Zanxing was hesitating about how to persuade this heartbroken young man to leave quickly when Gu Baiying suddenly grabbed her arm and rushed toward the door: “Let’s go!”

Mimi followed and darted into the courtyard. Just as Zanxing ran into the courtyard, she suddenly thought of something and turned back to Gu Baiying: “Wait!” She turned and rushed back in.

“Yang Zanxing!” Gu Baiying’s pupils contracted. He tried to grab her hand but grasped empty air, watching helplessly as Zanxing’s figure disappeared into the thatched cottage.

He quickly chased after her, but just as he reached the doorway, a wooden beam came crashing down. Gu Baiying raised his hand to block it—the beam struck his arm. A tremendous crash came from inside the house as the roof of the thatched cottage collapsed.

Mimi anxiously called out at the entrance. Gu Baiying’s heart sank. He swept his Embroidered Bone Spear across, cutting a path. Just as Gu Baiying was about to rush in, Zanxing’s silhouette appeared at the doorway. Her hair was disheveled, her head covered with a layer of grass debris, and she was completely dusty and dirt-covered. When she saw Gu Baiying, she broke into a smile.

“You still have the mood to smile!” Gu Baiying was quite angry. He yanked her out of the house and swept toward the direction of the stone mountain: “I’ve never seen such a burden!”

That barren, desolate gray stone mountain—every time they had walked to this place, they were blocked by an invisible barrier. Now, amid the earth’s trembling, it gradually rippled with water-like waves of light. The ripples gradually spread outward, revealing a whirlpool-like entrance at the very center. Zanxing said: “The barrier has opened.”

She followed Gu Baiying forward. As soon as they approached that whirlpool, she felt a suction force pulling her inside. Mimi had already burrowed into the Qiankun Bag. In a flash, Zanxing grabbed the white-cut chicken’s claws, wanting to bring the white-cut chicken out of this place, too.

But that bald-tailed chicken pecked her hand, causing piercing pain. Caught off guard, Zanxing loosened her grip and saw that the arrogant and spirited wild chicken spread its wings and fly unsteadily toward the collapsing thatched cottage.

Under the azure sky, like a clumsy kite, it flew toward its warm destination and gradually disappeared.

……

When Zanxing opened her eyes again, she found herself inside a mountain cave, with Gu Baiying beside her.

The secret realm within the painting had disappeared. That desolate stone mountain, the lonely yet warm thatched cottage, the dense and beautiful lovebird flower trees, and that bald-tailed mountain chicken—all had vanished forever with the dissipation of the restriction, never to appear before the world again.

It was pitch black outside, and it seemed to be raining. Zanxing climbed up from the ground and asked: “Is this the tiger’s den?”

If so, they might be roasted to death again by the Golden Flower Tiger’s fiery roar.

“No,” Gu Baiying looked outside: “We should still be on Wudong Mountain.”

Zanxing breathed a sigh of relief: “Good thing the secret realm barrier didn’t place the entrance somewhere dangerous.”

Gu Baiying turned around, his handsome face livid with anger. He began settling accounts after the fact, glaring at Zanxing and scolding: “Yang Zanxing, are you insane? What did you suddenly rush back for just now? If you want to die, no one’s stopping you, but don’t disgrace Taiyan Sect’s reputation!”

Zanxing let him scold her for a few sentences. Finally, she took out two clay figurines from her chest, hesitated for a moment, then slowly reached out to hand them over, saying softly: “Hey, these are for you.”

Gu Baiying was stunned.

The two somewhat roughly made clay figurines lay in the woman’s palm. That palm was also dirty and dusty, with a cut on it. The blood had congealed with the dust, presenting a cold, somber color.

He suddenly fell silent.

Zanxing coughed softly twice: “Originally, I wanted to take that stack of poems, but they were too close to the window and got completely buried in the dirt. In the end, I only found these…” She tried to make her tone as gentle as possible. “These were made by Qinghua Xianzi. Keep them as a memento.”

He didn’t speak, nor did he look at Zanxing. He just stood quietly in the cave like this.

The sound of wind and rain in the pitch-black night seemed particularly pronounced. The cold gradually seeped in from outside, and the cave was filled with the unique chill of mountain nights.

After a long time, Zanxing finally heard his voice: “You’re injured.”

She stuffed the two clay figurines into Gu Baiying’s hands and put her hands behind her back, smiling: “Minor injury. It’ll heal completely in the time it takes to burn an incense stick.”

The young man took two steps forward, his voice coming from the darkness: “Come here, I’ll bandage it for you.”

“There’s no need…”

“Come here.”

Zanxing obediently went over.

Before they could enjoy the joy of reunion, they had to accept separation from a loved one. This young man was only nineteen years old now. Zanxing couldn’t imagine his current feelings, but she thought it probably wasn’t something that could make a person feel relaxed.

The illumination talisman was stuck to the cave wall. He sat down, leaning against the mountain wall, and took out a medicine bottle from his Qiankun Bag. He grabbed Zanxing’s hand and first used a cleaning technique to clean the wound, then applied a thin layer of medicinal powder. The medicine bottle was also flamboyantly decorated—clearly Shaoyang Zhenren’s handiwork. But the medicinal powder was very effective. As soon as it was applied, a cool, soothing sensation spread.

The young man had lost his usual arrogance. His bandaging movements were gentle and careful, his expression calm as if nothing had happened. His features were handsome and bright, his profile as exquisite as a painting.

It’s just that this painting now carries three parts of melancholy, like the night rain in these mountains, cold and lonely.

Zanxing racked her brains to change the subject, to prevent him from gradually sinking into this loneliness. She said: “I’ve already used a voice transmission talisman to contact Senior Brother Tian and the others, but there’s been no response until now. Should we go out to look for them later?”

“No need.” Gu Baiying wrapped her hand round and round with snow-white cloth strips: “Wudong Mountain has many spirit beasts. It’s dangerous at night. We’ll stay here and go out tomorrow morning when it’s light.”

“But if we’re here and the Golden Flower Tiger comes again…”

“I’ve already set up a restriction at the cave entrance.”

Another stretch of silence.

His fingertips were slender and pale, quite nicely shaped, with thin calluses on his fingerpads from years of spear practice. When they occasionally brushed against skin, they brought a slight tickling sensation. Gu Baiying tied the cloth strips in a beautiful knot and released Zanxing’s hand. Zanxing clenched her fist, then opened her palm and looked at him: “Thank you, Martial Uncle. I’m fine now.”

He lowered his eyes, got up, and walked to the other side to sit down: “Rest.”

An appearance of refusing to say anything more.

The rain was coming down hard.

The wind also gradually became stronger, howling as it tried every means to drill in from outside. Some fine raindrops were sent in slantwise by the wind, falling on Zanxing and covering her with a body full of coolness.

Seeing there were some dried dead branches and grass leaves in the cave, she got up and walked over, gathering these branches and leaves together and lighting them with fire.

There was a fire in the rainy night.

The branches made crackling sounds in the fire. The rain rustled outside, the wind blew the flames to lean and dance chaotically, and a cluster of warmth slowly embraced them.