Clutching his swelling cheek, the short Daoist grumbled: "Just cracking a joke to lighten the mood! Little Jiu, no need for such rudeness! Your senior brother raised you by hand, changing your swaddling for me as if it were my own... ahem, to business."
The short Daoist bore the Dao-name Jiu Wu. When Jiu Jiu entered the sect as a child, the Venerable Wangqing had already taken to sealing himself in seclusion for years on end, and it was indeed Jiu Wu who had raised and tended her. Their relation was that of fellow disciples, yet their bond was one of father and daughter, and through the years they had traded blows and banter.
Seeing Jiu Jiu about to flare up again, Jiu Wu rolled his eyes and hastily switched to serious matters, pointing at the people behind him and rattling off questions:
"All their masters have come. Who's gone missing? Where did they vanish? And how long have you been trapped here?"
Jiu Jiu's face dimmed. She bowed low to the newcomers, and for a moment could not find the words.
Liu Yan'er and Wang Qi lit up, flying over from behind to bow forward, crying "Master!" to their own teachers. Behind Jiu Wu's back stood several: Ge Jingshan of Potian Peak—a True Immortal, Youqin Xuanya's master, a disciple of the Du Xian Sect's present sect head; Lin Qi of Potian Peak—a True Immortal, Yuan Qing's master; and the two immortals of Duling Peak and Xiaoling Peak who were Jiu Jiu's own peers in rank, their beloved disciples already located, so no words were needed.
Jiu Jiu's gaze came to rest on the withered old Daoist standing at the very back—Qi Yuan of Xiaoqiong Peak, Li Changshou's master. This old Daoist was now haggard beyond words, and for a moment Jiu Jiu could not bring herself to look at him directly...
She lowered her head and sighed, well aware how much this disciple meant to the old Daoist, how much expectation and fretful hope he had poured into him. She said quietly: "Brother Qi Yuan, the last I saw of Changshou, he'd gone north. Yuan Qing and Xuanya headed northwest, with a general of Xuanya's household at their side, a man named Yuwen Ling. If I guess right, this whole affair was a plot aimed at Xuanya."
"Alas," Qi Yuan gave a bitter smile, cupped his hands to Jiu Jiu, and bowed deep. "Death and life are a matter of fate; going out to train has always been thus. Gentlemen, I am not yet immortal, and can do little in the Northern Jambu Continent. I ask—I beg you to help me find my disciple. The whole line of Xiaoqiong Peak will not soon forget it!"
Beside him Jiu Wu hurried to add: "One family doesn't stand on ceremony, Junior Brother Qi Yuan. Set your mind at ease—we'll split up at once, and two of us, myself and Little Jiu, will head north with you. Junior sister, no dawdling! Whatever punishment you owe can wait until we've found them! These two Primordial Immortals were posted outside the array; when I found them they were mending it, clearly among the culprits who set the trap for you. We'll each drag one back for questioning and get something out of them! Come, let's be on the road!"
Ge Jingshan and Lin Qi chorused their approval, plainly burning with worry. The short Daoist Jiu Wu flicked his sleeve, and at a distance the two unconscious Primordial Immortals were hauled toward him on the wind; he tossed one to Lin Qi. They said no more—finding and rescuing their disciples was the only thing that mattered.
They set the frequency for relaying word, marked out each party's search zone, and split into three routes—Wang Qi's master took Wang Qi and Liu Yan'er out to the towns to gather word; Liu Yan'er's master went with Ge Jingshan and Lin Qi to search the northwest; while Jiu Wu led Qi Yuan and Jiu Jiu toward the due north.
In a whirlwind of haste, these immortals of the Du Xian Sect resumed their hunt for missing disciples.
And all the while, a certain handsome fellow who preferred not to reveal his name was tucked safe in a recently opened cave a thousand li to the north, a crackling fire before him and a scroll in his hands, calmly awaiting the arrival of those rescuers. Not a shred of panic—indeed, something very like... comfort.
Youqin Xuanya sat cross-legged in the cave's innermost corner, eyes shut, adjusting her breath, and from time to time opening them to steal a glance at the figure by the cave mouth. Each time she cast about for a way to begin talking, she sensed that Li Changshou did not wish to converse just now.
Since killing Yuan Qing she had slept for three days, waking only half a day past; her wounds were all but healed, save that... her scalp still ached a little.
"Senior Brother Changshou, shall we simply wait here?"
"Mm," Li Changshou answered idly. "Within three hundred li I've left several of our Du Xian Sect's secret markers in abundance, and laid a concealment array around this cave; it's safe enough for now. And if, as you said, Yuan Qing's lot had other accomplices, then heading south again would only be walking into their hands. Counting the days, whether or not Senior Aunt Jiu Jiu has broken free, the immortals the sect sent to aid us should already have entered the Northern Jambu Continent."
He paused, and glanced up at Youqin Xuanya. "If you're still uneasy, we could detour around some thirty thousand li—though that carries its own risk of meeting them."
"I... trust you..." Youqin Xuanya said softly, and looked up; for an instant their eyes met. She could not say why—a woman who always thought herself open and upright, with not a shred of guilt on her conscience—yet now she dropped her gaze and looked away.
Somewhere in her chest a hollow ache opened, like a small cat's paw gently kneading; a touch of unease, a flutter of doubt. It must be because this senior brother had saved her twice. So she thought, and she ought to find some way to repay him—even though, for now, she went on basking in Li Changshou's protection...
"Senior Brother, is there anything I can do?" she asked softly.
Li Changshou answered offhand: "Mm—don't release your spiritual sense lightly."
"Yes." Youqin Xuanya accepted with great solemnity, though she felt a touch of loss inside. She had become, she thought, a millstone around his neck.
Snap! The fire gave a small crackle and dimmed; Li Changshou took a piece of dry grey wood from his sleeve and laid it on the flames, and they leapt up again. Only then did Youqin Xuanya notice how strange this fire was: not the least wisp of smoke, and breathing off a faint, fresh fragrance.
"Senior Brother, is there some meaning to this fire?"
Li Changshou glanced into the flames and said evenly: "It's a wood not worth much—taken from the North Yuan Cold Pine, which grows south of the North Sea. Not some spiritual root; in ancient times it was only an ordinary pine, its one virtue a resistance to the cold. When the Northern Jambu Continent was choked in miasma, that pine all but died out, yet in the end it flourished again. Since then the North Yuan Cold Pine holds a kind of marvelous property—it fears no miasma itself, and gives off an aura that makes venomous beasts shun it by instinct. This one little fire will keep every poison thing clear for three hundred zhang around us. They say great stands of North Yuan Cold Pine are common in the places the ancient tribes gather today, and the wood costs but a few spirit stones—yet few ever think to use it."
Youqin Xuanya listened, half lost in reverie, those dark pupils reflecting the curve of his profile. Softly: "Senior Brother truly is a man of wide learning..."
"It's all recorded in the sect's ancient texts," Li Changshou replied calmly, turning back to his scroll with no sign of continuing the talk.
Youqin Xuanya pressed her lips together, turning something over in her mind.
Another silence stretched...
"Did you find the herb you were seeking, Senior Brother?"
"Rather lucky—yes," Li Changshou smiled, his spirits brightening at the memory.
Unwilling to have the conversation die, Xuanya asked again: "Senior Brother seems to have prepared a great deal for this trip."
"Ah," Li Changshou answered offhand, "I've been preparing to come north for fifteen years now, my days passing with small odds and ends of poison-repellents gathered up."
Fifteen years? Xuanya blinked slowly. "Then... Yuwen Ling and those villains—what became of them?"
"They met the same end as that snake who was a breath away from attaining immortality," said Li Changshou. "That we came off so easily is pure luck."
"Mm," Xuanya sighed. "Wicked scoundrels such as they are sure to come to a bad end; I only never expected retribution to strike so soon."
Gliding along, Li Changshou said: "That is—Poisonous, ahem, Junior Sister Youqin, there is one thing I would ask of you."
"Please speak, Senior Brother!"
Youqin Xuanya perked up at once, her eyes bright, gazing fixedly at him. "If it will repay my senior brother's life-saving grace, I would throw away this life without a sigh!"
"No need for anything so grave," Li Changshou laughed. "This outing of ours was a strange and twisting affair; once we're home the masters are sure to question us closely. I've always hated trouble, dislike being too watched, and dread drawing any scandal onto myself. So when you report back to the masters, please don't dwell overmuch on my part. My cultivation is meager; all I have is a passable hand at Earth Escape, and if that got about, folk would laugh at me."
"Senior Brother..."
Something stirred in Youqin Xuanya's face; a small lightning bolt flashed through her heart. Bestow kindness without expecting thanks; court no empty fame. Devote the heart to the Dao; the bearing of a true gentleman, modest and true.
A hundred feelings churned within her, her gaze growing soft as her awe deepened. 'Senior Brother Changshou is a true gentleman; such breadth of mind is beyond my reach, and beyond anything Yuan Qing could measure against. Youqin Xuanya, how many hollow, boastful people have orbited you all these years, that you came to think every contemporary cultivator no better than they? Little did you know such a man was hidden all along among your own peers. If I could but count Senior Brother Changshou as a dear friend, this pilgrimage into a sect would not have been in vain...'
"Set your heart at ease, Senior Brother," Youqin Xuanya said firmly. "I understand, and I'll keep it all to myself."
Li Changshou blinked. Did she truly understand? He couldn't shake the feeling she was still under some leftover poison... well. Never mind. Once home he would shut himself inside Xiaoqiong Peak and not come out; even if this kicked up a fuss, it should be calm again within a few months. Keep a low profile to dodge the consequences of karma. If nothing else went amiss, his expedition to the Northern Jambu Continent would close on a fine, clean note.
Suddenly Li Changshou's expression shifted. One of the Three-Headed Pupil Spiders he'd posted outside had just caught a frozen image on its silk... —several figures swept past a hundred li out, the outermost of them in hempen robes, lean of figure. Though she flew too fast to read her face, from the taut fit of that hemp jacket and the astonishing curve that showed itself whenever she met the wind, he could tell...
Jiu Jiu!
"Make ready—they've come."
Li Changshou laughed, and the stone resting on his heart settled safely down at last.