Chapter 25: A Daoist’s Resolve

Su Qinghan exhaled a long, slow breath, a plume of white mist in the frigid night air.

She watched Lu Hongzhuang, her face flickering in the crimson glow of the bloodlight.

“So, you’re determined to go back, even if it means dying in there?”

Lu Hongzhuang’s body was as taut as a fully drawn bow.

“My fellow disciples are still inside.”

Her voice was low.

“They must be fighting for that one sliver of hope. I can’t abandon them.”

She turned her back, looking away from Su Qinghan and the soaring bloodlight, her gaze fixed stubbornly on Greenstone Town.

“We only met by chance, and you’ve already escaped. You can go back now, back to being a physician.”

Lu Hongzhuang gritted her teeth, each word seemingly forced from between them.

“Just… pretend we never met.”

Su Qinghan was silent for a moment before she spoke.

“I don’t understand. What’s the point of throwing your life away like this?”

“The point?”

Lu Hongzhuang suddenly laughed, a self-mocking sound.

She turned back, and this time, she didn’t avert her gaze, meeting Su Qinghan’s eyes directly.

“Then tell me, in all your memories, have you ever met people like this?”

“People who, despite being insignificant, despite facing a mountain of blades or a sea of fire, would still dare to risk their lives for complete strangers, all for the sake of some faint, ethereal hope?”

A roar filled Su Qinghan’s mind.

Images from the deepest recesses of her past life’s soul surged forth without warning.

The piercing wail of a bugle tore through the sky as countless figures in matching uniforms charged, shouting, into a battlefield ablaze with cannon fire. As one fell, another would step over their comrade’s body and press onward.

Soaring flames devoured a high-rise building, thick smoke obscuring the heavens, as a group of people in heavy, fire-retardant suits moved against the tide of fleeing survivors, plunging resolutely into the sea of fire.

Those figures, those faces—she didn’t recognize a single one.

Yet all of them were laying down their lives for others.

Su Qinghan’s breath hitched.

She had been a cultivator of Dragon Tiger Mountain, one who pursued the natural flow of the Dao, believing she had severed all worldly attachments.

But in this moment, the dauntless, death-defying spirit of those people sent a shock through her, a feeling she had not experienced in a long, long time.

“To fight to the death, knowing the enemy is invincible…”

Su Qinghan murmured softly, a trance in her voice she herself didn’t perceive.

“Heh, to think I’m getting a lecture from you.”

Lu Hongzhuang didn’t quite catch her words and simply waved a hand dismissively.

“I’m done talking.”

She broke into a brilliant grin, as if she were heading to a grand feast rather than a certain demise.

“Actually, getting to know you was quite fun. You showed me so many wonderfully strange things.”

With that, she turned and took her first step.

Just then.

“Watch out! The Town Prefect, he’s coming to kill you!”

Su Qinghan’s voice was suddenly sharp and urgent.

Lu Hongzhuang’s heart seized. Her instincts reacted faster than her thoughts, and she whipped her head around.

Behind her, there was nothing but the swaying shadows of the trees.

“There’s no…”

She turned back, confused.

A yellow paper talisman rapidly filled her vision.

Smack!

The talisman landed squarely on her forehead.

A cool voice, tinged with a hint of helplessness, whispered in her ear.

“Quiet~

Just as Lu Hongzhuang opened her mouth to curse, an irresistible, profound drowsiness washed over her consciousness.

Her eyelids grew as heavy as lead. Her body went limp, slumping toward the ground.

A pair of slender arms caught her just in time.

Su Qinghan gently laid the unconscious Lu Hongzhuang on the grass.

She retrieved a delicate little gourd from her sleeve, uncorked it, and poured out a fine white powder.

With a flick of her wrist, the powder scattered evenly, forming a perfect circle around Lu Hongzhuang’s body.

Next, she produced five glistening grains of glutinous rice and rubbed them lightly between her fingertips.

Poof!

Five points of ethereal blue flame sparked to life at her fingertips.

With a flick, she sent the five flames arcing precisely to five different points on the ring of powder.

Whoosh—

The entire circle ignited in an instant. Ethereal blue flames danced silently, radiating no heat, yet exuding an aura that inspired awe and fear.

The flames came as quickly as they went.

Within a few breaths, they had burned themselves out, leaving only a dark, circular scorch mark on the grass.

“There. That should keep the wild beasts away.”

Su Qinghan dusted off her hands, muttering to herself.

“This business of fighting and dying… it’s best left to professionals like us.”

She rose to her feet and looked up at the blood-red sky, her expression graver than ever before.

“You’re insane!”

Jiu Li’s childlike voice shrieked in her mind, on the verge of tears.

“Even if I give you all the spiritual energy I’ve painstakingly purified, you still can’t beat that Town Prefect! I didn’t even see how he executed that sword strike!”

Su Qinghan flexed her wrists, which cracked audibly.

“Worth a shot, isn’t it?”

Her tone was as casual as if she were suggesting they go for dinner.

“If I can’t win, I’ll run.”

“Like hell you can run!”

Jiu Li completely lost her composure, practically bouncing off the walls of Su Qinghan’s consciousness.

“The two of us are one now! If you die, I’m done for too! I forbid you from risking your—our—body! Absolutely forbidden!”

“Relax, relax.”

Su Qinghan casually cleaned out her ear.

“I, of all people, cherish my life the most.”

While placating Jiu Li, she drew a thick stack of yellow paper talismans from within her robes.

“Besides, who said anything about a direct confrontation?”

A cunning smile touched her lips.

“Warriors have their ways of fighting. We Daoists, of course, have our own rules.”

“Now, infuse all of your purified spiritual energy into me.”

At that same moment, in a forest somewhere outside Greenstone Town.

Miao Beisang’s eyes fluttered open. She shook her head, her consciousness slowly returning. She subconsciously touched her neck; it was perfectly intact.

‘I… I’m not dead?’

She sat up with a jolt, discovering a severed paper effigy draped over her. It had already crumbled into a pile of ash, with only half of it remaining.

An itch at the back of her collar drew her attention. Reaching back, she pulled out a yellow talisman folded into a triangle, along with a letter.

She opened the letter. The paper was filled with neat, yet somewhat clumsy, handwriting.

“This is a Daoist paper effigy substitution technique. When you awaken, flee far from here with Luo Li. Do not return.”

Miao Beisang’s eyes filled with confusion. She picked up the triangular talisman, which was emitting a soft glow.

Within the light, an ethereal figure slowly took shape. It was delicate and gentle—it was Luo Li.

Tears welled in Miao Beisang’s eyes.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Luo Li…”

Miao Beisang’s tears broke free. She reached out a hand but hesitated, afraid to touch the illusory form.

“I couldn’t get back in time…”

Luo Li’s spectral form, however, moved forward on its own, gently resting a hand on Miao Beisang’s shoulder. The cold touch sent a shiver through her.

“I never blamed you.”

Luo Li’s voice was ethereal, yet perfectly clear.

“Perhaps… I was never meant to be liked by anyone in this world.”

“No!”

Miao Beisang lunged forward, throwing her arms around Luo Li’s incorporeal body.

The chilling sensation could not cool the fervent heat in her heart.

“Luo Li, I like you! I love you!”

She clung tightly to the spectral form, her voice choked with sobs.

“I will always… always… always love you!”

She wiped away her tears, a sudden memory surfacing.

“Right, that Lord Su left me a note.”

She handed the letter to Luo Li.

“I don’t recognize any of the words.”

A doting smile graced Luo Li’s ethereal face.

“You silly girl. I’m always telling you to read more, but you’d rather play.”

She leaned closer to the letter, trying to make out the words. However, as the distorted, simplified characters came into focus, the smile on her face froze.

She frowned.

“These aren’t the characters we know…”

Luo Li’s soul looked at Miao Beisang, her voice laced with confusion.

“It seems your ‘Lord Su’ doesn’t know how to write.”

As the two stood in bewildered silence, the crimson light from Greenstone Town flared, tearing into the heavens and bathing the entire night sky in blood.

The bizarre and powerful fluctuation made even Luo Li’s soul tremble. Miao Beisang’s head snapped up, her face a mask of utter shock.

“What… what is that?!”

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