Meeting on a narrow road doesn’t necessarily mean encountering an enemy.
Monk Jiagu suddenly emerged from the ground. If his voice had been half a beat slower, the small pond would have immediately staged a group brawl scene.
Jiagu leaped over and, after asking Ye Qi in unison “What are you doing here?”, they answered in unison “I came to find someone.”
Realizing he was an outsider, Second Young Master Fu very self-awarely took his leave. But unexpectedly, just as he took a step, Changling called him back: “Xiaoyao Valley isn’t peaceful. If you’re alone and isolated, who knows if something might happen… Uncle-Master, these two are both my disciples—our own people.”
An indescribable warmth surged in Fu Yanyang’s heart. Before he could express his heartfelt gratitude, Changling raised her hand to cut him off. She asked Jiagu, “Uncle-Master, who have you come to find?”
Jiagu rarely displayed such a somber expression. He pulled out a letter from his clothing pocket and handed it to Changling. “This is a letter your master left for me before he disappeared. If I hadn’t returned to Tianzhu Temple this time, I wouldn’t have known such a thing had happened… Sigh, it’s hard to explain in just a few words. You should read it yourself.”
By firelight, Changling unfolded the letter. The entire letter was in Sanskrit. Ye Qi couldn’t understand it either, but he saw that the further down Changling read, the paler her face became. By the end, even the fingers holding the letter were trembling.
“What does the letter say?”
Changling folded the letter. “We’ll talk about it when we get back.”
Late at night, most martial artists had retired early to conserve their energy. Ye Qi brought Changling and Jiagu to his room, had Seventh Uncle guard the door outside, while Tao Feng crouched on the roof to keep watch, preventing anyone from climbing walls to eavesdrop.
Changling examined the letter again carefully and said in a heavy voice, “It seems Master is now… very likely trapped within the Xiaoyao Sect.”
Jiagu picked up a teacup and gulped down several mouthfuls of cold water. “That’s what I think too. That’s why I rode at full speed through the night to reach Xiaoyao Valley. However, they close the gates here at night, so I could only climb over the wall. Who knew I’d run into you all…”
The more Ye Qi listened, the more confused he became. He quickly interrupted, “Stop, stop, stop. Can you first translate for me what exactly this letter says?”
“A year ago, Master was traveling through the Central Plains and happened to rescue Qu Yunzhen, the second hero of Maoshan, who was being pursued and killed. Second Hero Qu knew Master would also attend the martial arts gathering and immediately embroidered a sachet overnight, entrusting Master to deliver it to Third Hero Shu Jun of the Qingcheng Academy, instructing that it not be given beforehand.” Changling took a deep breath. “Master found it strange why he wouldn’t deliver it himself. Second Hero Qu didn’t explain clearly, only saying he had to rush to save a benefactor. Second Hero Qu’s heroic reputation is widespread, so Master naturally agreed, and the two parted ways. Who knew, just a few days later, when Master was passing Longmen Mountain to pay respects to Buddha, he saw from afar a person leap down from the peak of Nine Linked Mountain. That person was precisely Qu Yunzhen.”
Ye Qi was stunned.
“Master was shocked. Based on what he had seen a few days prior, it was hard to imagine Second Hero Qu was someone who would seek death. Master recalled that Second Hero Qu had mentioned saving someone and formed another thought. After inquiring, he learned…”
“Below Nine Linked Mountain should be a water lake. Even if one jumped down, it wouldn’t be fatal?” Ye Qi interjected.
Changling looked at Ye Qi in surprise. “How do you know?”
“When I stood on the mountain today, I had the same thought. It’s just that Nine Linked Mountain is welded together with the surrounding mountain ranges to form a valley. Once you jump from these precipitous ten-thousand-zhang peaks, trying to get out would be as difficult as ascending to heaven…” Ye Qi frowned slightly. “…Then what?”
Seeing Changling lost in thought, Jiagu helped continue: “Then Senior Brother consulted with the abbot of Longmen Buddhist Temple and learned that when Xiaoyao Sect first established their sect, the founding sect leader once commanded skilled craftsmen to excavate a cave. When the mountain gate opened, it could lead to this enclosed valley. The valley interior was quiet and extremely suitable for cultivation practice. It once became that sect leader’s secluded meditation place. Who knew Xiaoyao Valley would experience internal strife? Some treacherous elements took advantage of the mechanism to close the mountain gate, starving that sect leader to death inside. Later, when the new Xiaoyao Valley sect leader took office, he issued a death order—besides successive sect leaders, no one knew the method to open the mountain gate… Then my Senior Brother wrote this letter…”
Ye Qi said, “Just this one page, and your uncle-master wrote all this?”
“Aiya, some parts I filled in. Are you going to listen or not?” Seeing Ye Qi obediently fall silent, Jiagu said, “My Senior Brother had some past connection with the current Xiaoyao Sect leader and thought perhaps he could ask him to open the gate. The letter stated that if he continuously has no news, it means he’s been trapped by Xiaoyao Sect people. He’ll find ways to deal with them and wait for me to rescue him. That’s about it. Anything else you want to ask?”
Ye Qi looked at Changling. “If so, the embroidery on that sachet was most likely code language among the Maoshan heroes. It should also mention this matter, so Dean Shu, after just one glance, went directly to Nine Linked Mountain. His jumping down was most likely also to save someone?”
Jiagu made an “ah” sound. “Old Third Shu also jumped down? Didn’t he know he could help figure out ways to open the stone gate from outside? What’s the point of jumping down like this—to die together?”
Ye Qi pondered, “Perhaps he originally didn’t want to jump but was forced down by those men in black… Or perhaps, it reached a point where he had no choice but to jump…”
Changling hadn’t spoken for a long time. Suddenly she raised her head to look at Ye Qi and asked, “Who do you think they want… to save?”
Her pupils reflected a certain hopeful light, yet her thick eyelashes trembled slightly. She watched his expression, not even noticing that the letter in her hand had been soaked through at one end by sweat from her palm.
Life’s circumstances change and turn a hundred times—what one fears most is it all being but a pipe dream.
Ye Qi rarely spoke conclusions he wasn’t confident about. But somehow, facing her like this, he couldn’t bear to add even prefixes like “perhaps” or “maybe.”
“You’re a martial arts expert. Such an obvious matter—can’t you figure it out?” Ye Qi sat before her, supporting his chin, the corners of his eyes curving. “Second Hero Qu and Dean Shu come from the same school. The mental cultivation methods they practice should belong to the same branch. They jumped into an urn-shaped valley one after another. Besides using internal force to save someone, how else could they save anyone?”
“Maybe…” Changling’s breathing caught slightly. “Maybe they’re saving someone else entirely…”
“For Qu Yunzhen to leap down without hesitation, he must have learned through some method about the situation within Xiaoyao Valley. Before establishing their sect, the three heroes of Maoshan traveled the jianghu together for twenty years. It’s not surprising they have ways to communicate with each other. But those three probably wouldn’t make their code language known to all their disciples, right?” Ye Qi said softly but with certainty, “I deduce that the person passing messages outward should be Hero Luo Zhou himself. And who Luo Zhou is saving…”
“What if,” Changling interrupted before he could finish, “the one they want to save is Luo Zhou himself?”
“No one would call their own senior brother a ‘benefactor.’ Just like…” Ye Qi glanced at Jiagu. “Just like even if our master saved us a hundred times, a thousand times, we wouldn’t call him benefactor. A benefactor—someone who has shown kindness to oneself, an outsider. Since they’re an outsider, how could it possibly be Luo Zhou?”
In just this brief moment, her heart had already churned into waves. She suddenly stood up. At the same time, Ye Qi gripped her shoulders and pressed her back into the chair. “You’re not planning to also jump off the cliff to verify the truth, are you?”
Jiagu jumped up from his stool. “Absolutely not! What if the lake below is shallow or dried up? What if you’re smashed to pieces?”
“I’m not that reckless,” Changling said. “I need to first verify whether Master is trapped in Xiaoyao Valley and where he’s being held. After I see Master, the secret below Nine Linked Mountain will naturally become clear.”
Ye Qi coughed dryly and slowly released his hands. “Do you remember when we were at Dazhao Temple—to lure me in, where was the prisoner cell arranged?”
“The Mahayana Pagoda?”
“A place that could hold Master Jiaye must have experts standing guard. The experts within Xiaoyao Sect are led by Xiaoyao Sect Leader Master Xue, but as he’s one of the ten elders of the Martial Arts Alliance, he naturally couldn’t personally stand guard. Besides him, there are the two Xiaoyao elders Wu Chenzi and Wu Youzi, as well as the three Xiaoyao disciples Lu Yazi, Yan Xingzi, and You Hongzi.” Ye Qi said, “However, we’re both familiar faces and would be easily exposed. It’s better to leave the verification to Master and Seventh Uncle.”
With Seventh Uncle’s thoroughness in handling matters, plus Jiagu’s elusive assistance, before dawn broke, they had already discovered the most suspicious location.
“For this Xiaoyao Valley martial arts gathering, from the south district to the north district there were basically no obstacles. Only the eastern Eternal Life Hall had restrictions set. Disciples took turns standing guard all night long,” Seventh Uncle said. “I approached under the pretext of worshipping the deities and asked questions. They were extremely vigilant and claimed that Eternal Life Hall was not open to outsiders. Master Jiagu took advantage of their inattention to slip onto the hall’s roof and could see that behind the hall were side rooms. One of them, though locked, currently has Master Jiagu still guarding nearby. When breakfast time comes, if someone delivers food inside, we can basically confirm that someone is imprisoned in Eternal Life Hall.”
Ye Qi nodded slightly. “Master Jiaye is an enlightened high monk. Regardless of Xiaoyao Valley’s purposes, as long as they don’t kill, there’s no need to mistreat people… The current problem is how to quietly sneak in and rescue the person without being detected…”
Changling asked, “Are the experts responsible for guarding those two old men, or the other three disciples?”
Seventh Uncle’s brows furrowed slightly. “This, I’m afraid we’ll need to wait for Master Jiagu to return to know.”
When Jiagu returned, the sky was already bright. Everyone was having breakfast in the dining hall. He flipped into Ye Qi’s room, picked up a steamed bun while saying, “The guards are two old men. They should be Wu Chenzi and Wu Youzi… The two of them live on opposite sides. When dawn broke, one went to the hall to lead a group of young disciples in striking wooden fish, while the other meditates or practices cultivation in the courtyard. Just from their posture, their martial arts should be quite good. Without having exchanged moves, it’s hard to say for certain.”
“This truly is a situation where pulling one hair moves the whole body… Even if we knock down the courtyard guard, with people constantly coming and going, we’d be easily discovered… This is difficult.” Ye Qi paced two steps in the room. “By the way, in today’s gathering, which match is Xiaoyao Sect in?”
Changling said, “I asked Zhou Qin last night. The third match, against people from the Yunyan Escort Agency.”
Ye Qi was surprised. “Mingyue Zhou?”
Changling nodded. “The most capable people by Mingyue Zhou’s side are only Tianhun and Tianpo, but they can’t openly use curved sabers in public. Their chances of winning aren’t great.”
Ye Qi’s steps paused as he smiled. “Then there’s a solution.”