Second Uncle Xu was deeply moved. It hadn't been in vain that he'd spent twenty years smoothing things over. Though the woman of the house still had little love for their nephew, affection among the younger generation ran deep.
Second Uncle took the drowsy little girl from his daughter's arms and said reassuringly, "Ningyan is out, the matter is settled."
Xu Lingyue didn't believe it.
No matter how Second Uncle cajoled, she remained half in doubt, turning her eyes to her second brother.
Xu Xinnian said flatly, "Trivial."
And Xu Lingyue believed it.
A proud man like her second brother would never lie about something this important.
Magistrate Zhu had been closely watching the aftermath. Upon hearing the news from the yamen clerks, he hurried over at once.
"How did you resolve matters with Young Master Zhou?" Magistrate Zhu was rattled and uncertain—unless Young Master Zhou had given up on his own, which he couldn't imagine.
"I called on my teacher," Xu Xinnian said.
Ah, so that was it... Magistrate Zhu had a sudden realization—but then it struck him as wrong. The great men at court had all risen from the Imperial Academy, and as everyone knew, the Imperial Academy and the White Deer Academy were at loggerheads.
Even if Xu Xinnian's teacher were a Grand Confucian Master, Minister Sun of the Ministry of Justice couldn't have released the young man so readily; there would have been no end of wrangling. Stripping away the prestige of a White Deer Academy master wasn't so easily done.
"Also Master Mubai," Xu Xinnian added, then went on: "And the white-robes of the Directorate of Celestials."
"What?!" Magistrate Zhu was taken aback, his manner growing cautious, his bearing considerably more respectful. "The cubs of a tiger are tigers. The cubs of a tiger are tigers."
"Congratulations, Magistrate Xu. Your son is blessed with brilliance. He's won the regard of the White Deer Academy, and even keeps company with the white-robes of the Directorate of Celestials. His future knows no bounds. To be blessed with such a son—Zhu is deeply envious."
Her second brother knows the white-robes of the Directorate? Xu Lingyue turned at once to look at Xu Xinnian, a powerful sense of security swelling in her heart.
An ordinary woman, at home she depended on her father, married she depended on her husband—the two pillars of reliance, before and after marriage. At home the father was the pillar, and the brother was a pillar too.
Xu Xinnian shook his head. "Master Mubai was not invited by me. That was my elder brother's own connection. Nor do I know the white-robes—he brought them in himself."
When had Xu Ningyan come to know the Grand Confucian Master Li Mubai? Perhaps Xinnian had acted as the bridge. But how had the white-robes come to be acquainted with a mere yamen clerk like him?
Magistrate Zhu stood frozen, his mind full of a single word: *impossible*.
Xu Ningyan had been scraping a living under his authority for years, always a silent little nobody—on terms neither bad nor confiding with his colleagues. No great talent, except that he could fight.
But of late, he had suddenly turned clever and glib, calling Warden Wang brother, drinking and jesting with his colleagues.
Still, none of that meant he should have earned the appreciation of a Grand Confucian Master, or the friendship of the white-robes.
"If that's the case, Xu Ningyan's standing can no longer be measured by the old yardstick. Even I must treat him with courtesy... I'll wait until he clocks in tomorrow and test the waters." That was what Magistrate Zhu was thinking.
Xu Lingyue widened her big, beautiful eyes, hardly able to believe it.
But her quick mind made the leap at once—was it that poem? The farewell poem her elder brother had written on her second brother's behalf, which had won the Grand Confucian Master's appreciation, and so he'd agreed to help smooth things over.
But how had the immortals of the Directorate come to know her elder brother... He was growing more and more mysterious.
...
Xu Qian walked behind Song Qing along the corridor. Beams of light poured from airholes in the right-hand wall, casting brightness along their path.
The Star Observation Tower had no windows, and Xu Qian was sorry he couldn't look out over the scenery.
Before long, they came to a secret chamber. Song Qing produced a key, unlocked the door, and lit the candles within.
The chamber was stocked with all manner of strange contraptions—weapons and crossbows, and things no one could say what they were.
Xu Qian wandered about inspecting them one by one, like a man browsing a clothing shop, until suddenly one object made him jump.
"What is this?"
It was a huge glass vessel. Inside was clear water, and in the water floated a strange creature. It looked like a cat, but its body was threaded all over with the grain of wood, and its belly even bore a wooden tumor.
Stranger still, it was alive—the protruding wooden mass pulsed faintly, like a heart.
"This is a great experiment," Song Qing said gravely. "Its original form is a cat. I tried to fuse it with a tree, to grant it the ability to regrow severed limbs. In fact, I came close to succeeding. Even if you cut off its head, it will grow back within three days. Its only weakness is the heart."
"But I also failed, because it turned utterly into wood—it can't move, can't think, and can only be kept in water."
...You're a goddamn devil, aren't you? His look toward him changed.
"What do you think of my idea?" Song Qing asked in a probing tone. At the wrongness in Xu Qian's eyes, he frowned, disappointed: "You see a problem with it too?"
Xu Qian kept his expression unchanged and shook his head. "It's just that I think you're heading in the wrong direction, because I too have turned this question over in the study of alchemy. Only, I named it hybridization."
Hybridization... Song Qing mulled over the word, his eyes lighting up brighter and brighter.
"We could start with something small—hybridize species of the same kind. For instance, cross two different breeds of cat and let them produce an entirely new species," Xu Qian said.
"Give birth to a different species? What kind of species would it bring forth?" Song Qing pressed urgently.
"I don't know. Perhaps an entirely new and superior breed, perhaps the opposite," Xu Qian said. "But that is precisely the charm of alchemy, don't you think?"
"You said alchemy! You said alchemy!" Song Qing suddenly grew very excited.
"What's wrong?" Xu Qian's heart sank, afraid he'd misspoken.
"I hold that alchemy is not limited to lifeless objects—I believe living creatures are within its reach too. That's why I altered this cat. But my master disagreed. He said life does not fall within the domain of alchemy. For that, he kept me confined for a long time."
The Chief Astronomer did a fine job on that one... Xu Qian kept his face tight and said, "True or not, leave it to time to prove."
After a pause, he went on, "If you want to refute the Chief Astronomer without being locked up again, I have a proposal."
"Speak." Song Qing already regarded Xu Qian as a kindred spirit.
"You could work from plants," Xu Qian said. "Plants are living things too, but of a far lighter nature. I once read an alchemy in the ancient alchemical text that coincides perfectly with your thinking..."
He trailed off.
"Do go on!" Song Qing was beside himself with frustration, the two eyes above his puffy lids bulging round.
"What you keep in this chamber is rather fine," Xu Qian hinted. "The unchanging principle of alchemy..."
"I understand. I'll give you three gifts. Given your current Essence Refining level, I think this one suits you." Song Qing grasped Xu Qian's meaning at once, and held no objection to the principle of Equivalent Exchange—he even rather admired it.
"This crossbow's material came from a batch I forged by chance. It's harder and more tenacious than ordinary iron, but so hard to make that it can't be mass-produced. The string is spun from the silk of the six-eyed venom spider of the southern wilds, blended with the thread of the seven-hued silkworm. Used for a sneak attack, it can pierce the protective qi of a Qi Refining martial artist—though not one at the peak of Qi Refining."
"Its most precious quality is that this military crossbow is carved with a formation. The formation amplifies the power of the bolt, able to threaten even a Spirit Refining expert. But it can only be used three times, after which the formation fades away."
Xu Qian's heart stirred. "Is this a magic artifact?"