Chapter 9

In the vast sea of ​​sand, the strong wind blows wildly.

Night fell swiftly, turning the sky a deep inky black. In the desert's sandstorms, the people living in this desolate land, using their wisdom, built their homes around a freshwater lake, their towering structures shielding them from the wind and preventing sandstorms from eroding their water sources. The locals emerged from their homes, glanced at the shifting clouds, wrapped themselves tighter in their clothes, closed the doors and windows, and lit candles.

Although this land is desolate, there are still people living peacefully here.

"Brother Lu, you're back!"

Ge Yue, who was drawing water by the lake, stood up and caught sight of the man riding a camel. She smiled and greeted him.

When the man in white heard someone call him, he turned his head out of his hood, waved, and continued walking.

Ge Yue hugged the water bottle in her arms, watching the ripples in the bottle with delight. Her face was half-covered in the reflection. She had specially changed into a brand new veil today. She smiled and raised her head, but the man in white had already ridden away on his camel.

Ge Yue lowered her head dejectedly and carried the water bottle home.

The man in white rode a camel, with a small creature in front of him. Afraid she would move and fall off, he simply held her in his arms and tied her to his body.

"This little guy is so small," he thought.

Before he could reach the oasis, a gust of wind brushed past his ear. He instinctively drew his scimitar and held it in front of him. The weapons clashed, sparks flying.

"Senior Sister, did you come all this way to pick me up?"

The woman in red turned around, leaped, and landed steadily. She put away her twin swords and looked at the people on the camel.

"Ah Lu, why did you act on your own without consulting me?"

Ah Lu hugged the person in her arms tightly with one hand.

“Since that person entrusted the matter to you, Senior Sister, it must be very important. I brought the ‘goods’ in advance so that I could deliver them sooner and get it over with. How could it be that I acted on my own?”

He leaped down, glanced down at the person in his arms, and then looked at the woman in red.

"Don't worry, senior sister. I'll take responsibility for anything that goes wrong. I'll take this on."

Ah Lu carried the person and walked towards the nearby houses, stopping as she passed the woman. She whispered:

“I saw the Hidden Sword disciple. He seemed to be injured, and the injury was very serious.”

The woman was stunned.

"Senior sister, he's in Chengdu. If you want to go, go and see him."

The woman lowered her head for a moment, then looked up at the girl in the green dress in his arms, put on her hood, and with a light leap, disappeared in an instant.

A-Lu sighed. He glanced at Yang Yuan in his arms. Her brows were furrowed, her eyes were still moving under her eyelids, she seemed to be sleeping restlessly, and her hand was tightly clutching his collar, pulling his clothes down a little.

"You almost ripped my clothes off, little girl, you're pretty strong."

Yang Yuan had a dream.

In her dream, she stood alone in the vast desert sands, surrounded only by scorching light and the heat that burned her skin. She wore a long green dress in the Confucian style of her sect. Her throat was completely exposed, and the wind and sand whipped against her skin, making her feel nauseous and want to vomit.

She walked aimlessly, her feet sinking deeper and deeper into the sand. The scalding heat enveloped her calves, making her want to reach out and pull her legs out.

Hey! Wake up, wake up!

She heard human voices coming from the horizon, but they were indistinct. She looked around and searched, but then suddenly opened her eyes.

A man in white was standing in front of her, supporting his weight on the headboard, looking at her.

This person's eyes are heterochromatic.

The man in white stared at her for a long time, then reached out to touch her forehead, but Yang Yuan slapped his hand away.

She panicked and tried to sit up, reaching out to push the person in front of her, but she didn't touch them at all and sat up immediately.

The man in white flipped over and sat down on the table, legs crossed, sizing her up.

"It seems she has recovered; she even has the strength to sit up."

Ah Lu joked.

Yang Yuan looked around in fear, the unfamiliar environment making her nervous; she looked down at her clothes, still wearing her green silk dress; she shrank into a corner and hugged herself, her eyes fixed on the man in white, afraid that he would come closer.

Looking at her, A-Lu found the girl increasingly interesting. She jumped off the table and went over to touch her, but was slapped away by her.

"Don't come any closer!!"

Yang Yuan's voice sounded like that of a helpless wild beast, attacked by a pack of wolves and forced to muster its courage.

A-Lu froze, seeing her eyes redden with emotion, tears slowly streaming down her face. In the end, he took a step back, turned around, and walked out of the room.

As soon as the door closed, Yang Yuan let down her guard, but she couldn't relax at all. She gripped the blanket tightly in fear, biting her lip repeatedly before letting go. Finally, she hugged herself, lowered her head, and burst into tears.

Xue Hua...where are you...?

I'm so scared...

Help me...

Ah Lu leaned against the doorway, heard the crying, crossed her arms and looked up at the sky, where the bright moon shone like still water.

"Ye Min, calm down!"

"Let me go! I'm going to kill him!"

In Guangdu Town, Chengdu, people come and go. At this moment, a large crowd gathered around, watching a man and a woman at the town entrance dragging a Cangjian Villa disciple who was holding a sword, and a Cangyun warrior in black armor standing opposite them.

The woman in pink who had been pulling Ye Min away shook her off, and Ye Min was carried to the other side by the man in red robes and silver armor. She frowned, turned to look at Xue Hua, then relaxed her brows and said to the onlookers:

"Everyone, please disperse. There's nothing to see in a family quarrel. Instead of wasting your time, please come to my Qixiufang for a chat and add some excitement!"

The crowd began to murmur and disperse. Ye Min gradually calmed down. The red-robed general patted him on the shoulder, and Ye Min, panting, turned his back to the crowd.

Qingyan shook her head and looked at him, troubled and unsure of what to do.

She and Cheng Feng, a soldier from the Tian Ce Mansion, were on their way to Cangshan and Erhai to check on the fodder and grain being sent to Dongdu, and were stopping here for a rest. But as soon as they arrived at the entrance of Guangdu Town, they saw a crowd gathered and heard the sounds of fighting.

They went over to take a look. Good heavens, it was Ye Min fighting with a Cangyun soldier. Cheng Feng immediately went over and pulled Ye Min away without saying a word. Qing Yan went over and saw that the Cangyun soldier had bruises on his face and was tightly clutching an object wrapped in coarse cloth in his hand. Without thinking too much, she could only try to calm Ye Min down first.

Qingyan walked up to Ye Min, whose face was filled with obvious displeasure and anger. She reached out and wiped away the wound on his face, and the wound gradually healed as her fingertips touched it.

"Look at yourself!" Qingyan sighed. "Making such a scene in public, don't you have any sense of responsibility as a disciple of Cangjian Manor?"

Ye Min's complexion, already pale from Qingyan's words, turned even more sallow.

"Alright, Qingyan. He's already sensitive about his image. If you keep talking, he'll get angry and throw a tantrum!" Cheng Feng said with a smile, patting Ye Min on the shoulder.

"Hmph, he was so arrogant just now, I really didn't see how he could be so thin-skinned, his pride is thicker than the walls of Yanmen Pass!" Saying that, he poked his head with a finger.

Cheng Feng turned around and saw Xue Hua still standing there. He walked over and forcibly pulled him over.

Upon seeing Xue Hua, Ye Min gripped the Xitian Lingxue sword tightly, ready to fight.

Cheng Feng quickly stood in front of him and, after much persuasion, managed to get him to put away his heavy sword.

Seeing the awkwardness between the two, Qingyan had no choice but to ask, "Can one of you explain this to me? There must be some reason for this fight."

Ye Min and Xue Hua simultaneously looked up and glanced at the other person.

"Ask him."

Ask him!

...

Cheng Feng stood behind them, helplessly rubbing his forehead.

Ming Cult.

Yang Yuan didn't keep crying. She was worried that the man in white would rush in and hit her, so she could only bite her arm. The little girl's skin was delicate to begin with, and on her perfectly good arm, there was a ring of ugly teeth marks from the bite.

"Eeya—"

The door was suddenly pushed open. She loosened her grip on the blanket and stared at the person in the doorway.

A-Lu came in carrying a bowl containing some thin porridge. The desert was nothing like the water towns of the Central Plains; to make their journeys easier, they ate dried meat and naan bread to stave off hunger.

This little bit of rice was borrowed from Uncle Ge.

"Have you cried enough? Your voice must be hoarse." A-Lu carefully placed the bowl on the table. Looking at her, she said, "You haven't eaten for several hours. Have some porridge to tide you over. Otherwise, your stomach will hurt."

Yang Yuan dared not move, staring intently at the man in white, then at the bowl of steaming porridge. She bit her lip, her hand covering her stomach under the blanket.

I was really hungry.

Ah Lu looked at her and chuckled softly. She walked to the door and leaned against it.

"Don't worry, I didn't poison you. Even if I wanted to kill you, it wouldn't do me any good."

Upon hearing this, Yang Yuan hesitated for a moment, but still dared not make a sound.

The man in white simply stood there, arms crossed, a hint of a smile in his eyes, watching her.

Yang Yuan finally succumbed to hunger. She stared at the man, then at the porridge, and slowly crawled toward it.

She slowly got out of bed, clutching the hairpin in her hand tightly—so that she could at least put up a fight if he had any designs on her.

As she got closer, she could see the man's appearance clearly in the light.

His black hair was tied back, adorned with a golden flame ornament between his brows. He was handsome, with the appearance of someone from the Western Regions. His two eyes, of different colors, watched her movements, a hint of amusement in them.

She finally touched the porcelain bowl, from her fingertips to her entire palm, picked it up, stared at Ah Lu, retreated step by step, crawled behind the bed to hide, and quickly drank it.

Ah Lu looked at her profile, her eyes crinkling with laughter, and the corners of her lips curving upwards.

Seeing that she had finished drinking, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve and spoke softly:

"My name is A-Lu-Ling-Yi, and people from the Central Plains also call me Lu-Ming. And you, little girl, what's your name?"

Yang Yuan didn't answer. She placed the bowl on the nearest stool and hugged herself. The candlelight flickered slowly, the night was dim, and her eyelids finally succumbed to sleepiness. She turned her head and fell asleep.

When Alu saw that there was no sound inside, she went over to check, picked up the sleeping Yang Yuan, put her on the bed, covered her with a blanket, and quietly walked out, closing the door behind her.

Ah Lu leaned against the door, gazing at the sky. The moonlight reflected in his eyes, a gentle glow emanating from them.