Chapter 2: Face Dusted, Temples Frosted
The morning light was faint, shining on the water pool at the edge of the grassland, reflecting a faint luster. Nanke stood by the water, her expression indifferent as she gazed ahead. She raised her right hand, and clear water was brought to her, sending medicine into her lips. Two maidservants attended to her after she finished taking the medicine, handing her a wet towel to wash her face. After a moment, her spirits recovered somewhat, and she lightly waved her hand in front of her face.
Although there was water and grass everywhere, there weren’t many mosquitoes or flies in the Zhou Garden. Her motion wasn’t to drive anything away but to wipe out a black curtain. On that black curtain, there was a rough map outline of the Zhou Garden, along with several flickering points of light—those were the life lamps lit by the Black Robe, guiding them to the enemies’ locations.
Two life lamps were in the grassland, shifting east and west, moving dozens of miles away in an instant, as if disturbed by some force, unable to pinpoint their positions. Those should be Zhexiu and Qijian. They were already deep in the grassland, and by all logic, there was no chance of survival, so Nanke wasn’t worried. Her gaze fell more on the other two life lamps.
Those two life lamps belonged to Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng. They were very conspicuous on the black curtain, located at the edge of the grassland, far from the several gardens where human cultivators had gathered, and they hadn’t moved for a long time. This seemed to indicate that the two were no longer able to flee, and it should be soon before she completed the task assigned by her teacher, the Black Robe.
The old man who played the zither had come down from the summit of Muyu Peak at some unknown time, joining Nanke and her three attendants. Looking at the life lamps on the black curtain, he wasn’t as confident and composed as Nanke; instead, he was somewhat worried. “Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng are both severely injured. They shouldn’t be able to make it back to those gardens. But… some human cultivators have been hiding in the wilderness of the Zhou Garden, and most of them are at the peak of the Tongyou realm. If Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng encounter these human cultivators while fleeing, what should we do?”
The conspiracy personally devised by the Black Robe fully exploited the special conditions and geographical environment of the Zhou Garden, seeing through the greed of human cultivators for wealth and techniques with perfect insight into the human heart. Thus, only a few demon experts infiltrated the Zhou Garden, yet they were enough to throw the entire garden into chaos. If not for Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng, the Zhou Garden might have already become a true hell by now. The problem was that the human cultivators had now detected the demon conspiracy, and most had gathered together. If it came to a direct confrontation, no matter how strong the demon experts were, they couldn’t possibly be a match for hundreds of human cultivators.
Nanke’s expression remained indifferent, and she didn’t explain anything, only saying, “If Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng encounter other human experts in this situation, they might die even sooner.”
The ripples between the reeds and the shore gradually calmed, then were covered by a thin layer of ice.
Chen Changsheng’s body was soaked, and the water stains quickly froze into frost. His brows and temples were dusted with snow, like early white hair. Already somewhat mature for his age, he now looked even more weathered.
Xu Yourong naturally noticed the anomaly in his body. She slightly raised her brows and took his pulse again. She found that his true essence was as thin as before, but the injuries to his internal organs had stabilized. However, his heartbeat and breathing were much slower than normal, and she couldn’t tell whether it was due to his unique cultivation technique or a sign of impending death.
Because of the poison, her vision was still blurry. She could only vaguely make out his brows and eyes, covered in frost, making him look older. She was silent for a moment, then suddenly reached out and wiped the frost from his face. Then she froze, not understanding why she had done that.
Walking into the forest bathed in morning light, stepping on soft fallen leaves, silent and soundless, she advanced several dozen zhang before stopping again, looking toward a cliff in the distance.
In the forest, there were paths trodden by predecessors, covered by fallen leaves, but the faint traces could still be seen, extending forward and then turning at the cliff, forming a zigzag shape.
She gently placed Chen Changsheng in her arms onto the fallen leaves, took out her Tong Bow, pulled the bowstring to a half-moon, and aimed at that spot, but said nothing.
The morning wind accompanied the morning light into the forest. The morning light was blocked by the leaves, making the forest very quiet, but the morning wind wasn’t cut by the branches. It gently brushed the strands of hair by her face. Those strands occasionally touched the bowstring, making no sound, like the softest fingertips lightly pressing the string, ready to burst into a strong note the next moment.
A leaf was carried by the wind from the branch, slowly drifting down in her blurry, dim world until it landed at her feet.
The long bow remained motionless. Her eyelashes didn’t blink. Her expression was calm and focused, only looking at that cliff, at that empty place.
Just as that leaf landed before her feet, an aged voice came from the cliff: “Friend or foe?”
With that voice, what first appeared beyond the cliff was a hand. Around the wrist was tied a gray thread, and in the hand was a wooden token. On the token, painted with vermilion pigment, was a very complex sect emblem. There was something strange about that pigment; even from this distance, one could feel a clear sense of dryness and heat.
Every human cultivator entering the Zhou Garden would have a gray thread. The sect emblem on the wooden token indicated their identity. This simple action carried multiple meanings, avoiding unnecessary misunderstandings as much as possible. From this detail, it was clear that the owner of the aged voice was very cautious.
Xu Yourong could only vaguely see a blurry image, unable to discern details, but from her calm expression, this was absolutely undetectable. She sensed strong wariness and vigilance in the man’s voice. Thinking of the usual bloody struggles after the Zhou Garden opened, and then of her own bloodstained appearance, which could indeed cause misunderstandings, she said, “Not foe.”
Meeting for the first time, naturally they couldn’t be called friends, but they weren’t enemies either—that was her explanation.
After a moment, a person emerged from the other side of the cliff. The man had white hair and an aged face, at least over a hundred years old. His expression and steps were calm and steady, but he didn’t hide his vigilance. Although he came out, his right hand, hanging by his waist, held a magical artifact, as if ready to strike at any moment, keeping what he considered a safe distance from Xu Yourong.
This distance was very deliberate, making him feel safe and also reassuring the other party. Only a cultivation senior who had weathered many years of wind and frost could have such exquisite sense of proportion.
Xu Yourong sensed the man’s aura, which he didn’t hide but also didn’t deliberately emit, confirming that this old man was a peak Tongyou realm expert. Her heart tightened slightly, but her expression relaxed.
She loosened the bowstring, holding the long bow, and said, “May I ask the senior’s esteemed name?”
The rules in the Zhou Garden had always been bloody and violent, and now, human cultivators still hiding in the wilderness outside the three gardens were often experts with ambitions for the treasures and inheritances in the garden. Encountering such a person could easily lead to a fierce battle, especially since the other party might not know that demons had infiltrated the Zhou Garden.
So she calmly and directly continued, “Demons have infiltrated the Zhou Garden. We were ambushed and injured by demon experts.”
This was still an explanation, but she subtly added some meaning to it. Demons capable of infiltrating the Zhou Garden must be powerful, but if they needed to ambush to injure her, then she must also be powerful.
Whether the old man drew the conclusion she wanted from this seemingly casual explanation was unclear, because it was obvious, as she had guessed earlier, that this old man had been hiding in the rarely visited wilderness since entering the Zhou Garden, deliberately avoiding contact with other cultivators, to the point that he still didn’t know about the demons entering the garden. Hearing her words now, he was very surprised.
“How can demons enter the Zhou Garden?”
The old man was shocked but showed no fear. He looked at the gray thread on his wrist and sneered, “No wonder so many strange things have happened.”
Clearly, he had already completed his treasure hunt in the Zhou Garden, finding what he needed, so he had tried to ignite the gray thread to leave but failed.
Xu Yourong didn’t explain, because the demon conspiracy was too complex and unnecessary.
The old man looked at Chen Changsheng lying on the fallen leaves behind her, noticing the frost covering him, and asked with slight surprise, “Is this person your companion?”
Xu Yourong shook her head and said, “I don’t know him. I just saw him being attacked by a demon expert and happened to save him.”
“To still think of saving others at a time like this, you’re a good little girl.”
The old man looked at her with admiration and then continued, “But where are you heading?”
Xu Yourong said, “Human cultivators are now gathered in three gardens. I was planning to take this fellow cultivator there, but due to my injuries, I’m moving slowly. It will take at least half a day, and I’m worried about being caught by the demons. I didn’t expect to meet you, senior. I’d like to trouble you to notify the others to come and escort us.”
The old man showed a disapproving expression and said, “I’ll go with you and escort you there. How can I let you stay here and take risks?”
Xu Yourong said, “The demon experts who infiltrated the Zhou Garden are very powerful. If you, senior, have to take care of the two of us, I’m afraid…”
Her words trailed off, implying good intentions.
The old man laughed and said, “If we were outside the Zhou Garden, I might need to be cautious. But here in the Zhou Garden, I’d like to meet these demon experts you speak of.”
His smile was carefree, his expression calm and composed, his gaze gentle and bright. When he said this, he appeared extremely confident.
A peak Tongyou realm expert should be invincible in the Zhou Garden. The old man’s confidence had its reasons.
For some reason, Xu Yourong didn’t tell him that the demon experts who infiltrated the Zhou Garden were more terrifying than ordinary peak Tongyou experts, let alone that there was a terrifying existence like Nanke.
She showed a curious and admiring expression and asked, “May I ask, senior, who are you?”
The old man said, “My surname is Bai, given name Hai. I’ve cultivated in the Luoyang Sect for over two hundred years, rarely traveling outside the sect. I imagine you wouldn’t know of me.”
Xu Yourong seemed slightly stunned, as if the name was unfamiliar to her.
In truth, she felt a chill.
(Next chapter around ten o’clock.)