Fu Liujing’s words stirred a wave of panic in Changling’s heart. “Are you saying that from now on, if one of us dies, the other cannot survive either?”

Fu Liujing clutched his hair in despair. “What do you think?”

Though she was usually composed, she still didn’t know how to deal with the current predicament. “Approximately how much is ‘a certain range’?”

“How should I know?” Fu Liujing dropped his hands. “The books say within a hundred zhang, but even if someone truly were infected by this kind of gu insect, they would certainly hold hands from then on and never let go. Who would dare use their own life to test how deep these insects’ love runs?”

Changling knew his words were true. In fact, if someone were bitten by this kind of insect, basically no one would be willing to use their own blood to lure out the gu insect. Yet Fu Liujing had done so—this person who feared death and only sought to roam freely for a lifetime had done this to save her. Suddenly, Changling felt as though she had never truly known him.

Fu Liujing sighed repeatedly, muttering to himself, “Anyway, you fight wars year-round, so ultimately you’re going to die on the battlefield. I’m different—I aspire to travel the great rivers and mountains and see all the beauties under heaven. Now this is wonderful—from now on when you charge into battle at the vanguard, I have to follow closely lest I exceed a hundred zhang and die. When you scout enemy intelligence scaling walls and roofs, I’ll have to run along under the eaves following you…”

“Then why did you save me?”

Fu Liujing hadn’t expected her to ask this. “Ah?”

“You clearly knew the characteristics of this gu. When you saved me just now, you should have thought it through clearly. What use is regretting now?”

Fu Liujing stammered, “I, I just saw you were about to mutilate yourself…”

“Whether or not I have a right arm, what concern is it of yours?” Changling couldn’t understand. “Master Fu, your eyes have never held fame or profit, nor have you seemed to care for the common people. Why would you cut off your own future for the sake of an arm?”

Fu Liujing was stunned again and again, scratched his head, and said vaguely, “Well… though our relationship is ordinary, we are after all old acquaintances of several years. Although every time you forcibly drag me to the military camp, you’ve also kept me safe… As a person, though I have wisdom, good looks, and many friends, but…”

“But?”

He slapped his forehead. “I also have moments of confusion! If you’d given me a bit more time to weigh things, I definitely wouldn’t have done this foolish thing!”

Having said this, Fu Liujing braced himself for a punch, but when he turned to look at Changling, he saw her watching him, as if seriously waiting for an answer. Though she appeared domineering, her eyes were bright and clear as snow. These contradictions concentrated in one person caused his heart to inexplicably panic, and the words that followed became harder to speak.

Seeing him remain silent for a long while, Changling thought he was unwilling to answer and was about to stand when she suddenly heard him say, “Alright, even if given another incense stick’s worth of time, a full day, I would still choose to save you this way.”

Changling turned back in surprise as he said, “I was lying to you just now. I’m used to being alone. I don’t have any friends. When I count it up, over these years, the only person willing to drink with me has been you… so…”

Fu Liujing’s ink-colored tousled hair was blown by the wind, losing some of its scholarly air but gaining a trace of unrestrained spirit. “So, whether or not you have a right arm naturally concerns me.”

Somehow, these words were like a warm current silently seeping into a place in her heart, leaving her momentarily at a loss. Fu Liujing stretched somewhat unnaturally, probably feeling the atmosphere was a bit awkward, and changed the subject. “What a pity—if only you were a woman.”

“Why?”

“Think about it—regardless of how the current battle situation goes, we’ll eventually need to marry and have children, right? Not to mention using the privy or bathing, on your wedding night I’ll have to stand guard next door. Tell me, how will our wives bear this? But if you were a woman, it would be different. I’d marry you, we’d eat together during the day and sleep together at night. If one day you truly died, dying for love would be willingly done.”

Changling smiled slightly at these words. Fu Liujing looked puzzled. “What are you laughing at me for now?”

“Since ancient times, how many sworn brothers have shared their innermost hearts, willing to go through fire and water for a promise. Living and dying together doesn’t necessarily require romantic love. Moreover, marriage requires mutual affection. Even if I were a woman, if you weren’t truly infatuated, how could you force it because of a gu insect?”

“I was just joking. You take things too seriously,” Fu Liujing said. “So are you suggesting… we can become sworn brothers?”

Changling rose leisurely to her feet. “If you’re unwilling, then forget it.”

“Which eye of yours heard me say I was unwilling?”

Fu Liujing immediately knelt upright, raised his fingers together, gazed at the distant towering mountain peaks piercing the clouds, and spoke word by word, “Heaven above, I, Fu Liujing, and Yue Changling become sworn brothers of life and death. From now on, we share fortune and misfortune, support each other through adversity. We do not seek to be born in the same year, month, and day, but we seek to die in the same year, month, and day. May the divine heavens bear witness, with clear retribution!”

Changling’s heart turned a hundred times over.

Everyone knew Fu Liujing was cynically unorthodox, born in chaotic times yet without a single move or technique—that he could survive by luck was truly ancestors’ blessing. But to say he truly had no means whatsoever, Changling would never believe it. She knew well this person was unfathomable. Her mask concealed the birthmark on her face, but what was his carefree, nonchalant manner hiding?

She couldn’t see through him, couldn’t penetrate him, yet hearing him say he would live and die together with her—

She lifted her robe and knelt, saying, “Today, I, Yue Changling, and Fu Liujing become sworn siblings of different surnames. We entrust each other with life and death, rescue each other from fortune and misfortune. Heaven and earth are our alliance, truly witnessing this heart. Should we violate this righteousness, may heaven and man together execute us.”

The setting sun was blood-red, the mountains edged in gold like draped cicada wings. The two people’s oath drifted above Cross Cliff, yet who knew whether heaven and earth, dream or waking, could truly perceive it.

The sky was filled with stars, like countless silver pearls scattered across an ink-colored jade plate.

By the time they returned under the stars at night, Fu Liujing had rushed to brew the antidote and administered it to Yue Changsheng. Changling kept watch by her elder brother’s bedside and didn’t know when she fell asleep. When the sky grew faintly bright, she drowsily opened her eyes to discover Yue Changsheng sitting propped against the pillows, smiling gently at her.

The Ligucao poison was cured, and everyone felt relieved of a heavy burden.

Afraid Changsheng would worry, Changling had not yet mentioned the gu insect matter. These past few days, Fu Liujing was busy tending to the illness, coming and going with Changling, and no one noticed anything amiss. Instead, Yue Changsheng, with his meticulous mind, felt there was something indescribably strange about them. When Fu Liujing was sound asleep, he pulled Changling aside for a detailed inquiry and only then learned the circumstances, inevitably shocked beyond measure.

Only before Changsheng would Changling shed her disguise and reveal a slightly mischievous manner. She stuck out her tongue and said, “Fu Liujing has checked the books. It’s not as dangerous as all that. The gu insects can be separated for a day or two without major harm. Doesn’t Elder Brother appreciate him? If we can keep him to offer strategies for the Yue Family, why worry about the great enterprise not succeeding?”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Changsheng sighed. “Two years ago, Fu Liujing was injured by an expert in the Maozhu Forest. A young lady saved him. For over a year now, he’s traveled all over Jiangnan carrying her portrait, searching for that lady. Who doesn’t know of this?”

Seeing Changling’s expression darken, he asked, “Things being as they are, why don’t you tell him that the person who saved his life is actually…”

“To him, the person who saved his life was a beautiful young lady,” Changling shook her head. “Not me.”

“Sister…”

Changling removed her silver mask. The mark at the corner of her eye resembled flames. “Tell him what? Tell him that lady had completely altered her appearance, and beneath the human skin mask is this face?”

Changsheng grasped her shoulder. “Changling, thinking this way, you’re not only looking down on yourself, but also looking down on him.”

Seeing Changling lower her eyes without speaking, Changsheng tilted his head and ruffled her hair. “Yes, my sister is the unruly Yue Changling. How could she lower herself to dwell on such trivial romantic feelings?”

Changling angrily pushed away Changsheng’s hand. “Elder Brother.”

“Don’t dodge.” Changsheng smiled slightly. “There are too many regrets in the world. When you can speak, you should speak in time. Don’t wait until you want to speak but can’t, and then regret it.”

Changsheng’s words plunged Changling into deep thought, so much so that she tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.

The moonlight was like flowing water, pouring through the window into the room, decorating the bed curtains in mottled patterns.

Unable to sleep, Changling simply rose, not even binding her hair, threw on a cloak, and went out of the tent for some air.

She walked aimlessly to the riverside, originally intending to see if the ice had begun to melt, when from afar she saw a small figure sitting beside a large rock—it was Wang Xun, whom she hadn’t seen in several days.

This child… she had nearly forgotten about him.

“What are you doing here alone in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”

Wang Xun turned around. Seeing Changling standing behind him, his entire body jerked in shock. “You… how are you here?”

“I asked you first.” Changling unceremoniously sat down beside him. Wang Xun instinctively shifted to the side but didn’t answer her. Changling didn’t mind, seeing his hands buried in his fluffy sleeves, his ears frozen bright red. “Where is that loyal servant of yours?”

Wang Xun still didn’t answer. Changling’s brow furrowed slightly. In the army as a general, she deliberately acted aloof to establish authority. Rarely encountering a child she wanted to tease, who knew this child would be so mature—truly boring. After a moment of silence, Wang Xun asked, “Why didn’t you kill me?”

Changling knew he was referring to that day at the hot spring and countered, “Why should I kill you?”

“Aren’t you worried I’ll leak your secret?”

“Have you leaked it?”

“No.”

“Then that’s that,” she said. “I, Yue Changling, am clear about gratitude and grudges. If you leak information, it won’t be too late to kill you then. If you keep the secret, why would I wrongly kill an innocent person?”

Wang Xun was completely stunned. “When there’s a threat, one should prevent trouble before it happens. A moment of mercy will only bring endless future troubles.”

Now it was Changling’s turn to be confused. “Are you advising me to kill you?”

“If you want to kill me, just do it.”

Seeing this tender childish face, Changling couldn’t help but throw her head back and laugh heartily. Wang Xun didn’t understand what she was laughing at. Just as he turned his head, in an instant his throat tightened—his neck was seized by Changling’s outstretched hand. He only felt his chest unable to draw air, everything around becoming blurred. His entire body was lifted lightly off the ground as her voice reached his ears: “You think I don’t dare?”

Feeling the strength of her fingertips tightening more and more, Wang Xun instinctively closed his eyes tightly, his hand hidden in his sleeve clutching something desperately. Just as he prepared to exert force, his neck suddenly lightened and his body fell heavily to the ground. The object in his palm had already been snatched away by Changling.

Of course Changling didn’t want to kill anyone. Just now, seeing Wang Xun sitting beside her without even swatting away the flying insects above his head, her heart grew suspicious. Seeing him speak to provoke her, she further suspected he had a concealed weapon in his hand. Who knew that upon seizing it, it was merely a flint stone.

A thought flashed through Changling’s mind. She lifted Wang Xun’s layers of clothing, and upon seeing that his inner garments and even his waist and abdomen were wrapped in layers of explosive packages, she suddenly froze in place. “You infiltrated the Yue Family main camp intending to die together with me from the very beginning.”

Wang Xun sat up, coughing non-stop with his head turned. Finally catching his breath, he said, “Since the plan has failed, kill or torture me as you please.”

Some unwanted memories surfaced in Changling’s mind. She asked coldly, “Who sent you?”

Wang Xun said, “Don’t think that just because I’m a child, you can pry anything from my mouth.”

Changling looked at him silently. He seemed to greatly resent being treated as a child. She crouched down to meet his eyes at level. “Pry what? From the first day you came to the Yue Family camp, I knew you were not the young master of the Jinling Wang Family. Since you’re not from the Wang Family, the Xie Family people don’t have this kind of courage, so you can only be from the He Family.”

Wang Xun’s eyes widened in shock, but he saw Changling smile. “The real Wang Xun is rarely seen. You knew Shen Yao’s group would go suppress the mountain bandits, so you used this to approach, then quietly entered the Yue Family camp. You only needed to find the right opportunity—these explosive packages would be enough to reduce everyone within three zhang to dust—this plan was actually quite good, but unfortunately there was one flaw.”

Wang Xun blurted out, “What flaw?”

“I’ve met the real young master Wang Xun of Jinling.”

Wang Xun’s expression was somewhat bewildered, yet he heard her say, “Even so, you originally still had three opportunities to kill me. First was when you just entered the Yue Family camp—at the moment Shen Yao stated you were the young master of the Wang Family, if you had decisively ignited the fuse, not only I but my elder brother couldn’t have escaped. Second was at the hot spring pool. Third was precisely the moment I sat beside you just now… but you missed them all.”

Wang Xun raised his head. Changling stood up and paced a few steps. “The reason you missed the first opportunity, I guess, was because too many people were present that day and you didn’t want to harm the innocent. But the second and third times…” She paused. “You couldn’t bring yourself to act.”

After a long while, Wang Xun supported himself against the rock beside him and slowly stood straight. “You’re a woman. I… cannot strike a woman.”

In all her years, Changling had said similar words to others countless times, but this was the first time someone said such words to her, and from a child no less. Truly, live long enough and you’ll encounter all sorts of strange things.

“Indeed, I am a woman, and you cannot be so ruthless,” she bent down slightly, “but I don’t understand—why could your family be so ruthless as to let a sickly child achieve their interests at the cost of sacrificing yourself?”

“Are you trying to sow discord, to make me go back and deal with them?” Wang Xun smiled coldly. “Give up that thought. I’ve been chronically ill since childhood, unable to live past ten years old. I’m already a dying person—what sacrifice is there to speak of?”

Changling’s eyes flickered slightly.

The He Family’s century-old foundation had extremely complex family branches with intertwined roots. For a moment, she couldn’t guess this child’s true identity. But for such a young age to possess such courage and determination, the He Family’s leaders shouldn’t have sent him into danger—unless they held him in dread and grasped his weak point, forcing this child onto the road to the Yellow Springs.

Chronic illness? If truly his life was soon ending, what would there be to worry about?

Changling extended her finger to seal his acupoint, supporting him to sit cross-legged. Wang Xun instinctively wanted to dodge but couldn’t move even half an inch. Watching her press against his pulse point, he thought she was about to inflict cruel torture on him. However, a gentle warmth transmitted from the pulse point, quickly spreading throughout his body. His body was no longer cold, and the qi stagnant in his chest became much smoother.

Changling released his hand, thought briefly as if making a decision, then sealed several major acupoints around his body. Her right wrist rotated, palm pressed against his back, slowly transmitting true qi. Within half an incense stick’s time, sweat beaded densely on Wang Xun’s temples, wisps of steam rising from the top of his head. He could feel true qi surging vigorously through his four limbs and hundred bones. After quite a while longer, Changling finally stopped and released the sealed acupoints.

Wang Xun’s eyes flew open. He gasped several breaths. For years he had suffered torture from illness. Even in dreams he couldn’t escape the chills, yet in this instant they seemed to dissolve into nothing. It had been too long, far too long since he’d experienced such comfortable breathing, leaving him somewhat at a loss.

“People have five viscera, six bowels, twelve primary meridians, and eight extraordinary vessels. So-called congenital chronic illness is nothing more than obstruction of these. Just now when I examined your pulse it seemed somewhat stagnant, so I tried to see if I could clear it,” Changling sat on the rock’s edge, tapping her knee. “Who knew—not only were your Hand Three Yin Meridians and Hand Lesser Yang Meridian obstructed, but even your Conception and Governing Vessels and Yang Linking Vessel were all blocked by stagnant qi. Naturally this would cause prolonged illness. However, I’ve already opened your Hand Three Yin Meridians. Your wind-cold illness can now be cured—you needn’t worry about dying from it.”

Wang Xun turned around in a daze, opened his mouth. “You…”

“You want to ask how I could open your meridians?”

Wang Xun lowered his eyes. “My father once invited the four great Shaolin monks to circulate energy to familiarize my static meridians, yet they could never…”

“Their inability doesn’t mean I’m unable.” Changling said, “Naturally, my ability to clear your meridians doesn’t mean I’m much more brilliant than Shaolin monks. It’s just that I didn’t circulate energy for you—I transmitted my cultivation.”

Wang Xun’s entire body shook. “You, what did you say?”

“Your illness is congenital. That stagnant qi has always been in your body. To clear it naturally requires a new flow of true qi. The Shimo True Scripture internal cultivation method I practice emphasizes precisely the way of regulating internal breath.” Changling said, “I’ve transmitted ten percent of my cultivation to you. With proper care and recuperation, living another ten or eight years shouldn’t be difficult.”

Wang Xun was now completely dumbfounded. He couldn’t possibly have imagined that he was clearly an assassin, yet the person being assassinated had suddenly transmitted cultivation to him. Even more unimaginable was that she had actually told him… he could continue living.

Ten or eight years—she spoke so lightly of it, not knowing that to him, this was something he didn’t dare dream of even in sleep!

He lowered his head, his entire body beginning to tremble violently. For so long in the cold with no one to confide in, countless nights of panic and helplessness when he dared not fall asleep, fearing that once asleep he would never again see the rising sun, unable to protect the person he cherished most—

Living this way, he still had to grit his teeth and force himself to become a calm adult, watching his clan members fight for power and profit, struggling for survival on the edge between life and death.

But that fabricated strength crumbled to dust in this moment.

Tears fell in large drops. Wang Xun could no longer endure it and finally broke down crying.

Changling quietly watched this child before her. Though he possessed wisdom and composure far beyond his peers, how much suffering had he endured to gain these? How could others possibly imagine?

A thread of sourness rose in her heart.

Everyone knew she was gifted with exceptional talent, personally taught by a Tianzhu high monk to achieve unparalleled divine martial arts. Yet who knew that from childhood she left her homeland, suffered endless torture from illness, and to reduce even one measure of agony practiced day and night without rest. To return to the Central Plains, how many inhuman ordeals had she endured? Yet when she returned, her parents were already gone…

Changling sighed softly.

Unable to help herself, she reached out and touched Wang Xun’s hair. “With you crying like this, all the harsh words I prepared to say earlier have been swallowed back into my belly.”

Only then did Wang Xun recover. He hastily wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “What were you going to say?”

Changling withdrew her hand. “You’re so clever—why I saved you, you can surely guess?”

He hesitated for a long while before saying, “You want me to return to the He Family and eliminate all those who plot to harm you and would be detrimental to the Yue Family… The He Family tears itself apart with internal strife, while the Yue Family reaps the fisherman’s profit, sitting back to enjoy success.”

Changling nodded. “You’ve guessed half of it.”

Wang Xun looked at her in confusion.

She continued unhurriedly, “I also want you to seize military authority of the He Family and become the head of the He Family.”

The bitter wind swept past his ears. He looked at Changling in disbelief. “Me? I’m not a legitimate son of the He Family. I have neither power nor trusted allies, and can’t even protect myself…”

Halfway through speaking, he stopped continuing. He had never coveted the supreme position of the He Family because his years were limited… but… if he could live, as long as he could live, what couldn’t be accomplished?

Changling asked, “How old are you this year?”

He paused. “After New Year, I’ll be ten years old.”

“Ten years old… I captured Bashu that year at fifteen,” Changling extended five fingers. “Five years. I give you five years to take the He Family and form an alliance with my Yue Family to jointly seize the realm.”

Wang Xun’s heart leapt violently.

He raised his eyes, staring at her in a daze. She was a war god standing above all heroes under heaven. She was telling him she would seize the realm together with him.

She had extended his desperately desired life and made him promise a royal hegemony he had never considered and dared not hope for.

So absurd, yet so real.

All along, the fog wreathing his heart quietly dispersed. He said, “I am alone, just a child.”

She said, “Even bareheaded and barefoot, traveling through deep mountains and great valleys, one can still be wrapped and covered with bedding.”

“If I truly seize great power in the future, won’t you worry I’ll become your enemy?”

“In the future… your life is still in my hands,” the corner of Changling’s mouth involuntarily curved up slightly. “Of course, if you obtain salvation from another master, that too is your fortune. This world has always belonged to the capable. If you wish to compete, I shall naturally keep you company.”

The starry sky above reflected in Changling’s abyss-like eyes. Wang Xun met her gaze. After a long while, so long that Changling thought he wouldn’t answer, he suddenly said, “I agree.”

“Within five years, I will certainly control the He Family’s great power and present it to you with both hands.” He said in a deep voice, “Not offering it to the Yue Family, but giving it to you alone, Yue Changling.”

Changling was startled. “I didn’t mean that…”

Wang Xun said, “Since my life is still in your hands, then everything I possess—what is there that I cannot give you?”

If he truly came to possess half the realm, how could there be reason to hand it over? Hearing this, Changling merely took it as this child suddenly reclaiming his life and temporarily making bold declarations, not taking it seriously. She nodded. “That would naturally be excellent.”

Wang Xun stood, palm suspended in the air. “Strike palms to make an oath.”

Seeing his sincere expression, Changling extended her hand and lightly struck palms with him three times.

After dawn the lone star remained, the east about to brighten.

Seeing the hour was late, she said, “Leave the Yue Family camp early. Avoid showing more flaws before my elder brother, or even I won’t be able to help you then.”

He nodded. “Alright.”

Changling said no more, walked several steps then suddenly stopped, turned back to look at him. “I still don’t know your name.”

Beneath the pale blue sky canopy, wind stirred his hair at the forehead. The youth smiled, warm and gentle as jade. “I am called He Yu, the Yu from jade of finest quality.”