Night wind swept maple leaves past the bluestones by the hot spring. Just as Ye Fan was tying the outer robe for Chǔ Hóngzhuāng, a gray shadow suddenly lunged from the mountain mist. He caught the carrier pigeon with a backhand grab, leaped onto a tree branch on the tips of his toes, and saw the dark iron cloud-pattern seal of the Cangwu Sword Sect on the bamboo tube under the moonlight.
"What is it?" Chǔ Hóngzhuāng rose, supporting herself on the bluestones beside the hot spring, her silver butterfly hairpin trembling gently at her temple.
Seeing Ye Fan's grip tighten as he unsealed the letter, leaving red impressions against the bamboo slip from his palm, she knew something was wrong. The handwriting on the paper pierced straight through to the back—it was the personal brushwork of Elder Chén of the Cangwu Sword Sect: "Zhaoyue suffered a cultivation deviation while practicing the Taichu Sword Canon, her true qi violently rebounding into her heart meridian, and she has been unconscious for seven days. Come quickly."
Chapter 163