Enemies meet on a narrow road - Part Three
That day, they ate four home-style dishes from Yijian Mountain, one of which was cooked by Changji, who moved a chair and stood in front of the stove.
After dinner, they accompanied Changji to play games such as hide-and-seek, jujube mill, banquet table games, and pitch-pot. Just after 9 PM, the chubby child, who had been overly excited by the arrival of Han Yizhi and Wang Boyu, fell fast asleep.
Han Yizhi lit the lamp, and together with Wang Boyu and Pei Jiangxi, they moved stools and sat down in the courtyard.
“Changji was a child we rescued from bandits when Boyu and I came down the mountain.” Han Yizhi placed the oil lamp on the ground in the middle of the three of them and gestured with her hands to show the size of Changji: “At that time, he was still in his swaddling clothes and could do nothing but cry.”
"His parents?"
"He's dead, and we have no way of knowing where he was from."
Wang Boyu looked down at the flickering flames and listened quietly.
"And then you raised him until he was this big."
"The year Boyu and I went to Canghai Sword Manor, we entrusted him to one of my disciples in Yijian Mountain." Han Yizhi looked around, her gaze full of tenderness: "Thinking about it, it's been two years since I came back."
Pei Jiangxi became alert. This was something she had never experienced or heard of before.
Why should I tell you?
Han Yizhi looked at her earnestly: "We hope you can protect him."
Pei Jiangxi frowned.
"What I mean is, if something happens to both Boyu and me, we would like to ask you to take care of him for us."
"Why would you say that?" Pei Jiangxi tried her best to keep her tone calm.
“I can’t quite explain it, I just have this feeling.” Han Yizhi looked up at the sky, as if trying to find the answer to her question among the stars. After a moment, she looked at Pei Jiangxi and said, “Actually, I’ve had this feeling for a long time, back in the eastern suburbs of Wenqu City.”
"The place where we first met."
"right."
Pei Jiangxi glanced at Wang Boyu beside her; he was intently watching the flame of the oil lamp. It was as if a monster might leap out of the light if he wasn't careful. Cold sweat trickled down Pei Jiangxi's back, not out of fear of the "monster" in the flame, but out of disbelief at Han Yizhi's intuition—Wang Boyu should indeed have met his end there.
"You are very capable and unfathomable. I can never figure out what you're up to." Han Yizhi laughed self-deprecatingly.
“I’m not as amazing as you say,” Pei Jiangxi said honestly. “If I were really that good, I would have been a king long ago. Why would I bother with all this mystification and convoluted stuff?”
"Maybe so. But most importantly, Boyu trusts you a lot," Han Yizhi said softly. "So I want to trust you too."
"Why does he have this name?" Pei Jiangxi asked.
Wang Boyu raised his head, and Han Yizhi's smile became even warmer. She said, "When we found him, he was wearing a longevity lock around his neck, and this was his name on the lock. This was the name his parents gave him, their blessing for him."
*
Inside the dilapidated temple, flames crackled and rose to the roof.
"Junior Sister Xue." The girl, dressed in purple, held a long sword at her waist in her left hand, her figure exceptionally graceful. She looked worriedly at the bright moon in the sky: "We haven't received any messages from Senior Sister Feng and the others for several days."
"Senior Sister Yu," Xue said, opening one hand towards the flames to greedily absorb the warmth, while waving the other hand to beckon Yu to sit down. "Don't worry about it. Communicating every day is a pain in the ass. It's normal to slack off for a day or two now and then."
“There must be a reason behind the rules set by Master,” Yu retorted.
"Senior Sister Feng and Senior Sister Yan are the strongest among us. Apart from our master, I'm afraid no one in the world can beat them." Xue said dismissively, then added resentfully, "That missing Chunfeng is no good either. She's some kind of holy maiden, and in the end, we still have to clean up her mess."
Such words should not be spoken again.
"Master is so biased! Why do they get to have names, like 'Spring Breeze and a Thousand Trees'? We have to be called by the names of our moves." Xue didn't stop there; instead, she became even more indignant. "In terms of martial arts, Senior Sisters Feng and Yan are much stronger than them. Master insists on talking about talent. If she really had talent, how come she was so weak and got captured?"
"They can become saintesses because they can master all seven sword styles," Yu explained patiently, as she always doted on her junior sister.
"I can practice too, Senior Sister, you can too. How would you know if we haven't practiced it?" Xue's dissatisfaction reached its peak, and she was no longer in a state where reasoning was possible. "Anyway, the Holy Maiden doesn't have to be the strongest, so why not let me be the one? I'm even prettier than the two of them."
Yu shook her head, trying to pull her out of this mood, and said, "I heard that it was the people from the Hall of Longevity who captured her, so you must be careful."
"So what if it's the Hall of Longevity?" Xue sneered disdainfully. "Our Misty Rain Pavilion is the one that truly deserves to be called the leader of the three great sword sects. A hundred years ago, the people of the Hall of Longevity were driven into seclusion by our ancestors."
“Master is undoubtedly unparalleled in the world.” Yu agreed with her opinion, feeling proud but also reminding herself, “Now that we are acting separately from Master, we must be careful.”
“Unless their temple master comes in person, they are just a bunch of rabble and will not amount to anything,” Xue said. “If they think we are like that saintess, they are sorely mistaken.”
Yu felt helpless, thinking, "Well, we've come full circle again."
"Go ahead and say it, Senior Sister," Xue said, tilting her head back.
"say what?"
"Between me and the spring breeze, who is stronger?"
After recalling for a moment, Yu said, "In the previous competition, you were indeed the better one."
"Are you really willing to let someone like this inherit the mantle of Yanyu Tower in the future?"
“We have to follow Master’s arrangements,” Yu sighed.
"Master, Master. You're all like this, only listening to Master." Xue fanned the flames in front of her in a huff. "If I had your martial arts skills, I would have protested long ago. The Holy Maiden should be chosen based on merit, not have Master's absolute authority."
"Be careful what you say." Yu's expression changed; she hadn't expected Xue to speak so bluntly and disobey her master.
“Master isn’t here, what’s there to be afraid of?” Xue was completely lost in her own daydream: “I think if we could replace her with someone else as the Holy Maiden, we would not only wipe out the Hall of Longevity, but also Peach Blossom Spring sooner or later.”
snort.
"Why are you snorting at me?" Xue said, sounding a little aggrieved. "I'm just feeling sorry for you guys."
"Stand up," Yu commanded.
"What?" Xue clearly didn't understand the situation.
Yu drew her longsword from her waist and warily scanned the area beyond the reach of the firelight. Yu shouted sharply, "Who are you, great hero? Why suffer the cold outside? Why not come out and meet me?"
"After so many years of silence, Yanyu Tower has only produced a few incompetent fools."
Xue then realized that the sneer from earlier hadn't come from Yu. She hurriedly stood up, drew her longsword, and stood back to back with Yu.
"Ahead!" Yu suddenly shouted.
Xue immediately turned and drew her sword. Raindrops and snowflakes condensed in the air and flew towards the suddenly attacking black shadow. But almost at the same time, the sword intent of Yu Xue vanished without a trace.
No, perhaps it was swallowed up. A terrifying thought popped into Yu's mind.
They wanted to draw their swords again. The old man was already in front of them.
"Where is Li Letian? Where is the person you rescued from Yunxia Peak?" The old man had only one arm, his eyes were bloodshot, and his expression looked as if he wanted to devour them whole.
I don't know what you're talking about?
The old man's anger vanished instantly. He said calmly, "Is that so? Then you may all die."
Flames rose to the roof, and the moon's position could be seen through the holes in the roof tiles. It was already past midnight.
*
Pei Jiangxi first heard the splashing sound of oars slicing through the water, followed by the sound of oars hitting the side of the boat.
"If anything happens to us, we hope you can protect him for us."
"Boyu believes in you, and I want to believe in you too."
Han Yizhi's soft words lingered in Pei Jiangxi's mind.
"Guests, we've arrived." It was another unfamiliar voice. Before Pei Jiangxi could think further, her consciousness sank again.
"Guest," the man seemed a little angry, "please stop pretending to be asleep, or I'll have to hand you over to the tiger."
Give it to the tiger? What nonsense are you talking about?
The man finally couldn't resist and reached out to shake Pei Jiangxi from side to side.
Pei Jiangxi opened her eyes, and the person in front of her had a cat's face. Strangely, Pei Jiangxi didn't feel anything strange about it, as if it were perfectly normal.
The cat-man pushed Pei Jiangxi ashore and instructed, "Keep going."
The sky was pitch black, yet there was enough light to see everything clearly. Pei Jiangxi looked up slightly and could see two enormous suns hanging in the dark sky. The suns were so large that Pei Jiangxi could clearly see their patterns from her position.
The light must be coming from there.
A bustling market street was not far from where the boats were moored, and it seemed to lead straight to the location of the two suns.
Pei Jiangxi followed the cat-man's instructions and merged into the crowd, though she wasn't sure if it could even be called a crowd anymore. Every single one of the pedestrians had their back to her. Even so, she could still make out that the "people" had the manes of wild horses and the horns of goats on their heads.
On both sides of the street, people with pig noses and pig ears, dressed in pink, were hawking rouge; white rabbits were selling banquet paintings and bows and arrows; and yellow dogs with drooping ears were carefully sketching sugar paintings in front of their stalls. Ahead of Pei Jiangxi, a strong horse strode forward, a plump goat trudged along, and a slender, graceful chicken swayed gracefully.
The further you go, the warmer the two suns in the distance seem to radiate.
Another person darted up behind Pei Jiangxi. As they passed each other, they collided, and Pei Jiangxi stumbled. Pei Jiangxi saw that he had a pair of prominent, monkey-like ears, and a round tail that swayed from side to side without stopping for a moment.
Every "person" here has the head of an animal, yet Pei Jiangxi felt neither confusion nor fear. These people were completely oblivious to Pei Jiangxi's intrusion, as if she were simply one of them.
Pei Jiangxi thought again of the cat-man who had woken her on the small boat. No, perhaps it was a tiger.
The only thing these "pedestrians" have in common with Pei Jiangxi is that they are all walking forward, leaving each other with only their backs.
"Girl," someone whispered.
A dog by the roadside peeled a sugar painting from a wooden board; the sugar had solidified into a tall, handsome man. It was probably not fully formed yet, because as soon as it was picked up, one of the man's arms fell off.
Pei Jiangxi wanted to stroll along the street to see what else was being sold. But the crowds were so dense that she couldn't change her direction. She continued towards the sun.
"girl."
Pei Jiangxi heard the voice again, and she realized it was probably calling her. She looked around; the "people" were all different shapes and sizes—rabbits, dogs, horses, sheep—and their eyes varied in size and color: red, blue, dark brown, and light brown. But none of their eyes were looking at her.
At the roadside stalls, cows holding spears stood at regular intervals, their round, bulging eyes staring intently ahead. None of them seemed to be looking at her in particular.
"girl."
Pei Jiangxi was certain that the persistent voice was calling her. She tried to find the source of the voice and was about to turn around when a strong arm wrapped around her shoulder, abruptly stopping her movement.
"Don't look back."
Pei Jiangxi turned her head slightly and saw those emerald green pupils staring straight at her. As he spoke, a snake's tongue flicked out of his mouth.
She felt scared for the first time, so she didn't say anything.
"No matter what you hear, don't turn around." With those words, the snake slowed its pace and remained behind Pei Jiangxi.
Fearing being overtaken, Pei Jiangxi quickened her pace. The sun seemed to be getting closer.
"Jiang Xi." Someone called out.
She tilted her head back and walked straight ahead.
“Jiang Xi.” The man grabbed her arm.
She struggled to pull her hand away from his grasp.
"Jiang Xi, it's alright now." The man's voice became urgent.
She turned her head and saw Chen Changji's face.
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