The night stretched on, and the watchman beat his drum in slow, steady rhythm.
It was the first time Jiang Lingxin felt the night was so long.
The bedding beneath him was soaked with sweat, sticking to his body and making him uncomfortable. The cotton quilt embroidered with gold on Shu brocade felt stuffy no matter how he covered himself. Jiang Lingxin impatiently pulled the brocade quilt away. His snow-white undergarments were already soaked, clinging to his slender shoulder bones.
“Master.” Mao Si used a handkerchief to wipe away the sweat covering Jiang Lingxin’s forehead.
Jiang Lingxin closed his eyes, the hand gripping the bedding suddenly tightened, the veins on his pale hand were protruding, and he trembled uncontrollably.
“Master, endure it.” Mao Si’s throat was dry, while his voice was hoarse. His arrogant and proud master had never been this disheveled in front of others. Even though Jiang Lingxin had been tormented by the child in his belly during this period, he had remained calm and composed, and rarely lost control in public or private.
Now, it was different. Mao Si had never seen his master in such a state. His dark hair was messy and stuck with sweat. His long neck arched back on its own from the pain. His thin chest bone rose and fell hard with each breath. This Jiang Lingxin was pale and fragile.
Mao Si was momentarily lost.
“Withdraw your gaze, Mao Si.” Jiang Lingxin did not open his eyes. His breathing was unstable, and his words were punctuated by gasps, but the anger in his tone was clear to Mao Si.
Like a sudden wake-up call, Mao Si instantly cleared his head. He quickly knelt down, knocking his forehead on the floor in front of the bed, not daring to look up again.
When Jiang Lingxin opened his eyes, sweat ran into them and blurred his vision. He panted for a moment, stabilized his breathing, and said, “I am your master.”
Mao Si’s forehead was bleeding. He forcibly steadied his mind and said, “This subordinate overstepped his bounds. I ask Master to punish me.”
Jiang Lingxin was in severe pain. Although he resented the disrespect in Mao Si’s gaze just now, he could not cause further trouble at this critical juncture. The flesh and blood in his belly was usually quiet, yet now it felt as if it had stored its strength just for this moment. It pressed downward little by little, like a solid stone slowly grinding through living tissue. The dull pain was like a knife scraping and twisting, refusing to let him go for a moment.
“Master… Master!” Mao Si’s voice seemed to be both near and far.
Jiang Lingxin was feeling both dizzy and weak while clutching his abdomen. He thought to himself, Is this child tormenting me because I haven’t treated you well normally?
Jiang Lingxin didn’t know how many times he had passed out, but when he woke up again, the pain was still there. The watchman’s drum kept striking, each beat signaling the night was nearing its end. A light scent of blood spread through the room. The water in the copper basin had turned red from the blood on Mao Si’s hands.
“Master, hold on.” Mao Si dared not say more. He was not even qualified to touch the hand Jiang Lingxin had let hang over the side of the bed.
Jiang Lingxin’s lips were deathly pale. He struggled to lift his lower abdomen, then fell back with a short moan. He knew he had chosen to keep this child himself, and he could not blame anyone for suffering like this now. But when the pain made him delirious, he couldn’t help but think of Zhou Yan.
“Zhou Yan…” Jiang Lingxin whispered the name. He suddenly clenched the two ends of the pillow under his neck with his hands. Veins rose faintly under his skin, and his shoulders and back tightened into a sharp arch before giving out and dropping at once. Mao Si drew in a sharp, uneven breath. After a moment, Jiang Lingxin reached out and grasped Mao Si’s sleeve, saying intermittently, “I need Xu Shiyi… over there….”
“This subordinate understands.” Mao Si then got up and left, while Jiang Lingxin twisted in pain on the bed alone.
A moment later, Mao Si returned and placed the retrieved secret letter into Jiang Lingxin’s palm. The thin note was instantly soaked with sweat. Jiang Lingxin endured the contractions and forced himself to unfold the letter. The contents were brief, discussing the recent events in the martial arts world. The rumors claimed that the treasure map was on Zhou Yan, and the sin of possessing the treasure had attracted pursuit from various factions.
That day, Zhou Yan fought and evaded all the way to Lingyun Peak. When he was forced into a corner, Xu Shiyi and the other shadow guards appeared and showed him a way out.
“Since you are betrayed by everyone in the world, why not return to Tianyi Division?”
Zhou Yan was covered in wounds, holding his sword, and standing by the edge of the cliff. He instantly understood whose handiwork this half-year of unprovoked disaster was. He laughed in extreme anger and said, “Go back and tell your master, when I, Zhou Yan, marry a beautiful wife and pass through Jinling in the future, I will definitely bring my family to see how lonely and desolate he is.” With that, he plunged his long sword into the ground and leapt into the abyss.
The water flow at the bottom of the cliff was turbulent, his figure could no longer be found.
The ink on the thin paper blurred into blots as sweat dripped down Jiang Lingxin’s slender jaw and onto the paper.
Mao Si noticed something was wrong. His fingers were swift as the wind, sealing several of Jiang Lingxin’s major acupoints, forcibly guarding his heart pulse, and urgently shouting, “Master, you must not!”
Jiang Lingxin was yanked back by Mao Si, jolting awake with rough gasps and coughing. He gritted his teeth and said hoarsely: “Zhou Yan… if he’s alive, I want to see the person… if he’s dead, I want to see the corpse…”
Mao Si’s nose felt sour. He advised, “Right now, Master’s health is the most important.”
The corners of Jiang Lingxin’s eyes were red. He held his tightening, weighted lower abdomen with both hands as a metallic hint of blood spread across his mouth and tongue. Sweat hazed his sight. Only one line of text on the note remained in his mind: He had personally forced Zhou Yan to his death. Mao Si noticed Jiang Lingxin’s distraught state, and a layer of cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead. Jiang Lingxin was giving birth prematurely. The child in his belly was weak and shouldn’t have taken this long, but the baby’s wrong position had turned it into such a drawn-out struggle.
“Master.” Mao Si calmed down and deliberately spoke harshly: “If Master is unwilling to give birth to this child, then this subordinate will now crush it and take it out.”
Jiang Lingxin slightly turned his head, glanced at Mao Si, and said weakly, “You wish to die.”
Mao Si quietly looked back at him.
Jiang Lingxin sighed and handed his hand to Mao Si, and it was tightly held by Mao Si.
“Master…”
Jiang Lingxin gathered a little strength and said, “I want the child.”
During the deepest part of the night, just before dawn, Jiang Lingxin’s painful, hoarse groans echoed from the room. The first morning light streamed through the window, breaking into shards of gold. From between Mao Si’s hands came the wail of a newborn.
After cleansing the child of blood and grime with warm water, Mao Si held the tiny, pitiful yet adorable bundle out to Jiang Lingxin.
“Master, please look at the little master.” Mao Si involuntarily lowered his voice, afraid of startling the fragile little thing in his arms.
Jiang Lingxin’s face was pale. He turned his head slightly, without opening his eyes, and said weakly, “No need.” Tianyi Division had not yet fully come under his control. He could not protect such a fragile little thing. It would be better to temporarily find a stable and secure good family for him so he could live without worry and grow up safely.
Mao Si bowed slightly and said, “I’ll obey Master’s order. I will ensure the Little Master is properly settled.”
Listening to the sound of footsteps fading away, Jiang Lingxin slowly opened his eyes and reached out to press his heart.
Unreturned love, the tearing apart of flesh and blood—there is no greater pain in the world than this.
Just a few days after the child was sent away, the Division Master returned to Jinling earlier than expected from outside the Great Wall. Jiang Lingxin carried the memorial tablets of his two Senior Brothers and went to pay his respects to his master.
Outside the window, the snow had not yet been cleared. The Division Master looked up at the white snow under the eaves and said flatly, “You and your Second Brother have always been at odds. It was expected that you wouldn’t keep him, but I didn’t expect that you wouldn’t even keep your Eldest Senior Brother.”
Jiang Lingxin’s face was pale and drawn, and his downcast eyes revealed not a hint of cruelty.
The Division Master slowly withdrew his gaze from the window, turned, and looked at his only remaining disciple.
Jiang Lingxin did not argue. He bowed and performed a deep kowtow. When his master took the three of them as disciples, he taught them both civil and martial arts and had the three of them grow up together. The Division Master knew that his eldest disciple harbored inappropriate feelings for him, so he deliberately favored his youngest disciple. He also knew his second disciple was arrogant and at odds with the youngest, yet he deliberately allowed their open and secret struggles for years.
They were supposed to be the closest fellow disciples, yet they were made to kill each other under their master’s orchestration. They were merely chess pieces; everything was done to polish out the person most suitable to become the next Division Master.
Jiang Lingxin looked up at his master, his mind clear as a mirror.
“This is fine too. I can be at ease knowing the Tianyi Division is under your care.”
The hem of his master’s robe brushed past Jiang Lingxin as a black-and-gold Bixie jade token, a symbol of his master’s rank, landed before him. Behind him, the door opened, letting in a rush of wind and snow along with his master’s final words.
“The bond between you and me as master and disciple ends here.”
The wind rolled the fresh snow as a chill swept in. Jiang Lingxin’s figure swayed slightly as he slowly bent down. The Bixie jade token felt icy in his palm, biting his skin. In that moment, he realized he had personally driven his lover to death, sent his own child away, slain two senior brothers, severed ties with his master, and sacrificed everything to grasp power in his hands.
Jiang Lingxin rose, stepped onto the main seat in the hall, and sat down alone, the last warmth gone from his eyes.
In the years that followed, word spread across both the martial arts world and the imperial court that Jiang Lingxin, now head of the Tianyi Division, was even more ruthless and merciless than his predecessor. The Tianyi Division did not interfere with court politics or factional strife, acting only on the orders of the emperor alone. He was the sharpest sword in the current ruler’s hand.
During these years, Jiang Lingxin discovered that Zhou Yan had not died but had found a small town in Jiangnan, opened a dilapidated medical hall, and spent his days in a drunken stupor. Later, he ordered the shadow guards to leave Zhou Yan alone and never inquired about him again. Regarding the child, he never asked a single question, only keeping Mao Si near the child to look after him. Mao Si sent him a letter, telling him that the child was being raised by a merchant family in Yangzhou. It was a wealthy household, with every need met, and the little master was spoiled and growing up like a young nobleman.
After that, Jiang Lingxin stopped reading any further letters from Mao Si.
In the seventh year of his tenure as head of the Tianyi Division, Jiang Lingxin acted with ruthless decisiveness, so much so that the emperor felt his sword carried none of the seven emotions or six desires.
Jiang Lingxin thought that this was how it would be from then on, until a night in June of that year, when a rainstorm poured down, and Mao Si returned covered in wounds, bringing with him an unconscious child.
