Chapter 122 Retribution "Junior Sister Jiang was completely unaware?"...
Wen Yizhan looked at the faint smile on the face of the person under the tree. It was calm, yet it made him feel distant and sad. In that smile was a past that he had never reached, which belonged only to her and that mermaid.
He wanted to say something, but then he heard Jiang Yuhuo's voice.
"He and I have long since stopped being on the same path."
They had already broken up seven years ago, on the night he left Liyue Village.
What right does he have to say such things? He speaks to her master and senior brother as if he were the closest person to her in the world.
He has no right to say such things.
He remembered... Ha, what was she? Something he'd forgotten in a corner, which he suddenly remembered to take out and air it out in the sunlight one day?
He shielded her from injury and gave her medicine.
He finally felt guilty and tried to make amends to her with these things.
She didn't need him to shield her from injury, nor did she need his medicine; she could heal her own senior brother! She also didn't need his guilt.
What gives him the right to come and go as he pleases, completely disregarding the feelings of others? Does he think everyone should be like his followers, grateful for his occasional visits?
Unfortunately, she wasn't.
Wen Yizhan felt a pang of sadness as she watched the growing mockery in her eyes.
That merman must have left a deep mark on her heart.
He opened his mouth, but found he couldn't say anything. So he watched the clouds on the horizon, the ever-changing clouds, the sun setting low; life in the Kunlun Mountains was always so peaceful and serene.
It was so wonderful that he thought he could live like this forever.
"Junior sister, are we going to go find him?"
The tartness of the wild fruit on the tongue dissipates, leaving only bitterness.
The person under the tree gradually calmed down, remained silent for a long time, and finally spoke, "Why bother looking for him? So many years have passed, and the past cannot be changed. I... am no longer the person I was back then."
"Junior sister, do you still hate him because of what happened back then?"
Jiang Yuhu shook her head, "I have no grudge against him, at most I can only say I have a grudge, but that grudge is just wishful thinking on my part."
A trembling sigh escaped his lips. "...The tragedy that befell our clan back then, in the final analysis, is my fault."
As she spoke, she seemed to lose all her strength; her eyebrows drooped, and her thin body was hidden in the shadows of the trees, like a ghostly spirit beneath the trees, lifeless.
No!
Wen Yizhan, you're a bastard!
You know perfectly well that she's been blaming herself for what happened back then, yet you still use this to test her!
You're despicable! You're just afraid she'll leave, how dare you deliberately reopen her wounds!
How is your treatment of your junior sister, who trusts you completely, any different from that of the scum in the Li family?
Wen Yizhan leaped down and landed in front of the lonely figure amidst the lush trees. He bent down slightly, wanting to hold the person in his arms.
Jiang Yuhuo took a step back, a small step, but Wen Yizhan saw it clearly.
His outstretched arms froze for a moment before falling naturally, as if he had only raised them casually.
"I'm fine, Senior Brother. I know what to do." Jiang Yuhuo turned around and walked down the mountain as if nothing had happened. "I'm going to continue looking for that little girl. Senior Brother, do you want to go back and rest first, or come with me?"
As the sun sets and night falls, mist gradually envelops the forest.
She didn't turn around. It was an extremely ordinary question, but as Wen Yizhan watched the fading figure grow smaller and smaller in the distance, he felt an unbearable tightness in his chest, as if her departure meant that they would drift further and further apart.
Just as the figure was about to disappear into the mist, Wen Yizhan rushed forward, landing in front of her. She followed her steps, backing away as she muttered to her in dissatisfaction, "Nonsense, of course I'm with you."
*
The two finally found Xiao Jing at Chongyuan Peak, a full day and most of the night after she had escaped from Jiang Yuhuo's clutches in disguise as a fly.
When they found her, she was being bound to a tree by a Chongyuan Peak disciple using spiritual power. Her already tattered clothes were now filthy, and her hair was covered in bits of grass, making her look like a beggar from the city or a wild woman from the mountains.
Upon seeing Jiang Yuhuo, her dirty little face suddenly turned extremely angry, and she turned away angrily, as if she were the last person she wanted to see!
Jiang Yuhuo would have thought that those eyes hadn't been secretly glancing in her direction.
The disciples of Chongyuan Peak also showed no kindness. Seeing that the two seemed to know the little girl who had barged in, they immediately began to berate her, "How could you two bring mortals into the mountain so casually? Bringing her in is one thing, but you didn't even keep a proper eye on her. Do you know how many spirit beasts she disturbed on the mountain? If I hadn't been on duty tonight and discovered her in time, she would have been torn to pieces by the spirit beasts long ago. By the time you arrived, there probably wouldn't even be any fragments left."
"Hey, why are you accusing me first? It was that stinky big cat that grabbed me first. It spit all over me, so of course I had to pull its whiskers and pluck its fur. Besides, I'm pretty strong, okay? I won't get torn to pieces by them!"
Despite being a small child, she had an arrogant and domineering personality, refusing to back down even when tied to a tree. Xiao Jing didn't think she was wrong at all; she hated this person blaming others because of her, and immediately retorted angrily, "Besides, I ran here on my own. What are you talking about? They don't know where I was going. If you're so capable, come at me alone!"
The disciple from Chongyuan Peak, who had always been cultivating diligently on the mountain, had never encountered such a troublesome devil before. His face immediately turned red with anger, and a faint light of spiritual energy gathered between his fingers. "Fine, fine, I saved your life, and not only are you ungrateful, you're also so arrogant. I'll teach you a lesson today..."
Before he could finish speaking, he felt his spiritual energy stagnate and the light between his fingers dissipate, as if someone had blocked his spiritual meridians. But how powerful and profound must one's spiritual energy be to block a person's natural spiritual meridians? There are probably only a handful of people in the entire Kunlun region who can do that.
But--
He looked around and saw that apart from two Kunlun disciples and a mortal tied to a tree, there was no one else around.
This is truly bizarre.
He saw the man with a grinning face, who looked like he was up to no good.
The disciple immediately realized that the man must have used some kind of magical artifact, so he said to him, "Senior brother, we have no grudge against each other, please let me go."
To cut off someone's spiritual veins is tantamount to breaking into their home and blocking their well, which is a great offense.
But then he heard the woman beside him say, "Untie her and promise not to touch her, and I will let you go."
Hearing her equally arrogant words, the disciple became even more enraged. "It's you? Fine, fine, you... you've gone too far! Which peak are you from? I will definitely make the peak master uphold justice for me!"
Jiang Yuhuo's eyes sharpened upon hearing this.
Alright, she hadn't seen Qinglin in a long time, now was the perfect opportunity for her to meet her old enemy. Last time she returned to Kunlun, she was worried about Wen Yizhan's injuries, so she only dealt with Ning Yu and hadn't had a chance to properly settle scores with her yet.
"Su Zhen, do not be rude."
A gentle female voice came from the side, and then a figure in light blue light blue gracefully landed from not far away.
The Chongyuan Peak disciple, addressed as Su Zhen, bowed respectfully upon seeing the newcomer, saying, "Peak Master."
The person who came was not Qinglin.
Jiang Yuhuo was somewhat surprised. The newcomer was slender and beautiful. She was clearly Liu Yueyi, the "Junior Sister" of Yuxu Peak who had fought against her in the Immortal Sect Competition. Why did the disciples of Chongyuan Peak call her Peak Master?
Where is Qinglin?
Liu Yueyi first introduced them to Su Zhen, saying, "These two are Senior Brother Wen and Junior Sister Jiang from Zhenyang Peak. You shouldn't have offended them."
Su Zhen was greatly shocked. Zhenyang Peak had little contact with the other peaks, and he had never seen these two people before. Because his cultivation was still shallow, he had no chance to participate in the Immortal Sect Grand Competition, so he had never witnessed that person's prowess in the competition arena. But that didn't matter. Now, who in the entire Kunlun didn't know the person who had won the Grand Competition in one fell swoop? He had just dared to spout nonsense in front of her.
Su Zhen's face turned red again, this time not from anger, but from embarrassment.
"I'm so sorry for offending you. I'll release her right away."
Liu Yueyi turned to the two of them and said, "Su Zhen has only been a disciple for a short time and does not know many of the fellow disciples in the mountains. If there is any offense, please forgive me."
He was willing to help even a stranger who broke in; regardless of his temperament, he was at least kind-hearted. Jiang Yuhuo released the restraint on his spiritual veins and turned to look at Liu Yueyi.
His manners were impeccable, and his words were appropriate; he truly possessed the demeanor of a leader of a peak.
The master and apprentice spoke and acted with perfect composure, and even Wen Yizhan remained composed. Only Jiang Yuhuo harbored deep doubts. She had been away from Kunlun Mountain for less than a month, so how could Chongyuan Peak have changed its leader?
"It's alright," Jiang Yuhuo asked. "But where is Peak Master Qinglin?"
Upon hearing this, both men from Chongyuan Peak were taken aback.
"Junior Sister Jiang was completely unaware of this?"
Seeing that the doubt in her eyes seemed genuine, Liu Yueyi immediately turned her gaze to Wen Yizhan, who simply smiled and shrugged, "Junior Sister only returned to Kunlun today."
He remained silent, offering no further explanation, acting as if it were none of his business.
Liu Yueyi had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Something has happened at Chongyuan Peak... well, it's hard to explain in a few words. In short, Peak Master Qinglin has resigned from his position, and Kunlun Summit has appointed me to temporarily take over as Peak Master of Chongyuan Peak."
Jiang Yuhuo was very surprised. Qing Lin had not been in charge of Chongyuan Peak for very long. He only officially took over after the death of Chongyuan Shanren. Now, after only a little over ten years, he had not even trained a successor. Why was he about to retire?
She asked directly, "What about the original disciples of Chongyuan Peak? She fought so hard for Ning Yu's spot in the competition, how could she be willing to hand over Chongyuan Peak to a disciple from an outer peak?"
She knew the relationship between Qinglin and Ningyu all too well; neither of them were kind-hearted people who were indifferent to fame and fortune.
Liu Yueyi chuckled helplessly. The elders' saying, "One can judge a person's character by their swordsmanship," was indeed true. Looking at Jiang Yuhuo's stubborn insistence on getting to the bottom of things, and recalling how she had been completely dominated by her in the competition, she realized that Jiang Yuhuo was now speaking so bluntly, leaving no room for retreat. What a stubborn person...
"I'll tell you the truth, Junior Sister Jiang. Peak Master Qing didn't resign voluntarily. She made a mistake and was stripped of her position by the Peak Master. And the one who led her to make that mistake was none other than her beloved disciple, Ning Yu."
Liu Yueyi no longer concealed anything and recounted the changes that had occurred on Chongyuan Peak.
It turned out that during her absence from Kunlun Mountain in search of medicine, Qing Lin and Ning Yu remained entangled, their actions becoming increasingly audacious. One day, the two even began to get intimate by the Sword Washing Pool, only to be witnessed by a disciple who had been exposed. The disciple, not wanting to disturb them, ran away upon seeing this, but inadvertently alerted the two. Ning Yu chased after them, and, not wanting his affair to be discovered, he harbored murderous intent, stabbing the disciple in the fight. Fortunately, a group of disciples who had gone to the Sword Washing Pool to cleanse their swords arrived just in time, saving the disciple and subduing Ning Yu. The disciple, severely wounded and enraged, immediately informed his fellow disciples what he had witnessed. The truth—that master and disciple had killed a fellow disciple because of their illicit affair—was thus revealed to everyone.
"...Kunlun naturally could not tolerate such a disgraceful act. The remaining twenty-three peaks immediately convened the Kunlun Summit, which had not been held for decades, and ordered that villains like Ning Yu be expelled from the sect. As for Qinglin Peak, the head of the peak was deemed to have failed in his duty of discipline, failing to sever personal ties in time and allowing his disciple to injure others. Although he was still in Kunlun, he was stripped of his position as peak master and imprisoned at the bottom of the Black Wind Abyss. He will not be able to emerge again for fifty years."
"Sigh...Personal feelings really do harm people." Liu Yueyi said, shaking her head with regret.
Jiang Yuhuo was still stunned on the spot.
This... isn't this disciple's experience too similar to hers in Falling Moon City?
The only reasons for her being caught by Ning Yu on the spot were that he plotted against her afterwards and that she didn't have a group of fellow disciples who arrived in time to help her.
Could it be that Heaven has eyes and is determined to punish these two?
"Alright, junior sister, you know what you need to know. Let's go back. Didn't you hear it? This little girl's stomach was growling like thunder."
The river fisherman turned back.
Under the cold moon, Wen Yizhan had somehow already taken Xiao Jing's hand. He stood under the tree, his face dappled with tree shadows, but his smile was as gentle and harmless as ever.
"Hey! Your stomach is growling like thunder!"
"If you don't say it like that, your aunt won't think you're hungry."
"Hmph! She doesn't want me anyway..."
Two figures, one tall and one short, walked ahead.
She found the story she had just heard to be both reasonable and bizarre, but she couldn't figure it out for the time being, so she had no choice but to follow the two figures.
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