48. A Crafty Plan

“So, are you saying the Xuanwu is Baxia now?” A’Cheng asked, face scrunched up in confusion.

Nie Mingjue looked just as confused, while Ying’er nodded thoughtfully.

They were all gathered on the edge of the pond. The Xuanwu—Baxia, now, Yanli reminded herself—was settled mostly in the water, with its long neck extended so it could rest its head on the gravel. Its eyes were closed as if it was sleeping peacefully. Ying’er was patting its snout, while several Nie stood on its head, looking speculatively at the still-glowing hilt of the saber-once-known-as-Baxia which was sticking up out of the beast’s skull like the worlds tiniest, most ridiculous guan.

Yanli was sat a little ways away from them, A’Yao passed out with his head in her lap. He had refused to let anyone other than Yanli near him, despite Ying’er’s pleas, until he shuddered himself into unconsciousness.

The boys’ fury over their Da’Ge’s wound had been tempered by Nie Mingjue directing the Xuanwu—Baxia—over to them and then jumping down, still holding the cursed saber. It was apparently the piece of yin iron the beast had been protecting for centuries, although Nie Mingjue could not explain how it was now a saber or even how he had ended up with it.

(“Everything after impaling Baxia in her head is unclear,” he had said with a shrug, to Ying’er’s extreme frustration.)

She tuned back into the current conversation as she smoothed A’Yao’s hair.

“Just for a second! I just want to hold it for a second!” Ying’er wailed plaintively.

“No.” Nie Mingjue examined the saber. “But here.” He pointed it tip-down and held out his arm. After a moment, Ying’er clued in and wrapped his fingers around Nie Mingjue’s hand. His eyes flared bright red.

“Ah.” He snatched his hand back. “I don’t think we can merge all four pieces together, after all.”

“No, I don’t think we can,” Nie Mingjue said with resignation. “However, this does keep it out of Wen Ruohan’s grasp. He’s stuck with only two yin iron pieces, now. I have this one, and you have the other three.” He nodded at Ying’er. “We still have the advantage.”

“Also, you have Baxia!” Ying’er said brightly. The beast was looking exceptionally blissed out, having its snout scritched by A’Cheng.

“Right,” Nie Mingjue said with a conflicted expression.

“Can you even let go of the yin saber, Sect Leader?” One of the Nie asked, jumping down off the—off Baxia.

“I can shift it, but not put it down.” He tossed it back and forth between his hands. The blade sparked with orange lightning as he did so, making all the Nie take a step backwards. “There is some kind of feedback loop with Baxia, I think.”

“The turtle or the blade?” The Nie soldier asked.

Nie Mingjue just shrugged.

Ying’er nodded with an expression that Yanli knew meant he understood more than he was saying, but there was no reason to press him on it. They had more important matters.

“We need to find a way out of here,” she said softly, but everyone turned to her as if she had shouted. Several Nie grimaced as they looked at A’Yao before quickly glancing away.

A’Cheng and Ying’er both had matching expressions of anger, but she did not have time to deal with that at the moment. She instead focused on Nie Mingjue. He shook his head.

“The Wen dogs will be waiting topside for any survivors to crawl out,” he said. “I can command Baxia to slam through the cave wall, there.” He pointed across the way with the Yin saber as if it were simply an extension of his arm, ignoring everyone’s doubtful expressions. “I can get us all out easily enough, and we’ll be coming out on the opposite side of the mountain. By the time they realize what happened, we’d be well on our way, but the Wen will follow us. Wen Chao is injured, but Wen Zhuliu is still in charge.”

They all glanced at A’Yao again, but no one could look for long. He represented a cultivator’s greatest fear, outside of qi deviation.

The Nie who was obviously second-in-command looked over at the entryway to the tunnel. “This is a good opportunity, though.”

“That is true,” Nie Mingjue said thoughtfully.

Yanli looked at their numbers through his eyes. A’Yao was completely incapacitated, and two Nie were injured enough to be sidelined from fighting, although they were still mobile. There were about thirty dead Wen lying about, which left at least thirty topside. She did not count the Jiang, because Jiang Fengmian was many things, but he was not that stupid. He probably grabbed the rest of his disciples and left while the Wen were temporarily leaderless and no one was of enough rank to fight him about it.

She did a quick count and, including the five remaining Jiang, A’Cheng, and Ying’er, Nie Mingjue had nineteen cultivators fit enough to fight at his command. Going up against thirty equally matched fighters without the advantage of surprise was not good odds to rely on, but with the addition of Wen Zhuliu, it was more like a suicide run.

But if they could somehow take out Wen Zhuliu and Wen Chao, it would be a massive loss for Wen Ruohan. Either way, they needed to get out of the cave eventually.

“We do have Baxia,” A’Cheng said. “They know she’s here, and probably think she’s eaten all of us. They didn’t get what they came for, so they are either going to come back down, or try to lure her out.” A’Cheng set his jaw. “Wen Chao wants to impress his father. Trust me, he’s not leaving.”

If anyone would understand the utter desperation of trying to impress a father who did not care for him, it was A’Cheng, Yanli mused.

“We could lure them first?” The second-in-command Nie said thoughtfully. Yanli wracked her brain for his name.

“What would Da'Ge do?” A’Cheng asked softly, looking at A’Yao while continuing to pet the monstrous beast of slaughter like she was a puppy. Ying’er nodded and stood with his hands on his hips, thinking furiously.

Suddenly both he and Ying’er perked up, looking at each other excitedly.

“Oh! Blood!” Ying’er clapped and pointed at Baxia.

“Yes! Okay, will she eat any of the dead Wen?” A’Cheng asked Nie Mingjue. Everyone recoiled.

“What?” Nie Mingjue asked, appalled.

“We need her to look like she ate everyone!” Ying’er was entirely too delighted by the idea.

“Right! Go collect—” A’Cheng pointed.

“I got it! Aish!” Ying’er flapped a hand at him and went over to the dead bodies.

“A’Cheng,” Yanli said with a hint of admonishment that brought both boys up short. “Maybe explain your plan to Sect Leader Nie?”

The idea was to make it look like Baxia—the beast, not the blade—had eaten everyone and then broken out of the cave, uncontrolled and violent. It would bring all the Wen tearing up over the mountain to attack her, and in doing so, allow the Nie squad to surprise them again. Even if not all the Wen came over (Yanli thought Wen Chao definitely would not), and even if Wen Zhuliu suspected some kind of trap, it would probably be the best fighters the Wen had.

“That is a very crafty plan,” Nie Mingjue said, somewhat begrudgingly.

“Da’Ge is very smart!” Ying’er said proudly, and everyone looked confused since A’Yao was still unconscious.

“Meng Yao has worked hard to teach his brothers cunning strategies. He made them copy lines of Sun Tzu quite regularly.” Yanli explained.

“Ah.” Nie Mingjue chuckled. “My father did the same.” He took a deep breath and started ordering his men, which by default included the four remaining (surviving) Jiang, to collect the Wen bodies. Baxia was actually not keen on eating the dead, to everyone’s relief, but there was enough blood spilled that Ying’er could smear and splatter her with bloody mud, which he made into a game of chase-and-splat. Yanli was uncertain of the rules.

“She’s…really enjoying this,” Nie Mingjue said, his words filled with a complex emotion. The black saber was now slung over his back in the same way the old Baxia used to be, still wafting off trails of resentful energy. Which was a very intimidating look, but…

“Sect Leader Nie, doesn’t the yin saber burn you? Corrupt your golden core?” She asked. The Nie second-in-command, who she finally remembered was Nie Wang, a close cousin of the brothers and Nie Zonghui’s brother-in-law, looked over at her words and came to stand next to them.

Nie Mingjue side-eyed her for a moment, then let out a gusty sigh just as Baxia roared playfully. Five Nie, four Jiang, and A’Cheng had joined the game and were all flying around her, sometimes turning on each other. It was a demented version of a snowball fight, she thought.

“Quite the opposite. It’s draining out the resentment I had stored up from using Baxia.” He dropped the words like lead weights. Nie Wang actually gasped.

“Sect Leader! That is great news!” He said, overjoyed.

Nie Mingjue nodded, but did not look pleased. “I’d be happier about it if I understood how the fuck it works—ah, my apologies, Sect Leader Wei.” He bowed a little.

“I hear worse in the market every week,” she said, laughing. “Ying’er called her the Guardian of the Burial Mounds, that her role there had been to ‘eat’ the resentful energy of the place to keep it in check. Her disappearance five hundred years ago resulted in the Burial Mounds expanding to include nearly the entire mountain range ringing Yiling,” she said, then paused.

“Then might she be eating the resentful energy of Baxia?” Nie Wang paused. “The blade formerly known as Baxia?” He tried again.

Nie Mingjue cringed, but nodded. “It’s possible.”

They all watched as a group volley of very red mud splattered all along Baxia’s face. She really did seem to be enjoying it.

“How is Young Master Meng, Sect Leader Wei?” Nie Wang asking, looking down at A’Yao with a frown.

He was still unconscious, which was a blessing. She put two fingers against his neck to check his meridians, then gasped.

She looked up in shock at Nie Mingjue, who crouched down to her level.

“I’m so sorry, Wei Yanli. It is a tragedy—”

“No! He still has…some of it? His meridians are damaged but… .” She nodded at Nie Mingjue when he held out his own hand to check.

He frowned, his fingers pressed firmly against a pulse point. “There is a lot of damage there, but yes, it seems there is still qi trying to circulate.”

“I interrupted the Core Melting Hand in the middle of his attack,” Yanli said thoughtfully. “Do you think that saved him?” She looked down at A’Yao, trying to hold her tears back. When she looked up, she saw A’Cheng and Ying’er had come over too.

“Perhaps it minimized the damage. I do not know of any doctor that could help him recover, though,” Nie Mingjue said softly, obviously trying to soften the blow for her.

“Then we will find one!” A’Cheng announced. “We will find the best doctor in the jianghu and save him!” The fact that he was drenched in bloody mud with a rotten maple leaf stuck in his hair gave him a slightly unhinged air of ferocity. Ying’er nodded sternly in agreement. Yanli couldn’t help but be grateful for her brothers’ firm—if irrational—optimism.

“We won’t find one here, though,” Nie Mingjue said, standing up and looking around. “It’s time. Everyone take your places. Do not fly out until I give the word!”

A’Cheng helped Yanli tuck herself and A’Yao back under the low overhand they had taken shelter in earlier while the rest of the Nie and Jiang went to hide in higher ledges again. A few had stripped off their robes and strewn them around the dead bodies, making it look like that Nie were among Baxia’s victims. It would only fool anyone who did not actually fly into the cave to check, but then, she figured anyone who did that would get picked off by the archers. They had recovered a few salvageable arrows, so while they were not ready to take down a full squad again, they could make a dent if needed.

Nie Mingjue flew up on the yin saber and stood high in the air next to the far wall of the cave.

“Baxia! Break through! It is time to fight!” He yelled, looking every inch like a general commanding ten thousand troops as he jumped off the yin saber, grabbed it, and swung it at the wall in midair with a massive burst of qi that caused the rock to shudder.

Baxia bristled a little, which reminded Yanli of a dog shaking water off its back, before running straight at the wall with a massive roar. Water sprayed and Ying’er and a few Nie threw up wards to keep the water from swamping all of them just as Baxia slammed head-first into the wall at the exact spot that Nie Mingjue had struck. A wave of resentful energy pushed past her and the entire side of the cave, indeed likely the whole side of the mountain, exploded outward.

Sunlight steamed in as Baxia forged through the falling debris, running out to cause as much chaos as possible to lure the Wen into their trap.