Chapter 369 A Lifelong Regret

After bidding farewell to Luo Tianjin, Tang Afu ran straight to the riverside and rushed back to the Jueqing Valley with Chang Wuhui and others.

The crisis was resolved, and there was no conversation along the way. At noon, Tang Afu arrived at Liushang Ferry alone.

After a whole day and night of heavy rain, the sky finally cleared up with a gentle breeze. The weeds growing by the water seemed to have awakened from their deep sleep overnight, blooming colorful flowers one after another, emitting bursts of refreshing fragrance.

Tang Afu stood quietly at Liushang Ferry, holding a sword, with his back against the endless mist and the river and sky. Facing him were the willow smoke and mist, and the apricot rain and pear clouds. Looking up, he saw thousands of peaks, and nodding his head, he saw the willows and flowers. The grass was lush and the water was clear. Every step he took brought a new scene, and every glance brought a new mystery. It was a masterpiece of nature, so beautiful that it made people yearn for it and linger.

Back then, the disheartened Tang Afu jumped off the Forgetful Cliff, intending to end his lingering life there. However, he did not expect that there was always a way out, and he drifted here, listening to Xiao Zhirou's teachings at Liushang Ferry, and gained great enlightenment, and lived his second life as a human being.

Since then, Tang Afu has regarded Liushangdu as a place of rebirth. Therefore, every time he visits here, he feels like waking up from a dream, standing here for a long time in a daze.

"Afu, are you hurt?"

The sound of nature sounded quietly, and Xiao Zhirou, with her face covered by a veil, slowly walked out of the thatched cottage. At this moment, she looked at Tang Afu with a little worry in her eyes.

"I've met the Valley Master."

Tang Afu suddenly woke up, hurriedly calmed himself down, and knelt down respectfully to Xiao Zhirou.

"Get up!"

As they approached, Xiao Zhirou grabbed Tang Afu's wrist without hesitation and carefully checked his pulse. After a moment, she breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Fortunately, there is no internal injury."

Tang Afu was touched and quickly brushed off the dust on his robe, saying, "Don't worry, Master. I just fell down accidentally."

"If you were wrestling, why are there footprints on your chest?" Xiao Zhirou said angrily, "Don't lie to me. Who did you fight with?"

"Don't worry, Valley Master. They are not from Kunlun Sect." Tang Afu knew what Xiao Zhirou was thinking and explained quickly, "I have discussed with Yin Baimei. From now on, we will go our separate ways with Kunlun Sect and keep our distance from each other. The people from Jinjianwu and other sects left Jiangzhou one after another last night. The disturbance has subsided. Valley Master, don't worry."

Xiao Zhirou frowned slightly, and asked doubtfully, "Will Jin Fuyu let it go?"

"He has no choice." Tang Afu sneered, "Last night, Yin Baimei turned the tables and almost put Jin Fuyu in an awkward situation. It was really exciting. As for the other sects, they are too busy to take care of themselves and have no intention of staying in Jiangzhou any longer."

"Why did Yin Baimei fight back?" Xiao Zhirou asked suspiciously, "Could it be that you persuaded him?"

"We don't have that ability. In fact, the person who really caused Yin Baimei and Jin Fuyu to break up was... was..." Tang Afu hesitated and hesitant for a long time, but still couldn't say anything further.

Seeing this, Xiao Zhirou couldn't help but raise her eyebrows slightly, and a hint of understanding appeared in her eyes.

"He... came to Jiangzhou?" Xiao Zhirou's voice sounded unnatural, but she tried hard to calm her inner turmoil and make herself look as calm as possible.

Tang Afu hesitated and replied reluctantly, "Yes, Luo is here."

Xiao Zhirou's expression suddenly turned extremely ugly, and she asked, "Your injury...was also caused by him?"

"Yes."

Hearing this, Xiao Zhirou suddenly turned around, as if she didn't want Tang Afu to see her eyes, and asked in a serious tone: "Why did he hurt you?"

"The man surnamed Luo wanted to see the Valley Master." Tang Afu said bluntly, "I refused, so he got angry and attacked me."

"You did the right thing." Xiao Zhirou's mood gradually calmed down and she nodded, "I really don't want to see him."

"Valley Master!" Tang Afu couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked hesitantly, "What is the connection between you and the man surnamed Luo?"

"how you said that?"

"Has he ever hurt you? Let you down? Cheated on you?" Tang Afu asked in rapid succession, "I mean... emotional pain."

"Afu, you have too many questions today..."

"When the Valley Master is mentioned, Luo seems to be a different person." Tang Afu made up his mind and poured out all his confusion. "Although I am not him, I am a man after all. I can see from his eyes that he still has feelings for you, the Valley Master..."

"shut up!"

Before she finished her words, Xiao Zhirou's expression suddenly changed. The gentleness just now disappeared in an instant, and was replaced by a chilling coldness.

"Valley Master, please forgive me!" Tang Afu was shocked and subconsciously took two steps back.

"Afu, there are some things you shouldn't know, and you shouldn't be curious about them." Xiao Zhirou scolded in an icy tone, "You must remember that people with the surname Luo will always be my sworn enemy!"

"take note of it."

"With your martial arts, you are definitely no match for him." Xiao Zhirou changed the subject and continued, "From what I know about him, Luo will never give up until he achieves his goal. How did you get away?"

"Thanks to Long Xiangshan's help, I was able to escape." Tang Afu reported truthfully. "Long Xiangshan?" Xiao Zhirou paused and pondered, "Why did they save you?"

"I don't know." Tang Afu shook his head, "But they admitted that the night raid on Prince Xian's mansion last year was also to rescue the imprisoned disciples of Jueqing Valley."

"Really?" Xiao Zhirou pondered, "I always thought their target was the two elders of the Tang Sect, and they wanted to find trouble with the Xianwang Mansion. But I didn't expect that Longxiang Mountain was coming for us."

"We have no connection with Longxiang Mountain, why do they help us again and again?" Tang Afu asked puzzledly, "It seems that they came here this time to help us out."

"Strange." Xiao Zhirou frowned, thinking hard but to no avail, "We have never met Longxiang Mountain before, why would they help us..."

"It is said that Longxiang Mountain is very close to the Mongols." Tang Afu speculated, "Could they be following the Mongols' orders and want to recruit us to join them?"

"It's possible..."

"That's right!" Tang Afu's eyes straightened, and he quickly took out a bulging letter from his arms and explained, "This is a letter from Longxiang Mountain to the Valley Master. Tang Xuan said that if the Valley Master has any questions, he only needs to take a look to understand them."

Xiao Zhirou opened the letter with suspicion and saw sixteen small, vigorous characters written on the paper.

"On the ninth day of the ninth month, at the summit of Mount Hua, I will avenge my shame on Yaotai and wait for my beloved again."

Upon seeing the letter, Xiao Zhirou, who was full of confusion, suddenly had a look in her eyes. Her dark eyebrows were tightly knitted, then quickly relaxed, then knitted again, and then relaxed again... In the blink of an eye, she had repeated this several times. A myriad of emotions lingered in the moment, and a myriad of feelings and sorrows gathered at the same time. An indescribable sense of horror instantly emerged between her brows.

Surprise, doubt, sadness, pain, bitterness...all at once, thousands of thoughts flooded into his heart, making his heart beat fast and his face pale.

"Valley Master, you...what's wrong?" Tang Afu had never seen Xiao Zhirou lose her composure like this before, and was at a loss as to what to do. He hesitated and said, "Longxiang Mountain invites you to the martial arts conference...If Valley Master doesn't want to, we won't go."

After that, Tang Afu glanced at the contents of the letter again and said hesitantly, "May I ask, Valley Master, what does this phrase 'Avenge the Shame of Yaotai' mean?"

However, Xiao Zhirou turned a blind eye to Tang Afu's endless chatter. She held the letter in trembling hands, and looked back anxiously, waiting for the short sixteen words.

"Valley Master, in the envelope..." Tang Afu pointed at the shaky envelope and reminded, "It seems there is something else..."

Hearing this, Xiao Zhirou's spirit suddenly shook. She quickly turned the envelope around and could not wait to pour out the "bulging contents".

In a moment, a pair of dragon and phoenix jade pendants slid down and landed squarely in Xiao Zhirou's palm.

This is a pair of small and exquisite jade pendants, only the size of a fingernail, in the shape of a dragon and a phoenix, exquisitely carved, round and flawless, lifelike, and ingeniously crafted. At first glance, even an amateur would know that this item must be worth a lot of money.

When she saw the pair of jade pendants, Xiao Zhirou, who was in a trance, burst into tears. Two lines of tears flowed down like a river bursting its banks, unable to be restrained.

This scene made Tang Afu, who was caught off guard, horrified. In his impression, Xiao Zhirou was always cold as ice, and could remain calm even when faced with a landslide. It was rare to see joy, anger, sorrow or resentment on her face, and it was unheard of and unseen to see her weeping like this today.

At this moment, how could Xiao Zhirou still be a peerless master or a martial arts devil? She tightly grasped the pair of jade pendants in her hands, crying bitterly, her heart was broken, she couldn't cry anymore, and she was in so much pain that she wanted to die.

In this situation, not only Tang Afu, who is as close as mother to her son, felt heartbroken and burned, but anyone in the world who saw this would be overwhelmed with emotion and sad.

The peerless master and the stunning beauty were crying like an isolated, helpless little girl. I felt pity for her and felt sorry for her.

She cried as if to vent out the grievances and sorrows that had been buried deep in her heart for decades. She no longer cared about her own status, or even the dignity that the master of Jueqing Valley should have, until the sky was dark and the sun and moon had no light.

Tang Afu, who was standing by, just shed tears silently without saying a word. Although he didn't know what Xiao Zhirou had been through, he knew that his silent companionship was better than thousands of words at this moment.

It was unknown how long the intense sadness lasted. When Xiao Zhirou gradually woke up from her memories and sighed involuntarily towards the sky, she discovered that the sunset glow had already covered the sky.

"Afu, I have made a fool of myself in front of you." Xiao Zhirou's voice was a little hoarse, but still moving.

"Valley Master, I think on the ninth day of the ninth month..." Tang Afu said with a wry smile, "You should go to Huashan, right?"

"That's right!" Xiao Zhirou nodded and said, "I have been looking for him for more than 20 years. I didn't expect that he would hide in Longxiang Mountain and become... the Holy Lord of Longxiang Mountain."

"Him? The Holy Lord of Longxiang Mountain?" Tang Afu asked in astonishment, "Could it be that the Valley Master knows the Holy Lord of Longxiang Mountain?"

"He and I are childhood sweethearts. We grew up together. How could we not know each other?"

"hiss!"

"It's just that I have been searching for him for more than 20 years, not because I want to reminisce about the past." At this point, Xiao Zhirou's eyes suddenly straightened and she said in a serious tone, "I want to get back what belongs to me from him."

"On the day of the martial arts conference, the man surnamed Luo will also show up. Could it be that... the Valley Master is not afraid of meeting him?"

Hearing this, Xiao Zhirou's expression froze, and then she snorted coldly, saying without question: "What I want to get back is far more important than a surname of Luo. Therefore, on the ninth day of the ninth month, I must go to the top of Mount Hua!"

……

　Ten years passed in the blink of an eye. Life is short, so please cherish the people around you.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)