NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9 - Answer (IV)
"Was that the truth?" Bai Guo asked.
Huang Huoyu answered his question with a big smile.
Bai Guo realized that he was being foolish. No matter what she said, no matter how long he would continue to know her, there was never going to be anything about her that he could be convinced of with words alone. Even if the words were her own.
Every step of the way, he had to force himself to believe.
"The Golden Witch..." She suddenly muttered. "At times I found myself wondering - who has ever called me that on this journey? My very first title... It was just a nickname you made for me, wasn't it?"
Just how deep did his misunderstanding run, Bai Guo wondered. If he had known from the very beginning, could he have done something differently?
"Master..." He tried to speak. "I didn't know. I'm..."
Huang Huoyu stepped forward and brought her hand down on his head. She ruffled his hair.
Even now that Bai Guo knew the truth, he could not see her as what she claimed to be. And it had never been about the enormity of her stature. It was that which dwelled behind her gaze of gold that always led him astray. Those peculiar eyes of hers that he came to associate with cruelty now held a tenderness that made him question himself yet again.
Perhaps there really never existed a child named Huang Huoyu. Brought into the world for such a singular purpose, raised by the most notorious villain of his era, could she have really had anything resembling a childhood?
"Didn't you hear me back there?" She asked. Still she was beaming. "Many have tried to see me killed. I can't bring myself to hold a grudge against them all. In fact, some of them I have even come to like quite a bit. It doesn't bother me. So don't you worry about a thing."
Despite the cheer in her voice, Bai Guo thought he saw her golden eyes glistening. She twirled away.
Bai Guo clenched his fists. "Master, I cannot just stand by and let you go through with this! You know that! You don't have to do this. We could just continue as we were! Travel the world together, find all the martial arts you could ever want. So, please... Don't..."
"You don't need to force yourself." She said. "I do understand, you know. Perhaps you don't believe me, but I really do. We are both just following the wills of our fathers."
Hearing those words, he was left without hope. Because he knew then, that there really was nothing he could have done or said. From the very beginning, it was all set in stone for them both.
Huang Huoyu half-turned towards him. "If the time does come that you ever change your mind... you know where to find me. You will always be welcome, my disciple."
And then she was gone.
...
Bai Guo returned to the throne room. Wu Rong remained as she was, still struggling with her shock.
"Lady Consort!" Bai Guo dropped to his knees. "Your orders, please!"
His words finally snapped her out of it.
"Explain something to me. Does your master not realize that you betrayed her? I'm surprised you haven't left with her."
"She knows! And though she may have spared my life, nothing has changed! My convictions remain the same! She must be stopped!"
Wu Rong spent a long time deep in thought.
"Take my token. Deliver an urgent summons for the Head Investigator. This is all you can do now."
"Yes!"
When the young man was gone, Wu Rong anxiously ran her fingers across her scalp.
"Twelve years old? Oh, like hell! She's just trying to get under our skin." Even without having to turn towards her bodyguard, Wu Rong already knew the kind of doubtful look he must have had on his face. "You know what she's like! That woman has a flair for the dramatic! Always wearing masks, toying with her foes, making a show out of every battle... This was just another little performance. She's already inhuman enough as it is, and she still wants to make herself look even more mysterious? She's just full of it!"
Her words slowly drained the skepticism out of Cao Lai. But Wu Rong herself seemed to find little relief in her conclusions.
"We can't flee this time." She said. "We don't have any other experts backing us, not on the level of the Sword Sage or elder Ma. There will be no relief force waiting for us. There's no time to run and hide and plot from the shadows. It's one thing for her to go about killing people at her own pace and whimsy as she had been thus far, but if we allow someone like her to hold real power over the people for any amount of time, the consequences would be unthinkable. Everything we've built here... she'll destroy everything. We need to fight now, while we still have at least some means. I know what you must be thinking: it's unsafe, we should run... But this time, there's no choice."
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"What I'm thinking?" Cao Lai snorted. "This is the only time I'll get to say this, because now it finally doesn't count as disobedience. If you ask me, you're way too cautious. ...Your highness." He hurried to tack that on at the end. "And maybe that's what it takes to run a country, but me, I wouldn't know a damn thing about that. I'm just the emperor's loyal guard dog, and this whole time you've had my leash on way too tight. There were so many times I could have nipped the problem in the bud for you if you'd just let me. But the Jade Princess' word is law, so what could I do?"
Wu Rong asked, "Cao Lai, if it comes down to it... could you really defeat her?"
"Oh, so now you're asking. It's about time. Why didn't you ask me that when those flamboyant bastards decided to squat in your home? You really think I couldn't have taken the Itinerant Fairies? Have you really got that little faith in me? Well, I guess how could you? You never let me show off these imperial techniques of yours."
"Listen." He continued. "When steel flies, anything can go wrong, anyone can die at any moment. Nothing's guaranteed. In the world of combat, no one can claim with absolute certainty that they can defeat another. But here's one thing that I can be absolutely sure of - around me, no one can claim to be invincible. Not Tao Geming, not the Sword Sage, and especially not some overgrown little girl. No one in the whole damn world."
Wu Rong exhaled sharply. Cao Lai's words lit a spark in her eye.
Her expression turned stern, resolute. She called an attendant and issued summons for her ministers. Early the next morning, her hall was filled with people. Wu Rong donned her regal garments and took her seat on the throne.
"We should consider ourselves in a state of war." Wu Rong declared. "Yesterday, a martial artist intruded into this palace and made her hostile intentions clear. Her name is Huang Huoyu, but you know her by her many titles. The Golden Witch, Lady Clear Sky, the Yellow Fox, the Kunlun Slayer... I have put all of her known aliases and associations into writing. Distribute the documents."
As the servants carried out the task, the hall descended into hushed, disbelieving chatter. "I've heard of some of these. They were all the same person?"
Wu Rong continued, "Head Investigator Li Bingwen shall explain her past activities in more detail."
The elderly man detailed her movements based on what information the Investigative Bureau could gather. Some of it was inaccurate, some was understated, and some was false in its entirety; the true intent behind his report was to provide a general estimate of the forces that could potentially be at her command.
Li Bingwen tallied up more than twenty kingdoms that she had passed through, any and all of which could have been her allies.
His summary had the ministers paling in fright. The chatter picked up in volume.
Among the indistinct noise, one sentiment rang out clearly. One of the ministers summed it up just a little too loudly.
"How could we possibly stand a chance?"
"Nonsense!" Wu Rong's voice sharply cut through the gossip, instantly silencing the hall. "Of the many sects that call themselves kingdoms, in this era we are the only place worthy of such a title! Despite having only a single city to our name, it is more prosperous than any other in the whole world, and our martial artists are the most numerous and the best organized! It was Huang Huoyu's mistake that she has given us the opportunity to mount a concentrated resistance. And because of her arrogance, our victory is in fact all but assured. And this is only possible because of your hard work, all of you esteemed ministers! So don't go spitting in your own faces. The only challenge that remains before us is to go through the bureaucratic process with all due alacrity and efficiency. Bring forth the military register."