Episode 09 : White Rabbit Village - Chapter 2

Yuan Wancui and her disciples stopped their steps at a fairly large former wharf by the lake. There were already waiting for a number of other Haitang Jian Pai disciples there and they immediately greeted Yunhe and the others, asking Yunxi's condition and everything for a while.

"Help her now," Yuan Wancui said to Yanzi.

"I don't have silver needles in my pocket," Yanzi spoke in her usual annoying tone. "The needles and medicine are all in Bai Tu Shanzhuang over there, I forgot to ask for some."

"Ruomei," Yuan Wancui called a grand disciple of hers and asked for something from her. The young girl named Ruomei took out a box of medicine and handed it to Yunxue. As Yunxue opened the box and showed it to Yanzi, she found some silver needles inside the box, and a porcelain bottle painted with black and white flowers.

"Zhaobai du," Yanzi recognized the bottle, "how did you have the poison of our Wansui Gu? Oh right, I almost forgot, you were in love with my father, before you married someone else and …."

Her words weren't finished yet, Yuan Wancui had already tossed the porcelain bottle into the lake, then threw a slap at Yanzi, instantly knocking the little girl out of Lin Jixuan's grip and throwing her quite far. Xu Qiao caught her before hitting a wooden block.

"Yuan Zhangmen, she is just a little girl," Lin Jixuan said. "You should have mercy."

"Cure my student before I break your leg." Yuan Wancui ignored Lin Jixuan and said to Yanzi impatiently.

"I'll cure her, just cure her, there's no need to be so fierce," Yanzi said, then half-heartedly took out three silver needles from under her shirt and approached Yunxi, using the three needles to help remove the poison from her body.

The Wansui Gu people's dexterity in poisoning people had been known for a long time, their ability to cure various types of poison was never doubted. Yanzi was still young, but it seemed that she also had this talent.

It wasn't long before the poison in Yunxi's body had been neutralized. Yanzi said it was necessary to give her medicine to recover, and Yuan Wancui asked Lin Jixuan to take her back to Bai Tu Shanzhuang to collect some herbs, keeping Xu Qiao there.

Lin Jixuan had just pulled Zhou Yanzi's hand away when two women appeared to be coming from the north towards the pier. One was in her thirties, the other was a teenager. The teenager immediately ran over to Xu Qiao and hugged her tightly.

"Shijie," the teenager called intimately.

"Lin Gongzi, my sister needs those herbs," Yunhe reminded Lin Jixuan, forcing him to take Yanzi and left Xu Qiao there.

The two coming were Bao Xinfei and her other disciple Huang Lian, Huang Yu's younger sister who had been brought to Huofeng Lou three years ago and grew up with Xu Qiao into two teenage girls under Bao Xinfei's tutelage.

Bao Xinfei went straight to her master and knelt down in salute, asking Huang Lian to kneel with her and call for the grandmaster. Yuan Wancui responded curtly, and didn't even give Yunhe and the others a chance to call dashijie to Bao Xinfei, a stiff state persisted for a while.

"Shifu, I heard that you and some sisters were around Dongting Lake, then came here to see you," Bao Xinfei said after.

"How did you get here?" Yuan Wancui asked while keeping an eye on Xu Qiao. Her tone sounded cold. She had accepted Bao Xinfei's decision to leave Haitang Jian Pai to marry someone who already had a family several years ago, but she still kept her distance and acted strangely.

"Dizi heard that Xiao Qiao had left Jianyin Bang's headquarters in Wuzhang, but did not return to Huofeng Lou immediately," Bao Xinfei pointed at Xu Qiao, "then followed all the way here to pick her up."

"The daughter of the owner of Huofeng Lou," Yuan Wancui glared at Xu Qiao. "The news circulating in Wuzhang, The daughter of Huofeng Lou's owner came with Yumen Mowang Hua Jinshui to the headquarters of Jianyin Bang a few days ago, then just left. Xu Guniang, is Hua Jinshui also around here?"

"Xiao Qiao," Bao Xinfei grabbed Xu Qiao's hand and held it. This news also brought her here, she really hoped it wasn't true. "Shifu, I will take her back to Huofeng Lou, take good care of her there."

"Who asked you to take good care of her?" Yuan Wancui replied in a different tone of voice. "You two come with me."

She stepped forward to the other shore of the lake, a more open place. Bao Xinfei had no other option but to follow, taking Xu Qiao with her, and signaling her not to say anything. Xu Qiao knew Bao Xinfei would protect her, and probably would take her to Huofeng Lou. But for a moment she felt very anxious. Jinshui was somewhere around, six of the eight descendants were in Bai Tu Shanzhuang, and she didn't want their presence to be known.

Yuan Wancui stood gazing at the vastness of the lake for a while, and took several deep breaths, seemingly trying to calm down and think clearly, not wanting to use her emotions in dealing with the Yumen descendants' matters. Xu Qiao could be used as a key and she wished to use this key well.

"Xu Guniang, is it true that you know Yumen's primary descendant, Hua Jinshui?" she turned to face Xu Qiao and asked her a few seconds later, her tone was much smoother, and her usual haughty manner was changed into a hopefulness.

"I know him," Xu Qiao answered honestly.

"How did you know him?" Yuan Wancui asked again.

"He saved my life once," Xu Qiao replied shortly, she was being careful and didn't want to mention anything unnecessary.

"He saved your life once," Yuan Wancui saw Xu Qiao as a beautiful young lady, she lightly touched Xu Qiao's face, her face hiding a vile plot. "Then he really cares about you, doesn't he?"

"Shifu," Bao Xinfei called, "she is just a girl."

"Just a girl," Yuan Wancui spoke in a weird tone. "This girl has the ability to enchant the demon king of Yumen."

"Yuan Zhangmen, in our martial worlds, a debt of gratitude is returned with a favor, this is the main rule," Xu Qiao said. "Jinshui Gege and I didn't do anything against culture, nor did we harm anyone. I will also not dishonor the name of Huofeng Lou or Haitang Jian Pai."

"You want to return the favor to Hua Jinshui, I will not stand in your way," Yuan Wancui said. "You can return your favor to him. After that, there is no debt of gratitude between the two of you. I want to borrow your hand to avenge the death of our nine Haitang Jian Pai elders three years ago. You can get close to him. You can kill him, can't you?"

"What?" Xu Qiao asked. She didn't know about the death of the nine Haitang elders Jian Pai under the xuanlong sword three years ago.

"Yumen Jiao has already been destroyed, but the guardians left behind their eight descendants," said Yuan Wancui again. "Just eight young men, they won't be enough to revive a sect that was already destroyed. The guardians gave their inner energy also not for the sake of restoring Yumen's glory, but for the sake of disrupting the martial world, for revenge."

"What revenge?" asked Xu Qiao. "The guardians didn't even let their descendants witness how you people who claim to be of the pure righteous line slaughtered them, never instilled hatred, didn't expect the descendants to hold grudges."

Yuan Wancui laughed hoarsely. "You know who they are," she said deeply, "if you can't kill your savior, can you tell me the identities of those eight descendants, I will use my own ability to finish them off."

"I don't know who they all are," Xu Qiao said.

"You don't know, or don't want to tell me yet?" Yuan Wancui asked again. "It's okay, you'll tell me later. If you already know who the eight descendants of Yumen really are, you will realize that they must not be allowed to remain in this world."

Xu Qiao clasped both hands tightly, really wanted to run away from that place, but she wasn't sure she could walk away alone.

"Xu Guniang, do you know who Hua Jinshui is?" Yuan Wancui said again. "That Hua Jinshui is the illegitimate son of the previous Yumen leader, the demon Wu Youwei."

These last words instantly startled Xu Qiao. "Jinshui Gege whose child?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"He never told you, did he?" Yuan Wancui said as she took out a silver dagger from under her sleeve and handed it to Xu Qiao. "You can ask him yourself. If he already admits it, you know what to do."

Xu Qiao didn't accept the dagger from her. She immediately turned around and ran back to Bai Tu Shanzhuang. Bao Xinfei called out and was about to block her, but Yuan Wancui quickly held back.

Lin Jixuan and Yanzi just returned, and saw Xu Qiao running away from Yuan Wancui and Bao Xinfei, the two just looked at each other and didn't really care, then continued their steps to the dock to give Yunxi some herbs.

Xu Qiao immediately looked for Jinshui at Bai Tu Shanzhuang. A servant of Li Qian told her that Li Taiyi was treating him from the remnants of the poison that had been damaging his body for a long time. These words reminded Xu Qiao of how Jinshui saved her life three years ago, nearly losing his own life in the process.

She walked to the hut where Jinshui and the others were, didn't go straight in, and just stood by the front door. Their conversation inside can be heard clearly. Apparently, after watching Xu Qiao being taken away by Yuan Wancui, Jinshui was about to catch up and take her back, but Huang Yu was still able to restrain him, then took him to meet Li Taiyi and asked for help treating the damages left by zixie and zhaobai poisons.

"I don't have to waste my energy transferring your poison to other people and inflicting unnecessary deaths," Huang Yu's words sounded quite clear to Xu Qiao, once again shocking her. "You also don't need to feel guilty for your girl because you have caused the horrifying death of many people."

"Hua Gege has an important task in the future, people who die because of it can be said to have earned their own respect," said Liuxin. "My father said, big tasks require sacrifice."

"Liuxin Junzhu, laofu has been a healer for life to help people, if I can save lives, I will save lives," said Li Taiyi. "Qian-er, I believe my brother Ducao had taught you to use wuqing xue energy, collect poison in the blood to make it easier to expel," he said to his eldest son, "can you help this Hua Shaoxia while I brew some herbs?"

"I'll tell him," Li Qian said. "It's just that the poison seems to have been lodged in Jinshui's body for a long time and has already damaged it too much, this method won't be of much use, herbs will be more helpful in healing."

Li Qian led Jinshui to another part of the room. Huang Yu went over to Li Taiyi, and helped him take some herbs from the shelf.

"Li Taiyi, do you remember almost ten years ago taking an injured old man to the capital, then to Yi Wangfu and handing him to Liuxin Meimei's father," Huang Yu said to the old healer. "Can you tell me who the old man is?"

"Yu Gege," Liuxin protested him.

"Ah, that man," Li Taiyi replied calmly as usual. "I could only save his life, but couldn't recover him, and he himself asked me to take him to the safest place."

"Liuxin Meimei persisted in not revealing his identity and it makes me very curious," said Huang Yu. "Li Taiyi, can you tell me his name, Huang Yu will be very grateful."

"I'm old, my memory is faded away," replied Li Taiyi. "I can still remember clearly the name of every herb in this place, but I have never kept the name of a person in my heart, and I will easily forget it after a year or two."

Xu Qiao didn't go to see Jinshui, not wanting to interfere with his treatment process, then went to the back of Bai Tu Shanzhuang alone and hid there, crying until it was dark, then just headed to the room reserved for her and Liuxin, immediately slipped under the covers without saying a word.

--

Qin Liangjie's wife, Shangguan Ruyin, gave birth to a son the next morning, mother and son were both healthy.

The descendants gathered in a hidden log cabin on the edge of a cove late that afternoon. Li Qian invited his younger brother Li Jue to join him, Liuxin also took Xu Qiao with her, then added Yanzi who came with Lin Jixuan. There were nine youngs in total.

"Lin-xiong, why are you still taking Zhou Guniang with you?" Li Qian asked Lin Jixuan.

"She knows too much of us the descendants of Yumen, and I don't want her to say a word to Yuan Zhangmen and those mean ladies," replied Lin Jixuan.

"Xiaoguniang, what do you know?" Huang Yu asked Yanzi.

"The heretic sect Yumen had been destroyed, but its guardians had already received orders to prepare the descendants, you all," Yanzi just pointed out. "The primary descendant is called Hua Jinshui, and he intends to revive the sect with his brothers and sisters."

"Who told you this?" asked Huang Yu again.

"Yeye (grandpa) did," Yanzi replied smilingly.

"Who is your yeye?" asked Huang Yu.

"Yeye is yeye," Yanzi replied annoyingly.

"Your yeye is the owner of Wansui Gu and your grandmaster, Lao Duxie Zeng Baifeng, Zeng Laoguzhu, isn't he?" tanya Lin Jixuan.

"Correct, how'd you know?" Yanzi asked back.

Huang Yu glanced at Liuxin. Liuxin told him that she was injured by Wansui Gu's owner some time ago and lost her sight temporarily, now hearing Zeng Baifeng's name also immediately changed her expression.

"Xiaoguniang, do you know her?" Huang Yu asked Yanzi while his hand pointed at Liuxin.

"She helped me yesterday when the twins were about to ask their aunts to kill me," Yanzi said honestly.

"Your grandmaster almost killed her, it's just that I'm a little curious about the reason," said Huang Yu again. "Has your grandmaster, your yeye, ever come to the capital and went to a place called Yi Wangfu?"

"Maybe, but it must be before I was born," Yanzi babbled. "For the past dozen years, yeye has always been staying in the valley, never going out. Once, about three years ago, looked for some herbs for me, but only for a short time. He said he had no time to kill anyone or even hurt anyone. He made friends with someone though, a young man who told him about the descendants of Yumen."

Huang Yu turned his head back at Liuxin. Yanzi's statement confused Liuxin. If it wasn't Wansui Gu's owner who came to the capital and looked for the person she was protecting, then who were the huge and skinny men who hunted her down?

"Li-xiong, your father Li Taiyi, brought an injured old man to the capital more than ten years ago and later handed him to Liuxin's father," Huang Yu said to Li Qian, "do you know who the old man was?"

"An injured old man?" asked Li Qian. "When did my father hand a patient to Liuxin Meimei's father?"

"Apparently you don't know about this matter," said Huang Yu. He was curious, but sure enough, he would be able to find out more clues some other day. He turned to Qin Liangjie shortly after. They gathered today at Qin Liangjie's request.

"Jinshui, Qin-xiong has the desire to absolve forever from his duties as Yumen's descendant," he told Jinshui. "He said, his wife had just given birth to a son, and he wanted to live the life of an ordinary person, being a good husband and father."

"Becoming the descendant of Yumen doesn't mean you can't be a good husband and father, right?" asked Lin Jixuan, "I didn't plan on being a good husband and father, but never heard of such a rule."

Qin Liangjie knelt before Jinshui. "I am willing to give Menggui's inner energy to someone else," he said, "you can choose someone else to carry out this task. Me and my wife, we will return to our hometown and live our life away from the martial world."

"The guardians chose each of us with their own calculations and considerations," said Lin Jixuan, "how can we just neglect our duties like that?"

"Qin-xiong, can you think about it again?" asked Li Qian.

"Jinshui, what do you think?" Huang Yu asked Jinshui.

"I don't have a plan to replace Qin-xiong with anyone else," Jinshui replied coldly. "If Qin-xiong agrees to re-consider the role as Yumen descendant, I can forget our conversation today. But the rules in our Yumen are clear enough, the punishment for traitors is death. I can let your son live because he is an innocent baby. But you and your wife know too much and you can divulge our identities. For the sake of protecting everyone, then if you really want to leave, then I will give you a chance to end everything today along with your wife."

Qin Liangjie looked so shocked that his body trembled, the others also immediately looked at Jinshui, not expecting him to say such explicit words. Even Xu Qiao didn't dare to come closer or say anything at the moment, realizing the rules in Yumen were so strict and Jinshui started to adopt a similar habit.

Jinshui's attitude seemed to have been influenced by the appearance of Yuan Wancui and the ladies from Haitang Jian Pai earlier. The old madam's hatred for Yumen was so deep, Jinshui realized she also held the same grudge. Among the eight descendants, only six had gathered, and they still have a long way to go. A traitor would end everything, and the sacrifices of the guardians would be in vain. As the primary descendant, Jinshui can't let this happen.

But of course, Huang Yu, Lin Jixuan, Li Qian, and Liuxin knew that Jinshui actually said these words just to scare Qin Liangjie. There was no way that he would actually kill Qin Liangjie and his wife and leave only their newborn son.

"Jinshui, we can discuss this further," Li Qian said. "Perhaps, we can give a chance to Qin-xiong three months or half year to think about it."

"Three months or half a year from now, if he or anyone else wants to leave the role as Yumen's descendant, then you have my words," said Jinshui firmly. "Don't you forget how our guardians, our masters, gave us their decades of training energy, making them unable to defend themselves against the enemy, the people who hate our Yumen. The guardians didn't let us know how did they fight for the last breath, but we know, they died to keep our whereabouts secrets, so that in time we can fulfill their expectation of resurrecting Yumen Jiao and bringing back its former glory."

"Yes," added Huang Yu, "anyone who betrays Yumen will suffer death as punishment. This rule has been around for a long time and will not change. If there are still those among you who are not willing to join or support us, please just say it, because we will find out eventually and have to get our hands dirty unnecessarily."

"I support us," replied Lin Jixuan quickly, "I've been decided from the first time."

He put a hand on Yanzi's shoulder, and secretly exerted his strength on that girl, signaling her not to mess around.

"I am from Wansui Gu, we have no enmity with your Yumen," the little girl said. "It won't do me any good to tell anyone your identities, you don't have to worry." Her words were similar to the words said by Laofeng, the old man on the mountain that Jinshui and Xu Qiao had met three years ago, instantly made both of them realize something.

"My master Ducao is also my uncle, and our family is a part of Yumen from the beginning," said Li Qian, "my brother Li Jue and me, we will support Jinshui a hundred percent."

"Hua Gege, you know Liuxin will always love you all," continued Liuxin.

"Xu Guniang, what about you?" Huang Yu asked Xu Qiao.

"What's with me?" asked Xu Qiao. "I am never one of you, Jinshui Gege knows that."

"Traitors will not be spared," said Huang Yu. "Xu Guniang is the daughter of Huofeng Lou's late owner who had a good relationship with Jianyin Bang and all righteous lines. If you're not convinced by our sect principles, you may still have a chance."

"I will never betray Jinshui Gege," Xu Qiao replied quickly.

"Qin-xiong, what about you?" Li Qian asked Qin Liangjie while helping him stand up.

"You know my wife and son," Qin Liangjie said in despair, "I Qin Liangjie have no choice but to stay with you, all for their safety."

A servant came over and immediately reported to Li Qian. "Shaoye, another guest is coming, claiming to be called Huang Lian, looking for Xu Guniang. She said she is her junior."

The servant's words immediately startled Xu Qiao, as it was the same as telling Jinshui and Huang Yu, that Bao Xinfei was also coming to Bai Tu Shanzhuang. Xu Qiao had not discussed what happened yesterday with anyone, nor did she want anyone to know about her conversation with Yuan Wancui.

"Ah, yesterday there was indeed a woman named Bao Xinfei who came all the way here, to meet those Haitang Jian Pai ladies," Yanzi babbled without being asked. "She is Yunhe's first senior, they are very close if I'm not mistaken. Xu Guniang had also met her and her teacher, don't know what they were talking about but it was quite tense…."

Lin Jixuan kicked her leg to ask her not to continue the babbling. Huang Yu immediately looked at Xu Qiao to ask, Jinshui looked both calm and worried. Xu Qiao didn't say anything, her face told Jinshui and the others that something had happened, but no one immediately asked. Li Qian knew Huang Lian was Huang Yu's younger sister, and he immediately asked the servant to invite her in.

Huang Lian was coming a few moments later, Xu Qiao greeted her a bit away. They had met earlier in the day and once again Huang Lian hugged her while calling out cheerfully.

"Shijie, shifu said you don't have to do what Yuan Zhangmen asking you to do," Huang Lian whispered to Xu Qiao, "if you have no business here, we can just go home to Huofeng Lou. We can stay there, no one will ever bother you."

"I know," replied Xu Qiao. "Shimei, your second brother is here," she said after. "You must miss him a lot after parting three years ago."

She let Huang Lian greet her second brother Huang Yu, then also introduced everyone, of course without mentioning their identities as the Yumen descendants. Huang Lian didn't know anything about that and she didn't need to know.

"Jinshui Gege," Xu Qiao said to Jinshui after. "I have something to tell you."