Ji Yunheng
Above Golden Ao Mountain, Purple Qi like a sea.
The purple qi seeping from where the blue and red hues met was no longer "smoke" at this moment, but a calm and vast purple ocean, hanging above Golden Ao Mountain like an inverted purple dome.
Within the purple qi, there were extremely fine specks of light, like billions of fireflies, slowly flowing along some mysterious trajectory, neither increasing nor decreasing, as if it had been so since the beginning of time.
Zichuan and Ren Han remained standing on the lake, looking up at the scene.
After a long pause, seeing that Ren Han remained silent, Zichuan finally couldn't help but speak, her tone already carrying a hint of barely suppressed urgency:
"Senior Brother Ren, although the extraordinary phenomena are impressive, whether they will succeed or not will only be known upon closer inspection. Currently, the Abbot is still in seclusion, and True Person Void Clarity returned to Green Nuo a few years ago and has not returned since. The five protectors, Liu, Zhang, Han, Zhu, and Li, have also successively gone into seclusion to attempt to break through to the Purple Mansion. Jueming, Nannuo, and Daoist Zheng have already been summoned back to Qixia Mountain. Now, only Senior Brother Lu Yuan and a few others remain on the mountain, along with Yunsong and the other young disciples. If something truly goes wrong on the mountain, with just the few of them, I'm afraid there won't even be anyone who can get close enough to lend a hand."
Upon hearing this, Ren Han finally withdrew his gaze from the vast expanse of Purple Qi and fixed it on the direction of the back mountain of Golden Ao. His expression slightly hardened, and he nodded.
"You're right. Senior Zilin's breakthrough, if successful, is a joyous occasion; if unsuccessful, there will surely be repercussions in the mountains. If we hurry back to the mountains now, we can at least offer some assistance should anything unforeseen occurs. It's better than watching from across the lake, knowing nothing."
After saying this, the two stopped talking and each activated their escape light. Two long rainbows, one golden and one white, rose from the ground above Cibi Lake, cutting through the mirror-like surface of the lake, and sped towards the Golden Ao Mountain Gate.
A strong wind swept across the lake, causing two streaks of light to flash and splash, leaving trails of water like the swirling tails of two silver scales. In the blink of an eye, they arrived in the Embracing Rosy Clouds Hall.
Before they even landed, the two sensed that the atmosphere in the mountain was different from before. After the Purple Qi was gathered up, the entire Golden Ao Mountain was not quiet, but instead exuded an extremely quiet and pure "cleanliness", like the cleanliness of grass and trees after a rainstorm.
The wisp of purple light that descended from the sky, though it had dispersed into the clouds, still left a very faint aftertaste on the mountain vegetation and the eaves of the palace, as if the entire mountain had been cleansed by this Purple Qi.
Lu Yuan had already led the rest of the group to the Embracing Rosy Clouds Hall.
"Junior Brother Zichuan, Junior Brother Ren Han!" Lu Yuan, his face showing relief, and quickly went to greet them. "You've returned just in time. Just now, the purple qi on the mountaintop almost covered the entire back mountain. Our cultivation levels are too low to dare to trespass, and we didn't know how Senior Zilin was doing. We were at a loss for what to do."
Zichuan hurriedly asked:
"Has Senior Zilin emerged from seclusion? Has he sent a message?"
Lu Yuan shook his head:
"Not yet. Ever since that last wisp of purple qi left the cave abode, there has been no further movement from the octagonal pavilion on the back mountain."
Ren Han looked up towards the back mountain and saw that although the purple aura above the cave abode had dissipated, the sunlight falling between the rocks reflected a few very faint bluish-red hues, like embers that had not yet been extinguished.
He pondered for a moment and said:
"Judging from this situation, it doesn't seem like a failure."
Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan's face lit up with joy. "Really?"
Ren Han did not answer immediately, but continued to gaze at the back mountain, his eyes unblinking.
Zichuan replied:
"Senior Brother Lu Yuan, don't be anxious. Senior Brother Ren has the highest cultivation level and the broadest knowledge. If he says 'it doesn't seem like a failure,' then it's most likely a success. Let's go to the back mountain and wait a bit longer."
Upon hearing this, Ren Han and Lu Yuan nodded and said no more. The group then headed towards the back of the mountain.
At the octagonal pavilion on the back mountain, two thousand-year-old osmanthus trees were transplanted after Su Yao broke through to the Purple Mansion; they could barely be considered spiritual trees.
At this moment, a purple figure stood in the pavilion, gazing at the two osmanthus trees with an inscrutable expression.
She had been out of seclusion for a while, but the lingering Purple Qi had not yet dissipated, and her body was still shrouded in a very faint bluish-red mist, like morning dew that had not yet dried.
A mountain breeze swept through the corner of the pavilion, fluttering her clothes and stirring the golden osmanthus blossoms that covered the branches of the osmanthus tree, causing a fine rain of osmanthus petals to fall and soak her shoulders.
She reached out and caught one.
The osmanthus blossoms were tiny, yet incredibly fragrant; they landed in my palm, still carrying the slight coolness of the mountains.
She stared at it intently for a long time before finally shifting her gaze from her palm to the direction of Cibi Lake.
On the lake, two streaks of light, one golden and one white, pierced the mirror-like surface of the water and sped toward Golden Ao Mountain. The golden light was in front, and the white light was behind, like two playful fish, leaving two long trails between the lake and the sky.
"So much time has passed," she said softly. "These two little ones have already reached the Foundation Establishment."
As she finished speaking, the Purple Qi mark between her brows glowed slightly, and her Divine Sense spread out silently like ripples on water, sweeping across all parts of Golden Ao Mountain.
In the Embracing Rosy Clouds Hall, apart from Su Yao and Yang Xiu, and their two protectors, all of Su Yao's disciples that she was familiar with, except for the two on Cibi Lake, were present.
Lu Yuan, Ren Han, Zichuan, Li Xu, Yang Zhao, Lin Shuang, Xu Qingluo... and a Foundation Establishment Child of the same origin as the Spirit Wood Child, were hurriedly gathering towards the Embracing Rosy Clouds Hall along with several other children.
Several auras were missing.
A sense of emptiness washed over her.
She remembered that before Su Yao went into seclusion, everyone had drunk tea, admired the moon, practiced swordplay, and played chess here, creating quite a lively atmosphere.
But now, only the mountain wind and osmanthus trees remain outside the pavilion.
She withdrew her Divine Sense, feeling a pang of regret that she couldn't see Su Yao immediately after emerging from seclusion.
Thinking of what she had seen and heard in the illusion, her cheeks flushed slightly. After a pause, her gaze returned to the two thousand-year-old osmanthus trees in front of the octagonal pavilion.
As the wind blew, the laurel leaves rustled, and tiny yellow flowers fell onto the hem of her purple dress.
She suddenly paused, startled.
On the trunks of the two osmanthus trees, there were extremely faint characters, which, under the lingering glow of the Purple Qi, seemed to be awakened from the depths of the bark by a wisp of pale light, slowly emerging.
The characters, though not deeply embedded in the wood, possessed a clear and sharp style, like the Sword Intent condensed on a tree trunk—it was indeed Su Yao's handwriting.
She walked slowly closer.
The one on the right is engraved with:
"The shadows of the cassia trees cast long, uneven patterns as the night deepens; where in the purple clouds can one find a kindred spirit?"
The inscription on the tree on the left reads:
"If the mountain breeze could understand the meaning of the Yunheng, it would carry a delicate scent that fills my sleeves."
The two lines, read together, are exactly what Su Yao wrote to her, or rather, to "Zilin". One line uses "Ziyun" and the other embeds "Yunheng", one explicit and one implicit, both referring to her.
Zilin stood between the two trees, remaining motionless for a long time.
She just stared blankly at the two lines of text, her lips moving slightly as she repeated "asking a kindred spirit" and "Yunheng's intention" several times, until her eyes welled up with tears.
It's likely that she was in seclusion when he transplanted those two osmanthus trees.
Yet, he hid those two lines of poetry in front of this pavilion, under the shade of a tree, for so many years.
At the same time, she was certain that Su Yao had used some trickery on the tree. Unless there was a large amount of Purple Qi surrounding them first, and the Purple Mansion had swept over them with Divine Sense, these two lines of poetry would never have appeared.
He neither urged her nor disturbed her, but simply regarded the annual blooming of flowers in front of the pavilion as an extremely long wait.
"Ji Yunheng." She suddenly murmured her name, as if it hadn't been called in so long that it was unfamiliar even to herself. "Su Yao... is this what you wanted to tell me?"
She raised her hand, and her fingertips very lightly touched the word "yin" on the laurel tree on the right. The bark of the tree was rough, but the mark of the word was warm, as if it had been rubbed countless times.
A mountain breeze rises again, and the fragrance of osmanthus grows even stronger.
The golden stamens from the two trees overhead fell softly, like a silent rain of flowers, gently enveloping her purple figure.