Chapter 277: Chapter 277: Departure
Snap.
The atmosphere didn’t just turn cold; it froze instantly.
Baiheng felt the smile on her face instantly turn into stone. Alarm bells rang frantically in her mind, with a barrage of "It’s over, it’s over, it’s over" scrolling across her thoughts.
(Cipher! You did that on purpose, didn’t you?! You absolutely did that on purpose! You just had to bring up the one thing you shouldn’t have!)
She could almost feel the aura on Jingliu, which had just softened slightly, suddenly drop to freezing point. Even the temperature in the private room seemed to plummet a few degrees.
Jingliu set down her teacup steadily, without making a single sound.
She was silent for a moment, seemingly digesting this abrupt and sharp question.
Then, she spoke slowly, her voice even calmer than before, yet also more... hollow, carrying a sense of decisiveness as if severing the past:
"Yes. I am indeed wanted by the Xianzhou Alliance."
She admitted it cleanly and straightforwardly, without any concealment.
Baiheng’s heart tightened suddenly.
She knew about this; she had also heard of it from the information provided by Madam Herta.
Jingliu’s choice to fall into the Mara-Struck state, causing irreversible destruction, was the "sin" for which she could not be forgiven, and also the reason she chose self-exile.
But hearing Jingliu say it so calmly with her own ears still made her chest feel tight.
Jingliu continued, her tone still flat but revealing an unshakable firmness:
"But I do not regret that decision."
Her gaze seemed to turn to Baiheng again, piercing through the obstruction of the sunglasses, reaching straight into the depths of those azure eyes.
"Even if I were to do it all over again... I would still make the same choice."
These words were light, yet heavy as a thousand jun.
They contained too many complex and unspeakable things: an obsession with the past, a calmness regarding the cost, and an unwavering protection of certain people and matters...
Perhaps, there was also a hint of loneliness and determination that no one could understand.
Under her gaze, Baiheng’s heart trembled violently, as if struck by the surging undercurrent beneath those calm words.
She almost instinctively and flusteredly averted her gaze, not daring to meet that look.
She was afraid that if she kept looking, her clumsy disguise would instantly collapse, and those deliberately forgotten emotions belonging to Baiheng would break through the dam.
(Jingliu... you...)
The private room fell into a dead silence.
Only the faint hustle and bustle from the street below made the silence here feel even more oppressive.
Cipher seemed to realize she might have gone too far. She blinked her blue eyes, her cat ears drooping slightly, and didn’t speak again, but the hand she had placed on Baiheng’s arm tightened quietly.
Just when this awkwardness and heaviness were about to overflow—
Boom!!!
A loud noise, like a heavy object hitting the ground, mixed with the terrified screams of the crowd, suddenly came from the street outside the teahouse!
Following closely behind were several sharp sounds of things piercing the air and the crisp sound of something shattering!
The three people in the private room all looked stern at once.
Jingliu was the first to stand up, moving as fast as lightning, and was instantly at the window.
She tilted her head slightly, looking down at the chaotic street below.
Baiheng and Cipher also immediately crowded to the window.
They saw that the street below, which had been orderly, was now in total chaos, with pedestrians fleeing in panic in all directions.
On the ground of a relatively empty square not far away lay several figures. Their limbs were twisted unnaturally, their skin faintly showing a wood-like grayish decay, and broken weapons and shattered rubble were scattered around them—Mara-Struck!
And it looked like they had lost the ability to move, their life or death unknown.
Above the remains of these Mara-Struck, a young boy with pale golden hair, a still-youthful but heroic face, was floating in mid-air, stepping on a flying sword glowing with flowing light.
He held a sword seal with one hand, his brows tightly locked, his bright eyes scanning the surroundings vigilantly. His face carried some of the sharpness after a battle, but more of it was a kind of... confusion.
It was none other than Yanqing.
"Strange..."
He carefully sensed his surroundings and indeed could not find any other suspicious characters.
The clash just now in the blink of an eye had come and gone too quickly; he hadn’t even seen the appearance of the person who had attacked, only catching a glimpse of an extremely fast phantom.
(Could it be some expert passing by? Or perhaps...)
Yanqing scratched his head, his young face full of confusion.
He had been ordered to patrol nearby and had rushed over immediately upon sensing abnormal fluctuations, but he didn’t expect to only see the aftermath.
Whose credit was this?
Inside the teahouse private room.
Baiheng and Cipher watched the scene below and spoke in low voices.
"A Mara-Struck outbreak? In the middle of the street?"
Baiheng frowned, "Is the security pressure on Luofu so high lately?"
"Looking at that little general, it doesn’t seem like he did it either."
Cipher’s cat ears pricked up.
Jingliu watched the figure of Yanqing below and the remains of the Mara-Struck that had lost the ability to move, remaining silent.
She didn’t seem particularly concerned about the cause and result of this sudden battle, only confirming that the threat had been temporarily removed.
A moment later, she withdrew her gaze and turned to look at Baiheng and Cipher.
"It seems that today’s tea can only be enjoyed up to this point."
Jingliu’s voice returned to its previous coldness, but it seemed to lack some of the sharpness directed at Cipher, and instead carried a different meaning.
She paused and continued: "I have matters to attend to. For some time... I may be leaving for a while."
This was said somewhat abruptly, sounding like a sudden idea, yet also like something planned long ago.
Baiheng’s heart skipped a beat, and she blurted out: "Leaving? Where are you going? When will you be back?"
Only after asking did she realize she had been a bit uncomposed, and she hurriedly tried to make up for it: "I mean... Jingliu, if there is anything you need help with..."
Jingliu shook her head, interrupting her concern.
"No need. Just some personal matters."
Her tone was beyond doubt.
After saying this, she did not stay any longer and turned to walk toward the door of the private room. Her hem swept in a sharp arc, her back straight and solitary, as if she might blend into the shadows and disappear at any moment.
"Wait!"
Baiheng called out to her subconsciously.
Jingliu paused in her steps, without turning back.
Baiheng stepped forward quickly and took out a special Jade Abacus from her embrace.
"This... let’s exchange contact information?"
Baiheng handed over the Jade Abacus, her tone carrying a hint of imperceptible pleading, "In case... in case you encounter anything while you’re out, or if you want to find someone to have tea with... it would be easier to reach each other."
Jingliu was silent and did not immediately take it.
Her gaze seemed to fall on the Jade Abacus in Baiheng’s hand, and also seemed to pierce through it, landing on Baiheng’s face.
Time seemed to have passed for a long time, or perhaps it was only a few seconds.
Finally, she reached out and took the warm, smooth Jade Abacus.
Their fingertips inevitably touched lightly, separating instantly, carrying a cool sensation.
"...Fine."
Jingliu replied in a low voice, tapped a few times on the Jade Abacus, and then returned it to Baiheng.
In the end, she didn’t say anything else, nor did she turn back. She opened the door of the private room directly, and her figure soon disappeared at the end of the corridor.
Baiheng stood at the door, watching the direction where she had disappeared, holding the Jade Abacus. The cool sensation still remained on her hand, and there was an indescribable, complex emotion in her heart.
Cipher had wandered to her side at some point. Her cat Tail gently brushed against Baiheng’s calf. Her blue eyes looked in the direction where Jingliu had left, then looked at the distracted Baiheng, and suddenly she let out a "pfft" laugh.
"Ah Bai~"
She leaned into Baiheng’s ear, lowered her voice, and with a teasing smile said, "How is it that I feel... this Sword Master seems to be particularly different toward you?"
Baiheng came back to her senses, rolled her eyes at Cipher, and reached out to gently poke her forehead: "Isn’t this all caused by you! Was that kind of thing something to say just now?"
Cipher stuck out her tongue and made a face: "I was just curious~ Besides, look, didn’t she leave her contact information in the end~"
Baiheng sighed helplessly and cast her gaze back out the window.
(Jingliu...)
(No matter what you want to do...)
(This time, please be safe.)
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