Finished listening, Shi Feixuan’s pretty eyebrows lightly knitted, she said, “Zhao Deyan and Zhou Laotan, husband and wife, colluding in secret, I can still understand that, but why did Zhou Laotan kill Zhou Laofang? Even more puzzling is that Jin Huanzhen directly led me to Longquan, why should they change to Zhou Laofang midway? Unnecessary branches and knots grow without restraint, there must be some key points that we have not thought through.”

Xu Ziling loved to see Shi Feixuan’s thoughtful look. Her deep, unfathomable beautiful eyes would emit touching radiance, which evolved from the wisdom deep within her heart, her pretty face was like being shrouded by a layer of pure and holy sunset clouds’ brightness, forming a burst of austere inviolability, transcending the vulgarity, shedding the dust – immortal disposition and beautiful appearance.

The two were sitting inside the pavilion. Such a big monastery was dark and quiet without any human vestige, only from the direction of the main hall came voiceless consonant of the tapping of the wooden fish.

Seeing Xu Ziling was silent without saying anything, Shi Feixuan asked in astonishment, “Ziling Xiong, what are you thinking?”

Xu Ziling really wanted to say that he was stuffing himself with a pretty face, but naturally he did not dare to speak it out loud. Reaching out, he stroked the ice-cold tabletop lightly, and then said, “I don’t know if it has anything to do with the temple, but my encounters in the temple have always been out-of-the-worldly, which make my feeling of temples particularly profound. Just now when I stepped into the temple gate, suddenly I was awed by the scale of the magnificent temple hall, I feel that this temple hall is the embodiment of the universe. It has always been like this since ancient times, it won’t change in the future. Upon entering the temple hall, it’s like the past and the future are connected, because I am precisely there now.”

Shi Feixuan revealed a contemplative expression. Sighing lightly, she said, “Sometimes I really am a little afraid to chat with you, because you are always able to say something that will lead Feixuan to think deeply, that will generate subtle response in me, hence the reason I said you are Feixuan’s only flaw. If I can treat you with ordinary heart, perhaps I can really reach the Jian Xin Tong Ming realm.”

Xu Ziling smiled and said, “If Feixuan is intentional, I am afraid it will never succeed. The only way is to let things develop naturally. Based on Feixuan’s intelligence and many years of cultivation, there will be a certain instant that you will enter the Jian Xin Tong Ming realm.”

As quiet as still water, Shi Feixuan said, “Very rarely did Ziling so openly speak out what’s in the depth of your heart, but what you said still contains abstruse logic.”

Xu Ziling’s lingtai [top of the head] became clear and bright, welling up with a fantastic awareness that in the universe, other than Shi Feixuan, there was no him, no other matter. All other things, including Shi Zhixuan, the wolf-bandits, the struggle for survival of various tribes beyond the Great Wall, the power struggle among warlords vying for supremacy in the Central Earth, and so on – entirely lost their importance. What he wanted to explore the most this moment was the secret inside the fragrant heart of the fairy before his eyes. Putting his mind on anything else would be a total waste.

This feeling was like the vast body of water, like the ocean drowning him, almost suffocating him, so intense that it was hard to believe.

Suddenly, he realized that he finally tasted the feeling of pain and enchantment of love.

Before, he had always been restraining himself, but after these past two days of closeness, the dam finally burst.

Shi Feixuan spoke in a soft voice, “Why do you pretend to be a mute?”

Laughing involuntarily, Xu Ziling said, “Pretending to be a mute? No! Rather, sometimes Xiaodi is perturbed, sometimes lacking in words to express it, hence you, Feixuan misunderstood.”

Shi Feixuan appeared to be displeased, her expression was brimming with little girl’s air, she said, “Those who handle cinnabar are stained red; those who work with ink are stained black [idiom: you are the product of your environment]. You and Kou Zhong are hanging out with each other day and night, hence you are contaminated with not a few of his bad habits of speaking. I really want to give you a good beating.”

She spoke the last sentence with a rarely-seen, without-the-slightest-bit-of-wariness sweet, charming tender chuckle, as brilliant as a fresh flower blooming.

Shaken, Xu Ziling said, “It seems like very soon you will reach the Jian Xin Tong Ming realm. Your smile just now was certainly coming from that realm descending into this mundane world.”

Strangely, the rose-tinted cloud color did not appear on Shi Feixuan’s jade cheeks, as she spoke indifferently, “I want to revise my comment just now. You, Xu Ziling, are the green that stems from the blue; you already surpassed Kou Zhong.”

Blurted out laughing, Xu Ziling said, “Can that be considered vicious criticism like a tide?”

Slightly shrugging her fragrant shoulders, Shi Feixuan shook her head and said, “It’s not vicious criticism but a compliment. Purely looking at you, Xu Ziling from any angle, it’s just like the tale about stepping on a toad or an eggplant.”

Xu Ziling laughed to his heart’s content. He said, “Even if I can only be in contact with Feixuan for a few days more, no matter what the cost or the pain of separation, or perhaps the profound misery forever etched in my heart, it is still worth it.”

Shi Feixuan calmed down. Her pretty eyes were like two clear and deep, the-bottom-not-visible, but also limpid, without-the-slightest-bit-of-impurity deep water, profoundly concentrating her attention to him, she spoke softly, “Can you do Feixuan a favor? Don’t ride a mule to look for a mule, let alone after riding the mule you don’t want to come down. Because the ten-sided world is void and purified of defiling illusion, originally there was not a single matter, where did the mule come from?”

Staring blankly, Xu Ziling asked, “What kind of heart is a heart without a mule?”

“It’s an ordinary heart,” Shi Feixuan replied, “If Ziling could regard separation as meeting together, loss as gain, then Feixuan would have no cares to explore and pry into the heavenly law. Otherwise, it would be better to abandon the clear cultivation, to develop companionship by the lord’s side, to avoid the torment of yearning.”

Hearing that, Xu Ziling’s tiger body shook severely, he could not believe his own ears.

This was the first time since making acquaintance with Shi Feixuan that this fairy confessed that she fell in love with him, Xu Ziling, not just ‘you are my only flaw’, that kind of Dhyana talk that can be explained in any interpretation or example.

Even more shocking was that Shi Feixuan was exposing her fragile side in front of his eyes, suggesting that if he wanted to be like men and women of the secular world, taking an oath to obtain her, there would be great possibility that she would abandon everything to give her heart to him.

Naturally she did not encourage Xu Ziling to do that at all; otherwise, there was no need for her to use soft speech to ask him for a favor.

Riding a mule to look for a mule, not at all knowing that the mule he was looking for was the one he was riding. Furthermore, not knowing how to get down the mule, ultimately, of course, he would acquire nothing.

The entanglement of love and separation between men and women, unchanging life and death, no matter how much it turned people upside down and engrossed themselves in it, in the end it is still like the life itself, which is just a spring dream [short-lived illusion]. Shi Feixuan’s pursuit was a certain eternal goal beyond Xu Ziling’s understanding.

After staring blankly for quite half a day, Xu Ziling slowly said, “I suddenly feel extremely relaxed and happy; I feel like no matter what’s the load on my mind, I could tell it to you, and you, Feixuan would never blame me for being rude. I, Xu Ziling, am just an ordinary man. Like an average person, because I feel the vagaries of life, I know that any beautiful thing that I miss will never come back, thereupon after I suddenly heard Feixuan deciding to return to the Jingzhai, I disregarded everything to mention this request, which I myself feel unduly – to Feixuan. Ha! But I don’t regret it.”

Shi Feixuan smiled and said, “Of course, no need for regret. Apart from Shizun [revered master], Xu Ziling, you are the most profound encounter in my cultivation of the Way. It was like that then, it is like this now, and it will be like this in the future. When Feixuan is leaving, I won’t say goodbye to you, because Feixuan do not want to have any painstaking separation between us. Just like you said, let everything flow naturally, as if made by heaven.”

Xu Ziling laughed calmly and said, “Since we already separated once, naturally there must not be another one. I hope that I am not the man riding on the mule not knowing the mule he was riding, even more, not knowing that the one he was looking for was the fool he was straddling on. Feixuan, you are the most beautiful memory in my life. Without this memory, life is just a blank space.”

Shi Feixuan blissfully said, “Ziling’s words are very moving, Feixuan will engrave it in my heart, just like the dhyana and gatha in Buddhist scripture. Do you still remember the cicadas and insects’ buzzing and singing? It could be both an eggplant or a toad, could be a mule, but could be not a mule at all. I wonder if Feixuan could be a bit more greedy and entrust Ziling with another matter?”

Xu Ziling had a faint feeling that Shi Feixuan had made a firm decision that she could bid farewell to this mundane world to return to Jingzhai any moment, and would not set foot on the human world anymore. He gladly said, “As long as you are not trying to force Kou Zhong to give up his great undertaking of contending for hegemony, I will definitely strive my hardest to do it for Feixuan.”

Shi Feixuan’s pretty eyes emitted a deep emotion that made Xu Ziling’s heart tremble; she spoke slowly, “Please take a good care of Shi Qingxuan, don’t let her suffer any harm.”

Stunned, Xu Ziling said, “Feixuan said so, do you believe firmly that with our and Zhu Yuyan’s power, we are still helpless to eliminate Shi Zhixuan?”

Shi Feixuan’s gaze slowly swept across the flowers and plants, and the trees in the surrounding forest casting a shadow on the ground under the slanting beam of sunlight, the beautiful pupil of her eyes was rippling in extraordinary splendor, which made people associating it with her lofty, outstanding, out-of-the-dust inner world. She spoke affectionately, “On the memorial arch at the monastery main gate of our humble Zhai, there is a rhyming couplet, saying ‘Home is on this mountain, the clouds deeply unaware where to go’. I don’t know why Feixuan tells you this, but I feel like I wanted you to know. Or perhaps because Feixuan has nothing to tell you.”

Xu Ziling rose up to his full height. Raising his clasped hands to salute, he said, “Thank you Feixuan. I, Xu Ziling will not fail your trust. Anything that can’t be accomplished tonight, there will be a day that Xu Ziling will accomplish it for you.”

Finished speaking, he calmly left.

Shi Feixuan’s serene gaze followed his back disappearing into the end of the temple’s corridor. A hint of touching smile escaped from her fragrant lips.

Kou Zhong invited Song Shidao into the south reception hall, while in his mind he was still thinking about Shang Xiufang.

Although Xu Ziling repeatedly warned him, but after seeing Shang Xiufang, he could no longer control his mood, Liexia was just the spark that started the big fire on the prairie. Ke Dazhi was obviously as bad as he was, hence the two planned the cooperative operation to deal with Liexia. Thinking about it, he felt ridiculous. If he let Xu Ziling know about it, it would be strange indeed if he would not be scolded.

He felt that he was treading on the edge of an arduous high cliff, one thing went wrong, he would lose his footing and drop down the ten-thousand-zhang abyss.

Once they were seated properly, Song Shidao drank the fragrant tea Kou Zhong offered him, and said, “I have spent my lips and tongue to the greatest extent and was barely able to persuade Junqiang. She is willing to talk to you, three mouths, six eyes – once. In my opinion, she is going to present her condition. You had better discuss it with Xu Ziling properly first before going to see her.”

“What’s the time and the place?” Kou Zhong asked.

“Midday, foreign guesthouse,” Song Shidao replied, “I will attend to act as a buffer between the two of you.”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “As long as she is not forcing us to kill ourselves, we’ll only have agreeing obediently as our allotted share, how could we be entitled to bargain with her?”

Song Shidao sighed and said, “If the problem is that easy to solve, naturally it’s to everyone’s delight and satisfaction. It’s just that there is a very high probability that Shen Mohuan, husband and wife, whom you want to find, are seeking shelter under Han Chao’an’s wings.”

Shaken, Kou Zhong said, “What did you, LaoGe find?”

Song Shidao said, “I have always looked down on people who rob others relying on military force, hence I have nothing good to say about Han Chao’an. Last night I watched him secretly. There are indeed a number of strangers who do not speak Gaoli language at the guesthouse where Han Chao’an is staying, among them was a quite elegant woman.”

Kou Zhong groaned inwardly. Shen Mohuan was one of the people that they could not let him get away. Under this kind of situation, how could they settle the dispute with Fu Junqiang? Sighing, he said, “What exactly is the relationship between Han Chao’an and Fu Cailin? With Fu Cailin’s reputation, how could he let his disciples breathe through the same nostril with a horse thief?”

“Strictly speaking,” Song Shidao said, “Han Chao’an is not a horse thief at all, but a pirate [lit. sea thief].”

“Pirate?” Kou Zhong was stunned.

Song Shidao said, “I need to start from the situation of the entire Korean Peninsula. There are three kingdoms on the peninsula, which are Gaoli [Goryeo], Xinluo [Silla], and Baiji [Paekche or Baekje]. After Yang Guang’s three disastrous military campaigns against Gaoli, the kingdoms on the peninsula themselves have launched a complex struggle which changes were difficult to predict. The King of Xinluo, Jin Zhenxing is similar to Bai Ziting in that he is a monarch who is ambitious, powerful, talented, and has vision. He tries hard to unify the peninsula, hence he unceasingly tries to expand his territory. Xinluo is located at the southern part, toward the east, occupying the advantage of the mouth of the Han River, therefore, they enjoy rapid development in maritime commercial trade, mainly doing big business with famous cities on the coastal area of the Central Earth, hence the nation’s power is greatly increasing, provoking the Baiji, which occupies the southern part, leaning to the west, of the peninsula, and Gaoli, the strongest kingdoms occupying the northern part of the peninsula – to join hands to deal with him. Han Chao’an is the man sent by the Gaoli King Gao Jianwu with specific mission to intercept and rob Xinluo merchants on the sea, with the aim of destroying Xinluo’s economy.”

It suddenly dawned on Kou Zhong, “I understand!” he said, “Gaoli is supporting Bai Ziting like this, other than hoping to have a powerful Bohai Kingdom to act as the buffer between her and the Qidan and Tujue, but also as a seaport military base between Xinluo and the Central Earth for boat repair and supply station. Ay! It really gives people headache.”

Song Shidao analyzed, “Xinluo has always had a close relationship with the Central Earth, but now the Central Earth is in chaos, Xinluo lost its support. Were it not for Jin Zhenxing maintaining the general situation, it would have been divided up by Gaoli and Baiji who view Han people as the enemy. However, Gaoli itself is not without internal worries. In the recent years, a big tribal chief of a large region to the east of Gaoli called Ge Suwen, nicknamed ‘Wu Dao Ba’ [five sabers/blades hegemon] rises up. The King of Gaoli Gao Jianwu is somewhat wary of him.”

Greatly interested, Kou Zhong said, “Wu Dao Ba! Could it be that no one can block his five saber strikes?”

Song Shidao laughed and said, “It was just because he loves to carry five treasured sabers of different length, hence he is called Wu Dao Ba. This man is cruel and loves to kill, he considers human life like grassy mustard. His power in east Gaoli is huge, Gao Jianwu has no choice but to look at his face. Without Fu Cailin overseeing the situation, I’m afraid Ge Suwen would have risen his army in rebellion.”

Having a headache, Kou Zhong said, “The saying that all crows in the world are black is definitely not wrong, where will there be a place with peace and happiness and security?”

Patting his shoulder, Song Shidao said, “You and Ziling discuss this matter carefully, you must never be hasty in deciding not to meet the appointment. Whether I am representing you or not is a small matter, but the difficulty to find the opportunity to sit down calmly and without stress to talk later on is a big matter.”

Reluctant to part, Kou Zhong asked, “Where are you going? Why not wait for Ziling to come back and then we’ll go eat something together?”

Standing up, Song Shidao said, “I want to go see Xiufang Dajia; do you want to come along?”

Kou Zhong cried, ‘Please spare my life!’ inwardly, and promptly declined; he sent him off the door.

Xu Ziling, his heart was filled with some kind of feeling that he himself did not understand, rushed back to the courtyard house.

Suddenly a horse-drawn carriage galloped over by his side, the hanging curtain was lifted up, revealing Meiyan Furen’s smiling pretty, flowery jade countenance, as she called tenderly, “Xu Gongzi, how about getting aboard the carriage?”

Xu Ziling smiled wryly inwardly, knowing that before the first wave subsided, a new wave rose; trouble was lurking at the door, again.