Chapter 1339 - 1015: Seeking Old Friends?

That was the sound of someone striking a wooden fish!

On such a towering peak, in the silence of the night, behind dense pine woods, amid the surging roar of the pines, there appeared such a little house, and from within came the sound of a wooden fish being struck. Though there was neither blood and gore nor demons and monsters, this scene was bizarre enough to make these battle-hardened guards and Turkic soldiers feel a chill run down their spines.

Tok, tok, tok...

The wooden fish sounded for a while and then stopped, followed by a clear, ringing note from a copper plate.

Then, all things fell utterly silent.

Wooden fish, copper plate, and that faint, almost undetectable trace of Jiangzhen Fragrance in the air all seemed to proclaim that the inhabitant within ought to be a cultivator of the Way. Yet the house was no temple or monastery, merely an ordinary wooden hut, which made the whole thing especially contradictory and eerie.

And in this somewhat uncanny quiet, Lei Yu drew a deep breath, finally gathered her courage, stepped forward, and lightly knocked on the dilapidated wooden door.

"Pardon the disturbance."

...

It remained quiet.

Lei Yu raised her voice a little and said, "Forgive our offense. We have come here in the deep of night because someone has been wounded. We hope we might borrow the grace of your abode for treatment and beg your indulgence."

...

The surroundings grew so still that even the sound of the wind vanished.

Ashina Zhuxie fixed his gaze on that wooden hut, his brows knitting tightly as he said, "We’ll just break in! I, this Khan, want to see what sort of person puts on such airs!"

Wang Shaoqiu also nodded.

Seeing this, Lei Yu and Wo Xue both grew somewhat anxious. The purpose of these people’s ascent was naturally the Left General’s Tomb, so they cared nothing for how they treated the people and things here. But Shang Ruyi had been bitten by a venomous snake and forced herself up the mountain to seek help—if they offended the person inside and the other refused to aid in treatment, wouldn’t Shang Ruyi be left with nothing but to await death?

Lei Yu immediately said, "No!"

At this moment Lu Xiao slowly walked to her side and, toward the inside of the hut, said softly, "We intend no offense, but someone has been poisoned and stands on the brink of death. We beg you, sir, to lend a helping hand."

Her voice was already gentle and pleasing; now that she deliberately lowered her tone, it became even more soft and melodious, and more than a few people’s breathing sank for an instant.

Especially Wang Shaoqiu: his eyes burned as he stared at Lu Xiao, as if restraining something, then he lowered his head.

Just then, a sudden brightness came to everyone’s eyes. That rickety wooden door, which looked as though a single touch would make it fall apart, let out a long, hoarse groan and was finally slowly opened from within.

A tall yet emaciated figure, as if at any moment it might be devoured by the surrounding darkness, appeared before their eyes.

Everyone instinctively held their breath.

A man who lived atop Skytop Mountain, striking wooden fish and copper plate in such a tranquil night—regardless of how deep his cultivation might be, he himself carried an air of strangeness and unfathomable mystery. Moreover, since he dwelt here, he might truly know some clues about the Left General’s Tomb. At this moment all eyes were focused on him, their gazes blazing, as though they wished to pierce through that thin, gaunt frame.

It was a man, yet his full beard, together with his somewhat disheveled hair, nearly covered his entire face. His features were buried deep in the thick mass of hair and beard, so his countenance was almost impossible to discern, his age likewise indistinguishable. One could only just make out a pair of eyes, calm to the point of being rippleless. Faced with so many people suddenly appearing before him—and faces on some which clearly carried ill intent—he showed not the slightest stir of emotion or fear, merely swept his gaze over the crowd in silence.

"Who are you people?"

His voice was very low, as if rising up from some deep abyss, and it carried an odd hoarseness like coarse grains of sand rubbing together, sounding seemingly very aged.

Lu Xiao faintly knitted her brows, studied him carefully, then said, "Sir, you are—"

His gaze brushed past her, then turned to Lei Yu and Ashina Zhuxie. "Who exactly are you?"

Lei Yu said hurriedly, "We apologize for intruding. We—we have come seeking an old acquaintance. We did not expect that on the way up the mountain one of our friends would be bitten by a poisonous snake, so we came here hoping to find a method of treatment. Might you—"

"Seeking an old acquaintance?"

At those four words, the man’s eyebrows, already so thick they nearly merged into a single line, furrowed together. "There is only me here. I don’t know you people. Please go back."

With that, he stepped back, ready to close the door.

Lei Yu panicked, hastily stepping forward, just about to speak, but Lu Xiao was faster. She reached out and braced the wooden door, her upper body tilting slightly forward, soft as a serpent coiling along the doorframe, as she said to the man, "Even if you are not our old acquaintance, I heard you just now striking fish and plate, chanting sutras and incantations. You must be cultivating the Way. Is saving a life not also a form of cultivation?"

The hand closing the door paused.

With that brief pause, Lu Xiao’s already leaning body tipped further directly into the hut; she seemed on the verge of tumbling against him. From outside, Wang Shaoqiu suddenly let out a low exclamation: "Hey!"

But his voice was very soft, and everyone’s attention was fixed solely on that man and Lu Xiao; hardly anyone heard him. Only Ashina Zhuxie glanced sideways at him, and when he looked back, the man silently released his grip on the door, retreating two steps in succession, actually letting Lu Xiao enter outright.

Lu Xiao came to a stop, bent at the waist to offer him a bow. "My thanks."

The man’s thick black brows almost twisted into a knot.

Once he had retreated fully into the hut, the dim candlelight illuminated him completely, and only then did the crowd see his features clearly. His hair and beard were flecked with white; he seemed, at a glance, to be of advanced years, yet although his voice was hoarse, it did not truly sound like an old man’s. He wore a long robe washed so often it had turned pale, not a Daoist robe, but a common blue cotton garment, the fabric at the elbows and knees worn nearly transparent. His hair, though messy, was roughly tied into a Taiji topknot at his crown, giving him the appearance of a Daoist.

In short, the man was strange in every aspect.

Seeing that Lu Xiao had already entered, he did not drive her out again, but instead glanced once more at the people outside, his gaze finally landing on Shang Ruyi, borne by the two guards.

Lei Yu, afraid Lu Xiao’s actions might offend him, hurried to apologize and offer further bows, then said, "We are at our wits’ end, which is why we disturb you at midnight. We beg you, sir, to show compassion and save her life."

The man said coldly, "I’m no doctor. How am I supposed to save anyone?"

"..."

"If she’s been bitten by a snake, you should be carrying her down the mountain to find a doctor to draw out the poison. Coming to me is useless."

As he spoke, he again made as if to usher Lu Xiao back out.

But Lu Xiao stood her ground, unmoving. She even lifted her gaze to look around the hut’s interior once, and when she looked back at him, a faint smile had risen to her lips. "You—sir? Judging by the house, it’s been here at least a decade. You must have been living in this place all along, haven’t you?"

At the word "sir," the man’s eyebrows pinched together once more.