Chapter 51: Withered Bones Blooming Flowers (Includes Winter Solstice Easter Egg)

"Perhaps the daylight was not bright enough, and we took the wrong path." Looking at the giant tiger blocking the center of the road, Yan Kuang spoke, trying to comfort the person behind him.

"Uh... Official Yan, I forgot to mention just now, I was thinking the exact same thing..." Cheng Ruyi steadied himself and gently patted Yan Kuang's shoulder. "This forest is strange. You should put me down first."

Yan Kuang gently set Cheng Ruyi down, supporting him as he leaned against his own body.

Seeing the dagger still planted in the tiger's neck, Cheng Ruyi reached out and pointed at it. "Official Yan, are we leaving that behind?"

Back then, the dagger Cheng Ruyi carried when he went alone to meet Luo Shaofeng had been given to him by Yan Kuang, but that one had forever vanished with that pair of master and servant. Recalling yesterday's chase and the despair of facing the ferocious tiger alone, Cheng Ruyi still felt a lingering fear.

Thus, he took the initiative to say, "It would be such a waste to lose it... You might as well pull it out for me."

Hearing this, Yan Kuang slowly released his hold, and Cheng Ruyi hurriedly steadied himself by grasping a tree trunk at his side. He saw Yan Kuang lean forward, grip the hilt, and pull it out in one swift motion—

At the same time, a sudden forest wind arose, sweeping past the bloody, cold blade, sending crimson droplets splashing onto the tiger's fur, which bristled against the wind.

Cheng Ruyi's eyes suddenly flicked! Limping forward with excitement, he reached out and snatched a handful of hair from Yan Kuang's head.

"I've figured out a way out!"

Yan Kuang frowned, yet still wiped the pulled-out dagger against his sleeve a few times, detached the scabbard from his waist, sheathed it, and leaned down to tuck it into Cheng Ruyi's belt.

"Ah... Many thanks, Lord Yan." Leaning on Yan Kuang's arm, Cheng Ruyi held up the small tuft of hair he had just plucked from Yan Kuang's head.

"This is not a valley, and the forest isn't very dense; the wind won't eddy and blow in circles," Cheng Ruyi twirled the strands of hair and said, "Why don't we try following the wind?"

Yan Kuang understood his meaning, but before carrying him on his back to resume the journey, he still couldn't help frowning and lowering his voice to ask—

"So, there are weeds everywhere, why did you... absolutely have to pull out Yan's hair?"

Cheng Ruyi gave an awkward laugh and looked up at the sky.

...

The two of them walked along with the wind for quite a while, and sure enough, they did not see that orange "old friend" again. The scenery before them grew increasingly unfamiliar, and the ground became flatter and smoother, as if someone had walked here before.

Suddenly, Yan Kuang's foot slipped!

The two of them nearly tumbled together into the grass. Cheng Ruyi hurriedly wrapped his arms tightly around Yan Kuang's neck and asked with concern, "Are you out of stamina? Put me down quickly, I can walk..."

"No." Carrying him, Yan Kuang took a few steps back and used his foot to brush aside the weeds on the ground. Amidst the mingling of yellow and green, there was unmistakably—

A bare skull.

The skull lay buried all alone among the weeds, accompanied sparsely by a few scattered remains around it.

With his chin resting on Yan Kuang's shoulder, the moment he clearly saw it, Cheng Ruyi blurted out instinctively, "Is... is that human?"

"What else would it be?" Yan Kuang carried him around the skull. "There should be plenty more along the way, only they didn't make anyone slip quite like this one."

"Then... Judge Bao, render your verdict. Were these all the handiwork of that tiger brother just now, or... humans?"

Though Cheng Ruyi had long since taken life and death lightly, he still couldn't bring himself to look at these remains of his own kind with indifference, and simply closed his eyes.

"I am no immortal."

Yan Kuang replied in a deep voice, stepping even more cautiously. However, before they had gone much farther, he stopped once again.

Sensing something amiss, the instant Cheng Ruyi opened his eyes, cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead, and his heart felt as if it had been struck a heavy blow...

Before them lay mountains of corpses. Within a radius of ten meters, there were only bleached bones, dense and overlapping without a single gap.

Feeling the cold, ghostly wind howling behind him, Cheng Ruyi hurriedly patted Yan Kuang's shoulder, asking to be put down.

Countless skeletal remains lay sprawling before their eyes. Cheng Ruyi could no longer tell whether he felt fear or sorrow; he only knew that closing his eyes was useless now. A trace of unbearable pity flashed across the depths of Yan Kuang's eyes, fleeting though it was.

Pondering, Cheng Ruyi said, "Lord Yan, so many people... well, if this were a battlefield, I'm afraid the space isn't even big enough..."

"A mass slaughter. Or... corpse disposal." With a dark gaze, Yan Kuang turned back to Cheng Ruyi and asked, "How is the wind direction?"

Cheng Ruyi closed his eyes in distress and raised the strand of hair in his hand, which was pointing against the wind.

"We can only push through," Cheng Ruyi sighed.

Yan Kuang said, "I'll carry you."

Shaking his head in refusal, Cheng Ruyi tightly gripped Yan Kuang's arm and said solemnly, "The road is difficult to walk. I cannot hold you back any longer."

"I will walk with you."

Fallen leaves covered the withered bones. Growing in the cracks of the white skeletons were small, unknown deep purple flowers, embellishing the bones like tightly bound wreaths, possessing an unspeakable, ghostly allure.

Enduring his leg injury, Cheng Ruyi tried his best to slow his pace, yet crisp, cracking sounds still emanated from beneath his feet every few steps.

The small flowers atop the bones swayed with their footsteps. Forced to lower his head to watch the path, Cheng Ruyi abruptly noticed that besides the small flowers, the skeletons seemed to contain... other things as well.

"Wait." Cheng Ruyi stopped Yan Kuang, reaching out to guide his gaze toward the ground.

Noting nothing unusual yet, Yan Kuang uncomprehendingly bent down, brushed aside a handful of wild grass and bone fragments, and finally spotted the peculiarity Cheng Ruyi was pointing at.

Reaching deep into the pile of bones, he grabbed and pulled out a ruyi-patterned token encrusted with bloody rust.

"Lord Yan, here... there's one here too." Hopping two steps to the right, Cheng Ruyi pointed beneath his feet.

Yan Kuang hurried forward and picked up an identical token from amidst the white bones and weeds. Exchanging a glance, the two continued their search with tacit understanding.

Sure enough, near almost every skull, there lay an identical ruyi token.

Collecting too many was useless, so the two kept just one. The token was heavily rusted, with years of dried blood congealing into a hard, stubborn crust that made the intricate patterns difficult to discern, yet the large character engraved upon it remained clearly visible.

Imblazoned there was simply the word: "Righteousness" (Yi).

Both men instinctively produced their previous jade plaques for comparison. Although the fonts of the character "Yi" on each were different, it was difficult to believe they were entirely unrelated.

Filled with doubt, Cheng Ruyi watched as Yan Kuang said, "No matter what, let's get out of here first."

Each storing away their respective tokens and jade plaques, Cheng Ruyi reached out to pluck one of the small purple flowers from the skeletons because the lock of hair he had plucked from Yan Kuang earlier had unfortunately scattered.

Gusts of wind blew past, causing the small purple flowers to sway, acting like a purple-flaming guide that led the two step by step out of the sea of corpses and bones.

Walking for another half-shichen or so, the two finally caught sight of a village.

Standing before the village entrance was a brand-new stone tablet inscribed with the words: -- Penglai New Village.

"This village has rather peculiar naming tastes..." Cheng Ruyi muttered softly, about to step forward when he felt a tightening around his wrist.

"What..." Before Cheng Ruyi could finish his question, Yan Kuang had already covered his mouth and pulled him to hide behind a thick tree trunk nearby.

Yan Kuang gestured toward the village. Following his gaze, Cheng Ruyi vaguely discerned several women standing guard under the eaves of houses not far away, and tucked into their waists were...

The crescent double blades they had seen last night.

Cheng Ruyi instantly felt a chill run down his neck.

"Don't make a sound. Let's go," Yan Kuang whispered in his ear. Cheng Ruyi nodded repeatedly. The moment the two turned and raised their legs to flee, a sharp female voice rang out from behind—

"Who goes there! Stop right there!"

Hearing the shout, Cheng Ruyi's heart turned cold. In a flash, Yan Kuang spun around to shield him, as a silver hook hidden weapon—

Struck squarely in the center of Yan Kuang's chest!

"Lord Yan!" Panic seized Cheng Ruyi, who reached out to protect Yan Kuang, but Yan Kuang expressionlessly pressed down on his wrist as the long sword in his palm flashed out of its scabbard.

"Stay close to me."

As soon as Yan Kuang's voice fell, another storm of hidden weapons rained down. Swinging the long sword in his hand like returning silver butterflies, he deflected and hurled them back to injure the attackers. Seizing the opportunity, he grabbed Cheng Ruyi and turned to run. Gritting his teeth to endure the agony of his injuries, Cheng Ruyi broke into a sprint, refusing to be a burden to the man beside him any longer.

Behind them, a woman shouted, "These two have trespassed into the forbidden grounds! Kill without mercy!"

At these words, more female assassins swarmed out. Both men were already wounded; how could they possibly outrun these nimble, agile young women? Yan Kuang could only pull Cheng Ruyi along, fighting and retreating simultaneously. Constrained by his double concerns, he fought as if shackled, his martial prowess severely diminished.

Dodging and scrambling, Cheng Ruyi kept his mind fixed on Yan Kuang's injuries. Seeing someone closing in directly on Yan Kuang's unprotected flank, Cheng Ruyi lunged forward, grabbed the assailant's thigh, and bit down viciously!

"You're courting death!"

Crying out in pain, the woman cursed fiercely and raised her blade to strike, but Yan Kuang landed a palm strike on her shoulder, forcing her back three to five paces. Seizing the chance, Yan Kuang scooped Cheng Ruyi up and pulled him close.

"You're injured!" Overwhelmed with worry, Cheng Ruyi struggled to join the fray, but Yan Kuang held him in an unyielding grip, rendering him immobile.

At that very moment, Cheng Ruyi noticed a woman in gorgeous garments pacing forward not far behind Yan Kuang, adorned with trinkets that glittered dazzlingly in the sunlight.

With a graceful twist of her slender hands, a crescent blade struck head-on, swift as a shooting star!

With no time for thought, Cheng Ruyi used every ounce of his strength to tackle Yan Kuang to the ground! As they fell, he felt a chilling sensation on his back.

"Cheng Ruyi?!"

Instantly sweeping Cheng Ruyi up into his arms, Yan Kuang pressed his palm firmly over the knife wound on Cheng Ruyi's back. The blade had been so swift that Cheng Ruyi felt no pain at first, only intense cold. Lifting his eyelids, he murmured, "It's fine... it doesn't hurt."

Gritting his teeth, bloodshot veins surfaced vividly across Yan Kuang's eyes, rapidly flooding his pupils. The gorgeously dressed woman lunged forward with her blade once more! Raising his sword to parry and counter-thrust, Yan Kuang swept her ten paces away.

Flipping backward off the momentum to land on her feet, the woman purred in a seductive, flirtatious tone, "Such handsome martial arts, such a handsome face..."

Lifting his sword to fight again, Yan Kuang left no room for mercy! With a sweeping, spinning slash, crimson blood bloomed, and the beauty was instantly sent to her grave as a ghost beneath his blade. Terrified of meeting the same fate, several women hesitated and dared not advance further. Though furious, Yan Kuang did not dare linger; he scooped up Cheng Ruyi and carved a path out of the encirclement.

Refusing to let up, the richly dressed woman vaulted forward, her twin crescent blades weaving a bizarre, sinister footwork. Spotting Yan Kuang's hesitation as he tried to shield the person in his arms, she hooked and flicked her blades, every single strike targeting Cheng Ruyi's vital points, tangling Yan Kuang and preventing him from breaking away.

As blade clashed against sword, their eyes met for a fleeting second. The woman smiled and said, "Why doesn't young master stay? This place truly is like paradise..."

Twisting his sword to counter-attack directly toward her heart, Yan Kuang replied coldly, "Get lost."

Rage and fear instantly stained the woman's delicate eyebrows. Realizing she was no match for Yan Kuang, she knitted her brows in frustration and reached her slender hand behind her back...

"Watch out!"

A sudden cry pierced the air. A cold flash like a shooting star swept past Yan Kuang's eyes!

The gorgeously dressed woman let out a piercing scream as a venom-coated black dagger fell to the ground!

The previously groggy Cheng Ruyi lifted his gaze at the sound. There stood a woman in blue, holding a silver dragon-headed spear with fluttering red tassels, exuding an elegant yet imposing grace as she stood resolutely before them.

——————End of Chapter, Winter Solstice Easter Egg below!

A thin layer of white snow dusted the steps before the courtyard, across which birds occasionally flitted, leaving trails of tiny footprints.

White smoke billowed lazily from the chimney on the roof, while inside the house, heat rose in billowing clouds. Turning around, Cheng Ruyi lifted the pot lid as a rush of boiling steam washed over him. The person beside him instantly reached out to block the steam from his eyes.

"Ah... This is our own home, there are no hidden mechanisms or traps here. Official Yan doesn't need to be quite so nervous..."