Three thousand worlds, vainly sighing for the red spider lilies.
The mirror's dust, originally nothing at all.
That night in Bodhi Valley seemed not of this world.
Xue Xianzi walked into the valley, his steps light, without a sound, as if merely stepping into a dream—one that might shatter with the slightest exertion.
Snow-white flowers blanketed the mountains and plains, their faint fragrance lingering in the air, subtle and elusive. Xue Xianzi wove between the tombstones until he found one of bluish stone, then sat before the grave.
The tombstone was unnaturally smooth; even the gentlest moonlight cast a cold, clear glow upon it. Ren Qingchou stood behind Xue Xianzi, observing that the stone had been polished by some rigid palm technique akin to Iron Sand Palm, a laborious effort. The inscription was simple: "Tomb of My Wife, Zhao Zhen." The strokes were rough, carved by Sword Qi, suggesting the swordsman had been in great turmoil when etching them.
Xue Xianzi sat before the tombstone and shook his head. "Why is there no wine?" Ren Qingchou, however, was intently studying the swordplay embedded in the inscription, silently learning. "I don't drink." Xue Xianzi glanced at the tombstone and sighed. "A clear breeze, a bright moon, a widower before a lonely grave—parting in life, severed by death, heartbreak beyond measure. Such a scene of sorrowful beauty, yet here you are, stealing the sword technique I carved into this tomb..." He lay down on the ground, as if ready to die on the spot.
Only after carefully deciphering the Sword Qi's path did Ren Qingchou speak. "Elder, the third watch approaches. If we don’t act now, we’ll soon lose our chance." Xue Xianzi had intended to follow the ancients' tradition and lament in song, but lacking a kindred spirit, he rose from the ground and gazed at the Lonely Branches Like Snow covering the mountains. "So many flowers—where do I even start burning? These aren’t like the dried herbs in your Elixir chamber. They won’t burn easily." Ren Qingchou pondered. "Then we must sever the roots one by one and use Solar Palm to incinerate the branches."
"Let’s split the work!" Xue Xianzi moved like lightning, tearing the Lonely Branches Like Snow from Zhao Zhen’s grave. The strange vines were tough; his pull unearthed seven or eight roots before they snapped. Ren Qingchou grasped another vine, traced its main root, and dug it out with his sword tip, then attempted to burn it to ash with his palm. Yet his cultivation was still immature—the root merely charred unevenly, refusing to turn to dust.
His face flushed with embarrassment as Xue Xianzi burst into laughter. Picking up the root, Xue Xianzi clenched his fist, and in an instant, the blackened root emitted a wisp of smoke before crumbling to ash. Though ashamed, Ren Qingchou remained undaunted. He continued digging up roots while Xue Xianzi reduced them to cinders.
Working together, they destroyed over half the valley’s Lonely Branches Like Snow in just half an hour.
"Ah—" A sudden scream pierced the air from the other end of Bodhi Valley. "Who—" Ren Qingchou darted forward like lightning and seized the source—a girl of about sixteen. Her face was twisted in terror as she stammered, "Y-you—you’ve betrayed the master—" Ren Qingchou raised his palm, poised to strike her dead, yet hesitated at the last moment.With a single strike, the little girl paled and fainted. Xue Xianzi spat in disdain, "I thought you'd gone back to your old murderous ways! Quick, see if she has any accomplices." Ren Qingchou nodded, drawing a small black bow and nocking an arrow as he began searching the valley. Xue Xianzi lifted the unconscious girl, glancing around before roughly stuffing her into a clump of weeds beneath a tree.
Ren Qingchou circled the area but found no trace of others, returning with his bow still drawn. Xue Xianzi was puzzled—it was midnight, and this girl had ventured out alone. Had she come to the graveyard to test her courage? After much deliberation yielded no answers, the two resumed digging for flowers.
On a nearby hilltop, bathed in moonlight, a man sat cross-legged. His face was pale with a sickly purple flush on his cheekbones, his frame tall and imposing, missing an arm—none other than Zhu Yan.
He breathed rhythmically under the moon, seemingly unaware of Xue Xianzi and Ren Qingchou, eyes shut as he immersed himself in the circulation of his inner energy. The girl Ren Qingchou had caught had been delivering medicine to him. He hadn't died in the battle at Wangting Manor against Yu Konghou and Gui Mudan.
His inner energy flowed drop by drop, rendering his surroundings crystal clear. This clarity expanded gradually—one zhang, two zhang, three zhang... ten, fifteen...
Just as his hearing reached twenty zhang, a sudden "shhh" sound pierced the silence from that distance. He shuddered slightly and abruptly opened his eyes.
At the same moment, Xue Xianzi, who had been tugging at the Lonely Branch Like Snow amid the tombstones, sensed something and turned sharply.
Their gazes locked in an instant. The wind shifted abruptly. Ren Qingchou turned as well, witnessing a sudden gale that sent sand, stones, and petals spiraling skyward. Zhu Yan swung his halberd with a thunderous crash, shearing off a layer of the hillside beneath him. The collapsing earth and rocks tumbled down, blocking over half of a wooden door at the foot of the slope.
"Who are you?" Zhu Yan rose, halberd in hand, his voice hoarse yet commanding, laced with faint confusion.
Xue Xianzi focused intently, not daring to underestimate an opponent who could slice off part of a hill with one strike. Ren Qingchou swiftly took cover behind a large boulder, arrow drawn and aimed at the partially buried door. With such a deafening disturbance, the Dissolute Shop would have to be deaf not to notice now.
"Who are you?" Zhu Yan descended the slope step by step, halberd held behind him. Though his voice was raspy and uncertain, it still brimmed with killing intent.
Xue Xianzi inhaled sharply, exhaled slowly, then grinned at Zhu Yan. "I'm your good friend."
Zhu Yan reached the valley floor, continuing his advance. "I've never had friends in my life."
"Then what do you have?" Xue Xianzi asked cheerfully.
The question seemed to catch Zhu Yan off guard. He fell silent.
Xue Xianzi studied him closely. It appeared he had suffered another head injury—the usual Zhu Yan would never waste words like this; he'd have attacked already. Now, lost in confusion, he seemed to have forgotten himself, yet retained fragments of memory.Zhu Yan remained silent for a while before speaking slowly, "I have martial arts." Xue Xianzi clasped his hands behind his back and turned away. "You are pitiful." Zhu Yan asked, "Why?" Xue Xianzi replied, "Because martial arts are not a possession. You have no friends, no family, no home, no money—isn’t that pitiful?" Zhu Yan’s left hand slid forward along his halberd, gripping its shaft. "I have martial arts. I can defeat anyone, kill anyone—including you!"
Xue Xianzi sighed. "Do you still remember Xue Tao?"
Zhu Yan ignored him, raising the blade of his halberd and thrusting straight toward Xue Xianzi’s chest.
At that moment, the blocked wooden door at the foot of the slope suddenly exploded, and three figures dashed out. Ren Qingchou’s bowstring twanged, sending three black arrows flying toward them. Unfortunately, all three were prepared—two arrows were caught, and one missed.
The newcomers were Yu Konghou, Gui Mudan, and Hongchan Niangzi.
On the slope where Zhu Yan had been sitting earlier, Bai Suche gripped her sword, leading the remaining White-Clad Servants and a neatly lined-up group of about twenty Red-Clad Servants, all watching Ren Qingchou.
Zhu Yan’s halberd, its blade gleaming like snow, shot forward with barely a whisper of wind. Xue Xianzi’s figure blurred, vanishing the instant the halberd struck. By the time onlookers could discern his form again, he had already slipped beneath the halberd, his palm gliding along its length. Zhu Yan twisted his wrist, wielding the halberd like a staff, and roared as he brought it crashing down toward Xue Xianzi’s head. Xue Xianzi dodged—observers saw him shift right, only for him to reappear on the left, still reaching to seize the halberd.
Yu Konghou observed the battle with a faint smile. "For Xue Xianzi to master 'Shifting Forms' to this degree is nothing short of a miracle. But no matter how well he’s trained it, he won’t escape unscathed under Zhu Yan’s halberd." He had already inspected the swordsmen wounded by Ren Qingchou along the path, yet he showed neither urgency nor anger. Instead, he watched the fight between Zhu Yan and Xue Xianzi with keen interest.
Hongchan Niangzi giggled sweetly. "Oh my! Xue Lang is such a lofty master, capable of the 'Thousand Traces Lone Form Shift'! If Zhu Yan’s mind is addled by your blows, he might just lose his edge." She tittered meaningfully. "That night, I really thought you were going to kill him!"
The wound on Yu Konghou’s cheek had healed, leaving only a faint scar on his chin. "Kill him? Why would I kill him?" he murmured softly. "He harmed my cousin. I want him to toil like an ox, to kill my enemies and earn merits for me. I want him to live with nothing and die with nothing, to perish for me amidst a thousand armies one day."
"How cruel you are." Hongchan Niangzi beamed even brighter. "Aren’t you afraid he’ll die by Xue Lang’s hand?"
Yu Konghou watched the fight, lips curving slightly. "Hah!" Gui Mudan let out a sinister chuckle. "With his strength alone, he cost me and Seventh Brother each a tenth of our True Power. Do you think he can kill Xue Xianzi? Seventh Brother took a hit of his 'Essence of Demon's Pearl Spit' just to land a single palm strike on his head, and his internal injuries still haven’t healed. Do you think he can kill Xue Xianzi?"
"So now—we just need to catch that little rat over there?" Hongchan Niangzi smiled charmingly. "First, we capture him, then slice his beloved Wen Hui into a thousand pieces right before his eyes." Gui Mudan burst into laughter. Yu Konghou, dressed in men’s attire today, flicked his sleeve. "Ren Qingchou is yours to handle."Ren Qingchou hid behind a large rock as Hongchan Niangzi giggled coquettishly, circling around to catch him. Ren Qingchou remained composed, waiting until she was almost upon him before firing an arrow. Hongchan Niangzi flicked her sleeve to knock the short arrow aside, but Ren Qingchou swiftly drew his sword from his waist and thrust straight at her throat. With a flourish of her crimson sleeve, she wrapped it around his blade, and as her Internal Force surged, the sword twisted and deformed in her grasp. Smiling sweetly, Hongchan Niangzi swept her left sleeve toward Ren Qingchou’s face—her sleeves were laced with deadly poison, and a single touch would disfigure him. Ren Qingchou strained to pull his sword free while Hongchan Niangzi deliberately slowed her movement, hoping to see fear flash across his face. Suddenly, a faint snap sounded from behind her. Before she could react, a sharp pain erupted in her shoulder—the very arrow Ren Qingchou had shot earlier, after missing its mark, had struck a tombstone and ricocheted back, piercing her shoulder from behind!
With her injury weakening her grip, Ren Qingchou yanked his sword free and retreated in the nick of time, ducking behind another tombstone. Though he had wounded the infamous Hongchan Niangzi in their first exchange, Ren Qingchou showed no trace of arrogance, focusing intently on staying hidden and silent.
To the left, Yu Konghou watched Xue Xianzi flicker in and out of sight, darting back and forth in combat with Zhu Yan. To the right, he observed Ren Qingchou’s clever strike against Hongchan Niangzi. Both sides amused him greatly. "Though these two have destroyed many Lonely Branch Like Snow , the flowers were not wasted. With their skill, they could indeed ruin an entire Elixir chamber —but alas, that’s all they can do."
"What will you do now that those flowers are ruined?" Gui Mudan asked, eyeing the battle. "Where have you hidden the rest of your medicines?" Yu Konghou smiled alluringly. "Now... telling you, dear brother, would bring me no benefit at all." Gui Mudan scoffed. "Do you think I’d steal from you?" Yu Konghou’s eyes gleamed. "Secrets are best kept to oneself." He patted Gui Mudan’s shoulder and pointed at Ren Qingchou. "Someone has betrayed the Dissolute Shop . You can’t possibly let him escape, can you? I’ll wager you can’t finish him in three moves."
With a cold laugh, Gui Mudan darted forward. Hongchan Niangzi, furious from her injury, joined him—their fingers and palms sharp as blades as they lunged at Ren Qingchou.
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