Chapter 232 — Killing Intent

Only then was Lu Xueling truly startled, and for a moment she did not know what to say. That Wen Pei and Song Dayi harbored feelings for each other was known to most; the sisters of Xiaozhu Peak often teased Wen Pei about it in idle moments. But back then, when Tian Buhui had come up the mountain to seek a marriage alliance for Song Dayi, Master Shuijing had refused him outright, leaving Wen Pei quietly heartbroken and sullen for many days. Now, with Master Shuijing putting the question to her so abruptly, Lu Xueling's thoughts raced, and she could not decide whether it was better to speak plainly or to cover for Senior Sister Wen Pei a little more.

But what experience did Master Shuijing not have? From Lu Xueling's few moments of hesitation alone she saw most of it, and she shook her head and gave a deep sigh.

Lu Xueling grew anxious. She and Wen Pei were on the best of terms; though her own path in love had been rough, she hoped all the more that this senior sister who had looked after her since childhood might find a good home. After hesitating several times, she summoned her courage and said, "Master, in truth, Senior Sister Wen—"

She had not spoken more than a few words when Master Shuijing said mildly, "Enough, enough. Pick a day, and we may as well marry Wen Pei off."

Lu Xueling was stunned, scarcely able to believe her own ears, and her face showed it plainly. Master Shuijing glanced at her and smiled. "What? Do all of you disciples think me a stubborn old thing, too hidebound to ever consent to a disciple's happiness?"

Lu Xueling was overjoyed for Wen Pei and hastened to smile. "Master, what are you saying? How would your disciples ever dare think such a thing? Let me be the first to thank you on Senior Sister Wen Pei's behalf!"

Master Shuijing looked at that rare, genuine smile of Lu Xueling's; the corner of her mouth moved, but then she gave another soft sigh, turned around, and stood with her hands clasped behind her back, gazing silently at the sea of clouds in the distance.

In her delight, Lu Xueling noticed that something was strange in Master Shuijing's expression, and she said cautiously, "Master, why did you suddenly think of this matter?"

Master Shuijing was silent for a moment, then instead of answering, asked, "Xueqi, you came with me to Dazhu Peak as well. What do you make of your Uncle-Master Su's death?"

Lu Xueling's expression turned grave. She pondered a moment, then said solemnly, "Your disciple believes that Uncle-Master Su and Uncle-Master Tian were deeply devoted to one another, and that she followed after him. There was no sign of suffering in her face."

"Indeed," Master Shuijing sighed softly, staring blankly into the distance. After a long while, she said, "I never wished for you all to be troubled by matters of the heart and let it hinder your cultivation. But this cultivation of a lifetime—what does it all come to in the end?"

Lu Xueling did not understand what Master Shuijing meant and for a moment dared not respond. She only listened as Master Shuijing went on slowly: "The talk of immortality remains vague and illusory. A lifetime of bitter cultivation merely buys a few hundred more years of empty time. Your Uncle Su treated a century of cultivation and a human life as nothing—such resolve and such vision truly surpass mine by I know not how much."

For some reason, a sudden ache rose in Lu Xueling's heart, and she called out, "Master..."

"A lifetime of cultivation, cultivating a lifetime—one attains the Dao, yet cultivates away one's humanity. What is the point of such suffering?" Master Shuijing gave a long sigh and said calmly, "In truth, what is the Dao, and what does it mean to attain the Dao? I have cultivated my whole life, and to this day it has grown truly blurred to me."

Lu Xueling stood to one side, not daring to speak. Master Shuijing stood in silence for a long while, then suddenly shook her head, as if unwilling to dwell on it further, and turned to walk down the mountain. Watching her retreating figure, Lu Xueling called out, "Master, where are you going?"

Master Shuijing paused, then said, "My mind is made up regarding Wen Pei. Go and tell her. But..." Her voice caught, and she turned back, a trace of tenderness appearing on her face. Looking at Lu Xueling, she said, "What about you yourself, Xueqi? Have you ever thought about your own happiness?"

Lu Xueling started. "What?" Then understanding dawned, and her face paled slightly. Slowly she revealed a helpless smile and said in a low voice, "Master, this disciple's fate is poor. I dare not entertain vain hopes."

Master Shuijing gazed at her peerlessly beautiful disciple—white robes fluttering, all the more ethereal and unearthly—yet the sorrow etched upon her face had accumulated to depths beyond knowing.

A sudden, inexplicable ache gripped Master Shuijing's heart, and she called out, "Xueqi."

Lu Xueling raised her head and looked at Master Shuijing, who said calmly, "Xueqi, your path in love has been arduous, yet you refuse to turn back. There is nothing I can say to you as your master. But we have been master and disciple, and I do not wish to see you like this. If a turning point should come in the future, I will bear the burden of Canglan Sect's rules on your behalf. You need not worry."

Lu Xueling trembled violently and could not help crying out, "Master..." Yet for a moment she did not know what to say.

Master Shuijing smiled at her, then sighed once more and turned to leave. In moments her figure vanished beneath the rocky mountain steps, and only the mountain wind carried the faint whisper of her low murmuring: "Ask the world—what is love..."

Lu Xueling stood where she was, her heart in turmoil, sorrow upon sorrow, tender anguish turning over and over within her, yet she could reach no conclusion. Only in that dazed moment did a thought suddenly rise in her mind: not long ago, in that abandoned mortuary outside He Yin City, Tian Buhui seemed to have said something very similar to her.

Mount Huqi, the Nether King Sect.

A lovely figure appeared in the mountain tunnel that housed the Nether King Sect's main hall. Unlike everything around her, all gray and dreary, this figure seemed to shimmer with dazzling light as she moved, bringing a splash of color to the oppressive atmosphere of the place.

Nether King Sect disciples passed through the corridor from time to time, and scarcely one was not drawn to her. Yet wherever her gaze swept, they all hurried away, as if afraid of any further contact with her. Even within the Nether King Sect, she was evidently a special existence.

And she was indeed special—brows and eyes like a painting, infinitely charming and alluring. Though she lacked a measure of the seductive air of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, Xiao Bai, she seemed to possess a measure more of gentleness. Even so, given her former identity as Young Master Miao of the Enchantment Sect, Jin Pingyue now standing openly within the Nether King Sect's domain still seemed somewhat jarring.

But Jin Pingyue clearly did not care about the gazes around her. To her, being the center of attention seemed long since a habit. At the end of that catastrophe of beast-demons, in the ancient Demon-Suppressing Cave amid the hundred thousand wild mountains of the southern frontier, she had barely escaped and returned to the Central Plains. The twists and turns of that journey no one knew, and she had spoken of them to no one.

At this moment, she had only one destination: the Nether King had summoned her.

After another intersection, the corridor ahead split into left and right. Jin Pingyue stopped, glanced toward the left-hand passage, a flicker of strange light passing through her eyes before vanishing, then stepped toward the right-hand corridor.