The night was like a bolt of ink-soaked silk, blurring the contours of Mount Qinglan. Ye Fan stood at the edge of the camp, his boot heels crushing two dewy blades of grass as the chill crept up his trouser legs from his ankles. He gazed at the four figures sitting or standing around the campfire, his Adam's apple bobbing. Su Qingxue's fingertips still rested upon her zither strings, Lin Zhaoyue's sword tassel fluttered gently in the night breeze, Chǔ Hóngzhuāng's Golden Silkworm was poking its head out from her sleeve, and Qín Wǎnshuāng's Huben Sword gleamed with a cold light in the moonlight.
"I am going to the Thousand Mechanisms Valley," he spoke, his voice lighter than the mountain wind. "Legend says there is a three-thousand-year-old Longevity Tree there."
With a crackle, a spark burst from the campfire, and Su Qingxue's zither string snapped in response. When she raised her eyes, the rouge at the corners of her eyes was smudged by the night dew, like a tear about to fall. "Do you know that even Void Breaking Realm masters cannot escape the mechanisms of the Thousand Mechanisms Valley? Ten years ago, Hanmei Pavilion sent twelve death row warriors..." She suddenly bit her lower lip, reaching out to stroke the Jiuxiao Huanpei at her neck—the exact matching piece to Ye Fan's, engraved with the words "Life and death together."
Chapter 235