Book 21 Chapter 2
Golden Wings Wrap Around New Year's Eve
-Dancing Yeonbi
A holy city near Amishan in Huiyin County, Sichuan Province. A sweet melody was echoing from the Tianxiang Pavilion, which is famous for harvesting the clearest and most fragrant gum namchun in Sichuan.
The sound of gold is as clean and clear as raindrops bouncing off patchouli leaves. The epicenter of the dreamy golden sound was the center stage of the grand ballroom, which was only open to special guests on special occasions, and today it was filled with rows and rows of liquor vendors and guests. Despite this, the entire ballroom was not crowded, but as calm as a lake. All eyes were focused on a young girl in a long robe, plucking a golden tune on the dais.
Ding, ding. Dingle…….
White, slender fingers lightly pluck one taut golden string after another. The slender cob floated through the seven-stringed universe like cotton threads draped over the girl's face. Her white fingers glided like a dance, creating a beautiful heavenly melody.
Sometimes like a lover's whisper, sometimes like the flutter of a phoenix's wings, sometimes like the song of a brook, sometimes like the roar of a waterfall. The forbidden notes of the maiden were instantly captivating to the souls of the hardened men who had spent a lifetime in blood and sword. No musicianship was required to appreciate the melody she played; it was simply a matter of listening.
…ding!
When the music finally stopped, and the echoes of the melody faded, the people were able to return to the ground once more.
"Oooooooh!"
A thunderous cheer erupted from the crowd as the girl gestured in greeting.
"What do you think?"
A middle-aged man in a silk robe asked an elderly man sitting at the head of the table. The old man nodded his head in agreement with the middle-aged man's words and burst into loud praise.
"Hmm, that's good music. Very good music!"
At first glance, the old man appeared to be at least a hundred years old, but his curious speech and regal bearing would have been the envy of any of the ten chiefs in their prime. Moreover, his natural and unassuming majesty showed why he was seated at the head of the table among today's guests. The old man clapped his hands repeatedly to express his approval of the notes the girl played.
"I doubt my ears, lest I have heard a heavenly voice!"
The girl replied humbly to the old man's praise.
"I'm just now hitting my stride, so I can't give it that kind of hype yet."
The old man chuckled at the girl's reaction and asked if it was funny.
"Hehe. I take it that means you're not yet, but you're confident that you'll be making heavenly sounds soon enough, so what's your name?"
"Yeonbi(燕飛)."
The eager girl replied, and the old man stroked his beard and nodded.
"Ho, Swallow… what a fitting name. You were still a young swallow in the nest, but from the sound of your playing, I can already see you soaring above your name!"
"Thank you."
Yunfei replied in a hushed, coy tone. The girl's voice was just as beautiful as the forbidden note from earlier.
"Hehe, you play notes with your voice as well as your fingers."
The old man chuckled merrily and said something. At this point, the middle-aged man in the silk robe sitting next to him vomited.
"Why would you want to be the only one?"
The middle-aged man's words sounded pleasant enough, but as soon as the word 'daughter' was uttered, the smile on the old man's face vanished. A dense chill emanated from his entire body. It was as if he'd touched a vital energy source.
The middle-aged man broke out in a cold sweat and seemed to regret his mistake, but it was too late. The entire banquet hall fell silent, and accusatory glances were cast at the middle-aged man here and there. The middle-aged man's once stately shoulders shrank smaller and smaller. Finally, the old man, who had noticed the murderousness in the room, coughed lightly and said, "I'm sorry.
"Uh-huh. What an amazing skill for someone so young. You must have been studying under a strict master, right, Zhang Hai? You're very talented, aren't you, little brother?"
The old man turned to the man seated next to him, a middle-aged man in a silk robe. The younger brother was dressed in a white robe, just like the old man, but he was still sipping his drink with a fat face. As Dong Ma listened to the music, he kept slurping his drink without stopping, and his face was already very drunk.
"Well, it's just that an ugly guy like me doesn't have your musical sensibilities. Eek!"
The man replied with a tongue-in-cheek remark. The sarcasm was evident.
He was the only one of those gathered here who showed no interest in the girl's abstinence. Even as she continued to play, even as all eyes were focused on her, he continued to empty his glass alone, as if he were ashamed of his inability to turn his blood into wine.
"You've had a little too much to drink."
The old man couldn't raise his voice at a time like this, so he could only give him a warning with his eyes. It was a strong drink to begin with, and it would be rude to the other patrons to drink it alone in such a setting. But the old man's warning had no effect.
"Well, what else can a cripple like me do but get drunk? Isn't that right, big brother?"
The man looked at the old man with wide, unhinged eyes and held out one sleeve in protest. His right sleeve was empty.
"One thousand!"
An old man with a toothache was impatient and shouted at the man.
"Tsk, tsk, I may be crippled, but I'm not deaf. Cluck, cluck!"
The One Thousand replied, refilling his cup with his remaining left hand.
"South Palace escort! I fear the vice-commander has had too much to drink. Please escort him to his room and let him rest."
The old man commanded, and the man who was standing behind the old man on his right responded with a siege.
"Yes, my lord! Come on, let's go, lieutenant-colonel."
Boom!
When the ordered escort extended his hand, Ilchun waved it away harshly.
"Don't touch it!"
Ilchun's sudden outburst made the place even more eerily quiet.
"Now it's a celebration? Shrug."
Yi Chen glanced at the old man with a shy glance and said something.
"……."
The old man didn't answer, his face rigid and his mouth tightly closed. It seemed to take a great deal of patience to keep his anger in check.
"You don't even want to talk to your ugly brother anymore, do you?"
When the excitement wore off, Ilchun turned his gaze and scanned the room. By this time, a silence had settled over the place, so thick you could almost hear a needle drop. The patrons were all desperate to avoid making eye contact with him, and the satisfaction of seeing that brought a small smile to his lips.
"Oh, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, you're so cold I'm cold. Hey, you. Did I mention you're the second Namgungjin of the Namgung family?"
One thousand questions were answered by the Southern Palace escort who was to take him away.
"Yes."
"From what I hear, you're even more capable than your brother."
Nam Gung-jin's eyes widened at the twisted question.
"Of course not," he said, "how dare I affect your power?"
A sneer tugged at the corners of Sun Chen's mouth.
"Hmmm, is that because his brother is here?"
Boom!
The glass clattered to the table with a gruesome thud. The man who slammed his glass down with a furrowed brow was a polite middle-aged man who had been sitting with a shaky face ever since he had made a mistake earlier.
"Look here, Lieutenant-Colonel, what do you want to hear from my brother, or do you have anything to say to me?"
Ilchuan's gaze rolled over to the middle-aged man.
"Ah, Mr. Branch Manager. I didn't realize you were here, did I?"
Given our earlier conversation and where we were sitting, it was a bit of a stretch to say that I didn't realize there was a middle-aged person in the room.
"You must be suffering for having a brother with such a fiery temper. An eldest grandson would never know such a thing. South Palace Guard, please continue to take care of my brother. He's the eldest grandson of our family and the head of the family, a thousand times more valuable than an outcast like me."
Namgung Jin's face contorted as he listened to Li Chen's words. The unpleasant language and extreme rudeness were unbearable, but as an escort, he couldn't bring himself to draw his sword on the person he was supposed to be serving. In addition, there was an untouchable hatred in Li Chen's words that was like a sharp thorn in his side.
"Moo, of course, I'd give my life for it."
At Namgungjin's barely spit out words, Ilchun smirked and waved his hand.
"Good luck, then."
Ilchun grabbed the bottle and rose from his seat. As he stumbled down the stairs, the tense patrons let out a long sigh they'd been holding in.
Awkward silence.
It is said that cotton, when wet, becomes as heavy as a log, but air, when silent, becomes heavier than iron.
The man called One Thousand disappeared from the banquet hall, but the silence he left behind weighed heavily on the room for a long time. No one dared to speak. They all hoped that someone other than themselves would draw the first blade. In times like these, a high ranking man must weep and eat mustard or lose the trust of his men. And it seemed to be a middle-aged man called the prefect who should hold the hilt.
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Hmmmmmmm, yeah, did I mention Yeonbi?"
The branch manager asked me if I had phlegm in my throat.
"Yes."
The girl's complexion was calm despite the chilly landscape she'd been in just a few moments before, and though she was covered in cotton, she looked very brave for someone less than twenty-four years old.
"To be so calm in a situation like that, that's a lot of mental discipline at such a young age!
He inwardly admired the calmness of the girl named Yanbi.
"I've heard that there is another art to the Mukyunbi of the Heavenly Pavilion besides music, isn't there?"
The words must have piqued the curiosity of the patrons, including the old man.
"Ho-ho, what else is that?"
The old man asked, looking intrigued.
"I'm afraid the rumors are overblown."
The Yeonbi was uncharacteristically modest for his age. The old man replied with an amused look on his face that he had regained his spirits.
"I don't know what this is, but let's see."
"Well, I'm afraid I'm going to mess up a good thing……."
The old man laughed and said he didn't want the Yeonbi. Fearing that the old man's refusal would lead to another awkward situation, the branch manager interrupted him with a hearty laugh.
"Hahahaha, you said that the swallows of the Heavenly Pavilion are harder to watch than a fairy dance, now I know what you mean!"
The old man nodded, as if his question had finally been answered.
"Hmph, a dance, is that what you call it, South Palace Commander?"
The old man asked, referring to the head of the branch as the General Commander of the Southern Palace. Apparently, the titles were the same. If so, then the man named Ilchun was called Vice-General, meaning he was a direct subordinate of the General of the Southern Palace. However, having been called "fiery-tempered" by his direct subordinate, he quickly hid his displeasure at the reputation and spoke to the old man in a cool voice.
"Of course! It's said that the dance is like a maiden's heavenly dance, and it's already famous in this part of Sichuan."
"Ho-ho, if that's the kind of dance you're talking about, I'd love to see it."
As the head of the Sichuan branch of the Southern Palace, he would have to somehow perform his famous dance on the Sichuan floor. You don't want to leave your guests disappointed. It's said that if you don't have enough to eat, you have to sacrifice your liver to the boss, so he decided to take advantage of the situation.
"Good! If your dancing is as good as it is rumored to be, and if you can thus liven up this place once more, I will reward you greatly!"
"Are you sure about that?"
The branch manager's suggestion was met with a gasp.
"Of course!"
He was right, he thought, and he sang a happy tune. But it was a premature celebration, and the girl was not as easily won over as he thought.
"But for someone like you to give back 'in a big way,' I'm afraid it's more than I, a young man, can handle."
He paraphrased, but in plain English, he was asking for a "big payoff" and a clear dollar amount. The branch chief swallowed hard. She was a young girl with a shell, and the kernel was a businessman with decades of experience at the top of the game, but he couldn't afford to be a dick about it, so he'd better be generous so there would be no surprises.
"Heh, heh, heh, night owl, I've got both hands on you. I'll wait no longer and collapse from exhaustion."
It wasn't until he saw the branch manager playfully raise his hands that Yunbi smiled. As a promise made by a high-ranking person in an important position, the unit of measure is naturally gold! In other words, the branch chief was metaphorically promising ten pieces of gold. Ten pieces of gold for a single dance is a windfall that would make commoners froth at the mouth.
"Okay, Foot, if you'd like to……."
Bam!
Yeonbi clapped his hands lightly, and the band that had been waiting in the wings thundered onto the podium.
"I'm surprised you called us, I thought your knuckles were rusting."
The old man who took the money spoke up.
"Oh, that's just old age and hardened bones. You're trying to show off your skills for once, aren't you?"
The old man with the drumsticks also spoke as if he had been waiting.
"They say good water makes good wine, and the same goes for dancing, so I don't want any crappy tunes."
It was the answer to Yeonbi that was both graceful and brutal.
"Hehe, I still have the ears of a young lady. It's a good thing, I've been bored lately with no place to show my skills."
The oldest blind man in charge of the koto(盲人) said cheerfully.
"What song?"
At the old man's question, Yunbi reached forward. His hand touched a neatly polished silver pommel. It had been handed to him by a nagging painter, who had cleaned up his surroundings without warning.
"Xiang Zheng's <金翅庇雪夜>."
The blind old man raised an eyebrow in surprise at Yanbi's comment.
"It's been a while… It's been a while since I've been able to use my skills."
It was a fantasy dance they had danced many times, but rarely. Today, they had guests, so they were determined to put on their best show. Still, these were men who had spent a lifetime practicing. As the exclusive musicians of the Sichuan First Temple, it was only natural that they would have near-masterly skills.
Saralak.
Yunbi muttered in a small voice that no one would hear as she removed the white cotton threads.
"That's what makes it worthwhile for my master to send me here."
Rattle, rattle…….
The tinkling of the bells and the sound of the bills rang out like the wind. The dance had already begun.
* * *
A luxurious room located in the backyard, not far from the main ballroom. Originally a room with a cozy bed and lavish decorations, it was now dark and barely outlined, with all the windows closed and draped in black cloth, even though it was still broad daylight outside. Not even the ubiquitous candles were lit in the room.
In the corner of that dark room, a slender girl sat hugging her knees.
Chirp! Chirp!
A small bird, the only living thing in the darkened room, chirps nervously, tapping the torch with its beak. Perhaps it was the pounding on the door from earlier.
Thump! Thump!
"Yerin, your uncle is here, and you will not come out and see him!"
"You can't do this, Lieutenant Commander!"
"Please go back."
"Shut up, how can an uncle need permission from each of his escorts to see his nephew?"
Chirp! Chirp!
The bird flapped its wings, chirping nervously as its anxiety grew. The girl squeezes her eyes shut tightly, straining against the fingers that hug her knees.
"The Great Lord has told us to let no one in. You know that, don't you, Lieutenant Commander?"
"Do you dare not know who I am?"
"Of course I know."
"And yet you dare to stand in my way?"
"We can't do anything about it, unless it's the Lord or Lady's will."
Boom!
"Eek, noisy things! Yerin, I know you're listening. I want you to come out and say something to these things!"
The girl, or Yerin, flinched and covered her ears. She buried her face between her knees and held her breath, as if if she breathed out loud she would be taken away.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!
…….
How much time has passed.
The silence I'd been craving had arrived.
When the commotion subsided and the birds were quiet, Yerin peeked her head out. What a pretty girl. Flesh as white as white jade, softly glowing even in a darkened room. Her two black pupils pierce through the darkness with a mysterious magic.
If anyone saw her, they would think she was beautiful. That's where the misery began. Yerin thought.
"Why are people so desperate to get their hands on me?
From a young age, she was at an unusually high risk of being kidnapped, but she owes it all to her father, Nabaxian, for the countless attempts to kidnap her. If it weren't for her father protecting her with all his might and power, she wouldn't be so safe.
He had plenty of bodyguards. But after the occasional incident of a bodyguard turning into a kidnapper, she was reluctant to use a male bodyguard, even if he was worth a million. He had used female escorts as a last resort, but they were hard to come by, and sometimes even they turned on him. Na Yerin's magic was overwhelming.
After a bizarre attempted kidnapping involving a female bodyguard two months ago, Na Baiqian has come to distrust any escort system. He was determined to keep his daughter close to him and protect her at all times. Especially since he was forced to come to Sichuan on business, his preparedness for danger was at an all-time high, and Ye Lin was living a life of near-confinement.
But she wasn't unhappy about it; she didn't know why it happened, but she knew it would happen again. All humans, except her parents and small children, were objects of terror to her. What's more, her unwanted but accidental ability exacerbated her claustrophobia.
Dragon eyes!
The ability to read fragments of minds. It wasn't like a mind reader. Rather, it was a feeling that flowed into her as the other's mind overflowed. It was never a pleasant experience.
"Why am I like this?
There were times when I resented it.
The danger of kidnapping was no end of trouble, and the minds of the people she glimpsed, especially the men, were uglier than Sagal's. It was as if she were peering into the deepest recesses of a swamp, where the oozing black masses of evil had accumulated. Each sting would leave her languishing for days, or even a week or more. She was too immune to the malice and poison of humans. It was too much for a pure heart to bear.
It was so ugly and dirty.
Just standing among the adults was enough to make me nauseous from the thick poison. To survive, I had no choice but to crumple my tiny body into a dark corner.
Everywhere she looked, there were no people. She wanted to run away with her parents to a place where there were no people, but it was impossible. She was still too young.
"I want to run away somewhere……."
Hugging her knees tightly in the darkened room, Yerin muttered to herself.
* * *
There were dozens of people in the middle of an elaborate feast. It was clear that this was a group of martial artists, as they were all praying and carrying weapons.
They were Nangong Hyun, the head of the Sichuan branch of the Sichuan Sword Sect, and his clan. Today, they were hosting a very important guest.
But for some reason, the normally blood and booze-fueled crowd was staring at one another, not even bothering to clink glasses. And they're all tapping their fingers on their knees and shaking their shoulders lightly. It was as if the last bit of sensitivity that had been crushed somewhere in their muscles was suddenly triggered by some unknown trigger into their artistic souls. The unknown trigger was the sight of a girl, Yunbi, dancing on the podium.
'It's only a dance, but she must have been taught by a renowned teacher to be able to reach such a level of skill at such a young age.
The old man sitting in the center pew, the best place to watch the dancing, nodded in admiration.
The golden wings sweep over the snowy night… Plausible, but not exactly a song for a sunny day. But as the delicate tinkling of the bells rang out like an incantation, and the cool sound of the gong swept through the hall like a breeze, people realized that the night had arrived.
A hem of inky blackness wraps around her body and fills her vision. A wave of inky blackness that seems to catch and yet not be caught, that seems to fly and yet binds the soul. But even the intoxicating darkness was drowned out by a blizzard of silver that scattered with the melodious sound of a golden koto.
Charlatan, Charlatan…….
Whenever the scepter, studded with shards of light that could be glass or pearls, was struck by Yanbi's hand, an indescribable sound of beauty shattered with the light. The silver scepter curled around the hem of her black robe, perfuming the dance like a plum blossom on a winter's night.
But it wasn't the dreamy darkness or the scattering of silver like plum blossoms that held everyone's attention. What emerged from the saran wrapper was a pair of piercing eyes that seemed to bore a golden soul into the depths of the abyss.
Beneath her thick lashes, her light-engraved eyes seemed to glow a transparent gold whenever the sunlight caught them. The color of gold is often described as a blazing fire, but this was the clear, cool hue of tiger's eye stone. Whenever its pupils swayed with a beautiful melody, everything around it seemed to lose its light.
"Hehe… indeed, the snowflakes are like wings of gold in the night."
The elasticity of an old man. He had forgotten how many times he had seen it. It wasn't just the beauty of the eyes, or the costume, or the melody. The old man wasn't an expert on dance or music, but to him, Yunbi's dance wasn't just a skill he'd learned to knit. It was the will to bring out the best in the body, to bring out its latent beauty, to create an illusion before your eyes, a skill that comes with thousands and tens of thousands of repetitions.
"A beautiful dance must be something like that.
It's an exquisite dance, each move graceful and graceful, yet with an unmistakable girlish strength. Anything that rises above a certain level can inspire a certain kind of awe in the uninitiated. Although martial arts and dance are different realms, the old man applauded generously.
"I thought it was going to be an unpleasant schedule, but it's surprisingly good.
As soon as he set foot on Sichuan soil, the head of the Sichuan branch, Nam Gung-hyun, arranged for an elaborate welcome ceremony to take care of business and inspect the seedlings at the same time.
Na Baiqian, who had been secretly annoyed at Namgung County's handling of the matter, prioritizing entertainment over business reports, now laughed heartily. It was always a pleasant experience to see something out of the ordinary, something extraordinary. The nerves that had been stirred up by what had happened earlier melted away like snow.
"But we'll see.
He had a thousand things to take care of. Mixing up the work was against his principles.
Chirp, chirp, chirp.
Finally, the bell shook as the music stopped. As if a spell had been broken, the fuel's dance came to a screeching halt. The night's waves dissipated, and the scattered snowflakes soaked into the ground. As she bowed her head, her golden wings fluttered and folded.
"Waaaaaaaaaah!"
The thunderous applause came long after everyone had woken up from the snowy night reverie the dance had created.
* * *
"Fucking perverted inspirations!"
In the cramped room, roughly tossing junk on the floor, was Yunbi, who had just returned from the main ballroom to the cheers of the guests.
"Where's the glare, where's the spit, where's the spit, where's the spit, where's the spit, where's the spit, where's the spit, where's the spit, where's the spit, where's the spit!"
Clack-clack-clack!
He's still stomping like he's not done. Strangely enough, the things that might be worth a bit of money were unharmed by the violent kicking.
"Ew!"
With a sigh, she sank down into the chair in front of the dais. Glancing to the side, she caught sight of a copper-colored mirror. It was expensive, with ornate carvings on both sides, and was almost exclusively for fuel.
My once icy mirror was now covered in smudges from my breath and hands. Luckily, it wasn't too inconvenient to use to touch up my makeup. When I looked into the mirror, an unfamiliar face greeted me.
"Chit!"
It's still an unfamiliar face.
"Why do I deserve this?"
The answer was obvious. What other reason could there be, the cause was so obvious.
"It's all because of that damn master!"