That night, the moon shone bright in a clear sky.
Moonlight spilled over the shattered remains of Azure Dragon Town, coating the charred beams, broken tiles, and fallen tavern banners in a bleak layer of white frost.
Wang Xian and Du Yulin worked through the night.
They put away the money pouches and storage rings. Wang Xian kept some of the blades and swords, then threw all the rest into the great lake.
Afterward, they began going door to door, leaving behind three hundred and sixty money pouches.
Wang Xian did not understand.
Du Yulin said solemnly, "They may have abandoned me, but I can't become like them." Her voice was soft, as though she were speaking to herself.
Wang Xian said nothing.
Perhaps, in the tavernkeeper's heart, even if everyone had left her behind, those children were innocent.
After the storm passed, the old people and children who returned here would still need to live.
The money pouches from Wind and Rain Tower were enough for those people in Azure Dragon Town to rebuild their homes.
Du Yulin gave the ruins one last look, then turned and strode toward the town entrance.
Wang Xian curled his lips and followed.
Like an eggshell blown by the wind, once he had fulfilled his promise, his heart had long since ceased to belong here.
He had endured and endured, but in the end, he still could not hide this sword. It seemed the old man had been right: at the end of cultivation, it was not about wielding a sword to kill, but concealing the sword...
He had thought he could at least conceal it for three to five years. Yet before autumn was even half over, he could no longer keep it hidden.
When the two left, dawn had not yet