Chapter 333 — A Fire Not Offered

CHAPTER 333

A Fire Not Offered

The terms had taken Zhu Liu a quarter of an hour to read, and Shi Feng could have repeated them in one breath.

Nine days of hunting. No blades drawn between sects. No cultivator of Nascent Soul past the boundary stone, because the valley's herbs wilted under a Nascent Soul's pressure. The Ninefold Lotus would belong to whoever dealt the guardian its killing blow, with the other two teams as witnesses. The winner would pay the Cuiping herb farmers a tenth of the lotus's value, and Artificer Hall, as host, would collect the tribute.

Lin Langtian had loved the last part.

That night the three teams made camp on the stone shelf, each at its own corner, with a rope between them and a Martial Palace sentry who walked it every hour. Shi Feng chose a spot near the cliff wall and lit a small fire. Zhu Liu set up the tent. Sima Lan opened the ledger on her knees and began to add up the day.

“The banner cost six,” Sima Lan said. “Zhu Liu's burnt sleeve, two. The Valley wants no compensation, which means they want a favour. That's worse.”

“We’ll deal with a favour if they ask for one,” Shi Feng said. “For now, we can leave the six stones where they are.”

Behind them, Lin Langtian sat in the boundary pine, a tall tree growing exactly one pace outside the stone. He couldn't cross the line, so he had climbed it, and he was eating a sweet potato on a branch.

“Don't mind me!” Lin Langtian called down. “I'm admiring the stars!”

“There's cloud,” Zhu Liu called back.

“Then I’m admiring the cloud!” Lin Langtian called back, refusing to climb down.

Shi Feng poked the fire. Old Soot lay next to it, fat and warm, and snored in small puffs of ash.

Light footsteps crossed the stones behind him, and they did not hurry.

Shi Feng didn't turn around. He knew that step. He had known it a long time ago, on a lane in Qingliu.

Ling Qingzhu stopped on the far side of the fire. She wore her hair down, with the silver clasp holding one side, and a plain green cloak over the violet inner robe. She looked at the empty stone beside the flames.

“May I sit?” Ling Qingzhu asked.

Sima Lan's pen paused.

“It's a free stone,” Shi Feng said.

Ling Qingzhu sat. She spread her cloak over her knees and held her hands out to the fire. She didn't look at him. She didn't look at Sima Lan either, although Shi Feng had the clear impression that she was aware of exactly where Sima Lan was sitting.

“The guardian is a Jade-Screen Serpent,” Ling Qingzhu said. “Golden Core-grade. Our records say sixty feet long, with scales like jade plates, and a hood it spreads to block attacks.”

“You came to tell me that?” Shi Feng asked.

“I came because the Martial Palace team won't listen, and your team has a chief disciple in a tree,” Ling Qingzhu said. “The Valley's record also says that these serpents nest in pairs. The male leaves in the ripening month to feed in the far marsh. Nobody knows when it comes back.”

“Where’s the lotus?” Shi Feng asked.

“It grows in the den,” Ling Qingzhu replied. “The female coils around it until it blooms.”

Shi Feng took out a twig and stirred the coals. A pair, he thought. The male is away, but not forever. That was worth knowing.

“Thank you for the information,” Shi Feng said.

“It's free,” Ling Qingzhu said. “Don't put it in the ledger.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Shi Feng replied.

“She was,” Ling Qingzhu said, and her eyes moved sideways at last, just for one breath.

Sima Lan did not look up. “A consultation fee would be four stones,” Sima Lan said. “I waive it. The Valley's face is already burnt.”

Ling Qingzhu almost smiled at the answer, then looked back at Shi Feng.

“Your attendant is very efficient,” Ling Qingzhu said.

“She's very expensive,” Shi Feng said.

“Attendant,” Sima Lan said to her page, “is the correct word.”

Silence settled over the fire. In the boundary pine something crunched, and Shi Feng thought, Lin is listening. Of course he is.

Ling Qingzhu stared into the flames. Her thumb pressed the cloth over her knee.

“Your ankle,” Ling Qingzhu said. “How bad is it?”

“It’s healing,” Shi Feng replied.

“You walked on it in the pavilion,” Ling Qingzhu said, clearly unconvinced.

“I had to reach my seat,” Shi Feng said. “I can manage that much.”

“That’s not an answer about the injury,” Ling Qingzhu said.

“It's the one I have,” Shi Feng said.

She was quiet for a moment. He kept his tone civil and flat, as he would for a stranger asking about the road. He had no anger left to put in it. He had nothing in it at all.

Ling Qingzhu stood up.

“That's all I wanted to say about the guardian,” Ling Qingzhu said. “The den is on the north ridge. Don't go alone.”

“I’ll consider it,” Shi Feng replied, accepting the warning without asking her to stay.

“Do more than consider,” Ling Qingzhu said, and walked away across the stones. She didn't look back, and her steps were exactly as unhurried as when she came.

Zhu Liu finally dared to move again, and his tent pole fell over.

“Senior Brother Shi,” Zhu Liu whispered. “She sat at your fire.”

“She did,” Shi Feng said.

“Without being invited,” Zhu Liu added, still astonished.

“I heard her ask,” Shi Feng replied.

“She was here eleven minutes,” Sima Lan said, closing her ledger. “I counted.”

“You count everything,” Shi Feng said.

“I’m paid to,” Sima Lan replied. She closed the book firmly before he could examine the page.

She stood, brushed the dust from her robe and walked to her tent without another word. Shi Feng noticed that she had counted to the minute, and also that she hadn't written the number down.

Above him, in the boundary pine, a branch creaked.

“Oh, Junior Brother,” Lin Langtian whispered to the night sky, with deep, delighted feeling. “Good things come in pairs, and this senior brother has had an idea.”

“No,” Shi Feng said.

“I haven’t said it yet,” Lin Langtian protested from the tree.

“No,” Shi Feng repeated, without looking up.

Lin Langtian giggled quietly and bit into his potato.