That year, when he left Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the harsh winter winds and snow at the foot of the mountain had given way to slanting winds and fine rain, with spring’s essence gently wafting in the air.

Xu Lai broke off a tender green willow branch and handed it over, smiling as he said, “Yun Cong is returning to the Central Plains from the east, and from now on it will be hard to meet again. I must bid you take care.”

The man took the willow branch in his hand, and raised his eyes to smile at him, the warmth in the corner of his lips surpassing the spring breeze of the third month in Jiangnan: “Brother Xu, take care.”

Xu Lai smiled in return, suppressing the “won’t you stay” that almost escaped his lips, merely raising his hand in an elegant cupped fist salute.

However, before his hand could fall, he couldn’t help but reach forward, embracing those slightly thin shoulders beneath the heavy great cloak.

The man was startled for a moment, seemingly at a loss from this sudden embrace, but soon, those deep black eyes floated with gentle smiles and shallow parting sorrows.

He too raised his hands, returning the embrace around Xu Lai’s shoulders, sighing softly, repeating: “Take care.”

The man ultimately boarded the carriage. On the desolate ancient path of Northern Yunnan, the carriage gradually became distant, until it wound past that mountain ridge, and even with a martial artist’s keen eyesight, it could no longer be seen.

Liu Huaixue, who had come to send him off together, only then spoke: “The person can no longer be seen, stop looking.”

Xu Lai still gazed at the end of the ancient path, as if hoping that person would appear there again, or perhaps just wanting his gaze to linger even a moment longer.

After a long while, he finally withdrew his gaze, looking toward Liu Huaixue, his lips already restored to their usual flirtatious manner: “I just can’t bear to part with Yun Cong. Thinking that I won’t be able to see him again in this life, my heart feels as if cut by a knife.”

With his eyes full of romantic charm as he jested, how could he look like his “heart was cut by a knife”?

Liu Huaixue lightly snorted, too lazy to look at him: “If you can’t bear to part, then follow him to the capital. No one’s tying you down.”

Xu Lai looked once more at the end of the ancient path, rarely speaking something serious: “Though we once walked the same path, ultimately… we cannot return together.”

Only then did Liu Huaixue turn to look at him, slightly pursing his lips, ultimately saying nothing, his white clothes desolate, sleeves fluttering as he turned to walk up the mountain.

Only the two of them had accompanied that person down the mountain. Once Liu Huaixue left, Xu Lai couldn’t stand there alone anymore, hurriedly chasing after him, pulling at his sleeve: “Ah… Huaixue, don’t abandon me. I’m already so heartbroken, if you also desert me, what am I to do?”

Liu Huaixue had never taken his fellow disciple brother’s nonsense seriously, snorting with laughter, just continuing to walk.

Xu Lai chased behind him, swearing as if making an oath: “Huaixue, in this life I have only two kindred spirits, besides you and Yun Cong, there are no others. I can’t bear to part with Yun Cong, and even more so with you…”

Liu Huaixue stopped in his tracks, waiting for Xu Lai to catch up and walk beside him, then looked at him coldly and said: “Shut up.”

Xu Lai indeed obediently shut up, his face wearing a spring breeze-like triumphant smile, walking alongside him toward the main hall up the mountain.

The jianghu was vast, and the world even more boundless, yet only this main hall between the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains was their place of growth and dwelling, their “home.”

Just as he had said to Liu Huaixue, even though he and that person had once walked the same path, they ultimately could not return together.

When he first met that person, he never imagined this person would be the Sect Leader’s son, the one who should be sitting on the golden throne.

The young man wearing faded blue clothes, carrying a medicine chest on his back, standing before him, that appearance among a group of rough men, appeared too refined, but at first glance, seemed rather weak and scholarly.

Like a cluster of bamboo growing in a courtyard, or an orchid blooming on rocky cliffs, no matter what, one couldn’t bear to cut or break it.

So even though he was killing in a rage, he still roared at that person: “Get away!”

What was that person’s gaze like toward him at that time? He no longer remembered, only remembered that person lightly sighed, then dropped the medicine chest from his shoulders, stood behind him, and leaned his shoulder against his.

That warmth and steadiness transmitted from the shoulder they shared, besides from his fellow disciples, he had never experienced it before.

From then on, he began a friendship like water with that person.

In the vast jianghu, it seemed they could always meet; in the vast jianghu, it seemed only drinking until drunk with that person had the most flavor.

He and that person didn’t meet often, but always to their hearts’ content.

They had once launched boats and sang loudly among Sichuan’s mountains and waters, and when their purses were thin, shared a bowl of wontons in Jiangnan’s fine rain.

Even though that person had an overly handsome appearance, compared to martial artists of the same age, he appeared exceptionally gentle and steady. His clothes and food were so simple that he had even speculated whether this person came from humble origins, and when together with that person, always rushed to spend money and pay the bills.

That person never stood on ceremony with him either. During their second meeting, Xu Lai took advantage of being drunk to drag him to a gambling house, and at the gambling table, unexpectedly witnessed that person’s incredibly skillful cheating.

When the opposing wealthy merchant’s eyes turned red from losing badly, that person simply and decisively smashed the gambling table and took him away.

Xu Lai was already dumbstruck by him, and after coming out, held his shoulder laughing bent over: “Yun Cong, I didn’t expect…”

That person’s lips still held their usual gentle smile as he tossed the heavy bag of won silver into his arms: “Go give it to the abbot of Yongji Temple, count it as alms for porridge.”

Xu Lai held that rather heavy money bag, smiling as he said: “With so much silver, turned into porridge it would probably last until next year. Won’t Yun Cong keep some?”

That person looked at him rather strangely, then smiled and shook his head: “I don’t need to keep any.”

Xu Lai was slightly startled, and only then suddenly felt… perhaps Yun Cong wasn’t from humble origins, but had never cared about money.

Later when he learned of that person’s true identity, Xu Lai thought of how he had once speculated that person came from humble origins, and was simply mortified by his rashness.

Under heaven, all land belongs to the sovereign, the whole world is his, and money is probably the most meaningless thing to him.

But that person who possessed all under heaven had no possessions, relying on the meager payment from practicing medicine to walk every inch of land in Da Wu.

His medical skills were so good that even as a traveling physician, his reputation gradually rose, but he almost always gave free treatment.

Poor common people, as long as they could find him, would have house calls for consultation, and even receive gifted medical expenses.

The consultation fees he collected from wealthy households were also largely subsidized to those poor common people, resulting in frequent empty purses.

Such as that day when he hired a boat to take the injured him to the port, that person had no money left and could only buy one bowl of wontons at the noodle stall.

Xu Lai remembered at that time, that person took out the last copper coins he had, discovered he could only buy one bowl of wontons, and had a slightly embarrassed look on his face.

When the wontons were served, that person cleared his throat with a light cough into his fist, pretending to be unconcerned as he pushed the bowl in front of him saying: “Please, Brother Xu, I’m not hungry yet.”

Xu Lai naturally saw through his rare embarrassment, laughing heartily as he put an arm around his shoulders, then asked the old noodle vendor for another spoon, stuffing it into his hand: “I’m not hungry either, this one bowl is good for the two of us.”

And so began their taking turns eating, in the slightly cool fine rain, under the dim yellow light of the noodle stall, the wonton soup steaming with rising mist, suffusing that person’s slightly reddened cheeks.

Xu Lai ate his first post-injury meal of wontons while casually thinking that this friend was worth making, that hereafter in the jianghu of the Central Plains, there was one more person for him to miss.

What happened after? Later the noodle vendor really couldn’t bear to watch the two young men pitifully eating one bowl of wontons, and quietly cooking another large serving of plump and delicious wontons, adding them to their bowl.

That person quietly thanked the noodle vendor, his ears somewhat red, his eyes mixed with smiles, and that indescribable, faint pride.

At that time he didn’t understand why this faint pride arose, but later he understood… As emperor, seeing the simple and honest customs of his subjects, strangers showing such bits of kindness to each other, how could one not feel proud?

Was it because of this little bit, this time after time of pride, that person decided even if he had to exhaust all possibilities, to stake his life, to maintain the stability of the realm?

What kind of feeling was that? He had never been in a position of power, so he couldn’t understand.

Looking at it from his perspective, that person actually couldn’t be called fortunate.

Born as the Son of Heaven, so what?

The empire’s problems had accumulated for long, like an elderly person afflicted with a serious illness, wanting it to survive was more difficult than simply shattering it and rebuilding a prosperous age.

Did that person not understand? He had even more experience than Xu Lai, a jianghu wanderer who roamed north and south.

In casual conversation with him, Xu Lai learned he had been to the northern frontier, entered military camps, seen the wild northern winds, and rolling boulders, and had also been to Lingnan, seen coconut shadows on white sand, blue sky, and coast.

The identity of a physician seemed particularly convenient for his travels, and particularly easy for him to see the suffering of common people.

Once when the two lay drinking slightly tipsy under moonlight, Xu Lai listened to him slowly tell of strange encounters on a lonely island in the East Sea, and couldn’t help laughing and asking: “Yun Cong, you’re so young yet spend all day traveling around practicing medicine, probably barely returning home once a year, haven’t your parents and teachers ever complained about you?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he vaguely felt some regret: most of them in the jianghu had no parents or relatives, otherwise they wouldn’t be so unrestrained and wandering.

Before he could hurriedly take back these words, that person was silent for a moment, then spoke softly: “Traveling to experience the world was permitted by my teacher. I still have a mother in this world… but she doesn’t want to see me.”

At that time he still didn’t know that person’s mother was their Sect Leader, only felt somewhat emotional about his mother’s indifference, fell silent for a moment, then smiled again, tactfully changing the subject.

Thinking back later, that person’s relationship with his parents could be said to be thin.

As soon as that person was born, his birth mother left for northern Yunnan, the grievances between his parents causing him to never taste the flavor of being loved by both parents.

That person didn’t even have a healthy body, from birth he was constantly tormented by cold poison, learning to govern the country, learning martial arts, and even learning medicine to survive.

Xu Lai was an orphan, surviving only by begging before the age of eight, but thinking about it, he felt he was still much more fortunate than that person.

Although the first eight years were somewhat bitter, after that year when he turned eight, the Sect Leader picked him up and brought him to the main hall. From then on, he ate his fill, wore warm clothes, had fellow disciples as brothers and sisters, and everyone grew up together in warmth and harmony.

He was also fortunate to learn extremely powerful martial arts, allowing him to rarely meet a match after entering the jianghu at eighteen, able to freely pursue justice and revenge as he wished.

And that person? During those years in the palace, he probably never lived a single day for himself, not only confined to a sickbed but also surrounded by wolves.

So when that person talked about interesting experiences during his travels, his usually gentle tone involuntarily carried some lightness.

At first, he didn’t understand why, but later after learning of that person’s identity and experiences, he understood that these days, which seemed like ascetic practice to him, were perhaps that person’s rare moments of freedom.

What happened after? He had once defied the Sect Leader for that person, yet still ended up standing opposite him again due to their opposing positions.

The snow at the foot of Tianshan was so urgent, that he looked at the person leaning against the carriage door, dressed all in white like snow, still wearing that faint gentle smile at the corner of his lips, smiling at him: “Brother Xu, we meet again.”

In just two short years of not seeing each other, he never imagined that person would have become so pale and withered. It seemed as if decades had passed, all vitality had already withered away from there, leaving only the still young and handsome shell, supporting the last of his glory.

He quietly clenched his hand hanging at his side, laughed “hehe” and spoke: “It seems I’ll be your first opponent… Yun Cong, we’ve competed once before, but this time who knows the outcome.”

His words carried three parts mockery and seven parts coldness as if this could block the sourness in his heart.

That person also paused slightly upon hearing this, finally no longer wearing that vaguely gentle warmth at his lips, as clear light spilled forth with the raising of his hand.

Xu Lai’s blade finally clashed again with Wang Feng’s sword edge. Two years had passed, and that person’s sword carried an indescribable coldness as if every strike was both the first and last sword stroke of his life.

So determined to advance, and so brilliantly dazzling.

In this suffocating, grinding sword light, Xu Lai couldn’t help but wonder, would he kill him this time?

In their last encounter, that person’s sword still carried a gentle, warming light, missing the sword edge aimed at him, but this time? Would that sword that had already turned cold to the extreme pierce his chest?

However, just as his mind wandered, the bright silver long blade in his hand flew out, the escaped blade handle betraying his hesitation and weakness.

That person’s long sword stopped suspended before him once again, and smiled at him again, that person’s lips faintly carrying the warmth of years past: “Brother Xu, you’ve lost again.”

He raised his arms, embracing that person’s body as it fell toward him, his fingers gripping and gripping again, still raising his hand, using his sleeve to wipe away the glaring blood at the corner of that person’s lips.

That person raised his hand to support himself on his shoulder, struggling not to slide to the ground, his tone carrying some amusement: “The first person Mother sent was actually Brother Xu.”

Xu Lai laughed meaningfully: “Yun Cong shows mercy to me, but aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you while you’re powerless?”

That person leaned on his shoulder, raising his head to look at the snowflakes falling in the sky, slightly curving his lips: “If I were to die by Brother Xu’s blade, it wouldn’t be a bad ending.”

He fell silent for a moment, but still put his arm around that person’s shoulders, lifting his body up, lifting the carriage curtain.

Inside the carriage was a figure curled up sleeping in the corner, he recognized it was Tianshan Sect’s Leader Yun Zixin, and he fell silent again for a moment, finally couldn’t help but speak: “You let her rest in the carriage while you drive?”

That person leaned against his shoulder and laughed softly: “Sect Leader Yun is still a woman, how could I let her drive the carriage?”

So he disregarded his own weak body and personally drove in the cold wind outside?

Xu Lai looked down at his pale profile, and finally sighed softly: “Yun Cong, every time I see you, I feel knowing you were probably a predestined calamity.”

Hearing this particularly helpless remark, that person laughed softly for a long while, before slowly saying between coughs: “Brother Xu, knowing you was my fortune across three lifetimes.”

Xu Lai didn’t know how to respond for a moment, could only lay his body down half-reclined in the carriage, then sighed again: “It seems I must betray the sect once more.”

But that person smiled and shook his head: “You’re not betraying the sect. You’ve captured me, and now you’ll take me to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain to see your Sect Leader. Such great merit, how could it be called betraying the sect?”

Xu Lai was stunned for a moment, saying in a deep voice: “You mean to deliver yourself into my hands?”

That person laughed softly again: “Brother Xu… I want to see Mother one more time.”

Xu Lai looked at him, looked at the vaguely gentle curve forming on his colorless lips: “As things are now, I really can’t rest easy… I want to see her.”

Xu Lai stared at him steadily. If life was like a flame, then the person before his eyes was like a candle that had already burned out, though its light was still warm, it would soon extinguish.

Years of accumulated illness and injury, Xu Lai could still see that gradually uncontrollable true qi in his body. He knew this might already be the last radiance in that person’s life, how could he bear it?

Xu Lai raised his hand to seal the major acupoints around his body, feeling that the true qi about to burst through his veins had been sealed, only then did he slightly relax: “Very good, now you can be considered captured by me.”

That person smiled at him again, coughing lightly with a deathly pale face. He couldn’t bear to watch and reached out his hand to press against his dantian, slowly sending some of his internal force over to soothe the tumultuous true qi within him.

That person leaned on his shoulder and slowly closed his eyes. After a long while, he heard a soft: “Thank you.”

Later… what happened later?

He had been tricked onto that person’s boat, how could he easily get off?

He sent a message to the Sect Leader, saying he had already captured that person and would bring him back for the Sect Leader to personally deal with.

But the Sect Leader, either not believing him at all or having other plans, still sent an endless stream of sect members to intercept and kill the two of them.

At least the Sect Leader hadn’t declared him a traitor or issued a kill order against him.

He still held the position of Left Hall Master of the Holy Light Hall, yet had to avoid pursuit from sect members, carrying a “captive” while hiding and fleeing all the way to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

Just like when fleeing in Jiangnan years ago, though that person spent half of each day unconscious, whenever he was awake, he could always accurately assess the current situation, repeatedly coming up with unexpected strategies, avoiding countless waves of sect members, also preventing Xu Lai from having to directly fight his former fellow disciples.

Carrying that person, he worried endlessly along the way and also understood that without his help, given that person’s condition, he probably wouldn’t have made it to Northern Yunnan.

That person’s condition flared up several times during the journey, with occasional periods of unconsciousness and intermittent dark blood being coughed up. Xu Lai and Yun Zixin fed him countless doses of internal injury medicine before getting him through that crisis. At that time, Xu Lai even worried he would be bringing that person’s corpse up the mountain.

Fortunately, among the sect members the Sect Leader sent to intercept and kill them, some had received that person’s kindness, while others had long admired his actions.

The Lingbi Sect was never a gathering place for jianghu thugs; the Sect Leader taught them to be clear about gratitude and grudges and to follow the righteousness in their hearts.

This time, the righteousness in their hearts… was that they couldn’t harm that person.

What he had thought impossible, that person finally achieved – they reached Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

The person standing at the foot of the mountain was Liu Huaixue. The Sect Leader had sent ten people out, setting up ten checkpoints, and the final checkpoint was precisely Liu Huaixue.

Xu Lai could no longer help him, so that person went alone, breaking through checkpoint after checkpoint, climbing step by step to the peak of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

At the final checkpoint, Liu Huaixue didn’t fight but instead set up a game board.

This match was set on an icy high platform, with bitter wind and flying frost filling the sky.

Xu Lai knew Liu Huaixue wanted to drive that person away with the severe cold, but unexpectedly this match lasted two days and two nights, until the wind and snow had covered both players in frost, finally, Liu Huaixue abandoned his pieces: “I have lost.”

The endgame position on the platform had been covered by accumulated snow, but one could still see the thousands of troops, and the complex strategies – it was a game board of heaven and earth, simulating the great circumstances of the world.

The Sect Leader finally walked up, speaking flatly: “Huaixue, he won?”

Liu Huaixue nodded with a sigh: “Master, he won.”

Only then did Xu Lai understand this match was probably instructed by the Sect Leader. What did the Sect Leader want to do? To see if that person had the wisdom and determination to turn the tide in a desperate situation?

Xu Lai couldn’t know. Even later, he still wondered why the Sect Leader, knowing his deep friendship with that person, still sent him to Tianshan.

Did the Sect Leader want to kill that person, or… just set up an extremely difficult test among the mountains and waters? If that person lost, naturally his bones would be scattered, but if that person won…

Everything that day happened too quickly. The Sect Leader didn’t move against that person. A man named Gui Wuchang appeared. The Sect Leader’s long sword pierced Gui Wuchang’s chest, yet caught that falling body.

The Sect Leader spent half her internal force dispersing the harmful true qi in that person’s body, then embraced Gui Wuchang’s body and jumped off the cliff.

The taste of love, hate, and obsession over more than twenty years – perhaps none of them would understand.

Xu Lai only knew that every New Year, the Sect Leader would personally cook a bowl of longevity noodles, placing two soft-boiled eggs inside, along with fresh vegetables looking so green and appetizing.

That bowl of noodles would end up being fought over by them, while the Sect Leader would smile watching them fight, but no matter how they fought, she would never cook a second bowl.

When Xu Lai was still young, he had once childishly asked the Sect Leader why she wouldn’t cook a few more bowls for everyone to share.

The Sect Leader just smiled and shook her head: “The birthday person hasn’t even eaten these noodles, and you’ve already snatched them away. How dare you ask me to cook more.”

Though she said this, afterward on each of their birthdays, the Sect Leader would cook them the same kind of noodles.

Later when Xu Lai entered the jianghu and learned of current affairs, he finally knew that New Year’s Day was that person’s birthday.

The Emperor’s birthday was the Ten Thousand Longevity Festival, and it happened to be New Year’s as well – the two most festive holidays of the year celebrated together, each time with universal celebration, extraordinarily lively.

Had that person, amid the palace’s bustling festival banquets, ever thought about how atop the snowy mountains of Northern Yunnan, there was a bowl of longevity noodles made by his mother’s own hands for him every year?

When that person was recovering from his injuries on Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Xu Lai asked this question. He was just saying it casually, without any intention to interrogate.

It was just that at that time, not knowing whether the Sect Leader was alive or dead when he thought of those moments of maternal love that had existed, he couldn’t help but speak of them.

But unexpectedly, as soon as he said it, that person’s usually gentle smile completely vanished from his lips. That person’s face, in that instant, showed a deathly pallor that hadn’t appeared even when he was dying on the mountain peak.

He watched as that person clutched his chest tightly and collapsed, spitting out bright red blood.

He hadn’t expected such a simple statement would cause such turmoil, hurriedly embracing that person’s constantly trembling body, calling repeatedly for a doctor to save him.

But his sleeve was grabbed, and he saw that person, pale-faced, curve his lips slightly at him, still with glaring blood at the corners: “Brother Xu… I am the doctor…”

He watched countless traces of grief and melancholy pass through that person’s eyes, yet still radiating gentle light: “My life now was still given by Mother… I won’t let her efforts be in vain.”

In their panic, neither of them had noticed a familiar figure had quietly entered and was standing by the bed.

The Sect Leader… no, should be called Teacher now. The teacher sat down by the bed, using a handkerchief to gently wipe away the remaining blood at that person’s lips, speaking calmly: “Your heart meridians are damaged now, you must avoid great joy or sorrow.”

He held that person’s shoulders and could feel that person’s body beginning to tremble again. Looking at the blood that person had just vomited before the bed, he was truly anxious and didn’t know what to do, so hurriedly handed that person over to Teacher, fleeing from the room like escaping for his life.

In his last glimpse before closing the door, he saw Teacher tenderly embracing that person’s shoulders, wiping the blood from his lips with a handkerchief while softly telling him to regulate his breathing.

After coming out, Xu Lai saw Liu Huaixue outside the door and was told that Teacher had finally returned from the bottom of the cliff with Gui Wuchang an hour ago.

There was an icy spring at the bottom of that cliff; even a dying person, if frozen in the spring, could temporarily hold onto a breath of life. They all guessed Teacher had jumped down with Gui Wuchang to use the icy spring to save him.

But the cliff was too high, and Teacher had just lost half her internal force. They didn’t know if the Teacher could safely return with the person.

Now… now Teacher had finally returned. Fortunately, this ending couldn’t be considered too bad.

He leaned against the closed door behind him, and there in Northern Yunnan’s warming sunlight, covered his eyes and began to laugh deeply.

He laughed for a long while, until Liu Huaixue could no longer bear to watch and spoke somewhat impatiently: “If you want to cry then cry. Anyway, as soon as Teacher returned, Wu Shui, Ban Le, and the others all cried together.”

He laughed and shook his head, wiping his face hard, revealing a pair of brilliantly shining eyes: “I’m just laughing that the heavens aren’t too cruel after all.”

Gui Wuchang’s injuries were severe, and he hadn’t woken up when the Teacher brought him back.

When that person’s condition improved slightly, he got up to treat his father’s injuries. Xu Lai had thought father and son should have some tacit understanding and warmth, but every time that person went to treat Gui Wuchang’s injuries, he maintained a stern face, as if too lazy to even give a false smile.

When Gui Wuchang finally woke, that person still coldly completed a set of acupuncture, packed up his needle bag, and left without a word.

Once Gui Wuchang finally couldn’t bear it anymore and, during a break in the acupuncture, tried hard to say something: “Huan’er, how is your health?”

That person coldly said: “One cannot speak during acupuncture.”

So Gui Wuchang could only fall silent again, his face nine parts similar to that person’s, also very pale, looking equally pitiful.

Xu Lai watched from the side finding it quite amusing, but didn’t dare laugh, could only hold back his laughter waiting for that person to finish the acupuncture so he could help him back to his room.

However, that person ultimately spoke again faintly after the treatment: “I’m fine, don’t trouble yourself worrying. As for you, if you think too much again, I won’t come to do acupuncture for you anymore.”

Gui Wuchang still frowned pretending not to understand: “Huan’er, why wouldn’t you come do acupuncture for me, has your father made you angry?”

That person pressed his pale thin lips together and glared fiercely at the person in bed, seeming to regret speaking to him, and got up to leave without hesitation.

That person was probably angered by his father this time. After returning to his room, he still pressed his chest and coughed for a while, his face very pale.

Seeing how he hurt himself every time he got angry with his parents, Xu Lai rubbed his nose and said: “Yun Cong, Master-Consort just has that personality, only the Teacher can control him, don’t take it too seriously.”

Hearing this, that person paused and looked up at him: “Who did you call ‘Master-Consort’?”

Xu Lai was used to living in the Lingbi Sect and wasn’t very familiar with secular titles of respect, not noticing anything wrong: “Yun Cong’s father of course, we all call him ‘Master-Consort’.”

That person burst out laughing “puff”, his face no longer completely pale: “If he heard this term, I wonder if he would die of anger…”

He spoke then hurriedly contained his smile, looking at Xu Lai and speaking softly: “Since I was small, he always told me that one day, he would bring Mother back… Said it for so many years, but never once fulfilled it, and finally also…”

His face showed some helplessness, but finally smiled: “Never mind, why am I quibbling with him, he’s always been untrustworthy anyway.”

Though he said this, he could barely get out of bed, yet still insisted on going to do acupuncture for Gui Wuchang every day. The needle technique was said to be quite draining, and for him who had lost his internal force, it probably wasn’t easy.

This family was always so contrary between words and hearts. Xu Lai had grown used to it these days. In the family both father and son lay in bed – looking at it this way, the Teacher was quite pitiful too.

When that person’s health improved somewhat more, and Gui Wuchang’s injuries were also better, he had to set out to return to the capital.

Teacher and Gui Wuchang sent that person off. The teacher looked at him saying: “The matter of your father and I being alive involves too much, don’t tell anyone.”

That person nodded in agreement, and Teacher spoke again: “Huan’er, I still want to say, you could just stay here…”

That person smiled lightly and shook his head: “Mother, people are waiting for me in the capital…”

The teacher finally said nothing more, only raising her arms to embrace that person. Xu Lai had followed Teacher for so many years, yet only at this moment discovered that when Teacher embraced that person, she was no longer immortal and refined, cold and ethereal, but like all mothers in the world embracing their soon-to-depart sons, slightly hunched over, full of reluctance to part.

Teacher said: “Before… that day, if there’s time, I will bring your father back to see you once.”

That person smiled and nodded slightly: “I wish Mother and Father to grow old together with white hair, best if that day never comes.”

The teacher immediately laughed despite herself: “You haven’t been on the mountain long, how have you learned such glib talk from Xiao Lai… if that day never comes, you want us white-haired people to send off black-haired ones?”

That person curved his lips slightly, unwilling to admit he was deliberately making his mother laugh to dilute the sorrow of parting.

Teacher and the others bid him farewell on the mountain, and only Xu Lai and Liu Huaixue accompanied him down the mountain.

In this life, would he and that person ever meet again?

Xu Lai didn’t think too much about it. He was born a free spirit of the jianghu, fate like duckweed, yet also like white birds – at the moment of spreading wings to fly into the clouds, don’t ask about the road here, don’t ask about the way back.

Later Liu Huaixue asked Xu Lai: “How many kindred spirits do you have in this life?”

The no-longer-young Holy Hall Master was still handsome, smiling as he waved his fingers: “Naturally there are two.”

One was before his eyes, the other had gone into the depths of sea and sky and flying snow.

Though they could never meet again, they remained in his heart.