His body... it hurt so much!
Jiang Wang woke from his faint. The very first thing he did was reach instinctively to the side, groping for his sword.
Thankfully, the sword lay right beside him.
Only with the sword in his grasp did he open his eyes.
The first thing he laid eyes on was a stalactite hanging suspended overhead.
He was in some kind of cave.
The whole course of the battle earlier was stamped indelibly on his mind; nothing seemed to have been lost.
His neglect of that Deer-Ox was, without a doubt, a fatal mistake.
It vexed him. But at that moment, when the Deer-Ox had leapt into the air and come crashing into him, he had genuinely reached his limit. There was no way to dodge it.
Before pushing open the Heaven-Earth Gate, the human body cannot tread on air or anchor itself among the void. Even with the advantage of the Four Spirit Body-Tempering Art, Jiang Wang could at best eke out a little more time suspended in the air. There was no way he could have survived a fall from such a high cliff.
And that is not even counting that the full-force blow of the Deer-Ox had already shaken apart the Dao essence he had roused in an instant.
He still remembered the sensation of plummeting at terrifying speed—that feeling of his heart being yanked ever upward, as though it would leap out of his throat, fleeing with all the life in his body... that dreadful feeling.
But he could no longer recall how he had lost consciousness.
So—who had saved him?
"Of course, it was I who used a secret art to save you."
That exceedingly alluring voice, as if it had seen through Jiang Wang's thoughts, drifted from afar and settled in his ear.
Jiang Wang sat up. He sensed some peculiarity in his body, but had no time to examine it closely, because the woman in a black gown, a veil of black gauze hiding her face, had already walked up before him.
She was strong!
That was Jiang Wang's first assessment.
"For the grace of saving my life, I shall remember it in my innermost heart." Jiang Wang offered his thanks gravely, and only then asked: "May I ask your name?"
"As for my given name, I won't tell you. Men are all alike, after all—what comes too easily, they never remember." The black-veiled woman's voice was light and airy, as if it would never quite land, never quite settle on any solid ground.
She reached out a hand as pale and white as frost, and with a finger, lightly traced it across the tip of Jiang Wang's nose: "All you need to remember is that it was I who saved you..."
Jiang Wang was no Zhao Rucheng; he had never weathered such a trial before. Add to that the fact that he had only just escaped with his life, and he could not help but feel a fluster rise in his chest.
At least he still clutched the longsword, and its cold touch steadied him somewhat.
He forced a smile at the corner of his mouth: "I do not know the young lady's name..."
He glanced at the woman's veil, and smiled stiffly: "And I know not your face. This..."
How was he supposed to remember her? he thought.
"Heh~" The black-veiled woman rested a hand on her brow and laughed: "You dear, you're simply adorable."
"Uhm..." Jiang Wang instinctually tightened his grip on the sword—not that he sensed any threat, but because he was genuinely nervous.
The black-veiled woman crouched down before Jiang Wang, her long gown spreading across the ground. She propped her elbow on her knee, rested her chin on her hand, and stared straight into his eyes: "It's no matter. I shall come find you again one day. When that time comes, the moment you see me, you will know me. Unless you... choose to pretend you don't."
A trace of plaintive sorrow suddenly wound through those heart-stirring eyes of hers: "Would you... do that?"
"N-no... I would not." Reciting the Scripture of Delivering People in his heart, Jiang Wang said gravely: "For the grace of saving my life, I dare not forget it."
"I knew you were a good lad."
A lad?
Perhaps this was a senior who had long ago achieved great feats of cultivation...
Jiang Wang instinctively inched backward.
But the woman seemed to read his heart again, and said with playful reproach: "What are you imagining? I am just about your age!"
His embarrassment was like a chain of pitfalls, each step sinking him deeper into the next.
Jiang Wang could not help but ask: "What of Jade Scales Peak? What has become of it now?"
"What else could it be? They came back with nothing to show for it." The black-veiled woman answered lightly, then added: "Don't you worry, your little sweetheart is fine."
"What little sweetheart!" Jiang Wang nearly leapt to his feet: "Rucheng and I are sworn brothers!"
"I was speaking of that beauty from the Cloud-High Kingdom. Why are you getting so worked up?" The black-veiled woman deliberately widened her eyes in a show of surprise, but the mischief lurking in their depths betrayed her.
"What beauty? She wears a veil too. Who knows whether she's beautiful at all." Being teased without cease, Jiang Wang could not help stabbing back, then said: "I do not know her in the slightest. Best you not speak such things..."
"Oh, so you don't even care about the beauty..." The woman blinked her eyes: "Well then, rest easy. Your sworn brother... is also fine."
She deliberately laid heavy emphasis on the phrase "sworn brother."
Jiang Wang truly could not hold his ground against her. Had this been a duel, he would already have cast down his sword and conceded.
So he simply clasped his fists and said: "I thank the senior for rescuing me, and in days to come I shall repay the grace with all my might. But now I must return. My friends must be beside themselves with worry by now."
"Who is your senior? For all you know, I may be even younger than you."
"Then..."
With laughter in her eyes, the woman said: "Call me elder sister."
"..."
"Very well, I won't torment you. But—have you yourself not sensed any change in your body?"
When it came to changes in his body, yes, there were some. In particular, along the base of his spine, there was a faint chill. But he had only just woken, and this woman had leaned in at once; he had had no time at all to examine himself.
"What is it you refer to?" Jiang Wang asked.
"You have no idea how badly you were broken. That poor, wretched state of yours..." The black-veiled woman shook her head, as if she could hardly bear to recall it: "That your elder sister could save you, get you bounding about lively as ever—first, because your elder sister's cultivation is high; second, because this secret art is powerful; and third, well... because you are especially well-suited to this secret art!"
From the woman's tone, Jiang Wang sensed something amiss. "May I ask what secret art the young lady used?"
The black-veiled woman skirted the question, saying only: "You seem to share some faint connection with the Moon Star? There are not many orthodox methods in the Daoist schools that touch the power of the Moon Star. Especially not at your level."
Drawing upon the power of the stars was something one only did at the Outer Tower realm. If Jiang Wang shared any connection with the power of the Moon Star, the only reason could be the Great Void Illusion. But that was his greatest secret.
He had by now formally transcended the mundane and gained a greater understanding of the cultivation world. Yet he had still never heard anyone so much as mention the Great Void Illusion. No doubt it was far from being revealed to the public. Or, more precisely, at Jiang Wang's present level, he was far from having the qualification to touch it.
He naturally had no wish to expose it.
"Does your secret art... involve the Moon Star? From what the young lady says, I gather..." Jiang Wang said deliberately: "You are not of the orthodox Daoist school?"
"Call me elder sister." The black-veiled woman struck Jiang Wang a light, measured blow—it was more playful flirtation than any real anger.
Only then did she say: "Why, we are one of the few orthodox lines there are."
"May I ask..." Jiang Wang skirted around the forms of address: "Which line do you trace from—Daluo Mountain, Yujing Mountain, or Penglai Isle?"
"Secret!" The black-veiled woman's eyes brimmed with laughter: "Don't you want to take a look?"
"Look at... what?"
An elegant hand of hers, soft as if it held no bones, rose gently before Jiang Wang, and the forefinger traced a line downward.
Before Jiang Wang could react, his entire outer garment had been split open, baring the muscled half of his torso.
His instinct was to hug his arms across his chest, but he felt that would betray too much cowardice. So he simply stood frozen and still.
Little did he know, this only made his awkwardness all the more apparent.
The black-veiled woman produced a small mirror from somewhere, drew slowly near to Jiang Wang, and set the bronze mirror behind his back.
"Look at me," she said.
"Ah?" Jiang Wang was at a loss.
"Look into my eyes~"
The woman leaned in so close that her fragrant breath, as if passing through that black veil, blew gently onto his face.
"Don't overthink it... from my eyes, you'll see in the mirror the reflection of your own back."
Clang!
Jiang Wang drew his sword from its sheath.
The black-veiled woman seemed utterly unsurprised, not a whit disturbed. She simply kept looking at him, still that close.
Jiang Wang leaned slightly backward, holding the blade crosswise before him, using the flat of his sword to reflect the mirror.
"This way it's clearer to see," he said.
And then he saw it—where his neck met his spine, at some unknown moment, a lotus had bloomed open.
It was a sinister, alien lotus, its petals carved of white bone.