Chapter 9: The Black-Robed Envoy Rides the Clouds
"Xiong Jin?"
Li Shun still hung in the punishment net, his physical body shuddering involuntarily as the gossamer threads withdrew, but within the Fangcun space, his true consciousness was in an uproar.
He had no clear picture of what had unfolded outside, but the sight of this once-invincible leader of the Great Xiang remnants now reduced to a prisoner stuffed inside a golden cocoon was enough to leave him genuinely stunned.
"It seems I worried for nothing."
He had assumed that even with his tip-off, the Magistrate’s office would ultimately be crushed under the assault of an enemy this powerful. That at best, they might hold out a little longer than before.
He had never imagined the Great Qian authorities would not only successfully hold the line but capture Xiong Jin alive.
"Could it have been... that golden light?" Li Shun's thoughts raced, recalling what his substitute puppet had witnessed during the struggle for the Lengshan Vessel.
"It seems the foundations of the Great Qian run far deeper than I ever imagined." A chill settled quietly in his heart.
Inside the golden cocoon, Xiong Jin's eyes had gone a deep, burning red. He seemed to have an endless torrent of curses and venom straining for release but the dense network of golden threads had not only sealed away his qi; it had locked his throat shut as well. What escaped was only a series of muffled, desperate, animal-like groans.
Before long, the sound of unhurried footsteps echoed through the corridor of the underground prison.
Lengshan County Magistrate Fang Xun strolled at his leisure into the deepest punishment chamber and came to stand before the golden cocoon.
He first cast a glance at Feng Guan and Li Shun, both in a state of miserable, blood-soaked ruin.
Before he could say anything, Sun Wu materialized at his elbow like a shadow and bowed forward, lowering his voice to report: "My lord, the punishment was administered and both men were thoroughly interrogated. Every word of their informant testimony has been verified as true. There are no other hidden motives or concealed details."
With so staggering a prize as Xiong Jin already secured, Fang Xun was in excellent spirits. He swept a wide sleeve and said with easy indifference: "Very well. Have them taken down and brought out. See to it they are properly cared for. I will not treat those who have rendered service in defense of the territory with anything less than they deserve."
"As you command."
Sun Wu led the jailers in dragging the completely limp forms of Li Shun and Feng Guan, both of them soft as waterlogged cloth out of the underground prison. Only then did Fang Xun turn around, fixing his deep unreadable gaze upon Xiong Jin, still locked fast in the golden cocoon.
"Now then, no outside ears will trouble us. Let us have a proper conversation." Fang Xun said it with a mild smile.
The instant the words left his mouth, the golden threads binding Xiong Jin contracted violently inward, biting into flesh. Each thread, thinner than a single strand of hair, became in that moment a razor-edged blade, slicing into Xiong Jin's body from every direction.
"URRGH!!"
Under agony that surpassed even death by a thousand cuts, Xiong Jin could bear it no longer. From deep in his locked throat erupted a series of muffled, agonized groans.
...
Night fell. The moon climbed to the height of heaven.
Fang Xun having just concluded a brutal and entirely secret interrogation changed into civilian clothes and came, in high spirits, quietly humming some nameless tune, to the private residence where he kept his favored concubine, Yu Niang.
He knocked on the brass ring in the precise rhythm of their agreed-upon signal.
Knock knock, knock.
Wind rustled through the leaves of the trees. The courtyard within was utterly silent. No one came to answer.
Fang Xun's brow furrowed. "The protective formation on this residence is not much weaker than the Magistrate’s office's own. An ordinary thief could never break through it. Unless..."
A deeply ominous premonition surged through him. Without pausing to conceal his presence, he raised a finger and wrote rapidly in the air, stroke after flowing stroke.
The character for "key" materialized from nothing in blazing strokes, emanating a faint glow. He pressed two fingers forward, and the character drove itself into the sealed gate. Visible ripples of displaced space radiated outward, and the heavy, restriction-laden wooden door gave a low creak and swung open of its own accord.
Fang Xun entered with dark, purposeful strides. He swept rapidly through the empty residence and the color of his face, by the end, had become the kind of grey that looked ready to drip.
Not only was his concubine Yu Niang nowhere to be found, the brocade case containing the [Lengshan Vessel], on which he had personally laid a concealment seal and which he had been intending to use as a stepping stone back to the Holy Capital, had also vanished without a trace.
"How dare they. They want to die."
Fang Xun's fury curdled into a cold, mirthless laugh. His fingertip moved sharply through the air, writing with a fierce, cutting precision — the large character for "pursue."
The ink dissipated in a burst across the air, transforming into dozens of ink-black birds. By rights, they should have locked onto the mark he had secretly imprinted on the brocade case and given chase. Instead, they scattered like headless flies throughout the courtyard, wheeling in all directions without purpose or trail.
"The qi signature has been completely erased from thin air and not even the seal I left on the case was forcibly broken. Not a single trace of tampering..."
The color of Fang Xun's face cycled between ashen and green. At last, he clenched his jaw and forced the words out through his teeth: "A cunning thief indeed, to think they actually used the chaos to make off with the Lengshan Vessel."
Unwilling to give up, he swept the courtyard one final time, his gaze combing inch by inch across the ground, until it came to rest in the corner of the yard, on a perfectly unremarkable square of old grey cloth.
"Hmm?"
Fang Xun walked over and picked it up. His thumb moved slowly over the coarse weave, his eyes narrowing.
He stood there, thinking.
...
The third day of the second month. Early morning.
Clouds churned and rolled across the horizon. The Great Qian's Black-Clad Envoys descended from the sky atop iron-armored scaled horses, bodies encased in heavy black armor, faces concealed behind tusk-set masks, trailing a crushing, murderous aura as they swept down upon Lengshan County.
Fang Xun personally led the assembled officials of Lengshan County to await them in front of the Magistrate’s office gates with full and proper deference.
As the golden cocoon containing Xiong Jin was handed over under close guard, the Black-Clad Envoy commander dismounted and drew Fang Xun aside for a private exchange.
The commander removed his mask, revealing a hard angular face. He clapped Fang Xun on the shoulder, and an uncommon trace of warmth crossed his expression. "Little brother Shensi, this time around not only did you uncover the rebels' plot, you assisted the Holy Capital in capturing a legitimate heir of a fallen kingdom. A merit this extraordinary, your return to the Holy Capital is all but certain, and sooner than you think."
Fang Xun could not entirely conceal the gleam of satisfaction in his eyes, yet his outward manner remained composed and gracious. He returned a deep bow. "All of it was made possible only by Elder Brother Zhao's timely intervention across ten thousand li. When Brother Zhao returns to the capital, I hope you will put in a kind word for me before our Teacher."
"Easily done."
After the seamless, impeccably measured exchange of pleasantries that court life demanded, Fang Xun watched the Black-Clad Envoys take the golden cocoon and depart in a great sweeping column, riding the clouds back toward the horizon.
The moment the procession disappeared entirely from view, the smile faded from Fang Xun's face like a snuffed flame. He turned, walked into his study, and summoned the head constable of Lengshan County, Wu Kuang.
"Go. Find out for me where this cloth came from." Fang Xun dropped the grey cloth onto the desk, his voice flat.
Wu Kuang picked it up and paused, slightly puzzled. Coarse material of this sort was something nearly every lowly laborer at the bottom of Lengshan County's ranks had on their person. But he did not dare question it even slightly, and bowed his head at once. "As you command!"
Wu Kuang's efficiency was remarkable. Just past midday, he came hurrying back to the study.
"My lord, the origin of the cloth has been traced." Wu Kuang dropped to one knee, fists clasped in salute.