act49side

Ch'en steps back and prepares to engage, only for Mo Yi to step forward and block Chun's attack.

So the Supervisor of the Sui Regulator is not above sneak attacks... like a thief.

One can be subtle and reserved with words, but action must be decisive and without hesitation. It is as true in weiqi as it is with all things in life.

Supervisor...

I have read about the writing knife in the past. In Jie's hands, it can indeed alter history and greatly influence events.

But we are not proxies. Our tampered historical records will never endure for long!

An instant is all it takes to activate Bu Fan.

Besides...

After this, there will no longer be a disgraced deposed crown prince in Yan, only a pure True Lung whose legitimacy is beyond question—is that right?

That is not the Sui Regulator's concern.

Since her death, Great Yan's history is already in tatters. One more change will hardly make a difference—

How can you be so sure that we cannot record history truthfully?

Ch'en Chao-ch'ien... Magistrate of Water for the Sky Mirror Pavilion.

I wanted to ask you as well, Supervisor...

For many years, you assisted Jie in compiling history in her office... why is it that you have now turned to tampering with history?

The records of Yan are classified into four parts: Classics, History, Philosophy, and Literature.

The divisions of History and Philosophy may seem distinct, but even the masterwork of the one venerated as the Saint of History was, merely the personal treatise within Philosophy.

Those who follow, modeling their brushes after his style, produce what is ultimately but the statement of a single house, and the House of Yan.

Those writings are no more than comments after the fact. The truth has long faded into the cracks of time.

How could you say that?

You must have read the Saint of History's notes. Despite imprisonment and torture, he always wrote the facts as they were and exposed injustice.

You must have read the history tomes of the Sky Mirror Pavilion, written by thousands of sages who poured their hearts and souls into them, striving to set the record straight, to weigh every word in judgment of right and wrong.

You must have heard of unofficial historians—meticulously investigating and analyzing their sources, coveting not the court's wealth and rank, but striving only to uphold justice for the common people.

I saw with my own eyes the elders of my family dying on white fields of snow because they wanted to write down the truth... nay, because they were honest to themselves!

These people, who wrote history with their own flesh and blood, who willingly became the flame to illuminate the truth even for a moment—

Who are they to you, Supervisor?

They are the writers.

True and false, right and wrong, these things always depend on the stance of the writer, rather than on what is actually right.

You ought to know—even with the revisions of countless esteemed scholars, the histories we read are still rife with embellishment, omissions and lies.

The ironic thing is... we could not even call such things 'evil'.

The curled leaves make a sharp sound against each other, questioningly, lamentingly.

Stand back, Ch'en Chao-ch'ien. You are neither Candleholder, nor Shanhaizhong, nor the niece of a deposed crown prince. This is not your fight.

I—

Did the Imperial Historical Cabinet truly take up responsibility for writing history after her passing? Did the Sky Mirror Pavilion truly fulfill its duty of righting the wrongs?

You are the descendant of historians. If you take up their mantle, can you truly guarantee that every word will be true for all eternity?

I...

No. You dare not shoulder this responsibility.

I know about you.

You wanted to change the Sky Mirror Pavilion's culture of obsession with the analysis of ancient history while neglecting recent history. That's why you took up a minor position at the Sky Mirror Pavilion, hoping to lead by example by studying your family's history.

Decades, centuries, millennia. How could you claim to speak for history, when you have not borne witness to time on the scale that she knew?

Stand back.

The maple leaves sharpen.

This time, no one saw what Chun did. All she did was wave her sleeve; the next instant, Ch'en Chao-ch'ien was lying unconscious on the floor.

Chao-ch'ien?!

Supervisor—

She's just unconscious. She'll wake up in a couple of hours. There is no need for her to sink any deeper into this mire. She's but an unfortunate ordinary woman. She shouldn't have to be like you... or like me.

I hear Elves live a long time.

We do.

You don't believe in history or in lasting justice in people's hearts... because the one who had walked side-by-side with you on the long road of time died because of you?

This question is not yours to ask, Ch'en Hui-chieh.

As an Elf, you don't know where you came from, whether there are any of your kind left, or whether there'll ever be a home for you—

My past, present and future belong to Yan.

And that involves tossing your fellows into the abyss?

Having her die in Wang's place was the appropriate decision under the circumstances! This is beyond all doubt!

Compiling history, recording the passage of time... have you any idea of the power of these 'years', the power of time?

'The beast walks with the generous earth.' She had gone one step further. Her power was rooted in words, and lived in history. As long as the records of Yan continued, her power would continue to grow without end.

If left unchecked, what sort of monster would be created in the end? It would be something even more powerful, even more terrible than Sui itself!

She was my mentor, my confidant, my friend. But I could not endanger Great Yan with my own selfish interests.

I've seen people like you... people who abandoned their friends, but long to see them again in dreams, in order to beg for forgiveness.

Head of the Sui Regulator, what would you do if there was a way to see her again?

I warn you, do not play games with the lives of millions for the fantasies of a madman!

Wang did not go into the Tomb of Sui for the sole purpose of eliminating Sui.

The object that he had you retrieve from the Garden of Grotesqueries surely has something to do with his deranged plans to bring the dead back to life.

I'm surprised... I thought you got along well with her when you were her Candleholder.

Isn't there a part of you, somewhere, that wants his plan to succeed?

He already failed a hundred and twenty years ago. He will fail again. Allowing him to continue on his reckless path will only lead to more disaster.

How can I trust a madman who treats heaven and earth as his weiqi board, and all lives and souls as his pieces? How can I trust a sinner who caused the death of his sister?

How can I trust the obsession of a Feranmut?

Because, like you, he walked this land, lived in the seasons, and vowed to become 'human', to become part of this land and those who live upon it.

'Human'?

Humans are humans because they live and die. This is why they shine, as the candle's fleeting glow.

She has lived, and she has died. Wang seeks to disturb the slumber of the dead, in defiance of the laws of Heaven.

Even if his delusions somehow came true, how can you be sure that it is the departed herself who has returned and not a geist, a hollow puppet that only carries her image?

You just don't want to believe.

Things seldom go the way people want them to.

The outcome may not be exactly what we want. But to be shackled by regret and not even have the courage to take a single step...

...That is nothing but cowardice.

You have a way with words, Ch'en Hui-chieh. But I don't see how you intend to carry out the justice you speak of.

The token and the key. I am only here for them.

Continue to play games with words, and I will crush you before dealing with them.

Let's see who's crushing who.

What about you, Zuo Le?

I apologize, but I must cause offense.

Hah. So be it.

Those who stay near ink get stained. You have made some good friends, Candleholder Zuo.

Do your worst.