Chapter 15 (1/2)

Ice Fantasy Chapter 15 – Who Is Shang Lie

That was a big courtyard, the snow on the stone floor was white and no one seemed to have stepped on it so the place must have just snowed. The surrounding was so quiet that we could hear the crus.h.i.+ng of snow as we walked on the stone floor.

Pian Feng hit the bronze ring on the door and that scarlet red door gave off a deep and thick sound, but there didn’t seem to have any sound inside.

“Did the man just trick us?” Pian Feng asked.

Right after Pian Feng finished his words, the doors opened on its own and there were seven people inside.

The doors closed on their own the moment we went in. Just like how they opened on their own.

“Who is Shang Lie?” Pian Feng asked.

No one answered.

The room has a window and from that window, we could see the scenery outside; that was a courtyard filled with snow, there were blooming red plum flowers and the snow on the flowers made them looked extremely cold; when the wind blew past the tree, all the snow would fall slowly down. There was a young man standing by the window. He has a white jade hanging on his waist, and next to the jade was a black sword. Other than that, he did not have other expensive items on him. He just stood there without saying a word and not moving at all, it’s only his long robe flattering as the wind blew into the window. He just looked like a sharp sword and he didn’t seem to be affected by our five extra presences.

Next to him and that was the far corner of the room; there was an old man with silvery white hair sitting there. His white hair did not mean that he was a pure blood but he was actually a mortal. His outfit was extremely elegant - purple long robe with golden st.i.tched dragon on it. His gaze was exceptionally scornful, I could see despise in his eyes and he was tr.i.m.m.i.n.g his nails leisurely. Anyone could see that his nails were his handy weapons because they were sharp and hard like they were ten compact swords.

On the other side of the room, there was a middle-aged woman in flamboyant clothes. She still looked pretty charming despite her age. Her hair was all bun up and there were many tiny hairpins on her hair bun. But I knew those weren’t any other ordinary hairpins, those accessories could become her killing weapons easily. Suddenly my gaze was s.h.i.+fted to her hand because she was wearing a pair of thin transparent gloves and without any hesitation I deduced she was a poison expert.

In the centre of the room, a lady was playing a zither and the sound of the zither filled the room inside. She looked very young but there’s an mismatching vicissitudes on her face and there were wrinkles sighted at the corners of her eyes. While I was observing the lady, I noticed Chaoya was also looking at her. I saw Chaoya turning at me to give me a smile, and I knew what she meant immediately.

There was a couch near the lady and there were three persons on it - a tall burly man sitting on the left and his clothes was open, revealing his bare chest even during this cold weather. On the right was a beautiful yet arrogant looking lady in fine clothing, and then a servant was kneeling by next to her feet, ma.s.saging them.

I turned to see Yue Shen looking at me and then she nodded her head, I knew she shared the same deduction as me.

I walked towards the young man with sword and he turned to face me. “You have foresight to actually know that I am Tai Zi.”

“You are not.” I said.

The expression on the young man turned embarra.s.sed. “Why can’t I be Tai Zi?”

“Because you are not relaxed enough, you looks tensed. You pretend not paying attention to us when we entered the room but you are afraid of people seeing your fl.u.s.tered look, so you faced your back towards the window.”

That young man stepped away without saying a word and I could see resentment in his eyes.

Yue Shen walked to the old man and the latter let out a sigh. “Seems like you guys had seen through me. You are right, I’m Tai Zi.”

Yue Shen smiled and told him. “You are definitely not the one.”

“Why?” The old man asked but his face was twitching uncontrollably.

“Because you are more fl.u.s.tered than the young man and you are tr.i.m.m.i.n.g your nails to hide your feeling of being lost but little did you expect this to even expose your true feeling further. You pretended to be the elegant one here by way of your outfits and despised gaze, but if I didn’t guess wrongly, you are of the lowest position in here.”

The old man’s face turned purple because of aggravation.

Then I continued to walk towards the woman with hairpins. “Don’t tell me I am not as well?” She smiled and asked me.

“You are not.”

“Why?”

“If I’m not wrong, you are a poison expert.”

“Correct.

”Then you are not Tai Zi.”

“Why?”

“Because the hearts of people who use poison are not pure, and even if they can be the best a.s.sa.s.sin, they can never become a leader. If Tai Zi can rule the whole city, it will mean he doesn’t even need to resort in using secret poison weapon to get to his motive. Even if Tai Zi was proficient in using poison, there’s no need to have so many hairpins on the hair bun and show us the gloves so obviously. This is originally a good idea to make us believe that people with better a.s.sa.s.sination skill would have higher status since this is the territory of the a.s.sa.s.sin guardian. But when I was still a child, my father had once told me that a person could never attain the highest status if he or she isn’t a big-hearted or n.o.ble person.”

Chaoya walked towards the lady who was playing the zither and told her. “You can rest now.”

That lady looked at Chaoya without saying a word.

Chaoya smiled and said, “Other than Die Che, no one can understand music more than me. Your music is filled with the softest and most delicate emotions, it means your heart is the same the music you just played. It’s impossible for Tai Zi to possess such delicate state of mind, and even if Tai Zi were to be a lady, she must have possessed a tough and unyielding inner thoughts.”