A resolute dance begins, the mountains are high and the road is long—do not forget one another.
A song of parting is sung, they call it heartless, yet who is lingering in thought?
——Prologue
As the saying goes: words should have their limits, and jests should have their bounds.
Tailor your words to the person you meet, choose your speech with care, leave room for grace, and never be overbearing.
When conversing with others, if a person speaks less of the following "three things," they reserve virtue for themselves, and their blessings will only grow.
Everyone harbors privacies that cannot be spoken of. Once voiced—even to the most trusted confidant—those words may spread, pushing one's life into a dead end.
In truth, once your secret is known to another, it is no longer a secret.
No matter how many times you urge someone not to pass it on, the more you do so, the faster it spreads, turning into an "open secret."
Some secrets must never be uttered for a lifetime; to speak them is to invite disaster.
Alin had never witnessed a dance like Muyin’s. To describe it as breathtakingly ethereal would be no exaggeration; it was a dance akin to a sacrifice. Muyin’s expression was solemn, her white robes making her appear all the more transcendent and graceful, like a celestial being descending from beyond the mortal realm.
Ever since their return from Snow Mountain, Muyin had been recuperating and rarely ventured out. Yet one morning, she woke Alin up at the crack of dawn, brought Abu along, and headed deep into the forest—the very place where they had first met.
Along the way, Muyin remained silent. Seeing the heavy burden on Muyin's mind, Alin several times stopped herself from speaking; whatever could make Muyin act so uncharacteristically was certainly no trivial matter.
Upon reaching their destination, Muyin finally raised her eyes to look at Alin. "Let me dance for you."
At a loss for words, Alin could only give a blank nod.
When the dance ended, as if suddenly exhausted, Muyin beckoned to Alin, signaling her to release Abu. Sensing its master's call, the spirit beast bounded over to Muyin's side, hoisted her onto its back, and trotted back to Alin.
With some difficulty, Muyin began to speak. "Alin, I must leave. I do not know when I will be able to return. This farewell dance is something I have performed for you alone, and perhaps I shall never dance it again. You... you must take good care of yourself. Do not interrupt me, listen until I am finished. This time, I am fated to go alone and cannot let you accompany me. I leave Abu in your care—look after him until I return."
Muyin spoke in one breath, closing her eyes so as not to see Alin's look of devastation and disbelief. Hardening her heart, she turned and walked away, her white robes fluttering like snow as she vanished in an instant. Abu chased after her for a few steps, but finally stopped beneath a ginkgo tree, gazing longingly in the direction Muyin had departed.
Alin stood in the ginkgo grove for a whole day, and Abu kept her company throughout. The eyes of both human and beast were red-rimmed.
*Alin, I am sorry. Forgive me. And... do not forget me, forever...*
Muyin, are you truly going to break our vow? We once swore to be soulmates and sisters for a lifetime, to care for one another and look out for each other, to face whatever hardships came our way together.
Do you know? To me, sharing both blessings and misfortunes is not merely an empty phrase.
Yet this time, you chose to face it alone. Do you really wish to keep me out of it so completely?
Did you truly think I could stand aside where matters concerning you were concerned?
Alin tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. She knew that Muyin barred her from coming along for her own good, and she knew Muyin would never let her track her whereabouts, which was why she did not send out a single one of her flying insects. Yet doing nothing simply did not suit her personality. Muyin was her most cherished confidant, a bond far surpassing that of blood sisters.
If Muyin was heading into a perilous journey fraught with unknown danger—no, she could not simply sit and wait. She had to do something; and if all else failed, she would have to seek help.
Meanwhile, traveling at great speed, Muyin returned three days later to a place she never wished to set foot in again for the rest of her life—the Demon Realm.
The remaining members of the Seven Kills Organization had been waiting at the entrance for some time. The moment the white-robed woman appeared, the five of them dropped to their knees in unison. "Welcome back, Leader!"
Muyin gave a slight nod, signaling them to rise, and took the lead as she walked inside.
Blood Spirit was the chief of the Seven Killings. Aside from the organization's members, only the Demon Lord knew this truth; even Alin was unaware of it. Though Muyin had left the Demon Realm behind many years ago, this position had always been reserved for her, because the Demon Lord could not be bothered to recruit anew, and the rest of the organization's members refused to acknowledge any other master.
Muyin headed straight to the Demon Lord's palace. Just as she was about to kneel in greeting, the Demon Lord had already stepped down from his throne to welcome her personally. "No need to kneel! What need is there for such empty formalities between you and me? It is rare indeed for Lady Muyin to grace us with a visit. I have already prepared a banquet to welcome her. Someone, come!"
At the crisp sound of clapping, the black-robed maidservants waiting outside the hall filed in carrying trays, lining the blood-jade tables inside the hall with pre-prepared food and wine. After all these years, the Demon Lord's taste had truly not changed at all!
Once the six of them took their seats, the various leaders of the Demon Realm filed into the banquet one after another. Upon catching sight of the white-robed woman, a few of them first wore expressions of astonishment, which quickly turned into obsequious bows and scrapings before they dared to take their seats. Among them, some newcomers who had never seen Muyin and knew nothing of Blood Spirit's fearsome reputation could nevertheless perceive that her status was extraordinary, and having heard of the formidable reputation of the Seven Kills Organization, they did not dare to be negligent, bowing in salute before finally taking their places.
"I never expected that after all these years apart, Blood Spirit's reputation would remain entirely undiminished. That you are able to return is the great fortune of the Demon Realm. Come, a toast to Lady Muyin!" The Demon Lord took the lead, raising his blood-jade goblet and draining it in a single gulp.
Muyin also raised her cup and returned the toast. Amidst a wave of clamor, the noise was drowned out by the music of strings and flutes as a troupe of dancers subsequently entered the hall.
When the dance concluded, the Demon Lord waved his hand to dismiss the dancers, raised his cup once more toward Muyin, and said, "As the strongest trump card of my Demon Realm, the Seven Kills Organization has finally reunited today. The fact that Blood Spirit has returned carrying the Seven Kills Order is certainly not on a mere whim. State whatever demands you have without hesitation, and our commanders in the Demon Realm will surely fulfill your desires."
Muyin merely smiled without a word, raised her cup, and returned the toast once more.
The banquet grew lively again—*Blood Spirit? The legendary Blood Spirit is actually a woman? Had she not already left the Demon Realm and the Seven Kills Organization? Why has she returned?*
*Is some major event about to happen, seeing as even the Demon Lord has gone to such great lengths and personally hosted a banquet for her?*
*Word has it the Seven Kills Order has been retrieved as well. Is the Seven Kills Organization finally returning to the pugilistic world?*
*The Spirit Realm has been completely peaceful lately—aren't they worried about Blood Spirit turning back to the demonic path?*
*Are you joking? Blood Spirit is the most powerful existence in the Spirit Realm. If she didn't want anyone to know she was back, who could possibly find out?*
*True enough. Back in the day, Blood Spirit was the top candidate among the Four Primordial Spirits, yet she refused it herself, claiming she was too used to freedom and ease, wishing for no constraints and only desiring to live a carefree life. Such a style of doing things is truly beyond ordinary understanding.*
*I hear the Demon Lord has always hoped Blood Spirit would join the Demon Realm. I wonder what methods he used this time—did it actually work?*
Listening to the chatter and discussion among the crowd, Muyin curved her lips in a faint smile and cast a sidelong glance at the Demon Lord. She saw the fellow—who had finally bothered to put on formal dark attire and sat upright in the seat of honor—propping his chin with one hand while holding a bunch of grapes in the other, gazing back at her with a similarly slanted, enigmatic smile.
Lan, whose seat was closest to Muyin, frowned in displeasure, her fingers brushing against the Phoenix Feather Blade resting on the table before quickly pulling away.
Noticing Lan's movement, Muyin smiled calmly at the masked black-robed woman and shook her head quietly.
The two of them had not seen each other in years. Back when they first established the Seven Kills Organization, Muyin and Lan possessed the strongest spiritual power. Blood Spirit's strength was beyond question, and the might of the Phoenix Feather Blade was known to all under heaven. Yet Blood Spirit kept a low profile while Mist Spirit remained mysterious; neither liked to show herself in public. In truth, if they were to actually fight, relying on the power of the Phoenix Feather, Lan would not lose to anyone.
One clothed in unblemished white, the other avoiding the world in black, Muyin and Lan were both peerless experts of the Spirit Realm. Some speculated that their abilities were on par, while others claimed that without the Phoenix Feather Blade in hand, Lan's power would fall slightly short of Muyin's. However, the two had never crossed paths in combat, and no one knew how a real fight between them would turn out.
Haiyao, serving as Lan's confidante, was usually by her side, but today she was nowhere to be seen. That cold-expressioned woman with a red ribbon tied in her hair was unaccustomed to smiling. Only when facing her Blood Steed—that pitch-black steed with a blood-jade spiritual stone on its forehead and movements swift as lightning—would Haiyao reveal a gentle side, reminding people that this decisive, ruthless assassin was, after all, a woman. Only Lan had ever witnessed Haiyao's smile, like an epiphllum flower blooming in the dead of night, cold and proud, standing alone above the mortal world.
Haiyao's disappearance was one of the reasons Muyin had returned this time; she had received the Seven Kills Order sent by Lan. Although no clues could be read from the face behind the other's mask, Muyin knew just how anxious her heart must be, otherwise she would never have deployed the Seven Kills Order, nor would she have invited her back...