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182 - Unexplained Disappearance
🕑 Added 2025-03-23 14:14:52 +0000 UTCYun Jingfei was stunned. Not by what the boy had said but by the mere fact that he entertained this notion in the first place. How could he possibly expect her to acquiesce to such an absurd premise? Even if she wasn't already married, she wouldn't consider this for even a minute.
“Are you mad?” she spat.
She couldn’t think of anything else other than this. It was already too absurd to be a practical joke that she could only conceive that the young boy had lost his mind, yet the look on his face told a different story. At the sight of this blunt rejection, the man’s expression couldn’t help but darken. He even seemed to be on the verge of tears.
“Wait... Were you being serious?”
Jingfei’s eyes widened, unable to believe someone could make such a ludicrous request at such a point in time. It wasn't as if they were well-acquainted with each other. Although she had heard stories about this young man before, this had been the first time they had met. There had been no other opportunity for him to develop feelings for her.
Surely, someone must have put him up to this, yet the current desolate look on his face spoke otherwise. It seemed entirely genuine. As such, she decided to take the matter seriously.
"Do you even understand the repercussions of what you are proposing?"
Obviously not, she thought, seeing how lost the young man seemed.
It was only then she remembered he was but a sheltered child. From what she had uncovered about him, his cultivation talent had been found relatively early. He possessed a top-tier spiritual root, and upon discovery, his parent promptly sent him to the sect to be groomed into a worthy successor. Apparently, his family had quite the connection to the upper ranks of the sect, allowing him to rise to a Core Disciple almost instantly.
A sheltered young master unaware of the intricacies of what his position entails... Didn't his master teach him anything other than cultivation? With such a naive mindset, he can't hope to survive in the broader world. Maybe I should set him straight...
"You may have thought that the institution of marriage differed from the secular world when it came to cultivators, but you couldn't be more wrong—at least, not regarding the major sects. These unions are usually meant to bolster support and unite certain factions. If you hadn't noticed, our respective masters are quite antagonistic to each other, making the marriage you proposed an unlikely event, not to mention the fact that I am already married. You should abandon your hope of this ever working out."
Yun Jingfei had displayed her thoughts in no uncertain terms, yet after taking a big breath, the young man seemed to have calmed himself. He didn’t sport the expression of someone who had been rejected anymore, which couldn’t help but confuse her.
"If you are worried about my master, you don't need to be. He dotes on me quite a bit. I should be able to make him agree to this with some effort."
"Even if you could, it doesn't change that I already have a husband. Your quest was doomed from the start."
Yun Jingfei was getting slightly frustrated, and she considered leaving, but what the young man said next made her hesitate. She couldn't help but narrow her eyes and let a tiny sliver of murderous intent out.
"Do you?" the boy asked, confused. "I've heard the elders mention him. Apparently, they've been keeping an eye on him, and he was last sighted at the Frontier over a year ago. From the reports, with the help of the sect master of the Moonlight Sword Palace, he delved further west within the outsiders' territory, but there's not been any news of him since. The elders believed him to have perished. Haven't you heard?"
How could she have not? This was all others could speak about when meeting her within the sect. Usually, such a rumour of indistinct origin would not have been taken seriously by the disciples, but all knew that it came from the elders themselves, giving credence to the veracity of this information. Yet, Yun Jingfei believed none of it.
However, it was clear what people intended by spreading such rumours. They wanted to shake Jingfei’s confidence. They knew it wouldn’t be enough to break her, but if they could find a weak point in her Dao Heart’s armour they could exploit, they might be able to dethrone her in her position as Core Disciple, making it rip for the picking.
Many eyed what she had, waiting for her to slip up and take her place.
“Unless they bring me his corpse, I’d rather believe he is still alive,” she said. “He isn’t the type to simply run to his death.”
Faced with her firm conviction, the young boy found himself at a loss for words, but surprisingly, his feelings for her didn't diminish. If anything, they only seemed to grow stronger, entranced by the fortitude and grace she displayed through adversity.
What he didn’t know was that most of her current strength had been brought about through her relationship with Qin Yun. Had they not been married, she would have only wasted away, becoming a shadow of her former self.
She couldn't help but wonder how the boy would react if she told him such a thing, yet she relented in the end. This wasn't something for him to know. She would only open her heart to her husband and no one else. Despite this boy's talent, he wasn't worthy of holding up her heart.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be taking my leave,” she said, and before he could open his mouth, Yun Jingfei had already soared over the many steps leading to a reclusive building located on one of the many mountain tops in one great leapt before vanishing inside, leaving the young man with conflicted feelings.
On the one hand, he seemed reluctant to continue pursuing this—the rejection had hit him harder than he expected—while on the other hand, he seemed to have fallen even more in love with her firm gaze.
He remained standing as the world revolved around him, gazing in the direction she had left, only to turn around much later and climb back down the many sets of stairs. However, his conflicted expression seemed to have vanished, replaced with a softer and much more controlled expression and a slight smile.
******
“Master! Has there been any news of him?”
Yao Ruolan stood on the battlement, gazing toward the dry desert. To her side were He Zihao, gently holding her hand, as well as her master and current Guardian of the Frontier, Xu Weizhe. A bright blue flame burned in the depths of his eyes, reminiscent of the blaze kept deep within the bowels of this city.
There was a strange air about him, but it was only apparent to those who knew him well. He seemed more confidant, but also mysterious—so much so that even his own disciple could hardly recognize him sometimes.
He had always been somewhat reserved but now felt much more imposing. If not for the sect master's assurance that everything was fine, Ruolan might have thought that someone had secretly replaced him. Fortunately, this blue flame didn't seem to have changed his attitude toward her.
“There haven’t been any,” Xu Weizhe said softly. “Past this point is an almost unending desert. We’ve just begun sending scouts again now that the situation at the Frontier has stabilized.”
"I can't believe it took us over two years to reach this point," He Zihao lamented. "The other three sects haven't made it easy, especially with the sect master having returned to the sect."
"She has her own duties," Xu Weizhe replied. "She has already done more than enough. What good would we be if we couldn't handle something this minor?"
"Master... You claim this was minor, but it almost resulted in a civil war," Ruolan sighed. "Especially the Cult of the Emerald Lord. I can't believe they tried to pin the blame on us for one of their elders going missing. Things might have been much worse if not for the backing we received from the Immortal Phoenix Sect."
Xu Weizhe remained silent. He was the only one Zou Lan had briefed on what she had discussed with Qin Yun, for they couldn't let it be known they were truly responsible for the elder's disappearance, yet even he wasn't aware of the elder's current state.
As far as he knew, Zou Lan may have already disposed of him, if only so that no loose ends would remain linking back to them, but the most probable outcome may be that she had secretly transferred him back to the sect under the cover of darkness, letting the elder fade from their collective memories with time.
Either way, their actions had paid off.
They obtained valuable information, leading to a swift neutralization of the various groups within the Frontier. While some friction remained, most of the city was now united in resisting the invaders under Xu Weizhe's command.
It was only a matter of time until they were finally ready to receive them in full force. The time Qin Yun had bought them was priceless. Xu Weizhe couldn’t have been more grateful. Yet one fact remained: Why hadn’t they found any traces of him for over two whole years?
Could he have truly perished within the vast desolation?
Somehow, Yao Ruolan doubted it, and Xu Weizhe was of the same opinion. Someone able to stand against the various elders of the city, and even Zou Lan herself, shouldn't have been foolish enough to be done in so easily—unless he sought to do something outrageous.
Still, the fact remained there hadn’t been any traces of the Outsiders even going near the Great Barrier.
"Let's believe in him," Xu Weizhe finally said. "For all we know, he may no longer be within the Western Desolate. Many ruins exist scattered beyond those walls. Although they may not be as valuable to us due to the lack of qi, there's no telling what manners of ancient technologies and artifacts one might uncover by combing through them. He may have simply been delayed by one of them."
"I hope so," Ruolan said, but didn't believe that.
She couldn't explain it but felt he was much further than that. It wasn't some kind of intuition, but something rising up for her very cultivation core. As for why it originated from there, she had no idea as it had never happened before. And yet, she felt she would see him again. She was almost sure of it.
With the sun setting on another day, the group dispersed back into the city, returning to their individual duties. While peace had set in, the ordinary people began to thrive again. The economy was booming as new arrivals started to flock to the city, anticipating the upcoming conflict.
No matter how complacent they might become, nobody within the city could forget the events just two years prior, much less those who had fallen that day. Still, with their loss came opportunities for various rogue cultivators to distinguish themselves for a chance to be recruited by one of the four sects. With the rumours going around, many were aiming to join the Moonlight Sword Palace, the current rulers of this frontier city.
Adjacent to the main road leading to the Moonlight Sword Palace was a tavern. It was neither fancy nor upscale, just a regular bar you could find anywhere, yet there were two factors that made it stand out from the others.
It was rumoured that it was somehow linked to the Moonlight Sword Palace, leading many to try their luck as they sought to be recruited. The second was a very strange bronze-skinned lady rumoured to be the owner. And yet, said owner had disappeared over a year ago, leading many to speculate on what may have happened to her.
The strange thing was that her disappearance coincided with the current sect master of the Moonlight Sword Palace's return to her sect, leading many to believe they were somehow related, but there was no way to be sure.
