Water Moon in a Mirror, Part Four
The grain of sand you see in the morning may be a hundred miles away by evening.
A strong wind swept across the desert, raising grains of sand that reflected a golden light. They swayed and twirled in the air, dancing around the travelers in the sand.
Standing higher and looking further, observing the world with a broader perspective, one can see a completely different scene: thousands of translucent "ribbons" fluttering in the desert sky, stretching towards the distant horizon.
The "ribbons" shimmered with the rhythm of breathing, sometimes bright, sometimes dim, like a celestial river. Under the bright blue sky, these thousands of dazzling "rivers of stars" passed by travelers, kissed their cheeks, and then rushed towards the boundary between the sky and the desert at different angles and directions.
Another tiny grain of sand rose from the ground, leaving its own dune. It was so small that even if it hit a traveler's cheek, it would go unnoticed. The sand swirled and rose in the wind, spending little time on the traveler before quickly merging into the "galaxy," flowing with its other kin towards the unknown distance.
After several falls and several swirling motions, the sand finally followed the trajectory of the "galaxy" to the edge of the desert. At the end of the "galaxy" lies an insurmountable peak. From afar, one can see the sacred white of its summit.
Those white sands, unchanged for millennia, seemed to have remained stationary, never moving. The wandering sands unknowingly reached the end of the "galaxy," where they encountered an indestructible mountain cliff.
Those are the Pamir Mountains to the west, the Kunlun Mountains to the south, and the Changbai Mountains to the north. They created this desert with their own hands, and they also trapped it indefinitely.
The sand reached its end, sliding down the rock face until it finally came to rest in a crevice in the rocks, settling down like the white sand on the mountaintop.
Will it leave this crevice again, just like it left countless sand dunes? No one can say for sure. What the future holds is inherently unpredictable. Even the Creator's creations will one day defy the Creator's will and follow their own path.
As the seasons change, the ice and snow melt.
Crimson clouds rise, and sudden rain falls.
Sunlight is the greatest clarion call. Clear streams of snowmelt and rainwater cascade down from the highlands, launching an assault on the heart of the desert. More than a hundred rivers, originating from Muztagh Ata, from the Guliya Glacier, from Tomur Peak… they will traverse the entire desert, bringing the source of life to every creature within it.
This was destined to be a tragic journey. Rivers struggled forward, trying to break through the siege of yellow sand and the sun. Hundreds of rivers dried up, leaving only twisted, pitiful folds on the desert surface. Nevertheless, some rivers continued to fight and move forward.
The Yarkand River, the Aksu River, and the Hotan River travel thousands of miles, crossing deserts, and converge into a river that will never flow into the ocean.
Deep in the desert, the Hotan River meets a mountain range that runs east to west across the desert. The southern side of the mountain range is composed of greyish-white dolomite, while the northern side is a stark contrast of reddish-brown sandstone. At the foot of the mountain on the dolomite side, a weary figure walks towards the bank of the Hotan River.
Xin Ruien knew that the only mountain range in this desert was called the Mazartag Mountains. She also knew that if you followed the Mazartag Mountains eastward, you could find a river flowing from south to north deep into the desert. Her mother had told her stories of the wonders of this desert when she was very young.
Unlike ordinary families, Shin Ye-eun takes her mother's surname. When Shin Ye-eun's mother was young, the Shin family was a renowned kendo family in the south. Shin Ye-eun's father married into the Shin family during that period and changed his surname.
The Xin family was located in the southwest, and the head of the Xin family at that time—Xin Rui'en's grandfather—was an upright and generous man, whose character perfectly matched the unrestrained nature of the people of the Western Frontier. It was precisely for these reasons that the Xin family had many retainers from the Western Frontier. These swordsmen from the Western Frontier, together with Xin Rui'en's grandfather, built the Xin family's former glory.
Xin Ruien's mother's mentor was also from Xinjiang. He not only taught her swordsmanship but also told her stories of the region. For example, the story of the brave young Tarim, who single-handedly fought the sand monster to save the oasis; the story of Marjianghan, the girl who sacrificed herself for her faith and was buried at the foot of Mazartagh Mountain; and the cry in the desert, said to come from a girl searching for a key. There were many such stories. They accompanied Xin Ruien's mother as she grew up, and through them, love and courage were passed down.
After Xue Xuanyuan's death, the Xin family naturally became the target of public hatred. Although the Xin family had also done everything in their power to fight against Xue Xuanyuan, people still transferred and vented their hatred equally on every person in the Western Frontier. All of the Xin family's retainers perished, Xin Rui'en's father disappeared without a trace, and Xin Rui'en's grandfather committed suicide at the foot of Ma Shou Mountain. From then on, the Xin family fell into ruin.
To protect her unborn child, Shin Ye-eun, the mother resolutely abandoned her martial arts skills. In the end, only the story remained.
With their food and water supplies nearly exhausted, Xin Rui'en consumed only the minimum amount of energy and hydration. Heading east along the mountainside, at the end of the Mazartag Mountains, where Marjianghan was buried in the story, lay a wide river. Hunger and the heat relentlessly eroded her will; she had lost track of how long she had been walking.
The sand dunes around her remained unchanged, and she would occasionally wonder: Had she never left the same place?
"The sand dunes you see in the morning are completely different from the sand dunes you see at night." This is a line from a story that her mother told Xin Rui'en.
“Do you hate them, Mother?” Shin Rui-en asked.
“I used to be a daughter. Now, I am a mother,” said Shin Ye-eun’s mother.
Xin Ruien opened her eyes; she didn't know when she had collapsed into the sand. She had almost finished her rations and water, but still couldn't find He Zi'an.
She knew that He Zi'an had become that inhuman, ghost-like state because of her.
“The sand dunes I saw this morning are not the same sand dunes I saw before nightfall.” Her mother’s gentle voice rang in Xin Rui’en’s ears again.
Shin Ye-eun gritted her teeth and stood up from the sand pile. "I'm not the same person I used to be."
Although it was faint, Xin Ruien could indeed hear the sound of flowing water in the distance. The Mazartag Mountains were nearing their end.
*
"Dr. Qu."
Qu You's hand rested on Li Najiong's wrist, and she seemed a little dazed.
"Dr. Qu?" Li Letian called out again.
Qu You then realized that the other person was calling her. She wasn't quite used to this form of address; patients used to call her mother-in-law that.
The alley leading to the Qu family clinic was lined with soldiers standing at regular intervals. The already small clinic was also crowded, containing not only Qu You and the patient lying on the bed, but also Xiang Yu, the commander of the loyalist army, Chen Changgui, the city lord of Wenqu City, and Li Letian, the leader of the martial arts alliance. The girl lying on the bed appeared to be the renowned lord of the Canghai Sword Manor.
Each of these people, taken individually, could influence the current situation, yet they are all gathered in this small space.
"Dr. Qu, how is Miss Li?" Li Letian asked anxiously.
"How long has she been like this?"
“It’s been about two months. We’ve been stuck in the desert for so long that I can’t be sure of the exact time,” Li Letian said weakly. “During this time, she would be awake for a short while each day. Most of the time, she was unconscious.”
"It's a miracle that she's managed to hold on until now." Qu You took out a needle pouch containing silver needles from the medicine box beside her and said, "Please excuse us, gentlemen, I'm going to perform acupuncture on Miss Li."
"Then I'll have to trouble you, young lady." Chen Changgui nodded and went out the door.
Xiang Yu took a couple of steps, then turned back and saw Li Letian still standing there, stunned. So she turned back, patted Li Letian on the shoulder, and said, "Grandma Qu is the best doctor in Wuling City. Miss Qu is her only true disciple. Don't worry, Miss Li will be fine."
The three retreated into the alley. Xiang Yu closed the door of the clinic and dismissed the soldiers guarding both sides of the alley. The narrow alley suddenly felt much wider, and Li Letian felt a little more relaxed.
"Thank you very much, Chief Xiang. You helped me find Doctor Qu." Li Letian said with gratitude, "If it weren't for you smoothing things over between the armies in the region, I wouldn't have been able to reach Sword Casting City so quickly."
"Please don't say that." Xiang Yu sighed and said, "Brother Li helped me on Black Mountain. It is my good fortune that I can still do what I can for you in the end."
Hearing Xiang Yu's somewhat dejected words, his attention finally left the tightly closed door. "Has Chief Xiang encountered some trouble?"
Xiang Yu pondered for a moment, then replied dejectedly, "Never mind, there's nothing to hide from you, Brother Li. To my shame, the army is now on the verge of spiraling out of control. The prestigious families will soon appoint a new commander to replace me. Even if it's ten or fifteen days later, I probably won't be able to help you, Brother Li."
Is the war going poorly?
"It's precisely because the war went smoothly," Xiang Yu said with a wry smile. "Back in Black Mountain, we all still had the imperial court as a common enemy. I was able to use Brother Li's name and the reputation of the Beggars' Sect to unite everyone."
"Now that the overall situation has been stabilized, the swordsmen of prestigious families have begun to take action, trying to divide power and interests."
“Even if everyone has their own ulterior motives, there has to be a legitimate reason for changing commanders on the front lines,” Li Letian frowned.
Back in Heishan, Li Letian had endured much disdain from the prestigious sects. Even after defeating He Zi'an, their appraising gazes remained unchanged. He knew these people were capable of such things and would never allow power to slip away.
The fact that Li Letian could entrust the so-called position of leader to someone else without hesitation and go to the Western Frontier to find Xin Ruien was partly because he knew in his heart that he couldn't hold onto this position for long, and that it ultimately didn't belong to him. He had never believed the future of the sword boy that Chen Changji had described to him.
Li Letian's initial and ultimate goal was to secure an opportunity for himself to have an equal dialogue with Xin Ruien. Of course, he was mentally prepared for the outcome that Xin Ruien would reject him.
The sword-making experience that has occupied 90% of Li Letian's life so far has taught him that success is the result of continuous imagination, practice, and adjustment. He will envision every possibility and do his best for the possibility he desires, but he is by no means a man who will indulge in his own fantasies and become unable to extricate himself. Once he fails, he will immediately adjust and try more correct possibilities.
The reason the position of leader was given to Xiang Yu and Su Yishan was partly because the Beggars' Sect and Su Yishan were, in essence, similar to themselves. The Beggars' Sect accepted displaced people from all over the world, regardless of their origins or background. And Su Yishan himself was a sword apprentice, which goes without saying. However, Li Letian did not expect that even the Beggars' Sect could not win the favor of the prestigious sects, and that Xiang Yu would be forced to step down.
“Brother Li, you may not know this, but there is a rumor circulating in the martial arts world these days,” Xiang Yu said. “Some people saw a man and a woman enter Longting Town before Master Li and Young Hero Bai. They are the ones who killed Master Li and Young Hero Bai.”
"What does this have to do with the Beggars' Sect?"
“This really has nothing to do with the Beggars’ Sect.” Xiang Yu glanced at Chen Changgui. “It’s just that this man and woman come from a place called the Unforgettable Pavilion.”
"The Pavilion of Unforgettable Memories?"
"The Unforgettable Pavilion is located in my younger brother's Xihe Building." Chen Changgui, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke up.
"Young Master Changji?"
“That’s right,” Xiang Yu said in a low voice. “He has been missing for some time. Many people in the Northern and Southern Sword Sects are supporters of Master Li and Young Master Bai. Now the entire Central Plains martial arts world is looking for Young Master Changji and the other two.”
“His disappearance has become a good thing,” Chen Changgui sighed. “At least it’s not just us; those people haven’t found him either.”
"I will arrange for Young Master Changgui to emerge from seclusion," Xiangyu continued. "Once I lose all power, there's no guarantee those people won't make a move against Young Master Changgui."
Li Letian took a deep breath. "Was it made by Young Master Changji?"
Chen Changgui shook his head helplessly.
“We don’t know either,” Xiangyu answered for him. “But Brother Li, you should also know that the people who instigated this matter just need a reason; the truth doesn’t matter. Once they find Young Master Changji, they will probably kill him immediately. In that case, there will be no way to prove anything, and everything will be fabricated by them.”
Li Letian kept his lips tightly closed, his breathing deep and long. He raised his head, and the vast, clear sky was blocked by the houses on both sides, leaving only a narrow blue slit extending forward.
silence.
"Is there anything I can do?" Li Letian asked.
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