As the gaze finally passed over him, Li Xun collapsed softly to the ground; his entire body soaked in cold sweat. So weak that he couldn't even move a fingertip.
Once the emperor's procession had moved on, the common folk gradually stood back up and, under the watchful eyes of the Jinwu Guards, began to disperse.
Li Xun followed the tide of people like a dead man walking. His mind was numb, his thoughts reduced to a single line:
How could someone so terrifying exist in the capital? Who is she?
I can't stay here any longer!
As clarity slowly returned to his thoughts, his instincts flared with alarm.
That woman—that National Preceptor—was no ordinary person. Even in the Tongxuan Realm, she would likely be on the same level as the demonic phoenix. If she had merely ignored him, that would have been the best outcome. But if, by some cruel twist, she found herself curious about him…
Then the consequences would surely be disastrous.
A chill prickled in his heart. He couldn't shake the feeling: anyone who would abandon the proper path of cultivation, forsake the immortal road, and come linger in the mortal realm playing at being some imperial advisor—especially with eyes like that—could not be a righteous cultivator.
Maybe I should just leave the city for a while, he thought to himself.
He truly couldn't stay in the capital any longer. Every day spent hiding like a stray dog, constantly hiding, constantly fearing that Blood Wanderer would discover his whereabouts.
Now, on top of that, he had stumbled right into the path of this unfathomable female National Preceptor.
If he insisted on staying, he might very well lose his life.
And beneath all those rational fears, there was something else that worried him.
What if… he ran into someone he knew?
Surely, the news of Lin Ge's death would have already reached the mountain—delivered by Qi Bi. The sect would be shaken. And no doubt they'd dispatch people to investigate Tiandu Peak.
Tiandu Peak was less than fifty miles from Songjing. With swordflight, it was only moments away. If he were to run into a fellow disciple or elder on the streets…
What would he say?
How would they look at him?
Those were questions Li Xun dared not even ask himself.
For nights now, he had watched the sky, afraid that a streak of sword-light from his own sect might suddenly descend. The shame, guilt, and fear had become an unbearable burden.
Leaving now might just be the best choice.
As for the matter of the Blood Wanderer, there was still time. And frankly, staying here wasn't likely to yield any new leads. Better to clear his mind elsewhere.
Having made up his mind, he wasted no time packing what little he had and slipped toward the west side of the city. The east held Blood Wanderer. Beyond the north gate loomed Tiandu Peak. And the south, site of the imperial rituals, now belonged to that incomprehensible female National Preceptor.
After weighing every danger, the west was the only direction that remained.
He didn't dare take to the skies—not yet. Fetching the Azure Jade sword from its hiding place, he broke into a swift run. If he could reach the city gates before they closed at sundown, he could make it far enough away to be safe. Once outside, he could fly.
As the emperor's procession vanished into the distance, the city began to stir back to life. People returned to the streets, and Li Xun—his head lowered—no longer stood out. Dressed as a wealthy young master, he now blended seamlessly into the crowd.
His cultivation had already reached a modest level, and though he appeared to be walking normally, he was secretly using a movement technique underfoot. His pace, in fact, was far from slow\.In less than half an hour, he reached the west gate.
The sun was dipping low. He couldn't afford delay. Drawing in a deep breath, he stepped toward the threshold.
Just past those gates—somewhere secluded—he could take flight. And once he did, no one would be able to catch him.
These days, the gates of Songjing were under tight control—lax toward those exiting, while those entering were subject to rigorous inspection.
Thankfully, he slipped through without incident.
He exhaled a long, pent-up breath. Power surged back into his limbs. He quickened his pace, the city walls shrinking behind him.
The road ahead darkened. Travelers thinned out.
Li Xun laid his hand on the hilt of his sword, scanning the surroundings for some quiet, deserted spot—ready to take to the skies and leave by swordflight.
That was when a voice spoke beside his ear.
"Leaving so soon?"
It was familiar. Yet not.
At first, Li Xun couldn't even discern whether it was male or female—it was a soft and melodious voice, yet carried the cold, the quiet, the depth of an underground river—unfathomable, it defied all attempts to grasp its origin or its bounds.
His body went stiff. He swallowed hard, then slowly turned his head toward the source of the voice.
About ten paces away stood a female Daoist, smiling softly.
Her face looked just like when he'd seen her on the street earlier—blurred and hazy, like an illusion, impossible to see clearly.
Her hair was tied in a high knot, held by a violet phoenix hairpin. A silk horsetail whisk hung from her arm, and she wore a simple inner robe of fine cotton beneath a dark indigo Daoist mantle. The broad sleeves of her robe danced lightly in the winter wind, as though she might ride the breeze and vanish into the sky at any moment.
You would really think she was a virtuous Dao seeker.
Li Xun forced a smile, hoping to ease the tension—but on his face, the smile came out more like a grimace, awkward and stiff.
Under the female Daoist's enigmatic smile, he felt like all his secrets were about to be dragged out into the open—as if he were standing stark naked in the snow. It was unbearable.
He had never been a man lacking for words. And yet now, under this woman's eyes, he found himself tongue-tied. All his usual cleverness, his glib tongue, had evaporated.
She studied him for a moment—up and down—and her eyes held a strange, unreadable emotion.
Then she spoke again: "You're a disciple of the Mingxin Sword Sect, aren't you?"
Li Xun wasn't the least bit surprised that she could tell. He simply nodded stiffly. He had thought to turn the question around and ask her name in return, but the courage just wasn't there , and he could only let it go.
The female Daoist stepped forward, closing the distance. "A kid like you, barely even in the door, running around out here with no senior or elder—what are you doing here?"
Li Xun opened his mouth, but a thought crossed his mind. His instincts kicked in, and just as the words were about to leave his lips, he changed his response: "I... I don't know…"
It was a clumsy answer, completely disjointed, but he wore an expression that hinted at a buried pain—like he was carrying some heavy burden—which made it sound all the more convincing.
The female Daoist looked intrigued. She stepped closer. "So young, and already burdened by such thoughts?" she said, smiling. "Why not tell me what's troubling you?"
Li Xun hesitated. His face torn, tinged with embarrassment and shame. He fumbled for words, but couldn't bring himself to say anything.
She studied his face and seemed to grow even less suspicious. She just chuckled and said, "There is no trouble in the world that cannot be spoken aloud. We are both cultivators—you and I. If you are truly in difficulty... maybe I can help."
Her tone was kind, but the way she kept things vague set off alarm bells in Li Xun's heart. Still, he knew he couldn't keep faking it. His eyes reddened, and he choked out, "I... I don't want to cultivate anymore…"
It was a line he took straight from her "we are both cultivators" comment. But the moment he said it, he felt all the fear and frustration he'd been bottling up explode out of him. The bitterness rushed out uncontrollably—and to his own surprise, he actually started crying.
Amidst the tears, he began to recount what had happened at Tiandu Peak—though only in broad strokes.
In his telling, he was just a scared junior disciple who'd been terrified out of his wits by the terrifying might of the Demon Phoenix and fled in panic, too ashamed to return to the sect. Now he had no choice but to wander the mortal realm.
Most of it was true—he just skipped over a few details, like defying his master, begging for mercy, and the whole Blood Wanderer mess. He figured she wouldn't be able to tell.
Besides, Tiandu Peak was only a few dozen miles from here. When the sky demon phoenix had descended that day, the inferno it brought scorched hundreds of miles around. Even ordinary mortals saw it clearly. And the battle that followed nearly flattened half the mountain—there was no hiding something like that.
Better, he thought, to offer a sliver of truth and ease her suspicion than to weave an obvious lie.
By now, he was almost certain of one thing: this female Daoist standing before him—no matter how serene and gentle she she appeared on the surface—definitely wasn't from any righteous sect within the Tongxuan Realm.
Her behavior was too bizarre, and the slyness hidden in her words were nothing like the ways of someone who walked the righteous path.
It was precisely for this reason that Li Xun had chosen to cast himself as a spineless cowardly junior—only by handing her the blade's handle could he deflect her suspicion, retreating so he might survive.
He wept for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, all while telling his tale in an intentionally jumbled, disjointed way. But because nine parts of what he spoke were true and only one part false, his story could withstand scrutiny.
When the tears finally stopped, the female Daoist simply replied with calm, "So that's how it is." Her tone was mild, but the suffocating pressure he'd been feeling all along suddenly eased. It seemed she'd bought the story.
He'd done all he could. From here on, whatever happened would no longer be within his control.After going through so many life-and-death situations, he'd learned one thing—sometimes, fate had to be accepted, whether he liked it or not.
By now, he was already kneeling on the ground, ears perked up, waiting to hear the verdict.
"You're an interesting child," she said finally, her voice as hard to read as ever. "Not like those dull-headed zealots full of delusions about slaying demons and upholding righteousness… It's been a long time since I've come across one like you."
Her words were clearly leaning in his favor.
But what came next left Li Xun stunned.
"Cultivation is no more than an ordinary matter. If you no longer wish to cultivate, so be it. If one day you change your mind, you might as well. However…" —she paused, then smiled— "I do happen to be lacking a clever disciple to attend to me. Would you be willing to accompany me for a while?"
Though spoken politely, her tone left no room for refusal. The decision had already been made.
Fortunately, Li Xun had anticipated such an outcome. He knew someone like her would never simply let him walk away. So when the moment came, he did not lose his composure. After making a show of hesitant deliberation, he bowed his head and answered humbly:
"I have nowhere else to go. To be taken in by Immortal Master—I am deeply grateful."
Having said this, he raised his head and hesitantly asked, "may I be so bold as to ask the Immortal Master's name?"
The female Daoist smiled faintly. As she did, the illusion veiling her features began to fade, slowly revealing her face.
Li Xun focused his gaze—and a chill ran through his mind.
Words like refined features or beauty like a painting felt hollow in comparison.
The woman before him possessed not just beauty, but a kind of quiet, profound presence that radiated from within.
Maybe it was those eyes of hers—flowing with exotic light and impossible to read. There was a gravity to her aura, stately and regal, but within it lurked something else: a boundless gloom, like a storm stretching across a thousand miles of twilight sky. Cold. Heavy. Ominous. It felt like it could envelop the entire world.
Looking into her eyes, Li Xun could only think of endless stormclouds blotting out the sky, of wailing winds screaming across a desolate tundra, of a world sealed beneath frost and silence.
Then, through that surreal haze, he heard her reply:
"I imagine you've heard of me in your sect. Among the 33 Sects of the Tongxuan Realm, across the million cultivators, all know me as....
"Yin Wanderer."
At that name, the blood drained from Li Xun's face.
He went deathly pale in an instant.