Chapter Eighty-Seven: Long Jinyi

In the deep mountains, an ancient temple lurked in decay, the stale reek of rot as sharp as a blade.

Some hundred miles southeast of the Capital City lay a mountain called Red City Mountain. Two to three thousand zhang high, its spiritual energy was thin. Midway up the slope stood a Daoist temple that had once served as the secluded dwelling of a minor wandering cultivator. Later, during a great war, its people died and the temple was shattered, leaving it a tattered ruin, scarcely more than rubble.

Yang Xiaoman arrived by flying sword. Passing through the dense, layered gaps between the cedars, before she had even landed, she caught the strong stench of rotting wood.

Looking ahead, she saw, some several hundred paces away on a level stretch of mountainside, a crooked and battered temple-like structure. Many of its walls had been blasted to pieces, filthy with stains and overgrown with tangled vines.

It had all the look of a place long since ruined and forsaken; no one could tell how many years it had stood damaged in that state.

Through the broken gate, a black silhouette could be seen faintly standing in the main hall. Nearly nine feet tall, hands clasped behind his back, he stood tall and proud, facing deeper into the temple toward a shattered statue at its innermost depths, with his back to Yang Xiaoman.

He wore black armor and a silver-white cloak draped over his shoulders, like a general from the mortal world. His massive frame stood upright, and the way he stood there was like an unmovable mountain.

Even without seeing his face, he gave off the air of a peerless man under heaven.

Looking at his back, the smile on Yang Xiaoman's face grew even brighter.

...

With a flash, she appeared at the doorway.

"Senior Brother."

Once outside, Yang Xiaoman called out sweetly and walked in.

Senior Brother?

Could this man be the master of Unmoving Peak, Long Jinyi?

And how had Yang Xiaoman come to meet him here?

The black-armored man turned around, and at once a fierce, steadfast aura swept forth like a gale, blowing Yang Xiaoman's long hair flying.

He appeared to be a man in his thirties, with a slightly dark complexion, heavy brows, broad jaws, a prominent nose, and full lips. He could not be called especially handsome, but he had the unmistakable bearing of a hard and resolute man. His features were sharply cut, as though carved by a blade, and within his pair of pitch-black tiger eyes, faint gleams shimmered like stars over the sea.

His shoulders were extraordinarily broad, like a thick, weighty wall standing there. From head to toe, he exuded an ironclad masculine presence impossible to forget. As for his cultivation, he was at the late Dao Embryo stage.

His tightly pressed lips seemed to reveal the strength and steadfastness of his character.

"Xiaoman, you have advanced very quickly. It seems you must have secured a good ranking in this sect competition, along with a Dao Embryo Pill."

The man spoke in a deep voice, his tone unusually gentle, his eyes full of gratification.

"Senior Brother, you've advanced quickly as well. To think you've already reached the late Dao Embryo stage."

Yang Xiaoman approached and saluted him, speaking with some surprise.

The man gave a light snort. "If such a small bit of progress could not bring me this far, what would that old ghost have used to lure me into his Desperate Sword Palace?"

The Desperate Sword Palace, one of the five great demonic sects of the Great River Kingdom.

Yang Xiaoman nodded as she listened.

...

"Come with me."

He said again, then turned and walked ahead. A large hole had already been blasted open in the wall before them.

They passed through the hole and walked several hundred more paces into a man-made cave. Once inside, they sealed the entrance and set up restrictions before relaxing at last.

The man took out a stone that glimmered with firelight, illuminating the cave. He then fetched two stools from his storage pouch and invited Yang Xiaoman to sit.

"Senior Brother, how have you been in the Desperate Sword Palace?"

After sitting, Yang Xiaoman hurriedly asked, worry written all over her face, even though he was sitting before her completely unharmed.

At her words, the man smiled proudly, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. "A wolf roams a thousand miles to eat meat. Wherever I, Long Jinyi, go, I am the fiercest wolf there. Those demonic rabble in the Desperate Sword Palace want to swallow me? They are still far from it. You need not worry. Besides, I have that old ghost backing me up."

Arrogant and domineering.

So it really was Long Jinyi. Only such a defiant man could possibly stand shoulder to shoulder with Gu Xijin.

This fellow, whom she had only heard of before and never seen, had actually entered the Desperate Sword Palace. And from the sound of it, he had not done so willingly.

Yang Xiaoman nodded, then asked, "Senior Brother, have you obtained the antidote that can cure Master's condition?"

At this, Long Jinyi smiled faintly. "If I had not found the antidote, how could I have the face to come keep this hundred-year appointment?"

With that, he reached for his storage pouch.

Joy lit up Yang Xiaoman's face.

Long Jinyi took out a jade bottle and handed it to her. "Inside this bottle is one pill. If that old ghost did not lie to me, then after taking it, Master should wake up."

Yang Xiaoman accepted it, her expression tightening. "And if he did lie to you?"

"If he lied to me..."

A freezing chill surfaced in Long Jinyi's tiger eyes. He said indifferently, "Then I will turn his Desperate Sword Palace upside down and make him pay a price he will never forget."

The cave plunged instantly cold.

Yang Xiaoman could not help shivering, but when she thought of giving this to the Wandering Taoist and something going wrong, the consequences would be disastrous. She still hesitated.

"This is the one. Take it back and have Master swallow it."

Seeing through her thoughts at a glance, Long Jinyi withdrew his chill and said in a warm yet decisive voice, "If we keep searching without finding the antidote, not only will we delay Master's cultivation, we will also be wasting his lifespan for nothing. Take the gamble."

At last, Yang Xiaoman nodded and carefully put it away.

"Senior Brother, you must have paid a great price to obtain this antidote, didn't you?"

Yang Xiaoman asked.

A sharp glint flashed again in Long Jinyi's eyes, then vanished in an instant. He said flatly, "No matter what price I paid, now that it is past, there is nothing more to say. But those who made me pay that price will certainly repay it a hundredfold in the future!"

He glossed over the cost, but those who had forced him to pay it were etched deeply into his heart. This man was surely not someone to provoke lightly.

After hearing this, Yang Xiaoman did not know what to say. She could only sigh inwardly. Among the people of Peach Blossom Spring Sword Sect, perhaps only she knew more about Long Jinyi's affairs.

"Xiaoman, if Master truly wakes up, tell him for me that even if I am no longer his disciple, I still carry the expectations he placed on me. I will definitely go very far, very far, and help him see a broader world."

Suddenly, Long Jinyi spoke again, his eyes like fire.

Yang Xiaoman nodded heavily.

...

"How are Lan Zhou and Linghu doing?"

Since they had the rare chance to meet, there was no rush to part. Long Jinyi asked softly, and from the look in his eyes, full of remembrance, one could tell how attached he was to the people of Unmoving Peak and to those years gone by.

Beneath his stern, unsmiling exterior, he possessed a warm heart.

"Not well."

Yang Xiaoman gave a bitter smile and briefly explained how Fan Lanzhou had been injured during the sect competition and lost an arm. At the end, she said, "Second Senior Brother and Third Senior Brother have spent most of the past several decades traveling and searching outside, but they still have not found anything."

After listening, Long Jinyi nodded slightly. Thinking for a moment, he said, "I will also inquire about those two things when I have the chance. If I obtain them, I will find a way to contact you."

"Thank you, Senior Brother."

Yang Xiaoman said with delight. In her heart, this Senior Brother was the person most worthy of trust.

"And that fellow? How is he now?"

Long Jinyi asked again, without saying who he meant.

Yet Yang Xiaoman seemed to understand at once who he was asking about, and with a sly smile she said, "At the competition, he was at the middle Dao Embryo stage, in the Blood-Seeping Sword Dao realm. As for now, I do not know."

It was clearly Gu Xijin she spoke of.

At this, Long Jinyi showed no surprise at all. He gave a faint laugh and said, "That fellow has not fallen behind, as always. Only someone like that is fit to be my opponent."

Yang Xiaoman smiled and then said, "Senior Brother, he recently received a great opportunity. The next time you meet, be careful not to be defeated by him again."

"What opportunity?"

Long Jinyi asked in surprise.

Yang Xiaoman recounted the reward given to the champion of the Dao Embryo group, and finally said, "Most cultivators in the sect estimate that this mysterious senior must be a sword master at the Mortal Transcendence stage. Otherwise, there is no way he could command such respect from Senior Uncle Tianhe."

After listening, Long Jinyi's expression became uncommonly grave, and streaks of brilliance flashed rapidly in his eyes.

"A Mortal Transcendence expert... Could such a powerhouse really be hidden in the Great River Kingdom? Or is he from some other kingdom... Gu Xijin, this fellow..."

Long Jinyi murmured. Even with his broad mind, at this moment he felt a trace of jealousy.

After those words, Long Jinyi fell silent for a long time.

Yang Xiaoman did not disturb him.

"Any other news that might catch me off guard?"

Long Jinyi asked with a wry smile, as though he had already emerged from the jealous mood of moments ago.

"There is one more person who may well surprise you greatly in the future."

Yang Xiaoman suddenly smiled, her meaning profound.