Remembering those days, the boundless green waves of spring, the tender breeze and moonlit nights, and the proud summit;
Now, all that remains are withered yellow leaves, dust settled, and the old autumn wind blowing on the branches.
Yin Wuxiao lowered his head and suddenly tears streamed down his face.
"Yin Bitong, just kill me." She stared at Yin Bitong, her phoenix eyes filled with sorrow, like misty autumn water.
Please.
Yin Bitong was startled by her resolute gaze and took two steps back, the paper fluttering down.
"Why are you doing this?" He even showed a flustered expression.
"Why, why?" Yin Wuxiao laughed through her tears. "I, Yin Wuxiao, used to be a bold and unrestrained woman. Whatever I wanted, I could get it with ease. But now, I can't ask for anything, and I dare not ask for anything. What's the difference between my life and that of a pig or a dog!"
Her eyes were wide open, tears streaming down her face. In a moment, those tears were mixed with blood, two crimson streaks of bloody tears running down her snowy cheeks, eerie and terrifying.
Yin Bitong reached out and touched her cheek in a daze. He seemed to be able to see a girl dressed in gorgeous clothes, surrounded by servants, adorned with jewels, and standing proudly and self-possessed in the distance, on a cloud.
"Xiao Yin..."
He rolled up his sleeves and picked her up in his arms.
"Don't cry, I'll take you away, okay? I'll take you away from here." He suddenly became very gentle, whispering in her ear as if he were talking to a lover.
The only answer he received was blood and tears.
"Let her go!" another voice suddenly rang out.
The blue robes fluttered in the wind as it descended from the sky. A steady aura rose from below, enveloping the surroundings completely. Even a master like Yin Bitong had to compose herself before she could regain her footing.
“Bai Li Qingyi,” Yin Bitong said steadily.
Bai Liqing stood still, like a solitary crane. A calm aura rippled around him for several feet.
"Yin Bitong, put her down."
Yin Bitong smiled mischievously: "Why should I listen to you?" He coaxed the girl in his arms, "Little Yin, let's go, don't pay attention to this fool."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Baili Qingyi's palm strike arrived.
"Is this considered a sneak attack?" Yin Bitong cried out, grabbing Yin Wuxiao and nimbly dodging the attack.
Baili Qingyi remained silent, unleashing a barrage of attacks with both palms, giving no one a chance to breathe. Yin Bitong, carrying someone, still managed to leap and dodge, like a giant green bat.
"Bai Li Qingyi, have you gone mad?" Yin Bitong cackled.
Baili Qingyi's eyes were cold: "Yin Bitong, if I let you take her away today, I am not Baili Qingyi."
Yin Bitong's long eyelashes fluttered in the wind. He gently placed Yin Wuxiao on the ground, smiled, and walked away: "It seems I need to deal with you first before I can take her away."
The Yuwen sisters, along with Baili Hanyi and others, arrived just as a major battle was about to begin.
Yuwen Hongying exclaimed in surprise, and hurriedly grabbed Baili Hanyi: "Can Brother Qingyi beat him?"
Baili Hanyi really wanted to say yes, but he wasn't sure he could.
Yuwen Hongying called out, "Brother Qingyi, be careful!"
Baili Qingyi ignored him. His entire attention was focused on the woman curled up on the ground. He could only see her, her suffering.
A bloodstained hand grabbed Yin Bitong's green robe. He looked down and saw the woman lying on the ground with bloodshot eyes.
"don't want……"
Baili Qingyi's eyes flickered, and the energy around her weakened.
Yin Bitong gave Baili Qingyi a strange look.
"Xiao Yin, who do you want to go with?" He rarely took the initiative to ask for her opinion.
Yin Wuxiao stared intently at Yin Bitong: "I don't want to go with him..."
A smile bloomed on Yin Bitong's face.
"...and I don't want to go with you."
His smile froze.
Yin Wuxiao's teeth chattered violently, and a clanging sound came from her throat. She endured to the extreme, but could no longer bear it, and finally let out a shrill scream:
"ah!"
Clinging tightly to the tombstone with both hands, she let out a scream and managed to pry a small piece of stone off it. She had no internal energy, and with this effort, all ten of her fingernails broke off at the base, blood gushing from her fingers. However, what was the pain in her fingers compared to the excruciating pain surging in her chest?
Her delicate features were twisted and stained with blood, her body was curled up and writhing on the ground, and her screams echoed for a long time in the empty Xiaohunpo.
Both Baili Qingyi and Yin Bitong cried out in shock upon seeing this scene:
"Xiao Yin!"
“Yin…!” Baili Qingyi clenched her fists tightly, her face filled with utter shock.
Those were hands that plucked the zither and wielded the brush; those were mouths that recited poems and composed verses; those were women who should have been sitting on the Qinglian Pond, dressed in simple clothes, holding scrolls, laughing and discussing the past and present.
I wonder how many times she has experienced such pain over the past three years.
Baili Qingyi had always felt that the martial world was his home, his responsibility, and his everything. But today, he suddenly realized that the martial world was such a terrifying and sinful place.
He quickly stepped forward, pulled Yin Wuxiao up, and poured a continuous stream of internal energy into him.
Everyone else was dumbfounded by his behavior.
Yin Bitong was a master of her time, and her martial arts skills were not necessarily inferior to Baili Qingyi's. At this moment, with a formidable enemy at hand, Baili Qingyi was recklessly transferring his inner strength to someone else, which was truly a suicidal act. However, Baili Qingyi's only thought was to do everything in his power to alleviate even the slightest bit of her pain.
Yin Bitong let Baili Qingyi walk past him toward Yin Wuxiao without stopping him. He was still in shock.
He had experienced countless pains in his life. His hands and feet had been broken and then put back on. He felt that his understanding of pain had reached an unparalleled level. However, he could not understand how such a pampered woman could endure such excruciating pain for three whole years.
Yin Bitong suddenly sat down and placed one hand on Yin Wuxiao's other shoulder. Baili Qingyi and he exchanged a glance, both understanding each other's thoughts, and then focused all their attention on relieving Yin Wuxiao's pain.
The onlookers were all stunned.
These two top masters of the era, one righteous and one evil, have joined forces for the first time to save a person.
Yin Wuxiao was in excruciating pain, and tears streamed down his face.
She just wanted to die peacefully.
If one cannot obtain what one desires, one must not have desires, thoughts, feelings, or love. When desire is at its peak, pain begins; the stronger the feelings, the more severe the suffering.
Two powerful internal forces gently flowed into her body from behind, making her body more able to withstand the pain, but without alleviating the pain itself.
Through her teary eyes, she vaguely saw a white figure running towards her in a panic.
“Take…me…away…” She reached out a hand to the white figure.
The world crumbled in her eyes.
Chapter Eight: A Year's Day Today, West of the Apricot Wall (Part One)
heartbroken,
The embroidered curtain is rolled up.
I wish I were a swallow on the beam.
We meet every day and night.
Do not let favors change and feelings shift.
"I wish I could be a swallow on the beam..." A middle-aged woman with a striking appearance stood with her hands behind her back at the very front of the small boat, her purple dress fluttering in the river wind. There was a hint of vicissitude, a hint of compassion, a hint of aloofness, and a hint of coldness between her brows, something that was hard to describe.
"What is the leader reciting?" One of the two maids carrying tea behind him was more daring and curious.
The middle-aged woman seemed quite serene, simply saying, "These are phrases from the Central Plains; you wouldn't understand them."
The maid pouted and said, "Lianhua naturally wouldn't understand. People from the Central Plains speak in such complicated ways, always using such flowery, birdy, windy, and watery language."
Another maid hurriedly pinched her: "What do you know? Don't spoil the leader's mood!"
The middle-aged woman smiled and said, "Zhao Shui is right. You ungrateful girl, why don't you slap yourself!"
Lianhua trembled, glancing unwillingly at Zhaoshui, then at the middle-aged woman who seemed anything but joking. She had no choice but to obediently raise her hand and slap her delicate, flawless cheek hard. One red handprint after another was left on her cheek. She gritted her teeth but dared not stop, for her master had not told her to.
The middle-aged woman glanced at it with interest, then looked bored. However, instead of stopping, she called out to those behind her, "No fault!"
A man leaped over and gently landed on the bow of the boat.
"Has the matter at Flower Fort been resolved?"
"As the leader intended. The lord of Flower Fortress was beheaded, and the women in his family each lost a foot, the men each lost an arm, and the servants were unharmed."
"Well done." The middle-aged woman nodded slightly. "We must let the people of the Central Plains know the consequences of being heartless and cold-hearted."
"Master, further downstream lies the territory of the Qiao Gang, what do you think..."
"The Qiao Gang?" The middle-aged woman's cold gaze drifted into the distance. After a moment, she suddenly became enraged and cursed, "You wretched wench, stop it! You're disturbing my peace of mind. Are you deliberately trying to trigger my mental illness?"
“Master…” Lianhua was already crying. Her beautiful face was swollen like a pig’s head, but she still stared blankly, unaware of what kind of future awaited her.
"Zhao Shui, cut off one of this vile woman's fingers!" The cult leader turned and left.
Zhao Shui calmly turned to Lian Hua, who was nearly dizzy from shock, and sighed, "You know how unpredictable the leader's temper is, how could you still be talking nonsense? I can only apologize to you."
"Sister Zhaoshui!" Lianhua was terrified and heartbroken, and knelt down heavily. "Please have mercy, sister. I won't do it again, I won't do it again!"
Zhao Shui did not respond.
A moment later, a woman's scream echoed through the sky from the calm, waveless river.
As dawn broke, a swift horse galloped into Baili Prefecture, the capital. The rider was a first-class guard of Baili Prefecture, and he brought shocking news.
Many major events have occurred in the martial arts world recently, but only this one is truly astonishing.
The Northern Desert Qiong Cult has re-entered the Central Plains.
The last time the Northern Desert Qiong Sect launched a major invasion of the Central Plains was twenty-seven years ago. Twenty-seven years ago, the previous leader of the Northern Desert Qiong Sect, Mu Huantao, suddenly passed away, and his daughter, Mu Wanfeng, was unable to return from the Central Plains. With no leader in the sect, the Left Protector Jiang Li was unanimously elected as the new leader.
Following the dying wish of the late leader, Jiang Li led the Qiong Sect into the Central Plains to search for Mu Wanfeng. However, a conflict arose in the Central Plains due to a falling out with Qiao Baiyue, the then leader of the Qiao Clan. Fortunately, Baili Chan, the first young master of Baili Prefecture at the time, and the carefree heroine mediated, resolving the conflict. Baili Chan and Jiang Li made an agreement that from then on, the Qiong Sect would not enter the Central Plains again, and the martial arts world of the Central Plains would not intrude on the Qiong Sect's territory.
Baili Chan and Wuyou the Heroine were the most illustrious figures in the martial arts world at that time. Baili Chan was the father of the current Four Young Masters of the Baili family, who passed away five years ago. Wuyou the Heroine had a younger sister named Ruan Yun, who later married Qiao Baiyue, the leader of the Qiao Gang. Wuyou herself, however, married Yin Yong, an ordinary scholar-merchant in the capital.
At that time, Ruan Wuyou was the most beautiful woman in the martial arts world, admired by all the young masters. However, her marriage was a huge surprise. People speculated that it was because Ruan Wuyou was heartbroken after being unable to win Baili Chan's heart, so she married an ordinary person who had nothing but money; or it was because Jiang Li, the leader of the Qiong Sect, was very fond of Ruan Wuyou, and she used an ordinary person as a cover to avoid trouble.