Chapter 295 Meandering Water Drinking Water
"Where is this place? I jumped off the Forgetful Cliff and drifted here, but why is Valley Master Xiao here? And there is the Heartless Flower... The Heartless Valley is far above the cliff, a hundred feet away, so why can I smell the fragrance of flowers here?"

Stunned, Liu Xunyi poured out all his doubts, and at the same time slowly moved his limbs in the water to check if he was injured.

"You really have some skills. No wonder Luo sent you here."

Xiao Zhirou turned a deaf ear to Liu Xunyi's doubts and just uttered a sentence lightly, which was unclear whether it could be considered an exclamation of emotion.

"here……"

"Come up and talk."

Before Liu Xunyi could finish his words, Xiao Zhirou suddenly flicked her sleeves, and a white silk thread flew out, shooting straight into the center of the lake. Seeing this, Liu Xunyi's eyes fixed, and he stretched out his right arm, while the white silk thread wrapped around his arm, his five fingers also tightly grasped the white silk thread.

"Whoosh!"

With a slight sound, the white silk was pulled in sharply, pulling Liu Xunyi from the lake up into the air, and he leaped straight to the shore.

"Thank you!"

In response to Liu Xunyi's greeting, Xiao Zhirou suddenly turned around and walked towards a thatched hut not far away.

At this moment, Liu Xunyi had calmed down. Seeing Xiao Zhirou's strange behavior, he was slightly stunned. He looked at her back hesitantly, hesitated for a moment, and then quickly followed.

The thatched hut is simple but very elegant.

On the walls of the room, there are several slightly yellowed calligraphy and paintings. Although Liu Xunyi is not a scholar, he knows a thing or two about antique calligraphy and paintings.

When he first entered the thatched cottage, he felt that these calligraphy and paintings seemed familiar, but he looked at them again and again, thinking again and again, but he still couldn't guess which "famous artist" created these calligraphy and paintings? In the end, he could only give up in disappointment, feeling ashamed of his "lack of talent and wisdom".

What surprised Liu Xunyi the most was that none of these calligraphy and paintings were "intact". They were all torn into pieces and then pieced back together again. Although they looked quite complete, the spider-web-like cracks showed that they would never be able to be "reunited".

There were no tables or stools in the room. There were a few cushions on the floor. In the corner was a guqin covered with a thick layer of dust. It looked as if it had been unused for many years. I wonder if it could still make any sound? Apart from that, there was nothing else.

"Master Xiao, this is..."

"This is 'Liushangdu', which coexists with Jueqing Valley on the same river. However, Jueqing Valley is upstream, and this is downstream."

Xiao Zhirou asked Liu Xunyi to sit on the floor, while she stared at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall and paced slowly in the room.

"Liushangdu?" Liu Xunyi murmured to himself, "No wonder I can smell the fragrance of the Merciless Flower here. It turns out that the fragrance of the flower is carried down by the river wind and diffused here."

"What is your relationship with the man surnamed Luo?" Xiao Zhirou suddenly turned around, and stared at Liu Xunyi meaningfully with her beautiful, deep and bright eyes, which made Liu Xunyi feel cold in his heart.

"What do you mean by this, Master Xiao? I don't understand!"

"If you have no relationship with Luo, why did you risk your life by jumping off the cliff?" Seeing Liu Xunyi's sincere words, Xiao Zhirou couldn't help but frown and asked suspiciously, "What ability does Luo have that can make you so devoted to him that you would not give up even if you died for him?"

"This……"

Being pressed by Xiao Zhirou, Liu Xunyi was somewhat at a loss. There were some things that he would rather keep to himself than say them out loud.

Seeing Liu Xunyi's embarrassed and hesitant expression, Xiao Zhirou couldn't help but snort and mutter to herself, "The Luo guy sent you here, which means you are willing to give everything for him. I just don't know, is the Luo guy too cunning? Or are you too stupid? Even if you die at the bottom of the cliff today, the Luo guy will never shed a single tear."

"Maybe so."

Xiao Zhirou's words reminded Liu Xunyi of the past events that happened on August 2nd in the Qin Mansion in Hexi. He could not deny it and smiled bitterly, saying frankly: "But I still came! Since I dared to come, I was ready to come and never return. But what I didn't expect was that the bottom of the Forgetful Cliff... turned out to be a deep pool."

"Even so, not everyone has the courage to jump off the Cliff of Oblivion." Xiao Zhirou said, "In this world, except for a baby crying for food, who can truly have a clear conscience? Even you... must have done something shameful that you cannot show to others."

Every word Xiao Zhirou said was as sharp as a needle, causing Liu Xunyi's face to turn pale and he dared not respond carelessly.

"Therefore, those who are willing to jump down without hesitation do not believe that they will not die. On the contrary, they are certain that they do not want to live in this world anymore, so they have the courage to take that step." Xiao Zhirou continued, "In other words, only those who are determined to die dare to jump off the Cliff of Forgetfulness. As for you, you are the only person I have ever met who does not want to die but still dares to take the risk."

"From what Master Xiao said, it seems that besides me, there are others who have jumped over the Cliff of Oblivion?"

"I've seen two of them." Xiao Zhirou said calmly, "and you are the third one."

"Who are the other two?"

Xiao Zhirou's expression froze, and she said quietly, "One is me, and the other is Tang Afu."

"Tang Afu?" Liu Xunyi was shocked and asked in astonishment, "Why did he jump off the cliff?"

"Back then, the Tang family was robbed and Shen Dongshan cheated him of all his family property. Although I saved his life, I couldn't save his heart. He could never get over it. He was depressed all day long, had no fighting spirit, was muddleheaded, and wanted to die." Xiao Zhirou recalled, "Later, I took him to the Cliff of Oblivion. I told him that as long as he jumped, all the pain would disappear. As for whether he dared to jump, it was up to him to decide."

Liu Xunyi frowned and said hesitantly, "In the end, did Tang Afu really jump off the cliff of oblivion, experience a round of life and death, gain some enlightenment, rekindle his fighting spirit, and gradually walk out of the haze of his family's destruction?"

"It's not that I've forgotten, but that I've seen through it." Xiao Zhirou explained, "Back then, it was also in this place that I asked Ah Fu, if you're not afraid of death, are you afraid of living? The fact that you've come to this place from the bottom of the cliff is enough to prove that you don't want to die, and you're still struggling to survive."

"Everyone says that the Lord of Jueqing Valley is the most ruthless, but now it seems that Lord Xiao is the most affectionate person." Liu Xunyi sighed sincerely, then changed his mind and asked meaningfully, "Then why did Lord Xiao jump off the Forgetful Cliff back then? Is it related to the Northern Sage King?"

Hearing this, Xiao Zhirou's eyes suddenly turned cold, and she shouted coldly: "Stop talking!"

"Please forgive me, senior!" Liu Xunyi apologized hastily, then rolled his eyes and said hesitantly, "It's just that..."

"Just what?"

“Although I have only met Valley Master Xiao once, I believe in every word he says!” Liu Xunyi replied with a hint of meaning.

Xiao Zhirou sneered and said in a deep voice: "If you want me to fulfill my promise, you can just speak frankly and don't have to beat around the bush."

Liu Xunyi was overjoyed, and quickly stood up, cupping his hands and saying, "I dare to ask for advice from Master Xiao!"

Xiao Zhirou glanced at Liu Xunyi, then turned to look at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall, and asked without turning her head: "What do you want to know?"

"What is the grudge between Master Xiao and the Xianwang Mansion... or rather, the Northern Xianwang? Is there any misunderstanding?"

Although Liu Xunyi was quite afraid of Xiao Zhirou, as things had come to this point, he could no longer avoid it and simply spoke frankly.

“It’s not a misunderstanding!”

Although Xiao Zhirou's voice was gentle, her tone was extremely firm: "There is an old score between me and the man surnamed Luo that can never be settled. This hatred is so deep that it will never be resolved in this lifetime."

"hiss!"

Liu Xunyi was secretly shocked, but on the surface he still tried to remain calm and asked, "May I ask...what is the grudge?" "This..."

She wanted to blurt out the words, but when they came to her lips, she swallowed them back. This cycle repeated countless times, and she finally let out a sigh full of resentment and bitterness.

Even though Liu Xunyi was extremely anxious, he did not dare to urge him.

"That's it!"

When Xiao Zhirou spoke again, her voice was no longer as cold as before, and even trembled slightly. Because she was standing facing the wall, Liu Xunyi could not see the changes in her eyes.

"Master Xiao, what are you doing..."

"You are just delivering the message for Luo, so there are some things...you don't need to know." After hesitating again and again, Xiao Zhirou was unable to resolve the knot in her heart.

Hearing this, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but look disappointed, thinking: "I am not deliberately making things difficult for you, but...if Master Xiao is unwilling to explain the past grudges, I am afraid that I will not be able to report back, let alone rescue Granny Taohua and your disciples."

"Don't worry." Xiao Zhirou shook her head and said, "Although you may not know some things, Luo knows them very well."

Liu Xunyi was confused after hearing this. After thinking hard but to no avail, he asked, "I wonder what Master Xiao meant..."

"Let me play a song for you." Xiao Zhirou stared at the guqin in the corner and said quietly, "When you go back, play it for Luo, and he will understand everything."

Although Liu Xunyi didn't know the reason, seeing Xiao Zhirou's solemn expression and sad words, he stopped arguing.

"Please remember this. I will only play it once..."

"Wait a minute!"

Suddenly, Liu Xunyi's eyes changed, and he tried to dissuade him: "To be honest, I am a warrior, and I can barely read and write, but I know nothing about music. Let alone once, even if you say it ten or a hundred times, it will be like hearing a heavenly book to me, and I have no idea what it means..."

"So what?" Xiao Zhirou seemed a little unhappy and said angrily, "I only promised to give you an answer, but I didn't tell you what the answer was. You don't understand music, so you can't blame me?"

"This……"

"If anything happens to Granny Taohua and my valley disciples because of your inability to remember the music, I will kill you no matter where you are." Xiao Zhirou threatened in a cold voice.

"I……"

Faced with Xiao Zhirou's "speculation", Liu Xunyi was like a mute eating bitter herbs, unable to express his pain.

"Prick up your ears and listen carefully..."

"Wait a minute!"

Seeing Xiao Zhirou wiping the dust off the zither and her ten slender jade fingers lightly stroking the strings, Liu Xunyi tried to dissuade her again, "I have a way!"

Xiao Zhirou raised her eyebrows and asked suspiciously, "What method?"

"Before Valley Master Xiao plays the zither, I want to meet someone!" Liu Xunyi said anxiously, "This person is proficient in everything from playing the zither, chess, calligraphy and painting, and her attainments in music are unmatched. Right now, she is the only person in Jueqing Valley who has the ability to read a monument and remember it after hearing it. If she is here, she will be able to convey Valley Master Xiao's zither music to the Northern Sage King without a single leak."

"you are right……"

"Pan Yuyin, the disciple of Granny Taohua!"

"Yuyin?" Xiao Zhirou was slightly stunned and asked hesitantly, "You want her to help you?"

"It's just a piece of music. No one except Valley Master Xiao and King Beixian can hear the deep meaning, let alone guess the past grudges between you two." Liu Xunyi seemed to see Xiao Zhirou's concerns and added quickly, "Valley Master Xiao, the most urgent task right now is to rescue Granny Taohua and your sect's disciples, not to make things difficult for me. I hope you will put the overall situation first and think twice!"

Was it because she was moved by Liu Xunyi's sincerity or because she was eager to save people? Xiao Zhirou hesitated for a moment and finally nodded in agreement.

Without further hesitation, the two picked up the guqin and walked out of the hut one after another.

"Where are Miss Pan and the others now?"

"They all thought you were dead, so they are building a cenotaph for you."

"This..." Xiao Zhirou's words made Liu Xunyi extremely embarrassed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Have you ever thought that I'm lying to you? What if the Cliff of Forgetfulness really shatters you into pieces?" Xiao Zhirou asked.

"This place has beautiful mountains and clear waters, with birds singing and flowers blooming. It's a perfect place to be buried. If you die, then die."

"You look so young, but why do you keep talking about the word 'death'?"

"Master Xiao, why do you ask when you already know the answer? You and I both know that when you are in the martial arts world, you have no choice."

"Where are your parents? Can they bear to see you living on the edge of a knife every day?"

Liu Xunyi was slow to answer Xiao Zhirou's casual question, and the smile on his face gradually froze.

"What? Are both your parents dead?" For some reason, Xiao Zhirou's tone became a little softer.

"Ugh!"

In response to this, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but sigh, which was considered as his agreement.

While they were talking, the two of them had already boarded the boat at the ferry.

"What about the rest of your family?"

"Ugh!"

"Don't you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Ugh……"

Three sighs in succession, like the sound of wine flowing on a winding stream, accompanied by a lone boat, going upstream, slowly heading towards the Jueqing Valley.

……

(End of this chapter)