A City Swept by Wind and Snow GL - Chapter 36

◎”Little wolf cub, how did your own kind scare you so badly?”◎

Before Xue Qianxun acquired the Zhi Mei Qin (Subtle Charm Zither)—

When that bl00d-splattered body plunged vertically into the dark abyss, Zhuque stood frozen across from the Heartbreak Cliff. The wind whistled past her ears, like past events that could not be held back once they had passed. The once-spirited young man had grown up. His composure in every gesture remained the same, but the compassion in his eyes and brows was gone, never to return.

The young man blew the bl00d drops off the Name Token. The strong characters “Tang Fei” showed through the bronze. He looked at them and slightly raised the corner of his lip. With a flick of his wrist, he wrapped the silk ribbon of the Name Token around his finger, completely ignoring the familiar face across the deep abyss, whose eyes were filled with tears.

“Stop!” When the victorious man turned to leave, Zhuque finally shouted, shock, anger, and grief choking her throat. A barely suppressible tremor was in her voice, “You should at least explain something, shouldn’t you?”

The opponent turned around sharply, his voice calm: “The fifth duel, settled in one round. Tang Fei died from a finger-sword piercing his heart, and his body fell into the abyss. Explanation finished.”

Zhuque said, “You know that’s not what I want to hear.”

He raised an eyebrow, gathered his qi, and flew gracefully across the abyss, which was dozens of zhang wide, landing beside Zhuque, bringing with him a ripple of clear wind. Zhuque’s heart fluttered with the breeze.

When they parted years ago, he was only two or three inches taller than her. Now, she only reached his chin.

“Yixin Ci, have you become the Southern Protector now?” He asked casually, wiping the bleeding wound on his left arm with his sleeve, seemingly not expecting any answer. No hostility or goodwill could be discerned from his expression.

Zhuque glanced at his left arm. The cut was deep and long, the unique shape of Tang Fei’s weapon.

“Tell me, are you Water Moon Palace’s Lou Wailou or Carefree Divine Cult’s Eastern Protector Azure Dragon?” Zhuque shifted her gaze to his indifferent face, her eyes red-rimmed.

He smiled softly, turning his face to examine Zhuque’s complex gaze playfully, and said, “Lou Wailou or Azure Dragon, they are just code names. However, if we consider the chronological order, I was Lou Wailou first.”

Once her prediction was confirmed, Zhuque became calm instead, giving a mournful, cold laugh: “The eyelash is long under the eye, but one cannot see it. I never thought the greatest shadow agent lurking in the Carefree Divine Cult was you.”

Lou Wailou just smiled, his demeanor elegant, as always.

Zhuque was unwilling and pressed the question: “Are we enemies from now on?”

Lou Wailou parted his lips slightly and slowly said, “Please learn to judge with your own eyes.” He casually raised his right arm, his middle finger aimed at Zhuque’s brow center, less than an inch away, “If you don’t run away now, what will appear here in the next instant?”

—A corpse, of course!

Zhuque said nothing and turned to run.

She didn’t know if Lou Wailou would pursue her relentlessly. She could only flee with all her might. Whether it was being practical or fearing death, she did not want to be the sinner who died holding a major secret concerning the safety of her companions.

Lou Wailou pursued Zhuque for a distance, then gradually slowed his pace, eventually allowing Zhuque to escape far away. Separated by thick woods, Lou Wailou looked at Zhuque’s stumbling small back, couldn’t help but smile, and murmured, “Fine, I won’t scare you. She must be crying again.”

Zhuque’s tears streamed out uncontrollably. She had cried when she first met Azure Dragon. She still remembered the spirited and serious Azure Dragon running panickedly to the Great Priestess Xifeng for help: “Xifeng! That new doctor with the big eyes suddenly started crying! Please go comfort her quickly… I’m not sure, I only said that when she gives needles, her wrist shakes non-stop, which makes people dizzy…”

Hot tears fell onto the silver fox Little Snow’s head, causing it to look up. Person and little beast, their eyes met, and Zhuque suddenly burst into uncontrollable sobs.

“Little Snow, I must be useless! Everyone else is fighting for their lives against their opponents, but I, the one who refused the challenge, am wandering aimlessly. Every companion tries their best to protect me, the physician, but all I can do is watch Tang Fei get killed!”

The silver fox understandingly rubbed Zhuque’s cheek, as if to wipe away her tears. After crying for a while, Zhuque forced herself to calm down. She looked around, seeing no sign of human presence. Then, she took out a piece of wrapping paper from her belt, pricked her finger with a silver needle, and dipped it in fresh bl00d to write: “Lou Wailou is Azure Dragon. At wushi three quarters (11:45 AM), Tang Fei died, his body falling into Heartbreak Cliff.” She rolled the paper, tied it with a thin thread around the silver fox’s neck, and buried the end in its long fur. The vast sky, the boundless mountains, all belonged to the Water Moon Palace. Zhuque thought that if she met with disaster, relying on the silver fox Little Snow’s keen sense of smell and Jinse’s training, it would always find the others.

After the invisible person’s guidance, Xue Qianxun realized that it was not the time to pursue Fifth Charm. She immediately embraced the Zhi Mei Qin and searched for her companions. She had no memory of the scenery along the way, but she had a kind of underlying instinct that guided her to choose the correct direction from the confusing forks in the road. Xue Qianxun felt extremely surprised. She ran all the way, retracing her thoughts, and suddenly discovered a blank space in her memory—the incense for the arbitrator Nangong Qing had served as a reference for timing. When Xue Qianxun saw the fiery-red parrot, the Xingshi (Walking Corpse) holding the incense was just about to light a stick of incense in its left hand, while the ashes of a burned-out stick were on its head, the backs of both feet, and the palm of its right hand. This indicated the start of the fifth duel. The time the invisible person spent helping her complete the Thirteen Forms was also very short.

Xue Qianxun speculated that the missing part of her memory was about the length of one stick of incense plus a little more. It was during that time that Xue Qianxun had woken up from her unconsciousness and proceeded on the way to chase Fifth Charm. Who took her there? How did that person know her determination to retrieve the Name Token? —Was it the invisible person? Or was it her own action? Xue Qianxun was racking her brain when she saw an area shrouded in steaming water vapor in the distance—Fifth Charm’s barrier. However, the battlefield where Jinse and the Little Wolf Cub had dueled was deserted, and even Zhuque’s medicine box had been taken away.

Looking at the patchy bloodstains and cruel animal carcasses on the ground, a complete mess, Xue Qianxun felt sorrow in her heart, but had no time for grief. She immediately sat cross-legged and began tuning and playing her zither. It was a piece she had composed herself at the Spring River Courtyard, one Jinse was very familiar with, and Xifeng and Zhuque also recognized. If they heard it, they would surely reply with a signal. The rhythm of the tune was very rapid, and the unique sound of the Zhi Mei Qin spread far and wide, like an earnest summons. However, after the piece ended, there was no response from any direction, silent except for the gurgling of the hot spring water. She could still feel the aftershocks of the zither strings on her fingertips. The person holding the zither stood alone, looking up at the empty sky. In an instant, a cold, desolate loneliness overwhelmed her entire being.

Where are they? Where are her companions? There were five of them who were perfectly fine. How did she suddenly end up all alone?

“If Little Snow were here, it would be great…” Xue Qianxun couldn’t help but mock her wishful thinking. However, just as she was thinking this, a small animal’s xiu xiu call suddenly came from the distance.

“Little… Snow?!” Xue Qianxun was overjoyed, hardly daring to believe her ears and eyes, “That’s right, it recognizes the zither music too!”

Little Snow was equally excited to see Xue Qianxun. It eagerly jumped into Xue Qianxun’s arms, only to rub a sleeve full of bl00d onto her. Xue Qianxun’s great joy turned to great shock. She then noticed the rather serious wound on Little Snow’s hind leg, and her surprise turned into worry.

Fortunately, Zhuque had been thorough in her preparations and had distributed common medicines like hemostatic powder and antidotes to her companions to carry, in case of emergency. While treating the silver fox’s wound, Xue Qianxun found the note hidden in its long fur. She quickly unfolded it and saw the news of “Tang Fei’s death,” which greatly grieved her. She held back her tears and said calmly to Little Snow, “Take me to find Zhuque.” She recognized Zhuque’s handwriting.

Xue Qianxun carried the Zhi Mei Qin and Little Snow, speeding along. She only let Little Snow down at a fork in the road to choose the direction. In a moment, they arrived at the edge of a deep ravine. Little Snow let out a long, mournful cry towards the bottom of the ravine. Xue Qianxun stopped and looked down. She saw that the ravine became narrower the deeper it went, with dense vegetation growing on both walls, covering the bottom. She couldn’t tell how deep it was.

Xue Qianxun had a bad premonition. Her heart grew cold, and she asked Little Snow with a trembling voice, “Is Zhuque down here?”

The silver fox replied with a xiu xiu.

Xue Qianxun felt a surge of panic. She calmed her mind, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly towards the bottom of the ravine: “Zhuque—! Zhuque—! … Yixin Ci—! …”

No response. Xue Qianxun’s heart thumped like a rabbit. She simply tied the Zhi Mei Qin to her back and placed the injured Little Snow on her shoulder. Supporting herself with vines and stepping on tree roots, she cautiously climbed down the ravine wall.

As she moved downward, Little Snow began to whine more intensely with unease, trembling all over. Xue Qianxun couldn’t help but feel fear. She didn’t know if Zhuque was safe, nor did she know if what she was doing counted as walking into a trap. While these wild thoughts ran through her mind, she descended another dozen zhang. Suddenly, she heard overlapping animal sounds beneath the dense thicket. Perhaps those keen, unknown beasts had sensed her presence earlier. The animal cries suddenly intensified. Xue Qianxun quickly looked for a place to hide. However, in just a moment, the dense forest at the bottom of the ravine suddenly parted, and a rush of white beasts flew up, charging wildly. Just as Xue Qianxun managed to discern that they were seven or eight adolescent Heavenly Wolves, they surged towards her with the force of thunder, brimming with murderous intent.

Xue Qianxun turned pale with fright. She hugged Little Snow tightly and desperately tried to hide in the bushes herself—like an ostrich unable to fight back. Her hands slipped, and her feet lost their footing. With a ceng sound, she slid down the steep ravine wall.

“Am I going to die like this?” Xue Qianxun asked herself, her eyes tightly closed. Her body, having lost its center of gravity, felt hollow, and the simultaneous howling of the Heavenly Wolves in her ears became louder.

—Suddenly, she smelled a faint fragrance. A strange fragrance, a unique fragrance, a familiar fragrance.

That faint, clean fragrance enveloped Xue Qianxun. Her weightless body suddenly found support—a warm and gentle support.

“Little wolf cub, how did your own kind scare you so badly?”

Xue Qianxun looked at the familiar face so close to her, her heart soared even higher than her body. She couldn’t tell if it was surprise, excitement, or something else. Her tears suddenly surged out, and she murmured, “Jinse…”