Naturally, Chen Zui could not voice these thoughts aloud.
He couldn’t very well run up to Qi Tianchen and say, “Old man, you’ve misunderstood. I helped you purely to grind experience points, didn't I?”
Thus, he could only smile faintly and cup his hands toward Qi Tianchen, gracefully accepting the praise.
Having finished lecturing the others, Qi Tianchen turned around and returned to the transport wagon.
His movements when sitting down were a few degrees slower than before, his withered fingers repeatedly stroking the saber’s scabbard.
His gaze looked past the convoy, gazing toward the indistinct mountain range at the far end of the official road ahead.
Chen Zui noticed this detail.
Along the entire journey, Qi Tianchen had given him an impression that could be summed up in a single word:
Steady.
He remained impassive in the face of ambushes, and equally unperturbed in the face of an uninvited guest like Chen Zui.
It was as if the sky could collapse without warranting even a furrow of his brow.
Yet at this moment, the old man’s grip on his saber was actually tightening slightly, veins faintly bulging against his knuckles, and even the rhythm of his breathing had shifted.
Chen Zui followed Qi Tianchen’s gaze.
The distant mountains ahead were shrouded in a thin layer of evening mist. The terrain was not steep or treacherous, yet it exuded a cool, ethereal serenity.
From the mountainsides upward, clouds and mist curled around the slopes, where several waterfalls resembling white ribbons could be faintly seen cascading down the cliffside, shimmering with a faint glow in the twilight.
“Grandpa Qi,”
A-Tong’s voice carried from within the carriage cabin as he asked cautiously,
“Are we almost at Mirror Water Villa?”
Mirror Water Villa.
The moment those four words were spoken, the atmosphere of the convoy shifted abruptly.
The eight martial artists in martial attire halted their tasks simultaneously, exchanging glances.
The Staff Grandmaster’s expression also changed slightly, his grip instinctively tightening around the wrought bronze staff in his hand.
Chen Zui keenly caught this shift and turned his head toward A-Tong.
“What? Does Furnace-Listening Pavilion have some bad blood with Mirror Water Villa?”
Having roamed the martial world for years, Chen Zui had naturally heard of Mirror Water Villa.
Supposedly, it was a sect composed entirely of women.
Its current sect master was even the number one female Martial Arts Grandmaster across the Two Realms.
A-Tong scratched his head.
“I don’t know either, but they have a rule: no one from our Furnace-Listening Pavilion is permitted to take even a single step into Mirror Water Villa.”
“Oh? There’s such a thing?”
Although knowledgeable and well-traveled, Chen Zui truly had never heard of this secret.
“Yeah!”
A-Tong nodded, then cast a furtive glance at Qi Tianchen.
“I only know this rule has been around for many years.
I heard that in the past, whenever martial uncles and elders from Furnace-Listening Pavilion went out on business, they would rather take a two-day detour than pass through Mirror Water Villa’s territory.
However, since we’re heading to Jinyang City this time, Mirror Water Villa lies along our only route. We can’t bypass it.”
Chen Zui grew intrigued and turned to look at Qi Tianchen.
“Senior Qi, just what bad blood does Mirror Water Villa have with your Furnace-Listening Pavilion?”
Qi Tianchen did not answer.
He merely gazed toward the mountain range, his withered fingers still slowly stroking the scabbard.
After a long silence, he finally spoke in a measured tone.
“When this old man was young, the Dao companion who roamed the martial world with me was a female disciple of Mirror Water Villa.”
He stopped after speaking those few words. Only after a good while did he add another sentence.
“Her name was Xie Qingyi.”
When that name fell from his lips, a rare touch of tenderness crept into his tone.
A-Tong blinked and gathered the courage to ask once more,
“Then Grandpa Qi, why didn’t you marry this sis—Grandma into our Furnace-Listening Pavilion?”
Qi Tianchen still did not answer.
He merely lowered his eyelids slowly, lifting the long saber from his lap and cradling it with both hands to lay it flat against the wagon board.
The saber was pitch-black throughout, its scabbard wrapped in polished gold rings, and the pommel embedded with a thumb-sized piece of green jade.
He reached out a withered finger, gently stroking the green jade once before pulling his hand back.
Seeing this, Chen Zui did not press further.
He rested his spear on the wagon board, leaned against the wagon railing, and crossed his arms, an intriguing smirk forming at the corner of his lips.
Mirror Water Villa, an all-female sect that forbade anyone from Furnace-Listening Pavilion from taking a single step inside.
And Furnace-Listening Pavilion’s pillar of strength, Qi Tianchen, acted out of character the moment Mirror Water Villa was mentioned.
This story promised to be quite entertaining.
The convoy rested by the stream for nearly half a shichen before setting off once more.
Having drunk their fill of water, the sturdy Hexi horses appeared more spirited, their hooves striking the gravel-paved official road with crisp clattering sounds.
Twilight deepened as the final crimson-purple glow of dusk sank behind the silhouettes of the distant mountains.
Qi Tianchen did not speak another word the entire way.
Sitting upon the transport wagon, his hands rested flat upon the long saber on his lap, eyes lightly closed as if meditating and regulating his breath.
Yet Chen Zui noticed that even with closed eyes, his brow remained furrowed without relaxing for a single moment.
The eight martial artists in martial attire were also unusually silent.
A-Tong was perhaps the only one unaffected.
Leaning against the carriage window frame, he looked at the distant mountains one moment, then at the roadside flowers the next, occasionally poking his head out to chat with Chen Zui.
“Brother Chen, do you think the older sisters of Mirror Water Villa will be very fierce?”
“Probably not.”
“Then will they refuse to let us pass?”
“Hard to say.”
“What if they attack?”
“Then we fight, of course.”
“But they’re all women. How could you bring yourself to hit them?”
Chen Zui glanced sideways at A-Tong, the corner of his lips curling slightly.
“You’re still young. You don’t know that some big sisters like getting beaten.”
“Huh? Really? Don't those big sisters fear pain?” A-Tong asked skeptically.
Chen Zui chuckled. “When you grow up, you can ask them yourself.”
Thus, the convoy slowly moved forward through the night.
Half a shichen later.
The moon hung high in the sky, shedding clear light like water.
It illuminated the entirety of Mount Jingshui as if cloaking it in a sheer veil of silver.
The pine forests on both sides of the official road gradually receded, replaced by groves of slender bamboo.
Bamboo shadows swayed gracefully under the moonlight, and the wind passing through the bamboo groves made soft, rustling sounds.
The mountain gate ahead was now clearly visible.
Before the mountain gate stood a memorial archway built entirely of white stone.
Engraved upon the archway’s plaque were four characters: “Mirror Water Villa.”
The calligraphy was delicate yet upright and forceful, clearly not the handiwork of a man.
Behind the archway lay a winding stone stairway leading upward, flanked by murmuring streams on both sides.
Moonlight reflected off the water's shimmering surface, casting a glow that made the entire flight of stone steps look like a celestial ladder ascending to the Moon Palace.
At the top of the stone stairway, one could faintly discern layered pavilions and flying eaves, the copper bells hanging from the eave corners occasionally letting out soft, delicate chimes in the night breeze.
“Elder Qi, the mountain gate of Mirror Water Villa is just ahead. Should we keep moving forward?”
The Staff Grandmaster came before the transport wagon and asked in a hushed voice.
Qi Tianchen opened his eyes.
Gazing upon that white archway, he fell silent for a long time.
Moonlight fell upon his deeply wrinkled face, illuminating every furrow clearly.
His hand remained pressed against the scabbard, his knuckles pale and the veins on the back of his hand pulsing faintly.
“Keep going.”
He uttered only those three words before closing his eyes once more.
The Staff Grandmaster hesitated for an instant, but in the end, did not dare to ask further.
He merely waved a hand toward the front.
The convoy slowly rolled toward that white archway.
The sound of horse hooves and carriage wheels sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet mountain night.
Chen Zui noticed that when the convoy was less than twenty zhang from the archway, the glazed lamps on either side of the archway flickered at the same time.
The flames suddenly contracted inward, then abruptly flared, bursting into a ring of eerie blue sparks.
Immediately after, a cool, crisp voice drifted down from above the stone stairs:
“Who goes there, daring to intrude upon Mirror Water Villa by night?”
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