Heiraten - Kapitel 101
"Hmm?" His face always carried a smile, sometimes gentle, sometimes charming, sometimes affectionate.
"What would you do if Tian Shu wanted to kill me?" Whether it was an illusion caused by the flickering candlelight or not, Nineteen seemed to see Tian Xiu's body tremble, and the expression on his face suddenly became indescribably strange.
It was an expression that was neither angry nor happy, and his slender, upturned peach blossom eyes seemed to contain a hint of ruthlessness.
He suddenly sighed heavily, as if he had made a great decision. He put his arm around Tang Shijiu's shoulder, pressed her tightly against his heart, and said in a tone that was as if he were trying to convince himself, "Shijiu, I will not let anyone kill you."
This was unlike their usual playful, joking embraces; his thin arms suddenly tightened, as if he wanted to pull her into his heart.
Tang Shijiu's heart skipped a beat. The ruthlessness that flashed in Tianxiu's eyes just now seemed to indicate that he really wanted to kill her!
"Nineteen, nineteen, you must live well. No matter what happens, no matter who is sacrificed, you must live well."
Tang Shijiu gently pushed away from his embrace: "Tianxiu, don't do this, you are my best friend."
A smile welled up in her peach blossom eyes again, so thick it seemed impossible to ignore.
Tianxiu said, "Yes, I am your best friend."
Tianxiu said, "Sure enough, friends make you laugh, but lovers make you cry."
Tianxiu said, "Unless I die, I just want to see you shed a tear for me sometime in the future."
Tang Shijiu didn't know how to respond, so he joked, "Do you really want to make me cry?" This joke wasn't funny at all, and Tianxiu didn't continue laughing.
He patted her head.
"Nineteen, this time, don't lose the jade pendant."
He turned and left.
Xie Dongsheng leaned against the bed, holding a book in his hand, seemingly reading it, yet also seemingly not reading it.
His eyes were half-closed, as if he were asleep, or as if he wasn't asleep.
The door was gently pushed open, and Gu Yan tiptoed into the room. Xie Dongsheng remained motionless, seemingly asleep.
"Master, Master?" Gu Yan called softly, but Xie Dongsheng remained silent.
"Master, I've brought you some tea." She walked slowly and carefully to the bedside, touched Xie Dongsheng's hand, and raised her voice, "Master, Master?"
No one answered.
Gu Yan lowered her eyes, breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled: "Master, I've brought you some tea." In her hand, she wasn't holding a teapot, but a gleaming dagger.
The dagger gleamed with blue light, infused with a deadly poison that made one wish for death.
With just a gentle cut to the old man's wrist, the poison would seep into his meridians and spread throughout his limbs, rendering him a cripple, forever at my mercy. Once he was ravaged by the poison to the point of being neither human nor ghost, he would surely hand over the Tuanfu Heart Sutra. At that point, Xu Ziqing and I would have a way to survive, and we could wander the martial world, find a secluded place to live in seclusion, and grow old there.
Holding the dagger in her slender hand, Gu Yan bit her lip, feeling for the first time how heavy this hand that had hurt her was.
This was the master whom Xu Ziqing had always protected. Even though he looked down on Xie Dongsheng for his humble origins, he was still grateful to him from the bottom of his heart. Xu Ziqing's family had been destroyed, and for more than ten years, Xiaoyao Manor had become his only support.
This cut would destroy Xu Ziqing's most important support. Gu Yan bit her lip, her hand trembling slightly, and she didn't dare to make the cut.
What started as a mission led her to a man who would treat her with his life. Although Gu Yan was known for her carefree and unconventional ways, she wasn't heartless. Never before had anyone loved her with such devotion and love as Xu Ziqing. Even when she flirted with江湖人士 (jianghu figures), her eyes unwittingly seductive, Xu Ziqing never uttered a harsh word. Even after she was disfigured and lost an ear, he never showed the slightest disgust.
Unbeknownst to her, she fell in love with the man she used to despise and thought she would never love.
If Xu Ziqing finds out about this, it will be as if I have personally severed my relationship with him.
However, she had no choice but to act. If she didn't, Xu Ziqing would continue to be enslaved by that divine powder, half-human and half-ghost, unable to live or die, living a lowly life like an ant. If she didn't act, both she and Xu Ziqing would die.
The old man on the bed was breathing evenly; the amount of sleeping pills he had just taken was just right.
Gu Yan suddenly knelt down and kowtowed three times to Xie Dongsheng. She gritted her teeth, made up her mind, raised the dagger, and accurately and quickly slashed Xie Dongsheng's wrist...
The weather grew colder day by day, and at noon, snowflakes the size of goose feathers suddenly began to fall. Master Ningyin stood in the snow, staring blankly at a glistening snowflake that landed in her palm for a long while.
There was once a man who told her that this white, cotton-like thing had six petals and melted in her heart when touched. That man always had a stern face, but he would occasionally tell jokes that everyone found ridiculous, which he himself found quite amusing.
Back then, she was just a sixteen-year-old girl, raised in the South China Sea. It was her first time traveling north with her master for the winter, and the first time she had ever seen such crystalline beauty. So beautiful, yet so fragile. It couldn't withstand the sun's rays, or even the warmth of a hand's touch.
The snowflakes melted in her hands and touched her heart; the man, too, entered her heart.
When Ningyin was sixteen, she was not yet a nun, but just a young Taoist nun. She dared not act recklessly while following her master, but secretly longed for the love stories in folk tales.
When Ningyin was sixteen, the man named Ge Yang had not yet developed the deep-seated nasolabial folds that resembled the sea of hatred.
At that time, he had a wife that everyone in the martial arts world envied. She had the rosy, dreamy world that every sixteen-year-old girl should have.
"Master, what's so interesting about this snow?"
Ningyin snapped out of her daze and gave the obese monk a cold look: "Why is the master out here instead of hiding in his tent to recover from his injuries?" She used the word "hidden," clearly showing her disdain for Master Buchen's retreat and disappearance.
Bu Chen was indeed not angry, not taking it to heart at all. She put her hands together and chanted a Buddhist prayer: "Amitabha, well done, well done. This old monk is not afraid of that hidden spirit, but only does not want his disciples to die in vain. Buddha is merciful. However, this old monk never expected that the nun, who is known for her courage and decisiveness, would actually back down with this old monk."
Ningyin scoffed coldly, showing no politeness: "If it were truly the compassion of Buddha, then you wouldn't have brought your disciple into this mess." Her implication was quite clear: she was accusing Buchen of using the compassionate Buddhist chant to utter words while secretly harboring thoughts of the renowned Tuanfu Heart Sutra.
Bu Chen, displaying remarkable composure, showed no anger. She smiled and recited a Buddhist phrase, saying, “Both this old monk and the nun are seekers of the Dao. We both wish to see through the illusions of this mundane world. However, if one truly saw through everything, there would be no need to live in this world, nor to chant scriptures daily for contemplation. This old monk does not deny that I have not yet overcome the obstacles in my martial arts, and indeed wishes to borrow that mental cultivation method to examine it, and also to meet Ge Yang. If Ge Yang is truly a wicked and evil person, this mental cultivation method will only bring harm elsewhere. This is perhaps because this old monk still harbors worldly desires and has many concerns.” He paused, narrowing his eyes at Ning Yin, his words carrying a hidden meaning, “This old monk cannot see through the obstacles in his martial arts, but I wonder, nun, which level of obstacle cannot you see through?”
“There’s no need to meet him. Ge Yang is a wicked and treacherous man. Monks should just eat their own vegetarian food, chant their own scriptures, and meditate on their own. I won’t trouble you with my affairs, Master.” Ningyin’s eyes were as cold as ice, chilling to the bone. “I can’t concern myself with the affairs of Buddha Stone Immortal Realm, and you don’t need to worry about the affairs of Lingsu Mountain, Master.”
She smiled without feigning anger and pointed into the distance: "What did you see, nun?"
Ningyin had no idea what he was up to, but she instinctively repelled the fat monk. In her eyes, Buchen was just a hypocritical fat monk, cowardly and greedy for fame and fortune. What was most frustrating was his incredibly thick skin; he would admit it without batting an eye, no matter what she said. He would even openly tell you, "That's how I am. If I were completely detached from worldly desires, what would be the point of studying Buddhism or practicing Taoism?"
“A blanket of white, a ground shimmering with silver light,” Ningyin said softly.