The ringing of the bell was pleasant to the ears, as good as the zither music at the Plum Meeting that day, and it had a special effect, making the listeners calm down. The air around the plum forest seemed to form layers of invisible ripples, smoothing the surface of the small lake. Besides the calming effect, the residual energy of the formations had also gradually disappeared, leaving no trace behind.
It was evident that these formations had been forcefully broken by a highly achieved swordsman of the Platanus Sect, and that highly achieved swordsman must have broken into the garden by now.
The Platanus Sect and the Aoyama Sect had been on good terms for generations, so Zhao Layue was a bit worried. She held Jing Jiu's hand and flew up on her sword.
A red sword light illuminated the old garden, following the ringing of the bell. A gentle breeze arose, and everything calmed down instantly.
There was an ordinary small lake in the deep part of the old plum garden, with some messy and ugly plum trees growing by the lake. A small nunnery could be vaguely seen in the middle of the plum forest, nothing special about it.
The path leading to the small nunnery outside the forest was blocked by someone, and the two sides were confronting each other.
"Why can't we go in?"
A woman asked with a cold expression, her seemingly thin body exuding a powerful energy.
This woman was the envoy who had participated in the Sword Trial of Aoyama years ago.
Standing by her side was a young girl with an impatient expression on her pretty face. She was the young girl who had promised to give Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue bells.
Standing on the stone path was an old eunuch. He wasn't the one who had set up those formations, but it was obvious that he wanted to block these two people of the Platanus Sect as well.
The old eunuch said expressionlessly with drooping eyelids, "A noble is enjoying the flowers in the forest. Please wait for a moment."
The woman sneered, "Don't think you can intimidate us by bringing out the noble from the Royal Palace. When did the old plum garden become a forbidden place for the royal family?"
The young girl couldn't wait any longer, so she said directly, "Aunt Cui, don't talk nonsense with them. Let's go in directly."
The old eunuch lifted his head, his eyes emitting a sharp light as he yelled, "Who dares?"
Following these two words, the auras in the forest suddenly became chaotic. A dozen or so figures could be vaguely seen. Judging from their auras, they should be the strong guards of the palace.
Just as the swords of the two sides were about to clash, a cool breeze suddenly appeared, and ripples appeared on the surface of the water again, scattering the red sword light into countless maple leaves.
The sword light suddenly disappeared, and two figures appeared by the lake.
Zhao Layue said, "Who dares?"
It was the same two words. The old eunuch's shout was full of power, but her tone was ordinary, light, and without any imposing manner.
But for some reason, whether it was the old eunuch himself or the palace guards in the forest, they all felt that her question was truly difficult to answer.
Or rather, no one dared to answer this question.
After saying this, Zhao Layue remembered to let go of Jing Jiu's hand.
The old eunuch fixed his gaze on Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu's faces. Thinking of the red sword light, he guessed their identities. His expression changed abruptly, and he raised his hand hastily to signal the guards in the forest not to act recklessly.
Seeing Zhao Layue, the young girl showed a pleasantly surprised smile. She skipped to her side and held her hand, asking, "Aren't you two at the Plum Meeting?"
"Let me have a look," said Zhao Layue.
"You two know it too?"
The young girl said embarrassedly, "Our sect has paid a great price for this information. We promised not to tell anyone else, so it's not convenient for me to inform you."
Zhao Layue smiled and rubbed her head, indicating that it was alright.
Having done this, she felt it was a bit strange that she was so used to such an intimate action. She glanced at Jing Jiu reflexively.
The old eunuch was also looking at Jing Jiu.
The face that had been described as exaggerated in the rumors appeared in front of him, and he realized that those descriptions were not exaggerated at all.
To put it more precisely, when he saw Jing Jiu's face, he realized that the true extreme was indescribable.
Even though he was an old eunuch, he had to spend some effort to calm himself down. He bowed and said, "Please wait a moment. This old servant will inform …"
After confirming the identities of Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu, his attitude became more respectful. He was about to ask the guards to inform the nobility in the forest, but he didn't even have time to say the word "nobility".
It was because Jing Jiu didn't want to wait any longer.
As far as Jing Jiu was concerned, time was both the most meaningless and the most meaningful thing at the same time.
There were many things worth waiting for, like the first snowfall, the initial growth of the Dao Tree, the accumulation of sand, and the return of Liu Shisui, but waiting to inform the nobility was definitely not one of them.
Zhao Layue was also such a person.
They walked along the stone path toward the forest.
The old eunuch hesitated, but he didn't dare block their way. He stepped aside to make way for them.
The young girl of the Platanus Sect followed them into the forest while holding Zhao Layue's hand. She snorted contentedly when she passed by the old eunuch.
The stone path led to the deep part of the plum forest. Though the trees were sparse, they couldn't see the scenery behind them.
There was a bamboo wall in the deep part of the forest, and the stone path led to the nunnery through the bamboo wall.
It was quiet on the other side of the bamboo wall. It seemed that the old eunuch and the guards were not allowed to enter the nunnery.
The old woman said apologetically, "The Aoyama Sect is more important."
Zhao Layue said, "Big Sister Cui is too serious. It's just that the two sects have different styles of doing things."
The old woman understood what she meant, thinking that it was indeed the case, but she didn't know how to respond.
The young girl, however, didn't care about all this. She said directly, "That's right. My mother has been nagging that your catchphrases are too scary, that you always ask people if they want to die, and that you are too violent, that you always want people to die. It's really annoying. She has warned me over and over again not to learn from you."
The old woman smiled bitterly without saying anything. She looked at Zhao Layue and was about to explain. Unexpectedly, Zhao Layue thought about what she said seriously and said, "That makes sense."
The young girl was surprised, asking, "Sister, are you going to change it?"
Zhao Layue thought about it again and shook her head, saying, "Though it makes sense, I can't change it."
The young girl asked curiously with her eyes wide open, "Why?"
Zhao Layue said, "Because there are too many people in the world who deserve to die and those who want to die."
The young girl noticed that her eyes were clear and spirited. She was somewhat envious, or in other words, yearning.
…
…
There was a tree in front of the nunnery. It had already bloomed, and the petals were falling under the tree.
But they weren't as pretty as the beautiful woman under the tree.
The beautiful woman turned around and looked at them. Her eyes and brows were extremely beautiful, only a bit inferior to Jing Jiu's. More importantly, her expression was honest and straightforward, giving off an air of innocence.
Such a beautiful woman was usually liked by the men.
As a result, the young girls of the Platanus Sect didn't like her, and neither did Zhao Layue.
The old woman came forward and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Royal Concubine Hu."
The young girl said in a low voice beside Zhao Layue, "She is the most favored Royal Concubine Hu."
Hearing this, Zhao Layue was taken aback a bit, looking at the tree again.
It was then that the beautiful woman looked at her as well.
Their gazes met through the falling petals in the wind.
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