Chapter 255 – The Sob of the Zither Causes a Man to Die (1/2)
Chapter 255 - The Sob of the Zither Causes a Man to Die
As she watched the young lady disappear into the dark forest, Ye Xiaolian raisedher head in thought. After a while, she could no longer suppress the question in her mind. Quietly, she asked, ”Just who does Senior Xu like?”
Senior Tong smiled back at her. ”If it were you, who would you pick?”
”If it were like before, of course I would pick Senior Qiushan, but now...” Ye Xiaolian answered very sincerely, then felt it difficult to continue for some reason.
Chen Changsheng was oblivious to the fact that his existence had delivered such a blow to this girl's perspective on life and love. Zhexiu and he were walking amongst the mountains and forests in the night, searching for cultivators that had been injured in battle and treating their injuries. Although Chen Changsheng had not expressed it at any particular place, Zhexiu had realized that whenever they met a person that Xu Yourong had already treated, Chen Changsheng would clearly spend an extra amount of time and effort on the treatment. Similarly, that young lady was also walking in the darkness in search of people to heal. Similarly, for inexplicable reasons, whenever she found someone that Chen Changsheng had treated, she would particularly become uneasy and stay for a longer time.
Cloaked in the darkness, the Garden of Zhou was very quiet. The dome of the night contained no stars, but the glimmers of fire helped to somewhat disperse the monotony of the night. The young man and young lady moved between those earthbound stars. Perhaps it was because they were purposely avoiding each other, or perhaps because of the arrangement of fate, they never met each other despite encountering many people that the other had treated.
They were in different places, doing different things. They never saw each other, but they knew who the other person was. The bandage wrapped around a wounded cultivator's leg, the true essence left behind in the meridians, the sacred Qi that hung around the edge of the wound— they were like letters or even simple notes that passedon a message, telling the other side what had been done. There was also faintly a sense of comparing strengths, of betting against each other.
Similarly, neither of them knew the reason why.
At midnight, Chen Changsheng returned to the riverbank in accordance with his promise. Seeing the sleeping master from the Clear Void Monastery, he confirmed that she had been through here. After a moment of silence, he felt a faint sense of admiration. He had no way of taking care of those internal wounds. He could only support the wounded and let them slowly recover. There was truly no comparison with her methods.
Only, tonight he had treated about twenty or so people. She had probably treated about the same, or even more. Whether it was the Orthodoxy's Sacred Light technique or the methods of the Holy Maiden Peak, they were both extremely taxing on the true essence. To use using her strength unsparingly to heal person after person, would she be able to hold on?
The human cultivators had entered the Garden of Zhou to seize treasures. In accordance with the rules set down by the Saints, they were all completely unscrupulous. So even though it was just the first day, there had already been many fights. Cruel battles brought about bitter consequences. The fact that the gray strings had ceased to function had made those injured cultivators all the more afraid. Fortunately, she and Chen Changsheng, as well as several maidens from the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green, had treated dozens of people. At the very least, no one had died for the time being. As there were no casualties, the mood amongst the cultivators could still be described as calm. However, the desire for revenge was impossible to disperse, especially against the backdrop of the north versus the south. At any point, the situation could be thrown into chaos.
The first night after entering the Garden of Zhou was slowly passed in this nervous and silent atmosphere.
The dim light of dawn illuminated the plain and the mountain range that extended into its depth.
The early morning in the Garden of Zhou was no different from the outside. The rising and setting sun was also no different. Under the red warmth of the morning light, the mountain range seemed like the proud upturned head of a great dragon.
This place was the legendary Sunset Valley.
At the peak of Sunset Valley, an old man faced the morning sun as he played a zither. The sound of the zither was like sobbing, as if it were mourning for something.
Behind the zither-playing old man, a girl of ten or so years sat with her hands wrapped around her legs. She gazed vacantly at the newly born, morning sun.
She truly was gazing vacantly. Her indifferent countenance held no trace of emotion. She seemed somewhat pitiful. Regardless of how gentle the morning light was, it was still harsh on the eyes. However, what was even more miraculous was that she stared with her eyes wide open directly at the sun. Not to even mention any pain or aching, she did not even squint her eyes.
”Chen Changsheng's skill in medicine is truly exquisite. We don't even need to discuss Xu Yourong. In addition, their reaction was too fast. Last night, the Garden of Zhou failed to fall into chaos.”
The zither-playing old man walked over to the girl's side and said, ”My lady, the little wolf and Chen Changsheng are together right now. Let's go and kill them first.”
The old man said this very matter-of-factly, as if to signify that he would certainly be able to kill Chen Changsheng and Zhexiu if he wanted to.
Only Ethereal Opening cultivators could enter the Garden of Zhou. In other words, no matter how strong this old man was, he could not be more than the peak level of Ethereal Opening. Chen Changsheng was already at the upper level of Ethereal Opening. Although Zhexiu was only at the initial stage, his astonishing bloodline talent and the battle prowess he honed on the snowy plains meant that his true power was not far from the upper level. So where did this old man's confidence come from?
The little girl continued to wrap her arms around her legs and stare vacantly at the red light of the morning sun. She did not give any sort of reply to the question that came from the zither-playing old man.
Her lack of response was an indication of her disapproval. Silence had never signified a tacit agreement. Whenever the lady acted, it was always in a very upfront fashion. The old man understood this point very well and said admonishingly, ”In accordance with the military advisor's plan, we were to avail ourselves of the chaos in the garden last night to kill the human cultivators. Since no chaos occurred, we should be moving on to the next stage of the plan.”
The girl's expression was cold and her gaze seemed rather dull. As she stared into the rising sun, she said, ”I want to kill her.”
The old man knew what 'her' the lady referred to. The lady had risked her invaluable body in such a dangerous place as he Garden of Zhou for the sole purpose of killing that human woman. The old man continued to admonish her. ”Xu Yourong is no normal human……”
He had narrowly avoided the words that were the absolutely taboo for this girl. He could not help but still be afraid, and it was only after he composed himself that he continued, ”……even if she consumed most of her true essence using the Sacred Light technique last night, killing her still would not be good. According to the military advisor's arrangements, we should first kill the other people first, then kill Xu. Only in this way can we avoid any mishaps.”
With the two words 'military advisor', the girl descended into silence. However, after a long period of thought, she still shook her head and said, ”I want to kill her.”