Cold Arrow, you can't bear to kill me?
The wind and rain tap against the window, sending a few notes from the pipa across the distance, which a leisurely person listens to by candlelight.
Pei Xuanzhi, wearing an indigo cloak embroidered with silver, stood alone on the corridor of a small building facing the street, with a dim candle flickering beside him and the sound of wind and rain passing by.
The fine bamboo curtain couldn't block the moisture that rushed in, and one could faintly hear the sound of a pipa coming from an unknown distance.
This is the second time he has stood here.
The first time he came, it was in the afternoon. His father made him sit in the room for a long time, considering whether he could bring over the spirit stone tablet of the small world.
If he were willing to let his father enter the small world to help him find traces of his memories, then so be it.
If he refuses, there is still a forbidden area in his hometown of Xianyang that would be enough for him to spend the rest of his life.
He originally thought the small stone tablet was in Senior Sister Yan's hands, but after searching the inn for her, he couldn't find her room.
When he returned to his room, he found the stone tablet under his pillow.
He didn't think he would hide his memories in that little world, and anything that would inevitably be discovered was not within his consideration.
He didn't think his father would believe that if he were faking it, he would be hiding something in his little world.
It was just a little test.
If he had something to hide before returning to the Tianyan Sect, he wouldn't have readily handed over this thing that others thought might be hiding memories.
It didn't take him long to find the tiny stone tablet, but it was raining today, so it got dark earlier and the night seemed deep.
A sharp sound of a string snapping rang out, and the sound of the pipa was completely silenced in the rainy night.
Pei Xuanzhi held a small stone tablet in his sleeve, his pale, jade-like hand resting on the old door, and gently pushed it open.
.
Yun Ruoliang strode through the rain and swooped down at the motionless person on the ground, his long sword gleaming in the faint candlelight shining from the house.
He lost that little world and dared not go back to see his father.
But Yu Shiliu has some good stuff he plundered from the ghost market. If he can take it back as compensation, his father probably won't be too angry.
He originally did not intend to kill Yu Yi, although the Yu family of Yunjing was not a threat.
However, the Yu family has a tradition of being narrow-minded and vindictive, and sometimes the brothers in the Yu clan fight amongst themselves, sometimes with bloodshed behind the scenes.
If they were to trace their father's whereabouts using some clues, it would always be troublesome.
But Yu Yi was too petty. He only took advantage of Yu Yi's drunkenness to steal the treasure pouch, and he was hit with two cold arrows.
He has recently been plagued by misfortune. Not only did he lose his small world, but he also failed to obtain Yan Huanyue, and his pets, which he had raised for a long time, all died at someone's hands overnight.
Now, having been struck by two arrows, he could not bear the pain of not killing Yu Yi.
Just as the sword tip was about to pierce Yu Yi's rain-soaked throat, it was suddenly cleaved in two by a straight, slender horizontal blade.
The horizontal slash swept across the blade of the longsword, like a lover's delicate fingers tracing his wrist and arm, up to his neck, its icy touch caressing his most vulnerable skin.
Yun Ruoliang dodged with a few quick steps, only to belatedly discover that hot blood was flowing from the thin cut on his neck.
Looking back, Yan Huanyue was standing behind him, holding a knife, her eyes gleaming coldly.
He raised his hand to touch the wound on the side of his neck, gently flicked away the blood droplets from his fingertips, and laughed loudly, "I was just thinking of you, and here you are. If you say there's no fate between us, I don't believe it."
Yan Huanyue drew her sword and charged at him on tiptoe. Yun Ruoliang originally wanted to fight her with sword, but when she got close, she suddenly turned around, twisted her waist, and kicked the short arrow in front of his shoulder.
Yun Ruoliang had already lost his inner core energy and had not fully recovered when he was hit by an arrow.
In the past, eight Yan Huanyues would not have been enough to rival him.
But now he was seriously injured and couldn't dodge in time. He vomited a mouthful of blood, which splashed onto her skirt, making her misty pink gauze dress look like a patch of red plum blossoms.
He grabbed her ankle with his left hand and twisted it several times.
Yan Huanyue, unable to avoid having her foot broken, spun around in his hands.
As her skirt billowed, she kicked him hard in the arrow wound on his shoulder, then kicked him in the face, using the force to break free from his grasp.
Like an arrow suddenly turning in mid-air, she abruptly turned around and thrust her knife at his throat.
Yun Ruoliang leaned back, quickly dodging to the rooftop. His lips were snow-white as he clutched the arrow wound that had pierced his shoulder. His lips trembled, yet he still managed a smile:
"It doesn't hurt...it doesn't hurt...what's the material of your clothes? They're so beautiful..."
Yan Huanyue sheathed her sword.
Yun Ruoliang was somewhat surprised, "You... can't bear to kill me?"
The next moment, she suddenly produced a longbow and an arrow in her hand, and in an instant, she nocked the arrow, drew the bow, and aimed at his brow.
"How cruel..."
Knowing that she was now filled with murderous intent, Yun Ruoliang had no choice but to escape first, and turned and flew away.
From the moment Yan Huanyue saw him, she did not say a single word to him, yet every move she made was fatal.
Just as she was about to draw her bow to take his life, a sudden burst of sword energy shot from the shadows behind her, piercing her shoulder.
The arrow she shot also went astray, but it still followed Yun Ruoliang and pierced his shoulder.
Her eyes sharpened, and she cast a spell towards the direction from which the sword energy came, first dodging to the side of the wall.
The rain gradually stopped.
Yan Huanyue, using the protective barrier around her, circled around to the direction from which the sword energy had come, but the person was already gone.
She returned to the street, passed Yu Yi, then turned back, using a magic spell to drag him by one leg, pulling him to find the arrow she had just shot.
The arrow was found in an alley.
It had been wiped clean of its bloodstains and scent, and now it stood on the back of a small stone beast guarding a house under the eaves of a door, with even the rainwater on the arrow fletching wiped clean.
It is extremely rare for an enemy's weapon to be treated with such courtesy.
Yan Huanyue didn't know whether it was Yun Ruoliang who did it, or the person behind it.
She raised her hand to recall the arrow, then turned and dragged Yu Yi, who had been wading through mud and water, toward the inn.
When there were many people around, she didn't want to attract attention, so she held Yu Yi's belt and carried him in her hand, but this seemed to attract more attention than dragging him along.
never mind.
Upon returning to the inn, she first asked the waiter, who was chatting idly with a group of people, to boil water and deliver it to her room. Then, carrying Yu Yi, she walked to Xue Jingnian's door.
When Xue Jingnian opened the door, he saw her slightly cold expression and her long eyelashes were wet, and his heart immediately trembled.
He assumed that Pei Xuanzhi was dead, which was why she came to him in this state to report the death.
He didn't know whether to be happy or sympathetic, and didn't immediately notice the person in her arms. He simply asked, "What's wrong?"
Yan Huanyue didn't say anything, but simply threw Yu Yi into his room and turned to leave.
Xue Jingnian paused for a moment, then subconsciously asked, "Where is Fellow Daoist Tan? How are you? Why didn't you bring her back?"
Yan Huanyue left without looking back.
Xue Jingnian thought Yu Yi was drunk, but when he turned him over, he discovered that he had sword wounds on his body.
He looked up at Yan Huanyue's back and suddenly noticed that blood was also flowing from her shoulder.
He was about to chase after her, but she went straight back to her room and closed the door.
Yan Huanyue went directly to a small room separated by several screens to take a bath.
When she wanted to use a mirror to apply medicine to the back of her shoulder, she discovered that the bronze mirror she had just bought and used for only a few days had disappeared.
I couldn't find it anywhere, so I could only treat the pain and apply some medicine.
Hearing some noise by the door, Pei Xuanzhi's cool fragrance wafted in. She asked, "Xuanzhi, where's the mirror?"
The person outside did not answer.
After she tied up her long hair and changed into a soft yellow nightgown, she came out to find Pei Xuanzhi still standing by the open door, looking astonished, not knowing how long he had been standing there.
A night breeze swept through the hall, sending a chill through her.
His expression made her suddenly realize that there was something she had overlooked after the fight: he had lost his memory.
"Don't stand in the wind, or you'll catch a cold."
Pei Xuanzhi pursed his thin lips, his expression indifferent, and glanced at her imperceptibly.
With snow-white skin and black hair, her clothes were bulging, and she looked languid after a bath. Her whole body was flushed with a rosy hue, and a thin red ribbon was tied over her thin, soft yellow gauze robe, highlighting her supple waist.
His long, fine eyelashes trembled. He secretly withdrew his gaze, turned around and closed the door. Looking at the patterns on the door, his soul twisted and grotesque.
In the dim light, with his back to her, his Adam's apple bobbed slightly for a moment, but a hint of anger flickered in his eyes, which were now icy. His voice was as cool as a frigid stream.
"Senior Sister Yan, what are you doing?"
Yan Huanyue walked to the table, took out the bag of pastries from her treasure pouch, and placed it on the table. "I'm sorry, I really forgot... I got used to staying here while taking care of you these past few days, so I came here to wash up... These pastries are for you, but you shouldn't eat too many tonight. Open the door, I'll go out right away."
She wanted to go to the door, but Pei Xuanzhi stood there with his back to her, neither speaking nor making way.
"Xuanzhi?"
Pei Xuanzhi slowly turned around, his eyes lowered, his long eyelashes casting two shadows on his pale face, making him look extremely cold.
He had just caught a glimpse of her returning with a man.
Although he felt somewhat displeased after seeing it, it was her own business, and it wasn't something he could interfere with, nor did he have the right to ask.
But when he returned, he found her taking a bath in the room.
So what is this?
"My senior sister brought someone back, but she came to my room to bathe. Now that she's here, where is she going?"
Yan Huanyue said, "Of course, we need another room."
Pei Xuanzhi glanced at her, then quickly lowered his eyes, coughed, and said indifferently, "It's too late, the waiters have all gone to bed, why bother them? If there are no rooms available, where do you plan to go?"
Yan Huanyue frowned, annoyed by his harsh words, but felt a strange unease in her heart.
Logically speaking, according to his memory, he only met her on the day he went to the sect, so they were basically just getting to know each other.
Back then, he always seemed easy to talk to and rarely showed much emotion.
However, she hadn't gone to his room to bathe and change clothes at that time, so who knew how he would react?
Yan Huanyue didn't want to think about it anymore. She walked to the door, pushed him aside, and said, "I paid for the room. I won't kick you out. Stop being sarcastic. Just mind your own business."
Pei Xuanzhi grabbed her arm, pulled her to the table, then immediately released her hand, saying in a cold voice:
"I wasn't planning on meddling in your affairs, but you came here on your own..."
Yan Huanyue was about to get angry, but then she suddenly remembered something and fell silent.
She carefully examined the boy before her, whose brows were downcast and whose expression was cold, then chuckled softly and asked:
"I came, but you wouldn't let me leave. I wanted to leave, but you stopped me. I'd like to ask you, Junior Brother Pei, what do you want?"
As expected, she heard his breathing falter for a moment, and the thin powder that had seeped from the corners of his eyes instantly spread to the tips of his ears.
She suddenly remembered that Mid-Autumn Festival night by the Lake of No Fall in her past life. No wonder, even though they had only met once in three years, he recognized her in the darkness...
"Senior sister, please don't misunderstand."
Pei Xuanzhi looked up at her and smiled casually, "Since this was originally your room, you might as well stay here and I'll go get another room."
What if there are no rooms available?
“I went to sleep on the floor in my father’s room.”
Yan Huanyue smiled helplessly, unsure how to comment on his unwavering loyalty, and could only go along with him.
She turned around and stuffed the pastries on the table into his arms, then pushed him toward the door without any politeness. "Very well, then you'd better hurry up and go, lest the sect leader has already retired for the night and you end up sleeping on the street."
Pei Xuanzhi let her push him, a smile unconsciously playing on his lips, the annoyance surging in his heart vanishing in an instant.
Reaching the door, he simply raised his hand to brace it and said, "Senior Sister, there's no need to see me off any further. If there are people in the courtyard, your clothes might be inconvenient..."
Yan Huanyue looked down at her neatly arranged nightgown and said, "So what if it's my clothes? Didn't you buy it for me?"
Pei Xuanzhi's mind went blank for a moment. "Me? Why would I give you clothes, or something like this..."
"Who knows why? Ask yourself."
The next moment, he was pushed out and locked outside.
A cool breeze blew gently, and water droplets from the eaves dripped onto his brow, bringing him to a moment of clarity.
The night was cold and desolate after the rain. The inexplicable ambiguity that lingered in my heart, along with the unfounded resentment and anger, felt like an uncontrollable and beautiful dream.
My father once said that he explained to Senior Sister Yan why he was in the Ghost Market—it was to find her.
He felt his previous explanation was reasonable.
He wasn't entirely sure about her attitude, but he was certain that he had never had pure intentions before. Given the right reason, he would have taken every opportunity to get closer to her, more or less.
Is chasing after the ghost market such an incredibly difficult thing?
He coughed a few times, wiped the water stains from between his eyebrows with his sleeve, and walked to the front yard.
Xue Jingnian had just carried the heavily drunk Tan Guiyi back and fed her a hangover pill before waiting for her to sober up in the inn's lobby.
Upon seeing a slender, tall figure enter the inner courtyard, Tan Guiyi stumbled over and tried to tug at his sleeve, slurring her words:
"Little enchantress...you actually came too, hiccup...you've been drinking, can your body handle it? Have a drink with me..."
The people sitting in the hall having a late-night snack all instantly looked at the snow-clad boy in the shadows.
Pei Xuanzhi examined her face; there were several ulcers, but they were covered by a string of golden flower vines.
Those features... they seem somewhat familiar...
His gaze swept past her, then he turned and went up the stairs.
"Hahaha, you were kicked out by your wife, poor Fellow Daoist Yan... She never really liked you, but you have such a good father. If it weren't for... if it weren't for... she was angry with Yu Zhao... Oh, where's the wine?"
Pei Xuanzhi paused abruptly, as if he wanted to ask something on the spot.
But after glancing down at the people in the hall and the drunkard, he stopped himself from saying what was on the tip of his tongue, lifted his robe, climbed the stairs, and found Pei Hanzhou's door.
Before he could even knock, Pei Hanzhou opened the door, handed him the small stone tablet he had just left behind, and said in a low voice, "Take it."
Pei Xuanzhi put away the stone tablet, thought for a moment, and said, "When I went back just now, I saw that Senior Sister Yan was still trimming the lamp wick in my room. I guess she has gotten used to staying in that room these past few days because she took care of me. I didn't want to disturb her, so I came to ask you to let me stay here."
Pei Hanzhou assumed that Yan Huanyue must have told him that they had become Daoist partners, but he couldn't accept it at the moment because she was still in his room.
Yan Huanyue, however, believed that Pei Hanzhou had already told Pei Xuanzhi about this matter on the day he woke up, otherwise he would not have asked her to save his life that day.
After pondering for a moment, Pei Hanzhou said, "Why didn't you come to Changqing Palace to stay after you married her? If you have forgotten the past and are unwilling, you don't need to make her feel bad like this. As long as you explain it to your Senior Sister Yan, I will definitely agree to your immediate divorce."
Pei Xuanzhi gently stroked the small stone tablet in his hand and said softly, "Oh, I understand."
After saying that, he turned around, went downstairs, and went straight back to the backyard.
Pei Hanzhou closed the door, returned to the bedside, and stood for a long time behind the tightly covered bed curtains. Finally, he raised his hand and parted a crack, revealing a hand covered in scars.
Pulling the bed curtains back a little more, one could see the person on the bed fast asleep. Their once fair and full face was now thin and pale, with several messy knife marks on their cheeks.
Pei Hanzhou looked at her calmly. He had originally entered that small world to find out the reason for his son's amnesia.
Unexpectedly, she was found in a sealed jade coffin in the icy pool, her black clothes torn and nearly tortured by a thousand cuts.
So all of this seems to have a plausible explanation.
The amnesia wasn't something Xuanlang was hiding; it was that she refused to let go of his son...
.
Tan Guiyi leaned drowsily on Xue Jingnian's shoulder, looking towards the backyard as Pei Xuanzhi walked away.
She never expected that her senior sister, Lin Xiaofeng, would give the bow and arrow to Yan Huanyue.
Oh......
If she hadn't intervened, her father would have had to hold a funeral for his third brother.
But does Yan Huanyue deserve her senior sister's bow and arrow?
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