She didn't speak for a while before she finally managed to turn her head away.
Tianquan stared at her quietly for a long time before suddenly speaking. His voice was low and soft: "You like her, don't you?"
She neither shook her head nor nodded.
Perhaps she couldn't quite define her feelings for him either; they were extremely complex. Simply saying "like" or "dislike" couldn't adequately describe them.
She whispered, "I love Zexiu."
He smiled, gently set her down, and stroked her hair. "Alright, don't talk anymore. Your tongue won't hurt after an hour."
He walked to the window. Gently pushing it open, the sky outside was a strange color—a dark, reddish hue, like dried blood. He took a breath and whispered, "It's coming soon..."
What's coming soon? She looked at him in confusion.
He stared intently outside: "I mean, it's going to snow soon."
After saying that, he walked out, and the door closed gently.
Xiao Man stood there blankly for a while, then leaned over the table to practice writing the character "米" (rice). She wrote several characters in a row, but then felt irritable and restless. She threw down the pen, pushed open the door, and went out.
Tianquan stood alone in the snow, gazing at something. She wasn't wearing shoes, so she could only stand in the doorway watching him. She had so much to say, but didn't know how to say it, so she could only stand there silently. He looked at the sky, and she looked at him.
A long, long time passed, until it was dark and her feet were numb with cold. Tianquan slowly turned around, looked at her face, and saw a strange smile on it that gave off an eerily beautiful and captivating charm. He said, "Xiaoman, I will break free from those constraints."
Then he strode back and hugged her tightly: "As long as you look at me."
He picked her up and carried her into the house.
Her feet were red and blue from the cold. Tianquan placed her on the bed, held her feet, and gently breathed on them. Xiaoman looked at him quietly for a long time before finally saying, "Tianquan, I..."
He didn't look up, and said softly, "Don't speak, don't say anything." He held her feet, warming them with his palms, and after a while, whispered, "I will send you away soon; you can't stay here with me any longer."
"Why?" she asked him with her eyes. He didn't answer until he warmed the soles of her feet, then he got up, pulled her onto his lap, and pressed his forehead against hers: "This is good, really good."
As darkness fell, the dry red hue on the horizon gradually faded, turning into an endless, deep black.
He opened a box by the bedside, took out a set of clothes—the ones she wore when she was brought here—along with her rabbit-skin boots. He placed the clothes on the bed, then half-knelt in front of her and gently removed her lined robe. Xiaoman instinctively reached out to cover herself, but he gently held her wrist: "No, let me dress you."
Her slender body shimmered in the last rays of the setting sun, possessing a breathtaking beauty. Tianquan couldn't help but reach out and embrace her, pressing his face against her heart, and softly calling out, "Xiaoman."
She stood there stunned for a long time, and finally touched his hair.
He kissed her on the cheek, then finally let her go. He helped her put on her clothes one by one, and finally picked up a comb to comb her long hair and tie it into a beautiful bun.
"Alright, let's go." He smiled, pulled her out of bed, and quickly went out the door. He pushed open the door of the woodshed behind the yard, swept away the firewood, and then gently patted it, revealing a secret passage underneath. He gently pushed her: "Go in and hide, don't make a sound. You can leave tomorrow morning."
He turned to leave, but Xiaoman cried out urgently, "Wait! What...what are you going to do?"
Tianquan didn't speak. He cupped her face and lowered his head to kiss her lips. His lips were incredibly hot, as if they were about to melt, perhaps he really was about to burn, becoming a ball of fire. She almost suffocated. Finally, his lips landed on the flower-covered area of her left ear, and he whispered, "I love you."
The next moment he pushed her into the secret passage, and with another slap, the ground closed up, and not a single piece of her clothing could be seen anymore.
He rearranged the firewood, then slowly walked out and back into the house. The incense had gone cold, and the lamp was out. He lit new candles, opened the incense burner, and put incense cakes again. Then he sat quietly at the table, picked up the messy rice-shaped characters she had written on the paper, and looked at them one by one.
Finally, he saw Zexiu's name.
Her handwriting wasn't pretty; it was rather clumsy, but it was very neat, so it wasn't an eyesore.
Continuing down, he saw her own name; the two characters "Xiao Man" were written in a playful and whimsical way. He curled his lips into a smile.
Looking further down, two words suddenly pierced his eyes, making him shudder as if they were stabbed.
He took a deep breath and felt like he was about to cry for the first time.
See jade.
He carefully picked up the piece of paper covered in messy writing, folded it neatly, and put it in his pocket.
The sky grew completely dark, the night deepened, and it began to snow again. Snowflakes poured in through the open window, but he made no move to close it.
Five men in black had appeared in the courtyard at some point, blending into the night so faintly that they were almost invisible.
Tianquan slowly stood up, and through the window, he called out softly, "Master."
The leader of the men in black remained silent. The next moment, a gust of wind swept across his face, and a long whip, like a black snake, swiftly slithered to his front, viciously tearing off a piece of flesh from his body, instantly turning his arm red. The whip showed no mercy, continuing to lash out, his white clothes almost completely stained red with blood, yet he remained motionless.
Finally, the whip was retracted, and a cold, flat voice rang out: "Where is the little girl?"
Tianquan said calmly, "I'm leaving."
"Gone?" The tone suddenly rose.
He smiled slightly: "That's right, she escaped a long time ago."
"Very good, you are very good." The voice was devoid of any emotion, like that of a stone man.
The four men in black behind him immediately split up and searched the courtyard thoroughly, even the nearby forest. Finally, they all gathered in front of the man and said, "No one's here."
The man flashed into the room, his eyes like cold lightning, fixed on Tianquan. He moved slightly and said softly, "Master, would you like some tea? This disciple has snow water from pine branches."
The man hummed in agreement.
Tianquan turned to boil water when the man's sleeve suddenly moved, and a silver light shot straight towards the back of his head. With a clang, the silver light was blocked by the Divine Martial Bow. He drew the bow fully, and three iron arrows were nocked on the string, aimed directly at the man.
The four men in black immediately stepped forward and pressed their swords against his back.
The man said, "You're the one who let her go. You don't listen to me."
Tianquan said calmly, "I don't need to listen to everything you say."
The man actually nodded: "Very good!"
He looked up and around, as if examining the structure of the house. After a while, he suddenly ordered, "Go to the woodshed. There must be a secret under the firewood."
The four men in black immediately agreed.
Tianquan remained motionless, his face expressionless. The man said, "Everything you've learned was taught to you by me. How could I not know where the secret passage is?"
Before he could finish speaking, several thuds were heard, and the four men in black suddenly fell to the ground, unable to move.
The man was not alarmed at all and said, "The incense in the incense burner has been burning for a thousand years, which is very good."
Tianquan smiled slightly: "It's all thanks to Master's teachings, so this disciple has not disgraced the sect."
The man nodded again: "That's right. You used the Fiery Tyrant technique to kill the Black Bat, which just happened to counter his Yin-cold method, so he died from the poison very quickly."
He still smiled and said, "A master is a master after all."
The man said calmly, "So you can't kill me. I can guess what methods you'll use, and they're completely useless against me."
Tianquan said softly, "Really?" (To be continued... For more chapters and to support the author, please visit qidiom. Support the author and read the original version!)
Chapter Eleven of the Crimson Butterfly Scroll: Crimson Butterfly (Part Two)
Updated: 2008-10-19 16:47:12 Word Count: 3430
Third update.
The man was about to speak when he suddenly felt a numbness all over his body. He grabbed the table with his hand and even had the leisure to guess: "...Indeed, there's another ingredient in 'A Thousand Years of Unawakenedness.' Let me see...it's Sweet Dream Fragrance. I really didn't guess that you would combine two ingredients to make an even more potent drug?"
Tianquan said in a low voice, "There's one more ingredient. Can't you guess it, Master?"
The man was already dizzy and on the verge of collapse. He opened his mouth as if to continue guessing, when suddenly a black light struck, snatching the Divine Martial Bow from Tianquan's hand. He flashed, and several silver needles shot out from his sleeve, all of them embedding themselves in the man's body.
"There's another ingredient, which is Deathly Fiend," he explained casually.
The man struggled to pull out a silver needle, and the blood on the needle tip turned a faint blue. Sure enough, the needle was coated with Deathly Fiend, an extremely potent poison. Although he was the one who made it, no antidote has been found to this day.
The man chuckled twice: "You're really nice."
As soon as he finished speaking, he collapsed to the ground, unable to move.
Tianquan looked at him for a while, then slowly walked to the table, picked up the candlestick, and gently tossed it onto the bed. The bedding and curtains immediately caught fire, and soon a large fire was raging. He leaned against the window, letting the large snowflakes fall on his wounds, seemingly not feeling much pain.
He slowly opened the drawer on the table; inside was nothing but a butterfly pupa. He gently picked it up and placed it in his palm.
It was throbbing slightly; it was alive. Because of the warmth inside, it was emerging from its cocoon early to become a butterfly in winter.
Perhaps. It wasn't just it that finally broke free of its cocoon; he did too.
My father said: "Jianyu, you will never shine. You are destined to live a stable and uneventful life."
No, no. It's not like that anymore. He clearly heard the sound of the restraints breaking, and his whole sky brightened.
The pupa in my palm finally broke open, and the delicate, beautiful little creature slowly crawled out, spread its wings, and took flight. Its wings were clearly vibrant and dazzling, yet also seemed as red as blood. Reflected in the firelight, it appeared as a blood-red butterfly.
It flew out shakily, but the swirling snowstorm immediately brought it back.
It woke up at a very bad time; it was destined to die.
Tianquan retrieved it, gently tossed it into the air, and it flew erratically for a while before finally plunging into the fire and instantly turning to ashes.
He sighed deeply and leaned against the window, gazing up at the dark sky outside.
Suddenly he heard someone call his name: "Tianquan!"
He turned around and saw Xiaoman, her face covered in ash and glistening with tears, waving frantically at him.
"Get out quickly! There's a fire!" Xiaoman shouted desperately.
She was locked in the tunnel in the woodshed, and after groping around for a long time, she still couldn't figure out how to get out. She pounded and struggled until she was covered in sweat. Finally, she somehow managed to break open the hidden door above. She ran out, only to find the manor engulfed in flames.
Filled with emotion, Tianquan leaned against the window and jumped out, softly calling out, "Xiaoman."
"Why is it on fire? Why are you covered in blood?" she asked loudly, her face red from the cold.
He wanted to laugh out loud, or perhaps he wanted to cry. He handed her the pupa in his hand and said softly, "This is for you."
Xiao Man looked at the chrysalis with a hole in it, puzzled: "What does this mean? The butterfly came out so early? What are you giving me this for...?"
He smiled slightly: "Just take it."
Xiao Man could only nod, stuff the pupa into her sleeve, and after a while, she whispered, "Where...are you going?"