I am no swordswoman and I have no interest in admiring Chi Xiao. But it would be a shame if your sword ruins the collection of the Sky Mirror Pavilion.
Ch'en
But you are not confident about taking the token from me.
Chun
Is that so?
The Elf now truly waves her jade scepter and twig for the first time.
Withered vines rush out from the ground, forming massive hands.
Mo Yi
Dammit, she's a nightmare to deal with! Is the Sui Regulator's Supervisor decided through combat?!
Mo Yi
How does the book go anyway... ah, I remember—and it's autumn, this is perfect...
Mo Yi
'Metal's nature is change.'
Mo Yi
Take this!
Chun
For a thief, you're pretty well-learned.
Mo Yi
I wouldn't be surprised if I know Yin-Yang and the Five Elements better than someone who's forgotten her roots.
Mo Yi
Zuo Le! Ch'en Hui-chieh! Your turn!
Zuo Le charges towards Chun, intent on disrupting her ability to respond.
Meanwhile, Ch'en Hui-chieh pulls back, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
In between them, Mo Yi unleashes razor-sharp autumn winds, tangling with the vine hands.
The Supervisor of the Sui Regulator continues to stand where she is, utterly impassive, as though she is watching a farce that she is becoming increasingly bored with.
Ch'en Hui-chieh continues to back off, until her back is almost touching the closed door.
Mo Yi
Damn... can't hold on much longer!
Zuo Le
Ch'en!
Ch'en
Chi Xiao...
<span style="color: #d41f1f">Splits the clouds—</span>
Riding on the autumn wind, the sword aura sweeps away all the vines. The Elf looks surprised for a brief moment.
Then, dried leaves sharp as razors fly out from the vines towards the trio.
Mo Yi urgently casts a defensive spell, but the leaves cut their clothes and bags open...
The token that has slumbered since it was retrieved from the Garden of Grotesqueries falls on the ground.
Chun
This is the token from the Garden of Grotesqueries?
Chun
It is a geist.
It is, indeed, a geist.
The weiqi player had taken Sui's wildest imagination from the Garden of Grotesqueries and hollowed out the interior, leaving only the gleaming exterior...
The memories of his siblings were then injected to create this object.
Made of a glass-like substance, the tiny geist lies immobile on the ground for a while... then, it seems to grow ethereal.
It awakens.
It does not seem to feel pain. Or perhaps, the pain was overcome by the urge to return to this familiar place.
She begins to stumble towards the door.
Chun
That is...
Chun
Impossible!
All it takes is a single thought from the Elf, and the churning vines could shatter the object to smithereens. But Chun cannot bring herself to do it.
Because she truly does see a familiar figure in it.
The object touches the door, and it is as though a dream that has slumbered for a hundred years is suddenly awakened by an intruder.
The falling dust forms thousands of golden threads drifting in the air in the setting sun. The sliver of life force ripples.
All breaths are held as they see the ethereal figure that drifts between light and shadow in the falling dust.
It is blurry, indistinct, the only clear feature its grey robe, like paper that has grown yellow from the passage of time, but still smelling faintly of old books and dried ink...
The shadow bends slightly, as though trying to pick up the cracked scroll on the desk.
Or perhaps it is walking towards the window to open the sash closed for so long, to see if the osmanthus that was young back then has bloomed this year.
But her movement ultimately freezes between the done and the undone, a faint wisp of melancholy suspended in the sunset.
Jie
Put this scroll on the shelf by the wall. Leave that document on the desk; it's not yet finished.
Jie
A painting from Dusk? I should find a good place to hang it.
Chun
Why do I have to do these chores for you?!
Jie
Oh? But Nian said her Candleholder even helps her put together mahjong games.
Desk, chair and scrolls... every object in the room breathes with the shadow. They are her old friends, and she is the reason they never left.
A gust of wind blows through the room. The geist falls asleep and the shadow dissipates like a drop of ink that falls into water, leaving behind only that which is real, the shadows of dust.
And the sun, shining into an empty room.
Chun
It's...
Chun
Her...
Chun
No, she was a little taller, her hair a little blacker... she was thin, but not like that...
She cannot, would not accept, yet there is a single question that she could never answer.
...I did not know that Wang's obsession was this paranoid, yet so deep.
Ch'en
I saw you at the city gates...
Jun
And we meet again.
Mo Yi
You are... Jun?
Jun
Thank you for protecting her token.
Mo Yi
Lady Jun... no, Master Jun.
Mo Yi
I heard you were a close friend of the grandmaster's, and I have long heard your name spoken of with reference... it is an honor to meet you.
Jun
Don't try to curry favor with me. I'm not even sure if I had been born at the time of the old carpenter's death.
Jun
I'm glad to see that someone still remembers his views after a thousand years have passed.
Jun
But did you do what you did at Mangshan Town out of a desire for peace, or out of your own bitter cynicism? Do you really need me to tell you?
Jun
The old Tianshi gave you an opportunity to make up for your transgressions. Have you done so?
The proxy does not raise her voice, and there is no anger in it, but her voice naturally begets respect.
Mo Yi
...
Mo Yi
I've long heard of the second Sui sister's unapproachable nature. Today, I got to witness it.
Jun
There is always hope for those who learn from their mistakes.
Jun
Zuo Le.
Zuo Le
Academician Jun...
Jun
Words cannot express my gratitude for you bringing back this sliver of Jie's life force from the Garden of Grotesqueries.
Jun
Our family will remember the favor, and repay it when the time is right.
Zuo Le
I'm simply doing my duty as a Candleholder. The Supervisor lost her composure, but the candle of the Sui Regulator remains lit.
Jun
She was trapped between the greater good and personal desire, and was eventually crushed by her own obsessions... you must not repeat her mistakes, when the time comes for you to take on great responsibility.
Zuo Le
Me...?
Jun
Now, though, it is more useful for you to go outside than to stay here and look at relics of the past.
Jun
Take this girl too, and put her somewhere safe downstairs. It is late autumn, and the floor is cold.
Zuo Le
I trust you will handle the matter of the writing knife properly, Academician Jun.
Jun
Of course.
Jun
One more request, if I may.
Jun turns around and picks up the geist from the ground.
She has turned back into the small, quiet doll, perhaps exhausted from the action she just performed.
Jun
You know that this geist was formed by the last speck of Jie's life force.
Jun
Wang drew you into the game and had you retrieve this object so that you could deliver it here and allow it to recuperate, in preparation for her return.
Jun
But... consider it a burst of sentimentality from a reunion with someone long thought lost.
Jun
Please deliver it to the Tomb of Sui. The future is yet unsettled. Our family will gather outside the tomb.
Jun
I do not know if the day will come when Jie returns. But if Wang sees it as Jie's foundation, she should be there for this meeting.
Jun
Wang is in the tomb, and I must help him. There will be a battle. Carrying this object would be unsafe, and perhaps cause a delay...
Zuo Le
...
Mo Yi
Leave it to me!
The Shanhaizhong snatches the token from the woman's hands before the Candleholder can react.
Mo Yi
I will see it done, in the name of Zushi!
The dignified woman bows deeply to the two youngsters.
Jun
Thank you.
Ch'en
Lady Jun...
Jun
You blocked the attack against me at the gate, and protected Jie's legacy.
Jun
Has chivalry become a habit of yours?
Ch'en
I do what I do for the sake of justice.
Jun
What is justice?
Ch'en
Justice is making sure that Wei Yenwu does not die an unjust death, and giving the old case a proper trial.
Ch'en
Justice is bringing closure to all that has happened between mother and father, between the imperial family and the House of Ch'en.
Ch'en
Justice is making sure that the proxy who did so much for Great Yan did not die in vain, and giving Great Yan a chance at peace.
Jun
What about justice for you as an Infected?
Ch'en
...
Ch'en
I have seen so much suffering in my journeys... this land has been too kind to me. I wield my justice for the sake of others.
Jun
Very well.
Jun
I can't help you with the justice you seek. But perhaps her relic can.
Ch'en
Do you mean... the writing knife?!
Jun
Take it.
Jun
The justice you seek is closely linked to the incident forty years ago.
Jun
You are the only one to whom I can entrust this knife, who can right the wrongs for your family, for your country.
Jun
There should be closure to the matters of the Ch'en family, Lord Wei's decision, and the thousand years of records for the land on which she once lived and breathed.
Jun
These were the hopes that she placed upon the writing knife.
Jun
The history of Great Yan should be written by the Yanese people.
The annals of Mangshan Town record that similar scenes of rampaging geists were spotted during the turmoil caused by Sui a hundred and twenty years ago.
Yun Qingping
Is the bestial Sui awakening?
'Old Tianshi'
What a headache... guess it's happened after all.
'Old Tianshi'
Number Two, you fool, why are you dilly-dallying? How many times do I have to bail you out?
'Old Tianshi'
Lin Qingyan!
Lin Qingyan
What are your instructions?
'Old Tianshi'
This is where the geists are most rampant. They must not be allowed to enter Baizao!
'Old Tianshi'
You and I will guard this pass. Do not let a single geist through!
Lin Qingyan
Yes, master!
'Old Tianshi'
I can't hear you, girl!
'Old Tianshi'
Look lively! Treat this as your entrance exam. Pass the test, and I'll take you as my student. Then you can make your old teacher call you 'master'!
Lin Qingyan
I wouldn't dare!
Yun Qingping
Is there anything that I can help with?
'Old Tianshi'
Help? What could you do...
'Old Tianshi'
Watch my moves and record them. Then you can show them to your teacher and see who's better.
