Yu Qingtang and Girl in the Bamboo were still staring at each other when Ying Wujue came crashing down from the distant sky with a thud.
Both of them turned in unison.
Ye Chenyan landed and put away his spear, then looked over as well.
He had noticed someone approaching Yu Qingtang long ago, but the newcomer carried no killing intent, and her behavior had been strange.
Ye Chenyan’s expression turned peculiar as he studied the green-robed woman who had appeared out of nowhere.
She had only just met Yu Qingtang, yet the two of them were already crouched together as though they belonged to the same side.
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “You know her?”
Yu Qingtang had no idea how to explain. “We only just met.”
Ye Chenyan fell silent.
“Ahem.” Yu Qingtang glanced at Girl in the Bamboo and cleared his throat. “It’s fine. You take care of your side first. I should be... relatively safe over here.”
Ye Chenyan glanced at Ying Wujue, who had spat out a mouthful of blood and was struggling upright to regulate his breathing.
“I’m already done here.”
“There’s nothing to say to an obstinate Esoteric Sect disciple.”
Ying Wujue looked deeply at him. “I lost.”
Yu Qingtang poked his head out, trying to make him reconsider. “Do you think he looks more like someone with the fate of a supreme now?”
He pointed at Ye Chenyan, then at himself.
“Look carefully.”
Ye Chenyan cooperatively leaned close beside him, allowing Ying Wujue to examine both their faces.
Ying Wujue’s gaze swept across them. After a brief silence, he said firmly, “One must not judge a person by appearances.”
“Had a great sect carefully nurtured you since childhood, you would certainly be no weaker than him now.”
Yu Qingtang was silent.
It sounded like he thought highly of me, yet somehow it was still rude.
“Ahem.” Ye Chenyan pressed down the corners of his mouth, amusement flashing in his eyes. “Ignore him. He already lost.”
He looked down at Ying Wujue and lifted his chin. “Will you finally give up this time?”
Ying Wujue closed his eyes.
Strangely, he looked much more relaxed. He exhaled and gently nodded.
“Yes.”
Yu Qingtang leaned toward Ye Chenyan’s ear and whispered curiously, “What happened? He looks like he’s finally seen reason. You didn’t hit him in the head just now, did you?”
“I don’t think so?” Ye Chenyan suddenly sounded uncertain.
Ying Wujue shook his head. “I spoke with that disciple from Dharma Academy.”
“Huh?” Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened in astonishment. He could not help asking, “It was actually Baoshan? What did the two of you... talk about?”
Ying Wujue raised his eyes. There was more candor in them than before.
“I said I came searching for you for the sake of all living beings beneath heaven, but that was only an excuse. Even though my sect taught me thousands upon thousands of times that I must devote myself to the people of the world until my dying breath, I still... still came for one person.”
“I want to save someone.” He drew a deep breath. “Only one person.”
Yu Qingtang and Ye Chenyan exchanged a glance.
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow, looking unexpectedly pleased. “The holy maiden of the Esoteric Sect?”
Ying Wujue froze. “How did you...”
“She’s the only other person we met from the Esoteric Sect.” Ye Chenyan paused. “You couldn’t possibly mean that old man.”
Ying Wujue lowered his eyes and sighed. “...Yes.”
“Junior Sister was born with an innate Dao fetus and has always been closely connected to the Heavenly Dao. Master said that all prodigies beneath heaven are heavenly treasures granted talent by the Heavenly Dao. They can support the heavens, and they can also mend them.”
“If the heavens are about to collapse and no one in this age can hold them up, then Junior Sister must merge with the Dao and use herself to restore the Heavenly Dao.”
Ye Chenyan frowned.
He remembered what Venerable Burning Gold had said in the Ancient Academy Realm.
No wonder Venerable Burning Gold had been so disdainful of the so-called Heaven-Mending Art. At its core, it truly was more like offering a sacrifice to heaven.
“She actually agreed?” Ye Chenyan asked, his expression strange.
Ying Wujue lowered his gaze. “Junior Sister’s resolve is stronger than mine. Since childhood, she has taken upholding the Heavenly Dao and bringing peace to the world as her duty. If merging with the Dao truly could exchange her life for peace beneath heaven, she would not hesitate.”
“Oh—” Yu Qingtang finally understood. “So you came looking for me and wanted to take me back to the Esoteric Sect because you believed that if I became supreme beneath heaven, I could withstand the coming catastrophe, and your junior sister wouldn’t need to mend the heavens...”
He breathed a sigh of relief.
“You scared me. I thought you wanted to use me to mend the heavens.”
Ying Wujue abruptly looked up. “Then you—”
“I’m still not going!” Yu Qingtang refused at once. “One look at me should tell you I’m not cut out for that!”
“But...”
He turned toward Ye Chenyan and mischievously pointed at him.
“Why not beg this future supreme beneath heaven instead...?”
Ying Wujue gently shook his head. “His talent is extraordinary, and among those of the same age and cultivation stage, he can certainly be considered peerlessly brilliant. But for someone capable of bearing the weight of the entire world, that still is not enough.”
“What do you mean?” Yu Qingtang pointed accusingly at him. “Are you looking down on our Comrade Little Ye?”
He reached out and cupped Ye Chenyan’s chin.
Ye Chenyan’s eyes widened slightly as Yu Qingtang gestured around his face.
“Aren’t you good at fortune-telling? Look at this face! Look carefully!”
“Doesn’t he look like someone you shouldn’t provoke?”
Ye Chenyan muffled a laugh. “Ahem.”
“Forget it.” Smiling, he ruffled Yu Qingtang’s hair and raised an unconcerned eyebrow. “Not everyone has your eye for hidden gems.”
“But...”
Ye Chenyan looked back at Ying Wujue.
“You seem much more human now than when you first arrived. Your arrows are steadier too.”
It was as though Ying Wujue had finally set down a great weight in his heart. His expression relaxed considerably, and he even gave a faint smile.
“My sect taught that disciples of the Esoteric Sect must not fear death or cling to life.”
“Wanting to save Junior Sister was, to me, a distracting thought I should not possess. To her, it was an insult to her lofty ideals.”
“But no matter what, I cannot watch her die. So I risked leaving the mountain to search for you, all for my own selfish desire.”
He closed his eyes.
“But Master Baoshan told me that every person is one of the living beings beneath heaven, and every person deserves to be saved. Wanting to save her is not an evil thought, not selfishness, and not delusion.”
Yu Qingtang opened his mouth.
He had some objections to the title “Master Baoshan,” but restrained himself for the moment.
He scratched his head.
No matter what kind of inspirational soup it was, as long as the person drinking it felt better afterward, it was probably good soup.
“Bringing you back was what my sect demanded.” Ying Wujue looked at Yu Qingtang. “I have already done everything I could. Since I failed, I can only settle for the next-best option.”
Ying Wujue slowly rose to his feet.
“There are three thousand Great Daos. One of them must offer her a path to survival.”
He seemed to make some kind of decision.
Then he suddenly smiled.
It was like spring snow melting and bare branches coming back to life.
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened in shock. “Your hair...”
Ying Wujue’s white hair seemed to be washed over in ink, gradually returning to a full head of black.
“From emotionlessness into emotion.” Ye Chenyan turned toward Yu Qingtang and laughed. “The exact opposite of the nonsense you made up back then.”
Yu Qingtang was silent.
When I was talking nonsense back then, how was I supposed to know the cultivation world could even cure premature gray hair?
He choked for a moment, then asked curiously, “Wait. You still haven’t explained what you meant by the next-best option.”
Ying Wujue raised his eyes. “I will take her place.”
“I possess only the bones of an ordinary mortal. Perhaps I am overestimating myself, but I must at least try.”
He stepped aside, revealing the gate behind him.
“Go.”
Ye Chenyan glanced from the corner of his eye at the silent Girl in the Bamboo, then met Ying Wujue’s gaze.
He gave a slight nod. “Let’s go.”
Without wasting another word, Ye Chenyan grabbed the still-dazed Yu Qingtang, boarded the spirit boat, and fled.
“Huh?” Caught completely off guard, Yu Qingtang toppled into the boat.
Girl in the Bamboo immediately moved to follow.
Ying Wujue drew his bow and fired an arrow. He did not aim to injure her, only to delay her by a single step.
As the spirit boat shot past him, he said, “I cast a divination for the two of you.”
“The road ahead will be difficult. May you turn danger into fortune.”
Ye Chenyan did not answer.
The spirit boat rapidly disappeared beyond the gates of Nanzhou City.
Girl in the Bamboo flew forward, treating Ying Wujue’s spiritual-energy arrow as though it did not exist. Just as she was about to overtake them at the city gate, several pitch-black pieces of Star-Fixing Wood suddenly fell from the sky.
She stopped abruptly in midair and dodged.
The attack forced her back to where she had started.
She raised her head and looked toward a figure sitting atop the city wall.
Tianxin was seated there.
Girl in the Bamboo narrowed her eyes slightly, but her gaze shifted behind Tianxin, toward the unremarkable mechanism puppet standing there.
The two faced each other in silence.
After several breaths, Tianxin spoke.
“Half a day.”
Girl in the Bamboo frowned. “What?”
Tianxin looked down at her. “Let them leave half a day ahead. Only then may you pursue them.”
Girl in the Bamboo frowned in thought.
At last, she nodded.
“Fine.”
...
Outside Nanzhou City, Ye Chenyan drove the spirit boat forward at tremendous speed.
Following the plan he had made with Du Heng, he tossed down several pellets that emitted a strange fragrance along the way.
Yu Qingtang struggled upright. He was not airsick, but he still had to cling to the side of the boat as he asked, “Will Senior Brother Du really be able to find us? Is his nose actually that sharp...?”
“It was his idea, so he should.” Ye Chenyan tossed another pellet while studying the surrounding trees for the marks Scholar Xiao had left behind.
“He can.”
Du Heng’s voice came from a branch overhead.
This time, he had not used an overly dramatic disguise. He wore a fitted short outfit and a battered veiled hat as he bent down to look at them.
“See? I found you.”
“But it wasn’t by smell.”
He jumped down and landed lightly in the spirit boat. Flicking his robes aside, he sat and pointed in one direction.
“I’ve been watching the whole time. They went that way.”
“What happened to you two? Were you discovered? Why are you fleeing in such a hurry?”
“We have a tail.” Yu Qingtang anxiously leaned over to look behind them. “I didn’t see her follow us out, though. Someone must have stopped her.”
“Tsk.” Du Heng raised his head, revealing an entirely unremarkable face, which was probably still not his real appearance. “Troublesome.”
“We need to follow Fire Cauldron Sect’s medicinal-ingredient convoy, so we can’t travel too quickly. If someone pursues us at full speed, we probably won’t be able to escape.”
“It’s fine!” Yu Qingtang reassured them. “She isn’t trying to kill us!”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “You already asked her?”
“Mhm!” Yu Qingtang patted his shoulder. “Guess who...”
“Girl in the Bamboo,” Ye Chenyan answered with certainty.
Yu Qingtang choked. “I hadn’t even asked yet, and you already stole the answer.”
Ye Chenyan gave him a deep look. “How do we deal with her?”
“She isn’t very clever.” Yu Qingtang lowered his voice. “And she has a weakness. She keeps her promises and has to protect your... ahem, both our safety.”
He proposed with absolute confidence, “When she catches up, just lie down on the ground and tell her that if she insists on taking you back, you’ll refuse to live! Then she won’t be able to do anything to you.”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “Why do I have to lie down? Why don’t you?”
Yu Qingtang cleared his throat and answered honestly, “I have dignity.”
Ye Chenyan fell silent.
“There’s no other way.” Yu Qingtang blinked innocently. “Our route is fixed, so we can’t flee freely, and we can’t beat her. Didn’t you feel it? She’s at least at the Out-of-Body stage!”
“Not necessarily.” Ye Chenyan folded his arms. “We haven’t fought yet.”
Yu Qingtang paused. “...Then there’s one more method.”
Ye Chenyan leaned closer. “What?”
Yu Qingtang mysteriously patted his shoulder. “You’ll find out when the time comes.”
If I tell you in advance, you might refuse to cooperate.
Du Heng propped up his chin and commented coolly, “That doesn’t sound like anything good.”
Ye Chenyan nodded in complete agreement.
Yu Qingtang guiltily looked away. “How could that be? What bad idea could I possibly have...”
“I’m a good person!”
“Who says good people can’t have bad ideas?” Ye Chenyan reached out and pinched his chin. “Swear it. Swear you aren’t plotting anything bad, or karmic fire will roast your backside every time you eat meat along the way.”
Yu Qingtang was silent.
After spending so long diligently cultivating in Nanzhou, it had been ages since he had experienced karmic fire roasting his backside.
At those words, he quietly shifted his seat.
He turned his head away in resistance. “I won’t swear!”
“But I really don’t have any bad ideas!”
Ye Chenyan narrowed his eyes. “That sounds familiar.”
Yu Qingtang looked smug. “I learned it from you.”
Du Heng leaned back against the spirit boat with his chin propped in one hand and sighed.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t be traveling with the two of you.”
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