A Glimpse into the Hundred Faces (28)
"Ayan." His elder sister, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, called his name softly, and the familiar voice made Yun Yanqiu tremble.
A gentle smile graced Yun Yuxi's pale face as blood gushed from her chest. She weakly raised her hand, her fingertips just about to touch her brother's cheek, when it suddenly fell limply to the ground.
"Sister...?" Yun Yanqiu was struck dumb. He caught the swaying body in front of him tightly, his voice filled with unprecedented panic. Warm blood soaked through his sleeves, but Yun Yanqiu dared not exert any force, afraid of hurting her again.
"It's alright, you did nothing wrong..." Yun Yuxi's voice was extremely weak. She tried her best to suppress the pain that distorted her features and attempted to force a smile at Yun Yanqiu. "Don't let him... escape..."
She closed her eyes, and her smile vanished abruptly.
The pale moonlight bathed the courtyard, making the bloodstains on the ground appear even more glaring. A night wind suddenly rose, and the pear blossoms on the trees fluttered down. A petal that had fallen from a branch gently brushed against Yun Yanqiu's cheek, carrying away the tear that had not yet fallen.
He looked up, his eyes filled with a murderous intent frozen in ice.
Lu Jiuzhong fled hastily out of the wine shop. His teleportation technique had exhausted most of his spiritual energy, and continuing the fight now was unwise. Lu Jiuzhong hadn't intended to use that move, but Yun Yanqiu's ability to condense his qi into a sword had caught him completely off guard. He needed some time to kill a few cultivators, obtain some inner cores, and then, once his spiritual energy recovered, he would dismember Yun Yanqiu.
Just then, a sword light suddenly attacked from his side. Lu Jiuzhong dodged in a sorry state, and when he turned around, a rain of swords, accompanied by thunderous fury, surrounded him completely.
Lu Jiu was finally forced into retreat by the relentless onslaught, watching helplessly as Yun Yanqiu flew towards him. At the critical moment, his eyes widened, and he suddenly let out a cold laugh: "Do you know how I found this place?"
The sword slashed fiercely at his shoulder, causing him to stagger a few steps, seemingly unaware: "Didn't you ever consider who went to such lengths to lure me out?" Several sword lights pierced his body, and Lu Jiu was finally unable to move, but blood and foam were spitting from his face as he laughed wildly: "It was Li Zhoubai!"
Yun Yanqiu's spirit sword paused slightly.
Upon seeing this, Lu Jiu burst into laughter, his voice like the hooting of an owl: "Your master has long since fallen into demonic possession!"
"Nonsense." Yun Yanqiu frowned, and the cold blade pierced his heart without hesitation.
Large gushes of blood gushed from Lu Jiuzhong's mouth, his ferocious smile gradually turning pale, and the madness in his eyes fading. Yun Yanqiu expressionlessly conjured another spirit sword, aiming it at Lu Jiuzhong's neck. Just as the sword was about to strike, a slightly hesitant call suddenly sounded from behind—
"Brother Yan?"
The sword's edge hovered in mid-air. Yun Yanqiu slowly turned around and saw Zhao Huai Ren's astonished face. The other man's gaze shifted from the blood-soaked body to the corpse on the ground, and his voice suddenly rose: "That's... Lu Jiuzhong?!"
A flash of sword light appeared, and Zhao Huai-ren felt a chill on his face. He instinctively turned his head to dodge, but was still grazed on the left cheek by the sharp sword energy. The scalding spiritual energy burned the wound, and blood dripped down his chin, blooming like red plum blossoms on the bluestone slab.
"Brother Yan! You—"
Before he could finish speaking, three more spiritual swords pierced the air. Zhao Huai-ren hastily raised his sword to meet them, the clanging of metal against metal making his hands go numb. The cracks on his sword suddenly widened, while the bloodshot eyes opposite him grew even more crimson.
Yun Yanqiu's every strike was swift and powerful. He repeatedly channeled his spiritual energy, tirelessly summoning his sword to smash towards Zhao Huai Ren.
"Yun Yanqiu! Look carefully at who I am!"
A sword aura grazed his throat, and in that life-or-death moment, Zhao Huai-ren finally saw the black energy surging in Yun Yan-qiu's pupils. That black energy was like a living thing, greedily devouring his last shred of sanity.
Zhao Huai Ren's heart skipped a beat, suddenly realizing the seriousness of the situation. But this shock made him a fraction of a second too slow, and Yun Yan Qiu seized the opportunity!
A cold glint appeared again, a sword aimed straight for his brow. Zhao Huai-ren hastily parried with his sword, but it seemed he had no time to dodge the fatal attack—
Suddenly, the moonlight shone like water, and a white figure appeared in an instant. Li Zhoubai pointed his fingers like a sword, silently chanting an incantation, and a wisp of icy blue spiritual light from his fingertips entered Yun Yanqiu's back.
Yun Yanqiu's movements abruptly halted. The black energy in his eyes surged violently, seemingly resisting the binding force. Li Zhoubai frowned, his fingertips gleaming brightly, as more spiritual power poured into Yun Yanqiu's body, binding him tightly like chains.
Amidst the falling petals, Yun Yanqiu collapsed like a puppet with broken strings. Li Zhoubai caught his blood-stained body, his white sleeves instantly soaked with blood.
Ignoring his injuries, Zhao Huai-ren dragged himself toward Li Zhou-bai. Li Zhou-bai stood there, his face grim, his gaze fixed on Yun Yan-qiu's unconscious face, his expression grave.
"This matter must not be mentioned to any third party." Li Zhoubai's voice was colder than the night wind. "In exchange, I will join the Lingyun Alliance."
Zhao Huai Ren nodded blankly, feeling Li Zhou Bai's voice growing increasingly faint. He dragged his heavy body through the corridor, the lingering smell of blood mixed with alcohol in the air like a withered hand, tightly gripping his heart.
He walked nervously into the courtyard, and when the moonlight illuminated that familiar figure in the courtyard, his world collapsed.
Yun Yuxi lay quietly in a pool of blood, her lips still trembling with unfinished words. Zhao Huai Ren knelt on the ground, his trembling fingertips touching her cold cheek. He suddenly lost all strength, and even speaking became incredibly difficult.
"Ayu..." He slowly tightened his arms, embracing the gradually cooling body into his embrace.
The night dew soaked the overlapping hems of his clothes, and it also dampened the unanswered calls. The moonlight cast his long shadow, lonely and cast on the mottled courtyard wall, blending into the blood-soaked ground.
Suddenly, the cry of a baby broke the silence of the night. The loud cry, like a drumbeat, shattered the stillness. Zhao Huai-ren shuddered, his unfocused gaze gradually sharpening. He stumbled towards Yun Yu-xi's house, each step feeling like walking on a knife's edge. Pushing open the door, he saw the infant lying in a cradle, its face flushed red, its chubby little hands flailing wildly in the air.
Zhao Huai Ren bent down, trembling, and the child suddenly grabbed his finger. The small hand was warm and soft, yet possessed astonishing strength, gripping his index finger tightly and refusing to let go. Tears finally welled up in his eyes, and he carefully picked up the child. In the unique milky scent of a newborn, he seemed to see Yun Yu Xi's bright smile again.
That night, a fire broke out at Yun's Winery. The shop assistants, who had just been dismissed by the manager, escaped the fire, but the manager's family perished in the flames. Only the newborn child was rescued by the son-in-law who happened to return.
The fire came suddenly, and many people suspected something was amiss, but they couldn't get any answers from the workers who came out of the distillery. The belated son-in-law held a simple funeral on the ruins of the distillery, and then disappeared without a trace with the baby. He refused to say anything, leaving behind all sorts of rumors to circulate among the neighbors.
Some say that the Yun family's business was growing so big that it attracted jealousy from their competitors, who then set the fire to get rid of this thorn in their side. Others say that perhaps the son-in-law, who had married into the family, wanted to seize the Yun family's assets and set the fire to kill people, but the fire got out of control. He was afraid of being exposed, so he slunk away. Still others say that they saw the Yun family's youngest son return that night, but after the fire, his parents and sister were all dead, and he was nowhere to be found.
"It's possible that this beast went mad and became heartless, killing people and then trying to destroy the evidence by setting fire to the body."
There were so many rumors that people spread them, turning the ruins of the distillery into an ominous place. People were afraid of being entangled by the filth on the ground, so they all moved away from the area.
Soon after, news spread among the cultivators that Li Zhoubai of the Lingyun Alliance had slaughtered more than a hundred members of the Puppet Sect, and even the sect leader Lu Jiuzhong could not escape and was buried at the bottom of the Soul-Leaving Cliff.
With the Puppet Sect's annihilation, Li Zhoubai's fame soared. He traversed continents, reducing demonic cultivators' strongholds to ashes wherever he went. The Lingyun Alliance seized this opportunity to rise, and Zhao Huai-ren issued a widespread proclamation: "As long as the demonic flames burn, the sword's edge will not cease." In an instant, cultivators from across the land responded, following Li Zhoubai's lead in a massive campaign against the demonic sect. The Lingyun Alliance grew stronger day by day, gradually becoming a force to be reckoned with.
As for Yun Yanqiu, he had been in a coma since that night, and the task of taking care of him fell to Qi Rongting.
During that period, Qi Rongting lived in constant fear. He couldn't forget the black aura surrounding Yun Yanqiu when Zhao Huai Ren brought him over—a symbol of inner demons. He learned about the distillery from Zhao Huai Ren, and his heart was filled with unease.
Zhao Huai Ren left in a hurry, only asking him to take good care of Yun Yanqiu. But seeing his former companion in this state, Qi Rongting couldn't help but feel saddened. What worried him even more was what he would do if Yun Yanqiu truly succumbed to his inner demons when he awoke.
Kill him? Qi Rongting couldn't bring himself to do it. Let him go? He didn't know what kind of changes that would bring to the Lingyun Alliance's current favorable situation. After much deliberation, Qi Rongting could only hope that Yun Yanqiu wouldn't wake up, at least not until the overall situation was settled.
Fortunately, Yun Yanqiu slept for a very long time and never woke up. So long that the demonic cultivators' power waned, and the world praised Li Zhoubai's achievements as unparalleled, honoring him as the Northern Bright Sword Master. The Lingyun Alliance became the biggest winner in this struggle, and Zhao Huai Ren became even busier, only visiting Yun Yanqiu once before having no more free time.
During this time, Qi Rongting observed Yun Yanqiu's condition daily. He noticed a jade pendant at Yun Yanqiu's waist, its color warm and lustrous, its touch cool. The pendant, initially appearing as white as snow, was now murky like mist. Correspondingly, the demonic energy surrounding Yun Yanqiu was gradually thinning, a truly strange phenomenon.
As Qi Rongting watched Yun Yanqiu gradually recover, his worries subsided. He happily stroked the listless Qingbaique beside him and softly comforted it, "When Brother Yanqiu wakes up, everything will slowly get better."
Time flies, and the spring breeze carries fallen petals into the windows, ushering in another day of blooming flowers in the Qi family mansion.
That day, Qi Rongting was feeding the blue-and-white sparrow when he suddenly heard the rustling of fabric coming from the bed. He turned around abruptly and saw Yun Yanqiu's eyelashes fluttering slightly. The blue-and-white sparrow took flight, tracing a joyful arc in the room.
Outside the window, a pear tree quietly burst into bloom. And the person who had been asleep for a long time finally opened their eyes slowly amidst the falling blossoms in the courtyard.
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