TL checked – Zaki, Edited – Animeart

  ———–

  It was not known how far they walked. Looking back after a while, there was only a large area of snow, fog, and icy sand at the valley pass. The small pavilion had quietly disappeared in the foggy white distant mountains. The road from which they came could no longer be seen and there was no one on the road as well.

  Lin Shu was suddenly embraced by Xiao Shao.

  He hugged Lin Shu so tightly that there was almost no gap between himself and Lin Shu.

  Lin Shu leaned against his chest, letting him hold him tightly.

  They often had such moments when their skin was close to each other and their breaths were intertwined. The misty and cold plum aroma on Xiao Shao would soak in him for a long time. At this time, Lin Shu always had an illusion that in the vast world, it was only two of them that were present. He was a part of Xiao Shao. Xiao Shao’s breath was his breath, and Xiao Shao’s bone blood was also his bone blood.

  He looked up at Xiao Shao.

  Xiao Shao looked down at him.

  Lin Shu’s voice trembled a little, trying to be calm, he said: “Why didn’t you want to see Yingying?”

  He was very much fond of Yingying.

  Xiao Shao was silent for a long time.

  “This life’s fate is over,” he said softly. “Seeing each other again will add to her sadness.”

  Lin Shu closed his eyes. In the end, he couldn’t help the tears that fell from his eyes.

  In this life, and in his previous life, he had never been like this – so vulnerable. In his limited memory, It seemed that he had never shed tears, but this year, it was very frequent, as if he was paying off his previous debts of being indifferent.

  It’s true.

  Xiao Shao thought so, and he told himself as well.

  The fate of this life, no matter what, will have to end here.

  “Then I……” he whispered, “I won’t…… add to the sadness.”

  Xiao Shao: “I’m selfish.”

  Lin Shu buried his face on Xiao Shao’s shoulder.

  He was afraid that he would lose control and burst into tears the next moment.

  Xiao Shao hugged him in silence.

  Lin Shu didn’t speak again.

  When he finally calmed down, he separated from the hug and then they returned to the inn where they were staying.

  In the inn, on the bed, Lin Shu took the initiative to kiss the side of Xiao Shao’s neck.

  Xiao Shao pressed his shoulder and leaned over to kiss him.

  When he was in a totally dazed state, Xiao Shao brought him to the mirror.

  The floor was covered with a soft blanket, he was half undressed, kneeling in front of the floor-to-ceiling bronze mirror, and Xiao Shao’s hand was around his waist.

  He looked at himself in the mirror.

  In the past, when Xiao Shao forced him to look in the mirror, he didn’t understand why Xiao Shao always loved to look, but he was never willing to see himself in the mirror. For one, he felt a little shy, and the other he felt as if he had lost his sense of decorum.

  Therefore, this was the first time he had carefully studied his body and facial features.

  The white clothes that had a texture similar to gauze had become disheveled, revealing his shoulders and half of his arms.

  He looked at the beautiful features of the man in the mirror, the eyes that had slight redness at the ends, the skin that turned pink due to the constant contact.

  Was this him?

  It was not disgusting

  Xiao Shao stroked his bare shoulder with his right hand.

  “Does it look good?” his voice was lowered, it sounded like a bewitchment from the deepest part of the night.

  In a trance, Lin Shu stretched out his hand and touched his face in the mirror.

  “Does it look good?” Xiao Shao asked again.

  The man in the mirror, with his eyes very confused, hesitantly nodded.

  Xiao Shao’s hand choked his throat, the force of his hold was neither light nor too tight, blocking his breathing slightly.

  “Do you look good?” still the same sentence.

  Lin Shu then knew that he had to force himself to say those words.

  He was a little lost in thought and said, “Good looking.”

  Xiao Shao kissed the side of his face: “Do you like yourself?”

  Lin Shu was even more confused, looking at the equally confused person in the mirror, not knowing how to answer.

  Xiao Shao said, “Xiao Shao likes Lin Shu. Does Lin Shu like himself?”

  Lin Shu did not know.

  Whether he liked it or not, he was still Lin Shu.

  If the ending was the same, why do you have to make a choice?

  Xiao Shao paranoidly asked him again and again, “Do you like yourself?”

  Originally he didn’t like himself.

  But since Xiao Shao likes it, and this person is not disgusting, then loving someone on the account of another, could he also like it?

  Lin Shu’s finger rested on the profile of the person in the mirror and said in a daze: “I like……”

  He saw Xiao Shao in the mirror, his slightly curved eyebrows, extremely gentle smile, as if his long-cherished wish had been fulfilled.

  Xiao Shao said, “Say it again.”

  Lin Shu: “.…… I like it.”

  \r \r \r

  Xiao Shao: “The third time.”

  Lin Shu: “I like it.”

  He was forced to speak out, but something in his heart suddenly came crashing down……

  Like a dusty door that had been sealed for decades collapsed, revealing what lay beyond it.

  He was in a trance as the scorching rays of light almost stabbed in his eyes. After adapting to the brightness, he wanted to cry and laugh.

  Past events and transient events that were preserved for a long time like rotten moss and rotten wood in the nooks and corners, like the wettest and dampest soil, suddenly all of it turned into the lightest floating sand under such hot and scorching light. And with a slightest gust of wind, it dispersed, scattered to heaven and earth, nowhere to be found.

  He thought of some past events that were difficult to look back on, all kinds of malicious eyes and laughter, suffocating him due to being crowded by people with nowhere to escape. Slowly, his face was no longer disgusting, and the smell was no longer disgusting.

  He used to think that it was his fault that there would be such a scene, because he was useless as a person, and therefore his life was sad and was being punished for it.

  It was as if he saw time fly by, and the crowd scattered, leaving him alone, standing in the glow of light.

  Not so.

  He liked this man now.

  This man was worthy of being liked.

  Nobody did anything wrong.

  He stretched out his hand toward that brilliantly radiant light, returned to his senses, and found that he was still touching the smooth bronze mirror, with himself reflected in the mirror.

  The chest behind him belonged to Xiao Shao, warm and solid.

  Lin Shu looked down in a daze, opened his five fingers and looked at the shallow and messy lines of his palm.

  His Master had cultivated Immortality, so he was a bit feudal and superstitious. When he was a teenager, he took him to read palms.

  However, Master also knew that fortune tellers had many sweet words and threateningly only said bad things, not good things.

  The street psychic with a pair of sunglasses said, “Your fate, being a lone star, suffering hardships, being displaced, being wronged, having no merit, having short life, and then committing suicide.”

  Master panicked and asked the gentleman how to solve the issue.

  The psychic bizarrely pointed to the sky with one hand and pointed to the ground with the other: “Time and fate…… this old man has limited magic power and he has the intention to save people and can’t return to the heavens. Whether there is a chance for rebirth can only depend on his own destiny.”

  He was in a trance. Xiao Shao took his hand and covered the palm of his hand.

  So in Xiao Shao’s arms, in Xiao Shao’s hands, he was finally reborn, reincarnated as a human being.

  Xiao Shao gently bit his ear and said, “Immortal Lord, you’ll never have any more obstacles from now on.”

  He pulled off Lin Shu’s robe.

  The snow-white clothes, like clouds falling to the ground, fell on the vermilion carpet and spread out.

  He pulled out Lin Shu’s hairpin from his hair.

  The flowing green silk then slid down his shoulders.

  Xiao Shao kissed down the side of his neck, licking and gently biting downwards.

  Lin Shu hugged him and pushed his fingers into his hair.

  As the red candle swayed, he gasped, followed Xiao Shao’s movements, and slightly arched his chest up.

  In the mirror, he saw his waist had a rounded curve, pinched in Xiao Shao’s hand.

  He closed his eyes as if he were trapped in a never-ending wondrous dream.

  However, day after day, night after night, the time just flowed past, twelve hours a day, not a moment more, not a minute less.

  In the twinkling of an eye, it was more than a month.

  He followed Xiao Shao and almost walked through the dusty rivers and mountains of the world of mortals. He saw the ghosts under his sword day by day, tens of thousands of people. The bloody aura on Guitless blade was increasing day by day. One night, he opened his eyes and saw a dark red light emanating from the Guiltless blade; it looked very alarming

  Sometimes, the cause and effect mirror would float out by itself and follow them. He didn’t care or explore – no matter what the mirror showed, good or bad, things couldn’t be worse than now.

  Until finally, Xiao Shao’s body had accumulated so much killing aura, that one could almost feel the sin of killing intuitively.

  Wherever he was, there would be a faint roar of thunder in the sky.

  And the rumours among the common folks were becoming more and more fierce. It was said that “The Traveller of Liang Prefecture” was an embodiment of the Demon Phoenix and the reason for this endless night. However, his cultivation was unfathomable. All hoped that the world would birth an ultra powerful person who could kill this fiend.

  Xiao Shao still pretended as if he heard nothing.

  Lin Shu also looked pale. The statement he previously said to Fruit still held true. People of the current generation had no right to comment on their merits and demerits. It should be left to the future generations to judge.

  It was already twenty days after the last pill was taken, Xiao Shao had asked a familiar Pill Master to prepare the “Seeking Trace of Fragrance” pill according to the ancient Pill recipe, but after hearing the rumors, the senior abandoned the cauldron and destroyed the pills and no longer refined the pills —– in fact, even if he continued to refine the pill, this ancient sacred pill could not be reproduced by Pill Masters of the current times.

  But these days, Lin Shu found that Xiao Shao’s direction of travel was back towards the Phoenix Mountain Villa.

  On a day in the second month, they returned to the Villa. After that, Xiao Shao didn’t kill anyone again. He returned to his old room, took out the hairpins, rings, jewelry, fresh clothes and silk handkerchiefs deposited by the girls here, and set up a mound grave for them in a quiet valley. Next to the mound grave, seeds of flowers and trees were buried and fertilizers were added. Ten years later, when their souls would return, they could see the lush green trees and flourishing flowers.

  On this day, Lin Shu accompanied him to dig out an earthen jar of wine from under the Phoenix blossom tree, broke the sealing clay and sprinkled the wine on the tomb.

  A breeze seemed to rise between heaven and earth. Vaguely, a feeling, as if a girl’s gauzy sleeves seemed to have brushed them. A faint fragrance lingered on their nose and dissipated in moments.

  There was complete silence all around. Suddenly, they heard noise in the distance, from the direction of the Phoenix Mountain Villa’s main gate.

  Walking down the steps of the mountain gate, an overwhelming crowd was gathered and among them there were at least 8 major sects and many other large and small sects. Each sect had a representative in front of them, their aura full of righteousness and dignity.

  ——Even the wizards of the former Northern Xia had come to join in the fun. The heroes of the Immortal path and the Wizards jointly pulled a huge, miserable white signpost that had the words written : ‘Enforce Justice on behalf of Heavens’

  Xiao Shao held Lin Shu and stood at the highest point of the mountain gate.

  Seeing their figures, the group was outraged.

  From a distance, they heard a brave man rallying: “Today, all the heroes are gathered, we will work together to kill the demons and cleanse heaven and earth!”

  They then shouted in unison, “Kill the demons and cleanse heaven and earth!”

  They also saw Cang Min and Yue Ruohe, and three or two fellow students of the academy.

  Only these people were arguing their case, trying to stop them – but the voices of opposition were soon drowned out by the shouts of the crowd.

  The crowd then became agitated, and marched forward slowly to kill them.

  Suddenly, Xiao Shao gave a low laugh.

  “All Heroes,” he said with a smile in his voice, and the tone ending with a slight note of provocation. The openness of his voice was tinged with a hint of brashness like a young man with a great ambition: “You have all come from afar, must have been a hard journey. Allow me to give you all a welcome dinner to wash away the dust and dirt from the trip.”

  The leader of the group shouted: “Evil Child, Don’t be so insolent! Today, in the coming year, will be the anniversary of your death!”

  This was so corny that even Lin Shu couldn’t help but laugh.

  Xiao Shao even sighed lightly: “You heroes are righteous, I sincerely admire you.”

  Then the conversation turned: “However, regarding what path to take, I have already planned, about today and tomorrow. Why do you all have to come and humiliate yourselves?”

  “Evil Doer nonsense!”

  After some more impassioned speeches, several righteous warriors with the cultivation, in the realm of tribulation, and the two wizards who had friendly relations, did not care about the fact that it was against the morality of the Jianghu to bully a few with the power of many. They drew their swords and pulled their blades, swept forward in unison, and the moment they struck was the biggest killing move. The momentum was extremely strong, like the white rainbow through the sun.

  The crowd shouted, “Good!!!”

  Lin Shu saw the black robe sleeves of Xiao Shao, flick up in the air.

  Several righteous righteous men were frozen in mid-air, unable to move.

  The crowd was silenced

  Lin Shu looked at them silently.

  These people only knew that Xiao Shao killed mortals like cutting through tangled wires easily, but did not know his real cultivation level, which had been greatly underestimated.

  But Xiao Shao only needed to lightly move his little finger to make them know exactly what “self-defeating” was.

  When the leading person was defeated, the rest became sheep without a shepherd.

  Xiao Shao tucked his hands back into the sleeves, turned around, and sighed lightly: “To have the world’s heroes send me off, this Xiao Shao has not wasted his life.”

  He climbed up the hill.

  Lin Shu held the zither and followed.

  The crowd followed suit, catching up to them.

  Xiao Shao finally walked up to the sacrificial altar.

  Lin Shu glanced at him

  Xiao Shao’s right hand stroked Lin Shu’s hair on his forehead and gently dropped a kiss on his forehead.

  Lin Shu heard him say, “Take care.”

  Lin Shu looked at him and said, “You ……Don’t worry.”

  Xiao Shao then smiled: “Take care of your body, cultivate diligently …… ascend to the Immortal world, I am waiting for your good news below.”

  Lin Shu heard himself say in a warm voice, “Go now.”

  Xiao Shao then went.

  Lin Shu plucked the strings of the zither.

  He thought that on his way, the sound of the zither would help to relieve his loneliness.

  Xiao Shao walked to the center of the altar and lit the candle for worshiping heaven and earth.

  The crowd stood in awe, not knowing what he was going to do.

  Then he pulled his blade out of its sheath.

  The bloody aura was as thick as the sea.

  Xiao Shao thrust the Guiltless blade into the Sacrificial Altar of Heaven.

  There seemed to be a wisp of blood Qi drifting upward, straight to the dark sky.

  The thunder, which had been sounding faintly between heaven and earth, suddenly increased in volume.

  But he tilted his head slightly and looked into the sky.

  “The Traveler Xiao Shao, is heavily soaked in blood debt, and can’t be allowed to exist in the world.”

  “In the past, I traveled with my Taoist companion into Northern Xia, which led to the tragic death of hundreds of people in Peach Blossom Springs and refused to accept the tragic deaths of all soldiers in Jubei Pass. This was the beginning.”

  “The women of Phoenix Mountain Villa died because of me. On the 15th day of the seventh month, the fire that flowed like a sea of blood burned, and more than a thousand lives died because of me. The whole world is under constant darkness and people are living in misery, and there are countless dead.”

  “After that, Xiao Shao, because of his demons, could not stop the slaughter, killing more than 30,000 people in the world. The people’s grievances have been extremely angry. He also knows that his sins are deep and death is not enough.

  “The evil karma created in the past, although there is remorse, however, can not be compensated, only death is acceptable.”

  At this point, his voice seemed to soften a bit: “But all the sins are made by me alone, not by Lin Shu.”

  The sound of thunder in the sky was so strong that it almost overpowered his voice.

  But listening to the thunder, he said slowly, “I only ask the heavens to send down the purple lightning, to burn my soul, to end my sins.”

  He said word by word: “Xiao Shao asks heaven and earth for a Knight’s discharge.”

  His words fell.

  Bright purple lightning tore open the gloomy sky.

  The killing aura that was emanated was a hundred times stronger than the thunder and lightning of a tribulation.

  A strong wind surged up.

  And Xiao Shao stood still.

  At this moment, he didn’t at all look like the Evil Doer of the world.

  No one knew that the blade in his hand was the Guiltless blade.

  He acted with a clear conscience all his life.

  Guiltless blade, killed guilty people.

  Blood splattered three feet, to settle the injustice, but it didn’t touch the body.

  In Lin Shu’s hand, the zither made clanging sounds of slaying and then it changed into a broad and unrestrained kind of sound. But seeing the long days and limpid autumn waters, the wild geese go to the north and looking far into the distance, at the endless world.

  Kill one person in ten steps, thousands of miles do not leave a trail.

  When things are over, brush your clothes and leave, hide your skills and fame.

  ——This song is called 《Xiake Xing》 .

  —————

  The author has something to say: “Kill one person in ten steps, but don’t stay for thousands of miles. Brush your clothes and leave when things are done, and hide your skills and fame.” Li Bai’s 《Xiake Xing》.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Ela ~~ Cliffhanger!! Nooooo…… QAQ

  Ani — Poor Xiao Shao…… T_T

  Zaki~~ I can’t *sniffs*