Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 496 - 490: Demonic Flame 7

Chapter 496: Chapter 490: Demonic Flame 7

Thinking of the matter of marriage, Zhuo Yueling felt a headache coming on again. She tightened the fox fur coat around her, wrapping herself in the soft fox fur, appearing very comfortable.

"You want you to come, but I have had enough. You girls don’t know how strict my family is, they use every possible tactic, from coercion to bribery!"

She picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and popped it into her mouth.

"Let’s not talk about that. Little Bird, did you get that book ’The Decree of Legends’ that I asked for?" she quickly grabbed a girl nearby and asked in a hurry.

"What’s the rush? Here, here, would we dare disobey Miss Zhuo’s requests?"

The girl, with a helpless look on her face, signaled a servant to fetch a small blue package from the carriage and handed it to Zhuo Yueling.

After unwrapping the cloth, inside was a booklet with a pale yellow cover.

"I really don’t know why you always like these weird and mythical novels. What’s so fun about all that fighting and killing? It would be better to find a good husband and enjoy life safely and peacefully."

Another girl said casually while munching on something.

"What do you know!" Zhuo Yueling loved these stories. She flipped through the pages and was immediately captivated by the illustrations inside.

This place was at the very edge of the Plum Blossom Sect, where they lived. Apart from the town’s guardian rumored to be a master of internal skills, there was nothing else exceptional about it.

Due to the lack of roads and the dangerous, long distance, many people had never left their own towns their whole lives. Not to mention places of mystery and wonder, even wild animals that were a bit more ferocious were rarely seen.

From a young age, Zhuo Yueling had longed to leave the town and travel to those colorful, mysterious places recorded in the books.

But with her mediocre martial arts skills, naturally her family would never allow it. So, the only thing that could satisfy her curiosity were these muddled mythical stories, though they were limited, given the significant value of books in those days.

The girls chatted casually, snacking on sweets and sipping clear wine. Zhuo Yueling, ever so beautiful, also drew the attention of some scholarly young men who came to recite poetry, but she shooed all of them away.

The group of girls had about eight servants with them, all skilled soldiers, more than capable of guarding them and not to be trifled with.

The girls ate, played, and laughed, making the time pass pleasantly.

As they talked and ate, Zhuo Yueling’s gaze inadvertently swept to a slightly blurry figure in the distance. That man had been standing there since they started eating, not reading or doing anything else, just quietly standing there.

"Hey. Look at that guy,"

she whispered.

The friends looked following her gaze.

"What about him? Probably just a scholar looking for inspiration, right?"

A girl responded casually.

"But I’ve seen him standing there for a long time."

"Maybe he’s trying to get your attention?"

"I’m serious," Zhuo Yueling felt it was really exhausting to talk with this group of flustered girls.

Although it led to no conclusions, Zhuo Yueling still kept that man in mind,

By the afternoon, after they had all dined and were preparing to board the carriage to go home, the other people who had come for the outing were also getting on their vehicles to leave.

That’s when Zhuo Yueling remembered the man from earlier and couldn’t help but look in that direction again.

On the slope, that man was still standing motionless, as if even his posture hadn’t changed.

"That’s kind of weird,"

this thought sparked her curiosity.

"I’m going to check it out!"

Without waiting for her friends and the servants to respond, she jumped off the carriage and trotted toward the man. Two servants hurriedly followed her, both looking quite distressed.

"Miss, wait!"

"Wait for us, be careful, it’s slippery!"

But Zhuo Yueling, who had practiced some external skills and knew a bit about footwork, dashed ahead, leaving the two men trailing behind.

There she was, a delicate girl in a white fur coat, running faster than two strong servants in tight clothes.

As she neared the man, she could finally see that he was dressed in ordinary black clothes of indeterminate material, loose and long, standing alone on the slope with his hands behind his back, emanating a vibe distinct from an ordinary scholar.

She couldn’t specify the vibe, just feeling that this man, although dressed similarly to those school teachers, seemed to possess something more than the usual school teachers.

"Hey,"

she gradually stopped a short distance from the man and called out.

The man’s eyes moved, and he looked over, seemingly noticing her approach only then, even though the sound of her running had been loud.

"Are you here alone? Going through some troubles?" Zhuo Yueling asked curiously.

Unexpectedly, the man glanced at her and then turned away his gaze, ignoring her while continuing to look toward Five Peak Valley as if his gaze could penetrate the mist in the valley and see the deepest scenery.

Zhuo Yueling felt somewhat displeased.

"Hey, are you deaf?"

"I’m not deaf," the man replied indifferently. "Little girl, go back where you came from."

Zhuo Yueling blinked and walked around the man.

"You are really strange. Everyone likes me. Those men all glare at me with shining eyes, unable to contain themselves. And you’re telling me to leave?"

The strange man remained indifferent, showing no reaction to her words.

At that moment, Zhuo Yueling’s two servants caught up, and after much persuasion, they convinced her to return.

Zhuo Yueling impatiently got pulled back, yet her curiosity made her take another long look at that odd person before leaving.

Sure enough, the person did not change posture at all and still stood motionless at the original spot.

After taking a carriage ride home, she found herself plunged into a tedious marriage talk. Tired and weary, she went out alone with a servant and a maid to take a walk and clear her mind.

Bored, she thought back to the encounter at Five Peak Valley, and the image of that strange person came to mind, sparking her curiosity once again.

She was so bored; the town was too small with nothing new, and she had read the few novels available there countless times.

In such dullness, the incident with that strange person surfaced in her mind, and out of boredom, she simply took two servants and headed toward Five Peak Valley again.

*********************

"You’re still here."

Seeing the strange person still at the same place, Zhuo Yueling’s eyes brightened. It seemed she finally found something interesting.

The man’s expression was indifferent as he stood motionless, his eyes even closed, completely ignoring her.

"You’ve been standing here alone, have you come here every day?" Zhuo Yueling was extremely curious, feeling she had found a nice diversion from her boring life.

"How about I treat you to something to eat if you tell me why you are standing here? Are you waiting for someone? Or did you fail the imperial exams?"

Zhuo Yueling circled around the man a few times, chattering continuously with questions, but none were answered.

The servant and the maid at her side were somewhat scared, fearing they might encounter some villain, but Zhuo Yueling had ordered them not to come close and they could only stand by and watch.

After a fruitless inquiry, Zhuo Yueling felt unwilling to leave, but as the dusk turned to darkness, she had no choice but to return.

Before leaving, while sitting in the carriage, she looked back at the man standing on the grassy slope, a sudden thought crossing her mind.

"He wouldn’t be standing there even throughout the night, would he?"

This thought surfaced and she couldn’t suppress it.

Her curiosity was instantly fully mobilized, wondering whether the man would also stand there at night.

The flames of curiosity blazed fiercely.

Back at the residence, it wasn’t long before she couldn’t resist, and found a time at night to sneak out and hurry toward Five Peak Valley.

As she hurried alone, although she had trained in martial arts, she was still somewhat afraid of the dark. She lit a lantern and carried it as she walked on the mountain road, always feeling as if something was following her, yet she didn’t dare look back.

Wanting to look back, but feeling reluctant to do so.

Her curiosity continued to burn, ultimately overcoming her fear. She quickened her pace and soon left the city, reaching the nearby Five Peak Valley.

In the dead of night, Five Peak Valley was peaceful, only some insects chirped and the wind rustled the leaves.

Far away, she easily made her way to that small slope, and looking up, indeed, she could faintly still see the silhouette of that person.

"He’s really still there!"

A feeling stirred in her heart, and for some reason, seeing the person still there made her fears vanish completely.

She took a deep breath and slowly approached.

"You are really still here, huh!"

She asked in a low voice.

The man’s eyes moved, glanced at her, but did not respond.

It was bold of Zhuo Yueling to come out alone without her maid or any servant.

"Aren’t you afraid being alone?"

The man remained silent, standing motionless.

"Why don’t you speak? Is your tongue ill?" Zhuo Yueling kept babbling around him.

"What do you eat every day? Standing here all the time, do you go out to eat and then come back to stand motionlessly in the same spot? Isn’t that funny? Aren’t you afraid of wild animals?"

But no matter how she asked, the man maintained an indifferent expression.

Zhuo Yueling was curious for a while, but then grew tired as the man continued to ignore her, and she left somewhat resentfully.

Over the next few days, she kept sneaking out at night to check on the man in Five Peak Valley, each time bringing him food and drink as well as some incense blocks to ward off insects and animals.

Day after day, she went there only to find the food untouched in its original place.

"Why don’t you eat?"

One day, she finally asked the man somewhat unhappily.

"You should go back." The man spoke again.

His eyes were closed, his facial features unclear in the night, but she could vaguely feel his skin trembling and his muscles beneath seeming very tense, which was quite strange.

"Why are you standing here alone?" Zhuo Yueling felt it was miraculous that someone could stand alone in this wilderness for so long without encountering any danger from wild animals.

After all, though Five Peak Valley was generally safe, occasionally some ferocious animals would wander through.

The fact that the man had been standing here for so long without any trouble made it all the more eerie to her.

"I am waiting for someone."

The man replied indifferently.

"Waiting for someone? Waiting for whom?" Seeing that the man finally spoke, Zhuo Yueling’s long-standing curiosity was satisfied, and her mood brightened, her speech tinged with excitement.