When they finally forced themselves to move on, they stopped for a rest by a small river. Qing Lai bent over the cool water while Zhi Cheng looked at himself in the water.
He rubbed the rest of his make-up off his ghost mark before it crumbled away at an inconvenient time and hid it with a little magic.
When he fled Duifang, even this tiny amount would have been enough to knock him out. But after last night, he had lost so much blood that it had to be replaced, leaving only a small amount of the poison in him.
After the fight, he had started to heal his wounds without being noticed and had also realigned his meridians, and his heart was now beating back in place.
Should Qing Lai want to examine him again, he would no longer be able to distinguish him from an ordinary mortal.
He would have preferred to have done all this in less painful weeks or months, instead of tearing himself apart again and again. But now it was done. He breathed a sigh of relief and washed himself awkwardly.
There wasn't much clothing left to cover his body, and Qing Lai had nothing left to share either. When Zhi Cheng looked up, he saw Qing Lai beaming with joy, holding two fish.
"Look, Brother Zhi, what I've caught," he shouted and immediately set about gutting the fish and gathering everything for a small fire.
Zhi Cheng opened his mouth, but then let it be. He was not really surprised now. Even if Qing Lai had arrived with three pheasants, five hares, or a whole deer, it would not have really surprised him.
The Ghost King stretched out on the rocky shore and enjoyed the warmth of the morning sun. When Qing Lai carefully roasted the fish over the fire, he broke the silence.
"If I may summarize the recent events," he began without opening his eyes or leaving his sunny spot,
"Then the various groups of highway robbers, under the merchant Bo Chao of Chaisang, joined forces to attack the caravans in search of the poison. Unfortunately, we don't know whether Bo Chao is the seller or the buyer of this merchandise. Nor do we know what kind of poison it is," he summarized.
He didn't comment on the fact that they also didn't know how it worked. After all, Qing Lai thought that the robbers had infected themselves by carelessly handling it.
He wouldn't tell him what it really was.
"This poison is new on the market and so highly sought after that the barbarians were even willing to wipe out a caravan complete with women and children so that no information would leak out."
Again, he didn't mention that their hasty actions could be attributed to him. If he hadn't killed the group and hadn't stolen some of the gold, the marauders wouldn't have thought that they had competition.
And Qing Lai's intervention on the road had only confirmed their fears. In fact, none of the parties had had any idea about anything. He sighed.
"To Chaisang, then?" Zhi Cheng remarked and glanced at Qing Lai. His expression darkened, but then he nodded.
"You should rest a little longer, Brother Zhi, the fish will take a while yet," he said and gave Zhi Cheng an encouraging look.
Zhi Cheng closed his eyes again and felt the warm rays of sunshine tickling him. The poison in his body was slowly receding, allowing him to be drawn back into a world full of memories.
"What do you mean, Quancheng is refusing further peace negotiations?" one of his father's advisors, King of Xuyu, shouted angrily. Immediately, a hissing sound filled the hall, and the advisor was admonished to be quiet.
Qiao Guan had pressed himself against one of the white marble columns and swallowed the queasy feeling inside. He had only wanted to play a little trick on his oldest brother. He hadn't reckoned on stumbling upon a consultation.
Quancheng had been a friendly neighboring country for as long as he could remember. He had played with the princess, been invited to dinner and parties, and now it was rejecting the peace?
From the back of his mind, he dug up the information that his teacher had left behind with all his strength and effort.
Quancheng and Xuyu were once one country. But a long time ago, Xuyu split off as an independent kingdom. With the protective symbol in the sky, no evil could enter and no misfortune could befall the country.
Every fifteen years, Xuyu honored its ancestors and the land of Quancheng with a huge festival. He had been just two years old at the last festival and had been eagerly awaiting the next one the following year.
But if Quancheng rejected peace, it didn't just mean that the festivities were canceled; it inevitably meant war, didn't it? Qiao Guan listened intently.
"It seems that Quancheng has allied itself with Jeha and now believes that it is time for Xuyu to reunite with them!" said one of the wise men.
"Jeha? Isn't that the land of black magic? I heard that demons even live among the ordinary mortals there," another man said, becoming agitated.
Qiao Guan felt a hot, cold shiver down her spine. She had heard of demons, but supposedly they were already as good as extinct.
According to legend, the last great demon had retired to eternal rest with his mortal companion on a huge mountain, shrouded in fog. But that was thousands of years ago. The demon's country of birth was now known as Jeha.
"What is Quancheng thinking? We have had peace for many centuries and it has done no harm. The people are happy," one of the wise men said aloud.
Suddenly, there was silence, not even the rustling of clothing could be heard. Qiao Guan leaned forward a little further to get a better look. His father raised his hand. His serious face was wrinkled and a few gray hairs were visible in his otherwise jet-black hair.
"Just because there are no peace negotiations doesn't mean we have anything to fear from war," he said in a deep, melodious voice.
"Black magic has a bad reputation because of the demons that cultivate and invoke it. But even in Jeha, there is no mortal who has mastered this art. We should not be afraid of something that does not yet exist in this form," he appeased his men.
A general murmur and nodding went around the circle. But then the oldest of his Majesty's advisors leaned forward. There was a rare concern in his eyes.
"But, Majesty. Not yet does not mean impossible. Should a mortal cultist one day succeed in mastering black magic, then we should all pray to the gods of this world for mercy," he said in a hoarse, broken voice.
Qiao Guan could almost taste the ominous, frightened mood that lay in the air. Was black magic really so dangerous? He tiptoed around the column and saw his father rubbing his temple.
"There are rumors of a man, a nameless beggar on the streets, who supposedly has mastered black magic."
"If he really does have it, not even our hexagram could protect us," the king interrupted briskly.
"We, the Zhou, the royal house of Xuyu, stand with this protective circle for peace and harmony in the world. As long as the hexagram circles in the sky, the whole world knows there is still hope!"
With these words, the king dismissed his advisors. Qiao Guan cowered behind the column, his heart pounding. He would only live to see, just fifteen years later, at the same place where he stood today, the fall of the Banmal, the royal house, and his parents.
In a storm of black magic and blood conjured up by no less a person than himself, no one would have thought possible in this month of Monet.
"Qiao Guan?" He looked up.
"Brother Zhi," he frowned, the name seemed strange and familiar at the same time.
"Zhi Chengcheng!" The Ghost King opened his eyes wearily and blinked. He had actually drifted off again. Qing Lai bent over him, worried.
In one hand she held a roasted fish, the other was on Zhi Cheng's forehead. An electric shock ran through his ghost mark and he quickly sat up.
'I must have dozed off,' he laughed and took the fish from Qing Lai. It smelled delicious and although he hadn't needed to eat, he was actually looking forward to it after days of dry mantou. Qing Lai frowned.
'A nightmare?' He asked, concerned. Zhi Cheng waved it off.
"It's nothing!" Although Qing Lai didn't look as if he was satisfied with this answer, he let it be and sat back down at the campfire.
"If we follow the road, we'll reach Chaisang after dark," he said.
"If we don't want to attract attention, we should make a small detour and take care of ourselves first," Zhi Cheng pointed out.
Surely a businessman like Bo Chao had spies everywhere. The two of them would stand out like a sore thumb right now, and marching directly into Chaisang from the trade route would put him on guard. Qing Lai sighed.
"You're right. But am I to understand from your words that you won't leave me alone even after the promised meal and replaced clothing?" He asked, a mischievous smile crossing his lips.
Zhi Cheng looked up with the mouthful of fish. "Yes, when the hell were you planning to leave this idiot to his own devices?" he asked himself. Zhi Cheng returned the smile, thanks to the fish Qing Lai escaped the self-pity in it.
"After that... Maybe!" Zhi Cheng replied with an air of torment.