The young Protector galloped his horse along the desolate path outside the city.
The tall shadows of the blood beech trees swayed gently in the wind on either side of the wilderness track. Light and shadow flickered across him in a blur, making his eyes ache.
The exhaustion accumulated over several days erupted at this moment. He felt a dull throb in his head as distant memories from the beginning of summer broke through the soil of his mind once more, rushing toward him alongside that frantically growing greenery.
It had been a morning much like this one, following a violent storm, when he had unknowingly walked into the first nightmare of his life.
That was the third year after he had moved to Jiugao with his father.
He had fully adapted to life there, yet he still disliked that vast, lonely estate—he had disliked it from the very first day they moved in.
His gloomy father and his gravely ill mother made the courtyard feel even more oppressive. The humid, sweltering air of early summer often made him feel suffocated, but he did not dare show a hint of it in front of his younger brother, fearing he would trigger the boy’s sensitive and fragile spirit and bring about a bout of weeping that would not subside for a long time.
Later, his mother’s illness grew severe. Steward Liu was often away seeking medicine, his figure rarely seen. After the start of summer, the Longshu River flooded its banks, and his father was stationed outside Jiugao for three consecutive months to oversee the construction of embankments and water control. The household tutor was merely going through the motions, often reading himself to sleep during lessons. Frequently, when the day’s lessons ended and he turned around, he would find his younger brother already gone, having slipped out of the estate alone.
His brother had been raised by their mother’s side since childhood and had never undergone the strict discipline of a so-called great family. He loved to weave through the narrow, complex alleys of Jiugao, which were as tangled as a bird’s entrails. He, however, never dared to overstep by a single pace; guarding his identity as the eldest son, he would stand on the muddy path of the back alley and wait for his brother’s return.
He still remembered that it was the most ordinary of days during Jiugao’s long summer.
The air before the storm was stagnant and heavy. His six-year-old brother had once again lost his temper with the tutor. After having his palms caned, the boy actually fled the city alone. Seeing the weather turning foul, Auntie Huaiyu personally led people out of the city to find him. Before leaving, she took his hand and urged him three times: no matter what happened, he must not open the door to his mother’s courtyard without permission; she would return as quickly as possible before sunset.
However, Auntie Huaiyu never did make it back in time.
Shortly after that afternoon, black clouds drifted in from afar and gathered rapidly, weaving a heavy curtain of water over the entirety of Jiugao. The wind and torrential rain raged all night, shredding all sound between heaven and earth.
He sat alone at the desk in his room, copying political essays over and over again. The characters flowed from the tip of his brush, but not a drop of ink remained in his heart. Before his eyes, he saw images of the river embankments bursting, then his brother’s corpse lying in the wilderness, then himself, having lost all his kin, guarding an empty house alone.
Finally, dawn broke, and the wind and rain gradually subsided.
He set down his brush with trembling hands and waited in his room for a while longer. Eventually, he made his decision. Taking advantage of the night servant dozing off, he walked toward the back courtyard alone.
The wind and rain had blown away his pride as the eldest son of the Qiu family. On this unsettling and hesitant morning, he only wanted to see his mother, even if it was just a distant glance.
The courtyard after the rain was deathly silent. A massive bronze lock hung on the courtyard gate, serving as Shi Huaiyu’s silent warning.
He hesitated. But the moment before he turned to leave, he inadvertently caught sight of the blood beech tree in the courtyard, its crown snapped off.
How could that tree have broken? Was it struck by lightning last night, or snapped by the wind? Had the fallen trunk smashed the roof or injured his mother?
He panicked. His first instinct was not to call for help, but to fetch the wooden ladder hidden nearby.
It was the ladder he and his brother used to climb the eaves to look at swallows' nests. Propped against the outer wall of the back courtyard, it just barely reached the top. He stepped up the ladder one rung at a time until he reached the wall, the grey stone bricks swaying before his eyes.
*Creak... creak...*
First, he heard a strange sound, like hemp rope tightening or an old door hinge groaning.
Stepping onto the final rung, his eyes finally cleared the top of the wall, looking toward the blood beech tree in the courtyard.
The broken crown of the tree lay quietly on the ground. In its place, something was suspended from the branches, swaying *creak, creak* in the wind.
His mother hung from the tree with her back to him, her long hair disheveled. Heavy iron chains were fastened to her hands and feet; the half that had been wrenched apart swayed back and forth. The wind blew toward him, carrying a damp, metallic scent of rust and blood. In the next moment, the corpse was blown by the wind, slowly turning around.
His foot slipped, and he fell from the ladder.
Many years had passed, and he no longer remembered where he had landed, how that day had ended, or the various details of his mother’s funeral. He only remembered the scent he smelled and the sight he saw the moment he crested that courtyard wall.
He realized, in a daze, that Auntie Huaiyu seemed to have anticipated what might happen long ago, which was why she had issued such a warning.
But he never questioned Shi Huaiyu. Perhaps it was because he vaguely knew that the secret she hadn't spoken was behind that locked gate, and at that time, he lacked the courage to push it open himself.
At first, he blamed everything on the storm. After all, the wind was so strong and the rain so fierce; it was the storm that had delayed his steps, preventing him from going to that courtyard sooner to check on his mother, leading him to stumble upon the worst possible scene.
But when he later recalled those chaotic and dark years of his childhood, the truth about his mother had always been locked in that courtyard. It was his own cowardice, his evasion, or his willingness to just drift along that caused him to miss the chance to face it all properly.
Until many years later, when he was already able to enter and exit various scenes of life and death with a heart as still as water and a face as calm as a lake. Yet, whenever a victim was severely mutilated or a corpse broken, and the coroner cautiously asked the relatives if they wished to see the deceased one last time, the final memory of his mother would surge out uncontrollably.
He had lost his mother forever.
From that day on, the mother he remembered was only that corpse hanging from the blood beech tree. The total annihilation of his beautiful past memories had utterly robbed him of his mother. The rest of his life was like the Qiu estate after that storm: after affection withered overnight, only cold, unavoidable responsibility remained.
It was also from that day that he understood that so-called "impermanence" was merely the truth revealed by fate when one was completely off guard.
Therefore, if one did not wish to be toyed with again, the only thing to do was to face the hesitation, crush the darkness, and uncover the truth oneself before the storm arrived.
Whether leading troops in conquest or investigating cases as a Protector over these years, he had always acted this way.
Since he left Jiugao as a youth, similar incidents had never happened again.
He thought he had become skilled at pushing open many doors, and no matter what truth was to be investigated, his heart would no longer be stirred.
His pounding heart pushed blood toward his temples, which felt ready to explode. Qiu Ling abruptly reined in his horse and came to a stop, gasping as he pressed a hand to his brow.
It had been a long time since he had experienced such high physical and mental tension. He was not sure if he could still make accurate judgments under these circumstances.
The faint hoofprints on the path disappeared here. The road seemed to have reached its end; there was nothing around him but swaying shadows of trees.
Just then, a white speck suddenly poked its head out from the thick shade in the distance and quickly retracted. Though it was only for an instant, it did not escape his eyes.
Qiu Ling flipped off his horse. After a brief investigation, he discovered traces that had been intentionally concealed. He silently approached the distant patch of weeds and finally, after a hundred paces, saw the small white horse hidden under a tree.
It was Lu Zican’s mount. Seeing him, it wagged its tail. He immediately saw the darkened bloodstains on the saddle, and his heart skipped a beat.
The little white horse, completely oblivious, wiggled its rear and turned aside, revealing a small wooden hut at the end of the wild grass.
The scent of woodsmoke drifted faintly from a hole in the window. He raised his sword and moved forward, crouching as he approached step by step.
From inside the half-closed brushwood door, he could vaguely hear the sound of someone speaking, but the voice soon dropped and faded into silence.
Countless strange conjectures flashed through his aching, heavy head, and along with the sound of a heavy object hitting the floor, they merged into a distant memory.
The locked courtyard gate of his childhood appeared before his eyes once more. Reason turned to ash at this moment. Before he could think through any strategy, the Jitian Sword was out of its sheath. A white light flashed, and his killing intent overflowed the moment he witnessed the bare-chested youth leaning over the woman.
He was going to kill him.
Amidst a thunderous crash, Qin Jiuye turned her head in shock. She had thought the people from the First Villa under Heaven had caught up, and her heart was in her throat. The moment she heard the newcomer’s voice, she felt a flash of joy, but then she realized the current situation and broke into a cold sweat of anxiety.
"Protector, do not be impulsive! It is not what you think..."
She was still half-leaning in the youth’s arms. At this moment, it would have been better if she hadn't spoken; the moment she did, Qiu Ling felt his fury become even harder to control.
His gaze slid from the blood at the corner of the youth’s mouth to the arm tightly holding the woman, finally resting on the woman’s blood-spattered arm. The long sword in his hand trembled with killing intent.
The Sect Master of Kunxu lived beyond the mundane world; the Kunxu Sword Style was reclusive and refined, and every disciple of Kunxu possessed a celestial air, with Lord Duanyu being the foremost among them. Yet, in the end, if blinded by jealousy and hatred, he was no different from an ordinary man.
He wanted to pierce the youth’s beautiful, hypocritical skin with a single thrust, treating it as exorcising a demon. But the other party "held" the woman so despicably that he was forced to stop abruptly at the last moment.
"The greatest mistake I made was showing you tolerance time and again. The night you escaped from Baoshen Pavilion, I should have killed you."
It was over. The part she feared most—the settling of old scores—was beginning. Qin Jiuye hurriedly broke free from the youth’s embrace and pointed to the overturned medicine pot on the ground to explain.
"He was being hunted by the First Villa under Heaven and was severely injured. I did this to save him..."
Feeding him blood to save him? What kind of illness or calamity required feeding on blood?
Qin Jiuye’s voice stopped abruptly, but the habitually sharp-minded Protector had already guessed everything in an instant. He swung his long sword, forcing the youth away from her side.
"You indeed have a problem. It seems the prefectural dungeon cannot hold you; I’ll have Zican forge another iron cage."
Li Qiao’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
He could escape a prison like the First Villa under Heaven; how could he allow this academy-bred scion of a noble family to lock him in an iron cage?
"Why don't you guess which is faster: the hands and feet of your lapdogs, or the blade in my hand?"
"No need to guess. I shall test it for them right now."
As soon as Qiu Ling finished speaking, the Jitian Sword let out a clear whistle, transforming into a silver dragon as it lunged toward Li Qiao.
At this moment, he could no longer see the wounds on the other’s body, nor did he remember the fairness and ethics of a martial arts duel. The youth refused to show even a hint of weakness. Forcing his body to dodge, the blood-stained Qingwu Blade whistled out, meeting the attack head-on without evasion. Blade and sword clashed, and the soaring killing intent instantly shattered the nearest mountain pillar.
The already precarious wooden hut was made even worse. Blade light followed sword shadows as they whistled past. The roof, already half-collapsed, was completely blown off. Wood chips, straw, and lime flew in all directions, as tragic as a battlefield. Qin Jiuye scurried about with her head in her hands, barely finding a corner to hide in. Watching the chaotic scene before her, she felt a sense of absurdity, as if her soul had left her body.
Had things developed to this point by luck or misfortune?
With a loud *bang*, the only remaining brushwood door flew eight yards away before finally hitting the ground. The little white horse nearby continued to pace leisurely, displaying the composure expected of a warhorse.
It couldn't be blamed. The one who came was "one of their own"; even if the world turned upside down, it wouldn't give a warning.
But if it wasn't the horse's fault, was it hers? Who had she provoked? She was helping someone investigate a case while helping another clear his name. How did helping people end up with her being the one suffering?
Crouching to dodge a wooden beam flying over her head, Qin Jiuye’s gaze fell on a lopsided, broken basket nearby. From somewhere, a surge of energy rose within her. She stepped forward, grabbed the broken basket, and threw it with all her might at the two men in the midst of their melee.
The broken basket was instantly sliced to pieces. The bitter herbs inside pitter-pattered out, showering the swordsman and the bladesman, making the two men, who were seeing red, look indescribably pathetic.
The moment the two paused, the woman in the corner leaped up. Taking advantage of her small stature, she squeezed between them and stood firm, pressing her hands against both their chests, refusing to move even if it meant her death.
The youth, afraid of hurting her, raised his right hand to protect her head and barked in a low voice.
"Sister, move!"
How could Qin Jiuye dare to move? She closed her eyes, trying not to look at the two lethal weapons hanging over her head.
"Your heavy injuries haven't healed! Do you not want your life anymore?!"
Even at a time like this, she actually had the heart to care about the youth’s body?
Qiu Ling’s eyes, usually gentle, were stained red with killing intent. He poured ten parts of his strength into his wrist, pressing forward like a wall. The youth was equally unyielding, leaning against her like a mountain. The Jitian Sword and the Qingwu Blade were locked edge-to-edge, metal biting metal. The sound of their friction was terrifying. She stood between them, stretched to her limit, her thin shoulders trembling from the exertion like a piece of tattered roofing that could neither block the wind nor the rain. She didn't know how much longer she could hold on.
"San-lang promised me!" Qin Jiuye gasped, struggling to turn her head toward the Lord Duanyu, who was known for his rationality. "San-lang promised me before that he would bring the person back to the city for questioning. Why are you trying to execute him on the spot without even asking a single question?"
"What did you call him?" Li Qiao’s voice suddenly rang out from the other side, carrying three parts confusion and seven parts fury. Seeing that she didn't answer, he pressed on relentlessly, "What did you just call him?"
"Didn't you hear it all?" Qiu Ling spoke coldly, enunciating every word. "You are a suspect. She is merely helping me bring you to justice. Do not flatter yourself."
These words struck the other’s sore spot. How could the youth endure it? His gaze became as fierce as a wolf’s.
"Since I've already started today, one more won't make a difference."
The wounds that had just been treated instantly burst with blood. Li Qiao was completely oblivious to it, the Qingwu Blade in his hand instantly pressing the Jitian Sword down an inch.
What was the fastest and most effective way to provoke a physician in this world?
It wasn't smashing her medicine bowl, nor was it insulting her medical skills. It was trashing the very body she had just treated right in front of her.
The string in her head snapped with a *pop*. Qin Jiuye felt as if a string of firecrackers had been lit deep inside her brain. She let out a furious roar toward the sky, her anger erupting from her throat in an instant.
"Are you two finished yet?! One is being chased for stealing a blade, the other has no results in his investigation! Do you think the people from the First Villa under Heaven will let this go? Do you think the thieves who smuggled the secret formula will let this go? The truth of the formula is unknown, Old Tang’s bones are not yet cold, and the true culprit is still at large, ready to stir up trouble again at any moment! What face do you have to be jumping around and making a scene here?! If you have so much excess strength, why don't you go duel that Di Mo instead? If I try to stop you today, Guoran Residence will never collect another cent of debt from this day forward!"
She vented all of this in one breath and then sat down on the ground in a huff.
The two men who had been fighting finally quieted down, though they were still breathing heavily and glaring at each other. The overturned woodpile on the ground was smoldering, and the small wooden hut was filled with the dust and smoke of a chaotic battle.
Her hand was still bleeding, and her clothes had been torn to shreds by the brambles on the road. Qiu Ling could not bear to look any longer. The veins on the back of his hand bulged, but in the end, he was the first to sheathe his sword.
Seeing this, the youth also took a step back, but he remained glued to the woman’s side, which made Qiu Ling feel as if he were being pricked by needles.
"For her sake, I will give you one chance. But before you are interrogated, you must look like a suspect."
Having said that, he took the horsewhip from his waist and wrapped it around his hand. Li Qiao didn't even spare him a glance, only slowly wiping the blood from his lips.
"I am willing to go with you because Sister wants me to. It has nothing to do with whether you give me a chance or not."
Qiu Ling sneered without speaking. He handed the horsewhip to Qin Jiuye, using the action to fulfill the other’s verbal bravado.
Qin Jiuye knew that now was not the time to be angry with these two, so she took the horsewhip from him. Without a word, Li Qiao sheathed the Qingwu Blade and put it back at his waist, haphazardly throwing on his blood-stained outer robe. He then extended his hands to Qin Jiuye, allowing her to put the "chains" on him.
The little white horse, which had been watching the excitement for a while, flicked its ears and looked toward the path behind them. Before long, Lu Zican arrived, panting as he urged his horse forward.
Although he had only been half a step behind when they set out, because his riding skills were not as refined as Qiu Ling’s and he was considerably heavier, he had only just arrived. He was initially delighted to see his mount, but when he saw the smoking, collapsed wooden hut, he was utterly dumbfounded.
There seemed to have been a wooden hut there originally, but now only a few pillars of varying lengths remained. The surrounding wasteland was scattered with various fragments of wooden boards sliced by sword and blade energy. He froze for a moment before running over quickly, stammering as he asked.
"W-what happened?"
Qiu Ling didn't speak, only signaling with his eyes for him to take the youth away.
All three of them were injured and disheveled, looking as if they had rolled down a mountain gully together. Lu Zican circled around them in a flurry, and when he finally looked at the youth with bound hands, his face was still full of wariness.
Even if the other party looked like he had only half a life left after being hacked, he didn't dare let his guard down. He stepped forward to check the horsewhip bound around the youth’s hands again. With a bit of selfishness, he called over his little white horse, intending to take the prisoner and leave first to give Miss Qin and his Protector some space to talk. To his surprise, the youth didn't budge.
"Wherever Sister is, I shall be."
If he wanted to escape, let alone a horsewhip, even the Bone-Piercing Chains of the First Villa under Heaven could not hold him.
Lu Zican laughed out of sheer anger.
"What? Miss Qin is staying with my Protector. Do you expect her to travel with a murderer like you..."
Before he could finish, the youth interrupted him with a smile.
"The dignified Lord Duanyu first took Sister to that deserted island, and now he finds excuses to have private contact with her in this wilderness. Is this the behavior of a true gentleman?"
"You—you are slandering him!"
Lu Zican’s beard shook with rage, but the other didn't even look at him.
Lu Zican had no choice but to look at Qiu Ling for direction. The latter nodded slightly. Only then did Lu Zican give up, but before they set off, he tore a piece of cloth from his hem to blindfold Li Qiao, checking it several times before starting the journey back.
Qiu Ling brought up the rear, Qin Jiuye was in the middle, and Lu Zican escorted Li Qiao, both riding the little white horse at the very front. The group wasn't large, but it felt strangely crowded. Carrying two men, the little white horse could not hide its dissatisfaction, defecating and passing gas all along the way, making a complete fool of itself. Qin Jiuye witnessed the whole thing but was in no mood to laugh. She used the time on the road to explain everything she had experienced since leaving Baishakou in detail. By the time the four people and three horses finally entered the city, she had just finished her account.
There were many more guards inside and outside the Donghe Gate. Passersby were in a hurry, and an invisible tension had already spread through this peaceful little city.
Qin Jiuye tightened her grip on the reins. The moment they turned the next street corner, she finally saw the lingering black smoke in the southern part of the city.
Crowds of onlookers had gathered in the nearby streets. Everyone watched from a distance, talking in low voices but not daring to step forward. Qin Jiuye followed their gaze, instinctively looking toward the end of the winding alley, then looked around.
This place seemed not far from Sitiaozi Street. She often came near here when she bought rice. The fire at Baoshen Pavilion was also not far away. Was all of this truly a coincidence?
"Is the place where the fire started in that alley?"
Hearing this, Lu Zican nodded and reined in his horse to slow down.
"That’s right. The fire at Tingfeng Hall wasn't large; the flames were already gone when we arrived. But this place burned fiercely. The fire came on strong, not like an ordinary accidental fire, but more like someone intentionally set it. Fortunately, the rain was heavy last night, so it didn't burn beyond this alley." He remembered something and looked toward Qiu Ling. "Looking at it now, the fire should be mostly extinguished, but the smoke and dust might not have dissipated yet. Does the Protector wish to go to the scene to take a look?"
Hearing this, Qiu Ling’s grip on the reins loosened. In the next moment, he felt a sharp pain in his palm. Looking down belatedly, he discovered that his palm had been rubbed raw at some point.
He had practiced martial arts since childhood, studied the sword at Kunxu, and later went to the battlefield. His palms and the webs of his thumbs were covered in a layer of calluses year-round. It took the kind of strength used to crush bones to grip the reins hard enough to end up like this.
It turned out that all along the way back to the city, he had been restraining his restless, out-of-control heart. It turned out he wasn't a piece of white jade without selfish desires, immune to fire and water; he simply hadn't met the person who could wear him down.
Qiu Ling slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the youth with bound hands.
Seeing this, Lu Zican understood instantly and patted his chest, promising.
"Don't worry, Protector. Miss Qin and I will be responsible for escorting this kid back to the estate and waiting for you to return for questioning."
So be it. For her, the priority right now was also to clear up the case of Tingfeng Hall.
As Qin Jiuye was thinking this, she was about to look away when her peripheral vision caught a somewhat familiar figure in the crowd, and she froze.
That person was pulling on a bailiff, wailing and saying something. It was the property broker who had previously shown her the courtyard and then chased her for several streets.
The broker took a break from his fussing and looked up. For a moment, he didn't recognize that the woman on the horse was the village girl who couldn't afford the money and had played ghost. He froze for a moment before reacting. Thinking of how he had been scared half to death, his anger flared. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to step forward to argue, but then he saw Lu Zican and Qiu Ling beside her. He immediately turned cowardly, glared at her fiercely for a long time, and then slunk away.
The broker had disappeared into the crowd, but Qin Jiuye remained where she was.
She stared blankly in the direction where the black smoke was rising, a strong and ominous premonition suddenly growing in her heart.
No way. There couldn't be such a coincidence in this world, could there?
"In front of that courtyard... is there a solitary stone lion?"
Qin Jiuye’s voice suddenly rang out. Hearing it, Lu Zican couldn't help but look back, his voice unable to hide his surprise.
"How did Miss Qin know? Could it be you've been near here before? I heard from the neighbors that the broken courtyard has been empty for some years, and no one can say for sure what the situation inside is like..."
As he spoke, he suddenly felt something was wrong. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the woman scrambling off her horse. Without even caring about her aching backside, she plunged into the alley.
He was startled and hadn't had time to shout when, in the next moment, there was a *snap*. The youth in front of him actually snapped the horsewhip on his hands by sheer force. With a drop of his shoulders and a hard elbow strike to Lu Zican’s ribs, the youth used the momentum to flip over and fly out, also disappearing into the alley.
"You brat, there really is something fishy!" Lu Zican cursed loudly. His twin blades were out of their sheaths in an instant, and he leaped off his horse. "Don't run if you have the guts! See how I deal with you!"
The area near Sitiaozi Street was a well-known slum in the south of the city. Because few people walked through that broken alley, both sides were piled with junk, making it even narrower. At the moment, it was crowded with bailiffs who had been deployed to put out the fire. Lu Zican’s stature was not an advantage, and he was holding two large blades. Although his shouts of "kill" were thunderous, he was already quite far behind when he reached the courtyard gate.
But the youth hadn't actually run away. He was just standing three or five paces away from the woman, who was slumped on the ground, looking utterly despondent.
In the next moment, a heart-wrenching cry escaped the woman’s mouth. She suddenly jumped up from the ground, completely ignoring that she had lost a shoe while running, and rushed toward the courtyard that was still emitting black smoke, one foot bare.
Lu Zican was startled. Before he could recover, Qiu Ling, who had followed behind, rushed past him like an arrow from a bow.
His hand was already extended, but at the moment he was about to touch her, he hesitated for a split second. In the next instant, the youth’s figure was a step ahead of him, grabbing the woman in an embrace.
"Sister, it’s going to collapse. It’s dangerous inside..."
"What do you know?! That’s my home! That’s my home!"
Qin Jiuye struggled with all her might. In her eyes, there was only that charred, unrecognizable courtyard wall.
On the other side of that wall was not some broken courtyard in the back alley of Sitiaozi Street; it was her future home.
It was the little home she had saved for by being frugal, which she had only ever dared to look at from a distance atop the wall, and which she hadn't even been able to walk into and look at properly. It had turned to ash in a single night. It was as if the heavens were telling her: this was the final conclusion of her unattainable, bumpy life.
Her actions fell into the eyes of the onlookers, and everyone stood aside, somewhat at a loss. After a long while, Lu Zican finally asked in a voice full of doubt and surprise.
"Could it be... this courtyard belongs to Miss Qin?"
Qin Jiuye, who had been struggling forward, finally froze. She sat slumped on the ground, and after a long time, she slowly raised her hand and pointed toward the charred area ahead.
"There... there should have been an old camphor tree..."
In the next moment, the brick wall in front of her collapsed with a roar, sending up a cloud of dust several yards high. Amidst the black ash, the charred old camphor tree slowly fell over, like a giant falling toward the rising sun.
The woman’s voice was drowned out by the massive roar. Her fingers dug into the soil, as if only by doing so could she support her own body.
Footsteps approached from behind. Someone wanted to pat her shoulder to comfort her, but the moment they touched her, she collapsed completely, just like that overburdened brick wall, falling to the ground with a *thud*.
The sun rose high, and the sky brightened again. Her eyes, which could not close due to grievance and resentment, stared straight at the sky. She wanted to question these thieving heavens: why did they have to work so hard to make things difficult for her, to bully her? There weren't many things she could afford to want. Was it so hard to give her a little bit of hope, a little bit of expectation?
Or was this the norm of life, and the hope she looked forward to was the true "impermanence"? She didn't want to follow these bullshit laws of the heavenly dao anymore. Who could take her away from here? Even if only for a moment...
Her head became more and more groggy. It seemed that her shouting just now had exhausted all her strength.
The moment before she fell into darkness, she seemed to hear someone shouting loudly in her ear, and also seemed to hear someone calling her from a very far place.
"Qin Jiuye! Qin Jiuye..."
The shouts were mixed with a massive amount of noise as they drilled into her ears, then gradually faded away.
Black ash seemed to have fallen into her eyes. Her world was gradually being filled by this blackness after the burning, until it was pitch black, with no more light.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 血榉木 | Blood Beech | A type of tree mentioned in the text. |
| 九皋 | Jiugao | The name of the city where Qiu Ling grew up. |
| 龙枢 | Longshu | Likely a river or a specific region near Jiugao. |
| 怀玉婶 / 石怀玉 | Auntie Huaiyu / Shi Huaiyu | A servant or maternal figure in the Qiu household. |
| 策论 | Political essays | A type of academic/civil service exam writing. |
| 稽天剑 | Jitian Sword | Qiu Ling's sword. |
| 青芜刀 | Qingwu Blade | Li Qiao's blade. |
| 昆墟 | Kunxu | The sect Qiu Ling belongs to. |
| 断玉君 | Lord Duanyu | Qiu Ling's title/honorific. |
| 狄墨 | Di Mo | A character mentioned as a potential opponent. |
| 东阖门 | Donghe Gate | A city gate. |
| 房牙子 | Property broker | A real estate agent/middleman. |
| 四条子街 | Sitiaozi Street | A street name in the city. |
| 听风堂 | Tingfeng Hall | A location that was recently on fire. |
