Rising Phoenix

Despite everything, Feng Zhiwei was happy that Gu Nanyi took initiative in trying to learn something and her mood lifted as she immediately explained: "That is called disappointment."

"Oh, disappointment." Young Master Gu nodded with understanding, continuing his dedicated search for that disappointed feeling.

Above them, a voice quietly sighed and said: "It's useless."

A figure soundlessly fell downwards like a cloud descending from heaven. Feng Zhiwei only saw a flash of white robe as the man flit downwards with his peculiar body technique and the next thing she knew a stranger stood before her, his back facing her.

The man was tall and slender and wore a well cut white robe, and he stood like a solid mountain with sheer cliffs falling into calm valleys.

Feng Zhiwei examined the man and found his figure rather familiar, but when the man turned around, all she saw was a poorly crafted wooden mask covering his face. The man was incredibly blatant in hiding his identity.

Feng Zhiwei smiled and stood, greeting the man: "You must be the master who saved my life. May I be bold enough to ask the honorable master's name? Please accept my gratitude."

The man stood still, silently examining her as Feng Zhiwei stepped forward and began kneeling.

The man was startled, expecting only a courteous bow. He hurriedly flicked his sleeve to stop her kowtow, and his Kungfu whipped the wind, flashing forward with grace and elegance.

Feng Zhiwei stared, and then the memories came flashing back as she cried out: "It's you!"

A black sleeve floating through the air, tossing a booklet towards her.

After being banished from the Qiu Mansion, she had "happened" upon a black robed man and was forced to be a "servant" for a while. He had taught her the basics of Kung Fu cultivation and been given both a body movement technique and the mysterious booklet that had aided her rise in the world.

After spending every day with him for over a month, she had long since memorized the particular flow of his Qi. He could disguise his appearance, but his Kung Fu remained unchanged.

In the same small yard, while she had been escorting Ning Yi to "find the killer," she had stumbled upon this man and Gu Nanyi "fighting" before Gu Nanyi swept her away.

Afterwards, Gu Nanyi had gotten lost, and so she had picked him up, and Gu Nanyi had just innocently allowed her to take him away up till this very day.

When she had brought him away, she had been testing the waters, thinking that people would be close by chasing them, but in the end that never happened.

Now she understood that none of those encounters had been accidents; around every corner people lay in wait, plans and schemes everywhere. If she had not happened upon them in this manner, they would have simply waited and taken a different approach.

A calm smile settled over Feng Zhiwei's lips, her eyes unamused.

The man stood and quietly watched her; finally, he smiled helplessly and replied: "I've been tricked by the young miss once again."

A thousand thoughts raced through Feng Zhiwei's mind. She thought back to everything in her life, from her travails up to the Qiu Mansion misery and the adventures since her banishment. Everything she had thought so straightforward and natural turned out not to be straightforward and natural at all; from the very beginning, it looked like she had been walking the road that others had paved for her. She had thought herself in control, but now it seemed that she had been a puppet all along.

This realization was not easy to accept.

"Why?" Feng Zhiwei finally asked, cutting straight to the heart.

The white robed man bent to take Chunyu Meng's pulse. His words were calm as he replied: "Young miss, you've forced me to show myself today, but in the future I will not be so easily provoked. Why concern yourself with understanding everything? Can we not return to how we were before?"

"No." Feng Zhiwei replied firmly. "Sow nothing, reap nothing. I cannot sincerely accept this protection without understanding the reason."

"It is not yet time to explain." The white robed man replied. "Young miss, rest assured, we mean you no harm."

"I understand. You saved my life." Feng Zhiwei smiled. "But people often do bad things with good intentions, do you not agree?"

"Young miss does not need to worry about this." The man chuckled. "We will not intervene in your decisions, we simply wish to protect your life."

"If that is your only concern, I am even more anxious." Feng Zhiwei sighed and she explained. "Where is my virtue or my talent? I am alone in this world, why do I deserve such great protection? The fates will punish me for accepting more than I deserve."

"Whether you are deserving, we understand." The man replied placidly, ignoring her question as he had Chunyu Meng lay flat and took out his acupuncture needles. "Does the young lady want to save him? If you do not, we can move this conversation to the front hall and slowly talk it out."

Feng Zhiwei smiled furiously as she twirled and walked away. "Looks like I have to teach Brother Gu well so that one day he will explain everything to me."

"That would be best." The man replied, his eyes sad as he turned towards Gu Nanyi and his walnuts. "If you can, I'm willing to exchange all our secrets so that he might walk into the world."

Leaving the man behind, Feng Zhiwei stepped out into the sun. She closed her eyes and faced the orange autumn sun, her face calm in the warmth but her heart a mess.

She had finally confirmed part of her long held suspicion, but the truth did not set her at ease. All she felt was a heavier weight — there was no random fortune in this world; everything had a cause.

But this group of people refused to give her the answers.

Pushing away the anxiety, Feng Zhiwei cuddled the two little pen monkeys and headed back to the Judicial Commissioner's Yamen to investigate the corpses again.

She had thought of the pen monkeys when she had seen the scratches on the corpses, and she was certain now that these dead men were part of the same group that had hunted Ning Yi and her across Longxi Province. They had tried to strike again as Ning Yi marched his army to Minnan, but when their plan failed, why had they fled to Feng Zhou City instead of Minnan?

She carefully examined the eyes of the corpses. They all had signs of the "Big Boss's" attack and had been blinded before they had died. That was why their gazes were so strange.

But where was this "Big Boss" now? Every time it opened its eyes, a person would definitely lose his sight; if it were brought to the right target, what kind of havoc would it cause?

"Recently, a group of Shangguan members were investigated in a matter regarding dispossession of land." Tao Shifeng explained to Feng Zhiwei. "His Highness buried some of the case files and told us to show them only to Brother Wei, if you will…"

Ning Yi had buried files? Something was definitely off. Feng Zhiwei nodded and followed Tao Shifeng to the secret documents room.

As she flipped through the files, her face grew solemn. "Military troops were involved?"