Shan Yu breathed heavily as she held Qin Siyi behind her. Gui Linghuo had already pushed back most of the forces concentrating on them, leaving them with enough space to recenter themselves. Shan Yu felt Qin Siyi’s hand, gently pushing hers off. She straightened, twisted the sword in her hand, and flew towards the ghost cultivator who had knocked Qin Siyi from her feet.
After four years on the battlefield, Shan Yu’s footwork was incomparable to anyone of her generation. She was agile, fast, and barely made a sound when she moved. She acted on instinct, pushing the Zhengyang Shan Sect’s Six Floating Lotus Petal Step to its highest potential.
As she danced above the heads of the ghost cultivators, her sword flew down with a sharp precision, similar to Gui Yin’s own sword. Her hands flew into a series of sword seals fluidly. While she wove away from her enemies, her sword would circle from the back. In the front, she would produce two short knives and corner them in a pincer attack all on her own.
Soon, Shan Yu was cornered by the allies of the man she had just killed. A woman, cloaked from head to toe in shadow, looked her up and down. Her violet eyes narrowed into a sneer as she scoffed to her companion.
“Just a little girl who hasn’t even lost all her baby fat. You’re telling me Zhou Ceng lost to her?” the woman glanced back at Shan Yu. “Then it was him who was stupid.”
Shan Yu tilted her head innocently. “Auntie, hasn’t anyone ever told you that speaking ill of the dead is bad luck?”
The woman’s eyes widened. “A-Auntie?!”
Shan Yu pulled her sword from the dirt, her hidden hand already making sword seals. “Remember to respect the dead in your next life, Auntie. Or else you’ll collect bad karma.”
The woman’s three other companions surged forward, but before they could reach Shan Yu, Qin Siyi and Gui Linghuo returned to her side. The sound of wood smacked against heavy metal as Gui Linghuo blocked a saber with the side of his flute. Qin Siyi threw silk from her sleeve and pulled the man into her sword.
Shan Yu was much more straightforward. Her sword was sent directly through the woman’s skull. A series of shrieks followed, but the ghost cultivators only left behind a pile of dust and scattered bones.
“Stop provoking the enemy,” Gui Linghuo chided. “One day, you’re going to accidentally provoke someone you’re not meant to and you’re going to get in big trouble.”
Shan Yu sighed. She slipped her knives back into her belt and flicked her sword. “But Da-shixiong, they’re the ones saying that I’m nothing but a little girl! Who are they to look down on me?”
“You’re talking back down?”
“Da-shixiong,” Qin Siyi held out a hand to calm Gui Linghuo back down. “A-Yu’s still young and is just a little playful. She knows her limits.”
“Stop defending her,” Gui Linghuo said. “It’s because you’re like this that she acts like however she wants.”
“Shizun hasn’t even scolded me—who are you to scold me?” Shan Yu harrumphed.
“A-Yu,” Qin Siyi frowned.
Shan Yu wilted slightly under Qin Siyi’s harsh glare.
“Apologize,” Qin Siyi whispered.
“…I’m sorry, Da-shixiong.”
Gui Linghuo sighed, shaking his head slightly. “I can’t do anything to you two. I yell at one and the other one always defends the other. Ridiculous.”
Over the past two years since Shan Yu returned to Gui Yin’s side, Qin Siyi and Shan Yu’s relationship had gotten better and better. Although Gui Linghuo’s relationship with his martial sisters wasn’t strained, there was definitely an undefined distance between them.
Qin Siyi glanced at Gui Linghuo, feeling a little guilty. “Da-shixiong—”
“Save it. We’re still in the middle of a battle,” Gui Linghuo mumbled.
Shan Yu watched Gui Linghuo leave. She glanced at Qin Siyi’s lowered head and playfully pinched the back of her neck.
Qin Siyi yelped. She glared at Shan Yu. “What are you doing?”
“Shiije’s head was nearly touching the ground. I was only trying to help lift you back up,” Shan Yu said. She glanced at the kicked up dust and overflowing battlefield that Gui Linghuo had disappeared into. “Men…they’re always that stupid.”
“A-Yu.”
“Am I wrong? How long has it been? It’s been over a decade, and he still hasn’t noticed anything. And it’s not like you’re subtle either.”
“A-Yu!”
“He spends every day flirting with Li Yan. Has he even noticed your feelings?”
“Don’t be rude,” Qin Siyi snapped. She frowned at Shan Yu. “And don’t say anything to Da-shixiong.”
Shan Yu clicked her tongue. “Alright, alright. I know. Haven’t I always kept silent? What are you so anxious for?”
Qin Siyi sighed. “Let’s go.”
Shan Yu pouted slightly and trailed after Qin Siyi.
After this battle, they would have pushed the ghost cultivators another hundred and sixty miles, putting them at a two hundred miles from the Kunlun Mountain Range. The thought of success was overwhelming as the soldiers returned from the battle. Cheers sounded through the camp as a feast was being prepared by the more spirited members.
Gui Yin chuckled, watching as the disciples from Yin Hua Palace and Yunjing Pavilion ran around, cheering as if they were children again. He took a step back, the waving of his fan causing a warm breeze to brush against his cheek.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Gb sbe atlcx atf fcv lr lc rluta?” Xel Tlc jrxfv.
Ve Qfc uijcmfv ja Xel Tlc jcv ibbxfv jkjs jujlc. “P tbqf la lr.”
“Gb sbe wlrr sbeg wjrafg?” Xel Tlc gjlrfv j ygbk.
“C ilaaif,” Ve Qfc rjlv. Lf boofgfv j rwlif. “P wlrr ws tbwf.”
“Lbwf,” Xel Tlc fmtbfv. Lf cbvvfv. “P jirb wlrr ws tbwf. Pa’r yffc j ibcu alwf rlcmf P’nf rffc j gfv wjqif ifjo.”
Su Wen lowered his gaze. “Lord Ninglan, after everything is over, what do you most want to do?”
“Most want to do?” Gui Yin smiled. “I most want to…sit under the gazebo on Shuangye Peak. I want to look over the lake as the red maple leaves blanket its surface. I want to spend the four seasons lazing about, reading novels of people I will never meet in places I will never visit. I want a mundane life. I want to not raise my sword again.”
Su Wen listened to Gui Yin’s words and felt a little stuffy in his chest. Most people dreamed of glory, but the so-called War God only wanted the mundane. Su Wen let out a soft sigh. The heavens truly enjoyed toying with man.
“I’m sure that wish will succeed,” Su Wen said enthusiastically. “It sounds very nice.”
“You can stay by my side if you want,” Gui Yin said. “Shuangye Peak is large enough.”
Su Wen chuckled. He shook his head. “I have my own home to return to. I miss Wu Feng and A-Qi and the others…it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them.”
“Do you have any family?” Gui Yin asked. He recalled that Su Wen was quite young.
Su Wen smiled. “I have one little sister! Though, I’m sure she’s not so little anymore.”
Gui Yin chuckled. “Do you write letters to her?”
“Often, I do,” Su Wen nodded. “Right now she’s living a nice life in the town nearest Huigu Palace. She met a nice young man recently. She refuses to tell me of their relationship, but I think there’s something special.”
“Do you approve?”
“Well, I’d have to meet the man,” Su Wen said, shaking his head. “I—”
“Young Master Su, Lord Ninglan.”
The two men looked over to the cultivator approaching them. The woman carried a confused expression as she held out a letter.
“This came addressed to Young Master Su,” the woman said.
Su Wen and Gui Yin shared a glance. Su Wen accepted it with a light thank you and opened the letter. When he was about halfway through, his expression fell. Gui Yin frowned. For a moment, he had a fear that something had happened to Su Wen’s sister, but when the younger man looked up, Gui Yin realized what the look of devastation meant.
Gui Yin smiled helplessly. “So, it’s time?”
“I…My lord—”
“It’s okay. If you have to go back, then you have to go back. You were just saying you missed your home, right?” Gui Yin said. “At least one of us gets to go home today.”
The corners of Su Wen’s eyes reddened. He shook his head. “No, I’ll write to Master. Maybe—”
“It’s okay. If he’s calling you back, that means the end is in sight,” Gui Yin said, glancing at the stars in the sky. “You should trust him. He never does things unprompted.”
“But…”
“He said our fates are intertwined. If what he says is true, then he won’t let me die,” Gui Yin reasoned.
Any other amount of protest became mute in the back of Su Wen’s throat. He lowered his gaze. “I’ll miss you, my lord. Thank you for being my master for ten years.”
Gui Yin chuckled. “Alright, alright. No need to be so sentimental. When this is all said and done, I’ll invite you over for a cup of wine.”
Su Wen forced a smile. “That would be delightful.”
“Are you leaving now?” Gui Yin asked.
Su Wen glanced down at his letter and nodded. “I should be.”
“Alright,” Gui Yin shifted. He clasped his hands together and bowed. “Thank you for everything. May we meet again in the future.”
Su Wen clasped his hands together and bowed further than Gui Yin, making almost a ninety-degree angle. “May we meet again.”
When Gui Yin looked back up, Su Wen was already gone. He sighed, flourishing his fan as he went to join the others.
Shan Yu was the first to notice Gui Yin. She waved him down and looked around curiously as he sat down by himself. “Hm? Where’s that Su Wen? On regular days, he sticks to Shizun like a shadow. Could he be holding in his pee?”
Gui Yin gave Shan Yu a disapproving look. “No. That person’s gone.”
“Gone?!” Shan Yu exclaimed.
Gui Linghuo, Qin Siyi, and the rest glanced to their end of the table.
“Mn. His master called him back,” Gui Yin said.
“He—he didn’t even say a goodbye to us!” Shan Yu said. She pouted. “We’ve fought side by side for so many years. How could he be so heartless?”
“It was urgent,” Gui Yin lied. He wasn’t sure just how urgent the letter had been. “And I told him to go first. So, don’t blame him.”
Shan Yu rested her chin against her palm. “What a shame.”
After a second, Shan Yu perked up again. “Say, since he’s gone now, can I ask a question that’s been bothering me this entire time?”
Gui Yin accepted the wine bowl from Lin Cangyuan. He raised a brow across the length of the bowl as he took a sip. “What question?”
“Was that man really Er-ye’s attendant?”
Gui Yin spat out the wine he just drank. It sprayed across the table between him and Shan Yu, but didn’t land on the young miss. She cringed in disgust and clicked her tongue.
“Shizun! What are you doing!?”
“I—sorry,” Gui Yin fumbled for his handkerchief and handed it to Shan Yu. “Did I get you?”
Lin Cangyuan glanced between the two who were putting on a show. He hummed and leaned against his hand. “Shidi, who’s this Er-ye?”
Gui Yin jerked awkwardly. He turned and looked at Lin Cangyuan and Jiu Jingyi’s interrogating expression. He took a calming breath. “Just a friend.”
“A friend?” Jiu Jingyi echoed. “A friend who would make you react like that must not be a simple friend.”
“He isn’t simple. He’s extremely strange. I wouldn’t recommend associating with him,” Gui Yin said, clearing his throat as he wiped the table of his spit.
“A friend who sent two extremely skilled attendants to look after you for ten years,” Lin Cangyuan said. He narrowed his eyes. “Is that really a friend?”
“That…if you couldn’t be by my side, wouldn’t you also do the same?” Gui Yin asked.
The moment the word left his mouth, even he had to cringe at how preposterous it sounded.
“No, but there really is nothing,” Gui Yin said.
Gui Linghuo glanced at Gui Yin.
“Really!” Gui Yin insisted. He clicked his tongue and knocked the butt of his fan on the table. “Can you all take me seriously? Look, I’ve spent most of my life being single, taking care of the couples around me. I’m not interested in having any relationship. Isn’t this proof enough?”
“You’re not interested, but is he interested?” Jiu Jingyi sang.
“He isn’t,” Gui Yin said. “He’s a superstitious person. He went to a fortune teller once and the fortune teller said that our lives were intertwined, so if I die then he won’t have good luck—that’s the only reason he sent Su Wen and Wu Feng to watch me.”
Deng Yenuo’s brows creased slightly. “Why do those names sound so familiar?”
“A person surnamed Su or Wu with the names Wen or Feng is so common that we don’t even need to mention it. Of course, it’d sound familiar,” Gui Yin said.
He clicked his tongue at the unsure gazes used to look at him.
“That man has no interest in me, I promise,” Gui Yin said. He glanced down at the wine and took a small sip. “If he did, he would have at least sent me a letter recently.”
Gui Yin’s end of the table fell silent. The man himself didn’t notice, but his companions glanced amongst themselves awkwardly.
“At least Su Wen gets to go home,” Li Fangyin quickly said. He slid a bottle of wine down to Gui Yin. “Gui-qianbei, this is a bottle I personally picked out for you.”
Gui Yin observed the bottle for a moment and shook it with a small smile. “Thanks.”
The atmosphere eased immediately.
The rest of the night passed through leisurely and when morning came, the group traveled for a total of two weeks before they ran into the ghost cultivators again.
At this point, the force of ghost cultivators had diminished drastically, yet they still refused to concede. The course of action confused Gui Yin and the others, but when everything else was working in their favor, they could only chock it up to plain old stubbornness.
This all shattered when a rushed messenger tripped into their camp early one day.
The messenger came, shouting for the heir of the Zhengyang Shan Sect. It was rare for anyone to refer to Shan Yu as such, so this attracted a lot of attention. Gui Yin poked his head out of his tent. He shared a glance with Gui Linghuo and the master and disciple pair went to see what all the fuss was about.
Shan Yu was already there by the time they arrived. Her knuckles had turned white with how hard she was gripping the letter. Qin Siyi was by her side, her eyes rimmed red as she read the letter over Shan Yu’s shoulder. The messenger was a disciple from the Zhengyang Shan Sect. Her eyes were red as she spluttered and choked through a barely understandable explanation.
Gui Yin nudged his way through the crowd and stopped beside Shan Yu. “Yu’er, wh—”
The teenager threw herself into Gui Yin’s arms. Her shoulders shook faintly as she sobbed. Her grip on Gui Yin tightened as she pressed her face against his chest.
Gui Yin’s hand rose instinctively to soothe Shan Yu first, before any questions spilled forth. He turned to Gui Linghuo.
“Take this woman and give her a cup of tea to help her calm down.”
“…Then—”
“I’ll look after her,” Gui Yin reassured Gui Linghuo.
The crowd lingered awkwardly for a few seconds before slowly dispersing. Qin Siyi hesitated.
“It’s okay,” Gui Yin reassured her. “I’ll look after her.”
Qin Siyi glanced at Shan Yu. Before she walked away, she gave Shan Yu’s hand a quick squeeze.
Soon, it was just the two of them on the campgrounds.
“It’s okay,” Gui Yin whispered, a hand patting Shan Yu’s back. “Let’s find a place to sit first, okay? It’ll be okay.”
It took a while, but Gui Yin managed to walk Shan Yu back to his tent. He poured her a cup of warm tea and set it in front of her. He watched intently as Shan Yu lifted the cup with shaking hands and took a small sip.
Her eyes were red and her face had been splotchy from her tears. It had been a long time since Gui Yin had seen her cry. The last time had to have been when she was only six, when Gui Yin had to separate from his disciples because of the war. Since Shan Yu returned, although she retained her arrogant attitude, she remained obedient and sweet. Seeing her in such distress made Gui Yin’s heart clench.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Grandfather…” Shan Yu’s voice pitched. It was like a lump had formed in her throat. She choked out a sob and held a hand over her mouth as she cried. “He…He…”
Gui Yin’s blood ran cold. “He…what happened to him?”
“He…Shizun, he’s gone,” Shan Yu squeaked. She held her face in her hands as she tried to hold back her sobs. “He—he and three of my older cousins were caught in an ambush. And they all…”
Shan Yu looked up at Gui Yin. She gagged on her own breath as her chest heaved. “Shizun, I-I don’t have a grandfather anymore. I—Shizun, Zhengyang Shan Sect no longer has a sect leader. I…It’s just me now.”
Gui Yin drew her into his arms. She slipped from the chair and crouched on the floor, her arms hugging Gui Yin’s waist tightly as her head remained buried against his stomach. Her cries grew more and more wretched and her fingers seemed to claw at Gui Yin’s back, wishing that she could somehow escape this reality.
“The southern border has been breached as well,” Shan Yu choked. “I—Shizun, what do I do? They want me to go back to lead, but I-I don’t know how to lead. Shizun…Shizun…”
Gui Yin listened to the child’s shaky voice and closed his eyes. He hugged her back tightly, his hand brushing up and down her back. “It’s okay. Let it out. Don’t leave your feelings pent up.”
Shan Yu’s cries became louder, her voice breaking as she cried helplessly for her shizun.
Gui Yin took a deep breath, his voice softening even further. “Silly kid, what are you so worried about? You still have me. You won’t have to go alone, hm? I’ll go with you.”
Shan Yu squeaked. She looked up and shook her head. “What…No. Shizun, you can’t leave everyone here. You—”
“Why can’t I? The lower realm is already in our grasp,” Gui Yin said, gently brushing aside Shan Yu’s tears with the pads of his thumbs. “I’ll accompany you to the upper realm. I can teach those assholes a lesson. How dare they make my youngest disciple cry?”
“But—”
“No more buts. Sect Master and your Jiu-shishu can handle themselves. Not to mention there’s a Li Fangyin,” Gui Yin said. “Without me, they’ll still be more than fine.”
Shan Yu’s lower lip trembled.
“Silly kid,” Gui Yin sighed, pulling her back into his embrace. He pressed his cheek against the top of her head. “I know, it’s hard to lose your loved ones. If you feel sad, then you can feel sad. Mourn all you want. But I have one thing I disagree with.”
“…What’s that?” Shan Yu asked softly.
“You said it’s just you? Then, what about your mother? Your other two older cousins? They’ll help you,” Gui Yin said gently. “And there’s me, your shizun. With me still here and the entirety of Yunjing Pavilion, how could you be alone? Remember—even when you go back and become Zhengyang Sect’s sect leader, you’ll still forever be my little disciple. And you’ll always be Yunjing Pavilion’s Shan Yu. So, don’t be scared, okay?”
Shan Yu nodded. She felt a warm kiss plant itself against the top of her head.
“Don’t be scared. You’ll be fine,” Gui Yin whispered. “This master will make sure of it.”
A/N: there was a very subtle two year time skip (cuz Shan Yu came back when she was fourteen, then two years since she returned…is sixteen.), so another two years have passed and the gang has leveled up by two years. Shan Yu is currently sixteen (GLH is 22y/o, and QSY is 20y/o).
it’s fine, i wanted to cry 😭😭😭😭😭😭 poor Shan Yu;; im so glad she’s not alone
mm, earlier, with Gui Yin’s hope to just rest and read… mood
hands you a tissue ;v; baby yuyu has to grow up now ;v;
gui yin’s hope…………….is such a mood. i felt it in my soul when i was editing LMAO thanks for reading!!!
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
THANk u for read uwu
Noooo!!! Poor Shan Yu 🙁 why would you kill her family, author? And when is mr. Mystery finally gonna come see Gui Yin face to face? It’s been 10 years already 😕
tis the realities of war– plus she still has her mom and two older cousins :D…she’s okay…kinda…thanks for reading!!!!!!!
i WAS wondering why su wen said 10 yrs and thinking whether they met before the war started. THUS it is time for tragedyyyyyy.