiry. Blossom after blossom of cold white flame bloomed like flowers, scorching the night.
But!
The master of the Office of Inquiry flickered, passed straight through the blossoms of white flame, and pressed close before White Lotus. The two were almost glued together in the air, half a body-length apart.
He reached out and pressed a clump of Blazing Light Burst against White Lotus's abdomen, driving her, body and all, down toward the ground!
He had been ready all along—his sudden turn to pursue Jiang Wang had itself been part of the tactic.
Boom!
The blazing light-clump bore down on White Lotus's pliant body, slamming a great pit into the ground.
"Cough, cough!"
When the dust cleared, White Lotus rose from the pit once more. The blood coughed from her mouth had already soaked through the black cloth masking her face.
"That son-of-a-bitch Ji Xuan, always playing tricks. Serves him right to be a dog for life!"
A clear wound marked her abdomen, slowly closing over as the white flames burned.
The man who had appeared in the sky was none other than Ji Xuan, ranked third in the entire Office of Inquiry—the head of the Office for the whole Qinghe Commandery, a peak master of the Inner Prefecture realm!
Despite the torrent of abuse, Ji Xuan was not offended. "Know it's me, and still resist?"
White Lotus suddenly laughed, all charm. "Director Ji may be strong, but he does not understand a woman's heart. You come up and rip a girl's clothes off—what girl wouldn't resist?"
Her voice was dreamlike, as if weaving a beautiful dream in murmured confidences, drifting toward Ji Xuan with insidious intent.
And at nearly the same moment, centered on White Lotus, streaks of blazing white light crisscrossed, covering every position within a three-zhang radius!
White Lotus used conversation as her opening, and Ji Xuan used conversation as his preparation. Both top-grade Dao arts erupted almost simultaneously.
White Lotus broke free of the Fierce-Light Subjugation at the first instant, but her white flames had clearly thinned; they could no longer cover her whole body.
The gap in strength was plain—especially with White Lotus wounded from the start. Yet the direction she charged... was at Ji Xuan!
The Illusory Tone Entering Dreams could never truly erase the will of a master like Ji Xuan. But she only needed an opening—a hold over him lasting three breaths, and she might turn the battle tonight.
A blossom of white flame bloomed before her jade-like palm, thrusting at Ji Xuan's abdomen.
She was, of course, a woman who kept grudges.
Bang!
White Lotus suddenly slammed into something, reeling and dazed. Only then did she see the threads of white light weaving together into a foursquare cage, standing before Ji Xuan and locking her within! White light like walls; white light like a cage.
Clearly he had been prepared for her Illusory Tone Entering Dreams as well. The dizziness seized him for perhaps less than a single breath, yet he waited until she came near before exploding into action.
Crushed. From start to finish, Ji Xuan commanded the entire battle.
He had never meant to kill White Lotus. His intent was to take her alive.
Within the Light-Prison Cage, White Lotus once more condensed a blossom of white flame—but did not try to break the barrier of white light. Instead, without hesitation, she drove it toward her own crown.
The moment she was sealed within the Light-Prison Cage, she had understood Ji Xuan's purpose. So at the first instant, she gave her own answer!
This move took Ji Xuan wholly by surprise. He was intensely interested in White Lotus and in the entire organization behind her. Otherwise, with his position commanding the Office of Inquiry of Qinghe Commandery, why would he have come out tonight?
If White Lotus died, it cost him nothing—but he would lose every gain that followed.
Decisive man that he was, Ji Xuan dispersed the Light-Prison Cage at once, closed in on White Lotus, wrapped a hand in white light, and reached for the blossom of white flame.
The white flame turned and blasted toward Ji Xuan's head.
White Lotus's strike at her own crown had been plain and unfeigned—otherwise it could not have deceived Ji Xuan. But the moment he moved to stop her suicide, she reversed it instantly into an attack.
She did not fear death. She simply did not want to die.
Ji Xuan's white-wrapped hand blocked the flame before his brow, catching it dead-on. His other hand clenched into a fist and slammed hard into White Lotus's abdomen!
A man like Ji Xuan would never hand his opponent a chance, even in wanting to take them alive. Capture was the goal—but only one goal. He would try to achieve it, not stake everything on it.
He was genuinely angered now, and this punch held nothing back.
White Lotus curled up like a shrimp in mid-air, her whole body blasted away! The white flame on her went out in a sudden quench, like the fire of her life, guttering and tottering.
Ji Xuan was about to step on empty air and give chase. Suddenly—boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
Great waves crashed skyward, booming like war drums, and the entire vast river seemed to surge. The Clear River shook!
A wall of water rose to impossible height, and atop the great wave stood an old man in resplendent ceremonial robes.
"Director Ji of the Office of Inquiry, who handles all the extraordinary cases of Qinghe Commandery—how is it you have time to come wandering about the Clear River?"
He spoke almost on his last breath, and yet his voice overpowered the roaring waves, ringing clear into Ji Xuan's ears.
The old man standing at the wave's crest had a form already bent and stooped, his face furrowed with wrinkles, his age spots unhidden.
He looked very, very old. But who could overlook him—who could overlook the Lord of the Eight-Hundred-Li Clear River, Song Hengjiang!
...
Ji Xuan immediately restrained his aura, halted in mid-air, and lowered his gaze slightly. "My Lord of the Water Estate, Ji Xuan was doing his night patrol of Qinghe Commandery when he found, to his regret, that a heretic had slipped here in flight. As head of the Office of Inquiry, appointed by His Majesty and bearing the livelihood of the people upon my shoulders, I dared not neglect the slightest thing!
To spare the lord's people from this heretic's harm, I struck in urgency. The situation pressed, and I had no time to secure your consent beforehand. I beg your forgiveness."
He had spoken with not a drop of leakage: showing humility, yet pointing out the backing behind him, and offering Song Hengjiang a way down.
A great figure ranked third in the Office of Inquiry, commanding the entire Office throughout Qinghe Commandery—his standing was no lower than the Commandery Governor's. Even so, now he had to bow his head. He understood clearly that, since Song Hengjiang had shown himself in person tonight, some account would have to be given. And he felt that, given his position and the present state of affairs between the human-clan and the water-clan, this step down he offered should be more than enough.
But Song Hengjiang only darted his turbid eyes at him, lightly, lightly.
Then the old man's lips parted in a smile, just at the corner.
And with that single smile, all the shadow of age fell away, and wild arrogance sprang forth!
"Zhuang Chengqian's descendants grow more and more without measure, fighting for life and death right under my very eyes!"
He clasped his hands behind his back. "For Zhuang Chengqian's sake, slap yourself ten times—and you may leave."