Chapter 30#

This secret conversation allowed the news that incited the desires of countless people to fly into major sects along with carrier pigeons. One spread to ten, ten spread to a hundred. Whether it was the high monks with hearts like bright mirrors in ancient temples, or the lower-class sects that killed countless people in the Jianghu, they were all more or less involved in this vortex of material desire.

All this, due to the caution of Jianghu people for various purposes, and their unique cunning and alertness, was actually kept watertight. The net of encirclement and suppression was laid layer by layer, but the link that broke away from their plan still appeared at the place where everything started, Luoying Valley.

Not long after this news spread, the master of Danxia Temple left the journey to Miao Territory without authorization, leading his five proud disciples, a group of light cavalry, and went straight to Luoying Valley secretly. After rushing for several days and nights without sleep or rest, this group finally arrived at this valley like a paradise, and the dust on their faces also eased.

Temple Master Yan Yong looked at the ruins of the old site of Futu Fortress hidden in the wild grass, and couldn’t help stroking his beard and laughing loudly: “Haven’t seen it for twenty years. In that bloody battle, Yan was still a hot-blooded young man. Now I am past the age of thirty. Things have changed and people are different. I should have been sad, but thinking that I can use all kinds of ill-gotten gains for the people, Yan only has feelings of joy in his heart at this moment!”

Hearing this, the disciples around him all laughed and echoed: “The Temple Master cares about the country and the family, truly a compassionate heart! Others are dull and unbearable, naturally they can’t understand—if Futu Fortress really has such a monstrous treasure, how can it be transported back in a short time? Instead of following the crowd and planning the encirclement and suppression with them in the long run, we might as well take a step ahead and search for treasures personally in this old site with extremely lax defense.”

Yan Yong laughed loudly: “Exactly so.” As he spoke, he pushed aside the weeds and walked slowly towards the dilapidated magnificent architectural complex, his eyes full of uncontrollable excitement. He said as he walked: “Look, on this road, corpses once littered the field, blades were curled, and corners of clothes were splattered with grease. In the end, everyone’s tiger’s mouth was bleeding, but they still refused to give up moving forward. We should have all died here in battle. Thanks to Golden Saber Ruan Congyun, who was also a young hero back then, relying on a sixty-four jin golden saber in his hand, he forcibly led us to cut a bloody path.”

Speaking of this, a relatively intact main hall appeared in front of him, with green tiles and golden walls, still inviting thoughts of the unparalleled brilliance and magnificence of the past. Yan Yong was already excited uncontrollably at this time. While muttering to himself, deeply immersed in the memories of that year, he left his disciples behind, pushed open the hall door covered with cobwebs and walked in, laughing incessantly: “Here, it was right here, Hero Ruan Congyun cut off the head of the previous Fortress Master of Futu Fortress with one saber, and with another saber, nailed the Fortress Master’s wife to this wall. Her eyes were staring so big when she died. At that time, that demon who was still a teenager watched helplessly from that corner as we rushed in, but he was fighting with several elders of Jiaye Temple at that time, how could he get away—haha—he had to watch helplessly…”

Speaking of this, he suddenly realized that the echoing voices of those disciples were gone. While wondering, the sound of pushing the door open came from behind again, creaking for a while, and the air suddenly stagnated. Yan Yong looked back in surprise and saw a man in red carrying a dripping knife walking in slowly. That man was still smiling, his red clothes dark as the fire of calamity, like an Asura demon walking out of purgatory.

Outside the wide-open door, there was a pool of blood. The man looked at one of the disciples still struggling in the pool of blood and laughed low: “I won’t kill you, go deliver a message, say Hua Qianjue is right here, waiting for everyone’s visit.” After finishing, he looked at Yan Yong who couldn’t say a word and whispered: “Do you know, twenty years ago, when I was young, I swore that if any outsider broke into this hall door, I would raise my hand and drop the knife like this—”

The knife light rose, dazzling like the morning glow. In the blink of an eye, all sounds returned to silence.

At this moment, it was also an auspicious day for the knife edge to drink blood, but the youth’s side was another scene.

Cold Moon Pavilion, a thousand hectares of green water, ten thousand silver candles.

Originally a marble palace standing enchantingly among huge flower cups and thorny bushes, built against the mountain, the main hall deep into the belly of the mountain, but at this moment it was dyed hideous by blood. Two young men in spotless clothes walked out of the slaughtering crowd and walked into the Cold Moon Divine Hall first. They were Shen Pinzhen and Hua Jinian. Although their faces were calm, their eyes somewhat revealed a bit of joy and pride. Indeed, the more difficult and arduous the war, the sweeter the fruit of victory.

Following the stone bridge, the two walked slowly to the huge statue surrounded by green water. Their sleeves were blown by the wind, and the waterfall splashed down from high altitude along the fingers of the statue. Each drop was crystal clear, dripping on people’s faces, but cold to the bone.

Shen Pinzhen waved his folding fan while pointing ahead: “Brother Hua, please look, these two forks ahead are the Cloud-Ascending Road and the Cloud-Riding Road. It is said that one leads to the Morning Silk Pavilion and the other to the Evening Snow Pavilion.”

Hua Jinian sneered: “Are you asking me to choose? One road only needs to deal with the Cold Moon Cult Protector, and the other road has to contend with the Cult Leader. You must know which one to take, yet you let me choose, what is your intention?”

Shen Pinzhen laughed low: “Pinzhen has witnessed Brother Hua’s strength with his own eyes. Even if it’s three Cult Leaders, encountering Brother Hua, they can only surrender.” He sent such a high hat over, and Hua Jinian actually stopped arguing, snorted coldly, and said: “I’ll take the right one. If nothing happens, I’ll come find you.”

As he spoke, he leaped over the gap of about a zhang between the faulted stone foothills, stepping on the rainbow and ascending the clouds in the water rainbow. Walking down this stone foothill, only the rustling sound of water could be heard all the way, but he couldn’t see his fingers when he stretched out his hand. It was dim without a trace of light. If not for the young man’s amazing eyesight, he would have almost taken a wrong step and fallen into the abyss. But after turning a corner, the sound of water suddenly fell silent, leaving only the whistling wind. It seemed that he had come to an extremely empty place, and then a few crisp clapping sounds came from the deathly silence. Clap clap twice, ten thousand candles around lit up simultaneously.

Even though Hua Jinian was cautious at every step, he was shocked by this sudden change and turned pale. He subconsciously covered his face with his sleeve until his eyes gradually adapted to the dazzling candlelight, then hurriedly looked closely and found that he was actually in a more brilliant and magnificent divine hall. Unknown how much manpower was exhausted to carve out such a huge palace in the belly of the mountain. Two rows of marble pillars were carved with beautiful flower cups, connecting to the huge white jade throne in the deepest part.

A person sat on the throne, dressed in pale green formal attire, with a high crown and wide sleeves, sitting upright and silent on the throne. His face was hidden in the darkness, appearing even more lonely and desolate on such an empty huge chair that touched nothing on all sides.

“The Cold Moon Cult Leader whom no one in the Jianghu has seen, turns out to be you.” Hua Jinian looked at that person for a long time before whispering such a sentence.

“I didn’t expect that the one coming would be you.” As the person spoke, he finally stood up from the throne. His long robe train dragged across the ground bit by bit with his slow steps. It wasn’t until he completely walked down the white jade steps that the candlelight fully illuminated the person’s tired and handsome face.

“Ruan Xiyu…” Hua Jinian repeated the person’s name in a low voice. He suddenly wanted to know the mood of this person sitting here waiting for Shen Pinzhen. He still vaguely remembered the ambiguous entanglement between those two people in the escort agency. So-called smart people always have some secrets that cannot see the light of day. Thinking like this, a mocking smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: “You are waiting for him here, waiting for Shen Pinzhen? Does that person know… your identity? Sorry, I came, he chose another road.”

Ruan Xiyu smiled faintly: “I was waiting for him here, intending to tell him everything. Since he didn’t come, what else do I have to say? Everyone has some stories to hide for a lifetime, just like you, Brother Hua.”

Hua Jinian’s face suddenly changed. The silver flute at his lower back suddenly slid to his hand. The mountain wind mixed with killing intent rolled the green robe and the spring-white sleeve corner into one. Hair flying, the reflections of these two people were on the water surface on both sides, the same age, the same aloofness, the same heartbreak. Hua Jinian’s sharp eyes were as bright as candle fire, but the attack ultimately condensed but did not release. Ruan Xiyu reached out and held the silver flute in Hua Jinian’s hand, asking with a low laugh: “Why not fight?”

Hua Jinian suddenly laughed loudly: “You are the person I hate most in this life. I swore thousands of times to burn your bones and scatter your ashes, but I don’t know why, this time I don’t want to fight with you.”

Ruan Xiyu looked at him silently for a while, and actually laughed low too: “Since both are heartbroken people, why fight again?” They looked at each other, pointed at each other and laughed loudly, laughing more and more wantonly, until they couldn’t straighten their waists. Then they approached and high-fived lightly, looking at each other provocatively: “Truce this time.”

“Only this once.”

Ruan Xiyu laughed loudly and withdrew his hand, took out a small silk bag from his bosom, handed it to Hua Jinian, and laughed sarcastically: “I originally wanted to destroy this thing. Unexpectedly, Brother Hua spared my life this time, so I’ll give it to you. You will need it for treasure hunting.”

Hua Jinian was stunned, reached out to open the bag, and saw that inside was actually a Futu Token made of jasper. He couldn’t help looking up and asking: “Treasure hunting? What do you mean?”

Ruan Xiyu shook his head and smiled: “How would I know so much about your Futu Fortress affairs. You…” Speaking of this, he reached out to untie the heavy formal crown, threw it aside, turned his back, and walked out of the hall, “If you meet him later, just say the Cold Moon Cult Leader is a coward and has already run away.”

Hua Jinian couldn’t speak for a long time. He put away the Futu Token, seemed to remember something again, took out a small medicine bottle from his bosom, unscrewed it and poured a few drops into his mouth. At this time, he saw a woman dressed enchantingly coming in from outside the hall, so he asked casually: “Sister Su, didn’t I say don’t follow too closely? What do you want with me?”

Su Meiniang lowered her head and said: “The Fortress Master sent a package to the Little Young Master.”

Hua Jinian was stunned, reached out to take it, slowly opened the package, and found a Chinese herbal medicine inside.

Danggui (Angelica sinensis / Return).

Hua Jinian was stunned for a moment before asking: “Danggui? What does he mean?”

Su Meiniang lowered her head and whispered: “The Fortress Master means, you should go back.”

Hua Jinian cursed: “Does it mean I should go back immediately just because he calls me back? Ridiculous, I am doing important things here at a critical point. What right does he have to order me at will? Does he still think I am the child at his mercy back then?”

Su Meiniang thought for a while before persuading: “In these years you have been out, has he ever asked you to come back once? Sending these this time, maybe there really are some urgent matters needing you. Besides, it’s been two years, haven’t you missed your father even once?”

Hua Jinian lowered his head. Cracks appeared on his ice-like expression. Struggle, hesitation, anger, bitterness, and other emotions oozed out like well water. She asked him, don’t you miss your father? With such a huge gap empty in the heart, doesn’t it ache faintly late at night, sleepless all night? Never?

Hua Jinian gritted his teeth and turned around, squeezing a sentence out from between his teeth: “Let me think about it alone again.”