A master of both medicine and martial arts, he picked up a beautiful CEO as his wife.

The old street in Tingxue Town is only about 300 meters long.

Ye Feng walked this street for six years. On the third and eighteenth of each month, he would follow his master down the mountain to buy things, carrying a carrying pole and two bamboo baskets, from the east end of the street to the west end.

Rice and noodles are from Wang's shop, medicinal herbs from Tongrentang, but for pickles, the chef only trusts the shop at the end of the street. That pickle shop still exists today. Inside sits an old lady, over seventy, wearing reading glasses, peeling garlic.

"Aunt Zhang," Ye Feng said, standing in front of the counter, "do you still recognize me?"

The old lady looked up and squinted for a long time.

"Oh—" She dropped the garlic in her hand. "Old Han's apprentice?"

"it's me."

"Oh dear, oh dear," the old lady stood up shakily, reaching across the counter to grab his hand, "You've grown so tall!"

"Last month, that kid from Old Zhou's family at the east end of town was asking about you, saying he wanted to thank you." She wiped her eyes as she spoke. "His mother said the boy can run now. I was wondering why I kept hearing about accidents on the mountain these past six months; it's been bothering me... How's your master? Is he alright?"

Ye Feng felt a lump in his throat.

"He went out."

"It's good to go out, it's good to go out." The old lady nodded repeatedly. "That man loves to travel around. Don't be fooled by the fact that he spends all his time in the mountains; he always makes several trips a year, I don't know where he goes."

Ye Feng's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Aunt Zhang," he lowered his voice, "does my master have a place to stay in town?"

The old lady stopped peeling garlic. Through her reading glasses, she looked Ye Feng up and down, then glanced at Lin Yuqing and Shen Yu behind him.

"Did your master send you?"

"……yes."

The old lady remained silent for a long time, then sighed and pulled a bunch of keys from under the counter.

"The third house in the back alley, the blue door."

She slammed the key on the counter.

"Your master entrusted me with watching over it twenty years ago. He said that if a young man surnamed Ye came to ask about it, I should give him the key."

"He said, if this kid doesn't ask, I'll keep watching for him until I die."

The third house in the back alley was a tiny courtyard. There were three single-story houses, a well, and an old jujube tree beside the well. Pushing open the door, a dusty smell hit you.

The house was spotless. The tables and chairs were polished to a shine, and the bedding was neatly folded, though a thin layer of dust had settled on them. It didn't look abandoned; rather, it seemed as if the owner had gone on a long trip and had packed everything away before leaving.

Shen Yu paced around the room, his voice muffled: "This place... Master never mentioned it."

Ye Feng didn't speak. He walked to the table, where a rough porcelain bowl was placed, with a piece of paper pressed under the bottom of the bowl.

There was only one line of text on the paper, the ink faded and worn:

"Feng'er, the cabinet."

Ye Feng's hands trembled. He turned and walked to the old wooden cabinet in the corner, and opened the cabinet door. The cabinet was empty except for a booklet.

The cover was made of blue cloth, the edges worn and frayed. Opening to the first page, I saw my master's handwriting. The handwriting wasn't as neat as on the letter; it was hasty, as if he were writing down whatever came to mind—

It was a notebook. Ye Feng sat down on the creaking old wooden stool and turned the pages one by one. When he reached the seventh page, his breath caught in his throat.

"In the winter of the year Ji-Mao, I traveled south to Dongyang and met a woman surnamed Zhao."

"Its essence is pure Yin, penetrating to the bone, a once-in-a-millennium occurrence. The half-commitment that I, Nirvana Mountain, have upheld for twenty generations has finally found a successor."

"She doesn't know who she is. Neither do her parents. This branch of the family has been scattered among the people for three hundred years and has long forgotten who their ancestors were."

I didn't tell her.

"Telling her would only hurt her."

Ye Feng gripped the edge of the paper, his knuckles turning white. He turned the page.

"In the year of Gengchen, the Zhao family had a daughter. I went to see her."

"The baby was born bluish-purple, and the midwife said it couldn't be saved. I channeled three parts of my true energy into her, lifting up that wisp of pure yin from between her bones."

I held her for a while.

She fell asleep in my arms.

"This embrace meant that he held the rest of Nirvana Mountain's life in his hands."

Lin Yuqing's hands, gripping the edge of the table, clenched tightly. Her voice trembled uncontrollably: "He held me..."

"Keep watching." Ye Feng's voice trembled as well.

Later, the handwriting changed. It became hurried and messy, with several ink smudges spreading out, as if the hand was trembling while writing.

"In the year of Jia Shen, something happened."

"The people of the 'Yuan' lineage have found Dongyang."

"I miscalculated one thing. I thought they only recognized the branch with the strongest bloodline, and I thought that after three hundred years of being scattered and diluted to such a degree, they wouldn't be able to smell it."

"I was wrong."

"They don't recognize blood; they recognize 'awakening.' When Zhao gave birth to a daughter, that wisp of pure yin took root in her body—this movement reached the other side."

"I arrived in Dongyang three days late."

Ye Feng turned the page.

"In the first month of the year Yi-You, Zhao's daughter died."

"The Li family did it, Seven Star Begonia."

"But what is the Li family? They were just handed a knife by someone else, and they're smugly thinking they're fighting for the family fortune."

"I have never met the one who actually gave the order."

"I went to the police station to give a statement once. I told three truths, and the rest were all lies."

"If I had told the truth, that child would not have survived."

She's only five years old.

The room was deathly silent. Shen Yu turned around, his shoulders trembling violently. Lin Yuqing stood motionless, tears falling onto the pages of the journal, blurring a small patch of ink.

Ye Feng reached out and shielded her from the attack.

"Turn to the next page," she said in a hoarse voice. "I want to read it all."

Ye Feng turned the page.

"In the third month of the year Yi-You, I returned to the mountain."

"I did three things."

"First, I'll cut Zhenyuan Yaolu in half. One half will be sealed in the Hidden Vein Hall, waiting for my disciple whom I haven't found yet."

"Secondly, my other half—I've returned it."

"This half of the agreement was originally meant to be jointly upheld by both branches. My Nirvana Mountain branch has upheld it for twenty generations, and the Zhao branch should also reclaim their half."

"I sent it to Heqi Cliff."

"Only those bloodlines can open that place."

"From now on, anyone who wants to gather these two halves must have people from both branches stand together."

"This is the cruelest thing I've ever done in my life—I nailed down the idea that 'she must be tied to the people of Nirvana Mountain.'"

"If there is an afterlife, Zhao woman, you may curse me."

Ye Feng paused as he read this. He looked up at Lin Yuqing. She was looking at him too. Tears still clung to her eyes, but her gaze had changed.

"Heqi Cliff," she said, emphasizing each word, "where is it?"

Shen Yu's expression turned strange.

"I've heard of this place."

"Have you heard of it?"

"There's a rule in the mountains," Shen Yu said in a low voice, "disciples are not allowed to go to the shady side of the main peak. Master said that the rocks there are pine trees that shed rocks every year, and whoever goes there will die. In my first year on the mountain, I was curious and secretly went around to take a look. There were no falling rocks. I saw a cliff in the distance, and it looked like there were words carved on it. Before I got close, Master grabbed me from behind."

"That was the only time I was whipped by him while I was on the mountain."

Shen Yu raised his head, his eyes red-rimmed.

"After I got that beating, I always thought it was because I hadn't followed the rules."

"So he hit me because he was afraid I would see what was carved on it."