There were no guests at the spring, so it was naturally a peaceful, leisurely place.
Qian Xuelang stayed behind his closed door. Whether he was meditating or cultivating, it could hardly be anything else. Ren Yijue had seen the same thing many times while traveling with him. Whenever he needed to treat his wounds or rest, the Jade Beauty would find a place neither too near nor too far away and contemplate the ways of the world.
At his present level of cultivation, Qian Xuelang no longer needed to train or practice so diligently. All he lacked now was that single thing: true understanding.
Yet that understanding might come in an instant, or it might demand a lifetime of searching.
With the Jade Beauty’s powers of comprehension, however, it probably would not take very long.
Having nothing to do, Ren Yijue lay in a rocking chair and watched the inverted waterfall beyond the window. As the chair rocked, the heart inside his chest seemed to sway along with it.
Actually… there are still so many interesting things and interesting people in the world. One really ought to go and experience them.
In the middle of Ren Yijue’s absentminded thoughts, a sudden ringing filled the room. He returned inside to find a string of bells hanging on a rack, chiming with frantic urgency. The person on the other end must be trying desperately to reach him.
Ren Yijue raised an eyebrow and ran his hand over the ringing bells, sending a thread of spiritual qi into them. Once the other party received his reply, their frantic ringing immediately quieted.
A friend of Ren Yijue’s had given him these bells. Both of them traveled alone through Liuyanzhu. After saving each other’s lives several times, they had grown familiar with one another.
The story of the bells was rather amusing. This friend was naturally quiet and reserved, yet had a fondness for children’s toys. The bells had been a free gift from a shopkeeper when he bought some toys. He later gave them to Ren Yijue as a token of their friendship.
Ren Yijue wondered, This man never asks anyone for anything. What could be so urgent that he has come looking for me?
He himself had the enormous trouble of the Heavenly Demon hanging over his head, while the Jade Beauty seemed to have acquired an unidentified “admirer.” They were also waiting for Elder Silkworm to bring news of Perilous Rock. Nevertheless, he could not simply ignore a summons from a friend.
Ren Yijue made up his mind, knocked on the door, and called, “Jade Beauty, I need to go out for a while.”
At last a voice came from within. “Where are you going?”
Ren Yijue thought for a moment. “To see a friend. He may need my help. I do not know when I will be back, so I will leave the golden silkworm with the Jade Beauty.”
Qian Xuelang opened the door and looked at him. “I will come with you.”
His frost-white hair tumbled around him like a waterfall, clearly not yet arranged, and Ren Yijue stared in a daze. A faint floral fragrance mingled with the medicinal scent wafted from the room, lingering about Qian Xuelang.
The fragrance was both familiar and strange.
“There is no need.” Ren Yijue finally came back to his senses and shook his head with a smile. “My friend is somewhat shy around strangers and does not like making new acquaintances.”
“Are not the Emotion Demon and the Blood Demon both from Liuyanzhu?” Qian Xuelang asked, a trace of puzzlement in his voice. “The Heavenly Demon is hunting you. Are you still going to venture out alone to meet your friend?”
“Hmm.” Ren Yijue’s gaze wandered past Qian Xuelang’s shoulder, and his eyes suddenly lit up. “You have a point. In that case, Jade Beauty, why not lend me the Demon-Slaying Sword? If I encounter a deadly powerful demon, I can open the sword case. The Jade Beauty will sense its radiance and can naturally come to my rescue.”
Qian Xuelang considered for a moment and nodded. “Very well. But you need not leave the golden silkworm with me. We can deal with Perilous Rock when you return.”
He removed the sword case from his back and handed it to Ren Yijue. Then he added, “If you meet anyone along the way who seems suited to becoming the Demon-Slaying Sword’s master, you might ask that person to give it a try.”
Ren Yijue could not help laughing. “Jade Beauty, this is Liuyanzhu. Everyone gathered here is either a monster among demons or a fiend among fiends. How could there be anyone fit to master the Demon-Slaying Sword? Looking for a sword master in Liuyanzhu would be like trying to scoop the moon from the sea. Where would you even find one?”
“Is someone like you not also in Liuyanzhu?”
Qian Xuelang gave him a calm look and closed the door again, paying no attention to Ren Yijue’s rare expression of bewilderment and helplessness.
Someone like me?
What sort of person am I, then?
Even after Ren Yijue had left the spring and returned to Jingyuan, he continued turning that question over in his mind. He knew that the Jade Beauty’s state of mind was extraordinarily clear. Apart from a single attachment to the self that he had not yet seen through, the Jade Beauty was already a reclusive master close to perfection.
Even if everyone in the world made distinctions between people and things, the Jade Beauty probably made fewer than anyone. If there was a place in the world he had seen and found neither especially good nor especially bad, then in his eyes, perhaps every place beneath heaven was like that. It was not surprising that he judged Liuyanzhu by the same standard as everywhere else.
For all these years, he had always been alone.
Whether relatives or close friends, no one could shake the Jade Beauty’s judgment unless he himself wished it.
But what did that remark mean? Could Ren Yijue himself have played some small part in shaping that clarity?
Did this utterly clear and transparent Jade Beauty have any idea that the difference of a single word, a tiny distinction in meaning, could stir such overwhelming waves in an ordinary mortal heart?
The sword case on his back seemed to sense Ren Yijue’s surging emotions and began humming. He could not tell whether it was warning him against foolish fantasies or was so furious it wanted to escape the case and slay a demon, cutting off Ren Yijue’s budding feelings.
Demonic qi stirred within Ren Yijue, bringing a dull ache to his chest. He decided to speak to the Demon-Slaying Sword on his back. “What are you angry about? It is true that you were forged from Immortal Lord He’s immortal bones, but you are not Immortal Lord He himself. Even if you were, surely you could not be so domineering that you would forbid me from even thinking about the Jade Beauty?”
The Demon-Slaying Sword kept humming and even began striking the inside of its case, as though it wanted to break free. If it had a spirit that could open its mouth, it would probably have cursed him roundly.
Only then did Ren Yijue realize something was wrong. The Demon-Slaying Sword was not playing with him; it was deliberately warning him of danger. His expression changed at once. He removed the sword case from his shoulder, planted its end against the ground, and scanned his surroundings.
Inside the case, the sealed Demon-Slaying Sword was almost howling. All around Jingyuan lay empty desolation. Demonic qi could not press down and spiritual qi could not rise; there was nowhere to conceal a person.
Ren Yijue had never heard the Demon-Slaying Sword so furious. His forehead began to bead with sweat. Whoever had come must be a demonic being of formidable cultivation.
After surveying the area, Ren Yijue suspected that the newcomer might be hiding in the demonic mist overhead. He lifted the case and retreated step by step, calling out clearly, “May I ask which esteemed expert has arrived? This junior has failed to welcome you properly. Please forgive me.”
Just as Ren Yijue was moving backward, every nerve drawn taut, he caught sight of a figure reflected on the mirror-smooth cliff wall. At first he thought it was his own reflection, but after retreating another half-step, he realized that the figure was much more powerfully built than he was and looked distinctly strange. He gripped the sword case tighter and casually turned his gaze toward it.
Sure enough, the figure in the mirror was a demon, not a human.
Ren Yijue had already seen Shui Wuchen’s demonic form, but the demon in the mirror was far stranger. There was no telling how thoroughly its body had undergone demonic transformation. Beneath its ragged clothing, not the slightest trace of a human figure remained. Heavy chains bound it from head to foot, and it watched him with an expression halfway between a smile and a sob.
Ren Yijue was horrified. The demon reflected on the cliff wall suddenly showed a brilliant gleam in its dazed, unfocused eyes. It stared at his face without blinking, revealing boundless delight and infatuation, yet also seeming filled with resentment. Whatever it was thinking, it made no move to attack.
This is bad. The half-demon seems to have gone mad and lost its reason. Could it have suffered cultivation deviation? Ren Yijue remained on guard as he thought. If the Heavenly Demon had sent someone to capture me, surely he would not send a subordinate in this condition. Well, I can test it. I cannot spend the rest of my life jumping at every shadow. How would I accomplish anything?
When Ren Yijue had first been hunted, he truly had no idea why. All manner of strange explanations had crossed his mind, yet he had not panicked.
Later, in Dongxun City, he had learned that the Heavenly Demon was responsible. He had also heard the full account of the Demon-Extermination War and understood how many powerful figures had died without managing to kill the Heavenly Demon. Even then, he had felt little fear.
Now he faced a demon who had lost its senses, practically on his own doorstep. The Jade Beauty was stationed below at the spring, and Ren Yijue himself had the Demon-Slaying Sword to protect him. Despite the gulf in their strength, he was hardly going to panic.
Before Ren Yijue could speak, the maddened demon suddenly roared, seized its own head in both hands as though it were splitting with pain, and repeatedly rammed it against the mirror-like cliff. The mountain wall shuddered, and countless loose stones broke away and tumbled down.
The chains snapped taut and dragged the demon back, barely restraining its frenzied assault.
Despite his alarm, Ren Yijue realized that the demon was not physically present. As he moved to avoid the falling rocks, he began to understand what was happening.
The demon could not actually be there. Otherwise, given its power, the Demon-Slaying Sword would probably have broken out of its case long ago. It must be imprisoned somewhere else and merely projecting its image onto the mirror wall.
Could this demon have come to ask for help?
While Ren Yijue was struggling to understand, the demon abruptly lifted its head. A flash of light shone through its tangled, disheveled hair. It gave Ren Yijue a sinister smile, then vanished from the mirror wall as suddenly as it had appeared.
At last the Demon-Slaying Sword ceased its cries.
Ren Yijue settled onto a large rock, thoroughly mystified, and glanced toward the spring. Qian Xuelang was nowhere in sight. For all the commotion the demon had made, it evidently had not been enough to alert the Jade Beauty.
He began to find the situation amusing. He patted the sword case lightly, slung it over his back again, and laughed. “It seems I worried for nothing. Someone must have imprisoned that demon, and it was hoping to find a fated stranger willing to set it free. Unfortunately, I am a clay Bodhisattva crossing a river. I can barely save myself. All it accomplished was to give me a fright.”
The Demon-Slaying Sword paid him no attention.
Ren Yijue had no idea how much time he had lost in the encounter. It was difficult to judge the hour in Liuyanzhu, and he feared his friend might be growing impatient. He hurried back up the abyss to meet him.
As he reached the Fifth Veil, the demonic mist gradually thinned, revealing a broad stretch of withered woodland below the hillside. He passed between dozens of old trees blighted by demonic qi. As Ren Yijue walked, he heard bells ringing and followed the sound.
A string of bells hung from the branch of an old tree. No wind stirred, yet the bells were moving on their own, chiming with a clear, bright sound.
A man stood beneath them, with sword-like brows and bright eyes, handsome and gracefully at ease. He was fiddling with a little pinwheel that spun constantly in his hand, lending him an almost childlike air.