TDSDE 27

27. Escape

At the time, the Sect Leader had only left Bai Yuanxiu with that one cryptic sentence, leaving him completely baffled. No matter how many times Bai Yuanxiu asked afterward, he acted like he hadn’t heard.

The next day, annoyed by Bai Yuanxiu’s persistent questioning, he threw out, “Figure out what Xiao Qing means to you first,” and ran off—leaving Bai Yuanxiu to stew over that question for days.

The Sect Leader hid from Bai Yuanxiu. Bai Yuanxiu hid from the hall masters who mocked him for crying. The whole bunch of them were playing a giant game of hide-and-seek up on Mount Yunhua, darting around and giving the rest of the Demonic Sect a collective headache.

At that time, Bai Yuanxiu was squatting on a rooftop, mentally turning over everything—so thoroughly that he even remembered the little wrinkle on the Left Protector’s robe from when they first met.

Just when he thought his brain was going to explode, he suddenly spotted a sneaky figure creeping around.

Assuming it was a spy sneaking into the sect, Bai Yuanxiu tackled the person on instinct—only to later learn the guy was actually a disciple from the neighboring Yunhua Sect.

Turned out, that disciple had fallen for someone in the Demonic Sect. Unfortunately, his master happened to be one of the two old elders of Yunhua—a rigid, old-fashioned man who insisted that a righteous sect and the demonic path were utterly incompatible. He’d beaten the disciple so badly that he’d been bedridden for over ten days.

But that disciple, only barely recovered, had still snuck over again without a second thought.

Bai Yuanxiu, seeing the kid’s lovestruck expression, asked him a question.

The Yunhua disciple seemed surprised but didn’t press. After a moment of thought, he answered honestly:

“I just can’t let her go,” he said, with a shy smile. “I think about her when I eat, I think about her when I train, I fall asleep thinking of her, and the first thing I think about when I wake up… is still her.”

“I don’t know how she feels about me, but as long as she doesn’t hate seeing me, I won’t give up.” He beamed at Bai Yuanxiu with a dopey grin. “This… this must be what you meant by liking someone, right?”

And just like that, the fog in Bai Yuanxiu’s brain cleared.

He gave the limping Yunhua disciple a lift, then headed straight for the Sect Leader.

The Sect Leader had been napping at the time. When Bai Yuanxiu dug him out from under a pile of pine needles, he nearly swung at him on reflex—but in the end, he simply tossed him a new sword and told him to go test it.

The refined sword was still a fine black iron blade. But the swordsman wielding it… was no longer the same Bai Yuanxiu.

…Or rather, maybe he still was.

At that very moment, the Demonic Sect’s Sect Leader, having listened patiently to Bai Yuanxiu recount his emotional journey, suddenly found his hands itching to beat him up. “Are you stupid? What’s the point of being scared?”

He kept squishing Bai Yuanxiu’s cheeks, like he was kneading freshly steamed buns. “In this world, there are only two kinds of people: ones you can let go of, and ones you can’t.”

“If you can let go, then let go. If you can’t, then find a way to hold on tight. You’re afraid he doesn’t want to see you? That he doesn’t like you?”

The Sect Leader glared at him, completely exasperated. “Then tie him up. Lock him down. Who cares if he loves or hates you?”

Bai Yuanxiu: …?

Something about that didn’t sound right.

He tried to protest. “Isn’t that kind of… wrong?”

He wanted to say it was too disrespectful to the other person. That wasn’t what he’d been taught growing up.

In response, the Sect Leader simply replied with a blank face, “You Central Plains folk are such a pain.”

Bai Yuanxiu: …

Alright then.

That night, the Sect Leader lectured Bai Yuanxiu for hours, sharing his “life experience” in painstaking detail. In the end, he even stuffed a packet of something into Bai Yuanxiu’s hands. Bai Yuanxiu didn’t think he’d need it, but fearing the consequences of refusing, he accepted it in silence.

He had a terrible memory, so before leaving the Demonic Sect, he made a mental note to store that stuff somewhere safe and return it once everything was sorted.

But the moment he stepped out… he completely forgot about it.

This time, Bai Yuanxiu wasn’t nearly as frantic as he’d been when he first went looking for Xiao Qing. He simply headed west. Along the way, whenever he saw something rare or fun, he bought it and packed it up—planning to show it all to Xiao Qing later.

At first, he just wanted to pick up a few random trinkets. But every time he stood before some little thing, he’d think: Xiao Qing would definitely like this. He’d probably find that interesting. So he kept buying. And buying.

He had originally left on horseback. But by the time he reached the westernmost edge of Dajing, that horse—carrying both him and his haul—had gained a companion to help pull a cart.

The western region of Dajing was a stretch of dense, rolling mountains, rich in vegetation. In this late spring season, the whole area was green like a polished emerald.

Bai Yuanxiu, familiar with the terrain, guided the cart into the mountains—deliberately picking paths that didn’t even look like roads. Before long, that massive stone hall nestled in the forest came into view.

The air grew colder in the mountains. The trees were tall and lush. The deeper he went, the more it felt like he was stepping into another world—a secluded realm where chill clung to the air.

Most of the Demonic Sect had already moved out. Only a few disciples unwilling to travel far remained at the old base. But the sect had hollowed out the entire mountain to build it. Aside from the main hall, most of the sect’s space was hidden inside the mountain itself. From the outside, it looked deserted, maybe even a little eerie.

Worried the horses and cart would get stuck in the mountain passage, Bai Yuanxiu dismounted and continued on foot.

He took an unusual route, one overgrown with weeds. If not for the shrine-like stone markers that appeared at intervals, even Bai Yuanxiu might have gotten lost.

Bai Yuanxiu counted under his breath, calculating how much longer the walk would take, when suddenly, he heard a faint sound in the distance.

The trees were thick with leaves, and low, nameless plants grew wherever they could squeeze in. It’d be easy to mistake the sound for nothing more than leaves brushing in the wind.

But Bai Yuanxiu knew he hadn’t misheard.

His eyes lit up, and he ran straight toward the direction of the sound.

He made no effort to hide his approach. Honestly, he thought he’d find nothing once he got there. But when he looked up—there, standing among the branches, was a figure in white.

Bai Yuanxiu raised his hand, joy clear in his voice. “Ah Qing, come down.”

The person in the tree froze for a moment, then finally bent his knees and jumped down, landing about three meters away. He didn’t say a word, just stared at Bai Yuanxiu with a blank face.

That expression made Bai Yuanxiu’s chest feel tight, but he ignored it. He took a step forward to close the distance between them.

The moment his foot moved, he heard a thump.

Looking down toward the sound, Bai Yuanxiu saw a few things scattered on the ground.

Silken ice-thread rope, a smooth porcelain vial, a thumb-sized packet wrapped in oil paper, a delicate black iron chain with a small ornament hanging off it…

Suddenly, Bai Yuanxiu remembered exactly what those were. He hurried to explain, “These were for returning! I wasn’t going to use them!”

Xiao Qing stared at the items, dazed. But soon, his pale face turned a fierce shade of red.

“Bai Yuanxiu!”

The moment he heard his name shouted like that, Bai Yuanxiu knew he was in trouble. He opened his mouth to explain, but an icy palm strike was already flying toward him. He dodged to the side and scrambled to block with his sword’s scabbard.

As Xiao Qing’s attacks came faster and fiercer, Bai Yuanxiu realized this wasn’t going to get resolved with words. He wrapped his right hand around his sword hilt and drew the blade.

All in all, they’d fought about three or four hundred times by now.

Back when they were both still young, they couldn’t stand each other. But since both had been chosen as key disciples by the Sect Leader, they were constantly thrown together. Arguments quickly escalated into fights.

At the beginning, their martial arts were still rough, and they genuinely tried to beat the other into the ground. But as they grew older and their techniques stronger, they started holding back—each as if by silent agreement—so the fights became more about bluster than actual damage.

Now, feeling the strength of the palm strikes landing on his sword, Bai Yuanxiu could gauge exactly where Xiao Qing was at.

His earlier frustration at being avoided suddenly vanished. He glanced at Xiao Qing’s flushed cheeks and neck—and made a quiet decision.

When they charged at each other again, Bai Yuanxiu suddenly tossed his sword mid-run.

For martial artists using inner energy, their movements were usually quick—so Bai Yuanxiu’s sudden motion caught Xiao Qing off guard. He had no time to pull back his strike, and instead had to quickly shift his weight forward to counter the momentum.

Luckily, the two had started at a distance. Xiao Qing barely managed to stop himself, making it look like he froze in place.

His motion stopped—but Bai Yuanxiu didn’t.

He charged straight forward, threw his arms wide, and hugged Xiao Qing tightly.

Bai Yuanxiu had rushed too fast. Xiao Qing quickly looped an arm around his waist to steady them both and stepped back. But the forest floor was overgrown, and they couldn’t see what they were stepping on. After two or three steps, Xiao Qing’s foot caught on a raised tree root, and they lost balance—falling backward.

Seeing this, Bai Yuanxiu didn’t even think. He twisted his body, using both arms and waist in one motion—and in a blink, they swapped positions mid-fall.

That root had a sharp edge poking up. When Bai Yuanxiu landed, he hit it straight on, the pain sharp enough to nearly make him cry out.

He was just beginning to adjust to the pain when he suddenly felt the weight on his body lift. Reacting on instinct, he reached up and pulled Xiao Qing back down into his arms.

It had been a long time since they’d held each other like this. Bai Yuanxiu didn’t care about the pain anymore—he just leaned in and nuzzled into Xiao Qing’s neck, like he was cuddling a kitten.

Xiao Qing didn’t struggle. He just let Bai Yuanxiu do as he pleased. When Bai Yuanxiu finally lifted his head, Xiao Qing spoke coolly:

“Let go.”

Bai Yuanxiu froze. But then he caught a glimpse of the deep red flush at the tips of Xiao Qing’s ears peeking through his hair—and immediately grinned.

Xiao Qing stood up in one swift motion. As Bai Yuanxiu lingered in the warmth that still clung to his arms, he suddenly felt something cold press against his abdomen.

He looked down.

Xiao Qing was grabbing his belt, face stern.

“Take it off.”

Bai Yuanxiu: !??