The light green hairpin fell to the ground, like a touch of spring amidst autumn’s hues, alluringly inviting to be picked up.
The person standing under the tree remained expressionless, his eyes betraying no sign of emotion.
Zanxing lowered her gaze to the fallen evening star hairpin at his feet. Gu Baiying showed no intention of helping to retrieve it. After a long pause, she lifted her head again, her eyes fleetingly passing over Gu Baiying.
The young man watched her with a calm, detached demeanor.
Without saying a word, she bent down and picked up the Evening Star Hairpin.
The hairpin was broken. Without the soul-stirring sparkle of the Tianhun wood, it resembled nothing more than a piece of ordinary deadwood. After spring comes autumn’s decay, and it had lost its former vitality.
Holding the Evening Star Hairpin, she looked at Gu Baiying’s unfamiliar expression, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart.
The hairpin had been broken during the Abyss of Extreme Ice. In the two years in Heishi City, whenever Zanxing thought of Gu Baiying, she would always pick up this hairpin and look at it. It was strange—although a long time had passed and her memory wasn’t particularly sharp, she could vividly remember every word Gu Baiying had said when he gave her the hairpin, every subtle change in his expression, as if it had happened just yesterday. She always thought about what she would say upon their reunion, and she had not understood the significance of the hairpin at the time. She wanted to ask him why he had given away such an important gift so easily and why he had not revealed the truth about it.
And now, he was right in front of Zanxing, but she missed him so much.
She missed the Gu Baiying of the past.
Her heart felt a heavy, indescribable burden. Her expression remained calm, but the smile on her lips had faded.
The young man raised his chin slightly, “What’s that expression for?”
Zanxing remained silent. He continued, unconcerned, “It’s just a hairpin, why such a look?”
“It’s not an ordinary hairpin,” Zanxing interrupted him, “It was given to me by someone very important.”
Gu Baiying glanced at her inexplicably, as if recalling something, and casually asked, “Your male concubine?”
On the way here, the people of the Demon Clan had mentioned that there were seven male concubines in Zanxing’s Chaos Hall. This news had shocked the disciples of the sect, and along the way, they had been discussing how indecent the customs of the Demon Clan were, and how chaotic the relationships between men and women were.
Zanxing paused slightly. After a moment, she lifted her head and stared at Gu Baiying, “Yes, the one I like the most.”
Gu Baiying was taken aback, momentarily at a loss for words. By the time he came back to his senses, Zanxing had already left. The blooming red flowers of the Biyi Blossom tree slowly faded in the wind, leaving behind a trace of the illusion.
Standing in the mountain’s night, his figure was gradually enveloped by the moonlight. After a long time, he looked towards the bright biyi flower on Xiu Gu, his gaze becoming increasingly sharp.
Zanxing had not answered his question.
And why did he hang a fake flower on the silver spear?
*
The nights in the mountains were always cold.
In Si You Country, or rather Si You Village, the trees and crops were neatly trimmed. If someone with OCD were to pass through here, they would likely find it quite pleasing.
On her way back to her room, Zanxing encountered someone. A girl stood in front of a flower field. The vegetation in Yue Mountain was sparse, and the flower field looked thin and barren. The girl’s pink dress was more vibrant than the flowers, adding a touch of liveliness and spring to the desolate mountain forest.
The newcomer was Pu Tao from the Xiangling Sect. She emerged from the night and called Zanxing’s name, “Yang Zanxing.”
Zanxing stopped.
She still remembered this girl, the most beloved young disciple of Xiang Ling Sect’s leader, Rong Shuang. Pu Tao was very cute, with a quirky personality that was occasionally bold and direct. The scene from two years ago at Duluo Platform, where she had asked Gu Baiying a question, seemed like it happened just yesterday. Time had flown by, and the girl’s features had matured since then, losing some of her arrogance. She stood there gracefully, her beauty even more pronounced.
If only she could hide the hostility in her eyes a little better.
“You’ve seen Gu Baiying?” Pu Tao asked, her voice a bit tense.
Zanxing nodded.
“He doesn’t remember you anymore,” Pu Tao said. “You’re no longer a disciple of the Taiyan Sect, so it’s best to stay away from him.”
Zanxing smiled. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Pu Tao looked at the woman in front of her. She didn’t know that the ugly senior sister from Taiyan Sect would become so dazzling and radiant after the scars on her face had healed. Unlike Meng Ying’s sharp beauty, Zanxing’s most attractive feature was her calm and independent demeanor. This made her beauty irreplaceable. There were countless beauties in the world, but those with Zanxing’s grandeur and brightness were rare. Therefore, even though she knew that Gu Baiying had already lost his memories related to Zanxing, and even though it was difficult for the two of them to be together again due to their current identities, a sense of crisis still arose in her heart the moment she saw Zanxing.
This sense of crisis made her keep a close eye on everything related to Gu Baiying. Watching them hold hands along the way made her feel uncomfortable, and seeing them meet again at night instantly made her nervous.
She didn’t understand why she was so nervous.
Pu Tao bit her lip and stared at the woman opposite her, like a beast guarding its prey, her whole body filled with vigilance. She said, “Since you’ve seen him, you should have noticed the Jie Xin Bell on him. The Jie Xin Bell didn’t ring, he no longer likes you.”
She spoke quickly and anxiously, as if trying to prove something. However, the woman opposite her showed no reaction to her words, just looked at her as if seeing through the secrets in her heart, making her suddenly feel guilty.
Zanxing tightened her grip on the Evening Star Hairpin in her hand. Just now, when she bent down to pick up the hairpin, she saw the Jie Xin Bell hanging on Gu Baiying’s waist. She remembered what Men Dong had said, that when Gu Baiying was moved, the Jie Xin Bell would naturally ring. And just now, under the tree in the night, the Jie Xin Bell was silent.
So she suddenly felt disappointed.
Now, this girl’s hostility towards her stemmed from her love for Gu Baiying. It was normal to have some selfishness when facing a rival in love. However, it was precisely when she was in a bad mood that Pu Tao came over to provoke her. If she kept giving in, wouldn’t it seem like she was easy to bully?
Zanxing suddenly laughed.
Pu Tao was startled and asked, “What are you laughing at?”
“I was just thinking, so what if the Jie Xin Bell didn’t ring? You’ve been by his side for so long, and the Jie Xin Bell hasn’t rung for you either,” Zanxing slowly said.
Pu Tao’s expression stiffened. She watched as the woman in green stepped forward. She grasped her long sword defensively, but the woman walked past her. As they passed each other, Zanxing spoke softly, “It will ring.”
It will ring.
The woman’s figure slowly receded from view. The young girl stood in the flower field, the wind rustling the hem of her skirt. Her face was pale, and it seemed as if the woman’s smiling voice still echoed in her ears, like an unbreakable spell, lingering in her mind.
“Sooner or later, it will ring.”