Chapter 25: Honglian

“Hair like a dark cloud, glossy and bright; willow brows and almond eyes on a nose bridge high. Face like a peach blossom at first bloom; mouth like a cherry, fragrant and ripe. Slender fingers, one hand cupping the cheek, the other resting light. As if acting out Yang Guifei, drunk in the moonli~ight…” With a candied hawthorn stick dangling from her lips, Lian lay sprawled on a tree branch, swaying her head back and forth as she trilled.

The sun was a bit harsh. She squinted, bit off the last hawthorn berry to chew, then with a flick of her fingers, sent the bamboo skewer flying a thousand miles away. Now with both hands free, she laced them behind her head as a pillow. Gauging the time in her mind, she closed her eyes for a brief nap.

“The heavy snow swirls, slapping at faces; the sharp north wind cuts through to the bone. Dark clouds hang low, dimming the mountains and rivers; sparse woods lonely and desolate, all withered and bare. Past affairs linger, hard to dispel; in a desolate village, buying wine to drown melancholy. Gazing toward home, the road back is long; parted from my wife by a thousand miles, letters and messages broken. Mountain passes block the way, two hearts hanging in suspense…”

The rot inside Da Liang spread from top to bottom, from the inside out. It would be stranger if the guards on exile duty were actually upright and impartial. Having received a bribe from Jiang Yang just ten miles outside the capital, the guards had even removed their cangues. Stopping and going as they pleased, the exile journey felt more like an idle sightseeing tour.

“A Yang, do you hear someone singing opera?” Feng Jun asked.

“No,” Jiang Yang replied.

As if to immediately prove Jiang Yang wrong, the woman’s voice pitched upwards dramatically and carried on: “I ask the vast heavens: when can I return through these endless mountain passes? I ask the vast heavens: when can I again wield my three-foot blade and slay every treacherous minister to give the court reprieve? Let my heroic ambition unfold, offer traitors’ heads as tribute to my Dragon Spring sword. Yet, why does the Emperor’s face now brim with sorrow and grievance? …Heaven, oh Heaven! Is it that even you fear power and corruption?”

Jiang Yang tilted her head up to look at the woman draped over the branch, pretending to sleep. “Aren’t you the very picture of power and corruption? One day Heaven will take you away. Right, A Jun?”

Feng Jun: “Huh?”

“‘Huh’ what? Call down the Thunder God to strike her dead.”

In one moment, Lian was still on the tree. The next, she was right beside Jiang Yang. Jiang Yang dodged a step away and Lian pressed a step closer: “My dear beauty, what have I done to anger both the heavens and mortals alike to make you so furious with me?”

Suddenly, she seized Jiang Yang by the shoulder. Jiang Yang was just about to fight back when Lian leaned in close, her voice lowered to an urgent whisper: “How is it that you’re traveling with the Heavenly Emperor? Have you not avenged your master?”

Jiang Yang’s eyes flew wide open. She grabbed Lian’s hand in turn, shooting backward with a surge of speed and dragging Lian dozens of yards away from Feng Jun.

“Who are you?!” she demanded.

“Who I am doesn’t matter. What matters is who you are,” Lian had already slipped back into that soft, boneless demeanor, her fingers not forgetting to take a bit of advantage by gliding over Jiang Yang’s form. She teased, “That silly little snake under Taihao Mountain. You grew up so fast in the blink of an eye. Though you’re far plainer than your master ever was.”

Suppressing her fury, Jiang Yang snapped, “Who are you exactly?!”

“Me?” Lian said airily. “Have you not heard the name of Da Liang’s Saintess? My name is Lian. Because I favor red, I call myself Honglian. I told you this the very first day we met. Is it that beauties just have poor memories? No matter. Just let me have a little feel… Ssss– OW!”

Jiang Yang had suddenly twisted the hand Lian had been using to harass her shoulder. The arm rotated in its socket with a sickening crackle of bone that set one’s teeth on edge. “Are you going to speak or not?!”

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Just let go of me first.”

“I’ll let go after you talk.”

“I won’t talk until you let go.”

“Playing word games won’t help you. I’ll simply twist your arm off and see if you talk. If you don’t, I’ll twist off the other one. Then your legs when the arms are gone. How about we play that game instead?”

Lian’s lips twisted into a pout. “Pity. Beautiful she is, yet a femme fatale. Fine, I’ll tell you. Lean your ear over.”

Jiang Yang eyed her warily.

“With your grip on my arm, what do you have to fear? Could it be you grew your length but forgot to grow your nerve?”

After a moment’s deliberation, Jiang Yang leaned in.

The instant a warm sensation touched her earlobe, a numbing force shot through Jiang Yang’s arm. There was a temporary loss of strength. In that split second of lapse, Lian had slyly slipped from her grasp yet again.

From ten feet away, Lian laughed uproariously. “Jiang Yang! I see your courage has grown, but your wits… not so much.”

And with that, Jiang Yang truly erupted in fury.

The skies above abruptly changed hue. In the blink of an eye, dense, dark clouds gathered. Amidst the churning mass of clouds, flashes of purple lightning could be seen roiling within. Jiang Yang spread her arms, standing in the air. The enormous image of a green cultivated snake’s head seemed to flicker in and out of the cloud cover.

Rumble, rumble–

Hiss, hiss–

The sounds alone made Lian’s scalp go numb. She shouted, “I only kissed you once! You’ve never been kissed your whole life, have you? I wanted to give you a novel experience…”

Before she could finish, a bolt of terrible lightning came crashing down. She patted her chest, a lingering fear in her breath. “My little darling, so traveling with the Heavenly Emperor really does give you backing. They’ve even called down the lightning of a Ninefold Heavenly Tribulation.”

Thirty thousand years ago, she’d endured this exact tribulation herself. Back then, it had scorched her until not a single patch of skin remained intact.

But now? It posed no real threat. She stood right at the heart of the tribulation’s lightning, reversing her grip on her longsword. Her right foot tapped against the ground as she transformed into a streak of crimson light, charging straight up to meet the fearsome bolt head-on. The ensuing explosion was so massive it seemed she had torn a hole in the very vault of heaven. Anyone who didn’t know better might think she’d ascended merely to pick a fight with the Thunder God himself.

Through gritted teeth of rage, Jiang Yang called out, “A Jun, I don’t need your help with business between us!”

Feng Jun hurriedly said, “…It wasn’t me. The Lord of Thunder and Mother of Lightning might have a personal vendetta against her. I’ll ask another day. But if she’s already passed the Thunder Tribulation and become an Immortal, why hasn’t she ascended to the Upper Realm? With her ability, becoming a High Immortal would be more than easy for her.”

Jiang Yang: “…”

The battle between immortals was hidden from mortal eyes. The two convict guards were still frozen mid-crouch by the river, scooping water. As Jiang Yang watched the graceful figure prancing and leaping amidst the thunder tribulation, it suddenly dawned on her with a distinct flavor of “this has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

So Lian truly did have a history with Lord of Thunder and Mother of Lightning. After they’d blasted her until her skin was a ruin that day, a feud had naturally been born. Thunder Lord and Lightning Mother had merely been dutifully following the Heavenly Laws. From then on, this vengeful spirit had targeted them viciously. Whenever she saw someone undergoing Thunder Tribulation, she’d interfere however she could, either shoving the intended target straight into the heart of the lightning to be killed, or helping a villain completely deserving of death escape. On still other occasions, out of sheer boredom, she’d deliberately call down lightning tribulations that couldn’t hurt her anyway, just to pass the time.

Not just a grudge. A colossal, epic feud.

Feng Jun watched, thoroughly riveted, practically itching to jump in himself. “Why don’t we recruit her into the Heavenly Court? Should that Demon King ever re-emerge, the Court will have gained another power.”

Jiang Yang silently rolled her eyes. “Fine. You go recruit her in a moment…”

Boom! Rumble–

The boundless, churning lightning seemed to be scattered and dispersed in an instant. From high above the Nine Heavens, a gargantuan sword, coldly radiant and surging with murderous intent, plummeted and embedded itself in the earth with a clarion, vibrating hum. The noise thrummed so loudly it throbbed painfully against the eardrums, while the sword qi exploded outward with a force that rolled on for a thousand miles.

In that moment, Jiang Yang seemed to see the flow of day and night reversing around her, the river of stars flowing backwards, pulling her back to the age when the primordial universe was first formed.

Just last night, she’d only glimpsed the shadow of a sword, and what she’d felt was shock. What she felt now was sheer thrill and exhilaration.

No wonder… No wonder she’d asked about the King’s whereabouts.

So it was HER!

“That’s the Way of the Sword as proof! A Yang, I absolutely must secure her for the Court!” Feng Jun’s eyes were practically sparkling.

Unable to contain her excitement any longer, Jiang Yang rushed over to Lian. “It’s you!”

“You see it clearly now?” A flicker of a red lotus bloomed briefly on the Saintess’s brow, instantly vanishing. A faint smile graced her lips. “Do you still want to kill me?”