Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty Eight Strange Grove

Squashing their anger, the pair walked out of their secret room and back into the regular room.

“Ge, that Nuo’s words can’t be entirely trusted.” After Xue Zhuyue changed his clothes, he leaned down on one of the chairs and opened his mouth, exhaustion was painted all over his face. Xue Yunge wordlessly stepped forward and held his wrist, transporting some true qi to Xue Zhuyue, but it was rejected by him.

“Ge, I don’t want it. Just then, your true qi was also used up in that outburst, I’m fine.” Xue Zhuyue took his hand back and began to mutter to himself, “Ge, has Yi Yi truly been beaten? I’m really worried.”

“I know. But, right now, all of our worries are useless, Nuo is lying.” After speaking, Xue Yunge collapsed onto the same chair. Both of them leaned on each other, depending on each other’s warmth. No matter how much they longed for and worried about Yi Yi, they wouldn’t let themselves lose their minds. Nuo’s problem was that he had been too confident. All of the words he spoke seemed too natural and he seemed too at ease. It all felt as if it had been rehearsed multiple times. His seemingly perfect show was the one hole in his plan. It seems like the current matter truly isn’t simple, ah. However, Yi Yi was currently suffering hardship. Regardless if that was real or not, they had to go to ensure that she was undamaged. Right now, they would focus on getting to Blue Snow Stronghold’s entrance tomorrow, attacking would be something to worry about later.

Yi Yi, when can you return to gege’s side?

Water Pavilion’s Second Courtyard

“I received injuries, but tomorrow, the Xue brothers will definitely make their way to Blue Snow Stronghold. I’m convinced that they’ll start a battle soon. I’m extremely expectant over this sandpiper and clam fighting with the fisherman catching them both [1]!” On the profound and handsome male’s face, he had an unsmiling smile hanging on his lips and his calculating eyes held an abyss so deep, the bottom couldn’t be seen.

Blue Snow Stronghold was peaceful, beautiful, and mysterious. Gu Weiyi was reclining on the quiet, blue-green grass while she looked up into the blue sky. But, her eyes were vacant. She didn’t wish to look into Blue Snow Stronghold’s mysteries, but gege’s matters weren’t that simple. Living like this for the remainder of her life wasn’t what she wanted either. Even though she escaped from Lan Sheng Ling’s perusal and no longer had to live the challenging days of a beggar, she still wasn’t happy. If they had been separated just so she could know how important they were, she currently, truly, knew how important they were, she had been enlightened. She just wished for this moment of bitterness to depart, for this period of her life to be short, and for it to never occur again. She, Gu Weiyi, no longer wished to experience this pain again.

Today, Mu Yalun had matters to take care of and went to the castle with an elder. That castle’s name was Xue Yan, and all together, it had three floors. The first floor was a large hall used to hold gatherings. The second floor was a conference hall for Mu Yalun and the elders to talk over important matters. And finally, the third floor was a study room. It was rumoured that there were various rare books that were extremely beneficial toward martial artists, however, apart from the stronghold’s master, nobody else could enter. In any case, she didn’t have much interest in these things, nor did she have much fondness for practicing martial arts, therefore, she didn’t hold any curiosity over this place.

Bored, she got up from the ground. For a lonesome person to be enjoying beautiful scenery, it would forever be colorless, regardless of the beauty. Without anyone to share the happiness and beauty with, it was just like the beautiful snow lotus herb that grows in sheer cliffs and steep rocks, it could only use up it’s own time in a quiet valley. This sort of beauty was pitiful.

The enormous flower bed and blue lake that sat behind the castle was normally Gu Weiyi’s favorite place to visit. But once in a while, some of the white clothed emissaries would float by, like a specter, not understanding Gu Weiyi’s actions at all. Honestly speaking, this place resembled a paradise on earth. It was just that the people here treated her coldly and indifferently, causing the tiny bit of joy in her heart to completely fade away. If it weren’t for the fact that she didn’t wish to make things awkward for Mu Yalun, she would’ve spoken about leaving a long time ago. She saw that, that mild as jade male treated her sincerely. He cared for every movement of hers, each detail in her life, and meticulously looked after her. He was scared that she would feel wronged and didn’t wish for her to have even an ounce of reserve, so he told everyone that she had access to everything, even the study that was restricted to everyone else in Blue Snow Stronghold wasn’t for her. But he didn’t know that the more he acted like this, the more she would be rejected by the people in the stronghold. Each time Zhuang Sheng caught sight of her, he looked at her as if he was looking at his enemy; the people in the stronghold were extremely sensitive towards outsiders. Perhaps this was because they only wished to live a smooth and steady life and were scared that outsiders would bring about unforecastable disaster. This was how Gu Weiyi reassured herself, neglecting the tiny drop of worry that still resided her in heart. But she truly didn’t know that her arrival actually triggered the series of events that would lead Blue Snow Stronghold to forever say goodbye to it’s peaceful days until all that was left of it was ruins.

She aimlessly walked around and unconsciously drew away from the castle, eventually walking into a small grove. This grove was a bit of distance away from the castle, but if she turned her head, she could still faintly see the silhouette of the castle in the distance. The grove was truly small, outlined by only a few hundred trees that encircled it. What made it odd was the faint fragrance of flowers, even though no flowers or plants could be seen anywhere around. She didn’t understand why, but she was actually somewhat afraid of this place. However, this place seemed to have some sort of magic in it, causing her to be unable to stop herself from wanting to go inside.

After standing outside for a bit, she was finally unable to ignore the longing that stemmed from the bottom of her heart. Gu Weiyi lifted her foot and stepped on the green and muddy soil. Looking up, she saw that the trees here were quite unique, their leaves were quite long and lush. The shape of the tree leaves resembled the six edges of snowflakes, it was extremely beautiful. She reached up and took one of the leaves from the branch. Then, she placed the leaf over her nose, and immediately, a pure and sweet fragrance could be smelt. To her surprise, she found that the fragrant smell of flowers actually came from these tree leaves! Filled with amazement, she took another deep breath before she continued forging ahead.

The further she walked inside the grove, the stronger the smell of flowers became. All around her was tranquility, apart from the rustling of the leaves, there were no other sounds. As she walked inside the grove, she felt it really was quite strange. From the outside, the grove didn’t seem all that large, however, she had been walking all this time but still hadn’t felt as if she reached an end. Although Gu Weiyi had some doubts about this, it didn’t deter her from continuing to walk further inside. She kept going straight forward until she was suddenly confronted by the scenery in front of her. She gasped in surprise and foolishly stood there, forgetting to advance forward.

An immense tree appeared in front of her eyes, one which would’ve taken about ten people to be able to fully encircle it. But what made this tree strange were the blood red streaks that ran through the trunk and up into the branches. The streaks resembled human veins and Gu Weiyi wasn’t sure if she saw correctly, but she could’ve sworn that she also saw a faint pulsing in the veins. This whole scene was truly extremely odd. But, none of this caused Gu Weiyi to feel fear. This was because those blood red streaks weren’t what she was focused on.

What had captured all of Gu Weiyi’s interest were the snow white flowers that were abundantly blooming on the tree. Large petals surrounded the flower buds, creating flowers that resembled Yulan magnolia, yet they weren’t. The petals were as big as the petals on lotus flowers and the pistils in the flower’s heart were the same blood red color as the streaks on the trunk. They proudly extended out, like the tongue of a serpent. And in the snow white petal’s embrace, there lay a fruit that sat in the exact center of the flower. It resembled a three year old female baby, just like the the ginseng fruit in the Journey to the West.

Suddenly, Gu Weiyi felt a sense of sadness flood her and she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. Everything here was just so strange. So strange it left her mind completely blank. Why was this happening?

Suddenly, the tree began to lightly shake. It was truly moving!

Staring at the tree with eyes full of fear, Gu Weiyi wished to leave. But, her feet felt as if it had been filled full of lead, she was frozen in place and unable to leave. The tree continued to shake and slowly, a red substance seeped out and slowly pooled on the ground.

It was just like it was bleeding!

[1] sandpiper and clam fighting with the fisherman catching them both – to my knowledge, there isn’t an English idiom that’s similar to this, but it’s basically like two people fighting and then a third party coming in and reaping the benefits