Chapter 210 – Five Sources, Nine Ancestors, Return to the True Self; Four Lotuses as One; Innate Shadow Blood - Part 3
A few days passed.
Li Yuan delivered his latest intelligence to Gu Xuejian, along with a few jars of a special brew not sold to the public, plus some fried peanuts and beef as snacks. She studied the reports through the night, then suddenly left again.
This time, word spread of an epic battle seen in the skies above a place called Readyfar County. Local merchants and workers from the Purejade Merchant Association claimed the clouds changed color, fierce winds raged, and across the heavens loomed massive, rootless vines glowing a glaring green which turned even the sunlight green.
At the same time, burning petals whirled chaotically in the high air, a height where no lotus should ever reach. In the end, what looked like falling stars crashed to earth, leaving deep craters in their wake.
Gu Xuejian was gone for a long while. In the dead of winter, during the twelfth lunar month...with snow piling high, she finally returned. It was just her and a single sword.
She wore white, her sword was light blue, and her eyes blazed like a midday sun. Snowflakes fell around her, but each one that landed hissed into white steam, drifting about in a veil of mist. In that moment, she looked like an otherworldly figure strolling out of a cloud bank.
“Wine.” That was the first and only word she spoke to Li Yuan on returning.
He could tell she was injured, but he didn’t ask. For the next few days, she focused on recovering. Perhaps it was Li Yuan’s casual, straightforward way of talking, or maybe just her overall contentment with her stay at the estate. Whatever the reason, on one snowy day she decided to visit the inner courtyard to see Li Yuan’s children.
“Ha! Ha!”
The seven-year-old Ping’an was in the covered walkway at the edge of the courtyard, practicing swings with a wooden sword. Since he was still a child, Li Yuan hadn’t taught him any real cultivation; his blood energy was too undeveloped.
Because Gu Xuejian spent so much time in the outer courtyards, Ping’an had never actually met her. He cast sidelong glances between swings until he finished his practice, then ran over and stood straight in front of her, chin high. “I am the world’s greatest swordsman! Who are you?”
Gu Xuejian had been ready with a casual reply, but froze mid-thought. Gazing down at the boy, she felt a strange, inexplicable sensation rise up within her. It grew stronger the closer she got, a feeling she’d only ever experienced around certain fellow disciples at the peak of sixth rank.