The night was pitch black as Lu Yun traveled northward with his shoulder pole and burden. After walking roughly twenty li, they had just left Yangzhou when dark clouds gathered densely in the night sky, and heavy snow was about to fall. Qiong Fang sat sideways with her powder-white legs folded on the front basket, Lu Yun’s wide robe draped over her head and wrapped all the way down to her ankles, feeling warm and cozy all over. Seeing the cold wind gusting and Lu Yun wearing only thin clothing, she quickly asked, “Brother Lu, aren’t you cold?”

Lu Yun shook his head and said, “I’ve lived by waterfalls for years, wearing tattered clothes. I’ve long since become indifferent to heat and cold.” Qiong Fang listened with yearning fascination and laughed, “How wonderful! Immune to all ailments, able to walk the streets bare-chested even in the depths of winter—how impressive!” Lu Yun was slightly taken aback: “Walking the streets bare-chested is impressive?” Qiong Fang laughed, “Of course! It’s fashionable in Beijing to parade around bare-chested. If you don’t believe me, just go to the capital and see for yourself.” Even in the height of summer, no one would walk the streets bare-chested. Qiong Fang was talking complete nonsense, purely wanting to entice the great water monster to return to the capital for sightseeing.

She stole a glance at Lu Yun, seeing his straight nose, thin lips, phoenix eyes that curved upward along his brows. Though his eyes weren’t as lively and bright as Su Ying’s, they appeared stern and inviolable, possessing the imposing presence of a scholar-official. Qiong Fang gazed at him with a smile. Seeing Lu Yun’s desolate expression, she deliberately wanted to cheer him up and said, “Brother Lu, you used to be quite the ladies’ man, didn’t you?”

Hearing the words “ladies’ man,” Lu Yun couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. Time had worn him down, like the aged general Lian Po. The corners of his mouth turned downward, wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes, revealing a hidden look of sorrow. Seeing this, Qiong Fang couldn’t help but exclaim in dismay, “Don’t you dare put on that horrible expression—so old and ugly! You’ll scare people to death!” She vigorously patted Lu Yun, and smelling the scent on his robe, she suddenly remembered something and quickly asked, “Brother Lu, have you ever used a snuff bottle?”

Snuff bottles came from the West, containing tobacco and musk to refresh and invigorate the mind—daily items used by wealthy families. Lu Yun, coming from humble origins, had seen many but used few, so he could only shake his head: “Never.”

Qiong Fang smiled, “Brother Lu, let me give you a snuff bottle, all right?” Lu Yun didn’t even shake his head, replying directly, “No good.” Qiong Fang asked curiously, “Why not?” The iron-headed Lu proudly looked up to the sky and said sternly, “I would feel ashamed to accept unearned gifts. How could Lu accept such a thing?”

Qiong Fang flew into a rage: “Well then! Why did you accept my gold leaves! Shameless!” In her anger, she actually jumped up on the basket, as if she wanted to demolish Lu Yun’s noodle stand. Seeing her bouncing around wildly on a basket that was only a foot square, Lu Yun had to sternly stop her: “Be careful on this bumpy road, or you’ll bite your tongue.”

Qiong Fang huffed, “This lady loves to move around—what are you going to do about it? You can’t possibly tap my pressure points, can you?” Lu Yun exclaimed in surprise, thinking that wasn’t a bad idea, and was about to do exactly that. Seeing the great water monster extending his demonic claws, Qiong Fang couldn’t help but cry out in alarm, “Oh my! Stealing other people’s ideas, you plagiarist with no original thoughts! Help! Murder and robbery! Murdering the creditor!”

Lu Yun was melancholy while Qiong Fang was lively; Lu Yun was quiet while Qiong Fang was chattering. The two talked intermittently, and whenever Lu Yun fell silent, Qiong Fang always had the ability to get him talking again. This young lady’s eloquence added quite a bit of lively fun to their journey.

Lu Yun had been lonely for many years. In his youth, he had wandered the world making a living selling noodles. Who would have thought that by chance he’d pick up this little wildcat? On this troublesome winter night by the fire, it actually dispelled countless sorrows and loneliness.

After more laughter and noise, they traveled several more li. Having escaped one ordeal, Qiong Fang became bored again. She held Lu Yun’s long robe over her head, looking left and right. Seeing that the great water monster was concentrating on walking and no longer speaking, she said again, “Brother Lu, I’ll tell you a secret—do you want to hear it?”

Secrets that come uninvited inevitably bring bad luck to the listener. Lu Yun coughed and was about to politely decline when Qiong Fang smiled like a blooming flower, sat up straight, leaned close to Lu Yun’s ear, and whispered, “I’m telling you, my father is just like you—also a top scholar.” Qiong Fang spoke with great seriousness, though the secret was quite ordinary. She was somewhat proud and continued, “But his scholar status is much more senior. He was personally appointed top scholar by Emperor Wu Ying. You should call him Uncle.”

Ziyun Pavilion was a famous academy whose students often achieved scholarly honors in imperial examinations. Seeing how clever and witty Qiong Fang was, her father must certainly be a learned and capable man. Lu Yun replied simply and concisely, “I have long admired him.” Qiong Fang laughed, “You’ve long admired my father, but do you know who he is?”

Lu Yun said, “He is Lord Qiong.” Qiong Fang’s father naturally surnamed Qiong—what else could his surname be? Could it be Lu? Qiong Fang was displeased and shouted, “You’re just humoring me! Do you really know or not?” Lu Yun remained stubbornly silent and simply shook his head. Qiong Fang felt uncomfortable and said resentfully, “Ignorant fool! My father’s surname is Qiong, given name Yi. Everyone calls him Master Daofu. How dare you not know? I’ll tear down your lousy noodle stand! Send you back to the countryside to raise pigs!”

The little girl made a big fuss while the great water monster covered his ears and walked quickly. With great difficulty, she quieted down, but after less than half a li, Qiong Fang reached out to shake Lu Yun again, saying, “I’m thirsty.” Lu Yun said grimly, “Talk less and you won’t be thirsty.” Qiong Fang huffed, “I insist on talking.” She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted loudly, “Pay your debts! Pay your debts!” Lu Yun couldn’t stand the noise, so he reached up and caught a handful of white snow, then reached back to stuff it in her mouth, thinking this would both quench her thirst and shut her up—killing two birds with one stone.

Qiong Fang cried loudly, “I don’t want to eat snow! I don’t want to eat snow!”

Lu Yun sighed deeply and finally stopped, “Then what do you want?”

Qiong Fang’s face lit up like a flower, “I want hot tea.” In this dark night with white ground and no one around, where could they find a tea house? Qiong Fang deliberately wanted to give him a difficult problem and kept making noise and acting coquettish. Lu Yun covered his ears and walked quickly until he reached a withered tree, where he set down his noodle stand.

Qiong Fang looked at the withered tree and frowned, “What are you doing? Is this a tea tree?” Lu Yun took out a charcoal brazier from under the noodle stand, filled a pot with snow, and placed it on the charcoal stove to boil water. Only then did Qiong Fang understand, clapping her hands in delight, “Tea is coming!”

In the cold snowy weather, Qiong Fang nestled in Lu Yun’s robe, smiling as she watched this man. She saw him light the fire and take out a tea canister from the noodle stand to brew fragrant tea. Qiong Fang suddenly exclaimed, “Fake Biluochun!”

The great water monster, being cheap, had actually bought fake tea to deceive customers. That tea was crudely made, bitter with astringency, and utterly worthless. Qiong Fang waved her hands and feet in protest, “I don’t want inferior goods! I want to drink jasmine pearls!” Lu Yun was poor and had nothing—where could he get jasmine pearls to serve guests? Unable to bear it any longer, he swung his right hand at the tree trunk. With a loud crack, a withered branch fell from above. He picked it up and turned to look at Qiong Fang with a somewhat unfriendly expression. Fearing he was angry, Qiong Fang quickly put on a smiling face and placated him, “Ah! Biluochun it is—how delightful!”

Once the little girl quieted down, the surroundings became silent again. The weather grew colder. Qiong Fang most feared sitting in awkward silence, so she wanted to find something to talk about. She rolled her big eyes and suddenly said, “Brother Lu, where is that fat friend of yours?”

Lu Yun was startled, “Fat friend?”

Qiong Fang smiled bitterly, “That fat man on Chang’an Street!” Seeing Lu Yun pondering silently, probably having forgotten, Qiong Fang laughed, “It was probably ten years ago. One day, I was riding in a carriage with Grandfather when we passed Chang’an Street and saw two high officials standing by the roadside. One was a fat man with a round belly—you could tell at a glance he wasn’t a good person. The other gentleman was tall and had a face that was… that was…” At this point, her face couldn’t help but redden slightly as she thought, “This Lu is already arrogant enough. If I praise his appearance again, this man will surely be floating in the clouds—how terrible would that be?” She coughed and changed her words, “That gentleman… cough… I saw he had a sharp face like a monkey and a rat-like head that was quite frightening. I was so scared I trembled and quickly asked Grandfather, ‘Grandfather, why is there a mouse crawling out on the street? How frightening!'” She giggled and patted Lu Yun’s shoulder, “Hey, do you know what my grandfather said?”

Lu Yun showed no interest in responding, just lowered his head to fan the fire, probably wanting to knock Qiong Fang unconscious with one punch to get some peace and quiet. Seeing he was ignoring her, Qiong Fang couldn’t help but huff loudly, “Annoying ghost!” Lu Yun asked curiously, “Annoying ghost? Your grandfather said that?”

Qiong Fang was delighted, thinking, “See, he’s still secretly listening to what this young lady is saying. Still pretending.” She raised her chin haughtily and said, “That’s right, my grandfather said exactly that. He warned me again and again, telling me earnestly, ‘Granddaughter, granddaughter, be extremely careful. The Marquis Liu family keeps four annoying ghosts, each more annoying than the last. This big mouse named Lu Yun is the most annoying of all. Next time you encounter him, remember to get a big broom…'”

Just as she was about to say “to sweep him to death,” Lu Yun suddenly exclaimed and turned to stare at Qiong Fang. Thinking he was angry, Qiong Fang said resentfully, “What are you looking at? There are annoying ghosts named Lu Yun all over the streets—I wasn’t cursing you…” She was about to continue when she saw Lu Yun nod and say, “Miss Qiong, I remember that day’s events.”

Qiong Fang said irritably, “Is that so? Then what clothes was I wearing that day? Can you tell me?” Though their two encounters were separated by ten years, Qiong Fang’s purple dress was still vivid and eye-catching, unforgettable to anyone who saw it. Lu Yun reminisced about the past and said with emotion, “That day you and the National Uncle sat in the carriage. You wore a purple dress with a purple headband, and your eyes were clever and bright—very charming.”

Lu Yun was a sincere gentleman. When he said “very charming,” it wouldn’t be nine-tenths charming or eight-tenths charming, but truly endearingly lovely. Hearing him praise her, Qiong Fang was overjoyed. She was extremely happy and immediately untied her headband, gathering her beautiful hair behind her, laughing, “Good memory! You even remember what clothes the young lady wore. I underestimated you.” Lu Yun made a sound of agreement, “You were dressed as a man, so of course I remember.”

This statement had some grammatical issues, as if he would ignore her if she wore women’s clothing. Qiong Fang, who had been swinging her beautiful hair, immediately stopped and quickly tied it back, huffing, “Dead mouse.” She combed her hair and said coldly, “Hey, stop mixing things up with me. You still haven’t said who that fat man is.”

Hearing this, Lu Yun lowered his eyes and fell silent again. Qiong Fang didn’t care about his monk-like meditation and kept calling, “You’re not talking again! Hey! Hey! Hey! Are you deaf?” Unable to bear the noise, Lu Yun could only sigh and answer truthfully, “He is Wei Zizhuang.” Qiong Fang had never heard this name and just said, “Oh, so it’s Uncle Wei. Where is he?”

Lu Yun slowed his steps, closed his eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

The sound of killing shook the heavens, rushing into his ears again. The white snow on the horizon turned into towering flames. On the Yongding River, boats came and went with sails, figures fell into the water one by one, crying out in misery…

The grief-stricken sobbing of someone kneeling by the riverbank, splitting the ground with a single sword stroke, still echoed in his ears…

The wind was fierce and snow heavy. The great water monster remained stubbornly silent. If this continued, it would surely become ghostly. Qiong Fang kept asking, “Hey! Where did that fat Brother Wei go? Where did he go? Hey! Hey!” Lu Yun opened his eyes and said quietly, “He’s dead.” Qiong Fang was startled and, fearing she had misspoken, didn’t dare ask more.

Just then, the tea water had finished boiling. Lu Yun leaned forward, picked up the tea bowl, and handed it to Qiong Fang. White snow was falling, firelight blazing, illuminating Lu Yun’s handsome face with radiance. Seeing him lean close to her, with only inches between them, their breathing audible, as if their lips were about to touch tenderly, Qiong Fang’s face reddened and she quickly dodged backward. She took the tea and appeared to lower her head to sip, but her gaze actually lingered on Lu Yun’s thin lips, gently pressing her own lips together.

Her gaze moved from Lu Yun’s thin lips to his nose bridge, then slowly to his brow area. Suddenly, her eyes stopped at Lu Yun’s brow center and could no longer move away.

Ordinary people have two eyes, but this great water monster, claiming to be a water god, actually had a third eye. The more she looked, the stranger it seemed, so she looked carefully at the mark between his brows. She saw the scar was about half an inch long, deep red in color, narrow in shape, positioned precisely in the center of his brows—it really looked like an eye. Qiong Fang examined it carefully and suddenly realized, asking in a trembling voice, “Brother Lu, is this a knife wound?”

Hearing the question, Lu Yun didn’t want to answer and just picked up a soup bowl to pour himself a full cup of hot tea. White snow fell from the sky, piece by piece into the tea bowl, creating a mist of steam that enveloped him hazily, making him unclear to see. Qiong Fang stole another glance, seeing the knife scar positioned right in the center of his brow. The incident must have been extremely brutal—if it had gone just a few inches deeper, it would have split Brother Lu’s skull. Qiong Fang was secretly frightened and asked in a low voice, “Brother Lu, how exactly did this happen? Did someone try to kill you?”

Lu Yun seemed to want to say something but was somewhat reluctant. He sighed, raised his tea bowl, and looked toward the distant west, saying, “Miss Qiong, this is not a wound but a witness.”

“Witness?” Qiong Fang asked in great surprise, “Witness to what?”

Lu Yun raised the tea cup in his hand toward the western horizon and said softly, “Friendship. It witnesses a friendship.” As he spoke, he tilted his neck back to drink the tea, as if toasting a distant old friend.

Both harboring their own thoughts, they faced each other silently, enjoying a rare moment of tranquility. Qiong Fang stared at Lu Yun in a daze and suddenly said, “Brother Lu, would you like me to ask Grandfather to restore your official rank?” Lu Yun, originally looking desolate, was still surprised to hear this and asked back, “Restore official rank?” Qiong Fang nodded, wrapped herself tightly in Lu Yun’s long robe, and said gently, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to invite you to teach at Ziyun Pavilion. When I encounter troubles in martial arts practice, I’d have an expert to consult… When Grandfather restores your official rank, you’ll be Top Scholar Lu, Lord Lu again…”

Ziyun Pavilion was tremendously powerful, and the National Uncle was one of Emperor Zhengtong’s three great ministers—there was nothing he couldn’t accomplish. If Lu Yun joined Ziyun Pavilion, with his literary talent and martial strategy, he would certainly become Ziyun Pavilion’s leading assistant minister within three years. Looking at his seniority, equivalent to Grand Commander Wu and Grand Secretary Yang, if he wanted to be promoted to Assistant Minister of one of the Six Ministries, it wouldn’t be difficult.

Hearing these words, Lu Yun showed neither excitement nor interest in responding. For a very long time, he raised his palm and extinguished the stove fire, saying quietly, “Miss Qiong, let me tell you first—on this journey, I can only escort you to the outskirts of Beijing. After that, we’ll be even and owe each other nothing.”

Hearing these words, Qiong Fang couldn’t help but exclaim, feeling greatly disappointed. Seeing Lu Yun put away the tea bowl, Qiong Fang suddenly grabbed a handful of snow and threw it hard at his forehead. Lu Yun brushed it aside with his hand, using some unknown technique that made the snowball deflect and fall beside him. He took away Qiong Fang’s tea bowl and suddenly said, “Lu has a request—please, Miss, you must agree. All right?”

Hearing him speak so solemnly, Qiong Fang could only stare with her big starry eyes and nod, but heard Lu Yun say, “Please, Miss, you must keep this secret and not let outsiders know I’m still alive.” Qiong Fang opened her cherry lips in confusion. She had thought and calculated in every way but never expected such a request. She blinked her beautiful eyes and asked in a low voice, “Brother Lu, even if… even if Sister Gu asks about your whereabouts, I can’t tell her?”

Hearing the words “Sister Gu,” Lu Yun slowly turned his head away and said, “Don’t tell.”

Qiong Fang appeared forthright but was actually far more thoughtful than ordinary people. Seeing Lu Yun’s expression, she knew his heart was filled with infinite troubles. Watching Lu Yun turn away and pour out the tea water, Qiong Fang thought, “This stubborn fool is really an idiot. If it were me, I would have gone to see my beloved long ago. Where would there be so much nonsense and hesitation?” She grabbed a snowball and was about to throw it at Lu Yun’s back when she suddenly realized that Gu Qianxi was already married. For a moment, she let the snowball fall.

Even if longing was difficult to resolve, even if his heart ached with yearning, what could be done? The day she married became a wife, their fate ended and love died. Even if the two could meet again, with the vicissitudes of time and changed circumstances, aside from being covered in pain and heartache, what else could be accomplished? Qiong Fang sighed, somewhat understanding Lu Yun’s feelings. She then thought, “No wonder he doesn’t want to return to the capital. After all, ten years have passed. When I’m settled, I’ll find an opportunity to send a letter to Sister Gu later—this way I won’t put her in a difficult position and can also let her put down the burden in her heart… That would be the righteous thing to do…” Qiong Fang had lived a life getting whatever she wanted, but had never seen such deep affection and grief. She stared blankly, as if in a trance.

After writing the letter, what then? From then on, Lu and Gu would each live their own lives with no entanglements, as if they had never known each other in this lifetime? Then… what should the letter say? “Madam Yang, hello. I’ve married and had children. Life is good. Hope we’ll meet again when fate allows”?

The great water monster would never marry again. Looking at his appearance, he would live alone in the mountains and become a great mountain monster. That thread of longing, ethereal and distant, could only be entrusted to the vast sky. Unknowingly, Qiong Fang’s eyes reddened, and vaguely, she began to resent Sister Gu—resenting her for marrying someone else, resenting her for having such a devoted lover, resenting her for having that kind of lingering, unforgettable, bone-deep love…

Sighing, her full heart of emotions couldn’t help but turn to herself. Qiong Fang murmured to herself, calling softly, “Ying, Ying… if one day I also marry someone else, would you also be in such agony?”

She didn’t know, truly didn’t know, because Su Ying wasn’t an ordinary man—he was a swordsman!

The supreme way of the sword!

As a contemporary sword master, without his sword, Su Ying was nothing and cared about nothing. To seek higher realms, this swordsmanwould give up even his life, let alone mere romantic feelings between men and women.

The great sword master and hero, Ning Bufan, had chosen the right successor. The most genuine and sincere longing in Su Ying’s heart had long been given to the long sword at his waist—no one could stop that. Comparing the two, this Lu Yun’s deep affection and dejection seemed somewhat extreme. If these two fellows could be captured and divided by two, perhaps one could get a good husband.

After drinking tea, the two set off again. It was late at night, and Qiong Fang was already drowsy. Wrapped in Lu Yun’s outer robe like a rice dumpling, she had barely walked a hundred paces when her breathing became heavy and she fell asleep leaning against Lu Yun’s chest.

Qiong Fang slept from exhaustion while Lu Yun continued walking mile after mile. He looked at Qiong Fang’s pretty little face, adjusted her robe covering, and felt slightly guilty.

Ten full years—past events were vivid before his eyes. The wound inflicted by the demon blade still ached, that jade seal of unknown origin, that infant who shared life and death with him, that angry slash toward the sky… All kinds of pain penetrated deep into his heart, seemingly urging him to return to Beijing quickly to investigate… But Lu Yun didn’t want to go back at all.

His reason for refusing Qiong Fang’s kind offer wasn’t that he looked down on Ziyun Pavilion, nor was it solely because he feared seeing his former lover, but because he had a premonition—if he returned to Beijing this time, he would die there.

In this human world, with heavy snow knee-deep and dust filling the sky… Looking up at the boundless dark night sky, Lu Yun couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

Where exactly was the origin of good and evil, right and wrong? As a great scholar, he had to answer this question for the world. But having seen all human suffering, he found himself hesitating between black and white, even more unable to rashly judge others’ rights and wrongs. At White Water River, fighting with his back to the water, on the waterfall’s lonely island, tormented between life and death—those who saved his life were not the good people and virtuous ones he had believed in before, but the prostitutes and thugs he most despised in his life.

With war raging and the human world no longer human but incomprehensible mist and dust, Lu Yun’s heart ached. He took out a tattered handkerchief from his chest, treasuring it as he gently rubbed it against his cheek.

Perhaps… he no longer needed a real person. In this vast world, just this little bit was enough for him… He hoped Heaven would have mercy and not let anyone take her away again…

“Length one foot four, width one foot two, can stack forty-nine pears and sixty-four apples…”

Seven layers of apples and pears were stacked on the stove, with a candied date crowning the top, looking like a pagoda.

With a bang of his foot, he kicked at the base of the stove. Mud and sand fell rustling down, but the fruit tower didn’t budge in the wind, showing no signs of collapse. Chen Defu laughed heartily at the sky, immediately moved over a large wooden chair, and with a loud crunch, bit fiercely into a big red apple, proudly admiring his masterpiece—the Seven-Layer Date, Pear, and Apple Pagoda.

Chen Defu couldn’t become a master, but he got fortune. His territory had a stove and pot on the left, bowls and basins on the right, and a seven-story fruit tower in front. Absurdly, he was also a swordsman, but for some unknown reason, he rolled around in the kitchen every day.

Couldn’t become a sword god, so became a kitchen god. Chen Defu worked as a cook daily in his domain, with a group of young servants around him to scold and bully—his days were quite impressive. But every night after cooking meals and working in the kitchen, when it came time to sleep, he would dream of his master, Ning Bufan.

Ning Bufan had few disciples in his lifetime. Besides Su Ying, his final disciple, he had another servant boy who made tea and fanned him—Chen Defu.

This was someone Ning Bufan personally selected as his final disciple in the year before his retirement. Not only was Defu himself puzzled, but even all the martial uncles on the mountain were confused, not knowing why the sect leader, having such a genius as Ying as his disciple, would take on another fool as a student. Of course, according to the Fat Scale Monster’s explanation, it was for everyone’s livelihood at Yuqing Temple—hiring long-term workers was too expensive, so they invited this foolish boy Chen Defu to carry water.

Meow… Chen Defu clenched his fists and growled in his throat. Poor fellow, though he felt hatred in his heart, he was bound by sect rules and rarely spoke coarsely, so he could only manage a cat’s meow to express his resentment.

The Twin Monsters of Mount Hua were disrespectful in their old age. Chen Defu naturally didn’t believe their nonsense. He preferred to believe he also had some extraordinary talent, which was why his master admitted him to the sect. As for why his martial arts were utterly terrible, it was undoubtedly because the Twin Monsters of Mount Hua had secretly poisoned him.

Today was New Year’s Eve morning, and in the afternoon they would go to Ziyun Pavilion for the reunion dinner and receive some red envelopes from the National Uncle. All the sect members had free time and wandered around the streets to pass time. In previous years, everyone would be in high spirits, naturally decorating with lanterns and colors. But this year was different from the past—first, the National Uncle was old and ill; second, Pavilion Master Qiong and Master Fu had gone south to Guzhou, and even Senior Brother Ying had become somewhat strange, hiding in his room all day without coming out. Who knew if this New Year’s dinner would even happen?

They had thought that after Kui Xing’s great victory in the Five Trials, this New Year would surely be lively. Who would have expected it to be so cold and quiet?

Never mind… not good-looking, not strong in build, worthless inside and out—better just stack fruit. Chen Defu yawned and lay on the table for a nap. He saw a book placed by the pots and bowls, old and tattered in appearance—he didn’t know whose it was, just thrown in the back kitchen.

Lazily reaching out to flip through it, he saw the inner pages had four-color printing—red, yellow, blue, green—looking like some kind of manual…

An erotic manual? Chen Defu’s eyes lit up again as he started meowing.

What kind of book needed four-color printing? Obviously, it must be something bloody and fleshy. A beautiful woman with flesh and blood, smiles and frowns, encountering Wu Song’s heroic spirit and courage—after three hundred rounds of battle, it would inevitably become bloody and messy. Remembering the book “Baochai Fights the Evil Dragon” at the Twin Monsters’ bedside, Chen Defu’s forehead flushed with blood as he eagerly grabbed the booklet to look.

There was a line of small characters on the cover, somewhat blurred. Chen Defu giggled and thought, “It’s worn from being passed around so much—it must be well-written.” He stared at that line of small characters on the cover and struggled to read: “Wisdom… Wisdom… Wisdom Sword Pacifies… Pacifies…”

Wisdom Sword Pacifies the Eight Directions! Chen Defu’s whole body trembled. He rubbed his eyes and looked carefully again, finally seeing the bold ancient characters written horizontally on the cover: “Three Virtues Sword Manual”!

Who had left the sword manual in the back kitchen? Chen Defu jumped up, meowing east and barking west, but seeing the kitchen bathed in winter sunlight with no one around and no elder responding to him, he truly couldn’t figure it out. Full of confusion, he tremblingly looked at the second line of characters and indeed saw below “Wisdom Sword Pacifies the Eight Directions” were two more lines: “Benevolence Sword Shakes with Sound” and “Courage Sword Cuts the Heavenly Net.”

Dealing with the world through wisdom, cultivating the heart through benevolence, establishing oneself through courage—those who possessed all three great virtues of wisdom, benevolence, and courage held the heart of a sage. In the world, Defu had only ever known one person who possessed all three virtues completely, and that was his revered master, Ning Bufan. Legend had it that at twelve he broke the “Crane Dancing Seven Star Steps,” at eighteen he mastered the dual swords of wisdom and benevolence, at thirty he comprehended the courage sword, and by the time he retired at forty-two, the master had consecutively defeated the Sword King, Sword God, and various orthodox and unorthodox sect leaders. Even the current court’s most famous “Dragon Hand Grand Commander” Lord Dingyuan had once been defeated by him.

Eight hundred battles, large and small, without a single defeat. Bufan was truly extraordinary. Chen Defu reminisced about the former sect leader’s glorious deeds, feeling both admiration and envy. Looking at the Three Virtues Sword Manual in his hands, he quickly wiped the grease on his buttocks and thought, “Heaven protect me, today it’s my turn, little meow-meow, to show great divine power.”

Just as he was about to open the book, he suddenly remembered something and couldn’t help hesitating.

True manuals weren’t afraid of people reading them or practicing from them. The Three Virtues Sword was open and honest, not prohibiting sect members from viewing it. However, the former sect leader had established one rule: anyone who wanted to read the sword manual must find an elder from the sect to study it together—private reading was strictly forbidden.

Why was this rule established? According to Uncle Zhao the Fifth, in the past, to practice the Three Virtues Sword, several Mount Hua ancestors forgot to eat and sleep—some found their martial arts getting worse the more they practiced, others practiced until they became demented and crazy, ruining their lifelong happiness. Remembering that there was a “Master Mengxiang” in the sect—clearly a handsome and upright man who vowed to remain unmarried for life, growing a long beard and living alone on Flying Peak, seeing no one. It was said he was harmed by the Three Virtues Sword Manual.

Looking at the mysterious ancient manual, Chen Defu couldn’t help but feel troubled.

Should he look or not? If he missed today, when he wanted to find an elder to view it together in the future, without a doubt his head would first get a hard knock from the Fat Scale Monster, then he’d hear the Abacus Monster’s hearty laughter, and finally he’d definitely be so angry he’d cover his face and flee. The two old monsters always bullied him. But if he wanted to find the gentle and refined Master Fu, he would certainly tell him to wait a few more years.

Should he or shouldn’t he? Being caught would be a small matter, but becoming demented would be serious. Chen Defu felt an unbearable itch in his heart but was extremely troubled. Suddenly thinking of the mocking looks from the Twin Monsters of Mount Hua, he thought to himself, “Damn it! My martial arts are already hopelessly terrible anyway, so fighting poison with poison won’t do any harm.” Having made up his mind, he stopped overthinking. Knowing time was limited, he hurried to seize the opportunity and frantically flipped through the entire book from beginning to end to make it worthwhile.

Counting through the Three Virtues manual, there were ninety-nine pages in total. The cover was thick and old, feeling heavy in his hands. Chen Defu took a deep breath, pressed his palms together in prayer, and said, “Ancestor spirits protect me. If Defu goes crazy in a moment, please be sure to manifest and stop me.”

He bowed three times to the book, wanting to circulate his true energy to refresh himself, but his dantian was completely empty. He sighed and could only squeeze out a loud fart before opening the cover to look at the first page of sword techniques.

Concentrating on the first page of sword techniques, he was so shocked he unconsciously let out another loud fart.

This sword manual was indeed evil. Ordinary manuals always drew figures of people practicing, or diagrams of meridians and pressure points. But this page had neither human figures nor images, not even any text. There were only red and green lines, densely packed—who knew what kind of ghostly symbols these were. Chen Defu muttered to himself, carefully examining those strange lines, when he suddenly saw tiny characters written in the lower right corner. He hurried to read them, saying in a low voice, “Spiritual Spring Sword Technique…”

Chen Defu realized that “Spiritual Spring” was the martial foundation of Mount Hua’s ninth-generation disciples. The elders all said, “Form like spring stone, intent like spring flow.” He had seen several martial uncles perform it once—when still, they looked like wooden figures, but when they moved, they seemed possessed by ghosts, truly frightening.

Though young, Chen Defu had also heard Uncle Zhao the Fifth mention that Mount Hua’s sword techniques rose suddenly like a dark horse, all because the previous sect leader master comprehended the key principles, after which their reputation advanced by leaps and bounds, improving a thousand li in a single day. Under the enlightenment of “The World’s Number One,” the ninth-generation disciples all began practicing the “Three Virtues,” and after being reborn, their martial arts became vastly different from the eighth-generation members.

The eighth-generation disciples were the generation of old fools like Zhao Laowu—either their comprehension was too poor or they were too old. Even with guidance, they still couldn’t grasp the mysteries of the Three Virtues and could only rely on the four-character true formula “Clear Mind Calculation” to practice some old routines outside the “Three Virtues,” such as “Great Abacus Technique” and “Divine Scale Staff Beats Black Centipede”—mostly useless clichés. The “Iron Broom Technique” that Chen Defu currently practiced was similar.

Chen Defu himself was a tenth-generation disciple who could only learn to dance the “Crane Dancing Seven Star Steps,” usually chasing cats and dogs with a broom and beating them wildly—even he felt sorry for himself. He sighed several times and wanted to secretly learn the “Spiritual Spring Sword Technique,” but then thought that this was the martial foundation of ninth-generation members and felt somewhat afraid. What if he became another “Master Mengxiang”? That would be terrible.

The peak of Flying Peak was empty—Chen Defu didn’t want to go there to cultivate. After lamenting several times, he reluctantly turned to the next page.

The second page was still all lines—green, yellow, red, and black lines all over the page, straight and stiff, incomprehensible. Chen Defu was too lazy to figure out the mysteries and looked directly at the lower right corner, where he indeed saw two characters: “North Peak.” He exclaimed and thought, “North Peak Sword Technique—this is Master Lu’s martial art.”

Lu Yingchang, courtesy name Ruolin, was the earliest among the ninth-generation disciples to enter the sect. By seniority, he was Master Bufan’s senior brother.

Master Lu was nearly sixty and currently an official in Kaifeng, serving as a minister under National Uncle Qiong. He was rarely seen and only appeared during New Year’s reunion dinners. Thinking of Master Lu’s red envelopes, Chen Defu couldn’t help but giggle, then continued flipping to the third page. The page still had lines, called “Pine Pattern.” Looking further, the fourth page was called “Crossing Bridge,” and the fifth page was a large triangle called “Five Hearts”…

Spiritual Spring Sword, North Peak Sword, Five Hearts Sword—where was the “Wisdom Sword Pacifies Eight Directions”? Turning to the thirteenth page, Chen Defu exclaimed and said in a low voice, “Flying Red Vanishing Shadow! This is Master Fu’s protective martial art!”

Fu Yuanying, styled Yufeng, was the second strongest among Mount Hua’s ninth-generation members. Back then, Master Bufan specifically invited him back to the mountain to have Master Fu assist Senior Brother Ying in succession. No wonder his martial arts were so formidable—his sword technique had reached the thirteenth page.

Chen Defu had heard Uncle Zhao the Fifth mention that Master Fu was known for anticipating enemies thirteen steps ahead. Though his martial arts couldn’t compare with Master Bufan’s, they were still extraordinarily miraculous. When ordinary masters fought him, no matter what moves they used, the first thirteen moves must not be repeated, or Master Fu would suddenly strike with Flying Red Sword to victory. This was the origin of “Flying Red Vanishing Shadow.”

Master Ruolin was steady, Master Yufeng was elegant, Master Mengxiang was wild—the ninth-generation members mastered the Three Virtues secrets, greatly improving their martial arts and producing many famous masters. But whether Fu Yuanying or Lu Yingchang, once compared with Ning Bufan, they were still far from reaching his level. According to Uncle Zhao the Fifth, his qualifications were “first-rate among second-rate,” Master Fu was “second-rate among first-rate,” while “first-rate among first-rate” was only Master Bufan. Of course, “non-rate among non-rate” were the Twin Monsters of Mount Hua.

Those limited by natural talent could only follow established practices, cultivating the mental techniques annotated by Master Bufan, with absolutely no possibility of tracing back to the source, much less becoming the reviver of Mount Hua. Qualifications, qualifications—what a cruel pair of words. This was each person’s fate.

Mount Hua’s sect rules were clear: disciples over thirty-five who remained at Yuqing Temple could only be three types of people. The first type were the most naturally gifted swordsmen of the mountain, like Ning Bufan and Su Ying—because their qualifications were limitless, they never had a day of “completing their training” and thus were not allowed to “go down the mountain.” The second type were the most capable people of the mountain who assisted the sect leader in internal and external affairs and guided juniors, such as Zhao Laowu and Fu Yuanying. Therefore, they were needed to stay on the mountain to help. The third type were characters like the Twin Monsters of Mount Hua—if these people went down the mountain, they would either be killed or cause tremendous disasters. To avoid shaming the sect, they were advised to remain on the mountain as elders.

Thinking of this, Chen Defu suddenly stared blankly. What about himself? In another ten years, he would also be thirty-five—where would he go then? He needed to think clearly. He could learn from the Twin Monsters and stay on the mountain, or learn from his martial uncles and leave the sect to make a career in the martial world.

With what? Wildly swinging an iron broom—wasn’t that seeking death? Chen Defu laughed heartily, but his eyes carried some helplessness.

Forget it. A small person like him, when the time came, would return home to farm. His hometown was in Zhejiang and Fujian, where his five brothers had all divided the farmland. Digging soil, planting crops, raising cats and dogs—at least in his youth he had been a member of Mount Hua. In the future, when telling his son about the past, he would have some upright heroic spirit.

The martial world was like this—determined by natural talent, beyond human control. If one insisted on standing out and refused to accept Heaven’s arrangement, “Master Mengxiang” on Flying Peak was a living example. Thinking of “Master Mengxiang’s” tears, Chen Defu suddenly lost interest. He slumped over the table, lazily resting his chin on the surface, casually standing the Three Virtues sword manual in front of him and turning directly to the fourteenth page.

The first thirteen pages each developed a sword technique—”Spiritual Spring,” “North Peak,” “Pine Pattern,” “Three Pure,” “Five Hearts,” and so on. The various martial uncles relied on these to roam the martial world, indeed winning more than losing, with great methods. But no matter how brilliant these sword techniques were, they were still earthly swords. From the fourteenth page onward was the Tushita Heaven belonging to the master-disciple pair Ning Bufan and Su Ying.

Without any intention of secretly learning, Chen Defu understood his own qualifications—he was just a useless little meow-meow. He just wanted to see what the “Wisdom Sword” looked like, so he could boast to his son and wife in the future. Maybe it could even be useful when swatting mosquitoes and chasing cockroaches.

Turning to the fourteenth page, there were no earth-shaking sword technique names, only messy strange lines that looked like a dark mass. Chen Defu yawned and looked at the fifteenth page.

With drowsy eyes, he saw the fifteenth page had become a large square with two round eyes in the middle—not at all like a Wisdom Sword. As drowsiness attacked, Chen Defu flipped more and more listlessly—sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth… all the way to the ninety-eighth page. Except for large squares, small blocks, triangles, and pentagons, there were no words “Wisdom Sword” anywhere. Chen Defu was very sleepy and was about to close the sword manual when he suddenly remembered there was still one page he hadn’t seen. He directly flipped from the back to look at the ninety-ninth page.

The ninety-ninth page was also the last page. Chen Defu frowned as he looked and immediately saw a large duck egg.

A big, big duck egg drawn very round, with a line of text above it: “Transform square to round, transform round to square—this is the way of the benevolent.”

“Benevolent?” Chen Defu jumped up and muttered, “This is ‘Benevolence Sword Shakes with Sound’!”

He didn’t see the Wisdom Sword but saw the Benevolence Sword—what was going on? Chen Defu pondered for a long time, and in a moment he understood the principle.

Why could Master Yufeng defeat enemies in thirteen steps? Why couldn’t he find the words “Wisdom Sword”? It turned out that the combined diagrams of the first ninety-eight pages were “Wisdom Sword Pacifies Eight Directions.” Only by completely deciphering and thoroughly understanding them could the combined mental technique be the “Wisdom Sword.”

“Senior Brother Ying…” Chen Defu wiped his cold sweat and muttered, “You’re really amazing!”

After Ning Bufan, someone had consecutively deciphered ninety-eight diagram pages and completed “Wisdom Sword Pacifies Eight Directions”—that was the current sect leader Su Ying. He had thought Master Fu and the sect leader’s martial arts were only neck and neck, but now it seemed one scored ninety-eight points while the other scored thirteen points. In terms of sword technique comprehension alone, who was higher and who was lower was crystal clear.

Senior Brother Ying scored ninety-eight points, but he was still missing one point—that was the “Benevolence Sword” on the last page.

The world-shaking martial forbidden realm “Benevolence Sword Shakes with Sound”—among the ninety-nine diagrams, the Wisdom Sword occupied ninety-eight pages. Though the Benevolence Sword’s reputation was so great, it had only one meager diagram, showing how important this diagram was.

But what was this supposed to be? A big pancake, a big duck egg, a big turtle—whatever you called it, this thing was just a big circle drawn properly on the page. Chen Defu was completely puzzled. He didn’t understand what Daoist Tianyin was thinking. Maybe he was eating mooncakes and looking at the moon that day, so he randomly sketched a big duck egg? But what did Master Bufan’s “transform square to round” mean? And what did this have to do with the character “benevolence”?

Too lazy to think more—he couldn’t practice it anyway. Chen Defu looked at the big pancake on the paper and suddenly felt hungry. He immediately took out a real big pancake from the cupboard and leaned against the kitchen door to munch on it.

Winter sun shone brightly with gentle wind and beautiful weather. After last night’s heavy snow, the back courtyard had become a sheet of silver white. Chen Defu finished the big pancake in three or two bites and wanted to go into the courtyard to build a snowman. He excitedly came to the courtyard, but before he could grab the white snow, he saw traces in the snow. Looking down, someone had drawn a circle.

A circle about a foot in diameter, drawn quite round, like the big pancake in the Three Virtues sword manual had come down to lie in the snow and sleep. Chen Defu was full of doubt and muttered, “Who’s so bored as to draw big pancakes here?”

Wandering through the courtyard in confusion, he saw one big pancake, two big pancakes, three big pancakes… The snowy ground of the back courtyard was full of big pancakes… one by one calling to their companions, arranged in formation like a big pancake army. Looking again at the ground, there was one square, two squares, three squares—there was actually another square army that seemed ready for a battle between circles and squares. Chen Defu was startled: “Good fellow, has Master Mengxiang returned?”

Thinking of the crazy man’s strange behavior, he couldn’t help but feel afraid. Walking past the strange diagrams all over the ground, he came to a tree and was shocked to see a large round pancake drawn by the tree, about ten feet long. In the center of the big pancake was a large square, inside the large square was a small circle, and lying in the small circle was a person holding a long sword. Chen Defu exclaimed in shock, “Master Mengxiang? Have you gone completely mad?”

Just as he was about to walk over, he suddenly saw the person sit up and open his eyes to look at him. Chen Defu screamed and was about to flee backward when he suddenly saw the person had a pair of large cat-like eyes and handsome features. Chen Defu exclaimed, “Sect Leader? Is that you?”

The person sitting in front of him was indeed Su Ying. His face was haggard, his chin covered with short whiskers, as if he had slept in the snow all night.

So how did the Three Virtues sword manual end up in the back kitchen? It turned out the sect leader had become the Pancake King, drawing big pancakes all night long. Seeing his junior brother’s shocked expression, Su Ying didn’t explain much. He just leaned against the big tree, stroked his face with his hand, and asked in a low voice, “Has Master Fu returned?”

Chen Defu muttered, “Not… not yet…”

Su Ying remained silent and picked up his long sword to draw another large square on the ground. Seeing his strange behavior, Chen Defu couldn’t help but exclaim, “Sect Leader? What… what exactly are you doing?” Su Ying looked at the big pancakes all over the ground and said quietly, “I want to transform square to round.”

Circles are always circles, squares are always squares—but how to draw this transformation? Chen Defu looked completely bewildered and said in panic, “Sect Leader, are you… are you all right?” Su Ying sighed. He pointed to the square on the ground and said quietly, “I want to draw a circle the same size as this square. Until I can transform it, I can’t sleep peacefully.” Chen Defu laughed dryly, “Is this very difficult?”

Su Ying picked up the long sword in his hand and said silently, “No rulers allowed, no measuring tools allowed—only this sword. Do you think it’s difficult or not?”

Chen Defu had no idea whether it was difficult or not and was about to ask when he suddenly heard footsteps from the back kitchen. Someone shouted, “Ying! Where are you! The National Uncle has sent someone to find you!” An old man turned around from the kitchen door—it was Zhao Laowu. Chen Defu was about to respond when he suddenly saw Su Ying draw his long sword toward his own neck. Chen Defu was shocked and screamed, “Sect Leader! Don’t do anything foolish!”

Before his words finished, Su Ying’s cold blade moved slightly, turning toward his lower jaw. The sword moved gently, and whiskers fell one by one wherever it passed. Zhao Laowu also broke out in cold sweat and knocked Chen Defu on the forehead, shaking his head, “Shouting and screaming nonsensically—if you’re not dead, you’ll scare yourself to death.”

Chen Defu laughed dryly, “Sorry… I just… I just thought…” As he spoke, Su Ying tidied his appearance and spoke quietly with Zhao Laowu for a few sentences. He went into the back kitchen, picked up the Three Virtues sword manual, and left first. Seeing that Zhao Laowu was also about to leave, Chen Defu quickly grabbed him and asked, “Fifth Grandpa, what is ‘transform square to round’?”

Zhao Laowu asked curiously, “What ‘transform square to round’?” Chen Defu hurried to say, “It’s transforming a square into a circle!” Zhao Laowu laughed heartily, “That? Isn’t that easy?” As he spoke, he casually picked up a round wooden bucket from beside the kitchen door and put it over Chen Defu’s square head, laughing, “Look, isn’t this transforming square to round?”

Watching the elder swagger away, Chen Defu could only laugh dryly twice, touching the water bucket on his head, standing there dazed and foolish.

Qiong Fang had made noise all night, and by the end, her physical strength was exhausted and she was fast asleep. In her dreams, Lu Yun seemed to have stopped. In her dazed state, when she opened her eyes, it was already noon the next day.

Qiong Fang found herself sleeping in a pile of straw, covered with a warm blanket, but Lu Yun was nowhere to be seen. She scrambled up in panic and looked around, only to find herself in a ruined temple. Not only was the great water monster completely gone, but even the noodle stand had disappeared.

Had Lu Yun broken his promise and fled, abandoning her? Qiong Fang’s heart was bitter with anger, and tears flowed down. She cried, “Bold scoundrel! Give me back my money!” She hurriedly put on her shoes and socks and rushed straight to the temple gate.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to call out, she suddenly saw a noodle stand placed by the temple gate. A man was quietly crouching on the ground fanning a fire—it was indeed Boss Lu. Qiong Fang wiped her tears and broke into a smile, thinking, “That scared me to death. Next time I sleep, I’ll have to tie him up to prevent another escape.” As for whether Lu Yun’s supreme martial arts would allow him to break the rope and escape on his own, that was not worth deep consideration.

It was New Year’s Eve afternoon. The continuous heavy snow had long since stopped, the weather had cleared at noon with bright sunshine, and the accumulated snow on the road was melting rapidly. Qiong Fang felt refreshed and walked over, but saw the stool in front of the stand was empty with not a single customer coming to eat noodles. Looking at the distant street, there were quite a few people coming and going, very lively and bustling.

Among the crowds filling the street, only this noodle stand was quiet and peaceful without half a customer. The stove fire had long been lit and the water was boiling. The noodle stand smelled fragrant, but everything was ruined by this boss. That old scholar squatting by the roadside drained all the liveliness from the entire town. A hundred-year-old corpse cooking noodles, serving bowls and jumping around like a zombie—customers weren’t buying coffins, so who could still eat anything?

You must call out to sell! You must smile to attract buyers! Qiong Fang watched and secretly shook her head. She glanced at Lu Yun and sighed, “Brother Lu, your business is terribly bad. Your noodles must taste awful.” Just as she was speaking happily, she suddenly saw Lu Yun lower his eyes silently, seeming displeased. Qiong Fang quickly stuck out her tongue, leaned on Lu Yun’s back, and said sweetly, “Sorry, I was just playing around with you. Please don’t be angry.”

Qiong Fang had just awakened from sweet dreams and hadn’t yet arranged her clothing. Her beautiful hair hung loose over her shoulders, looking extremely languid. Once she leaned on Lu Yun’s back, her hair immediately fell down, spilling all over Lu Yun’s face, and her soft chest pressed against his back, completely unaware of any impropriety.

Lu Yun was startled. He leaned forward and with a gentle wave of his left hand, had already turned Qiong Fang onto the bamboo stool, saying, “Sit down. I’ll cook noodles for you.” Qiong Fang sat down with a smile, casually tied up her hair and arranged it in a bun, laughing as she asked, “Hey, where are we?” Lu Yun added charcoal to the stove and said indifferently, “Huai’an.” Qiong Fang was secretly amazed, not expecting that Lu Yun, carrying a noodle stand on his shoulders and bearing another person’s weight, still had such vigorous leg strength that he could travel a hundred li in one night. Seeing his pace so divine, he would surely reach the capital before the Lantern Festival.

Just as she was thinking, she suddenly saw a chopstick stuck in the ground in the distance, apparently Lu Yun’s. Seeing the great water monster busy cooking noodles, Qiong Fang excitedly got up to look. Coming closer, she saw the chopstick inserted several inches deep into the stone slab, with writing beside it on the stone slab. The stone slab was hard as iron, yet words could be carved on it—this must be Lu Yun’s doing.

Qiong Fang lowered her head to look at the writing. She saw the characters were narrow and long with dynamic form—clearly small seal script. Seal script was specialized for stone inscriptions and steles; few people in recent times wrote it. Though Qiong Fang came from a scholarly family, she could still recognize it. She stared for a long time and couldn’t help but whisper in shock, “Hate?”

In the distance, Lu Yun was cooking noodles. His back looked calm, but she couldn’t tell if he truly harbored hatred. Looking down at the ground again, she saw more small seal characters in sequence. Reading together with the previous “hate” character, there were seven characters in total: “Hate, Resentment, Sorrow, Suffering, Loathing, Anger, Wrath.” The neat writing showed no pause marks or turns, deeply embodying the seal script’s essence of “lean, press, sweep, peck.” Looking beside the seven characters, there was another line of characters: “Benevolence, Love, Compassion, Filial Piety, Shame, Righteousness, Integrity.” The characters were flat and square with horizontal momentum, ancient and clumsy with hidden brushstrokes—seven characters in ancient clerical script.

Clerical script originated in the Qin Dynasty and reached its peak in the Eastern Han. Qiong Fang had copied the “Zhang Jing Stele” and “Shi Chen Stele” in her childhood and knew that imitating ancient clerical script was difficult to master. She saw that the character “benevolence” was full of suppression—extremely tight above and below, wide and relaxed left and right, as if stepped on flat by Heaven, yet within the melancholy it formed its own magnanimous pattern. Full of curiosity, she stood up to look and saw the ground by the temple was covered with writing. She muttered as she read, “Therefore, hating people leads to benevolence. Those without love must not resent. Those without compassion must have no sorrow. From filial piety comes suffering, after loathing comes shame, righteousness arises from anger…”

Reading word by word slowly, she saw the brushstrokes getting faster and faster, gradually changing from mournful to chaotic, entering draft cursive, transforming to running cursive, then wildly desolate, finally coming in overwhelming wild cursive style. Qiong Fang’s eyes were dazzled and she could only barely make out…

“Embracing heaven and earth’s seven great sufferings, breaking through human emotions’ seven great obstacles, thus abandoning the heart of good and evil to attain…”

Finally, two characters in regular script. Qiong Fang looked at the ground and covered her mouth in shock: “Sword God?”

Just as she stood dazed, Lu Yun had also finished cooking the noodles. She heard him call, “Miss Qiong, come eat noodles.” When dad calls to eat noodles, Qiong Fang quickly responded and hurried back to the stool, taking two chopsticks to playfully beat them together.

Lu Yun brought over a large bowl of noodles. The bowl was as big as a basin, with steam rising—it would indeed be enough for washing one’s face. Qiong Fang’s heart was hanging on the strange characters on the stone slab, but she didn’t dare ask directly. She opened her cherry lips and slurped noisily, planning to inquire later.

Seeing her eat with such relish, Lu Yun sat beside her and asked, “Does it taste good?” Seeing his face full of concern, apparently quite caring about customer reputation, Qiong Fang thought, “If I say it tastes bad, he’ll definitely ignore me for half a day. But if I say it tastes good, he might bring another bowl, and then I’d vomit. I’d better give him some trouble.” She immediately frowned and sighed inwardly, saying, “Your noodles are really good—they rank fourth in the world.” Sure enough, Lu Yun was slightly surprised and quickly asked, “Fourth?”

Qiong Fang made things up: “I’ve carefully investigated. In Beijing city, there are three noodle shops better than yours. That broth, oh my, tsk tsk tsk… sigh.” She couldn’t cook and didn’t know how to describe flavors, so she used clicking sounds to get by, thinking one click was worth a thousand words and Lu Yun would surely believe it.

After clicking for a long time, Lu Yun just stared at her motionlessly, as if waiting to wash dishes. Qiong Fang saw the bowl was full of noodle broth but her stomach was bloated from eating. She frowned miserably as she chewed the noodles when she suddenly saw a small wild dog walking by the road, also looking listless. Qiong Fang immediately put down her chopsticks, pointed at the temple roof, and exclaimed in shock, “Black-clothed man!”

Lu Yun’s heart jumped. Without time for words, he touched his feet and had already flown onto the temple roof—his movement technique was truly superb. Qiong Fang quickly called the little dog over and handed it the entire bowl of noodles. After a short while, Lu Yun slowly walked back and asked, “Miss Qiong, did you really see a black-clothed man just now?” Qiong Fang stood up from the roadside, holding an empty bowl, and asked in confusion, “What black-clothed man?” Lu Yun frowned silently, figuring that living by the waterfall for so long, he would inevitably see some illusions. He could only nod. Glancing over, he saw a wild dog lying lazily by the stand, stretching its paws and scratching, not knowing when it had come over. He didn’t ask much about it.

Seeing Lu Yun take the bowl and crouch down to wash it, Qiong Fang wanted to inquire about the writing she had seen earlier. She also crouched beside Lu Yun, holding a wooden chopstick, and said sweetly, “Brother Lu, let’s play at writing Spring couplets, okay?” Spring couplets originated from peach charms, initially meant to ward off evil. In later generations, during New Year, common people would write auspicious phrases on red paper to celebrate the new year. Seeing Lu Yun’s scholarly background, he must be an expert in this. Without waiting for Lu Yun’s agreement, she picked up the chopstick and wrote in the remaining snow, showing “Five Blessings Come to the Door.” She handed the chopstick to Lu Yun with a smile, “Your turn.”

Lu Yun shook his head, “I won’t write. You play by yourself.” Qiong Fang spat, “No way, that’s no fun. You must write.” She forcibly stuffed the chopstick into Lu Yun’s hand, insisting he write.

Lu Yun pondered slightly and said to himself, “I haven’t drawn diagrams since leaving the waterfall. Let me practice.” Speaking thus, he held the wooden chopstick in reverse, his right thumb pressing the chopstick body, index finger slightly hooked, palm supporting—it was as if he had picked up a brush. Then he inserted the chopstick into the ground and instantly pulled out a perfectly straight long line.

Qiong Fang was greatly surprised and looked down in bewilderment. She saw Lu Yun’s left hand measuring horizontally while his right hand held the wooden chopstick, instantly turning a right angle and cutting out another horizontal line. In a moment, four straight lines were drawn in the hard soil, forming a perfect square with exact right angles, each side exactly one foot long with no deviation. Even if an ordinary person had measured beforehand with an ink line, they probably couldn’t draw something so precise.

Qiong Fang looked completely puzzled and frowned, “Brother Lu, what… what is this supposed to be?” Lu Yun said indifferently, “This is my method of practicing martial arts. I used to draw this every day by the waterfall.” Qiong Fang exclaimed, “Drawing diagrams to practice martial arts? What kind of technique is this?” Lu Yun said, “This is the technique for dealing with great waterfalls.” Seeing Qiong Fang’s confused expression, he explained, “I was on a deserted island for two years. Every time the great waterfall rushed over, I had to struggle desperately. Later, to save Little White Dragon’s life, I was even washed down the waterfall by the great water—it was quite miserable.” Having spent several hours by the waterfall, Qiong Fang was already scared out of her wits. Hearing Lu Yun mention past events, she naturally sighed.

Lu Yun continued, “After I was fortunately washed into the water cave, I watched the waterfall curtain every day, always trapped and unable to leave. The more I thought about it, the more defiant I became, so I wanted to seize the opportunity to take revenge on the great waterfall.” Qiong Fang exclaimed in shock, “Revenge?” Lu Yun nodded and said, “I wanted to defeat the White Water Great Waterfall, so that one day I could climb to the top of the waterfall with my own hands and feet and cross the water.”

Qiong Fang was stunned. Having personally experienced the washing force of the waterfall, she knew the courage of the collapsing water was unstoppable by anyone in heaven and earth. She couldn’t help but say in panic, “Are… are you joking?” Lu Yun sighed, “What jokes can a person with nothing left to rely on tell?” He looked at the perfect square on the ground and continued, “At that time, I thought it over and realized I had practiced internal cultivation too early, and because I had stubbornly imitated Daoist martial arts back then, I had acquired a craftsman’s mentality. Though my martial arts had taken shape, they were beyond salvation from then on. Just like that perfect square—it can’t roll or be ground smooth, and will never become great in the future.”

Qiong Fang came from a martial arts family and had naturally heard of such learning. It seemed that the more talented a person was, the less they should practice advanced martial arts too early, lest their comprehension be limited and cause more harm than good in the future. She was stunned for a long time and muttered, “What happened next? What did you do?” Lu Yun said, “At thirty-two, I found the Sword God’s ancient manual. From then on, my martial arts greatly improved, but I became obsessed with the sword of hatred and fell into another pit.”

Qiong Fang was greatly surprised. Though she had never seen the Kunlun Sword God in her life, she knew this person had fought fiercely with Ning Bufan for a thousand moves and was extremely skilled in swordplay. Who would have thought Lu Yun still found it insufficient? She hurriedly said, “Brother Lu, don’t you think that Zhuo… Zhuo-whatever is formidable?” Lu Yun shook his head, “That’s not it. Zhuo Lingzhao’s martial arts and mental techniques are naturally advanced, but his martial learning has a great flaw—he’s too strong.” Qiong Fang exclaimed, “Isn’t being strong good? What’s wrong with that?”

Lu Yun shook his head, “No matter how strong Zhuo Lingzhao is, he’s still not stronger than the White Water Great Waterfall. If it weren’t so, when I used the Sword God’s mental techniques to cross the water and save myself that year, I wouldn’t have been washed away.” Hearing Little White Dragon’s cries in her ears, Qiong Fang reflected on his words and naturally nodded repeatedly. Lu Yun gazed at the drawing on the ground and continued quietly, “Miss Qiong, the reason Lu fell to such a state of family destruction and death was entirely because of my stubborn temperament… No matter what difficulties I encounter, I always want to face them head-on, never taking detours. But life’s path is full of hardships, with insurmountable mountains everywhere… So after I fell into the water cave, I wanted to find a way for someone like me to survive in the future…”

Thinking of her stubborn father, Qiong Fang felt pity and said with tears, “Brother Lu, did you find it?” Lu Yun pointed at the perfect square on the ground and showed a rare smile, “Miss Qiong, I want to respond to the world with roundness.” Qiong Fang stared blankly and asked back, “Roundness?”

Lu Yun said sternly, “Roundness! It is roundness. Only with roundness and harmony can I face life’s dangers and walk out of the White Water Great Waterfall. Look, look…” He picked up the chopstick and drew a few strokes on the ground. In no time, the soil and snow turned over and over, revealing a pattern on the ground. The lengths were exactly the same without the slightest difference, all angles perfectly consistent—it was a regular pentagon. Qiong Fang muttered, “This is a regular pentagon… it’s not round…”

Lu Yun raised his finger to his lips to signal silence, then took out another chopstick from the water bucket and compared angles left and right, then began drawing on the ground again. This time he drew a regular hexagon. Qiong Fang stared blankly as Lu Yun skipped the heptagon and directly drew an octagon, then skipped the enneagon and drew a regular decagon. The patterns were intricate and complex, all appearing to be regular polygonal shapes.

Seeing Lu Yun drawing with obsessive fervor, quite mad in appearance, Qiong Fang felt uneasy and said, “Brother Lu, what… what exactly are you trying to do?” Lu Yun paid no attention and instead prostrated himself on the ground, concentrating on his drawing. This time he drew extremely slowly and carefully, being extremely cautious when taking angles and drawing lines. Seeing his solemn attitude, Qiong Fang knew he was engaged in great learning and didn’t dare interrupt for a moment, only quietly observing from the side.

After a long while, Lu Yun let out a long breath and finally got up. Qiong Fang leaned over to look and was shocked to see another strange figure had appeared on the ground. Its edges were complex, appearing round but not quite round, yet with some angles. She was completely puzzled and muttered, “Is this round?” Lu Yun shook his head, “Count how many sides it has.”

Qiong Fang lowered her head to count, calculating methodically, and said bewildered, “Seventeen sides?” Lu Yun smiled slightly, “Exactly seventeen. I exhausted countless mental efforts in the Water Curtain Cave and finally comprehended Heaven’s true way, also creating this regular seventeen-sided figure. With this thing, as long as I can return to the deserted island, no matter how rapid the current, I can cross the water.”

Qiong Fang was stunned, not expecting that martial arts could be related to drawing? She didn’t understand the principle and didn’t know where to begin asking, so she could only mutter, “I see… then… why did you draw seventeen… why not eighteen or nineteen… is it that you… you can’t draw them?” She knew she had spoken too contemptuously and feared provoking Lu Yun’s anger, so she quickly lowered her head and coughed to cover up.

But Lu Yun wasn’t angry either and nodded, “You’re quite right. I cannot solve regular seven, nine, eleven, or thirteen-sided figures. After pondering for two years, I finally understood a principle. To create diagrams freehand without rulers or compasses, one must follow a general rule.” Fearing Qiong Fang would lose patience, he quickly wrote a “3” and then a “5” on the ground, explaining, “Regular three sides can be drawn, regular five can also be drawn. After I drew the regular seventeen, I also discovered a sequence. Look—three minus one is two, five minus one is four, seventeen minus one is sixteen… Do you see the pattern?” Qiong Fang said bewildered, “What’s what?”

Lu Yun said, “Three minus one is two, five minus one is two times two, seventeen minus one is two times two times two times two—one two, two twos, four twos, eight twos, sixteen twos. All these multipliers plus one yield numbers that all have one characteristic: except for themselves, no other number in heaven and earth can divide them evenly…” Qiong Fang felt itchy all over, “Brother Lu, what exactly are you trying to do?”

Startled by her shout, Lu Yun hurriedly said, “I… I want to draw a circle…” Qiong Fang screamed and casually drew a big duck egg on the ground, shouting loudly, “Isn’t this a circle?” Lu Yun waved his hands, “No, no, yours isn’t round enough. Your center is off.” Seeing him acting crazy, Qiong Fang couldn’t help screaming. Lu Yun quickly explained, “To draw a perfect circle freehand is no easy matter. In the water cave, I drew tens of thousands of circles, but because my wrist shook, with the slightest deviation leading to great errors, none were round enough. So I found another path, hoping to go from three sides to five sides, five sides to seventeen sides, gradually approximating to draw something that contains roundness within squareness.”

Qiong Fang finally understood and couldn’t help exclaiming, “Roundness within squareness?”

Lu Yun exhaled a long breath and nodded, “The perfection in my heart is not a perfect circle, but roundness within squareness. Life’s peaks and valleys are like a small boat on the vast sea—one can only respond to raging waves and giant swells with roundness and harmony. But when external force points and water waves strike, the center is immediately lost. What’s often obtained this way is no longer roundness and harmony, but unprincipled smoothness.” Qiong Fang didn’t quite understand and said bewildered, “So… so what?”

Lu Yun said, “To deal with the fierce force of the White Water Great Waterfall, one must find the general rule—one two, two twos, four twos, eight twos, sixteen twos, thirty-two twos… The numbers obtained by adding one to all these can be drawn freehand: three sides, five sides, seventeen sides, two hundred fifty-seven sides, sixty-five thousand five hundred thirty-seven sides… Starting from the square, keeping the center unmoved, getting closer and closer to a perfect circle… also gradually able to withstand the divine water force of the great waterfall… Look, look…” Just as he was about to demonstrate with raised palm, he suddenly heard a choked sob. Lu Yun turned his head to look and saw Qiong Fang’s nose tip wet and red, tears rolling down from her eyes. Lu Yun asked in surprise, “What’s… what’s wrong with you? Aren’t you happy for me?”

Qiong Fang wiped her tears and forced a smile, “Happy, of course I’m happy for you.”

Time flies like an arrow, fleeting years like flowing water. Ten years had passed swiftly. Not only had the several people from the Liu family long since become important figures, even Qiong Fang had grown from an ignorant girl into a charming beauty. The great wheel of heaven and earth turned mercilessly—everyone had left, yet only Brother Lu remained in the same place, alone tightly embracing these inexplicable and seemingly useless useful things. How could Qiong Fang not cry for him? How could she not feel sad for him?

Seeing Qiong Fang had no interest, Lu Yun just hung his head dejectedly and wiped away the strange diagram on the ground with one foot, probably because he couldn’t find a kindred spirit. Qiong Fang comforted him, “Brother Lu, stop drawing diagrams for now. Tonight is New Year’s Eve—why don’t I go buy some wine and dishes, and we can have a few drinks together.” Lu Yun had the most strange quirks, and if he heard about drinking, he’d probably have nagging nonsense to say. Without waiting for an answer, Qiong Fang didn’t say much more and hurried toward the main street. The little wild dog she had fed earlier seemed to have found its mother and actually followed her all the way.

Coming to the street, she saw Huai’an town was quite lively and didn’t lack restaurants and wine shops. After running past one street, she had already spotted a wine shop. She rushed into the store and was about to find the shopkeeper to buy wine and prepare dishes when she suddenly heard someone sigh, “Yufeng, tonight is New Year’s Eve—do we still have to travel?” Hearing this heavy local accent, Qiong Fang was shocked and quickly hid outside the store to peek in.

She saw an old man in the store raising a cup to drink. This person had a horse-like long face and carried a golden abacus—it was indeed the Abacus Monster. At the same table sat a middle-aged man with elegant features and a two-foot beautiful beard under his chin—this was Fu Yuanying, the junior brother of the world’s number one master. Looking to the side, there was a fat man wolfishly devouring food—who else could it be but the Fat Scale Monster?

Qiong Fang was shocked, not expecting they had all left Yangzhou. Looking toward a corner of the store, she saw the Mobei masters Zhe’er Dan, Zhu Kang, Song Tongming and others all eating and drinking. Everyone looked travel-worn as if they hadn’t slept all night. But after looking several times, she didn’t see Juan’er and didn’t know where she had gone.

Just as she was watching, she heard Fu Yuanying say, “I think we won’t find the Young Pavilion Master in Huai’an. In a moment, I’ll go to the yamen and ask the officials for help.” The Abacus Monster yawned, “Really damn annoying. Might as well post a wanted notice.”

Qiong Fang felt guilty, not expecting that her hasty departure last night had caused them to search everywhere for her. She was about to enter the store to identify herself when she heard the Fat Scale Monster say in a low voice, “Martial nephew, what exactly is the background of that noodle vendor? He didn’t kidnap Miss Qiong, did he?”

Hearing this, Fu Yuanying’s tone naturally became displeased, and he said sternly, “Martial uncle, there are many people with loose tongues here—let’s not mention this matter.” The Abacus Monster said bewildered, “Why can’t we mention it? She ran off with a man—isn’t this very bad?” Bringing up exactly the wrong topic, Fu Yuanying was furious and his face naturally turned green, but bound by sect rules, he couldn’t act. The Abacus Monster was about to say more but was held back by the Fat Scale Monster.

Qiong Fang had been about to enter the store to identify herself, but hearing this, she suddenly felt her scalp tingle and stopped again. Seeing that her careless departure with Lu Yun last night had been witnessed by everyone, probably several yamen officials with loose tongues would tell everything when Fu Yuanying came to find people. She didn’t know how to exonerate herself and was thinking about how to fabricate lies when someone suddenly patted her from behind. Qiong Fang turned around to see a beautiful girl in front of her, carrying a sword in her hand and looking at her with wide eyes—who else could it be but Juan’er?

As soon as the two met, Juan’er immediately opened her mouth to call, “Master Fu… I found…” Before the words could leave her mouth, Qiong Fang, quick-eyed and quick-handed, had already covered Juan’er’s mouth. Fearing Fu Yuanying would rush out, she quickly pulled her and they both hid in a dark alley. Seeing her behavior was too strange, Juan’er couldn’t help but shake off her hand and say loudly, “Sister Fang, what exactly are you doing?”

Qiong Fang’s face reddened and she hurried to say, “Sorry, sorry. Did you all search for me all night?” Juan’er sighed, “Didn’t we? You slipped out by yourself in the middle of the night—who among us could sleep? Do you know even Yangzhou’s Prefect Li was alerted?”

Qiong Fang was flustered and hurried to ask, “Is Master Fu very angry?” Juan’er shook her head reproachfully, “With your status, who dares be angry with you? We couldn’t find you and searched with officials all night, only to hear you left with a noodle vendor—we don’t know what you were up to…” She was about to turn and leave, apparently to find Fu Yuanying. Qiong Fang hurried to say, “Wait, wait. Don’t look for Master Fu yet—listen to me.”

Juan’er sat down and put her long sword aside. Seeing a little dog following Qiong Fang, she reached out to play with it and said coldly, “Speak!”

Seeing Juan’er like an interrogating official, Qiong Fang could only say with a bitter face, “Last night I first encountered dozens of black-clothed men, then encountered a strange blade. We fought fiercely and chased all the way to Huai’an.” Hearing such strange talk, Juan’er just snorted, “Do you think I’m an idiot?” Qiong Fang hurried to say, “It’s not fake—I really encountered black-clothed men. If you don’t believe me, go ask at Yangzhou ferry—you’ll definitely find witnesses.”

Juan’er made a sound of acknowledgment, “What about the noodle vendor? Is he also a black-clothed man?” Qiong Fang’s face reddened and she shook her head, “He saved my life, so I just… I just…” Juan’er sighed bitterly, “So you kissed him and went together to pacify the world?” Hearing the officials had told everything, Qiong Fang was embarrassed to her ear roots and stomped her feet in distress, “Really, I should have stuffed some silver taels in their mouths to keep them quiet.”

Seeing her still trying to cover up, Juan’er couldn’t help shaking her head, “My heavens, at this time you’re still thinking about this. I think you and Su Ying are finished, finished.” Qiong Fang also knew her lover’s temperament—if this matter reached Su Ying’s ears, it would inevitably cause a citywide uproar. After sighing, she could only sit close to Juan’er, resting her head on Juan’er’s shoulder and pleading, “Juan’er, help me.”

Juan’er looked troubled, holding her cheeks with both hands, “How can I help?” These two girls were close friends who had known each other for years. Usually, it was mostly Juan’er who caused trouble and Qiong Fang who cleaned up—who would have thought today the roles would be reversed? Qiong Fang was extremely troubled. Seeing the little wild dog shaking its head and tail, only coming to her for pity, she casually picked it up and said, “I think when you go back, you should say you received my carrier pigeon message and learned I had already returned to Beijing, so everyone can rest assured. How about that?”

Hearing this lie full of holes, Juan’er sighed, “Such nonsense—you can tell Fu Yuanying yourself. I can’t take the scolding.” Qiong Fang hesitated, “I… I… but I still have business…” Juan’er suddenly understood and exclaimed, “Heavens, is that noodle vendor still nearby?” Qiong Fang smiled bitterly twice and nodded, “I’m terribly troubled now. I just want to trick him back to Beijing and get him to join Ziyun Pavilion.”

Juan’er asked in surprise, “Who exactly is that noodle vendor?” Remembering Lu Yun’s instructions, Qiong Fang was quite hesitant. She stroked the little dog’s black fur and said in a low voice, “He’s the strange man who came out of the waterfall.” Juan’er exclaimed, “Is he that long-haired monster? Didn’t he disappear on the battlefield? When did he sneak back to Yangzhou?” Qiong Fang sighed, “The night before last I encountered him at the inn, then went to Yangzhou ferry to look for him, and later came all the way to Huai’an with him.” Juan’er asked in surprise, “Who exactly is he?”

Qiong Fang smiled bitterly, “Don’t ask yet. If I really told you, you probably wouldn’t believe it either. Anyway… anyway…” After saying “anyway” several times, she pressed her lower lip tightly and her eyes suddenly became slightly moist and red. Juan’er exclaimed and said in a trembling voice, “Sister Fang, you couldn’t… you couldn’t…”

Qiong Fang realized what was happening and quickly wiped her tears, “Couldn’t what?” Seeing her friend’s expression like this, Juan’er could only hesitate to speak. She sighed and said in a low voice, “Forget it, forget it. Whatever you do, I’ll protect you.” Hearing this, Qiong Fang was naturally delighted and hugged Juan’er. Juan’er smiled bitterly, “Don’t hug me yet—we need to round out a lie first.” She pondered slightly and said, “I think this way—when I go back, I’ll say I received a message you left behind, learning that you chased the black-clothed men all the way to Beijing. How about that?” Qiong Fang said happily, “Great! You must say the black-clothed men were strong with many horses and forced me to fight hundreds of rounds with them…”

The two were talking excitedly and wildly when Juan’er suddenly said, “Wait, what do we say about the noodle vendor?” Qiong Fang couldn’t think of an idea and could only say, “Just say he’s a mysterious old man from Mobei, about a hundred years old, who accidentally saved my life and brought me to investigate the black-clothed men’s whereabouts.” This statement hit the key point—men usually get jealous of handsome men, but if the lover learned the noodle vendor was a mysterious old man, his heart would surely be much more comfortable.

Hearing this, Juan’er naturally nodded, “Don’t say Mobei old man—Zhe’er Dan is from Mobei and he’ll ask about it.” Qiong Fang hurried to say, “That’s easy—just say he’s from the Western Regions, wouldn’t that work?” Juan’er frowned, “No good. There are only so many Western Region masters—one check and it would be known. Better we say he’s the Sea Turtle Old Man from the South Sea.” Qiong Fang was an expert at wild fabrication, and Juan’er was also a master of daydreaming. After brief discussion, the two had an outline. Qiong Fang smiled, “Juan’er, you’re helping me this time—next time I’ll definitely repay your kindness and cut down a few people for you.” Juan’er smiled bitterly, “You’d better take care of yourself. Don’t forget that on the fifteenth of the first month, there’s a dharma assembly at Huguo Temple. Your Empress aunt will definitely want to see you then—if you don’t come, it will surely get Fu Yuanying in trouble.”

Qiong Fang’s aunt was the Empress. During festivals, she always wanted to talk with this precious niece. If Qiong Fang couldn’t be found then, the National Uncle would surely be questioned, and under the resulting disasters, Fu Yuanying, who had taken the Young Pavilion Master south, would definitely suffer greatly. Qiong Fang was stunned for a long time and hurried to say, “Yes, I forgot all about this. I think I should go see Master Fu.”

Juan’er stood up and shook her head, “If you come back now, the Western mirror will immediately be exposed. I think you should return for the Lantern Festival instead—that gives some buffer time.” Hearing her reasonable words, Qiong Fang also nodded in agreement. Juan’er was about to leave when she suddenly reached into her chest and asked, “Do you have money with you?” Qiong Fang nodded, “A few hundred taels in bank notes—enough.” Seeing her still holding the little dog, completely unlike the usual Young Pavilion Master but more like a child, Juan’er sighed. She immediately squatted beside Qiong Fang and said in a low voice, “You… you… a girl who’s getting married in February—I don’t even know if I’m helping you… or harming you…” She shook her head, patted the wild dog in Qiong Fang’s arms, then stood up and left.

With one last backward glance, she saw Qiong Fang staring with wide eyes, sitting on the ground as if in a daze.

After Juan’er left, Qiong Fang hid in the alley for most of an hour. Only after confirming Fu Yuanying and the others had left did she return to meet with Lu Yun. But after this disturbance, Qiong Fang became gloomy and dispirited. The two didn’t even eat the New Year’s Eve reunion dinner and just traveled north through the night. On the road, the two rarely spoke—Lu Yun was naturally taciturn, and once the little girl lost her interest in playing, she naturally became frighteningly sullen. Fortunately, Qiong Fang had brought that wild dog along. Every morning and evening she changed its name—sometimes calling it “Lu the Ignorant,” sometimes “Lu the Foolish”—at least she had someone to talk to.

The two continued north and reached Cangzhou just on the ninth day, which was Heaven Duke’s birthday. At noon the weather cleared, and Lu Yun saw common people on the road holding basins and earthenware jugs, each collecting ice and catching snow. He couldn’t help but feel curious and stopped in amazement.

Qiong Fang, sitting on the noodle stand, saw him stop and picked up the little dog, saying resentfully, “Lu Black Dog doesn’t want to pee—why are you being lazy?”

Lu Yun coughed and just pointed at the common people, asking, “What are they doing with those bowls and basins?” Qiong Fang glanced over and said indifferently, “Are you blind? Can’t you see they’re storing water?” Having long been ignorant of worldly conditions, Lu Yun was naturally speechless seeing such circumstances. Qiong Fang explained, “It’s been like this for ten consecutive years. When winter is extremely cold, summer will be scorchingly hot. After the Beginning of Spring, there will soon be drought.” She continued playing with the black dog and said to herself, “Don’t be annoyed anyway—you’ll soon slip into the deep mountains to be a hermit. Whether the common people live or die has nothing to do with you anymore, right? Right, Lu Black Dog?”

Though Qiong Fang spoke full of sarcasm, Lu Yun acted as if he hadn’t heard. Remembering that night’s conversation with Pei Ya, he said quietly, “Pearl spat by dragon at Golden Water Bridge, drought year in Shaolin Buddha land. Master Tianjue’s dying words have come true.” Qiong Fang blinked her big eyes, actually not knowing who Master Tianjue was. Lu Yun didn’t explain and just set off again.

Though Qiong Fang was clever, she didn’t know that Master Tianjue was one of the four great masters of old and the teaching master of current Grand Secretary Yang Suguan. These two prophetic verses were personally transmitted to Lu Yun by the divine monk before his passing. At that time, the divine monk burned holy light and manifested characters on the ground, showing that even before death he was extremely cautious, absolutely not allowing others to spy or eavesdrop.

Back then, Lu Yun had a moment of soft-heartedness and accidentally revealed the first prophecy. After that, a series of disasters exploded across the land. Starting with the Asura’s shooting at the Yongding River banks, then the jade seal’s appearance, the Liu family’s destruction, Nu Cang being besieged, and even Jingtai’s abdication and Zhengtong’s restoration—all these changes originated from that first prophecy. Now, separated by ten years, this second prophecy had finally been spoken by Lu Yun. Who knew if it would bring more great disasters?

After several days, with the Lantern Festival approaching, all the towns and villages they passed were decorated with lanterns and colored banners. Asking people on the road, they learned they had reached Shuntian Prefecture, only two days’ journey from Beijing. Qiong Fang knew that once they reached the capital, Lu Yun would leave according to their agreement. Her heart was troubled, and several times she wanted to speak up to ask him to stay, but she didn’t know how to persuade him. She could only worry in her heart.

This afternoon, with overcast skies and light snow, the two came to a hilly area where Lu Yun stopped again and began cooking noodles. These past few days—braised noodles, sesame sauce noodles—every day it was noodles, noodles everywhere. She was already sick of eating them. Qiong Fang scolded, “Noodles again? Even dogs won’t eat them!” Lu Yun smiled and shook his head, “Miss Qiong, this is the last meal.”

Qiong Fang’s heart jolted as she suddenly remembered their agreement. She took the noodle bowl Lu Yun handed her, her mind blank with confusion.

The little wild dog beside them wagged its tail vigorously, waiting for a good meal.

The wind and snow stopped, and the mist dispersed. The two sat on the hill eating noodles. Looking out from the hill, they could see a vast blue sky, and a mile away stood a great city in majestic grandeur. Looking at the eleven city gates surrounding and protecting it, revealing the magnificent form of the eight-armed Nezha, this was undoubtedly the capital that governed all under heaven, the universally revered imperial city—the mighty Beijing.

The Forbidden City was already in sight—it was time for them to part. Qiong Fang’s heart was in turmoil, and she simply couldn’t swallow that bowl of noodles. She wanted to find something to say but her thoughts were in chaos. She wanted to humble herself and plead with Lu Yun, but couldn’t find the right approach. Just as she was troubled, she suddenly heard Lu Yun exclaim. He put down his noodle bowl and walked to a white birch tree, standing there lost in thought.

The tree stood tall among the forest, with faint carved marks on its bark. Seeing Lu Yun pacing and pondering, reluctant to leave, Qiong Fang noticed his strange behavior and also put down her noodle bowl to walk over. She saw Lu Yun kneeling under the tree, looking at a small mound of earth before him. A few small flowers grew at the tree’s roots, but she couldn’t see anything unusual.

Lu Yun seemed deep in thought. He gently brushed away the soil on the ground, brushing a few times before stopping, motionless and silent as if he were a stone or clay sculpture. Qiong Fang’s heart ached. She just stared at Lu Yun, wanting to ask something, but her throat seemed choked. She picked up the little wild dog and walked back to the noodle stand, sitting on the bench and saying softly, “Little silly, little silly, we’re going home. Are you happy?”

Seeing her troubled expression, Lu Yun also walked back. Seeing that bowl of noodles hadn’t been touched, he was about to clear it away. Qiong Fang’s heart ached suddenly. She reached out to hold the noodle bowl, gritting her teeth and holding back tears: “Brother Lu, why do you hate returning to Beijing?”

Lu Yun said, “I don’t hate it—I just don’t want to go back.” Qiong Fang sighed softly and shook her head, “You’re too heartless. I know there are many, many people in Beijing who remember you… for instance… for instance…” She was about to say “Miss Gu,” but somehow, thinking of Sister Gu’s pure and otherworldly face, she just couldn’t speak. She changed her words: “For example… for example… Juan’er also remembers you…”

Lu Yun smiled slightly. From the White Water Great Waterfall north through Guizhou to Jingzhou, hundreds of li of road—Juan’er had been in the group the whole time, so he had naturally seen this little girl. He nodded, “That little girl has grown up and become quite beautiful.”

Hearing Lu Yun praise another woman, Qiong Fang immediately felt displeased and said coldly, “Don’t keep thinking about other people’s looks—she’s almost too old to marry.” Lu Yun laughed and asked back, “Are you two very close?”

Qiong Fang huffed, “Do you need to ask? We’re life-and-death friends.” Lu Yun nodded, “That’s true. She’s a little sprite and you’re also a mischievous imp—you two are quite a pair.” Qiong Fang had originally been wearing a stern expression, but hearing this, the corners of her mouth still showed a smile as she said, “Juan’er thinks you’re dead. When you enter the capital later, you can pretend to be a ghost and scare her.” She raised both hands in a fierce ghost demanding life pose. Lu Yun laughed heartily and shook his head, “Miss Qiong, please don’t make things difficult for me.” Hearing this, Qiong Fang’s heart ached, knowing the moment of separation had arrived. She lowered her head and gently bit her lower lip.

She couldn’t explain why, but being with this man, she didn’t need to pretend at all. When she wanted to laugh, she laughed; when she wanted to scold, she scolded. It was as if there was a thread between them that no one could cut…

Tears fell like broken beads. Qiong Fang just held the little dog tightly with both hands, tearful and speechless.

Seeing Qiong Fang bow her head and cry, Lu Yun found it inconvenient to comfort her. After all, life had thousands of mountains and rivers, and everyone had their own path—no one could force another. After an unknown amount of time, Lu Yun suddenly said, “Miss Qiong, it’s about time. I must be on my way.” Qiong Fang said in a trembling voice, “You… you’re leaving?” Lu Yun nodded. She watched him clear away the noodle bowl, take away the bench, and put the charcoal brazier and cooking utensils back into the noodle stand one by one. Qiong Fang sat dazed on the ground, blankly watching Lu Yun’s busy figure, unable to describe what she was feeling.

Lu Yun finished packing and was ready to go. He walked to Qiong Fang and crouched down, saying, “At this parting moment, I have nothing to give as a farewell gift. I hope you will be happy and joyful in the future.” Qiong Fang threw herself into Lu Yun’s arms and cried out, “Brother Lu! Thank you for bringing me back!”

Lu Yun reached out to pat Qiong Fang’s back and smiled, “Don’t thank me. Actually, since Lu left the waterfall, my heart has always been melancholy. Fortunately, traveling with you these few days has greatly comforted my lonely heart. I should be thanking you.” He said no more, immediately turned around to shoulder the noodle stand, and cupped his hands, “Miss Qiong, the green mountains will not change, the green waters will flow forever. If fate allows, we shall meet again.”

Hearing the words “meet again,” Qiong Fang’s mouth corners turned down, her chest choked up, and she desperately held back her tears. She forced herself to raise her hand and wave goodbye. She saw Lu Yun smile at her, then turn and stride away gracefully.

This was all they could do, at most this was all they could do… Brother Lu was gone, and she should go home too. In that prosperous Beijing city, there were many people waiting for her—Ying, Grandfather, Master Fu—everyone was waiting for her…

Go then. This person’s surname was Lu, given name Yun. He wasn’t Ning Bufan and had no connection whatsoever with her lover. In this cold weather, why should she stand here like a fool? Wasn’t that wasting time?

The sound of footsteps gradually faded. Qiong Fang also stood up. She forced a smile, took out her folding fan, and fanned herself as if only by being so proudly cool could she be like the Young Pavilion Master of the past ten years—magnanimous in all things, calm before all people, afraid of nothing…

Blue sky above, white clouds drifting past, afternoon slanting sun shining down, casting a solitary shadow on the ground. Qiong Fang looked down at the ground, tears filling her eyes, and couldn’t help turning her head back, hoping to see Lu Yun one last time.

The empty mountains were silent, with white snow dotting the forest. Lu Yun was long gone.

From now on, they would go their separate ways. In the future, when she married and had children, it would all have nothing to do with this man… And whether he lived or died, whether he married and had children, whether he retired to the mountains—she would never, ever know…

This was all they could do? At most this was all they could do? Her nose reddened, and tears and snot came out together, hanging on that little face. Miss Qiong, who seemed strong and resolute, was actually most sentimental by nature. She had many reluctances…

“I don’t care! I don’t care! I don’t care!” Qiong Fang cried and stamped her feet, wiping her snot on her sleeve, then got up and ran into the forest, shouting, “Lu Yun! Give me back my money!”

She saw Lu Yun still not far ahead, walking with his head down like an old man. Suddenly hearing wild dogs chasing and barking, a beauty charging forward, still shouting, “Don’t go! I haven’t collected the interest yet!” Lu Yun had originally been walking slowly away, but hearing the delicate voice calling, he lowered his head and walked even faster, as swift as flight. Qiong Fang desperately chased after him, shouting, “You’re not allowed to leave! You’re not allowed to leave! I want Grandfather to help you recover your official position, so you can live happily with all of us! You must come home with me!”

The noodle vendor in the forest was hard-hearted—the more Qiong Fang shouted, the faster his steps became. Qiong Fang knew it would be nearly impossible to keep this person, so she steeled her heart and screamed loudly, “Brother Lu! If I were Miss Gu, I would never forgive you in this lifetime! You spineless good-for-nothing!”

With a bang, the noodle stand fell from his shoulder and landed squarely on the ground, nearly breaking several blue and white bowls that shook up and down. Lu Yun stood a hundred feet away, hands on his hips, slowly turning around. The two pairs of eyes met—Lu Yun’s gaze was so ice-cold it was sharp as a blade.

Lu Yun was angry. The little wild dog sensed this and immediately hid behind her feet. Qiong Fang felt slightly afraid, but then thought that no matter how high the great water demon’s martial arts, he would never attack and bully a weak woman like herself. So she glared back even more fiercely and shouted, “Lu Yun! You are the most selfish, most petty big villain in the world! Do you think that by running to the ends of the earth, Sister Gu will be happy? You don’t have the guts to see her! Tomorrow I’ll go chat with Sister Gu! Let her know how heartless and useless you are!”

Qiong Fang cursed loudly, but Lu Yun’s gaze remained very calm. He shook his head and immediately stepped forward. Seeing him return, Qiong Fang felt no fear in her heart, but rather a hidden joy. She raised her little face and shouted loudly, “Go ahead and beat me to death! Quick! I’m not afraid of you!”

Lu Yun stood before her, his expression silent as if pondering how to phrase his words. After a long while, he finally said, “Miss Qiong, you are still young and cannot see through many principles. I don’t ask for your understanding, only that you must honor our agreement and not let Qian…” Speaking to this point, he unconsciously lowered his head and cupped his hands, “Not let Madam… Madam Yang know of my affairs, all right?”

This short passage took Lu Yun great effort to complete. There was no anger in his words, only pleading. Qiong Fang said coldly, “I don’t want to! If you want me to shut up, you’ll have to beat me to death!” Hearing her harsh tone, Lu Yun sighed and stood there stroking his face, at a loss. After a long while, he waved his hand and said quietly, “Forget it. As you wish.”

The great water monster’s heart was like still water, and he still turned to leave. Poor Qiong Fang had scolded and damaged, used both hard and soft approaches, but still achieved nothing. Knowing she was at the end of her resources, Qiong Fang quickly changed her tune: “All right… all right! I… I won’t say anything, but you have to do one more thing for me.” Lu Yun shook his head, “Miss Qiong, Lu has done everything he can for you. Farewell.”

Afraid he would go too far, Qiong Fang quickly chased after him and called, “Hey! Hey! Don’t be so petty! My legs are just sore and I can’t walk. I want to ask you to escort me to Huguo Temple. Afterward, you can go wherever you want—I can’t be bothered to care.”

Suddenly hearing the temple’s name, Lu Yun looked completely puzzled. He stopped and frowned, asking, “Huguo Temple? What place is that?” Qiong Fang said curiously, “Huguo Temple is Hongluo Temple. You’ve lived in Beijing before—how could you not know?” Hearing this, Lu Yun suddenly understood. Huguo Temple was originally called Daming Temple, commonly known as Hongluo Temple. Built during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it had over a thousand years of history. Built against the mountain and facing Hongluo Lake, it had always been a Pure Land sect sacred site. But after the change of dynasties, who would have thought it would be renamed “Huguo Temple.”

Hongluo Temple was just in the northern suburbs of Huairou County, not far away. When Lu Yun had first come to the capital in his early years, he had also visited there. Hearing this request was quite easy, he nodded, “Very well. When shall we set out?” Qiong Fang sighed, “How dare I delay you? Let’s go now.” She put down the little wild dog and said pitifully, “Good doggie, animals can’t enter Huguo Temple. Go play by yourself.” Seeing her gentle expression, though she was speaking to a dog, she was still full of pity. She released the animal into the wild and sat on the noodle stand, saying softly, “Let’s go.”

Lu Yun nodded and shouldered the noodle stand as instructed, then began walking. After just a few steps, barking sounds came from behind—the wild dog had run frantically after them again, jumping and rubbing against the noodle stand as if it considered Qiong Fang its meal ticket. Seeing its attachment to her, Qiong Fang was greatly moved and her eyes actually reddened as she choked up, “Bad child, can’t bear to leave?” After hesitating, she picked it up again.

Watching from the side, Lu Yun already knew this little girl had a gentle nature. To say she could take things up and put them down—she just had good face. Compared to Qianxi’s decisiveness and Yinchuan’s endurance, she was even more indecisive. Lu Yun smiled and suddenly said, “Miss Qiong, you have a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Your nature is actually very kind.” Qiong Fang shook her head silently, “Stop talking about this. Let’s go.”

The two people and one dog rode the noodle stand toward Huguo Temple, just as they had for the past ten-odd days. Qiong Fang had cried sadly before, but now with Lu Yun accompanying her and the wild dog playing with her, her sadness gradually lessened and her face showed smiles again. After a few li, there were more pedestrians on the road. Seeing people carrying incense and candles, these were clearly common people going to worship at Huguo Temple. Seeing they had reached the foot of Hongluo Mountain, Qiong Fang jumped down from the noodle stand, borrowed rope from Lu Yun, and tied the wild dog to trees in the forest. Then she grabbed Lu Yun and said, “Let’s agree first! You’re not allowed to leave until you see me enter the Buddha hall, or else all our agreements are void—don’t blame me for going to the Yang family to find Madam Yang!”

She deliberately provoked Lu Yun—the three words “Madam Yang” were said with extra weight, as barbed as possible. Lu Yun nodded and replied, “Rest assured, I won’t feel at ease unless I see you safely enter the temple.” Qiong Fang scolded, “Hypocrite! False moralist! Who wants your kindness!”

The two walked up the mountain path. Huguo Temple backed against Hongluo Mountain, with Eastern Green Dragon and Western White Tiger mountain ranges surrounding it, known as “ancient temple deeply hidden”—supposedly the most tranquil place. But today, with an endless stream of common people and flower lanterns hanging from roadside trees, there seemed to be some celebration.

Lu Yun remembered the date and said, “Tonight is the Shangyuan Lantern Festival?” Qiong Fang said coldly, “Of course it’s the Lantern Festival—did you think it was the Ghost Festival?” Walking along, the mountain path steps were quite steep. All the common people around were climbing slowly, but Lu Yun, with his profound internal strength, though shouldering the noodle stand plus Qiong Fang’s weight, still walked as swiftly as flying, and in no time had passed the halfway point up the mountain.

As evening approached, they finally reached the mountain gate. The early moon was round at dusk, flower lanterns reflected the remaining snow, and Huguo Temple, decorated with lights and colors, stood majestically before them. With visitors like woven fabric, Lu Yun squeezed into the crowd and saw a brownish-red boulder in front of the gate with three large red characters: “Hongluo Temple.” Though the temple name had long changed, this boulder remained true to its name, standing unmoved as it had during the Jingtai Dynasty.

Apparently, no matter how great the Emperor Zhengtong’s imperial power, stones couldn’t understand.

At this time, outside the temple was packed with people, but inside the mountain gate was completely empty with no visitors at all. Lu Yun glanced over and saw a stairway set up in the temple gate square, with a monk holding a staff guarding on each side, constantly driving away people. Lu Yun was slightly curious about what was strange, so he looked up the stairs and saw a straight walkway paved with red carpet, extending a hundred feet directly to the Heavenly Kings Hall. This was apparently for distinguished guests to walk on.

Seeing such noble grandeur, Lu Yun couldn’t help but frown deeply and ask, “Is some high official coming tonight?” Qiong Fang said indifferently, “That’s right. My aunt is coming to worship Buddha.” As the National Uncle’s granddaughter, Qiong Fang’s aunt was naturally a member of the imperial family. Lu Yun pondered, “Your aunt? She is…” Qiong Fang said, “You’ve lived by the waterfall too long and probably haven’t heard of her. Her name is Qiong Yuying. In all the world, except for the Emperor, there’s probably no official greater than her.” Lu Yun understood and nodded, “She is the Empress?”

Qiong Fang sighed, “All right, she’s an old lady over fifty—stop thinking about her all the time. No matter how beautiful she is, she can’t compare to me.” She immediately took Lu Yun’s arm and said, “Anyway, my aunt hasn’t arrived yet. Since we have nothing else to do, why don’t we settle the debt?”

Hearing the word “money,” Lu Yun immediately got a headache and said bewildered, “Do I still owe you?” Qiong Fang giggled. She had been wearing a stern expression since coming up the mountain, but now her sudden smile was truly brilliantly beautiful beyond compare. She laughed, “For a dignified top scholar, you’re surprisingly dense. I want you to sell noodles! Don’t you need travel money to return to your hometown? You’re not going to ask me for a loan, are you?”

People could live without power, but without silver, they could only steal or rob. Though Lu Yun had achieved divine martial arts, he wasn’t the type to kill and set fires. Seeing the crowds of people coming and going around them, this was indeed a good place for business. He went with the flow and walked toward a secluded grove, apparently wanting to set up his stand there. Seeing him refuse to sell noodles in a good location but instead drill into deserted places, Qiong Fang was so angry she laughed. She grabbed Lu Yun’s collar and scolded, “Really! There are only ghosts there, no people! With your temperament, you really should be surnamed Qiong instead.”

The “qiong” of jade palaces was being mocked as the “qiong” of pauper. With Qiong Fang’s high opinion of herself, she would never normally say such things. One pulling, one being pulled, they finally stopped beside the temple gate. Qiong Fang clapped her hands and laughed, “Here there are the most people—guaranteed you’ll sell out completely.”

Lu Yun looked around and saw this location was about twenty zhang from the red carpet walkway, at a strategic point with endless streams of people coming and going—truly thousands of times better than the place he had chosen. He said nothing more and silently boiled water and set up his stand, waiting for customers.

The bamboo stool was set down, firewood was added, and Master Lu sat there in a daze again. Qiong Fang glanced at him sideways, immediately took the bamboo stool, stood on it herself, and cupped her hands toward the crowd, calling loudly, “Fellow fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters, look here!”

Seeing hundreds of men, women, elderly, and children turn to look at her, pointing and discussing among themselves, Qiong Fang, though lively since childhood, couldn’t help but blush a little standing in the crowd. She coughed, lowered her head to think over a few customer-attracting phrases, and said again, “Fellow villagers! Shandong braised noodles, delicious and fresh! Today we’ve come to your precious place—everyone come have a few bowls! Eat early and be full—if you wait too long, there won’t be any left!”

The people saw Qiong Fang was beautiful and thought there was some good fortune, but hearing she was selling noodles, they all turned and left. Qiong Fang’s heart flared with anger as she thought, “Bold unruly people! If I don’t cheat all your silver today, this Young Pavilion Master will retire from the martial world.” With anger rising from her heart and evil growing at her gallbladder’s edge, she picked up the bamboo stool and charged into the crowd, first making a circle, then lightly kicking with her small feet, directly kicking the stool up. She sang in a melodious voice, “Shandong steamed buns are truly good, braised soup noodles are even more precious. Without one bowl, your heart feels troubled; have two bowls and your mood improves…” Her powder legs kicked forward and back, hooked left and right, and the stool flew up and down as if alive—she was performing a section of Kongtong School’s Mandarin Duck Legs.

With a beautiful woman singing and dancing, Lu Yun was naturally greatly amazed, while the common people were delighted. Several children seemed to lose their minds and actually began dancing along with her. In an instant, the noodle stand was packed with people like a mountain or sea—an unprecedented sight. In Lu Yun’s thirteen years of business, today’s was the best, but also the most embarrassing. He desperately buried his head in cooking, not daring to look at Qiong Fang even once.

Lu Yun was overwhelmed, and Qiong Fang was also tired from dancing. Seeing there were many waiting customers, she actually took on the role of proprietress, collecting money, serving bowls, calling out orders, and arranging seating—extremely busy and happy. Lu Yun coughed, “Miss Qiong, why haven’t you gone into the temple yet?” Qiong Fang made a face, “My aunt hasn’t come yet—what’s the rush?” She leaned close to Lu Yun’s ear and smiled charmingly, “Brother Lu, was my dance just now beautiful? Did you like it?” If he answered yes, Qiong Fang, encouraged, might very well dance another round. If he answered no, she probably wouldn’t accept it and would immediately want to go back and improve. Terrified, Lu Yun could only mumble and evade the question.

Customers came and went, and in less than half an hour they had already sold dozens of bowls. Qiong Fang beamed with joy, bringing over a hundred copper coins and stuffing them into Lu Yun’s pocket with a jingling sound that nearly filled it completely. She laughed, “See, with me as proprietress, I guarantee you could open a chain of big noodle shops.” Lu Yun, who had been selling noodles for many years, found his experience couldn’t match that of an amateur, and couldn’t help but smile bitterly in silence.

Just as he was about to lower his head to cook more, he suddenly saw all the people at the noodle stand rise with joyful expressions, saying, “They’re coming! They’re coming!” Lu Yun was slightly startled and also stopped his work to look up.

As evening approached, a row of monks emerged from the Buddhist temple in orderly formation, with the central figure wearing gold-embroidered robes—apparently the abbot of Huguo Temple. As soon as the abbot appeared, music of reed pipes and bamboo began playing in the distance, melodious and moving, as if some important personage was arriving. The people pushed forward in crowds while officials shouted, “Move back! Retreat five feet or more! Back! Back!”

Lu Yun looked sideways and saw officials lined up on both sides of the walkway, holding formidable staffs and driving back the people. Looking ahead, the abbot personally came to welcome them, with red lanterns hung high by the roadside. The grand array felt full of wealth and nobility. Lu Yun’s heart jumped as he asked Qiong Fang, “Is your aunt coming?” Qiong Fang smiled slightly, spread her hands, and smiled mysteriously.

Lu Yun shook his head. After all, it was none of his business. Whether the arrivals were male or female, high or low in rank, they were all far removed from him. He was about to lower his head to cook noodles when he suddenly heard cheers and shouts coming in waves. The people’s voices thundered as they called out loudly, “Four-clawed golden dragon! Four-clawed golden dragon!”

Light footsteps sounded as someone slowly walked up the walkway in front, with the abbot serving respectfully beside them, not daring to show the slightest disrespect. The noodles tumbled in the water, firecrackers exploded in his ears, children ran and jumped in the distance. Lu Yun couldn’t help but look up at that all-too-familiar old friend.

Dingyuan had arrived. Dusk was approaching, the sky filled with evening clouds, and the first important personage had come to the high platform. His figure was magnificent like a pagoda, his countenance solemn like a god or Buddha. He wore a treasure-blue robe trimmed with yellow, with a four-clawed dragon golden belt at his waist. Striding majestically with dignity and propriety, he passed directly in front of Lu Yun.

“Grand Commander! Grand Commander!” Children below the platform ran after him, following Wu Dingyuan’s steps forward. The crowd chased, some running, some jumping, their cheers and adoration quite genuine. But the Grand Commander never stopped, only slightly raising his left hand to acknowledge the people.

It was an indescribable feeling—separated by twenty zhang, yet it seemed like ten years apart. Lu Yun stood guard at his noodle stand, looking up at his old friend from years past. He saw that he had grown somewhat fatter than before, with much less hair on his forehead. Ten years had been merciless as a knife, laying down endless traces of weathering, marks of steadfast hardship, and tracks of loyal tears on that square face. Nearly fifty years old, Dingyuan looked aged.

He had aged—but what about himself? Lu Yun stared blankly with tears, unconsciously stroking his own cheek.

In his daze, he suddenly saw a young man flash by. Dressed all in black with a red headband and red belt, he immediately caught up with Wu Dingyuan’s steps. Lu Yun softly exclaimed, immediately recognizing him.

Chongqing had grown up. Looking at this child’s robust physique, he was probably two inches taller than Dingyuan now. Though his features weren’t entirely the same, his straight back, stern eyes, and bearing were exactly like his father’s.

Dingyuan had aged, but Chongqing had grown up. In these empty ten years, many people had died, but many had also grown up, urgently arriving in this great dusty world to become new heroes and outstanding figures…

Past events vivid before his eyes, Lu Yun looked up at the red carpet. Amid the exploding firecrackers, the Wu father and son walked together, their every gesture and movement full of spirit and energy. The true dragon father and son descended to the mortal world together, drawing loud cheers from the people, full of amazement.

While he stood speechless in a daze, the people cheered again as a beautiful woman stepped onto the high platform, holding a little girl by the hand.

The mother and daughter smiled charmingly with natural beauty, both lightly waving to the people.

Yan Ting had come. The great minister of the Zhengtong Dynasty’s revival had also achieved his heart’s desire. Heaven had mercy—lovers finally became spouses. She had finally married Dingyuan, and they not only had the brave and robust Chongqing, but also had an adorable little daughter as pure as jade and snow.

Thinking of Liu Angtian, Lu Yun’s mouth corners twitched, not knowing what to say. Or perhaps he couldn’t bear to say anything more.

That loyal and patriotic Grand Commander Wu had finally married a dignified and virtuous first-rank lady. The family of four was like a celestial couple, making the world envious. Considering past kindnesses, how could he disturb them? Question them? Must he manifest sword light and divine might to angrily slash everything in heaven and earth to smithereens before this world would be better and more perfect?

It was enough, let it be this way…

Lu Yun silently lowered his head to pack up his noodle stand. He turned his head away and saw Qiong Fang gazing at him with eyes that held implicit comfort. Seeing Qiong Fang’s expression, Lu Yun suddenly realized that not only the Wu family was coming—there were others behind them.

Who? Who? Could it be the family he least wanted to see?

Seeing Qiong Fang’s cherry lips slightly parted as if she wanted to say something, Lu Yun’s hands trembled, actually becoming frightened. Not caring that customers were still eating, he hurriedly moved away the stool and was about to flee in panic. He not only wasn’t collecting money for the noodles, he was even abandoning the noodle bowls.

At this very moment, he heard the people calling, “Look! Look quickly! Scholar Yang is coming! The most handsome Scholar Yang in the capital!”

It was over… Hearing this, Lu Yun was stunned, and the stool in his hands rolled to the ground. Poor man, before he could even turn his head, footsteps suddenly sounded. A white-faced scholar walked along the red carpet of the walkway. He appeared to be about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, wearing white crane court robes, with an old lady on his arm. Lu Yun’s heart rose and fell repeatedly—poor man, his legs that could withstand the White Water Great Waterfall’s washing were now slightly trembling.

Shaoqi—Yang Suguan’s younger brother, a second-class scholar who had passed the imperial examination in the same year as himself. The Shangyuan Lantern Festival was a universal celebration, so he had brought his mother to worship Buddha at Huguo Temple.

Lu Yun came to his senses. He told himself he must hurry, must leave immediately! With chattering teeth, Scholar Lu shouldered his noodle stand and was about to flee in flight, but the crowd surrounded him tightly like flood water. Lu Yun was terrified and frantically searched for an escape route. Just at this moment, a childish shout came from the red carpet: “Father! Mother! Hurry up! Hurry up! You’re even slower than Grandma!”

It was too late… Lu Yun looked up with tears at a young boy running straight up the platform. With thumping sounds, the child ran, jumped, and laughed as he rushed past in front of him. The little boy had a jade pendant tied to his forehead, lively and spirited, rushing so fast. Just as he was about to pass his uncle and grandmother, a figure suddenly slowly walked up and reached out first to catch the boy.

The figure was illuminated—Lu Yun’s throat choked, his mouth corners moved speechlessly as he looked up at that figure who proudly looked down upon the world.

The sun was setting in the west, the red orb filling the sky. High above, he wore first-rank official robes, looking so noble and stern. His appearance was as fair and refined as Shaoqi’s, but different in that he had grown a short beard, looking even more composed, more noble, more dignified, and more difficult to look upon directly. He didn’t look like someone he recognized, but rather like those great personages of the Jingtai Dynasty—Jiang Chong, Liu Jing, Liu Angtian—and now it was his turn…

Different from the past… Yang Suguan…

Lu Yun stared blankly at Grand Secretary Yang on the red carpet, who caught the boy and turned back with a smile. In an instant, the last figure came up. The boy eagerly rushed over and laughed joyfully, “Mother! You’re the slowest!”

The noodle stand slowly slipped and crashed onto his foot. Lu Yun’s eyes filled with hot tears, but his mouth corners held a trace of a smile.

Ten years of longing consolation was right before his eyes. In the water cave, he had prayed day and night just to live to see her. Now his dream had come true—finally seeing her bathed in the light of happiness, seeing her hand in hand with her husband and child, walking together toward the distant Huguo Temple, living a happy life free from worldly troubles and smoke…

“Qianxi…” Lu Yun raised his hand and smiled gently, “I’m back.”

The noodle stand overturned, broken porcelain and bowls scattered everywhere. The people rose and scattered in alarm, but saw Lu Yun rubbing his scalded eyes, laughing heartily as if wanting to tell everyone around him…

Once, oh once, he too had walked on that red carpet, he too had once been an important personage…

Qiong Fang turned back to look at Lu Yun and saw him staring blankly, waving his right hand, seeming to laugh yet also seeming to cry, as if wanting to say something but unable to make any sound. Qiong Fang felt pity and was about to go comfort him when she suddenly saw Lu Yun collapse downward, his knees already touching the ground.

The White Water Great Waterfall came washing over, evil waters surrounding from all directions. Ten years of waves and surges transformed into one final great wave that knocked him down at Hongluo Temple.

Qiong Fang was greatly shocked and hurried to check on him. Before she could speak, she saw Lu Yun take out a worn handkerchief from his chest, holding it up with both hands toward the sky.

The wind gently blew, lifting the longing in his palms, sending that yearning to someone who could never be seen again.

Farewell—in an instant, the road had reached its end. From now on, life held no more attachments.

Qiong Fang stared blankly. She had never expected Lu Yun to be like this. She had thought he would cry, would wail, would have a great deal to say, but she hadn’t expected this expression. Qiong Fang panicked and cried sadly, “I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! I didn’t know it would be like this! I’m sorry!”

Everything had been her idea… Of course Qiong Fang knew that the annual dharma assembly was held at Huguo Temple. Tonight, not only would all the civil and military officials of the court come, but even the Emperor and Empress would come. So she had brought Lu Yun here. She wanted this former dynasty’s top scholar to bravely face everything from the past—only this way could he break free.

Confident Qiong Fang had killed Boss Lu with one knife thrust. Lu Yun didn’t cry, didn’t call out, and made no angry roars. Brother Lu, kneeling on both knees, lowered his head in silence like a great loser who had everything taken away—he was already dead. Qiong Fang was struck as if by lightning and immediately rushed forward crying, “Brother Lu! Don’t cry, don’t cry! If they don’t want you, Fang’er still wants you…”

In the midst of passionate crying and shouting, her wrist was suddenly tightened and grasped. Qiong Fang looked back in shock to see a stern old man standing before her, looking down at her with eyes full of anger.

Grandfather had come.

“No… no…” Qiong Fang cried and shouted. Even though her feet resisted, she was still forcibly dragged away by Grandfather. Just as she was about to desperately struggle free from Grandfather’s grasp, she suddenly saw a young woman frantically winking at her—it was her good friend Juan’er. In Qiong Fang’s stunned moment, her back went cold. Just then, a sigh sounded behind her: “Sister Fang…” Like a little white sheep hearing a whistle, Qiong Fang was speechless in shock. She understood all too well—the dream was over, and she had to go home.

Ying had come. Those all-too-familiar cat eyes walked over, black pupils like mirrors reflecting Qiong Fang’s sad crying.

Her childhood sweetheart lover, who had once kissed and embraced her, who was about to marry her and bring her through the door—Su Ying embraced her slender waist and asked in a low voice, “Where do you want to go?”

Qiong Fang, tears streaming down her face, lowered her head and took her lover’s hand, letting him lead her away.

Just at this moment, footsteps clattered as a large group of guards poured into the mountain gate, standing guard in the square. The four great imperial guard commanders—Jinwu, Hulin, Yulin, and Fujun—surrounded Hongluo Mountain with tens of thousands of men. Outside the mountain gate, a sharp shout rang out as a eunuch raised his voice and called, “All guests bow down—”

With a thunderous sound, firecrackers exploded, fireworks blazed brilliantly in the night sky, and thousands of guards shouted in unison, “His Majesty arrives!”

I have built this ambition to reach the supreme way. Having experienced countless hardships, with many great ministers advancing one after another, taking risks and braving dangers, today at this time, with the people outside the temple cheering together, firecrackers sounding outside the mountain gate, and universal celebration—the Zhengtong Dynasty… had finally been successfully established!