Chapter 99 Like Three Autumns Apart
The sky grew darker.
The rain intensified, and the clash of swords and the roar of thunder disrupted the peace of the cemetery.
Ning Jue's clothes were almost completely soaked, and rainwater rolled down from his brow bone, forming a curtain of rain in front of his eyes. However, even so, it could not block the cold and sharp light shooting from the depths of Ning Jue's eyes.
He calmly employed the later moves of the Lone Goose Sword Technique, striving to unleash the maximum power of the swordplay.
Building upon the sword techniques inherited from his master and grandmaster, he added his own unique creations, making the sword sharper and the techniques more varied. Ji Fukun had never experienced anything like this before, and as he faced the sword, he gradually found it difficult to keep up.
He knew he had underestimated Ning Jue. After being repeatedly attacked with deadly force, he realized he would be no match for him with just his sword. So he simply abandoned his sword and used his fists, unleashing his signature move.
This move was exactly what Ning Jue wanted.
Unaware that Ning Jue was wearing fish-scale armor beneath his robes, Ji Fukun seized the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow without mercy. However, the armor plates, crafted from refined iron and connected by golden threads, easily deflected the force of the punch, at most injuring Ning Jue by a fraction.
Ji Fukun himself was not so lucky. He used all his strength in his punch, but it didn't hurt Ning Jue much. Instead, the sharp armor pierced his palm, and when he pulled it out with gritted teeth, it was a bloody mess, leaving a bloody palm print on Ning Jue's robe.
He roared, furious, his eyes filled with a bloodthirsty glint.
Taking advantage of his rage and impulsiveness, Ning Jue swung his sword to strangle him. Ji Fukun retreated and dodged, then stood still, clenching his fist into a claw, narrowing his eyes, and staring intently at Ning Jue's throat, as if to strike his weak point and settle the score with him.
He was already at a disadvantage against a sharp weapon with his bare hands. In addition, Ning Jue's martial arts skills were almost equal to his own, and he was much stronger than him at a young age. As the battle went on for a long time, Ji Fukun became more and more powerless. Not only could he not find Ning Jue's weakness, but he also made a mistake himself. Ning Jue seized the opportunity, aimed at the opening, and with a flash of cold light, his sword went straight into Ji Fukun's shoulder blade.
Bloodshed spread, the outcome was decided.
With their leader gone, the assassins brought by Ji Fukun lost their initial vigor upon seeing their master subdued, and were successively captured and bound by Chen Fu and Zang Fan.
Ji Fukun lay in the mud, severely weakened. He stared blankly at the sky, ignoring Gu Ningjue beside him, muttering to himself, "Master... I still prefer to call you Master. Now that the Lone Goose Sword Technique has been brought to such heights by a junior, if you were watching from heaven, you would surely be very pleased. But while you can rest in peace, I remain deeply troubled. Why were you so biased, so unfair to me? I don't care at all that I didn't get the Wild Goose Sword because my talent for swordsmanship is inferior to my junior brother's, but why did you even have to take my junior sister away from me, insisting on betrothing her to Situ Kong! I'm not reconciled... I'm not reconciled..."
Rainwater mixed with mud and blood soaked Ji Fukun to the bone. He lay in a muddy puddle, barely alive, his eyelids drooping, looking as disheveled as a drowned rat.
Ning Jue watched coldly from the side, then stepped forward after a moment, lowered his head slightly, and said in a heavy tone: "You are jealous of my master and are plotting revenge. Back then, at the banquet in the General's mansion, you poisoned him. Perhaps my master had already recognized your double identity, but he was not on guard against his former senior brother. However, he did not expect that you would really want to kill him."
Ji Fukun laughed weakly, his laughter chilling.
After laughing, he so casually admitted, "Yes, I want him dead. Why is it that when I wanted to enter officialdom, my master obstructed me in every way, even threatening to sever ties, but a few years later, Situ Kong got involved with Duan Yi, joined the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and truly became the court's henchman, and my master turned a blind eye and stopped trying to stop him? I can't swallow this... Situ Kong deserves to die! But my junior sister..."
Ji Fukun sighed deeply, his eyes filled with sorrow.
"She was a master of medicine research. Duan Yi was meddlesome and actually ordered her to examine the corpse. Following the clues, she learned that I was the one who poisoned her back then. The bond between her former fellow disciples put her in a dilemma. She hated me and resented me, but she couldn't take revenge on me or force me to my death. So she chose to end her own life to free herself and take revenge on me as well. To die by crashing into the coffin... how much pain she must have been in."
Ning Jue closed his eyes, his chest heaving, his emotions difficult to control.
As Ji Fukun recounted the story, it was hard for him not to imagine the heartbreaking scene of his master's wife's final act of throwing herself against the coffin. It felt so real, as if he were witnessing it firsthand. He wanted to do something, but he was powerless and could only watch from the sidelines.
My heart is heavy.
Ji Fukun muttered incoherently, as if he had gone mad: "Xu'er has been here with Situ Kong for two long years, which is long enough... We only need to get the Wild Goose and the Lonely Moon, then we can combine our swords, sign a pact, and become a ghost couple in the underworld."
Ning Jue could no longer tolerate it, so he drew his sword and stepped forward, intending to kill the man on the spot.
Thinking that Hua'er's whereabouts were still unknown, he suppressed his anger, grabbed Ji Fukun by the collar, and choked him to ask questions.
"Where did you take Hua'er? Tell me!"
Ji Fukun smiled, the only strength he still had left in his body was to laugh: "What do you have to threaten me with? Kill me? Then come on then. You have no idea how eagerly I am to reunite with Xu'er in the underworld."
Ning Jue knew what he cared about, and deliberately provoked him with her words: "For your own selfish desires, you have moved my master's wife's grave without permission, disturbing the deceased. You are truly despicable! Your desire to be buried with her is even more delusional! Ji Fukun, let me tell you, as long as I am alive, I will not let you have your way. Even if you hide my master's wife's coffin well, it doesn't matter. As long as I cut your body into eight pieces and throw each piece to wild dogs to eat, you will not be able to enter the underworld, enter the cycle of reincarnation, and never see my master's wife again. If there really is a Yellow Springs world underground, my master and master's wife will still be a loving couple there. As for you, you will rot and stink, unseen by anyone."
"Shut up!"
Ji Fukun was indeed enraged; his neck stiffened, and the veins on his temples bulged as if they were trembling.
But soon, he calmed down, lay in the mud, and said flatly, "She's dead. When she was kidnapped, she was disobedient and made a fuss. I impatiently pinched her neck lightly, but I never expected..."
Ning Jue, of course, did not believe him. He pressed the scabbard against Ji Fukun's throat, suffocating him and threatening him to answer honestly.
After being released, Ji Fukun gasped for breath, but his breathing pattern remained the same as before.
"Why don't you believe me? I've already told you, she's dead."
"You're lying. That's a hostage, your bargaining chip to save your life. You've always been cautious, haven't you left yourself a way out today?"
Because of concern for Hua'er's safety, even though Ning Jue hated Ji Fukun a thousand times over, he refrained from killing him immediately.
Ji Fukun looked up and chuckled: "You're right, but I didn't know before that your Lone Goose Sword Technique had reached such a level. After all, Rong Linyan stole your skills and practiced diligently for several months, but he still only managed to create a monstrosity. I didn't expect that you were just pretending to be weak while actually fooling me. I admit that I underestimated you before the meeting. Otherwise, I would have prepared a way out for myself."
Ning Jue, who initially disbelieved him completely, gradually became hesitant.
"you……"
Before he could finish speaking, the squad of soldiers that Ning Jue had sent to search the nearby villages returned just in time.
They relayed a message: "Young Master Ning, we have searched every household in the nearby villages, but we have not found any trace of Miss Bai, nor have we discovered anything unusual."
Ji Fukun laughed heartily, so smug, as if he had indirectly completed his revenge.
Looking at Ji Fukun's current insane state, Ning Jue felt as if a deep crack had suddenly opened in her heart, and boundless fear spread from it.
He was filled with murderous intent.
Seeing that things were not going well, Chen Fu quickly pulled Ning Jue from behind and advised her in time: "Miss Bai may not be in any danger. Don't fall for his trick. He is deliberately trying to lure you into killing him. Killing an official of the imperial court is an open violation of the Great Yan calendar. Even if you don't care, what about the Bai family..."
Ning Jue finally calmed down, and the murderous aura emanating from his body gradually subsided.
He stared into Ji Fukun's tired, cloudy eyes, forcing him to meet his gaze, and then gradually breaking down the defenses in his heart.
"You are determined to die, claiming you want to reunite with your master's wife, but ask yourself honestly, do you really have the face to see her? You killed her husband, driving her to the brink of death. So, will she still see you as her senior brother, or as her mortal enemy? As for your grandmaster, you dare not see him either. You not only betrayed his kindness in teaching you, but also repaid kindness with enmity by poisoning your fellow disciples, and even drove his only daughter to commit suicide in resentment. If there truly is a road to the underworld and a bridge of helplessness, when they see you, they will only strangle you one by one."
As soon as he finished speaking, the surroundings fell into a deathly silence. Apart from the sounds of rain and wind that added to the desolation, no one made the slightest noise.
Ning Jue suddenly stood up, picked up the Lonely Moon Sword, and threw it above his head in front of Ji Fukun. Then he swung his Azure Shadow Sword and cut the Lonely Moon Sword in two.
"No...no!"
Ji Fukun scrambled to his feet to try and stop him, completely oblivious to the muddy mess covering him.
Ning Jue easily dodged his charge, stepped back and shouted: "The advantage of Qingying is even greater than that of the twin swords. Even if you get the Hongyan Sword, so what? Now that Guyue is broken, you can no longer make a pair and fulfill your filthy dream of the underworld."
Ji Fukun could no longer laugh.
His knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily to the ground, as if all his strength had been drained away. A slight smile appeared on his lips, and he lowered his eyes thoughtfully, but no one could guess what he was thinking at that moment.
Is it regret that they did it in the first place, or is it that they are still stubbornly clinging to their mistakes?
Nobody knows.
Ji Fukun lay on his back, his breathing gradually weakening. He didn't continue to retaliate against Ning Jue, pursing his lips as if he had nothing to say, or as if he no longer had the strength to speak.
After a long pause, he finally spoke with difficulty: "That girl is not dead yet, but if you find her any later, it's hard to say."
Where is she!?
"Kill me."
Perhaps as early as the day his master's wife committed suicide, Ji Fukun no longer had any attachment to this world. All these years of wielding power in the court were nothing more than living the life of a puppet. The only motivation that kept him alive was to collect the two swords, bury them together in the same grave, and look forward to the next life.
However, just now, Ning Jue destroyed the Lonely Moon Sword with his own hands, completely crushing the last remaining thoughts in his heart.
Ji Fukun had no will to live and was determined to die. With no weakness left, no one could pry him open.
Ning Jue had no way to deal with him.
...
The rain intensified, falling everywhere.
The blade was cleansed and its cold edge washed away, while the bloodstains on the cemetery were also washed away.
Ning Jue stood rooted to the spot, motionless for a long time. Ji Fukun had completely closed his eyes, looking as if he were free to be killed or tortured at will, but he refused to cooperate and reveal Bai Hua's whereabouts. This not only made Ning Jue wish he could tear him apart alive, but also made the others who had come with Ning Jue grit their teeth in hatred.
Chen Fu: "Young master, the area around the cemetery is completely exposed, so there's no way to hide anyone. Miss Bai is probably not around here. Why don't we split up and search separately? That way, we'll have a much better chance of finding her."
It's probably too late...
Ji Fukun's reminder just now was definitely not just a casual bluff.
Hua'er is definitely in danger right now, and she's within his search range. Ji Fukun hates him and wants to take revenge, so he wants to see him frustrated so he can feel good. He also wants to see him miss his lover by a hair's breadth and regret it for the rest of his life... So, she's probably not far away, but right in front of him.
It's a cover-up, there must be a cover-up!
Ji Fukun is most skilled at setting up illusions to deceive people. He has probably already dug countless traps for them. We must not fall into his trap.
Ning Jue forced herself to calm down and recall everything that happened after entering the cemetery, as well as all the details, for fear of overlooking anything.
Suddenly, he was moved and looked up at Jiuqiu not far away.
Jiuqiu stood blankly behind the grave on the right. He had been there to avoid danger, but now, faced with the flashing swords, he remained motionless.
Ning Jue glanced at her, then lowered his gaze to the ground, and stopped moving.
It was Jiuqiu who carefully discovered that the grave had been disturbed, and the outermost layer of soil was clearly mixed with new soil of a darker color.
Ji Fukun did indeed disturb his teacher's wife's grave.
But what happened after that? Is this place now an empty tomb?
Ning Jue stood up, disregarding everything else, and facing the increasingly torrential spring rain, he sternly commanded, "Men, open the coffin!"
Upon hearing this, Ji Fukun reacted before anyone else, sternly rebuking Ning Jue: "Are you crazy? That's your master's wife's grave! If you dare to touch it, you're committing a grave act of filial impiety and disrespect!"
Ning Jue ignored it, treating it as if wild dogs were barking behind him. Seeing that he was determined, Chen Fu, Zang Fan, and the others did not hesitate any longer and stepped forward, following Ning Jue to kneel down and bend over to start digging the grave.
Before taking action, Ning Jue kowtowed.
Before starting, his brothers all bowed to their senior to show their respect.
They didn't have any suitable shovels or spades, so they either dug with their bare hands or used knives and swords to pry open the coffin. It was very difficult and strenuous, but fortunately, there were many of them and their strength was inexhaustible. After some effort, they finally dug up the front cover of the coffin.
Ning Jue placed his right hand on it, took a deep breath, and felt an overwhelming sense of tension.
He was almost lying on top of her, murmuring softly, "Master's wife, I'm sorry... If I'm wrong, I will kneel for forty-nine days to pray for your peace. I must save Hua'er; her life is my life. Today, please forgive your disciple, Master and Master's wife."
After speaking, Ning Jue's eyes flashed with ruthlessness, and he began to push forward with his wrist without needing anyone's help.
The four corners of the coffin were sealed and nailed shut. Ning Jue used his internal strength to break the iron nails, causing the front cover of the coffin to loosen and shift slightly. Everyone avoided looking at it to show respect for the deceased.
Only Ning Jue kept his eyes fixed on the coffin, preparing to open it himself.
Without hesitation, he took action without needing any further mental preparation.
There was no rotting flesh or bones, nor any bloody stench, only a frail figure huddled up with knees drawn up.
The heavy rain just now suddenly stopped, and now the dark clouds have dispersed, allowing the cool moonlight to shine down, bringing only a faint glimmer of light.
Ning Jue reached out to brush the hair that was stuck to the person's face, unaware that her arm was trembling.
He gritted his teeth and suddenly lifted it open! — He saw Bai Hua's clothes stained with blood, her eyes closed and her face pale and lifeless.
Ning Jue stood frozen in place, unable to move. It was only after his heart skipped a beat that he finally confirmed that Bai Hua was still breathing, albeit very shallowly.
Before he could even catch his breath, he frantically pulled the person out of the coffin, shouting, "Call a doctor! Quickly, call a doctor!"
...
Bai Hua slept for seven days before waking up.
As if she had died and been reborn, she opened her eyes and looked at the familiar faces around her who showed concern, feeling only confusion in her heart.
She couldn't remember anything about what had happened.
My last memory is of being forcibly taken away by my cousin at my aunt's house. After that... just thinking about it gives me a terrible headache, so I'd better just forget about it.
She knew she was probably in danger, but no one was willing to mention what happened next or how she was eventually rescued.
Even when she pressed her for details, her brother and sister-in-law remained tight-lipped, changing the subject with a few words.
Even Xiao You, who is usually the most talkative, has become more composed. When questioned, she found it difficult to deny knowing the details.
Ah, I don't know the details...
In the past, Xiao You was the most gossipy person in the entire mansion. She always managed to get the inside scoops that even the masters didn't know. Who doesn't know who?
If you can't get an answer, then so be it. Anyway, she's out of danger, so it was a false alarm.
Bai Hua stopped dwelling on her memory loss and began to ponder other things with a sense of melancholy—Ning Jue had never come to visit her since she woke up.
My brother told me that he went out of the city to do business for the general. He didn't know she would wake up so quickly, so he accepted the job. It was just bad luck that he arrived at the wrong time.
It's perfectly reasonable, just unfortunate.
Bai Hua didn't blame him for not appearing by her side immediately after she woke up, but she couldn't help feeling a little lost and missing him.
After all, when people encounter danger, they all want to lean on the arms they know and rely on, and listen to comforting words of care.
My brother said he went somewhere—was it Suizhou or Qingcheng?
I don't know where to send the letter, or how many days it will take to arrive...
Bai Hua pondered this for a moment, then picked up her pen.
A day apart feels like three autumns, but now it's been eight or nine days. How many springs and autumns have passed since you last saw me?
Mo Ting made Bai Hua blush slightly.
I thought to myself, isn't writing this so bluntly a bit too embarrassing? What if someone accidentally sees it...?
But it's already been written.
Bai Hua steeled her heart, swallowed her shame, left this as the beginning, and continued writing.
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