Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Bai Zao of course couldn’t believe what Luo Huainan had said.
If he got out here alive, he would make up a beautiful story, moving all the listeners to tears; but he would never tell anybody about where she was…
He would probably wish that she died here, so she couldn’t tell others about this secret.
Perhaps, he would kill her with his own hands before leaving here, so long as he had recovered some of his energy.
Having thought of this, Bai Zao calmed down; but she felt really sorry for Jing Jiu who had accompanied her all the way here.
Looking at her eyes, Luo Huainan knew what was on her mind, saying, “Regardless of what you are thinking, you are still the young sister I like the most, so I won’t kill you.”
Bai Zao responded with a grin, “Is that so?”
Luo Huainan’s expression changed slightly, probably due to the mockery hidden in Bai Zao’s grin, and he said, “Perhaps, I’m not an absolute good person, but I steadfastly stick with the rules of the immortal masters. I came to Tong Lu’s rescue when he was in danger, otherwise, how could I be in such a dire situation? Young Sister, you have to believe me…”
Bai Zao looked at him silently.
Luo Huainan felt it was fruitless to convince her, so he took out a magic pill and swallowed it, starting to control his energy to digest the pill.
“In the future long journey of Cultivation, can you convince yourself?” Bai Zao asked.
As far as the orthodox Cultivation sects like the Center Sect were concerned, a steady Dao Heart was very important.
“What I have said is mostly true, because I have the courage and will power to sacrifice myself for the Dao, and I have already proven it; but…”
Looking at the corpse of the snow worm, Luo Huainan remained silent for a while before saying, “I didn’t expect that I wouldn’t die right away after being swallowed by this snow worm into its stomach and brought to this place. The death was evidently forthcoming, but it didn’t turn into reality even after a pretty long time. I promised myself that I wouldn’t experience this ordeal again. As for the long journey of Cultivation, I don’t think any journey will be as long as the one I have just experienced in that snow worm’s stomach.”
Bai Zao said, “As a result, you have lost your courage and will power.”
Luo Huainan said seriously while looking at Bai Zao, “Yes, I don’t want to die. I still have many things to do, and many scenes to enjoy. So I promised myself in the snow worm’s stomach that I would try to stay alive at any cost if I could survive the ordeal.”
Bai Zao said, “I believe what you said, because I received your help signal somewhat late.”
To have gained her agreement was very important for Luo Huainan, so his expression was relaxed a bit.
“Young Sister, I appreciate you coming all the way to save me; but I know that there will be only one choice in the end. You will never choose to sacrifice yourself to let me live.”
“So you decided to snatch the Ten-Thousand Mile Seal from me.”
Bai Zao continued while staring at him, “To put our relationship aside, don’t you think you will disappoint my parents by doing this?”
After a moment of silence, Luo Huainan said, “Do you think my master and mistress have treated me well…? Can you explain why you have the magic treasures like the Ten-Thousand Mile Seal with you when you participate in the Cultivation tournament, but I have never had it once, even after the many Cultivation tournaments I have participated in? If the Cultivation tournament is meant to test the participants when facing the situation of life and death, why can you stay out of the danger? Why do I have to die? There is indeed a difference between the blood and non-blood relationships. They have treated me so meagerly, so it’s fair I treat you the same way.”
Bai Zao was really angry now, exclaiming, “How could you say such a thing? Do you feel no shame?”
Luo Huainan said emotionlessly, “My master and mistress have been arguing with each other all their lives, till our generation. My master wants me to marry you, and master mistress wants Tong Yan to marry you. It would be a best thing to be able to marry a woman like you; but, do you know why Tong Yan and I didn’t agree to the proposals right away? It’s because we are fully aware that my master and mistress want to find a Cultivation partner for a sick person like you, to compensate for your naturally born shortcoming. No matter how hard Tong Yan and I are cultivating, we are just your wedding adornments.”
Upon hearing this, Bai Zao was startled a bit, because she didn’t know about this at all.
“Tong Yan is the smartest man in the world, and he can of course figure out the ins and outs. So he has thought out a clever way of refusing the proposal, that is, to use me as an excuse.”
Luo Huainan continued with an embittered smile, “He had retreated so fast that I had no way to back out of it. As a result, I had to make a grand promise that I would come to the snowland to guard the frontline for the humans after having achieved a high Cultivation state, to become the second Broadsword King. Who in his right mind wants to guard the snowland like an idiot for hundreds of years? This is just something I have to choose in order to avoid this marriage. I wanted to see where Tong Yan would retreat, but unexpectedly, this decision has brought has given me a good reputation.”
Bai Zao didn’t respond, remaining reticent.
“It’s actually better this way. I don’t have to come to the north anymore in the future.”
Luo Huainan didn’t finish the entire statement.
If Bai Zao had died here, he of course wouldn’t have to imitate the Broadsword King back then to come to the snowland in order to avoid this marriage.
“What about the grand promise you have made? The whole Cultivation world knows about it. Don’t you fear that you will be a laughingstock of the Cultivation world?” pressed Bai Zao while staring into his eyes.
Luo Huainan said, “People will forget the promise with the passing of time. Besides, the things said for the benefits of the listeners are unimportant to begin with, like what you have said to me, Tong Yan, and Nanshan, such as the future of the human race, the threat of the Snowy Kingdom, the inaction of the Underworld, and the conservativeness of the old generation; all of these are simply the delusions of a young girl. Do you really think that I would believe in what you said, and help you in leading the Cultivation practitioners of the young generation to accomplish a great cause all of the previous generations failed to do?”
“So, all you have said before was a lie then?”
“Of course they were. I was only playing along with so that you like and respect me.”
“It’s like playing house when we were young.”
Luo Huainan remained silent for a while before saying, “I’m much older than you. Tong Yan played with you most of the time.”
Bai Zao raised her princess-like head, full of pride, as she said, “It’s true that I respected you before, but you are mistaken on one thing, I have never liked you.”
Luo Huainan smiled, without saying anything.
He acted like the Big Brother on the Cloud Dream Mountain, looking with a loving expression at the little Young Sister who lied due to anger.
Bai Zao continued, “The person I like is Jing Jiu. In fact, I like Big Brother Tong Yan even more than you.”
“I know that you are upset right now, but you don’t have to degrade yourself.”
Furrowing his brows slightly, Luo Huainan added, “That disciple of the Green Mountain, named Jing Jiu, is a nobody, how could you use him as an excuse? What qualifications does he have?”
Bai Zao answered with a gentle smile, “What I said is true. It’s because your looks are really terrible.”
Luo Huainan was the strongest swordsman among the Cultivation practitioners of the young generation, tall, intimidating, having an extraordinary aura.
Yet, his appearance was just regular, far from good looking.
Tong Yan had a naturally tender appearance, sharp with clean eye expressions, so he looked far better than Luo Huainan.
To say nothing of Jing Jiu.
“Yong Sister, you are really good.”
Luo Huainan forcefully suppressed the anger inside him, and said lightly, “You can irritate me so easily under the circumstances.”
“I didn’t lie. Jing Jiu and I are really in love with each other; otherwise, how could I come to this cold north all by myself? It was Jing Jiu who had used his zhenyuan and several magic treasures to bring me here.”
As Bai Zao spoke, her face was full of love, looking quite truthful, devoid of any pretense.
It was because she had actually thought this way in her heart.
Luo Huainan was taken aback. “Really? Where is he then?” he asked with a slightly chilly expression.
Bai Zao said, “We met a snow worm. He thought it was inconvenient to fight it with me by his side, so he sent me to the cave first before he went back to fight the snow worm. I assume he will be here soon.”
If Bai Zao hadn’t the those words, Luo Huainan might believe her a little more; but he figured that she was lying. “If so, I need to hurry up,” he said.
Having said this, he closed his eyes to recuperate.
Bai Zao closed her eyes as well.
She didn’t attempt to scare him by mentioning Jing Jiu. What she tried to achieve was to plant a trace of suspicion in his Dao Heart, and meanwhile to lessen his attention on her the entire time.
Luo Huainan had been harmed in the snow worm’s stomach to a great extent, and he also used the zhenyuan which he had been accumulating for a long time to launch the sneak attack on her; so it would take some time for him to recover his energy to the state where he could use the Ten-Thousand Mile Seal; and he didn’t know that she had already practiced the Collected Hidden Script. As it were, she might be able to recover faster than him.
The cold air passed through the pile of the fallen rocks, coming into the cave.
The South-screen Bell and the North-time Bell lay quietly on the ground.
Time went by slowly.
Luo Huainan blinked his eyes, and the frost on his eyelashes fell down.
He opened his eyes and stood up, walking to the side of Bai Zao.
“I didn’t expect you to know the Collected Hidden Script.”
Bai Zao opened her eyes, showing a tired expression. It seemed that she had already given up.
Among the seventeen mysterious methods of the Center Sect, the Collected Hidden Script was a Golden Pill method higher than the Chaoyuan State. It was extremely hard to practice, harder even than the Heaven and Earth Escape Method.
Luo Huainan said, “Young Sister, I don’t want to humiliate you, so hand it to me of your own volition.”
As the disciple of the Center Sect, even if Bai Zao would rather die to give out the Ten-Thousand Mile Seal, Luo Huainan could still find the way to make her part with the magic treasure, but the method would be very brutal.
Bai Zao took out the Ten-Thousand Mile Seal and threw it to him.
She didn’t expect that Luo Huainan had also learned the Collected Hidden Script, but she still hadn’t given up the hope, as she didn’t reveal everything when she spoke earlier.
As expected, Luo Huainan didn’t leave immediately. He waved his sleeves to knock the snowy rocks that blocked the cave entrance out of the way, and walked to the cave entrance to look at the outside.
He thought Bai Zao had lied, but what if what she said was true?
If that disciple of the Green Mountain, named Jing Jiu, was really here and could leave here alive, what should he do?
Looking at Luo Huainan’s back, Bai Zao’s eye expression turned slightly chilly, and she was about to employ the accumulated zhenyuan by summoning the Collected Hidden Script to launch a final attack.
Bai Zao had never thought that she could defeat Luo Huainan; all she wanted to do was carry out a suicidal mission to bring him with her to the atrocious windy snowstorm outside the cave.
Suddenly, Luo Huainan uttered a faint “Hmm”, sounding like he was quite surprised.
Bai Zao thought of a possibility, and immediately became nervous, no longer able to attack.
…
…
A human figure appeared on the cliff wall, climbing up slowly in the midst of the wind and snow.
The wind and snow were like the cutting knife, and the temperature was even lower than any cold thing you could imagine; and the combination of these two elements made the rocky wall of the cliff even smoother than the surface of an ice.
Yet, that man always had his hands attached to the rocky cliff wall, without being blown away by the strong force of the wind and snow.
It seemed that he had sensed something, as he craned his head to look up, ending up staring into Luo Huainan’s eyes.
