# Chapter 80: Love, That Intangible Thing
Song Ruyi's life followed a very clear course.
Before she turned sixteen, she had been only a herb-picker's daughter.
Owing to the dangers of the wild lands, herb-pickers actually earned a handsome income. Some of the older ones, having learned the trails of the beasts, the ferocious beasts, and even the demonic beasts of the mountains, could wander about as if strolling through their own vegetable garden.
But disaster still struck. To flee a ferocious beast that had suddenly crossed its boundary, her father tumbled down the mountainside and broke both his legs.
Song Ruyi had truly no other recourse. She could only go to the herb shop where her father had so often sold his wares and beg the owner to lend her some silver for her father's treatment.
For her father was fond of saying that the Jiang Family's herb shop was the most honest of them all. And so she bore with her this faint hope, uncertain though it was.
But to her surprise, Old Master Jiang actually consented.
To repay the debt, she went to work at the Jiang family's herb shop.
Jiang Changshan not only never skimped on her wages, but every now and then sent something along to her crippled old father.
In the course of such exchanges, she came to understand Jiang Changshan's feelings.
Toward Jiang Changshan, she was filled with gratitude. But to speak of love — that was something else entirely, far from it.
It did not matter, though. She did not know what love was.
She decided to marry Jiang Changshan.
It must be said plainly: even this match was still considered a rise in station.
Jiang Changshan was in the prime of his life, owned a great deal of property, and was a leading figure of Fengxi Town. Though he still bore the son left to him by his late wife, there was no shortage of girls who wished to marry into the Jiang family.
While she was but a herb-picker's daughter.
Jiang Changshan was delighted, but they could not marry at once, because his son would not agree.
Never once had it been heard that a father needed his son's consent to remarry, yet the Jiang family was truly the exception.
Song Ruyi understood that Jiang Changshan was a man who knew how to respect others. He respected his son's wishes just as he respected his own.
In all the time they had spent together before, although he had been moved by her, he had never once made things difficult for her.
Song Ruyi had seen Jiang Changshan's son. The boy was well-featured and clever, though with a somewhat stubborn temper.
At first he had kept running to the herb shop and would even speak with her. Later, upon learning of the matter between the two of them, he never came again.
With the marriage stalled, Song Ruyi could not tell whether she felt relief or disappointment in her heart.
Or perhaps both at once!
The turn of events came about through an accident.
One day, passing by the little river outside Fengxi Town, she saw the boy flailing about in the water. Terror seized her, and she cried out for help with all her might. Her shouts roused the townsfolk passing by, who pulled the boy from the current.
From that day onward, the boy no longer raised any objection to them.
And so she became Jiang Changshan's second wife, and the stepmother of Jiang Wang.
This marriage seemed every bit the happy match. Jiang Changshan treated her extremely well and personally took care of her aged father. Even the funeral for her father, years later, was handled entirely by Jiang Changshan, so that no ounce of worry fell upon her.
Although Jiang Wang was not close to her, neither was he hostile. Especially since he had become obsessed with cultivation, he spent little time at home.
After giving birth to Jiang An'an, she thought perhaps life was to be like this henceforth — and that was good enough.
But heaven sends unforeseen storms. Jiang Changshan fell gravely ill. He who had sold herbs his whole life fell victim to an ailment beyond the cure of medicine or stone. He could only postpone the end, dragging through the days one at a time.
She tended to him without once undoing her clothes to rest, as if repaying every bit of the care she had once received.
Later, Jiang Changshan said there was no more treating to be done. The family's money was running low, and it had to be left for her and Jiang An'an.
At that time, Song Ruyi wept and asked him — what of Jiang Wang?
Jiang Changshan said, greatly pleased — his son had ability, and he could live well without being left a single thing.
Not long after, Jiang Changshan died.
Jiang Wang entered the Fenglin City Dao Academy and nearly never returned.
She had once supposed that the rest of her life would pass this way — keeping the herb shop, caring for Jiang An'an, waiting for her to grow up and become an adult.
Until she met Lin Zhenglun, a young man of graceful bearing and exalted birth.
Eloquent in speech and incomparably capable, he managed the people under his command with complete submission.
Song Ruyi's heart was overthrown.
Unquestionably, she fell in love with him. For the first time in her life she felt love's passion, love's madness, love's disregard of all else.
She cast aside everything to follow him.
Not only that.
She cast aside everything that might "interfere" with their love — including Jiang An'an.
And she carried away everything that would help their love — including the Jiang family's assets.
She married into Wangjiang City.
Did she marry into Wangjiang City with such reckless abandon, only to reach this day, this moment?
In the empty courtyard, upon the ice-cold ground, Song Ruyi felt that heart of hers — extinguished.
...
...
On the road back to Fenglin City, Jiang Wang learned the full course of the great cleansing operation on Jade Scales Peak.
"So who was the mysterious powerhouse on Jade Scales Peak? Were the ferocious beasts on the mountain truly linked to the Zhuang court?"
Zhao Rucheng said, coldly: "The answer to the first, I do not know. The answer to the second — isn't it obvious?"
"Enough." Li Jianqiu said: "This matter ends here. Let us speak of it no more."
As senior brother, he had to put a stop to this topic. It was his responsibility toward all those present.
Were any words that ought not to be spoken to spread abroad, the futures of these people would all be over.
Jiang Wang found it hard to accept.
The Zhuang Kingdom was his motherland. Barring the unforeseen, the sovereign Zhuang Gaoxian would be the one he was to serve in days to come. Yet was not the territory of Sanshan City Zhuang land? Were not the people of Sanshan City subjects of the Zhuang Kingdom?
What manner of matter was it, then, that had cost the territory of Sanshan City so many years of sacrifice? Two successive City Lords — the husband dead and the wife succeeding — almost exhausting everything, only to be forced back at the final pass?
What great secret was it, that even the victims had no right to know, that the sacrificed knew not why they had been sacrificed?
The discussion ended here, in silence.
These favored sons of the Dao Academy slowly began to feel the weight of reality.
Entering Fenglin City, the group each dispersed their separate ways.
Zhao Rucheng alone, before leaving, urged Jiang Wang at length to keep secure the Cloud Token upon his person.
For Ye Qingyu had a background that was frighteningly grand.
She was the beloved daughter of Ye Lingxiao, lord of the Lingxiao Pavilion — a jewel among treasures.
And the Lingxiao Pavilion —
That was the very foundation upon which the so-called kingdom above the clouds had come to be.
The Lingxiao Pavilion was an exceedingly mysterious sect, with its seat of power in Yun City.
At first it had been but a gathering of mortal folk, who had survived by virtue of the protection of the Lingxiao Pavilion. As the years accumulated, they gradually grew into a kingdom.
With Yun City as its capital, the leaders of several great powers had come together to govern, adopting a system of joint deliberation.
In the international situation of the feudal lords contending for supremacy, the Yun Kingdom kept to a steadfast neutrality, and in the process nurtured an exceedingly flourishing commerce.
Thus it was, for example, that Fang Zehou had been able to secure his position as the Fang clan's patriarch — precisely because he had opened a new trade route to the Yun Kingdom.
As for the Lingxiao Pavilion itself.
The Lingxiao Pavilion did not rule the Yun Kingdom, nor did it govern what the people of the Yun Kingdom believed or pursued. But this mighty sect was the fundamental backing upon which the Yun Kingdom's neutrality rested.
In practical terms, the Lingxiao Pavilion could fully represent the Yun Kingdom. Represent the strength of a nation.
From this, one could well imagine how precious the Cloud Token was.
Of course, in Zhao Rucheng's telling, the most precious thing about the Cloud Token was that it had been taken from within Ye Qingyu's breast.
"Ye Qingyu of the Lingxiao Pavilion — by all accounts, a beauty of the first order!"