Chapter 99

Chapter 99

“Just how did your leader instruct you to deliver that message?” He Yu grabbed the messenger tightly as he asked.

The two had walked a considerable distance up the mountain. Perhaps the messenger had a poor memory, or perhaps he still held onto hope, deliberately stalling—either way, they’d circled through numerous forest paths before finally arriving at the hidden entrance Chen Shu had found in under fifteen minutes earlier.

Clearly, apart from this messenger, Xiao Zhong truly hadn’t sent any others to check on the place—manpower in the valley was indeed scarce. Therefore, outside the low enclosure, the guard was still snoring deeply in slumber.

Upon arrival, He Yu paused in silence for a moment just beyond the wall. Still gripping the messenger, he demanded directly:

“Tell me again—exactly how did your leader order you to deliver the message?”

The messenger, a slippery sort, pressured for most of the day by He Yu, finally spilled the entire account in halting, reluctant snippets.

This time, standing before the low wall, the man was forced to divulge all he knew. After listening and pondering carefully, He Yu glanced toward the distant door to the secret room Chen Shu had smashed open. He pressed:

“Your ‘Guardian Guo’ from the Valley of Villains—is he really the type capable of cracking open an enormous boulder like that?”

“… N-no, doesn’t seem like it.”

He Yu’s heart sank even deeper. Hearing this, he stepped forward, clapped his hands sharply twice, and rudely slapped the guard huddling at the shattered door awake. He hoisted the groggy man up, securing him swiftly against the corner of a wall using one of the trap-mechanisms lying about.

Only when the guard fully regained his senses and realized his predicament, starting to struggle, did He Yu clamp a hand over his mouth, commanding him to stay silent.

Frantically, the guard bobbed his head in compliance. Releasing him, however, He Yu didn’t repeat the earlier line of questioning. Instead, he began with:

“Who was it that injured you?”

“I… I don’t recognize her…”

Weaponless, tied tightly, the guard trembled visibly, panic washing over his face—a look utterly terrified. Yet strangely, his fear seemed directed not toward He Yu standing before him, but rather…

“Man or woman? Old or young? Surely you at least know that much?” He Yu demanded, flexing his wrist pointedly in front of the guard as if threatening to gag him with another mechanism.

Naturally terrified, the guard stammered: “A w-woman… a young girl. Young, spoke with no sense of decorum… carried herself quite violently… She went inside this wall! I dare say she’s the one who smashed that secret door open!”

Perhaps sensing the Valley of Villains’ defeat was inevitable, the man then actually began to beg He Yu to take him out of the mountains, to spare his life.

But He Yu had no time for this? Locating the sword vault—this secret room—had already cost considerable effort. Wasting more time rousing this cowardly guard? The man’s guess wasn’t wrong though—the other wandering swordsmen had long since stormed the Valley of Villains. Guardian Guo’s arrival on the mountain had marked the passage of over half a day—yet even after all that time, footprints surrounding the smashed door to the secret room showed overwhelmingly more tracks entering than those departing.

He Yu grew even more uneasy. Due to the narrowness of the secret tunnel, he even abandoned the captured courier. Releasing his grip, he casually locked the two together and hurried along the tunnel in great strides.

Inside, the passage remained equally cramped and dim. The uneven stone walls were damp with accumulated moisture from hidden crevices. For a moment, it sounded like footsteps echoed behind him, yet upon closer listening, he realized it was merely the reverberation of his own stride.

The light at the tunnel’s end grew steadily closer, and the acrid scent of blood fully dispersed, wafting directly into He Yu’s face. He quickened his step again and burst out of the tunnel—

Straight into Wei Mian, who had been lurking in the shadows, preparing to depart!

It was quite by chance. After the pair had leapt from the cliff, Wei Mian, far from leaving, had instead steeled herself and seized the opportunity to ransack Xiao Zhong’s vault—a hoard painstakingly accumulated by the Valley of Villains over decades. Her first act was to secure the medicinal herbs originally brought up to the mountain. Yet greed knew no bounds. Over these past hours, not only had she sorted through and collected those herbs, she had also rummaged about, handpicking quite a number of fine weapons, equipment, jewels, and gold.

Having just finished packing her haul and emerged from the grim secret room into the narrow cliffside passage when, by sheer luck, she bumped into He Yu, who was entering to search.

“Who are you?!” He Yu barked decisively. No sooner had he spoken than he spotted what Chen Shu had seen earlier: the horrifically dismembered corpse discarded by Wei Mian beside the passage.

That glaringly conspicuous head, even in the gloom—despite the wounds inflicted during the struggle, and having been subsequently kicked carelessly by both Chen Shu and Wei Mian, rendering its features indistinct and unidentifiable—was still unmistakably bald at first glance. Correlating that with the courier’s information, He Yu understood instantly.

—No wonder there were more footprints leading into the doorway than out. Someone had already perished here!

At least the dead man here was the Valley of Villains’ Guardian Guo, not Chen Shu. The worst-case scenario had not come to pass. Unconsciously, He Yu let out a long breath. Yet Guardian Guo was dead… so why was Chen Shu nowhere to be seen? And who was this gaunt figure emerging from the vault, resembling nothing more than a living skeleton…

He looked up again. Their gazes met as He Yu moved out of the tunnel’s shadow. Faint daylight permeating from the cliffside illuminated his features: his facial contours, the sharp angle of his nose, the corners of his mouth, and, most starkly, the eye patch covering his wounded eye. Though his brows were furrowed, his expression was calm and direct.

Wei Mian’s eyes widened. Her initial instinct to strike with a poisoned needle paused mid-action. The needle hadn’t even fully emerged from her grasp before her finger trembled violently upon seeing He Yu’s face. She nearly dropped the needle at the sheer cliff’s edge. Her mouth opened slightly, breath seemingly suspended. Only when He Yu spoke again did she jolt back to reality. Clenching her fist hard—heedless of the razor-sharp steel needle still in her grip—she forced her breathing to steady.

He Yu’s voice was steady as he questioned again, seeming entirely oblivious and treating her almost as though she belonged to their faction.

“I’m asking you: who are you? These past few days, we’ve gathered to assault the Valley of Villains’ military camp. How is it I’ve never seen you before?”

As soon as the words fell, Wei Mian’s face, obscured in shadow yet visibly tense, relaxed its grip slightly. She retreated another step towards the dimly lit secret room. Having learned about the Martial World Alliance’s involvement in the siege through Yun Shen, her mind raced. Biting her lip, she answered vaguely.

“I am not from the Martial World Alliance… hence you haven’t encountered me.”

“Oh? Are you with the imperial court then?” He Yu asked. Possibly preoccupied with finding Chen Shu, he entirely missed the tension in her shadowed face. He took a few steps closer, his eyes scanning the immediate area. “…Might I ask when you discovered this tunnel? Upon your arrival, did you encounter… the dead man, or a young woman?”

Wei Mian’s rigid demeanor eased slightly upon hearing this. Clearly, with such a gap between Guardian Guo’s ascent and now, He Yu presumed she was just another passerby who’d arrived slightly before him, oblivious that she had lingered inside to pilfer treasure, making her half the “culprit” of the scene.

She finally concealed the poison needle without a trace. Fixing He Yu with a steady gaze, her lips moved as if muttering something to herself, or perhaps simply drawing breath. Her voice was hoarse.

“…I arrived late too. I saw nothing.”

“So, when you arrived, the outer secret door was already smashed, and the unconscious guard was already lying there?” He Yu’s tone indicated he believed her, though he pressed for more details. “Anything—or anyone—else that drew notice?”

Wei Mian was silent for a beat, seeming to search for words. Then she suddenly strode out of the vault, stepping into the daylight. She looked back towards the direction He Yu had come from, lowering her voice to a sharp, urgent hiss.

“—Someone’s coming!”

He Yu spun around instantly. But the tunnel was pitch black. How could one discern a figure? He strained his eyes, seeing nothing more than a few extra rocks on the tunnel wall. Before he could even register precisely which rocks, Wei Mian’s arm shot out, blocking him and sending him stumbling back towards the vault entrance.

It was a narrow escape. The path, though constricted, was just wide enough for arms to extend. Wei Mian’s desperate lunge yanked him back from the cliff’s precipice. Even the sight of that dizzying height sent shivers down his spine. Without knowing the full story, such a sheer drop naturally stirred grim thoughts. Yet, seeing Wei Mian’s features clearly revealed in the light, He Yu froze for an inexplicable moment. A realization, somehow more urgent than finding Chen Shu, surged up from the depths of his mind, only to be forcibly suppressed.

“What? I can’t see anyone!”

“This vault was painstakingly crafted by Xiao Zhong. It’s not just a storehouse for treasures but a final refuge in times of crisis. Hence, if the secret tunnel’s mechanism is triggered, footsteps within the passage travel straight to the chamber within the vault.” Finishing her explanation, Wei Mian truly fell silent. She gestured pointedly towards the interior of the vault, signaling He Yu.

Now positioned at the vault’s entrance, He Yu pressed his ear to the cold stone. Faintly, yet unmistakably, footsteps echoed, seemingly from further down the passage. Dread shot through him; his heart pounded faster than the deliberately slow steps approaching. He lowered his voice urgently.

“If that’s the case, the Valley of Villains leader must hold this secret room in the utmost regard. I captured one of his couriers to find it. The courier and the guard are both securely tied outside the wall, or so I believe—though I dare not be certain. I can’t tell if these newcomers are messengers or…” He trailed off, unable to utter the title “…if it’s the Demon King herself…”

“Xiao Zhong won’t have been routed so quickly,” Wei Mian stated. “But whoever this is means trouble. They clearly know the secrets of this tunnel—why else would they tread so deliberately softly amidst the chaos outside? Trying to mask their approach! We cannot simply wait here to be cornered. I must go reconnoiter. You stay here…”

She was halfway through her sentence when He Yu, who had been silent, listening to the footsteps, suddenly opened his mouth and asked, “Wait—aren’t you from the court? Then how did you come to know all this?”

As he asked, He Yu turned his head and met Wei Mian’s gaze again. This time, he seemed to recall that he ought to examine this person who was even leaner than Yun Shen. He saw a face as pale and bloodless as bleached bones, tightly drawn, making it impossible to tell whether the expression was one of joy or sorrow, let alone discern the contours of the features.

He Yu stared for a moment, then heard Wei Mian answer calmly and snapped back to attention.

“Did you see the diagram the Scholar sent?” she said lightly. “If you looked carefully, overlaying the top and bottom sheets, you would have found the address of this secret chamber.”

“No wonder! So you understood the diagram and came here alone—” He probably realized in the middle of his sentence that discussing such details now was hardly the time, so he swallowed his words. Yet the fact that the diagram was known to few in the army dispelled his doubts and made him trust Wei Mian all the more. “What should we do? This tunnel isn’t long. Even walking slowly, it would take just half a quarter-hour to get through.”

“I’m familiar with this place. I’ll go out and scout,” Wei Mian said. She turned and, true to her word, promptly pushed He Yu into the pitch-black secret room. Suddenly recalling something, she bounded over, snatched up a sword from the pile of things she had tidied earlier, and said, “Lie in ambush here. Close the door. If there really is a strong enemy, I’ll lure them here. You open the switch inside the secret room—even if we can’t beat them, we can push them off the cliff and catch them off guard!”

She delivered this string of words at lightning speed. He Yu instinctively assented but tried to confirm once more. However, he saw Wei Mian close her eyes and sweep her sword tip. In the almost pitch-dark chamber, she wasn’t aiming to strike anything down but seemed to sever herself from the unseen medicinal herbs, jewels, secrets, and darkness with her sword’s edge. Then, before He Yu could respond, she activated the mechanism inside the room, pulled away, and retreated to the cliff’s edge.

“…I remember to lie in ambush, but I don’t know how to open the secret door!” He Yu exclaimed urgently, realizing belatedly, his voice suppressed.

“You still don’t get it?! This mechanism! The one I pressed just now!” Wei Mian shouted. Through the slowly closing door, he could see her backing away to the tunnel entrance, then turning and bounding out without looking back.

Before she vanished from sight, the heavy door clanked shut.

The thick stone door seemed to block out all extraneous noise—or, rather, one might rely on that “mechanism” to hear the footsteps, the sounds of fighting, and the fragmented, indistinct curses outside.

He Yu’s heart hung in suspense, but precisely because of that, he couldn’t tell if the noise was inside the tunnel, at its entrance, or even right in front of this stone door. The sounds grew more clamorous, more jarring, until they became so piercing that his own breathing seemed thunderous. His old scars began to ache faintly, and then—at that very moment, or perhaps only when he truly regained awareness—

He jolted to attention, realizing that only his own breathing and a pounding heartbeat like rhythmic war drums remained in his ears.

Perhaps due to the absence of light and the loss of time perception, He Yu waited endlessly in that hand-hiding darkness, yet the faint sounds of fighting and footsteps never sounded again.

The silence, near-deathly, stretched on until it almost suffocated him; the quieter it became, the more his thoughts wandered: one moment it was Chen Shu’s carefree smiling face before she left, the next his Master at Cold Pine Glen, stern-faced and grayed overnight. These images flitted through his mind like coiled dragon lanterns, finally settling on a fresh, vivid smile he had long refused to recall. Then, as it always did when he thought of his junior sister, he jolted awake as though an entire lifetime had passed. The tunnel remained as silent as ever.

A gnawing unease finally stirred within him. Feeling around, he moved toward the secret door, kicking aside mounds of herbs piled near it. Then, touching the door, quelling an inexplicable anxiety that rose from deep within, he pressed the mechanism—

It opened.

As the bloody hue of sunset flooded his vision, he squinted with eyes still unaccustomed to the light and anxiously scanned his surroundings. His gaze froze instantly on one spot.

Naturally, the secret room had a switch inside and another outside, both similar. But the one outside likely required a token to open. Long before, someone hoping to force their way through had destroyed it, rendering it useless. That was why, moments earlier when Wei Mian needed to shut the door, she had reached into the secret room to close it.

In other words, by closing that door, Wei Mian had irrevocably cut off her own path of retreat. Knowing there was someone outside the tunnel, she had pushed He Yu into the secret room—a place he could exit but not easily re-enter. If overpowered and forced back to the doorway, unless He Yu opened the door from inside, she would be beaten to death right outside—

This wasn’t a plan to lure foes into ambush at all! That strange knight had gone into this with the intention of dying to protect him!

He Yu’s breath hitched. Remembering the prolonged, deathlike silence in the tunnel and uncaring of the reasons behind it, he bounded out.

But within just two steps, he saw splattered bloodstains scattered over the ground, illuminated by the harsh twilight—undoubtedly unseen before he had been pushed into the secret room.

Freshly stained blood.

Looking up further, a figure lay in the tunnel’s shadows beyond even the bloody sunset’s reach. Motionless.

As if fallen into eternal slumber.