Chapter 258: Chapter 165: Illusory Dream
’Since this foolish scholar likes older women, my little sister should be safe.’
Xie Yunliu chuckled and continued lifting heavy weights in the clearing, bellowing out a rhythmic count.
"One! And two! And three...!"
Zheng Xiu walked behind Xiaotao.
Xiaotao remained silent the entire way, quietly ascending the spiral staircase.
Zheng Xiu mulled it over. ’Did my health class, a lesson that leaped across the chasm of ages, frighten the poor girl speechless?’
After some more walking, Zheng Xiu and Xiaotao reached the top of the cavern.
It was only then that Zheng Xiu noticed dozens of rope ladders bundled up near the cavern’s opening to the sky. One ladder was already lowered, leading up to the mountaintop. It didn’t take long for Zheng Xiu to discover the ladders’ hidden mechanism: in a dark corner, a rope was tied to a large net. If the rope was cut, the net would release, and all the ladders would unfurl and drop down.
It dawned on Zheng Xiu. He had thought it strange when he first arrived at Yunhe Village. Although its location was perilous and easy to defend, if it were ever besieged until its supplies ran out, the village would surely fall without a fight.
It turned out they had an escape route.
As for how to cut the rope, Zheng Xiu recalled Xie Luohe’s divine Archery. That wouldn’t be a problem.
Xiaotao pointed to the lowered rope ladder, forcing a smile. "Young Master, my lady has a rule: the side passage can only be used by women. Men must climb the ladder. So... my apologies for the inconvenience. Xiaotao dares not disobey my lady’s orders. Please be careful when you climb, and don’t fall."
Zheng Xiu nodded, then nimbly scrambled up the rope ladder in a few quick movements.
The moment he reached the top, dazzling sunlight stung Zheng Xiu’s eyes.
He raised a hand to block the light. In the distance, he saw a patch of azure flowers. Amidst the blossoms was a large boulder, upon which a woman was languidly reclining.
"My lady, Young Master Gongsun Mo is here."
Xiaotao emerged from the passage onto the summit not long after Zheng Xiu.
Xie Luohe smiled and waved.
After bowing, Xiaotao bit her lip, glanced at Zheng Xiu, and left the summit.
"I am Gongsun Mo. It is an honor to meet the Big—"
Zheng Xiu cupped his fists, but before he could finish his sentence, Xie Luohe closed her eyes and smiled at him. "I hear you are a descendant of the Gongsun Family."
"I am."
Zheng Xiu nodded.
"In that case, paint a picture for me."
Zheng Xiu froze. A familiar memory suddenly flooded his mind, and he quickly shook his head. "Big Leader, there is something you may not know. The Gongsun Family has an ancestral rule that has been passed down through generations. Any Gongsun descendant may paint mountains and water, fish and insects, birds and beasts. We may paint Heaven and Earth, wind and rain. But there is one thing we are forbidden to paint."
Without opening her eyes, Xie Luohe calmly asked, "And what is that?"
"People. A Gongsun descendant must never paint a portrait of a person."
’Why?’
The familiar memory surfaced as if it were his own, making it difficult for him to tell fact from fiction. But even as he spoke the words, Zheng Xiu found himself wondering the same thing. Why couldn’t they paint people?
He closed his eyes, and a vision appeared: a frail old man on his deathbed, gripping a young boy’s hand. His breath was as faint as a silk thread as he murmured, "It is easy to paint the skin and bones, but difficult to paint the soul!"
And then, he breathed his last.
That was his grandfather. ’No,’ he corrected himself, ’it was Gongsun Mo’s grandfather.’
The same grandfather who was known as the "Painting Saint."
The grandfather who had painted the legendary Four Seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
"If you won’t paint, then you can jump from here."
Xie Luohe delivered the most domineering of threats in the calmest of tones.
Zheng Xiu fell silent for a moment. In truth, he was also curious about the reason behind the rule. As he gazed at Xie Luohe, who was the spitting image of Feng Bei, something stirred within him. ’I’m not Gongsun Mo anymore,’ he thought. ’I’m Zheng Xiu. Gongsun Mo’s influence has long since faded.’
"Alright."
A corner of Xie Luohe’s mouth curled into a smile. With a flick of her long sleeve, a gust of wind kicked up, sending a long table spinning through the air. It landed perfectly steady before Zheng Xiu.
The display made Zheng Xiu’s eye twitch. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Xie Luohe was bringing Cultivation into the Martial World, which was just absurd.
’Paint or die. That’s what she was clearly saying.’
Gazing at Xie Luohe—at Feng Bei—Zheng Xiu recalled the portrait of Feng Bei he had secretly painted back home. A flicker of emotion passed through him. With a faint smile, he sat down, placed his brush and Jade Inkstone on the table, unrolled a scroll of xuan paper, and began to grind the ink.
SCRITCH, SCRITCH, SCRITCH...
White clouds drifted across the vast sky. High on the summit, only Gongsun Mo and Xie Luohe remained—or perhaps, it was only Zheng Xiu and Feng Bei.
The wind stirred, and shadows danced. A gentle breeze lifted Xie Luohe’s long hair, veiling the side of her face. The only sound on the summit was the soft scratching of Zheng Xiu’s brush against the paper.
Xie Luohe’s eyes were closed. As Zheng Xiu began to paint, she began to speak, her voice slow and ethereal.
"Ever since I was a child, I’ve had a recurring dream."
"In this dream, I see a girl. Her parents died when she was young, leaving her all alone."
"She suffers from a strange illness that prevents her from touching anyone. She is utterly isolated, treated like a walking plague."
"She is an Omen, one even more terrifying than I, Xie Luohe."
"Then one day, in a place called Baili Village, someone rescued her."
Zheng Xiu’s hand moved slower and slower across the paper as Feng Bei’s silhouette gradually took shape.
He was completely in the zone, and Xie Luohe’s voice sounded to him like words from a dream.
When he finally came to his senses, a figure had emerged on the paper. She wore black robes with flowing cloud sleeves and black silk gloves. Her long hair fell to cover her right eye, and at the corner of her lips was a subtle melancholy, a serene calm that could break a person’s heart.
All the while, Xie Luohe continued to narrate her long "dream."
"In the dream, I am her, and she is me."
"My name is Xie Luohe. Hers is Feng Bei."
"The ’Feng’ of a phoenix’s arrival, the ’Bei’ of the northern geese’ flight south."
Xie Luohe opened her eyes and looked at Zheng Xiu.
"So, tell me. Are you Gongsun Mo, Zheng Shan, or... Zheng Xiu?"
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