The stallion lurched and swayed across the amber sweep of an autumn plain.
A woman in white sat sidesaddle, sleeves and black hair whipping about like pennants in the wind. Every time those silky strands snapped backward they brushed the burly man behind her, tickling his chin.
She nestled half-reclining against his chest. If the fellow had also been a lean, handsome swordsman in white, it would have looked picture-perfect. Sadly, he was built like a gorilla in homespun, she like a porcelain doll. The pairing was more beauty-and-the-beast than lover-and-beloved.
Worse yet, their hearts were miles apart, separated by layer upon layer of half-truths. Worse still, neither of them suffered from rom-com brain. Sharing a horse would not simply make them star-crossed lovers.
After weathering life’s many storms, one can no longer be recklessly passionate. All that remained was to put on a facade; there was no other way.
So the question remained. Was a clear-eyed performance of madness not madness all the same?
The ignorant climbed up Tiger Mountain because they were unaware a tiger lived up there. The jaded climbed it precisely because they did. Each was mad in a different flavor; who was to say which was nobler?
Li Yuan watched the White Lotus enchantress in front of him, enjoying the leisurely rhythm of hoofbeats. A stray thought drifted in, a television show he’d binged back in his previous world about an Immortal who’d worn a thousand mortal faces. Did that wanderer once feel exactly as he did now?
At first he craved power; once he’d secured enough power, he became hungry for every human experience, for the full carnival of joy and misery. He wanted to sample every mortal life, immersing himself in the personal fully.
Maybe he too had ended up becoming a player on the grand chessboard—left hand on white and right hand on black—playing both the hero and villain in the world, just for the pure fun of it.
Li Yuan shut his eyes and inhaled the scent of the enchantress' hair. It reminded him of a blossom unfurling at dawn…new, delicate, and faintly intoxicating.
Bai Lingshui felt his breath and silently filed away today’s fragrance note—Starlit Osmanthus, a tiny blossom whose whisper of perfume brought quiet delight and chased away any hint of gaudiness.
They rode on in companionable silence.
The horse clattered into a small market town and stopped outside an inn.
Bai Lingshui handed the reins to a stable boy, flipped him a large copper for hay, and steered Li Yuan upstairs.
An enchantress never wasted a ready-made excuse to share a room.
“Bubba,” she murmured, “my purse is rather light. I could only afford one room.”
“Ah?” Li Yuan grunted, then chuckled. “Don’t fret, Miss Bai. I brought silver with me when I left home.”
He plunged a paw into his waistband, then patted both thighs in an exaggerated search. Each swipe tugged his trousers left, then right. It was a bit of slapstick he’d once seen a village idiot perform, now borrowed to beef up his oafish persona.
Patrons all over the common room twisted away, muttering how the Heavens didn’t have eyes to bestow a swan to a toad.
“Ugh, look at that brute. Never been civilized in his life.”
“Straight outta the mountains, that one.”
Bai Lingshui whipped around, eyes flashing. “Hmph! Bubba has the heart of an innocent child. What do you know?”
The mockers roared with laughter.
“Well, well, pretty lady, dumping yourself on a wild man? Why not come to my table? I’m at least house-broken.”
“Such a pity, fresh flower stuck in cow dung.”
Their jokes slid from rude to filthy in two breaths.
The enchantress’ pupils glowed scarlet.
Li Yuan finally fished out a silver ingot from somewhere distinctly personal and smacked it onto a table. Clack! Then he strode forward, grabbed the loudest heckler by the collar, and flung him out the window.
“You’re bullying people!” he hollered, voice cracking with aggrieved sincerity. “Why are you bullying people?!”
“Ahhh!” “Noooo!” “M-mercy…!”
Another man sailed out. Then another. Human silhouettes traced neat arcs against the sky before crashing into the street.
Plenty of them knew martial arts; it didn’t matter. Under Li Yuan’s casual toss every stance fell apart. He calibrated each throw so they’d only suffer a temporary full-body sprain, miserable for a day or two but nothing lifelong.
“You’re bullying people! Bullying people!”
With every wounded yelp he repeated the phrase, scooping men up like chickens and pitching them into daylight.
The remaining diners stared, dumbstruck. Even Bai Lingshui’s jaw slackened.
She’d witnessed crushing displays of power before, but never one delivered while the crusher squealed about being the victim.
Within moments the tavern was quiet as snowfall, the troublemakers all gone, and not a soul eager to replace them.
Yet the shaven-headed hulk still huffed and sputtered, clearly not over it.
“They picked on us! How could they pick on us like that?”
Bai Lingshui tugged his hairy hand and sighed. “Bubba, perhaps you haven’t seen much of the world. People are often just .”
She had already decided that, for all his brawn, Bubba’s heart was blank parchment. If she could scrawl The world is rotten, so let’s build a new one across it, recruiting him to the Lotus Cult would be a snap.
Li Yuan barked, “Where’s Ah Qing? I’m gonna find him!”
Alarmed, Bai Lingshui hauled the man-mountain back to their room, plopped onto the opposite couch, and began gently, almost like a storyteller, “Your power is great, but so is Qing Hancheng’s. If you two fight in the open, innocents will die. I suggest writing him a letter, naming a remote battleground.”
She already had one in mind.
“About 15 kilometers outside the Holy Tree Temple, there’s a place called Flying Swallow Terrace. It’s perched deep in the mountains. Perfect for you two to go all out without wrecking the countryside.”
Li Yuan was delighted. Perfect, let the Lotus Cult do the legwork. Saves me a trip inside the city stronghold and third gate.
Jing Shuixiang had once told him even if the outer gates of the Holy Tree Temple fell and many of its top powerhouses were slain, anyone hiding behind the third gate would still be safe.
What did this mean? Behind the Holy Tree Temple’s third gate was a hidden trump card. It could be a defensive artifact or possibly a formation type ultimate weapon of mass destruction.
“Great idea, Miss Bai!” Li Yuan placed both hands on her shoulders, eyes shining with gratitude. “You’re so kind. I really ought to thank you properly.”
With that he slid behind her and began combing her hair. More precisely, he was harvesting a few extra strands for the whitewood caskets. The more hair, the longer the target would answer his questions.
Bai Lingshui felt his furry fingers rooting about, each sneaky yank giving her scalp a tiny stab. She twitched, turned, caught his hand, and pressed it to her cheek instead. Her delicate face disappeared inside that giant paw.
“So long as you’re happy, I’m happy too. Leave the challenge arrangements to me; you just prepare. Qing Hancheng is no ordinary foe. Don’t take him lightly.”
Her earnestness was flawless.
Li Yuan scratched his head and gave his best oafish grin. Bai Lingshui’s own laughter followed. Laughter was contagious, and soon the room brimmed with uncomplicated joy.