act49side

Hah, hah...

Do you... intend to use Heaven's Eye.

...Scared?

Skillful, but not yet the peak of perfection.' The Grandmaster once said of your swordplay.

Your skill has improved much in five years, and you've surpassed my expectations in comprehending Chi Xiao's techniques.

But you are still one step away from Heaven's Eye.

The eye of Heaven sees all and nothing.

Only when the clouds are parted is Heaven's wrathful eye revealed.

Let your heart guide the sword, never looking back. Turn around, and the sword loses its sharpness, harming the user.

I was only reminding you of its form... but I see you remembered it all.

But you should be well aware a fog remains in your heart, so the technique is beyond your ability.

Drop your sword. I especially don't want to go that far with you.

Will you use it though, if I don't give you the writing knife?

...Just like you did thirty five years ago?

Don't force my hand, Hui-chieh.

When you walked out of the Forbidden City forty years ago, when you decided whether Tal and her father would live or die, did you do it with the technique's ideals... 'never looking back'?

Hui-chieh!

If that's what Chi Xiao's final technique demands, then I shall never be able to unleash it.

Trial. Justice.

Good and evil, right and wrong—they aren't weights you can easily tell which is better when placed on two sides of a scale... 'Don't judge a life until its end' was never a positive term to use.

The same goes for people, and even more so. They shouldn't be used and then unceremoniously abandoned.

Workers in the Victorian siege, warriors of the Ursus tundra, and even the casino bosses in Dossoles. All of them understand that.

So you <i>are</i> right. I won't use Heaven's Eye. I can't learn it. It's not my bladework.

What are you getting at?

More than keeping a resolute will to abandon everything, I'd rather pick the path of knowing what I find impossible.

Hui-chieh... you still don't understand!

You're right. I don't.

I don't actually understand what happened that night, whether your father actually died by Chi Xiao or something more sinister.

I don't understand what you were thinking. I do know Edward and Tal both bore the curse of their bloodline, while I could only watch from the sidelines.

I don't understand why Mother resented you, Father, and even me on her deathbed.

I'm only clear on one thing. And Tal knows it too.

Apologies from the dead are meaningless. If there are people you want to apologize to, then tell them you're sorry while you're still alive.

Otherwise, you're just a coward consumed by guilt to the brim, putting on a heartless and stoic act for a ridiculous facade.

I won't let you keep making the same mistakes.

There is no real merit in winning a verbal fight.

If you truly have a strike that surpasses Heaven's Eye, you shall indeed become a legendary Yanese swordswoman.

Show me. Prove with my blood that you are right.

I'll show you...

Ch'en silently switches Chi Xiao to her left hand, and wields the writing knife with her right.

I'll prove that if the dilemma itself is fundamentally wrong, you'll never get the right answer, no matter which side you take.

I'll prove that before we reach an inevitable dead end, we can take a step back and consider other options.

A choice that requires no sacrifice or abandonment, but allows all things to thrive.

You plan to use Chi Xiao's swordplay with the writing knife?

You said the techniques of Chi Xiao were all about one's state of mind, so it doesn't really matter which sword you use, right?

Uncle...

I still remember your last words to me when I left Lungmen.

Wei Yenwu's fingers stretch and bend before finally settling into a sharp form.

A gale swirls around him, blowing at his simple robes.

Hui-chieh, I'll respect your determination.

I won't hold back.

Heaven's Eye. Wrathful eye revealed, never looking back.

Even without a physical blade, his fierce form remains like merciless sunlight, never to return once it has shone.

Remorse does not linger on his fingers nor in his sword's aura. Yet it pervades the air, like mountains of withered leaves in late autumn.

Hesitation, regret, self-blame.

She knows why the old man before her wields his blade. His pent-up emotions do not have to be expressed in speech for her to empathize with.

Then, like a sigh, she thrusts the writing knife out.

After the truth comes to light, a judge's long exclamation often feels heavier than the verdict itself.

After the sigh, the sharp wind rolling around him dissipates like a fading dream, leaving nothing but a solitary palace, a desolate square, and the two standing in silence before it.

So this is... the swordplay you meant.

After I came to Baizao, I heard some stories about my mother.

When you left the city, she followed you to Lungmen. I never understood, but now, what other reason was there...?

She wanted to convince her brothers, her own two siblings, to make up.

And now, I think she was probably even more naive than I am.

You met someone from the House of Ch'en...

...I owe your parents and them an apology.

There <i>are</i> some things that should be resolved with blood, but this matter—this family matter that has entangled your entire life and my decades doesn't have to be one of them.

You felt regret in the end.

You dared only hold the form of Heaven's Eye, but not its spirit. You know what comes after remorse.

The Heaven's Eye you wielded decades ago was before regret reached your heart. You saw all and nothing, never looking back.

And when you finally felt it, it gnawed at your heart nonstop.

You win... Of course, you're right.

But this way you stake everything on a war that cannot be controlled. Now countless Yanese soldiers and civilians have their lives on the line, not just you and I.

Those with power and privilege love hiding their selfishness with big numbers and scary consequences. But obviously, there are plenty of other choices besides your death.

There are many who stand with us, proxies who have joined forces with Yan, your own brother and even, if there really is no other choice to take up the responsibility, there's me.

Let's finish the conversation from earlier.

...'The path before you is long and hard. But I know you will master it.'

I thought for a long time about what you meant by that 'will'. When I found the answer, I was loath to believe the conclusion it led to.

But now, seeing you in such a pathetic state, I can only believe it...

From that moment on, when you placed your unfulfilled hopes on my shoulders, you were already old.

You're old. You can't even harden your heart into stone as you did in your prime. You want to make amends, pay your debts. So you choose... to die.

Death won't let you make up for all you've done, death won't preserve your last shred of dignity. Death will only leave a final knot in your relationship that can never be untangled.

So don't do it... don't do what Tal did.

Is she...?!

If you want to ask me 'Is she doing well?', then I'll tell you. No. Not at all.

But you should rejoice in the fact I'm willing to talk about her with anybody... with you.

What's that?

...The horns signaling the attack. It's not from Baizao, but outside... from Yumen.

Yumen's about to attack the Tomb of Sui?

The Grand Commandant has issued the command, but whether or not the troops move is up to Zuo Xuanliao.

He cannot hold on forever, though. Yumen's troops are not his personal army.

...I should go.

To do what?

Our family matters have to be resolved, but those incarnations of the Feranmut, the same goes for them too. They'll try their best, and I'm willing to trust them.

And that Grand Commandant...

I can kind of guess what's on his mind. He's not selfish, but he thinks his judgements are logical and realistic.

Disasters caused by people like him are usually the worst ones.

Be it for Lungmen or what's left of the House of Ch'en, I should try and win whatever peace is possible for Yan.

I know you will.

Right.

Before I go, and if you want, help me think up a name for the move I pulled off. A name like Heaven's Eye that would get a young me all excited.