Volume Two: The Mortal Realm, Chapter 121: The Difficult Tide

Faint rays of dawn light pierced through from the distant horizon.

Having washed her hair, the woman, clad in a simple thin garment, sat upon a mountain rock in front of the wooden cabin, pinning her hair into a modest bun with a plain wooden hairpin. Her smooth, neat hair draped over her somewhat slender shoulders, and her soft, beautiful face was framed by eyes as clear and gentle as they had been at the start. In her clean, simple attire, she seemed to have transformed from a wandering knight-errant into a gentle woman of the mundane world.

Yet, there was a difference. Her back, silhouetted against the morning glow as she sat on the rock, remained as straight as a sword. Even in her thin clothes, she did not shrink from the biting winter wind, and her gentle eyes held a depth of calm and resolve that felt out of place. She was like a plum blossom in a heavy snowfall—the most beautiful and fragile of flowers, yet blooming with quiet elegance amidst the drifts. No amount of accumulated snow could stop her from blooming in silence, fulfilling the purpose of her life.

Ye Mingke watched the woman, whose silhouette was half-submerged in the rosy light against the backdrop of the vast, snow-white earth. He admired her with a soft, appreciative smile.

Liu Xi turned, sensed Ye Mingke’s gaze, and bashfully looked away. Pursing her lips, she looked ahead with a faint smile.

"Are you not used to it?"

"Not used to it. But it is beautiful, and I like it," Ye Mingke replied with a smile, his words concise and sincere.

"Thank you. You are the first person in many years to tell me I look beautiful," Liu Xi said, looking at him earnestly with a sincere smile.

"However..." Liu Xi’s expression dimmed as she recalled something important. "My change in attire is not just a passing whim. In one more day of travel, we will reach the vicinity of Yangjing. We will encounter people, and we must all alter our appearances and clothing."

"Yangjing." Ye Mingke repeated the melodious name in a trance. It felt like a name imbued with magic, for it represented the capital of this vast empire, embodying the proudest and most painful emotions of countless Great Xia citizens, just like Li Han.

Ye Mingke lowered his head and spoke suddenly.

"I am going to Yangjing. We all know it is dangerous, especially after we killed the guardians of the twelve commanderies and the Great Xia Imperial Astrologer. The power of the Guardian Bureau will surely unite with the forces of the East Sea Immortal Realm to launch a frantic counterattack."

"I must go to Yangjing because I promised A’ru’s father that I would personally take her there to find her mother. But why must you follow?"

"I have confirmed that I am not the possessor of the Emperor’s Body, and therefore I cannot accept that secret legacy. I am no longer the person you were looking for."

He looked up into Liu Xi’s gentle eyes, took a deep breath, and smiled, finally voicing what had been hidden in his heart.

"If it is only because of our friendship, then even a journey of a thousand miles must come to an end. I am already grateful and moved that you have brought me this far. I can walk this final stretch alone. I will be careful—perhaps it will be even safer than if we all went in together."

Liu Xi lowered her gaze to the ground. She shook her head. "I am going to Yangjing not just for you; I have my own matters to attend to."

She looked toward the distance, toward the magnificent, fire-red capital that had been visible for days, and said softly, "Let us discuss how we should alter our appearance to remain hidden."

Ye Mingke could sense the firmness in Liu Xi’s words, and he had a faint inkling of why she was heading to Yangjing. He still remembered the bold, heroic words of the old beggar in the firelight:

"Ten years have passed since I was last there. I, the old beggar, shall accompany you, brat, on one more trip to Yangjing. I want to see if they can manage to keep me this time, now that they failed ten years ago."

"My old partner has been exposed to the wind and sun on the walls of the Vermilion Bird Gate in Yangjing for so many years; it is time I reclaimed it."

Although Ye Mingke had never seen the old beggar use a sword, he always remembered that the man was once a bearded swordsman. He had first learned of the old beggar through the anecdotes Li Han told about the sword-offering at Yangjing. In that story, the man was a great swordsman. But his sword had been left behind in Yangjing ten years ago, and that was why he had never used a sword since.

Now, the swordsman was dead, the stele had been erected, but the sword had yet to be returned.

"Everything else is easy to handle, but the 'Human Sword' is too conspicuous a target."

Ye Mingke did not try to persuade Liu Xi further. Instead, he began to consider the matter of disguise. His eyes lit up, and he struck his right palm heavily against his left, laughing. "I’ve lost my wits! The strange sword case I brought from my hometown can hold many things; we can put the Human Sword inside it."

"That is a good idea," Liu Xi agreed, having gained some understanding of Ye Mingke’s sword case and finding it feasible.

However, when Liu Xi retrieved the Human Sword and Ye Mingke opened the case, the sword, which was usually silent, suddenly trembled violently upon sensing the case. It leaped from Liu Xi’s hand, clattered to the ground, and continued to vibrate and wail, as if a person were trembling in fear.

"What are you doing?" Ye Mingke asked, crouching down and rolling his eyes at the wailing, shuddering sword.

"It seems to be afraid of being put into your sword case," Liu Xi remarked, also crouching down.

In their words, there was no worship of this so-called 'Imperial Heavy Sword'; they saw it merely as a sword. They were not like the old beggar, who had pinned all his hopes on the imperial prophecy; they were two spirited young people. Moreover, they felt no admiration for a sinister, evil blade that would trade for the sake of consuming human blood.

"Hey, if you don't want to be put in the case, stay quiet and lower your weight. Otherwise, I will force you in," Ye Mingke said. A thoughtful look crossed his eyes as he pressed his hand against the hilt, probing it.

He already knew that for every moment this heavy sword was held, it gained ten *jun* in weight, eventually stacking up to a thousand *jun*. That was why, throughout the journey, only Liu Xi, whose martial arts cultivation was superb and who had spent ten years treating sword-carrying as a form of practice, could carry it.

As soon as Ye Mingke finished speaking, the sword fell silent. He felt as if he had touched a hazy consciousness that seemed to acquiesce to his demand.

"When we near Yangjing, I will carry the sword case and the Human Sword, and you will carry A’ru. I will use cloth wrappings to cover the case and the sword. Once we are closer to civilization, we will find new clothes and use simple disguises," Ye Mingke said.

"Very well," Liu Xi nodded.

As the morning light brightened, A’ru and Xu Zixian, who had been resting in the dilapidated cabin, woke up one after another. The group stepped onto the snow covered in dawn’s glow and continued their journey step by step.

Ahead, the magnificent capital city was silhouetted against the giant, resplendent sun rising on the horizon—vast, grand, and beautiful.

A’ru, still being carried on Ye Mingke’s back, rested her little head on his shoulder, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the beautiful city she had never seen before.

She murmured, a touch of sorrow in her voice, "Woody, is... is Papa waiting for me in that city? Will he and Mommy be waiting for me together?"

Ye Mingke walked on in silence. He did not know how to answer. How much longer could this well-intentioned lie be maintained?

Yet, he smiled and changed the subject. "A’ru, we might see your mother very soon. I have never met her; can you tell me what she is like?"

Hearing Ye Mingke’s question, A’ru did not answer immediately, but furrowed her brows in deep thought. Finally, she said softly, "But... A’ru has never seen Mommy before."

"I have only heard Papa talk about her. Mommy lives in the most beautiful tall building in Yangjing and is the most beautiful woman in the world."

"But some very bad people wouldn't let her be with Papa. They said that once Papa goes to the capital for the imperial examinations and becomes a great official, he will chase those bad people away, and then we can meet."

"When that day comes, Mommy will surely be waiting for Papa and A’ru at the memorial archway beneath the tallest building in the capital."

A’ru’s innocent, crisp voice echoed in the wind and snow, carrying long, lingering memories.

Heavy snow began to fall again. Ye Mingke walked through the snow, his footsteps heavy and uneven. As A’ru spoke, he painted a portrait in his mind of that beautiful woman—the woman standing beneath the brilliant lantern-lit tower, waiting for her hero to return. Did she know that her hero might never return?

Indeed, as they traveled, the road, once desolate for a thousand miles, began to show scattered travelers. Ye Mingke and Liu Xi exchanged parts of their attire to conceal their most prominent features, and after a simple disguise, they continued toward the capital, which seemed always within reach yet never arrived.

They were still a long way from the city, but the number of people on the road increased, though most were refugees in rags.

These refugees, huddled in groups of three or five against the wind and snow, struggled to move their stiff, sluggish bodies toward the magnificent capital ahead. Their swaying frames looked as if they could collapse at any moment, dying of cold in the snow.

"Where are they going? Why?" Ye Mingke asked softly as he walked, watching the refugees who looked like walking corpses, as humble as ants.

"The heavy snow. The monsters from the Dragon Ridge that come out looking for winter food after the snow. The harsh taxes. Families who have lost their breadwinners to forced labor. Every winter, the Great Xia produces countless new refugees," Xu Zixian replied softly, also looking at the winding line of people.

"Only a great city like Yangjing has walls that can withstand the blizzards and monsters, and a class of noble people who can afford to give away food for the winter."

"But Yangjing is only willing to accept one out of every hundred refugees. Most of them either freeze to death on the road or die outside the closed city gates."

"Yet, even so, many who have lost all hope still set out on the road to Yangjing."