Du Dizhu sneered, “What nonsense are you talking about? Jing Wushuang only taught me mirror arts. After his death, I’m the only one who knows them. Don’t mistake inferior techniques for mirror arts. If you haven’t seen the real thing, I’ll show you now.”
He raised his dragon bone knife toward her, his expression cold.
The Peach Origin Sword moved faster, coming to rest against Du Dizhu’s neck.
He Liansheng looked at him mockingly, “Should I send you to the underworld?”
Du Dizhu, knowing when to back down, turned his blade so the flat side faced Xing Shuishui.
Xing Shuishui said, “The truth is, I went to Lingshan to catch the real culprit. During the Heaven’s Sacrifice Ceremony, if he hadn’t used mirror arts, I would never have been exposed.”
She looked coldly at Du Dizhu, “Du Dizhu, you’ll know whether it’s mirror arts or not once you see it with your own eyes. Why else would I have been so certain it was you back then?”
Du Dizhu remained skeptical: “Impossible…”
Xing Shuishui said, “Why impossible? Go ask Jing Wushuang in the Yellow Springs if he taught anyone else.”
Du Dizhu sneered, “His biggest regret was not dying by my hands.”
Xing Shuishui couldn’t be bothered with this fool. She moved to close the door, “Just go to Fengdu City and scatter his soul if you want.”
Du Dizhu blocked the door with the flat of his blade, leaving a gap.
He asked, “Do you know who that person is?”
Xing Shuishui: “Yes.”
Du Dizhu: “Tell me their name.”
Xing Shuishui: “No.”
Du Dizhu: “What do you want?”
Xing Shuishui: “How much do you know about the Duanmu clan?”
Du Dizhu immediately understood, saying meaningfully, “Oh, so that’s why you’re here. Tell me, who’s been cursed? Maybe you won’t even need to enter Snow Mountain – I might know how to break it.”
Xing Shuishui remained silent, moving to close the door again.
Du Dizhu said, “Are you familiar with Galan Snow Mountain? To be honest, without me, you could walk around it for a year and still not find the Duanmu clan.”
Xing Shuishui paused.
Du Dizhu, seeing an opportunity, continued, “Let’s make a deal. I’ll take you to find the Duanmu clan, and you tell me that person’s name. How about it? I’ll forget about what happened before.”
Xing Shuishui clicked her tongue, “Why are you suddenly so fixated on their name?”
Du Dizhu smiled wickedly, “Because Jing Wushuang said he would only teach mirror arts to me in this life. It must be only me. If he broke his word, I’ll go to the Yellow Springs and strangle him, kill him, and make that worthless person he taught regret ever coming into this world.”
Xing Shuishui wasn’t surprised. Du Dizhu’s irreverence wasn’t new. He was strange – when his master was alive, he wanted to kill him most of all. After Jing Wushan left, he sought revenge for him, refusing to let Jing Wushuang teach others.
She agreed: “Don’t play tricks.”
After all, it wouldn’t hurt her.
Du Dizhu laughed coldly: “You’re the one who shouldn’t play tricks.”
The room’s owner had turned pale with fear. Du Dizhu glanced at her and raised his hand. Xing Shuishui blocked with her knife. Du Dizhu said impatiently, “What’s the rush? I’m just going to erase her memory! If I wanted to eat someone, I’d only eat the young and beautiful.”
After hundreds of years, he hadn’t changed at all.
He Liansheng clearly despised Du Dizhu’s presence. Since Du Dizhu had entered concealing his aura, the Peach Origin Sword hadn’t been sheathed, and He Liansheng’s gaze hadn’t softened.
Du Dizhu walked casually to the kang bed, glanced at He Liansheng, and said to Xing Shuishui, “Back then, I thought you’d end up with General Fu Qi. I was ready to write some tragic romance novels about your human-spirit love story. After all, that young general was quite dashing – those nine hundred and ninety-nine lanterns he shot down became a legend that lasted centuries.”
Xing Shuishui suddenly regretted agreeing to his deal.
Du Dizhu looked at He Liansheng again: “By the way, you probably don’t know about General Fu Qi?”
He Liansheng crossed his arms, his tone neutral: “I’ve heard of him.”
Du Dizhu exclaimed dramatically: “What a coincidence, this General Fu Qi also wore a headband!”
Getting excited, Du Dizhu was about to launch into a story. But He Liansheng suddenly sealed his speech point and threw out a spirit-binding rope, tying him tightly to the ceiling beam. Du Dizhu almost laughed in anger – he, the master of Wuxiang Mountain, had been repeatedly humiliated since meeting this spirit hunter, either suffering setbacks or having his speech sealed. A mere spirit-binding rope! He thought he could cut it easily! But after trying for a long time, he couldn’t break free. He was ready to kill someone.
He Liansheng pulled Xing Shuishui into the room by her hand, slamming the door shut. Du Dizhu was interested in listening to the commotion, but found a silencing talisman on the door.
“…”
He Liansheng had held back for a long time, but finally couldn’t anymore. He pinned her hand against the door, holding her wrist immobile.
He seemed to be restraining something: “Who is he?”
Xing Shuishui quickly denied any connection: “How would I know… I don’t even know his name. Don’t listen to Du Dizhu’s nonsense. There’s nothing between me and whoever that is. Those nine hundred lanterns were just a misunderstanding!”
Well, looking at He Liansheng’s expression, this wasn’t over.
The young woman’s chin was lifted, forced to meet his gaze. He Liansheng’s knee pressed against her thigh, his hand braced beside her head, his eyes hiding intense emotions.
Xing Shuishui thought he would be fierce again, her eyelashes fluttering gently. But He Liansheng just softly stroked her cheek with his fingertip, saying quietly: “Shuishui… if only I had been born a few hundred years earlier.”
Xing Shuishui suddenly looked up.
She remembered lying to He Liansheng about having no parents and growing up on others’ charity. While the story was false, the truth wasn’t much better.
He Liansheng gripped her wrist tightly, saying softly: “Then, I might have been able to kill Guan Yinzi, and you could have grown up happily like other minor spirits. You wouldn’t have gone hungry or caught cold at night. And there would have been nothing about this General Fu Qi!”
Xing Shuishui was stunned, then smiled: “You’re actually very good already.”
She said: “I used to think He Liansheng was too fierce and would hate him forever, but now I think He Liansheng is quite nice. I want to try accepting him.”
The young man’s voice was hoarse: “Alright.”
If possible, could it not take too long?
Though even if it takes long, that’s fine too.
After all, they’d waited five years already, what’s a bit longer?
The next day brought rare good weather. Opening the window revealed the snowstorm had stopped, with pale sunlight filtering through the clouds. Although He Liansheng had untied the spirit-binding rope early in the morning, Du Dizhu had hung from the beam all night, full of killing intent, plotting how to cut this despicable couple into pieces.
Even with an extra person, the house owner noticed nothing unusual, thinking she’d just had a good night’s sleep. Seeing Xing Shuishui and He Liansheng eating cakes while Du Dizhu didn’t eat anything, she worried: “It’s cold outside. Wouldn’t guests like some butter tea to warm up before heading out?”
Du Dizhu turned away in disgust: “No thanks. Lost my appetite.”
Seeing this, Xing Shuishui swept all the snacks from in front of him into her own stomach. A vein bulged on Du Dizhu’s forehead as he laughed coldly – if this were Wuxiang Mountain, he would have killed her already.
After finishing their snacks, they continued their journey. At the foot of the snow mountain, Xing Shuishui shielded her eyes with her hand, looking up at the towering peak that disappeared into the clouds, wondering how long it would take to climb.
The view was entirely white, with footprints in the snow quickly covered by falling snow. Eagles circled in the sky, and without a guide, it would be easy to get lost among the endless snow-covered mountains.
Du Dizhu walked in front, warning: “There are fox spirits here. Be careful – fight if you must, but don’t cause an avalanche.”
He turned back to see Xing Shuishui lying on He Liansheng’s back, wishing he’d been born blind.
Xing Shuishui ignored him and looked around before asking: “I can sense spirit energy nearby, but Du Dizhu, how are you so familiar with this snow mountain?”
Du Dizhu caught some snowflakes in his hand, saying mockingly: “This brings up that fool Jing Wushuang.”
“Back then, he left Galan Snow Mountain to avoid becoming a curse master. I asked him why he didn’t go back, and he said his father had sworn harshly.”
At this point, Du Dizhu began imitating Jing Wushuang’s father’s tone: “Your surname is Duanmu, and in this life you can only learn curse arts. If you leave Galan Snow Mountain today for some vague dream, you’d better die out there, never come home, and never call yourself Duanmu again. I’ll act as if I never had such a son.”
Xing Shuishui said: “That sounds quite sad.”
After all, she had also argued with her parents and run away from home before crossing over to this era.
Du Dizhu continued: “My master never went back, even after his name echoed throughout the cultivation world. But every year he’d give me a Galsang flower, asking me to go back and look at his homeland for him. He told me every path into the snow mountain, both obvious and hidden – I know them all.”
Xing Shuishui asked: “Did you go?”
Du Dizhu said carelessly: “No. I really hated him. I’d just stay at the foot of the mountain for a few months each year, then go back and lie that I’d seen it.”
Xing Shuishui: “You’re so bad.”
Du Dizhu: “Thanks for the compliment.”
Xing Shuishui suddenly thought of He Lianzi, and asked: “Du Dizhu, don’t you have a younger sister?”
Du Dizhu: “?”
Xing Shuishui said: “I heard from Li Shixu that the task of assassinating your master fell to him because He Lianzi had a romance with your sister.”
Du Dizhu’s expression suddenly turned strange. When Xing Shuishui wasn’t paying attention, his form became slender. When he turned to look at her, his face was delicate and beautiful yet aggressive, with bright eyes and white teeth, his black hair smooth – he seemed quite satisfied with her expression.
Xing Shuishui stared blankly: “?”
She poked He Liansheng’s neck: “How did Du Dizhu turn into a woman?”
He Liansheng wasn’t surprised, saying flatly: “Yin-yang dual body.”
Du Dizhu said playfully: “My master asked if I wanted to be a man or a woman. Guess what I said? I said I didn’t want to be either – I just wanted to be above everyone else.”
Fortunately, He Lianzi died early… otherwise his grave would be smoking with anger.
Xing Shuishui was greatly shocked, hugging He Liansheng’s neck tightly for a long time.
Her hair ribbon dangled against the young man’s cheek, the scent of peach blossom wine drifting through the wind and snow. He Liansheng lowered his eyes, suppressing the predatory look in them.
The snowstorm continued, with their journey not yet half done.
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound of snow being crushed from all around, and many fox spirits appeared blocking their path. They arched their backs, baring their teeth and growling.
Xing Shuishui climbed down from He Liansheng’s back, looking at the situation – it seemed another fight was inevitable.
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