Chapter 83 Plum Blossoms Stain Green Robes (Part 1)
The two sides were locked in a tense standoff when Bai Qianfan suddenly cried out in pain, "Ouch! Ouch—it hurts so much! Chu Jianshan, quickly check if your wound has reopened!"
As soon as he finished speaking, all eyes turned to him. Chu Jianshan reacted, squatted down, and as he pressed his fingertips against Bai Qianfan's wound, he whispered in his ear, "Thank you."
"Ah Sheng is cured."
Jiang Yan's voice suddenly interrupted, and Chu Jianshan's hand movements abruptly stopped.
“She’s been insisting on seeing you,” Jiang Yan said calmly, her gaze fixed on his frozen back. “If you’re going to betray Changjin Mountain, you can’t possibly want to see your sister’s only child again.”
"I didn't!" Chu Jianshan suddenly stood up. "Senior brother, I..."
Before the words were even finished, a deafening roar erupted, making everyone's eardrums ache. Immediately afterward, the ground beneath their feet churned violently, and rubble tumbled down in a shower.
Cheng Yuan helped Chu Jianshan up. As the tremors subsided, the clanging of weapons from the outside surged in like a tide.
"What's going on?" Meng Yufeng squatted on the ground, his face ashen, his voice trembling. "Wasn't Linyi Gate deserted? Who's here now?"
Jiang Yan's longsword was already drawn, its cold gleam reflecting his upright figure as he stared intently at the doorway: "They still have their last trump card."
Chu Jianshan's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly realized what was going on. He quickly caught up with Jiang Yan: "It's the Demon Clan? But why would the Demon Clan go to such lengths for Linyi Sect? What are they hiding?"
"I don't know." Jiang Yan's voice was as deep as ice. With a flick of his wrist, his longsword had already extended half a zhang, the sword's aura causing a slight rustling in the air. He turned and shouted, "Qingyuan! Protect them!"
Another deafening explosion followed, and the outer wall of the hall collapsed. A dark mass of figures surged in, stepping over the remains of corpses. Their armor was stained with dark red blood, and the cultivators guarding outside the hall trembled as they retreated step by step, their swords clenched.
Jiang Yan did not hesitate at all and charged forward with her sword. However, these things were not like ordinary people. Even if they were injured, they would not fall down. Even with a sharp sword piercing their throats, they could stand up again while bleeding. After several rounds, even the person with the strongest spiritual power would be exhausted.
Chu Jianshan frowned slightly. He had seen this before; it was the same situation when he saved Cheng Yuan at Zuichunlou.
He looked up and saw that the things were pouring out from behind him in an endless stream. He was afraid that the remaining people would not be able to hold on.
About fifteen minutes later, Jiang Yan was exhausted, and Chu Jianshan and Cheng Yuan also drew their swords and went up.
Chu Jianshan pierced through the object in front of him with his sword, took a few steps back to avoid the counterattack, and turned to Jiang Yan, shouting, "When did Linyi Sect begin to harbor so many remnants of the demon race?"
Taking advantage of the lull in Chu Jianshan and Cheng Yuan's resistance, Jiang Yan finally caught her breath and said urgently, "Qingyuan, the situation is critical! I've left a backup plan in Dongshan, and I need two people with strong spiritual power to activate the formation. Leave this to Cheng Yuan, you come with me first!"
“But…” Chu Jianshan frowned, hesitating. There were already only the elderly, weak, sick and disabled left here. If they left as well, Cheng Yuan alone probably wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.
"Qingyuan!" Jiang Yan practically gritted her teeth. "There's no time to hesitate! If we don't go now, we'll all die here!"
"Master." Cheng Yuan had appeared beside Chu Jianshan without anyone noticing, his voice low and steady. "You go first. These things can't hurt me." He paused, looked up at Chu Jianshan, his eyes reflecting the distant firelight. "But remember to come back."
Chu Jianshan's heart tightened. Looking at the approaching shadows outside the hall, he knew he couldn't afford to delay any longer. He nodded forcefully and said to Cheng Yuan in a deep voice, "Alright! Half an incense stick's time! I'll definitely be back within half an incense stick's time! You must hold on!"
Just as Jiang Yan and Chu Jianshan left, the demon army surged to the entrance of the main hall like a black tide. The remaining people inside the hall had no way to retreat, so they made up their minds and charged out with weapons. Today's battle was a fight to the death.
On the eastern mountain, the snow had already reached above ankle height, and the cold wind blew, swirling up fine snowflakes. The endless plum blossoms had not yet faded, their clusters of vibrant color adorning the white snow like blood.
"Senior brother," Chu Jianshan asked Jiang Yan, panting heavily, "Where exactly is the formation?"
We've traveled an unknown distance, but we still haven't seen any trace of any formations.
Jiang Yan stopped when she heard his question, but she didn't turn around or say anything. She just remained silent in the snow.
"Senior brother?" Chu Jianshan felt a little strange, turned his head slightly, and called him again.
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly noticed that the snow at Jiang Yan's feet was trembling. The snowflakes were slowly condensing under an invisible force, instantly turning into sharp icicles that floated slowly into the air.
Chu Jianshan's heart tightened. Just as he was about to be wary of an ambush by Linyimen, he saw the ice spikes hanging in mid-air suddenly turn around and point at his brow with a flash of cold light.
"Chu Qingyuan, I hate you so much..." Jiang Yan's words seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth, filled with overwhelming hatred.
"...What?" Chu Jianshan doubted that he had heard correctly. He tried to move forward but was stopped by the ice arrows in front of him.
Jiang Yan slowly turned around, her eyes cold, as if she were looking at a dead person.
His gaze shifted downwards, landing on the sword in Chu Jianshan's hand. "Do you know, Mo Yang should have been mine."
"I...don't know." Chu Jianshan's voice trembled slightly.
“Of course you don’t know,” Jiang Yan walked towards him, each word like a sharp blade: “Back then, for this sword, I climbed Lonely Mountain alone, without food or water for three days and three nights, and fell off the cliff several times, almost dying, but I didn’t care! I just wanted to prove to my master that I am not a useless person!”
He became more and more agitated as he spoke, his eyes bloodshot and bright red. "But Master just casually said, 'It's more suitable for Qingyuan,' and this sword was handed to you so easily."
"Hahaha...hahahaha..." A sudden burst of laughter exploded from his throat, manic and shrill. "Chu Qingyuan, Chu Qingyuan, you always get things that I would kill for without doing anything. Should I say you're lucky, or am I just too much of an eyesore?"
He abruptly stopped laughing, his eyes turning fierce and wolfish. "But I never intended to fight for this. It was you! You've blocked my path time and time again! Xie Yin is no good, and neither are you!"
“Xie Yin…” Chu Jianshan shuddered, pulling the name out of the chaotic hatred, and asked tentatively in a tight voice, “Do you know anything about Senior Brother’s death?”
“I killed him,” Jiang Yan said, a twisted light flashing in his eyes. “It was a trap I set for him in collusion with the Linyi Sect. Wasn’t he always trying to be a hero? Well then I granted his wish and let him be a hero one last time.”
Chu Jianshan stood frozen in place, his face drained of all color, his arms trembling so badly he could barely hold his sword. He stared intently at Jiang Yan, frantically trying to glean even a trace of his former self from that familiar face—the Jiang Yan who always protected him, smiling and saying, "Don't be afraid, your senior brother is here."
“No…that’s not it,” he said, his throat tightening and his voice trembling, still struggling in vain, “Senior brother, tell me it’s not!”
Jiang Yan lowered her eyes to look at him, her eyes filled with icy ruthlessness: "Chu Qingyuan, what I hate most about you is this kind of look. Even now, why are you still pretending to be innocent!"
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly flicked his sleeve. Several ice arrows pierced the air, and Chu Jianshan hastily raised his sword to block them. Just as a crisp clang rang out, vines suddenly appeared from nowhere and wrapped around his hands and feet, tightening abruptly and suspending him in mid-air.
Jiang Yan slowly raised her eyes and looked up at the sky, a strange and cold smile playing on her lips: "Master, Master, don't you love him the most? Then let him stay with you. It's my duty as your disciple to do my best."
Chu Jianshan slowly raised his head, gazing at the person before him, his vision gradually blurring with tears. "If it really is you..." He took a deep breath, his lips trembling, each word as if steeped in ice, "Then back then I..."
“It’s me.” Jiang Yan chuckled, interrupting him, her tone casual as if she were talking about something ordinary. “You’re impulsive by nature, so I deliberately leaked some information that Xie Yin’s death was related to Linyi Gate. That way, you would disregard everything and focus solely on revenge. It’s just a pity you survived. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble.”
A tear fell onto the snow, scalding a circle of snowflakes.
Chu Jianshan closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, only a deathly stillness remained in them. He uttered a name in a hoarse voice: "Wang Min."
"It was me too," Jiang Yan answered crisply. "Back then, I had someone tamper with the mountain-guarding barrier so that he could die by Ji Ziyan's sword."
"Those two disciples guarding the mountain..."
“He was out of touch with reality and refused to obey,” Jiang Yan tilted her head slightly, her tone tinged with disgust, “and I pierced his heart with my sword.”
Chu Jianshan's voice grew softer and softer until it was just a faint, hoarse whisper, like a blade of grass about to break in the wind.
"You haven't gotten to the point yet, junior brother," Jiang Yan said with a hint of teasing in his smile. "Guess who else is next?"
Chu Jianshan raised his bloodshot eyes, his last shred of hope shattered, replaced by an overwhelming certainty: "My elder sister..."
A sudden gust of wind swept in, swirling the snow on the ground and creating a barrier between the two.
Jiang Yan's expression remained unchanged. After a long silence, he slowly spoke, his voice as soft as falling snow, "It's me."
"She is your wife!" Chu Jianshan struggled frantically, causing snow to fall from the plum tree.
"So what if she is!" Jiang Yan suddenly raised her voice, her previous composure completely shattered. "She has never even looked at me properly! Everyone says that marrying her is the greatest blessing of my life, but do you think I don't know whether she has me in her heart or not?"
His chest heaved violently, his fingertips turning white from the force. "All these years! I've been so diligent, not daring to make the slightest mistake, and all I got in return was her gaze through a thin veil. She wouldn't even give me a sliver of trust!"
"You say she's my wife of many years?" Jiang Yan sneered, his voice dripping with chilling malice. "But my wife of many years has been able to feign madness for so many years. Who do you think she's so wary of?!"
"So you killed her..." Chu Jianshan's voice was hoarse, his eyes shrouded in deep shadows, making it impossible to discern whether it was sorrow or hatred.
"That's good enough. At least she lived for another ten years or so and even got to see you, didn't she?"
"Should I thank you, senior brother?" The last two words were squeezed out from between his teeth, filled with blood-red hatred.
Before he finished speaking, the vines suddenly trembled violently, followed by a loud "boom" as flames erupted from where Chu Jianshan was bound, climbing up the vines.
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