Lianqiao traveled thousands of miles just to bring Rong Zheng a message.

He knew his life was hanging by a thread. In his final moments, he hoped to do something worthwhile with the time he had left.

"Brother Chen Yan suffered humiliation and died..."

Lianqiao clutched the bleeding wound on his abdomen, gasping between words. Rong Zheng and Shi Fu Tao Mian were at his side, trying to stop the bleeding and heal him, but he kept pushing them away.

"The punishment, a cauldron, people put inside until flesh and bone separate...

The Pavilion Shi Fu ordered us to be present for three hours..."

Tears streamed down Rong Zheng's face. She shook her head vigorously, trying not to let her vision blur with tears.

"Lianqiao, stop talking, let me save you first."

Lianqiao's blood-stained hand trembled as it grasped Rong Zheng's sleeve, shaking his head.

"Don't, don't save me, Senior Sister... I'm not worthy."

The cauldron used for the punishment, Lianqiao said, was the one he was ordered to find.

"Brother Chen Yan was shorter than most people. The Pavilion Shi Fu said his head had to be visible, to see his face clearly...

I searched for a long time before finding a suitable cauldron. It wasn't too deep or shallow, and the mouth was wide. When Brother Chen Yan went in, his head was just above the surface of the broth..."

Lianqiao couldn't continue, his lips trembling, blood rushing to his face, distorting his features, tears squeezing from the corners of his eyes. The delayed sorrow crashed into his heart, finding no prepared channel, it rampaged wildly.

His words became fragmented, repeatedly muttering, "I'm not worthy."

"Worthy or not!" Rong Zheng's eyes widened, her tone urgent and severe, "I couldn't save Chen Yan, but should I let you die in front of me!"

Lianqiao only wept.

He said, Senior Sister, don't save me, it's not worth it.

At the moment Brother Chen Yan was punished, though he felt pained, there was also a faint, uncontrollable relief.

Senior Sister Zheng defected, Brother Chen Yan went to Peach Blossom Mountain to capture the traitor but returned empty-handed, leading Du Hong to suspect him of defecting as well.

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He let the other Shadow Guards witness Chen Yan's fate, as a warning to others.

Lianqiao was only below Rong Zheng and Chen Yan in rank, now with one abandoning the Floating Pavilion and the other abandoned by it, it seemed his turn to take the lead among the Shadow Guards.

He said he was naive and foolish then. The three of them had been close since childhood. How could the Pavilion Shi Fu entrust such an important position to the brother of two traitors?

"Since childhood, I've never been as talented as you and Brother Chen Yan," Lianqiao recalled their childhood, his eyes shining, seeming to regain some strength, "Back then, I always pestered you and Brother to spar, you liked to tease me, playing until you forgot about the sparring. Brother Chen Yan always said my basics were poor, I was unconvinced, but he never got angry, just accompanied me in practicing stances."

Rong Zheng's hand, transmitting spiritual energy, paused slightly, a tear hung on her eyelash, finally succumbing to gravity, falling.

Lianqiao showed signs of a final burst of energy.

"Those were good times," his eyes reflected the starry sky, as if returning to an afternoon many years ago, "Senior Brother, Senior Sister, Junior Brothers, and Junior Sisters crowded in a small courtyard, eating, living, practicing, and playing together."

Where are the companions of the moonlit nights, the scenery faintly resembles the old years.

Lianqiao's eyes turned to the tear-streaked face of Rong Zheng.

"Senior Sister, Brother Chen Yan said he knew you had requested the Bone-Illuminating Mirror from the Pavilion Shi Fu several times without success. He found that mirror for you.

He said he felt guilty about what happened at Peach Blossom Mountain.

Brother Chen Yan was upright and open-hearted. I am a despicable person, not worth mentioning.

Senior Sister Zheng, don't have any more dealings with the Floating Pavilion. Floating and sinking, the road of the world, the comings and goings of sorrow and joy. We all... took the wrong path.

So, Senior Sister, you must fly far away, don't look back, don't linger."

...

Lianqiao was buried under a large willow tree.

The Shi Fu and disciple agreed to head to Big Stone Mountain, but before that, Rong Zheng changed direction midway, arriving at the hometown Lianqiao had mentioned.

A sparsely populated village, with only a few households showing lights.

Lianqiao said his parents sold him here back then. They originally wanted to sell his frail younger brother, but he was healthy and had some talent, so the martial artist from the Floating Pavilion chose him.

He never blamed his parents, they thought following the Shi Fu would lead to a good life.

"Who could have imagined the ending would be like this."

Rong Zheng added a handful of soil to the grave, smoothing it repeatedly with her palms, then using the back of her hand to even it out.

Tao Mian stood quietly behind her, not far away. He was silent, not intervening.

His disciple was bidding farewell to her playmate, friend, and comrade-in-arms. At such times, his role was to guard and listen.

Rong Zheng didn't say much, silently bidding farewell to Lianqiao in her heart.

She had stopped crying, though her eyes remained red.

"I am a fortunate person, much more fortunate than my junior brothers. To be able to extricate myself from the Pavilion... I sometimes think about it and it feels unreal."

Rong Zheng's voice was soft.

"Little Tao, even if my life is destined to be short, I will live well. To live one more day is a day, to live one more hour is an hour.

After all, I am no longer living just for myself."

The endless suffering of life and death, the unanswered questions of life.

Tao Mian had experienced it several times, knowing his disciple was now vaguely touching upon these.

The questions have no answers, yet people always seek a way out.

"Little Hua, let's go. Retrieve your memories, make yourself whole, and you can... move forward."

Rong Zheng said, okay.

They returned to Big Stone Mountain. The grand stone at the summit still sat firmly, the spring at the foot of the mountain still bubbling with clear water.

Nothing had changed, but the people of the past were gone.

Rong Zheng went straight to the summit, beside the giant stone. She circled it twice, feeling around, finally stopping at a corner smoothed by water erosion.

"Little Tao, it's here."

Tao Mian picked up a small branch, tapping lightly at the center of the area Rong Zheng had circled with her finger. Struck by pure spiritual power, the stone cracked from the middle.

He held back his strength, damaging only this spot, likely unwilling to destroy the iconic stone, the last trace of Chen Yan's existence.

The stone shattered into small pieces, clattering down, revealing the treasure inside.

Tao Mian and Rong Zheng leaned in to look, finding a painted bronze mirror with coiled dragon patterns embedded in the crevice.

Rong Zheng extended her pale hands, carefully extracting it, blowing off the dust, and wiping it with her sleeve.

The reflection in the bronze mirror was hazy and indistinct. They looked at it in the moonlight, unable to discern anything.

They decided to take the bronze mirror back to Peach Blossom Mountain, as it was their own territory, they felt at ease.

On the way back, Rong Zheng occasionally fiddled with the mirror, accidentally pointing it at Tao Mian.

"Huh? Little Tao, why doesn't this mirror reflect you?"