After giving brief instructions to his disciple, Ruan Yanjun entered the carriage and sat down beside me. I was glad the seat was wide enough to accommodate us both and there was still a gap left between us.
He did not say anything to me and his breathing was a bit heavy so I assumed that he was not in a good mood.
I dared not utter a word or he might throw his frustration at me.
As the carriage moved, we remained silent, until he turned in my direction.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
His question surprised me. He sounded concerned. I should have been the one to ask him that. "Of course, my lord."
He sighed. "The poison has just been identified. They call it 'The White Vulture'.
"The White Vulture," I uttered the words silently. It was the first time I had heard of that name.
"Don't wonder if you've never heard of it before," he said. As always, he could tell what was in my head. "It's based on an ancient formula made for the sole purpose of assassinating the royal family of the Great Empire five hundred years ago. After the successful infiltration, the creator burned the formula after witnessing its deceptive and destructive nature. However, it seems that someone managed to write down a portion of it and passed it down to his descendants in an attempt to recreate it. After five hundred years, one descendant has finally solved the missing pieces and successfully reproduced the White Vulture." He paused and turned to me. "And do you know who that descendant is?" he asked.
"I honestly have no idea, my lord."
He smirked. "It's an alchemist named Han Bao. Does it sound familiar to you?"
A wrinkle formed at the center of my forehead. No matter how hard I tried to recall, it just did not ring a bell. "I don't think I've heard of that name."
"How offensive," he said and snickered. "If he heard that, he'd want to kill you even more."
"I don't understand why a person I had never seen before would want to kill me."
"A-Fan, I have no idea how your master raised you. Have you been confined inside the temple all by yourself that you never even heard of the former Divine Mage Han Bao?"
I stiffened. So he was the holder of that title before it was passed down to me?
"That's right, A-Fan. You dethroned the old man and he did not take it too lightly."
I still found it hard to believe. "I still don't understand why such a small thing could drive a righteous man to kill another."
"Do you always equate light cultivation to righteousness?"
"Light cultivators always follow the path of righteousness, my lord."
He laughed. "A-Fan, my A-Fan. You are so naïve. Had I known that your former master would raise you that way, I should have carried you out of that mountain when you were still a child."
"Lord Ruan, growing up in the temple is actually not that bad. In fact, I was happy. Although I did not have many friends and had very few people to talk to, it was a very safe place. I could walk around freely, unarmed and unguarded, and no one would even think about harming me."
"And you were satisfied with that kind of life?"
"I was very content. In fact, if things had not happened, I'd still choose to live the rest of my life in Frost Mountain."
"My dear A-Fan." He sighed. "There is a reason why they had to keep you confined in that desolate place. Do you want to find out?"
"Lord Ruan, please enlighten me."
"I will, of course, but my words alone will not suffice. You'll have to see it for yourself."
"You may tell me now. If it makes sense, there's no reason for me not to believe it."
"Be patient, darling. We'll get there."
Darling?
My eyebrows met, but I'd pretend I heard nothing or I'd shudder like how Huang Wen had been shaking out his shudders earlier.
"Are we going to meet with this Han Bao?" I asked.
"Why do you want to meet your murderer?"
"I just want to ask some questions. I don't think his motive is that simple."
"You are correct. He had never thought about killing you until someone had persuaded him. Given the chance to reacquire his title, he had taken the opportunity."
"Who would want to kill me? And why?"
"Why?" He snickered. "You were a seventh level. You brought shame to your master. You made your senior sect brother, the crown prince who happens to be the niece of your master, so insecure. And when you displease the crown prince and bring shame to the brother of the emperor, the whole empire will hate you."
My fingers tightened on my lap.
I was seeing the picture now. I had never looked at the situation from that perspective before. "I understand. Thank you for your valuable insight, Lord Ruan. I understand if some people wanted to get rid of me to save the royal family's face, but I don't understand why they had to implicate my master."
"That is the most interesting part of it," he replied and laughed as if he was that amused to think about it. "I want to see through this until the very end. It must be very entertaining to watch."
I had heard this rumor about Ruan Yanjun, that he liked observing people that caught his interest, especially people who were so down on their luck. He would follow them, watch them suffer, and then laugh at their misfortunes. He considered human suffering as entertainment, and he had always preferred a tragic ending.
It was not just a rumor after all.
But my story had already ended. What more does he want to see? What ending is more tragic than my own ending? I would have preferred to have just died than go on living in shame and regret.
The only reason why I had not taken my own life was because I believed that fate must have other purpose for me, and that was why I was being kept alive, why Jinjing had found me, and why even the devil Ruan Yanjun was willing to waste his precious time and money to keep me alive.