# Chapter 93: From the Clouds, a Brocade Letter
Jade Scales Peak had fallen. The entire Sanshan City domain shook.
Not far from the peak, Dou Yuemei, still in her martial armor, suddenly turned and flew back to the City Lord's Mansion.
She landed, doffed her armor, and let her features soften.
"Go and fetch Xiaoyan back. He need not travel so far anymore."
With these words, she walked into the study with a light step.
The city garrison commander, who had been standing guard in the mansion all along, saw his expression shift from shock to joy, and finally to tears streaming down his face.
"I will go at once, my lord!"
The City Lord of Sanshan had meant to settle Jade Scales Peak alone, and today.
After locking herself away for so long, she had finally made this decision.
Having sent her daughter and son away one after the other, she had wiped away her rouge and donned her armor.
Alone, she had resolved to challenge that mountain once more.
The mountain she had chosen was not the mountain beyond the city, but the mountain in her heart.
But whether by fortune or misfortune, she no longer had to go.
From this day forward, Standing Brush Peak was clear, Jade Scales Peak had fallen, and within the Sanshan City domain, only one source of ferocious beasts remained — Flying-In Peak.
A mere third of the original number of beasts was no longer a burden that Sanshan City could not bear.
...
...
On the road back to Fenglin City.
"All right, then!" White Lotus clasped her hands behind her back and hopped twice like a little girl. "What I am depends on how you think of me!"
"I don't care to think anymore." Jiang Wang clasped his hands. "I'll take my leave."
"Hey." White Lotus spread her arms and blocked his path. "Are you angry?"
"No."
"Then smile."
"..."
"See? You are angry!"
Jiang Wang did not wish to be entangled. "I'm in a hurry to get back and look after my sister."
"Looking after your sister, is that all? Won't you look after your elder sister, too?"
"...Miss White Lotus, is there anything else?"
White Lotus looked at him, seeming to savor his helpless expression, a smile lingering in her eyes.
"Elder sister..." She shifted tone abruptly. "Never mind. You may go."
Jiang Wang found it all quite baffling, but his mind was in turmoil, and getting away was naturally a good thing. So he turned and left without a moment's hesitation.
"What a cold-hearted man." White Lotus watched his receding figure and laughed softly.
Her voice was still tender and warm.
But with a single turn, her demeanor shifted entirely.
She rose straight into the air, white flames kindling all around her. The flames burned, yet gave off a chill that pierced the bone.
Only then did a rumbling bolt of dark light come sweeping in from the direction of Jade Scales Peak.
White Lotus shot upward like a white flame meteor, colliding with it without hesitation!
The dark light scattered, and within it appeared an old man dressed in a white robe. His deeply wrinkled face differed little from any other elder, but his hair was jet-black, without a single white strand.
He halted in the high sky, thrust out one hand, and from it poured an almost endless stream of dark light, which coalesced into a giant hand pressing down in one gesture.
But White Lotus had already veered off before the collision. She transformed into a stream of pale light and shot through the gap between the fingers, heading straight east.
"Hmph."
The black-haired elder gave a single light snort, and without any visible movement, he was already before the streaming light.
The pale stream seemed to have anticipated this — it bent and veered again.
The black-haired elder clearly had no patience for playing cat and mouse. He stepped once more into the path of the pale light and closed his hand.
Dark light shot forth like ribbons, instantly binding the white glow.
The white light dispersed, revealing a woman's graceful figure.
But the black-haired elder only frowned. He lifted his foot and stepped away into the void, departing.
The woman, too, dissolved like smoke — it was not a real person.
...
Almost at the same moment White Lotus rose into the air wreathed in white flames, a single white lotus seed fell to the ground.
While the pale stream of light fled, the seed sprouted instantly and burst into a rapidly expanding lotus.
White Lotus rose from the lotus, smoothed the ground with a casual wave, and sped away low to the earth.
Not long after she left, the black-haired elder descended to the spot. He lifted his gaze and looked around, but there was no trace of anyone to be seen.
He had a tracking expert under his command, who had caught a thread of her aura on Jade Scales Peak and directed him. So he had set out in pursuit, but the cunning woman's decoy had delayed him just long enough for her to lose her trail.
By the time that tracking expert could arrive, it would already be too late.
He was not angry, but only let out a long, long sigh.
...
Jiang Wang returned home with a heavy heart. He did nothing else, but went straight to bed and lay down.
His time was always tightly scheduled. Apart from spending time with Jiang An'an, there was rarely any slack.
The Dao Essence Control Art, the Four Spirit Body-Tempering Art, and the Purple Qi from the East Sword Art all demanded vast amounts of time for cultivation, and the nurturing of Dao essence was a matter of daily accumulation.
But now he wanted to do nothing.
In his mind, there was the Zhuang Kingdom. Because of Zuo Guanglie's death, the Zhuang Kingdom's envoy had recently been humiliated by Chu. The Dao Academy encouraged its disciples to cultivate diligently, and Dean Dong A's earnest words weighed on him — that he should train hard and serve his country in the future.
And in his mind, there was also the Zhuang Kingdom. The smoke and fire of everyday life he had seen and smelled passing through its streets and lanes. The hardworking farmers. The hunters and herb gatherers who risked their lives. The countless people who could not defend themselves against ferocious beasts.
Even now, he did not know whether his choice at Jade Scales Peak had been right or wrong.
Jiang Wang had been a decisive person since childhood. When he said he wanted to pass the Dao Academy examination, he had left home at a young age, undeterred by hardship. When he wanted to see the sights of a world where men flew through the sky and rode the earth, he had walked all the way to where he was now.
He had always had a clear goal and a steady stride. Only now did he feel lost.
The Zhuang Kingdom was the land of his birth, the country that had raised him. Of course he loved it.
But were the choices he had made — were they love for this country?
He had no answer.
...
Just then, he heard a crane's cry and looked out the window.
A white cloud drifted down, congealing into a small crane. It circled the courtyard a few times, seeming harmless enough.
Jiang Wang pushed open the door, puzzled, and the little cloud crane flapped its wings, flew before him, and dissolved into an envelope that fluttered down.
He tore open the soft, delicate envelope. Inside was an exquisitely designed invitation and a piece of paper of the same material.
On it was written:
*Daoist Jiang:*
*Since we parted at Jade Scales, nearly a month has passed.*
*I have waited long for you to call, but I fear that Azure Rain was not sincere.*
*On the sixteenth of the twelfth month, the Cloud River Fair will be held. I request a meeting, to repay your great kindness.*
*If you see the cloud crane, please send word.*
The signature read: *Cloud-drift Green Rain.*
Jiang Wang finished reading, and a wisp of cloud qi rose from the letter paper, curling into the shape of a brush, which hung before his face, as though urging him to answer. The words on the cloud letter had already vanished.
Ye Qingyu was a child of heaven, never in debt. She had given him the Cloud Token at their parting, hoping to settle the account. Had anyone else known the reputation of the Lingxiao Pavilion, they would already have planned how best to use the token — a peerless technique, a cultivation treasure. But Jiang Wang had never given it a thought. He had even given the Cloud Token, with its beautiful form, to Jiang An'an, who had locked it in her little box along with the other gifts she had received.
Jiang Wang did not know what scale of event the Cloud River Fair was, but he could guess that it would be a gathering of rare treasures. Ye Qingyu's intention was probably to help him choose some treasure at the fair, so that she could be at ease.
But Jiang Wang truly did not feel that he had done her such a great favor. He had later heard of Ye Qingyu's methods and treasures, and suspected that even if he had not intervened, she would have been able to escape safely.
After all, would the master of the Lingxiao Pavilion not equip his only daughter with means of self-preservation?
And Jiang Wang himself was even less willing to leverage a favor for reward.
So he immediately picked up the cloud brush and wrote:
*A trifling act, hardly worth mentioning. I have a young sister at home, and long journeys are inconvenient. The mountains are high and the waters long — we shall meet again in the martial world.*
This would have been enough. The cloud crane would have flown back to wherever it was meant to go.
But on a strange impulse, he added another line.
This one was much simpler and more casual:
*I have a question. To do a wrong thing for a right purpose — is that right?*