The Pavilion Master’s Decree

That night, the rain poured down in torrents.

Luo Yifang had just dismissed the last two servants from Yifang Hall. He secured the rattling windows within the house, intending to bolt the door and retire for the night.

Suddenly, a slender, cloaked figure appeared in the courtyard.

Luo Yifang initially thought his eyes were deceiving him and paid it little mind.

Then, with a muffled boom, deep thunder rumbled across the sky.

A blinding flash of white light immediately followed.

It illuminated the cloaked figure’s face.

Luo Yifang gasped, too stunned to utter a word.

The cloaked figure spoke in a low voice:

“Luo Yifang, Mister Xiao sends her regards through me. These past few years, cooped up in Quzhou City, have your days been tolerable?”

Luo Yifang’s face turned ashen, and even the hand gripping the wooden bolt trembled uncontrollably.

****

A while later, a few candles were lit inside, casting a soft, flickering glow.

The cloaked figure and Luo Yifang sat opposite each other at a low table, where clear tea, emitting tendrils of white mist, had been brewed.

Luo Yifang hesitated for a moment, noticing the cloaked figure’s teacup was empty.

With a slight clenching of his jaw, he reached for the teapot on the table, leaned forward, and prepared to refill it for her.

The cloaked figure waved a hand.

“There’s no need.”

She was drenched from head to toe, with silvery streaks of water snaking across her cloak.

Luo Yifang spoke apologetically:

“It is regrettable that this old man has no change of clothes here, causing the Special Emissary to catch a chill.”

The cloaked figure replied:

“It’s fine. I will depart once I’ve conveyed the Pavilion Master’s message. I heard there’s a strange illness plaguing Quzhou City recently; is this true?”

Luo Yifang nodded.

“Indeed…”

The cloaked figure continued:

“Do you believe that because Mister Xiao isn’t personally present, you can be evasive in front of me?”

Luo Yifang immediately paled with alarm.

He hastily rose from his seat, smoothed his robes, and then tremblingly knelt on the floor.

“How could this old man dare?”

The cloaked figure said:

“Mister Xiao isn’t here, so she won’t see this display. Besides, she has always said she detests seeing others act subserviently before her.”

Luo Yifang nodded silently, then slowly rose, enduring the ache in his knees.

The cloaked figure cleared her throat before speaking:

“Mister Xiao has already investigated and discovered that this strange illness in Quzhou is likely Kong Xiuwen’s doing.”

Luo Yifang exclaimed:

“The Pavilion Master is truly a brilliant strategist…”

Without waiting for him to finish his flattery, the cloaked figure interjected:

“Luo Yifang, you and Kong Xiuwen were once comrades within the Pavilion, practically sworn brothers. He stole the Pavilion’s secret manual, the ‘Five Corpse Heart Sutra,’ and defected. At the time, there was no evidence to implicate you. Yet, both the former Pavilion Master and Mister Xiao were fully aware of the truth.”

Luo Yifang bowed his head, cold sweat trickling down his forehead, his back already soaked.

The cloaked figure continued:

“However, the Pavilion Master also said that those are old matters. She has no interest in settling old scores; let bygones be bygones.”

Luo Yifang said:

“I am deeply grateful for the Pavilion Master’s immense kindness…”

The cloaked figure poured herself a cup of tea, threw her head back, and drained it in one gulp. Then she spoke:

“Don’t be so quick to express gratitude. The Pavilion Master has entrusted me with several matters, which I must convey to you one by one.”

Luo Yifang responded:

“Since it is the Pavilion Master’s decree, this old man has no reason to disobey.”

“Very well. The first matter the Pavilion Master wishes to ask you is,”

The cloaked figure’s voice was flat, devoid of inflection, as if reciting a scripture.

“Do you, or do you not, know the whereabouts of Kong Xiuwen?”

Luo Yifang knew that to see the Special Emissary was to see the Pavilion Master herself.

He dared not delay, immediately answering with a trembling voice:

“Reporting to the Pavilion Master, since Kong Xiuwen defected from Zhaixing Pavilion, this old man has never met him again. Naturally, I do not know his current whereabouts.”

“Good.”

The cloaked figure did not press further, continuing:

“My second question is, from the first instance of a corpse transformation in the city to widespread infection, approximately how many days does it take?”

Luo Yifang replied:

“Reporting to the Pavilion Master, two to three days are sufficient. Moreover, a ‘Miss Murong’ has recently appeared in the city… the physicians she hired are prescribing random remedies, which might even shorten that time.”

“This brings us to the third matter the Pavilion Master wishes to discuss with you.”

The cloaked figure stated:

“Before that, a quick question: has the government taken any action?”

Luo Yifang said:

“Previously, they likely assumed it was a common fever and paid little attention. It wasn’t until today, with the appearance of corpse transformations, that households finally imposed curfews and patients were concentrated for isolation and treatment.”

“Hm. In that case, the situation is indeed critical.”

The cloaked figure nodded and continued:

“Mister Xiao has dispatched two Protector Elders and seven ‘Heaven-ranked’ assassins from within the Pavilion to track Kong Xiuwen’s whereabouts near Quzhou. We cannot assist with that particular task. The matter the Pavilion Master wishes to discuss with you concerns the ‘Miss Murong’ you mentioned.”

Luo Yifang lowered his head, speaking respectfully:

“I humbly await the Pavilion Master’s commands.”

The cloaked figure smiled faintly, refilled her own cup with tea, and began to drink by herself.

“Tomorrow, you are to seek out Miss Murong. In your capacity as the proprietor of Yifang Hall, inform her of an alternative method to cure the ‘Five Corpse Heart Sutra’ affliction.”

“An alternative method?”

Luo Yifang was taken aback.

Yet, after a moment of thought, he understood.

“You mean, saving people with pure blood?”

The cloaked figure set down her cup.

“I am merely conveying the Pavilion Master’s decree as it was given; I dare not speculate on its meaning.”

Luo Yifang said:

“However, if the blood types don’t match, pure blood cannot be transfused to others in large quantities. Furthermore, how can the Pavilion Master be certain that Miss Murong is a pure-blood?”

“The Pavilion Master anticipated you would ask that.”

The cloaked figure explained:

“She said whether pure blood can be transfused to others, or whether Murong is indeed a pure-blood, is not important. She merely seeks an answer.”

Luo Yifang seemed to grasp her meaning.

“Does the Pavilion Master believe Miss Murong is nothing more than a hypocrite, outwardly virtuous but unwilling to sacrifice herself at a critical moment?”

The cloaked figure laughed, shaking her head.

“Apart from truly righteous heroes, the good and evil of ordinary people often hang by a single thought; it’s not so simply defined. What the Pavilion Master seeks to do is to shake her conviction about whether she is an ‘ordinary person’ or a ‘hero’.”

The tea in the pot was finished, and it was time for the cloaked figure to take her leave.

She walked to the door, and Luo Yifang quickly followed to see her off.

Outside, the wind and rain still lashed down.

Raindrops, the size of soybeans, struck the windowsill, creating crisp, cracking sounds.

The cloaked figure, drenched to the bone, stood in the downpour, her dark robes flapping wildly.

“If Murong learns that her remedies are what caused so many people to undergo corpse transformation, will she harbor even a sliver of doubt about her own ‘righteousness’? If Murong learns that her most cherished reputation is about to plummet, will she try every means to salvage it? If Murong learns that, besides herself, there are other pure-bloods who could save the world—will she, as she did a hundred years ago, once again deceive herself and exclude herself from the responsibility?”

Luo Yifang stared blankly at the cloaked figure beneath the curtain of rain.

He felt as though she had truly become the embodiment of the Pavilion Master in that moment.

“If you can answer each of these questions…”

****

A thousand li away, on a painted pleasure boat by the Wangjiang Tower riverbank.

Xiao Huiqing, dressed in an embroidered ruqun, her cloud-like bun adorned with a jade hairpin nestled amongst her flowing, willow-like hair, reclined within the boat.

Beneath her, the water shimmered, and above, a moon like a frozen disk hung in the sky.

She gazed at the deepening night, her hand resting on her faintly aching chest, and murmured:

“Then let me find peace with this emotion, lost a hundred years ago.”