Chapter 165: What a Coincidence

Once surrounded by over a thousand soldiers, Kong Ning and Kong Hai had already carved out a bloody path. Upon hearing their junior sister’s cry, they wasted no time lingering in battle and dashed toward the source of her voice. None in the camp dared pursue them, for in the brief span from their arrival to their departure, they had ended the lives of nearly two hundred men.

Following Kong Xue’s call, Kong Ning and Ning Hai soon spotted their abducted junior sister.

"Senior brother, second brother!"

Seeing her brothers, Mu Kong Xue shouted and ran toward them, tears streaming down her face.

“Are you hurt?” the corpulent Kong Hai asked with concern. When she wiped her tears and shook her head, he finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

“You frightened us to death. If anything had happened to you, how could we ever face Master?” Kong Ning scrutinized his sister, and seeing no wounds upon her, he too relaxed.

After exchanging a few words, Mu Kong Xue wanted to recount how Zhou Qing had rescued her, but after some thought, she kept it to herself.

Dawn was not far off. After this night’s ordeal, the three siblings set off under cover of darkness. By morning, their figures appeared on the banks of a great river.

The river’s waters were thick with yellow silt and sand, muddied and turbid. Thus, it was known as the Silt River. It crossed the territory of the Tang Empire, running through four provinces and seventeen counties, earning its name as a great river.

“We’ll follow this Silt River all day, rest by its banks tonight, and by midday tomorrow, we’ll reach the Northern Gate Forest,” Kong Ning explained, holding a flatbread in hand and eating as he spoke, while Kong Hai and Kong Xue echoed him, munching on their own bread.

After their meal, the three siblings set off along the river. Not long after, Zhou Qing, draped in his red robe, appeared at the riverbank as well. He glanced at the muddy waters, then without hesitation, dove in.

Concealing himself beneath the turbid riverbed, Zhou Qing followed the trio unnoticed, and night soon descended.

When evening came, the siblings kindled a fire by the riverside, intending to spend the night there. Zhou Qing sat cross-legged beneath the river nearby, meditating in the water.

After the sleepless night before, and with nothing amiss by the river, Kong Ning and Kong Hai soon fell asleep beside the fire. Not far from them, in a small tent, Mu Kong Xue tossed and turned, unable to rest.

“Zhou Qing? What is happening to me? I’ve only met him twice, yet now his image fills my mind. Could it be I’ve fallen in love with him?”

Her thoughts were consumed by Zhou Qing, clad in red; distractions swirled in her heart, and she found sleep impossible. Shaking her head, she tried to comfort herself, “How could I fall in love? I’m not the sort for idle affection. It must be gratitude, since he saved me once.”

Despite her self-reassurance, Mu Kong Xue lay back down but could not drift to sleep; Zhou Qing’s figure appeared again and again in her mind.

With a long sigh, she finally stepped out of the tent, hoping to chase away his lingering image.

Outside, she glanced at the fire, saw her brothers sleeping, and chose not to disturb them. Instead, she walked gently to the grassy riverbank and sat down.

A maiden of eighteen, awakening to spring’s stirrings—such was Mu Kong Xue at this moment.

Sitting on the grass, she gazed at the moon above. She meant to dispel Zhou Qing’s image from her mind, but as she sat, memories of the cave and their time together resurfaced vividly.

“Will I ever see him again in this life?”

By the Silt River, Mu Kong Xue murmured, quietly yearning for Zhou Qing. Suddenly, she noticed a subtle ripple of spiritual energy on the river’s surface.

She paid it little mind, picking up a small stone and tossing it into the river.

Upon doing so, a trail appeared on the water, as if something large stirred below.

But this was the Silt River; there ought not to be such creatures.

Mu Kong Xue’s face grew wary. She watched the shifting trail beneath the water, saw it move three or four yards, then halt.

She grabbed another stone and threw it in. Again, the thing beneath moved forward several yards.

“What on earth is in this river?” she wondered, picking up a third stone to throw.

But as she raised her hand this time, the stone slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground. Her expression shifted from puzzlement to delight.

For from the river emerged a human figure—the very one she had been yearning for.

Zhou Qing rose from the riverbed, glanced at Mu Kong Xue, then looked toward the distant fire, and spoke: “What a coincidence, Miss Mu. We meet again.”

“Meet again? I suspect you’ve been following us all this way,” Mu Kong Xue replied, joy bubbling beneath her words. From their meeting in the deserted village, to his rescue in the cave, and now his sudden appearance from beneath the river, she had no doubt he had trailed the siblings all along.

“What is your purpose?” she asked, watching Zhou Qing stand on the river’s surface.

“No purpose, really,” Zhou Qing answered candidly. “After meeting in the village, I heard you were headed to Northern Gate Mountain. My destination is the same, but I don't know the way, so I followed you.”

“You’re going to Northern Gate Mountain? Do you know what kind of place it is? Why do you wish to go there?”

“I’ve heard it’s a forbidden zone. My reason is that my grandmaster left something there years ago, and now I must retrieve it.”

Mu Kong Xue fell silent. Whether Zhou Qing spoke truth or not, she could sense he was not a wicked man.

From what she had seen, his cultivation far exceeded that of the siblings. Had he harbored ill intent, he would have acted already, and he would not have saved her in the cave the previous night.