On the twenty-seventh of November, the martial arts sects of the Central Plains finally launched their final assault on the Tianshan Sect’s Sea Palace.
Battle cries echoed through the snow-covered valley. Blood flowed freely across the ground, revealing the full brutality of this martial arts conflict.
I ran out of bullets, reloaded, and fired again. Even I lost count of how many fell before my gun, or how many sprays of blood stained my clothes. Even the snow-white fur coat Xiao Huan wore behind me was speckled with crimson.
He charged into the Sea Palace alongside the disciples of Fenglai Pavilion. When Wang Feng, who hadn’t appeared during the previous four checkpoint battles, emerged amidst flashes of emerald sword light before the Fenglai disciples’ eyes, I saw the admiration and pride on their faces.
That undefeated sword of Wang Feng – its demonstrated power and intimidation were their faith.
The fierce battle continued from noon until sunset. Although countless Tianshan disciples were killed or wounded, they still relied on the Sea Palace’s complex terrain to resist desperately. While the Central Plains martial artists achieved victory after victory, every inch of ground was won with extreme difficulty.
The winter wind was cold, but the sword edges were colder. Behind every pair of eyes lay naked killing intent, and every pair of hands was stained with blood.
Gripping my hot gun, I fought alongside Xiao Huan into the most treacherous central area of the Sea Palace. Although I had already received explanations about the death gates and life gates from Lian Mou, who was well-versed in the Eight Trigrams formation techniques, I still couldn’t help feeling dizzy here. After entering a small courtyard and dispatching several Tianshan disciples with a few shots, I looked around to find that only Xiao Huan and I remained in our forces.
More Tianshan disciples leaped down from unknown crevices and high walls. Xiao Huan and I retreated together, instinctively standing back-to-back.
The white-robed Tianshan disciples gradually formed into position, their scattered white figures flashing rapidly before us. I gripped my gun.
“Kan position!”
Following Xiao Huan’s low shout, I leaped with all my might. The bullet left the barrel, finding a weak point in their formation. A Tianshan disciple fell, clutching his legs.
Simultaneously, a desolate azure light burst from my side as Wang Feng silently cut into flesh, trailing dots of crimson. Blood sprayed as white figures collapsed soundlessly to the ground.
Gunshots rang out between flashes of sword light, red splashing everywhere. When Xiao Huan and I stood together again, only corpses and groaning wounded remained in the courtyard.
Clicking the loaded magazine back into place, I asked Xiao Huan, “How are you?”
He responded softly, “Fine.”
I nodded, but before I could lower my gun from my chest, a figure suddenly appeared in the courtyard entrance. I alertly raised my gun, only to discover it was Lan Ruoyin, the acting leader of the Emei Sect.
With sword in hand and blood staining his robes, he appeared somewhat disheveled, yet his expression remained leisurely and calm. He nodded and smiled at us: “Master Bai, Miss Ling.”
I had little fondness for this man. Lowering my gun, I barely twisted my lips: “Call me Lady Bai.”
Lan Ruoyin smiled, eyes narrowing slightly: “Lady Bai? That won’t do. If we’re using titles, shouldn’t it be ‘Your Majesty the Empress’?” As he spoke, he fixed his gaze on Xiao Huan, smiling warmly, “Wouldn’t you agree, Your Majesty?”
Xiao Huan smiled: “The Lan family of Suizhou holds hereditary titles. In the winter of the third year of Deyou, Young Master Lan accompanied your father, the Marquis of Anding, to receive an imperial edict, didn’t you?”
“Six years ago, this humble servant was fortunate to see Your Majesty’s face. Naturally, it remains unforgettable in my heart.” Lan Ruoyin smiled faintly, “How rare that Your Majesty still remembers someone as insignificant as myself. In that case, our conversation today should be much simpler.”
Xiao Huan lowered his head slightly, looking at Wang Feng in his hand, smiling faintly: “Master Lan, this isn’t the imperial court. You needn’t be so formal. You’ve been following us all this way because you want my head, don’t you?”
Lan Ruoyin smiled, admitting frankly: “Your Majesty is indeed forthright. Then I shall not stand on ceremony.” As he spoke, he raised his sword, all languor vanishing from his jade-like countenance, “To cross swords with the Master of Fenglai Pavilion has long been my wish.”
I gave a cold laugh, stepping forward to block Xiao Huan: “What’s the hurry? I’m still here.”
Lan Ruoyin shook his head with a smile: “That won’t do. My master gave strict orders not to harm a single hair on the Empress’s head. I dare not raise a hand against Your Majesty the Empress.”
I froze for a moment: “Master?”
Lan Ruoyin’s smile was alluring, faintly carrying a charm similar to that person: “Has the Empress not remembered? The Lan family of Suizhou has served as retainers to the Prince of Chu for generations.” He continued smiling, “And Empress, do you know who offered ten thousand taels of silver for Your Majesty’s head? It was my master… Don’t you know that a man’s jealousy can also kill?”
I clenched my fists, turning back to look at Xiao Huan. He was already looking at me, his deep pupils bright as morning stars: “The one who wants my head is not the Prince of Chu.” He said softly, turning his gaze to Lan Ruoyin, slightly raising the corner of his mouth, “I believe it’s not the Prince of Chu.”
I let out a breath of relief, raising the corner of my mouth as I turned back, raising my voice: “Lan Ruoyin, you heard him? Even if you want to drive a wedge between us, your lie is too clumsy!”
Lan Ruoyin paused, then suddenly laughed softly: “Very well, the Empress trusts the Prince of Chu, but may I ask why Your Majesty believes in the Prince of Chu? Is it because the Empress believes in him?”
“I simply believe that a man of the Xiao family, even if he wants to kill someone, wouldn’t stoop to using another’s hand,” Xiao Huan replied calmly.
“Oh?” Lan Ruoyin pondered briefly, “Is this what they call royal pride?”
Xiao Huan raised an eyebrow and smiled: “This is a man’s pride.”
Lan Ruoyin sobered his expression: “Indeed, this is a man’s pride.”
He slowly raised his sword horizontally: “I truly wasn’t wrong. Bai Chifan is an opponent worthy of a life-and-death battle.” He said, smiling faintly, “This has nothing to do with whether Bai Chifan is the Emperor of Da Wu.”
Xiao Huan smiled faintly: “Thank you.”
I nodded to Xiao Huan and stepped aside.
Two sword lights burst forth almost simultaneously. Jade-green and snow-white sword lights intertwined into dazzling flowers of light, blooming in layers as blade winds scattered, sending blood-stained snow flying like cherry blossoms.
In just an instant, they had already exchanged dozens of moves. Lan Ruoyin’s swordsmanship, crowned as the best in the Emei Sect, proved to be no empty reputation.
I retreated to the courtyard entrance to observe the battle when my sleeve was suddenly tugged. Looking down, I found a white-robed young girl with her hair in a bun standing behind me. Her face was as delicate as jade, with blue eyes. She smiled, revealing two dimples: “Big sister, what are you doing here?”
Looking at her build and face, she couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen. I bent down and smiled at her: “There’s fighting here, it’s very dangerous. How did you get here? Who are you? What’s your name?”
The young girl smiled sweetly: “My name is Yun Zixin. Isn’t it a pretty name?”
Yun Zixin – the name seemed somewhat familiar. I didn’t dwell on it, nodding with a smile: “Very pretty, truly a beautiful name.”
She smiled even more sweetly, then pouted with a sigh: “But sadly, few people call me by this name now. It’s so annoying when I have such a pretty name.”
I smiled perfunctorily, mentally trying to figure out where this child had come from: which sect’s young disciple? Or a Tianshan disciple?
It was far too dangerous for such a young child to be inside the smoke-filled Sea Palace. How could her masters be so careless? Thinking this, I asked her: “Then what do they call you? Little Xin?”
Yun Zixin shook her head seriously: “No, my disciples call me Master, and those others, they call me the Tianshan Monster.” She frowned, looking very upset and troubled, “How ugly that sounds!”
Yun Zixin, Sect Leader Yun Zixin of Tianshan – this was truly a name long forgotten by the martial arts world. She became famous with the lost Eight Directions Four Unions Supreme Self technique, descended to the Central Plains at sixteen, was dubbed invincible under heaven at eighteen, and retired to Tianshan at twenty, thereafter dominating the Western Regions. Due to a cultivation accident, her appearance remained forever frozen at twelve or thirteen years old, unchanging for over thirty years, earning her the title “Monster” from those who had seen her true form. The name “Tianshan Monster” spread far and wide, while Yun Zixin’s real name was rarely mentioned.
I gripped my gun tighter, holding my breath.
Yun Zixin looked up at me, still smiling innocently: “Big sister, you don’t look well, are you feeling unwell?”
Her smile, bright as spring flowers, came closer to me: “What’s wrong, big sister? Where are you feeling unwell?”
My body seemed frozen in place as cold sweat slid down my temples. I suddenly raised my gun, three bullets whistling from the barrel.
My fingers were suddenly gripped by a pair of warm small hands. Yun Zixin held my gun hand, peering up at me from within my arms with blue eyes, giggling: “Big sister, this weapon is very dangerous, you’d better not play with it.”
Three bullets, three bullets fired at such close range, she had dodged them all. I hadn’t even seen her move.
A bright sword point wrapped in fierce wind flew in from the side, cutting straight between Yun Zixin and me. Yun Zixin quickly released my arm and stepped back.
“Don’t touch her, Sect Leader Yun,” Xiao Huan’s voice rang out coldly.
He stood in the courtyard holding Wang Feng, while several feet away, Lan Ruoyin’s face was ashen, his sword missing its tip.
“Big brother, you’re so fierce,” Yun Zixin patted her chest with her jade-white little hands, pouting like a wronged child, “I didn’t do anything, and this sister just started shooting.”
She then looked up, turning to smile at Xiao Huan: “You’re struggling, big brother, I can hear it, your breathing is very uneven…”
She suddenly stopped, her porcelain-white face instantly flushing red. Her hands clenched tightly as her small frame leaned forward, her voice becoming sharp and shrill: “Yu? You’ve come back? I knew you would come back!” Her face suddenly turned deathly pale as she abruptly turned to look at me, laughing eerily, “You still brought back another worthless woman, didn’t you? Why do you always protect other worthless women? Am I not good enough? Haven’t I been good enough to you?”
With each question, her voice grew more piercing, until at the end, her shrill childish voice seemed about to tear through her throat.
I involuntarily stepped back, my spine nearly touching the wall: “What are you saying? He’s not Yu, you’ve mistaken him for someone else!”
Yun Zixin giggled: “Mistaken? Impossible, such a handsome face, seen once in a lifetime can never be forgotten, this man is mine, can only be mine!”
Her blue eyes shot out a ruthless light as her palm suddenly struck toward me. The white figure several feet away instantly appeared before me, but a flash of green light was even faster, thrusting straight at her throat. The palm wind brushed past my ear as Yun Zixin’s wrist turned, graceful as plucking a plum blossom, her palm already striking Xiao Huan’s chest.
After several extremely quick exchanges, her figure became entangled in combat with Xiao Huan.
I snapped open the magazine, quickly reloaded, raised my gun, and aimed at the fluttering robes of Yun Zixin. Her figure and Xiao Huan’s crossed paths at extreme speed. Several times I caught her openings, yet I hesitated to pull the trigger.
“Afraid to shoot?” A laughing voice suddenly sounded beside my ear. I hurriedly turned around, only to discover that Lan Ruoyin, who had been standing on the other side of the courtyard, was now beside me. With his head slightly lowered, there was a strange smile at the corner of his lifted lips.
I spun around sharply, instinctively pointing my gun at him.
The bullet grazed Lan Ruoyin’s cheek. In the next moment, a sharp pain shot through my neck, and everything went black.
It felt like waking up to an endless dripping sound. When I opened my eyes, I was met with a sea of white.
White walls, white floor, and a small white figure sitting with their back to me.
Realizing I had fallen into Yun Zixin’s hands, I surprisingly felt no tension or fear. I felt much calmer than when I first met her.
The pervasive cold stung every inch of my skin, but I could still move my limbs. My pressure points didn’t seem to be sealed. Then again, without my gun, my limited martial arts skills hardly warranted sealing my pressure points.
Trying to stand, I could tell from the intense cold of the floor that I hadn’t been lying there long – otherwise, I would have lost all feeling. Rubbing my sore shoulders, I smiled at Yun Zixin’s back: “Elder Yun, not even offering a cup of hot tea? Your hospitality seems a bit lacking.”
No response. Yun Zixin maintained her position, as still as a snow sculpture.
I tilted my head but still couldn’t see her face. As I puzzled over whether to step forward, she suddenly spoke, her childish, clear voice carrying an incongruous world-weariness: “Sit still. Interrupting my reminiscence won’t do you any good.”
Even knowing Yun Zixin had been famous for over twenty years and was certainly not young, hearing someone with the appearance and voice of a twelve-year-old girl speak of “reminiscence” in such a tone was strange.
Not knowing whether to laugh or do something else, I simply stood in place, silent.
After staring ahead lost in thought for a while, Yun Zixin suddenly spoke again, her voice still carrying that ancient weariness tinged with fatigue: “I’ve waited here for twenty-one years, waiting for someone who will never return. I’ve brought back many young men, each beautiful and young, with faces that would make flowers jealous. One even looked like him, with beautiful black eyes. But he will never return.” She stared straight ahead, repeating softly, “Yu won’t come back. I killed him.”
Though I could guess from the name and various signs, I still carefully asked: “Yu… do you mean Xiao Yu? Emperor Ruizong?”
“Emperor Ruizong?” Yun Zixin continued staring ahead without turning, shaking her head. “I don’t know what people called him after his death. I only knew him as Yu. Yu, who was gentle to everyone, whose smile was warm yet sad. Such a Yu and I killed him.”
Perhaps it was her tone of such deep sorrow, but I couldn’t help trying to comfort her: “I’ve seen him. Yu isn’t dead. You shouldn’t… blame yourself so much.”
Turning to look at me with those clear eyes, Yun Zixin slowly shook her head: “You’re wrong. Yu is dead… twenty-one years ago, I watched him fall into the pool and watched the blood flow down his face. Yu died, right here.” As she spoke, she slowly raised her arm, pointing downward.
Standing too far inside earlier, I hadn’t noticed, but now following her finger, I saw at her feet a crystal-clear pool. The transparent water was completely still, almost level with the white stone walls, looking like a massive crystal embedded in stone.
She said Gui Wuchang had fallen into this pool before, so Gui Wuchang had been here?
Though I had guessed from her words that she had some connection to Gui Wuchang or Emperor Ruizong, I hadn’t imagined that someone of his imperial status would come here.
As if hearing something, the motionless Yun Zixin suddenly turned, her porcelain-like delicate face flushing slightly: “Yu is coming, Yu is about to enter!”
She had just said “Yu is dead,” and now she was saying “Yu is coming” – this person’s thoughts were incomprehensibly jumbled. Before I could speak, I felt a chill at my neck, and my body instantly became rigid and immobile.
After sealing my pressure point with one finger, Yun Zixin quickly carried me behind a wall into an inner chamber. Before I could even examine the room’s contents, I was thrown down.
Something intensely cold instantly engulfed my body, even breathing forgotten in that moment. It seemed to last both an instant and an eternity before I finally gasped for air, but my cry couldn’t escape my throat – she had sealed my mute acupoint as well.
Desperately focusing my remaining consciousness on her face, I only saw her looking down at me, her expression somewhat dazed. Then she swept her sleeve and turned to leave.
The white stone wall slid shut quickly behind her, completely sealing off this inner chamber from the outside.
As waves of cold from all around surged to my head, I bit down hard on my tongue. Tasting a hint of blood, I finally managed to stay conscious enough to examine my surroundings.
If the previous room had been nothing but white emptiness, this one was even more so. Besides the four enclosed white walls, there was nothing here at all. And where I was positioned was a three-foot-square ice pool in the ground next to the dividing wall.
I call it an ice pool because I don’t know how else to describe it. Though it contained water, the walls of the pool were crystal clear, appearing like ice. The pool rose barely a foot above the ground but was deep enough to reach my neck. I don’t know if the pool in the outer chamber was cold, but this pool’s coldness exceeded anything I had ever experienced.
The still water showed no movement, yet I felt as if countless sharp daggers were constantly stabbing into my body. Normally in water this close to freezing, my body would quickly become numb and I would likely freeze to death, but as time passed, the fierce cold showed no signs of diminishing, continuing to pierce my entire body with pain.
As I focused all my attention on fighting the cold, I suddenly heard a clear voice from behind the wall, tinged with excitement and nervousness: “Yu, you’ve come…”
So the wall separating the two rooms wasn’t soundproof. As I was thinking this, a white shadow flickered on the wall directly in front of me, and a figure stepped out. As she moved away, I noticed that directly in my line of sight was a small piece of what seemed to be ice or jade embedded in the wall. Not very large and hardly noticeable against the white wall, but it allowed me to dimly see what was happening in the outer chamber.
After calling out “Yu,” Yun Zixin walked to stand by the pool. Beyond her, I could see a figure in green standing not far away.
As if afraid of being scolded or worried he would be unhappy, Yun Zixin hesitated before speaking haltingly: “Yu, I only did this because I was afraid you wouldn’t come. Yu… are you angry?”
After a moment, the man in green finally spoke gently: “If you wanted me to come, you could have just told me. You didn’t need to use these methods.”
It was Xiao Huan! Though I had been unsure if it was him or Gui Wuchang, the moment I heard his voice, tears streamed down my already numb cheeks.
Hearing this response, Yun Zixin’s voice carried clear joy: “Yu, you’re not blaming me? You forgive me, don’t you?”
Xiao Huan seemed to smile slightly: “I’ve never blamed you, nor did I want to fight with you. So I hope you can release her.”
It was just a peaceful request, but Yun Zixin’s voice suddenly rose sharply, becoming piercing: “Again it’s for that woman! It’s always been for her!” She suddenly burst into laughter, that laughter mixed with an inexplicable desolation. Combined with her childish voice, it sounded especially eerie. “Fine, you came for her, didn’t you? I’ve searched for you for so many years, and you’ve always been so cold to me, but today you’d come to Tianshan for this woman!”
After her laughter subsided, she continued slowly, word by word: “Fine, I’ll return her to you, but before you take her away, you must spend three days and nights with me in pleasure, or I’ll poison her with a deadly toxin. Even if you level Tianshan Mountain, you won’t take away a living woman!”
Those words, filled with venom and frost, seemed like a curse rising from the netherworld. Hearing them made my vision darken: what had I done to offend this strange old woman that she wasn’t satisfied with just tormenting me, but now wanted to poison me to death!
Outside, there was a moment of silence as Xiao Huan seemed to be considering how to respond. I was so anxious I felt a surge of anger – if I hadn’t been immobilized by sealed pressure points, I would have rushed out to bite this monster to death! Such wishful thinking! Let Xiao Huan be intimate with her. Over my dead body!
“Elder Yun,” Xiao Huan’s voice finally rang out, still carrying that gentle calmness, “more than twenty years have passed, and my father isn’t dead. Please stop dwelling on this.”
This time Yun Zixin was silent for a long while. Finally, she hesitated: “Yu… isn’t dead?”
“Yes,” Xiao Huan answered quietly, “my father is still alive. Come with me, and we can go find him together, how about that?”
“Yu isn’t dead… Yu isn’t dead…” Yun Zixin muttered, then suddenly burst into tears like a child, “Yu isn’t dead, but he hates me, hates me for hurting his wife and child, and never wants to see me again…”
She cried, slowly lowering her head, her body curling into a tiny ball.
Without stopping to comfort her, Xiao Huan crossed the pool and quickly walked to the wall. The hidden stone door slid open, and I felt my body lighten as I fell into his arms.
He first unsealed my pressure points, then placed his palm against my dantian, slowly sending in a stream of pure inner force.
That warm internal energy circulated throughout my body, quickly driving away the cold. After several shivers, I grabbed his shoulder, finally able to speak through chattering teeth: “You knew I was here all along, why did you take so long!”
Looking down at me with gentle eyes, he smiled: “Still so spirited, it seems you weren’t in there very long.”
I nearly rolled my eyes at him: “Not long? Why don’t you try it? One-quarter hour in that ghost pool felt like a year!”
As we were speaking, a leisurely, clear voice sounded beside us: “Your Majesty the Empress shouldn’t say that. Perhaps the person who knows best what it’s like to be in that pool is our Emperor.”
Lan Ruoyin emerged leisurely from behind the wall, arms crossed as he looked at Xiao Huan, smiling as he continued: “The ice poison of the Ice Snow Emotion Trap in our Emperor’s body was all thanks to this Ice Snow Gu.”
I shuddered, suddenly remembering what Gui Wuchang had told me: that pool contained water of extreme cold that hadn’t melted, dissipated, or frozen for ten thousand years.
So this was that pool, and what I had just experienced was the same cold that had accompanied Xiao Huan, never disappearing, never stopping, constantly eroding his life, for all these years.
Having endured it for such a short time, I had felt death would be preferable to being immersed in that extreme cold, yet Xiao Huan had endured it for so many years.
My hand loosened from his shoulder as I rested my head against his chest, slowly wrapping my arms around his waist.
He withdrew his inner force, moving his palm from my abdomen and lightly patting my shoulder with a smile: “Feeling better? Though your clothes are still wet, you should change them.”
His voice was still as usual, gentle with a hint of teasing, but I couldn’t manage even a hint of a smile. I just buried my head in his chest, waiting for the tears in my eyes to recede before looking up and showing my teeth: “You’re happy to see me in such a mess, aren’t you?”
Instead of bantering back, he smiled and lifted me in his arms, then walked out to politely ask Yun Zixin the directions to her chambers, going to find clean clothes for me to change into.
Fortunately, though Yun Zixin was small now, she still kept clothes from before she shrank. Xiao Huan found a set of white clothes, placed me on Yun Zixin’s bed, helped me remove my soaked clothes, and dressed me piece by piece.
After tying the last sash, he looked me up and down and smiled: “Still need shoes.”
Finding leather boots, he didn’t rush to put them on me but first held my feet in his hands, gently massaging them. Looking down at him busy helping me, I remembered that year at Shanhai Pass when he had massaged my feet like this. Back then, I was still suspicious of his feelings for me and had never spoken a truly happy word to him.
After firmly putting the boots on my feet, he gave me one final look, making sure I was adequately protected against the ice, snow, and cold wind outside. Only then did he straighten up and smile at me: “There, Cangcang, you were only in the Ice Snow Gu briefly, the cold poison won’t have penetrated your body, don’t worry.”
I shook my head, grabbing his hand that hung at his side. Since learning that cold was the Ice Snow Emotion Trap, I wasn’t afraid anymore. If I could bear that pain in his place, I would willingly stay immersed in that cold for a lifetime.
Even if I could just share a little of his burden, so he wouldn’t have to walk alone in that bone-deep, desperate cold forever. But it wasn’t possible… just as I couldn’t share in what he had to do now. No matter how much I wished, he would ultimately leave and face it alone.
Since coming to Tianshan and seeing him again, the vulnerability I had been suppressing finally surfaced. Despite all the hardships I had endured before, I had never allowed myself to be like this, letting the uncontrollable thoughts in my heart surge up: I wanted to hold him, beg him to stay, even if the empire would suffer a catastrophe, even if countless people would die, the world falls into chaos, and corpses litter the ground. I still wanted him to stay, to not go to places unknown to me, to not disappear from my life like this.
He gently wiped away the tears flowing quickly from the corners of my eyes. As the tears kept falling, he patiently wiped them away again and again, then smiled and bent down to place a gentle kiss on my lips.
Neither passionate nor lingering, just a brief, light kiss. He straightened up, looking at the dried tear tracks on my face, and smiled: “Cangcang, it’s getting late.”
Taking my hand, we walked back to the small courtyard, where the sounds of battle hadn’t ceased – screams, shouts, and the clash of weapons could still be heard from not far away.
Standing again in Tianshan’s cold wind, everything that had just happened seemed like a brief dream.
Xiao Huan released my hand and walked toward Yun Zixin, who had already composed herself and stood obediently to the side.
Watching his back, I paused before speaking: “You’re leaving?”
He smiled, his voice gentle and calm: “You performed well in this battle. You can tell them that from now on, you are the Master of Fenglai Pavilion.”
I nodded, forcing a smile onto my face: “I will tell them.”
He smiled and turned to bow to Lan Ruoyin: “Please trouble Master Lan to be a witness.”
Lan Ruoyin raised his head and agreed: “Very well, I will testify.”
He extended his hand to Yun Zixin: “Shall we go?”
Yun Zixin took his arm, her steps joyful. The two figures, one tall and one short, walked toward the high wall’s exit. As they turned past the stone wall, the corner of his blood-stained snow fur coat fluttered once before disappearing behind the wall.
Not another word was spoken.
I instinctively took two steps forward, reaching out my hand, fingers spread. My fingers grasped nothing but air, just like that day when I reached out at the white jade railings of Taihe Hall – empty.
I should have understood long ago, shouldn’t I? He had been saying goodbye all along. Our reunion in Jianghuai, the months spent together day and night, the thousand-li journey across the snow plains – it was all just a farewell that stretched across months. The hand I reached out to hold back that figure had already grasped nothing but air before that heavy snow last winter.
I should have understood all this long ago.
A cold breeze blew into the courtyard from the high wall, shaking the snow from the winter plum branches, carrying wisps of their dark fragrance to my nose.
I lowered my hand to my side. So this courtyard had winter plums planted in it too.
Lan Ruoyin shook his head as he walked up to me: “The one who offered money for the Fenglai Pavilion Master’s head wasn’t my master. He has never interfered in matters of the jianghu.”
I took a deep breath and nodded: “I know.”
“I wasn’t working for anyone either. I followed you only because I wanted to cross swords with His Majesty once. I only spoke of taking his head to raise our fighting spirit,” Lan Ruoyin said with a faint smile. “In thirteen years of practicing the sword and three years since completing my training, I had never been defeated. I wanted to know where the limits of my swordsmanship lay.”
I smiled: “Now you know?”
He nodded and smiled: “Knowing there’s someone in this world who can defeat you is good.” He paused, then continued, “As for helping Yun Zixin capture you, it was only because I met her once at the foot of the mountain and promised to help her once. But I only promised to help her capture ‘Yu’s beloved woman,'” he said, imitating Yun Zixin’s tone with a leisurely smile, “What she did after capturing you wasn’t my concern.”
He truly was Xiao Qianqing’s retainer – even their inexplicable way of thinking was identical.
The sounds of battle grew closer, and figures of Tianshan’s disciples could be seen at the courtyard entrance. It seemed this place, as the last to fall, would soon be stained with blood as well.
I closed my eyes, then opened them, raising an eyebrow as I lifted my gun: “Master Lan, do you understand the art of the Eight Trigrams and Extraordinary Gates?”
Lan Ruoyin nodded: “A little.”
“Excellent,” I smiled, “I don’t understand it very well. You give directions, and we’ll break out together, how about it?”