Chapter Eighty-Seven: A Meeting of Three Sides, Part One

Three days later, dusk was already drawing near.

At that moment, the clatter of hoofbeats rang across the barren desert plain. Wherever the eye could see, there was only desolation, with corpses strewn across the ground from time to time. A fine horse moved slowly through the vast and lonely land.

Upon the horse sat an elderly man with snow-white hair and beard, calm and composed. Beside the horse, however, staggered a vicious-looking man with a bristling beard. He was gasping for breath now; after walking hundreds of miles these past few days, he had once again reached the brink of collapse.

His lips were cracked dry, his limbs limp with exhaustion, and he could no longer take another step. In the next instant, as the horse moved on, the rope in the man’s hand gave a sharp tug, and with a thud he fell stiffly to the ground, his life and death unknown.

"Oh?" The old man on the horse seemed to notice that the person behind him had already fainted. He glanced back absentmindedly, then continued riding forward.

The bearded man was dragged along behind the horse for a full half hour. Though the old man had already slowed the horse’s pace, the man was still battered and bruised all over from the jolting.

Seeing that this man still had not woken, the old man dismounted and helped him up, then placed two fingers on his wrist to feel his condition. He had been deceived by this barbarian many times before, and so he suspected the man might simply be pretending to be ill in order to avoid continuing on.

But when he sensed the tangled inner energy within the man’s body, along with his terrible physical condition, he was startled. "If someone below the Soul-Calming Realm had injuries like this, death would almost be certain. And his inner energy seems to be constrained by some kind of medicine, unable to break through the blockage. So he has been poisoned. No wonder he has not used his inner energy even once along the way."

After thinking it through, he took a pill from his robe and stuffed it into the man’s mouth.

With a pat to the man’s back, the pill slid down his throat. Before long, his complexion slowly grew rosier, and his pulse was no longer so weak.

Watching the man’s condition gradually improve, the old man became somewhat curious. "His rate of absorbing the medicine is so fast. Is it because he was already at the Soul-Calming Realm before? But from the look of his physique, he seems only to be at the Heart-Protecting Realm. Could he be some kind of genius from one of the barbarian tribes?"

As he thought this, Xi Menghe subconsciously reached into his robe, wanting to find something, but after a long search he found nothing.

Taking another careful look at the barbarian’s face, Xi Menghe sighed with regret. "Tsk. I came too hastily and forgot to bring it. Besides, judging by his face, he’s already around thirty; he wouldn’t be suitable anymore."

This barbarian was none other than Su Bai, whom Xi Menghe had abducted. As for the old man, of course, he was Xi Menghe himself, the man searching everywhere for a donkey while riding one.

Seeing that this man’s age had already exceeded the range for his use, Xi Menghe thought of Su Bai, whom he was currently searching for, and said with irritation, "That little brat Mingli, who knows where he has gone off to. We’ve searched this whole region these past two days, and not even a shadow of him can be found!"

The more he thought of Mingli, the harder it became for Xi Menghe to remain calm. He simply bound Su Bai’s disguised barbarian hands and feet and laid him flat on the horse, while he himself led the horse forward; with each light touch of his feet, he could spring several zhang ahead.

At that speed, it was indeed much faster than dragging Su Bai along. But Xi Menghe was only a martial artist at the peak of Soul-Calming. At most, he could sustain such speed for half an hour.

More importantly, if he exhausted his inner energy and then happened to encounter a large enemy force, he would be placing himself in grave danger. That was why he had always made Su Bai follow behind the horse before.

Yet the longer he failed to find Su Bai, the more Xi Menghe’s heart remained suspended and unable to settle. Over time, even he could no longer maintain complete thoughtfulness; besides, every extra day of delay here meant another degree of danger. Xi Menghe naturally had these concerns as well.

Just as they continued racing forward, a group of people on a hill several li away was closely tracking their steps.

The leader of this group was the same commander among the barbarians whom Xi Menghe had encountered a few days earlier.

The reason they had been able to follow Xi Menghe all the way here was, of course, thanks to Su Bai.

Because Xi Menghe did not understand the conversation between the several men, Su Bai had previously told the deputy commander that he would leave beast marks along the route, and that they should return and assemble a squad to trail the two of them. When the time was right, Su Bai would throw his own beast seal onto the ground for them to pick up, and then they could launch a joint assault on Xi Menghe.

This squad did not disappoint Su Bai: several hundred cavalry had been formed, and as many as thirty percent of them were at the Marrow-Refining level or above. Wherever such a force was placed, it would be a considerable fighting strength.

The deputy commander at the front saw the mark on the ground and immediately dismounted.

He touched the already dried blood on the stone and said to the others, "This man kidnapped our superior and still dares to head north. He truly does not know what death is. No wonder the colonel has not given us orders to attack in the meantime. So he had long ago noticed that this old fossil’s route was unusual. He wants us to kill this man with greater certainty, clearing one enemy from the path of our coming southern campaign."

Su Bai: I don’t think I’d considered that much.

Hearing the deputy commander’s so-called "insightful" analysis, many people nodded deeply in admiration and said, "As expected of you, sir. You’ve truly thought everything through. No wonder you became a seventh-rank colonel at such a young age."

"To be able to discern the colonel’s painstaking intentions is more than we can aspire to," someone said, the first to offer flattery.

The others quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes!"

One man cupped his hands and smiled. "It seems this time, the credit for rescuing the colonel will belong to you, sir. From now on, we’ll all have some connections to rely on."

"Exactly. If the superior rescues the colonel this time, the promotion afterward will probably be much easier." As soon as the first man finished speaking, someone else began looking ahead to the future.

"Hey!" The deputy commander interrupted them. "Don’t speak too soon. That old fellow is no easy target. We still need to make careful arrangements. What you must never do before succeeding is grow lax and complacent. Remember that."

Hearing this, the others immediately stopped their half-finished celebration and returned to a solemn demeanor, cupping their hands in reply: "Yes, sir. Understood."

Thus, several hundred cavalry continued to follow behind the marks Su Bai had left, waiting for the moment Su Bai would tell them had come...

On another front, others were likewise searching for traces of Su Bai.

A carriage let out a creaking groan, clearly already overburdened and liable to collapse at any moment.

Driving it was a woman wearing a bamboo hat, dressed in plain blue-white garments. The woman inside the carriage wore nearly the same attire, sitting upright with an expression that, for some reason, held a faint sense of unease and uncertainty.

These two women were Gu Fanshuang and Jiang Xixuan. After these days of deeper travel into Bingzhou, they had come to understand more and more the cruelty of the region’s present condition.

Millions of refugees and corpses everywhere made Jiang Xixuan, who had never before witnessed life and death up close, turn pale with fright. She seemed to realize that coming here had been a mistake.

Every day, though she listened to Gu Fanshuang’s various arrangements, the unwavering heart she had held for seeking Shao Xinhong had begun to waver.

At first Gu Fanshuang kept urging her to maintain confidence and not forget why she had come here to suffer. But over time, she too understood that Jiang Xixuan was not of the same path as herself, and in the face of such circumstances had utterly lost the strength to keep moving forward.

So when Jiang Xixuan sighed and lamented inside the carriage now, Gu Fanshuang no longer paid her any mind. At the beginning, she had only wanted a guide and means of transportation. Now this person had become a burden. According to the guidance within Blood River Tower, Jiang Xixuan could already have been left behind right there and then.

But Gu Fanshuang was not someone driven purely by profit, and she did not do that to Jiang Xixuan. Still, Jiang Xixuan’s presence had already brought her some annoyance.

To be fed negative energy day after day—who could endure that? If not for the things they had gone through together before, Gu Fanshuang would never have tolerated it. If anyone else kept acting so hopeless in front of her, she would have already pressed a sword to that person’s throat.

Seeing a ruined house ahead, Gu Fanshuang glanced at the sky, which was growing dark, and without discussing it with Jiang Xixuan, she drove straight toward the dwelling.

Just as Gu Fanshuang was steering the carriage toward the house, more than a dozen pairs of eyes were already fixed on the two women from several hundred meters away. These people wore all black and moved extremely swiftly, even a little faster than the carriage Gu Fanshuang was driving.

One of them quickened his pace and came to the man in the center, asking, "Big brother, we’re already far from Qingzhou territory. Why not just make our move here? If we keep it clean, no one will ever find out."

"No!" The hoarse voice of the man in the middle carried an unquestionable firmness. "There is a reason the lord wants us to act in the heart of Bingzhou. We only need to do as we’re told. If Jiang Xixuan truly does not continue toward Bingzhou, then it will not be too late to strike later."

The man who asked the question was rebuked and fell silent, retreating to the back in disgrace.

Seeing the eighth brother’s deflated expression, the second brother said to the eldest, "Big brother, don’t be angry. Old Eight is only trying to help us finish the job faster. It’s also so that the lord can rest assured."

"We survived eight years ago entirely thanks to the lord. Otherwise, merely for slaughtering the whole Su family, we would have deserved ten thousand deaths and still not paid enough." As if remembering the events of that year, the leading elder unconsciously slowed his pace and sank into recollection.

The second brother also sighed. This had always been the eldest brother’s thorn in the side. Back then, all of them had been trained to obey only the instructions of the token; whoever held the token, they followed that person’s command. And that was precisely how the grave mistake eight years ago had come to be.

It was only thanks to Yang Tingyu’s seizing of opportunity amid the flames that he managed to rescue more than a dozen elite men, preventing those painstakingly cultivated talents from dying in vain.

Those dozen or so men became Yang Tingyu’s hidden guards, carrying out special missions for him, including the killing of the embroidered-clad guards in Qingzhou.

These people were, at the very least, at the third layer of the Heart-Protecting Realm, while the leader himself had reached the second layer of Soul-Calming. For a group trained on such a scale, that was no easy feat.

By now, Gu Fanshuang and Jiang Xixuan had reached the entrance of the dwelling. Gu Fanshuang dismounted, paying no mind to Jiang Xixuan inside the carriage, and walked straight into the house, finding a suitable spot to sit cross-legged and meditate.

It was a long while before intermittent sobbing could be heard outside. By then, the sky was fully draped in darkness, and the crying sounded like the wailing of a lost soul, making Gu Fanshuang somewhat impatient.

Taking a deep breath, she still decided not to bother with Jiang Xixuan anymore and settled down to meditate and rest.

Perhaps because Gu Fanshuang had not come out to comfort her, Jiang Xixuan only entered the house while stifling her sobs, then lay down not far from Gu Fanshuang.

But then she vaguely heard a squeaking sound. Jiang Xixuan suddenly opened her eyes, and a huge black rat appeared less than three feet from her face. As if sensing her gaze, the black rat turned its head toward her and even used its tiny paws to straighten its whiskers.

"Ah!!"

The outcome was, of course, obvious. Along with Jiang Xixuan’s scream, Gu Fanshuang could no longer sit still.

Her right hand suddenly lifted and pointed toward Jiang Xixuan, and a sleeve arrow shot out like lightning.

"Ah!"

Jiang Xixuan covered her face, too terrified to open her eyes.

Gu Fanshuang said indifferently, "The rat has been killed for you. Stop screaming."

Only after hearing Gu Fanshuang’s voice did Jiang Xixuan dare open her eyes. She saw that the rat had been pinned dead to the wall by a three-inch sleeve arrow, blood steadily trickling down the surface.

This only made Jiang Xixuan even more frightened. She scrambled on hands and knees to Gu Fanshuang’s side, looking as though she were one step away from opening her arms for a warm embrace.

Whether Gu Fanshuang had lost her mind or her pity had been stirred, she actually spoke again to comfort her. "All right, rest in peace. We still have to keep traveling tomorrow."

As she spoke, she gently stroked Jiang Xixuan’s long hair, finally allowing her to find a refuge from the storm and quiet herself.

Before half an hour had passed, Jiang Xixuan’s breathing had become steady.

"Perhaps I’ve demanded too much of her. She’s only an ordinary, pitiful woman after all." Looking at Jiang Xixuan beside her, Gu Fanshuang sighed softly. "But if pity could solve problems, then I wouldn’t have needed to work so hard to cultivate martial arts. If this goes on, I may end up treating her as nothing but a burden. No, wait—I already seem to be thinking that way."

Though she felt some pity for Jiang Xixuan’s plight and the hardships she had endured, that was ultimately not a strong enough reason for her to keep remaining in this state.

After meditating and cultivating for another hour and a half, Gu Fanshuang also lay down on her side and fell asleep.

Yet her thoughts still could not settle. Just like Xi Menghe, the longer she could not see Su Bai, the more uneasy she became, the harder it was for her heart to calm.

She tossed and turned, unable to stop thinking, and in the end she looked toward Jiang Xixuan instead: her expression peaceful, the corners of her mouth even faintly curved in a slight smile.

"Well now, she’s sleeping soundly enough."

Gu Fanshuang walked alone to the window and gazed at the bright moon on the edge of the sky. Her thoughts remained fixed on Su Bai.

At this very moment, were you also looking at tonight’s moon, just as I am?