Chapter 881 — Nobody May Block

CHAPTER 881

Nobody May Block

Dawn on the third day came grey through the glass roof, and Mo’s cauldron had been silent for five hours.

It didn’t hum. It didn’t shake. No steam came from under the lid, and no clouds rose over it. The Second Anvil Fire still burned dark red on the furnace bed, and above it the black bronze sat still. Nothing moved under it.

Shi Feng sat on the edge of the stand beside it with his burnt arms on his knees. He’d stopped touching the lid at midnight.

Ji Yuanhe had fallen asleep on his stool an hour ago, his head against the herb table. Shi Feng had let him.

The gallery had spent the night whispering. By dawn, the whispers had all turned the same way.

“It’s dead. A furnace that quiet is a dead furnace.”

“He held it for half the night, and then it just stopped.”

“I’ve seen a 5 Mark pill die like that. Everything goes silent first.”

“Then why hasn’t he put out the fire?”

“Pride. He can’t bear to admit it.”

In the Azure Sun box, Qu Ming stood up.

He’d slept well in his padded chair, and he’d eaten breakfast. He brushed off his robe, stepped up to the front rail, and raised his voice so that it carried through the whole hall.

“Tower Master! Notaries!” Qu Ming called. “The pill is dead. Everyone here can see it. The furnace has been silent since midnight!”

The gallery murmured. Some people nodded.

“I ask that the sitting be stopped,” Qu Ming said loudly. “Not for my sake. For Her Highness’s. She staked her vault on this man, and she’s sat in that box two days and two nights watching him burn her herbs. Every hour this goes on is another hour of shame for the princess. Stop it now, and spare her that.”

Several heads turned toward the princess’s box.

Long Caili didn’t look at Qu Ming. She didn’t look at anyone. Above her veil, her eyes were cold enough that the people in the next box looked away.

“How thoughtful of the young lord,” Shen Yaoqing said in a clear, flat voice that carried across the hall.

A few people laughed.

Qu Ming’s face went red. He turned to the glass.

“If the notaries won’t stop it,” Qu Ming said, “then I’ll show everyone the furnace is dead!”

He raised his right hand. The air round it turned orange, then white. Scorching Sun Flame, the Azure Sun’s art, poured off his palm in a wave of heat and rolled down across the hall toward the glass wall.

Shi Feng saw what the fire was for. It wasn’t aimed at him. It was aimed at the glass and the sitting array behind it. A hard enough strike would shake the furnace and make it fail where everyone could see.

“He’s throwing fire at the sitting!”

“Has he gone mad? The notaries are right there!”

“He’s shaking the mountain to frighten the tiger!”

Qu Hanshan’s hand shot out to grab his grandson’s sleeve. He was too late.

Behind the glass, Xuanyuan Gui turned his head and looked at Qu Ming.

That was all he did. He didn’t lift a hand, and he didn’t say a word.

The wave of Scorching Sun heat stopped in mid-air, halfway across the hall. It hung there, white and shaking. Then it went out, all at once. The hall smelled of smoke and nothing else.

Qu Ming stood at the rail with his hand still raised. The orange was draining out of his palm. He tried to call the flame again and nothing came.

The whole hall went silent.

“…”

“One look. He put it out with one look.”

“That’s the Emperor’s sworn brother. What did you expect?”

“Young Lord Qu just threw fire at the Imperial seat!”

Old Tower Master Dai set down his tea and dabbed his lips with a cloth. Then he looked up at the Azure Sun box with a polite, apologetic smile.

“Nobody may block a sitting, young master,” Old Tower Master Dai said. “Not a 5 Mark, not a 6 Mark, not the Azure Sun. Not even you.”

Qu Ming opened his mouth.

“And if you throw fire at my glass again,” Old Tower Master Dai added, still smiling, “the Pavilion will send your grandfather the bill for the array. It’s very expensive. I’m sorry.”

Qu Hanshan stood, took Qu Ming by the shoulder, and pulled him back down into his chair. The old man’s face was dark. He didn’t say a word to his grandson. Baili Xuan, on the other side, looked straight ahead and didn’t move.

Down on the stand, Shi Feng had watched the whole thing without getting up.

“Young Lord Qu,” Shi Feng called, quite pleasantly. “The pill isn’t dead. It’s quiet. Those aren’t the same thing. If you’ll stay in your front row, you’ll see the difference before tonight.”

Qu Ming’s lips trembled, but no sound came out.

The noise had woken Ji Yuanhe. He sat up on his stool, blinking, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

“Did I miss anything?” Ji Yuanhe asked.

“Nothing that matters, Master Ji,” Shi Feng said. “Go back to sleep if you like.”

But Ji Yuanhe had turned to look at the cauldron. So had Shi Feng.

Under the glass roof, very faintly, the morning light had begun to dim.