Guide sur le vent et la fumée

Chapitre 21

Lady Guiyue, standing before him, was also quite beautiful. However, as she stared at the awakened Yun Chan, her expression was one of disdain: "Ugly girl, what is your relationship with the Pavilion Master of Mo Pavilion?"

"You dragged me here in the middle of the night just to ask this?"

"Stop talking nonsense. The sect leader belongs to my disciple. Don't even think about ruining her plans, you ugly girl."

"Your disciple is Qianjun?"

Lady Guiyue asked in surprise, "How did you know?"

How could I not know? You two, master and disciple, speak in perfect unison. "I'm an ugly girl?!" Yun Chan huffed angrily, "Too bad you miscalculated. Qian Jun doesn't like Lou Lou at all."

“Jun’er likes handsome men. I went to great lengths to find such a peerless man. How could she not like him?”

This master seems quite concerned about Qianjun. Yun Chan softened her tone: "It's true, she likes Shen Yao."

"Shen Yao? That blockhead who's with you?" Madam Guiyue frowned. "That guy looks so rigid and silly, yet he claims to be from a prestigious and upright family. What's so good about him?"

Feelings are such strange things. Yun Chan decided to speak from her conscience: "Shen Yao is not bad. He is handsome and talented, and his martial arts are not bad either. You know about this year's Heroes' Gathering, right? He came in first place."

Lady Guiyue was initially dismissive, but later she seemed to be somewhat swayed by what she was being said, and she actually started to inquire seriously: "What is that Wood's family background? How old is he? What is his birth date and time?"

How should I know! I'm not his mother! Yun Chan glared.

Lady Guiyue, seeing Yun Chan's expression, became suspicious again, and grabbed her shoulders with both hands: "You ugly girl, you're not lying to me, are you? Do you also like the Pavilion Master, so you want to hinder Jun'er and the Pavilion Master's good time, lying to me that she likes that blockhead?"

.

Even a young lady would be embarrassed and angry if told she liked a certain man, let alone Miss Yun, who was thin-skinned. She immediately retorted, "Which eye of yours saw that I like your sect leader? That lackey likes to break people's fingers and kills people like cutting vegetables, except..."

"He's only good-looking; otherwise, he's utterly useless!"

She was still angrily rambling on when Lady Guiyue suddenly released her, glanced at her with a wary look, and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Yun Chan turned around for no apparent reason and was instantly dumbfounded.

Lou Lou, dressed in white as snow, stood gracefully on the railing outside the window. The moonlight was cold and clear. This celestial being, whose smile carried a deep chill: "Utterly worthless?"

The oppressive feeling was so familiar. Yun Chan instinctively hid her hands behind her back and chuckled awkwardly.

Lou Lou's eyes grew even colder: "Are you afraid of me?" He stepped forward from the railing, crushing the jade peony carvings on the windowsill.

Is this an attempt to scare me?! How can I not be afraid when you're making such a scary face?

"A little," Yun Chan answered honestly, glancing at the shattered white jade on the ground. But then she noticed his expression darkening, so she forced herself to say, "No... I meant I was scared at first, but I'm not anymore. You saved me a lot..."

As for the second one, we've already... made peace.

Lou Lou chuckled, "It's good that you're afraid of me." At least her frightened expression was quite amusing. He reached out and expertly lifted her up. "Let's go back."

Walking along the road, Yun Chan glanced uneasily at Lou Lou and realized that the man's mood didn't seem to have recovered yet.

After much thought, Yun Chan decided to break the ice and have a chat: "Hey, why do you want to investigate the Qingtu Sect? Even if your Mo Pavilion has nothing to do with the Demonic Sect now, it shouldn't be an enemy, right?"

Lou Lou sneered: "Back then, there was someone behind the rebellion in the pavilion. If the righteous people want to deal with the Mo Pavilion, they usually attack directly. They don't plan a rebellion to seize power. Elder Yu and the others would never listen to the righteous people."

"So you suspect that the person behind this is the Qingtu Cult?" Yun Chan thought for a moment, still puzzled. "Isn't your Moge composed of the remnants of the Qingtu Cult? Do you have any other remaining members of the Qingtu Cult back then?"

In the end, this girl still harbors suspicions about him. Lou Lou glanced at her indifferently: "The Ink Pavilion was formed by the remnants of the Left Protector of the Qingtu Sect who escaped back then, so we don't know anything about the other forces of the Qingtu Sect."

Yun Chan remained silent.

The Demonic Sect was once at its peak, its influence spreading throughout the martial arts world. Once an organization becomes too large, over time, its members will inevitably become divided, and they may have already gone their own way. It is indeed possible that the Ink Pavilion was unaware of other factions within the sect.

Seeing Lou Lou's displeasure, Yun Chan quickly changed the subject: "Is the news about the Thousand Gold Palace reliable? Where is Yanshan?"

This girl seems quite concerned about this matter; is it because of her fiancé, the most powerful manor in the world?

Lou Lou's mood did not improve at all. He said coldly, "The old site of the Qingtu Sect is in Yanshan."

"Huh? Legend has it that the Qingtu Sect was completely burned down. The place is now ruins. Would they still be there?"

"The Qingtu Cult has always been arrogant. Their refusal to change their base is quite typical of them."

"Oh." Yun Chan nodded, then suddenly smelled the aroma of food and looked in the direction of the scent. In the red-light district, nighttime is always the liveliest time, and there was still a steamed bun shop nearby that hadn't closed yet.

Feeling a bit hungry, Yun Chan turned to Lou Lou and said, "Wait a minute," before running off to buy two soup dumplings. She took a bite of one and, being quite considerate, turned around and gave Lou Lou the other one.

Lou Lou glanced at her, her mouth greasy from eating: "Delicious?"

"Of course." Yun Chan nodded hurriedly, but took a bite too quickly and burned her mouth with the soup, crying out loudly.

Lou Lou couldn't help but laugh: "No wonder you're called Xiao Chan, you're such a glutton."

As far as she could remember, this was the first time the henchman had called her by her name. With a steamed bun in her mouth, Yun Chan looked at his face, which was as beautiful as heaven and earth, and her heart skipped a beat.

Actually, she wasn't exactly lying; she really wasn't that afraid of him anymore.

"Qianjun belongs to Qianjin Palace. Lady Guiyue has arranged a marriage between you and her, do you know that?"

Lou Lou corrected: "It was arranged with Yu Jinzhi, it has nothing to do with me."

"Oh, so now that Yu Jinzhi is dead, this engagement is invalid, right?"

Lou Lou looked at her with a smile: "Do you want it to not count?"

"I hope so."

"Why?"

Miss Yun said in a serious tone, "Qianjun likes Shen Yao, can't you tell?"

"And what about me?"

"Well?"

Lou Lou leaned closer to her: "Can you tell who I like?"

"Are you trying to tease me again?" Yun Chan's heart pounded wildly. She slapped her greasy hand onto his white robe and took two steps back. "Anyway, you don't like Qian Jun, and Qian Jun doesn't like you either."

Lou Lou glanced silently at the oil stain on his chest and sighed, "You'd better be afraid of me."

A pair of people fall into the trap.

Yanshan Mountain is neither too big nor too small. It's said that long ago it was a fairyland shrouded in mist and clouds, but now there isn't even a hunter in sight; ghostly figures abound, and the mountain paths are completely covered by foot-high weeds and shrubs. It took the four of them half a day to carefully climb it.

Reach the top of the mountain, then stare blankly at the flat area surrounding it.

The Qingtu Sect was once incredibly powerful, filled with renowned masters, yet it was known for its malevolent activities that plagued the martial arts world. Its last leader, Tu Yueshan, after mastering the unparalleled martial art, the Boundless Technique, slaughtered four sects in succession simply to test its power.

Such ruthless and cruel behavior finally provoked a joint attack from the major righteous sects of the martial arts world, led by Xiaming Manor. That enormous, palace-like building was ultimately burned to the ground.

All that remained was an empty frame made of dark beams and pillars, covered in vines, standing there precariously.

Yun Chan stared intently at the ruins, frowning. "It's in such a state, no one can stay here anymore. Did Madam Guiyue trick us?"

Qianjun tapped Yunchan on the head: "Since we're already here, let's go in and take a look."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yao stepped forward to stop the two women: "Miss Yun and Qianjun, why don't you wait outside?"

Qianjun wouldn't listen, glaring at him unhappily: "It's just going in to check things out, what's there to be afraid of? If there's trouble, we can just run."

Yun Chan nodded in agreement. After all these days, she was finally starting to feel like she was venturing into the world, so she wasn't willing to just obediently wait outside. Lou Lou didn't care at all, and grabbed Yun Chan with one hand, saying, "Then let's go in and take a look."

Shen Yao couldn't win the argument and could only let the others have their way. The four of them took a step forward together, with Qian Jun, who was the best at throwing hidden weapons, taking the lead by throwing stones to test the waters.

One by one, the pebbles bounced onto the ground, the pillars, and the roof beams, all without incident. Reassured, Qianjun nimbly and gracefully made his way over—

Clang—and a hole appeared in the ground.

In the instant they fell, Qianjun reacted quickly and grabbed Shen Yao beside him. The two of them, one in front of the other, disappeared into the ground before they could even scream.

Seeing this, Yun Chan was stunned. She ran to the edge of the cave to look down, but she accidentally stepped on another stone slab next to her. In a flash, Miss Yun was swallowed up by the suddenly appearing cave.

Seeing the stone slabs on the ground gradually closing up, Lou Lou sighed, flicked his white robes, and jumped down as well.

The ground wasn't deep, and Yun Chan quickly tumbled to the ground. She had just gotten up, covered in dust, when she heard a loud crash as the stone slab slammed shut above her. Suddenly, she was plunged into complete darkness. Terrified, she cried out, "Minions? Qian Jun? Where are you?"

"Is that right?"

"I'm here." Lou Lou's warm and powerful voice rang out in the darkness, and then Yun Chan's hand was grasped.

Her heart calmed down: "Where are Qianjun and Shen Yao?"

“We’ve been separated and didn’t end up with us.” Lou Lou took her hand and led her a few steps. “Let’s find a way out first.”

"Is this a trap set by the Qingtu Cult?"

"It doesn't seem like that; it looks more like a secret passage within the sect."

It was so dark. Yun Chan took a while to adjust, but still couldn't see anything, so she had to be led by Lou Lou. She remembered that time when she went with him to the Ink Pavilion to trade Seven-Return Spirit Sand, he had also led her through the underground passage like this.

I wonder if I'll be able to escape unscathed this time, just like last time.

In the pitch-black underground, besides the sound of their footsteps, there were also the occasional sounds of crawling insects. Yun Chan's hair stood on end, so she decided to talk to them to ease her fear.

"Hey, how did you get into the Ink Pavilion?" And how did you become a leader at such a young age?

There was no answer. A long silence followed.

Had she asked something she shouldn't have? Yun Chan inwardly regretted her words. His nonchalant tone had made her careless, leading her to ask such a careless question, and now she was in an awkward situation. Just as she was trying to smooth things over, Lou Lou spoke up: "Twenty years ago, the Mu family of Xijiang..."

The door was destroyed.

Yun Chan was taken aback, not understanding why he suddenly brought this up, so she could only listen silently.

"The murderer in the massacre was only after the Mu family's Ice Silkworm. In fact, although the Ice Silkworm is precious, how can it compare to the lives of an entire family? Master Mu had already agreed to hand over the Ice Silkworm, but they still didn't leave a single survivor."

Yun Chan cautiously asked, "Was it Qing Tu who taught you to do it?"

Lou Lou's tone was calm and even: "The Mu family is unknown and hopeless. This matter didn't even cause a ripple in the martial arts world before it was over. Not many people know that it was the Qingtu Sect that did it, and even fewer people know that the Mu family still has a child who is alive."

Yun Chan's voice became somewhat hoarse: "That child... was it you?"

"It's me." Lou Lou suddenly tightened his grip on her hand. "The Mu family has been unjustly wiped out. The government dares not intervene, and my father's friends from the martial arts world dare not come to see me. I was trapped under the roof beam for seven days. Then it rained, and the soil loosened."

The wooden beam shifted slightly, allowing me to climb out.

"...And then what happened?"

Lou Lou seemed to recall for a moment before slowly saying, "I remember my father telling me before he died that the murderer was the Qingtu Sect. But when I inquired in the martial world, I learned that the Demonic Sect had long been destroyed. At that time, I thought it was all done by the remnants of the Demonic Sect, the Moge."

So I tried every means to sneak into the Ink Pavilion.

Yun Chan exclaimed in surprise, "Ah! So you joined the Ink Pavilion to seek revenge?"

"Of course, it's revenge." Lou Lou chuckled. "I did quite well inside and became the Sect Master's personal disciple. He passed on to me the Boundless Technique that the Tu Sect Master used to dominate the world. After I mastered it, I killed him."

Yun Chan unconsciously pulled her hand back.