Mu Wanqing resigned herself and closed her eyes, but the fall she had imagined never came. She opened her eyes in confusion and discovered that the two of them stood on a protruding ledge on the cliff face. Looking up, she saw they were several zhang below where they had jumped. Rain and mist shrouded the mountains; naturally, no one above would have known there was another mystery down here.
Realizing she was in another man's arms, Mu Wanqing hurriedly shoved Song Qingshu away and awkwardly searched for something to say. "So this is where you live."
Savoring the girl's unique fragrance, neither quite orchid nor musk, Song Qingshu's lips curled into a faint smile. "That's right. It's going to rain. Come with me."
Mu Wanqing cautiously followed behind him. When she spotted the Golden Snake Lord's tombstone, she jumped in fright, her voice trembling slightly. "Why... why is there a grave here?"
"What's so surprising about that?" Song Qingshu gave her a strange look and said carelessly, "Just look at how fresh and refined his resting place is. This Golden Snake Lord must have been some reclusive master."
"'Those who enter my gate shall not blame fate for fortune or misfortune.'" Mu Wanqing read the inscription on the wall, then said curiously, "From what it says here, this senior seems to have left behind some martial arts manual..."
"When I got here, there wasn't even a damn feather." Song Qingshu spoke indignantly as he handed Mu Wanqing the dry rations from his bundle.
Mu Wanqing hesitated as she looked at the flatbread in her hands. Out of a woman's instinctive wariness, she subconsciously worried that it might be drugged. But then she thought of how she had been immobilized earlier, yet Gou Dan'er had done nothing to her... So she raised the flatbread to her lips and took small, gentle bites.
Alone with a man, Mu Wanqing felt exceedingly uncomfortable. Unwilling to spend the time in silence, she casually asked, "Gou Dan'er, what are you planning to do tomorrow?"
"Dig for treasure." Song Qingshu's answer completely took Mu Wanqing by surprise.
"What treasure?" Mu Wanqing stared at him in astonishment.
"I heard there's treasure on Mount Hua, so I came here to dig for it. I only found this place a few days ago." Song Qingshu thought for a moment before answering.
"Is the treasure you mean a martial arts manual, or gold and silver?" Recalling the scene in the cave, Mu Wanqing suddenly understood a little.
"Can martial arts manuals or gold and silver be eaten?" Song Qingshu asked foolishly. "I came to find a wife. I heard there are fairies on Mount Hua. Though you're very pretty too, wife, I still want to keep looking and see if I can find an even prettier little fairy."
Mu Wanqing rolled her eyes at him speechlessly and could not be bothered to respond. She closed her eyes to rest, her right hand gripping the hilt of her sword tightly as she secretly remained on guard.
After a long while, Mu Wanqing opened her eyes and saw that he was already lying on the ground, sound asleep. She could not help smiling, then finally went to sleep herself...
When she woke the next day, Mu Wanqing looked at the several-zhang-high cliff and found herself at a loss over how to climb back up. Song Qingshu came to her side. "Hehe, leave it to me."
As he spoke, he naturally wrapped an arm around Mu Wanqing's slender waist. Her body stiffened at first, but gradually relaxed. Holding her in his arms, Song Qingshu used both hands and feet to nimbly climb upward.
Mu Wanqing had always suspected that he was a martial arts master pretending to be a fool. But when she noticed how ugly his climbing posture was, like an ape's, she relaxed with a smile. Gou Dan'er must have grown up in the mountains. He probably learned these skills from the wild beasts here.
Once they reached level ground, Mu Wanqing promptly pushed Song Qingshu away as usual. She had originally intended to leave, but remembering that she had nowhere to go anyway, she became curious about the treasure Song Qingshu had mentioned and followed closely behind him.
Seeing that she had no intention of leaving, Song Qingshu's eyes lit up. He teased, "Wife, you really can't bear to leave me."
"If you keep spouting nonsense, I'll shoot you with poisoned arrows!" Mu Wanqing warned him with fury in her eyes. "And don't call me wife again."
"Alright, wife~" Song Qingshu agreed with a grin.
"You!"
The two bickered and tussled all the way toward Mount Hua's Jade Maiden Peak.
Although Mount Hua's Qi Sect was a righteous and renowned school, its ranks had dwindled greatly in recent years. It was now less imposing than the Sword Sect at Chaoyang Peak. As the two traveled while deliberately concealing their tracks, not a single Qi Sect disciple discovered them.
"Are we still going forward? Cliff of Reflection, the forbidden ground of the Mount Hua Sect, is up ahead." Mu Wanqing looked at the treacherous mountain path before them and spoke hesitantly.
"The treasure is up there! What, wife, are you scared?" Song Qingshu asked, waggling his brows.
"Hmph, what would I be afraid of?" Mu Wanqing had always been one to act as she pleased. She had previously been somewhat wary of the Mount Hua Sect's reputation, but Song Qingshu's provocation made her cast those concerns aside.
After crossing the Plank Road in the Sky, the two finally arrived at Cliff of Reflection. Three sides of the cliff were sheer precipices, while the fourth was a mountain wall containing a cave. It had originally been a place for Mount Hua experts to enter seclusion, but gradually became a place where disciples were punished by facing the wall. It was desolate throughout the year.
"The last visitor should have been Linghu Chong." Song Qingshu pondered. "Among all those protagonists, Linghu Chong at least had some taste. Though he learned the Nine Swords of Dugu, the Five Peaks Swordplay should still be intact in this cave."
Song Qingshu had long understood that he could not compete with the original protagonists in luck. He had already given up on all the original protagonists' exclusive ultimate techniques. However, there were still many martial arts in the original story that the protagonists had not monopolized, such as the Five Peaks Swordplay at Cliff of Reflection.
"Gou Dan'er, why do you carry that wooden sword on your back all day?" Mu Wanqing had long found the thin wooden sword on Song Qingshu's back strange. With her knowledge, she naturally could not understand the realm where no sword surpassed having a sword. She simply thought it was a toy.
"Wife, your husband's swordsmanship is divine. I've long disdained to use a sharp sword." Song Qingshu wore a thoroughly self-satisfied expression.
"Can't be bothered with you." Mu Wanqing had already grown used to his love of boasting over the past two days, so she could not even be bothered to give him a contemptuous glance.
Though Song Qingshu had great confidence in his deduction, until he saw those sword techniques with his own eyes, everything remained uncertain. The moment he entered the cave, he deliberately examined the marks on the walls. Before long, he discovered obvious signs of looseness in the wall behind a cluster of vines.
With a light palm strike, Song Qingshu knocked down the stone covering it and bent over to crawl inside.
"Ah!" Seeing the bones scattered all over the ground, Mu Wanqing's heart tightened, and she could not help gripping her precious sword firmly.
"I thought it was some kind of treasure. Turns out it's just pictures of little people." Though Song Qingshu sounded disappointed, his eyes rapidly swept over the various sword techniques on the walls.
"You fool, these are clearly exceedingly profound sword techniques." Hearing his words, Mu Wanqing looked up and saw the Five Peaks Swordplay covering the walls, along with all manner of methods for countering it.
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