CH 5.1

“Who’s Leng Sheng Yin?” Lei Lei asked the young master during breakfast the next day.

“The new leader of the Nan Hai Sect.”

“I heard that someone from the Nan Hai Sect sent someone to assassinate Leader Wen of Xi Sha Sect last night, is that true?”

The young master glanced at her but did not speak.

“Everyone knows,” the servant next to her said quite disdainfully, “His father, Leng Ying, was killed by Wen Ying. The Nan Hai Sect wants to avenge their former leader so how could they not settle accounts with Wen Ting?!”

The young master frowned, “The reason for former Leader Leng’s death is still uncertain. Moreover, Leader Wen’s reputation has always been good. Don’t talk nonsense!”

Butler Zhao said, “That’s not necessarily the case. The longevity fruit is incredibly precious and it’s unavoidable that people would covet it. Everyone believes that it’s in Leng Ying’s hands. Wen Ting might have lost his head for a moment. Besides, Leng Ying did die under the orthodox palm force of the Xi Sha Sect.”

The young master said, “Former Leader Leng’s martial arts skills are equal to Leader Wen’s. Nan Hai Sect is a sword sect, how could Leader Wen have done it so easily?”

Butler Zhao smiled coldly, “Young Master has forgotten. Yan Wen Dao of the Dong Shan Sect is on the same mountain. If he became greedy and allied with Wen Ting…”

The young master shook his head, “When the matter of the longevity fruit occurred, the leaders of the three main sects agreed to meet at the top of Mount Hua to clarify and vindicate themselves in private. Even if Leng Ying had the longevity fruit, he would never have taken it with him. Since this was a three-person meeting, and knowing that his death would arouse suspicion, how could they attack him so openly and kill Leng Ying? Besides forming a grudge with the Nan Hai Sect, there were no benefits and there are many questionable aspects to this matter. It would be better to wait for Brother He and the others to investigate clearly before discussing this.”

So it turned out that the leader of the Xi Sha Sect harmed the former leader of the Nan Hai Sect. Lei Lei finally understood the reason for the feud between the two sects. She laughed secretly, as expected, the enemy who killed his father would definitely have a beautiful daughter. Was this not the cliche of all cliches? That pitiful beautiful couple, being used by that guy in the R&D Department to define the law of love in the world of martial arts!

However, she still felt the matter of the longevity fruit was strange but it was not easy to ask too much. She muttered, “Didn’t those people say that on the night of New Year’s Day, Bi Shui City would put up the longevity fruit for auction?”

Butler Zhao said, “Since the longevity fruit has appeared, it can be seen that Leng Yin was indeed wronged at the beginning.”

Everyone was silent.

Lei Lei sighed. It was said that you had the treasure, but in the end, the treasure was in someone else’s hands. Former Leader Leng, you really died unjustly.

The young master said, “It’s likely Brother He and the others had long received word of this. Let’s return to the village first before discussing further.”

Butler Zhao nodded and said, “I heard that Chuan Qi Valley and Qian Yue Cave have sent people to investigate the whereabouts of the longevity fruit. No matter if this is true or not, the longevity fruit must not fall into the hands of people from the demonic cult.”

The young master said coldly, “A mere longevity fruit caused the three main sects to fall apart. It shows that greed hurts people. That person deliberately released news of the auction of the longevity fruit. When the time comes, heroes will gather in Bi Shui City in order to compete for the longevity fruit and this will cause great chaos. I’m just afraid that this is another trick by the Qian Yue Cave.”

“Shang Guan Qiu Yue!” Lei Lei dropped her chopsticks and involuntarily cried out.

The young master looked at her.

Lei Lei regained her composure, “Who’s Shang Guan Qiu Yue?”

Everyone was surprised. Seeing her expression was really not fake, they believed she had amnesia even more. Butler Zhao said coldly, “Who else could it be? The leader of Qian Yue Cave!” His tone was quite resentful and indignant.

Lei Lei hurriedly asked, “What’s the Qian Yue Cave?”

The young master snorted, “Demonic cult!” His hand tightened on the sword he was holding.

Right, how could there be no demonic cult in the world of martial arts? This body was called “Chun Hua” and now there was a “Qiu Yue”. According to the names, the two of them were likely to be relatives, could they be sisters? Alas, Chun Hua Qiu Yue was a bit tacky, but there was hope that she could solve the mystery of her identity. At least she had a family!

(TL: Chun Hua “春花” and Qiu Yue “秋月” means literally spring flowers and autumn moon respectively. A famous Chinese poem by Wu Men Hui Kai describes the four seasons by linking them with an element each; “春有百花秋有月 ，夏有凉风冬有雪” – spring has hundreds of flowers, autumn has the moon, summer has rain, winter has snow.)

Lei Lei was so excited that tears filled her eyes and she said repeatedly, “That’s great, that’s great!”

Qiu Yue, just wait for Chun Hua to come to you!

“You!” The dishes on the table flew high from someone slamming the table which finally brought Lei Lei back to reality. Only then did she realise everyone was glaring at her with looks that could literally kill.

Butler Zhao was so angry that his beard was shaking and he trilled, “Those witches in Qian Yue Cave are shameless, harming the world of martial arts and inciting trouble. Old Master was poisoned by them, but you actually…” He could not continue.

The young master’s complexion was extremely unpleasant, “Can’t even distinguish between good and evil!”

While taking in the criticism, Lei Lei’s mind finally cleared.

Right, Shang Guan Qian Yue was the master of Qian Yue Cave. If Chun Hua was really her sister, then her identity should be great. Why would she have gone alone to such a remote place like Guyan Village and even tried to kill herself? Since Qian Yue Cave was a demonic cult, and in demonic cults there were often examples of people disdaining to recognise their own blood relatives and actually killing each other, would the two of them be on good terms as sisters? Could it be that Chun Hua was hunted down by Qiu Yue and stripped her of her martial arts skills…

Thinking of the plots in television shows, Lei Lei was frightened and immediately ingratiated herself with her protective talisman. She put on a serious expression, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry, I just lost my memory. It turns out that the demonic cult is so bad. Then we must avenge Old Master!”

The young master’s expression softened slightly.

Lei Lei let out a deep breath and did not dare to ask anymore questions. “Xiao Bai” really hated evil. It turned out that his father was also harmed by Shang Guan Qian Yue. He was so vigilant that before she ensured her safety, she could not let him see that she was related to the big devil.

Seeing that she was quite willing to accept criticism, Butler Zhao had a much better impression of her. He said, “The carriage is ready, let’s go.”

The young master stood up.

Watching Lei Lei and the others walk out of the inn, two unremarkable men in the corner looked at each other, then got up to leave.

In the midst of faint water sounds, white marble railings, and white curtains, a tall snow-white figure stood with hands behind his back. He wore a white jade hairpin inlaid with beautiful, round pearls and his loose black hair fluttered in the wind. The white and black formed a sharp contrast and there was almost no colour, just like the cold and secluded valley of ice and snow across the deep stream, refined without any worldliness.

A woman in white came up to the platform and said respectfully, “My Lord, this Star Minister has news to report.”

He turned around.

His face was as perfect as his temperament with eyes like stars, his gaze as gentle as a breeze or flowing water with an extremely bewitching smile. Coupled with his icy temperament, the hot and cold contrast exuded a somewhat devilish aura.

“Has the traitor been found?”

“This… Not yet.”

He said nothing and walked towards her slowly.

The woman in white was terrified and hurriedly said, “Although she hasn’t been found, this Star Minister found out something else important.”

He stopped walking.

The woman in white immediately stepped forward and said a few words in a low voice, then returned to her original place.

Sure enough, he was surprised and said, “That girl is alive?”

The woman in white said, “It’s absolutely true, this Star Minister servant saw it with my own eyes. She was with Xiao Bai and I think they’re heading back to Bai Sheng Shan Village. This Star Minister wants to ask, since she is alive, do we still have to search?”

Silence.

“So it was her,” he turned around again and looked across the ice valley. His laughter seemed to melt the ten thousand year old ice and snow, “Daring to play tricks. How strange, having deceived us and escaped, why would she come back? Should we call her clever or stupid?”