Realms In The Firmament

The rumor was still causing unrest within the capital.

But while all this was happening, an oddly isolated courtyard house seemed to be completely unaffected by the chaos outside.

This courtyard house was located at the central area of the capital. It wouldn’t be a lie if one was to say that in here an inch of land was worth a bar of gold.

This courtyard house was built within a pervasive bamboo forest, which was surrounded by a small continuous mountain range on three sides. This meant that the house could only be approached from a single direction.

People who could purchase such land must have very powerful background and an infinite amount of wealth. The person who did purchase it had actually turned twenty percent of the land into small mountains and seventy percent into a bamboo forest. And he had only used the remaining ten percent to build a sequestered courtyard house.

The extravagant spending done by this person was really shocking!

But using a fortune wisely almost always brings about a considerable return!

In the courtyard, the wind was blowing gently causing the bamboo forest to peacefully rustle. Bringing about a sense of serenity, like a poetic illusion.

At the moment, along with the wind in the forest, there was a distinct ringing sound from a string instrument; it was as if the sound was coming from from the heavens.

The sound should have been contained within the heavens, but it was actually being heard in the mortal world!

In the courtyard, there stood a zither on its stand. A man in a white robe was sitting in a wheelchair, and his fingers were dancing on the strings of the zither. The melodious sound of the zither was floating around like a gentle stream.

A stick of incense was alight in front of the zither stand. Continuous caesious smoke was rising slowly and then circling in the air until it scattered.

There were two girls in white standing behind the man.

It looked like a wonderful painting, the three of them; one was sitting while two were standing in this beautiful scenery.

Even if a large group of enemies came over right now, they would not have the heart to break this scene.

The breeze was gently caressing their soft robes.

Suddenly a figure in black with blue stripes flashed in the forest. A man crossed the forest like the wind and stepped on the floor ever so lightly. Although the man was moving peacefully, he must be in extreme haste, as he had moved very fast. However, when he saw the scene in front of him, he said nothing and stood aside silently. He didn’t even make a sound when he breathed.

He didn’t dare to take deep breaths because he was afraid to disturb the peace of this scene.

Although an unexpected individual had arrived, the man in white kept his calm demeanor. His face was fair like white jade. He looked lost in the music. His fingers were moving really fast but they seemed extremely comfortable on the zither. His eyes were nearly closed and his pretty eyebrows were naturally stretching to his sideburns. It looked like he hadn’t noticed the man who had rushed through his forest and into his courtyard and was now standing in front of him.

- Zeng! - Finally, the last note was heard, as the old man stopped playing the zither. Meanwhile, the magical music from the zither was still lingering around in the air.

The man in white put his hand down slowly and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and looked up, letting his long black hair sweep down naturally.

The man in black stepped forward preparing to talk, but the man in white stretched his hand forward and waved lightly.

The man in black humbly stepped back.

After a long silence, the man in white opened his eyes and spoke peacefully, “Everything in the universe has a soul. My zither stopped; it means that the soul of the song I was playing is gone. To feel the sound’s soul connect with our souls… is respecting all livings… and is also respecting ourselves greatly.”

“It should not be interrupted at that moment.” The man in white smiled peacefully, “So, no matter what emergent problems you have, you shall wait.”

“Yes, my lord.” The man in black looked humbled as he lowered his head admiringly.

This man in black had actually reached the peak of the Grade of Diyuan. Counting out the top-class cultivators in the superior martial sects, no cultivators in the mortal world could beat him, but he was actually acting like an inferior servant in front of the man in white.

He acted so humble, but he looked to be in high spirits, sincere, and even honored!

It seemed like, being a servant to this man in white, was the best thing and the biggest achievement of his life!

“Now you can talk.” The man in white sat still and retracted his hand to his side with a smile, and then one of the girls handed him a white silk napkin. The man in white took the napkin and rubbed his hands before he handed it back.

He didn’t even look at the girl, but the girl was acting very humble as she took the napkin with both of her hands.

“It is about Mu Cheng-Bai from the Mu clan. He has died in the capital and it is said that Ye Xiao did this. This case is still causing disturbances in the capital. The Mu clan has even sent out their strongest forces to Chen-Xing City for an investigation.” The man in black said with his head low.

“Hmm?” The man in white put his hands on his belly and nodded.

“There are many doubts in the case of Mu Cheng-Bai’s death, but it is certain that the murderer can not be Ye Xiao! So… I am afraid that the Mu clan has fallen into a trap this time. Normally, the Mu clan are not outwitted to this extent…” The man in black reported, “First of all, Ye Xiao is only a foppish fool who would never have the capability to kill Mu Cheng-Bai; let alone that there were two superior guards. It was impossible for him to kill three guys who were at the Grade of Renyuan… Secondly…”

He stated eight doubts along with his analysis, and every single one of them seemed very clear and reasonable.

The man in white was listening silently the whole time until the man in black finished. And then he said, “They all sound reasonable…”

The man in black showed excitement in his face, and his face even turned a little red, “Thank you for your praise, my lord!”

“But…” The man in white curled his mouth and smiled, “Everything you said was based on one assumption. It is… that the murderer can not be Ye Xiao.”

“If the murderer really turns out to be Ye Xiao, everything you have said will become nonsense. And we may fall into the trap of taking endless risk because of this little mistake you may have made… You know why? Because if we don’t consider Ye Xiao to be a suspect and he would actually turn out to be the murderer, then we would have investigated others for sure... Then we would never be able to find out who it was... And then what? Then we would keep suspecting one expert cultivator after another and make more and more enemies. We might insist that this was the logical thing to do, but even so, everyone we would offend would turn out to be innocent… That means that we would have created endless mortal enmities!”

The man in white gazed at the man in black peacefully.

“But…” The man in black was sweating, “This Ye Xiao is truly lame… Everyone knows it… It is a common opinion…”

“Oh? Everyone knows it?” The man in white smiled again, “Does a common opinion make it the truth? Do you really know about Ye Xiao’s capabilities? Did you watch him grow up? Or have you tested him on your own?”

“I… I... No… I haven’t.” The man in black was stunned.

“So, when Mu Cheng-Bai died, were you there and did you see the real murderer?” The man in white was still smiling.

“Well… No…” The man in black was starting to feel small.

“Well then, how do you know Ye Xiao can or can not kill Mu Cheng-Bai and did or did not kill him?” The man in white frowned.

“…” The man in black was left speechless.

“There are only things which you haven’t thought of; there is nothing you can’t deal with. There are so many things you don’t know about, and yet you have already made your judgment…” The man in white spoke peacefully, “Unwise.”

“Yes, my lord.” The man in black was completely drenched in sweat, “You are right, my lord.”

“Why couldn’t Ye Xiao kill Mu Cheng-Bai? Why didn’t he kill Mu Cheng-Bai? Why could Mu Cheng-Bai not die in a foppish fool’s hand?” The man in white raised his eyelids and spoke peacefully, “There is no absolute in our world. Even if the chance of him killing Mu Cheng-Bai is one percent or lower, that still doesn’t make it impossible and it simply means, that he could actually be the murderer!”

It was a little bit cryptic, but the man in black got the point.

“Well then… about this case, what should I do? Please, show me the right direction.” The man in black kept his head low as he asked respectfully.

“Add fuel to the fire.” The man in white smiled softly, “The more people that die, the better. People from the Mu clan, people from the Crown Prince’s Palace and people from the government… It doesn’t matter how many of them die. But, Ye Xiao should stay alive.”

“What… Why?” The man in black was totally confused.

His master had just said that Ye Xiao was a suspect, so he had no idea why Ye Xiao couldn’t die.

“If Ye Xiao died, this case would be over. What happened would be tossed aside and it’d be soon forgotten.” The man in white sneered weirdly, “It is truly not a good situation to be at peace.”

“Yes, my lord.” The man in black said.

“Well, no matter who the Mu clan has sent this time, I want them all to die!” The man in white smiled softly, “They can be killed by people from other clans, from the General’s House, from where the princes stays or even from the martial sects… Hei-Jiu [1], do you understand?”

“Yes, my lord!” The man in black – Hei-Jiu cupped his hands.

“By the way… About collecting information from the large clans and the missions about the other two kingdoms and the grassland, how are you getting along?” The man in white smiled softly and asked, “I have waited an extra day already. Are you trying to keep me waiting?!”

………………..

[1] Hei-Jiu : This name literally translates to Dark-nine. So this name should be something like a secret agent code name and is unlikely to be his actual name.