Chapter 6
This outburst was quite loud, and the people around were so frightened that they fell silent. The guards and stewards all put their hands on their sword hilts, as if they were ready to arrest someone to vent their anger at Chu Le's command.
It seems that the Chu family's power had increased even further when I was sealed away.
Before you find your spirit bones, be extremely careful and make sure that this bastard doesn't find your trail!
Sheng Ningyu sighed inwardly, but feigned fear, her body trembling as she stammered, "My master just kicked us out of the sect. We wanted to seek medical treatment for the scars on my face, but we're broke. The waiter said breakfast was free, so..."
Sheng Ningyu's voice gradually lowered, as if she was terrified.
Chu Le gave a wink, and a steward immediately went to inquire. After a moment, he bent down and whispered, "It is indeed true."
Chu Le still wouldn't let it go. He turned his head and asked again, "Then are you two cultivators?"
Sheng Ningyu: "We two are Yue Xiu."
Chu chuckled and arrogantly raised his chin: "There's a zither upstairs. Can the two of you play it?"
"Yes, I can," Sheng Ningyu readily agreed, "but I don't play it very well."
Chu Le narrowed his eyes, as if he had caught someone red-handed: "If you are a musician, why can't you play the zither well?"
Sheng Ningyu said sincerely, "So we were both expelled from our sect."
Chu Le: "..."
Those around: "..."
That makes a lot of sense.
With this, everything went smoothly, but Chu Le still felt that something was wrong.
However, just as Chu Le was about to have the two perform, refusing to believe in bad luck, Sheng Ningyu raised her hand and seemingly casually tugged at her veil, as if tightening it, but just in time revealing her swollen face.
Immediately, the murmurs among the onlookers grew louder.
Amidst the sympathy and pity, there was also a hint of schadenfreude.
Chu Le stiffened again, then casually pointed to a steward to check the two men's cultivation levels. After confirming that their cultivation levels were indeed low, his expression became even colder, and he waved his hand to tell them to "get lost, you two eyesores."
Sheng Ningyu was still secretly laughing as she turned around.
Like Chu Chang'an, this younger generation also has a soft-hearted tendency.
But back then, even when that bastard Chu Chang'an was on his deathbed, he didn't show her any mercy.
Sheng Ningyu followed the person back to her room, no longer wanting to be an eyesore downstairs. As the door creaked shut, a warm breath suddenly brushed against her ear.
"From what I observed just now, Fellow Daoist Ning seemed quite soft-hearted towards that young master of the Chu family?"
Xie Qianjing's tone was no different from before, and the corners of his mouth were turned up as if he were smiling. However, beneath this gentle smile, which was like a spring flower, was the blood and mud that covered the ground.
Sheng Ningyu didn't turn her head, her expression unchanged, and said, "Where is my soft heart? If I weren't outmatched, do you think I would have wanted to waste so much time talking to them?"
Xie Qianjing gave a vague laugh, then slowly said, "So you should eat and drink my flesh and blood."
Sheng Ningyu's brow twitched violently. She turned her head, raised her eyebrows, and was about to say something to change the subject when she saw the person in front of her say lightly:
"My flesh and blood have the effect of repairing a person's bones and muscles. If one is healthy, one can also use my flesh and blood to break through to a higher realm. That is why the Chu family has kept me locked in the dungeon all this time."
Sheng Ningyu: "..."
OK.
He actually said it out loud.
Hearing the helpless sigh from the person opposite, Xie Qianjing smiled again.
He smiled gently and contentedly, like the ripples on the surface of a lotus flower, seemingly unaware of the terrifying information revealed by his sudden outburst.
He was sitting at the table, one hand supporting his chin, his eyes fixed on Sheng Ningyu without blinking.
"Fellow Daoist Ning must have already guessed, right? About my flesh and blood." Xie Qianjing tilted his head slightly, his posture relaxed and leisurely, without the slightest bit of tension.
However, the tone of his voice when he spoke revealed a coldness completely different from the smile on his face.
He said, "Since Fellow Daoist Ning also wants revenge, why not consume my flesh and blood to repair your roots and bones? I don't mind, after all, it is the best and fastest method at present."
The curtains were drawn inside, and sunlight streamed into the room haphazardly through the windows.
A few strands fell to the ground, and a few strands landed on the bed.
But not a single strand fell on Xie Qianjing.
Although these words sounded like a joke, they were not without a hint of probing. Perhaps Xie Qianjing was thinking of something, for he paused for a moment, and then responded very softly.
The sound was so light it was like a flower falling to the ground, but the last note rose mockingly, sounding more like a sarcastic laugh than a response to those around them.
Sheng Ningyu blinked: "?"
no?
What did she do to him again?
Just as Sheng Ningyu was thinking with her head down, she heard Xie Qianjing say, "Your hands are born to hold swords."
This sentence was devoid of any smile, as indifferent as a stranger on the street reminding her to pick up something she had accidentally dropped.
Sheng Ningyu's heart tightened, and she glanced at Xie Qianjing.
He sat upright at the table, cold as glass, without a smile or any worldly warmth.
It was strange, but Sheng Ningyu felt that Xie Qianjing at this moment was the real Xie Qianjing.
Sheng Ningyu twirled her wrist, hidden in her sleeve, and smirked, "It seems my left-handed sword from that day left a very deep impression on you. But I must explain beforehand..."
"Right hand."
Sheng Ningyu paused in her wrist-turning motion, then suddenly looked up: "Fellow Daoist Xie must be mistaken; I cannot use a sword with my right hand."
Her face still wore a nonchalant smile, but her eyes were sharp.
However, Xie Qianjing seemed oblivious to her gaze and looked back at her with a faint smile, saying, "Is that so? Then I must have remembered it wrong."
Sheng Ningyu smiled back, and she took a step forward unintentionally, her left hand, hidden under her sleeve, grasping the extremely sharp tree branch.
She harbored murderous intent towards him again.
Xie Qianjing raised his eyebrows, his smile full of joy.
That's perfect, he is too.
It never stops, all the time.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps, and someone sat alone in the darkness.
However, as Sheng Ningyu took that step forward, the light and shadow suddenly shifted, and a wisp of light turned from Sheng Ningyu's body and landed on Xie Qianjing's brow.
Her face was as white as porcelain, and her temperament was as cold as snow on a mountain peak, but the cinnabar mark between her brows revealed a touch of human spirit.
No, this is not a birthmark.
“This scar.” Sheng Ningyu stared at it for a few moments, then involuntarily took a step forward, raised her hand, and lightly touched his brow. “…Was it also inflicted by the Chu family?”
My left hand has come loose.
The murderous intent vanished without a trace.
A feeling suddenly arose in Xie Qianjing's heart, but he couldn't tell if it was called "regret".
He lowered his eyes, seemingly unconcerned about recalling those painful memories, and casually said, "I have many scars on my body. Which one are you asking about?"
He was clearly sitting while she was standing, and Xie Qianjing was shorter than her, but Sheng Ningyu inexplicably felt that she was at a disadvantage.
Everything is under the other party's control.
But at this moment, Sheng Ningyu couldn't care less about all that. She desperately wanted to know the answer, and her voice turned cold and hard: "Was the spot between your eyebrows done by the Chu family?"
Xie Qianjing raised the corners of his mouth and chuckled softly, answering crisply, "No."
Before he could finish speaking...
His previously steady breathing suddenly became heavy, and Xie Qianjing raised his hand and tightly grasped the hand that was on his forehead.
"Fellow Daoist Ning," Xie Qianjing raised his eyes, his voice somewhat hoarse, "such behavior is probably a bit presumptuous."
His hands were very cold.
Like the chilling frost and snow on a mountaintop, for a moment, Sheng Ningyu felt a sharp pain.
Sheng Ningyu didn't know where the subtle pain in her heart came from. She only knew that at this moment, she seemed unable to muster any killing intent towards Xie Qianjing.
"I apologize, I was in a hurry and offended you." Sheng Ningyu tried to withdraw her hand, but she couldn't pull it away.
Xie Qianjing held her palm and examined her wrist: "Fellow Daoist Ning, your right hand is badly injured."
Sheng Ningyu's lips twitched as she looked at his smiling face as he looked up, and at almost the same time, her mind raced through his next words.
"So you really don't want to consider my flesh and blood?"
"don't want!"
The two spoke almost simultaneously, but Sheng Ningyu's refusal was brief and forceful, leaving only Xie Qianjing's voice echoing in the room.
Xie Qianjing looked at her for a long time, then held her wrist, smiled and asked, "Why?"
It was clearly she who suggested that she eat his flesh and blood.
Xie Qianjing was still holding her right wrist, but surprisingly, Sheng Ningyu didn't feel threatened.
She blinked, then casually sat down next to Xie Qianjing, her aura completely dissipating as she practically collapsed onto the table, utterly relaxed.
Compared to Xie Qianjing's refined and unconventional demeanor, whose every move was as unhurried and leisurely as a young master from a noble family, Sheng Ningyu's posture appeared much more unrestrained and free.
"Where did you get the bandage and ointment?"
"I picked the herbs last night, and I asked the waiter for the gauze," Xie Qianjing said. "You still haven't answered my question."
Sheng Ningyu said "Oh" and didn't ask any further questions. She let Xie Qianjing play with her right hand, tilting her head and not caring where her hair fell: "It's nothing, I just don't want to eat your flesh and blood."
They're always grinning and joking, never doing anything serious.
Xie Qianjing paused in his application of the medicine, glanced at her, but his smile faded, and he appeared extremely cold: "Is someone else's medicine acceptable?"
The question was very strange, but Sheng Ningyu somehow understood what he meant.
"Who knows?" Sheng Ningyu narrowed her eyes and said carelessly, "I'm not that kind-hearted. If I meet someone I don't like or can't stand, I might end up like the Chu family, keeping them by my side and sucking their blood day and night."
No sooner had he finished speaking than his right hand was gripped tightly.
Sheng Ningyu hissed and looked up at Xie Qianjing, complaining almost out loud, "Could you be a little gentler? This hurts too much."
Xie Qian didn't even look up at the camera: "You only learn your lesson when it hurts."
After these words were spoken, the two fell silent again.
Light and shadow flicker, and dust particles are visible.
Sheng Ningyu rested her head on her arm, squinting as she admired Xie Qianjing's noble and pure appearance, which resembled a Bodhi lotus. The more she looked at him, the more familiar he seemed.
Just like before, there was someone who was willing to carefully bandage her wounds when she was injured while practicing swordsmanship.
Even if it takes a long time, even if it goes against the rules, even if it means crossing oceans and mountains for her.
Those wounds she never cared about were all repaired by that person, little by little, gently and carefully.
It wasn't her fiancé Chu Chang'an, nor her second senior brother Rong Que, and certainly not that busy guy Feng Xiaosheng...
Who is it?
Sheng Ningyu felt as if her mind was shrouded in a fog, and everything that she had taken for granted now seemed subtly different.
Her memories of Chu Chang'an were perfect and clear.
But it is precisely because it is so perfect and clear that it gives people a sense of strangeness.
"Xie Qianjing." Sheng Ningyu rested her head on her arm, staring intently at the person in front of her. "Have we met before?"
Her eyes were beautiful, not in a sculpted way, but in a vibrant, unrestrained way.
It's like a moon carrying a sky full of stars, casting its light endlessly upon all those who make wishes.
Xie Qianjing released her hand and began tidying up the things on the table: "I thought Fellow Daoist Xie would ask me first how I escaped from the Chu family."
I feel like he's become a bit colder again.
But this side of him seems to be the real him.
Sheng Ningyu tilted her head and said, "I think this is a more important question."
Xie Qianjing did not look back, and did not even stop tidying up his things.
"Of course I've never seen it." He finished packing up the medicinal herbs, and then looked up when he heard this. "The Chu family will realize what's going on sooner or later. You and I can only rest for one more day at most. We must leave tomorrow morning."
Sheng Ningyu agreed, got up and pushed the door, but stopped when she touched the lock.
Her right wrist was still carefully wrapped in gauze, looking much better than the crooked bandage she had worn the night before.
“By the way, Fellow Daoist Xie, there were some things I didn’t understand before, and I kept them from you.” Sheng Ningyu turned her head. “My surname is Sheng.”
Xie Qianjing paused, turning his head to look at her.
Under the blazing sun, the dust of the world filled the air, obscuring the view and blurring it so much that for a moment it felt as if I had truly returned to my youth in a certain year and month.
When the young people first met, although they were mindful of the teachings of their teachers and were wary of each other, they couldn't resist testing each other out of curiosity.
Truth and falsehood intertwined, deception and cover-up.
But I didn't lie to you about the name!
"But the name is real."
Sheng Ningyu raised an eyebrow and smiled, her eyes curving like a crescent moon.
Despite all that she has been through, her smile is still bright and radiant, as if she were carrying a long sword, ready to pierce the clouds when we first met.
“My real name is Mingyue. That’s what my friends and teachers used to call me.”
My nickname is "Mingyue" (Bright Moon), and that's what everyone close to me calls me.
She was the one who deceived me first, yet she was now acting self-righteously, her expression carefree and unrestrained, without the slightest hint of remorse.
She seems to have really not changed at all.
Xie Qianjing's long eyelashes fluttered, and he lowered his eyelids, concealing the dark red hue of his pupils for a fleeting moment.
"Thank you for telling me the truth, Fellow Daoist Sheng. I have noted it down."
He never looked up from beginning to end.
Sheng Ningyu smiled and left without looking back.
Although she revealed his surname, it didn't stop her from feeling that Xie Qianjing was lying.
After all, there was a mark between his eyebrows...
Sheng Ningyu rubbed the branch in her hand a few times, and thought hesitantly.
That scar somewhat resembled the mark left by her sword.
A note from the author:
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Sheng Ningyu: Damn it! It seems to be something I did in the past!
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