Valle del Hombre Salvaje de Qingshan

Capítulo 91

"Fine, fine, you've shot yourself in the foot, Chu Junfeng, you brought this on yourself." Seeing that Mo Xibei no longer wanted to turn around and leave, Chu Junfeng felt a sense of relief, but he was still unwilling to let it go.

"Hurry up and tell us," Mo Xibei urged. Neither of them went back to their room, but instead climbed to the highest point of Plum Blossom Manor, to the small pavilion built on the artificial rock.

“That’s quite a long story.” Chu Junfeng sat down on the ground and thought for a while before saying, “It seems I should start with me.”

"So, Tian Xin isn't actually your servant. He's a relative of your master and also your junior brother?" Mo Xibei asked. "Then why did he become your page?" Chu Junfeng glossed over his background, not because he didn't want to talk about it, but because the key to the matter didn't seem to lie with him. Therefore, he only gave a brief reply, "He's indeed not a servant. It's just that my master raised him back then to keep me company. This time when we went down the mountain, my master also asked me to take him along for some training. He said that accompanying and taking care of me had become a habit, and being a page was better than being a junior brother. I couldn't argue with him, so I went along with it." "Then, was our first meeting at the canal a coincidence or an inevitability?" Mo Xibei asked again.

“This… I really don’t know.” Chu Junfeng thought for a while and slowly shook his head. “At the time, I originally wanted to take a boat north to enjoy the scenery along the river and avoid the hassle of riding a horse. As for who I would meet on the river, I didn’t think much about it. However, the schedule and route were arranged by Tian Xin.”

Volume 3, Chapter 21: A Cunning Plan

"Tian Xin is your master's relative. What did his family do before, and where did they live?" Mo Xibei changed the subject. She felt that their encounter on the canal was probably more accidental. After all, if everything that followed was part of someone's plan, then they would have met in Henan Prefecture as well.

“I never heard Master mention it. Master rarely talks about his own affairs and doesn’t allow us to ask. Tianxin was still very young when he came up the mountain. I only asked him once, and he cried a lot that time, saying he really couldn’t remember what his father and mother looked like. He was so young then, it was really hard on him.” Chu Junfeng sighed, his thoughts drifting back to a summer afternoon. Tianxin was still young then, and he himself wasn’t much older. The children of the hunters in the mountains all had parents, and he and Tianxin were very envious of them, watching them collect pheasant feathers for their children and make small bows and arrows from bamboo branches. He was still an infant when he came up the mountain, so naturally he had never seen his parents. But when he asked Tianxin, Tianxin also cried, saying he couldn’t remember anything. If it were now, he would probably ask a few more questions, but back then, he was just as pathetic as Tianxin, crying together.

"Are you thinking about your childhood?" Mo Xibei, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but ask softly when he saw that Chu Junfeng hadn't spoken for a long time. "Judging from your expression, you seem like you want to cry. Did you suffer a lot when you were a child?"

"You noticed that too?" Chu Junfeng composed himself and put on a bitter face. "Children without mothers are like weeds. I cried a lot when I was a child."

"Alright, I gave you a way out, and you actually took it." Mo Xibei chuckled. When it comes to childhood, probably no one had it easy, but fortunately, before coming to the Ming Dynasty, she had a very happy childhood to reminisce about. "It's getting late. I'm going to sleep. We can discuss this messy topic tomorrow." She yawned again. Without even looking at Chu Junfeng's reaction, she turned and left.

The place she lived was almost traversing the entire Plum Blossom Manor. It wasn't a deliberate choice, but rather because it was located within the manor. She particularly loved one spot: outside her bedroom window, there was a small lotus pond. The lotus flowers had already faded, the lotus pods were ripe, and the withered leaves were scattered. There was no need to hear the rain; the scene was already quite picturesque.

The moon was high in the sky, and the night was deep. He was utterly exhausted; as he walked, Mo Xibei felt his eyelids were glued together. He wished he could simply use his fingers to prop open his eyelids, just enough to make a slit in the air to see where he was going.

The courtyard was dark. Although there were many servants in Plum Blossom Manor, they usually only cleaned during the day because no one lived there. At night, they would gather in the rows of houses outside the second-floor gate. Originally, someone was supposed to be arranged to come and keep watch here tonight, but Mo Xibei was used to living alone and did not like to be served, so he refused.

"If I had known I would be back so late, I would have at least asked someone to hang a lantern for me in the yard," Mo Xibei muttered as he pushed open the door and went inside.

A gleaming silver sword flashed out of the room almost as soon as the door opened.

Mo Xibei's hands were still pressed against the door. He only had time to press down hard on the door panel before his body slid back a few steps. Before he could regain his footing, the sword light, like a flood overflowing its banks, caught up with him in an instant.

This time she had a little more time, and she managed to leap up and dodge the sword light before it struck.

The third sword strike, with its continuous momentum, extended from the finishing movement of the second strike, and without hesitation, struck Mo Xibei's vital point.

As Mo Xibei rolled over, his hand had already touched the hilt of the sword. However, his body bent and twisted, and the sword was stuck in the scabbard. He couldn't exert any force and was forced to jump up again, feeling the cool wind from the tip of the sword whistling past his feet.

"What are you trying to do?" Taking advantage of the leap, Mo Xibei managed to draw his longsword and casually thrust it horizontally to block the opponent's attack. The two swords clashed, and sparks flew everywhere.

"Kill!" The opponent's words were concise, yet to Mo Xibei, the sound was like a thunderclap. Their swords clashed, the two shifted positions, clouds swept across the sky, and moonlight reappeared. Mo Xibei finally saw his newcomer clearly: a snow-white face with only eyes; all other features were missing. If he hadn't just exchanged three blows in the darkness and heard the voice, Mo Xibei would likely have screamed and fled.

"Mu Feinan, I know it's you!" Mo Xibei changed his move, his sword shooting into the sky, the tip pointing straight at the enemy. He turned the tables and launched the first attack. He didn't stop talking either, shouting this out of the blue.

The newcomer swayed slightly, but his swords moved with the same unwavering resolve as he had in his heart. The tips of the two swords touched, and they used each other's strength to quickly retreat.

"Mu Feinan, you..." Mo Xibei was about to say something when the newcomer's sword arrived again. This time, the attack was even more precise, showing no mercy whatsoever.

"Why don't you say you're not Mu Feinan?" Mo Xibei slashed with his sword. His sword was a famous sword from the previous dynasty, extremely sharp. The newcomer dared not confront it head-on. He stopped and changed his move when the two swords barely grazed each other.

"I am indeed, why deny it?" The newcomer finally sneered and simply admitted it. But as he spoke, the sword light rose again, densely weaving a huge net of illusion and shimmering light and shadow, which enveloped Mo Xibei from above.

"Are you really going to kill me?" Mo Xibei retreated repeatedly, adopting a defensive strategy, using the advantage of his sword to shrink his defensive circle and keep the enemy inside.

"I never noticed before, you talk so much nonsense." Mu Feinan snorted, her sword movements were wide and sweeping, but she didn't clash with Mo Xibei's sword, leaving her sword useless.

"Alright, go ahead and do it." Unexpectedly, Mo Xibei suddenly stepped back, sheathed his long sword, and watched as Mu Feinan's sword pierced his chest with lightning speed. He didn't dodge, flinch, or fight back.

The unique coldness of metal seeped through my clothes and slowly melted into my heart.

Mo Xibei knew he had made a foolish bet, but it seemed the outcome wasn't so bad.

"Do you really think I won't kill you?" After a long standoff, Mu Fei asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Everyone dies eventually. If I had a choice, I wouldn't mind dying at your hands." Mo Xibei looked calmly at Mu Feinan. "Can you give me a reason? What exactly happened? Why did you lie to me? Why did you break in here in the middle of the night to kill me?"

“Northwest, you’re a businessman. Don’t you know that the truth requires a deal?” Mu Fei smiled wryly. Although his face was so rough that one wished they could close their eyes and pretend not to see it, what was revealed beneath the mask was always an expressionless, empty, and pale look. But Mo Northwest knew. He had smiled, and that smile, even after so long, could still clearly appear in his mind at this moment.

"What are your terms in exchange?" Mo Xibei asked with a smile, without hesitation.

"Your heart." Mu Feinan's sword tip trembled slightly, poised before Mo Xibei's chest.

"Okay, here you go." Mo Xibei nodded, quickly raising his left hand to grab the tip of Mu Feinan's sword. At the same time, he leaned forward slightly.

Her original plan was to make a small cut on her palm as she gripped Mu Feinan's sword, letting a couple of drops of blood appear to scare him. However, Mu Feinan's reaction far exceeded her expectations. Almost the instant she grasped the sword tip, he suddenly took two steps back, forcefully pulling the sword back.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Their world was too quiet, as if they were isolated from the world. Even from the big tree outside Mo Xibei's courtyard, two screams suddenly came.

Lots of blood flowed down the tip of Mu Feinan's sword, gushing onto the blade and hilt, and then wrapping around his fingers.

The blood had traveled such a long distance that it had lost all its warmth.

Mu Feinan hesitated for a long time, unable to believe what he was seeing. It wasn't until the cold blood touched his fingers that he felt as if he had been burned and suddenly threw the sword in his hand far away.

Mo Xibei smiled, as bright as spring flowers, but at that moment he pressed his left hand to his chest, letting the blood spread across his snow-white clothes.

"Northwest..." Mu Feinan rushed over suddenly, only managing to catch Mo Northwest's falling body. His cry was as shrill as a wounded beast.

"What can I do? I have to go now, I can't stay with you any longer." Mo Xibei smiled, his voice low.

"Don't talk, let me see your injury." Mu Feinan shook his head, only hurriedly trying to pull Mo Xibei's left hand away to see the wound that she kept pressing on.

"There are some things I need to say now, or I'm afraid I'll never have the chance again." Mo Xibei's voice was even lower and softer, as if he was trying his best.

“I don’t want to hear it. We have a lifetime to live together. You have plenty of time to talk. I guarantee you’ll get tired of it.” Mu Feinan raised his finger and tapped near Mo Xibei’s “wound” a few times, trying to stop the bleeding. However, this only made Mo Xibei cough incessantly.

"But I want to hear... Do you know... cough cough... When you lied to me and said you were getting married, I was so sad that I was dying..." Mo Xibei's acupoints in his chest were sealed, his breathing was unsteady, and he kept coughing.