Chapter 657: Xiaobai, A Night of Spring Breeze

Tianyin Temple has fallen.

Of the three great righteous sects under heaven, only the Qingyun Sect remains to guard the righteous path alone.

Some righteous experts who had not yet been affected by Changsheng Tower gathered one after another at the Qingyun Sect; for a time, countless righteous experts converged within the Qingyun Sect.

But soon, a shocking and terrifying piece of news reached the Qingyun Sect.

Changsheng Tower has gathered its experts and is marching majestically toward the Qingyun Sect to slaughter them.

Their numbers are vast, and among them are supreme experts like the Ghost King and Sanmiao Fairy. There are even righteous experts from Tianyin Temple and Fenxiang Valley. Of course, the most eye-catching among them is none other than Jade Tower Master Yu Liancheng, a peerless powerhouse who has almost single-handedly changed the situation of the entire cultivation world.

There are truly many legends about him; some say he beds ten women a night, others say he has three heads and six arms, and still others say people can stand on his fists and horses can run on his shoulders...

As time fermented, in the legends of the righteous path, this Jade Tower Master developed more and more toward an inhuman form, as if they had forgotten that this Jade Tower Master was once a transcendent and dashing White-robed Divine Monk.

But regardless of whether they are righteous or Demon, all must admit that Yu Liancheng's terrifying cultivation suppresses both the righteous and Demon paths, with no rival under heaven.

Were it not for the world-renowned Zhu Xian Sword holding the line, I fear Yu Liancheng alone would be enough to flatten the Qingyun Sect.

Heyang City.

This is the largest city nearest to the Qingyun Sect, and also the largest and most prosperous place within a radius of a hundred miles.

The commoners living in this city number at least two or three hundred thousand. Because of its excellent geographical location, connecting north and south, east and west, there are many merchants coming and going, making it exceptionally lively.

Although there have been rumors recently that Demon Sect evildoers are going to have a great battle with the immortals of the Qingyun Sect, for many commoners in Heyang City, apart from occasionally looking up and seeing streams of light streaking across the sky, there have been no other extra changes.

"Shanhai Garden" is the largest restaurant in Heyang City, and not long ago, it was booked out by several wealthy guests.

The night grew deep. Yu Liancheng stood with his hands behind his back in the courtyard of "Shanhai Garden," his black hair draped like a waterfall. Under the shroud of starlight and moonlight, he looked just like an immortal who had descended to the mortal world, possessing a transcendent and unfathomable bearing.

His gaze was distant, looking toward the direction of the Qingyun Sect, as if he could see the Qingyun Seven Peaks and see the remaining righteous people.

Footsteps sounded. Yu Liancheng turned his head and saw the white-clad, graceful Nine-tailed Sky Fox Xiaobai. She held a wooden tray in her jade hands, on which sat a wine pot and cups. She walked toward Yu Liancheng with a swaying gait, her eyes shifting, and smiled charmingly: "I've brought a pot of good wine; let's taste it together."

Yu Liancheng laughed: "Whether it is good wine or not, pour me a cup first and then we shall see."

"You fellow are not polite at all, really treating me like a servant girl." Xiaobai curled her lips, but still obediently poured a cup of wine for Yu Liancheng.

Yu Liancheng drank it in one gulp.

"How is it?" Xiaobai blinked her beautiful eyes.

Yu Liancheng smacked his lips, as if savoring the aftertaste, and after a long while said: "Average."

"Average?" Xiaobai's beautiful eyes widened: "This is fifty-year-old 'Bamboo Leaf Green', it cost a full fifty taels of silver, and you actually say it's average?"

"The quality of wine is not judged solely by its age," Yu Liancheng said leisurely.

Xiaobai crossed her arms, making the rise and fall of her chest even more breathtaking, and sneered: "Then I wonder if Jade Tower Master can find a pot of good wine for me to taste."

"Good wine, you say?" Yu Liancheng's tone was leisurely. He suddenly clapped his hands and laughed: "I almost forgot, I do indeed have a pot of good wine, a pot of wine named 'Peach Blossom'."

As he spoke, he took a wine pot from his Storage Space and poured a small cup for Xiaobai.

Xiaobai held the wine cup, sniffing the faint fragrance of the wine, her mind slightly dazed for a moment: "What is this wine called?"

Yu Liancheng said leisurely: "This wine is named 'Peach Blossom'. Although the wine is not strong, it is easy to intoxicate people."

Xiaobai's fox eyes blinked: "It is not brewed from peach blossoms, yet it is called Peach Blossom; how strange."

Yu Liancheng smiled and made a gesture of invitation.

Xiaobai looked at the slightly greenish wine, which reflected the bright moon in the sky, finding it quite interesting. She did not ask further, slightly lifted her snow-white neck, and drank the wine in the cup.

It was indeed not a strong liquor, but a strange sensation spread through her heart.

It was as if ripples were stirred in a calm Xinhu. And within the ripples, countless past memories surged up, including the joy, sadness, and melancholy of her thousand years of demon life... As the ripples dissipated, she ended up with nothing, leaving only a sense of melancholy.

When Xiaobai opened her charming fox eyes again, they had become blurred, like hazy moonlight: "It really is good wine, but what is the significance of this name?"

Yu Liancheng recited leisurely at this moment: "Last year today within this gate, human face and peach blossoms reflected red. The human face knows not where it has gone, peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze."

"Last year today within this gate..." Xiaobai silently recited the poem twice, becoming even more melancholy and intoxicated. She patted the table and said: "The wine is good, and the name is good too. Little Yu, hurry and fill the wine for this lady."

"Little Yu? Do you think you are Uncle Long or Old Daddy?" Yu Liancheng laughed, poured a cup for Xiaobai, and also poured one for himself, slowly savoring it.

Soon, he too was slightly immersed in the wine intent of "Peach Blossom," yet he always smiled, without the slightest trace of nostalgia or sadness.

For him, occasionally stopping to look back at the past was not a bad thing.

But the purpose of his journey was not to fixate on the past, but to create the future, to witness the scenery along the way, even if everything might end in emptiness...

Watching Xiaobai, who was smiling foolishly but had sadness in her eyes, Yu Liancheng tapped the wine cup with his finger, emitting a tinkling sound like jade striking jade, and began to sing to himself.

"Laughing at how you and I wasted our schemes, loving to compete for the beauty of reflections in a mirror. Fearing that luck will fade in the blink of an eye, obsessed with greed, anger, and desire. Blaming you and me for being too greedy for merit and power..."

Xiaobai kicked off her white embroidered shoes, resting her delicate, fair jade feet on the stool. Then she raised her head, looking foolishly at Yu Liancheng, listening quietly to him sing.

"Blaming the beings of the earth for being too beautiful, regretting the vows made in the past, obsessed with sorrow and jealousy..."

After his rebirth in the Northern Underworld, Yu Liancheng's body was further strengthened, and even his voice surpassed what it was before.

And his years of experience as a monk gave him a deeper understanding of the Buddhist principles contained in this song, so his singing carried a sense of detached Zen. Fame, wealth, and power are but a pot of wine; heroes and beauties are but bones in a grave. Only the clear breeze and bright moon of heaven and earth are free to take and inexhaustible to use; why not sing to the moon?

Although Xiaobai is a thousand-year-old fox demon who has heard countless songs in her life, at this moment she was also immersed in the singing, unable to extricate herself.

"Twirling flowers and holding wine, it breaks the hearts of the world's passionate; with these two eyes, one cannot guard against a hundred arms or a thousand hands. The sky is vast and the snow is drifting, who shall I sail with? The sand rolls and the water ripples, laughing and wandering; indulging in pleasure for a moment, only to bury the daughter's long-standing affection."

After finishing "The Hard-to-Read Sutra," with the lingering echoes still sounding, Yu Liancheng turned his head and smiled at Xiaobai: "How was it? How did I sing?"

Xiaobai picked up the wine cup, drank another cup of "Peach Blossom," smiled like a flower, nodded, and praised: "Average."

Yu Liancheng clutched his forehead; she really was a stingy woman—no, a female fox.

Xiaobai said again: "Sing another one for me to hear."

Yu Liancheng waved his hand: "Since it was average, better not to listen."

Xiaobai shook Yu Liancheng's arm and said coquettishly: "Sing one, Brother Yu~" The last "Brother" was drawn out, sounding exceptionally charming, like a jar of overturned honey, poured straight into the mouth without any dilution, sweet enough to make one feel nauseous.

After shouting the last three words, Xiaobai was also stunned, then giggled, and with a charming voice that was almost dripping, she called out one after another: "Brother Yu, Brother Yu..."

Yu Liancheng felt goosebumps all over, flicked Xiaobai's forehead with his finger, and said: "You are drunk."

"I am not, such a little bit of wine, and you want to get me drunk." Xiaobai giggled, but her body swayed slightly, as if she were about to fall.

Yu Liancheng shook his head and said: "The hour is late, go and rest."

"No, if you won't sing, I'll sing it myself." Xiaobai poured herself another cup of Peach Blossom and drank it in one gulp. Her lips, moistened by the wine, looked even more alluring under the moonlight as she sang in a long, rhythmic chant: "Laughing at how you and I wasted all our schemes, loving the pursuit of that beauty like flowers in a mirror. Fearing that good fortune will fade in the blink of an eye, obsessed with greed, anger, joy, and hate..."

As a thousand-year-old fox spirit, Xiaobai had an excellent memory. Having heard it only once, she had already memorized seven or eight tenths of the lyrics.

That charming voice took on a touch of ethereal quality under the night sky. Only, because she was drunk, it lacked a proper melody. She sang the song over and over, especially the first two lines, "Laughing at how you and I wasted all our schemes, loving the pursuit of that beauty like flowers in a mirror," which she sang the most—whether because those two lines left the deepest impression or because they matched her own circumstances...

Singing over and over, drinking cup after cup.

Finally, the intoxication surged up, and endless ripples churned within her sea of consciousness. Xiaobai swayed and collapsed, but fortunately, Yu Liancheng was quick-witted and caught her in his arms.

With the soft jade in his arms, Yu Liancheng felt the delicate body against him as light as a feather, with almost no weight to be felt.

Looking down, a flush appeared on her exquisite face; her eyes were slightly closed, and her long eyelashes were shut like a folding fan. They cast a shadow under the moonlight, and her breathing from her dainty nose was barely perceptible. Her rosy lips gave one the impulse to steal a kiss, and she wore a faint smile, looking just like a little fox having a sweet dream.

This was not the first time Yu Liancheng had held this Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox; the last time, she had also been drunk.

This woman really was a drunkard.

"I, I'm not drunk, but I am indeed a bit sleepy."

Xiaobai seemed to know what Yu Liancheng was thinking. Her beautiful eyes were half-open and half-closed, growing increasingly hazy. She swayed as she left Yu Liancheng's embrace and steadied herself: "My shoes, where are my shoes?"

Yu Liancheng had no choice but to pick up her very pretty white embroidered shoes for her.

Who would have thought that Xiaobai would lift her foot, her fox-like eyes filled with a blur, and giggle: "You... you put them on for me, otherwise I won't leave."

Her skirt was lifted slightly, revealing her beautiful, slender ankles and snow-white, crystalline calves. A pair of exquisite, delicate, and dainty feet were held in Yu Liancheng's palms.

Yu Liancheng tickled the soles of Xiaobai's feet, and Xiaobai giggled, her slender hands weakly beating against his shoulders: "Alright, don't... don't mess around, I'm ticklish."

"Since you're ticklish, you shouldn't let a man put your shoes on for you."

The shoes were finally put on.

But these embroidered shoes didn't seem to serve their intended purpose, because as soon as Xiaobai stood up, she began to sway again, and was ultimately caught around the waist by Yu Liancheng.

Even while held in his arms, the woman wouldn't settle down: "Wine, wine..."

She reached out a slender hand, grabbed the pot of Peach Blossom—which still had a little left—into her arms, and then revealed a charming, brilliant smile.

He carried Xiaobai back to her own room and placed her on the bed, but Yu Liancheng did not leave; he merely sat by the bedside, watching her with a smile, observing her posture while drunk.

"Are, are you still not leaving?" Xiaobai took off her pair of embroidered shoes, crouched on the embroidered bed, holding the 'Peach Blossom' in her hands, and tilted her head to look at Yu Liancheng.

Yu Liancheng sighed: "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

Xiaobai giggled, looking at Yu Liancheng with eyes as gentle as moonlight: "You're not an idiot, but... but you are a fool."

Yu Liancheng thought about it; he did indeed look like a fool right now.

But he was not a fool; he was a man.

And so, he snatched the pot of Peach Blossom, poured the last bit of leftover wine into his mouth, but did not swallow it; instead, he leaned in and pressed his lips against Xiaobai's rosy ones.

A night of spring breeze passed.