Xue Xianzi had been tightly bound by Yu Qifeng, initially hidden in an iron cage before being stuffed into a Celadon Jar. Despite the constant comings and goings at Wangting Manor, his exceptional hearing allowed him to perceive everything clearly. Unfortunately, his Internal Force training was so refined that his breathing remained undetectable to others. Thus, even after Shen Langhun thoroughly scoured the manor inside and out, Xue Xianzi remained undiscovered.
He spent a total of five days inside the Celadon Jar. By the second day, his sealed acupoints had cleared, but emerging would inevitably lead to a fierce battle. So he chose to remain hidden. From the moment Wangting Manor was leveled by explosives to being loaded onto a cart along with numerous similar jars, he endured four days of jostling and clattering before arriving at an intensely hot location.
It was the dead of winter. Though Wangting Manor was situated in the southern hills where ice rarely formed, thin snowflakes still drifted down, and the cold bit to the bone. Yet the Dissolute Shop’s carriage seemed to be heading somewhere increasingly sweltering. Trapped inside the Celadon Jar for five days, even Xue Xianzi’s profound Internal Force couldn’t prevent him from struggling to breathe in such oppressive heat. Fortunately, just as he was on the verge of suffocation, the jar was finally set down.
Upon being placed, he sensed that peculiar, bone-chilling cold again—undeniable proof that the Blue Ice Coffin was nearby. He didn’t know the outcome of the three-way battle between Yu Konghou, Zhu Yan, and Gui Mudan, but judging by the Dissolute Shop’s orderly aftermath, their leadership remained intact. At least one of Yu Konghou or Gui Mudan had survived unscathed.
But where exactly had he been taken? Once the jar was settled and all human voices faded, Xue Xianzi snapped his bonds and effortlessly pushed open the Celadon Jar’s lid, slipping out through the opening. Lifting his gaze, he found himself in a crudely dug room made of yellow earth. One corner was stacked with large Celadon Jars, while the Blue Ice Coffin rested silently in another. Opening a few jars, he discovered they mostly contained severed limbs of women. He shook his head—such cruelty. To maim and kill, leaving behind limbs that once belonged to graceful beauties—how pitiful, how tragic.
After circling the room, he absently touched his long, silver-white hair. This was a secluded corner, unguarded, with a bronze door but no sign of people inside or out. A place like this couldn’t possibly hold him. Smoothing the hair from his forehead, he wondered—had they mistaken his jar for one containing severed limbs during their retreat and accidentally transported him here? The thought of Yu Qifeng now carefully guarding an empty jar delighted him, lifting his spirits. Darting to the door, he found it locked, but with a surge of Mystic Skill, the bronze lock snapped open.
Outside lay a massive pit, roughly fifty to sixty feet in diameter and over thirty feet deep, filled with roaring flames that radiated unbearable heat. A chain bridge stretched from the bronze door to a passage on the opposite side, its links glowing red-hot from the inferno below. Xue Xianzi inhaled sharply—what kind of hellish place was this?Looking to the side, there was another small door beside the pit of raging flames. The door was also made of bronze, with a leaf-like pattern cast upon it. Xue Xianzi shook his head. Since the Flame Chain Bridge was impassable, he had no choice but to venture through this door. He pressed his ear against the bronze door and listened—inside, there was the sound of breathing, steady and patient, drawn out in long, measured breaths. Xue Xianzi sighed and reached out to knock on the door.
The breathing behind the bronze door suddenly ceased, leaving a silence as if no one was there at all. Xue Xianzi waited for a long while, but the person behind the door still made no sound. He shook his head again. "Since I knocked, it means I come with an open heart, and I know you're behind this door. Hiding now is too late—come out."
The bronze door remained shut. Xue Xianzi muttered to himself, "So stubborn. I was hoping for a beauty with a melon-seed face and willow-leaf brows behind this door. If you're beautiful and stubborn, that's called loyalty; if you're ugly and stubborn, that's just foolishness..." Suddenly, with a creak, the bronze door swung open, and two Black Short Arrows shot out from within. Xue Xianzi spun aside, and the two arrows missed, plunging into the fire pit. He then looked at the person hiding behind the door.
It was a young man dressed in black, with wheat-colored skin, clear and earnest eyes. In his hand was a small Black Bow, a quiver of Black Short Arrows on his back, and a long sword hanging at his waist. Xue Xianzi exclaimed, "Ah! You must be—Qu Zhiliang's disciple." The black-clad youth was taken aback, his expression puzzled, but he didn’t ask any questions. Instead, he kept the tip of his Black Short Arrow trained on Xue Xianzi.
Xue Xianzi laughed heartily. "Are you wondering how I recognized you as Qu Zhiliang's disciple at a glance?" The black-clad youth nodded but remained focused, keeping the arrow pointed at Xue Xianzi. Xue Xianzi smiled charmingly. "The first time I saw your master, he was just like you—Black Bow, long sword, youthful arrogance, a bit silly." The youth clearly didn’t agree with the "youthful arrogance, a bit silly" description, but he wasn’t angry either. He simply gave another "Hmm." Xue Xianzi clasped his hands behind his back and circled around him a few times. Wherever he moved, the youth’s arrow followed. After a few rounds, Xue Xianzi remarked, "You seem quite obedient." The youth "Hmm"-ed again, still intently watching his arrow.
"If you're such an obedient child, why are you sitting in this ghastly place, watching this giant fire pit?" Xue Xianzi continued circling him, now to the left, now to the right, and the black-clad youth spun along with him in a dizzying dance. Xue Xianzi, amused, picked up speed, darting around like the wind with his light-footed agility. The youth still followed, but though his focus was strong, it couldn’t match Xue Xianzi’s decades of cultivation. Eventually, the youth grew dizzy, his steps slowing. Seeing this, Xue Xianzi only accelerated, whirling around him seventeen or eighteen times at breakneck speed. The youth’s vision swam with stars, and at last, he swayed and collapsed to the ground.Xue Xianzi burst into laughter, thoroughly pleased with himself for having managed to dizzy Qu Zhiliang's disciple by spinning in circles. The black-clad youth had fallen to the ground, but Xue pulled him up with a firm grip and dusted off his clothes. "Kid, your spinning skills are sorely lacking," he remarked. The youth nodded, deeply impressed by Xue's composure and cultivation, yet retorted, "Give me another year of practice, and I'll surely win." Xue pinched his cheek. "At such a tender age, don't be so obsessed with winning and losing. Your master, back in the day, refused to heed my advice—always competitive and full of himself. I told him his archery was exceptional, that with dedication, he could pioneer a new path in the martial world. But he wouldn’t listen, abandoning the bow for the sword. And the result? His sword didn’t make him invincible as he’d hoped, while his bow—well, you’ve forged your own legacy with it. I wonder if your master would regret his choices if he knew?" The youth shook his head. "Master wouldn’t regret it."
Xue was taken aback. "How do you know?" The youth’s gaze was steady, unshaken by Xue’s words. "Because Master is already dead." Xue fell silent, patting his own head in bemusement. Was this boy foolish, stubborn, or simply the type to charge headlong into a wall without looking back, even if it meant breaking his neck? "Good lad, tell this old senior—what brings you here?"
"I’m on guard duty," the youth replied, eyeing the silver-haired, dashing scholar in white robes with skepticism as he referred to himself as an "old senior." "Did you come from the Flaming Iron Chain Bridge?" Xue coughed lightly, boldly implying affirmation without admitting he’d actually crawled out of the neighboring room’s Celadon Jar. "What exactly are you guarding?"
OpenNovel