Chapter 256 The Yue Maiden Seeks the Sword
The square outside the Sutra Copying Hall was in a mess.
On the ruins, a young man with his eyes closed had a face as white as paper, and his breath was barely perceptible.
She fell into the arms of someone dressed in red.
It's a pity.
At this moment, no one can fully appreciate the unparalleled enjoyment brought about by the pillow of unknown material.
Ouyang Rong's short hair was covered in blood, which stained Xie Lingjiang's red dress, making it even more vivid and wet, but she had no time to care at the moment.
The eldest brother is on his deathbed.
Xie Lingjiang searched the ground for healing pills and fed them to Ouyang Rong in her arms.
She sat on the ground, tilted her head, and pressed her haggard face tightly against Ouyang Rong's hand. At the same time, she gripped his right palm tightly with her two pale hands and channeled spiritual energy into his palm.
Xie Lingjiang's eyes were bloodshot.
Sometimes she would place two fingers under his nose, and sometimes she would press her ear against his chest and listen with her eyes closed.
He busied himself with his senior brother for a while.
Finally, his expression showed a mixture of joy and worry.
"His heart pulse is a bit weak, but it's normal. So why is Senior Brother still not awake..."
Xie Lingjiang's brows furrowed with sorrow. She only knew some rudimentary medical skills, which she used to assess injuries during battle.
In Xie Lingjiang's eyes, it was simply unbelievable that Ouyang Rong, a ninth-rank swordsman, had just killed a sixth-rank military strategist.
Now that the shock has gradually subsided, and she's calmly reflecting on it again, it seems there are quite a few strange things about her senior brother. Although he is undeniably handsome, especially when he stood in front of her, she wished he hadn't acted that way...
Xie Lingjiang lowered her head and murmured, "Could it be some kind of secret technique that stimulates potential but depletes lifespan and vital energy? Otherwise, why is my pulse normal, yet I still lack vitality and spirit..."
Xie Lingjiang took out all the Rejuvenation Pills she had obtained from Gezao Mountain and fed them one by one to the man in her arms, continuously infusing him with spiritual energy to protect his heart meridian.
Even though her spiritual energy was almost completely depleted and she was extremely weak, she still didn't care and transferred whatever little bit she had to him.
At this moment, Li Xian, Wei Mei, Li Dalang and others returned one after another. Li Guo'er, who had been fed the Rejuvenation Pill by Xie Lingjiang, had already woken up slowly.
When Li Xian's family reunited and found that everyone was safe and sound, they burst into tears of joy. However, when they saw Xie Lingjiang quietly holding Ouyang Rong not far away, Li Xian's family panicked and gathered around her.
"Senior Brother, you can't move yet. Do you have any more pills? Bring them all..."
Xie Lingjiang's voice was hoarse.
She didn't let Li Xian's family surround Ouyang Rong, and instead took all the healing pills from them.
The woman in red, looking dejected, told them to invite Master Shandao and other renowned doctors, and also to inform Magistrate Diao and Yan Liulang.
The crowd hurriedly accepted the order and dispersed to attend to their own business.
Xie Lingjiang stayed where she was and waited.
With her head bowed and her black hair covering her face, she stared blankly as she stroked Ouyang Rong's blood-stained face.
Only at this time would the eldest brother be so obedient and quiet, letting her touch his face.
Just then.
Above Xie Lingjiang and Ouyang Rong, a large, pure white bird glided across the sky, leaving a trail of snow on the blue sky.
Ding-a-ling~
Under the eaves of the only still intact spot in the Sutra Copying Hall, a brass wind chime rang crisply.
The woman has not yet arrived.
The sword energy came first.
A woman in a white fox fur coat, with long waist and golden hair, wearing a Wu skirt and carrying a sword, stood quietly on the eaves of the sutra copying hall, near the wind chimes.
She glanced indifferently at the ruins of the main hall below.
Ji Se's gaze swept over details such as the golden Buddha statue split in two, the rotting corpse in a scholar's robe lying crookedly in front of the benevolent Buddha head, the pretty young woman in red holding the unconscious youth, and the deer-shaped jade ring lying on the ground.
Finally, the woman in the white fox fur coat's gaze fell on a thin, tattered linen garment on the square. Her eyes showed a slight surprise, but not much emotion.
"Are you a Qi cultivator from White Deer Cave Academy?"
Xie Lingjiang heard a strange woman's voice coming from her, as if she were being questioned. Just listening to the woman's voice made her feel a chill.
The woman in red below, embracing her lover, remained silent, only nodding almost imperceptibly, as if she were in a state of utter despair.
The woman in the white fox fur coat didn't care at all; separation and death were common occurrences in this world.
"I remember this person was crippled and reduced to a lower rank before you killed him? A seventh-rank soldier killing a sixth-rank soldier?"
She seemed to have no understanding of human relationships, pointing a jade-like finger from beneath her long sleeves at the tattered hemp clothing, and continued to question the heartbroken woman.
Xie Lingjiang shook his head in disbelief.
The woman in the white fox fur coat remained silent, looking Xie Lingjiang up and down for a while. Finding no serious injuries, she shook her head slightly, seemingly also feeling that it was impossible for her to kill an enemy of a higher rank without any injuries.
As for the critically injured young man in the arms of the woman in red.
She didn't go to see it.
How could someone with such low aura, barely at the entry level of a ninth-grade cultivator, possibly kill Qiu Shenji?
The woman in the white fox fur coat asked coldly, "Who saved you two from him?"
Xie Lingjiang buried her face in Ouyang Rong's arms, her shoulders trembling slightly, unable to hide her grief.
The woman in the white fox fur coat, perched high on the eaves, frowned slightly. She found this kind of human romance between men and women most annoying—pretentious, verbose, and a waste of time.
I initially thought this young female scholar from the academy was just a Confucian scholar who could read books and say a few words, but now it seems she's not reliable.
The woman in the white fox fur coat fixed her gaze on Xie Lingjiang.
If this kind of tangled, life-or-death drama were to happen to the Yue Nu of Yunmeng Sword Marsh, she'd probably break their legs.
Fortunately, both the outstanding junior sisters of the Ancestral Hall and the ordinary Yue women of Jianze are well-behaved and sensible, and they know the current situation of their sect, so they are working together to overcome the difficulties.
The woman in the white fox fur leaped off the roof and landed lightly, ignoring Xie Lingjiang and Ouyang Rong.
She walked around the square outside the Sutra Copying Hall, and finally stopped in front of a pile of tattered hemp clothes. She lifted the clothes with the toes of her embroidered shoes and looked at them with a cold face.
The woman in the white fox fur coat frowned even more.
A former top-ranking military strategist who cultivated Qi died a clean death, leaving no trace.
Even though the man in hemp clothing was her defeated opponent, the woman in the white fox fur coat knew that it would be quite difficult to do without special secret techniques.
There are only two possibilities.
The first possibility is that the person who could easily kill the man in hemp clothing is someone with a higher cultivation level than her, possibly a fourth-rank cultivator.
The second possibility is that a Qi cultivator of at least the seventh rank used some terrifying mythical power to directly grind the man in hemp clothing into dust.
As far as she knew, there were only a handful of fourth-grade Qi cultivators in the entire world, not to mention the Jianghu region of Tiannan.
Because the fourth rank is the pinnacle of high-level Qi cultivators, and above that are the elusive and mysterious Celestials of the Divine Land.
So, given the current suspicious situation, is there any need to guess further? In this small Longcheng County, what could be more terrifying mythical power than the Dingjian?
The woman in the white fox fur coat suddenly pulled a blue paper butterfly flower from her sleeve and clenched it tightly in her hand.
Blue butterfly paper flower shredded.
It transformed into a ball of clear blue light and shadow.
The light and shadow flickered and seemed about to dissipate, but in the end, they gathered between the five fingers of the woman in the white fox fur coat, and were difficult to disperse.
The light and shadow were a clear, clean blue, faintly resembling a certain "arc".
The woman in the white fox fur coat frowned and glanced at it.
She found this on a grassy area halfway up Xiaogushan Mountain after she realized that the new Ding Sword had been manifested by its wielder and officially emerged. She immediately abandoned the seriously injured Qiu Shenji and found it based on the sensation of the Red Lotus Sword Seal.
If what that senior said in the letter is true.
This cluster of clear blue light and shadow is the essence of the sword energy of the new cauldron sword, but for some reason, it has transformed into a delicate and exquisite blue butterfly paper flower to hide itself.
But regardless.
The woman in the white fox fur coat found the essence of the sword energy as promised, but she did not find the promised cauldron sword or the powerful person near it.
"You craftsmen, how dare you breach the contract?"
The woman in the white fox fur coat remained calm, but inwardly she sneered. She took out an old, small bronze seal from her sleeve, identical to the one the old swordsmith carried when he put the sword into the furnace—the Red Lotus Sword Seal.
With just a glance, the woman in the white fox fur coat, as light as a feather, leaped up, temporarily leaving the ruined square, and rapidly ascended into the air, breaking through the white clouds.
She hovered above the top of Dagushan Mountain, her long golden hair and wide sleeves of her Wu skirt fluttering in the strong wind.
A woman at a high position feels the coldest.
Temporarily breaking through the cumbersome atmosphere of Dagushan Mountain, and undeterred by the clouds obscuring her view, the entire territory of Longcheng County was under her watchful eye.
The woman in the white fox fur coat held a red lotus sword seal in her left hand and grasped a ball of clear blue light with her right hand.
She raised two fingers of her right hand and, using the sword energy of the New Cauldron Sword as material, slowly swept them across her eyes. Her already azure eyes shone brightly under the sunlight overhead, overflowing with clear blue light.
Observing the qi (vital energy).
The aura of the Wangding Sword.
The woman in the white fox fur coat looked around, and after a moment, the clear blue light in her eyes slowly faded.
A hint of disappointment immediately surfaced in his eyes.
The cauldron and sword were nowhere to be found.
She frowned and muttered to herself:
"Did you break the alliance, or is it just not the right time yet...? Do you have a backup plan and need to wait a little longer? You don't say anything clearly."
The Dao is ruthless. Given the nature of the woman in the white fox fur coat, she did not care about the life or death of the old swordsmith or even the craftsmen of the Mei family, nor did she care about the demise of the incense offerings at Donglin Temple.
She only focused on the content of the Lotus Tower Alliance, and everything else was governed by the Great Dao Oath made by the three parties.
But these days, there's no such thing as the person who owes money being the boss.
However, the decline and extinction of the Mei family, the swordsmiths, and the Donglin Temple of the Lotus Sect in recent years have resulted in the delayed return of the Dingjian sword, which still makes the newly appointed Grand Queen of Yunmeng Sword Marsh frown with impatience.
They are reclusive sects, not ordinary creditors who come down the mountain every day to collect debts. Are these two really going to renege on their promises?
In fact, her coming down the mountain today has already broken the rules, because if Yunmeng Jianze finds the 'Dingjian' on its own, then both families will still be considered to have breached the contract and will have to cut off the ancestral hall's incense offerings.
"Chirp—chirp—!"
A clear bird song echoed through the sea of clouds.
In mid-air, the woman in the white fox fur coat suddenly put away the Red Lotus Sword Seal and looked up.
A large, snow-white bird flew back, its song long and melodious.
It seems they received some news.
"She went down the mountain without permission again? How were her senior sisters protecting her? Did they really think the confinement order was a joke? Go to Di Gongzha and arrest her!"
The woman in the white fox fur coat flicked her sleeves, and a snow-white bird circled her once before flying away again. The woman then turned and returned to the square in front of the Sutra Copying Hall.
The moment her toes touched the ground, the woman in the white fox fur coat spoke directly to the woman in the red dress who was tightly embracing someone:
"Your anger has already dissipated; I advise you not to waste your time."
Xie Lingjiang looked up sharply: "Impossible! You're talking nonsense. Senior Brother was perfectly fine just now. He was just tired and resting. He was just tired. You're not allowed to talk nonsense!"
Seeing that she finally responded, albeit fiercely.
The woman in the white fox fur coat curled her lip, glanced at the young man with his eyes closed in Xie Lingjiang's arms, her blue eyes sweeping over his injuries, and coldly recounted:
"This child has almost exhausted his 'qi'. When he was seriously injured in the abdomen, he should have rested and recuperated immediately, but he forced himself to take medicine to compress the injury and then exerted himself to move vigorously."
"I imagine we'll be together again after a life-saving battle. You've managed to catch your breath for a long time, and you seem fine on the surface. You're just recklessly squandering your energy, but the longer you catch your breath, the more serious things will become later."
"Once the enemy disappears or the matter that has been on my mind is resolved, my mind relaxes, and this overdrawn breath is completely released, naturally leading to my current coma."
"On the contrary, if you had lied to him and said there were other urgent matters, his heart would have been burning with anger and he would have been preoccupied with them. He might have been able to live a little longer, or even survived."
"It's a pity that such a sudden relaxation... has exhausted all your energy in advance, and the aftereffects will be just as severe. The child in your arms is probably beyond saving. Even if you give him the Rejuvenation Pill, it won't help. He'll inevitably suffer from lifelong catatonia. Stop crying and waste your tears."
It's clear that the woman in the white fox fur coat isn't good at giving advice; she only says things that hurt the heart.
A vegetative state is similar to Ouyang Rong's previous life, where he was in a vegetative state.
Xie Lingjiang's eyes widened, and her whole body trembled.
The woman in the white fox fur coat relented and said:
"However... it is possible to maintain the condition temporarily, but it requires the intervention of a high-level Qi cultivator. Right now, I can help stabilize his injuries. You can go find a rare doctor later. It's not impossible for him to wake up, it just depends on how tough his life is."
She nodded: "But most extraordinary doctors are eccentric, and you have to be prepared for the price you'll have to pay for this miraculous cure."
The woman in the white fox fur coat spoke in a calm tone.
If it doesn't concern me, I'll stay out of it.
"I will definitely find it!" Xie Lingjiang said hurriedly, "Please help stabilize Senior Brother's injuries first!"
The woman in the white fox fur coat agreed, "Alright, but before that, you must answer one question for me."
"Wha...what problem?"
"You should know what happened in Dragon City today... But let me ask you, do you know where the New Cauldron Sword is?"
"I believe that you Confucian scholars of the academy do not lie easily."
The woman in the white fox fur coat stared into Xie Lingjiang's eyes.
“The Cauldron…the Cauldron Sword?” Xie Lingjiang lowered her head and asked weakly, “You still haven’t said who you are? Which female ruler of Yunmeng Sword Marsh are you?”
The woman in the white fox fur coat uttered three words softly: "Candle in the Snow".
"Are you truly a beacon in the snow?"
"You've seen a fake one?"
"No, I just didn't expect you to be..." She glanced at the woman in front of her with her dazzling blonde hair and exotic beauty, paused, and then asked, "Are you here to steal the Ding Sword just like Qiu Shenji?"
“Steal? It originally belonged to the Queen's Palace. Now that someone is suspected of stealing my palace’s cauldron sword, I will naturally find this person and retrieve this important treasure of my sect.”
Xie Lingjiang hesitated for a moment: "Then if you find that person... those people, what will happen?"
"Heh." The woman in the white fox fur coat sneered without saying a word.
Xie Lingjiang hugged her senior brother tighter and lowered her eyes, saying, "Actually, I know a Yue woman from your Jianze, we have some connection. I wonder if you know her..."
"Don't try to build a friendship. Only the women of Yunmeng and Yue are like 'orchids and magnolias' to each other, bound by a bond of eternal love. Everyone else down the mountain, even relatives, are like strangers, outsiders."
The candlelight shone in the snow, its indifferent gaze lingering on the two figures reflected on the ground. It spoke softly:
"He doesn't have much 'qi' left to expend. Tell me, do you know the whereabouts of the Dingjian? If you do, tell me. If I'm satisfied, I will save him. I'm very busy and don't have time to accompany you."
Just as Xie Lingjiang was about to speak but then stopped herself.
"Chirp—!" In the sky, a snow-white bird returned once again.
The candle in the snow suddenly turned its head and looked towards the southeast.
Xie Lingjiang also frowned and looked over.
A moment later, she saw a familiar figure in a Wu-style dress rushing towards her from afar.
It was that kind-hearted, approachable mute girl.
Xie Lingjiang did not notice that Xue Zhongzhu, who was standing beside her, turned her head and frowned after seeing this silly figure. She seemed to be both annoyed and amused. The Yunmeng Grand Queen, who was almost at the top of the Tiannan Jianghu, had a hint of helplessness on her face.
Xie Lingjiang, holding her senior brother, straightened up involuntarily, a glimmer of hope shining in her eyes...
A strange way of eating soft rice
(End of this chapter)
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