Qin Jiuye felt as though she were screaming, but in reality, she made no sound. Every scrap of air in her lungs had been squeezed dry by this endless, desperate flight. Each time she opened her mouth, all that emerged was the ragged, uneven sound of her own gasping breath.
Freshly grown reeds brushed against her face and limbs, stinging and itching. She stumbled through the uneven tidal flats, her vision filled with flying mud and startled crabs scurrying in all directions, until she plunged headlong into a thicket of waist-high shrubs.
The low whinnying of horses and the restless thud of hooves reached her ears. These were the mounts used by the Lingxiao Sect to maintain their prestige—every one of them a spirited stallion, currently without saddle or bridle. Li Qiao did not care. He picked the sturdiest-looking one and vaulted onto its back in a single motion. With one hand gripping the mane, he hoisted Qin Jiuye up before him. He squeezed his legs against the horse’s flanks, and the untamed jujube-red stallion instantly reared its front hooves high into the air.
Qin Jiuye felt the world spin. Instinctively, she clung to the horse’s neck, closing her eyes and pressing her body flat.
She could feel the youth’s body pressing her firmly against the horse’s back. He gave a low shout to urge the horse forward, the sound vibrating through his chest and into her back, making her entire being tremble in resonance.
With a heavy slap to its haunch, the jujube-red horse broke into a wild gallop.
Not far away, Zhuiyun, who was embroiled in the chaotic brawl, seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He managed to spare a glance for the horse outside the fray, immediately disengaging from Kongyin’s formation to give chase.
"Horse-stealing thief! Don't you run!"
Qin Jiuye was struck with panic. She wanted to turn back and explain to Zhuiyun that she was merely borrowing the horse in an emergency and wasn't a thief—that it was all a misunderstanding. But as soon as she tried to speak, she found herself being tossed about so violently on the horse's back that she couldn't utter a coherent word.
Was this how people in the martial world truly rode horses? The journey she had taken from the Governor’s manor to the Su residence that day couldn't even be called riding; at most, it was a leisurely stroll.
Her heart was full of misery as she allowed the youth behind her to "kidnap" her in a frantic dash along the lakeshore.
The tidal flats were flooded with knee-deep water from the rising tide. The spirited stallion, sensing the pursuit behind it, seemed to tap into its latent potential. It raised its hooves and tore through the water, horse and riders kicking up a massive spray. The cool lake water felt like shattered jade, its fragments turning into countless droplets that pelted Qin Jiuye’s face, making it nearly impossible for her to keep her eyes open.
As the initial terror and chaos began to fade, she actually found herself dazing off amidst the jolting confusion.
The rhythmic bouncing on the horse's back caused her vision to jerk up, down, left, and right. In this inverted, chaotic world, the only things that remained steady and unmoving were the distant night sky studded with stars and the youth’s faint, youthful jawline.
There wasn't a trace of panic or helplessness on his face. This frantic escape seemed like nothing more than a daily routine to him, whereas to her, it felt as long as several winters spent without food or charcoal.
Looking at it this way, that cramped, narrow courtyard really couldn't contain him.
This vast, boundless, and murderous martial world was where he truly belonged.
The moonlight was like unfurled gauze and silk, stretching across the level earth.
Before she knew it, they had burst out of the wetlands. The horse's hooves left the mud and struck solid ground, the sound becoming crisp and clear. Behind them, Zhuiyun’s voice could still be heard, cursing and pursuing them relentlessly.
Qin Jiuye was being jolted into a daze, swaying precariously, when she looked up to see the road ahead coming to an end. In the darkness, the black gates of Jiugao City stood tall and imposing, the crossbow platforms on the walls faintly visible under the light of eternal torches.
That was the city’s archer camp. If anyone approached the battlements at night and ignored the warnings, they would be riddled with arrows in an instant.
However, the youth showed no intention of slowing down. Instead, he gripped the horse tighter, charging straight toward the closed gates behind the moat.
Qin Jiuye managed to find her voice, only to realize her throat was tight and her words trembled with the violent jolting.
"W-what are you doing? There’s no road ahead!"
The youth’s chest, thumping wildly from the exertion, pressed against her back like a war drum being beaten frantically, refusing to stop until the city was taken.
"Scaling the wall."
His words had barely dissipated in the wind when, in the next moment, Qin Jiuye felt a massive force lift her by the waist, carrying her straight toward the night sky.
Qin Jiuye had never experienced anything like this in her life.
In the past, the highest and most dangerous places she had visited were the cliffs where poisonous herbs grew. It took her a day to climb up and another day to climb down; every step required a long breath, and every ten feet of ascent left her drenched in sweat.
But now, in the space of a single breath, she had leaped over the dark moat rumored to hide water monsters and was heading straight up the tallest city wall in Jiaozhou.
Her feet left the galloping stallion, briefly escaping the dust-filled ground, soaring toward the starlight and the bright moon above.
She could see the ancient, mottled city walls receding rapidly beneath her feet. The spears of the night watchmen glinted coldly under the torchlight. A night hawk tucked its wings and flew alongside her for a moment before turning away and vanishing into the night.
They were too fast. So fast that the dust kicked up from the wall barely had time to land on her; so fast that the night watchmen’s closed eyelids hadn't even opened; so fast that the hawk abandoned its hunt out of fear.
Qin Jiuye closed her eyes.
The wind howled past her ears. Unlike the time Jiang Xin'er had carried her over the wall of the Hall of Listening Winds, everything this time felt accelerated.
She could feel the tension in the youth’s body as he exerted force to leap. She rose with him to the apex, her heart skipping a beat during that moment of weightlessness. As they descended, every strand of her hair flew upward, only to settle back into place the moment his feet touched the ground.
Her hands instinctively gripped the fabric of his clothes at his chest. He seemed to sense it, his low voice drifting through the wind.
"Is Sister afraid of heights?"
Qin Jiuye shook her head, then realized he couldn't see her, so she answered with a raspy voice.
"I'm not."
"Then you can open your eyes."
The arm around her waist slowly loosened. Qin Jiuye lowered her head and slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was the unique, rough texture of the Jiugao city walls. The rammed earth and stones, mixed with ginger-stones, bore the marks of time’s erosion. Her somewhat weak feet were planted on the very edge of a stone block. A little further forward was the vertical drop of the city wall, like a precipice.
They were currently standing atop the roof of a protruding crossbow turret. The shadows of the night watchmen flickered beneath them. The whistling night wind carried the scent of oil from the burning torches, masking their voices and scent alike.
Li Qiao had timed their landing for the moment the turret guard turned into a blind spot. Right now, the soldiers changing shifts were gathered together, whispering about something, occasionally glancing at the exceptionally clear night sky. They passed through her field of vision in a flash; as they turned, the red tassels on their spears almost brushed against the soles of her feet.
Qin Jiuye instinctively held her breath and tried to step back, forgetting that there was hardly any room to move. Her already weak feet missed their mark, and her body began to wobble.
In the next instant, the youth behind her caught her firmly and gently placed her in a more secure spot.
Qin Jiuye looked down and saw that her feet were resting on his boots.
He stood very steadily, his frame like the well-proportioned plantains in the Hall of Listening Winds—not as straight as a tree, but with a bit more suppleness. With her back against him, the last trace of panic in her heart gradually faded.
Qin Jiuye swallowed hard. When she looked up again, she froze.
She saw the scenery that faced this stone city day and night.
The world was like a quietly opened vanity case. The vast, emerald ripples of Lixin Lake were a polished glass mirror laid within it, while the night sky was like a magic carpet draped over it, adorned with jewels and pearls. The ships that seemed massive and unapproachable during the day now looked like specks of dust floating on that precious mirror. The world stretched out before her, seemingly without borders or outlines.
Qin Jiuye stared blankly at everything before her, almost forgetting the terror of the flight and her current predicament, until a sharp gust of wind blew, lifting the hem of her trousers high.
Her heart tightened, and she instinctively leaned back further.
She was already very close to him, but she felt it wasn't close enough. She pressed against him with all her might, simply because the wall was so steep, and she felt that if she leaned out even a little more, she might be discovered by the patrolling soldiers below.
If there was ever a moment that made her feel that the closer she was to him, the safer she felt, it was this one.
Li Qiao stared at the small portion of her profile visible behind the stray hairs near her ear. After a long moment, he withdrew his gaze and asked in a low voice.
"Does Sister like the view here?"
"I do." She had never been so certain of anything. After saying those words, she lowered her head with a touch of emotion. "So this is what the world looks like from up high."
It wasn't that she disliked high places; she simply had never had the opportunity to climb high and look far. The first half of her life had been spent crawling among low, humble houses. Even climbing the old mulberry tree in the broken courtyard behind the alleys of the Four-Sub-Streets felt like a luxury, let alone the palaces and pavilions that only those of noble status could ascend. Even when she went to the edges of cliffs, her eyes saw only the herbs that could be exchanged for silver; they had never held any more of the scenery.
But the view from the heights was so vast. It was as if she could see to the end of the world in a single glance, yet also see the infinite beyond what the eye could reach.
The youth seemed to like her answer. Thinking of something, he leaned closer and pressed further.
"Is Jiang Xin'er's skill better, or is mine?"
Hearing this, Qin Jiuye couldn't help but turn to look at him.
He usually presented himself as obedient and demure, rarely speaking with such a natural, vivid tone. At this moment, he seemed like a most ordinary young man, eagerly awaiting her praise—no different from a shepherd boy returning from the village entrance, reporting that not a single sheep was missing.
Qin Jiuye thought about it carefully and answered truthfully.
"She is steadier, but you are faster."
However, he was clearly unsatisfied with her assessment. He analyzed it for her, word by word.
"That day, she only took you over a courtyard wall; it was no different from walking on flat ground. I brought you up the city walls of Jiugao. These walls are considered treacherous even across all of Longshu."
The walls of the Hall of Listening Winds were at least taller than a person; surely they weren't the same as flat ground?
Qin Jiuye found it a bit amusing, but she ultimately nodded seriously.
"You have a point. So, you are indeed more impressive."
Light instantly flooded the youth’s light-brown eyes. His smile was like an inexhaustible spring, nearly overflowing from the depths of his pupils.
He was still regulating his breathing. The previous frantic exertion had sent the blood racing through his entire body. In the high altitude of the summer night, the scent of the wind swirled around him, carrying an indescribable restlessness and heat.
Something was hidden within it.
"If Sister likes it, I can take you anywhere you want to go."
Despite having a premonition, Qin Jiuye was still stunned.
She thought it was because of what he said, and also because of the expression on his face when he said it.
Compared to his current expression, the way he had curled his lips in the past couldn't even be called a smile. It turned out a youth’s smile was so clear and passionate, like the intoxicating Dalu Brew in the Hall of Listening Winds that night, or the boundless azure lake water under the scorching sun.
He smiled so beautifully. For a moment, she almost believed this was his true self.
Qin Jiuye smiled as well.
Even though she told herself he was just saying it, who wouldn't want to smile back at such a vivid and bright young face?
"If I said I wanted to go to the golden roof of the Imperial Palace, the peak of the northernmost snowy mountains, or the hidden caves of the immortal islands in the Southern Seas, could you take me there too?"
Her words carried a hint of a joke. She wasn't usually the type of person to joke with others.
"The golden roof and the snowy mountains require the right timing. I haven't been to the Southern Seas; you can wait for me to inquire about them first..."
He answered very seriously, and he wasn't the type of person who would normally answer such a question so earnestly.
Why hadn't she noticed before that he seemed a bit stubborn? She had only spoken casually; how could someone as clever as him not see that?
He was still looking at her, as if as long as she nodded, he really would go and inquire about those places no one had ever visited, carving out a path for her with his own hands.
But she eventually lowered her head. When she looked up again, her smile had faded considerably.
"By the time you find out, I'm afraid my hair will already be white."
Not far away, Zhuiyun, having failed in his pursuit, lingered outside the moat for a while before leading his horse away. Perhaps he had returned to the lake to join the brawl. The patrolling soldiers on the turret were changing shifts.
Qin Jiuye knew that her "moment of stolen pleasure" had to end.
She gently tugged the youth’s hand and whispered.
"Let's go."
The vivid expressions gradually faded from the youth’s face. In an instant, he returned to his usual silent and obedient self, then carefully led her down from the city wall.
Between the dirt paths overgrown with wild grass outside the city, two figures moved forward in silence, one following the other.
Emerging from a low thicket of trees, Qin Jiuye stood still and looked around. Finally, she was the first to break the silence.
"This place isn't far from the small path by the lake. Once those people have gone far enough, we'll go find a place to stay..."
She stopped mid-sentence, suddenly sensing something was wrong. When she turned her head, she saw Li Qiao staring ahead, his entire body tense.
Qin Jiuye followed his gaze into the distance. On the shallow beach near the water stood a withered willow tree. Leaning against the tree was a figure in white.
It was a young woman, her skin as white as snow, with slender eyebrows and red lips. Her dark hair fell loosely over her shoulders, making her exposed neck look like congealed fat. She wore a snow-satin *guiyi* robe of pure white without a single blemish, save for a pair of silk-wrapped embroidered shoes so red they looked as if they were dripping blood. This stark white attire from head to toe instinctively drew one's gaze to those crimson lips and blood-colored feet.
She was very quiet—so quiet that she seemed no different from the withered tree behind her. Had it not been for Li Qiao’s alertness, Qin Jiuye wouldn't have noticed anyone was there at all.
But the aura she radiated now was so dangerous that even an ordinary person like Qin Jiuye felt a chill run down her spine, making her shudder.
In the next moment, the woman’s red lips parted slightly, her voice as enchanting as a ghost's whisper.
"Those old fogies really weren't much to look at. I thought tonight’s wind would be blown in vain, but I didn't expect such an accidental harvest."
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
九皋 | Jiugao | The name of the city.
凌霄派 | Lingxiao Sect | A prominent martial arts sect.
璃心湖 | Lixin Lake | "Glass-Heart Lake," a large lake near Jiugao.
阿姊 | Sister / A-zi | A respectful/intimate term for an older sister or older female peer.
龙枢 | Longshu | Likely the name of the empire or region.
袿衣 | Guiyi | A traditional Chinese robe/gown with wide sleeves.
礓石 | Jiang-stone | A type of stone or concrete-like material used in ancient construction.
弩台 | Crossbow platform | A defensive turret or platform on a city wall.
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