The destruction continued.

Yilan Valley itself was an ancient great formation. Looking at its layout using mountains as the formation, wondrous and magnificent, it was definitely not the work of a day or night, but surely the result of the Shui family’s hundred years of unceasing effort and dedication. Yet complete destruction really was just a matter of moments.

Those exquisite buildings, broad roads, exotic flowers and plants, ingenious halls – due to the complete destruction of some central mechanism – accomplished their vicissitudes of life in an instant.

The world’s only lost great formation built in harmony with nature, an incomparable peak wonder that people could only gaze upon from afar, would forever be one place fewer.

This was something anyone would lament with sighs.

As someone born and raised here, Shui Jingchen should have had more reluctance and attachment, yet it was precisely he who smiled and unhesitatingly chose to personally destroy the hundred-year Yilan.

His resolute will and ruthless actions sent chills through people’s hearts.

The four-mountain-encircled Yilan was slowly sinking. Those buildings constructed along the mountains, starting from the peak’s round-domed chamber, had all been destroyed and were cracking and collapsing layer by layer. The entire mountain body was mysteriously disintegrating. The surrounding mountains, due to the terrain’s tilting, were colliding, compressing, shifting, and deforming. Those mountain forms were rearranging and recombining in various strange ways. No place could remain safe forever, no place could be certain it wouldn’t change again.

Giant sounds continued endlessly, flying stones continued endlessly. In the pervasive ash and smoke, the world seemed destined to collapse forever until all living beings were destroyed.

Among the giant sounds, flying stones, tilting cliff faces and mountain bodies, countless bell birds cried mournfully as they flew up in flocks. That clear and distant Sanskrit sound was no more, replaced by chaotic cacophony. Countless beast shadows scurried everywhere, desperately choosing advantageous positions before heaven and earth’s might, seeking spaces to survive.

Xiao Jue looked at the cracks under his feet that were shaking again, scooped up Qin Chang Ge with one hand and threw her to Su Xuan, shouting, “You protect her well!”

Su Xuan caught her without ceremony. Qin Chang Ge struggled in his arms, shouting, “Are you injured? Are you injured?”

Xiao Jue ignored her completely, only shouting loudly amid the earth-shaking sounds, “The valley entrance is blocked, we can’t get out! I’ll go to where Shui Jingchen went down – there must be a path there!”

The three looked up in that direction together – the mountain terrain had changed, that cliff located in the valley center had been lifted high, raised up high with a several-zhang-wide giant crack separating them.

But Qin Chang Ge was struggling, struggling to get down from Su Xuan’s arms, shouting, “Exit the valley! Exit the valley!”

The two were stunned, then Su Xuan’s expression changed.

Toward the valley entrance in all directions that had long been blocked by collapse, Qin Chang Ge said resolutely, “Feihuan is outside the valley! He knows what’s happening here and will definitely come in!”

Chu Feihuan entering the valley – all three knew Qin Chang Ge was definitely right, and all three knew the consequences of Chu Feihuan entering the valley.

Xiao Jue looked at the valley entrance that was already a complete dead end, then at the only place with life where Shui Jingchen had fallen, then at Qin Chang Ge’s expression, and suddenly smiled. “Good!”

Su Xuan looked at her, saying in a daze, “But your injury…”

Qin Chang Ge reached out and snapped off a branch from a tree sliding past, then tore her garment hem, ripping it into cloth strips and handing them to Su Xuan. “Help me bind it!”

Su Xuan looked at her with shifting expressions, his meaning unclear, then finally reached out to firmly bind her broken arm to her body. Qin Chang Ge looked with satisfaction and smiled. “Very good, a master is a master – the binding position is basically accurate. I probably won’t be crippled.”

Though her complexion was ashen and expression haggard, her manner remained normal and she spoke casually. Despite being disheveled in the rolling wind and smoke, her bearing was still noble and elegant like a flower in water. Su Xuan gazed at her and felt his heart surging in waves, making his usually carefree and fearless self catch his breath. In the quiet clarity of heaven and earth, radiance seemed to shoot forth with long cries – like this mountain collapse and earth splitting, like these four seas churning, like these clouds and mist bursting forth, like this long wind raging.

He turned to look at the valley entrance that was already impassable. “Then, together!”

Reaching out, he suddenly grabbed Xiao Jue’s right arm, pulling and lifting. With a crack, Xiao Jue didn’t even frown, only smiled. “Thanks!”

“Your Majesty once personally resolved the siege for my Blazing Flame. Such a small matter is nothing in comparison!” Su Xuan laughed heartily, grasping the sleeve of Qin Chang Ge’s good hand. “Up!”

The three soared upward.

“Don’t go!”

A female voice cried out shrilly, the end note carrying several parts fierce urgency. The three turned back to see on the cliff where Shui Jingchen had fallen, a petite figure suddenly climbing out.

She looked quite disheveled too. Her white clothing could no longer be called white, covered in dust and bloodstains. Her originally glossy hair was now tangled messily together. With every movement, dust fell from her body in rustling sounds. In the sky full of yellow earth and ash, she spread her arms wide and cried out mournfully, “Don’t go to the valley entrance! Don’t go to the valley entrance!!!”

Shui Linghuai.

At this moment when the Shui family members had all disappeared together, when Yilan had been abandoned and destroyed, when all things collapsed and those who could escape had long fled, she appeared at the cliff peak.

Qin Chang Ge looked at the direction she appeared from and suddenly sighed softly.

This was also a romantic soul…

She had clearly already left… yet at the moment she discovered Yilan’s destruction, she chose to turn back. This spirited, mischievous child with a touch of selfish petulance, at the most dangerous and critical moment, chose to run toward her beloved who was in peril.

Shui Linghuai ran and jumped on the peak, waving her arms forcefully. “No matter what, you can’t go to the valley entrance! That’s the dragon’s eye location! Both eyes have closed – it’s a dead end!”

Su Xuan stared at her. For the first time in so long he looked at this woman so seriously, yet in an instant his gaze flashed and he resolutely turned back. “Go!”

He flew up without looking back, leading Qin Chang Ge by the hand.

Xiao Jue ran several steps, thinking of Su Xuan’s turn at that moment and Shui Linghuai’s shocked, disappointed expression. His heart ultimately felt some sympathy. He couldn’t help turning back to Shui Linghuai, who stood dazedly on the cliff watching those two leave hand in hand, even forgetting to dodge stones. “Miss Shui, we have reasons we must go to the valley entrance. You should return by your original path and chase after your family.”

Shui Linghuai looked at him somewhat blankly, as if not understanding. Xiao Jue dodged a flying stone and repeated himself. Shui Linghuai blinked, and tears immediately rolled down like broken pearls.

Her knees went soft and she collapsed among the rubble, suddenly throwing herself down and wailing!

“I can’t go back! Brother made me choose – turn back, and from then on I’d have no relationship with the Shui family! The moment I turned around, the last passage was already destroyed!”

Her cries were desolate and piercing, continuously echoing on the peak among broken stones and chaotic clouds. This girl who was still a child, a precious young master pampered in a wealthy household for generations, had lived a life of gold and jade with everyone’s protection since birth, never knowing human suffering or the world’s coldness. Now, overnight, she had lost family, status, and the man she had sacrificed everything to follow.

Twenty years of commanding wind and rain with everything going smoothly had all collapsed, exchanged for this moment’s infinite desolation of falling from the peak with nothing left.

Su Xuan’s body stiffened in mid-air.

Qin Chang Ge had already sighed softly. “Take her with us.”

Su Xuan turned to look at her, his usually composed gaze also showing pain.

“I think she’d rather die with you.”

The light in Su Xuan’s eyes faded. He looked at Qin Chang Ge silently for a moment, then suddenly spun in mid-air. His figure flashed like a phoenix in the vast sky and he had already rushed to the opposite cliff peak, reaching out to pull up Shui Linghuai.

Shui Linghuai raised her head, her delicate face like pear blossoms in rain, disheveled with mud and dust as she looked toward him.

Su Xuan leaned down, only looking at her calmly and asking, “Where I’m going now is the dead end you spoke of… are you willing to go with me?”

Shui Linghuai immediately nodded without hesitation.

Qin Chang Ge watched from afar as Su Xuan helped up Shui Linghuai. The girl’s tear-filled eyes were bright as stars, breaking into a smile toward the elegant man in white who extended his hand. Her joy was so direct and simple, clear and resonant like crystal falling on a jade plate. In the ruins collapsing everywhere, brilliant flowers thus bloomed.

“As long as I can be with you, even if it means dying together.”

Qin Chang Ge smiled and sighed. Beside her, Xiao Jue’s voice sounded low at her ear.

Qin Chang Ge turned to look at him.

Her gaze was also like a flower blooming in a storm, beautifully restrained and tranquil.

“All lovers in the world are like this.”

Su Xuan, who had brought Shui Linghuai down from the cliff top, remained very silent. He held one woman’s hand each, heading straight for the valley entrance.

Shui Linghuai no longer wept. She looked at Qin Chang Ge’s long hair scattered from running and the neck exposed by her torn high collar, confirming her female identity, but didn’t inappropriately pursue her identity. This girl who had always been arrogant and domineering seemed to have suddenly matured rapidly the moment she was abandoned.

Yilan covered a vast area, but at these people’s pace, it was only a brief distance. Soon everyone stopped before the valley entrance, and despite being mentally prepared, they couldn’t help gasping.

Originally the valley entrance was a section of cliff wall forming a natural gap, then concealed with vines and formations. Now the cliff wall had broken and fallen straight across to block the valley entrance. Those dense vines were crushed by giant stones, winding out among the rubble like tears flowing from Yilan Mountain.

Su Xuan looked at this ruin that had become a mess in an instant and frowned. “Even if Yilan Valley has master controls for its mechanisms, man-made mechanisms are ultimately limited. How could even the mountain body be destroyed?”

Qin Chang Ge said indifferently, “This is a chain formation. The underground terrain must be unusual, and who knows how much gunpowder was buried, connected by certain route mechanisms. After the master mechanism was destroyed, they were triggered in sequence, so the collapse came section by section, not all at once.”

She carefully looked up ahead – countless rubble trembled precariously as they piled together in various shapes. There were vaguely gaps to squeeze through, but those interconnected stones were all unstable. The slightest touch might trigger a domino chain reaction. If one wanted to drill through those stones, no one could guarantee they wouldn’t accidentally touch some inconspicuous small stone and cause some massive boulder it supported to come crashing down.

Walking in such a chaotic rocky environment, one could easily encounter another mountain collapse head-on.

Yet these three seemed not to see the impending danger ahead, moving forward without looking back. Su Xuan brushed away Shui Linghuai’s hand trying to stop him and took the lead. His lightness skill reached its peak, truly light as feathers, floating up the stone mountain.

After just two steps, an extremely faint “thud” was heard.

Qin Chang Ge immediately shouted, “Retreat! Retreat!”

Su Xuan had already withdrawn instantly. In a flash, stones crashed down with a rumbling sound. A massive boulder weighing ten thousand pounds rolled down from the top, heading straight for Su Xuan’s head. The boulder simultaneously crushed countless sharp stone fragments that scattered like thousands of sharp swords viciously stabbing over, covering the sky and earth. Due to excessive speed, some stones were already emitting ghostly wails in mid-air. Su Xuan was instantly enveloped by the stone rain, and Shui Linghuai covered her mouth with a terrified scream.

In the screams, Su Xuan retreated like lightning, sliding back several zhang. He didn’t choose to flee downward but twisted his body in mid-air and stepped on flying stones, climbing higher step by step, forcibly raising himself several zhang before dodging the thunderous stone rain attacking from above.

When he landed, his white robes had become gray robes. The stone mountain instantly rearranged itself, looking even more cramped and steep than before.

Qin Chang Ge rushed forward to examine him from top to bottom. Shui Linghuai had begun sobbing.

Su Xuan waved his hand as if nothing had happened. Not looking at Qin Chang Ge or Xiao Jue, he suddenly asked Shui Linghuai, “Miss Shui, it’s dangerous ahead. Perhaps you shouldn’t go?”

Shui Linghuai, still shaken and silently weeping, didn’t even hear Su Xuan’s words.

From the moment she started running toward the valley entrance, she had been deep in thought, seeming to consider something or hesitating in difficulty. Su Xuan’s recent dangerous experience had scared her out of her wits. Seeing the stone mountain was difficult to cross, almost a dead end, yet these few people insisted on passing like madmen, she couldn’t help showing some resentment, though helplessness grew within the resentment. Staring at those broken stones, she bit her lips desperately until they turned white and blood seeped out.

Qin Chang Ge stared at her carefully, then slowly said, “Miss Shui, is there something you want to say?”

Shui Linghuai, immersed in her own thoughts, was startled and stared wide-eyed at her. After a long while she stammered, “No… nothing.”

Qin Chang Ge made an “oh” sound, but at the moment Shui Linghuai relaxed, she said casually, “We don’t mind dying for friends, but Miss Shui is so young yet wants to accompany us to death together – we really feel bad about it.”

Su Xuan glanced at her without speaking.

Shui Linghuai seemed to endure it but finally couldn’t hold back. “I’m not accompanying you.”

“Mm,” Qin Chang Ge smiled, “I know, accompanying Leader Su. Speaking of which, Leader Su doesn’t need to accompany me either. You look down on the world, nearly the martial arts master – it would be quite a pity for you to be buried here for us.”

Su Xuan glanced at her again. His expression was clear and transparent as crystal, reflecting Qin Chang Ge’s cunning eyes. Their gazes met with understanding, and he laughed heartily. “A great man dies when he dies. Status and reputation are external things. I think Yilan Valley’s feng shui is quite good.”

Shui Linghuai’s expression immediately became several parts more painful.

Qin Chang Ge had already begun discussing with Su Xuan where would be most suitable to die, how it could bless descendants, etc. Su Xuan responded intermittently while constantly watching to block flying stones for the two.

Shui Linghuai maintained an appearance of mental confusion and inner struggle throughout.

Finally, when Qin Chang Ge pointed at the valley entrance not far ahead that had collapsed into a rift and smiled saying the dragon’s eye location must be best, Shui Linghuai screamed hysterically.

“Stop talking!”

Everyone turned to look at her.

Biting her lower lip, Shui Linghuai’s face showed abnormal flushing – partly like excitement, partly like resolve, but more like tragic, helpless emotion.

Su Xuan stared at her, suddenly feeling an ominous premonition rise in his heart. He instinctively opened his mouth to stop her.

But Shui Linghuai, as if not wanting to let herself regret, spoke urgently and quickly.

“I know a place that can cross the valley entrance!”

She continued without stopping, “Great-grandfather was very fond of me. When I was small he once told me… that passage leads outside the valley, it’s a living ground unknown to others in the great Yilan formation. Follow me!”

Qin Chang Ge and Xiao Jue exchanged glances, both showing joy. Shui Linghuai had already broken free from Su Xuan’s hand and ran ahead first, disappearing behind a fallen screen wall.

That screen wall, like those in ordinary wealthy households placed behind main gates, was positioned at the valley entrance. When Qin Chang Ge and Xiao Jue first entered the valley, they had seen it. Though they found it strange that such a vast valley would have such a small screen wall, and its position wasn’t centered but slightly off, their attention was focused on Shui Jingchen at the time and they hadn’t paid attention. They vaguely remembered it depicted a woman scooping water from a stream. Now looking carefully at the half-destroyed screen wall, they saw the woman’s hand gesture was somewhat strange, and all three made sounds of surprise.

Scooping water should have fingers cupped upward, but the woman’s middle fingertip was pointing downward.

Below, a place that was originally just flat ground had its surface disguise swept away due to ground cracking, revealing blue stone slab seams. The blue stone slabs also cracked open with a large gap.

Shui Linghuai said in a low voice, “Yilan’s destruction shoots from all four sides toward the center – four sides collapse, center collapses. The area before the valley entrance is damaged less severely. It looks like the secret passage is still there, truly fortunate…”

She spoke of fortune, but for some reason her tone was somewhat bitter, smiling rather desolately.

She turned back to look at Qin Chang Ge and suddenly said, “Except for Shui family women, other women cannot go down.”

Su Xuan was stunned, Xiao Jue raised his eyebrows.

Qin Chang Ge smiled. “Fine.” She turned to Su Xuan and Xiao Jue. “Help me find Feihuan, I’ll think of another way out.”

Xiao Jue snorted and turned to leave.

He headed toward the stone mountain.

Shui Linghuai looked at Su Xuan with eyes full of hope.

Su Xuan stared at her, saying softly, “Miss Shui, is this your Shui family’s rule, or a rule you just made up?”

The bright light in Shui Linghuai’s eyes immediately dispersed, layers of black clouds surging up from the depths, gradually scattering to be replaced by new glittering ripples – those were tears.

Su Xuan immediately felt some sympathy. He sighed softly, “Miss Shui, we appreciate your good intentions. You take the secret passage yourself.”

Then he turned back to help Qin Chang Ge.

Qin Chang Ge smiled helplessly and bitterly, somewhat unable to bear looking at Shui Linghuai, who stared blankly at Su Xuan’s back and was instantly streaming with tears.

The three turned their backs without hesitation, going in the opposite direction from that convenient, safe secret passage.

Shui Linghuai bit her teeth, suddenly stamped her feet, and shouted, “Yes! Yes, I made it up! Come back!”

She wiped her tears and chased after them to grab Su Xuan, pleading, “I was jealous of her…”

Su Xuan’s back stiffened. Shui Linghuai had already released him and resolutely jumped toward the large crack under the blue stones.

Qin Chang Ge looked down at her feet and said softly, “Go… Su Xuan, this is her sincere intention…”

Xiao Jue had already jumped down – since they’d decided to go down, he naturally had to block the way in front of Chang Ge.

Su Xuan had no choice but to pull Qin Chang Ge down as well.

Going down was immediately a slope, and everyone involuntarily rolled down diagonally. In the whooshing wind, Xiao Jue shouted loudly, “Su Xuan, protect her hand well—”

Behind came Su Xuan’s resolute answer: “Don’t worry—”

Qin Chang Ge smiled bitterly in the darkness. That, Xiao Jue, if you could turn back and see, I wonder if you’d be even more worried? The great Leader Su has me tucked right in his arms…

The unrestrained, carefree leader didn’t care what she thought, tightly protecting her as they tumbled along. Ahead suddenly brightened.

Bang bang – several people hit the ground.

With one foot touching solid ground, Qin Chang Ge’s first glance saw raised bell bird dancing patterns on blue bricks, lifelike, and couldn’t help praising, “Excellent carving!”

“Carving carving carving carving…”

Echoes immediately came continuously from all sides, rumbling so much that Qin Chang Ge was startled. Her own voice hadn’t seemed loud, so why were the echoes so vast and distant? Looking up, she realized the space they were in was frighteningly large.

Giant ceiling, domed ceiling, walls full of relief carvings, glowing blue lamps.

The blue domed ceiling carved with dancing bell birds spanned overhead like an arched bridge, connecting to the deep, dark space behind a broken wall opposite. That area had already been blocked by mountain stones falling in intermittent collapses, piled with chaotic rocks and firmly sealed.

Underground bronze lamps shaped like young girls holding basins were half a person’s height. Though still well-preserved, half had already toppled over at various angles. With half the light sources lost, the interior became even more gloomy and dark, with ghostly shadows flickering. Even the relief carvings on the walls seemed to be quietly writhing.

The relief carvings depicted long-bearded men with clear, refined features, vaguely resembling the good looks of Shui family people – apparently Shui family ancestors. The relief panels carved their birth, learning arts, doing good deeds, saving the world… a glorious, charitable life.

Unfortunately, those bright and noble deeds recorded in history books, along with this Yilan Valley that recorded glory and honor, were all ruthlessly abandoned together by one of their ambitious “sage” descendants many years later.

Shui Linghuai gazed distantly at the blocked side, her eyes showing emotions unknown as sorrow or joy. After a long while she said in a low voice, “…That’s where our ancestors’ spirits rest, now it’s been smashed… fortunately, it wasn’t this half that was destroyed…”

She knelt devoutly before the relief wall, kowtowing to the ancestor images, murmuring something unknown.

Xiao Jue and the other two also bowed slightly – regardless of anything else, what the Shui family ancestors had done still lived up to the noble reputation and deserved their respect.

Shui Linghuai looked back at them gratefully, stood up, and counted on the ground, stopping before the thirteenth bronze lamp.

“Click!”

A rapid sliding sound, followed by the sound of feet landing.

Everyone turned back to see at the cave entrance, half-beautiful Ban Yan slowly looking over. Even her forehead had been struck by flying stones with quite a large bump, and her body was muddy and wet, looking quite comical.

However, Heavenly Envoy Ban Yan was always unhurried at any time. Being comical didn’t affect her mood. She glanced around and said slowly, “The door above wasn’t closed, so I came down to look.”

Shui Linghuai smiled bitterly and murmured, “One more doesn’t matter anyway…” As if no one else was present, she pulled the bronze lamp.

With creaking sounds, the ground suddenly cracked open – another underground passage, beneath the underground. Everyone was astonished – they all thought the secret passage would definitely be behind the wall paintings, not expecting it to be one level deeper. The Shui family ancestors’ thoughts were truly bizarre.

Shui Linghuai looked at Su Xuan – from just now, her gaze had always been on Su Xuan, her eyes showing endless attachment, endless resolve, yet also several parts desolation. She wasn’t stupid – the way Su Xuan looked at Qin Chang Ge, she understood better than anyone. Just from that one glance, she knew she had lost him.

Oh no, actually, she had never possessed him to begin with.

That man she fell in love with at first sight; that man who had once laughed heartily while crossing layers of clouds, descending to Yilan with godlike bearing, descending into her view and bringing her a completely new, bright mood; that man who on a moonlit night had laughed as he flew into that huge golden moon, his eyes bright with excitement as he looked toward her amid the overwhelming fragrance of Snow White and Golden Orchid flowers. From that very first meeting, he had already carved his image irreplaceably into her heart. How many long nights she had fallen asleep thinking of him, how many mornings she had awakened with face full of longing. In those wonderful dreams, the world’s number one and Yilan Valley’s young lady walked hand in hand in the most matched, most envied manner in the martial world, side by side on embroidered couches blowing red rain during leisure, leaning together against slanted sunlight at carved railings… She often smiled as she woke from such dreams.

And now, endlessly falling into dark abysses.

After those joys, even deeper desolation struck her face, choking her breath – meeting again, the world had already changed. She no longer had a home, while he looked at another woman with the same gaze she used to look at him.

He didn’t want her.

He wouldn’t even trust her.

So she had nothing at all.

Shui Linghuai smiled with infinite desolation. Her gaze was bright as crystal, crystal clear as a maiden’s heart soaked in tears and baptized by despair. Her smile sank in darkness, emanating the rich, vicissitudinous scent of incense ash, with faint savage desperation growing within the vicissitudes… Su Xuan, if I can’t make you love me or trust me, then can I make you remember me forever?

…In the darkness someone puzzled turned their gaze over – another pair of clear, deep, wise eyes with unfathomable thoughts. Another woman.

Shui Linghuai met Qin Chang Ge’s gaze without avoiding or yielding. Who she was, Shui Linghuai no longer wanted to know. This kind of woman, just by standing there, continuously radiated composure and nobility, unchanging and unshocked yet understanding, the kind of naturally gifted woman who was destined to attract the most attention no matter where she stood or what she looked like. Her existence was truly the sorrow of all self-important women, especially her sorrow.

Heh… I lose to you, I lose to you…

Shui Linghuai smiled self-mockingly, her hand on the bronze mechanism. Her voice sounded somewhat ethereal and distant.

She said, “The mechanism needs a Shui family member to keep controlling it. You go first.”

She said, “I’ll come last.”