Chapter 255 — Nestling Close

The bamboo shadows swayed; the figure in the darkness seemed weightless, standing upon the tip of a slender bamboo branch. After a long moment, a sigh suddenly came forth, and then someone said softly, "Truly, you would move any heart to tenderness. Whenever I see you, you are always so breathtakingly beautiful."

Lu Xueling's gaze turned cold as she looked toward the dark figure in the bamboo grove. Yet somehow, the voice of this late-night visitor was soft and pleasing, and it sounded faintly familiar, as though she had heard it somewhere before. Such were her thoughts, though her face remained cold as frost. Lu Xueling said, "Who are you?"

A gust of mountain wind came, and the bamboo shadows shook violently, throwing the shadows on the ground into confusion. A white figure, rather like Lu Xueling herself, drifted out—it was none other than Xiaobai.

Beneath the moonlight, her brows and eyes were like a painting, her skin translucent, and a faint charm hovered now visible, now hidden between her brows. Her beauty was in no way inferior to Lu Xueling's.

Lu Xueling was taken aback. She had never imagined that it would be Xiaobai arriving in the dead of night. Astonished, she said, "It's you?"

Xiaobai smiled faintly and said, "Of course it's me. What, is that not allowed?"

Lu Xueling was silent for a moment, then said, "Did you come looking for me? What is it?"

Xiaobai glanced at her, smiled, and said, "At such a late hour, instead of sleeping, you lean at the window gazing at the moon—I wonder who it is you're thinking of?"

Lu Xueling's cheeks, smooth as jade, suddenly flushed faintly. Then she gave a cold snort and said icily, "That is none of your concern. What exactly have you come here for? This is the territory of Xiaozhu Peak of the Canglan Sect. If you do not speak plainly, do not blame me for being ungracious."

Xiaobai said leisurely, "Oh, is that so? Then let me tell you plainly—the one you are thinking of, I have come here on his account."

Lu Xueling's body gave a slight tremble. She raised her eyes to look at Xiaobai, and though there was a bright smile on her face, there was no trace of mockery in it. After a moment's hesitation, Lu Xueling said slowly, "He... what has happened to him?"

Xiaobai said, "He is right now in the ruins of Liumiao Village at the foot of Mount Canglan."

Lu Xueling trembled. A flicker of agitation passed over her face, and even the jade-white hand gripping the windowsill clenched tightly. But a moment later, a faint gloom suddenly settled over her face once more, and she said in a low voice, "I will not go."

Xiaobai was startled. "What?"

Lu Xueling was silent for a moment, then slowly lowered her head and said, "The sect is in turmoil at present; my master and the elders are all troubled by it. And besides, his present identity... To go see him would be to break the sect's rules and violate its precepts. And even if I did see him, what use would it be..."

At this point, her feelings seemed somewhat stirred. Her white teeth bit gently at her lower lip, and she drew a deep breath, as if to steady her emotions. Yet who would have thought that after this moment of silence, a sudden surge of passion would rush forth from the depths of her heart, filling her entire body. Her heart grew hot, and she could no longer restrain herself; the words escaped her as she asked Xiaobai, "Is he—is he well?"

Xiaobai did not speak, only watched her in silence.

A sudden unease swept through Lu Xueling's heart, a feeling like a shudder passing over her.

She stared at Xiaobai and held her breath.

Xiaobai was silent for a long while, then said quietly, "Bili is gone."

Lu Xueling froze as though struck by lightning, rooted to the spot, her lips parted but not a single word came out, her mind humming, utterly blank.

Ahead of her, Xiaobai said quietly, "You and he are no strangers to each other. Right now he is..."

"How is he? How is he now?" Lu Xueling seemed to snap awake, her face ashen, firing off question after question, as though she could no longer stand steady.

Xiaobai was silent for a moment, then said, "He is in a very bad way. I had no other choice but to come find you."

Lu Xueling's delicate brows knitted tight, deep worry written plainly across her face. She who was always as cool as ice was now utterly thrown into disarray. She breathed softly, as though a crushing weight had suddenly settled upon her heart. Then all at once she lifted her head and stared at Xiaobai.

Xiaobai said nothing more, only gave a slight nod.

With a crash...

The window before Lu Xueling burst apart into fragments. The fair white figure seized Tianxuan and shot out, soaring skyward.

What of sect rules, what of precepts?

In her eyes there was only the glimmer of tears and a heart full of longing that could be restrained no longer!

Up into the sky, racing away on the wind!

The fierce wind cut at her face like a blade, yet it could not extinguish the flame that had smoldered so long in her heart and at last tonight blazed up fiercely.

How is he? Bili is gone—what kind of wound is that? Ten years of time, and yet it seems only she truly understood that man!

She flew into the wind, resolute and half-mad with devotion, without the slightest glance back. In the far distance, in the pitch-black depths of night, was that darkness closing in around him even now? Was that dreadful cold seeping into him even now?

She would fly there, to his side.

To be with him!

Beneath the moonlight, a shadow still lingered.

Xiaobai walked slowly to the broken window and stood gazing for a long while. Then slowly she raised her head. The moonlight from the horizon poured down silently, falling upon her.

She closed her eyes, and slowly, slowly let out a long breath, and a smile appeared on her face.

A faint smile, carrying a measure of bitterness, and yet a measure of joy as well...

The bright moon hung high; the night was cold and the stars few.

A wisp of chill rode the night wind from afar. In the ruins of Liumiao Village the weeds rose and fell beneath the moonlight, surging like the waves of the sea. The empty night was silent and still, save for the low chirping of insects that drifted now and then from nameless places all around, from deep within the grass.

In a dark corner, Ming Li still sat leaning against the broken wall in that same posture, motionless. Xiao Hui slept against his leg; as the night wind passed, it seemed to feel a touch of chill, grumbled once, turned over, curled up tight, tucked in even its tail, and went on sleeping sweetly.

Suddenly, out of the bright moonlight, a white shadow dropped from the sky with incomparable swiftness. So fast was she that when she struck the ground, the surrounding weeds with a great swish bent sharply outward in a circle centered on the white shadow, and only after quite a while did they slowly right themselves.

The white light scattered, revealing Lu Xueling's anxious face. Her gaze swept over the ruins and saw broken walls and crumbling masonry everywhere, no different from the last time she had come here. Apart from a few patches of open ground lit by the moon, most of the place lay shrouded in darkness.

She saw no sign of anyone.

She stood there a moment, then slowly stepped forward, walking into those ruins that concealed who knew how many bygone days.

Behind every broken wall, beneath every fallen eave, there was perhaps a story, a family's laughter and sorrow, buried now beneath shattered earth and stone, and tonight, under the cold moon and clear wind, nothing remained but desolation.

In Lu Xueling's hand, Tianxuan gave off a faint, gentle glow, flickering bright and dim as though it knew its mistress's tangled heart. The white figure moved on through the ruins.