Xing Shuishui gripped his fingers tightly. He Liansheng gazed at her intently, and she saw her own reflection in his eyes. Her heart seemed to experience a thousand avalanches, unable to calm down for a long time.
He. Lian. Sheng.
This youth who had been covered in wounds for her at the sacrificial altar, and then searched for her for five years after they separated, was terrifyingly stubborn.
He was the first to rush toward her during an avalanche.
The first to think of her when the sun gilded the mountains.
He remembered she feared bitter medicine and loved Dingding candy, willingly becoming a loser, a leader, a traitor for her.
Sometimes she couldn’t understand how one person could go to such lengths for another.
Xing Shuishui pressed her forehead against his shoulder and said tremblingly, “If it makes you happy, I won’t leave you again, He Liansheng…”
Who knew how much of the past remained undiscovered.
Since it couldn’t be changed, they could only look forward to the future.
He Liansheng stroked her messy hair and said softly, “Shuishui, you don’t need to make me happy.”
Xing Shuishui suddenly looked up. The youth held her face, his expression overlapping with that time among the palm leaves.
He spoke earnestly and intently: “This is what I willingly choose.”
The Lingshan crowd was furious. He Liansheng was truly cutting ties with Lingshan, all for a spirit!! And one that everyone wanted dead!
“He Liansheng, you’ve betrayed the Mountain Master and the He family’s nurturing! So many senior disciples looked up to you! You ungrateful wolf! You even gave her the Float Spirit Mirror! Traitor!”
A sharp sword energy struck out. Before the speaker could finish, they were sent flying, tumbling several times before crashing into a high wall, violently spitting out mouthfuls of bright red blood. Li Yiqiu’s face turned pale, forced to accept reality.
The youth gripped his sword, its blade flashing coldly. His crimson hair ribbon fluttered in the air.
“Who are you to judge? Why should I answer to you?”
His eyes were ice-cold.
Silence fell around them, with no response except the howling wind and snow. The outcome was already decided. After all, no one here could match He Liansheng in combat.
He Liansheng led Xing Shuishui away under everyone’s watching eyes. The crowd parted in fear, forming a path. They went upstairs, closed the door, and the room was quiet, just as it had been when Xing Shuishui left.
Seeing He Liansheng glance at the medicine bowl on the table, Xing Shuishui said, “I drank it all, didn’t dump it out!”
He Liansheng: “So obedient? Willing to take medicine now?”
Xing Shuishui smiled: “Of course I’m obedient! It’s not that I won’t take medicine, I just don’t like the bitter taste. If you buy me candy, I can accept it.”
She opened her hand, revealing half a piece of Dingding candy.
“I went out looking for you earlier and ran into Lingshan people. Lucky you came back in time, or your fellow disciples might have met with disaster today.”
If Lingshan people had insisted on attacking her, she might have had to make examples of several of them. She looked up, but He Liansheng seemed completely unconcerned about his fellow disciples.
Suddenly remembering something.
Xing Shuishui looked at the Taoyuan sword in his hand and asked with lowered eyes, “By the way, where did you go just now? Why is there blood on your sword?”
He Liansheng answered: “Guan Mulan actually came too. She was leading them this time. But it’s been resolved.”
Unexpectedly hearing this answer, Xing Shuishui remained silent for a long while.
Guan Mulan alone wasn’t much, but the problem was she was his mother’s old friend…
Realizing something, she placed her hand on He Liansheng’s pulse and frowned – his internal energy was chaotic. He had clearly suffered serious internal injuries.
But He Liansheng was nonchalant, even sounding proud: “She took one sword strike from me, I took one palm strike from her, and we’re even now. She said she won’t meddle in such pointless matters anymore. You don’t need to worry about them. These obstacles I brought, I’ll clear them away.”
The blood on the Taoyuan sword hadn’t dried; some of it must be his.
Xing Shuishui lowered her eyes and said: “Let’s treat your injuries first. We still have a long road ahead.”
Going back to cure her sister’s curse, and then there was Guan Wushan… he would be the trickiest to deal with and required the most caution.
She raised her hand to channel energy, pointing at his meridians. She couldn’t help but sigh – it had been a real fight. Guan Mulan’s palm strike showed no mercy, clearly done in anger. She paused briefly before continuing to channel her internal force into his body.
He Liansheng suddenly gripped her wrist. It tickled a bit. Xing Shuishui looked at him in confusion, her braid tilting slightly. Her movements were interrupted.
The youth’s profile was handsome as he stared into her eyes and said: “Shuishui, you never used to treat my injuries.”
Xing Shuishui smiled: “But I do now! People change. You never used to call me Shuishui, and you were always trying to throw me out the window.”
Light flickered across her cheeks as the young woman’s cheeks reddened slightly.
The youth’s lips were dry, as if some emotion was slowly fermenting.
He Liansheng lowered his eyes and finally spoke: “Then do you… like me a little bit?”
He even only asked for “a little bit.”
Xing Shuishui dropped the bowl in her hands, her ears buzzing. It was so sudden.
She remembered He Liansheng had a love curse on him. He might have placed a love curse on her. He was probably waiting for the love curse to take effect, but He Liansheng, the Separation Fire inherently countered all things.
He Liansheng thought he wouldn’t get an answer from her.
But she rubbed her chin, thinking for a while: “I think I do, a little.”
“Since when?”
“When you spoke of going against the Way; when you rushed toward me on the snowy mountain; when you took me to see the sun gilding the mountain; when you bought me candy… there seem to be many times, I can’t list them all one by one.”
Because there were too many.
He Liansheng asked: “Will it disappear soon?”
“It won’t disappear.”
She repeated: “Love doesn’t disappear.”
Her skirt was crumpled where he gripped it. Xing Shuishui gently poked his face and said softly: “I told you, I’m trying to accept you. He Liansheng, this is the result of my acceptance. Right now it’s just a little bit, but maybe later it will be much, much more.”
The youth didn’t react for a long time.
Just as Xing Shuishui was about to say more, He Liansheng suddenly opened the window. Cold wind rushed in, lifting a corner of the blanket. Xing Shuishui raised her hand to shield her eyes, her hair quickly becoming disheveled, somewhat bewildered.
Her fingertips were red as she opened her eyes slightly.
The youth stood against the light, his fingers gripping the window, his white clothes outshining the countless snows of Cangchuan.
He turned his head back with a smile, his features touched by light.
“All the gods and Buddhas of the snow mountain have heard it. Xing Shuishui, you’re not allowed to lie.”
The severe winter will pass, spring will come.
He Liansheng, everything will get better.
The Lingshan people left, leaving mess everywhere. Du Dizhu had watched enough of the excitement and had been waiting outside for them. Instead of waiting for people, he got a mouthful of snow and almost kicked the door open. Seeing these two finally come out, Du Dizhu swept his eyes over them – neither of these dogs had proper clothes. Du Dizhu gave a few cold laughs and crushed the wine bowl in his hand.
“Taking your sweet time, finally willing to come out? After today, probably the whole cultivation world will know about your little affair,” he looked at Xing Shuishui, folding his arms, “Those Cangchuan people are all curious what you look like now. Why don’t you go out and let them see?”
Xing Shuishui copied his playful manner: “I think they’re more curious about how you changed from female to male form. Watching a face-changing performance would be much more interesting than seeing me.”
Du Dizhu cursed: “Sharp-tongued little girl.”
He didn’t bother with her, put away his knife and became serious: “Enough nonsense. What are your thoughts about Guan Wushan? He killed my master and made me take the blame for over a hundred years. Does he really think he can get away with it? I have just one condition – when we catch him, hand him over to me first. I’ll castrate him first and make him wish he were dead.”
Xing Shuishui said: “He massacred the Duanmu clan for curse techniques. Aren’t you curious which curse bug he used?”
Before Du Dizhu could answer.
He Liansheng said: “Blood curse.”
“I heard the old curse master there say that Guan Wushan not only took all the blood curse bugs but also asked about the refinement method. He probably plans to mass produce blood curse bugs.”
Blood curse was a lost secret art in the cultivation world. The curse bugs fed on blood, extremely toxic. Most victims would vomit fresh blood and die miserably. Precisely because it was too cruel and venomous, Lingshan forcibly made it extinct.
Xing Shuishui frowned. What exactly did Guan Wushan want to do?
It was originally just a grudge between them, but Guan Wushan started breeding blood curse bugs. Was it just to deal with Lingshan? Or – to overturn the entire world.
She drew in a sharp breath.
Du Dizhu had clearly guessed this layer too, sneering: “If he wants to breed curses on a large scale, naturally it can’t be done perfectly. Before, many evil curse masters sacrificed a city, even a country, to refine curses.”
Xing Shuishui couldn’t help thinking of Luodan Country and Luo Yuhua.
Du Dizhu asked her: “Do you know why Zhongsang fell?”
Xing Shuishui really didn’t know.
Du Dizhu was powerful with deep cultivation, being an ancient dragon clan member who could walk sideways in the cultivation world. As Zhongsang’s ruler, not only did he fail to conquer the mortal countries, but his country was destroyed instead – too unexpected.
Du Dizhu said: “Because an evil curse master targeted Zhongsang to refine curses, bringing catastrophe. The sky turned blood-red, souls wailing. I desperately protected my people but watched helplessly as they were refined into curses… I was the only survivor in all of Zhongsang. I still remember crawling out of the corpse pile that day. All those ministers who trusted and supported me were dead, those barely breathing told me to run quickly. In the end, only I survived.”
Speaking of the past, his eyes seemed to frost over.
Xing Shuishui asked: “Then what? Did you kill him yourself?”
Du Dizhu: “No. Jing Wushuang killed him. The Mirror Grandmaster reached unity with heaven and earth in his attainments, but extremely feared being killed invisibly by curses and poisons, always viewing them as threats. That curse master was too arrogant and was killed by Jing Wushuang. Then – I took him as my master.”
So that’s how it was.
He looked at Xing Shuishui, each word stabbing the heart: “Back then, that evil curse master refined blood curses, an extremely rare curse that must be refined from living people. Guan Wushan has been refining curses for so many years, and blood curses at that – he must have left traces. When found, I’ll let you know. We must join forces – Xue Jiuling, and that dead lover of yours. Understand?”
With that, a black wind swept past, and Du Dizhu had vanished from the spot, as if there had never been a third person present.
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