The door finally creaked open, but what came out was Liao Qingran with a bundle slung over her shoulder. Yesterday afternoon, people from the Xia family came to pick up Qiu Shuiyin. She had carefully explained the medication and care methods before preparing to return to her home in Yangzhou.
However, upon seeing the handkerchief fluttering in the wind on the plum branch, her gaze froze for a moment—
"The Valley Master has gone to the Great Bright Palace. Frost Red."
Liao Qingran stared at that line of words for a long time, then stamped her foot: "That girl has gone mad! With her health, going to Kunlun is just suicide!" She could no longer care about anything else, so she went out, pulled her horse, and galloped northwest, ordering the maid beside her, "We won't go back to Yangzhou for now! We must intercept her quickly!"
As the snow hawk returned to Lin'an after a thousand miles, the owner of the handkerchief was already gradually approaching the snow-covered Kunlun Mountains.
Xue Ziye gazed absently at the increasingly towering mountains outside the carriage. That child… that child from Lin'an, Mo'er—had she recovered? Had Huo Zhanbai managed to find a master? And did the master have any other methods for treating that kind of illness?
She looked up, somewhat troubled, gazing at the southern sky as if trying to find the answer there.
"Are we almost there?" Touching the Sacred Flame Token in her bosom, she said to Miaofeng, "Legend has it that Kunlun is the sacred mountain at the westernmost end, the place where the Queen Mother of the West resides—just as Jiyuan is the northernmost place. Xuehuai said that the sky there has seven colors, and countless lights change and float on the ice..." Xue Ziye hugged the lynx fur coat, looked at the sky, and murmured, "It's as beautiful as a dream."
Miao Feng lowered her head silently, not daring to meet her gaze.
For the first time, he wished he had never participated in that massacre.
Twelve years have passed since that bloody massacre. But the moment that young boy and girl disappeared from the ice is still etched in his memory like a brand—if he had shown a little mercy back then, perhaps the boy named Xuehuai would have already run away with her? They could have escaped that catastrophe, left that village, and gone to the icy ocean in the far north, where they could have lived in anonymity ever since.
But why, over all those years, did I never hesitate when I made a move?
The wind blew in from outside the car, and he coughed slightly, feeling something hard inside him cracking apart.
"It's time to use acupuncture to treat the acupoints." Xue Ziye noticed his cough, calculated the time, and took out a set of needles from her side. However, Miaofeng pushed her hand away and said calmly, "From now on, Valley Master Xue should conserve her energy to prepare to treat the King of the Sect."
His face remained expressionless—ever since he lost that smiling mask, he had become a blank slate.
Xue Ziye looked at him and finally couldn't hold back her outburst.
"Are you even trying to understand?!" She threw down the gold needle in her hand, leaned over and poked his chest, her voice filled with exasperated frustration. "Did that cult leader drug you? I wanted to save you... why don't you care?"
She poked hard, and Miao Feng's brows furrowed involuntarily.
"At least you know how to feel pain!" Seeing him frown, Xue Ziye became even more annoyed.
"Esteemed guests, we have arrived at Kunlun!" The carriage suddenly stopped, and the driver's excited shout interrupted her reverie.
The driver hired in Uliastai was lured by the high reward promised by Miaofeng and accepted the job of braving the wind and snow, embarking on a journey through the Kunlun Mountains that had never been traveled before.
"We've arrived?" She turned around in surprise, lifted the curtains and looked outside—suddenly a burst of light appeared before her eyes, and a huge ice and snow peak filled her entire field of vision. Its imposing aura left her speechless for a long time.
Is that Kunlun? So majestic and precipitous, even birds cannot fly over it, standing at the edge of the Western Regions, like a sharp sword rising from the ground and piercing the sky.
She was stunned by the majestic view of the mountains outside the window, but Miao Feng had already rushed out, casually tossing a gold ingot to the ecstatic coachman to send him on his way. He then turned around and respectfully rolled up the thick curtain for her, bowing and saying, "Please get out of the carriage, Master Xue."
As soon as the curtain was rolled up, the wind and snow outside rushed in, making Xue Ziye's breath catch in her throat!
“This…” She looked up at the sheer cliff and hesitated before gathering her purple-gold hand warmer. “I can’t get up there.”
"I apologize for the offense." Miao Feng bowed slightly, then suddenly reached out and swept her up in his arms, cloak and all.
His movements were as swift as lightning, traversing the pristine ice and snow without pause, instantly covering more than ten zhang (approximately 33 meters). He must have known this secret passage on the ice wall by heart, for by the time Xue Ziye came to her senses, she was already on the cliff face, dozens of zhang high.
The wind whistled past her ears, but Miao Feng remained steady, carrying someone as she leaped up the cliff as if nothing had happened, like a white bird soaring through the snow. Xue Ziye even noticed that the hand supporting her continued to send a gentle breeze through her as they flew—this person's martial arts were truly unfathomable.
They rose several dozen feet in an instant, when suddenly a violent explosion came from behind them!
"The carriage! The carriage exploded!" Xue Ziye subconsciously looked down and saw a fireball rising from the distant cliff below, and exclaimed in alarm.
That fireball was actually the carriage that had just brought them here! Could it be that something happened to the coachman as soon as they left?
"Hmm." Miao Feng responded expressionlessly, stepping on a crack in the stone wall with his left foot, instantly rising several feet higher. A path had appeared on the cliff ahead, with figures lined up in an orderly fashion, waiting for what appeared to be the East Heavenly Gate of the Kunlun Great Bright Palace.
Seeing his indifferent expression, Xue Ziye was suddenly startled. She looked up at him, her fingers digging deeply into the expressionless man's shoulder, and asked with difficulty, "Could it be... that you did it? Did you do it?!"
He pursed his lips and didn't answer; only the wind ruffled his long blue hair.
"You killed that coachman?" Xue Ziye stared at him in disbelief, her fingers trembling from firmness. Her eyes gradually turned to anger, glaring fiercely at his face. "You...you killed him?"
The faint warmth that had been there moments before seemed to vanish without a trace in the wind.
"How could you do this!" she screamed. "He's just an ordinary coachman! You're insane!"
Before she pushed him away, Miao Feng took one last breath, turned over, and landed steadily in front of the Heavenly Gate with her in his arms.
“If we don’t kill him, the route to the Great Bright Palace will inevitably be revealed.” Miao Feng put her down and spoke calmly, her eyes showing no emotion, no remorse. “Besides, I only agreed to pay him, not to not kill him—”
A slap landed on his face, interrupting what he was about to say.
"You madman!" Xue Ziye's face turned pale with rage as she stared at him as if he were a lunatic. "Do you know how much effort it takes to save someone? And you just casually waved your hand and killed them! Are you even human?"
He turned his head to the side, slowly wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, a faint smile flashing in his eyes: Is he really this angry just because he killed a coachman? If he knew that he was the one who killed Xue Huai back then, I wonder what kind of expression he would have?
The doctor who saved the life must want to tear him to pieces, right?
“I told you, you’ll regret saving me.” He looked up at her, a smile returning to his face. “I’m a killer—the exact opposite of you, Valley Master Xue.”
As he finished speaking, a subtle hint of sarcasm flashed in his eyes, but it vanished in an instant.
His tone was always calm and unhurried, yet Xue Ziye was rendered speechless. This seemingly gentle and serene man actually carried the same dark aura as Tong. On his journey westward, he fought his way through bloody battles, showing contempt for all life: whether it was livestock, enemies, subordinates, or even himself, he showed no mercy!
Why did it turn out like this?
She stood frozen in the snowstorm atop Kunlun Mountain, her body suddenly trembling slightly: "Don't go crazy, I want to save you! But how can I heal you... Ya Mi?"
Upon hearing the name, Miao Feng's smile froze for a moment, and she slowly turned her head away.