The long night stretched endlessly.

The empty mountain lay in deathly silence.

Outside Qingyuan City stood a nameless wilderness mountain. Due to its remote location, human traces were rare. Occasionally hunters might pass through, but most wouldn’t linger long, coming and going in haste.

Today it finally had visitors – in an inconspicuous cave within, three unfamiliar uninvited guests had taken refuge.

It was precisely Shen Xiling’s group.

She had been struck by two arrows in her back, suffering very serious injuries. When Qing Zhu carried her into the cave, blood had already soaked through her clothes, appearing terrifyingly vivid.

He was now the only one with clear consciousness – their master still lay unconscious with high fever, while Shen Xiling remained unconscious from her severe wounds. They lay together on the cave’s cold ground, their lives gradually ebbing away.

Thinking carefully, these two indeed seemed to be like this… living together, dying together, joy and fear always bound as one, like two trees with roots and stems tangled together, where no one could truly separate from the other.

Qing Zhu felt some heavy yet ethereal sentiment in his heart as he began treating Shen Xiling’s wounds first.

He rescued her first, partly because he was helpless against Qi Ying’s illness, and partly out of gratitude to Shen Xiling – today she had unhesitatingly blocked arrows for their master and himself. But more importantly than this… she had brought reinforcements, saving all their lives.

Tonight, just as those assassins were about to catch up to them, suddenly reinforcements descended from heaven. Qing Zhu had no time to look closely then, only vaguely noticing they were all martial artists, perhaps professional escorts, with skilled martial arts and pressing vigor. Fighting with those assassins, they held their own quite admirably.

Among them, one man went to rescue Shen Xiling. At that time she had already been struck by arrows and fallen unconscious on her horse, which was nearly out of control from fright. That man quickly subdued the horse, then switched his own horse for Shen Xiling’s and handed her over to Qing Zhu.

The man said: “Take Miss Shen to hide in the mountains. We’ll follow shortly!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the assassins from behind pressed forward step by step. That man had no time to spare – he thrust the reins into Qing Zhu’s hands, then immediately turned back to fight, quickly disappearing from sight.

Qing Zhu had no time to think carefully then, only protecting their master on one side while leading Shen Xiling’s horse on the other, hastily bringing both into the mountains. Only after he found this hidden cave and settled them both did he finally have time to consider those people’s origins.

That man had called Shen Xiling “Miss Shen,” suggesting he knew her identity – perhaps these were her people.

Where had she summoned reinforcements from?

Qing Zhu carefully recalled, finally remembering that before they went to the inn today, Shen Xiling had specifically made a trip to a money house. At the time Qing Zhu had wondered why she would withdraw silver notes at such a moment – clearly she didn’t need money by their master’s side. Only now did he understand that she had used that opportunity to seek help.

Indeed, Shen Xiling had summoned reinforcements at that very moment.

Her business was very extensive, spanning both north and south. Over time she had discovered that money houses were the most special among all businesses.

Any region or city could lack tea and salt shops, could lack mines and ferry crossings, could even lack wine houses and gold shops, but would definitely have money houses. Wherever silver currency circulated, this business would naturally arise – they were nodes for the flow of goods and channels for transmitting information.

Shen Xiling had long ago focused on using money houses to build her own channels for communicating goods, manpower, and information, preparing for unexpected needs. When she first followed Gu Juhan to the mountain dwelling to find Qi Ying, she had brought him a token – a jade plaque with lotus patterns. This was her credential – as long as he had it, he could go to any money house in any commandery city of Great Wei and request anything he wanted, as long as it could circulate through commercial channels.

Unfortunately, at that time Shen Xiling had suddenly discovered Qi Ying’s addiction to Five Stone Powder. In her shock and pain, she forgot to give this to him. Later, when they were always together, she never mentioned it again. In any case, she knew he simply wouldn’t accept her things.

So this jade plaque had remained with her. Tonight when they entered Qingyuan City, Shen Xiling had a vague sense of foreboding – Qi Ying was indeed prescient and must have arranged everything properly, but he hadn’t calculated that he would fall ill. This small change was enough to destroy his entire carefully arranged plan and might even cost him his life.

She would absolutely not sit by and watch this happen.

Therefore, before going to the inn, she specifically went to the money house, arranging for the manager there to summon guards for her protection. Coincidentally, just as the money house people had finished arranging things for her, Great Liang’s assassins arrived. If her people had been even a step later, they would all have died in that ambush.

Truly a critical moment.

However, in Qing Zhu’s view, her people’s arrival couldn’t really be called very timely.

She was still injured, and seriously so.

She had already lost consciousness. Qing Zhu said “excuse me” quietly, then helped Shen Xiling sit up. He carefully and gently pulled out one arrow and tore strips from his own garment hem to roughly bandage her. The other arrow had penetrated too deeply – Qing Zhu examined the wound by the cave’s faint moonlight for a while, feeling that pulling out this arrow might cause unstoppable bleeding and actually kill her. So he only carefully broke off the arrow’s tail, leaving the arrowhead deep in her body – very deep, very painful.

Shen Xiling’s forehead was covered in cold sweat, her complexion even paler than the seriously ill Qi Ying’s. But fortunately she gradually regained consciousness – probably awakened by pain.

When she awoke and saw Qing Zhu, her eyes looked vacant, as if she hadn’t fully awakened. After a while she recovered awareness, then immediately looked around nervously until she saw Qi Ying lying beside her and let out a long sigh of relief.

She didn’t even bother to check her own injuries, only looking him up and down, checking whether he was wounded. How could he be wounded? He had been protected by her with all her strength, without a hair harmed, only still burning with unabated fever.

Qing Zhu stayed by her side continuously, repeatedly comforting her: “Master is perfectly safe. You should care for your own body first – don’t move around, the bleeding won’t stop…”

Qing Zhu kept urging, but Shen Xiling couldn’t settle down.

Qi Ying’s serious unrecovered illness made her restless. This worry even exceeded the real pain of her own body, occupying all her thoughts. She gasped weakly, those beautiful eyes stained with blood, staring unblinkingly at the unconscious man, as if afraid he would leave her the next moment.

Qing Zhu sighed, about to say something more, when suddenly interrupted by rustling sounds outside the cave.

…Someone was coming!

Shen Xiling and Qing Zhu simultaneously realized this. They looked at each other, both seeing terror and worry in the other’s eyes.

In such wilderness, on such a deep night, who could be coming?

People coming to rescue them?

Or… people coming to kill them?

They couldn’t be certain, but then they heard faint voices from outside the cave.

A man said in a muffled voice: “Search for me! Search carefully! Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but find them for me! If we can’t deliver Qi Jingchen’s head, General Han will want our lives! Did you all hear me!”

The voice wasn’t loud, but falling on Shen Xiling and their ears, it was like thunder on level ground.

So their luck was truly terrible… the bringer of death arrived before their savior.

The cave where they sheltered was quite hidden. When Qing Zhu entered, he had deliberately used wild grass and dead branches for camouflage. In the dark night it indeed wasn’t easy to discover, but if they searched meticulously, they would definitely find the entrance. At this moment, with Shen Xiling severely wounded and Qi Ying still unconscious from illness, once discovered, they faced certain death!

No second possibility existed.

At that time, Shen Xiling had no mind to consider any General Han or contemplate power schemes and conspiracies. She had only one wish in her heart: don’t be discovered, don’t be found.

Don’t, don’t, don’t.

The footsteps were very close to them, perhaps only seven or eight paces away. Lying on the ground, Shen Xiling could even feel the vibrations from their steps. She and Qing Zhu held their breath and concentrated, waiting silently and desperately in the darkness. After an unknown time, they finally heard the footsteps move away.

They had just relaxed when soon they heard them return, again and again, repeatedly.

Getting closer and closer… Qing Zhu knew they would soon discover this cave entrance.

Shen Xiling dared not move a muscle, frozen in place, her heart nearly jumping from her chest. She was extremely afraid and helpless, the only thing she could do was tightly grasp Qi Ying’s hand.

His hand was burning hot. She placed one of her hands in his palm while gripping him tightly with the other, as if drawing strength from his body – and she clearly knew that this time she couldn’t wait for any response.

She kept praying, kept making wishes, while constantly calculating how she could maneuver and negotiate to preserve Qi Ying’s life if they were caught. In this back and forth, those assassins’ footsteps once again grew distant, and she once again relaxed with a body full of cold sweat, her heart still tightly clenched.

Life and death hung by a thread.

Just as these assassins had moved away, Qing Zhu stood up from the ground.

Shen Xiling was startled, immediately grabbing him and asking in an extremely small voice: “…What are you doing?”

The cave had almost no light, only very faint moonlight barely shining in, vaguely illuminating Qing Zhu’s outline. Shen Xiling couldn’t see his expression, only sensing his demeanor.

Unlike his usual awkwardness or coldness, instead, he seemed very gentle.

“This isn’t a solution. They’ll discover us sooner or later,” his voice was as low and quiet as hers. “I’ll go lead them away.”

Unlike his quiet voice, the meaning in his words was so heavy that Shen Xiling could barely bear it.

He… he was going to…

“No!” Shen Xiling refused categorically, simultaneously gripping Qing Zhu’s hand even tighter, refusing to let go. “Don’t do anything foolish. They definitely won’t find us. Let’s wait a bit more – reinforcements will come soon. Just wait a little longer…”

Qing Zhu laughed quietly, still so softly it was almost inaudible.

He said: “Why deceive ourselves? You and I both clearly know the facts. Would you gamble with Master’s life?”

“This is gambling,” he cruelly laid bare everything. “If we lose, he will die.”

Die.

He will die.

Qing Zhu understood Shen Xiling too well. He knew everything between her and Qi Ying, knew their bonds with each other. He understood her too clearly, knew she would rather die herself, rather pay everything she had, than exchange it for their master’s single night of safety.

Deep affection bordering on madness.

At this moment, Shen Xiling was like someone whose throat had been seized, whose vital point had been struck – she couldn’t even speak a word.

She knew… Qing Zhu was right.

Her heart was in turmoil, but fortunately she quickly regained reason. After thinking, she said: “Fine, then I’ll go. You stay here and care for him.”

She spoke seriously, but Qing Zhu laughed, his voice still very gentle – he had clearly been quite hostile toward her before, but after so much time had passed, what settled down was only gentleness.

And endless goodwill.

“Last time you asked me what constitutes loyalty to Master. I thought about it for a long time,” he said softly, completely off-topic. “I don’t know what the best answer is, but I know that at least at this moment I’m willing to die for him – does this count as loyalty?”

“I actually don’t care about these things anymore,” he smiled self-mockingly, then sighed gently. “I just… also want to protect him once.”

Just like many years ago, when he rescued me from the human trafficker.

Of course I know I’m far inferior to Master. He only needed a casual word to save me, while I’m nowhere near that powerful. But I’m willing to use my life to save him – can this also count as sincerity?

I know I was wrong. I should have stopped him from taking the stones, but I grew accustomed to obedience and forgot what was truly good for him… Or perhaps I wasn’t afraid to disobey, but simply because I knew he lived in too much pain. My heart softened, so I watched helplessly as he gained false comfort from those powders without bearing to stop him.

I was too weak.

At this moment I’m willing to use my life to make up for this mistake. I wonder… can this repay even one ten-thousandth?

Shen Xiling hadn’t expected that her earlier angry words had left such a heavy burden in Qing Zhu’s heart. For a moment she felt guilty to death. Not knowing how to make amends or dissuade him, she could only continue desperately blocking him, urgently saying repeatedly: “Qing Zhu, listen to me, I didn’t mean that. At that time I…”

But Qing Zhu no longer wanted to discuss these things – he had made his decision.

He slowly but firmly pulled away Shen Xiling’s tightly gripping hands. In the darkness his voice was quiet yet resolute, falling word by word into Shen Xiling’s ears.

“I’m going now. I’ll try to run far away and lead them all off,” he said. “You stay here guarding Master. Don’t come out no matter what.”

Shen Xiling was already crying. She kept shaking her head, but Qing Zhu paid no attention. His voice even carried a hint of laughter and relaxed teasing: “Running far this time, I might get lost, might take a long time to find my way back… or perhaps, won’t come back at all.”

Shen Xiling was already streaming with tears.

“If I really don’t come back,” his voice grew lower and lower, “I want to ask you two favors.”

He had already stood up, ignoring Shen Xiling’s stubborn obstruction, walking step by step toward the narrow cave entrance, his voice as faint as the moonlight flowing into the cave.

“Take good care of Master for me.”

He walked farther and farther away.

“And give Bai Song my regards… tell him I went ahead. If he has time, he can come see me.”

He had nothing more to say.

His figure had already merged with the moonlight.

Becoming a void.

Author’s Note: Going to heaven

Don’t get lost this time