A sharp chirrr pierced the silence, startling a night bird into flight. With a rustling of wings, it soared into the sky.
Raising their eyes, they saw that at some point, a crescent moon had emerged from behind the dark clouds, likely waking the bird from its slumber.
Though the shadows of the mountains sought to shroud the crescent moon, they couldn’t contain its gentle silver glow. For a brief moment, even the decrepit temple was bathed in a pale, ethereal light.
The dappled moonlight cast Zhan Ri Fei’s face into even starker pallor. Yet now, the face of Huo Xiao Di across from him looked no better.
Huo Xiao Di’s expression was one of sheer astonishment. Listening to Zhan Ri Fei’s words, he looked as if he’d just seen a ghost. “Are you saying—are you saying this boy is the Chang Hong Bi of Han Shui Palace?”
—The legend of the Chang Hong Bi from Han Shui Palace, said to neutralize any poison, has persisted as an enduring myth in the martial world. Tales of its appearance are as numerous as they are mysterious. Yet no one has ever truly seen the jade pendant for what it is.
Zhan Ri Fei remarked, “I would rather it not be true. The stories we’ve heard across the martial world are likely nothing more than deliberate misdirection from Han Shui Palace.”
Huo Xiao Di, still struggling to recover from his astonishment, muttered, “‘Born by the waters, exuding fragrance, nurtured with the Three Lives Water of Jade Flame’—”
—“So, the liquid those women from Han Shui Palace forced him to drink is the ‘Three Lives Water of Jade Flame’?”
—“I smelled the medicinal fragrance on him—it was strongest back at the inn on Little Hammer Mountain after the heavy rain!”
Zhan Ri Fei, gazing at the sleeping boy, nodded slightly and sighed. “To the Matriarch of Han Shui Palace, he isn’t a child at all. To her, he is simply a treasure—a living antidote nurtured by the palace. Though he was born in Han Shui Palace, he has never been treated as a human being.”
Huo Xiao Di’s brow furrowed again. “I’ve heard that the Chang Hong Bi has been in Han Shui Palace’s possession for over a century. If this boy is the Chang Hong Bi, does that mean he is over a hundred years old? And if so, why does he still appear as a child?”
Zhan Ri Fei replied, “Don’t forget, the ‘Three Lives Water of Jade Flame’ is a poison that corrodes the body from within. If what the Moon Emissary said is true and he has been drinking it since he was a child, then perhaps he is a natural anomaly. Besides, while the Chang Hong Bi has been Han Shui Palace’s treasured possession for a century, it doesn’t necessarily mean it has always been the same person. Even in your Ling Long Manor, isn’t every generation’s eldest daughter called by the same name, Huo Ling Long?”
Huo Xiao Di’s body stiffened slightly at the mention of “Huo Ling Long.” He stared at Zhan Ri Fei in silence for a long moment before finally letting out a soft sigh. “Sometimes, I wonder whether you’re a man or a ghost. You seem to know far too much about Ling Long Manor!”
Zhan Ri Fei smiled. “Perhaps it’s not that I know too much, but rather that Ling Long Manor is simply too famous.”
—It was well known in the martial world that Ling Long Manor’s current renown owed much to Huo Ling Long. Every generation, the marriage of Huo Ling Long, the eldest daughter of the Huo family, was a grand event that shook the martial world. Suitors would line up, breaking down Ling Long Manor’s doors, even before she came of age.
For the first time, a trace of pain appeared in Huo Xiao Di’s eyes. Could it be that Ling Long Manor, like its aging master, was already in decline?
Zhan Ri Fei noticed the fleeting sorrow in Huo Xiao Di’s expression but chose not to press further.
Huo Xiao Di, however, seemed oddly satisfied with Zhan Ri Fei’s response.
—Perhaps, deep down, he realized that this was the best answer Zhan Ri Fei could give him. And besides, his mind was already overwhelmed with questions about the boy they called Chang Hong Bi.
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