Did you get stood up by whoever you were planning to meet?
Drinking Swordsman
Perhaps she was delayed.
Teahouse Keeper
You can wait, but I'll be closing shop.
Drinking Swordsman
I'll leave, if I'm in your way.
Drinking Swordsman
But I'll still have to wait at the door... this is the place where we agreed to meet, after all.
Teahouse Keeper
Oh, that's not what I meant! You can stay at your table. We've known each other for quite a while, after all.
Teahouse Keeper
I was a humble waiter when we first met. Now I'm the keeper of this teahouse.
Teahouse Keeper
You're a weird one, you know, a lone swordsman, coming over every year from... I forgot, are you from Jiangqi or Yumen?
Drinking Swordsman
I don't stay in one place. The four corners are my home.
Teahouse Keeper
But I remember that you come here to this tea house in this little town every autumn to meet someone... how many years has it been?
Drinking Swordsman
Seven.
Teahouse Keeper
Seven years... all you do when you meet is have a cup of tea, have a little chat. You're neither friends nor lovers; you don't even know her name, do you?
Drinking Swordsman
We promised not to pry into each other's matters.
Teahouse Keeper
Strange things indeed...
Teahouse Keeper
Who exactly is this person you're waiting for, anyway?
Drinking Swordsman
I don't know.
Drinking Swordsman
I've dealt with many people in my time... good, bad, wise, foolish, they're not so hard to understand at the end of the day.
Drinking Swordsman
But she's the only one whom I've never figured out.
Your sword just knocked over my tea, young lady.
It's rather cramped in here. You should put away that sword of yours.
Sword-Bearing Woman
It's just a cup of tea. I'll pay for it.
Sword-Bearing Woman
In fact, I'll buy you a jug of wine, and call you my friend.
Sword-Bearing Woman
And you can teach your new friend how to use a sword.
Me? Haha...
You're talking to the wrong guy. I'm no swordsman, just an ordinary merchant delivering some goods to the City of Dusk, stopping by this town for a cup of tea.
I don't even have a sword on me. What kind of swordsman doesn't carry a sword?
Sword-Bearing Woman
Don't play the fool with me. I won't let you go until you say yes.
Flustered Waiter
Wh-Why would you cut the table in half like that? You're scaring the other guests...
Sword-Bearing Woman
Shut up.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I'll pay for it later. Don't interrupt my chat with my friend.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Say any more, and I'll cut you in half too.
Flustered Waiter
A-Alright...
...That's not very reasonable, is it?
Sword-Bearing Woman
What point is there in being reasonable? Better to roam free in the jianghu.
Sword-Bearing Woman
But one needs plenty of skill to roam free.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I know you're a master of the sword. I want to learn from you.
*sigh*...
You came a little too late.
I lost my sword...
...The moment it disappeared, I vowed to retire from the jianghu.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You lost your sword?
I lost it.
Sword-Bearing Woman
When?
Last night.
I stopped by this time for the night. It was gone when I woke up in the morning.
It just disappeared without a trace. No thief ever came, nor could they have taken anything from me if they did.
Sword-Bearing Woman
What kind of sword was it?
A good one.
One who was by my side for many years. Without it, my business would not have prospered so much, nor would I have had the fame that I enjoy in the jianghu.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Why don't you look for it, if it's so important?
On the contrary, I can't look for it.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Why?
For so many years, I've used the sword, washed it, used it again. Nightmares and waking up from them... it seemed like there was nothing else in my life.
The sword does not remember the blood that it has tasted, but I can never shake the sin... perhaps losing my sword was a sign from Heaven.
I will rid myself of the sword and the status it brought me. Perhaps I'll change my face and name, and find a quiet place to live out the rest of my days... I'll leave the jianghu and bid farewell to my life before.
That's why I can't teach you.
The tidings of fate have brought us together in this tiny teahouse. If you don't mind me being a busybody, I have a word of advice for you... don't learn the ways of the sword, and cut all ties with the jianghu.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You can't rid yourself of it.
Why?
Sword-Bearing Woman
You're lying.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You're tired of the killing, of the constant cycle of revenge, but you could never let go of the freedom, of the days when you loved and hated as you pleased.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You just wanted an excuse to quit. Losing your sword gave you a convenient one.
You're talking like you know me...
Sword-Bearing Woman
Shall we make a bet? We'll see each other again in this very same tea house, same time next year.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Go and live a year without your sword, as you intend.
Sword-Bearing Woman
If you feel happier, I won't bother you again, nor ask you to teach me your swordsmanship.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I can learn it, whether you teach me or not.
Hah... sure. It's a bet.
I may or may not teach you the sword, but I'll buy you a drink the next time we meet.
I've been studying the sword every day of the past year, and I've figured out a few moves. I'll show you.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You don't need to offer any advice, just watch.
Heh... sure.
Go ahead.
Sword-Bearing Woman
And that's it... duoxie.
Why do you thank me?
Sword-Bearing Woman
Without a master like you, I wouldn't know which moves should be polished, and which moves should be scrapped.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I didn't need you to say anything. All I needed was your reaction.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Your face told me all I needed to know about which moves stand out, and which moves are flawed.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You said you didn't want to take up the sword again, but you looked like an inveterate drunkard who just saw a jug of wine. You can't hide it.
Sword-Bearing Woman
The jianghu is too dangerous for a simple one like you.
Haha, you're absolutely right.
Interesting... ouch—
Sword-Bearing Woman
Here, take this medicine.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I thought you would keep holding your pain.
The wound opened when I laughed.
Sword-Bearing Woman
What happened?
I was waylaid on my way out of Jiangqi, after delivering the last batch of goods for the season.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Enemies of yours?
Yeah.
A job that I took a few years ago... it was only after I killed the man that I realized he wasn't just an evil rich man. Many people had reason to thank him.
And reason to take revenge for him, even though they were not his kin.
They must have watched me for a long time. They finally dared to attack when they were sure that I had lost my sword, and I hadn't fought in a long time.
I barely escaped with my life to meet you here.
Sword-Bearing Woman
How many enemies came for your life in this past year?
Too many to remember.
Sword-Bearing Woman
And you just kept running?
What was I supposed to do, let them kill me?
Sword-Bearing Woman
You could have killed those petty minions easily, sword or no sword.
To what end? One can never truly kill all of one's enemies. Kill one, and you make another.
I'll just keep sinking deeper.
Sword-Bearing Woman
And what of it?
Sword-Bearing Woman
Isn't that what the jianghu is about? Live free and live without regret. If your sword-hand slows down and you fall to someone stronger, that's just how things are.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You've seen the best and worst of the jianghu. What's so bad about such a life?
Sword-Bearing Woman
Besides, is laying low and keeping your head down the rest of your life really the way you want to live?
I still think losing my sword was a sign from Heaven.
Sword-Bearing Woman
(Frowns without comment)
Anxious Waiter
Come in, friends.
Anxious Waiter
Your tea is ready. You should drink it before it gets cold.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Let's go. You can leave once you've had your tea.
But I just arrived...
Sword-Bearing Woman
My swordsmanship has improved greatly in the past year, but you haven't figured out how to live without the sword. I won the bet this year.
I got within two inches of you, and you didn't notice... I could have killed you easily, if I wanted to.
You still can.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Hmph. You were distracted by something else... what are you hiding?
Oh—
Sword-Bearing Woman
Notice, warrant, bounty...
Sword-Bearing Woman
'Delivering Blade'... is it the name of you and your sword?
Yeah.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You keep talking about ridding yourself of your sword, getting away from the jianghu, then you commit all these crimes?
Not me. The Delivering Blade.
Sword-Bearing Woman
What do you mean?
The Delivering Blade, which had been quiet for so many years, has once again become active in recent months, leaving a trail in multiple nomadic cities, Jiangqi, Langyi, Shangshu, Lungmen...
Or should I say, a trail of blood.
I told you last year that medicinal herb harvests were poor across the board. I had a really tough year, trying to my debts settled with a few major clients...
Sword-Bearing Woman
You mean someone's stealing your name to do evil? Attempting to frame you directly, even?
Sword-Bearing Woman
Why?
For twenty years I've worked for both the law and the underworld. There must be countless warrants and bounties on my head, but there's one thing I can be sure—
Whether they're trying to catch people's attention, or hide their true aim... the name of the Delivering Blade is convenient for them.
Sword-Bearing Woman
......
Sword-Bearing Woman
Which means the Delivering Blade can never escape the jianghu.
Funny, isn't it?
Sword-Bearing Woman
You're concerned?
It's been six years since I lost my sword. This was a sign from Heaven for me to distance myself from all this... and I almost succeeded.
When I first set foot into the jianghu, I just wanted to make a living by the sword while doing a few good deeds along the way. But the further I went, the less my will was my own.
It's only now that I realize the jianghu is a vortex, a gigantic vortex, and there's only one way out of it—
Don't get sucked in, in the first place.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You're in pain.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I've never seen you like this before.
Is that so? Perhaps.
...Enough about me. What about you?
Sword-Bearing Woman
Me?
...It's true. You could have killed me if you wanted to, just now.
Your skills have improved tremendously over the last few years.
No secret tomes, no teacher, not even a sparring partner in this little town. You've come this far on your own talent alone...
You don't even feel surprised or confused about all that's happened to me. Your mental attainment, too, is far beyond the ordinary.
The first time we met, I tried to dissuade you from studying the sword, out of my own experiences alone. But perhaps...
Perhaps you're a true genius who belonged in the jianghu all along.
You should leave this town and see what lies outside.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You're right.
Sword-Bearing Woman
It's something that I must do.
Young lady...
Sword-Bearing Woman
What is it?
Frankly, there aren't many who would be a match for you at this point. There's no need to linger in this tiny town. If you want to leave, you should.
We met each other by the tidings of fate. I would like to give you a present, if you'd take it—the name of the Delivering Blade.
Call yourself his student, even the Delivering Blade himself. I could even give you a token to prove it... the jianghu can be a treacherous place, after all, and it'll make life a lot easier for you.
You should go. Let's bring this annual meeting to an end.
Sword-Bearing Woman
It's not time yet.
What?
Sword-Bearing Woman
I haven't found a way to leave this town... but I will, soon.
I don't understand...
Sword-Bearing Woman
You're not the only one who's being drawn into the vortex... see you next year.
Lin Qingyan, is it? Why do you keep coming for me?
Lin Qingyan
Object of evil, submit and answer for your crimes.
Sword-Bearing Woman
What do you think you know?!
Lin Qingyan
I do have many questions. Why did the Grandmaster's Book of Kung Fu show up here, and why are you after it?
Lin Qingyan
But you won't answer them unless I take you in.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Enough talk. Do your worst—
Swordsman
You missed our appointment.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I thought you had left.
Lin Qingyan
......
Lin Qingyan
...Zheng Chou, the Delivering Blade?
Swordsman
I don't remember ever doing business with the Tianshi Bureaus.
Lin Qingyan
Lin Qingyan of the Tianshi Bureaus. I read your files when I was working at the Judicial Review Office. It was a thick one. You have been quiet the last few years, though. I see you were hiding here.
Swordsman
And so I end up finding a Judicial Official who knows about me in this place. What a joke, isn't it, trying to retire from the jianghu?
Lin Qingyan
Are you in league with each other?
Sword-Bearing Woman
Didn't you hear him? He left the jianghu behind, trying to wash its stains from his hands these seven years.
Sword-Bearing Woman
He has nothing to do with this secret tome or the entire incident.
Lin Qingyan
But he's trying to protect you.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Protect me? I don't need it.
Lin Qingyan
Hm...
Swordsman
Young lady...
Sword-Bearing Woman
Get out of the way. I can deal with her myself.
The swordsman does not move.
Sword-Bearing Woman
You finally got rid of your sword, of the identity that it gave you. You spent seven years putting your previous life to rest. There's no need to break your vow now...
Sword-Bearing Woman
We barely know each other.
Swordsman
When we first met, you said... I could never rid myself of it.
Swordsman
In fact, it's always been there by my side.
Sword-Bearing Woman
What?
Swordsman
I lost my sword here. Then I met you, who seemed to be born to wield a sword, improving simply by observing my tiniest of reactions...
Swordsman
Of course you could. We were inseparable, once!
Swordsman
I don't know what happened, or why you're doing all this...
Sword-Bearing Woman
Hah. Now you realize. How slow of you.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Funny, isn't it, how you tried to give me the name 'Delivering Blade' when we met last year... when in fact that is exactly what I am.
Swordsman
......
Sword-Bearing Woman
This is a strange town. There's a mysterious power in the air, causing inanimate objects to become sentient geists.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Teapots, fans, rocks... maybe half the people you see on the streets were once such trinkets.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I don't remember how we got separated, but I've looked like this from my first ever waking moment.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I looked for you, until I found you at the teahouse. You were drinking tea nonchalantly, not the slightest bit anxious. I came up to you and drew your attention, and you said...
Swordsman
I lost my sword. It's a sign from Heaven.
Swordsman
Young lady, no, Delivering Blade, no, how should I call you...?
Swordsman
I...
Sword-Bearing Woman
Don't get sentimental.
Sword-Bearing Woman
A swordsman with blood on his hands wants to turn over a new leaf. That's not wrong. The grumpy Tianshi over there might even exclaim, 'There's no greater virtue.'
Sword-Bearing Woman
But there was one thing that I realized at the time—
Sword-Bearing Woman
This jianghu, which you've grown so tired of... I've seen it and walked it with you, but I've never experienced it myself.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I shall wield the sword and travel the jianghu—this time, under my own name!
Sword-Bearing Woman
But Waregeists cannot leave this town.
Sword-Bearing Woman
I've tried many times. The river to the east, the bridge to the west... it's as though there's an invisible wall around the town, one that stops only the geists!
Swordsman
That's why you said 'It's not time yet'...
Lin Qingyan
...I knew it.
Lin Qingyan
You stole the Book of Kung Fu because you sought to break this barrier for geists through the Grandmaster's teachings.
Lin Qingyan
Such strange affairs. You could not have known who the Grandmaster was, so why would you think his writings would have such power... someone is trying to manipulate geists into causing trouble.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Are you done with your deduction, Tianshi?
Lin Qingyan
Yes.
Lin Qingyan
I thought you might have been a geist, but I didn't expect you to have such a past with Zheng Chou, the Delivering Blade... yet it provides no reference for my judgment of your crimes.
Lin Qingyan
You must answer for the acts you committed in attempting to acquire the book.
Lin Qingyan
Submit, or be annihilated in form and spirit by Lei Fa.
Sword-Bearing Woman
Submit?
Sword-Bearing Woman
The secret tome is already mine. Soon I'll discover its secret and leave this place... this place that I've been trying to get out of for seven years!
Sword-Bearing Woman
No more swordbearer, no more sheath. What is there to stop the sword's edge?
Lin Qingyan's voice is soft, but it seems as though heaven and earth themselves heed her call. The sky suddenly darkens, dark clouds gather, and a bright arc of electricity forms on her palm.
Tianshi Lin, I don't know how things came to this, but... I can understand why she wanted to do what she did. There's no need to...
Swordsman
She's my sword. I-I'll accept responsibility with her...
Sword-Bearing Woman
Begone!
Lin Qingyan
Fool!
Lin Qingyan
I can understand her desire for freedom.
Lin Qingyan
But violence is inherent in her nature as the Geist of a sword. It is likely that she cannot control herself anymore; the more intent her desire is, the more important it is that I stop her from putting even more innocent people in harm's way.
Lin Qingyan
As for you...
Lin Qingyan
It was a good thing that you took the loss of your sword as a sign to distance yourself from the jianghu and its conflicts. But seven years have passed, and you have yet to fully retire from it.
Lin Qingyan
Hatred and grudges are like snow falling in a valley, piling up deeper and deeper, but you could have freed yourself from it if you truly tried.
Lin Qingyan
Maybe she was right... in your heart, did you really throw away your sword?
Swordsman
......
Lin Qingyan
Enough talk. As both the Deputy Minister of the Judicial Review Office, and disciple of the Tianshi Bureaus—this thunder must strike!
In your heart, did you really throw away your sword?
Swordsman
......
Swordsman
I don't know the answer.
Swordsman
But what you're doing is heartless, Tianshi Lin.
Lin Qingyan
Heartless, is it?
Lin Qingyan
Are you still going to beg for mercy for her, even at this hour?
Swordsman
We saw each other one day of the year for seven years. I thought I was the one guiding her, but it turns out it was the other way around.
Swordsman
It's true, I was a fool. I had thrown away my sword, only to pick it up time and again.
Swordsman
I don't know what I'm clinging to, or what I'm afraid of... maybe it's something I should figure out, in a remote village somewhere, or in a prison cell.
Swordsman
I'll pay for all the damage she caused, then I'll turn myself in. Before that, though, please...
Sword-Bearing Woman
......
Sword-Bearing Woman
(Frenzied muttering)
Lin Qingyan
Look at her. She can't hear you anymore.
Lin Qingyan
She has engaged in too much violence to obtain the book. Malice will overcome her mind, even if the thunder of Heaven does not strike.
Lin Qingyan
But she will never truly be human, even if Lei Fa manages to rid her of geisthood.
Lin Qingyan
The living suffer much and think much. But the geists formed from inanimate objects are often simple of mind... it is difficult for them to truly become part of society.
Lin Qingyan
Is it an act of kindness to bring them into this world, or an act of cruelty?
Lin Qingyan
(Perhaps you should beg the Tianshi Bureaus' forgiveness when all is said and done, Lin Qingyan...)
Swordsman
But...
Lin Qingyan
Enough talk. As both the Deputy Minister of the Judicial Review Office, and disciple of the Tianshi Bureaus—this thunder must strike!
