"Hu Niu..."
Lin Shisan opened his mouth, but several breaths passed before he managed to squeeze out her name.
Hu Niu did not answer.
She stood there, the tears in her eyes finally spilling over and rolling down her cheeks.
"Lin Shisan, you still recognize me?"
"Yes, of course I do... I... I've always remembered you."
Slow to react, Lin Shisan was even stammering.
"In Tianshui Village, in the Danyang Sect, every day... every day I thought about you, about how you were suffering, about when I could see you again."
"You thought about me? Yet you were in the mood to bring your wife all the way here from the distant Danyang Sect for a drink?"
Lin Shisan's heart contracted, and his whole body felt as though something had seized him in a vicious grip.
He could no longer speak.
He could only watch her approach, step by step, each footfall landing on his heart and making his very innards tremble.
Hu Niu stopped three paces before him and tilted her head back to look at him.
She was more than half a head shorter than Lin Shisan.
As she raised her face, the sunlight fell right into her eyes, making their watery sheen glitter.
"Shisan, I've heard all about what happened to you in the Danyang Sect."
"You became the Saint Child, drew the Grand Patriarch's Evil-Exorcising Sword, and took two wives." She paused, sniffled, and lowered her voice further. "One is Zi Yuner, and the other is Bai Youyou. They're both good people. I know that."
Lin Shisan's breathing caught slightly.
Nine Nether Mountain's information really was swift and accurate.
Hu Niu took another half step forward, reached out, and lightly touched the back of his hand with her fingertips.
Her fingers were icy and covered in