The golden sky with ribbons of various hues of red, pink and purple was mirrored in Jingmi Lake, looking like an entrance into another dimension. North of the great lake, rises a great mountain that touches the clouds. An ancient temple of a goddess now lies in ruins halfway up the mountain. This sacred ground has certainly seen better days, but now even the statute seems unrecognizable, the only indicator of this ethereal god’s visage is the silhouette of the statue, despite being worn out by centuries, it depicts a graceful being carrying a staff in one hand and a lotus in her other hand.. Who is she? what happened to her worshippers ? Why was she forgotten For the time being, these questions may remain unanswered.
Further up the mountain on the cliff, you can see a tall figure clad in white and silver flowing robes. On his waist hangs a silver and gold encrusted sword, and on the sword’s hilt hangs a unique-looking charm; a gold lotus encrusted with lapis lazuli, while initially it seems to clash with the figure's overall image , after a while it seems to be in perfect harmony with him.
. When he first heard the name Xin Sui Mountain, he thought it was just an exaggeration, a mere attempt to give this ethereal mountain a black stain. Yet here he was, and it still feels like he’s still in a lucid dream. This was their haven, yet he was the only one here.
As Yang Changtian gazes around, instead of the beautiful scenery, he sees a haunting image of his friend, his companion.
“ Where are you, Hei Jingyou? I know that you're not dead, I feel it deep in my soul that you're still in this world, so why aren't you coming back to me? Did you want to get away from me that much? “ Yang Chantian had so many questions, yet no answers.
“It's been 20 years yet I, Yang Changtian, seem to be the only one who believes that you're still here. I refuse to believe that you’re dead, no, you surely aren't dead, so come back soon”.
He wasn't alone , a tall figure clad in black and blue robes carrying 2 large blades on their back was observing him from the shadows. The person's face was hidden behind a gold mask with carvings of lotuses and gardenias. The hidden figure exudes a feline elegance and danger. The only visible part of the person's face was a pair of eyes with deep pitch black irises, giving off a sense of mystery and melancholy . At this very moment , those eyes reflected the figure standing at the edge of the cliff .
Yang Changtian lifts his head to the sky , and takes a deep breath. His hand reached out to touch his swords hilt, his fingers made contact with the lotus charm and he started to stroke it “ I have to go now Jingyou , I’m going up North , Wang Jinlong got news that the border is suffering from a plague, there are reports of people turning into to mindless monsters and attacking other people before dying. He asked Master and me for help , so I'm setting off tomorrow with Anying , Zilong , and someone from your sect. I won’t be back for a while, Jingyou. But I hope that you'll come back soon.” With that Yang Changtian walks towards the road that leads down the mountain .
After Yang Changtian’s back disappeared down the road. The figure comes out. Their eyes showed a sense of sadness and nostalgia. The figure looks up to the sky and sighs, “ Forgive me Changtian. And remember I'm always by your side”.
The figure extended her hand and in her palm started glowing with a blue light , the next moment a blue lotus petal appeared on her palm. She whispered something into the petal and let it float away towards the direction Yang Changtian took.
With that, the mysterious black figure disintegrated into the darkness only leaving behind a sweet fragrance of lotuses and gardenias.
The petal floats down the mountain and catches up with Yang Changtian and unbeknownst to him it attaches itself to his sword’s charm and in the next moment the petal was absorbed by the lotus charm. At that moment Yang Changtian froze in his steps , for he could swear that he just heard Jingyou’s voice in the wind whispering “ Take care “.
Without a second thought, he used his all-seeing eye technique to scour around the mountain, yet, contrary to his hope, no one was there. He shook his head the scope of his search area into the surrounding mountains too. Only to end up with nothing.
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“No, No it can't be “ , it surely wasn't in his mind right. No he couldn't just accept it. And with that thought he turned back , intending to check the mountain manually. But before he could do anything she heard someone yelling for him.
“Senior brother senior brother Yang ! “. When Yang Changtian turned back it was Zhang Anying, his junior martial brother.
“ Both Master and Prince Jinglong told me that you’ll be here. Letting senior sister Hei know before leaving? “
“ Hmm, no matter how long it’s been, it still feels wrong not to tell her “
“ Senior brother we all miss Sister Hei but-”
“ Let’s not have this conversation, tell me why were you looking for me? “
Zhang Anyin sighed deeply and answered, “ Master told me to ask you to meet him “
“ Then let's go back “
After returning to his sect's branch in the imperial capital . Yang Changtian freshened up and hurried to his master’s quarters to meet him.
After he knocked on the door , his master asked him to come in.
“ This disciple pays the master his respect. I heard you wanted to discuss something with me. “
Yang Changtian’s master was the current sect leader of the Guanghui sect,Long Dacheng . And Changtian was the chief disciple .
His master was a gentle, yet regal looking man with a long flowing beard and hair always styled using the sect’s crown. He always a very meticulously crafted image, in fact the only time Changtian saw his master lose his composure was when they got news that his bosom friend , and long time partner , the leader of the Biyou sect, Sun Xiandong , was attacked while he was in seclusion. He along with his chief disciple Hei Jingyou both disappeared without a trace. Many people think that they were killed. The assailants still remain unknown. Only a token with the insignia of a ghostly tiger was left at the scene. Stranger , seems to be the fact that there were clear signs of struggle ,for multiple sword marks and whip marks were found at the site along with blood splatters. The marks were determined to be from Jingyou’s whip swords. Yet no dead bodies to be seen. Hei Jingyou rarely takes out her whip swords. In all these years he only saw her use the whip sword 3 times , all when she was facing a large force alone. It almost looked as if they were attacked by ghosts.
When his master learnt of his friends and Martial niece’s disappearance , he was inconsolable to the point where he wouldn't eat for days. Yang Changtian was no better , while he had never thought of it before , reality hit him hard, he just lost a parietal figure and the only person who would stand by his side no matter what.
He was woken from his memories when his master cleared his throat, “ Child, I know you're going up north to check up on the plague, but there is another matter I want you to investigate.” His master handed him an ornamental box , “Open it”.
What he saw inside made Changtian’s blood go cold, for inside was the exact same tiger token that was left by the assailants that attacked martial uncle and Jingyou.
Yang Changtian’s hands started to tremble. Trying to calm his shaking voice , he asked his master “ where……”
“ It was found by the preliminary scouts sent out by prince Jinlong. The scout said that it was found near the suspected origin place of the plague , an underground cavern that has a lake that feeds the local water sources.”
“ It’s them…, they finally decided to show their face again”
Master Long sat down across from Yang Changtian, “ Changtian, we finally found another clue. I want you to investigate this matter thoroughly , find out what happened to my dear friend and martial niece that day , and also find out why they decided to reappear finally,”.
The next moment Master Long displayed a turbulent emotion on his face, “ Changtian, though we’ve never discussed this openly before, regarding the problem of how their location got out…”
This was something that always bothered Yang Changtian, the location of Martial uncle Sun and Hei Jingyou’s seclusion was only known by their Bihou and Changtian’s Guanghui sect's main disciples and hidden away from other lower disciples.
All of the Bihou sect's main disciples go into seclusion together, when it's the year of the neverending sun. This refers to the fact that during half of this year , the sun does not set. And since the Bihou sect derives their power from the darkness and night. They are at their weakest, hence the reason why they must go into seclusion in such a secretive manner.
The Guanghui sect takes over Bihou’s duties for this period. This also means that the only person who could inform the assailants about the seclusion location was someone from his sect.
This thought always weighed heavily on Yang Changtian and his master’s minds, to think that the mole was a person who they considered a beloved disciple and comrade respectively.
“ We have to be careful , not to alert them, Changtian, so you shouldn't trust anyone “ , Master Long sighs . At the next moment , it seems like Master Long seemed to remember something as his eyes lit up.