She was different from everyone else, always special.
(I)
This day was the liveliest the martial world of the Central Plains had seen since the martial arts assembly.
On No Return Mountain stood the Eight Unions and Nine Separations Pagoda. From outside, it appeared to have nine tiers of eaves, with a double-eaved gallery at its base and an iron gate each to the north and south. Looking upward, one could see inscriptions carved in sharp, forceful strokes on each of the nine tiers: "part from attachment, part from feeling, part from desire, part from love, part from hatred, part from sorrow, part from resentment, part from anger, part from obsession." All nine thoughts were of "separation"; not one was of "union."
Ji Qingxi wore white robes beneath a red outer vest, her dark hair bound high with a silver coronet. Her hands tucked into her sleeves, she stood outside the crowd with them behind her back.
She was dressed as a man but made no attempt to conceal that she was a woman. When someone stared, she would even glance back with a grin.
Beneath the sunlight, radiance seemed to spill through her glass-like eyes, brimming with an indescribable liveliness that drew the gaze.
"Everyone-"
A long call suddenly rang out from the pagoda's fifth floor. Everyone waiting below looked up together.
First, they saw a pair of deeply wrinkled hands. After another brief wait, a white-haired old man appeared leisurely before them.
He said, "You have all traveled far. The No Return Sect failed to welcome you on your arrival, so please first forgive our discourtesy."
Someone impatient called up from below, "Old man, spare us the pleasantries. Since you know why we're here, get straight to it and stop wasting words."
The words were hardly polite, but the old man did not so much as frown. He stroked his grizzled beard and clapped softly, and the boy standing behind him immediately stepped forward with a wooden box in his arms.
The old man took it and opened it, first displaying its contents to everyone before setting it on a table beside the gallery.
"The Chasing Wind Saber is here. You should all know that the No Return Sect always keeps its word and never speaks falsely." The old man stepped back a little. "Win it by your own abilities. You bear responsibility for your own lives and deaths. The No Return Sect will neither intervene nor interfere."
With that, he turned and went downstairs.
On the table behind him, the renowned saber Wind Chaser lay quietly within its wooden box, its edge like snow, flashing dazzlingly beneath the sun.
Wind Chaser and Crescent Moon, Snow Sending and Falling Star.
Any detailed account of the divine weapons of the martial world inevitably came back to "Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon."
Rumor had it that the twin Crescent Moon sabers were hidden in the Southern Frontier. The longsword Snow Sending had rarely appeared since the Yin family of Jiangnan was slaughtered to the last. The sleeve blade Star Pendant had been the personal weapon of the Little Medical Immortal of Gusu; after he betrayed and left Gusu, it too vanished from the martial world when he disappeared.
Only this Chasing Wind Saber remained. After its previous wielder, Ji Chengxuan, head of the Gusu Ji Clan, lost a hand, it somehow passed through several hands and ended up with the No Return Sect.
It was a fine saber, but also a hot potato. The No Return Sect's master was an eccentric man. Annoyed that so many people coveted it and disturbed his peace, he had simply organized a saber-seizing assembly. Everyone would rely on their own abilities, and whoever seized it would own it.
Many wandering martial artists had come. Some truly intended to seize the saber, and quite a few were figures of note, but eighty percent of the bustling crowd gathered beneath the pagoda were still only there for the spectacle.
Standing beneath the sun, Ji Qingxi began counting on her fingers how much longer it would take Uncle Mute to arrive.
It was all her fault for insisting on dragging him into drinking yesterday. Who could have imagined Uncle Mute's capacity for liquor was so "astonishing"? After three cups, nothing could wake him this morning. Left with no choice, she had gone up No Return Mountain alone first.
And then there was her brother.
Ji Qingxi thought resentfully that he had refused to come with her when she asked. He had insisted on paying the sect master a visit first, saying the man had ties to their own sect, and since they were taking something of his this time, they ought to inform him beforehand.
Pedantic, stiff-necked!
Exactly like her father!
But her mother could keep her father in line, while she absolutely could not manage her brother. She could only find a large rock beneath a shady tree and sit down, watching events from afar while waiting and hoping Uncle Mute would sober up soon.
While Ji Qingxi was occupied with her own thoughts, one bout after another had already been fought over there.
Wind Chaser was a fine saber and naturally drove saber wielders wild with longing, but Ji Qingxi paid little attention. In contests like this, most of those rushing to the front were useless incompetents. The experts stayed hidden behind, quietly awaiting the right moment to act.
As the sun grew fiercer, the fighting over there grew more serious. Gradually, it ceased to resemble roughhousing, and killing moves accompanied every exchange. At last, Ji Qingxi rose from the rock, wiped the sweat the sun had drawn from her forehead, and walked forward.
Holding the way before them like one man guarding a pass against ten thousand was Li Qianqiu, master of Luojing's Carefree Peak. He stood with the Carefree Sword in hand, his body like a pine, his sword like a spirit serpent, every move strange and unpredictable.
He said, "Will anyone else step forward?"
Everyone hesitated, remaining still.
Li Qianqiu said, "If no one steps forward, our Carefree Peak of Luojing will take Wind Chaser. Thank you all for yielding..."
Ji Qingxi narrowed her eyes slightly and shifted her toes, about to speak, when a voice rang out from the crowd. "Not so fast."
The voice was clear and crisp. The crowd turned toward it and saw a young man standing a short distance away, a sword cradled in his arms. Dressed entirely in black, he was handsome and looked a little over twenty, with a carefree, dashing air about his brow and eyes.
Li Qianqiu frowned. "Who are you?"
The young man stepped forward, and the crowd parted of its own accord to let him through. He soon stopped before them, looked at Li Qianqiu, and raised his hands in salute. "Huo Hanzhou of Gusu."
At those words, someone's expression immediately changed. He whispered to the person beside him, "Huo Hanzhou? Why has he come too?"
His companion answered, "He's Ji Chengxuan's adopted son. Naturally, he's here for Wind Chaser."
"True. Come to think of it, the Chasing Wind Saber really did belong to that former head of the Gusu Ji Clan."
Ji Qingxi raised her eyebrows without speaking.
The two over there soon began exchanging moves.
This Huo Hanzhou might have been young, but his swordsmanship was no less accomplished than Li Qianqiu's. They exchanged several rounds in a fierce battle that sent sand flying and stones rolling. Their blades clashed; each move appeared courteous, yet drew fully on everything they had learned in their lives. Before long, the latter arrival even gradually gained the upper hand.
With his final move, he knocked Li Qianqiu's Carefree Sword hard to the ground, then turned his hand and sheathed his own sword, his bearing outstanding.
Ji Qingxi could not help silently applauding him.
Huo Hanzhou spoke in a low, measured voice. "Thank you for yielding."
Then he turned and leaped lightly upward, reaching the fifth floor, where he extended his hand to take the saber.
A lone wild goose soared above, chasing the wind.
Just as Huo Hanzhou's fingertips were about to touch the blade, a breeze suddenly rose and shot toward the unguarded opening behind him!
There was no time to turn. Relying on a martial artist's reflexes, he instinctively drew the longsword at his waist and swiftly blocked behind him. A piercing sound rang out at once.
Clang!
Someone below the pagoda cried out, even more loudly than when they had heard of Huo Hanzhou's arrival.
"The Bone-Striking Lock! It's the Bone-Striking Lock!"
At the cry, Huo Hanzhou's expression shifted slightly. He pressed a finger against the wooden box to close it, then tightened his grip on his longsword again. Bringing his internal energy to its peak, he pressed his lips together slightly and turned in silence.
There was no one behind him.
He frowned, his ears twitching slightly, and said, "May I ask which hero is here? Surely you know that attacking from behind is no gentleman's conduct?"
"Well said." A soft, sweet voice sounded beside him.
Huo Hanzhou turned his head and saw a girl in white robes and a red outer garment sitting on the wooden railing beneath the pagoda's eaves. She had a high nose and deep-set eyes, her black pupils like glass beads, her smile like a flower, yet lovelier still.
She swung a long, thin black iron chain, a lock of the same color hanging from its end. It made a heavy thud whenever it struck the wooden railing.
"Unfortunately, I'm no hero, much less a gentleman. You people of the Central Plains have a saying: 'Only women and petty men are difficult to deal with.' I find it rather interesting. There's no need to ask. I'm the petty person who ambushed you."
Huo Hanzhou froze.
Seizing the moment of his distraction, the long Bone-Striking Lock suddenly hurtled at his face with the force of a thousand jun. The girl said brightly, "My apologies, Young Hero Huo, but I'm taking this Chasing Wind Saber."
The spectators were stunned by the sudden turn, then broke into cries of alarm.
Amid those cries, Huo Hanzhou turned his wrist and swept his sword around. Cold light streamed along its gleaming blade, its edge dazzling the eyes. He flourished the sword, winding the oncoming iron chain tightly around it, then drew back his arm, gripped the chain in his palm, pulled it taut with both, and yanked hard toward himself-
"Ah!"
Sweet breath brushed his neck, and his arms filled with the scent of malt sugar.
The spectators below the pagoda instantly went from startled cries to roars of laughter.
"Well, would you look at that! What has this turned into?"
"Young Hero Huo is a lucky man. He wins the saber, and a girl throws herself into his arms too."
"Huo Hanzhou." The girl stayed in his arms as though it were only natural, complaining, "You hurt me."
Huo Hanzhou stared at her, dazed.
The patch of flesh she held seemed to burn all the way to his heart through his clothes, tingling and itching. He actually wanted to ask where it hurt.
Had he been too rough and injured her somewhere?
The tips of Huo Hanzhou's ears reddened. His Adam's apple bobbed. "You..."
Ji Qingxi tipped up her head, her eyes bright. She smiled at him, but her words were far from pleasing. "I'll be taking this saber."
With that, she struck Huo Hanzhou's shoulder with her palm and, clutching the Chasing Wind Saber she had stolen at some unknown moment, made to leap away.
The wooden box stood wide open, its infuriating emptiness exposed.
Saber in one hand and chain in the other, Ji Qingxi bounded across the eaves. Who would have thought that after only a few steps, a warm male body would suddenly press up behind her? A hand clamped onto her shoulder and pulled her back.
Ji Qingxi cursed inwardly. Huo Hanzhou had caught up so quickly!
With no other option, she turned with his pull and moved forward, her lips about to brush his. Huo Hanzhou immediately released her in alarm as though burned by fire and stood rooted to the spot.
Holding the saber, Ji Qingxi moved several steps away and looked at him with a beaming smile. "Huo Hanzhou, you're blushing."
Huo Hanzhou raised his eyes, unable to conceal the embarrassed anger on his face. "You-you girl!"
Ji Qingxi's smile widened.
Facing him, she backed away. "Just come catch me. Why be shy? My mother was right. Every one of you Central Plains people really is interesting."
Huo Hanzhou pressed his lips together, keeping his expression stern. Afraid others would see him blush, he awkwardly turned his head away.
Fearing another complication, Ji Qingxi wanted only to leave quickly. She took several more steps backward and was about to go when a pair of strong hands firmly supported her from behind at the waist.
She paused, a lively smile appearing on her face. Looking back, she exclaimed delightedly, "Brother, you're here!"
Ji Qingrang did not spare her a glance. With an arm around her waist, he leaped down and swept back beneath the pagoda in a few bounds.
Huo Hanzhou's gaze flickered, and he followed close behind.
Ji Qingrang shielded Ji Qingxi behind him and saluted with both hands. "My younger sister is young and has given much cause for offense. Please be understanding."
His salute was for everyone, but his words were directed at Huo Hanzhou.
Huo Hanzhou did not respond. Someone in the crowd asked, "And who are you?"
Ji Qingrang straightened and spoke clearly, neither loudly nor softly. "Ji Qingrang, senior disciple of Seven Stars Valley in the Southern Frontier."
For a moment, everyone exchanged looks.
Seven Stars Valley in the Southern Frontier was a sect even more sinister than the No Return Sect. It practiced demonic, unorthodox arts and conducted dark, secretive affairs, yet belonged to neither good nor evil. It usually paid no heed to worldly matters and disliked entering the mortal world.
Why had it now set its sights on Wind Chaser too?
Someone thought as much and asked exactly that. Ji Qingrang answered, "Wind Chaser belonged to our Ji family to begin with. Taking it back now is merely returning it to its rightful owner."
Huo Hanzhou, who had remained silent beside them, suddenly said, "On what grounds do you say that?"
Ji Qingxi and Ji Qingrang turned to look at him. Huo Hanzhou stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Wind Chaser belonged to my adoptive father during his lifetime. If it is to return to its rightful owner, it ought to return to him."
Ji Qingxi blinked and clicked her tongue. "During his lifetime? He's dead?"
Huo Hanzhou froze.
Ji Qingrang turned his head and knitted his brows in unmistakable warning.
Ji Qingxi could only stick out her tongue and stand aside with the saber in her arms.
Ji Qingrang asked, "When did the head of the Ji Clan pass away?"
Looking at Ji Qingxi, Huo Hanzhou said, "Last month. He died of illness in Gusu."
Ji Qingrang nodded. "My condolences."
He stepped forward and saluted everyone again, then turned with his hands behind his back. "Everyone, the No Return Sect said earlier that at this saber-seizing assembly, Wind Chaser would belong to whoever seized it. As you can all see, Wind Chaser is in my younger sister's hands. The saber is therefore hers."
Someone said, "The No Return Sect never said when it would end. In that case, it must continue until death. So what if your sister has it? If I seize it, won't it be mine?"
Ji Qingrang nodded. His features looked somewhat more like those of a Central Plains man, and his bearing appeared more scholarly. Saber wielders, naturally, also observed courtesy before force. Having fulfilled every courtesy, he had shown them ample respect.
Silently, he drew the sleeve blade and unfolded Star Pendant beneath the crowd's astonished gazes. Barbs covered its black jade ribs, flashing with bloodthirsty light.
"If anyone objects, step forward and let our blades decide."
The day's saber-seizing assembly ended. When night fell, Ji Qingxi moved lightly over the inn and soon found the person she wanted to see.
Inside the room, he was changing out of the bloodstained clothes he had worn that day. His back faced the window, exposing a long saber wound, its blood a frightening dark red.
Ji Qingxi clicked her tongue twice and flipped inside.
Huo Hanzhou pulled on his inner robe without looking back. "What brings you here so late, miss?"
With her hands behind her back, Ji Qingxi circled around in front of him, grinning. "I came to see you. Tsk, my brother really hit hard. How could he have so little restraint and leave you like this?"
His face solemn, Huo Hanzhou draped his outer robe over his shoulders. "Quite a few people lost to your brother today. Do you intend to comfort every one of them?"
Ji Qingxi smiled triumphantly. "Yes."
Huo Hanzhou's expression changed dramatically. "You-"
A finger smeared white ointment onto the tip of his nose. "You insisted on thinking that of me, yet now you're the one getting angry. Huo Hanzhou, you really are unreasonable."
The white medicine bottle was placed on the table. The red-clad girl sat beside it, playing with the lampwick with a pair of chopsticks. The lamplight flickered, casting two intertwined shadows upon the wall.
Huo Hanzhou approached, his dark eyes fixed on Ji Qingxi without blinking as he examined her closely.
Ji Qingxi let go of the chopsticks and looked up at him. "Touched? Don't look at me like that. I'm no good person. Looking at me that way makes me uncomfortable."
Huo Hanzhou said quietly, "You've already taken the saber. Why are you still following me?"
Ji Qingxi smiled. "Huo Hanzhou, come to think of it, we're from the same family. If we really looked into it, you and my father would count as the same generation. I might even have to call you 'Uncle.'"
"You..."
"Ji Qingxi," she said. "My name is Ji Qingxi."
Huo Hanzhou looked at her. The lamplight illuminated her flower-like smile. The girl before him had the most radiant face and the most captivating eyes.
She was different from everyone else, always special.
Especially adorable, and especially infuriating.
"Huo Hanzhou." Ji Qingxi waved at him. She had removed her coronet, letting her dark hair fall loose, and casually twisted it between her fingers into a braid.
Her hair swept beneath his nose. Seeing his ears turn red again, Ji Qingxi smiled. "Do you hate me very much?"
Huo Hanzhou stared at her in a daze for another moment. Before he could speak, he heard her tease him. "I don't think so. When you see me, you're clearly filled with delight."
At her words, his face reddened again, and he felt ill at ease all over.
Ji Qingxi covered her mouth and laughed heartily.
When she laughed, there was a trace of Red Adornment in her, like the free wind and blazing sun over the great desert. Yet when love stirred, she was so like Ji Hanchu-the third young master of the Ji Clan who had betrayed his clan and forsaken his path for the one he loved, leaving the Central Plains to live forever in the Southern Frontier.
Just like that, she left Huo Hanzhou spellbound.
(II)
Delight?
Huo Hanzhou asked himself. Probably.
But what of it? This delight was only momentary. He had always been someone who knew his limits and understood what mattered. Beyond his secret delight, there were more, more important things awaiting him. Weighed against those, a fleeting moment of delight and stirring affection seemed insignificant.
The candle crackled, the sound echoing hollowly in the room. Ji Qingxi had gone on by herself about her parents' history with his adoptive father until her mouth and throat were dry. Looking up, she saw Huo Hanzhou sitting silently amid the shifting lamplight. Just as she wondered why, he spoke, his voice still low. "Miss, I have a favor to ask."
"Ji Qingxi," she repeated softly. "My name."
Huo Hanzhou lowered his eyes. "Miss Ji."
He was so proper and old-fashioned. Ji Qingxi did not quibble with him. If he would not respond to her words, she would simply tease him herself.
"Uncle." A smile touched her lips. "What favor do you need?"
Huo Hanzhou actually choked at that "Uncle." He knew his foster father and the missing Third Young Master Ji were uncle and nephew, close blood relatives. He had already been old enough to remember things when his foster father adopted him. What he remembered most clearly were the few people his foster father often mentioned, and Ji Hanchu was one of them.
Though even that "often" had, in truth, been exceedingly rare.
It was hardly surprising. His foster father had never been one to show his feelings, and he had suffered from a heart ailment for years, with attacks that twisted his chest in agony. Moments when they could quietly share their feelings were rarer still. Yet for a long time before his foster father died, his mind had already become clouded, and in his confusion he had called out for these people he could not let go of.
Huo Hanzhou looked at Ji Qingxi.
Ji Qingxi looked back at him. They held each other's gaze for a while before Huo Hanzhou conceded defeat.
He raised a hand to his mouth and coughed to cover his embarrassment. "Huo Hanzhou, from Gusu."
Ji Qingxi understood what he meant and found him all the more endearing. Smiling, she followed his lead. "Ji Qingxi, from the Southern Frontier."
Huo Hanzhou's ears quietly turned scarlet, and his voice lost some of its earlier composure. "I have a favor to ask of you."
"Go ahead."
Huo Hanzhou said, "Could I borrow Wind Chaser?"
Ji Qingxi looked surprised. "Wind Chaser?"
Huo Hanzhou nodded.
Ji Chengxuan had been a cold-hearted man, and growing up beside him, Huo Hanzhou had learned most of his ways. But he was not made of wood. He knew what Ji Chengxuan had cared about. There were things Ji Chengxuan had still been unable to let go of before his death. If he did not fulfill those wishes for him, he felt he would be failing to repay Ji Chengxuan for raising him.
Ji Qingxi asked, "What do you want to borrow Wind Chaser for?"
Huo Hanzhou said, "To stand it before my foster father's grave, burn incense for three days, and offer the saber in tribute to his departed soul."
A troubled look appeared on Ji Qingxi's face. "My brother has the saber. I can't make decisions for him."
Many people said her brother was as gentle as their father, but that was not so. Ji Qingrang was more forceful by nature; he simply hid it so well that others never noticed.
At the thought, Ji Qingxi grew dejected. She lowered her head and murmured, "I'm sorry. I can't help you."
Ji Qingxi was at an age like a flower still in bud, and even her downcast manner was full of life. Somehow, Huo Hanzhou could not help reaching out to stroke the hair atop her head. The movement was restrained and swift; he withdrew his hand after a single touch.
Absorbed in her own dejection, she did not notice.
Huo Hanzhou secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Clearing his throat, he said, "It's all right."
Ji Qingxi looked up, her cheeks puffed out. "Then what will you do if you can't get the saber?"
"It doesn't matter. I have other things to do."
"What things?"
"Find someone," Huo Hanzhou said. "Bring him to bow three times before my foster father's grave and see him off."
Ji Qingxi asked, "Who are you looking for?"
Huo Hanzhou said, "My foster brother, Ji Zhiyuan."
Ji Qingxi seemed to have heard the name somewhere before, but could not recall where just then. She asked, "Where is he?"
Huo Hanzhou looked at Ji Qingxi. "His whereabouts are unknown. I don't know whether he's alive or dead."
Ji Qingxi stood up. She only reached his shoulder, and as she tilted her face up to look at him, her eyes were earnest and expectant. "How long will you be gone?"
The young girl's eyes looked especially bright in the lamplight, as though summer fireflies danced within them, their radiance drawing others in.
Under her gaze, Huo Hanzhou's heart thundered. He gave a laugh and said, "With his whereabouts unknown, and no knowing whether he's alive or dead, naturally there's no asking when I'll return."
Ji Qingxi's smile faded. She said nothing.
Huo Hanzhou glanced out the window. The night was paling, and daylight would soon break.
He turned, picked up his two swords, and strapped them to his back. When he looked around again, he saw Ji Qingxi gazing at him hazily with clear, damp eyes. For a moment, he was at a loss, unsure what to say.
"You, you..." His voice softened as he pleaded helplessly, "Don't look at me like that."
Ji Qingxi tilted her head and pouted. "Can I come with you? I want to travel the jianghu too. My mother says the Central Plains are great fun, but my brother and Uncle Mute never take me out to play."
Huo Hanzhou did not know whether to be angry or amused. He walked over with his hands behind his back, his figure completely enveloping hers.
"Why do you want to come with me?"
Ji Qingxi fell silent for a moment, as though the question had stumped her. Huo Hanzhou waited, but when she still said nothing, he shook his head helplessly and turned to leave.
In the end, he could not bear it. Turning back, he reminded her, "The Central Plains aren't as much fun as you imagine, and the jianghu is dangerous. Listen to your brother and uncle, and go home soon."
With that, Huo Hanzhou moved to leave, only for Ji Qingxi to suddenly reach out, hook her fingers into his belt, and pull him to a stop.
Huo Hanzhou looked back. Her eyes shone like stars, the river of stars within them clear to its very depths, as she asked expectantly, "Huo Hanzhou, why don't you come back to the Southern Frontier with me instead?"
Huo Hanzhou froze. Ji Qingxi hurried on, "The Southern Frontier is great fun too. When winter comes, I'll take you to see the snow. It's different from the snow in Jiangnan-it can reach your knees. Oh, and there's the frozen river. We can walk on the ice together, then hang lanterns in the trees."
Huo Hanzhou gathered in his sleeves. Dawn had half broken, the lamps had gone out, and light slipped through the window lattice. Her face looked as clean as though washed in clear blue water.
He was silent for a while. "Why do you want to be with me?"
Ji Qingxi smiled. "Why do you think?"
She gazed steadily at him, her eyes filled with brilliant light. In the cool moonlight, Huo Hanzhou felt as though something had struck him, and hastily tucked his hands behind his back.
He wore blue robes of simple, coarse fabric. In his years with Ji Chengxuan, he had suffered no hardships beyond martial training, but neither had he lived in silk and luxury. Nor was he someone who would lower his head. Yet faced with Ji Qingxi's almost unreserved sincerity, he yielded for what was perhaps the first time in his life.
His hands clenched into fists behind his back. Letting out a long breath, he said, "I'll take it as a passing jest and won't hold it against you."
Ji Qingxi twisted a lock of her hair between her fingers and said in a muffled voice, "I never toy with people. Huo Hanzhou, what do you take me for, saying that?"
Huo Hanzhou stood with his swords on his back. At her words, he smiled faintly, though there was bitterness in it. "Pampered and indulged, following your heart in all you do."
Ji Qingxi tilted her head and looked at him silently. "Then what do you take yourself for?"
Huo Hanzhou answered at once. "An idle cloud, a wild crane, bound by a measure of rice."
Ji Qingxi let go and stared at him for a few moments, looking rather aggrieved. "So you just don't want to be with me?"
Huo Hanzhou shook his head with a smile.
Without Wind Chaser, he still had to find Ji Zhiyuan.
There was still so very much he had to do.
And Ji Qingxi, she... she really was still too young.
The tumultuous jianghu had its own tales of wind and moon, and the name written upon hers should not be Huo Hanzhou.
A crow cried three times. Huo Hanzhou lowered his hands, his voice inconceivably gentle. "I'm leaving."
Ji Qingxi held her frustration inside, twisting her fingers in agitation and pacing back and forth with stamping feet.
Huo Hanzhou could not help laughing, but his face soon turned stern again, and he walked toward the door without stopping.
Creak!
The door opened, and cold wind poured in. Beneath the chilly moon, bare willow branches stood beside the flagstone road. At the far end of the moonlight stood a long figure, his face still youthful, yet impossible to dismiss.
He inclined his head, revealing a face that bore a half resemblance to Ji Qingxi's. Looking at Huo Hanzhou, he said evenly, "Borrowing Wind Chaser isn't out of the question."
No one had expected Ji Qingrang to actually agree to lend out Wind Chaser. Not only had he agreed, he had not even set a date for its return.
He said he would stay at the No Return Sect for a while longer, then take Ji Qingxi back to the Southern Frontier.
As for Wind Chaser, Huo Hanzhou could return it whenever he wished.
Only, until they left, Wind Chaser had to remain with Ji Qingrang. He would hand the saber to Huo Hanzhou when he was truly ready to return to the Southern Frontier.
Huo Hanzhou had no choice but to continue staying near No Return Mountain.
When Ji Qingxi learned of this, she hurried up No Return Mountain, stopped Ji Qingrang, and asked what he meant by it.
Ji Qingrang looked at her with a helpless smile and tapped the tip of her nose. "Little fool."
Ji Qingxi did not know how she was foolish. She could reach no conclusion discussing it with Uncle Mute, so when she went out to eat with Huo Hanzhou, she insisted that he tell her whether she was foolish.
Huo Hanzhou said, "You're not."
Holding a packet of malt candy, Ji Qingxi nodded. "I think so too."
Little Mute kept sighing beside them.
By the time they took their seats, Ji Qingxi had already eaten nearly half the oilpaper packet of malt candy. Ji Qingrang had only just sat down when he saw this, and his brows drew together.
"Stop eating. Keep this up, and your teeth will hurt again."
Ji Qingxi ignored him.
Ji Qingrang reached out to snatch it away. She cried out and dodged backward, protecting the candy. The chair had no back, and she suddenly toppled backward.
Startled, Little Mute and Ji Qingrang both reached out to catch her, but Huo Hanzhou moved faster. With one hand, he blocked Ji Qingrang's candy-snatching hand; with the other, he supported Ji Qingxi's shoulder, steadied her, and pushed her back toward the table.
"Be careful."
At the sight, Ji Qingrang narrowed his eyes slightly.
Ji Qingxi was nowhere near as composed and circumspect as Ji Qingrang. His few words had annoyed her, and with nowhere to vent her temper, she slapped the oilpaper packet heavily onto the table. "I'm not eating it anymore."
Huo Hanzhou did not understand why she had grown angry. "Why not?"
Ji Qingxi offered an excuse offhandedly. "The candy isn't fresh. It tastes bad."
Huo Hanzhou blurted out, "How could that be? I always wait for the shop to open and watch him make a fresh batch before bringing it to you."
Ji Qingrang turned his head, the ends of his brows lifting slightly.
Ji Qingxi was still sulking, but she was young, after all. Unable to eat her candy, she dragged Little Mute off to order dishes. Huo Hanzhou had specially chosen the best restaurant at the foot of No Return Mountain for this meal, to thank Ji Qingrang for lending him the saber. She simply had to order plenty of signature dishes and eat her fill.
Watching his sister disappear through the private room's doorway, Ji Qingrang turned to Huo Hanzhou and smiled faintly. "My sister really has a dreadful temper."
Huo Hanzhou said gently, "She's merely young and spontaneous. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."
"Really?" Ji Qingrang's tone was mild, but his gaze was intent.
Huo Hanzhou nodded. "Of course."
Ji Qingrang continued, "Young Hero Huo, you've spent years traveling the jianghu and probably haven't had much contact with young girls. I'm afraid you may not quite understand. My sister, for instance, has a rather poor temper, but her disposition is stubborn."
Sensing something beneath his words, Huo Hanzhou quietly waited for him to continue.
Sure enough.
Ji Qingrang said, "Qingxi has loved malt candy since she was little. Several times, she's eaten her way to a mouthful of rotten teeth, grimacing in pain and promising Father through tear-filled eyes that she would never eat it again. But once her teeth recovered, she would go right back to it, over and over, leaving us utterly helpless. Yet she dislikes taking medicine. When she fell ill as a child, she would even rather grit her teeth and endure it than touch a mouthful of medicine. There's no helping it. She's terribly stubborn. What she likes, she keeps liking; what she dislikes, she keeps disliking. No one can change that."
Huo Hanzhou picked up his cup and sipped his tea. "Young Master Ji, do you mean that to her, I'm merely a piece of candy that gives her a toothache?"
Ji Qingrang shook his head. "No one knows why she loves malt candy, but she has always been this way. When she likes something, she likes it. No amount of persuasion works."
Huo Hanzhou froze. His fingers rubbed the porcelain cup as he fell into thought.
Ji Qingrang said, "Young Hero Huo, my sister has been spoiled to the skies since childhood. She's always been the precious darling the whole family cradled in their palms. As you said, she has little experience of the world and is too young to understand much. She has never suffered the slightest hardship. She grew up loved, and for over a decade, everything has been smooth sailing."
At this point, Huo Hanzhou understood. "I know."
He and Ji Qingrang were both clever men; some things did not need to be spelled out. Ji Qingrang only asked, "I want one answer from you. When the time comes to return Wind Chaser, will you return it or not?"
"What I borrow, I must naturally return."
"Very well." Ji Qingrang tapped his knuckles on the table. "I'll give you one year. Settle all your affairs within that year. If you're still thinking of Qingxi then, bring Wind Chaser to Seven Stars Valley and find her. But if you treat this as nothing more than passing clouds and smoke, I'll have someone plant a Love-Forgetting Gu in her and make her forget you completely. And we will never set foot in Jiangnan again."
He raised his eyes, stressing every word. "As for Wind Chaser, I will find you and demand it back, even at the ends of the earth."
After the meal, they parted ways. Huo Hanzhou accompanied Ji Qingxi through the bustling streets. When night fell and she grew tired, he brought a horse for her to ride while he walked slowly ahead, holding the reins.
Ji Qingxi swung her legs on horseback and asked, "What did my brother say to you earlier? So secretive."
Huo Hanzhou said softly, "He asked whether I would return the saber."
Ji Qingxi gave an "Ah," her face scrunching into a little white bun, and muttered, "Why is he so petty? He already agreed to lend it out, yet he's still so hesitant."
Every word brimmed with disdain for Ji Qingrang.
Huo Hanzhou merely smiled without speaking. He now understood that Ji Qingrang's descriptions of "smooth sailing" and "precious darling" had not been false. She truly was like uncarved jade, naturally free of ornament, clean and pure.
"Huo Hanzhou," she called. "Then did you promise him?"
Huo Hanzhou murmured assent. "I did. I'll come to Seven Stars Valley to return the saber in a year."
"Really?" Ji Qingxi was delighted. She leaned down to tug at his sleeve, her fingers brushing the back of his hand and leaving a tingling itch.
"Then when you come to Seven Stars Valley, shall I take you to the frozen river? It should be winter then too. Will you hang lanterns with me?"
Huo Hanzhou smiled and agreed to each request.
With her wish fulfilled, Ji Qingxi was very happy. She was already talkative, and happiness made her talk all the more.
After humming for a while, she suddenly remembered his original reason for borrowing the saber and casually asked, "Huo Hanzhou, your foster father, the former head of the Ji family-what illness did he die of?"
(III)
Huo Hanzhou fell silent.
The question truly left him somewhat dazed. Yes, how had Ji Chengxuan died?
Huo Hanzhou recalled how his foster father had looked before his death. By then, his oil had run dry and his lamp was guttering. His body had wasted away, and his face was haggard, yet a trace of reluctance lingered in his features, shining through eyes as still as stagnant water, like a bright moon behind dark clouds stealing one final glimpse of the mortal world.
Huo Hanzhou knew that reluctance had not been for him. Ji Chengxuan had been a man of few words. Whatever time he had free of his heart attacks, he spent teaching him martial arts, and his instruction had been strict. Punishing him by making him repeat the same move dozens or hundreds of times was commonplace. Ji Chengxuan had picked him out of a crowd of beggars, but had not forced him to change his surname or asked him to call him Father. Apart from martial training, Ji Chengxuan had rarely even spoken to him.
Sometimes, Huo Hanzhou felt that his foster father had saved him not out of compassion, but merely to pass on his martial arts. In his foster father's eyes, he was no different from a saber, a sword, a cup of water, or a book.
The only time Ji Chengxuan had shown emotion was just before his death. Stubborn almost to the point of obsession, he had stared fixedly at the tightly shut door nearby, his gaze shifting from anticipation to disappointment, then finally to despair. He watched that door, knowing it was futile, knowing the person he waited for would never come, yet still he watched, until his life faded, until he died with his eyes unclosed.
Huo Hanzhou knelt before his bed and asked, "Foster Father, who are you waiting for?"
But Ji Chengxuan did not answer. He never told him these things, not even at his death.
What a heartless man he was. He had saved him, yet refused to be his father; taught him as he grew, yet spared him not even that final thread of reluctance.
Yet Huo Hanzhou still cried. Tears spilled from his eyes almost in an instant, falling onto his chest before he even realized it, making his body tremble.
Ji Chengxuan had felt no reluctance to leave him even in death, and so he had never called Ji Chengxuan Father, not even at the end.
Yet when Ji Chengxuan was buried, he had silently carved the words "My Late Father, Ji Chengxuan" into his gravestone with his own hands.
Their bond as father and son had ended just like that.
Afterward, he traveled the jianghu only to settle two matters Ji Chengxuan had seldom mentioned in life, but which had always brought a change to his expression whenever he did-Wind Chaser and Ji Zhiyuan, both lost when the Ji family fell into ruin all those years ago.
Ji Qingxi understood and comforted Huo Hanzhou. "Your foster father was tormented by his heart ailment. Now that he's dead, perhaps it counts as a release."
Huo Hanzhou could not untangle Ji Chengxuan's unspoken regrets and remorse. He knew his foster father had been plagued by his heart ailment for years, its attacks making life worse than death. Thinking of it that way, Ji Qingxi's words made sense. Perhaps death had truly been a release for his foster father.
Ji Qingxi jumped down from the horse and walked in front of him. "Who exactly was your foster father waiting for before he died?"
Huo Hanzhou shook his head. "I don't know."
He truly did not know.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Perhaps he was waiting for my foster brother."
Ji Qingxi thought so too. She knew nothing of the grudges and affections of the previous generation, only that Ji Hanchu had such a third uncle in the Central Plains, and precisely because of that, she found Huo Hanzhou's words reasonable. After all, someone he had waited for so long that he refused to close his eyes even in death must have been terribly important. Who could he have been waiting for but his own son? Who else could have made Ji Chengxuan die with his eyes unclosed?
The night was hushed, the moon bright. Ji Qingxi stood where moon shadows overlapped with tree shadows, her features utterly innocent. Taking Huo Hanzhou's hand, she said, "Then if your foster father was still thinking about your foster brother before he died, he must have been very important to him. You must find him. But once you do, you absolutely must remember to come to Seven Stars Valley to find me. You promised to hang lanterns with me."
Huo Hanzhou's hand tightened around the reins. The panic he had felt before Ji Chengxuan's death returned to his chest, but this time it was alive and expectant, spreading into a joy that inspired both love and fear.
He pretended to look at the moon, clenching his hand tightly into a fist where Ji Qingxi could not see it, as though using all his strength to suppress something.
"Why?" he asked Ji Qingxi. "Why must you be with me?"
He had asked this question many times, but Ji Qingxi had never properly answered him.
This time, however, she was serious for once. She spun around to stand before him and meet his eyes, saying softly, "My mother said she asked my father that very question back then, and he went home with her. So now I want to ask you too, and hopefully coax you into coming home with me."
Huo Hanzhou's face flushed slightly, and he murmured, "Shameless girl."
Ji Qingxi cupped his face and smiled at him. "You'd better think this through. Seven Stars Valley doesn't have a good reputation. If you come, people will talk about you. Huo Hanzhou, I'll wait for you for one year. When that year is up, if you haven't come, I'll stop remembering you and go find my own fun in the jianghu."
Huo Hanzhou wanted to refute her first words, but then he heard the rest and immediately said, "The jianghu stands outside the imperial court, where good and evil are hard to distinguish to begin with. You're a young girl. Don't always think about going to dangerous places."
Ji Qingxi let go of him. Before she could speak, Huo Hanzhou's voice sounded by her ear again. "Besides, if your heart is open and upright in all your dealings, you needn't fear having your name sullied."
Ji Qingxi turned her head. "You really aren't afraid?"
Huo Hanzhou said, "I'm not."
Ji Qingxi smiled and reached for Huo Hanzhou's hand, slipping her small palm into his and hooking her fingers around his fingertips.
She asked him to tether his horse and walk back to the inn with her.
She kept laughing along the way, her laughing face alive with an irrepressible innocence and spirit. Huo Hanzhou had been keeping a serious face, but after hearing so much of her laughter, he couldn't help secretly pressing his lips together as a smile escaped.
"Huo Hanzhou, why did you learn martial arts?"
"My foster father taught me, so I learned."
"What did you used to do when you were with your foster father?"
"Eat. Practice martial arts."
"You two were so boring. Not like me. I have so many fun things in Seven Stars Valley... It's just that I don't like practicing martial arts. Mother always says I'm too lazy, that I can't even beat Uncle Mute." Ji Qingxi's eyes were like a bright moon and clouds of stars. "But you seem so powerful. You know, very few people can beat my brother. He's very good. Everyone in Seven Stars Valley says so."
Huo Hanzhou paused in his steps and looked away. "My skills fell short. There's no need to make excuses."
"With martial arts as good as yours, what do you want to do someday?" Ji Qingxi counted off possibilities on her fingers. "Uphold the realm and protect the people? Leave your name in the martial world and be praised for ten thousand generations?"
Huo Hanzhou chuckled. This little girl was nothing like someone who had come out of that sort of strange sect. She was far too simple-hearted.
He said, "I'm only a swordsman, but I don't live for the sword, nor do I live for an empty name."
A person lived one lifetime, and that life was their own.
Huo Hanzhou was simply Huo Hanzhou.
Ji Qingxi held his hand, her eyes bright. "Huo Hanzhou, you're a little dull, but in this one respect, you're exactly like my father."
Huo Hanzhou coughed softly, and even the hand holding Ji Qingxi's trembled. Her soft fingers curled against his palm. As though scalded, his hand grew hot, and his face heated along with it.
Afraid someone would notice his blush, Huo Hanzhou straightened up again with a show of composure, though his hand had clearly grown flustered. Yet however flustered he was, he never let go of Ji Qingxi before they reached the inn.
Outside the inn, Ji Qingxi said goodbye to him, deeply reluctant to part. "Huo Hanzhou, I'm going back to Seven Stars Valley tomorrow."
Huo Hanzhou didn't tell her that he had actually received Wind Chaser from Ji Qingrang three days earlier, but like her, he hadn't been able to bear leaving.
His expression grew a little solemn. He very much wanted to say something more, but his tongue seemed tied in knots. After turning the words over and over, all he managed was, "Take care."
The moon at the edge of the sky was like frost, spilling a gilded radiance. The mountain wind pushed fallen leaves along, passing through the night.
In the still darkness, neither spoke, and neither left.
Ji Qingxi twisted her fingers together, gave Huo Hanzhou one last look, and said quietly, "I'll be waiting for you in Seven Stars Valley. You must come."
The moonlight was so bright.
Everyone said that the turbulent jianghu had its own wind and moon, inscribed with who loved whom and who betrayed whose love.
Yet none of them knew that if, one day, two lovers met, their first sight of each other was a first encounter, yet meeting felt like reuniting with an old friend. From then on, all the wind and moon of the world were dust: she was the wind, and she was the moon.
The long street was empty, the deep night unknowing. Someone smiled and gently closed his arms, holding the person in his embrace with the utmost care, afraid of taking liberties with the young lady.
"All right. It's a promise."
(IV)
Winter came around again.
That day, Ji Qingxi was in the kitchen cooking a bowl of sweet rice dumpling soup. Outside, there was a commotion, with the grating sound of something heavy scraping across the ice that made her heart thump.
She put down the bowl and ran thudding out the door. Standing on the ice, she was just about to voice a complaint or two when she saw her most taciturn great-uncle carrying a coffin made of ice jade on his back, bent at the waist as he headed toward the ice chamber.
She knew what lay inside the coffin: Aunt Xiu's daughter, who had died decades ago.
Somewhat dumbfounded, Ji Qingxi opened her mouth and asked Ji Jingsheng what he was doing.
Ji Jingsheng looked very determined. He hoisted the coffin higher on his shoulder and said in a low voice, "Not putting the daughter in the river. She wants to. I'm carrying her back."
Ji Qingxi blinked, turning his words over two or three times before she understood.
Ji Jingsheng's meaning was simple. Hongxiu wanted to seal her daughter's coffin beneath the frozen river. She said she had been trapped in the past for decades and wanted to let go, wanted to live anew.
But Ji Jingsheng refused. He insisted on carrying the coffin back and wouldn't let Hongxiu seal it away.
Ji Qingxi was bewildered by it all. "Why won't you agree?"
Ji Jingsheng lowered his head. After a long silence, he said, "She cried."
Ji Qingxi froze.
Ji Jingsheng said haltingly, "She doesn't want to seal her away. She can't let go of her daughter."
Ji Qingxi said nothing. She glanced at the heavy ice-jade coffin. The baby's body had been preserved perfectly, as though she were asleep.
She stood in silence, thinking. Just then, footsteps came from behind them. They turned together to see a young woman standing not far away. Her eyes were very red, but their rims were dry, plainly without tears.
Hongxiu walked over to Ji Jingsheng. "Why did you carry her back?"
Ji Jingsheng pressed his lips together. "You cried."
Hongxiu's voice was muffled. "I didn't."
"You did cry."
Hongxiu suddenly raised her voice. "I didn't!"
Both Ji Jingsheng and Ji Qingxi jumped. Ji Jingsheng hurriedly but carefully set down the coffin and put his arm around her shoulders, coaxing her as though soothing a child. "Little Xiuzi didn't cry. She didn't. She really didn't..."
Hongxiu pushed at him, looked into his eyes, and asked again, "Why did you carry her back?"
Ji Jingsheng reached out and stroked her hair, his fingers passing through the long strands lifted by the wind.
He said, "If you can't bear it, don't seal her away. Let her stay where she was. She can be my daughter."
Ji Qingxi lowered her eyes. Waves surged through her heart, but she left without a sound.
She left the space to the man and woman on the frozen river and slowly made her way toward the kitchen.
The sky darkened. The wind stirred the grains of snow on the trees, sending a few flecks of white fluttering down.
She remembered how, on countless snowy nights, her great-aunt known as "Yaoguang" had always stood side by side with Aunt Xiu, sometimes smiling as they drank together, sometimes chatting and joking. Now and then, they would raise their heads together to watch fireworks blooming across the ink-dark sky, lighting two pairs of silent eyes.
Such fine moments and beautiful scenery deserved to be called "a lifetime together."
Ji Qingxi's eyes curved with her smile. Thinking of her sweet rice dumpling soup, she quickened her steps, only for Little Mute to suddenly turn up from somewhere and block her path, stopping her completely.
[Little muddlehead, where are you going?]
"To have soup," Ji Qingxi said brightly. "Would you like some, Uncle Mute? I'm generous. I'm willing to share a bowl with you."
Little Mute shook his head, mischief showing in his eyes as he signed: [I don't want any, but you could ask the person at the entrance whether he does.]
Ji Qingxi snapped her head up, nearly colliding with Little Mute's chin.
Annoyed, Little Mute curled a finger and knocked her on the head. [Girl, have you never seen a man before? Your mother will laugh at you if she finds out.]
Ji Qingxi didn't dodge, obediently accepting the knock. Her heart brimmed with surging joy, as though the moonflowers she loved best had bloomed over every mountain and plain. She knew it was him. It had to be him!
It was Huo Hanzhou.
He had really come!
Ji Qingxi ducked down and, light on her feet, slipped past Little Mute in a flash, racing away in a few swift steps.
Her brows and eyes were all smiles. Truly overjoyed, she ran faster and faster, across the frozen river and along the covered corridor, until she saw the figure by the entrance. Only then did that joy finally settle into something real, making even her fingertips tremble.
Ji Qingxi stared at him, her voice racing ahead of her thoughts as she shouted, "Huo Hanzhou-"
He heard her and turned.
It was the Lantern Festival. After three days of heavy snow, Seven Stars Valley was white as far as the eye could see. Little Mute had made the arrangements ahead of time, so everywhere one looked, bright lanterns dotted the night beneath a sky blazing with stars-a splendid vision of fiery trees and silver blossoms, starry bridges and iron chains.
She came to a stop and looked toward him.
He was still dressed as he had been a year ago, in light traveling clothes, his features handsome and refined. With two longswords on his back and Wind Chaser hanging at his waist, he stood tall and graceful beneath a tree, free and unrestrained.
Looking at him, Ji Qingxi fell into a daze.
She was the daughter of Red Adornment and Ji Hanchu; deep devotion and unbridled freedom were written into her bones. If she chose to wait, she truly would wait. If she said she would let go, she truly would let go.
But she had always believed in him, without needing to ask more or doubt. She had believed with such certainty that he would come, and he truly had.
He walked up to her, unfastened Wind Chaser, and offered it with both hands.
Lifting his eyes, his face filled with the same irrepressible joy, he said in a steady voice, "Ji Qingxi, I've come to keep our promise."