A nemesis will only ever be a nemesis.
Chapter Forty-Four
The golden phoenix bell rang, signaling the end of class. The teacher, still reluctant to leave, looked at his students, who were sprawled on the ground, lamenting their fate, and sighed, "Class is over."
Jiang Si didn't rush to leave. Instead, he carefully wiped the bow inside and out to make sure it was clean before putting it into his Qiankun bag. Just then, someone slapped him on the shoulder from behind, and a grinning voice approached, as always, "Junior Brother Jiang Si!"
Jiang Si immediately pushed the person away, but the other person wasn't angry and followed after him relentlessly. "I heard that Jade Dew Pavilion and Nine Star Pavilion clashed today. Both sides have announced that there will be priceless and rare treasures auctioned tonight. I already know what Jade Dew Pavilion is, but Nine Star Pavilion is really unusual. Nine Star Pavilion has always been low-key, but I don't know why they've gotten into a fight with Jade Dew Pavilion today."
Jun Fengqiu followed Jiang Si leisurely, saying, "You can't just stay at home all the time. You didn't come to Qingyun Sect just to learn archery, did you?"
"Otherwise what?" Jiang Si answered without the slightest hesitation, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Seeing that Jiang Si was not very interested, Jun Fengqiu quickly glanced down at the second plan he had prepared on his fan and slowly said, "I heard that there are some fine crystals among the exhibits that Nine Star Pavilion is auctioning today, which can be inlaid on bows and arrows."
The boy paused, and Jun Fengqiu knew the plan was feasible. He slowed the pace of his fanning, "It just so happens that Senior Brother has saved up some money, so..."
Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Si turned back and urged, "Let's go. We should be able to make it in time. Hurry up."
Jun Fengqiu silently gave himself a thumbs up.
I am the one who knows the Jiang River!
With the Qingyun Sect's entrance competition just around the corner, the entire sect is preparing. Jun Fengqiu was worried about not finding an excuse to join in the fun. Since it was his junior brother who took him out, the old woman couldn't scold him!
According to the explicit rules of Jiuxing Pavilion, only individual visitors are allowed to enter after 5 PM.
Jun Fengqiu and Jiang Si arrived a quarter of an hour earlier. Jun Fengqiu stood at the crowded front gate and exclaimed in amazement, "How can we not join in such a lively event?"
The streets were packed with people. Jun Fengqiu pulled Jiang Si along, intending to sit in the teahouse across the street. But once inside, the teahouse was even more bustling. The teahouse, which was usually quiet, was incredibly lively today, and the waiters were busy as bees.
Seeing the long queue of over ninety tables ahead, Jiang Si, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke up, "Do we really have to join in this fun?"
Jiang Si doesn't like overly crowded places.
The packed teahouse before him filled him with mixed feelings.
The thought of the Jiuxing Pavilion being even more crowded soon made him feel disgusted. Seeing that the desired effect had been achieved, Jun Fengqiu raised an eyebrow, revealing his true intentions, and coaxed, "How about we go to another one?" Jiang Si thought it was another Jiuxing Pavilion in Chang'an City, and agreed without hesitation.
Unexpectedly, upon arrival, they discovered it was another company that Jun Fengqiu had mentioned.
It originally referred to the Jade Dew Pavilion.
Jiang Si crossed his arms and had no intention of going in, while Jun Fengqiu was already somewhat captivated by the beautiful woman greeting guests at the entrance.
"Junior brother!" Jun Fengqiu said pitifully, "I haven't been to Jade Dew Pavilion for half a month."
Jiang Si, unable to conceal his annoyance, was about to kick Jun Fengqiu away when he stopped abruptly. The young man quickly looked around and spotted a familiar figure in white among the crowd about to enter.
"Let's go," Jiang Si said decisively.
"Huh?" Jun Fengqiu wondered if he had misheard. He didn't even doubt that his virtuous and chaste junior brother could say such a thing. "Go? Go where?"
Jiang Si nodded slightly and spoke very quickly, "Since you're here, let's go in and take a look." The man walked very fast, and Jun Fengqiu hurriedly followed. Without looking closely, he bumped into the man. "Sorry, sorry."
Jun Fengqiu helped the other person up and hurriedly caught up with Jiang Si's departing figure.
The person who was bumped into was none other than Gu Ling, who was going to sneak into the Jade Dew Pavilion today. He calmly accepted the bronze mask distributed at the entrance, put it on, and walked into the Jade Dew Pavilion, which he had not visited for a long time, amidst the chaotic and colorful lights.
The person who wrote this letter must have had spies in both the Nine Star Pavilion and the Jade Dew Tower.
While it may seem like Gu Ling is giving Chen Muyao a choice, he also knows in his heart that there is no such thing as a perfect solution.
Nine Star Pavilion had never had a rule about auctioneers. Although he didn't understand how the person behind it had persuaded the head of Nine Star Pavilion, he was certain that the person was someone of considerable influence. He looked up at the distinguished guests, and for some reason, he felt a sense of unease.
Before he could think any further, Jade Dew Pavilion was suddenly plunged into darkness.
After a burst of almost blinding light, a brief silence gradually rose to a crescendo amidst the flowing music. With Yu Li's graceful entrance, tonight's auction officially began!
"It's started?" The woman in front of the dressing table took a bite of her preserved vegetable pancake, sounding somewhat resentful. "Didn't she just go up?"
Tao glanced at Zhou Yulin, the footbells on her feet making a series of clear, melodious sounds as the woman raised her leg. She seemed to find the thing noisy and was about to take it off when a loud bang rang in her ears, and the door suddenly exploded in two.
The ground was covered with flying wood chips. Zhou Yulin stared in disbelief at the uninvited guest in front of her. "You..." Tao was knocked unconscious by a handful of powder before she could react.
With a gentle tap of her purple fan towards Zhou Yulin, a needle flew out from the fan.
However, the woman reacted even faster and dodged the silver needles.
"I have no grudge against you."
The gold jewelry on Zhou Yulin's body clattered as she dodged. She looked at the newcomer warily, but she felt that the figure of the person in front of her had appeared in her mind before.
A bronze mask covered most of the person's face.
The auction has just begun, and no one will notice this place.
“This face is my enemy,” a woman replied.
Zhou Yulin was puzzled. Is it illegal to be good-looking?
However, she naturally didn't have time to think about this problem right now.
The fan in the woman's hand was a magical artifact. The moment the purple fan was thrown into the air, the fan blades scattered into seven pieces, which flew towards Zhou Yulin's male favorite like blades.
The clothes Zhou Yulin was wearing at that moment became an obstacle. Her floor-length peacock blue gauze dress billowed up, and her light blue veil was torn open by the strong wind from the fan blades.
Since these clothes weren't Zhou Yulin's, she naturally wouldn't feel bad about them.
But Zhou Yulin's fate is in her hands.
When she dodged the opponent's attack with her agility, she finally discovered the woman's weakness. She had been controlling the fan blades to keep herself a few meters away. This person was not good at close combat, so she had to close the distance.
Unfortunately, he didn't have a suitable weapon at the moment. Unwilling to accept his fate, Zhou Yulin shouted in his heart at this critical moment, "Don't fall, Jade!"
Just as the fan was about to injure Zhou Yulin, a familiar sword appeared in front of her.
The sword spirit, which had fallen into a deep sleep, finally awoke in that life-or-death moment.
Zhou Yulin gripped the jade pendant tightly, her eyes brightening with a newfound spirit. "Again."
When the woman saw the Jade of Immortality, her mouth opened slightly, seemingly in shock, but perhaps more so in disbelief. A complete waste of spiritual power had actually formed a contract with a spiritual sword? She was clearly a useless spiritual root, how could this be?!
Thinking it over, she understood even more clearly the necessity of eliminating Zhou Yulin today. "I originally wanted to leave you with a complete corpse, but now it seems there is no need for that."
The seven fan blades reformed into a single fan. The woman held the fan and shouted, "Thousand Machine Fan, break!" The fan hurtled towards Zhou Yulin like a boomerang.
All Zhou Yulin can do is grip the Jade Sword tightly and swing it again and again. Unlike when she first became the young lady of Jiangning, when she was weak and pitiful and powerless, Zhou Yulin can now pick up a sword and take her life into her own hands.
The distance between the two gradually shortened. Finally, Zhou Yulin took a step forward and kicked the woman in the abdomen during a moment of relaxation. Caught off guard, the woman stumbled backward, trying to grab Zhou Yulin and stop her from running away.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Yulin, who had run to the door, jumped off the sixth-floor railing without hesitation. The woman tried desperately to grab her, but only managed to grab onto the light blue veil.
As the drumbeats began downstairs, the floating platform in the center of the sky gradually descended, and a peacock blue figure came into everyone's view. Her skirt flowed like water, rippling with circles of light. Above her light-colored veil, her frosty eyes swept lightly over everyone present.
The woman's waist-length hair was tied into a single braid. Over her peacock-blue dress was a gradient blue gauze, the outer layer as thin as silk, adorned with tiny crystals that shimmered under the light. The alluring and sexy dress clashed with the woman's cool and mysterious aura, making her look like a witch from the Jiangnan water towns, a sudden burst of vibrant color in a freehand landscape painting.
Zhou Yulin had never dressed like this before. She lifted the hem of her skirt, stepped lightly down the floating platform, and finally landed on the stable ground.
The clamor in the Jade Dew Pavilion suddenly fell silent as the woman descended like a "goddess," and people held their breath, afraid to break the scene before them.
"..." Yu Li quickly came to her senses. She hadn't expected Zhou Yulin to be so cooperative with her entrance. Even though she had prepared herself mentally, she was still amazed.
Realizing what was happening, Yu Li quickly finished reading the old auction announcement, "Starting price, one hundred gold coins." Zhou Yulin casually glanced around the audience. It was probably a custom of the Jade Dew Pavilion that almost everyone downstairs was wearing a bronze mask. Even in the VIP room on the second floor, everyone was wearing a mask.
"Two hundred gold coins," was the price first called out by the white-clad man sitting in the corner on the first floor.
People then suddenly realized what was happening and started competing on prices.
There were many bidders, and judging from their voices, there were even women in their forties and fifties. Zhou Yulin searched among the bidders for the person arranged by Yin Xinglu. Yin Xinglu would arrange for someone to drive up the price, but not by much; if she actually won the bid, it would go against her original intention.
Soon, Zhou Yulin found a suspect dressed in a black robe in the back row. This person would only raise the price by one tael at a time, and coincidentally, he would always raise the price just when the transaction was about to be completed.
Hearing the price of 10,000 gold coins, Zhou Yulin thought sheepishly how wonderful it would be if that money were hers. 10,000 gold coins would be enough for her to inlay the Jade of Immortality inside and out with gold. As a sword cultivator, Zhou Yulin was neither poor nor rich. In any case, she spent any spare money on food and the Jade of Immortality.
Therefore, when she heard the number 10,000 gold, she took a special look at the so-called VIP room on the second floor. This price was offered by a person wearing a black-faced, fanged mask on the second floor. The mask looked like a hundred-day-old evil spirit, which frightened the child so much that he cried incessantly.
Zhou Yulin remained calm upon seeing this; she had seen real evil spirits before, so this was nothing unusual. However, when she looked up at the person on the second floor, she discovered that the other person was also looking at her.
When the other person started to look her up and down, Zhou Yulin looked away first.
"Ten thousand gold coins, just once!"
A woman with a dot of cinnabar between her brows stood still, listening to her destiny.
"Ten thousand gold coins, twice!"
Just as the transaction was about to be completed, the man in white in the corner raised his paddle again, "11,000 gold."
This person...
Zhou Yulin's hand tightened at her side, her heart pounding.
The "Thousand-Mile River Map" truly changed the future.
11,000 gold coins was already an astonishing figure. Yu Li could sense the boredom that was building up to the end of the bidding, so he went up on stage, took Zhou Yulin's hand, and the bright red cinnabar mark on the woman's wrist was revealed to everyone.
"Does anyone else want to raise the price?"
Yu Li gripped Zhou Yulin's hand tightly, preventing her from letting go.
"Twelve thousand taels of gold." A detached voice lingered in my ears.
It was the sound coming from the person next to me.
"Nobody said I couldn't participate in the auction, right?"
Zhou Yulin pulled her hand back, "I redeemed myself."
"And let me tell you, I am not an auction item."
Yu Li listened to the woman's arrogant words, "Can we bring down the gavel now?"
Ten thousand or two thousand gold coins, that's all, there won't be a higher price.
The absurd and unconventional things made Gu Ling feel that this was the kind of person Zhou Yulin should be.
Seeing Jiang Si staring thoughtfully at the woman on the stage, Jun Fengqiu couldn't help but tease, "What an interesting woman. Are you interested, Junior Brother?"
Jiang Si shook his head and denied it, saying, "No, it's just that this person looks familiar. I feel like I've seen him somewhere before." As for where, Jiang Si really couldn't remember.
In the VIP room on the second floor, the attendant cautiously glanced at the nobleman wearing the black mask. This man must have been interested in the woman below the stage. When he appeared, the nobleman paused in his act of sipping wine, stroking the wine glass, and remained silent for a long time.
When the bid reached 10,000, the woman actually called out 12,000 gold.
The attendant hesitated before speaking, "Young master, would you be better off with us?"
"No need." He placed the wine cup upside down on the table. "I will go see her myself."
*
As Zhou Yulin stepped off the stage, her steps were unsteady, as if she were walking on clouds. She couldn't remember what she was feeling as she walked down.
The people from Yululou led her to pay the bill. The door opened, and there was a person sitting in the room.
By the time she realized what was happening, the door had already been closed.
Zhou Yulin looked at the terrifying mask the other person was wearing, but her expression remained normal.
"Aren't you afraid of me?" The voice was neither clearly male nor female.
Zhou Yulin didn't even look at the other person, and headed straight for the exquisite pastries on the table. She tore off her veil, picked up one, and wolfed it down. She ate three in a row before remembering that there was still someone else in the room.
She poured herself a sip of tea. "Why be afraid?"
"A black-faced, fanged creature, neither human nor ghost, aren't you afraid?"
“I will not kill, rob, humiliate, or plunder. Why should I be afraid of you?” Zhou Yulin replied confidently. “If you had used even the slightest trick, I wouldn’t be here unharmed.”
The man was silent for a moment, then said, "You are not a woman from Jade Dew Pavilion."
“I didn’t say I was.” Zhou Yulin was puzzled. “You had someone bring me to the room just to say this?” Zhou Yulin was still tactful, the word “nonsense” lingering on her lips before returning to her original position.
Why not escape?
Zhou Yulin moved closer, and the man seemed surprised by her boldness, quickly retreating a few paces. "Why run away? This is what I have to go through. If it weren't for this choice, how could I see the true nature of people?"
Whose heart are we looking at?
No comment.
The two engaged in a question-and-answer session, seemingly playing a game of strategy.
Zhou Yulin slowly removed the bell from her ankle, when she suddenly heard the person opposite her say, "Do you believe in destiny?"
"The encounter between people is itself an unavoidable downpour."
In the silent downpour, Zhou Yulin looked at the other person and said slowly, "There are some things that you can't avoid no matter how hard you try."
"For example?"
"Your beloved."
Zhou Yulin poured the other person a cup of tea with a smile and then bluntly revealed the truth.
"Young master, do you have someone you like?"
A seemingly casual remark easily disrupted the other person's thoughts.
The man pursed his lips and casually uttered two words, "No."
The night sky was ablaze with fireworks, the sky briefly bursting into a blaze of light before plummeting to its peak. Zhou Yulin seemed to belatedly realize something, "Saying one thing and meaning another is not a good habit."
She looked at the person opposite her. Although it was their first meeting, her tone was like that of a long-time friend. "It's better not to say anything. After all, not all stories should have an ending. If you fall for the wrong person, you should turn back in time."
Zhou Yulin picked up the veil from the table again and put it on. "It's almost time. Thank you for your hospitality, young master."
With her hand on the door, Zhou Yulin looked at the other person. The person was a head taller than her. She tilted her head slightly, her veil covering the lower half of her face, revealing only her beautiful eyes as she slowly looked at the other person. Her hair was blown aside, revealing the bright red cinnabar mark between her eyebrows. "He didn't come. Aren't you disappointed?"
"If there was never hope, how could there be despair?"
The woman turned her head, a smile playing on her lips, and uttered some heartless words.
He released his hand from the door, and Zhou Yulin pushed it open without hesitation. Halfway through, she turned back and said in a sincere tone, "Let's find someone else you like."
After all, there are so many women in the world.
Why fall for someone who is destined to have no future?
On the night of the sixteenth reunion, some people actually fled to the ruined area.
To possess even a semblance of the appearance of an old friend is enough.
Whether she remembered her or not, it was at this moment that Zhou Yulin suddenly felt relieved.
Those who don't care will forget about you in just a few moments, let alone three years.
But if it is someone you have never forgotten, then when you meet them again, you will want to hold onto them tightly and never let go.
At the end of the corridor, someone dressed in white was waiting for her.
Just as Zhou Yulin was about to walk forward, someone covered her mouth and nose from around the corner.
She looked at that familiar figure, and her outstretched hand fell limply to its side.
Zhou Yulin couldn't understand why Heaven was so fixated on the relationship between her, Chen Muyao, and Xu Zuiyue.
When she opened her eyes again, she was on the edge of a cliff. She was tied to one end of a scale by a demonic cultivator who had gone mad, while Xu Zuiyue was tied to the other end, suspended in mid-air.
Xu Zuiyue's eyes were brimming with tears, and she was crying so hard that she looked like a pear blossom in the rain. Unlike Zhou Yulin, who had shown no emotion after being captured, Xu Zuiyue had been crying for an hour.
Zhou Yulin felt that if she had used this energy elsewhere, she probably would have escaped long ago. But that's how stories are always written. As cannon fodder, she should always be placed alongside the female lead for others to choose from. It seems like a multiple-choice question, but in reality, it's a single-choice question with a reference answer.
As expected, Chen Muyao, who had rushed over, first looked at his beloved. Seeing Xu Zuiyue crying her heart out, he then asked the evil cultivator, "Why did you invite me here?" It was only then that his gaze slowly fell upon himself.
Unfortunately, Chen Muyao's eyes remained completely unmoved when she saw her, as if she were looking at a dying person, and she said without hesitation, "Let her go."
She—refers to Xu Zuiyue.
The answer was obvious. If Zhou Yulin hadn't been tied up, she would have been her mortal enemy. Applause! You're so blatantly biased.
"Don't hesitate, I'll make the choice for you." Seeing the evil cultivator push Xu Zuiyue towards Chen Muyao, Zhou Yulin leaped off the cliff.
A gust of wind whistled past her ears, and she couldn't hear the sound, only remembering that resolute statement, "I choose Xu Zuiyue."
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