What Li Si had struck were only major acupoints, not the leg acupoints. Qingdie, who had been curled up on the soft couch moments before, slowly opened her eyes. Her icy gaze fixed on Li Si as she slowly stood up and said with a cold laugh, “I don’t understand. You couldn’t possibly have guessed it was me. How did you discover me?”
“It was me.” Lou Tianming didn’t open his eyes as he spoke.
“You?” A trace of confusion appeared in Qingdie’s eyes, cold as ice and snow. “Impossible. From the moment you two met, I’ve already controlled all your actions. Your every word and deed cannot escape my eyes. You couldn’t possibly have told him these things.”
“True, my every word and deed has been controlled by the belly feathers fine as threads that you inserted into my joints, making me like a puppet. But some things can never be controlled by dead objects like feather strings.” Lou Tianming opened his eyes.
Li Si clapped his hands. Two people rushed in from outside—none other than Wu Wen and Xiao Ning. Wu Wen held Lou Tianming’s ancient zither in his hands. Li Si said calmly, “Lou Tianming speaks correctly. From the first moment I saw Lou Tianming, I felt he was somewhat strange. His gaze kept drifting. Even when speaking with me, his eyes were never in position. So I was careful and secretly memorized his gaze. Later when he disappeared, I suddenly understood. Lou Tianming’s drifting gaze was not without reason. I discovered he was using his gaze to write characters to me. I tried to recreate the wandering of his gaze from my memory onto the ancient zither. What I got were four characters.”
“Which four characters?” Qingdie asked.
“Qingdie, Ziqing!” Li Si spoke them, then continued: “Only then did I suspect you. Just moments ago, the one who escaped from the secret chamber and evaded our attention wasn’t actually Lou Tianming, but you, Qingdie—who is also Lou Tianming’s birth mother, Ziqing!”
Ziqing smiled beautifully, her tone still icy: “It seems I need not quibble. I am Ziqing, and also Tianming’s mother, and even more so a widow who has walked through the gates of hell.”
Li Si looked at Ziqing and murmured, “But I don’t understand—from when you fell off the cliff until now, it’s already been ten years. Why do you show no signs of aging?” Ziqing’s appearance was beautiful, like a young maiden with budding beauty. Ziqing smiled bitterly: “You’re asking about this skin? At this point I need not hide anything from Catcher Li. Actually, I’m originally from the Miao border. I’m the Saintess of the Ghost Gate in Miao territory. This eternally youthful appearance is one of the Ghost Gate’s secret arts. Though it can keep my youth perpetual, it simultaneously reduces my lifespan by ten years.”
“You’re the Ghost Gate Saintess? The Ghost Gate Saintess who disappeared over twenty years ago?” Li Si had also heard the rumors in the martial world. At the time, the Ghost Gate Saintess’s disappearance had stirred up quite a disturbance in the martial world. Ziqing nodded and sighed softly: “If I weren’t the Ghost Gate’s Saintess, how would Lou Ao have recruited accomplices to deal with me together? Hmph, he was afraid that one person wouldn’t be my match. That’s why he relied on numbers to bully the few and forced me off the cliff. Later, I survived the catastrophe, but my appearance was completely destroyed by the mountain rocks. I hated him thoroughly. So I used the secret arts again to change my appearance and returned to Budong Manor.”
“You wanted revenge?” Li Si asked.
“If it were you, with such a bitter grudge, could you not take revenge?” Ziqing stared into Li Si’s eyes. Li Si slightly averted his gaze. In fact, if it were himself, perhaps he would do the same thing. Li Si sighed.
“I entered Budong Manor and fooled everyone, but I still couldn’t fool my own son.” Ziqing walked before Lou Tianming and looked at him. “Tianming requested me to serve as his maidservant and begged me to give up this grudge. When I saw my son again I was truly so happy that I agreed to him. But how could I let go of this grudge?”
“So you began planning revenge?” Li Si interjected.
“Correct. Originally I only wanted revenge on Lou Ao, hating his heartlessness and lack of feeling. But later I changed my mind. Though Lou Ao deserved his punishment, the chief culprit hidden behind him was the most unforgivable—and this chief culprit was the secret manual left by Lou Budong. All effects arose because of it. So I swore to myself that I must find this secret manual and completely destroy it.” As Ziqing spoke, her face flushed with anger, as if forcibly suppressing the rage in her heart. Under her gaze, Lou Tianming sat before the couch like a sculpture, completely motionless.
“So the true murderer wasn’t Lou Tianming, but you! The Western Region merchant, Yan Ying, Sun Miao—all died by your hand?” Li Si said.
Ziqing snorted coldly: “They all deserved to die. They colluded with Lou Ao, and their purpose behind everything was still aimed at the secret manual. Killing them was to avenge the ambush killing from ten years ago! As for Tianming, this child is naturally soft-hearted and kind. He would never be so ruthless. He admitted to these murders to protect me.” Ziqing sighed softly.
Li Si’s gaze flickered slightly as he said, “There’s still one thing I don’t quite understand.”
“What is it? Feel free to ask.”
“It’s Lou Ao’s death. Though I’ve already investigated that Lou Ao died from the dual harm inflicted by his son Lou Tianfan and his daughter Lou Tianshe—first Lou Tianshe’s black iron pierced through the treasure armor on Lou Ao’s body, then Lou Tianfan used his internal power to shatter Lou Ao’s heart meridian, causing his death. But not long ago, I discovered some extraordinarily resilient white threads in Lou Ao’s returning blood. I don’t know what they are or whether they’re also connected to Lou Ao’s death?” Li Si voiced all his doubts.
“You’re quite meticulous. You need not investigate further. I can tell you that the white threads you discovered belong to me. They’re belly feathers I extracted from Western Region homing birds. A Western Region homing bird grows only one white belly feather in its entire lifetime, and its toughness exceeds the ordinary. The belly feathers in Lou Ao’s body were ones I secretly inserted into him during the birthday banquet. The belly threads then traveled to various joints throughout his body, to all the major acupoints, threading into bone crevices. But these belly feathers wouldn’t harm him. Given time, the belly feathers would also retreat on their own with his blood. However, during that brief period, he would become like a puppet, with no ability to resist. The Tianming you saw just moments ago also had his bodily movements controlled by me using the same method. It’s just that this child is clever and still left you clues.”
“If so, you could easily have killed Lou Ao when he had no ability to move. Why did you delay and let the Lou siblings strike to kill their father?” In Li Si’s mind, the faces of Lou Tianfan and Lou Tianshe involuntarily surfaced. Their sorrowful expressions before death had been carved into Li Si’s mind.
“Hmph! Killing him would naturally be effortless for me. But I didn’t want him to die so easily. I wanted Lou Ao to personally experience the feeling of being betrayed and abandoned by everyone, to taste the pain where the death of the heart is greater than the death of the body—dying at the hands of his own son and daughter. He probably never imagined it.” Ziqing said coldly. “He caused the death of Tianfan and Tianshe’s mother and confined them for life in this manor prison. Actually, not only his biological children—even if it were any other person in the manor, they would all wish to kill him quickly.”
“But in doing so, don’t you think it was too cruel to Lou Tianfan and Lou Tianshe?” Li Si pressed with one more question.
Ziqing’s expression darkened as she nodded slightly: “This point I hadn’t considered beforehand. Because at that time I overlooked your existence. You cleverly solved the mystery of Tianfan and Tianshe’s assassination. Their hearts were already suffering torment day and night, then being forced into a desperate situation, choosing to leave was perhaps the only choice! For them, this is also a kind of liberation.”
“Death is liberation. Fine, even if the Lou siblings’ deaths were their own choice, then what about the lives of the hundred-plus manor residents? Could their deaths also be the liberation they chose themselves?” Li Si thought of the hundred-plus innocent deaths and couldn’t help feeling indignant.
“Do you truly believe they were all ordinary manor residents?” Ziqing suddenly asked in return.
Li Si was somewhat bewildered and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Catcher Li, you can go check with your yamen. Most of the people I killed were evildoers who already had no foothold in the martial world. They were hunted by righteous martial artists and hid in this remote Budong Manor to disguise their identities. Their other purpose, needless to say, was still for the rumored secret manual. Actually, since two hundred years ago, not many clean people dared enter Budong Manor. This manor is like a nightmare for the living. Tell me, who else would dare risk entering? So the manor’s previous masters opened their gates wide and took in these martial world evildoers to guard their home.”
“Such a thing existed?” After hearing this, Li Si couldn’t help but feel dismayed.
“Moreover, I didn’t want to kill them. And killing them, I also had another purpose.” Ziqing said.
“Another purpose? What purpose?” Li Si asked.
“You should ask Tianming.”
“She wanted to find the secret manual hidden in Budong Manor.” Lou Tianming, who had kept his eyes tightly closed, suddenly interjected. His eyes also finally slowly opened.
“But how does killing these manor guards relate to finding the secret manual?” Li Si still didn’t understand.
“I was threatening him.” Ziqing said coldly. “I was threatening Tianming with over a hundred lives. But what surprised me greatly was that I didn’t succeed.”
“Threatening Tianming? Could it be that Lou Tianming knows where the secret manual is!” Li Si looked at Lou Tianming.
Lou Tianming opened his eyes and looked out the window. Outside was already deep night, yet it was rendered completely red by the burning flames.
“Before much longer, Budong Manor will become a land of ashes.” Ziqing looked at him and said, “Ming’er, even at this moment, are you unwilling to reveal where the secret manual is?”
“A five-hundred-year-old secret manual—how can you be certain Lou Tianming knows its location?” Li Si hesitated.
“There can be no mistake. This matter was personally revealed by Tianming.” Ziqing paused, then continued: “Though it wasn’t directly in front of me, it was close. He told my bluebird about discovering the secret manual. But Ming’er didn’t realize that the bluebird had long been placed under the Heart Connection Tribulation. I can know everything it hears and sees.”
Lou Tianming smiled: “I was careless. But I’ve kept too many secrets in my heart. I’m truly so tired.”
“Over a hundred lives—the over a hundred lives in the secret chamber—were they the price paid to force Lou Tianming to reveal the secret manual’s location?” Li Si was indignant. Ziqing calmly interjected: “Not just their lives, but mine as well.”
Li Si suddenly recalled Ziqing in the secret chamber, her entire body sealed with chains and covered in flowing blood: “So all your wounds were only for this—to threaten Lou Tianming!”
“Correct. I originally thought those dozen or so strangers’ lives carried no weight. I could only use Ming’er’s own mother’s blood to threaten him! But I still miscalculated. Ming’er, you truly surprised me. If it were the kind and filial Ming’er of before, seeing me continuously bleeding with my life draining away, he would definitely have revealed the secret manual’s location. But now you’ve remained silent throughout. This truly exceeded my expectations.”
“Mother.” Lou Tianming suddenly addressed Ziqing as mother. Li Si didn’t know if Lou Tianming had called her this before, but this was the first time he personally heard Lou Tianming call out “mother.” Ziqing’s expression also showed a moment of emotion. She smiled and nodded: “Good, good, Ming’er. A full three years—in the three years since I returned to Budong Manor, this is the first time you’ve called me mother. I’m truly happy.”
Lou Tianming stood up. His gaze met Ziqing’s in the air—that was the fusion of blood and flesh kinship. Lou Tianming said with deep emotion: “Mother, let go! It’s enough!”
Ziqing’s originally smiling face suddenly tightened. She shook her head violently: “Impossible. This is absolutely impossible. Ming’er, you know that it’s what caused me to lose everything—home, happiness, even you! If not for it, would your father have been so heartless as to poison you to force me to hand over the secret manual? Heaven Insect’s great poison—since childhood I’ve practiced with poisonous creatures and poisoned wine. Over decades my body has stored enormous toxins. When your poison flared, I forced all the poison liquid in my body into yours, fighting poison with poison, preserving your life. If not for that, you would have already left me long ago. But even so, you forever lost the freedom to bathe in sunlight. I hate this. My hatred isn’t satisfied. I cannot let go! Child…”
“I know, which is why I want mother to let go. Only by letting go can you truly be liberated.” Lou Tianming’s purple pupils shone with light. “Otherwise, mother will also become like father.”
“Shut up! Don’t you dare compare me with that beast! That beast is capable of every evil deed—killing his wife and harming his child. How could I become like him?” Anger surged on Ziqing’s face.
“Right! Father killed his wife and harmed his child. But mother, haven’t you also caused the deaths of a hundred-plus lives for this secret manual? Yan Ying and the other two can be counted as revenge, but what about the others? They were equally innocent lives. They also had families and children. Haven’t you also taken away someone else’s husband, taken away someone else’s father!” Lou Tianming’s tone was sorrowful.
“Don’t say it, don’t say it! Don’t say anymore!” Ziqing shook her head forcefully, desperately denying. “I didn’t. I’m not. I only want to find it and destroy it!”
“No, you and father are the same. You both harbor intense obsessions in your hearts. You both disregarded everything for the secret manual, not caring about any consequences. Mother, you say I didn’t save the lives of the hundred-plus manor residents, but can you speak from your heart—even if I had revealed the secret manual’s location, in order to find the secret manual yourself, you would still have killed them to silence witnesses. Mother, dare you say you didn’t think this way?” Lou Tianming gazed at his mother.
Ziqing didn’t speak. She looked at Lou Tianming with a pale face. After a long while she finally nodded: “True, I thought this way. You’re not wrong. For the secret manual, I can kill anyone—except you.”
“Except me? Mother, seeing you become like father, I’d rather die than live. I wish you would kill me so you could let go of this obsession. But I know that even if I died, you wouldn’t give up. Because this seed of hatred, this flame of obsession, has already sprouted in your heart, burned, grown, and consumed everything. I truly don’t want to watch you walk down this path step by step anymore, Mother!”
Ziqing slowly raised her head and looked at her son, saying blankly, “Ming’er, am I truly as you say?”
Lou Tianming nodded and continued: “I wanted to stop you. I secretly had Tianshe leave the black wooden box and wooden puppet at the murder scene, hoping to find someone who could stop you. Because I’m too powerless—powerless to resist, powerless in emotion, even powerless to live. Mother, I’ve truly thought about returning to life when I was very small—keeping a small plot of land, staying with father and mother, watching Tianshe grow day by day. Perhaps planting a patch of orchids behind the house, raising mother’s favorite bluebirds. Back then there was no martial world, no secret manual, only us. It was truly so beautiful. I’ve seen such scenes in dreams more than once. Each time I cry in my dreams, because I know this will forever be only a dream. Isn’t that so, mother?”
Ziqing sat dejectedly on the couch. Crystal tears fell to the ground: “I—what has happened to me? Ming’er, what has happened to me?”
Lou Tianming quietly walked over and sat beside her, gently patting her back. Ziqing looked at Tianming and closed her eyes in Lou Tianming’s embrace like a child. Lou Tianming smiled: “Mother, you’re too tired. You need to rest. Sleep well. Ming’er will accompany you. Let’s watch the rising sun together. I haven’t seen the sun in so long.”
Ziqing closed her eyes and nodded gently. Tears soaked both her and Lou Tianming’s garments. Lou Tianming pressed his face against his mother’s hair. There was the warm scent from long ago, like the warmth of the sun. He said to Li Si: “Catcher Li, thank you. Things have reached this point. There should be a resolution. Guard well what I’ve entrusted to you. I hope that one day you can discover its secret.”
Li Si felt his eyes moisten. Just as he was about to say something, his body suddenly shook. Wu Wen and Xiao Ning at the door also fell down together. A huge black hole cracked open beneath the three people’s feet. Li Si didn’t have time to react before he had already fallen into the black hole.
Li Si struggled to open his eyes and discovered he had somehow already left Budong Manor. Behind him was a hidden slide in the mountain valley. It seemed he had slid all the way from Lou Tianming’s bamboo dwelling out of Budong Manor. Wu Wen and Xiao Ning had also awakened.
“Catcher, look quickly!”
Hearing this, Li Si raised his head to look. The Budong Manor in the distance had been completely swallowed by black-blue fire. Deep bottomless giant fissures began splitting open beneath Budong Manor. Suddenly, what seemed like a burning blue firebird shrieked as it flew into midair, as if breaking free from the shackles of fate, howling at heaven and earth.
Li Si watched with alarm. His heart tightened bit by bit.
Epilogue: Sealed in Dust
Lou Tianming gently patted his mother’s back. Ziqing fell into deep sleep like an infant. The bamboo dwelling above their heads was burned to nothing. Warm sunlight poured in—the long-absent dawn. Lou Tianming smiled. Water mist gathered in his purple pupils as he murmured, “Such a beautiful sun, such warm sunlight. I truly don’t want to leave. Mother, please don’t leave Ming’er alone again, alright…”
“Rumble!” Budong Manor collapsed like a crumbling giant mountain, instantly falling into the earth. Li Si gazed at the vanished place and slowly raised his hand. In his hand was an ancient zither, carrying with it sorrow sealed in dust for ages.