That was a big courtyard, the snow on the stone floor was white and no one seemed to have stepped on it so the place must have just snowed. The surrounding was so quiet that we could hear the crushing of snow as we walked on the stone floor.
Pian Feng hit the bronze ring on the door and that scarlet red door gave off a deep and thick sound, but there didn’t seem to have any sound inside.
“Did the man just trick us?” Pian Feng asked.
Right after Pian Feng finished his words, the doors opened on its own and there were seven people inside.
The doors closed on their own the moment we went in. Just like how they opened on their own.
“Who is Shang Lie?” Pian Feng asked.
No one answered.
The room has a window and from that window, we could see the scenery outside; that was a courtyard filled with snow, there were blooming red plum flowers and the snow on the flowers made them looked extremely cold; when the wind blew past the tree, all the snow would fall slowly down. There was a young man standing by the window. He has a white jade hanging on his waist, and next to the jade was a black sword. Other than that, he did not have other expensive items on him. He just stood there without saying a word and not moving at all, it’s only his long robe flattering as the wind blew into the window. He just looked like a sharp sword and he didn’t seem to be affected by our five extra presences.
Next to him and that was the far corner of the room; there was an old man with silvery white hair sitting there. His white hair did not mean that he was a pure blood but he was actually a mortal. His outfit was extremely elegant - purple long robe with golden st.i.tched dragon on it. His gaze was exceptionally scornful, I could see despise in his eyes and he was tr.i.m.m.i.n.g his nails leisurely. Anyone could see that his nails were his handy weapons because they were sharp and hard like they were ten compact swords.
On the other side of the room, there was a middle-aged woman in flamboyant clothes. She still looked pretty charming despite her age. Her hair was all bun up and there were many tiny hairpins on her hair bun. But I knew those weren’t any other ordinary hairpins, those accessories could become her killing weapons easily. Suddenly my gaze was shifted to her hand because she was wearing a pair of thin transparent gloves and without any hesitation I deduced she was a poison expert.
In the centre of the room, a lady was playing a zither and the sound of the zither filled the room inside. She looked very young but there’s an mismatching vicissitudes on her face and there were wrinkles sighted at the corners of her eyes. While I was observing the lady, I noticed Chaoya was also looking at her. I saw Chaoya turning at me to give me a smile, and I knew what she meant immediately.
There was a couch near the lady and there were three persons on it - a tall burly man sitting on the left and his clothes was open, revealing his bare chest even during this cold weather. On the right was a beautiful yet arrogant looking lady in fine clothing, and then a servant was kneeling by next to her feet, ma.s.saging them.
I turned to see Yue Shen looking at me and then she nodded her head, I knew she shared the same deduction as me.
I walked towards the young man with sword and he turned to face me. “You have foresight to actually know that I am Tai Zi.”
“You are not.” I said.
The expression on the young man turned embarra.s.sed. “Why can’t I be Tai Zi?”
“Because you are not relaxed enough, you looks tensed. You pretend not paying attention to us when we entered the room but you are afraid of people seeing your fl.u.s.tered look, so you faced your back towards the window.”
That young man stepped away without saying a word and I could see resentment in his eyes.
Yue Shen walked to the old man and the latter let out a sigh. “Seems like you guys had seen through me. You are right, I’m Tai Zi.”
Yue Shen smiled and told him. “You are definitely not the one.”
“Why?” The old man asked but his face was twitching uncontrollably.
“Because you are more fl.u.s.tered than the young man and you are tr.i.m.m.i.n.g your nails to hide your feeling of being lost but little did you expect this to even expose your true feeling further. You pretended to be the elegant one here by way of your outfits and despised gaze, but if I didn’t guess wrongly, you are of the lowest position in here.”
The old man’s face turned purple because of aggravation.
Then I continued to walk towards the woman with hairpins. “Don’t tell me I am not as well?” She smiled and asked me.
“You are not.”
“Why?”
“If I’m not wrong, you are a poison expert.”
“Correct.
"Then you are not Tai Zi.”
“Why?”
“Because the hearts of people who use poison are not pure, and even if they can be the best a.s.sa.s.sin, they can never become a leader. If Tai Zi can rule the whole city, it will mean he doesn’t even need to resort in using secret poison weapon to get to his motive. Even if Tai Zi was proficient in using poison, there’s no need to have so many hairpins on the hair bun and show us the gloves so obviously. This is originally a good idea to make us believe that people with better a.s.sa.s.sination skill would have higher status since this is the territory of the a.s.sa.s.sin guardian. But when I was still a child, my father had once told me that a person could never attain the highest status if he or she isn’t a big-hearted or n.o.ble person.”
Chaoya walked towards the lady who was playing the zither and told her. “You can rest now.”
That lady looked at Chaoya without saying a word.
Chaoya smiled and said, “Other than Die Che, no one can understand music more than me. Your music is filled with the softest and most delicate emotions, it means your heart is the same the music you just played. It’s impossible for Tai Zi to possess such delicate state of mind, and even if Tai Zi were to be a lady, she must have possessed a tough and unyielding inner thoughts.”
Then Chaoya sat down, telling the lady. “Let me play a song.” And then the room was filled with beautiful music, the kind of music that was able to touch the heart of the wall of sigh.
Yue Shen went to the centre of the couch and told the man. “Come down, you are not fit to even take this seat.”
The man went silent for a while before he came down from the couch. He looked at Yue Shen as if he was asking how did she know that he wasn’t the one.
“Your build is too burly but that doesn’t mean anything. Do you believe that Chaoya, the one who is now playing the zither, can beat you easily?” Yue Shen said.
And then Yue Shen walked to the front of the woman and bowed. “Tai Zi, nice to meet you.”
But when Yue Shen lifted her head, she was actually staring at the maid. “Tai Zi, you can rest now.”
I smiled happily because Yue Shen’s deduction was the same as mine. The true Tai Zi was actually the maid.
Then the maid stopped whatever she was doing and stood up, looking at us. “How did you know that I am the one?”
“Because we have already eliminated the lady and you are the only one left.”
Tai Zi looked up and I could see her face, it looked so refined yet the gaze was so inviolable. “How did you know that it isn’t her but me?”
“At first I have never thought about you, and she did not have any improper action. Then suddenly I thought of something, when your maid was ma.s.saging your leg, you would never sit so formally unless the one ma.s.saging your leg was actually your master. And when Tai Zi was ma.s.saging her leg, you have revealed quite a number of secrets, your strength was extremely precise and everytime your force would be the same. Your fingers were more agile than many others so no matter what secret weapons or summoning skills you used, the power would definitely be greater.”
Tai Zi told all his men to leave the place and just like what Yue Shen had predicted, the old man was of the lowest status among the group because he was the last one behind the group.
When Tai Zi has changed into his own clothes and appeared before us, he was a handsome man just like my brother, Ying Kong Shi and the East Guardian, Qing Ren. They were extremely good looking men. He didn’t have any other action, but he was able to give others the feeling of being pressurized and he has this spurious smile on his face that looked so mysterious and vague.
When all of his men were out, he turned to us and said. “Why are you here?”
“I don’t know too. Xing Kui gave me a dream and told me to look for you.” I said.
“Xing Kui?” Shang Lie’s voice seemed to tremble a little. He may have hidden it well but it still couldn’t escape Yue Shen’s eyes. He knew it was impossible to hide so he let out a cough and said. “Yes, I know her.”
After that Shang Lie told us, he had stayed in Ren Xue Cheng before. Xing Kui had once saved his life because one day while Xing Kui was reading the stars, she realized there’s predestined fate among Shang Lie’s star sign so she warned him via dream. During that time, Shang Lie was an illusionist from the Ice Tribe that was about to retire so up till now, he was still grateful to Xing Kui for all the helps that she had given to him.
“Since Xing Kui told you to come here, then you are allowed to ask seven questions. I can answer you any question. You may start asking now.” Shang Lie said.
“Is this the normal mortal world?”
“No, this is an enchantment created by the spiritual power of the West Guardian. Some of the people here are mortals while some are professional a.s.sa.s.sins that are followers of the West Guardian. The biggest group in this world is called Qian Yu (thousand feathers) because the names of all these people are related to birds and the two most powerful persons are Feng Huang (Phoenix) and Wu Ya (crow). Between these two, Wu Ya is the strongest and the leader of this group is none the other than the West Guardian.”
“How can we leave the West territory and see Yuan Ji?”
“Find the West Guardian, kill him or her and then this enchantment will be gone together with him.”
“How do we find the West Guardian?”
“Wait.”
“What for what?
"Wait for him or her to find you.”
“What if he or she doesn’t come?”
“Continue to wait.”
“Who is the West Guardian?”
“Don’t know.”
“Who will know?”
“No one. Ka Suo, you have already asked seven questions, you can leave now. However if you are willing to stay, you can stay here and I can guarantee the rooms here are better than those you found out there.”
I was about to accept his accept but Yue Shen cut me off and said. “It’s okay. We will go back to the inn.”
I couldn’t understand why Yue Shen refused to stay here but I believed in her judgement, so I nodded my head without any objection.
