Xinyue's ears were filled with a harsh, white noise as she stared down at the body laid out on the pyre. She had hurried home the previous day desperately hoping that the servant had been mistaken.
Alas, it was she who had been mistaken. She had arrived to find that Lanfen had already washed and dressed her husband in spotless white robes. For some reason, her foster mother had chosen to cremate the body in private, allowing nobody but her to witness the melancholy process. Perhaps feeling emboldened by this rather unexpected gesture, Xinyue had requested for a little time alone with her father's body, and Lanfen had surprisingly obliged.
So now she stood before the body, knowing that she had only moments left before her foster mother returned.
"What happened, father?"she whispered, reaching out for the first time to touch the body.
He had been perfectly healthy and very much alive the last time she saw him, so what could have happened? Neither the servants nor Lanfen seemed to know.
Xinyue caressed his face, grateful that it was set in such a peaceful expression. Then her fingers traced a path down his neck... and paused. Despite the white fabric covering it, his throat felt rough. A familiar kind of rough.
Without delay, she bared his neck, and her breath hitched.
The sight was sickening but familiar, rows and rows of tiny welts that looked like hives dipped in blood. Except that these rashes looked a million times worse than hers.
Unconsciously, her hand lifted to her neck, to the rashes that had not shown any signs of disappearing, despite her many trips to the infirmary.
How could this be? There was no doubt at all that both of them had gotten the rashes from the same source. But where?
The healers at the Mist Oasis had said that it was a result of a toxic substance, one that they could not identify, but she could not remember coming across any such thing.
However, now that she thought about it, she realized that she had been assuming said substance to be somewhere in the Mist Oasis. But it was not the Mist Oasis at all, she realized now. She had inhaled something toxic here at Peony Halls,in Lanfen's workshop the day Zhipeng named her his successor. The strange substance on the fire, which had left a rather itchy sensation along her gullet for a few minutes.
Could it be... could it have been... no, Xinyue did not want to think in that direction, but there really seemed to be no other possibility.
"Are you done yet?".
Xinyue started, turning around to find that Lanfen had returned. She stared steadily at her foster mother, her heart suddenly beating a lot faster.
"Madame Meng".
Maybe it was the look on her face,or perhaps something about the way she said the words, but Lanfen stopped walking towards her.
"What is it?".
"There is... there are rashes on his neck".
"Are there?".
Mutely, Xinyue nodded.
"I see. But that hardly matters, since the body is getting cremated anyway".
Xinyue blinked, astonished.
"I... he was poisoned".
Lanfen leveled one of those blank looks on her.
"He was poisoned? How do you know?".
"The rashes...".
"Did someone teach you that the presence of rashes indicates poisoning? I suggest you unlearn that immediately".
Of course, Xinyue knew how unreasonable she currently sounded, but considering her current state of mind, she could hardly blame herself.
"The poison in your workshop,"she explained
"it was in a pot. Boiling over a fire".
Lanfen raised an eyebrow, the first hint of emotion she had shown since Xinyue returned.
"What are you talking about?".
Xinyue sighed, sensing that talking would get them nowhere. Without another word, she undid the buttons at her own neck to reveal the marred skin of her throat. She watched Lanfen's eyes widen slightly, so slightly that only a person who had spent years watching her could have noticed it.
"Oh, child,"Lanfen's voice was so sweet that Xinyue felt icy fingers treading up her spine "what in the world have you done? Everyone knows that you can't just put whatever you see into your mouth".
"I... didn't,"she stuttered"I merely inhaled the steams...".
Lanfen tilted her head at that.
"He... my father ingested it though, didn't he?Why did he do that? Didn't he know it was poisonous?".
At that, Lanfen blinked, unable to hide her astonishment. Then the laughter came, long and loud, shaking the woman's shoulders even as she hugged her stomach, slightly bent over. Xinyue had never seen her display so much mirth, and even at a time like this, she could not help but marvel at how much younger it made her foster mother look.
Lanfen straightened up, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Oh, aren't you just so sweet".
That was when it hit Xinyue. It was so obvious she wondered how she had managed not to figure it out.
"He didn't know it was poisonous,"she said, wishing the words away even as she spoke them"but you did. You killed him, didn't you?".
"Really?"Lanfen was still smiling,a rather cynical twist of her lips"it took you that long? I would say you're pretty dense for a member of the A-list, but that's not really the case,is it? You're just so desperate to see decency in everyone that you refused to let it occur to you. All you good people are wired that way. That's why you'll never see the real danger coming, just like those parents of yours!".
And in that moment, the world open to Xinyue's senses, which had been moving way too fast for her to keep up with, suddenly came to a screeching halt.
Her parents.
Xinyue, five years old, was down on her hands and knees in the mud. She knew her mother would not be very pleased with how filthy she would be by the time she emerged, but she would apologize later. For now, she had to focus on rescuing this poor squirrel.
Cupping her hands together, she gently scooped the furry little animal out wiped it with clean with her hankie.
"There you go, little fella".
As if it heard her, it skipped away. She stood up, feeling pleased with herself.
"A-Xin?".
She turned to see her mother's pretty face looking sternly down at her.
"Mother!".
"Don't grin like that, child. Look at yourself".
"I know. But that squirrel was in trouble so I...".
Mo Xiang sighed, squatting so she was at the same eye level with her daughter.
"Of course you were right to help, but we're in the middle of a journey, so you shouldn't be so eager to get your clothes dirty".
"I'm sorry, mother".
Mo Xiang struggled to maintain her stern expression a second longer, then sighed.
"Well, I guess I'm to blame for this charming habit of yours".
"We're both to blame, A-Xiang,"her husband spoke from behind her"I'm sure A-Xin just wants to be like her heroic parents".
"Father!".
Xinyue ran past her mother and leapt, muddy clothes and all, into her father's arms.
"Mother, father is back!".
"I noticed"Mo Xiang sighed again, rising to her feet"and once again, I've lost to you two".
"Mother never loses!"Xinyue declared.
At this, Mo Xiang's attempt not to smile failed woefully, and she walked to them. Her pale arms went around her husband's back, and they hugged Xinyue between them.
"I love you both"she said.
"There she goes again,"Mo Zihan laughed"you'll creep us out one day with those sudden confessions, you know".
"Shut up"she mumbled.
Xinyue laughed too, as if she had just heard the funniest joke.
Years later, she would never stop wishing that she had said all the things she had been thinking at that moment. That she was glad to have their love. And that she loved them too.
She was who she was because of her parents.
She had acquired all of her redeeming qualities by watching them; kindness,care and resilience. She was good because they had been good, and she had adored them for it. Yet this woman, this murderer, was standing in front of her and insulting them for those very qualities. Her parents had taught her not to see the world in black and white, because every person, no matter how bad, had at least a little bit of good inside them. This had been her policy in life, but right now,if there was any good in the person before her, she could not see it,nor did she want to.
This person had killed her parents, innocent as they were, and now her foster father. She had thought that Lanfen's emotionless reaction to her husband's death was her own way of refusing to succumb to grief, but now she realized that she had merely been making excuses for someone who didn't deserve it.
After all,a heart was required in order to feel grief.
She thought of her parents, murdered by one whom they called a friend. Of Zhipeng, murdered by the love of his life.
And that was when Xinyue heard it. Loud and clear,a sound like a snap.
She didn't remember moving. The next thing she knew was that she was swinging an unsheathed Banlu down on Lanfen. She caught sight of the woman's shocked expression, before she narrowly avoided getting cleaved in two by leaping away.
"Mo Xinyue, what do you think you're doing?".
Xinyue did not hear her. Infact, she could not hear anything, and she seemed to be seeing everything through blood-tinted glasses.
And, for some strange reason, Lanfen's movements seemed ridiculously slow as she parried strike after strike with these beautiful twin daggers. She had a sword of her own, of course, just like other cultivators, but she clearly preferred her daggers. Not that they were doing much good at the moment.
Banlu was at its true form, and its wielder was out for blood, so it did not take Lanfen long to figure out that daggers alone were not going to save her.
Their battle destroyed half of the building even as it drove them outside, the violent clashes attracting the attention of everybody in the Peony Halls. Unfortunately, these onlookers could not do anything; they could not even follow the two's movements with their eyes. Instead, all they saw were blurs and flashes of silver and white.
Still, it was a most riveting sight, like the duel of two tempestuous gods of valor, and no swordsman who witnessed it could fail to find his blood boiling. It appeared to be a stalemate, but the truth was that Lanfen was getting overwhelmed. Due to the fact that they were both dressed for a funeral, neither she nor Xinyue had talismans on them, and so this was simply a confrontation of blades.
Or at least, it was supposed to be. But Lanfen would not be Lanfen if she did not have a trick or two up her sleeves. She waited until Xinyue had gotten too close to dodge, then released a blast of black flames from her hands. Flames that could have burnt the Saintess' flesh clean off her bones, but the girl swung her sword, and splitted the attack. Walls of black fire surged past her on either side, but not a single strand of her hair was burnt.
The look of shock on Lanfen's face was priceless. It was clear that she had not expected Xinyue to survive that attack.
Now, it was she who was wide open, with the Saintess closing in on her. Lanfen's energy cloaked her in a protective sphere, the very technique that made her a terror on the battlefield. It made her a blade that bypassed durability, and a shield that shattered the sturdiest of blades. It was the reason why Lanfen Tianshi never got injured in battle.
Banlu cleaved through it like butter.
Lanfen barely had time to register surprise before the silver blade pierced her heart cleanly. Still astonished, she looked up at her foster daughter, now her murderer.
Xinyue eyes still had that glazed-over look in them, like her ability to feel anything had been sealed away. Then came a small, hesitant voice, making the girl jolt with horror.
"Jiejie?".