Chapter 806 — The Myriad Marrow Offer

CHAPTER 806

The Myriad Marrow Offer

She walked out of the fog alone, holding a small white cup in one hand.

She was young and round-faced, in a plum-red robe with long sleeves, and she was smiling as if she’d come to visit old friends. Hou Tieshou jumped up with a fish still on its stick. Jiao Lanyin had an arrow on the string before the woman’s second step.

The woman didn’t even look at the arrow.

“Shangguan Ruo,” Yue Shaoan whispered, very fast. “Myriad Marrow Sect. Fifty-second on the Tianxing. Peak Deity Transformation. Poison. Lots of poison. Don’t eat anything she gives you.”

“I heard that,” Shangguan Ruo said cheerfully. “It’s all true. But I didn’t bring anything to eat. I brought a cup.” She held it up. “May I sit? My banner is half a mile north, and I’m tired of talking to people who only nod.”

Shi Feng waved at the log across the fire.

“Please,” Shi Feng said. “Hou Tieshou, give our guest a fish. The burnt side.”

“Hey! They’re all burnt on one side!” Hou Tieshou protested, holding up the fish for inspection.

Shangguan Ruo laughed and sat down. She took the fish, looked at it and set it on the log beside her, untouched.

“I watched you at the nest,” Shangguan Ruo said. “Everyone did. You walked over Zhuge Wuyan’s tide. That was lovely.”

“Thank you,” Shi Feng said. “It hurt more than it looked.”

“I’m sure,” Shangguan Ruo said, letting her eyes rest on his crooked bandage. “So I’ll be honest, since you seem to like honest people. The Azure Sun banner is sweeping the north of the marsh. Qu Ming is taking cores from every banner he catches, by the carry-out law, and he’s catching a lot of them. He’s already beaten two.”

“We heard he was busy,” Shi Feng said.

“He hates you more than anyone,” Shangguan Ruo said. “Everyone in Tianjing knows about the final. Sooner or later he comes for you.” She leaned forward. “Wild geese fly in formation. Two banners together, and he can’t touch either of us. We split what we take from him, half and half.”

She said it warmly and clearly, and it was a good offer.

Yue Shaoan looked at Shi Feng, then at Shangguan Ruo, then back again.

“That’s… that’s sensible, isn’t it?” Yue Shaoan said. “Nine hunters instead of four. Qu Ming wouldn’t dare. Brother Shi, we should—”

“Lady Shangguan,” Shi Feng said. “How long did you walk to get here?”

Shangguan Ruo blinked.

“Half a mile,” Shangguan Ruo said. “I said so.”

“Through the fog,” Shi Feng said. “Through reeds as tall as a man, on a night like this. Hou Tieshou walked a hundred paces to catch those fish, and he’s wet to the eyebrows.”

“It’s true,” Hou Tieshou said, wringing out his collar. “I am.”

“Your robe is dry,” Shi Feng went on calmly. “Your hair is dry. Your sleeves are dry to the wrist, and below the wrist they’re soaked.” He nodded at her cuffs. “You didn’t walk here just now. You’ve been lying in the reeds with your hands in the water for an hour, watching our fire and counting us. Then you dried your robe with your qi and forgot your cuffs.”

The fire popped. Nobody spoke.

Shangguan Ruo looked down at her own sleeves. The plum-red silk was dark and wet from the wrist to the cuff, exactly as he’d said.

“Nobody lies in a cold marsh for an hour to say hello,” Shi Feng said. “So, first, you didn’t come to make friends. Second, you came to see where everyone sleeps. Third, a Myriad Marrow disciple keeps her needles in her sleeves, and those sleeves have been ready this whole time.”

Shi Feng did not smile. His eyes stayed on the wet cuffs and the hands hidden inside them.

“Keep your hands where we can see them,” Shi Feng said. “I won’t make an alliance while you have needles ready in your sleeves.”

Yue Shaoan’s face went white. He shuffled backward until he was behind Hou Tieshou again.

Shangguan Ruo stared at Shi Feng for a breath. Then she laughed, a real laugh, bright and delighted, and clapped her hands once.

“Oh, you’re no fun at all,” Shangguan Ruo said. “The others all said yes.”

“How did that go for them?” Shi Feng asked.

“Very well,” Shangguan Ruo said sweetly. “For me.”

She stood up, brushed down her robe and picked up her little white cup. She left the fish on the log.

“You’re right about the cuffs. I’ll remember that,” Shangguan Ruo said. “Thank you for the fire, Brother Shi.”

She walked back into the fog and was gone in three steps. Yue Shaoan sniffed after her until he couldn’t smell her any more, then let out a long, shaky breath.

“A knife hidden in a smile,” Jiao Lanyin said coldly. She still hadn’t lowered her bow.

“She was so friendly,” Yue Shaoan said miserably. “I nearly said yes. I really nearly said yes.”

“That’s why she came to the fire instead of sending a man,” Shi Feng said. “Friendly works on most people.”

Hou Tieshou looked at the fish on the log as if it might explode.

“She didn’t touch it,” Hou Tieshou said. “Is it poisoned now? Did she poison my fish?”

“No,” Shi Feng said after checking it. “She left it untouched. Don’t let her frighten you out of your own supper.”

He picked up the grey Sword and laid it across his knees. His face was still grave.

“Put the fire out,” Shi Feng said. “Nobody sleeps tonight. Hou Tieshou, sit with your back to Jiao Lanyin’s. Shaoan, keep your nose up. She counted us, and a woman who counts doesn’t come back to talk.”

The fire hissed out. The fog came down to the ground, and the marsh went black and silent.

Some time near midnight, Yue Shaoan sniffed once, sharply, and grabbed Shi Feng’s sleeve.

“Bitter,” Yue Shaoan breathed. “Something bitter. Coming fast.”