"It's beautiful—haunting, even. A woman like you shouldn't be in a place like this."
"You… can hear it?" Nongyu turned, genuinely surprised to see Goku.
"The Heart-String Melody—if you listen with your heart, you'll hear it," Goku said evenly.
A glimmer lit Nongyu's eyes.
"I'm curious," Goku added. "If you were to give the song a voice, what wonders would appear?"
Light flared in his palm; a wutong zither took shape and settled onto the low table before her.
"This…?" Nongyu bent to examine it, fingertips brushing the body. "What is it made of?"
"Phoenix wutong," said Goku.
Her eyes widened. "The phoenix-perched wutong of legend…?"
"And this one is ten-thousand-year wutong."
Nongyu stared at the instrument, stunned. She sat, hands lifting almost of their own accord to the strings. Slowly, a pristine piece flowed out—'Birdsong of the Empty Hills.'
Notes lilted and wound through the air, drifting like breeze through clouds. One by one, birds winged in from afar, alighting across Que Pavilion—a hundred flocking like a painted whirlwind, circling and wheeling in a living halo. The sight surpassed any tale, for the zither itself was wrought from millennial wutong.
"This…" Mo Ya and Bai Feng watched from the eaves, astonished at the gathering of birds.
"She truly is uncommon," Mo Ya murmured. "No wonder she drew that man's eye."
When the piece ended, Nongyu let her hands fall and spoke softly: "All things—birds and beasts—have spirit. Listen with your heart, and you can hear the truth inside a melody. This is Birdsong of the Empty Hills: a lone bird lost in a deep valley, flying under a sky so vast it no longer knows where to go. Thank you for the zither. It let me play the most beautiful music of my life."
"Come," Goku said quietly. "This place isn't for you."
Nongyu turned and smiled. "Thank you—but I can't leave with you."
"I'm going to kill Ji Wu Ye. You don't need to stay."
"Hm? I don't understand what you mean," she replied, a brief glint crossing her gaze before she masked it.
"Chi Lian is being reckless. With your skills, do you truly think you can kill Ji Wu Ye?"
"Chi Lian… who?" Nongyu asked blankly.
"Princess Honglian," he said. He never called her by the palace name; to him she was always Chi Lian.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Nongyu said, eyes steady and unreadable.
"Forget it. If you're set on trying, go—but you'll fail." Goku wouldn't argue; someone with Nongyu's resolve wouldn't be swayed by a few words. "Still, don't worry. I stand with Princess Honglian."
He vanished.
---
Dawn, one day before Princess Honglian's wedding.
"Speak! Who gave you this zither?" Ji Wu Ye thundered in Que Pavilion, jabbing a finger at the instrument.
"I don't know. It simply appeared," Nongyu answered, calm and composed.
"Hmph." Seeing no tell, Ji Wu Ye turned his attention to the strings and yanked.
"—tch." He hissed as blood beaded across all five fingertips. The strings looked unchanged—no stain, no burr. Surprise flickered in his eyes. "So it's a treasure… but a hurting, cursed thing. Useless to me."
He drew his waist sword and slashed down at the strings.
"Don't!" Nongyu cried.
Too late. Steel struck—
Ding.
Ji Wu Ye stared, dumbstruck, at the two halves of his blade. The broken length clattered to the floor with a bright chime, as if laughing at him.
"Impossible. What are these strings made of?" Shock gave way to greedy delight; he cradled the zither like a prize.
Nongyu's eyes chilled. While he stood exposed and unguarded, she slipped a narrow bronze spike from her hair and stepped forward. Her hand blurred—straight for his heart.
"You—" Rage twisted Ji Wu Ye's face. "You dare—kill me?" Blood lined his lip; his voice thinned, but fury sharpened his features to something cruel.
His moment of distraction had given her the opening—and she'd taken it.
"Beauty as blade… but to kill me? Not yet." Ji Wu Ye barked a laugh and gathered himself.
Nongyu's heart lurched. No matter how hard she pressed, the spike refused to sink further. It pierced his layered armor, but not his flesh… His external arts are monstrous…
"Haah!"
Power exploded from Ji Wu Ye's core. The shockwave flung Nongyu across the room; the spike ripped free, flipped, and snapped her shoulder strap before burying itself deep in a pillar. The bronze spared her skin, but the backlash drove her into the wall and to the floor, breathless and badly shaken.
"Who sent you?" Ji Wu Ye demanded coldly.
"Your blood-debts—anyone would be right to end you," Nongyu said, voice weak but icy with hate.
"Many want me dead. Few dare try. Who do you serve—Zhang Kaidi? Han Fei? Or—"
Nongyu's lips curved in a faint, contemptuous smile. Her teeth pressed down; a thread of red trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"Poison?" Ji Wu Ye's eyes narrowed. He lunged to seize her throat—
—and a figure stepped from thin air between them.
Ji Wu Ye halted mid-strike and sprang back, wary. "So you're the hand behind her."
"Quick on the uptake," Goku said, giving Ji Wu Ye a single, disinterested glance before kneeling to lift Nongyu. "I told you to leave with me. Why suffer this?"
"Why are you… here?" Nongyu whispered. "Didn't you leave?"
"I'm here to take you out," Goku said, smiling faintly.
"Too late. I've already taken poison." Her answering smile was fragile and heartbreakingly beautiful.
"Poison? In my eyes, it means nothing." Soft radiance bloomed in Goku's palm.
"Hah! Turning your back on me? Bold," Ji Wu Ye snarled. With a snap he snatched up the broken half of his sword and slashed for Goku's spine.
Two shadows—one black, one white—flashed between them. The black swept low, the white struck high; a whipping kick caught Ji Wu Ye full on and blasted him backward. The black figure flipped and landed lightly, ready to follow through.
_____
T/N:
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