Chapter 85: Ascending Mount Emei

In the Heaven-Dependent World, at a secluded spot on Mount Emei.

Under the bright, beautiful sunshine, a delicate and graceful woman is dancing with a sword.

Her sword light is dense and continuous, like silk being drawn, like a silkworm spinning its cocoon, like the waters of the Yangtze River, flowing on without end.

She is just like a fairy standing tall and elegant, dancing with her sword, her waist slender.

Her clothes flutter with the wind, fully displaying her light and graceful beauty.

Yet, within this aesthetically pleasing scene, astonishing murderous intent lies hidden.

If anyone dares to underestimate her, they will surely pay a heavy price!

Clap, clap, clap!

Suddenly, a burst of crisp applause reaches the ears of the fairy dancing with the sword.

"Who is it?"

The fairy immediately stops her sword dance, her moth-like eyebrows slightly furrowed, her delicate hand gripping the long sword tightly, her eyes scanning the surroundings with vigilance.

"Sister Zhiruo's Willow Catkin Sword Art has truly grasped the deep meaning of 'continuous and unending'; I fear you are not far from reaching Great Completion."

A young man dressed in dark martial attire, with a bundle strapped to his back, drifts down from a large tree.

The one dancing with the sword is none other than Zhou Zhiruo, the prized disciple of Abbess Miejue, the leader of the Emei Sect.

"Brother Zhang Jie!"

Seeing the person who arrived, Zhou Zhiruo instantly drops her guard and says with pleasant surprise.

"Sister Zhiruo, long time no see."

The young man, or rather Zhang Jie, says with a smile.

"Hmph!

You still have the nerve to say 'long time no see.' I heard you went down the mountain more than half a year ago, yet you only come to see me now!"

Hearing this, the smile on Zhou Zhiruo's face instantly vanishes, and she says with a tone of complaint.

'Woman, thy name is fickleness.'

Facing Zhou Zhiruo, who was smiling like a flower a second ago and is now as cold as frost, Zhang Jie mutters to himself.

"Sister Zhiruo, Junior Brother Wuji went missing previously, so I went to find him first.

Look, as soon as I found him, I came straight to Emei to see you; I haven't even returned to Wudang yet."

Zhang Jie skillfully brings out Zhang Wuji as a shield.

Hearing the name Zhang Wuji, Zhou Zhiruo recalls the follower who used to trail behind her and Zhang Jie,

No, her friend, and her expression turns from cloudy to sunny, and she says in a sweet voice:

"This time, I'll let you pass."

'Let me pass?'

Hearing these words, Zhang Jie cannot help but think of a certain monk covered in gold paint.

The phrase "You pass" has been turned into excellent "ghost-animal" material by talented netizens.

"Where did you find Junior Brother Wuji?"

Zhou Zhiruo walks with lotus steps to Zhang Jie's side, standing shoulder to shoulder with him, and asks curiously.

"Oh, it's like this..."

Zhang Jie tells Zhou Zhiruo about going to the Zhu-Wu Linked Manor, choosing to share only a part of it.

"You weren't injured, were you?"

Hearing that Zhang Jie was ambushed by Wu Lie, Zhou Zhiruo instantly becomes worried.

Her gaze scans Zhang Jie's body, wanting to see if he has any injuries.

"Of course not, you know what I'm capable of."

Zhang Jie deliberately flexes his biceps.

"Stinky narcissist!"

Zhou Zhiruo, her heart put at ease, covers her mouth and laughs.

"I never imagined there could be such a foolish person in the world!"

Hearing Zhang Jie describe how Zhu Changling was trapped on the cliff stone platform for several years, Zhou Zhiruo cannot help but laugh.

Zhang Jie, having learned many techniques for coaxing women from the Water Margin Zhang Jie, makes Zhou Zhiruo laugh until she trembles like a flower branch.

One can only say that regardless of whether they have Wu Gong or not, women are still women.

"Brother Jie, when will you take me to see Uncle-Master Yu Lianzhou?"

After listening to Zhang Jie's witty remarks, Zhou Zhiruo suddenly asks in a soft voice.

'This...'

Hearing this, Zhang Jie's heart skips a beat.

Yu Lianzhou is his master, an elder who is like a teacher and a father to him.

The implication of Zhou Zhiruo saying this is self-evident.

'Could it be that I am about to step into the grave of marriage so soon?'

Zhang Jie laments in his heart.

But he understands that this is all karma of his own making, and he must take responsibility.

Who told him that back then, knowing Zhou Zhiruo would be a great beauty in the future, he was moved by her appearance,

No, it was his burning desire to protect the flower, and he took great care of Zhou Zhiruo.

Even after Zhou Zhiruo joined Emei, he often wrote to her.

Over the years, Zhou Zhiruo had long since secretly pledged her heart to him.

Although he feels he is still young and prepared to roam free for a few more years,

seeing Zhou Zhiruo's face, which had turned shy at some point, and her delicate hands tightly gripping the corner of her clothes,

Zhang Jie knows how much courage it took for her to say those words.

If he were to refuse now, even if Zhou Zhiruo didn't give up on herself, she would likely be left with psychological trauma.

'The hardest thing to bear is the kindness of a beauty!'

Zhang Jie makes a decision in an instant:

"How about you come back to Wudang with me this time to meet my master, uncle-masters, and the others?"

'Hmm, meeting the parents doesn't necessarily mean getting married right away; at worst, we can just get engaged first.'

Zhang Jie rationalizes to himself.

"Okay."

Having received an affirmative answer, Zhou Zhiruo's cheeks flush with color.

"Brother Jie."

"Sister Zhiruo."

The two figures lean closer and closer, about to overlap.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem!"

At this moment, several coughs sound from behind them.

"Ah!"

Zhou Zhiruo, like a startled little deer, instantly jumps out of Zhang Jie's embrace.

"Ma, Master."

Recognizing the person who arrived, Zhou Zhiruo stammers.

The person who arrived looks to be about forty-four or forty-five years old, with a face that can be considered quite beautiful,

but her two eyebrows droop diagonally, making her entire face look extremely eerie,

almost like a hanged ghost from a theater stage.

It is none other than Abbess Miejue, the leader of the Emei Sect, who has become increasingly extreme since the death of her senior brother, Gu Hongzi.

'Has this old abbess been secretly spying on Zhiruo the whole time?

Otherwise, how could she have arrived so promptly?' Zhang Jie mutters to himself.

Abbess Miejue asks with a gloomy face:

"Zhiruo, who is this brat?"

"Master, he is the disciple of Uncle-Master Yu Lianzhou of Wudang, Zhang Jie!"

Zhou Zhiruo is somewhat surprised that Abbess Miejue doesn't recognize Zhang Jie.

"Wudang third-generation disciple Zhang Jie, greets the Abbess."

Zhang Jie honestly and dutifully bows to Abbess Miejue.

There is no help for it; who told him to have designs on Abbess Miejue's apple of her eye, Zhou Zhiruo?

"I naturally remember this brat."

Abbess Miejue glares at Zhang Jie with annoyance.

She finds this brat, who almost abducted her beloved disciple, more and more displeasing to the eye.

If she hadn't arrived in time just now, who knows what would have happened between these two young people!

"Uh."

Facing Abbess Miejue's undisguised vigilance, Zhang Jie awkwardly rubs his nose.

The way Abbess Miejue looks at him is like she is guarding against a wild boar wanting to root up her family's tender cabbage.

"Brat, do you have important business coming to my Emei? If not, then go down the mountain."

Abbess Miejue issues an order to leave without hesitation.

"Master, Brother Zhang Jie just arrived on the mountain, let him stay for a while longer."

Zhou Zhiruo, hearing this, immediately refuses, pulling on Abbess Miejue's hand and acting like a spoiled child.

Facing her beloved disciple's spoiled behavior, a flash of softness crosses Abbess Miejue's expressionless face,

but when she sees Zhou Zhiruo's gaze constantly fixed on Zhang Jie, she makes a firm decision:

"No, my Emei Sect is all female disciples, no men are allowed to stay overnight!"

If she let this brat stay on the mountain any longer, she couldn't even imagine what would happen!

'I say, it's not like the Emei Sect has no male disciples; this old abbess is clearly targeting me!'

Thinking of Abbess Miejue's senior brother Gu Hongzi, Zhang Jie mutters to himself.

Although he mutters in his heart, Zhang Jie's expression remains as usual:

"I have come to Emei with important business to discuss with the Abbess."

"Important business? Since when does Wudang Mountain's important business require you to step forward?"

Abbess Miejue's eyebrows slightly furrow.

Currently, Wudang Mountain's second generation, Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou, and others, are in their prime,

so even if there were important business, it should be them stepping forward.

Zhang Jie, a third-generation junior, shouldn't be able to represent Wudang Mountain.

Zhang Jie, knowing his seniority is too low, is not discouraged:

"What I want to discuss with the Abbess is the matter of the Heaven-Dependent Sword and the Dragon-Slaying Saber!"

When mentioning the Heaven-Dependent Sword and the Dragon-Slaying Saber, Zhang Jie says each word clearly.

"The Heaven-Dependent Sword and the Dragon-Slaying Saber?"

Hearing these two names, Abbess Miejue's gaze suddenly becomes dangerous.

'Does Wudang know that secret?'

Abbess Miejue guesses in her heart, yet in an instant, she extinguishes this thought:

'That secret should only have been known by Founder Guo Xiang a hundred years ago.

Since then, it has always been passed down by word of mouth among the Emei Sect's successive leaders, never written down.'

Just at this moment, Abbess Miejue thinks of that hundred-year-old Daoist on Wudang Mountain.

Ordinary people shouldn't know that secret, but that hundred-year-old Daoist on Wudang Mountain, who is still full of vitality,

making people suspect he has already achieved the status of an Earthly Immortal, is not ordinary at all!

Thinking of the relationship between the old Daoist Sanfeng and their Emei founder, Founder Guo Xiang, Abbess Miejue thinks:

'If that old Daoist knows a little bit of the secret, it is indeed possible.'

If it weren't for Founder Guo Xiang falling in love at first sight with the Condor Hero Yang Guo back then,

and since then being unable to accommodate anyone else in her heart,

their Emei might have really become one family with Wudang.

It is just a pity that the Xiang King had the intention, but the goddess had no heart; Founder Guo Xiang and Zhang Sanfeng were ultimately destined to have no fate together... ===== CHAPTER 86 =====