In the Southern Li Kingdom, the name reflects the meaning of "Southern Bright Leaving Fire," and its capital is called Leaving Fire City. Xianji Village is a small village located in the southwest part of this kingdom.
In the past two months, Qin Yi had visited the city a few times and intentionally gathered a lot of information. He learned that this was a vast continent with many countries. The Southern Li Kingdom was just a small, wild nation. Further south lay a deep rift valley, so deep that birds couldn’t cross it. It was uncertain if there was anything on the other side of the valley, but theoretically, the Southern Li Kingdom was the southernmost part of the continent.
Because Southern Li was remote, with many mountains and dense forests, the roads were rough, making it very difficult to communicate with the Central Land. As a result, news was scarce, and the people were self-sufficient. Qin Yi had tried to gather information about the Central Land but mostly heard rumors that had likely changed over time.
However, the people here were known for their fighting spirit. While many great nations in the Central Land rose and fell, this remote little kingdom had stood strong for many generations, as if blessed by the gods. The current king, known as King Wude, had ruled for twenty years.
Before Qin Yi learned that the enemies of the Li siblings were the national teacher, he hadn’t realized that they came from the capital, Leaving Fire City. Although Southern Li was small, it had several counties, and there were at least two large counties and several small towns between Leaving Fire City and Xianji Village.
He thought they might have come from a county, but to find out they were from the capital and could confront such a significant figure as the national teacher was surprising. As for Li Qingjun, she seemed to be just curious about a legendary place that many didn’t even believe in, making the long journey just to see it.
That was quite a luxury of time.
"Brother Qin, aren't you going to switch horses?"
"No need. The road is rough, and we can't really ride fast. Even if I switched horses, it wouldn't make much difference," Qin Yi replied, not wanting to admit that he was better off walking than riding a horse, as he would likely fall off if he tried to run.
"Even a little faster is better. I really don't understand how a young person like you can be so slow, like an old man!"
"Qingjun!" Li Qinglin stopped his angry sister, "Brother Qin not switching horses shows his thoughtfulness. That's a commendable quality. Besides, he’s right; this road isn’t suitable for galloping."
"Hmph, we could have been faster on the way here."
On the mountain path, two fine horses carried two people dressed in fine clothes with gold and silver belts, and dark iron spears. Behind them followed an old horse with a young man in rough clothes, holding a dirty wolf-tooth club and an old gourd, leisurely drinking wine, ignoring the strange looks from passersby and Li Qingjun’s sidelong glances.
Li Qingjun, not paying attention to Qin Yi, sighed to her brother, "I really hope there are immortals out there, riding clouds and winds, living so freely."
She had been angry with her brother earlier but now seemed to warm up to him, as she had grown used to being close to him since childhood. Qin Yi glanced sideways, thinking this girl was a bit clueless; she might even help count money if she were sold.
Li Qinglin didn’t try to dampen his sister's enthusiasm for seeking immortals. Instead, he smiled indulgently, "I hope so too."
Li Qingjun sighed, "I guess everyone hopes for that."
Suddenly, a singing voice came from behind: "In the morning, I sail across the Cangwu, and in the evening, I return. In the cave, the sun and moon are my sky. The sword in the box roars at times, not meeting..."
Li Qingjun gazed dreamily at the sky. No matter her thoughts about Qin Yi, the things he occasionally said really resonated with her dreams.
But when the song reached the fourth line, it suddenly stopped. Li Qingjun turned and asked, "What comes next?"
"Oh, the next part is 'not meeting fellow travelers, I swear not to pass it on.' I don’t know why it insists on passing on the fellow travelers part instead of the original, so I won’t sing it anymore."
"..." Li Qingjun felt she understood the original meaning, but after Qin Yi’s twist, it didn’t make sense anymore. She rolled her eyes and said, "Is it another wandering Taoist singing?"
"Smart, you can answer now."
Li Qingjun sighed, "Maybe that’s a real immortal."
"Actually, even immortals can ride donkeys."
After that, the conversation fell flat. Li Qingjun shot him a glare and decided to ignore him.
"Qin Yi," a voice from his mind suddenly spoke up, "where did you get those lyrics? Don’t tell me it’s from some wandering Taoist."
Qin Yi silently thought, "Why do you care?"
"Did you make them up yourself?" the voice sighed. "It shows you really desire that kind of scene. Why not share with me..."
"Shut up, repeating parrot. If it comes to it, I’ll go seek immortals myself, just like Li Qingjun."
"Heh... Seeking immortals is hard to come by. Do you really think everyone is that lucky? Ever since that year... um..."
The voice trailed off again. Qin Yi was used to it by now and casually tilted the gourd, spilling some wine on the wolf-tooth club.
Who doesn’t want to cultivate immortality? Who doesn’t want to wander the North Sea in the morning and return to Cangwu in the evening?
But can’t everyone just be honest about it?
"Brother Qin," Li Qinglin suddenly said ahead, "the weather doesn’t look right; it seems like it’s going to rain."
Qin Yi looked up at the sky. They had been on the road all day, and it was now dusk. Dark clouds hung in the distance, casting a gloomy shadow, and it indeed looked like rain was coming.
"There’s still at least an hour of travel to the nearest town, and we might not make it in time." Qin Yi, wanting to understand the world better, had made a point to visit the county town and knew the way. "There’s a Taoist temple in the mountains to the right, not far from here. We can take shelter there."
The three of them pulled their horses to the right and headed toward the mountain path.
The sky grew even darker, and they could just see the corner of the temple peeking through the trees. The heavy clouds loomed above them, and they dismounted without a word, leading their horses toward the temple. As Qin Yi looked at Li Qingjun’s back, he found it surprising; she didn’t seem like a spoiled young lady at all but rather like a seasoned heroine.
"Brother Qin," Li Qinglin suddenly stopped and hesitated before asking, "Is this temple... uninhabited?"
Qin Yi pulled his gaze from Li Qingjun and looked around, feeling a chill in his heart.
He had been here before, and there were people in the temple. In this kind of dark weather, if there were anyone around, they would have lit candles. But the temple before them was dark and silent.
In the autumn wind, the leaves swayed, and occasionally one would fall, swirling in the breeze. There was a faint smell in the air, like something rotten, resembling a desolate graveyard.
"I was here just a month ago, and there were people then," Qin Yi said cautiously, gripping his wolf-tooth club. "Something might have happened. Everyone, be careful..."
Before he finished speaking, large raindrops began to pour down. Li Qingjun raised her spear and kicked open the temple door.
Inside the temple was quiet and covered in dust. A massive spider web draped over the statue, indicating that no one had been there for a long time. There were dead mice on the floor, and the smell likely came from them. Li Qingjun sighed in relief, "Looks like people have moved out; there’s nothing special here."
Li Qinglin naturally cleared away the dirt, grabbing a mat to light a fire, and smiled, "When you’re out, it’s just like this."
"..." Qin Yi scratched his head. Watching TV or reading novels about romantic encounters in filthy temples felt off; it was too dirty for anything romantic to happen.
Li Qinglin had already unpacked food, but suddenly, the voice in his mind interrupted, "This temple has problems; be careful."
Qin Yi stepped outside to relieve himself and whispered, "What do you mean?"
The voice replied, "There might be monsters hiding outside the back door."
"Can you sense the monster's aura?"
"I’m too weak to sense it," the voice explained. "Hasn’t anyone lived here for a month? How can there be such a big spider web? I suspect something unusual, maybe a spider monster is hiding because of your sudden arrival..."
Qin Yi was startled, "Then this kind of monster is much more intelligent than that tiger monster. Their power is likely stronger, and we might not be able to handle it. I need to warn them..."
"Wait, I already said I can’t sense the monster's aura; it’s just a guess. What if I’m wrong? That would be embarrassing."
"…"
"Don’t worry. Since it’s hiding, it has its own understanding. The Li siblings have strong auras and won’t provoke easily. Just keep quiet and don’t disturb its web, and we should be fine."
Qin Yi relaxed, "That’s good; the Li siblings aren’t loud people."
But when they returned to the temple, the first thing he saw was Li Qingjun grabbing a stick and reaching for the spider web.
Qin Yi rushed over, sweating, and pulled her back, "What are you doing?"
Li Qingjun glared at him angrily, "I want to ask you what you’re doing! Such a big spider web is right there; isn’t it creepy?"
"Oh, I meant that kind of dirty work shouldn’t trouble a lady. I can handle it."
Li Qingjun didn’t insist and let him take the stick, turning to head toward the back door.
Qin Yi grabbed her again, "Where are you going?"
Li Qingjun slowly lowered her gaze, expressionless as she looked at his large hand holding her wrist.
Qin Yi realized that holding her like this was inappropriate. He turned to see Li Qinglin’s expression had changed, so he had to let go and said, "It’s dark, and with the heavy rain, it’s too dangerous to go out alone..."
Before he could finish, a group of people from the martial world rushed toward the temple through the rain, shouting, "There’s a temple here; we can take shelter from the rain!"
Qin Yi covered his forehead in frustration.
(End of Chapter)