Daoist Heavenly Worthy Arrives, Mirror

At the foot of Ma Long Peak.

Feng Xuyang looked up. It seemed as though she had already been away from those thousand-plus limestone steps for sixteen years. Without pausing, she climbed upward. Dappled shadows lay beneath the trees on either side, and the wind stirred their shifting silhouettes.

She walked at an unhurried pace. When she reached halfway up the mountain, she saw the archway at the entrance to the Dian Cang Sect. The four gilded characters, "Heavenly Southern Sword," still radiated stern majesty.

Feng Xuyang stopped. Every detail from eighteen years ago surged into her mind. At the headwaters of the Xunyang River, she had first met the carefree Tianyang brother. The second time was when she had been surrounded by the giant bandits of Dongting Lake, and Tianyang brother had killed seven men in succession to save her.

Later, they had joined hands to venture into the Nine Yi Mountain Underworld, where their lives had hung by a thread.

After that day, the two of them had tasted forbidden fruit and become husband and wife. Tianyang brother had carried her up all thousand steps and entered the gate of the Dian Cang Sect.

Unfortunately, everything had changed and been ruined the moment they stepped through that gate.

Suddenly, hatred welled up in Feng Xuyang's heart. Her body floated, and her foot slipped, nearly sending her tumbling. A grandmaster expert was astonishingly weak at that moment. A light breeze brushed past, carrying that streak of red clothing toward the mountain courtyards until it vanished into the moonlight.

The character "一" in "天南一剑" on the archway had already been changed into "无."

The inner disciples of the Dian Cang Sect had long since fallen asleep. Feng Xuyang entered without a sound and familiarly made her way to the room where she and Liu Tianyang had once lived. She stood before that familiar door, her heart a jumble of emotions. She hesitated, unsure whether she should push it open or turn and leave.

In the end, Feng Xuyang gently pushed the door open and walked inside.

Moonlight spilled through the window. Her gaze swept around the room, and she saw that its arrangement was exactly as it had been back then. A bright mirror reflected mandarin ducks, red candles cast a pair of shadows, and on the round table, the two white porcelain dolls bought in Hongzhou still sat in the middle just as they had sixteen years ago.

Feng Xuyang sat by the window and picked up an old album of paintings. She turned the pages one by one; every portrait had been drawn by her own hand. This album was like a key, unlocking the treasury of emotions deep within her heart.

When she reached the final page, a trace of sorrow flashed through her eyes. She gently closed the album, shut the door, and left.

Feng Xuyang seized a disciple on night watch and forced him to reveal Liu Tianyang's current residence. After knocking the disciple unconscious, she vanished into the darkness.

Though the Dian Cang Sect was filled with brilliant stars, people who entered the grandmaster realm at forty, like Liu Tianyang, were still as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Ever since he had glimpsed the great path of martial arts and discovered its boundless mysteries, he had become unstoppable. He had handed all the sect's mundane affairs to his senior disciple, Liu Changjiang, and built a wooden hut near Seven Dragon Daughters Pool, where he meditated and pursued enlightenment every day.

The nights on Dian Cang Mountain were cold. The entire world had fallen silent. The birds had returned to their nests, leaving only the chirping of insects and the sound of wind through the leaves.

The sound of a dead branch snapping beneath someone's foot reached Liu Tianyang's ears. He stopped his meditation, and then a woman's soft chant drifted over: "The night is long, dew drips from the leaves; autumn insects fly into the house."

Liu Tianyang was startled by the voice. He pulled open the two wooden doors and answered, "I lie long, my bones and marrow chilled; I rise to cover myself with the old cotton robe."

Feng Xuyang glanced over. Wearing a scholar's headscarf and a long blue robe, the tall Liu Tianyang stood in the doorway.

He was as handsome and extraordinary as he had been ten years ago.

Feng Xuyang said softly, "Only Cang Mountain and your eyes remain the same; when we meet again, the old blue endures."

A flash of red streaked past as she stepped onto the treetops and drifted toward the mountain.

Liu Tianyang recovered from his shock and murmured, "A-Feng?"

A fresh fragrance of gardenia drifted over. He knew it all too well. His body shot forward, and he chased after her across the treetops.

Under the moonlight, the red-clad figure danced across the undulating mountain forest, her sleeves fluttering like an immortal's robes. The blue-clad figure pursued relentlessly behind her.

In less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, Feng Xuyang had descended from the treetops and landed on the ground. After a few breaths, she stopped beside the lake at the mountain's summit. When Liu Tianyang caught up, he was still more than ten paces away when he called, "A-Feng! A-Feng!"

"Stop! Don't come any closer!"

"A-Feng, it's your Tianyang brother!"

"Don't come over. I don't want to see you!" Feng Xuyang said coldly.

"A-Feng, I searched so hard for you. Sixteen years ago, I searched all the way from Dian Cang Mountain to Divine Dragon Snow Mountain. I spent three years looking, but I couldn't find you. Where did you go?" Liu Tianyang said without stopping.

Feng Xuyang remained silent and cold.

"A-Feng, say something!" Liu Tianyang took three steps forward.

"I'm begging you, don't come any closer!" Feng Xuyang pleaded.

"A-Feng, what happened to you? Sixteen years ago, you were pregnant, and then you suddenly disappeared. What happened to our child?" Liu Tianyang took another three steps forward.

"I don't know. Your son was lost. All I remember is that he had a purple-gold bowl-shaped birthmark on his stomach. Go find him yourself. Don't come any closer!" Feng Xuyang answered helplessly, as though she had recalled something painful.

"A son? I have a son?"

"A-Feng, I'll search for our son slowly. Eight years ago, was the person beneath Luoqie Lake you? After that day, I searched every peak of Divine Dragon Snow Mountain, but I still found no trace of you!" Liu Tianyang took another three steps forward, leaving only a single step between them.

"I don't know. Don't come any closer!" Feng Xuyang shouted.

"Then why did you come back today?" Liu Tianyang roared. He took one step forward and pulled Feng Xuyang into his arms.

Her tears fell in large drops like pearls from a broken string, while tears and snot streamed down his face as well. The two martial grandmasters had once been husband and wife, reunited after a long separation. Their feelings had been suppressed for too long, and at last the dam had broken.

Liu Tianyang held her and could not utter a word. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how tightly he embraced her, it was never enough. He wished he could crush Feng Xuyang into his arms and fuse her flesh and bones into his own body. Feng Xuyang leaned against him, clung to him, and nestled against him, yet no embrace or closeness ever felt sufficient. The two of them drank in all of each other's tenderness and heartache.

As the saying went:

"Life's southern and northern roads fork apart. The affairs of the world drift like windblown catkins.

Creation's mischievous child has no fixed plan. It tosses things over and over.

Crosswise or lengthwise, all that meets the eye is thus.

Why envy the achievements of Yi and Zhou? If you cannot be like Tao Yuanming, then simply return home.

Stop when blocked, flow when free, and settle wherever you dwell. Jade halls and golden horses—

Bamboo fences and thatched cottages are all places of freedom from the heart."

After holding each other for a while, Feng Xuyang asked softly, "Tianyang brother, let's go into seclusion at Dongting Lake. Let's leave right now, all right?"

Liu Tianyang paused before saying, "Once matters here are settled..."

Feng Xuyang suddenly pushed him away with both hands. Her expression changed, and she said coldly, "Why can't you understand how I feel?"

Liu Tianyang said guiltily, "A-Feng, I..."

Feng Xuyang thought bitterly, Tianyang brother, you underestimated my resolve to walk on with you, and I overestimated my place in your heart.

Feng Xuyang gave him no chance to speak. She tapped the ground with her foot and flew across the lake toward the opposite shore.

Liu Tianyang stared at the lake surface. A line of thick, icy footprints remained where she had stepped. He sighed inwardly, Who would have thought A-Feng's icy internal energy had reached the grandmaster peak realm? He had no time to marvel. With a light tap of his foot, he pursued her across the lake.

In the garden of the White Jade Palace on Penglai Immortal Island, White Deer Immortal and the other immortals were watching the story of the faithless man and the lovestruck woman.

Suddenly, clouds churned above the garden, and Daoist Heavenly Worthy arrived riding a Flying Cloud Colt. The Heavenly Worthy's expression was solemn, his gaze as cold as ancient ice, radiating bone-deep indifference and impartiality. The Flying Cloud Colt beneath him was even more extraordinary. Clouds formed beneath all four hooves, its mane billowed like mist, and its entire body was spotless, untouched by dust.

Ancestor Lu led the assembled immortals forward to welcome him and cupped his hands. "With the Heavenly Worthy's arrival, our humble abode shines."

Daoist Heavenly Worthy gave a slight nod. His voice was calm and emotionless. "Karma turns in cycles, and all things have their destined number. Today's meeting is also the will of Heaven."

Chen Renfeng stood behind the others, gazing at the Heavenly Worthy who held authority over the laws of Heaven. His heart tightened. I never thought we would alarm this being who governs karma.

The Heavenly Worthy's Flying Cloud Colt considerately went to the garden to find an empty place to rest.

The immortals continued watching the Qiankun Mirror. They all wanted to see what happened next in Feng Xuyang's story...