Chapter 396 — The Notice Board

CHAPTER 396

The Notice Board

The gate of Hundred Flower Valley was shut, and a curtain of green light hung across the doorway.

Shi Feng stopped thirty paces from the light. He’d walked three days from Duanyang with the Sword on his back and his herb case over one shoulder. Lin Langtian had promised to follow after a nap. Shi Feng knew better than to wait for him to finish it.

Gongsun Ce had seen him off at the sect gate with a wager. Ling Qingzhu would throw him out of the Valley within ten days, payable in the usual currency. Shi Feng had accepted. He thought the odds were fair.

A small camp had grown up along the road outside. About forty people sat on crates and bundles: flower merchants, a pill broker, two envoys in small-clan robes, and a matchmaker holding a red umbrella over her head for no reason anyone could see. They all looked at him when he walked up. They all looked at the Sword. Then they went back to looking at the gate.

“Another one,” the matchmaker said sourly. “Don't bother, young man. Haste won't let you eat hot tofu. Eight days I've waited.”

“What's the reason?” Shi Feng asked.

“Blossom Seclusion!” a flower merchant called from his crate. “The Valley seals itself once every few years, for the great bloom. No visitors, no trade, no mercy. I've got three hundred jars of rootstock rotting here!”

“It's not the bloom,” the pill broker muttered. “Nobody's seen a petal come out of that gate in a month. Where there is no wind, the waves don't rise.”

“Quiet!” the merchant hissed. “They've got ears.”

A narrow side door opened, and two green-sashed disciples pushed out a cart of sacks. Dead flowers spilled through the torn cloth. Shi Feng watched them pass. The ash-grey blooms had once been white, and nobody tried to gather what fell.

A woman who tended a stall near the road crossed her arms. “That's the fourth cart today,” the stall woman said. “Burning grounds are over the hill. You can smell it at night.”

Shi Feng noted it and walked on to the gate.

Two wardens stood in front of the green light with halberds crossed. The older one was a stout woman with a square jaw, about early Foundation Establishment by her aura, and her name was stitched on her sash: Warden Ji Yan. The younger one looked as if she hadn't slept since the seclusion began.

“Halt,” Ji Yan said. “The Valley is closed. State your business and then leave.”

“Shi Feng, of Artificer Hall,” Shi Feng said. He took a cream-coloured square from his sleeve. “The Valley wrote to us. I'm the alchemist.”

The younger warden read the letter. Her eyes went to the signature, then to the three seals, then to his face.

“Shi Feng?” the younger warden whispered. “The second name on the Register?”

“Yes,” Shi Feng said.

“Warden Ji!” the girl said. “It's him! It's the real letter!”

“I can see it's the real letter,” Ji Yan said. She hadn't taken her eyes off him. “It's signed by the Master. It's also eleven days old. The seclusion was sealed on the Council of Elders' order, nine days ago, after this letter left the Valley.”

“Then the Council's order is newer than the Master's request,” Shi Feng said.

“It is,” Ji Yan said.

“And the newer one wins,” Shi Feng said.

“It does,” Ji Yan said.

Shi Feng thought, They asked for an alchemist, then shut out every alchemist. It could be confusion between the Master and Council. It could also be deliberate. The wardens weren’t likely to know which.

“Who gave the Council's order?” Shi Feng asked.

“The Council,” Ji Yan said flatly. “Elders vote. I just stand here.”

“Is anyone allowed in?” Shi Feng said.

“Read the board,” Ji Yan said.

She jerked her chin to the left. Beside the gate stood a tall board of dark wood, covered in close writing, with a row of white ribbons tied to its frame.

Shi Feng walked over and read it from the top.

BLOSSOM SECLUSION. THE VALLEY IS CLOSED TO ALL OUTSIDERS.

Under it, the list went on. No merchants, no envoys, no pill-sellers, no healers, no alchemists of any sect. Martial Palace was named, with what looked like extra ink. The matchmakers had their own line, which the red umbrella had clearly been written for.

“No alchemists,” Shi Feng said.

“It says so,” Ji Yan said.

“The Valley asked for one,” Shi Feng said.

“The Valley asked for one before it said no to all of them.” Ji Yan said it without any pleasure. “I don't write the board. Go back to Duanyang, young man. If the Master really wants you, she'll send again.”

The pill broker laughed quietly from his crate. “See? Eight days.”

Shi Feng ignored the laugh and went back to the board. Lin Langtian had taught him to read every line before arguing with a gatekeeper. Orders often left an opening the person enforcing them hadn’t mentioned. He worked slowly through the tiny characters at the bottom.

At the bottom, under a smear of old wax, was a final paragraph.

EXCEPTIONS. DISCIPLES OF THE VALLEY. THEIR PARENTS AND SISTERS BY BLOOD. AND, UNDER ARTICLE NINE OF THE VALLEY LAW, THE REGISTERED HUSBAND OR WIFE OF ANY DISCIPLE, WHO SHALL NOT BE TURNED AWAY FROM HIS OR HER SPOUSE'S DOOR IN ANY SEASON.

He read it twice.

Then he went back to the gate.

“Warden Ji,” Shi Feng said. “I'd like to be checked against Article nine.”

Ji Yan blinked. “Article nine is for husbands.”

“Yes,” Shi Feng said.

“Of disciples,” Ji Yan said.

“Yes,” Shi Feng said.

“Whose?” Ji Yan said.

“Ling Qingzhu's,” Shi Feng said.

Nobody on the road made a sound. Behind him, the flower merchant's crate creaked as he leaned forward. The matchmaker's red umbrella tipped slowly sideways.

The young warden dropped her halberd.