It Wasn't Winter, Yet Snow Fell — the Years Had Caught a Cold

Wu Zetian of the Tang dynasty. History remembers her as the only female emperor in all the countless ages of the Central Plains, and they say she wrote a great many poems in her lifetime. Only forty-nine of those survive today — and among them, they say, there is exactly one love poem.

Would the scholars who study the empress they called the Iron Empress feel a chill crawl up their spines when they read that lone love poem? ...Just as I was, watching the scene unfolding before me right now.

A buzz of murmurs ran through the crowd. Where every gaze had converged, two figures stood glaring each other down — Eun Ae-hyang and Yeong Yeong.

It had all started when Yeong Yeong, eyes dead as stone, began advancing on the Kongtong women who had been cackling among themselves, and Eun Ae-hyang stepped into her path.

"Heroine, step aside, if you would. I cannot kill those women for fawning ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠over my fiancé."

A sword had found its way into Yeong Yeong's hand at some point as she spoke. The Kongtong women who caught sight of it went ashen to the last and fled the square.

Once they were gone, Yeong Yeong clicked her tongue, and Eun Ae-hyang heaved a sigh of her own.

"I can't have the family ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of Kongtong dying over something so petty."

"Petty reason? If you can't even see our senior brother's cha—"

Clang!

Before Yeong Yeong could finish, Eun Ae-hyang's blade left its sheath and smashed the sword out of her grip in the same motion. The sudden strike tore the weapon from Yeong Yeong's fingers, and it went spinning into the open air. I leapt, snatched the whirling blade out of my fall, and landed on my feet.

I dashed straight to Yeong Yeong and pinned her arms. Even disarmed, she seemed intent on attacking bare-handed, thrashing against my hold with all her strength.

"Easy, junior sister. There are a lot of eyes on us."

Yeong Yeong whipped her head around and fixed me with those dead eyes once more. Terrifying. What on earth had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I done wrong?

"Oh, big brother, why are you taking other people's side?"

"Perish the thought... It's all because I love you, of course."

"...There wasn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a shred of sincerity in that, you know."

By then Yeong Yeong seemed to have calmed down; she let out a sigh and stopped struggling.

I breathed out and turned to Eun Ae-hyang.

"My junior sister has caused you offense. Allow me to apologize."

"Senior sister! Are we really going to let that lunatic off the hook?"

Jeok Seong, who had crept up beside Eun Ae-hyang at some point, answered in her stead. If it were you standing there instead of Eun Ae-hyang, I wouldn't have bothered speaking up for her at all.

"Oh? So you'd like a round right now, on Wudang's own ground?"

Jeok Seong flinched at my question and scuttled behind Eun Ae-hyang. Not that a frame like his could be hidden merely by standing at her back. Eun Ae-hyang pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed.

"I'll accept the apology. Just see to it that this doesn't happen again."

This one was, beyond argument, our fault. I nodded, then glanced at the tanghulu vendor, who was gaping at the whole spectacle with his mouth hanging open.

"Two tanghulu here, please."

"Y-yes! Here you are!"

I took the skewers of candied hawthorn and handed one to Yeong Yeong. Only after the tanghulu reached her lips did life finally begin to stir back into her eyes.

"Senior brother! This is delicious! Eat yours, quick!"

"Ah, I can't handle sour and sweet at the same time."

The tart bite of hawthorn was one thing I could never bring myself to get used to. At my words, Yeong Yeong stared at me in deep contemplation, wearing the expression of someone asking, Then why on earth did you buy it?

I stepped over to Eun Ae-hyang and held out the remaining skewer.

"It's hardly enough to count as an apology, but take it."

Eun Ae-hyang blinked down at the tanghulu. Ah. My outstretched hand was starting to look pathetic. Wait — weren't you the one who liked these and wanted to buy some earlier?

Just then, Yeong Yeong sidled up beside me.

"If you don't want it, I'll eat it. Senior brother, give it here."

"Sure, you can eat i... Huh?"

I had been about to pass it over without a second thought, but at some point the tanghulu had vanished from my hand. Where did it go? I was staring at my empty palm when—

Crack.

...came the sound of something thin splintering. I looked toward the noise and found Eun Ae-hyang, expressionless as ever, slipping a single candied hawthorn into her mouth and chewing. With her lips pursed primly to keep her teeth from showing, the cheek holding the fruit bulged out in a neat little bump.

"If you wanted to eat it, you only had to say so."

Yeong Yeong glowered at her, the very picture of a grievance left unspoken. Linger here any longer, and something else was bound to happen.

I hustled Yeong Yeong away and moved over to the farmhouse where our contract was scheduled.

By the time we returned to Violet Firmament Palace, the Kongtong elders were deep in discussion with our own seniors, my master among them. Eun Ae-hyang stood amid the Kongtong delegation, listening to her elders and offering the occasional nod.

Gakyeop Dojang was mid-sentence when he spotted me.

"Seong Hyun, come over here."

I went to his side — which put me close enough to see Eun Ae-hyang plainly. Ah. Our eyes met.

Just then, one of the Kongtong elders spoke up.

"The pleasantries have gone on long enough... Should we not turn to the matter of the Five Elements, Eight Trigrams soon upon us?"

At that, Taeunja, one of the Wudang elders, answered with a chuckle.

"Hehe, quite right. It is the Eight Trigrams, Five Elements we've all gathered for."

"Indeed. This year's Five Elements, Eight Trigrams should be quite the entertainment — all the more so with no Wulin Alliance Leader."

And with that, the elders launched into a battle of pride over whether the trigrams or the elements came first.

Ah, how I just wanted to rest... This wouldn't do. I took one step forward before my master and cupped my fists in salute.

"Greetings, venerable Taoist masters. I am Seong Hyun, known as Cheongun Dojang — a humble junior of the martial world."

When I dipped my head slightly as I spoke, the Kongtong elder who had been harping on the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams for the last several minutes turned to stare at me, visibly nonplussed.

"Ah, so you're Cheongun Dojang. The hero who ran the Demon Cult through alongside our Eun Ae-hyang. First time seeing you in the flesh. I am called Hwaho Seongun — the Fire Tiger Immortal of Kongtong's Vermillion Bird Gate."

Ah. So this is the Fire Tiger Immortal.

"Fire Tiger Immortal, thank you for the recognition. The epithets and renown of the great heroes have long since reached even my ears."

"Oh ho. You know of me?"

"How could I fail to know the man who contributed the most to the advancement of the Vermillion Bird Gate's martial arts? Eun Ae-hyang and I are flowers that bloomed only because seniors like you paved the road before us."

My flattery landed well; Hwaho Seongun stroked his beard and chuckled, looking thoroughly pleased.

"Hehe, much obliged. But what's this greeting in aid of?"

I raised my head and looked him dead in the eye.

"I know full well that a junior who has not yet awakened to the whole of the Way has little standing to pronounce on what is right and what is wrong. But it seems there is one thing that must be set straight in the present circumstances, and so I dare to speak it."

"Oh ho. And what would that be?"

"Our side has won the bouts for several years running now, and by the agreement settled long before, it should be called the Eight Trigrams, Five Elements — should it not?"

"Ahem."

Perhaps it was the sight of a painfully green young man thrusting his opinion into a debate between elders — Hwaho Seongun's eyebrows began to twitch.

"The event has not even opened, and this is a private gathering. What reason have I to submit to your correction?"

"The elders of two great sects are assembled here, with any number of eyes upon us. If this is not public, what in the world could be?"

"Hehe. Public and private are demarcated as plainly as day — to willfully read the one for the other is the way of madmen and blockheads, is it not?"

"The Taiji is none other than this self — where, then, is the line between within and without? All things lie equally beneath it, one and the same universe."

At my words, Hwaho Seongun began to tremble from head to toe.

"Insolent... a brat barely past his twentieth year dares call himself the Taiji?"

"Hehehe. I was merely returning a Dao you had misplaced, senior. Is there some problem with that?"

Perhaps those words were the spark. Hwaho Seongun's eyes snapped wide open, his right hand clenched into a fist — and then he hurled himself at me with a roar.

But I had already watched Eun Ae-hyang slip between the Five Elements with her movement art to evade my strikes; this was nothing to be startled by. With the Flowing Cloud movement art, I gave ground like a drifting cloud, retreating just past the reach of Hwaho Seongun's fists.

Retired from the front lines he may have been, but the forms of the Immortal Fire Flying Fist Dance shifted without pattern from one breath to the next — even those hailed as great masters would have found it difficult to escape by evasion alone. But I was not one of them. I kept my footwork turning, held that knife's-edge distance, and led Hwaho Seongun to wear himself out chasing empty air. The strategy worked.

Perhaps it was the sudden flood of inner energy needed to drive a fist art of such protean forms — past the five-second mark, Hwaho Seongun's breathing had turned visibly ragged. About enough, then.

I caught the leg he had flung out with all his strength, gripped it in my right hand, and hoisted it high. As he floundered at being abruptly forced into the splits, I closed the distance — then stomped lightly on the back of the knee of the leg still bearing his weight. The strength drained right out of it; his knee buckled, and his center of gravity pitched backward.

A groan slipped out of him, his face frozen in shock.

"...Ghk."

Had I let go of that leg midway, a red flower would have bloomed across the stone floor, seeded from the Fire Tiger Immortal's skull. Perhaps he understood that too, for he steadied his breathing and slowly gathered his internal power back in, the way one smothers a flame.

I drew his leg back down and set him upright once more. Watching him stand straight again, I cupped my fists and said,

"I have received your instruction well, senior. I will devote myself further to my training so that this lesson is never squandered."

Hwaho Seongun responded to the face-saving salute with a dry cough and turned away from me.

Ah, what, in the end, are the passing years? It was late spring, yet the heat had long since drained from the Fire Tiger Immortal's martial arts — and though it was no winter, the snow of old age fell all the same. To come face to face with the years, laid low with a chill caught from a season that should never have come. I must never end up like that.

Behind Hwaho Seongun, I caught sight of Eun Ae-hyang. She tipped her head the barest degree — a signal to slip away with her.

A short while later, when I made my way to a spot apart from the elders, Eun Ae-hyang was already there, having gone on ahead.

"Eun Ae-hyang, I'm starting to feel guilty. Perhaps I insulted your sect rather too thoroughly."

"It's fine. Even within Kongtong, the Fire Tiger Immortal has plenty of enemies."

"Now that you mention it, Kongtong is built of gates each embodying one of the Five Elements — I suppose there are no eternal allies there. Nor eternal enemies."

"Exactly as you say. And I..."

Eun Ae-hyang let the words trail off, sweeping her hair back over her shoulder.

"...am of the Earth Dragon Gate, one of the comparatively moderate gates of Kongtong."

"Moderate? What, did all the moderates die?"

At my reaction, Eun Ae-hyang shot me a withering glare. Oops — a reaction from the old days had slipped out by mistake. I averted my gaze and was fishing for an excuse when she wheeled around and started back toward the elders.

I was mid-thought — oh dear, now she's sulking — when Eun Ae-hyang stopped dead in her tracks and spoke without so much as a glance back.

"The duel is at dawn tomorrow. This round's event is yours to choose. If it's a dull one, I'm leaving on the spot."

At that, I wanted to ask just where exactly one was supposed to 'go' for a duel like this — but the words refused to make it past my teeth.