Roi céleste

Chapitre 35

"When the Palace Master was sent back to Tian Shu Palace, he had been unconscious for two days. After waking up, he often stared blankly. Qing Guyi, he is waiting for you."

“I don’t know what you’re running away from,” Bai Ya questioned. “I don’t know what you can doubt after the Palace Master’s sword strike. I don’t deny that he was ruthless before, but now he’s seriously injured himself and is obediently staying in Tian Shu Palace waiting for you. What more proof do you want from him?”

"I never remember you being so cowardly."

“You’re overthinking it,” I smiled. “It’s not as complicated as you think. How about this, I’ll return to Tian Shu Palace in half a month.”

"Qing Guyi," Bai Ya suddenly called my name, and after a moment of silence, he spoke in a low voice, "Do you know, I've always liked Hua Mei."

I looked up abruptly, staring wide-eyed at the expressionless young man.

“I originally planned to never say it out loud, but after receiving the news of her death, I regretted it so much that I almost went crazy.”

"I'm just reminding you that once you hesitate, some things will really be lost, and you'll never have them again, and that's the greatest tragedy."

After Bai Ya finished speaking casually, as if it were just a casual conversation, he didn't look at me again and turned to leave.

"The Qixi Festival is in eight days, and the Palace Master seems to be learning how to make dumplings."

This was the last thing he said to me.

I stood there dumbfounded at the bow of the boat, the sunset glow spreading across the sky, half the river shimmering green, half crimson red.

...

Six months later, having fulfilled the agreement at Tian Shu Peak, the young sect leader of the Thousand Years Sect returned to Luo Wu Mountain and officially took over as sect leader in the early spring of that year, at the young age of twenty-six. However, this young sect leader was not a young woman; after all, for a woman to be unmarried at twenty-six was no small matter.

The Thousand Years Sect did not decline because of its young leader. On the contrary, it allowed this remarkable woman's extraordinary skills to shine. More importantly, the Heavenly Pivot Palace, the uncrowned king of the martial arts world, seemed to take good care of this neutral and aloof sect. Knowing that Sect Leader Qing loved money, they never placed their influence in the places where the Thousand Years Sect ran its martial arts schools and escort agencies. Sometimes, they even sent money and rare delicacies to the Thousand Years Sect under various pretexts. The Heavenly Pivot Palace Master's behavior seemed to be quite interesting to Sect Leader Qing. Wasn't it rumored that they spent last year's Qixi Festival together on the back cliff of Heavenly Pivot Peak?

However, as the rumors intensified, during the ambiguous moment when the disciples of Tian Shu met the disciples of Qian Sui in the tavern and called each other "Palace Master's wife" while drinking and chatting, a year after the renowned Yu Bu Zhou stepped down, the head of Qing Gu Yi Qing Sect disappeared.

The reactions from various factions in the martial arts world were as follows: Qing Guyi's master, Yu Buzhou, traveled around for half a month, personally demonstrating the truth that "if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked"; Zhou Xuande, the master of the Thousand-Year Sect's Pilu Pavilion, was furious and cursed the master and his disciples, and had no choice but to become the deputy sect leader; the aging palace master of Youlong Heavenly Palace, upon hearing the news, sneered, "Just like my good-for-nothing son"; Lu Wen, the deputy master of Qinghong Manor, under pressure from his wife, searched diligently but to no avail; as for Tianshu Palace, there was no reaction at all, as if they knew from the beginning that they would not find anything.

A year later, news finally broke about the capricious leader of the Thousand-Year Sect, and the news shocked the world.

Qing Guyi fought a battle with an unknown master in a small town. It was later said that the master was an unparalleled expert who had been invincible twenty years ago and then went into seclusion.

The leader of the Thousand Years Sect used the Sword of the Ruler, but employed a technique that no one had ever seen before.

Qing Guyi won.

When asked about the situation at the time, most of the people watching from below the city wall were speechless. After the shock and admiration in their eyes subsided, they said with some doubt that those who were bolder and closer seemed to have smelled a faint aroma of wine.

They also said that after his victory, Sect Leader Qing remained calm and composed, displaying the demeanor of a master. He even whispered something, but unfortunately, no one heard it, including the reclusive master.

It's not that I'm trying to be mysterious, but Qing Guyi has defeated a peerless master who is no weaker than Yin Xuan, and he even used his own unique sword style. It's understandable that he feels great and wants to say something to show off, but he feels that saying it too loudly would be too vulgar and pretentious.

I said at the time, "Wandering freely among the mountains and rivers, this sword perfectly captures my untamed heart."

After saying that, even he felt like he'd been struck by lightning for showing off...

In short, after the battle, the whole world knew that the leader of the Thousand Years Sect had traveled for a year and finally created an unparalleled sword technique, the ninth form of the Sword Technique of the Emperor, which allowed him to roam freely among the mountains and rivers.

Sect Leader Qing is indeed a person who loves freedom, but I don't know why he always stayed on Luowu Mountain in the past few years.

However, some gossipers whispered, "This is even worse... who would dare to marry her now..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted disdainfully by another person: "Who do you mean, 'whoever'? If he's not more powerful, how can he be worthy of that heavenly palace master..."

In the teahouse, everyone nodded slowly in agreement.

...

Springtime weather is always so nice that it makes people reluctant to move. The warm breeze and birdsong are delightful, and the sunlight spills across the ground, creating a scene that blends with the light shade of the trees, like a painting.

A peach tree in the courtyard was in full bloom, its clusters of blossoms resembling a rosy cloud just before dawn, deep red reflecting light red, transforming into countless drifting points of light in the golden spring sunshine.

Peach blossoms fell in disarray, like a red rain.

A man dressed in an ivory-white spring shirt sat under the tree. Through the rain of flowers, one could see his slender figure, like a free crane, exuding elegance and grace, a seven-foot-tall white tree standing tall against the wind.

His head, shoulders, and clothes were covered in flower petals. His untied black hair was loosely draped over his shoulders, like ink spreading on his white clothes. The falling peach blossoms were like cinnabar ink stains on his clothes, creating a scene as beautiful as a poem or a painting. He was too lazy to brush the flowers off.

Beside the man's feet were two wine jugs and three wine cups, with two or three pink peach petals floating on the jade wine.

Hearing the noise, the person turned around, smiled at me, and in an instant, all the flowers and their splendor behind him paled in comparison.

He softened his features, his phoenix eyes curving like crescent moons, and patted the ground beside him, which was covered with flower petals, his voice gentle and soft.

"...Guyi, come and sit down."

I grunted twice, then stuffed all the peach blossom cakes on the table into my mouth, and let out a very unladylike burp before slowly swaying over to sit down and drink some wine to soothe my throat.

Qingjiu smiled helplessly, but like a little wife, he came over to wipe the crumbs from the corner of my mouth. I slapped his wolfish paw away, but he didn't mind and pulled his hand back into his sleeve.

Did I apply too much pressure? It looks red...

"...selling clothes."

"Um."

I'll be thirty next year.

"

"Hmm." She couldn't help but glance at the wide sleeves.

“That’s a real old man.”

"Um."

“I can’t sleep peacefully at night when you’re not around.”

"Hmm...hmm? What does this have to do with me?"

Despite his restless nights, the Palace Master's skin remained as smooth as jade, and his eyes gleamed with a sharp light... He smiled wickedly and cunningly under my disdainful gaze.

With a compassionate heart, Sect Leader Qing stretched out her jade-like hand, "Hey, show me your hand—"

"So I thought, if I don't get married soon, no one will want me."

"puff--"

...

...

Of course, I didn't make that sound. When Qingjiu and I turned around, we saw Baiya's disheveled figure frantically darting over the wall...

It doesn't really matter if someone sees me, the key is that when this tomboy suddenly turned around, the dazzling sunlight shone on her, making her cross-eyed half-blind, and she felt dizzy.

"...selling clothes."

"Ah, ah... what's wrong?"

What I just said—

"Palace Master Qing, look, I forgot to mention the important matter as soon as I arrived. I plan to continue my travels around the world in a few days, searching for inspiration for sword techniques." I was actually planning to return to Luowu Mountain in a few days, you bastard…

The person under the tree showed an expression of no surprise, smiling with a helpless yet doting look. He reached out his wolf paw and patted my noble head, his voice not showing any anger, but like he was coaxing a naughty child, "You little spendthrift, you're going to make your master faint. If you really want to go out... you should get the money from Tian Shu Palace. I'll also keep an eye on Qian Sui Sect for you."

"..."

"It's good that you remember to come back."

Her slender fingers plucked a petal that had fallen on my face, and instead of throwing it away, she tucked it into her ivory-white wide sleeve.

"...selling clothes."

"Um……?"

"I need to know how long I'll be gone this time."

Instead of answering this impromptu question that I hadn't even considered, I suddenly asked a completely nonsensical question: "You've given me more than a dozen silver notes just for going out. With your incompetence, in a few decades I'll have visited every mountain and river in the world, and your Tian Shu Palace will probably be so poor that you won't even have a door left."

Qingjiu lowered his head and smiled. He always smiled whenever he looked at me. He said something nonsensical: "...Actually, it still hurts a little." Then, to my bewilderment, he held out the hand that I had just slapped. There was only a faint red mark on it.

During my unimpeded conversation with Palace Master Qing, I once again had a premonition of vomiting blood and ascending to heaven.

Just as I was struggling to suppress a mouthful of black blood and was completely unprepared, the shameless, treacherous, cunning, and despicable Palace Master of Tian Shu Palace suddenly leaned over and kissed my forehead.

Once again, the innocent woman, having been humiliated, covered her forehead and stared blankly at the shameless, treacherous, cunning, and despicable smile of Qing Jiu.

“You know your husband is very capable. If he really supports you to the point of poverty…” He raised his wine cup, but did not drink. Instead, he wrapped his palm around my hand and held the wine cup with me.

...

In my dream last night, Fat Peach willingly let me take a few bites. In exchange, it tore off a piece of my sleeve, stuck it under its mouth, and used the rag as a fairy's beard, swaying in the wind with its eyes narrowed and looking profound.

The chubby peach spirit's round face trembled slightly before she slowly said in a pinched tone:

"I'll sell my clothes and get some wine to drink with you, and enjoy a few cups of wine together as we pass this fleeting life."

"Let the glint of swords and shadows be draped over our shoulders like a raincoat, let the moonlight lend us the blood-stained and tearful stories of the martial world, and let us buy wine by the boat at the edge of the white clouds."

"The Big Dipper shines for a thousand autumns, the Jade Palace is cold and bitter, better to be a divine couple, wandering the world for a hundred years, selling clothes, getting wine, and drinking with you."

The rag left the plump peach spirit's round chin and, carried by the wind, drifted towards the distant horizon, transforming into a wisp of cloud.

...

The subtle aroma of wine blends seamlessly with the floral scent, making it difficult to distinguish between the two.

The coolness of porcelain shards between my fingers and the warmth of my palms. Two more peach petals fell onto the surface of the wine, like the delicate hands of a devout man or woman seeking love gently tapping on the Stone of Three Lives.

The people around me, enjoying a few cups of wine, spoke with voices like jade splashing on flowing water under the spring sun.

"Why not sell some clothes, get some wine, and drink with you?"

Springtime is as rich as wine, and the wine in our hands represents the joys and sorrows of our many years together, finally allowing us to share a drink.

When love runs deep, pride is no longer an issue, because each other has become the other's pride.

I raised my hand and drank the wine in one gulp. Qing Jiu lowered her head, her eyes softening as she smiled at me. We didn't speak again.

Peach blossoms are in full bloom, falling softly like rain.

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