"That's impossible, we all saw him, spoke to him, even," Liu Zhuyu cut in, her eyes blazing with indignation. "You take us for fools."
"Young miss Liu makes a fool of herself on her own, so it's a very easily accomplished task." Zui Chunlai crossed his arms, an arrogant tilt to his chin.
Xue Xiangsi's upper lip curled in distaste, he pointed Heavenly Frost back at Zui Chunlai. "Watch how you talk about my shijie. Start explaining, now."
Zui Chunlai ignored the sword tip directed at his already bleeding neck and turned to face Bai Yunkai. "Bai shifu, what technique was Qiu Yuliang most accomplished in?"
Bai Yunkai frowned, confused for a moment, and then his eyes widened in shock. "He always had great healing abilities, but he wanted to have more offensive powers. So he mastered the face changing technique for its ambush and deception potential. His healing abilities made it so he could sustain the technique for longer periods of time."
Xue Xiangsi understood at once. The image of Qiu Yuliang's gentle smile, and ringing silver bell voice disappeared from his mind like a wisp of smoke, to be replaced with an amorphous shape with jagged edges and an ever-changing face. "So all this time, the Ji Shuren we met, was Qiu Yuliang wearing his face?"
"So who have we been looking for, if Qiu Yuliang, was never gone?" Liu Zhuyu asked, her indignation almost crossing over into fury. For once Xue Xiangsi would do nothing to help her reign in her temper.
"This is why our sect leader thought Ji Shuren was behaving oddly, sect leader Liu felt the same way," said Yan Huaxing, the fire in her eyes burning as brightly as Liu Zhuyu's.
Xue Xiangsi remembered sect leader Liu's words, she had indeed been suspicious of Ji Shuren's behaviour, but could she even imagine the extent of Golden Crane's deception? Which also begged the question, was the rest of the sect aware that their sect leader had been replaced by his husband?
"You have been looking for proof of Ji Shuren's actions! And you've found it." Zui Chunlai said, spitting the words angrily. "I did not lie when I told Xiangsi I had no involvement with the Blood Moon sect, but the refugees where not lying either, what happened in Tongzhou was covered up by Ji Shuren, because he's actively working with the Blood Moon sect."
"All we've found is proof that Golden Crane is involved neck deep in whatever Blood Moon is trying to do. We still haven't seen anything that exempts you or Qiu Yuliang," Xue Xiangsi said, his sword arm was shaking with barely contained rage.
"We led you here! Qiu Yuliang didn't know what Ji Shuren was planning, but he knew he was coming to Qi An, he intercepted communications, I saw them myself. Do you have any idea how hard all this has been on him? The idea to use the face changing technique came from Ji Shuren to begin with. He wanted Qiu Yuliang to cover up for his long absences by pretending to be him. He is the one who made sure Golden Crane would be invited to the gift exchange ceremony between Snowfall Peak and Flaming Pearl. Try to guess why."
"Because when Qi An was attacked, there would be no trace of his involvement, since Qiu Yuliang would be pretending to be him in Snowfall Peak, and away from the chaos," said Bai Yunkai, with a haunted look. "How long has this been going on?"
"Months, almost a year. Qiu Yuliang got suspicious when we started getting news from Tongzhou and Ji Shuren did nothing. After investigating he found out that he had been communicating with the Blood Moon sect for months."
Zui Chunlai fixed Bai Yunkai with a cold glare. "You have no idea the risks my shizun has taken to unmask Ji Shuren, then again, Bai shifu could never see much further than his own navel. My shizun never ranked very high in your list of concerns, isn't that right?"
So Qiu Yuliang was Zui Chunlai's teacher. Xue Xiangsi remembered his words in their room at the inn with vivid clarity. 'I'd set fire to the Nine Heavens for my shizun', he'd said.
Bai Yunkai's grip on his flute tightened. "Qiu Yuliang has many qualities, but his biggest flaw is looking at matters only from his own perspective. No one gets everything they want from life, and he's no exception. He should learn to let go of the past."
Zui Chunlai's smirk threatened to spill over the corners of his lips. "Have you?"
It was clear that while Bai Yunkai had kept his own disciples in the dark about his past in the Kunlun mountains, and even before that, Qiu Yuliang had no such qualms. Whatever he had shared with Zui Chunlai had made a deep impression upon him. Xue Xiangsi could see that his distaste for Bai Yunkai wasn't just the surface level antagonism he had for Liu Zhuyu and Yan Huaxing. There was real hatred there.
He got himself between Bai Yunkai and Zui Chunlai, using his own body as a barrier. "Where is Qiu Yuliang now?"
"Trying to stop Ji Shuren, and getting him to expose himself. He sent me a message this morning, he believes he knows what to do."
"You and Qiu Yuliang had it all figured out. We were very convenient pawns. Was the whole farce with the kidnapping necessary? Why not just say the truth and ask for help?" Xue Xiangsi asked.
"Xiangsi doesn't know Ji Shuren, he's very respected, and seen as a kind and gracious person. Who would believe my shizun?"
"Did Qiu Yuliang tell you that? That no one would believe him?" asked Bai Yunkai, placing a placating hand on Xue Xiangsi's shoulder, that did nothing to dispel his anger.
"He didn't need to tell me anything, I've always noticed how people treated him," Zui Chunlai said. "He was always met with contempt and distrust because he could never say where he came from. Everyone believed him to be a weak cultivator of no repute who seduced Ji Shuren for his own gains. He kept his origin a secret because it was your wish to do so, and while you rose to become one of Snowfall Peak's respected elders, he suffered countless indignities in Golden Crane."
"If there's one thing you should learn about Qiu Yuliang, is that half his chains are of his own making." Bai Yunkai's empty gaze was distant, but his voice was hard and sure. "We're wasting time here, we should go to the temple and try to stop the Blood Moon sect."
The air was heavy with tension, it coiled around them like a miasma. It was almost possible to feel the invisible barrier separating Zui Chunlai from the four of them. Xue Xiangsi looked at him, at his sword straight eyebrows, the proud line of his nose. A face he had begun to feel familiar with, comfortable even, now looked to him like that of a perfect stranger.
He watched his back as he walked in front of them, shoulders straight and head held high. The weight of his deception clearly had no bearing on him.
Suddenly a hand held him back by the wrist. "Xue Xiangsi, walk slowly with me and keep your voice down," said Bai Yunkai, almost shoulder to shoulder with him.
Xue Xiangsi nodded, almost imperceptibly. Bai Yunkai continued:
"I want you to have this." He took a long and thin lacquered box from his waist, and hid it under the folds of Xue Xiangsi's belt, where the drape of his large sleeves would keep it away from sight.
"Is that..." Xue Xiangsi started.
"The Whirlwind Fan. Even if Qiu Yuliang felt he had to stage the kidnapping to prove Ji Shuren's guilt, it's not obvious why the fan would be what the sequesters asked for. This fan is very meaningful to him. It took a lot to persuade him to leave it under my care in Snowfall Peak. I'm afraid he might want it back," Bai Yunkai whispered, while staring straight ahead.
"Would it be dangerous for him to have it?" Xue Xiangsi still wasn't sure what to make of Zui Chunlai's story. Most of all he was disappointed that someone like Qiu Yuliang, who he had looked at with such admiration was capable of manipulating and deceiving two entire sects. Even if it was for a good reason, it felt dishonest to him somehow. Using people like stones in a chess board, making them move however he wanted.
"Qiu Yuliang has always tied himself in knots with his cleverness." Bai Yunkai said, taking on that distant look Xue Xiangsi was beginning to associate with painful memories. "If nothing else, I believe that Zui Chunlai fully believes what he's told us. Qiu Yuliang is a different story. It's within keeping with his character to believe he had to suffer in silence, and could only count on himself to achieve his goals. It's also possible that he has a larger plan that we can't yet understand."
Xue Xiangsi looked up at his shizun, at the troubled look in his milky eyes, and asked the question that had been rattling around in his mind. "Why did Qiu Yuliang marry Ji Shuren?"
"I have no idea, we haven't spoken since I settled in Snowfall Peak. He wandered for some time, and the next I heard of him was about the impending wedding."
Xue Xiangsi wanted to ask more questions, but Yan Huaxing's clear voice rang out, "We're here."
They had left the cobbled street, and were now about to enter a dirt path leading up to a colourful temple with wide eaves, and red pillars. No one else was around. But that did not mean they were alone.
"Let's look inside," Xue Xiangsi said, taking the lead.
The inside of the temple was carefully maintained and richly decorated. It had been recently cleaned in preparation for the Double Ninth festival. There was no sign of an array or any trace of the cloying scent of demonic cultivation in the air.
"There's nothing here," Yan Huaxing said, looking behind the altar while Liu Zhuyu looked under the incense holders for any hidden mechanism.
"Could that man have lied to us?" Xue Xiangsi asked Bai Yunkai.
"I don't think he did," Bai Yunkai said.
He raised one arm in front of him, and chanted under his breath. Xue Xiangsi recognized the words of the technique of spirit revelation.
A current of energy reverberated through the whole temple, toppling a few plaques and wall-hangings when it touched the walls and returned to Bai Yunkai's open palm.
"There's people under the ground, I can feel their qi."
They all started looking under every available surface. Lifting pillows, candle stands and everything in close proximity to the floor, after minutes of searching they still hadn't found anything.
Xue Xiangsi realized something. "We're looking at this the wrong way, just because they're under the temple, doesn't mean the entrance is in the temple."
He ran outside, and circled the pagoda, searching for anything that could give him a clue.
"Over here," Zui Chunlai said, a few zheng in front of him, holding open the door of what looked like a maintenance shed, the sort of place brooms and rakes might be kept in.
Xue Xiangsi walked over to him and peered inside. There was a loose wooden slat on the floor. Prying it open revealed a flight of stone stairs. There were no signs of dust of cobwebs, these stairs had seen recent use.
"How convenient that Zui Chunlai found the entrance," Xue Xiangsi said. "Maybe he has been here before."
Zui Chunlai took the first step down the stairs, and turned to face Xue Xiangsi, raising his hand to help him descend. "It was Xue Xiangsi's idea that we search outside. Maybe he's the one who has been here before."
Xue Xiangsi scoffed and batted his hand away. He turned on this heels and went outside the shed to call out to the others, but they were nowhere to be seen.