“I have met her once,” Chen Zui replied truthfully.
Gu Yiyou looked at him with a serious expression upon hearing this.
“Come outside with me for a moment.”
Chen Zui frowned. Though he was confused, he followed him out of the inn.
Ye Zhibai and Xiao Chengyan remained where they were, staring at each other blankly.
“Just what kind of person is this female disciple Mister Wen took? Even Senior Gu is being so solemn,” Xiao Chengyan leaned in and asked.
Ye Zhibai gave him a cold glare.
“If you’re asking me, who am I supposed to ask?”
Outside the inn.
The night in Luoyan City was silent, almost to the point of stagnation.
The north wind had stopped at some point.
The icicles hanging from the eaves no longer vibrated and rang.
Snow covered the long street, reflecting a layer of ghostly blue light under the moon. It was like a thick blanket smothering the sounds of the entire border fortress.
Gu Yiyou stood in the middle of the street with his hands behind his back.
The rusty sword on his back remained motionless in the moonlight.
Only the copper bell at the end of the hilt occasionally swayed slightly, emitting a very faint jingling sound.
Chen Zui followed behind him, his chest still aching slightly.
The residual force from He Bailou’s two punches was still wandering through his meridians, but he couldn’t bother with that at the moment.
“Senior called me out alone; I assume it’s not for idle chatter?”
Gu Yiyou did not turn around. He simply looked up at the cold moon above the distant city wall and remained silent for a moment.
“Where did you meet her?”
Chen Zui then briefly recounted his experience at the inn that day.
From recovering the jade pendant to the woman’s parting words, “Where in life do we not meet again?” he left out not a single word.
After Gu Yiyou finished listening, he suddenly gave a low chuckle, his laughter carrying a hint of complexity.
“She told you, ‘We will definitely meet again,’ didn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“Then you will definitely meet again.”
Chen Zui frowned. “What do you mean by that, Senior?”
Gu Yiyou finally turned around. His cloudy old eyes appeared exceptionally deep under the moonlight.
He didn't answer directly. Instead, he pointed to a snow-covered stone bench by the street, signaling for Chen Zui to sit.
The two sat side by side on the stone.
Gu Yiyou untied an old leather wine skin from his waist, pulled out the stopper, took a gulp, and then handed the skin to Chen Zui.
Chen Zui took it. The liquid was extremely strong burning spirits, so spicy that it made his throat tighten.
“I followed Mister Wen for thirty years,” Gu Yiyou began slowly.
“In those thirty years, I saw Mister Wen devise strategies for others countless times. His plans were words of wisdom that struck at the heart of the matter. He truly deserved the reputation of being a strategist who never failed a calculation.”
He paused, his voice lowering slightly.
“But that girl, Lin Jianxi, is different from Mister Wen. She never plans.”
“Never plans?” Chen Zui frowned. “Then how could she become Mister Wen’s closed-door disciple?”
“Because she doesn’t need to plan.”
Gu Yiyou turned to look at Chen Zui, an inscrutable light flashing in his cloudy old eyes.
“Lad, just listen to what I say next. There’s no need to be in a hurry to believe it, nor to disbelieve it. I’ve never told this to anyone else, but I’m making an exception for you tonight.”
Chen Zui said nothing, only tightening his grip on the wine skin.
“That girl has a certain ability. Most of what she says comes true. When Mister Wen was alive, he once mentioned to me in private that there was something mysterious about her. And that girl never says anything inconsequential to anyone. Since she spoke those words to you that day, there must be a deeper meaning.”
Gu Yiyou’s gaze fell on Chen Zui’s face, seemingly observing his reaction.
“Therefore, since she said to you, ‘We will definitely meet again,’ then you definitely will. Either you will go to her, or she will come to you. This is something that cannot be avoided.”
Chen Zui remained silent for a long time.
Having lived two lives, he had seen countless extraordinary people and witnessed all sorts of mysterious techniques in this fantasy world. However, “prophecies coming true” was something he was hearing about for the first time.
Yet he remembered that the rewards the system gave him at the inn that day far exceeded any previous instance.
Why would an ordinary woman in scholar’s robes cause the system to grant such high experience points and a permanent Trait?
Unless she was anything but ordinary.
“I believe it. As the saying goes, the world is vast and full of wonders.”
Gu Yiyou smiled, his expression carrying a hint of appreciation.
“You lad certainly have a clear mind.”
“Senior overpraises me. So, were you forced to draw your sword back then to save her, which led to the pursuit by the three Grandmasters sent by the court?”
Gu Yiyou slowly shook his head.
“Ultimately, I am just a servant. I am not significant enough for the one on the throne to look at me differently. The reason the court sent He Bailou and the other two was merely to see my master’s attitude.”
“Sword Immortal Shen’s attitude?”
“Precisely. Even though my master has traveled the world and ignored the martial world for decades, the one on the throne still cannot rest easy regarding him. He simply wants to see if my master truly intends to be an Earthly Immortal who wanders freely between heaven and earth, or if he still has lingering thoughts about the martial world.”
“I see. But Old Immortal Qiu and the others still didn’t make a move against you.”
Gu Yiyou nodded and swallowed a mouthful of wine.
“Qiu Baisheng is a clever man. The reason he withdrew wasn't because he feared me, nor because he feared my master. It was because I told him the news that the Emperor is terminally ill. Once the Emperor passes away, the court will inevitably undergo a massive reshuffling. Although Qiu Baisheng is an Earthly Immortal, at the end of the day, he is a consecrated expert who relies on imperial power. A new emperor brings his own ministers; no one can say for sure if the new emperor will continue to employ him. At a time like this, to offend Wen Zhuo, whose students are everywhere, and to offend my master just for the sake of a dying man’s order—Qiu Baisheng can calculate that debt better than anyone.”
“So, after weighing the pros and cons, he chose to stand by and watch.”
Chen Zui nodded slowly.
“For this man to sit at the peak of the martial path for so long, he clearly relies on more than just hard fists.”
“What of the peak of the martial path?”
Gu Yiyou chuckled, his voice tinged with desolation.
“In the face of imperial power, even immortals must bow their heads. My master had such grace back then—becoming an Earthly Immortal at thirty, the number one in the world’s Way of the Sword. How free and easy was he? But after the war between Grand Zhao and Grand Shuo ended, wasn't he still forced by various factions to seal his sword and go into seclusion, never to involve himself in the affairs of the martial world again?”
He paused, suddenly looking at Chen Zui with a solemn gaze.
“Lad, do you know why I came to this border?”
Chen Zui shook his head. “Please tell me, Senior.”
“I am going to Grand Shuo to resolve an unresolved regret from over thirty years ago.”
Chen Zui raised an eyebrow. “A regret?”
Gu Yiyou was silent for a moment before speaking slowly.
“The reason I left my master’s side was that I once disobeyed his order and did not draw my sword for him. I didn't have the face to remain by his side, so I wandered everywhere before finally staying with Mister Wen.”
“You didn’t draw your sword for Sword Immortal Shen?” Chen Zui couldn't help but frown.
Gu Yiyou nodded slowly.
“Back then, a peerless expert who used a saber appeared in Grand Shuo. With just one man and one saber, he broke through twelve Grand Zhao camps in a row, killing countless martial experts on our side. At that time, He Bailou hadn't become a Grandmaster yet, Liu Yinsheng was still young, and Qiu Baisheng was far away in the capital. In all of Grand Zhao, the only one who could block that saber was my master.”
He paused for a long time before finally spitting out these words.
“But I stopped him.”
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