Chapter 47 The Unforgettable Ghost.
Someone, come quick and take this madman away!
Shimi felt that if things continued like this, he might not live much longer. His emotions grew stronger day by day, and coupled with that unconfirmed but highly probable hidden illness, he feared he might eventually go mad!
So she planned to take advantage of her return to Lingyin Mountain to ask her master for answers to her questions. Of course, it wasn't for him, but so that more Banyan wouldn't suffer the same pain in the future—after all, she was a craftswoman with a craftsman's spirit.
I now deeply regret notifying him in advance. I should have left a letter first, acting preemptively and informing him later, to prevent him from having the opportunity to take advantage of me.
Fortunately, he gradually calmed down, and the lingering kisses didn't seem so unpleasant anymore. Shi Mi loved the look in his eyes when he regained consciousness after a daze—a look of hesitation, loyalty, and a pitiful, unspoken longing. Whenever she was about to scold him harshly, he would look at her like that, and she would inexplicably soften, swallowing back the words of reprimand that were on the tip of her tongue.
But today was really too much. She wiped her mouth and complained, "You actually bit me."
Suddenly remembering the dull pain in her shoulder, she turned her head to look and angrily yelled, "You peeled me open and then bit me here!"
When he saw his masterpiece, his shame was only fleeting. He quickly told her frankly, "This bite can't quench my thirst. If I didn't need your help, I would have eaten you long ago."
These harsh words carried some weight, making Shimi feel resentful. He shrank back and said, "Can't you control yourself? You're not the only half-cream I've made. If everyone were like you, how would I survive?"
He gave a mocking laugh, turned his gaze away and looked ahead, saying calmly, "I am different from them, you should know that."
Yes, I know. It was that marriage certificate that spoiled him so much that he became arrogant and reckless. Relying on his power and control over the lives of many, he dared to blackmail her. The situation is getting out of control; it's indeed time to leave for a while and see how things develop. She needs to consider whether to stay in Baiyujing to protect the people, or simply leave and never return to avenge the massacre of 200,000 Yu soldiers.
As for his desire to go to Lingyin Mountain, that is absolutely unacceptable. How can such a despicable person from the secular world defile the sacred place!
But for now, she could only offer a perfunctory reply, verbally agreeing to postpone her departure for a few days. The emperor had just been replaced, and state affairs relied entirely on the High Council. As the council's advisor, how could he possibly attend to anything else when he was so busy? She could slip away while he was preoccupied, and by the time he realized what was happening, it would be too late. Once she left Baiyujing, the sky's the limit; after all, very few people in the world knew the exact location of Lingyin Mountain. Thinking this way, her future suddenly became clear.
As expected, he was so busy for the next two days that he was almost never home. He returned the following evening, changed his clothes, and left again in a hurry, telling her before he left that he would try to finish the two weeks of official business within three days and wouldn't keep her waiting too long.
Shimi crossed her arms, looking impatient. "I told you not to come along, but you wouldn't listen. You're so busy, it's not like I forced you to."
She didn't offer any insincere concern; instead, it made him feel at ease. If she had deliberately said nice things, it would have meant she was about to slip away.
Lu Min felt relieved and reluctantly left, rushing back to Gao Yitai that very night. Shi Mi waited patiently for half an hour, until the moon was high in the sky, then quietly took out the small bundle hidden behind the door.
With a whistle, three figures darted out from the dark corner of the room. The three men, dressed in night clothes, half their faces veiled in black, revealing only three pairs of gleaming golden eyes. Their weapons, sword hilts held high on their backs, hopped in front of Shimi and said, "We're ready, let's go!"
Shimi looked them over and asked, puzzled, "Why are you dressed like that?"
Ali said, "Run at night. It's dark and windy, so wearing black is auspicious."
That makes sense! Shimi then asked, "What about during the day? We'll be traveling for several days, wouldn't wearing night clothes during the day be too conspicuous?"
They clearly hadn't considered this question; their three faces were blank. Their intelligence fluctuated wildly, and it was unclear when it would finally stabilize.
Shimi sighed, "Never mind, let's not delay any longer, our senior brother is waiting for us."
The main gate was off-limits; there were guards in the front yard and hidden soldiers in the alleyways. The four had already scouted the area. The western wall of the courtyard bordered the river and was usually unguarded. After climbing over the wall, they would proceed along the river, where their swift horses were ready.
After scaling the courtyard wall, everything proceeded according to plan, and they soon reunited with their senior brother. Baiyujing generally didn't have a curfew, and people could still move around at night, but the city gates were locked, preventing any communication with the outside world. Fortunately, there was a Fifth Sea in Dragon City who obtained a pass stamped with the imperial edict of Emperor Shengyuan. After the five reunited, Gu Jingguan led the way; his appearance and demeanor truly resembled that of an envoy carrying out a secret mission. Upon seeing Emperor Shengyuan's edict, the people at the city gates dared not utter a single question and immediately opened the gates, letting them out of the city.
Running out of Baiyujing, the outside world is truly vast and boundless. Tonight is the sixteenth, the bright moon hangs high, and countless stars hang in the sky. The whistling wind carries the fragrance of grass and trees. If the past two years were about surviving in a jungle of swords and spears, then now it feels like a fish entering a deep abyss, able to dive a hundred thousand miles in one go.
She ran wildly across the wilderness, feeling a joy she hadn't experienced in a long time. It was as if she had returned to the days when her parents were alive and well, and she could cultivate in peace. Unfortunately, those days would never return. She could only spend the rest of her life savoring the memory of that fleeting, yet eternally lost, affection she had gained.
Fortunately, she always had companions who stood by her side through thick and thin, and now her senior brother had joined them, all heading towards the same destination with the same goal. Although returning might bring her master's wrath and punishment, it didn't seem to frighten her. Her master had always loved her dearly, and even if she did something wrong, even if it was a major blunder, as long as she sincerely repented, he would still forgive her.
After running for about three hours, we were getting further and further away from Baiyujing, and we could stop and rest for a while along the way.
As the sky turned a bluish-green hue, the five men tethered their horses under a large locust tree, lit a campfire, and baked flatbreads to eat.
Gu Jingguan asked her, "Have you made all the arrangements for Ban Yan's plans?"
Shimi nodded. "Yandian delivered it yesterday. I was afraid they would die, and if it was too late, they would only face certain death."
"Do you still want to go back?" he suddenly asked again. "If you don't go back, all those grudges and disputes will be over, and you can let go of everything and live your original life peacefully in the mountains."
Shimi hesitated, tore off a piece of cake, held it between his fingertips for a long time, and didn't put it in his mouth.
“I don’t want to go back, but I’m afraid of implicating the people. Lu Min is unpredictable. If he finds out he can’t survive, how will the people of Zhongdu survive? The Yan Dynasty is at war everywhere, causing widespread suffering. We’ve only just recovered in the last two years. If civil war breaks out again, I don’t know how many more people will die. It’s easy for me to leave, but leaving this mess behind will cause innocent people to lose their lives. I can’t bear it.”
Gu Jingguan sighed, "That's true. If we could live without caring about others, we wouldn't have so many troubles. But we are both made of flesh and blood, how can we be so reckless?"
“And what about Fifth Sea?” Ali Dao said from the side. “He’s still in Shangdu. If he doesn’t go back, isn’t Fifth Sea doomed?”
That's not necessarily the case. The actions of the puppeteers are controlled by their masters, who have their own ways of manipulating their consciousness. If they truly were to disappear without a trace, Fifth Sea could easily arrive before they lose their powers of life and reunite with them. Such highly intelligent puppeteers would never sit idly by and wait for their doom.
But at this moment, Gu Jingguan was worried about something else. “I often miss my master and I also miss the days on the mountain, but I don’t know if there is any possibility of being forgiven by my master for making him so angry. He wrote a letter to summon you back, but he probably doesn’t know that I am with you. If he suddenly sees me… I wonder if he will send me down the mountain and forbid me from ever setting foot on the mountain gate again.”
Shimi turned to look at him. He had once been riding high, but had suffered repeated setbacks, which had made him somewhat pessimistic. Even in ordinary conversation, one could often see sadness in his eyes.
She couldn't quite understand why he would hold a grudge over the death of a puppeteer for so many years. But after experiencing a lot herself and savoring the flavors of everyday life, she realized that her senior brother had truly had a tough time.
She moved closer, patted his shoulder, and said in her master's tone, "That child was once my most prized disciple. If he were here, how could Lingyin Mountain not flourish?"
Gu Jingguan chuckled and, in his usual indulgent manner, scolded, "You have no manners!"
As dawn broke and the stars in the sky grew fewer, Shimi looked up at the heavens and said, “Master didn’t say it aloud, but he has been thinking of you for many years. It’s just that there’s no chance for us to meet again. He won’t come down the mountain, and you won’t come up the mountain either, so we can’t let bygones be bygones. I believe that if we could just see each other, without saying a word, Master would forgive you. If you don’t believe me, try it and see if his eyes light up when you walk up to him.”
The worry in Gu Jingguan's eyes finally eased. "That's right. Even if Master doesn't forgive me, I've gone through this ordeal, and my wish has been fulfilled. I won't have any more regrets."
Shimi, propping her cheek up, asked him, "When you see Master, will you admit that you were wrong and shouldn't have developed feelings for Miaoruo?"
He remained silent for a moment, still stubborn, "It's an apology, not an admission of wrongdoing. I don't regret creating Miaoruo, nor do I regret refusing to destroy her. I'm just sorry to my master for wasting his cultivation and hard work. If my master doesn't want to see me, I'll kowtow and leave without bothering him."
Therefore, everyone has obsessions in their hearts, and everyone knows they should do the impossible. Shimi picked up the water pouch and touched it with him. She liked the human touch in her senior brother, which was much better than those law-enforcing elders in the mountain gate.
They had rested for half an hour and it was time to set off. The road from Baiyujing to Lingyin Mountain became increasingly remote and sparsely populated. The mountain where they had learned their skills was three hundred li south of Yan Yuan, and because of the treacherous terrain of the surrounding mountains, it was a "wild mountain" that even woodcutters would not set foot on.
This journey took several days, with the latter half spent crossing the Guanling Mountains. Fortunately, those who came before them had already determined the resting places, and they knew which terrain was flat enough to rest temporarily. The two settlements were far apart, so they usually didn't travel to them consecutively. They would settle down before sunset, light a fire, and look for water.
Shimi vaguely remembered this place; she knew there was a small pool in front of the ravine, with clear water and fish and shrimp. She greeted her senior brother, took Ran Dian and Yan Dian with her, and ran to the pool to catch fish.
The spring water was very cold. She took off her shoes and socks and jumped in, hissing and gasping for breath from the cold. Fortunately, the pool wasn't big; the deepest part only reached her thighs. Catching fish and shrimp was like catching fish in the shallows. The small fish were all driven to the shore by her and Ran Dian with their makeshift nets.
The fish weren't big, but there were many of them. Yan Dian shouted excitedly and strung them into two strings with willow branches, looking like she was going to hire a cat.
Unfortunately, she couldn't cook, and Fifth Sea wasn't there, so the responsibility fell on Ran Dian. Shi Mi told them to go back first, and that she would come later, because she saw several big fish circling in slightly deeper water, and she couldn't resist catching one no matter what.
"It's pitch black everywhere, and there are mountain spirits and monsters around," Yan Dian said. "What if we get caught?"
Shi Mi scoffed, "If any mountain spirits or monsters dare to come out, I'll make soup with them."
Since the pool was not very large and unlikely to drown, Ran Dian and Yan Dian returned home reassured.
Shi Mi, full of ambition, whittled a branch to try and poke the fish, but after several failed attempts, she stood in the water for a long time, bewildered. She thought to herself that next time she would have to create a puppet that could catch fish; it would definitely come in handy when she was out and about. Meanwhile, the large fish swam leisurely past her from time to time, as if mocking her incompetence. After several unsuccessful attempts, she kicked the water in frustration and decided to call a truce for the day and try again tomorrow morning.
She waded through the water, the rushing sound particularly clear in the silent mountains. Just as she was about to reach the shore, she looked up and saw a tall, dark figure standing beside her shoes and socks, only about three zhang away.
She was startled, her hair standing on end. She thought to herself, "Oh no, I've really encountered a ghost." It was dark, and the riverbank was covered by dense forest. There was still some light above her head, but it was pitch black under the trees. No matter how wide she stared, she couldn't see who it was.
"Senior brother?" she asked in a trembling voice, "or Ali Dao?"
The man remained motionless and did not respond to her. Soon, torches came forward from behind and finally illuminated his outline and features. It was Lu Min.
His face was cold, and his expression was displeased. "He left without saying goodbye, forcing me to chase after him day and night for two days. Didn't you know that you should have told me before you left?"
Shi Mi was stunned. She could no longer imagine how to face this bizarre life, how she had created such a huge problem that she was being led by the nose, and how she had suddenly felt despair for everything in the world.
With a sob in her voice, she asked, "Why are you here? What brings you here?"
He glared at him coldly, "Shouldn't I have come after you? We agreed that I would go back with you after I settled everything in the court. Couldn't you even wait one day?"
The problem is that she doesn't want to take him back at all. She went to see her master this time to apologize to the sect. If she takes this stolen item back, wouldn't that be a clear sign of breaking ties?
But he caught up with me, I couldn't shake him off, he caught up with me!
Standing in the water, she felt so wronged she wanted to cry. She had exerted so much effort, running over a thousand miles from Baiyujing, yet she still couldn't escape his grasp. He was like a ghost, always by her side; he was using all his warlike tactics on her—what was she supposed to do?!
“I…” she sobbed uncontrollably, “I really want to kill you right now.”
The person standing on the shore, whose eyes were filled with hatred, suddenly became clear and lucid, probably taken aback by her reaction.
He snatched the torch from Bai Heliang's hand and ordered, "Retreat five zhang."
The guards behind him immediately dispersed. He then changed to a gentler tone and extended his other hand towards her, "Come up quickly, stand still in the water, or you'll get bitten by leeches."
The urge to kill him truly surged within her. She felt utterly lost, completely haunted by his relentless spirit. But the water was cold, and there were indeed insects in it, so she had no choice but to scramble ashore, sit on the grass, and carefully check herself to make sure there were no leeches before putting on her leggings and shoes.
When she looked up again, his face was right in front of her, his smiling eyes gazing at her tenderly. It was as if seeing him in person made all her anger disappear.
"Are you tired after running around for several days?" He tried to help her up. "You could have just taken a comfortable ride in the car. Why did you have to make it look like you were fleeing a disaster, and even go fishing in the water?"
Shimi avoided his touch, reluctantly stood up, and said coldly, "I promised you I would return in a month, why did you come after me again?"
He answered confidently, "Because I can't let you be alone with other men. Although Gu Jingguan is older, he is still proud and charming, and I'm afraid you'll fall for him."
She argued angrily, "Ran Dian and Yan Dian are all here."
“The Yan people are not living people. If you want, you can make them lose their life force so you can be alone with them.”
Shi Mi spat out his nonsense and fiercely drove him away, "I can't take you back to Lingyin Mountain. You must go back to Baiyujing immediately and don't follow me."
He smiled and said, "No way. How can the show start if I don't come?" He then turned his gaze and looked towards the dark forest.
Shimi didn't delve into what his so-called "good show" was; he was just stirring things up and wanted to deliver the marriage certificate to his master. Unable to reach an agreement and having no other options, he angrily turned and hurried back to the mountain hollow where they had set up camp.
When they returned, they saw Gu Jingguan squatting in front of the fire, intently roasting the rabbit he had hunted. San Yan stayed far away from the fire, holding up the skewered fish and probing it into the flames, probably afraid that the campfire would set them on fire.
Just as everyone was about to invite her to sit down, they suddenly noticed that there was someone following behind her. Upon closer inspection, they were all stunned, exchanging bewildered glances, even forgetting to flip the food in their hands.
"How did he get here so quickly?" Yan Dian was greatly surprised.
"It's over, there's no escaping now." Ali Dao clicked his tongue.
Gu Jingguan, however, remained calm. In his view, some things were preordained by fate and there was no room for discussion. He stood up, pointed to the straw mat, and said, "Come and sit down."
Everyone was gathered, the sky was high and the clouds were light—it was truly a beautiful night.
Undeterred by her confusion, Lu Min forcefully pulled her to the fire, cupped his hands in greeting to Gu Jingguan, and said, "I set off late, which delayed my journey. Please forgive me, Mr. Gu."
Gu Jingguan nodded, knowing full well that these politicians could always turn the dead into the living.
Shi Mi was very dissatisfied. "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you want my senior brother to misunderstand me? Did we make an appointment beforehand?"
He sat down and straightened his sleeves. "Isn't that right? You told me in advance that I was going back to Lingyin Mountain, so naturally I couldn't let you go back alone to face the consequences. In the end, this matter was caused by me. If Master wants to punish someone, then punish me."
These kind and compassionate words made San Yan feel that this person was quite responsible. Yan Dian handed him the fish skewers in her hand, "Grand Tutor, would you like some?"
Lu Min took the fish and examined it carefully. It was already small, and after being roasted over the fire, it shrank to the length of a copper coin. However, since it was caught by a fisherman, he could reluctantly accept it, so he removed one and planned to let the fisherman try it first.
Just as they were about to speak, the night bird perched on the treetop was suddenly startled by something, flapped its wings with a loud thud, and began to circle continuously in the air.
Everyone noticed something was wrong and stood up to look around.
The guards quickly gathered, and the beasts lurking in the forest fled in panic, turning the once quiet mountain valley into a bustling scene.
Lu Min looked back in the direction they had come from, and soon, accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps, a group of men in black appeared ahead. He sighed inwardly, "Finally..."
Shi Mi glanced at him in surprise, only to realize that he had anticipated this all along. His pursuit of her here was not out of relentless pursuit, but rather to prepare for the inevitable battle.
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