Apparently, there was a cure. There was a cure, but there was a problem.
The cure was a flower called the Diānqié. According to Mingyue, it would likely have the power to counteract the Wūtóu if administered in the correct amounts.
The scroll in Jiao Ziyu’s hand said nothing of the sort, but the effects listed suggested that Mingyue’s theory might hold some merit.
Still, while the Wūtóu was a terrible thing capable of killing regular mortals and cultivators alike, the Diānqié was also poisonous. Furthermore, unlike the case with Wūtóu poison, it would be difficult – nigh impossible – to obtain, given that the plant was native to a very select portion of a rather unstable part of the Demon Realm.
Thus, it made sense that Mingyue had said nothing of it until now. He had said nothing, because he had managed to keep the poison at bay and staved off most of its ill effects. Granted, his control slipped at times, resulting in occasional bouts of qi deviation – bouts that had apparently increased and worsened in recent months.
And Mingyue might’ve been determined to live with it, but Jiao Ziyu was not – if he could help, then he would, no matter what Mingyue ultimately thought of him. Because they were friends – even after all these years, Jiao Ziyu certainly thought so.
Besides, Mingyue didn’t really have any other friends, and Jiao Ziyu’s situation was similar and as such, it made more sense of them to stick together than not. Of course, knowing the temperament of his fellow Peak Lord, Jiao Ziyu made sure not to stick too close. Besides, there was also⸺
“You’re late.”
The speaker was a hooded figure – a veiled woman cloaked in heavy black robes. For someone supposedly trained in infiltration, she definitely stood out like a sore thumb, even standing inside the corner of a darkened room.
“I said I would be late,” Jiao Ziyu said, closing the door behind him. “It’s unusual for you to request a meeting. Did something happen, Huilu?”
All things considered, something most certainly had.
“What took you so long?” she asked instead. “Trouble at home?”
Well, she wasn’t exactly wrong. Still⸺ “The Diānqié flower. Where can I get hold of it?”
Huilu immediately stilled. “Diānqié? What could you possibly need that for?”
“Who’s reporting to whom here?” Jiao Ziyu said. “Do you report to me or do I report to you?”
Huilu stiffened, arms folded across her chest, her painted nails digging into the flesh underneath – it could hardly be a reaction to him though, because while Jiao Ziyu was a lot of things, intimidating was not one of them.
“Had you asked me this some months ago, then I would’ve procured it for a suitable price,” Huilu finally answered, averting her eyes. “But now...”
She trailed off into silence and Jiao Ziyu waited, waited, and then waited some more until he had finally had enough.
“What happened?” he asked.
At this, there was a mildly hysterical giggle, quickly smothered by a hand with sharp nails painted in a vivid crimson.
“Master Jiao,” the assassin finally said. “Have you ever heard of the Red Devil?”
Hoh. “Not that I can recall. Tell me.”
At this, Jiao Ziyu received an evident look, and upon recognising it, he sighed, reaching into his sleeve to pull out a small pouch, quickly tossing it over.
Predictably, deft hands caught it, and quickly opened it to ascertain its contents – which was a bit rude, given that Jiao Ziyu had done business with them for many years now and hadn’t tried to scam them even once.
“An unpleasant topic,” Huilu finally said, putting it away. “An unpleasant rumour, I might say.”
An unpleasant rumour?
“We know little about him, save for the name he has been given by others: the Red Devil,” Huilu said. “He wears a mask and cloaks himself in red and black, and he’s said to disappear and reappear within a single heartbeat.”
Hoh? “A demon then, or a powerful demonic cultivator?”
“We don’t know for sure,” the assassin professed. “We don’t know, and our efforts to track him down has turned up nothing so far. We’re hardly the only ones out looking either. The Six Serpents have been awfully quiet as of late, but from what I hear, they’re seething. I have no doubt he stole something from them as well.”
From them as well, huh? “What did he steal?”
Huilu made a noise indicating that she didn’t really want to tell him.
“From us, not much,” she finally said. “We hadn’t even noticed those scrolls missing until we’d heard about the rest. Six Serpents however, well, it’s an unconfirmed rumour, but he might very well have made it off with much of their stock.”
Hoh? “What sort of scrolls?”
“Medicinal,” Huilu immediately answered. “And considering how Six Serpents have raised prices on some concoctions and stopped offering others entirely, it’s entirely possible that he either took or destroyed the various herbs and poisons they had – Diānqié included, I’d say.”
“How did he get in?” Jiao Ziyu asked, and it was a fair question, honestly. Because although those places might not have had wards quite as impressive as those surrounding the Green Jade Peaks, the ones they had would undoubtedly have been a formidable obstacle to any would-be thief.
“We don’t know,” Huilu spat. “The wards were not damaged. We checked.”
Well⸺ “My condolences. Now, I’d like an answer to my question.”
Well, technically, she had already answered a number of his questions, but noticeably not the one that was Jiao Ziyu’s top priority at the moment.
“Haven’t I already though?” Huilu scoffed. “I said I couldn’t get it for you, and I said that this Red Devil guy has made off with Six Serpent’s supply. Ergo, if you want some Diānqié, then you’d either have to venture into the Demon Realm or track down the Red Devil and⸺”
Well, if a bunch of assassins and demonic cultivators hadn’t managed it, then Jiao Ziyu wondered at his own chance of success. He wasn’t his predecessor after all.
“⸺there’s something else though.”
Hoh? “What is it?”
“The rumour,” Huilu said. “Relatively recent. Are you familiar with Wú Jiǔ City?”
Wú Jiǔ City? “That’s Lotus Leaf territory, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Huilu nodded. “It is, but it’s on the outskirts. Anyways, rumour has it that it’s the Red Devil’s territory.”
Oh. “Quite bold of him to set up camp that close to the Lotus Leaf, isn’t it?”
“Bold?” Huilu echoed, amusement perfectly evident. “Master Jiao, you don’t even know half of it.”
Indeed. “Then, Huilu, why don’t you tell me?”
There are hurried footsteps in the mud, quiet yet loud in the tense silence as a lone figure makes his way down the empty city streets with bated breath.
It’s night, but the treacherous moon high above makes sure the darkness provides little cover. It in turn provides little comfort against what prowls in the dark – the bane of his existence, stalking him in the night, calling out softly towards him.
“Shixiong~ I know you’re there, Yue-shixiong. Why won’t you just come on out?”
Hah, as if. As if he’d ever⸺
“We could do this all night, you know?” the masked devil croons, voice now coming from an entirely different direction – entirely different and slightly more distant. “We could to this all night, and I honestly wouldn’t mind the chase. But we don’t want to disturb the neighbours, now do we, Yue-shixiong?”
Honestly, Yue would scream if he could, but even if he did, who would come and save him?
The moon looks on, distant and unforgiving, and anyone else that heard or saw would only ever avert their eyes and run.
There’s little point in screaming; he’d tried at some point, only to find the air frozen in his lungs.
At times, he can’t even move.
He hates it, he really hates it; his own powerlessness in the face of it all. He’d run, run, run, and he’d hide, hide, hide, but to no avail. Because that guy would find him – that bastard would always find him, catch him, bring him back.
“Yue-shixiong, please. We’ve talked about this. It’s not even full moon yet.”
Against better judgement, Yue lifts his gaze towards the skies, confirming that this is indeed true; the moon isn’t full yet.
It doesn’t really change anything though. It doesn’t really⸺
“Don’t call me shixiong!”
“Wú Jiǔ City?” Sect Leader Yeguang repeated. “That’s Lotus Leaf territory, isn’t it?”
And indeed, it was, and knowing their own sect’s rather poor relationship with the Lotus Leaf, it was a place best to be avoided. Still⸺
“Yeah, I know,” Jiao Ziyu said. “But it’s this or the Demon Realm, you know?”
“As far as you know.”
Yeah. “As far as I know, yes.”
Hearing this, the Sect Leader sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Well, no great harm in doing some reconnaissance, I guess?” he finally said. “This Red Devil business concerns me though. Because while I do have faith in your abilities, you’re really no⸺”
“⸺I’m really no fighter, yeah, I know. Still better for me to go alone though, because unlike certain others, I do know how to go undercover.”
There was a slight curl of the Sect Leader’s lips at that, signalling that the other was very much aware to whom Jiao Ziyu was referring, and he pointedly did not disagree, although his face gradually took on a somewhat sombre look.
“And Peak Lord Bai?”
Jiao Ziyu paused, blinked, then lifted his gaze once more. “Yeah? He was the one to tell me about the Diānqié, but who knows how long he’s been sitting on that information, honestly. Am I really that unreliable?”
“Well,” the Sect Leader said, wearing a rueful smile. “You have been away an awful lot as of late.”
“I guess,” Jiao Ziyu scoffed. “Doubt it makes much of a difference though, honestly. I mean, it’s no great secret that I’m not particularly⸺”
“You could try to stick around a bit more though,” Sect Leader Yeguang said. “Perhaps some of your disciples would benefit from the additional experience of running the network.”
Hah. “Are you that eager to replace me?”
The Sect Leader snorted. “Hardly. It’s just a thought.”
Just a thought. Right. “I’m not him, you know. I know I don’t always get my reports submitted on time, but it’s not like I’d ever⸺”
Well, it wasn’t like he’d never ever played with the thought – like he’d never ever daydreamed about just leaving at some point. Those were just dreams though, and to Jiao Ziyu’s knowledge, he was still allowed to have them, no matter how realistic they might’ve been. Because honestly, there were a number of reasons as to why he’d never do that – and not wanting to prove other people right just so happened to be among them.
Because while Jiao Ziyu was the Peak Lord in charge of trade and logistics, this was but one side of the coin – the other being his position at the head of the Windward Sect’s secret spy network. And all this was something that Jiao Ziyu had never truly aspired to be. However, like so many other things in his life, it was something that he had inherited from his predecessor, the former Peak Lord Jiao, Jiao Zilei.
Because Jiao Ziyu had certainly inherited a lot – and some seemed to regard him as something of a second coming of the man. Jiao Ziyu resented that however, and he resented it very much. Because sure, he had dumped most of his administrative duties on his two head disciples and wished them luck before descending into the mortal realm, much like his predecessor before him.
However, as far as leaving a significant portion of his administrative duties to his disciples went, he was by no means the only one. Other Peak Lords liked to do so as well, and yet somehow, Jiao Ziyu seemed to be the only one really shamed for it.
It was entirely undeserved too, because while others might’ve gone away to fool around, Jiao Ziyu had mostly left the Green Jade Peaks for the sake of work. Sure, he might’ve also taken the time to enjoy himself in the meantime, but⸺
Jiao Ziyu wasn’t incompetent – not by any means. He was capable of many things, especially when properly motivated, like his predecessor before him. However, while he could begrudgingly agree that there were certain similarities in-between them, they were still wholly different individuals and Jiao Ziyu was sick and tired of people not really seeing that.
Mingyue was different though. Sure, Mingyue’s attitude towards him tended to be quite cold, but... at least Jiao Ziyu knew that when Mingyue’s glacial eyes landed upon him, the other definitely saw him as Jiao Ziyu, not as his predecessor.
This, Jiao Ziyu knew with absolute certainty, because Jiao Ziyu had seen how Mingyue had looked at Master Jiao. There had been little mistaking the blatant disdain whenever the man had come around – and they had come around quite often back then, before⸺
“Do as you wish,” Sect Leader Yeguang said, dragging Jiao Ziyu back to the present. “Do as you wish, but keep a low profile. Though I doubt I really need to tell you that.”
Hah. “Of course not.”
