"That terrible place chosen by that little medicine fool. He just had to settle in some cave in Xueling, where there is not even a tree anywhere around. Even buying a jug of wine means running all the way to this miserable Pingyan Land."
Early the next morning, Jiagu Qing grumbled as he headed toward Pingyan Land.
He had not gone far when he saw thick smoke billowing up from the northeastern corner of Pingyan Land, with flames rising everywhere.
"A fire this big?Are they roasting meat or something?"
Jiagu Qing did not pay it much attention and kept walking straight toward Pingyan Land.
As he drew nearer and nearer, people kept running past him from time to time, all fleeing in the opposite direction. Looking at the crowd scattering in panic, Jiagu Qing quickly grabbed one person and asked,
"Hey, where are you hurrying off to like this?"
"Where else can I go? I am running for my life! For some reason, Lord Nangzhe flew into a rage in Pingyan Land and slaughtered every ghost servant and guard in his whole manor. Now he is out on the streets, catching people one by one and ripping out their cores to eat their marrow. If I do not run now, should I stay and wait to die instead?" the demon woman replied.
Hearing this, Jiagu Qing slapped his forehead.
"I nearly forgot there was still one more thing I had to do."
Pingyan Land was covered in corpses. Blood flowed through the streets like a river, and the whole city had almost been reduced to scorched ruin.
Nangzhe had just caught a demon trying to flee. His scarlet eyes glowed with a bloody light, and with a flick of two fingers, he carved the inner core right out of the fallen spirit's body.
Jiagu Qing strolled over from not far away. Corpses lay everywhere on both sides of the street, and the blood had long since covered the ground's original color. Pingyan Land had always been a place where all kinds mixed together, but no matter what, it was still the one place in the three realms that could shelter sinners. After Nangzhe's rampage, however, it had plainly become a living hell.
"So early in the morning.Even if Pingyan Land is a mixed place, it is not somewhere that one man alone gets to decide everything. Acting like this, are you not being a little improper?" Jiagu Qing asked.
"Not your business." Nangzhe leaped forward at once and started fighting Jiagu Qing.
Seeing Nangzhe spring toward him, Jiagu Qing looked completely unconcerned. He feinted a few times and easily dodged, then lightly tapped off the ground and landed on a rooftop.
"At such a young age, with such a terrible temper, it is very easy to grow old."Jiagu Qing casually smoothed his hair as he spoke.
Nangzhe kicked off the ground and charged after him again.
"Oh, he is chasing me now." Jiagu Qing turned and ran.
The two of them dashed across roofs and walls through the city of Pingyan Land. It looked as though Nangzhe was chasing Jiagu Qing relentlessly, yet it also seemed that Jiagu Qing was deliberately leading Nangzhe toward his manor.
"This should be the place."
Jiagu Qing stopped not far from Quanya Pavilion and calculated quickly with his fingers. With one lift of his hand, he tore the roof right off Quanya Pavilion.
Sunlight poured down through the opening in the roof, and Hua Ruoying in the Thousand-Year Cold Ice coffin looked as if she were still only sleeping.
The light shining on the coffin made it gleam with a crystal clarity. Her red wedding robe did not have the slightest wrinkle, like a crimson flower of the underworld sleeping beneath the sea.
"She is a beauty girl."
Standing on the roof, Jiagu Qing looked at the sleeping Hua Ruoying and sighed softly.
Nangzhe had finally chased his way here as well. The moment he saw that the roof of Quanya Pavilion had been torn open, the fury in his eyes needed no explanation.
Watching Jiagu Qing drag the Thousand-Year Cold Ice coffin and Hua Ruoying out of the room, Nangzhe felt as if his own heart had been pulled up with the coffin and lodged in his throat.
Hua Ruoying was his reverse scale. No one was allowed to touch her.
"Put her down!"
Nangzhe suddenly snapped his left hand forward and summoned a golden long whip, lashing it at Jiagu Qing with all his strength.
"Huh? Oh."
Jiagu Qing deliberately acted confused and suddenly let go with both hands.
"Oh? You do know some spellwork."
Jiagu Qing remarked carelessly, then flipped lightly and landed in the courtyard.
Hua Ruoying and the coffin, still being held by Jiagu Qing's power, descended into the courtyard with him.
"Little beauty, I will deal with this fellow first, then I will come back and send you on your way."
Jiagu Qing cast her a sidelong look and flew at Nangzhe.
"Who exactly are you?"
That palm strike just now had caught Nangzhe before he could dodge, and the flow of spiritual power in his body was clearly beginning to strain. At his current level of cultivation, he simply was no match for the man before him. Yet why did this person care so much about Hua Ruoying?
" You know perfectly well you cannot beat me, so why waste your strength?"
Jiagu Qing stood there lazily, both hands tucked into his sleeves, looking as though he could not be bothered in the least.
"What do you want?"
"For one little fox spirit, is it really worth this?"
"Shut up!"
Driven mad by rage, Nangzhe swung his whip again, this time pouring power into it.
Jiagu Qing had no intention of taking the blow. At the instant the whip was about to strike, he stepped back. The whip swept past him and cracked against the ground. Jiagu Qing merely raised one foot and pinned one end of the whip under it. No matter how hard Nangzhe pulled from the other end, it would not move even the slightest bit.
" I truly had no interest in meddling in your affairs. But since that little golden core from my side happens to like her, then as his elder, I should help him out a little."
"Little golden core?"
"Oh, even if I explained it, you would not understand. She is only a flower. What do you know of the seven emotions and six desires?"
Jiagu Qing too lazy to explain. His other hand rested on the Thousand-Year Cold Ice coffin. With a light push, the coffin shattered all around.
"What are you doing? Stop!"
Seeing Hua Ruoying's coffin shattered, Nangzhe flew into a fit of rage and summoned Zixuan Yingqing, firing a full-force strike straight at Jiagu Qing.
Jiagu Qing had just been about to touch Hua Ruoying's forehead. Sensing the power of the flying strings, he quickly withdrew his hand and dodged.
" Where did you get something this good? "
Looking at the qin in Nangzhe's hands, Jiagu Qing's tone carried a trace of mocking disdain.
Nangzhe grabbed all the strings at once and poured every last bit of spiritual power in his body into them. A blinding purple light slowly gathered before the fingers pulling the strings. When he released them, a tremendous wave of force shot straight at Jiagu Qing.
Jiagu Qing did another flip in place, passing over Hua Ruoying's head and exposing most of her body. As he flipped over, he did not forget to lightly tap a finger against her forehead.
"Oh no!"
Consumed by rage, Nangzhe had completely ignored where Jiagu Qing had been standing before.
That strike did not hit Jiagu Qing at all. Instead, it went directly into Hua Ruoying's body.
"All done. Time to go drink."
Landing lightly, Jiagu Qing dusted off his hands and looked with great satisfaction at Hua Ruoying, whose body had begun to glow faintly purple after being struck by Nangzhe.
"Oh, It's your fault. not mine."
Jiagu Qing glanced at Nangzhe not far away, quickly stepped back twice in refusal of responsibility, and disappeared.
"No, no!"
Seeing Hua Ruoying's body beginning to dissipate, Nangzhe panicked. He threw Zixuan Yingqing to the ground. That strike had not only hit Hua Ruoying's body, it had struck straight through his heart as well.
"No, you cannot going anywhere. You belong to me. No one can take you away from my side."
Nangzhe's hands fumbled wildly across Hua Ruoying's body, but he could not grasp even the smallest trace of her. She had already become a swirl of fading petals, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not touch her.
Watching Hua Ruoying disappear completely from his hands, Nangzhe felt as if a sharp, burning blade were slowly and brutally carving through his heart.
"Ha... hahaha... hahahaha..."
Nangzhe suddenly tore off his mask, revealing Ou Shinan's face. The veins in his neck stood out clearly. He lowered his head, shoulders shaking, his scarlet eyes burning like the flames of hell. As his insane laughter grew louder and louder, tears rolled down in heavy drops without stopping.
"Since none of you will leave me a way to live, then I will drag every last one of you down with me. The golden core... again, Yun wannian!"
Looking at the last traces of Hua Ruoying disappearing completely, Ou Shinan slowly picked up the familiar hibiscus-colored jade bracelet and tucked it carefully into his robe. His lashes trembled uncontrollably. Even after he steadied his breathing and opened his eyes again, there remained only deep loneliness and a chill colder than anything before.
Outside the Xueling cave,
Mie Xingzhe turned his head, he saw the smoke in the distance.
"That direction is... Pingyan Land.Jiagu-senior said this morning that he was going down to Pingyan Land to buy wine, and he still has not come back. Could something have happened to him?"
"Master, Master!"
Mie Xingzhe rushed into the cave.
He collided headfirst with Li Luoning, who was just walking out. The herbs in Li Luoning's hands were knocked all over the ground.
"So reckless. What is it?"
Li Luoning was irritated from being hit so suddenly, and he asked sharply.
"Master, there is so much smoke rising from that direction. Jiagu-senior went down the mountain this morning to buy wine, and that is exactly where he went. Could something have happened to him?"
Mie Xingzhe pointed anxiously toward the distant smoke.
Li Luoning followed the line of his finger.
That is the direction of Pingyan Land.
But then he thought it over. With Jiagu-senior's cultivation, there was hardly anyone in the three realms who could hurt him. And if anything truly had happened, Jiagu Qing would probably have been the first one to run.
"With Jiagu-senior's cultivation, even ten of me together could not beat him. There is no need to worry. As for you, have you memorized the heart method I told you to study this morning? Come here and recite it for me."
Holding the herbs he had picked back up from the ground, Li Luoning sat down on a nearby rock and asked.
"Ah? Oh..."
The moment he heard this, Mie Xingzhe visibly wilted.
He had been outside playing with the gecko for so long that he had completely forgotten about it.
He walked unwillingly up in front of Li Luoning. His hands behind his back rubbed together nervously. He looked like an eggplant beaten by frost, and he stood there for a long while without saying a word.
Li Luoning sat there, picking grit from the herbs. After waiting a long time and still hearing nothing, he finally looked up at him.
The guilty look on Mie Xingzhe's face told him everything. Li Luoning slapped the herbs in his hand down on the stone table in front of him, making Mie Xingzhe jump.
"The way of heaven and earth..." Li Luoning prompted in a heavier tone, while his hand unconsciously tightened around a twig from the herb basket.
"The way of heaven and earth, foulness and purity are born together, yin and yang oppose each other, all things follow their proper order, change without constancy, life and death have their root, and divine clarity dwells within. To heal illness, one must seek the root... all things... all things change, so there is no... no..."
Mie Xingzhe's voice grew smaller and smaller.
"And then?"
There was anger in Li Luoning's voice. Mie Xingzhe shivered and instinctively took half a step back.
His head hung low, and he bit his lower lip without realizing it. Both hands behind his back rubbed and twisted nervously.
There was a distant coldness in Li Luoning's gaze.
Mie Xingzhe drooped his head, but the corner of his eye remained fixed on the hand gripping the twig. The moment he saw the twig clenched in Li Luoning's hand, his legs went weak, and he shrank back again. The instant he raised his eyes and met Li Luoning's gaze, he unbelievably saw in those eyes the same coldness he had seen only in the nightmare.
"And then?" Still in a daze, Mie Xingzhe heard Li Luoning's voice again and blinked himself back to the present.
"Ah?"
After hesitating, Mie Xingzhe stammered,
"A-and then... the rest... I... I still have not... not memorized it."
"Hold out your hand."
"Master,please."
Ever since waking from the nightmare, Mie Xingzhe had carried a faint fear of Li Luoning in his heart. Looking at Li Luoning's expressionless face now, and remembering the scenes from the nightmare, his body trembled uncontrollably.
Had Master not already said that after hearing everything about the nightmare, all he needed to do these days was rest and recover and not worry about anything else? Then why did Master seem even more irritable than before today?
Swish. Crack.
Li Luoning suddenly lost patience. The twig in his hand lashed down hard against the stone in front of Mie Xingzhe.
The sudden sound made Mie Xingzhe jump again. His eyes reddened at once, his lips trembling violently as he looked at Li Luoning with pitiful fear.
"M-Master, please..."
To him, the person before him now felt unbearably unfamiliar. There was a coldness in Li Luoning's eyes that he had never seen before. Even back at Jingyun Residence, when he had once been punished, Master had never looked at him with such indifference.
"What's up? I could hear the two of you making noise all the way from down the mountain. I only went out to buy some wine. What sort of scene are you master and disciple putting on now?"
Just as the two of them remained locked in that standoff, Jiagu Qing's voice came from behind Mie Xingzhe at exactly the right moment.
Hearing Jiagu-senior's voice, Mie Xingzhe reacted as though he had found a lifeline. He turned and rushed behind Jiagu Qing, clutching tightly at his sleeve and hiding there.
"Hey, what is this, you..."
Jiagu Qing was startled by Mie Xingzhe's sudden movement. When he turned and saw Li Luoning glaring angrily in their direction, then glanced at the bent twig in his hand, he understood at once.
"You got into trouble again?"
Jiagu Qing turned back and quietly asked Mie Xingzhe.
Mie Xingzhe first nodded, then quickly shook his head.
"Little medicine fool, when did you become this impatient? If he is only a child, just teach him slowly..."
Jiagu Qing had barely stepped forward to smooth things over when he saw Li Luoning hurl down what was in his hand and turn away into the cave without another word.
Jiagu Qing's raised hand froze there in midair as he watched Li Luoning disappear inside.
"Little golden core, What's wrong with your Master today?"