Confused, Wang Jun walked back into the bedroom. He noticed the headmistress preferred simple chambers and decorations, something he himself appreciated.
“Please open a drawer to your right,” the headmistress said. He nodded and opened the small drawer, revealing a tea set and what he recognized as high-quality tea.
“There’s no need to entertain me,” Wang Jun said. “You were mortally wounded by Spectral Assassins. Their ghostly wounds aren’t something that’s easy to recover from.”
“Please, I insist,” the headmistress said. “After all, I’m about to ask you for yet another favor. This time, however, I agree to your terms.”
“Splendid,” Wang Jun said. He picked up the tea set and turned toward the only light in the bedchamber.
Then he saw her. The woman he’d dreamed of for years. In his surprise, he dropped the tea set. Shadows caught it and brought it back to his shaking hands as he looked at the pretty girl in a red nightgown.
“I imagined many ways in which we’d meet again, but this wasn’t one of them,” Hong Xin said with a light smile. She motioned to the other chair. “Please. Sit.”
Though her appearance was mostly unchanged since they’d last met, her demeanor had changed tremendously. She held herself with a poise he couldn’t hope to imitate and grace that belied her years. He sat down weakly as she calmly poured him tea.
“How? Why? When?” Wang Jun mumbled.
“It’s a bit of a long story, and for now, I can only tell you the shortened version,” Hong Xin said. “When we parted ways last time, I was devastated. I felt useless and unwanted. It wasn’t your fault, but that I simply didn’t have the heart of a cultivator. I wallowed in self-pity, and it took a cruel man and his disgusting desires to give me the courage to fight back. I set fire to an inn and decided it was best that I disappear for a while.”
“Stonefell,” Wang Jun said.
“That’s right,” Hong Xin said. “Looking back, it makes sense that you’d try to find me. I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Not for lack of trying,” Wang Jun muttered.
“So I’ve gathered through my associates,” Hong Xin said. “In my travels, I met Hong Yinyue, a past headmistress of the Red Dust Pavilion. Through her heritage and her help, I infiltrated the organization and deposed the old headmistress. Then, after gaining control of what was left of that wretched place, I traveled to Gold Leaf City to stamp out what remained of the Red Dust mistresses. Which is how I got involved in this dirty business with the Spirit Temple.”
Wang Jun looked around, and once again he noticed how truly poor the place seemed. Not just the decorations, but even what the mistresses wore. Everything was superficial, completely lacking value and power. “I take it the poverty isn’t voluntary.”
Hong Xin shook her head. “We were instigated by the noble factions who’d lost out in the previous headmistress’s fall. They made us an offer we couldn’t refuse, and as a result, we began fighting the Spirit Temple. They have dirt on us, Wang Jun, dirt that the Church of Justice would stop at nothing to cleanse.”
“The soul trade,” Wang Jun said.
Hong Xin nodded. “Before Wang Ling began dealing in souls, it was the Red Dust Pavilion who did it. We would lure helpless victims away and use unforgivable methods to corrupt their spirits. With our knowledge of the heart, we were very good at it. But we were careless. We left evidence.”
“Thus the urns,” Wang Jun said.
Hong Xin nodded and summoned them beside the table. She poured them both another cup of tea. “By planting these urns in unknown locations in the seven houses, we are evening the playing field. They can expose us all they want, but we’ll implicate them in return. The Golden Kingdom won’t allow them to escape unharmed if they’ve dealt in the soul trade.”
She held her hand to her freshly bandaged wounds. “Ideally, I would have been planting the evidence right now. But I’m injured, and time is limited. I trust Bai Ling and Ji Bingxue with my life, of course. But you’re good at this sort of thing, aren’t you? If you hid them well and set up contingencies in case we were exposed or killed…”
“I can do that,” Wang Jun said. “I’ll do it right away.” He swept up the urns and gave Hong Xin a reassuring smile. “I should go now, though, to minimize the risk of getting caught.”
Hong Xin nodded. “Thank you. My sisters and I don’t have anywhere else to go, Wang Jun. The Red Dust Pavilion changed us. That wretched place leaves dreadful scars that won’t disappear no matter how hard you try.”
“Don’t worry,” Wang Jun said. “You’ll be safe. I’ll make sure of it.” He waved his hand, and a portal of shadows appeared. Just as he was about to step through, however, a hand suddenly grabbed him and pulled him back.
Hong Xin pulled him into her embrace. She kissed him deeply, and her lips were like fire that burned through his very soul. He felt warmth unlike anything he’d ever experienced, and for a moment, he forgot about the betrayal he’d experienced a few hours prior. When he opened his eyes, he noticed Hong Xin had her hand on his heart.
“I can see you’re hurting so badly you can barely stand it,” Hong Xin whispered. “But you shouldn’t let it break you. It’s just a setback, nothing more. Remember that if your heart hurts, I can fix it. Just trust that I can always fix it.”
Wang Jun closed his eyes and basked in the warmth of her touch. He felt his emotions normalize and his rage subside. He began thinking a little more clearly and remembered that it wasn’t all bad. He still had Elder Bai, Wang Bing, and a host of capable assistants. His brother might be trading in souls, but they were now evenly matched. A few
