Chapter 1055: Who got the secret letters? (2/2)
“No good…” Gu Qishao looked blankly towards Long Feiye. “Poison lass has been exposed…”
Now Bai Yanqing knew of the Phoenix energy and their dual cultivation. Long Feiye looked at Han Yunxi, who looked dazedly back and even felt afraid in hindsight.
“The worst thing is...all of our secret missives have been exposed,” Han Yunxi murmured. By now it didn’t even matter that her own matters were revealed. What was the deal with Phoenix energy? Could she still dual cultivate with Long Feiye after this? Was it the cause of their cultivation failing before?
The reply they’d gotten was that dual cultivation could be continued, but they tried it once and failed. It was obvious that Bai Yanqing had been tricking them, but what were his motives? Right now, Long Feiye was harboring serious internal injuries while Han Yunxi had a mysterious power. Any mistakes on their part could ruin them utterly! If they hadn’t chosen to delay the northern expedition and head over here, they’d still be dancing to Bai Yanqing’s drumbeats or sending him even more secrets.
Long Feiye had special messengers in charge of processing his letters, but that didn’t mean his agents covered all of Celestial Mountain!
Hearing Han Yunxi mention the missives, Chu Xifeng quickly fished out one envelope from his sleeves. It had long been soaked through with blood.
“Master, the letter...this subordinate caught this one.”
Long Feiye took the letter out of its bloody envelope and recognized it as his final message to Celestial Mountain announcing their trip here. That means Bai Yanqing and Heretical Sword Sect don’t know we’re coming?
Chu Xifeng had been propping his body up from the ground to answer Long Feiye’s questions. Now his arms gave out as he collapsed against the dirt. At last, Han Yunxi realized that his wounds were serious too. Long Feiye personally helped him into a sitting position and barked out, “Xu Donglin, what are you spacing out for?”
Xu Donglin finally hurried back to sit next to Chu Xifeng and prop him up. Long Feiye stared at Chu Xifeng coldly as his handsome brows creased. “How did you get off the mountain?”
He had already punished Chu Xifeng by stripping him of his martial arts as a way of killing the chicken to warn the monkeys, then sent him to Celestial Mountain. Although he was demoted from his rank as head of the shadow guards, he didn’t suffer any torment on the peak. Most of Long Feiye’s shadow guards were candidates selected from Celestial Mountain Sword Sect. Even the exceptions were sent here for training.
There was a secreting training area for them on the peak that was under the direct jurisdiction of the shadow guards’ head commander. Long Feiye had no time to personally overlook them and Chu Xifeng was an excellent head commander who treated his charges fairly. There was no way any of them would kick him while he was down. Moreover, Xu Donglin had succeeded to the post of head commander after Chu Xifeng. With his protection, who would dare to mistreat Chu Xifeng?
In other words, Long Feiye’s decision to send Chu Xifeng here was already an exceptional mercy. Otherwise, someone like him would have a life worse than death after being made a living example for the rest. Long Feiye’s question also reminded Han Yunxi that Chu Xifeng had been staying at the peak this entire time. It was a shadow guard that sent him up there, so how did he escape to the base? Ascending and descending the mountains here was extremely difficult. She had a deep impression of the journey from her last trip here. Unless one had ample lightness techniques, it was practically impossible to descend the mountain, much less under the watch of Heretical Sword Sect.
That’s right. How did Chu Xifeng, who didn’t know any martial arts, manage to make it this far? If a shadow guard helped him down, he would have sent us a letter ages ago. There was no need for Chu Xifeng to wait here alone.
Chu Xifeng’s ashen face remained cool as he replied. “Master, this subordinate hid for a long time at the mountain peak until it was completely covered in snow. Then...then this subordinate rolled all the way down. The secret letter was stolen by this subordinate after I made it to the base and saw the messenger eagle.”
The eagles that flew to the peak of Celestial Mountain differed from those that delivered letters to its base, so the original bird had been stuck here waiting. If Chu Xifeng hadn’t eaten that bird to fill his stomach, he never would have lasted until spring. His legs were crippled and his hands useless, so how could it have been that easy to survive?
In a flash, everyone fell silent except for the sound of Xu Donglin sniffling.
Ice and snow would have blocked the paths and built upon each other to form thicker layers. Although it was impossible to find a way up Celestial Mountain in the winter, there were ways to get down using a pathway on the western flank. It was an extremely precipitous path, impossible to use in the warmer seasons but...acceptable as a slide when covered in snow.
But no one had ever tried it because it invited death nine times out of ten!
No wonder...no wonder Chu Xifeng was covered in wounds, left with shattered leg bones, and even broken hands. No wonder none of the Heretical Sword Sect members had discovered him. Han Yunxi couldn’t help glancing towards the peak of Celestial Mountain. She couldn’t begin to imagine what Chu Xifeng had suffered on his way down or how many times he’d had a brush with death.
In the stillness, Chu Xifeng darted a look at Han Yunxi before lowering his head again. “Master...this subordinate--this subordinate would like to beg master to remember this subordinate’s contributions, and have them be merits to pay for past transgressions.”
Before Long Feiye could answer, Han Yunxi exclaimed, “Mingxiang, what are you doing? Hurry and bring over the medical kit!”
Baili Mingxiang recovered her wits and quickly took off the medical bag from her shoulders. Gu Beiyue had handed it to her before their departure.
“Long Feiye, give a hand and flip him over so he’s lying down!” Han Yunxi said next.
Chu Xifeng felt a throb of fear. How could he allow his own master to wait on him after serving him all these years? He was still trying to decide on what to do when Long Feiye grabbed his arm…
1. Xu Donglin specifically says 老大 laoda, or “number one, eldest one, big boss, leader,” etc. here. He’s referring to Chu Xifeng as his elder, but it doesn’t feel appropriate to call him “leader” or “boss” here when LFY’s already demoted him so I went with police-styled lingo.
2. This is the sword sect master, LFY’s teacher whose full name is Li Jianxian.
3. This is the guy who was dueling LFY during the Celestial Mountain arc and got his arms chopped off just to drag out the fight and make LFY enter deviation.
4. ]I believe this is the master of the one-armed blacksmith and his bone-collecting wife, aka the one “decent guy” (in LFY’s opinion) of Heretical Sword Sect.