Gong Qi had never in his life met a girl as maddening and infuriating as Lang Jiuchuan — the kind who made you want to smack her, and yet you couldn’t bring yourself to do it because she actually had the ability to back herself up.
Take this matter of the demonic evil. She had cast a hexagram whose results barely diverged from what his own clan’s young lord had divined. And just when Gong Qi had been thinking of probing how much she actually knew, she had lightly let drop that she had only learned a little surface knowledge and wouldn’t dare speculate recklessly, for fear of being laughed at for not knowing what she didn’t know.
What could he even say? He was just so absolutely irritated.
He was the one in his clan best known for driving people mad while leaving them completely powerless to do anything about it. But in his eyes, Lang Jiuchuan had him beat, and then some.
“What are you standing there lost in thought for? We need to go see the Great Master.” Gong Si appeared at his side without warning and gave the dazed Gong Qi a shove.
Gong Qi came back to himself. He composed his expression and said, “What the young lord divined was probably not a coincidence.”
Gong Si looked puzzled.
Why bring up the young lord’s abilities all of a sudden? His divination skill was among the best in the clan — of course it was no coincidence.
Gong Qi said, “Lang Jiuchuan has cast a hexagram as well. I have a feeling the talk of a demonic evil is anything but idle, and that the time for it to emerge into the world may not be far off.”
He repeated to Gong Si everything Lang Jiuchuan had said.
Gong Si felt a pang of tension. “We need to send word to the clan.”
Gong Qi nodded. Yes, they needed to inform the young lord.
Gong Si thought it over and then asked, “Should we also report this Lang Jiuchuan to the clan?”
Gong Qi turned a sharp look on him, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth that never quite formed. “My senior brother isn’t thinking of following the example of certain clans — try to recruit her, fail, and then suppress her, or even destroy her entire cultivation base?”
“Xiao Qi, you know that isn’t what I mean.” Gong Si sighed with exasperation. “Look at the abilities she has demonstrated — they are not inferior to most people in our clan, and may in fact surpass yours and mine. Talent of this caliber will not be able to stay hidden for long.”
Gold will always shine. And a pearl that has been coated in dust, once that dust is washed away, will let its brilliance show itself to the world.
“I know you have no liking for that approach. And though I have my own selfish motives — I want to recruit talented people for the clan — is that not also a form of protection?” Gong Si sighed again. “The Gong Clan has the young lord to hold things together and keep those old men in check. But they are stubborn. The attitude of supremacy they have cultivated over so many years cannot simply be changed at will. In plain terms, the clan needs new blood — people who genuinely accept the way the young lord sees things — if there is ever to be any real hope of breaking down those old constraints.”
Gong Qi’s expression eased slightly.
“She has ability. If the other clans notice her, do you think they would not want to recruit her? And if they fail? What methods would they turn to?” It would be suppression, or isolation. And there were certainly those who were clever and tremendously capable and yet chose to live out their days in hiding — but what about Lang Jiuchuan?
Gong Si pressed his lips together. “Lang Jiuchuan’s physical constitution is not what it appears on the surface — she is not merely delicate-looking. She is genuinely weak in body, Xiao Qi. No matter how formidable one’s cultivation may be, a frail body will always hold that cultivation back. Our Third Great-Uncle is the lesson. If not for his weak constitution, how could someone of his cultivation level have died from demon poison? He had cultivation that vast, and his physical body brought him down.”
“If she truly faces the suppression of those other clans, how long could she hold out? Let them come at her one after another in a drawn-out battle of attrition, wearing her down with wave after wave of combat — do you think that body of hers would hold?” Gong Si’s voice grew heavy. “Sometimes, it is the hearts of people that are most terrifying. Those who cannot obtain something would sooner see it destroyed. You understand — there are those who would genuinely do it.”
Gong Qi scoffed. “Then they would only bring their own ruin. The grandeur of the Xuan Clans has been declining against what our forebears built — all because they took the ways of the secular court and officialdom and brought them into the clans. It’s because one particular clan is entwined with the imperial—” He was cut short.
Gong Si’s hand was over his mouth. He hissed in a low, sharp voice, “Have you lost your mind? You’ll say anything. Be careful of ears behind the walls.”
Gong Qi pulled his hand away. “Did I say anything wrong? Never mind that clan — just take Gong, Feng, and Rong. Going around recruiting Daoist practitioners and method masters — isn’t that exactly the same as the tactics of the official bureaucracy? They’ve grown powerful, yes — but have they not stirred up widespread resentment? Has Senior Brother counted how many of the truly wise and capable people who escaped their recruitment have disappeared — and how much anger they have accumulated? Those people have hidden away in the deep mountains to cultivate in seclusion, or have gone out to cut down evil and demons, accruing merit and advancing their cultivation on their own. Meanwhile, what of us — the so-called Xuan Clans, exalted above all? We only know how to consolidate our own position, imprisoned in our own ways, incapable of growth.”
Gong Si was silent.
Gong Qi’s voice turned cold. “There are mountains beyond mountains, and people of greater skill beyond those of great skill. Right here before us is one such example. That Lang Jiuchuan — do you think she is self-taught? Who knows which reclusive master of great standing taught her? And how many others like her are scattered out there? The illness of the Xuan Clans has begun eating into the bone and rotting the flesh. If it is not treated, there will be nothing left — the merit and legacy built by our forebears will be destroyed entirely.”
“I understand what you mean. But it cannot be denied — once she is noticed by those other clans, it will be nothing good for her. No, she has already been noticed. The Rong Clan has her in their sights.” Gong Si said, “Better for her to be with our Gong Clan than to watch her be broken.”
“Someone like her won’t be constrained and put to use by the Xuan Clans — there’s no point wasting energy on it.” Gong Qi shook his head. “But even if she doesn’t join the Gong Clan, as long as we are on close terms with her and come and go frequently, in the eyes of the other clans, she will look like she belongs to our Gong Clan’s faction.”
That… was actually a reasonable point.
“But what if someone has no shame and doesn’t care about appearances?” Gong Si said, still reluctant to give it up entirely.
Gong Qi’s eyes went fierce. “Then I’ll fight them.”
Gong Si stared at him in silence.
All right then. The boy was thinking straight. Time to get back to real matters.
“I can only hope she’s as clever as I imagine her to be — that she knows when to conceal her abilities and not make herself so conspicuous. If she wears that body of hers down to nothing, there’ll be nothing left to work with. Come on, the Great Master should be finished with his meditation by now.”
Gong Qi thought to himself: relax. She’s better at playing the fool and letting the tiger hide among pigs than even you are. You have nothing to worry about.
After they left, Jiangche slipped out from a nearby bodhi tree and returned to Lang Jiuchuan’s side.
The venerable bodhi tree: To be the sacred tree of a noble ancient temple, only to be invaded and occupied by the spiritual sense of a white tiger — how utterly disgraceful.
Jiangche had just been about to recount to Lang Jiuchuan what it had overheard, when Lang Jiuchuan said she had already watched the entire exchange through the fragment of Jiangche’s primal spirit that resided within her spirit domain.
“Wait — how did you watch what I saw through my primal spirit?” Jiangche demanded.
Lang Jiuchuan said, “I found it curious myself. After I finished lighting the lamp just now, I felt my spirit-soul growing more solid and substantial. Whatever the reason, I could simply see. It may have something to do with the bond we formed when we made our contract.”
“Does this mean from now on, nothing I do will escape your eyes?”
“Mm-hm.”
Jiangche: “!”
Absolutely must find a host body. Absolutely. Does a tiger king of this standing have any privacy left at all?
“As for what those two brothers just said — what do you make of it?”
Lang Jiuchuan said, “They spoke quite perceptively. It seems the Xuan Clans are truly ill — gravely so. And that young lord of the Gong Clan has an interesting mind and genuine foresight. What remains to be seen is whether his power is sufficient to cure the illness of the Xuan Clans.”
Jiangche said with a grumpy edge, “Never mind what becomes of those clans. I’m asking about you.”
Lang Jiuchuan smiled. “I said before — the Xuan Clans cannot hold me down. But Gong Si is right: this body of mine is still weak. If they truly bring a wave-after-wave battle of attrition against me, this physical constitution would be the first thing to drag me down. And Gong Qi is also right — if I am seen to come and go frequently with them, then in the eyes of outsiders, I will already look like someone belonging to the Gong Clan’s faction. In that case — why not borrow a great tree for its shade?”
Jiangche let out a cold laugh: if you hadn’t been listening to those two going on about everything that is wrong with the Xuan Clans and their conduct, I wager you would have been the first one running in the other direction. Borrowing a tree for shade — you absolute hypocrite.