Liu Baiyi thought a moment and shook his head. "I don't remember exactly. Five or six years."

The corner of Ning Chen's mouth twitched. No wonder the man knew nothing of what went on outside.

"I've heard of you, though. From the ones who blunder into the grove now and then. Nothing but praise, every word of it."

Then he looked at Ning Chen and added, "The name doesn't fit the man."

Ning Chen's mouth twitched at that. "Elder, you dislike me now because you don't know me. Once you know me you'll dislike me more... It's because I'm too outstanding. Ordinary mortals like you can hardly help being envious."

Liu Baiyi looked at him sideways. He had never in his life met a man with a hide as thick as that.

Ning Chen turned it around. "Elder. Come to the capital with me."

"No."

He refused it without a moment's thought.

Ning Chen said, "To save one life is worth more than raising a seven-storey pagoda, and the life you'd be saving is the emperor's. The merit of it would be beyond measure." (TL Note: 救人一命勝造七級浮屠 — a Buddhist saying. A pagoda was built to store relics and generate merit for its patron, and seven storeys was the most a layman would normally raise; saving one life is reckoned to outweigh it.)

Liu Baiyi made a sound and didn't so much as look at him.

Ning Chen had nothing to say to that. "Elder. Just tell me what it takes to get you to the capital with me."

Liu Baiyi looked at him. "Just tell me what it takes to get you out of here."

Ning Chen: "..."

"The Elder comes to the capital with me and I'll clear out smartly enough."

Liu Baiyi shook his head. "Out of the question."

Ning Chen thought about it, then brought a yellowed old volume out of his coat. The Unborn Sword Art.

It cost him something to do it. He hadn't even had time to read the thing himself.

He waved it at him. "The Elder comes back to the capital…