Hearing the commotion outside the cave, Long Fei Ye immediately chased after them, but didn't see anyone outside. Han Yunxi and the rest followed suit, but Long Fei Ye gestured for them to stay put.
He looked towards the grass in front of him and cautiously walked over step by step. He knew that there was someone there and was prepared to take action. But who would have thought that when he got very close, the person hiding in the bushes didn't move. Very soon, he smelled the scent of blood, which made him even more cautious.
He stopped and gripped his sword.
Unexpectedly, that person suddenly shouted, "Master! Master! It's me … master, it's me! "
Long Fei Ye was alarmed. Han Yunxi and the rest were stunned as well.
They all recognized this voice — it was Chu Xifeng's!
"Boss!"
Xu Donglin was the first to rush over, so excited that he fell into the grass and scrambled to his feet. Soon enough, he reached Chu Xifeng's side.
Long Fei Ye drew close as well and knitted his brows at the sight of Chu Xifeng. Han Yunxi and the rest hurried over, leaving Han Yunxi gaping at the sight of Chu Xifeng. "What … what happened?"
Chu Xifeng was in a sorry state, his hair disheveled and his face dirty. His clothes were torn and tattered, and his entire body was covered in bruises and swollen wounds.
Han Yunxi swept her eyes over his legs and knew that the bones in his legs were probably all broken. Moreover, the injuries were still there.
Chu Xifeng was very excited to see Long Fei Ye, but when he saw Han Yunxi next, he didn't dare to meet her eyes. Instead, he averted his gaze.
"Boss … boss, you … just what happened to you?" Xu Donglin's voice was choked with sobs as tears welled up in his eyes.
Seeing this, Chu Xifeng grew angry. "You're already so old, yet you're still crying! Aren't you ashamed? "
Xu Donglin turned away and wiped away his tears. He seemed to be both angry and hurt, but didn't look back.
Chu Xifeng ignored him and quickly said to Long Feiye, "Master, this subordinate's finally managed to get you here. Something big has happened in Heaven Peak! "
Long Fei Ye squatted down. "What happened?"
"Lockheart Yard, Scripture Yard, and Sword Yard betrayed us. They colluded with the Evil Sword School and attacked the peak several months ago. They locked up Duanmu Yao and master Kenshin in the dungeons, "Chu Xifeng replied hastily.
Although none of them had received a reply, they were still stunned by Chu Xifeng's words.
"Where are the three Venerable Ones?" Long Fei Ye asked again.
"The sect leader of the Evil Sword School personally ascended the mountain. None of the three Honored Elders were his match. The Evil Sword School wanted the three Honored Elders to help him subdue the Ganjiang sword, but the three Honored Elders refused. Even now, they're still hanging at the peak," Chu Xifeng replied honestly.
The Sect Master of the Evil Sword School had always been mysterious and had never shown himself. But his swordsmanship is definitely not better than the three Venerables from Tianshan Kenzō!
How could he fight one against three and still win?
Everyone exchanged glances before thinking of one person. Without a doubt, it was the man with exquisite swordsmanship who'd once disguised himself as Long Fei Ye to kill Gu Beiyue, Bai Yanqing.
If it was that old fox who couldn't die, then it'd be easy to deal with the three Honored Elders.
"So Bai Yanqing was the Sect Master of the Evil Sword School!" Han Yunxi said Coldly.
Before He Yilian died, he'd told Long Fei Ye that Bai Yanqing had set up an ambush on Celestial Mountain. He Yilian was Cang Qiuzi's senior disciple and had been helping him secretly communicate with the Evil Sword School. He also knew that Long Fei Ye had the Lustbite energy.
Thus, Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi suspected that Bai Yanqing was in cahoots with the Evil Sword School. They never expected that Bai Yanqing had long taken control of the entire Evil Sword School.
"After Bai Shanqing stepped down, he inherited the position of Sect Master of the Evil Sword School?" Long Fei Ye was filled with doubts. In other words, Bai Yanqing had been in control of the Evil Sword School for a long time. In other words, Bai Yanqing had been lying in ambush on Celestial Mountain for a long time!
What did he want the Ganjiang sword for?
"When did they attack the peak?" Gu suddenly exclaimed.
"Last October," Chu Xifeng replied.
"When exactly was it? Do you remember the exact date? "Han Yunxi grew anxious as well.
Chu Xifeng thought it over, but couldn't remember the exact time. Still, he was certain of one thing: "Early October. It wasn't even the 15th of October yet."
Long Fei Ye stiffened at his words. Han Yunxi and Gu gaped as well, unable to recover their wits.
When they were at the Medicine Requesting Cave, they had written to Celestial Mountain to ask about Phoenix energy. It had been between the end of October and the beginning of November. The Sword Sect Master had been imprisoned in the prison since the beginning of the tenth month.
In other words, their letters hadn't reached Kenzō at all, but ended up in Bai Yanqing's hands! It wasn't Kenzō himself who'd replied, but Bai Yanqing who'd imitated Kenzō's handwriting!
"This is bad …" Gu looked at Long Fei Ye. "Poison lass's been exposed …"
It wasn't just about Phoenix energy, but Bai Yanqing had found out about their dual cultivation as well.
Long Fei Ye looked at Han Yunxi, while Han Yunxi stared at Long Fei Ye with lingering fear.
"The worst thing is … all of our secret letters have been exposed," Han Yunxi muttered.
By now, Han Yunxi's exposure wasn't so important anymore.
More importantly, what was the deal with Phoenix energy? Could Han Yunxi continue her dual cultivation with Long Fei Ye now that she had Phoenix energy? Was it because of the power of the Phoenix that their dual cultivation failed?
Back at the Medicine Requesting Cave, the fake letter had said they could continue their dual cultivation, but they'd failed in the end.
Bai Yanqing had clearly tricked them. What kind of good intentions did Bai Yanqing have?
Currently, Long Feiye had two sources of internal energy in his body, both of which were at the highest level. Meanwhile, Han Yunxi had the mysterious Phoenix energy within her body. No matter which one it was, a single mishap could lead to the destruction of a person!
If they hadn't decided to delay the northern expedition, they might still be in the dark about Bai Yanqing's plans. Or perhaps he'd have sent even more secret letters to Celestial Mountain.
Long Fei Ye's secret letters to Celestial Mountain might have been guarded by specialized personnel, but no matter how tight the defenses were, it couldn't prevent the entire mountain from falling into enemy hands!
When Han Yunxi mentioned the secret letters, Chu Xifeng quickly took out a letter from his robes, only to see that it had long been soaked in blood.
"Master, this … this subordinate has intercepted the letter."
Long Fei Ye pulled the letter out of the bloodstained envelope and immediately recognized it as the last letter he'd sent to Celestial Mountain. It only told Kenshin's master that they were going up the mountain.
Since Chu Xifeng had intercepted the letter, did that mean Bai Yanqing and the rest of the Evil Sword School students didn't know they were going up the mountain?
Chu Xifeng was sprawled on the ground, propping himself up to answer Long Fei Ye's questions. Abruptly, his hands gave out and he collapsed to the ground. Han Yunxi finally noticed that Chu Xifeng's hands seemed to be badly injured as well.
Long Fei Ye personally helped him sit up and said coldly, "Xu Donglin, what are you spacing out for?"
Xu Donglin hastily turned around and sat next to Chu Xifeng, afraid that he'd have to support him.
Long Feiye coldly examined Chu Xifeng, his handsome brows knitting again. "How did you get down the mountain?"
He had crippled Chu Xifeng's martial arts and killed the chicken as an example to the monkeys. Although he'd lost his position as head of the Shadow Guard, he hadn't suffered any more hardships on the mountain.
Long Fei Ye's Shadow Guard had mostly been selected from Celestial Mountain's disciples. Some of them hadn't been selected from the ranks, but were sent here for training as well.
There was a secret training ground for the Shadow Guard at the peak of Celestial Mountain that was directly subordinate to the head of the Shadow Guard. Long Fei Ye didn't have time to manage it personally. Chu Xifeng was the head of the Shadow Guard's training ground. He usually treated his subordinates well, so they wouldn't hit him while he was down.
Moreover, once Xu Donglin was crippled, Xu Donglin took over as head of the Shadow Guard. With Xu Donglin's protection, who would dare to do anything to Chu Xifeng?
In other words, Chu Xifeng had been sent back to Celestial Mountain because Long Fei Ye had shown him mercy. Otherwise, he'd be killed as an example to the monkeys. Even if he didn't die, he'd suffer a fate worse than death.
Long Fei Ye's question reminded Han Yunxi of something.
Chu Xifeng had been living at the peak of Celestial Mountain all this time. His martial arts had been crippled, so it was the Shadow Guard who'd sent him up. How had he managed to escape the mountain?
After all, the peak of Reserved Mountain was different from other peaks. It was both difficult to climb and descend, so Han Yunxi had a deep impression of it after walking past it once.
If not for his lightness skills, it would have been impossible to leave Celestial Mountain, much less escape Evil Sword School's watchful eyes.
That's right, how did Chu Xifeng get off the mountain if he didn't know martial arts? If the Shadow Guard had brought him down the mountain, he would've sent them a letter long ago instead of waiting for them to find this place.
Chu Xifeng's ashen face was calm as he replied, "Master, this subordinate hid at the peak of Celestial Mountain for a long time. By the time the entire mountain was covered in snow, this subordinate … this subordinate rolled all the way down. This subordinate saw a flying eagle on the way down and stole the letter."
Flying eagles to Celestial Mountain were different from returning letters, so he hadn't been able to send a letter back to his master. If not for the eagle filling his stomach and all the wild grass and plants in the spring, he would've starved to death long ago.
His legs were crippled and his hands couldn't move. It was easier said than done to survive.
Suddenly, everyone fell silent. Only the sound of Xu Donglin sniffing could be heard.
Ice and snow sealed off the path, freezing it to three feet deep. There was no way up Celestial Mountain in winter, but there was a way down. That was the road on the west side of the mountain.
It was a very steep path that made it impossible to climb up or down without ice and snow. Once it was sealed off, it was possible to... slide down and roll down.
But no one had ever done this before. Everyone knew that it was a nine out of ten chance of dying!
No wonder... no wonder Chu Xifeng was covered in injuries. Both his legs were crippled and his hands were broken. No wonder Xu Donglin hadn't been discovered by the Evil Sword School.
Han Yunxi couldn't help but look towards the distant peak. She couldn't imagine what Xu Donglin had experienced rolling down the mountain, or how many times he'd walked on the brink of death.
In the silence, Chu Xifeng glanced at Han Yunxi before lowering his head. "Master... this subordinate, this subordinate begs master to record this subordinate's meritorious service. Let this subordinate make up for my mistakes."
Before Long Fei Ye could speak, Han Yunxi said, "Mingxiang, what are you spacing out for? Give me the medicine bag! "
Baili Mingxiang recovered her wits and quickly fetched the bag from her horse. Gu Beiyue had given it to her before they left.
"Long Fei Ye, give me a hand. Flip him over so he's flat on his back!" Han Yunxi added.
Chu Xifeng was terrified. He'd served his master for so many years, but when had he ever let him do anything? He was at a loss for what to do when Long Fei Ye grabbed his arm …
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