The tree was right on the edge of the cliff, where her father had fallen. The narrow path was wet and slippery, and a flash flood was about to come down.
If God truly receives her plea, then let this fool die on the road leading to the wishing tree!
A wishing tree? Hmph, even if it's a tree with divine power, it's still helping her! Helping her means taking her life!
From then on, she was Xiao Juyuan, her father was Xiao Mingyu, her mother was Li Juxin, this sword was called the Heavenly Sparrow Sword, and her husband was Pei Junwu!
Xiao Juyuan clung to the tree branch in fear. Fortunately, her mother had taught her some light-body skills, which allowed her to climb the wishing tree in an emergency. Otherwise, she would have been swept away by the sudden flash flood.
That fire… that fire that lit up the sky, wasn't it coming from the direction of her house? Tree, please keep my parents safe! Let our family live happily together as before, and let that bad man die!
After the rain stopped and the flash flood receded, she climbed back to the cave exhausted. The young lady was gone, leaving only the bundle and a pile of cold ashes!
The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, Part 5: A Tremendous Change in the Martial World
Ten years later, in the sixth year of Emperor Zhenzong's Xianping reign.
Tuoba Yuanxun led his horse slowly through the bustling streets of Chengdu, looking around with a smile on his face. He turned to Yan Minyu beside him and said with great interest, "The girls in Chengdu are more attractive than those in Xingqing Prefecture."
Yan Minyu gave him a cold glance. "What girl do you think isn't attractive? Do you know why we won't get lost on our way back?"
Although Tuoba Yuanxun knew she wasn't going to say anything nice, he still asked with a pout, "Why?"
"Because you've been drooling the whole way! You haven't stopped! We can find our way home just by following your drool trails."
"go!"
Yan Minyu, unconvinced, asked Li Yuan'er, who was walking silently, "Xiao Yuan, tell me, are the girls from our Western Xia prettier, or are the girls from Chengdu prettier?"
“Each has its own merits,” Li Yuan’er replied absentmindedly.
"I still think the girls from Western Xia are prettier!" Yan Minyu said indignantly. "Girls from the Central Plains all look the same; their eyes aren't big enough or deep enough!"
Tuoba Yuanxun sneered, "Senior Sister—" he said in a strange tone, "Among the three of us, only I am a genuine Western Xia person. You're absolutely right, I've always felt something was off about you, it turns out it's because your eyes aren't deep enough or big enough!"
"Do you want to die?" Yan Minyu glared and threatened.
"Senior sister, don't you think Xiao Yuan has been acting strangely since we entered Sichuan?" He glanced at Li Yuan'er, who had already walked far ahead of them.
"Yeah, I think so. She seems distracted. Sometimes she can't even answer my questions; her mind is wandering off somewhere!"
"Aren't you nervous about meeting Senior Brother Pei? Aunt said... he's much better than us. Among the three of us, Xiao Yuan is the best in martial arts. Is she afraid of being outdone?" Tuoba Yuanxun said with a hint of unease.
"How strong can he be?" Yan Minyu lectured, adopting the air of a senior sister. "He's just a young man in his early twenties! Martial arts skills depend entirely on hard work and time... What's wrong with you?"
"I feel like throwing up!" Tuoba Yuanxun's face turned pale. "Senior Sister, listening to you talk about martial arts is truly a creepy thing!"
Li Yuan'er led the horse, his ears filled with the familiar accents of his hometown that he hadn't heard in ten years.
It's strange. She's been away from the Central Plains for ten years, and in Phoenix City, which is full of foreigners, she hasn't forgotten her native dialect at all. Hearing it again, she can't even describe the emotions she feels!
Has she... come back?
Come back? Go back where? Her home... is gone!
That scene of scorched earth and corpses everywhere is what the martial arts world calls "extermination of an entire family"! Father and Mother... they're both dead.
The Xiao family of Ya'an was wiped out overnight. People in the martial arts world talk about it with some emotion and fear, but when they actually saw the scene... it was nothing special.
Death, corpses, the stench of burning, ruins, ashes... none of these can compare to the loneliness that comes from gazing at all of this. She is left alone in the world, with no relatives or friends, and no one to care for her suffering.
The wish she made to the wishing tree didn't come true at all!
I still can't understand where the young lady who lit a fire for her on that terrifying rainy night went, where the Heavenly Sparrow Sword went, and why didn't Eunuch Pei come?
Now... I understand everything!
She had considered that possibility, but she refused to believe it! The older sister who had warmed her by the fire, talked to her, and guided her to make a wish had lied to her. That year, she was only about the same age as her!
Six months ago, Gao Tianjing was finally found by the people who destroyed Ling Palace. Only then did the martial arts world realize that the murderer who had been hiding for so many years had actually gotten nothing! The real treasure was still in the hands of the Xiao family, in the hands of Xiao Juyuan, the only surviving member of the Xiao family!
The martial arts world was shaken!
The only surviving child—Xiao Juyuan!
This person should no longer exist in the world. Even if the Xiao family has an orphan, he should be called Li Yuan'er.
But this secret remained only in her knowledge. She would never tell anyone again! Because she was unaware of the wickedness of human nature, how much that should have been hers had slipped through her fingers?
Because she didn't listen to her mother, her life didn't follow the predetermined path!
She was originally supposed to study under the renowned Zhu Liancheng, master unparalleled martial arts, and become Pei Junwu's junior sister and wife.
Now... she's just a little orphan girl stranded in the borderlands, with mediocre martial arts skills and no special talents!
She was not Pei Junwu's fiancée, the new leader of the martial arts world, but his junior sister from the most declining branch of his sect.
She was confused, wondering if they were destined to be together or not.
If fate brought them together, how could she have missed the chance to grow up alongside him? If fate hadn't brought them together, how could she have been met by her mother's senior sister, Tuoba Hanyun, and taken as her disciple?
That rainy night... was truly the beginning of all the entanglements!
Gao Tianjing's reappearance has caused a great upheaval in the martial arts world, along with the Xiao family's treasure and the orphan of the Xiao family...
The Pei family has been hiding her for ten years! How beautiful will Xiao Mingyu and Li Juxin's daughter be?