“Rumble…”

A muffled thunder rolled across the horizon where dark clouds churned.

“Patter patter” – the rain outside the window grew heavier again. Torrential rainwater cascaded down from the azure-green tile eaves, crashing onto the ground already pitted and filled with muddy water.

The wind shook the two unsteady window panels, making “clang clang” sounds.

Jian Chou, who was doing needlework inside the house, heard this sound and was startled, nearly pricking her hand.

Looking at those constantly swaying windows, she always felt somewhat frightened. She quickly put down the half-sewn robe in her hands and walked to the window, pulling the two panels back to close them.

Once the window was closed, the sound of rain outside didn’t diminish in the slightest.

The muffled thunder rolling across the horizon from time to time also grew closer and closer, as if rolling right above their house roof.

Hearing this, Jian Chou couldn’t help but sigh.

Extending her hand to gently caress her abdomen that hadn’t yet shown signs of pregnancy, an unprecedented tenderness appeared on her porcelain-white face.

Perhaps this was heaven’s greatest gift to her.

Three months married, Jian Chou hadn’t expected that she could conceive so quickly.

This morning, she didn’t know why, but she began vomiting for no reason. She asked the village doctor to come look, and the doctor kept saying congratulations. When Jian Chou pressed him for half a day, he finally smiled and said, “You are with child.”

For quite a while, she couldn’t react. She couldn’t remember at all how she had paid the consultation fee and sent the doctor away.

Jian Chou was originally an orphan with only a given name but no surname.

From her earliest memories, she knew she had no father or mother. Fortunately, kind people took her in, allowing her to live peacefully and smoothly.

Later, she met Xie Buchen. At that time, he wasn’t yet an Xiu Cai scholar, just the young master of the Xie Family. The two had no real connection. It wasn’t until the Xie Family fell into decline and Xie Buchen was pursued by enemies that Jian Chou happened to save him, and only then did the two form an unbreakable bond.

Three months ago, they finally settled in this small village and got married.

Thus, Jian Chou also gained a surname, and from then on was called “Xie Jian Chou.”

Xie Buchen was well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics. When at home, he already had a small reputation for talent and was a Tongsheng student. Later, when he took the county examination and became a Xiu Cai scholar, he studied even more diligently.

He couldn’t bear for Jian Chou to suffer hardship. He once held her hands and said that when he achieved higher academic honors, he could become an official. In the future, Jian Chou would also be an official’s wife.

Early this morning, Xie Buchen went to the county school to study.

Usually at this time, he should have returned home to eat, but it happened to be such a heavy rainy day.

Jian Chou thought that he had brought an umbrella, and most likely, the roads were muddy and difficult to walk on, so he was delayed in returning.

When he came back, she would tell him this great joyful news.

A faint smile hung at the corners of her lips. Listening to the noisy rain sounds around her, she no longer felt annoyed.

Walking back from the window, Jian Chou didn’t pick up her needlework again. She glanced at a precious sword with a sharkskin sheath hanging on the wall – this was the only valuable thing in the house, something Xie Buchen would risk his life to take with him.

She walked to the front of the house, looking toward the narrow courtyard gate, hoping to see Xie Buchen emerge from the curtain of rain.

This was a simple farmhouse courtyard. Several large white geese were enclosed by bamboo fencing, calling happily in the rain, occasionally turning their long goose necks to preen their feathers. When they shook occasionally, raindrops could be seen being flung away by their glossy goose feathers, spinning off in crystal brightness.

Through the thick curtain of rain, one could see the continuous rolling mountains in the distance, a deep ink-green color that seemed even more intense after being soaked by the rain.

Layers of thunder rolled beyond those mountains.

Jian Chou supported herself against the door frame with one hand while caressing her abdomen with the other. She was hesitating whether to take an umbrella and go to the county school to find him when footsteps traveling through the rain curtain could be heard.

Splash splash…

The sound of rainwater hitting an oil-paper umbrella gradually grew closer.

A tall, slender figure slowly emerged from the hazy rain curtain. Water sliding from the umbrella’s edge fell like strings of beads, continuously dropping and splashing on the ground, mixing with the surrounding rainwater.

Xie Buchen had long eyebrows, a straight nose, and thin lips with an almost stern curve.

The wet, cold moisture seemed to add another layer of frost to his eyes and brows.

The hand gripping the umbrella handle was the hand that held a brush, slender and pale.

When Jian Chou saw him, her face immediately showed a relieved expression, and the corners of her lips unconsciously curved upward: “You’ve returned.”

Xie Buchen nodded faintly. His lips parted as if to say something, but finally he pulled them into a smile and walked up under the eaves, closing the umbrella and carefully standing it upside down beside the door hinge.

Jian Chou quickly let him into the house, reaching out to help him remove his outer robe that had already gotten wet.

The pale azure robe, dampened by rainwater, had changed to an ink-green color like the mountains outside.

Jian Chou feared he would catch a cold, but she didn’t expect that in this moment, her hand was pressed down by another ice-cold hand.

Following this hand upward, Jian Chou saw Xie Buchen’s face with its faint smile.

Why did it feel somewhat strange?

Jian Chou didn’t understand: “Your hand is so cold. What’s wrong?”

Xie Buchen shook his head and turned to survey the furnishings inside the room.

It looked the same as when he had left this morning, except for the few pieces of clothing on the simple square table. Some had already been folded and placed to one side, while two others were scattered about, with one sleeve still having a needle and thread stuck in it.

Jian Chou explained: “Earlier, the window wasn’t closed properly, and with the thunder and rain, I was busy closing the window. When I came back, I was only thinking about why you hadn’t returned yet, so I forgot to continue sewing for a moment. But I’ve already finished sewing the other pieces of clothing. You can change into them in a while. This afternoon, when the rain lessens, you can continue going to the county school—”

“Jian Chou.”

His clear, cold voice carried an odd hoarseness this time.

Jian Chou thought he had been caught in the rain and contracted a cold, and couldn’t help but worry: “Your voice is hoarse. You must have been anxious to return and weren’t careful on the road, traveling when the rain was heavy. If you couldn’t come back, staying at the county school would have been fine too…”

Though she said this, her heart felt sweet as honey.

As she spoke, the smile at the corners of her lips widened.

Xie Buchen just quietly watched her like this.

He was soaked through, with water pooling at his feet. The Jian Chou before him had him in her every thought and glance, and when she smiled, it was also warm.

The scene he had witnessed when returning through the rain today replayed calmly in his mind, accompanied by that deafening, aged voice.

“The Dao is eternally nameless. Though simple and small, none under heaven dares make it submit.”

“Humans are born mortal, with mortal flesh. The heart is bound by the seven emotions and six desires, difficult to separate from wine, lust, wealth, and anger.”

“Beyond the world are immortal mountains, in the vast sea of clouds. The mortal realm is but a mustard seed; the red dust is all vanity. I ask the people of this world – why not shed mortal roots and seek immortals to ask about the Dao?”

“Sever emotional bonds, cut worldly ties. If you wish to seek the Dao, you must abandon everything. How will you prove this?”

How will you prove this?

These five short words were like a heavenly chasm, separating the human world from the immortal realm.

And Xie Buchen had to cross over.

He raised his hand, his ice-cold fingers caressing Jian Chou’s warm cheek, smiling faintly: “With you at home, I naturally had to return once.”

This hand was so cold it made Jian Chou shiver: “Where’s the need for such trouble? I’m not someone of a delicate constitution. But it’s good you returned. I have something…”

As she spoke, she reached out her hand, her warm palm covering the back of Xie Buchen’s hand. The moment she touched it, she felt that coldness.

Sighing, Jian Chou was so worried she forgot what she wanted to say: “You’re too cold.”

“It’s nothing. My constitution is much stronger than yours.”

Xie Buchen smiled and stepped back, calmly turning around. He immediately saw the sword hanging on the mottled wall.

The black scabbard was covered with scale-like patterns, yet remained black and lustrous without a speck of dust.

He slowly reached out, took down this precious sword, gently twisted it, then applied force. Inch by inch, cold light burst forth, accompanied by the sounds of rain and thunder outside the window, making one involuntarily hold their breath.

As the sword blade was continuously drawn out, the faint sound of the sword’s singing also gradually became clearer.

When he drew the sword, it was as if he was releasing something.

Jian Chou watched him intently, but in her heart, she was calculating how to tell him about her pregnancy.

“I wipe this sword clean every day, so not much dust has accumulated on it. Though I’ve never drawn it before, it truly is beautiful like this. No wonder you insisted on bringing it with you.”

Xie Buchen finally completely drew out this sword. The cold, gleaming blade reflected his deep, pond-like eyes.

At that moment, he suddenly saw clearly.

These were his own eyes – without emotion or desire, without sorrow or joy, without melancholy, without reluctance.

All people in the world were nothing but illusory bubbles.

What couldn’t be abandoned?

Even if it was…

Jian Chou.

It was merely proving that he had the heart to seek the Dao.

His tranquil eyes shifted from the frost-cold blade to fall upon Jian Chou’s face.

Simply dressed, with a plain hairpin and cloth skirt, only her face was fair and white. Her narrow eyes tapered at the ends, giving her an indescribable elegance. Even in such shabby surroundings, it couldn’t hide the radiance emanating from her entire being.

Xie Buchen had never felt that his wife was so beautiful.

However, such beauty could no longer move his heart even slightly.

Like an ancient well without ripples.

“Jian Chou.”

He called her name again.

Jian Chou blinked and took half a step forward, opening her mouth to ask what was wrong with him.

But in the next moment, her advancing step suddenly stopped.

Intense pain struck—

The sword!

Jian Chou looked down in confusion and saw the sword in her chest.

Following the snow-bright blade, she looked up and saw a hand holding the sword.

That was Xie Buchen’s hand.

The hand that held a brush, the hand that held an umbrella, the hand that held a sword.

Xie Buchen gazed at her with indifference, his former tender affection seeming like passing clouds that had dissipated completely.

This was a cold, hard gaze – one that seemed emotional yet emotionless.

The sword piercing her chest was like a piece of cold, hard ice, freezing her until she almost forgot the pain.

Her pupils contracted violently. Jian Chou slightly parted her lips, confused and shocked with pain.

Xie Buchen held the three-foot azure blade, and its tip had already penetrated Jian Chou’s chest.

Bright red bloodstains spread outward, flowing down the sharp blade, drop by drop by drop…

Drip.

The first drop of blood fell to the ground like a blood-stained chess piece.

Xie Buchen’s pale face, illuminated by such vivid red, also gained a strange, bloody color.

“You…”

Jian Chou struggled to speak, but with her mouth wide open like a fish thrown onto shore, she could only make unclear sounds.

Tears glimmered in the depths of her eyes.

Why…

Xie Buchen took in all her expressions, yet seemed separated by a layer, unmoved.

Slowly, cruelly, and almost elegantly, he withdrew the long sword.

A flower of blood bloomed from Jian Chou’s chest, and she could no longer stand steady.

Xie Buchen watched indifferently, the sword tip pointing diagonally at the ground, letting the blood on the sword fall and spread into a small patch on the damp ground.

“In this life, I have wronged you. If there is reincarnation in the three realms and six paths, in the next life, you may freely demand my life.”

In this life, I have wronged you.

If there is reincarnation in the three realms and six paths, in the next life, you may freely demand my life.

Jian Chou couldn’t stand steady. She covered the wound on her chest, and when she looked down, she only saw fresh blood flowing through her fingers.

It was the blood from her heart, the tears from her eyes.

Her figure swayed several times before she finally collapsed to the ground.

In this moment, Xie Buchen lifted his sword and stepped silently past her.

Her body curled into a ball, her fingers gripping tightly as if trying to grasp something.

However, only a piece of soaked cloth hem passed before her eyes.

“Rustle rustle…”

The torrential rain continued to fall. At the edge of the sky, muffled thunder still rolled.

Outside the small courtyard, the continuous mountains visible in the distance seemed to have gained another layer of verdant green.

In the courtyard, the large white geese paced in the rain. When Xie Buchen came out, several were about to flutter toward the fence. He didn’t spare them a glance, only raised his eyes toward the low courtyard wall.

Several withered grass stems trembled in the rain.

On the courtyard wall stood a Daoist with graying hair and pale complexion, hands clasped behind his back. His feet were exactly three inches above the withered grass on the wall – he was floating above it.

His weathered gaze seemed to comprehend heavenly secrets as it fell upon Xie Buchen.

The blood on his sword was being washed away by the rainwater, gradually fading.

Smiling slightly, the old Daoist spoke: “Worldly ties have been severed, your heart-nature is excellent. In future days of seeking immortals and asking about the Dao, among those with heaven-reaching great abilities, you shall surely have a place.”