Chapter 18: Tangled, Hard to Untangle
This was the first time the two had spoken since the Battle of Naihe Bridge began.
It was also the first conversation between “Chen Changsheng” and “Xu Yourong.”
Xu Yourong said, “I lost.”
Chen Changsheng said, “Say that again.”
If the person who said this were Tang Thirty-Six, then this sentence would undoubtedly be a devastatingly sarcastic taunt. Xu Yourong would have definitely used the True Phoenix Blood to burn this bridge to ashes. But she knew Chen Changsheng’s temperament and character, knew that he had guessed something and was a bit nervous, so she wasn’t angry. She smiled without speaking.
The white gauze veiled her face, so her smile couldn’t be seen, only faintly sensed through the atmosphere flowing in the air.
Just then, a light wind and snow stirred, and the white gauze hanging from the edge of Xu Yourong’s veiled hat was lifted.
Throughout this battle, sword intent had run rampant, especially the terrifying power of the Great Brightness Sword. Her dress and veiled hat were protected by true essence, but the white gauze couldn’t escape.
The fluttering white gauze tore apart and slowly fell to the ground.
The misfortune of the white gauze was Chen Changsheng’s fortune.
Because he finally saw her face.
It was a face of indescribable beauty, with brows and eyes like a painting, skin so delicate it seemed it would break at a touch, fairer than snow by three parts.
She was truly beautiful, beautiful enough to steal the morale of an army and the light of heaven and earth.
But this face was unfamiliar to Chen Changsheng.
Just as a wave of regret washed over him, he saw her eyes.
They were a pair of phoenix eyes of extreme beauty, filled with countless starlight, as if burning, bright and dazzling.
But he opened his eyes wide, staring into hers, looking all the way to their deepest depths.
There were no stars there, no light, no holiness, no duty—only the freshness after rain in an empty mountain.
At this moment, those moving eyes held many more words and much more laughter.
Of course Chen Changsheng recognized these eyes. He could never forget these eyes. He had once thought he would never be able to meet their gaze again, until this very moment, until the brief stillness after the battle of rain and snow at Naihe Bridge, when a gentle breeze had blown away the white gauze veiling his opponent’s face…
Some time ago, sitting at Zhouling, he had truly experienced what it meant for sorrow to surge like a tide.
At this moment, he finally understood that what the books wrote about being struck by lightning was not an exaggerated metaphor, but a real situation.
In the slightly dim snowy sky, it was as if an invisible bolt of lightning had formed, striking him directly.
His body was stiff beyond words, unable to speak. The hands gripping the sword hilt were icy cold, yet inside his body, it was scorching hot.
With extreme difficulty, he pulled his gaze away from her eyes, turned around clumsily, and looked toward the white expanse of sky and water upstream on the Luo River.
After a moment, he turned back again, looked at her, opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, nothing came out. He had to look once more toward the uninhabited area upstream of the Luo River, because he feared that if he kept looking at her, his already slightly trembling legs might just give way.
Seeing his clumsy, comical appearance, the laughter in Xu Yourong’s eyes grew thicker. She covered her mouth with a smile, and a flower bloomed in her eyes.
She walked to the bridge railing, stood beside him, and looked upstream at the Luo River, saying calmly, “Is there something worth seeing?”
“You… don’t talk to me for now. I’m a bit flustered.”
Chen Changsheng’s face was red, not from the lingering power of the Soul-Connecting Finger, nor from the freezing cold, but from nervousness.
He looked at the Luo River, smelling the faint, subtle fragrance coming from beside him, and felt his heart flustered and confused, not daring to glance sideways even once.
Before the battle began, he had also been nervous, so he had watched the snow falling into the Luo River by the bridge, finally finding inner peace through the unity of motion and stillness.
But now, no matter how he watched the snow fall into the Luo River, he couldn’t calm down.
Xu Yourong gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking at his profile. Not wanting to make him too embarrassed, she suppressed her smile and said calmly, “Earlier, during that last sword strike, why didn’t you follow the initial position of the Lodging Star and instead suddenly turned your sword back to eyebrow level?”
When it came to swordsmanship, Chen Changsheng did calm down a bit. He murmured, “I guessed.”
When Su Li taught him the Sword of Wisdom, he had made it very clear: in many situations, you just have to guess. This reasoning sounded somewhat unreasonable, but with Xu Yourong’s talent, she could naturally understand. She had originally decided not to tease him anymore, but hearing this, she couldn’t help saying, “Then how come you couldn’t guess who I was?”
She said it calmly, but if you listened closely, there was still a hint of plaintiveness.
Chen Changsheng was already dumbfounded, his head lowered, utterly unable to speak.
Xu Yourong said nothing more. She stood quietly by his side, watching the snow fall into the Luo River.
…
…
From the start of the battle until now, the banks of the Luo River had been filled with thunderous cheers and discussions. When the smoky snow met the rainy mist, and the Zhai Sword and the Stainless Sword burst into their brightest radiance, the cheers and discussions reached their peak. The common people couldn’t understand the intricacies of this fight, but the dazzling scenes on Naihe Bridge were already enough to move them.
This highly anticipated battle had finally ended, but the praise and discussion continued, because the people couldn’t tell who had ultimately won.
“I think it should be Little Dean Chen. Didn’t the Saintess retreat first at the end?”
“Both of them were injured. Little Dean Chen was hurt worse. Why do you say the Saintess lost?”
“But didn’t you see that both swords ended up in Little Dean Chen’s hands in the end?”
“So what does that prove? The Saintess hasn’t even used her truly powerful techniques. Did you see the legendary Phoenix Blood?”
“Can you be sure that Little Dean Chen went all out?”
Soon, news came from the front of the riverbank that Xu Yourong had admitted to losing under Chen Changsheng’s sword.
The banks of the Luo River fell silent for a time before gradually digesting this fact.
“Hey… look at the bridge!”
Countless eyes turned toward the distant Naihe Bridge and saw Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong standing side by side there, seemingly still whispering something to each other. After a moment, they stopped talking and stood there quietly, letting the light snow fall on them. Because they were far away, it almost looked as if their bodies were leaning together.
The discussions on the Luo River banks gradually subsided, becoming unusually quiet. People looked at this scene on Naihe Bridge, somewhat puzzled. Just moments ago, they had been fighting with swords, and now they could stand side by side looking at the scenery? What was going on?
“The Saintess… held back, didn’t she?”
Among the commoners watching from the shore, only a very few supported Chen Changsheng, and even they fell silent. Because it was clear that although this battle was spectacular, neither side had been fighting to the death. The commoners couldn’t understand the mysterious sword techniques in the rain and snow, but looking at the scene on the bridge, they could feel a certain undercurrent flowing between them.
The scene on Naihe Bridge was beautiful. The two of them standing together looked harmonious and peaceful. People couldn’t bear to make a sound and break it. It was only after a very long time that the crowds on both banks of the Luo River gradually began to murmur similar sentiments.
“A pair of celestial lovers like that—why did they have to draw swords against each other?”
…
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(There will be another chapter tonight.)