Chapter 292: Unpredictable Mindset
"Valley Master Xiao, whether it is for the safety of the disciples of Jueqing Valley or to resolve the misunderstanding between you and my family, I dare to ask you to speak frankly."

Faced with Liu Xunyi's repeated pleas, Xiao Zhirou remained unmoved.

"There is no misunderstanding! The Luo family and I are sworn enemies." Xiao Zhirou said coldly, "For the sake of Granny Taohua and Yuyin, I can spare you the trouble. Go now!"

"No!" Liu Xunyi said stubbornly, "If I just leave, the Palace Master will definitely not let it go."

Was he moved by Liu Xunyi's persistence? Or was he anxious to rescue Granny Taohua and cure Baoer's illness? Facing Liu Xunyi's perseverance and Xiao Zhirou's hard-heartedness, Mei Zichuan couldn't help but hesitate and thought: "Master Xiao, don't you want to rescue Huaying?"

"Senior, Luo has no grudge against Granny Taohua, so why would he make things difficult for her for no reason?" Xiao Zhirou said, "He just wants to threaten me with this, but I won't accept his threats."

Having said this, Xiao Zhirou turned her gaze to Liu Xunyi and said coldly, "I don't believe that Luo dared to attack Granny Taohua. He cares most about his reputation in his life. He can do anything for fame and fortune. How could he kill an octogenarian today? Luo would never do anything to destroy his reputation."

"Valley Master Xiao is wise! The Palace Master certainly won't take action against Granny Taohua, but he has no scruples about Tang Afu and other Jueqing Valley disciples." Liu Xunyi said frankly with a bitter look on his face, "To be honest, the Palace Master once said that if Valley Master Xiao 'insists on having his own way', he will severely punish Tang Afu, Feng Wuxin and other heretic disciples to serve as a warning to others. Could it be that Valley Master Xiao only cares about Granny Taohua and can ignore the lives of others?"

Hearing this, Chang Wuhui was stunned for a moment, and looked at Xiao Zhirou with hesitation, and said hesitantly: "Valley Master, those so-called famous and upright sects all hate us to the core. If the surnamed Luo really kills the eldest brother and others in the name of 'eradicating the scourge', what should we do about this matter?"

Pan Yuyin added: "Master is old and may not be able to withstand such hardships. I hope that Master Xiao will consider the relationship with Master and let her come back early to enjoy her old age and stay away from the suffering of the disputes in the martial arts world."

"We have been waiting for Huaying to cure Baoer for more than 20 years." Mei Zichuan sighed, "Now, my husband and I are old, I wonder how long we can wait? If I can't cure Baoer's strange disease in my lifetime, I will die with regrets."

"This……"

Since Liu Xunyi came on behalf of Luo Tianjin, Xiao Zhirou could ignore his plea.

But Mei Zichuan and Pan Yuyin were different. One of them was an old acquaintance of Granny Taohua, and the other was Granny Taohua's apprentice. They both had a close relationship with Xiao Zhirou. Therefore, Xiao Zhirou had to think twice before she acted.

After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Zhirou couldn't help but sigh and asked Liu Xunyi, "What do you want Mr. Luo to release me?"

"The Palace Master would like to invite Master Xiao to Luoyang to have a face-to-face meeting with him..."

"Impossible!" Before Liu Xunyi finished speaking, Xiao Zhirou interrupted him without any hesitation, "I swore to heaven that I would never see him again in this life."

These words made Liu Xunyi have a lot of speculations. He always had a vague feeling that the "hatred" between Xiao Zhirou and Luo Tianjin was far from as simple as he imagined.

"Then... Master Xiao, can you tell me about the grudge between you and the Palace Master?" Liu Xunyi pondered, "So that I can report back when I get back."

Faced with Liu Xunyi's concession, Xiao Zhirou's eyes couldn't help but flash with a hint of consideration.

"You have no relatives or friends with the surname Luo, why did he send you here?" Xiao Zhirou suddenly asked an inexplicable question, "Do you have any outstanding qualities?"

"This..." Liu Xunyi was stunned and said hesitantly, "What virtue and ability do I have? How can I be so outstanding?"

"That's strange. Luo is always very cunning and never does anything he is not sure of." Xiao Zhirou said suspiciously, "The fact that he sent you here is enough to show that you have extraordinary abilities."

"Valley Master Xiao is so kind..."

"You are trying to get the skin of a tiger and are in cahoots with him. Instead of feeling ashamed, you feel proud of it?" Xiao Zhirou suddenly changed the subject, which made Liu Xunyi stunned. An expression of uncontrollable embarrassment appeared on his face.

"I really can't see what's so great about you." Xiao Zhirou said indifferently, "You are so young, but you are associated with the Luo family, which shows that you have no ambition and are short-sighted. You speak so confidently, but you flatter the surname Luo, which shows that you value hearing over seeing and don't know how to judge people. You are eloquent, but you are flattering, you are persistent, but you are cunning. You can't tell right from wrong, black from white, you are confused, you don't know what is high and low, you are like Luo Tianjin, and you are birds of a feather."

Seeing Liu Xunyi being criticized by Xiao Zhirou for all his good deeds, Tang Cong couldn't help but get furious. He was about to open his mouth to refute her, but was stopped by Liu Xunyi with a wave of his hand.

In response to Xiao Zhirou's ridicule and contempt, Liu Xunyi just smiled awkwardly and did not respond.

"That's it!"

Seeing that Liu Xunyi was unmoved, Xiao Zhirou suddenly felt bored and said bluntly: "Do you really want to know what the feud between me and the surname Luo is?"

"Yes!" Liu Xunyi said solemnly, "If Valley Master Xiao is unwilling to go to Luoyang to confront the Mansion Master face to face, and wants Granny Taohua and Tang Afu to escape safely, this is the only way at the moment."

"You seem determined to win?"

"I dare not! I am just being sincere."

"Well, I want to see how sincere you are."

Xiao Zhirou looked at Liu Xunyi deeply, then suddenly turned around and walked into the valley.

Liu Xunyi and Pan Yuyin looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, then made up their minds and quickly followed.

After a while, the group walked through the sea of ​​flowers and entered a bamboo forest deep in the valley. After passing through the bamboo forest, they suddenly discovered that at the end of the Jueqing Valley was a bottomless cliff.

Seeing this, Mei Zichuan exclaimed: "This cliff is so deep that it may reach the eighteenth level of hell."

"There is a tiger's den and dragon's pond on the top of Changbai Mountain, and there is a cliff deep in the Jueqing Valley. These are not surprising. The world is full of wonders, far beyond the imagination of ordinary people." Xiao Zhirou said lightly.

Looking ahead, the cliff was filled with clouds and mist, blocking out the sky and the sun, with no end in sight. Liu Xunyi and the others looked down and could vaguely see that under the layers of mist, there was a dark and gloomy darkness. Staring for a while, one would feel a sense of horror as if there was a bloody mouth, and one dared not stand on the edge of the cliff for a long time, for fear of falling off the cliff if one was distracted.

"This cliff is called 'Forget Love Cliff'. It is a thousand feet high and ten thousand feet deep. Dragons dare not dive into it and phoenixes dare not fly up to it."

Xiao Zhirou stood at the edge of the cliff as if nothing had happened, and threw down a stone. Everyone listened attentively, but after waiting for a long time, there was still no response. This showed that the cliff was so deep that the sound could not reach it.

Seeing Liu Xunyi and the others looking at each other in bewilderment, Xiao Zhirou said with a half-smile, "This cliff is blessed by the God of Heaven, and is connected to the spirit of the Earth Mother. It knows good and evil, right and wrong, black and white, and straight and crooked. It is a yin-yang mirror of the world. Therefore, if a wicked person falls off the cliff, he will be smashed to pieces and die without a complete body. But if a good person jumps down, not only will he not die, but he will also be unharmed."

"Is it true?" Tang Cong couldn't suppress his curiosity and blurted out.

“Whether it’s true or not, you’ll know once you try it!”

Xiao Zhirou suddenly turned around and looked at Liu Xunyi with interest, saying with a half-smile: "Liu Xunyi, you keep saying that you want to save people, and you say that you treat them with sincerity. But I wonder if you have the courage to jump off the cliff of oblivion to commemorate your resolution?"

"I……"

"Why did Granny Taohua and Tang Afu appear in the Qin residence? And why were they captured by Luo? In the final analysis, it was to help you." Xiao Zhirou added, "Therefore, to save them, you should be willing to do anything. This is in line with the code of conduct in the martial arts world, and it is considered to repay a favor, right?"

"Yes! They really suffered because of me. I am to blame for this..."

"Master!" Tang Cong's face suddenly changed, and he said hurriedly, "This is not a joke. What she said about being blessed by the gods and being connected to the spirit of the earth mother is clearly nonsense. This cliff is bottomless. Once you jump off, you will definitely die without a burial place and your body will be hard to find. You must not be deceived by her and do something stupid."

"Brother Tang is right. Brother Liu must not act on impulse." Pan Yuyin quickly agreed.

Xiao Zhirou looked at Liu Xunyi with a calm gaze, frowning, and said calmly, "If you dare to jump off the cliff, I will believe your sincerity and give you an answer. If you don't dare, you can just turn around and leave, and I won't make things difficult for you."

Chang Wuhui's eyes struggled, and hesitantly said: "Then Granny Taohua and Senior Brother..."

"Grandma Taohua is blessed by heaven." Xiao Zhirou said in a deep voice, "As for Ah Fu and others, their life and death are determined by fate, and no one can force them."

Mei Zichuan looked at the unfathomable cliff and said to Liu Xunyi, "Even if you have extraordinary martial arts skills, you will not survive if you jump off. Young man, you only have one life, so don't take it lightly. I advise you to go back to where you came from!"

"How?" Xiao Zhirou asked, "Do you dare to jump?"

As Liu Xunyi approached the edge of the cliff, he suddenly felt a gust of cold wind rushing up into the sky, piercing his bones and making him feel palpitating.

Overlooking the abyss, the looming darkness is like a dream, and the ethereal clouds seem to gather and disperse. In front of the vast, towering and endless abyss, human beings are so small that they are awed.

"Master Xiao, are you...joking?" Liu Xunyi suppressed his anxiety and asked casually, "If I jump from now on, I'm afraid I will never have the chance to hear your answer again."

"If you have a clear conscience, you will be able to hear it." Xiao Zhirou said firmly, "If you have evil intentions, even gods and immortals cannot save you."

"What a joke!" Tang Cong said contemptuously, "How do you know that a good person can be safe if he jumps down? Have you ever jumped down?"

Xiao Zhirou ignored Tang Cong's doubts and said to Liu Xunyi, "I'll give you three days. You can choose what to do next."

After saying that, Xiao Zhirou no longer hesitated, and resolutely turned around and left under the astonished gazes of others.

"Master, this woman is crazy!"

Looking at Xiao Zhirou's back, Tang Cong finally couldn't help but feel angry and complained: "These days, masters are not scary, women are not scary, and lunatics are not scary, but a mad woman with perfect martial arts is a bit creepy! If she dares to force you to jump off the cliff today, she might dare to throw us all into the oil pan and fry us into twisted dough sticks tomorrow. The mansion master is right, a heresy is a heresy, and common sense cannot be used to infer... No, no! We'd better leave this place of trouble as soon as possible, so as to avoid changes..."

At this moment, Liu Xunyi paid no attention to Tang Cong's chattering.

"Miss Pan, you are a familiar visitor to Jueqing Valley. Please arrange for Tang Cong and Senior Mei and his mother to stay here first. I want to be alone."

"Brother Liu, Master Xiao raised this difficult question, clearly intending to drive you away, you must not take it seriously."

"Don't worry, I will never do anything stupid." Liu Xunyi smiled bitterly, "I'm just curious, what kind of grudges and hatreds are there between Master Xiao and Master Luo?"

"No matter how curious you are, you can't sacrifice your life for it."

“If we gain nothing and return empty-handed, we may be able to save our own lives, but the lives of Tang Afu and the others will be…” Liu Xunyi hesitated to speak, and finally let out a sigh.

Tang Cong said angrily: "The heretic disciples have killed innocent people indiscriminately and committed numerous crimes. They deserve no pity to die!"

"The heretic disciples may deserve to die, but they cannot die because of me." Liu Xunyi shook his head and said, "In any case, they showed up at the Qin Mansion in Hexi in order to calm the disturbance in the Central Plains martial arts world. If they hadn't gone, this disaster would never have happened. Good and evil will be rewarded, and karma will come and go. I can't control the people of the world, but I hope I can have a clear conscience."

"But……"

"This matter is of great importance, and it is definitely not as simple as you and I imagined." Liu Xunyi's expression changed, and he said seriously, "Grandma Taohua is a kind-hearted person, and Senior Ye is a martial arts master with high moral character and prestige. Since Master Xiao is appreciated and respected by them, he must not be a treacherous or evil person. I guess there must be some misunderstanding between her and the Lord of the Palace. If we can resolve this grudge, not only can we save Tang Afu and others from getting out, but we can also eliminate the worries for the Xianwang Palace and let the Lord of the Palace concentrate on dealing with the martial arts conference next year. The Lord of the Palace has handed this matter to us, and you and I must go all out and not allow any mistakes. Therefore, not only can we not just leave, but we can't return empty-handed."

……

(End of this chapter)