The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

The old Taoist priest slumped against the ruins, his cloudy eyes staring at her. His lips trembled for a long time before he finally managed to squeeze out a single sentence.

"Okay, okay... little girl, thank you."

His voice was as weak as a spider silk about to break, but each of those three "good" words carried immense weight.

He wasn't thanking on his own behalf, but on behalf of the city.

I thank you on behalf of those mothers who trembled in the corner holding their children, and on behalf of those children who held up empty lamps and waited for dawn.

"No need, this is my choice too."

Tang Xixue's voice was soft, yet steady.

She didn't say anything grand or impassioned, nor did she adopt any savior-like posture.

She simply made her own choice, nothing more.

She also received the inheritance of the Flowing Cloud Medicine God, and took the lamp from those warm hands.

That lamp, teetering in the gale, yet never going out.

"Good boy."

The old Taoist priest raised his sleeve and wiped away the tears from the corner of his eye. His fingers, chapped like old tree bark, trembled slightly as he wiped his eyes.

The legendary healer Liuyun has found a successor.

very nice.

He gazed at the small Three Lives Tree, its trunk still shimmering with lingering spiritual light, its leaves swaying gently in the night breeze, as if someone were nodding.

He looked at it, his eyes red-rimmed, but he was happy inside.

That kind of happiness was complicated, like entrusting something you cherish most to someone else.

"Senior brother, I'm here. You can rest now."

Tang Xixue saw that Jiu Fangzhi had never retreated; he was fighting for her sake.

From beginning to end, his back never bent. He stood there between her and the danger, like a sword drawing a line, telling everything that crossed that line—this path is blocked.

A single eucalyptus tree awaits the release of the locust tree; all living beings are but guests, I will not ferry them to other branches.

Her senior brother was the blue eucalyptus tree, and she was the magpie bird.

"Junior sister, be careful, I'm fine."

Jiu Fangzhi hadn't rested, and he couldn't let his junior sister face the Pavilion Master Fengxiao alone.

She didn't know what kind of enemy she was facing.

"She is dangerous."

"So, this is the little junior sister that junior brother cherishes so much!"

Fengxiao Pavilion Master raised his head.

Her expression under the hood was unclear, but her hand paused slightly.

The hand holding the bow, which had been as steady as a rock from beginning to end, suddenly had one finger tremble slightly.

It wasn't fear, but rather that someone accustomed to being in control suddenly found things beyond her expectations.

"Things are getting more and more interesting."

Her face remained hidden in the shadows, only her cold, peach-blossom eyes peeked out from between her hair, staring at Tang Xixue on the dragon's back.

Those eyes were beautiful, but at this moment there was no trace of a smile in them, only the calmness of someone who had been bitten by their prey and was now re-evaluating it.

"Little girl, you're back?"

Her voice rose slightly at the end, like a knife being gently sharpened on a stone.

It's not a question, it's a confirmation.

She was sure she wasn't mistaken; this girl, who was just a slightly interesting little girl in her eyes, was indeed extraordinary.

"I've been waiting for you."

"wait for me?"

Tang Xixue's voice drifted down from the dragon's back, unhurried and gentle.

"What are you waiting for me to do?"

She leaned slightly forward, and the dragon's head slowly lowered, becoming level with the Pavilion Master of Fengxiao Pavilion.

His eyes, as bright as the Milky Way, looked down at the shadow beneath the hood of the Pavilion Master of Fengxiao Pavilion, and the corners of his lips curved slightly into a beautiful arc.

"To take your life?"

She paused, then her smile deepened.

"Or should I send you on your way along with those annoying bugs?"

The pupils of the Pavilion Master Fengxiao contracted slightly for a moment.

It wasn't because of Tang Xixue's words, but because her spiritual senses perceived it.

The aura of the Silver Dust Gu behind her was weakening at a speed she had never seen before.

Those elite troops she had painstakingly cultivated over the years, those Silver Dust Gu she was so proud of, were dying out.

She suddenly chuckled softly.

"Oh."

The laughter was very soft, yet it sent a chill down one's spine.

"interesting."

A few words slipped from her lips.

That's the kind of excitement that comes from the very core of a person when they finally meet an opponent worthy of their serious attention.

"My Silver Dust Gu is not something that just anyone can cleanse."

She raised her head and looked directly at Tang Xixue for the first time.

The brim of the hood fluttered slightly in the wind, revealing a small section of the brow bone, its sharp, cold lines like those of a knife, covered with a layer of fine ice crystals.

"What did you use?"

Her voice was calm as still water, but something was churning deep within her peach blossom eyes.

"Isn't it just right to bury them with this boundless snow and ice?"

Tang Xixue's answer was concise and honest.

She didn't even lower her voice or try to be mysterious.

She was simply stating a fact: the Silver Dust Gu is born in blazing flames and dies in bitter cold.

She had Xingmi draw up the cold air from the bottom of the Fallen God Lake and envelop it in the cold currents of the ice cellar.

Even the most powerful Silver Dust Gu of Fengxiao Pavilion Master has its nemesis.

"It's too early to say some things, young lady. You're very unlucky to have met me."

Fengxiaoge slowly raised his hand, and the Soul-Locking Bow lit up again.

This time, the spirit patterns on the bow shone in a completely different way than before.

It wasn't silvery white, nor was it deep blue; it was a dark purple so thick it was almost black.

"Who will bury whom? You'll find out soon enough."

The spiritual patterns lit up very slowly, as if something was slowly awakening inside the bow.

Her fingertips gently plucked the bowstring, producing a deep, muffled sound like distant thunder.

Only one arrow remained on the bowstring.

It was jet black, as thin as a hair, and surrounded by a gray mist.

The mist neither dispersed nor gathered, but quietly coiled around the arrow, like a sleeping snake.

The moment it appeared, the air froze.

The wind stopped, the snow stopped, and even the torches on the city wall shrank by half an inch, as if they dared not burn too brightly in front of that arrow.

"Do you know what this is?"

Every word she spoke was like an ice blade, slicing across my skin.

"Return to the Ruins".

Her fingers gently traced the bowstring, her movements as graceful as if she were plucking a violin.

Those peach blossom eyes held only a deathly stillness, a void devoid of any warmth or emotion.

"You are the first person to make me use this arrow."

She raised her head and looked at Tang Xixue.

That gaze wasn't filled with murderous intent; murderous intent is filled with anger and hatred.

There was nothing in her eyes.

It's like a person standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down into the abyss.

The abyss is watching her too.

"Young lady, do you think you deserve this arrow?"

Tang Xixue held the Longevity Sword horizontally in front of her.

The sword's edge gleamed coldly in the moonlight, reflecting the brilliance of the entire starry sky behind her.

Then she spoke.

Whether we're a good match or not—we'll only know after we try.

Her words were firm and resolute.

She has already arrived here.

The silver-blue spiritual light on the Longevity Sword surged, resembling a brilliant galaxy.

"bring it on."

she says.

Fengxiao Pavilion Master did not answer.

She simply loosened her fingers and released the arrow.

That arrow was fired silently.