Chapter 145 — Meeting

"Silence!" Wen Pei hissed in a low voice. Everyone started. Wen Pei's expression eased slightly, but her tone remained severe. "We must never speak such guesses aloud. If word of this reached the sect leader or Master, the consequences would be unthinkable."

The others fell silent. The woman behind Wen Pei paused a moment, then said quietly, "Senior sister, the way I see it, the sect leader and Master—what sort of people are they? Whatever we can think of, how could they not have thought of it too? This time, the sect leader and Master deliberately agreed to the proposal from Flaming Sunset Valley, I suspect, precisely because they knew Xueqi had someone in her heart..."

Wen Pei whipped her head around and fixed her with a stare. The woman's expression shifted slightly; she sighed and said no more. Hearing her sigh, Wen Pei herself fell silent for a moment, then could not help sighing as well. "Junior sister Lin, we all feel the same way. Xueqi and the rest of us—though we entered the sect at different times, after more than ten years together we are as close as sisters. None of us wants to see her come to this. But... ah, I don't even know what to say anymore. In any case, I believe Master has always doted on Xueqi most of all. In the end she surely won't make things too hard for her."

The other female disciples nodded in agreement. They walked slowly on, talking in low voices, and now and then a sigh drifted up among them as they gradually moved into the distance.

The shadows in the bamboo grove shifted, and suddenly a dark figure seemed to drift lightly out of the deep darkness, alighting on the mountain path. It was Ming Li. In this place surrounded on all sides by deadly enemies, his face was faintly pale. He stood in silence for a long while, then slowly turned to gaze toward the back mountain of Little Zhu Peak. Behind that bamboo grove, moonlight shone clear and white as frost—the very place, legend said, of Little Zhu Peak's Moon-Gazing Terrace, one of the Six Sights of Qingyun.

A solitary cliff hung suspended in midair, its rear portion alone joined to the mountain body, the greater part of it poised high in the void. The moon was bright that night, hanging high in the sky, its clear radiance like water, like frost and snow, pouring down upon the mortal world and falling upon this Moon-Gazing Terrace. It was not yet the brilliant moonlight of legend that on a full-moon night could illumine the whole of Little Zhu Peak, but still the moonlight on the terrace was soft and gentle, lighting the entire cliff as bright as day. Above all, the smooth rock of the ground, catching the light at a thousand different angles, mirrored countless moons, making the scene all the more coldly beautiful.

When Ming Li stepped onto the Moon-Gazing Terrace, this was the scene that met his eyes. And in that frost-white moonlight there was also a woman in white as pure as snow, her back to him, standing at the front of the terrace and gazing out into the endless dark night, motionless and silent.

Ming Li's face was impassive, but his eyes seemed to flicker with light, as if reflecting that beautiful moonlight. That figure in white stood like a fairy in the moonlight, and there was about her not the slightest trace of the mortal world.

As if sensing something, the figure stirred, and Lu Xueling's voice rose, cool and faintly weary. "Senior sister, why have you all come back again..."

She turned her head slowly as she spoke, but halfway through her words her voice abruptly died. On Lu Xueling's face, usually so cold and composed, appeared an expression of sheer disbelief. The figure of a man stood there in silence, gazing at her.

"Zhang..." Her lips parted slightly, but before the words came out her voice had already sunk low. "...Xiaofan."

Ming Li stood where he was without moving. The moonlight fell upon Lu Xueling's snow-and-ice skin, so translucent it seemed almost flawless, heightening her breathtaking beauty. From where he stood, far off, he felt somehow afraid to draw near.

"Are you... all right?" A thousand words churned in his breast, but in the end only these few came out.

Lu Xueling gazed at this man, this man standing at the border between moonlight and shadow. The expression on his face was so complex, as though something in his heart were tormenting him—and yet that figure was clearly right before her eyes! A figure she had imagined in her dreams more times than she could count!

She lowered her head slightly, as if to speak and yet not speaking. After a long while she said softly, "Since you've come, why don't you come over?"

Ming Li's body trembled. Little Grey, who had been following at his side all this while, had vanished somewhere. A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes; for him, it seemed, even these few short steps required a great deal of courage.

Lu Xueling still stood there, silent as before. The mountain wind blew, and her white garments fluttered softly.

He took a step, walking upon the moonlight. Behind him in the distance the bamboo grove rustled; before him the woman quietly raised her head to gaze at him. Ming Li stood before her.

Lu Xueling looked at him. The first trace of agitation and alarm on her face quietly faded, and she said suddenly, "Do you remember what I once told you? The next time we meet, we shall be sworn enemies who cannot both live. You—" She looked at him and spoke slowly. "Why have you still come to see me?"

The corner of Ming Li's mouth twitched, his eyes flickered, and he suddenly shifted his gaze away, no longer meeting Lu Xueling's eyes. Just as her face was gradually growing dim, the man before her slowly turned his head back, as if hesitating, as if struggling, and at last said softly, "You... seem to have grown thinner..."

Lu Xueling's body gave a start, and once more a look of astonishment swept across her face—but what followed close upon it was joy. For the first time in her life, a faint flush rose to the skin of her face, white as frost and snow, like translucent red jade, filled with endless tenderness and lingering shyness.

Even if there is no tomorrow, even if the road ahead is still dark—if there is warmth in the heart, perhaps one need not be afraid...

This beautiful, cold woman suddenly smiled, like the most radiant lily of the deep night, smiling soundlessly in the wind. Her white figure was a dazzling presence in the moonlight. Ming Li held his breath.

Lu Xueling spoke suddenly, word by word: "I am very glad!" Then she kept smiling, her gaze soft as rippling water.

The night deepened, and the moon sank westward.

Standing shoulder to shoulder on the cliff before the Moon-Gazing Terrace, gazing out together at the darkness ahead, they let the mountain wind blow past; their garments fluttered at the same moment, their figures bathed in the clear bright moonlight.

Gentle—that was the feel of the wind upon the face!

In the boundless, dark vault of heaven, a few scattered stars still glimmered quietly.

"The people from Flaming Sunset Valley came to propose marriage to you?"

After a long silence, Lu Xueling said calmly, "Yes. Master and our martial uncle the sect leader both agreed."

Ming Li's voice betrayed no change; he said lightly, "On my way here, I heard those senior sisters of yours talking. They say you refused?"

Lu Xueling smiled. "Yes. I refused."

Ming Li turned to look at her, and what met his eyes was Lu Xueling's calm face and the faint smile hidden at the corners of her brows. Suddenly a surge of emotion rushed through him, as though rising from the depths of his heart, so violent that even his body trembled slightly. He could not help blurting out, "Come away with me—"

Lu Xueling's body quivered, and she turned to look at him. In Ming Li—no, in this moment, what she saw before her eyes was unmistakably the Zhang Qingyue of old! That resolute and steadfast youth!

Where to?

Anywhere! To the ends of the earth!