Xiao Qinghe said, "If you don't believe me, Master, let me go down the mountain and bring him back to meet you. Then you'll know I was telling the truth!"
"If he could be found, why would I have waited until now?" Bai Yuqing sighed softly, gazing at Xiao Qinghe's gentle features. Once a disciple grows up, there's no keeping him home. "If you truly wish to go down the mountain, then go. Your fellow disciples of the same age have long since left to gain experience. Out of selfishness, I kept refusing to let you leave. Now it's time I let you see the world outside."
With that, he rose and entered the hall. When he emerged again, he held a longsword in his hands.
It gleamed with a chilling light, sharp enough to slice through iron as though it were mud.
A sword tassel hung from it, entwined around a jade pendant engraved with two boldly flowing characters-Soaring Heavens.
"This was the sword I prepared for Xiao Lou back then. More than ten years have passed, and it will never see him return. I'll give it to you to protect yourself."
Xiao Qinghe perked up. "Thank you, Master!"
"The world is full of dangers. Take care on your journey, my disciple."
"I will keep your teachings in mind, Master."
Xiao Qinghe packed his belongings and left the mountain that very day.
His figure gradually disappeared beyond the sect grounds.
Bai Yuqing stood with his hands behind his back, gazing into the distance without a word for a long time.
Ouyang Chong shook his head. "Junior Brother Bai, if you can't bear to part with him, why let him leave?"
Bai Yuqing withdrew his gaze and swept his sleeves as he returned inside. "Weren't you the one who said fledglings must eventually leave the nest, Senior Brother? I'm going into seclusion to cultivate. Leaving him to watch over Thirteenth Peak alone would only do him a disservice."
"I'm afraid he'll never know how much you care."
Bai Yuqing entered the hall without answering.
At the foot of the mountain, Xiao Qinghe looked around blankly.
"System, where is Bai Yulou? Give me a hint."
System: [Head south. The answer lies in the south.]
That's it?
That really is one tiny hint.
Just as he was about to complain, a streak of sword light swept toward him.
Xiao Qinghe tilted his head, feeling a sharp gust skim past his ear.
A lock of hair was severed.
Crack!
A long fissure split open in the rock face beside him.
Good grief!
If that hit someone, it'd tear them wide open.
"Who's there?!" Xiao Qinghe gripped his sword hilt.
"Someone's here?" With that faintly surprised voice, a familiar figure descended slowly, robes fluttering.
The newcomer was handsome, his eyes smiling. Beneath his refined, scholarly air lay a hint of frailty, and he gently waved a folding fan.
Who else could it be but Yan Yunhe?
"Xiao Qinghe of the Demon-Slaying Sect?" Yan Yunhe raised his brows. "Rumor has it that Immortal Venerable Bai Yuqing of the Thirteen Demon-Slaying Sects treasures his disciple more than his own life and never lets him out of his sight. How did he come to let you leave the mountain alone today?"
Xiao Qinghe was even more surprised. "Spirit Sword Mountain is a thousand miles from the Demon-Slaying Sect. What brings you here, Brother Yan?"
"The Demon Clan members imprisoned by the Demon-Slaying Sect escaped, and the sect called on all the major schools to help capture them. Why else would I be here? Naturally, I'm looking for clues. And why have you left the mountain, Brother Xiao?"
"To find someone."
"Perfect. Let's search together."
"We aren't looking for the same person. I'm heading south."
Yan Yunhe snapped his folding fan open, his smile refined. "Perfect. We're heading south too."
Apart from the smiling Yan Yunhe, there was no sign of anyone else.
"We?" Xiao Qinghe narrowed his eyes. "Then that sword light just now came from a third person? Is he friend or foe? Why is he hiding instead of showing himself?"
Yan Yunhe chuckled. "He's shy."
Before his words faded, another streak of sword light shot through the air with a swish.
It practically grazed Yan Yunhe's cheek. A fraction closer, and his handsome face would have been split in two.
Xiao Qinghe: "..."
Yan Yunhe nimbly dodged the sword light and smiled again. "Now he's angry."
Swish!
Another streak of sword light swept toward him.
Xiao Qinghe: "..."
So the sword light that nearly sliced me in half wasn't aimed at me, but at Yan Yunhe? I almost got caught in the crossfire?
Xiao Qinghe's face darkened. "Who exactly is hiding out there? An enemy of yours?"
Yan Yunhe gently waved his folding fan. "Someone you know too. But we aren't enemies."
Every strike is meant to kill, and they're not enemies?
Yan Yunhe looked toward a spot in the dense forest and smiled softly. "I merely had a very in-depth... exchange... and sparring session with him. He couldn't beat me, and he's still sulking about it."
Swish, swish, swish!
Three streaks of sword light came in succession, each vicious and deadly.
This isn't the sort of feud you can get mixed up in. It'll get you killed.
Xiao Qinghe turned and strode away at speed.
Yan Yunhe dodged the sword light and followed at a leisurely pace. "We agreed to travel together, Brother Xiao. I look forward to your guidance."
Xiao Qinghe: "..."
Weren't the people of Spirit Sword Mountain supposed to be cultured, courteous gentlemen who knew how to behave?
Is this guy some kind of mutant?
"Brother Yan, please keep your distance. I'd rather not become an innocent casualty."
"No need to worry, Brother Xiao. He has no quarrel with you." Yan Yunhe suddenly paused, his gaze settling on Xiao Qinghe with an amused smile. "I almost forgot. You have a bit of history with him too."
Xiao Qinghe: "???"
"If I happen to lose my life, I'm afraid you'll be next, Brother Xiao."
"!!!"
Yan Yunhe gently waved his folding fan, perfectly at ease. "Every grievance has its culprit, and every debt its debtor. Until I die, your life is safe, Brother Xiao. Rest assured."
"..."
How am I supposed to rest assured?!
So who exactly is this guy hiding out there who wants me dead?
Xiao Qinghe was about to ask when a desperate cry suddenly came from ahead. "A Zhen, you can't kill yourself! What will I do if you die? Come down, please, I'm begging you... A Zhen! Help! Someone, help!"
Beneath an old tree draped in withered vines, a young woman hung high from a rope, a red ring gouged around her neck.
Her face was ashen, her eyes rolled back. She was barely drawing breath.
The man shouting for help had tears streaming down his face. He desperately clung to her legs, trying to save her, but to no avail. All he could do was watch her sink closer and closer to death.
Xiao Qinghe frowned and was about to draw his sword.
But Yan Yunhe acted first. With a flick of his folding fan, a streak of cold light flew out.
The hemp rope snapped.
The woman fell to the ground. Through her haze, she realized she was still alive, but rather than rejoicing, she looked so grief-stricken that death might have been kinder.
Trembling, the man gathered her tightly into his arms. Having regained what he thought he'd lost, he wept hot tears. "If we can't marry, we can live together without the title of husband and wife. Why would you kill yourself? If you died, how could I live on alone?"
"But A Qiang, I want to marry you... Otherwise, how can I be with you? What would people say about us..." A Zhen's voice was barely a whisper, and she too began to cry.
Star-crossed lovers?
They seem to have some unspoken reason they can't marry.
An affair? A secret liaison?
Isn't this a little too melodramatic?
As Xiao Qinghe's imagination ran wild, A Zhen spoke again. "I want to be with A Qiang openly, as his rightful wife. I want to marry A Qiang..."
"A Zhen! Stop!" A Qiang's expression changed.
A Zhen seemed to realize she had said something she shouldn't. Her face paled, and she immediately fell silent.
Xiao Qinghe sensed something strange and was about to ask when Yan Yunhe suddenly pointed his folding fan. "Brother Xiao, look over there."
Graves covered the area.
There were so many of them-nearly a thousand.
Packed tightly together, they occupied more than half the hillside.
The graves stood in pairs, with a strip of red cloth linking each pair of headstones, like the red wedding sash held between a bride and groom.
It was downright eerie.
White mist curled around them, the air thick with a sinister chill that made the sight especially unsettling.
Sweat beaded on Xiao Qinghe's forehead.
When had an upstanding young materialist like me ever seen anything like this?
"Prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony..."
Before you continue