The two were very close, face to face. Yu Qing, who was listening with his ear tilted, felt it. He closed his eyes, and his cheek gently pressed against Qiao Qie’er’s forehead.
He did not cry, nor did he shed tears, nor did he say a single word. He was even very quiet.
The two seemed to have turned to stone, remaining quiet for a long time.
In the moonlit canyon, the people in the distance either turned their backs or watched quietly. Mu Aotie raised his head to gaze at the moon.
The only movement came from Xiao Hei, who picked up a large rock to smash a dead golden giant snake, repeatedly smashing it.
Later, Yu Qing left Qiao Qie’er and stood up. He stepped on the lower lip of the snake’s mouth with one foot, and held the upper lip with one hand, carefully prying the snake’s mouth open. The sharp fangs of the golden giant snake were slowly pulled out from Qiao Qie’er’s chest.
When the snake’s mouth closed this time, with no one wedged in it, the fangs finally retracted.
Before the loosened snake mouth slowly closed completely, Yu Qing had already lifted Qiao Qie’er out, cradling her horizontally in his arms. He looked up, then flew up with her in his arms, directly reaching the mountain top. He found a flat place and laid Qiao Qie’er down.
The others came up one after another, looking at Qiao Qie’er lying quietly under the moonlight, seeing the tear stains at the corners of her eyes that had not yet dried.
Mu Aotie was the last to come up, picking up Yu Qing’s sword and Yu Qing’s necklace.
After a good while, Ning Chaoyi spoke, “Brother Lin, I am sorry. If I had not conveyed the mastermind’s intentions to her, she would not have had this accident. I truly did not expect she would do such a thing.” His tone carried much regret.
Yu Qing, kneeling on one knee, responded calmly, “It is not your fault. Even if you had not told me, she would still have come alone. You told me, giving me the chance to stop her, but I suspected her. Blame me. I should not have disbelieved her. I should have gone to ask her face to face, and then this would not have happened.”
After speaking, he stood up, staring at Wu Hei, “Although the golden giant snake’s attack was fierce, it might not necessarily have prevented her from escaping. You arrived first. Did you see clearly what happened?”
Wu Hei: “I do not know the specifics. I only saw the giant snake chasing and biting her from behind. An iron-masked man threw a rock down, preventing her escape, and then she was bitten by the giant snake. By the time I saw it, it was too late to rescue her. I exchanged a move with the iron-masked man. The opponent’s cultivation was not much different from mine. Given the situation at the time, I could not afford to tangle with him.”
Yu Qing was silent for a moment, his gaze falling on Qiao Qie’er’s face. “I must trouble everyone to watch over her for me. I will handle some matters and return.” He reached out to take the sword from Mu Aotie’s hand and sheathed it, also taking back that bead and tying it back around his neck. “Old Ninth, let us go.”
The two martial brothers departed, leaving the remaining group looking at each other, not knowing what they were going to do. They estimated it was impossible that they would not return, after all, the body of his beloved was still here. He could not just abandon her.
Nie Pinlan suddenly muttered, “I really cannot see that he has any appearance of grief.”
Ning Chaoyi glanced at her and replied, “A man who is not emotional is not necessarily unmanly.”
After exiting the region of thousands of mountains and ravines, two figures flew one after another across the Gobi. Halfway through, they encountered a figure coming towards them. It was Nan Zhu, holding a water gourd in his hand.
One look at the object in his hand and they knew he had exited the Golden Ruins. Indeed, he had only managed to get water boiled by Datou outside the Golden Ruins.
When they passed each other, Yu Qing called out, “Go!”
“Uh…” Nan Zhu had no choice but to turn and follow. He chased alongside Mu Aotie and asked, “How is she?”
Mu Aotie shook his head, “Gone.”
“Ah, this…” Nan Zhu suddenly did not know what to say. He immediately began to argue in defence, “Old Fifteenth, I have already done my best. It is not that I wanted to be slow. In this Gobi area, I truly could not find water. I had no choice but to run a long distance out.”
Yu Qing replied, “Old Seventh, it has nothing to do with you. I do not blame you.”
Though he spoke so understandingly, Nan Zhu did not feel relieved at all. Instead, he felt quite cold and detached. He felt it was a sense of estrangement. He would rather have been scolded.
Passing through the Gobi, then flying over the jungle, they arrived at the Golden Platform. The three passed through the exit one after another.
Yu Qing led them directly into the stone caves of Rift Valley Villa, stopping in the entrance hall. Inside was pitch black and utterly quiet.
Nan Zhu suddenly spoke less. Mu Aotie glanced at him, so he himself opened his mouth to ask, “What are we doing?”
Yu Qing: “Looking for Ice Essence! Rift Valley Villa sells fine grape wine, so they must certainly have Ice Essence in stock. They left in a hurry, so there should still be Ice Essence here.”
Hearing this, Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie immediately understood what he wanted to do. Without another word, they would certainly help.
Afterwards, the three took out lighting objects and headed straight for the core area, then split up to search.
The result was indeed as Yu Qing had said. In some areas of Rift Valley Villa where important items were stored, they found over a dozen Ice Essences, each placed in a separate box. After the three made sounds to meet up, they immediately left.
Exiting the cave, looking at the bright moon in the sky again, Yu Qing reached out to Mu Aotie to ask for the Ice Essences he had packed and was carrying on his back, “Give them to me.”
Mu Aotie: “It is fine, I will carry them.”
Yu Qing: “Give them to me. You two go back.”
Nan Zhu was puzzled, “If you are not taking these Ice Essences back… where are you going?”
Yu Qing: “I am telling you to return to Linglong Temple.”
“…”
Nan and Mu were both choked speechless, thinking they had heard wrong.
Yu Qing looked at the bright moon and said, “The ancestral teachings of the sect were not wrong. I was wrong. You two go to Youjiao Port first and properly handle the matters of Miaoqing Hall, then go back to the temple to live in seclusion.”
The two were shocked and suspicious. Nan Zhu pressed, “What are you going to do?”
Yu Qing: “If you want money, you can also go in first and carry out some gold to deal with.”
These words were tantamount to saying he had given up on quickly getting that pile of gold out. Nan Zhu immediately said in a heavy tone, “I am asking you, what do you want to do?”
Yu Qing: “After returning, tell Little Martial Uncle that if I can return, I will naturally return. If I cannot return, ask him to take charge of the position of sect leader! My personal private affairs have nothing to do with the sect. Tell him not to come looking for me, and not to get involved in this matter.”
He had already realised that the forces involved behind this matter were not ordinary.
Nan Zhu became angry, grabbing his lapel and angrily scolding, “You dog thing, what do you want to do? Back then, who was the one who shamelessly insisted on becoming the sect leader? The sect leader is not something you can be or not be just because you want to!”
Yu Qing pushed him away, then reached out and snatched away the dozen or so Ice Essences that Mu Aotie was carrying on his back, carrying them on his own back, and departed, insisting on being willful.
Nan and Mu did not let him leave alone. They followed behind, especially Nan Zhu, who followed behind cursing nonstop.
The three returned to the Broken Valley, then appeared on the Golden Platform via the Void Wave entrance.
Yu Qing, who had walked a few steps, stopped and turned around, looking at the two who had followed in, “This is my personal matter. It has nothing to do with you.”
Mu Aotie: “Before leaving, Little Martial Uncle instructed us to keep an eye on you.”
Since it had to be this way, Yu Qing’s mood at this time found it hard to be stirred by other matters. He did not want to force anyone. What he least wanted to see now was Qiao Qie’er’s body decaying. He turned and flew away, flying above the jungle all the way.
The two senior brothers followed behind.
Passing through the jungle, crossing the Gobi, entering the region of thousands of mountains and ravines, they returned to Wu Hei and the others.
The group noticed that Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie’s expressions were very ugly, not knowing what had happened. They then watched as Yu Qing took off his pack, took out the Ice Essences, opened the lids of the boxes one by one, and placed them around Qiao Qie’er’s body, letting the cold air envelop her.
What was the meaning of arranging them in the open like this? Just as everyone was puzzled, they saw Yu Qing stand up and leave again.
The two senior brothers followed as usual. After Shen Qingcheng greeted a few people beside her, she also represented this side and followed to see what was going on.
Yu Qing returned to the canyon where they had been mining gold, found a piece of appropriate volume, and then drew his sword to chop with his power.
Gold was relatively soft and could not withstand the manipulation of someone with his cultivation level. Soon, a coffin bed was carved out. Those following understood what he meant.
Then he carefully made a coffin lid as well. Comparing it to the coffin bed, he repeatedly and carefully trimmed it. Finally, he made a coffin that could be pushed and pulled to close seamlessly when the lid was aligned with the grooves.
Afterwards, he carried the coffin up the mountain and returned to everyone. He opened the coffin and, under the watchful eyes of all, placed Qiao Qie’er inside. He closed the lids of the boxes containing the Ice Essences and placed them inside along with the boxes.
The boxes containing the Ice Essences were already cold. With so many Ice Essences placed together, they would be sufficient to exert a certain effect.
The coffin lid was closed. Yu Qing inserted four gold bars into the slot holes at the four corners, sealing the coffin.
Then the group waited quietly for dawn to arrive.
Later, Nie Pinlan could not help but ask, “Brother Lin, are you going to bury her in the Golden Ruins?”
Yu Qing looked towards Wu Hei and asked, “Is there any way to resurrect her in the Immortal Palace?”
Wu Hei was stunned. Everyone was stunned, and they all looked towards Wu Hei in unison.
Wu Hei thought for a while, then shook his head, “I do not know…”
Yu Qing: “Can the Heavenly Spring resurrect her?”
Wu Hei was asked into a face full of bewilderment. After carefully thinking, he shook his head, “I truly do not know this. I have never heard of anyone trying to use the Heavenly Spring to resurrect someone.”
Yu Qing: “Then let us try. What if it works? I will go with you to find the Heavenly Spring.”
Everyone was speechless, all feeling this was rather unlikely. Resurrection from the dead, it seemed, violated the natural order of the Dao. Even immortals probably could not easily accomplish it, right?
But in this situation, everyone found it hard to speak out. They all understood that this person was clinging to a one-in-ten-thousand hope, striving for that one-in-ten-thousand hope.
Wu Hei: “As you wish.”
In the end, Nan Zhu could not hold back and said in a deep voice, “Old Fifteenth, do not go mad. Do you think this is possible?”
Yu Qing: “Whether it works or not, we will know after trying. Those people are absolutely not here for money. Are they not here for the Immortal Palace? Since no one knows who they are, then I will sit in the Immortal Palace and wait for them. I want to see exactly who is behind this!”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie’s expressions both darkened. As expected, they had guessed correctly. This scoundrel Old Fifteenth did not even want to be sect leader anymore. He was only thinking of revenge.
Perhaps he himself had realised his own selfishness. Yu Qing lowered his head and said, “You take the gold and go.”
His words were directed at the two senior brothers, yet Ning Chaoyi took them to heart and responded, “Brother Lin is right. Given the opponent’s power, they are absolutely not here for money. They must be here for the Immortal Palace. If we cannot figure out who the enemy is, we will hardly escape disaster even if we leave. I will also go to the Immortal Palace to take a look.”