The Moon Shadow Moves the Wall, Revealing the True Nature
The darkness before dawn is the deepest. Mo Xiaoyu tossed and turned on the bed, her palms still feeling the burning touch from her dream. When the first birdsong came from outside the window, she quietly got up and straightened her clothes in the dim morning light.
The "old place" Xie Yunzhi mentioned was the bamboo grove behind the mountain. The morning dew had not yet dried, and glistening water droplets clung to the bamboo leaves, shimmering with iridescent light under the rising sun. When she arrived, he was already there, his green robe fluttering gently in the morning breeze, his figure as upright as bamboo.
"You've come." He turned around, his eyes showing the exhaustion of a sleepless night, but also an unprecedented clarity.
Mo Xiaoyu stopped in front of him, suddenly at a loss for words. The dangers of last night in the forbidden area were still vivid in her mind, and the unsolved mysteries were like an invisible net, tightly binding the two of them.
Xie Yunzhi took out a yellowed silk scroll from his sleeve. The edges of the scroll were torn, indicating its great age. "I found this in Master's secret room this morning," he said softly, as if afraid of disturbing the morning tranquility.
Mo Xiaoyu took the silk scroll and slowly unfurled it. The ancient and vigorous handwriting recorded a shocking truth:
"In the 432nd year of the Eternal Night Calendar, the Milky Way was reversed, and floods raged. Xie Yunxi received the Dream-Tracing Jade from the Ancestral Dragon, intending to suppress the floods in the abyss of the Western Mountains. However, Su Yan, the patriarch of the Su clan, coveted the power of the divine jade and seized it at the crucial moment, causing the formation to become unbalanced..."
Her fingers trembled slightly as she continued reading:
"The floodwaters spiraled out of control, causing immense suffering and death. Yunxi's Daoist partner, Mo, sacrificed himself to repair the formation. Overwhelmed with grief, Yunxi took Su Mengyu and perished together with Su Yan..."
"So..." Mo Xiaoyu raised her head, her eyes already brimming with tears, "it wasn't the Xie family that stole the Su family's jade pendant, but rather the Su family, driven by their own selfish desires, who caused that tragedy?"
Xie Yunzhi nodded heavily: "To cover up the truth, the Su family altered history and shifted the blame onto the Xie family. For years, the descendants of the Su family have believed that we stole their most precious treasure."
Sunlight filtered through the bamboo leaves, casting dappled shadows on his face. Mo Xiaoyu suddenly understood the heaviness in his eyes—he had carried the burden of injustice for three hundred years, and now that the truth was out, he didn't know how to face it.
"That dragon skeleton..." She suddenly remembered the scene she had seen in the abyss last night.
"Those are the remains of the Ancestral Dragon." Xie Yunzhi looked towards the forbidden area. "Back then, after Yunxi and Su Yan perished together, the Ancestral Dragon used its last strength to suppress the out-of-control flood, but it also died from exhaustion. Its remains lie dormant deep within the forbidden area."
Mo Xiaoyu recalled the ancient voice from her dream, and a thought struck her: "The sword stuck in Long Gu's heart..."
"It's Yunxi's sword, 'Zhanyuan'." A complex light flashed in Xie Yunzhi's eyes. "When I saw it last night, I felt a strange resonance. Perhaps... it's time to retrieve it."
Just then, a soft laugh suddenly came from the bamboo forest:
"What a deeply moving reunion."
Su Qingqing slowly emerged from the depths of the bamboo forest, her white dress standing out dazzlingly in the morning light. A sweet smile graced her face, but her eyes were as cold as frost.
"Unfortunately, you know too much."
Behind her, several elders of the Su clan quietly appeared, surrounding the two of them. Each of these people exuded a profound aura, clearly indicating that they were all highly skilled cultivators.
Xie Yunzhi shielded Mo Xiaoyu behind him, his expression grave: "Senior Sister Su, stop. The truth from three hundred years ago has already come to light. Why continue to cling to past grievances?"
"The truth?" Su Qingqing sneered. "The victors are kings, and history is always written by the winners. As long as you die here today, the truth will forever be decided by the Su family!"
A white silk ribbon suddenly shot out from her sleeve, aiming straight for Xie Yunzhi's face. At the same time, the other Su clan elders also made their moves, and in an instant, sword energy crisscrossed and spells flew everywhere.
Xie Yunzhi parried with his sword, the sword light as agile as a swimming dragon. However, the opponents outnumbered him, and he also had to be distracted to protect Mo Xiaoyu, so he quickly fell into a disadvantageous position.
"Watch out!" Mo Xiaoyu exclaimed.
A poisoned dagger silently lunged towards Xie Yunzhi's back—the very same one Su Qingqing had used that day. Seeing it about to strike, Mo Xiaoyu, without a second thought, pounced forward—
The expected pain did not come.
At the critical moment, Xie Yunzhi suddenly turned around and tightly embraced her, the poisoned sword deeply piercing his back.
"You..." Su Qingqing's eyes widened in disbelief, "You actually..."
Xie Yunzhi endured the excruciating pain and forced the crowd back with a backhand strike of his sword. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his face quickly turned bluish-purple—the sword was poisoned!
"Let's go!" He grabbed Mo Xiaoyu and sped off toward the forbidden area.
Su Qingqing and her group pursued relentlessly, their killing intent palpable.
The boundary marker of the forbidden area was right in front of him, but Xie Yunzhi suddenly staggered. The poison was taking effect very quickly, and his vision had begun to blur.
"Hang in there!" Mo Xiaoyu supported him, tears streaming down her face. "We'll be there soon!"
The moment they crossed the boundary marker, the Dream-Tracing Jade on their chests suddenly burst forth with dazzling light. At the same time, a dragon's roar echoed from the depths of the forbidden area, shaking the entire valley.
The pursuers were forced to stop and stared in horror toward the forbidden area.
"The soul of the Ancestral Dragon has awakened!" a Su clan elder exclaimed in a trembling voice.
Su Qingqing gritted her teeth: "It's just a remnant soul, what's there to be afraid of! Chase after it!"
However, it was too late. When everyone rushed into the forbidden area, Xie Yunzhi and Mo Xiaoyu had already disappeared. Only the dragon's roar still echoed in the valley, carrying ancient majesty.
At the bottom of the abyss, Mo Xiaoyu, supporting Xie Yunzhi, stared in shock at the scene before them—
The massive dragon skeleton was emitting a soft light, and the longsword "Zhan Yuan" embedded in its heart trembled slightly, as if calling out to its master.
"Go..." an ancient voice echoed in their minds, "Take back your sword and complete your unfinished mission..."
Xie Yunzhi struggled to his feet and walked step by step toward the dragon skeleton. With each step, the poisonous color on his body faded a little, and the wound on his back began to heal.
The moment he gripped the sword hilt, the entire forbidden area suddenly lit up as bright as day. Countless fragments of memories surged forth like a tide, completely engulfing the two of them.
This time, they finally saw the whole truth...
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