Xu Fengnian abruptly stood up, observing the flow of energy within his body, finding nothing unusual. The Fourth Heaven of Huangting remained at the fourth level. Just as he was about to draw the twin swords, Xiudong and Chunlei, back into their sheaths, his mind suddenly tensed. Instinctively, he leaned backward until he was parallel with the ground. With his toes, he kicked at the sheath of Chunlei, sending it flying upward to strike against the blade. A dagger, possibly poisoned, barely whistled past his nose. Xu Fengnian caught Chunlei in his left hand, slapped the ground with his right palm, and propelled himself backward two zhang. Landing steadily, he turned his gaze toward the cliffside known as Sword Cliff, where a slender figure lightly leapt into view. She still held a dagger in her hand. With a soft chuckle, she did not rush forward to engage him but tilted her head curiously and asked, “Hey, how did you know I would climb up from the cliff?”
Xu Fengnian fixed his gaze on the elusive girl-assassin, suppressing his anger as he replied calmly, “You’ve emerged from beneath a horse’s belly, leapt from water, and even dropped down from a city gate archway. For a thousand taels of gold paid by Prince Jing’an, Zhao Heng, what can’t you do?”
The girl merely said, “Oh,” and fell silent, glancing at Xu Fengnian’s left hand gripping the sword, her expression clearly implying, *I knew you were left-handed.*
Suddenly, Xu Fengnian asked, “Did you notice anything strange while you were climbing up?”
The girl shook her head. “Climbing is boring.”
Xu Fengnian’s expression turned complex as he gazed at the pale dawn in the sky, sighing helplessly. “Miss Haha, you climbed all night long, driving your twin daggers into the cliff face the entire way?”
This young girl, who should have been in the prime of her romantic youth, had recently caused a tremendous uproar in the martial world after assassinating Wang Mingyin with her bare hands. Her target was none other than the eleventh strongest martial artist in the realm, a man who had been famous for twenty years. This news was far more shocking than any tale of a beauty from the *Yanzhi Review* strolling through spring with a young nobleman. In the martial world, the most potent aphrodisiacs are always martial manuals, women, and the chance to rise to fame in a single battle. Many chase after these things relentlessly, especially the last. Otherwise, how could there be so many martial artists desperate to enter the city walls of Wudi City by the East Sea(Sea of the East)? Reaching the second floor is enough to guarantee a life of wealth and honor after one leaves.
Xu Fengnian had even offered her two or three thousand taels of gold just to stop playing this cat-and-mouse game, but she never listened. This time, he had thought he would at least have the protection of the old sword immortal, Li Chungan, and others behind him, and the cliff in front would serve as a natural barrier, granting him a night of peace. Yet even the Sword Cliff could not stop Miss Haha. Xu Fengnian couldn’t figure it out—was it really for that thousand taels of gold, or was there some unknown, bitter enmity?
She tilted her head again and asked, “Hey, why don’t you call your henchmen to protect you?”
Xu Fengnian smiled bitterly. “If I did, you’d have no way out and would have to fight me to the death. I was just thinking if there was any way to turn hostility into peace with Miss Haha.”
She shook her head solemnly. “No need. You can call them. At most, I’ll kill you and then jump off the cliff. Wealth and honor are matters of fate, and life and death are in heaven’s hands.”
Xu Fengnian sighed. “No room for compromise?”
The girl nodded firmly.
Xu Fengnian narrowed his eyes toward the horizon where the sun was rising, letting out a breath. He pointed behind the girl and smiled, “Because of the angle of the sunlight, the waterfall on Sword Cliff will turn golden soon. Why don’t we admire the view before we fight to the death?”
She didn’t speak, keeping her gaze fixed on Xu Fengnian as she slowly backed away to the cliff’s edge. Glancing sideways, she indeed saw a golden ribbon hanging down the cliffside, a breathtaking sight. Xu Fengnian wrestled with his thoughts, but finally abandoned the idea of fleeing. He walked to the cliff’s edge and joined her in watching the magnificent natural spectacle.
Miss Haha, by habit, said, “Hey,” as a greeting, then asked, “Why are you crying?”
Xu Fengnian replied flatly, “I had a dream. I saw my mother. Whether you believe it or not is up to you.”
He had expected no reply, but to his astonishment, the girl murmured, “Hmm,” with a strange tremor in her voice. She squatted down, dagger clenched in her teeth, resting her chin in her hands as she muttered, “Was your mother pretty?”
Xu Fengnian smiled.
The young assassin’s lips curved slightly, her words muffled by the dagger. “You’re so handsome, your mother must be even prettier.”
She slowly stood up, letting a dagger drop from one hand, smiling in a way that exuded bloodthirsty cruelty. Xu Fengnian braced himself, inwardly cursing. This girl could change her mood in an instant. He really needed to find an opportunity to eliminate her completely. Even with Li Chungan by his side, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t succeed in an assassination attempt. His head was only worth a thousand taels—just thinking about it made him furious! Miss Haha lived up to her name. Her timing for killing was always unexpected, and her actions were just as strange and unpredictable. Now she stared at Xu Fengnian and said, “Forget it. I won’t kill you today. I’ll go back down the same way I came up. How about that?”
Xu Fengnian replied without hesitation, “Fine! But if you trust me, I can promise that Old Sword Immortal and the others won’t kill you. Miss Haha can walk down the mountain as easily as you like.”
She looked at the prince as if he were an idiot. “Not killing me doesn’t mean they won’t try to capture me. Do you think I’m that dumb princess of Prince Jing’an? All ass and no brains?”
Xu Fengnian burst into heartfelt laughter. Honestly, if not for this deadly entanglement, he would really like to have a heart-to-heart with her, to find out who had trained such a remarkable girl. He raised one hand to signal that he wouldn’t follow. The girl warned, “You go first. Don’t draw your sword until I’m a hundred steps away from the cliff. We agreed in advance—if you break your word, I won’t follow the rules anymore. Killing you and that old foot-scratching man might be hard, but killing one by one until all one hundred riders of the Fengzi Camp are gone won’t be difficult.”
Xu Fengnian nodded, watching the girl-assassin plunge her twin daggers into the cliff like a gecko and slowly descend. But it only seemed slow. To anyone watching closely, it was clear that each dagger strike was separated by two or three zhang. Xu Fengnian didn’t have the courage to hang from the cliff like that. The wind sweeping the cliffside was fierce, and as she descended, swaying with each movement, even Xu Fengnian couldn’t help but hold his breath in fear for her.
It was strange—Xu Fengnian didn’t feel the slightest hope that she would fall to her death. Oddly enough, her constant presence, like a thorn in his back, was precisely what kept the prince constantly striving in his martial cultivation, never daring to relax for even a moment.
The sun rose in the east, fully emerging from the sea of clouds. Xu Fengnian stood there for who knows how long until the old man Li finally strolled over to watch the sunrise. Xu Fengnian turned and smiled, “I think I understand now what you meant by *Sword Opens the Heavenly Gate*.”
Li Chungan, clearly disbelieving, said in surprise, “Oh?”
Xu Fengnian turned to gaze at the sea of clouds, his pair of phoenix-shaped eyes narrowing with a charming smile. “One sword follows another, each strike building upon the last. Forget about sword techniques and forms—just stack the sword intent until it becomes endless. Resolve to strike only when the intent is powerful enough to kill. Wager your entire cultivation on a single strike! If I were to learn the saber, I should pursue the same—seeking the audacity of a lone strike capable of slaying a heavenly dragon!”
Li Chungan remained expressionless but said gravely, “That’s not a bad theory, but with your current level, wielding the saber like that would be suicide.”
Xu Fengnian shook his head. “Not now. After I reach the Realm of the Indestructible(Jingang Realm).”
Li Chungan sneered arrogantly, “Not that I look down on you, boy, but as long as you remain the Prince, you’ll never master that strike. Without me as your shield, won’t Xu Xiao send other experts to protect you? You’ve got nothing to fear, so how can you truly seek cultivation through danger?”
Xu Fengnian replied calmly, “Once I reach the Jingang Realm and return to Beiliang, I’ll go alone into the Northern Wilderness.”
Li Chungan snorted coldly, “At least you’ve got some ambition. Didn’t waste my two hundred *Qingshe* strikes.”
Xu Fengnian simply smiled.
The old sword immortal suddenly asked, “Last night, you nearly lost control during meditation. What happened?”
Xu Fengnian lightly shook his head, saying indifferently, “Nothing.”
The old man wrapped his sheepskin cloak tighter and snorted, not asking further.
Yu Youwei and Pei Nanwei had also woken up to admire the view, with Qingniao following behind them. It had to be admitted—Pei Nanwei, whom Miss Haha had insulted as having no brains, truly deserved the title of a beauty who could shame the moon and flowers. A woman so beautiful seemed to need no brains at all. Besides, how many women in the world could be both breathtakingly beautiful and possessed of near-divine wisdom? The prince’s second sister, Xu Wei Xiong, was a strategist of extraordinary talent, but her looks were only average. By Xu Fengnian’s hundred-point scale for evaluating beauty, excluding the top beauty Bai Huer, Pei Nanwei was undoubtedly number one, scoring around ninety-four or ninety-five points. Even after falling from grace, dressed in simple, commoner’s clothes with wooden hairpins and narrow sleeves, she still exuded charm. During this journey, when she needed to appear in public, the prince had required her to wear a soft, Guanyin Hood Guanyin hood with a veil that reached her shoulders. Conservative women often wore such veils when going out. Young, unmarried girls usually wore Forehead Veil, lighter veils that allowed most of their faces to be seen—wearing them or not made little difference.
Yu Youwei did not need such modesty. She wore wide-sleeved brocade robes of exquisite embroidery and stepped in Western-style slippers. In terms of appearance, she might have been two or three points behind Pei Nanwei, who was universally acknowledged as peerlessly fair-skinned, but Yu Youwei’s charms were undeniable. Any man who enjoyed fondling her ample bosom would find it impossible not to fall at her feet.
During this journey out of Beiliang, Xu Fengnian had spoken with Yu Youwei about court politics, and perhaps due to her upbringing in a bureaucratic family, she always displayed remarkably insightful opinions.
Xu Fengnian sheathed both Xiudong and Chunlei and reattached them to his waist, then walked directly back to the camp of the Fengzi Cavalry.
Yu Youwei and Pei Nanwei stood side by side, gazing at the radiant sky, their eyes dreamy.
And below them,
On the cliffside, carved as if by an immortal’s sword stroke,
A girl stood, holding a saber in one hand, her body swaying in the wind like a stubborn blade of grass growing between rocks.
Suspended between heaven and earth,
She gazed at the morning glow, Absent-minded(zhichi—absorbed),
No longer laughing with her signature chuckle.
Just standing there, lost in thought.
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