The person inside the shell is completely different now, so of course, their actions will be different too. Xue Qing doesn't plan to tell Yan Ming; she'll let him spend his whole life wondering about this. She'll find great pleasure in making him suffer from the lack of an answer. Xue Qing remains silent, but the mocking glint in her eyes angers Yan Ming. He grabs Xue Qing's neck, his nails digging into her flesh, causing her a sharp pain: "Do you want to know where I'm taking you?"
"...I want to," Xue Qing answered honestly.
Yan Ming held the Ling Shu Sword in his hand and played with it: "You must know that the Ling Shu Sword is the only nemesis of the Evil Charm Divine Art if you go to retrieve it. How could the Underworld allow such a sword to exist? After the death of the sect leader and his wife, the next sect leader planned to destroy the Ling Shu Sword, but no matter what kind of weapon he used, he could not destroy the sword. There is a place in the Central Plains called the Melting Pit, where the temperature is like fire all year round. Ordinary people dare not approach it. The sect leader threw the Ling Shu Sword into the Melting Pit, and since then, the Ling Shu Sword has disappeared from the martial arts world."
"The Ling Shu Sword was thrown into the molten pit, so how did it end up in the hands of the Linghu clan?" Xue Qing asked, puzzled.
"The Spirit Pivot Sword disappeared for nearly a hundred years. No one dared to enter the molten pit to retrieve it. Any mortal who entered the molten pit would surely die. As for how it reappeared, I don't know. That's not important. You just need to remember this place, the molten pit," Yan Ming said with a wicked smile.
"Are you... going to throw me into the molten pit?" Xue Qing asked.
“I love your understanding,” Yan Ming said approvingly, patting Xue Qing on the shoulder. “I want to put the Ling Shu Sword back in the molten pit, where it will never see the light of day again. Since you love it so much, I’ll let you fall in with it.”
Xue Qing never imagined her fate would be to be burned to death. She thought Yan Ming would strangle her, and her body would be thrown from the carriage to the roadside. She imagined that when a disciple of a certain sect saw it, he would panic and tell his sect leader, and then the whole martial arts world would know she was dead. They would then clean her body and find the antidote hidden in her clothes. Liu Ying needed the antidote to recover from the poison. If Yan Ming threw her into the fire pit, no one would be able to find her body, and the antidote would melt away. What would Liu Ying do without the antidote?
Seeing the panicked look on Xue Qing's face, Yan Ming assumed she was scared. He loved to see other people's fear, and Xue Qing's reaction pleased him.
At Broken Sword Manor, it was Xi'er's turn to be on night duty again. As usual, she carried her peony lantern and patrolled room by room. When she arrived at the room of the third young master, Jian Wuyi, Xi'er gently pushed open the door and found that Jian Wuyi was sitting upright on the bed and was not asleep.
Xi'er was a little surprised and said softly, "Young Master, why aren't you asleep yet?"
"I can't sleep," Jian Wuyi replied.
It was the duty of the night watch maids to ensure that every young master could rest well at night. Xi'er placed the lantern on the willow table next to her, sat down by Jian Wuyi's bed, and said to him, "Why can't you sleep? Should I go and get some calming sandalwood incense to light?"
Jian Wuyi shook his head: "I can't sleep. I miss my mother."
Xi'er knew that the former mistress of the manor died in childbirth because of Jian Wuyi's difficult delivery, so Jian Wuyi had never met his mother. No matter how sensible he was and how much he acted like an adult, a child always longs for his mother's love. Xi'er understood Jian Wuyi's feelings now: "If the old lady knew in the afterlife, she would miss you very much. You can't let her worry. You need to rest well."
"Xi'er, is your mother good to you?" Jian asked unintentionally.
“I don’t know who my mother is. I was raised by someone else,” Xi’er said with a smile.
"So, is that person good to you?"
“He taught me many things, and I respect him very much.”
Seemingly afraid that Xi'er would be sad, Jian unintentionally reached out and touched Xi'er's head, as if to comfort her.
Xi'er smiled and said, "Let's not talk about this anymore. I'll show you a magic trick, and then we can go to sleep, okay?"
"It depends on how well you do your magic tricks," Jian said unintentionally, already obediently crawling into bed.
Xi'er held the oil lamp in front of her, casting the shadow of her hand on the wall: "Look, this is an eagle. There are many eagles in my hometown. This is a rabbit, this is a chicken, and there are also cats and dogs."
After performing the hand shadow act, Xi'er helped Jian cover himself with the blanket and said, "Go to sleep. I still need to go to the second young master's place to see if he has run away."
As Xi'er reached the door, Jian Wuyi suddenly said, "Xi'er, you're so kind. I wish you were my sister-in-law."
"Young Master, please don't flatter me. How could someone of my status be worthy of you, Young Master?" Xi'er said as she left, closing the door behind her. Standing outside, she felt a pang of loneliness. "Xi'er, you're so kind," she thought, but in reality... she wasn't that kind.
As expected, the second young master, Jian Wuxin, had run away again. I heard he's in love with Xue Qing, the heroine of the Lingyu Sect. I really hope he can marry her soon, so he'll have a second wife to keep this wild horse in check. The eldest young master, Jian Wuming, wasn't in his room either. Xi'er, carrying a peony lantern, went to Jian Wuming's private furnace room. Sure enough, there was light. He was forging that sword again. Being from a prestigious family isn't easy. It had just snowed during the day, and it was even colder at night. Xi'er brewed a pot of hot tea and brought it over. Standing outside the door, she remembered Jian Wuyi's words and felt embarrassed to give it to him directly. She placed the hot tea at the door, knocked, and then quickly ran away.
Jian Wuming opened the door and saw a teapot on the ground. He looked around but didn't see anyone. He picked up the teapot and thought, "It's Xi'er. When the other maids patrolled at night, they knew he was working when they saw he wasn't in his room, so they wouldn't bother him. Only she would come to the furnace room. Xi'er sometimes seems quite clever, but sometimes she's really a fool."
The so-called crater was a small hill with a deep, sunken pit at its top. Standing on the edge of the pit, one could feel the rising heat. Yan Ming led Xue Qing to the edge of the crater and turned her head to look into it.
"After a while, you'll be melted into water. Are you looking forward to it?" Yan Ming said with a wicked smile.
"Expecting my ass! If I didn't know how to use that broken sword, you wouldn't be so arrogant!" Xue Qing rolled her eyes at Yan Ming. She didn't know if ancient people could hear her cursing him. She had vowed to cut Yan Ming twenty-four times, but she was defeated by him again. What use is the Ling Shu Sword? I worked so hard to get it, but it hasn't been of any use at all!
"I suffered a qi deviation during my cultivation, and it was thanks to you that I escaped this calamity by clearing away the chaotic true qi. You also helped my evil divine skill break through its bottleneck. With such a great contribution, what reward should I give you?" Yan Ming whispered in Xue Qing's ear.
"If I said I didn't want to die, would you agree?" Xue Qing sneered.
"Of course not," Yan Ming said with a smile, "but I can tell you a secret of the Underworld before you die. That woman not only forged the Spirit Pivot Sword, but also wrote a Spirit Pivot Sword Manual. Did she think that she could betray me just because she got a sword? This is what happens when you betray me." As Yan Ming spoke, he pushed Xue Qing down into the pit, and Xue Qing rolled along the pit wall all the way to the bottom.
Xue Qing's capture by Yan Ming shocked the entire Central Plains. Disciples from all sects and factions dispatched to search for her. The Emei Sect disciples learned the direction the carriage carrying Xue Qing had traveled at a post station. Upon receiving the news, Liu Ying immediately set off in that direction, pondering the possible destinations they might have gone. Yan Ming's movements in the Central Plains were inconvenient; he wouldn't go to crowded places. A sparsely populated place with a motive to take Xue Qing... the melting pit!
Returning from the fire pit
The area where the Central Plains meets the desert is desolate and uninhabited, except for one rather large abandoned house, which is the residence of the Nangong family. However, it has been abandoned for more than ten years and looks as dilapidated as a century-old house. This is because a great battle once took place here. In the war fifteen years ago, the desert suffered a crushing defeat and, after lying low for several years, suddenly turned on them. In just one night, the Nangong family was wiped out, and the family was destroyed.
At this moment, a living person appeared amidst the broken tiles and shattered beams. Nangong Luoluo, who had returned from Wudang Mountain, arrived here, never expecting that it was all real. She finally learned about her origins and confirmed her surname, yet she had to face the fact that there were no more relatives in her clan. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The bodies of the Nangong clan had long been buried by later generations. Nangong Luoluo walked deeper into the ruins, where she saw more than a hundred stone tablets. She knelt down before the first tablet, the burial place of the head of the Nangong family, and also Nangong Luoluo's biological father.
Nangong Luoluo touched the tombstone, looking at the name engraved on it, her voice choked with sobs: "Father, Mother, your daughter is back, why are you all gone?" Tears streamed down her face. The Underworld, it was the Underworld that killed all her relatives, it was the Underworld that made her a homeless orphan. In her mind was Yan Ming's handsome yet wicked face. Why him? Why was he the master of the Underworld? How could she vent this hatred? Nangong Luoluo pressed her forehead against the tombstone and cried out loud.
It was a heavy snowfall. In Kunlun Palace, Meng Yin, with her hair elegantly styled in a bun, stood on the edge of a cliff atop Kunlun Mountain, gazing down as if oblivious to the large snowflakes blanketing her shoulders. Kunlun Mountain was surrounded by water, with rushing blue water flowing below the cliff. Meng Yin stared intently at the water's surface, as if trying to see through the azure hue to something.
A disciple emerged from the palace across the street and approached Meng Yin, saying, "Uncle-Master Meng Yin, the sect leader invites you in."
Meng Yin followed the disciple inside. Seated on a high chair in the main hall was a seventy-year-old man with a full head of white hair and a pale, aged face; this was the Palace Master of Kunlun Palace. The disciple, knowing better, withdrew, leaving the two for a private conversation. Meng Yin didn't even offer greetings, going straight to the point: "Have you found out anything about Xue Qing?"
"You don't need to worry about this. I've already sent people to keep a close eye on her nephew's whereabouts. Whether she's dead or alive, she can't fight us." The elderly Kunlun Palace Master said, his voice deep and powerful like that of a middle-aged man.
"Is he alright at Shuiyun Palace?" Meng Yin asked hesitantly, this was her biggest worry.
“He’s relying on medication as before. There’s no need to worry. He’s been holding on for fifteen years, and he can keep going,” the Kunlun Palace Master replied.
Meng Yin lowered her head in silence. This was a goal that the three of them had set together fifteen years ago: no matter how many sacrifices were made, Kunlun Palace must become the master of the martial arts world.
In the Qing Ping Yue, snow was falling heavily. Mu Lan, wrapped in a green cloak, walked to Su Xiu's grave with Qi Fengting's help and placed a pale pink plum blossom on the white snow in front of the tombstone.
“If the Spirit Pivot Sword is taken back by the Underworld, the Eighth Floor will be thrown into the melting pit again,” Qi Fengting said.
Mu Lan nodded: "How many people would be as foolish as Xiu Xiu, jumping into a molten pit alone to retrieve a broken sword?" Su Xiu carried the Ling Shu Sword out of the molten pit, but she herself died quickly because her entire body was burned beyond repair.
"Miss Xue will probably not escape death this time. I was hoping that this dull martial arts world would have a rare interesting person," Qi Fengting said regretfully.