3.

As I held the blue jade hairpin in my hand, I squatted at the entrance of the valley, waiting for my master for three days and three nights. Finally, I saw the woman in the black skirt walking towards me, each step she took sending waves of flowers swaying. Instantly, the valley was filled with the scent of flowers.

I struggled to look up at her and opened my mouth, but my voice was hoarse and I couldn't utter the words "Master." She crouched in front of me, her cold fingers touching my forehead, her face expressionless, but her voice was soft, "Disciple, you are ill."

I smelled a faint bloodiness, and I poked at a deep black scar on her arm with my finger, causing her to wrinkle her brow.

"Master, you are injured."

My voice was hoarse and unpleasant, but she just smiled and went back to the house to pour me a cup of water, which helped me to finally be able to speak with a sore throat. Standing in front of the tea table, her long hair trailing to the ground, she turned her back to me, and all I could see was her profile.

"The water is right here in the house. Have you become so lazy that you'd rather die of thirst than move?"

"If Master disappears without a word again, I will make sure to die here."

After a long silence, I heard her laugh, and she slowly turned around, the smile still lingering on her lips, "Is this a threat?" Without finishing her sentence, I held the bird-shaped hairpin out to her.

"Master, this is for you."

She looked at the hairpin, her gaze lingering for a long time without any movement. It wasn't until I spoke again that she seemed to come to her senses, and she smiled as usual, taking the hairpin from me, "Very well, your teacher will accept it."

In her voice, there was no sign of joy.

My master continued to teach me as usual, but it was clear that she had increased the intensity of my training. Often, I would be busy all day without a single meal, and I had no complaints.

The Jin family's skills were profound and extensive. Although I prided myself on my ability to remember everything at a glance, I found it difficult to understand the contents of the books my master placed in my room. The language was obscure and difficult to grasp, and without my master's word-by-word explanations, I couldn't learn on my own.

I often studied late into the night, managing to memorize only two or three hundred words. It was hard to imagine how my master had memorized all the hundreds of books. My master set up many wooden stakes in the back of the house. When it was time to eat, she made me stand on one leg on top of the stake while holding my bowl.

She said, "If you touch a mechanism in a dangerous place, you often have to stand like this for several hours to avoid being injured by the mechanism." The abandoned room was transformed by my master into a maze of mechanisms. She often threw me into it for an entire day, and I would come out with injuries every time. Each time the mechanisms were different, which amazed me at my master's extraordinary skill.

Six months later, I finally managed to barely crack the mechanisms set up by my master, but often triggering another mechanism... As I struggled to study the art of Qimen Dunjia, my master disappeared again.

This time, I really did faint from hunger at the door. When I woke up, my master was giving me medicine. I opened my eyes and saw a scar on her forehead, which was already scabbed over but must have been deep. Her formerly delicate face now had a touch of roughness, yet it was still stunningly beautiful.

She looked at me indifferently, "You really dared to starve yourself to death."

I felt a gnawing hunger in my stomach and asked, "Master, is there anything to eat? I'm starving."

She said, "Why do you still want to eat? Why not just starve yourself to death?"

I said, "Because Master is back."

I sat up on the bed, covering my aching stomach, looking into her eyes. Those eyes were so beautiful.

"I have only Master now. If Master disappears, I will be all alone. I don't want to be alone, so Master, please don't leave me. If you leave me, I will die."

I couldn't decipher her expression; although she was smiling faintly, her eyes were tinged with a faint sadness, like the sun trying to break through the clouds covered by dark clouds.

My master cooked rice porridge for me, and sure enough, after drinking it, I felt much better. I rested on the bed, and she was checking the assignments she had given me at the tea table.

The small room was so quiet that I could hear the sound of turning pages. I stared at her silhouette as she leaned against the mahogany table with her head in her hands, her hair cascading down like vines growing from the ground.

After pondering for a moment, I asked, "Master, where did you go when you left the mountain? Each time you go out, you come back injured, and this time you even got hurt on your face."

She tapped the sandalwood table with her finger and said, "Everyone has secrets. Does your disciple not have any secrets?"

Her voice seemed to indicate that she was in a good mood and not angry, so I carefully said, "The affairs of the Jin family... are not secrets."

She turned around and looked at me with a tilted head and a smile on her face, "What do you know? Let's hear it."

The Jin family originated from Sichuan and was proficient in the art of Qimen Dunjia and mechanism making, serving the royal family generation after generation, constructing imperial tombs, and setting up mechanisms, gaining deep favor. However, Jin Xiao had a change of heart and stole from the imperial tombs, which was discovered by the emperor, who was enraged and ordered the entire Jin family to be executed.

Only Jin Wu survived. Jin Xiao was her father, that was thirteen years ago.

It is said that because she was unwilling for the Jin family's skills to disappear, Jin Wu was pardoned and selected by the royal family to pass on the skills to chosen individuals. Three years later, the new emperor ascended the throne, and Jin Wu left the palace, never to be heard from again.

That's all I know. But it seems that this is not the whole story.

4.

I walked over to her, and she had to look up to see my face. I said, "Master, if there's anything, tell me, and I'll help you."

She looked at me calmly for a long while, then reached into her bosom and took out a brocade pouch. "This time when I went out, I met the best embroiderer in the world. She made this for you with the finest silk, which can hold poisonous weapons. Take it."

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

I stood there, staring at her without taking it. She threw the pouch into my arms and turned to leave.

We have spent four seasons in the valley, where the moonlight flowers bloom constantly without withering. Snow is never seen in the valley, even in the cold winter, there is warm sunlight. Yet, after dinner one night, I saw a withered yellow leaf stuck in the hair around my master's waist.

After dinner, I went back to my room to rest, and sure enough, I heard my master leave in the middle of the night.

I followed her carefully after she was a good distance away, using all the tracking skills I had learned in the past year to the fullest extent, thankfully without her noticing.

The person who took my master away was waiting beside a large rock at the foot of the mountain. The night was too dark for me to see his appearance clearly, but I could feel his majestic and noble aura.

"All these years, you still won't let the emperor into your valley to take a look? The emperor is very curious."

He claimed to be the king, the current emperor.

My master's voice was cold, without a trace of respect: "If Your Majesty is not afraid of death, you can come in directly."

The emperor smiled: "The renowned Jin Wu's personally set up mechanism area, the emperor dare not take risks. If the emperor died, who would manage this world?" He paused, with a sigh, "All these years, how have you managed on your own? Would the emperor send you a few maids to help?"

"If Your Majesty comes here just to say these useless words, please go back."

The emperor didn't seem angry when she interrupted him, and his voice still carried a smile: "Alright. The emperor has received news that the Qin Dynasty has found out about the former Nan Sui Dynasty's dragon vein location and is sending people there. The emperor wants you to get there before them, break the mechanisms, and bring the treasures back to the emperor. It's said there are treasures left by the gods in the dragon vein. Whether it's true or not, I don't know."

Ever since the new emperor ascended the throne, the national treasury has gradually filled up, and the army has expanded. The people all praise the emperor for his diligent governance, but they don't know that it is actually Master who risks her life to retrieve treasures and gold from the tombs of emperors of past dynasties for him!

He took a step forward, his voice filled with false kindness and hypocrisy, "With you by my side, the stability of my position has never been stronger. You are far more valuable than those treasures."

Master took a few steps back, saying nothing. After a long silence, it seemed as if she glanced back unintentionally, and I quickly hid behind the rock, hearing her say, "The Qin Dynasty, just the journey takes half a month..."

"What?"

Again, there was a long silence before Master slowly spoke, "Nothing. I will bring the goods back to you, but I also ask that you treat my parents well. If anything happens to them!" Her voice suddenly turned fierce, "I will not let you off."

"Naturally."

Master's parents were not dead; they were still alive, imprisoned by the emperor to be used as leverage against Master. This was the truth.

5.

I sat on the stone where Master usually rests, waiting for her, and sure enough, saw her slowly approaching under the moonlight. She would be away for a long time this time, worried about me, which is why she glanced back just now. cares a lot about me; she will definitely come back and leave a note for me.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw me, still quite a distance away, with a sea of flowers between us. Her figure was somewhat blurry amidst the flowers, but her voice carried clearly.

"Why aren't you sleeping and just sitting there?"

I jumped off the stone, pushing through the sea of flowers towards her. As I got closer, I saw her lips were tightly pursed.

"I heard everything."

Master's eyes changed, and she didn't say anything. I took her hand, the first time I've ever held her hand, it was cold and soft. "Master, let me help you. I know what you're about to do is dangerous, but it's your parents. No matter how dangerous it is, you have to go. I won't persuade you, but please let me help."

After a long while, I heard her coldly say, "Shan Yuezhe, do you remember why you came here to learn the arts?"

I was taken aback, my fingers trembling slightly, and she turned her hand to grip my wrist. "I never asked you because I didn't need to know. But you, in your heart, do you still remember this purpose? After overcoming countless obstacles, passing through the mechanisms I set up with my own hands, you came before me, that was your skill, so I was willing to teach you. But don't lose sight of what you originally came here for, what supported you to come before me."

She withdrew her hand, taking a step back, back to her usual teaching posture, but without her usual smile. "You just need to remember your purpose and fight for it, the rest doesn't need your involvement."

After Master left, I stood there all night.

I haven't forgotten my purpose, Master, I just want to help you. I don't want to see you get hurt, seeing you hurt, I feel pained, but how can I say these words out loud.

Two months later, Master returned, with her injuries probably bandaged, as there was no smell of blood, but the weariness in her eyes revealed the hardship of the journey.

I walked up to her, bowing respectfully, "Master, I have deciphered all the mechanisms in the room. Please check them."

She propped her head up, eyes slightly narrowed in a drowsy manner, her voice soft, "From tomorrow onwards, set up mechanisms in the room. If I can't solve them within an hour, you pass."

I nodded in agreement and turned to leave, but she called out to me, "Ao Yue, help me wash my hair."

The smooth, jet-black hair slipped through my fingers, the scent of soap filling the air. Master closed her eyes, as if asleep. Warm sunlight poured down from the clouds, and in the distance, there was the clear sound of birds chirping.

She spoke as if in a dream, her melodious voice resonating in my ear, "Disciple, when I went to the Qin Kingdom this time, I discovered a fascinating place. A tea house called the 'Forgetful River,' where if you tell the owner a story, she will give you a cup of tea and answer any question you have. It's really fun..."

In the Moonlight Valley, through several autumns and winters, Master would occasionally leave the valley, returning with wounds each time. I had made some progress and sometimes went down the mountain to take on jobs—designing treasure galleries for sects, fortifying residences for prominent figures, earning the gold and silver that Master favored.

It was the Cold Food Festival, and I left the valley to transform a mansion for an honest official, to protect against assassinations from the government and enemies. After informing Master that I would return the next day, I left. To my surprise, I received news midway that the official had been assassinated, rendering the mansion's transformation unnecessary. I leisurely returned, and by the time I reached the valley, night had fallen.

From a distance, I could see the faint glow of fire behind the cabin and the smell of burning paper and candles. Today was the Cold Food Festival, a day for mourning the dead. In the morning when I left the house, I had already paid my respects to my family.

Not wanting to disturb Master, I quietly entered the house and accidentally heard her sobbing voice, "Father, mother, daughter is unfilial..."

Master's parents were still alive.

I paused, then walked over and said, "Master..."

She suddenly looked up, her face still wet with tears: "Why are you back?"

I answered her question with another question: "Who are you burning incense for?"

She lowered her head, her voice low and heavy: "The relatives who died in that massacre."

Master said that I am a once-in-a-century genius, and she is a once-in-a-millennium genius. Two geniuses coming together are bound to be extraordinary.

During dinner, I asked her while flipping through a book, "Master, what is the most dangerous place in the world?"

She paused for a long time before she answered, "The imperial tombs."

I looked up in surprise, "You mean the burial grounds of past emperors?"

"Mm-hmm." She nodded, "Your cooking skills are getting better and better."

"Really? I didn't notice, but if Master thinks it's good, that's enough." I continued, nonchalantly, "Even Master can't possibly crack them, can she?"

She slammed the wooden chopsticks down on the table: "That is a forbidden place designed with great effort by the geniuses of my family over several generations, with no way in and no way out. Moreover..." She looked out the window at the night, "It is a taboo place for the Jin family. The emperor has decreed that no descendant of the Jin family is allowed to approach it, and if discovered, they will be killed on the spot."

I stared wide-eyed, "Why?"

Master smiled, "My father's affair made them have to be vigilant. The mechanisms created by the Jin family can only be cracked by the descendants of the Jin family. After all, the essence of all technology is passed down through the same lineage."

I followed her gaze into the night, where the moon was shining, and the moonlight flowers were quietly blooming. I heard her voice, faint but with a warning tone, "Remember what your master says, never enter the imperial tombs in your entire life."

I nodded, "Disciple understands."