Chapter 268: Fate Repaid

It was not raining tonight, but the stars and moon filled the sky. The lake surface was crystal clear, beautiful like a mirror polished from a sweet dream.

Pei Ye stood at the stern of the boat, trying hard to row, but the boat swayed and drifted further and further away from the center of the lake.

The girl with bright eyes and white teeth sat in the cabin, her skirt spread out like a blue flower, looking up at him and smiling: "Liar, where do you know how to row?"

Pei Ye's face was indeed a bit red: "... I asked someone about it, don't be anxious."

Sword talent was indeed a quality independent of everything. The youth's exquisite control when painting eyes with a sword didn't disappear at this moment, but he just didn't have that genius of learning as soon as he learned.

"There is no wind today, oh," the girl smiled.

"Don't move."

"... I didn't move!"

"You moved secretly," Pei Ye was best at being unreasonable.

Li Piaoqing got angry, puffed up her breath, grabbed the edge of the boat with both hands, and shook it violently.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't make trouble!" Pei Ye, who was concentrating on feeling the direction, was immediately anxious, "Li Piaoqing! It's messed up... A gentleman uses his mouth, not his hands!"

"Stop shaking, really stop shaking! Sorry, you didn't move... Oh my, it's really messed up!"

But Li Piaoqing didn't care at all, just held her face and shook it vigorously, until the youth completely gave up, let out a rough breath, threw the oar away, stepped back into the cabin, and sat down beside her.

The girl then stopped her hands and laughed happily: "You said I moved!"

"I was joking with you," Pei Ye felt a bit stifled, "I agreed to row to the center of the lake to take you to see the night rain on the Mirror Lake... I wasn't familiar with it to begin with, and you kept making trouble. How can we go?"

Seeing that the youth seemed really unhappy, the girl became nervous: "When did I say we must go to the center of the lake?"

"You said it that day... the day you asked me out," Pei Ye's voice lowered, feeling a bit guilty, "You said we'd go to the center of the lake to see the night rain on the Mirror Lake... but that day I was stupid and clumsy, and I was sorry to you... Today I just wanted to take you there."

"... I didn't think about it," Li Piaoqing smiled softly and said softly.

"You said it yourself."

"I really didn't think about it... that was just an excuse," the girl smiled with blushing cheeks, her voice lowering, "I just wanted... to go boating with you."

"..."

The cabin was not big. Li Piaoqing leaned toward him gently, and their sleeves touched. She looked up at his profile and whispered: "It's good anywhere. I'm very happy like this, Pei Ye."

Pei Ye's heart pounded. He found that they really couldn't go back to the playful and joking days of the past—from another angle—because now in front of her, he seemed to be a bit too prone to nervousness, blushing, and being tongue-tied.

"Then we'll just stay here?"

"Alright," Li Piaoqing stretched her legs gently, "I'm very happy today, Pei Ye."

"... Sorry."

"Stop saying sorry all the time!" the girl laughed, "Are you ever going to finish!"

"..."

"It's not all your business," Li Piaoqing leaned back on her hands, looking at the gentle stars, "Yesterday I lost the sword test for the Sword Academy, and I was very sad, especially afraid to see my master. But today I received a reply from my master. He said that it was just right, and he could keep me by his side to accompany him more."

The girl smiled: "I know he was comforting me, but I was still very happy."

"Then, I also saw Ming Ming Jianzhu Ming today. I didn't expect to say so many words to Ming Ming Jianzhu Ming, and she even said I could enter the Sword Academy—I haven't had time to tell my master yet," the girl recalled and narrated. "And the most important thing..."

She turned to look at the youth, wanting to pretend to be angry, but laughed as soon as she saw him: "Reunited with a fool."

"..." Pei Ye was a bit embarrassed.

"Why are you so stupid! Like... or not... don't you know?"

Pei Ye finally wasn't a mute: "Did you know very early?"

"I knew... two days earlier

"Know what?" Pei Ye was bewildered.

"Know—" Li Piaoqing said as if it were obvious, but then she paused, her face turning red, "You're annoying, I'm not talking to you anymore."

Pei Ye leaned in, relentless: "Tell me, know what?"

"I don't know anything." Li Piaoqing turned her head to dodge, changing the subject, "Pei Ye, how did you and the Ming Ming Jianzhu get to know each other?"

"..."

"I invited you here that day because I wanted to chat with you about these things." Li Piaoqing turned back to look at him, "I've told you all about my affairs, but you haven't told me about yours."

"... I told you, Miss Ming is my life-saving benefactor." Pei Ye moved slightly away and said in a low voice.

"Mm."

"Actually, she is the life-saving benefactor of the entire Fenghuai County." Pei Ye looked at the lake surface, "At the beginning of the eighth month, Fenghuai encountered a great disaster. Miss Ming happened to be passing through Xincang Mountain at that time. She saved me first, and later helped Fenghuai hold out for a period of time."

Li Piaoqing was stunned: "... I hadn't heard."

"The Immortal Platform from the Divine Capital blocked the news." Pei Ye said, "This matter is very serious. Inspector Sui said he went to inquire, but didn't let out a whisper of wind."

"..." Li Piaoqing didn't ask further, only looking at him with worry, "Then, has this matter been resolved?"

"Resolved." Pei Ye was silent for a moment, "... The elder who taught me the sword resolved it, and he also died in this disaster. But the thing that caused this disaster is still alive."

"Is it... what? The Heavenly Tower?"

"... I don't know. It should be something above the Heavenly Tower." Pei Ye looked at her, "Above the Heavenly Tower, are there still realms?"

"I don't know." Li Piaoqing was stunned for a while, "I only know that the Tianshan Sect Leader is also just at the Heavenly Tower, but he is a very high Heavenly Tower... that is a very long stretch of realm."

Pei Ye nodded and said in a low voice: "They said that knowing these things brings no benefit, so I won't tell you, just remember..."

He looked earnestly into the young lady's eyes: "If you see things related to humanoid monsters with dark blue scales, the 【Candle World Sect】, or this symbol, you must stay away as quickly as possible."

He traced half a tree shape in the boat cabin, cautiously not finishing it.

"... Good." Li Piaoqing was somewhat stunned, and the two were silent for a moment.

Finally, the young lady couldn't help but say: "Then, Pei Ye, what do you plan to do next?"

She looked at him with some worry.

"I will go to the Divine Capital first." Pei Ye said after a quiet moment, "Become strong enough, get a sufficiently effective weapon... and then, find where they are."

The young lady was silent.

"What's wrong?" Pei Ye noticed her mood.

"So... you are going to the Divine Capital and not returning to Bowang, is that it?" Li Piaoqing's face turned somewhat pale.

Pei Ye immediately remembered Qi Zhaohua's words at the time and hurriedly leaned toward her: "You're going too."

"..." Li Piaoqing was stunned, "How would I go?"

Pei Ye smiled: "The recommendation letter I asked Miss Ming to write for you is for the Divine Capital Sword Academy—I had thought about this problem long ago."

But the young lady didn't have the joy he had imagined, but was instead somewhat bewildered and stunned: "You said... I'm going to the Divine Capital with you?"

Only then did Pei Ye realize that this proposal had actually always been just his own self-talk in his excitement. His heart pinched, and he said warmly: "Right, since you are going to the Shaolong Sword Academy, why not just go to the Divine Capital Sword Academy? Even if you return to Shaolong in a few years... I might have already left the Divine Capital by then."

"..." Li Piaoqing was still stunned, "I thought you were talking about the recommendation letter for Shaolong... I have... never left Shaolong before."

For a young lady who had grown up on Yilan Mountain, being suddenly asked to leave her hometown and go to a distant, unfamiliar capital was indeed too sudden.

Pei Ye's heart pinched bit by bit: "Do you not want to go?"

"No, I'm just not prepared for a moment." The young lady lowered her head, "And Master doesn't have much time left."

"..."

"If I'm in Shaolong, I can at least come back to see him often."

"In the Divine Capital, we can also come back often, it just takes a bit more time." Pei Ye's throat was somewhat dry.

"... Mm." The young lady was silent for a while, then suddenly smiled, "Actually, if I tell Master about this, he would certainly want me to go. The Divine Capital Sword Academy is always better than Shaolong."

She looked at the nervous young man and smiled softly: "Don't be so worried, I just need a moment to react. I also want to be with you."

A smile immediately appeared on Pei Ye's face: "Then I see you... your expression is very chaotic."

"Because you told me too many things all at once." Li Piaoqing smiled warmly, indeed somewhat dejected, "Do you know, Pei Ye, actually from a long time ago, I felt like we were people from two different worlds."

"..."

"Look, you have great talent, you learned the Intent Sword at seventeen, you can kill a Seventh Life realm alone, those difficulties I face, you can solve them very easily." Under the cool lake breeze, the young lady slowly poured out the confusion in her heart, "The Sword Academy wants you, the Ming Ming Jianzhu also praises you, the enemy in your eyes is higher than the Heavenly Tower..."

"And that is already a place I cannot see." Li Piaoqing looked at him, gently lowering her brows, "I just want to lead a small sect like Cuiyu to the position of number one in the three states, so, sometimes I will feel... we are really very far apart."

Pei Ye was silent, then said in a low voice: "I know... so, I have always been afraid to tell you these things."

"Yeah, so..."

"So what does that have to do with anything?" Pei Ye tilted his head to look at the young lady beside him, the two of them looking at each other.

Pei Ye said softly: "Talent is something you are born with, can it judge whether a person is good or bad? Piaoqing... I just like you, who can happily laugh in the midst of the most difficult predicaments, I just like you, who must do the things you want to do. Even if you couldn't cultivate, even if you couldn't practice the sword, I would still..."

He lowered his body, looked at the young lady's face, and said in a low voice: "... I would still feel that you are better looking than Miss Ming."

Li Piaoqing's eyes had already turned red, and at this moment she couldn't help but laugh: "It's enough that you lied to me once."

Pei Ye also laughed, but remained stubborn: "Really! A different kind of good-looking!"

Li Piaoqing then lowered her head with a blushing face and said softly: "Then I won't feel twisted inside... just because I'm not as good as you."

A joyful smile bloomed on Pei Ye's face. He straightened up, fished something out from his bosom, hid it in his palm, and stretched the back of his hand toward the young lady: "A gift I prepared for you."

"..." Li Piaoqing's bright eyes looked at him in surprise, "What is it?"

"Guess."

"Last time you said it was a Finger Sword, and then you had to wait for the Ming Ming Jianzhu to come—" Li Piaoqing said with a smile, then suddenly paused, looking at the fist in a daze, already knowing what was inside.

Pei Ye slowly opened his hand and said softly: "I saw you always holding that Finger Sword your senior brother cast for you, and later when it broke, you still held it tightly in your hand... people cannot come back to life, but you said Miss Ming is the pillar in your heart, so I thought... I would ask her to help you cast an identical 【Heart-Slicing Glaze】. Maybe your mood would be better... I don't know if it counts as filling some regrets. It might also be me being self-righteous..."

On the young man's open palm was a lifelike 【Heart-Slicing Glaze】. There was no mechanism anymore, but a sharp cloud-white True Qi was fixed inside by miraculous means.

The small characters engraved on it were clear and beautiful: "Looking back at the green color of life, swaying and lifting the light green. 【Ming Qitian】."

"..." Li Piaoqing picked up the small sword and looked at it quietly for a while.

"Do you like it?" Pei Ye asked somewhat tentatively.

"I don't like it."

"..."

But he saw the young lady raise her head, her eyes red as she mumbled: "Why is your name not on it?"

"Ah, I... I thought... I couldn't..."

"This is a gift you gave me." Li Piaoqing handed it to him and said softly, "Pei Ye, you are... very, very important in my heart. I want to see your name on it."

"..."

After the young man carefully engraved the simple and clumsy 【Pei Ye】 on it, Li Piaoqing took it back, her face turning red again: "Pei Ye... I feel like we seem to have a telepathic connection."

Pei Ye seemed to have passed the nervous stage from the beginning, tilting his head and blinking: "We definitely have a telepathic connection!"

"Oh my~" Li Piaoqing laughed, "I'm serious, what I intend to give you... is also a Finger Sword, and, what's engraved on it is also about the same."

"Ah?"

The young lady looked at him softly and said: "Do you know what the next line of this poem is?"

"... I don't know, you only told me this one line."

"... Then I'll tell you when I give it to you."

"Good." Pei Ye actually wasn't that anxious to know; at this moment, he was brewing a rather bold piece of mischief in his heart.

The boat became quiet, with only the sound of the boat rippling the water. Li Piaoqing looked at the beautiful small sword, her soft heart filled to the brim, and she said affectionately: "Pei Ye—"

Her tone stiffened, and her body tightened slightly.

The young man beside her lowered his head, not looking at her, but one hand reached out and gently touched her hand resting on the floor.

Then, as if the probing had succeeded, Pei Ye slowly climbed up. The young lady's hand was cool and soft. He interlaced his fingers with hers, gripping them tightly together.

The lake night was as quiet as a dream, and the two remained motionless. Afterward, Li Piaoqing moved slightly toward him, slowly leaning half her body against his chest.

The warm rise and fall of his chest was close at hand. The young lady tilted her head and buried half her face into it, her voice soft and muffled: "Pei Ye... I like you so much."

"... Me too."

In the bright boat on the quiet lake, the young boy and girl leaned gently against each other, their two green robes seeming to blend together, the color like lotus leaves in autumn.

It was a beauty that only existed in a dream.

(End of chapter)