The cave on the hillside was damp and cold, the newly lit fire unable to dispel the chill within.
Mu Qingyan raised a pale brow, his face as fragile as snow-white rice paper in the dim firelight. Hearing Cai Zhao's words, he showed no panic, only calmly asking, "Why do you want to kill me? Is it because you fear I'll press you about that black-clad man's formation earlier?"
"I knew I couldn't hide it from you." Cai Zhao gave a light scoff. "Indeed, I found that man's formation familiar—similar to what my fellow disciples practiced at Azure Tower Sect. But upon closer inspection, though both formations follow the Big Dipper's footwork pattern, they're fundamentally different."
Mu Qingyan said, "That's good. I thought you'd discovered ties between that man and Azure Tower Sect, and feared I'd expose your sect's collusion with Nie Zhe, hence silencing me."
Cai Zhao coldly replied, "Even if Azure Tower were involved, that's for my master and father to worry over. Why should I meddle in such troubles? I've no intention of playing some righteous hero saving the world."
Mu Qingyan: "If not for that, then why kill me?"
Cai Zhao: "For myself."
Mu Qingyan blinked slowly, then understood. "You want to be rid of me?"
Cai Zhao didn't hesitate: "Yes."
Mu Qingyan exhaled deeply. "So that night at the elegant cottage below Wu'an Mountain, you already wanted me dead..."
"Correct." Cai Zhao's face gleamed coldly, radiating frost. "That night you said as long as you lived, you'd never let me go—so I thought, it seems killing you is my only way out."
"True. If I don't die, I'll keep pestering you. Given time, others would notice." Mu Qingyan seemed quite approving.
Cai Zhao clenched her jaw, gaze icy: "You understand perfectly. Once you're dead, I can return to my carefree life, free from Demonic Cult fiends."
"All your current troubles stem from me. Eliminating the source is logical."
Growing angrier, Cai Zhao spat, "What does it matter whether Zhou Yuqi and Min Xinrou truly love each other? I only care about living comfortably—whether he's happy means nothing to me! Who asked you to meddle?!"
Mu Qingyan weakly chuckled: "How ruthless."
Cai Zhao slowly drew her Bright Sun Blade: "Your life's been bitter, filled with decades of resentment—but I didn't cause it. Why should I suffer with you?"
Mu Qingyan: "Couldn't be more correct."
Cai Zhao stepped closer, expression frigid: "Seek your own vengeance, bear your own suffering. I'll live freely as I please. If I don't kill you, what if someone finds out later?!"
Mu Qingyan: "Then why wait?"
The damp firewood refused to burn properly, instead emitting thin smoke.
Cai Zhao halted three paces from Mu Qingyan, her beautiful eyes like winter stars.
The cave's atmosphere grew stifling. After a tense silence, Mu Qingyan gave a mournful smile. "I always knew you had the heart for this—"
Mid-sentence, the girl suddenly slapped herself hard, then turned and shattered a protruding rock at the cave entrance before vanishing like the wind.
Leaving Mu Qingyan alone in the cave.
Desolate. Smoke-filled.
...Nearly choking to death.
Having endured countless upheavals since youth, Mu Qingyan rarely showed surprise—yet now he gaped dumbfounded.
Finally, he muttered bitterly, "At least stab me first. Even pulp novels do better than this."According to the newly published Records of Qinghuan's Romance , the Immortal Lord's sword missed by a few inches as she struck, and upon seeing the Demon Realm's young master drenched in blood, her heart softened. The two then embraced and wept bitterly, their affection growing even deeper.
The smoke in the cave grew thicker. Mu Qingyan, supporting his severely injured body, stood up and muttered to himself, "The writers these days are getting more and more unreliable. What nonsense are they writing? It's completely inaccurate..."
Just then, a faint gasp came from outside the cave—it was Cai Zhao's voice.
Mu Qingyan tensed, gritted his teeth, and mustered his strength, dashing out to search for her.
The wounds that had just stopped bleeding split open again, but he paid no heed. Leaping and vaulting through layers of branches and vines, he finally found her in a peculiar, immobilized pose at the edge of a cliff.
Mu Qingyan took a closer look and immediately understood what had happened.
—A bluish-gray pine tree clung to the cliff face beyond the precipice, its farthest-reaching branch entwined with an emerald-green vine. At the end of the vine, a cluster of unremarkable pale purple flowers curled upward.
Cai Zhao had apparently reached for the tiny purple flowers, leaning halfway over the edge. But after days of rain, the rocks and soil at the cliff's edge had softened. Just as her right hand barely grazed the flowers, a section of the cliff crumbled away with a loud crash. The left side of her body, which had been gripping the cliff, suddenly lost its hold.
Fortunately, the area was dense with vines. In her panic, she managed to wrap herself around them, preventing a fatal fall.
Now, the problem was this: she could either flip back to safety or pluck the trembling cluster of purple flowers ahead—but not both. If she risked lunging forward to grab the flowers, she’d have to kick free from the vines holding her. Once she had the flowers, there’d be nothing to anchor her, and she’d plummet. If she used her qinggong to flip back, the movement would tug the vines, causing the bluish-gray pine to collapse with the crumbling rocks—and she’d lose the flowers.
After piecing it together, Mu Qingyan shook his head, stamped his foot, and sighed as if scolding a wayward child. "Such a lack of ambition, yet you dare to act ruthlessly! What’s so special about these flowers anyway? Worth getting yourself stuck like an overturned turtle? If I hadn’t come, how long were you planning to hang there?!"
As he spoke, he picked up a fallen vine nearby and looped it around Cai Zhao’s waist.
The girl’s face flushed crimson with embarrassment. She hated being caught in such a humiliating position by the Painted-Skin Demon, but luck simply wasn’t on her side. Before leaning out, she’d stomped the ground several times—it had seemed solid enough! How could it collapse so easily? Even cliffs these days had no honor!
With Mu Qingyan’s help, she deftly stretched forward and yanked the entire cluster of purple flowers free. As the pine tree crashed down the cliff, she somersaulted back to safety. The moment her feet touched the ground, she tossed the flowers into Mu Qingyan’s arms.
He turned them over in his hands. "What are these? Do they grant immortality if eaten?"
Cai Zhao huffed. "I forgot the name, but they fortify vitality, replenish essence, and stanch bleeding—a rare treasure in this world. They’re incredibly hard to cultivate. My mother only has a few dried petals, gifted by my aunt. With these, you could fight three hundred more battles right now and still stand strong."Mu Qingyan held the flower garland, unsure whether to feel grateful or helpless. "...Weren't you just trying to kill me?"
Cai Zhao's expression turned solemn. "My aunt never killed anyone for personal reasons her entire life. I can't tarnish her reputation!"
Mu Qingyan silently tucked the flower garland into his robe. "So are you still going to kill me? After all, I'm the leader of the Demonic Cult. Killing me wouldn't count as purely for yourself."
"No, I won't." Cai Zhao sounded somewhat dejected. "In this world, it's better to seek harmony and prosperity."
"Zhao Zhao finally understands." Mu Qingyan looked pleased. "And then?"
"It seems we won't find the Shi brothers on this trip. We should go back. Matters I need to settle myself can't be avoided forever." Cai Zhao hung her head dejectedly. "Sigh, you were right. No matter how mediocre Jade Kirin is, no matter how affected Min Xinrou acts, at least they're sincere with each other. What business do I have getting between them? No matter how much Qi Lingbo mocks me, I need to go back and terminate the engagement."
Mu Qingyan placed a hand on the girl's slender shoulder, speaking earnestly. "This is good. There's something I didn't tell you. On the night Zhou Yuqi asked to break off the engagement, Qi Lingbo publicly demanded to cancel her engagement with Song Yuzhi in front of many people—she said since they were engaged, they should treat each other well. If they couldn't do that, it was better to end it early."
"She finally couldn't take it anymore." Cai Zhao sighed. "Even someone as vain as Qi Lingbo knows you can't force affection. I'm not as wise as her."
Mu Qingyan stood with one hand behind his back, looking radiant. "The only flaw with Third Young Master Song is his inability to reject what he doesn't like. No matter how unsuitable Miss Qi was, he shouldn't have dragged it out until she couldn't take it anymore and had to call it off herself."—In truth, he knew perfectly well Song Yuzhi had planned to break off the engagement before setting off for Wu'an. He was just stirring the pot.
"Sigh, priceless treasures are easy to find, but true love is rare. I only hope more people in this world can understand this." After stirring the pot, he served up a bowl of inspirational soup.
Cai Zhao rolled her eyes. "Hey, that's enough out of you. Stop with the long sighs and righteous lecturing! Get this straight—you're the Demonic Cult leader, I'm the North Star disciple. Don't steal my act, okay?"
Mu Qingyan broke into a smile, clearly delighted. "No wonder everyone wants to be a hero. Though heroes face many constraints, when they argue, their words always seem more reasonable than others'."
"My aunt said something similar." Cai Zhao couldn't help adding. "When she first entered the Martial World, people called her reckless, unruly, absurd... and so on. But after she earned her heroic reputation, even when doing the exact same things, they became 'wise and righteous,' 'helping the weak and oppressed,' 'hating evil as one's enemy,' and such."
Mu Qingyan couldn't suppress a chuckle. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly felt the ground give way beneath him. "Oh no!"
Across from him, Cai Zhao's face changed.
They had just grabbed each other's hands when a deafening roar shook the earth—the entire cliff face collapsed! They didn't even have time to speak before plummeting downward, a torrent of yellow mud and rocks roaring above their heads.
...
After an unknowable amount of time, Cai Zhao slowly regained consciousness. Her first sensation was of aching bones—even lifting an arm felt exhausting.
When she finally managed to open her eyes, she saw the simple wooden beams of a rustic village house. To her left was a smooth yellow earthen wall, to her right a small bamboo table piled with the purple flowers she had gathered. Beside the flowers stood a small incense burner containing mosquito-repelling coil incense. The fragrance carried notes of fresh grass and bitter herbs, quite pleasant to smell.Opposite the table was a bamboo couch. Mu Qingyan seemed to be even more severely injured than her, lying under thin bedding with a pale, almost greenish complexion.
Seeing the child wake up, his dark eyes lit up with joy like fireworks in the night sky.
Cai Zhao turned to him, about to speak, when suddenly a burly uncle with a thick beard entered the room carrying two bowls of medicinal soup, followed by his plump, chatty wife.
Cai Zhao widened her eyes—wasn’t this the blacksmith uncle and his plump wife they had met in the village earlier?
She exclaimed in delight, “Uncle Qiao, Auntie Qiao! Was it you who saved me?”
The blacksmith uncle placed the two bowls of medicine on the table, scratching his head awkwardly as if unsure how to begin.
The plump aunt—no, the plump sister—sat down beside Cai Zhao. “How many times have I told you? Call us brother and sister! I just look mature and steady, but I’m actually quite young.”
Cai Zhao gave an embarrassed chuckle.
The plump sister—no longer the plump aunt—placed a handful of melon seeds by Cai Zhao’s pillow. “What were you asking just now? Oh, you got two things wrong. First, it wasn’t me who saved you—it was my father-in-law. Second, my husband isn’t surnamed Qiao. We lied to you before.”
Cai Zhao blinked in confusion. “Oh.”
But Mu Qingyan caught the oddity. “Not surnamed Qiao? May I ask what your honorable husband’s surname is?”
The plump sister winked playfully. “My husband naturally shares my father-in-law’s surname.”
Mu Qingyan pressed on patiently, “And may I ask what your esteemed father-in-law’s surname is?”
Finally, the blacksmith brother couldn’t hold back anymore and blurted out, “Shi! I’m Shi, my father’s Shi, my whole family’s Shi!”
Cai Zhao’s eyes brightened. Before she could ask anything, a burly old man lifted the door curtain and strode in.
He gazed at Cai Zhao with warmth and affection in his eyes. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d see little Zhaor in my old age. You take after Xiao Feng more, but your eyes are exactly like Ping Shu’s.”
Cai Zhao was both shocked and overjoyed, nearly stammering. “Y-you… you are…”
The old man stroked his beard and smiled. “This old man is Shi Tieqiao.”
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