Chapter 655 - The Outlaws Compete for the Crown; A Casual Gesture Becomes a Legend - Part 1

Skyscale Mountain.

The mountain wind swept away the clouds above, revealing rolling tides of mist cascading over peaks within peaks.

Wisps of fog drifted like silk across a solitary gravestone on the cold, lonely mountain, brushing past both the tomb and the youth kneeling before it.

He looked no more than sixteen, an age of proud horses and fine clothes, of reckless confidence and unbridled ambition.

But the grave had stood there for over 50 years.

He said nothing.

The one buried here, when they’d first met, had still been a simple, wide-eyed girl, naive, easy to trick, and soft-hearted.

“In the blink of an eye, you’ve become someone’s revered founder. Amazing. Not like me. That whole Bladeseekers thing I dreamed up...who knows where it’s gone. You win. I concede.”

A faint smile tugged at his lips. He almost laughed, almost...but the weight in his eyes pressed the smile down.

He shut his eyes and let out a quiet breath, listening to the natural music carried by the mountain wind from high above.

At that moment, he forgot the world. Forgot himself.

Back straight, he sat there for a long, long time.

The sun dipped westward. Stars emerged in a sky full of silver light.

He didn’t move.

The colder and more indifferent his heart grew, the more he clung to the warmth of the past, the feelings he could never quite let go.

Because he knew perhaps in this endless journey through time, the only treasures that ever held true emotion were all left behind in those first hundred years.

He’d once watched a documentary, something about the universe of the future. It mentioned how, under certain circumstances, stars would drift farther and farther apart, until even light could no longer bridge the distance.

Those thriving civilizations, so grand in their own right, would one day become nothing more than a brief flicker in the grand scheme of the cosmos.

In the end, all that remained was the eternal cold and darkness.

Was that what a long-living heart became too?

As these thoughts stirred in Li Yuan’s mind, he heard footsteps coming from the mountain path below.

A girl in green, carrying a food basket, was walking up with a mix of nervousness and exasperation.

On her way here, she’d been bombarded by the

grievances

of several young men in the rebel camp. One young swordsman even ran up to offer to escort her up the treacherous mountain path and wait for her outside once they arrived.

Pretty girls were never short of admirers, no matter where they went.

Guo Qin, the resident beauty of the Skyscale Mountain rebels, had long been treated like a precious gem, especially since her father happened to be the top fighter among them.

But she wasn’t just some pampered daughter. She was a heroine of the martial world, no stranger to hardship. She had pledged herself to the cause of slaying the tyrant emperor, and her spirit was open, frank, and kind.

Even so, she couldn’t help feeling a bit wronged right now.

Her father and Uncle Yang had asked her, her, of all people...to personally deliver food to that boy.

And while saying it, Uncle Yang had even winked at her.

She protested. “It’s already so late. What if I can’t make it back in time? What if I run into wild beasts along the way?”

Her father had said, “That’s perfect.”

Guo Qin wasn’t stupid. She instantly realized that her father and Uncle Yang were trying to play matchmaker.

She’d seen the kind of power that boy wielded. It was clear her father and Uncle Yang were trying to find a way to keep him tied to Skyscale Mountain.

And in the martial world, people always felt a strange pull toward the strong.

Guo Qin felt something stir in her heart too, just a flicker of curiosity and anticipation.

She poked her head around the entrance and saw the boy sitting cross-legged like a statue of Buddha, completely still. So she strode up openly, set the food basket down beside him, and called out, “Hey, mighty master, dinner’s here!”

Li Yuan opened his eyes. Seeing that it was Guo Qin, and taking in her features, he naturally understood what Yang Jiang and the others were trying to pull.

Guo Qin didn’t mind the dirt on the ground and plopped down beside him. Her face, bathed in moonlight, shimmered with a mischievous glow. Starlight danced in her eyes as she tilted her head and grinned. “Nine years old, huh?”

Her green robe fluttered softly in the breeze, long hair swaying like flowing silk.

Li Yuan took the basket. Inside was a simple meal, plain steamed rice and a stew of assorted meats.

Guo Qin said cheerfully, “Don’t look down on it, big-shot. This is the best meal the rebel camp can offer.”

Li Yuan chuckled. “It’s good.”

With that, he dug in. This body wasn’t his true form. It still needed food to function properly.

Guo Qin leaned back slightly, hands resting against the cold cliff rock behind her. She gazed up at the stars and said, “You seem pretty easygoing. Hard to imagine how someone like you trained to that level. My dad’s known across the martial world as the Soaring Golden Roc. He’s no slouch, but no one’s ever taken him down like you did.”

She mimicked sword strikes with her fingers, making

swish swish

noises and casually added, “Was it some kind of finger move?”

“No,” Li Yuan replied simply and continued eating.

Undeterred, Guo Qin kept the conversation alive. “None of us even knew our founder’s name was Xie Yu. How did you know?”

“Miss Guo, show me a full set of your Skygale Sect’s sword forms,” Li Yuan said suddenly.

“Huh?” Guo Qin blinked in surprise.

In the martial world, passing on your skills wasn’t something done lightly. Letting someone watch you perform them? That was practically taboo.

But she only hesitated for a moment before rising to her feet.

At her waist hung a sword with a flowing tassel.

With a graceful hand, she drew the blade. Under the moonlight, she began to move.

The sword flashed like a rainbow, her skirt billowed like petals caught in the wind. With each embroidered step, she danced like a startled swan taking flight.

Guo Qin ran through all eighteen forms of the Skygale Sect’s sword style.

Her shadow spun across the ground, chasing itself in wide arcs.

When the final move was done, she stopped and turned to see what Li Yuan thought, only to find him crouched, head bowed, sketching something on the ground.

She hurried over, and saw he was drawing little stick figures.

Each figure was posed in a different stance, each seemingly part of a training routine.

“What’s this?” she asked curiously.

“A secret art passed down in my family,” Li Yuan answered.

Guo Qin’s eyes widened. “Then why are you drawing it out here for anyone to see?”

Li Yuan smiled. “You showed me your Skygale Sword Style without reservation. Why would I hesitate to share my family’s secret art?”

Guo Qin was still catching her breath from the sword routine, but her curiosity had been piqued. She sat beside him, eager to see what this so-called secret art looked like.

As she watched him draw, she suddenly noticed how close they were sitting, just a hair’s breadth between their pinkies. If either of them twitched, they’d touch.

She snuck a glance at the side of his face. The boy’s expression was utterly focused, his eyes calm and impossibly deep, filled with a strange, unfathomable light.

She’d seen the sea. She’d stared into the starry sky.

His eyes were both.

Her heart tightened with a sudden nervousness. It wasn’t the girlish thrill of sitting next to a crush. It was more like the quiet awe one feels when standing before something vast and unknowable.

Though, to be honest, she wasn’t entirely sure where one feeling ended and the other began.

Li Yuan continued his drawing, completely absorbed.

Time slipped away. When Guo Qin finally looked up, she saw the moon had crossed the sky. It was already midnight. There was no chance she’d make it back tonight.

One man. One woman. Sharing a cliff all night.

By tomorrow, the rebel camp’s poor lovelorn boys would be dying of heartbreak.

And yet, nothing had happened.

Guo Qin coughed lightly.

Li Yuan turned his head. His previously dazed eyes cleared as he surveyed their surroundings. Realizing the time, he gave her an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, I got too wrapped up in drawing and lost track of time.”

“The mountain gets cold at night. We should find a place to sleep,” Guo Qin said.

It was early summer, but up here on the mountaintop, it was cold enough to feel like winter.

Martial artists were tough, sure, but even they weren’t immune to the biting chill.

Li Yuan, being of celestial physique, could endure the depths of icy rivers without blinking. Back in the days of spiritual energy, he might’ve had even more divine gifts. But seeing Guo Qin shivering with her arms crossed tightly over her chest, he said, “Let’s gather some firewood and build a fire to keep warm. I still need to finish this tonight.”

Guo Qin nodded. “Alright. I’ll follow your lead, mighty master.”

They both got to work. Within half an hour, they’d collected a large pile of branches and found a rock formation that shielded them from the wind. A fire crackled to life.

Guo Qin curled up beside it, knees drawn in, soaking in the warmth.

Li Yuan sat a short distance away, still engrossed in his sketches.

As she watched him, a wave of sleepiness swept over her. Eventually, she leaned against a boulder and drifted off.