Water Moon in a Mirror, Part One
The storm pounded against the windows with a terrifying sound.
At midday, Li Letian went down to the first floor. There were many people gathered there, making quite a racket. The tables in the four corners and against the wall were already occupied, leaving only two tables in the center of the first floor.
"Sir/Madam."
Li Letian was still on the stairs when the waiter started to greet him. The guests who had taken their seats before him also glanced at him, intentionally or unintentionally.
"Would you like two servings of roasted lamb and naan bread?"
"One serving," Li Letian said, choosing the table closer to the stairs from the two tables.
Among the seated guests, several groups spoke a foreign language. These people had frivolous eyes and spoke the loudest, and Li Letian couldn't understand what they were saying. Other groups spoke Chinese. Judging from their conversation, they were probably caravans from the Central Plains, carrying large quantities of tea and silk, heading to a place called an "oasis" deep in the desert.
At this moment, the burly, Central Asian man at the table next to Li Letian suddenly stood up and started shouting. He had a full beard, his shirt was open, revealing his messy chest hair and the outline of his muscles. There were three men and two women at the table with him, drinking and laughing unrestrainedly.
The woman's voice was not pleasant to listen to; rather, it was so unrestrained that it sounded jarring to Li Letian. This made him frown and scrutinize the group.
The waiter hadn't gone far when he heard the sound and turned back, looking in the direction of the Hu man with a somewhat flustered expression. He spoke fluent Hu language, bowing and scraping in response, before quickening his pace and heading towards the kitchen.
Facing the curious or fearful gazes of the other guests, the Hu man merely glanced at them disdainfully, snorted coldly, and sat down. He raised one foot high, placing it on the other end of Li Letian's bench, and grinned crookedly at Li Letian. His companions also wore mocking smiles, raising their wine bowls towards Li Letian.
Li Letian had no intention of causing any trouble, so he turned his face away and stopped looking at them. He moved the sword that was leaning against the table to his left.
Right across the street, at the corner of the wall on the other side of the inn, a Hu man raised his voice, smiling as he looked in Li Letian's direction, and said something. There were men and women there too, but they were more numerous; every bench was full, with eight people in total.
After speaking at length, the eight men burst into laughter. However, Li Letian quickly realized that they weren't targeting him.
A wine bowl flew over Li Letian's head and headed straight for the eight men. It was thrown by the barbarian man with his bare chest.
The wine bowl spun with a sharp, sword-like intent, enough to sever a head.
Among the eight people, one of the women, whose backs were to them, simply raised her hand slightly, and the wine bowl shattered in mid-air. Then she turned around; she had the typical features of a Hu person, with dark skin and gentle, refined features.
Two groups of Hu people, men and women, were arguing loudly, some quite far apart. Even without understanding what they were saying, one could guess that their words were full of sarcasm.
On the first floor, the other Hu people watched with great interest. The Central Plains people who had come from afar almost all did the same thing: they spoke in hushed tones, appearing indifferent on the surface, but their eyes would always inadvertently glance at these noisy Hu people.
The waiter came in carrying meat and naan in one hand and a pot of wine in the other. He paused for a moment, then quickly walked to Li Letian's side, put down the meat and wine, forced a smile, and fled as if escaping.
Soon, the waiter returned. He carried a large platter of mutton and handed it to the two groups of Hu people, which finally calmed the noise.
This is only temporary. Li Letian could tell that neither side had submitted to the other.
A moment of peace is precious. Li Letian breathed a sigh of relief and began to enjoy the long-awaited meat. The mutton was tender and soft. Li Letian lifted one end of the lamb shank bone, and the meat that was still attached to the bone fell off easily. He took a bite, and there was no gamey taste at all.
Even though the wind was howling outside, the tender meat and the warm wine served by the waiter gradually made Li Letian feel more at ease. The only drawback was that the noisy Hu people beside him were disturbing Li Letian's peace and quiet.
One end of Li Letian's bench was still being stepped on by that Hu man. A loud crash interrupted Li Letian's inner grumbling.
The merchant from the Central Plains collapsed to the ground, and his guard drew his longsword. "You poisoned him!" The guard's gaze swept over everyone present, trying to find the culprit. Before he could utter a second word, the guard also fell, his eyes wide open, his mouth agape, his whole body paralyzed and unable to move.
One by one, the people on the first floor collapsed, except for the Hu man next to Li Letian, who continued to eat meat with an air of indifference. Li Letian, gripping his sword, fell off the bench.
“You only have yourself to blame for coming at such an inopportune time.” The barbarian actually spoke in Chinese. “You Central Plains people have an old saying: ‘It’s better to come at the right time than to come at the right time.’”
The waiter, accompanied by two kitchen staff members, also emerged, each wielding a longsword. "Sorry, ma'am," he said, glancing at one of the Hu women, "I forgot about this kid."
The Hu woman kicked the already fallen Li Letian and said in broken Mandarin, "It's alright. I thought he was someone important, but I didn't expect him to fall so quickly."
“I didn’t expect you to be in the same line of work.” The dark-skinned Hu woman suddenly spoke from the other end of the inn. She sneered, “But as a woman, your voice is really unpleasant.”
After he finished speaking, the eight men laughed.
"I'd like to see how long you can keep up your arrogance."
Another burst of laughter erupted, and the woman in the lead said, "You think you're the only ones who have sleeping potion, and we don't?"
"you!"
"Let's see who dies first before the poison takes effect."
Six Hu men beside him roared and charged out with knives, turning their backs to Li Letian.
*
The other side of the iron ball was tied to a guard.
Chunhua's last hope was dashed, and only then did she lose her last shred of reason. Chunhua staggered to her feet and threw herself onto the iron ball, tightly embracing the guard.
"Miss, Miss," Chunhua sobbed, "How could this happen? Who could it be?"
"It hurts," a faint voice said, its breath almost imperceptible as it gently caressed Chunhua's ear.
Chunhua released her grip, took a half-step back, and looked at the guard again. Although the guard looked exhausted, there was still a light in his eyes.
Chunhua burst into tears again and was hugged. The guard cried out in pain, and she had to leave. Her small face was covered with tears, and her young face was covered with wrinkles, making it impossible to tell whether she was laughing or crying.
"I thought..." Chunhua choked up, unable to finish her sentence.
"I'm fine." The guard forced a smile. "I've always been pretty tough. This little problem is nothing serious."
Chunhua wiped away her tears with her wrist and said, "I'll untie you right away."
“This was painstakingly forged by my junior brother; you cannot unravel it,” the supervising soldier sighed.
"It's Lord Nangong, why?"
"He's been acting strange ever since he returned from the Central Plains." The guard stopped mid-sentence when she saw Xin Rui'en rushing over after hearing the commotion. She smiled wryly at Xin Rui'en and said, "What a sorry sight, that you had to see such a blood-soaked palace."
“If you help me once, I’ll help you once, and then we’ll be even.” Xin Ruien drew her longsword and said, “I won’t pry into the secrets of your Blood Palace.”
Xin Ruien swung her sword four times, breaking the guard's shackles at just the right moment. Chunhua caught the guard and held her in her arms.
"What kind of secret is that?" The guard recovered and said, "That guy Ling Guang keeps saying he wants to restore the glory of the Blood Palace and that the entire palace must be gathered together. He drained my master's power. If it weren't for the fact that the three types of true energy in his body hadn't been fully harmonized, he probably would have drained me as well."
"Let's run away," Chunhua said without hesitation.
The supervising soldier looked up at Chunhua and said, "Since you were able to get in, there must have been some trouble in the palace."
"Someone has stormed into the palace."
"Where is my senior brother?"
"Lord Donggong has gone to meet the challenge."
"I have to go there."
"But what about your health?" Chunhua looked worriedly at the guard in her arms.
“I must remind my senior brother to be careful of Ling Guang.” The guard grabbed Chunhua’s hand and said, “Chunhua, help me up.”
As soon as she stood up, the guard was dizzy and drenched in sweat. After resting for a while, she realized that Xin Ruien was still standing in the secret room with them.
"You can leave now." The guard held Chunhua's hand tightly and said earnestly to Xin Ruien, "The rest is our Blood Palace's own business. You don't need to get involved in this mess."
"Are you sure you can do it?" Shin Rui-eun asked with concern.
The soldier pursed his dry lips. "I am Lord Xigong of the Blood Palace. Not to mention in this wasteland, even in your Central Plains, there are few who can defeat me."
Shin Ye-eun stood there, seemingly hesitant.
“I can tell your aura has changed,” the supervisor asked. “You’ve used the Myriad Life Formation technique, haven’t you?”
Shin Ye-eun nodded.
“Your meridians have only recently been reconstructed, and you’ve already fought your way here. I know you’re at your last gasp.” The guard reached out and grabbed Xin Rui’en’s arm with his other hand, saying, “There’s one thing you’re wrong about. We’re not even yet. I lied to you.”
"I know."
"I am very grateful to you, and I will definitely repay you in the future, don't worry." Jianbingsong lowered his hand that was holding Xin Ruien's.
"Come with me."
"The Blood Palace possesses the divine power to bring the dead back to life." The guard looked into Xin Rui'en's eyes, forced a smile, and said, "You should leave. I can't let you learn it."
*
Xin Ruien escaped from the Blood Palace and saw a brownish-yellow wall rising to the sky in the distant east.
"It's a sandstorm, we can't go east," she muttered to herself.
Following closely behind her, another person ran out of the Blood Palace. The person was ragged and covered in blood. Despite this, Xin Ruien recognized him at a glance as the guard who brought her food every day.
The guards recognized her too. The man looked at the blood-dripping sword in Xin Ruien's hand, then knelt down with a thud, pleading, "Miss, I was just following orders, please spare my life."
Xin Ruien had no intention of killing him, but she didn't offer any further explanation either. She asked, "You actually deserted in the face of battle; aren't you afraid of being punished by your palace master?"
"That man is a demon, and even the Palace Master is in danger." The man looked at the Blood Palace behind him, still shaken.
"Who broke in?"
“I don’t know, nobody has seen him. Nobody knows him.”
Behind the towering stone wall, bright white flames shot into the air. The man screamed in panic and scrambled out more than two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) using both hands and feet.
“You saw it,” the man said, his face pale, “those white, cold flames, like rain.”
"Rain." Shin Rui-eun looked up, as if she sensed something, and walked towards the flames.
Only after Xin Ruien stepped back into the Blood Palace did the man dare to move. He scrambled and crawled, running with his back to the Blood Palace, eventually disappearing into the scattered sand dunes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
