Chapter 57 — To Sea

The night was deep, and wind and rain swept across the world. Fallen leaves, from where no one knew, drifted lightly through the storm and were carried away on the wind.

Beneath the blue-green oiled-cloth umbrella, her garments swayed gently, and a few strands of black hair clung to her snow-white cheek.

Zhang Qingyue stood where he was, yet in that single instant a flicker of bewilderment passed through his heart. In this deep night of an alien land, in an unfamiliar place, there was a wind and rain that seemed somehow familiar...

Slowly, he walked over, and stepped into the wind and rain.

Behind him, deep within the faint darkness, a profound gaze watched in silence.

As he drew near, the whole world seemed to quietly fall still.

Her eyes were there, just ahead.

Tender beyond words.

"Why are you still up?" Zhang Qingyue said slowly.

Bili did not answer, only looked at him, her bright eyes like water, reflecting his shadow.

The rain gradually soaked through his clothes, slowly condensing from his hair into tiny, crystalline droplets that ran through his black locks, dripped softly down, and slid from his face.

"And you?" she asked in return. "Why are you still up?"

Zhang Qingyue was silent a moment, then said, "Shitou snores in his sleep. He's too loud. I can't get to sleep."

Bili was taken aback, then let out a soft "pfft" of laughter, her eyes flowing with light, and the faint glow that seemed to surround her suddenly seemed to brighten as well.

In Zhang Qingyue's eyes, she was like a lily blooming softly in the rain of the deep night.

Smiling, she reached out and took Zhang Qingyue's hand, and he found himself stepping forward. In the wind and rain, that small green umbrella turned and came over him, shielding his head.

Beneath the umbrella was the soft sound of her breathing.

Zhang Qingyue's heart suddenly beat faster, and he looked away, not looking at her, yet that faint, delicate fragrance that seemed to emanate from her body still lingered around him.

"Tomorrow, you're going to Liubo Mountain?" Bili said quietly.

Zhang Qingyue's heart stirred. "That's right!" he said, then looked up at her. "And you?"

Bili smiled faintly. "I'm going too."

Zhang Qingyue's expression changed, and he frowned. "Don't be childish. There will be a great many of the righteous sects there, and my master has an even worse temper. It will be dangerous for you to go."

Bili fell silent, only gazing at him in silence. Zhang Qingyue felt a vague unease but could not put it into words. Yet he thought that standing here in the rain with her late at night was hardly proper, so he said, "I'd better go back first."

Bili did not answer, and Zhang Qingyue left her side and walked back.

But when he was halfway there, her voice suddenly came from behind him, in the rain.

"Xiaofan!"

Zhang Qingyue froze. It was the first time Bili had called him so intimately.

He slowly turned around. The wind and rain lay between them, and seemed to have grown heavier, so that Bili's face became somewhat blurred, yet her voice came through so clearly.

"Just now, standing here alone, I was thinking that if the two of us were to die in the Blooddrop Cave, unable to escape, that wouldn't be so bad either."

Zhang Qingyue's body jolted. Then he forced a laugh and said, "Don't joke about such things." With that, he walked quickly away.

Bili watched his figure, slowly lowered her head, and softly, in a voice only she could hear, said, "At least I won't have any regrets."

Zhang Qingyue stepped onto the covered walkway, out of the wind and rain, and felt as though he had breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow, facing Bili, this beautiful woman of the demon cult, he always felt an inexplicable tension—perhaps it was the pressure brought by her identity.

He sighed inwardly, yet could not help glancing back once. In the wind and rain, the woman still stood there. He shook his head and walked back toward his room.

Not long after he left, Bili, holding the blue-green oiled umbrella, also came up and stood on the walkway, gazing in the direction he had gone, silent and saying nothing.

Just then, in the darkness behind her, the shadows suddenly shifted, and out walked a woman dressed entirely in black, her face veiled in black gauze as well, and came to her side.

Bili turned her head. "Aunt You," she said faintly.

The woman in black glanced in the direction Zhang Qingyue had gone and said, her voice calm and without emotion, "Let's go. Your father is waiting for you at Liubo Mountain."

Bili nodded slowly.

At dawn, Zhang Qingyue, who had barely managed to fall asleep, was loudly woken by Shitou: "Brother Zhang, get up, quickly!"

Zhang Qingyue forced his eyes open and saw Shitou full of vigor and high spirits—clearly he had slept very well the night before.

He gave a bitter smile, said nothing, and got up, rubbing his bleary eyes as he went to the basin nearby to wash his face. Shitou sat on his bed and laughed. "Brother Zhang, I'm not criticizing you, but you're so young, and a cultivator besides. After a night's sleep you ought to be full of energy. Why do you look like you haven't slept all night?"

Zhang Qingyue thought to himself, "With you around, who could sleep?" But on the surface he could only smile bitterly and nod.

After the two of them finished washing up, Shitou pulled Zhang Qingyue along, intending to call Bili and set off together. Zhang Qingyue frowned inwardly, truly unwilling, yet unable to say so plainly to Shitou. To their surprise, they knocked for a long while with no answer, and when they asked the innkeeper, they learned that Bili had settled her bill and left late the night before, having even paid for the two of them as well.

Shitou was taken aback and shook his head in puzzlement. Zhang Qingyue stood to one side, turning it over in his mind. From what Manager Wang said of the time, she must have left not long after he and Bili had parted.

In truth, Zhang Qingyue had been worrying all along about what to do if Bili insisted on following him to Liubo Mountain. Yet now that she had suddenly slipped away without a word, he felt a pang of emptiness.

Shitou, standing nearby, happened to come over to discuss matters with Zhang Qingyue, but at that moment Manager Wang looked at him a few more times and suddenly said, "May I ask, sir, is your name Shitou?"

Shitou started. "That's right. How did you know?"

Manager Wang's face lit with pleasure, and he took a letter from beneath the counter. "A guest left this with me early this morning, saying it was for a burly young man named Shitou. That must be you, sir."

Shitou took the letter and saw his own name written on the envelope, and opened it. Zhang Qingyue, regaining his senses, also looked over. As Shitou read, his brow furrowed, and he blurted out, "Master!"

Zhang Qingyue was startled. "What's happened to your master?"

Shitou shook his head. "I don't know, but this letter is in my master's hand, telling me to go at once to the Earth God Temple west of the city to see him. Brother Zhang, it seems we must part for now."

Zhang Qingyue nodded. "That's fine. Go ahead. I'm anxious to reach Liubo Mountain and see my master and the others as well."

Shitou laughed. "Once I've seen my master and told him about this, most likely the old man will go to Liubo Mountain too. We'll meet again then."

Zhang Qingyue had spent no small amount of time with him and felt a measure of closeness, so he smiled and said, "Good!"

Shitou nodded and turned to go.

Zhang Qingyue saw him to the inn's entrance and watched his tall figure vanish into the crowd. He stood there dazed for a moment, then turned and set off east alone.

After they had all gone far, inside the main hall of the Haiyun Tower, Zhou Yixuan and his granddaughter Xiaowan finally came slowly out.