I'm Afraid There Won't Be Time

The mountain path on Divine End Peak was narrow and very dilapidated. The stone steps were uneven, and in some places there were no steps at all.

True Person Jingyang never descended the mountain, and there were no disciples here. Every few years, when the sect master brought the elders to Divine End Peak to pay their respects, they traveled by sword. With no one walking the path, it had naturally fallen into disrepair over the years.

The deeper they went into Divine End Peak, the more broken the path became and the more powerful the restrictive sword formations grew.

However careful she was, the wounds on Zhao Layue's body kept multiplying, and blood gradually stained her clothes red.

Sword Intent Tempering Body was not enough to let her avoid every danger in the sword formations, nor could it fully withstand the cutting of those sword intents.

Jing Jiu followed behind her with his hands clasped behind his back.

"I'm tired," he said.

Zhao Layue stopped and sat cross-legged, drawing in the primordial energy of heaven and earth to restore her spirit.

After an unknown length of time, she opened her eyes.

"Why are you following me?"

She glanced at Jing Jiu, confirming that he had no wounds at all. "From the look of things now, you don't need to follow me at all."

"I told you, I'm just curious," Jing Jiu said.

As he spoke, he was not looking at her, but staring at the porcelain plate before him, holding a grain of sand between his fingers as he considered where to put it.

Looking at the grains of sand rearranged in the porcelain plate and thinking of the space sliced apart by sword intent within Divine End Peak, Zhao Layue grew thoughtful.

She stood and looked at the mountain path, whose silence set her heart trembling. After a moment's silence, she flicked her wrist and gripped the Sword Restraint her bracelet had become.

This seemingly ordinary Sword Restraint had bound Uncle-Master Zuo of Jade Lake Peak, a Wuzhang Realm cultivator, above the clouds on Sword Peak. It was anything but ordinary.

No wonder the Sword Restraint looked a little familiar that night, Jing Jiu thought.

Knowing Zhao Layue intended to use the Sword Restraint to probe the way, he shook his head.

It was a clever choice, but not a good one.

"Why?" Zhao Layue asked.

"Don't use it until the last moment," Jing Jiu said, "because someone is watching us."

Divine End Peak had restrictive sword formations, and no one outside could see what was happening within. It was even more concealed than the cloud layer atop Sword Peak.

Zhao Layue had considered this, and she also found proceeding genuinely difficult, which was why she had prepared to use the strongest means she had kept hidden.

But there were always exceptions to everything.

The great figures of the Heaven-Connecting Realm could see through all mist.

Across the entire continent, there were only a handful of Heaven-Connecting Realm figures, but unfortunately, the Green Mountain Sect might have two.

Jing Jiu believed neither of those two had gone to Sword-Washing Creek in person, having merely transmitted their voices by sword. They should now be watching this way from their respective summits.

Zhao Layue remembered that he had once said Yuan Qijing might already have entered the Heaven-Connecting Realm in secret.

Then who exactly was Jing Jiu wary of and guarding against? The sect master, or the senior uncle in charge of sword discipline?

Zhao Layue put away the Sword Restraint and continued along the mountain path.

This time, she moved a little faster and was cut by sword intent far fewer times. Whether that had anything to do with the rearranged grains of sand in the porcelain plate was unclear.

The night deepened.

"I'm tired."

Jing Jiu said it for the third time.

Zhao Layue stopped and looked up toward the summit.

She had already walked for a long time, yet the summit of Divine End Peak still seemed far away on the horizon.

"I still overestimated myself."

After a moment's silence, Zhao Layue said, "How could the lofty peak that is Grandmaster Uncle be so easily surmounted?"

Her words held two meanings.

"You've already done very well."

Jing Jiu's tone was flat, but sincere.

Zhao Layue took a medicinal pill and bandaged her wounds. Judging by the ointments and supplies, she had prepared thoroughly.

Jing Jiu did nothing to help her, merely standing to one side and watching.

Calmness often appeared cold.

He was like a spectator.

Once Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue entered Divine End Peak, the people outside could no longer see them.

Such was a forbidden peak: sight and everything else were shut out.

People looked at the deserted mountain path with differing feelings.

The little girl from the Hanging Bell Sect leaned in her uncle-master's arms, yawning.

She had already grown sleepy enough to take two naps, but still insisted on staying.

She thought this was the most interesting thing she had encountered on this trip to Green Mountain, and did not want to miss the story's ending.

Whether that ending was sad or happy.

The faces of the two princes and nobles from Chaoge City were full of worry, though it was unclear whom they were worried about, or why.

Atop Heavenly Light Peak, clouds and mist spread like a sea. A tall figure stood beside the cliff, looking in a certain direction among the peaks.

Elder Mo, who had just hurried back from Divine End Peak, looked at that figure, his face full of anxiety.

"S-Sect Master... senior brother... later... when you save... that little girl... don't forget... Jing... Jing Jiu."

Atop Shangde Peak, the cavern chamber was as cold as an ice cellar. Yuan Qijing stood beside that deep, bottomless well, silent for a long time, his thoughts unknown.

Chi Yan hurried in, coughing as he related the situation at Divine End Peak.

Yuan Qijing walked out of the cavern and looked at the sea of clouds beneath the starlight, and the solitary peak piercing the clouds in the distance. With a cold laugh, he said, "They really have no idea whether they'll live or die."

Was he speaking of Zhao Layue, Jing Jiu, or both of them?

The summit was right before their eyes, not on the horizon, but in reality it was still more than two thousand zhang away.

The night was as dark as ink. Reflecting the starlight, the motionless clouds at the summit stood out like white paper.

Zhao Layue was covered in blood, her clothes slashed all over by swords. Even her bandages had been sliced to tatters again, leaving her looking wretched.

"You really want to know why I insist on climbing this mountain?"

She sat down against a pine beside the path.

This was the first time she had stopped of her own accord.

Her face was snow-white, and her gaze no longer held its usual certainty. She looked somewhat weary.

Jing Jiu walked up to her and offered her a large green leaf holding clear, glistening dew.

Without their noticing, the night had reached its deepest hour, and dawn was approaching.

Zhao Layue took the green leaf, brought it to her lips, and drank.

"Why?" Jing Jiu asked.

"Because I really am the Sword-Inheriting Disciple Grandmaster Uncle chose."

Looking at the summit, Zhao Layue said, "You must all think I was talking nonsense, making an excuse, but it's true."

Beside the creek, she had said she was the Sword-Inheriting Disciple chosen by Grandmaster Uncle Jingyang. No one had questioned it, because no one could invite the ascended Grandmaster Uncle Jingyang back to verify it. But just as she said, few people actually believed the claim. True Person Jingyang had devoted himself wholly to the Dao and had never taken a disciple in hundreds of years. Why would he make an exception for her?

An innate Dao Seed was indeed extraordinary to the cultivation world, but what did it amount to in True Person Jingyang's eyes?

"I believe you," Jing Jiu said.

There was no hesitation, no thought, just those perfectly ordinary words.

"Thank you."

Besides gratitude for his trust, there was another reason.

"Without you, I couldn't have come this far," she said.

Along the way, Jing Jiu had said "I'm tired" many times.

In fact, each had been a moment when she was exhausted to her limit.

She did not know how Jing Jiu could judge it so accurately, but she was grateful to him.

It seemed that Jing Jiu had taken a shortcut, following her and copying her formation-breaking footwork, and that this was why he remained unhurt.

But Zhao Layue knew that was not the truth. The real reason was that he was extremely familiar with Divine End Peak's sword formations.

If he had not been keeping her company, he might already have reached the summit.

Without his company and those seemingly casual, covert pointers, she could never have made it here alone.

"Even if you're the chosen one, there's no need to be in such a hurry," Jing Jiu said.

If Zhao Layue was merely worried that Divine End Peak's inheritance might be broken off, she could have gone to Twofold Forgetting Peak and cultivated hard for another three years.

In three years, Zhao Layue should be far stronger than she was now. If she tried climbing the peak again at the next Sword Inheritance Assembly, her chances of success would be greater.

"I really am in a hurry."

"Because I'm afraid there won't be time," Zhao Layue said.

Am I supposed to carry you? Jing Jiu thought.

I can't tell you that real secret, Zhao Layue thought.

I only want to go to the summit and see whether that sword is there, whether that person is there.

"I want to sleep a little," she said.

"If you sleep now, it will be hard to wake up," Jing Jiu said.

She glanced at the summit and said, "I really am a little tired. I've even forgotten whether it's been three years or four."

With that, she closed her eyes and fell asleep against the pine. Soon, she began to snore softly.

Her eyelashes were long and did not tremble at all.

Her hair was short and stirred slightly in the wind.

It seemed she really was very tired.

Jing Jiu looked up at the deathly silent cliffs and felt some regret.

He did not regret choosing to climb the mountain with the little girl.

Divine End Peak's restrictions had been set too strong. Even he now found them somewhat troublesome. This really was embarrassing.

(I posted this on the WeChat public account yesterday, but I'll mention it here too: in Chapter 35, in the passage where the various peaks chose their Sword-Inheriting Disciples, dolern left a lot of very interesting comments. If you're interested, you can look through that chapter's annotations, or rather its chapter comments. When I wrote it, I really was thinking about the rookie draft.)