Qingyi Wasn't Afraid of Anything

Jiang Qingyi didn't know how she made it out of the Medical Hall.

Like a walking corpse, she flew back to Linggan Peak.

Her mind was filled with the thought that her master had only thirty years left to live.

She couldn't imagine what the world would be like without her master.

A world without her master.

What meaning could such a world have?

Unknowingly, Ganling Peak appeared before Jiang Qingyi.

"I can't be like this. I can't face Master with this expression. It'll make him sad."

Jiang Qingyi patted her cheeks and let out a deep breath, forcing herself to smile as if she knew nothing.

When Jiang Qingyi returned to the courtyard, she saw her master sitting there.

The afternoon sun fell across Xiao Mo's paper-white face, and the sight twisted the girl's heart like a knife.

If she could, she would gladly suffer all his pain in his place.

"Master, why are you sitting out here? You should get some proper rest."

Jiang Qingyi landed on Linggan Peak and ran toward her master.

Xiao Mo smiled. "I can't stay cooped up inside all the time. It gets stuffy. I need to come out for some air."

"Then I'll keep you company."

Jiang Qingyi rolled up her sleeves, poured her master a cup of tea, then went behind him and gently kneaded Xiao Mo's shoulders with her soft, pale hands.

"Qingyi, there's something I'd like to talk to you about and get your opinion on."

Just as Jiang Qingyi was forcing down the jumble of thoughts in her mind, Xiao Mo spoke.

"Just tell me, Master. Whatever it is, Qingyi will agree." Jiang Qingyi's eyes curved as she smiled.

Xiao Mo patted her little hand. "I want to go out and see the world. Would you come with me?"

"Go out and see the world?" Jiang Qingyi blinked, looking at her master in confusion.

"That's right." Xiao Mo nodded. "I want to leave Dragon Spring Sword Sect and see more of this world. Qingyi, would you come with me?"

"Qingyi would love to!" Jiang Qingyi answered without the slightest hesitation. "Wherever you go, Master, I'll always be by your side!"

"Good." Xiao Mo nodded with a smile. "Then let's get ready. We'll leave tomorrow."

"Mm! I'll go pack right now!"

Jiang Qingyi hurried into the room and began packing their things.

Jiang Qingyi, too, wanted to travel the mountains and rivers with her master and forget about the sect's affairs.

Besides, what if they came across some powerful cultivator on their travels who could heal her master's injuries?

Or what if they encountered some fortuitous opportunity and her master's injuries healed?

It wasn't impossible.

At any rate, it gave them far more hope than staying cooped up in Dragon Spring Sword Sect!

Early the next morning, Xiao Mo and Jiang Qingyi left Dragon Spring Sword Sect.

They didn't say goodbye to anyone.

Xiao Mo himself had no idea where they should go. He simply took Jiang Qingyi and kept heading north.

They reached a town and bought a carriage.

Jiang Qingyi drove, while Xiao Mo sat inside.

They passed through one town after another.

Sometimes they stayed at inns.

Sometimes they spent the night in caves.

Before they knew it, a month had passed.

Neither of them knew how far they'd traveled, but they had at least left the borders of Liang Kingdom.

In the second month after they left Dragon Spring Sword Sect,

as their carriage traveled along a path at the foot of a mountain, a woman stepped in front of them.

"Who are you?"

Jiang Qingyi stared at the woman before her.

She already had her longsword, Mystic Frost, in hand.

"Qingyi, she's an old acquaintance of mine." Xiao Mo's voice came from inside the carriage.

Xiao Mo lifted the curtain and stepped out.

Jiang Qingyi quickly helped her master down from the carriage.

"Qingyi, go get some water," Xiao Mo said.

"But, Master..."

Jiang Qingyi glanced at the cold woman.

She knew her master wanted to send her away.

But this woman looked like trouble.

"It's all right." Xiao Mo patted Jiang Qingyi's little hand. "Nothing will happen to me. Be good."

Jiang Qingyi pressed her lips together. After one last look at the woman, she turned and walked away with the waterskin.

"I'm curious. Why did you help me?"

Xiao Mo looked at Xia Chan as he asked.

Two months earlier, when Xia Chan had come to find him, Xiao Mo had nearly killed her.

But after being out on the road for a while, he realized something didn't add up.

If Xia Chan really wanted to tell Qingyi the "truth," she wouldn't have come to him.

There would have been no need to go to such lengths.

She could have gone straight to Qingyi.

So Xiao Mo reached a conclusion.

Xia Chan had come to warn him at the last minute.

She wanted him to take Jiang Qingyi and leave Dragon Spring Sword Sect.

"Because that winter, when I was starving to death, Madam saved me," Xia Chan replied slowly.

"Now, the Xiao Royal Mansion has spared no expense or favor to get the Blood Butterfly Pavilion involved.

The Prince had originally wanted to tell Jiang Qingyi about her origins, make her hate you, shatter her Dao Heart, and ensure all your years of effort came to nothing.

But now that the Blood Butterfly Pavilion has taken the job, there's no need.

The Prince asked me to pass this on to you, Young Master: this is the last kindness he can show you as your father."

"Heh. The Blood Butterfly Pavilion. Once they strike, they don't stop until their target is dead." Xiao Mo smiled. "Then let them try. Cough, cough... cough, cough..."

Xiao Mo began coughing violently.

"Ptooey!" Xiao Mo spat a mouthful of blood to the side, then took a medicine bottle from his robe, tipped out a pill, and swallowed it.

Xia Chan looked at Xiao Mo, barely clinging to life, and frowned. "The innate sword bone was forcibly transplanted into you. It had nothing to do with you. All you had to do was cultivate well, and your future would have been boundless.

"Yet now you're in this half-dead state.

"Do you think it was worth it, Young Master?"

"If it isn't mine, then it'll never be mine. I never wanted it. I only want to come into this world clean and leave it clean, just like my mother." Xiao Mo smiled at Xia Chan.

"Back then, when my mother found you in the snow and took you in, do you think that was worth it?"

Xia Chan fell silent.

"Go." Xiao Mo waved his hand. "My disciple is back."

Xia Chan turned around. Jiang Qingyi was standing behind a tree, glaring at her.

"Madam was a good person. But good people don't always get good things in return." Xia Chan turned and disappeared into the woods.

After Xia Chan left, Jiang Qingyi hurried over. "Master, what did she want?"

"She told me someone wants to kill us and has even hired the Blood Butterfly Pavilion." Xiao Mo patted Jiang Qingyi's head. "So, are you afraid?"

Jiang Qingyi clasped her master's hand and shook her head firmly.

"As long as I'm with you, Master, Qingyi isn't afraid of anything."