Chapter 203
Meng Jing threw the basket of herbs into the yard, but didn't go inside. She ran around the fence for a while, then stopped, clutching her chest.
Her fellow disciples chased after her, and Elder Xu called out, "Jing'er! Why are you running so fast?"
Meng Jing stuffed the pills he carried with him into his mouth, scooped up some water from the pool beside him and swallowed it hastily, saying, "Something must have happened to Yin Qiu, I have to go check on her!"
"Oh dear, that water is filthy. Why don't you go inside and drink clean water if you need to take your medicine?" Elder Xu strode forward, grabbed Meng Jing, and said breathlessly, "His kung fu is better than yours. He's invincible among all the major peaks. Plus, your Uncle Man is here. What are you worrying about? Go back inside and rest!"
“No, I have to go to the palace,” Meng Jing said in a deep voice. “I’ve thought about it on the way here. This matter is definitely not as simple as a feint. I’m not too worried about Yin Qiu. She’s skilled in martial arts and intelligent. Even if she encounters danger, she knows how to adapt quickly. But my martial aunt left in a hurry. She may not have had time to tell the sect leader and disciples what happened. Once she goes down the mountain, the mastermind behind the secret guards will have a chance to escape. I have to go to Mingguang Hall to see how things are going.”
Elder Xu said, "Based on your analysis, I think that person must have already escaped when Jiang Xue left the palace. If you rush over now, it might be too late. I'm worried about your health! You tend to get impatient easily, so don't let your heart condition flare up again!"
“He’s definitely still in the palace,” Meng Jing said decisively. “If he really wanted to escape, he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths. None of us know who he is yet. He could have just left at any time, but he hasn’t. It’s precisely because his power struggle with Meng Wugui is still undecided that he doesn’t need to reveal himself prematurely. After all, until the very end, no one knows whether he or Meng Wugui will win. But now that Meng Wugui has taken over Mingyue Tower and has the strength to contend with him, he might bring his troops over in the next couple of days. Under these circumstances, the only way that person can stop Meng Wugui is through Yin Qiu.”
“But wasn’t Yin Qiu tricked into going down the mountain?” Elder Xu, knowing he wasn’t as shrewd as Meng Jing, stroked his beard and asked, “He could have gone down the mountain earlier, captured Yin Qiu, and left. He might not even have been able to catch up with Jiang Xue.”
"Master, you still haven't figured it out?" Meng Jing said. "This person hasn't left yet, not only because he's afraid of being hunted down by us after his identity is exposed, and having to live a life of hiding and not daring to move openly in the martial world, but more so because he can't give up certain things. For example, he might be a very important person in the palace, and he doesn't want to give up his status and power. So, he will never leave Yunhua Palace easily until the very last moment. This person has gambled many times, and now the situation is bad. He can only keep Yin Qiu in his hands, but because of his uncle, he can't do it in the palace. That's why he had to trick Yin Qiu down the mountain. So, whether Yin Qiu can be captured alive is something he can't be sure of either. Therefore, he will definitely stay in the palace and wait until news of whether Yin Qiu has been captured arrives."
If Yin Qiu is captured alive, even if Meng Wugui brings men, he won't dare to act rashly and can only continue to suffer this humiliation. That man can then continue to live his good life in the palace. But if Yin Qiu doesn't fall into the trap, he will leave after receiving the news. With Man Jiangxue not around, probably no one can stop him.
"So I need to get to Mingguang Hall as soon as possible," Meng Jing said, not wanting to say any more. As he ran off, he didn't forget to remind everyone, "I'm leaving Wenxin Peak to you. Guard this place well and don't let anyone come and go as they please!"
Seeing her running so fast, Elder Xu said in alarm, "What if you run out of breath? Quick! Someone with good lightness skills, please send him on his way!"
One of the senior disciples hurriedly dropped his basket, leaped in front of Meng Jing, and knelt down. Meng Jing then climbed onto his back, and the senior disciple immediately carried Meng Jing down Wenxin Peak and rushed towards the palace.
Once they reached the palace road and arrived at the Wangtian Dojo, a large crowd had already gathered there. Meng Jing landed and, before he could even stand properly, asked, "What are you all doing gathered here? Has something happened in the palace?"
One disciple replied, "I don't know. Our master hurriedly went down the mountain earlier and told us to guard the palace. I guess something was going to happen, but we looked around and didn't find anything suspicious."
"What about Yin Qiu? Has she come back?"
"No! Not to mention Senior Sister Yin, none of the senior sisters in charge are here, and the sect leader is sick and still lying unconscious in the Mingguang Hall. We're completely baffled!"
Upon hearing this, Meng Jing knew things were going badly.
Ji Wanshu went to Jinhuai City and hasn't returned yet. Yin Qiu and Bai Ling went down the mountain, and Lu Huaiwei is nowhere to be found either. This time, even Man Jiangxue's whereabouts are unknown. In this vast Yunhua Palace, haven't all the people who shouldn't have left already gone?
Now all that's left is Xie Yijun, who is unwell. If something happens to her, where will she find the energy to take charge of the overall situation?
"There's no time to lose. Go and relay the message to all the major peaks immediately," Meng Jing said decisively. "Tell the senior disciples and elders of each peak to strengthen their vigilance and guard all the main roads leading to the palace. If anyone is found trying to go up the mountain or leaving, be sure to find out the reason. Anyone with suspicious behavior should be killed without exception!"
The disciples were clearly not expecting the situation to be so urgent, and they all did as Meng Jing said.
Having arranged everything, Meng Jing turned back towards Mingguang Hall to see if Xie Yijun had woken up. However, as soon as he left the temple, he saw a female disciple walking hurriedly ahead, looking anxious.
Meng Jing narrowed his eyes and took a closer look, discovering that the female disciple was wearing a waist tag from Liuli Peak—she was actually the person who had suddenly died of an acute illness at Xiaohe Mountain!
"Grab her!" Meng Jing immediately shouted to his senior brother beside him, "This person is faking her death, stop her quickly!"
The person next to him instantly took flight, and the surrounding disciples, upon hearing this, followed suit, swords in hand. The female disciple's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and she quickly used her lightness skill to change direction and flee. Meng Jing immediately ran up the stairs to the Mingguang Hall in one breath, only to find it deserted and empty; as expected, Lu Huaiwei and the others were nowhere to be seen.
Meng Jing drove straight in and lifted the curtain, only to find that Xie Yijun was nowhere to be seen in the bedchamber, with only two disciples tidying up the medicine bowls. He asked, "Where did the sect leader go?"
“They went to the bathhouse,” a disciple replied. “They said they had a fever last night and sweated a lot, so they went to take a bath to clean themselves up. They’ve been there for a while now. Senior brother, you might as well wait a bit. The sect leader should be back soon.”
Xie Yijun's private hot spring was in the courtyard on the other side of Mingguang Hall. Without thinking, Meng Jing turned around and walked towards it, but after taking two steps, he hesitated and stopped.
Apart from Yin Qiu, no one in the palace knew that she was a woman. How could she, a male disciple in the eyes of outsiders, dare to trespass on Xie Yijun's private bath? Moreover, there was nothing of urgency that required reporting to the private bath at this time. Since Xie Yijun had already woken up, she must know that Yin Qiu and Man Jiangxue had gone down the mountain, and she had already given the necessary instructions. After a moment's thought, Meng Jing did not go any further and turned around to sit down in the hall.
Before long, the senior brother who had carried Meng Jing here quickly entered the hall and shouted, "Junior brother! We've caught him!"
As soon as he finished speaking, several disciples brought in the female disciple who had previously escaped. Meng Jing suddenly stood up and stepped forward to question her: "Who told you to lure your martial uncle to Little Crane Mountain? Speak!"
The female disciple bit her lip and remained silent.
“Since you’re planning to fake your death, you must value your life,” Meng Jing casually drew the sword from one of his disciples and held it to her neck. “I don’t have time to interrogate you. If you don’t talk, I’ll just give you a quick death right here and now!”
The female disciple looked panicked and seemed about to speak when Xie Yijun's voice suddenly rang out behind her, asking, "What's all the noise about?"
Meng Jing turned his head to look and saw that Xie Yijun's clothes were loose and her long hair was wet, indicating that she had just taken a bath. Meng Jing then briefly recounted the events, and Xie Yijun frowned upon hearing it, saying, "This is outrageous! Who instructed you? Confess now!"
The female disciple looked around and said in a clear voice, "No... I didn't lie to my master. I really thought that Senior Sister Yin went to Little Crane Mountain!"
"Lying!" Meng Jing's tone was unfriendly. "If you weren't lying, why would you pretend to be dead? You were clearly afraid that your martial uncle would find out and catch you on the spot, so you took some kind of medicine to deceive us!"
"I didn't take any medicine! And I didn't pretend to be dead!" the female disciple argued vehemently. "I'm already ill, and I always act like this when I have an attack. Don't wrong me!"
Meng Jing gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, already harboring murderous intent, but she didn't act impulsively. Just as she was about to ask a few more questions, she suddenly saw another male disciple walk in from outside, stepping over the crowd and entering the room. He bowed to Xie Yijun and said, "Sect Leader, this disciple has important matters to report. Please move to the study."
Xie Yijun hummed in agreement and looked at Meng Jing, saying, "Continue the interrogation. Make sure you get all the answers before you take action. Don't let her try any more tricks or commit suicide." After saying that, she left with the male disciple and went to the study.
When Meng Jing saw this scene, she felt something was amiss for some reason. She glanced at Xie Yijun and looked away when a disciple carrying a bowl of medicine passed by her, leaving behind a faint smell of medicine.
Meng Jing smelled the aroma and suddenly looked up, saying, "Wait, bring me the medicine bowl so I can take a look."
The attendant handed her the bowl of medicine and, seeing Meng Jing's furrowed brows, asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
"Is this medicine prescribed by the medical clinic?" Meng Jing dipped his finger in the medicine and tasted it.
"It should be," the disciple said. "It was placed by the sect leader's bedside. After the sect leader woke up, he instructed us to decoct this medicine for her to drink."
Meng Jing tasted the medicine on his tongue, remaining outwardly calm, but inwardly he felt a chill run down his spine and his heart sank.
She picked up her sword, slowly turned around, and her gaze, filled with complex emotions, fell on the tightly closed study door.
·
"Good news or bad news?" Xie Yijun sat down at the desk and took a sip of the cold tea on the table.
"...It's bad news," the male disciple said, his face grim and his voice low. "Yin Qiu is skilled in martial arts. None of the men we sent out could capture her. Senior Sister Chang was even captured alive. Ji Wanshu and Wen Chaoyu rushed back and happened to run into her."
Xie Yijun paused in her tea-drinking, then looked up with a cold smile: "I know, it was expected." She put down her teacup and stood up. "But it's no big deal. The people lying in ambush in the city will hold them off, and Jiang Xue has already gone down the mountain. I have plenty of time to leave."
The male disciple said, "But when I rushed back just now, I found that the disciples had already guarded all the places. With everyone watching, how are you going to get out?"
Xie Yijun calmly tied her hair in front of the bronze mirror and said in a low voice, "I have my own way. You go out now and tell Meng Jing to take that female disciple to the punishment hall. Find an opportunity to kill her. Don't worry about me here. Once I leave, no one will trace it back to you. As long as things get chaotic in the palace, pretend you know nothing. After this storm has passed, you can take the rest of the people to the contact point to meet up with me."
The male disciple quickly agreed, pushed open the door and went to the outer room, saying to Meng Jing, "The sect leader has said that, according to the rules, this person should be sent to the punishment hall for interrogation. Junior Brother Meng, take him there."
Meng Jing looked at him, a cold smile appearing on his lips, and said coldly, "What if I refuse?"
"Refuse?" The male disciple was clearly not expected Meng Jing to react this way, and glared at him, saying, "You dare disobey the sect leader?"
Meng Jing stared intently at him and said, word by word, "Call the sect leader out. I want to hear her say it herself."
Seeing her unusual expression, the male disciple was immediately suspicious and said, "You have quite the airs, needing the sect leader to come out in person. Don't you know the sect leader is ill? You obey her every command. Do you intend to rebel in public?"
"It's not certain who's causing trouble," Meng Jing beckoned, a hint of seduction in his eyes. "Senior brother, come to me. There's something I need to show you. Once you see it, you'll understand why I had the sect leader come out in person."
The male disciple's eyes flickered. He wanted to return to his study, but seeing that all the disciples in the hall were staring intently at him, he couldn't just leave. Then he remembered that Meng Jing was a sickly person who didn't know martial arts, so he walked over to her as well.
"What is that?"
Meng Jing tucked her hand into her sleeve, then clenched it into a fist and pulled it out. She moved closer to the male disciple, mysteriously slipped her hand into his arms, and quickly withdrew it.
“Here you go,” Meng Jing said. “Take a look for yourself.”
The male disciple sized her up, then took out an ordinary-looking pill from his pocket. He looked down at it, and before he could ask a question, someone suddenly tapped him twice on the back, instantly rendering him speechless and unable to move.
"Quickly summon the elders and chief disciples of each peak, but don't cause any disturbance!" Meng Jing said in a low voice. "Everyone, surround the Mingguang Hall immediately!"
After she finished speaking, she gestured to her fellow disciples to carry the male disciple whose acupoints had been sealed. The group then immediately withdrew from the hall and closed the door.
·
Hearing the heavy slam of the door closing outside, Xie Yijun tidied her appearance in front of the bronze mirror, opened the door and glanced outside. Finding that Meng Jing and the others had already left, she closed the door again and calmly walked to the bookshelf.
She moved the bookshelf, revealing an inconspicuous nail embedded in the wall, almost blending into the surface and barely noticeable unless you looked closely. She stepped on the nail, driving it into the floor. Immediately, a mechanism clicked, and when Xie Yijun turned back, a brick protruded from the wall above the window behind her. She climbed up the windowsill and retrieved a spotless sword case from a hidden compartment within the brick.
Xie Yijun touched the sword box as if it were a precious treasure, and couldn't put it down.
The moment the box was opened, a dazzling, intense, cold light illuminated the entire study like a daytime firework. Inside was a slender, silver-white sword, shaped like a serpent, with a blade as white as autumn frost. The blade was sharp and snow-white, engraved with intricate and lifelike crape myrtle patterns, extremely beautiful. A rare luminous pearl was inlaid at the hilt; the cold light emanated from that pearl, as brilliant as stars, rivaling the sun and moon in its radiance, exquisitely beautiful.
Sealed away for many years, unseen by the world, the sword still retains its sharpness and imposing aura. Xie Yijun listened to the melodious sword sound, her eyes filled with amazement. She tossed aside the sword box, grasped the hilt in her hand, and felt its vibration and the intense sword intent it emitted.
"Holy Sword..." Xie Yijun murmured to herself, "How many people want you? After hiding for twenty years, it's time for you to truly be put to use."
After she finished speaking, she chuckled softly to herself in the room, but the smile faded quickly, and her eyes, which were gradually becoming more profound, even welled up with a few tears, a rare occurrence for her.
I reached out and pushed open the window. The scenery outside remained unchanged: towering buildings, palace walls, vermilion doors, white jade steps, swallows perched on the eaves, spring flowers in full bloom, and the scenery was infinitely beautiful.
This is the place where she spent most of her life.
But from this day forward, she will have to leave, wander the world, bear the infamy, and never be able to return.
An indescribable sense of melancholy and sorrow welled up in my heart, and tears welled up in my eyes, dripping onto the windowsill and splashing up barely perceptible water droplets.
After decades of walking on thin ice, this day has finally come.
With a self-deprecating laugh, Xie Yijun closed the window, concealed the holy sword within her wide sleeves, left the study, and then passed through the empty hall into her bedchamber.
She slowly lifted the curtain, but before she could enter, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Someone was sitting inside at some point.
The person was dressed in a snow-white dress, with long, ink-black hair. Her delicate features were illuminated by the sunlight streaming in from the window. At first glance, her expression seemed nonchalant, but upon closer inspection, it held a hint of coldness.
Xie Yijun was startled, but showed no surprise on her face. She released the curtain and took a few steps inside, coughed lightly twice, and asked in a deliberately hoarse voice, "Jiang Xue? Didn't you go down the mountain to chase Yin Qiu? What are you doing here?"
Man Jiangxue sat lazily on the wooden chair, her fingertips tracing the cold, thin blade of the dagger, looking at Xie Yijun expressionlessly, and said, "I'm waiting for you."
Xie Yijun's eyes shifted, and under Man Jiangxue's calm and composed gaze, she sat down on the couch, frowning as she said, "Wait for me? Yin Qiu has been tricked into going down the mountain, and who knows what dangers she might encounter? If you don't hurry to save her, what if something happens to her?"
A cool breeze blew in from the window, stirring the flowing skirt of Manjiangxue, who was spotless. She turned her wrist, brandishing the gleaming dagger, and said softly, "I have great confidence in Xiaoqiu. I believe she knows how to turn danger into safety." She then smiled, her meaning ambiguous, and said, "She is no longer someone who needs my protection to survive."
"After all, people change."
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