M49S Vol 1 Chapter 9. Bound By The Hand

“Who are you!” Dai Xiaoshan finally managed a full sentence. He had just turned around to call someone, and in the blink of an eye, this person had ended up in his senior brother’s arms.

Where had he come from? He definitely hadn’t been there a second ago.

Meng Qiqi had already shaken off his moment of shock. Chen Boyan calmly let go, but Meng Qiqi kept an arm hooked around his neck as if afraid of sliding out of his embrace. He raised a brow and asked, “And who are you?”

The question stunned Dai Xiaoshan. But Xiao Yu’er reacted instantly. He rolled to his feet and rushed in front of Meng Qiqi, spreading his arms wide.

“Don’t you dare bully my Master!”

His forehead still swollen, his rain-soaked robes streaked with dirt, Xiao Yu’er looked a complete mess. It was only then that the others noticed Meng Qiqi also seemed injured. They assumed he had just escaped from a horde of beasts.

The moment had passed so quickly that no one but Chen Boyan had noticed anything strange about the screen wall.

“You can let go of me now,” Chen Boyan said. His voice gave no hint of anger or coldness. His grip on Meng Qiqi’s wrist was not tight, but impossible to ignore.

So he was mad after all, Meng Qiqi thought.

Feigning nonchalance, he released Chen Boyan. But Chen Boyan kept staring at his bloodstained sleeve and asked, “You’re hurt?”

Meng Qiqi replied, “Sharp eyes, Young Master Chen.”

Chen Boyan lips pressed into a firm line. His gaze flicked toward the dazed Dai Xiaoshan.

“Xiaoshan. Get back to what you should be doing.”

Dai Xiaoshan jolted and quickly slipped away. They had been in the middle of fighting beasts. If not for Meng Qiqi’s sudden appearance, they would’ve been halfway through a string of kills by now.

No one knew exactly what had happened. A bell had suddenly rung from the mountain peak, and the beasts had gone wild, charging down into the valley in swarms. Not only were they surrounded, but the beasts had even started climbing the mountain.

That had never happened before.

Chen Boyan had originally been heading out to find Tu Youqiong, but with the situation turning dire, the valley had become the more dangerous place. He turned back and that was when he encountered Meng Qiqi.

Amid the crowd, Shen Qingya exchanged a glance with Meng Qiqi, then raised his sword and rushed into the valley. The others quickly followed with their blades drawn. Dai Xiaoshan hesitated for a moment, then trailed after them.

On the other side, Chen Boyan brought Meng Qiqi and Xiao Yu’er aside to tend their wounds. Meng Qiqi sat on the steps outside the doorway while Chen Boyan knelt before him on one knee, completely focused.

Had he been recognized? Meng Qiqi glanced at the sabre beside him. There shouldn’t be a problem. He had been holding a sabre when he arrived.

But Chen Boyan suddenly said, “Where did Little Martial Uncle go just now?”

Meng Qiqi narrowed his eyes slightly, then smiled. “What did you just call me? Little Martial Uncle? Do I look that much like him?”

“Then I must have mistaken you,” Chen Boyan replied.

But Meng Qiqi didn’t let it go. “You’d better explain. Why did you call me that?”

Chen Boyan didn’t answer right away. He finished wrapping the gauze around Meng Qiqi’s arm, tied a knot, then finally asked, “Did I offend you?”

“Not at all,” Meng Qiqi said, though his gaze stayed fixed on the knot.

Chen Boyan looked up.

Meng Qiqi blinked and came back to himself. He reached out and touched the knot gently, as if caught in a memory. “The way you tied this is unusual.”

“Just habit,” Chen Boyan replied without explanation. A moment later, he brought water and food for the two of them and then left.

Still proper. Still distant.

It made Meng Qiqi think back to four years ago, when they had met again. Chen Boyan had knelt outside a small building, asking to become his disciple. He had looked just like this then. After all those years of raising him, the Chen family had finally steered him back onto the right path. He had even completely forgotten about the time he’d been bitten by a ‘dog.’

But a mad dog was still a mad dog. A creature like that didn’t change. If it could bite once, it could bite again.

Xiao Yu’er noticed his master suddenly smiling in that wicked way again. His little heart trembled. He reached out and clutched Meng Qiqi’s sleeve. His voice still soft with a hint of childhood, he said quietly, “Master, killing people all the time isn’t good.”

Meng Qiqi couldn’t help but laugh. He pinched the boy’s cheeks and tugged them out.

“Tell me, good disciple. Have I been too hard on you?”

“No, no… spare me, Master!” Xiao Yu’er pleaded, but Meng Qiqi’s eyes had already drifted toward the wound on his own arm. A thought struck him, one he had overlooked.

From the start, he had been using his right hand to hold the sabre in front of Chen Boyan. But just now, he had used his left. Would someone suddenly switch their dominant hand?

Still, something that minor shouldn’t be enough to make Chen Boyan suspicious… should it?

By now, the battle between cultivators and beasts had reached a fever pitch. The mountains echoed with cries and shrieks. Meng Qiqi loitered a bit near the screen wall, pretending to examine it. Once he was sure the bell-striker hadn’t followed, he turned and said, “Let’s go check on the two young masters of the Wang clan.”

Xiao Yu’er obediently followed behind. But they hadn’t even left the flagstone courtyard in front of the hall when a sword blocked their path.

“Hold a moment.”

Xiao Yu’er immediately reached for his bow. “Who are you?”

“Gushan Sword, Mu Guinian,” the speaker replied, as expressionless as ever. “My senior brother asked that you stay here. Please do not leave for now.”

Meng Qiqi raised a brow. “And why should I listen to your senior brother?”

Mu Guinian couldn’t come up with a solid reason. His senior brother had simply told him not to let them leave. After some hard thinking, he kept his deadpan expression and said, “Because you ruined my senior brother’s reputation.”

Xiao Yu’er let out a drawn-out gasp. “Waaah…”

Meng Qiqi said nothing.

—–

Tu Youqiong followed Wang Zi’an and the others up a small hill near the valley. He stared at the sight of beasts flooding into the basin, his jaw nearly hitting the ground.

“Brother Wang, has anything like this ever happened before in the secret realm?”

Wang Zi’an shook his head. His brows were furrowed tight. The others glanced at one another, but no one spoke.

Yang Hui, the female cultivator, offered a few words of reassurance. “There’s no need to panic. Every time we enter the secret realm, elders accompany the group. This time is no exception. Even if something changes inside, it isn’t our burden to carry.”

“She’s right. We must not throw ourselves into chaos,” Wang Zi’an said with a nod, a glint of resolve in his eyes. “Now that the beasts have gathered in the valley, the outer paths are left unguarded. This is our best chance. We need to find a way to reach the Ten Thousand Swords Vault.”

“The Ten Thousand Swords Vault… does it even exist?” a rogue cultivator asked.

The vault was a long-standing feature of the Knock Upon the Immortal Gate’s legends, but for the past five assemblies, not a single attempt to open it had succeeded. The reason was simple. Its location remained unknown, and so did the key needed to unlock it.

The vault was said to contain rare elixirs, spiritual weapons, and legendary artifacts, treasures no cultivator could resist. Even after five Knock Upon The Immortal Gate had passed without a single sign of it, people still came, hoping luck would be on their side.

This time, however, Wang Zi’an offered a more concrete explanation. “When morale surges, the swords will sing, and the vault will appear. That’s a line passed down in the Wang clan. If it’s true, then with the spike in beast numbers and the cultivators’ soaring morale, the vault might just respond.”

Yang Hui nodded. “There is such a saying.”

Gushan Sword also had its own secret realm, but as the youngest disciple, Tu Youqiong knew little about it. He simply nodded along with a vague look of understanding, though his heart stirred with anticipation.

After all, what disciple entering an immortal sect hadn’t dreamed of falling off a cliff and landing on a secret manual, or finding an ancient divine weapon that chose them as its master?

“But how do we open it?” Zhao Xing frowned. “If the vault appears of its own accord, what can a handful of us really do?”

Wang Zi’an clearly anticipated the question and replied quickly, “We can’t summon the vault directly, but we can help trigger it. Now that the beasts are swarming into the valley, that spot makes a perfect battleground. If we rally the scattered cultivators still out there and attack from the rear while those on the mountain descend from above, we can strike them from both sides. It could be the key to bringing the vault forth.”

Everyone’s eyes lit up. With so many sects and their countless ultimate techniques, all they needed was to trap the beasts in the valley and unleash everything they had. Who could doubt that such a spectacle would summon the vault?

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Zhao Xing gripped his sword tightly. If he could seize a legendary blade from this, his future would be made.

But just as the seven of them were about to move out, a noise rustled from within the woods.

“Who’s there?!” Wang Zi’an’s sword was drawn in a flash. His sharp gaze swept toward the source of the noise, only to see a handsome young man parting the vines and walking out slowly. The man raised both hands politely to show he meant no harm. “No need for alarm. I’m Xiao Xiao, from Gushan Sword.”

At the same time, about fifteen lakes away from that low hill, Qing Gu and Wang Ziling were appearing from a sparse grove of trees.

Peeking nervously from behind a trunk, Wang Ziling glanced left and right before speaking in a trembling voice. “A-Are you sure we’re supposed to come out now, Great grandaunt?”

“Of course.” Qing Gu yanked him out and forced him to face the sea of stampeding beasts. “Isn’t it magnificent? Epic enough for you? You’re the young master of the Wang clan. Where’s your spine?”

Wang Ziling’s knees gave out. “Honestly, I’m just young master in name…”

Qing Gu looked at him like he was hopeless. “Even if you don’t care for yourself, at least think of Miss Yun. Don’t you like her?”

“P-please don’t say such things!” A flush rose in Wang Ziling’s plump cheeks, turning his face into a pair of rosy peaches.

Qing Gu stifled a laugh. A moment later, she suddenly grew solemn, mimicking the mysterious tone of her master. “How will you know if the future holds something good, unless you go after it? As long as you’re alive, tomorrow will always come.”

Wang Ziling froze. How long had it been since someone spoke to him like that? Since his parents passed away, no one had ever placed such expectations on him again.

Suddenly, Qing Gu perked up. “Ah! That’s my senior brother!”

Wang Ziling followed her gaze. Through the drizzle and distant haze of mountains, a lone figure stood tall against the wind. Swordlight scattered like rain, faster than the storm itself. That gleam of steel shone like moonlight in the gloom, sweeping away the shadows.

Even without seeing his face, one could tell exactly who he was.

Wang Ziling stared in awe, and a line of poetry surfaced in his mind.

Guest of Tianlou, Sword of Gushan. Cultivators all gather beneath Prince Chen’s banner. A single chant from Futu, and the tides of Nandao still. One day, the Five Lords shall rise again, and Ruizhu shall bloom anew.

“Cultivators all gather beneath Prince Chen’s banner…” he murmured, admiration rising in his eyes, only to be overtaken by a quiet bitterness. The Chen clan had produced someone like Chen Boyan. But him? If he stood beside Chen Boyan right now, wouldn’t everyone just call him a coward?