The night was deep, and Fan Xian stood alone beside the Sword Pit, staring at the dense forest of swords, like rice stalks or the tips of trees piercing the sky. He stood exactly where Wang Shisanlang had stood earlier. In fact, while having his final conversation with Si Gu Jian inside, he had faintly heard Shisanlang's silent weeping. Silent weeping still made a sound.

No one else was present deep within the Sword Hermitage. The matters Si Gu Jian and Fan Xian discussed were too important, and even the sword attendant had been sent far away, leaving only Shisanlang to guard the outside. Fan Xian understood that Si Gu Jian was using this to express his attitude. He trusted his youngest disciple, and Fan Xian trusted Shisan. The future of Dongyi City depended on the cooperation between Shisanlang and Fan Xian, and Si Gu Jian wanted Shisanlang to understand more from this conversation. Fan Xian also hoped that Shisanlang could glean something different from the Overbearing Qi technique he recited.

It was a silent, tacit exchange of ideas, but Wang Shisanlang was so engrossed in his gloomy emotions at the time that no one knew how much he had actually heard or understood.

The Sword Hermitage disciples silently filed into the house one after another. Fan Xian naturally wouldn't go back in. He wasn't arrogant enough to think that Si Gu Jian would truly consider him the most important and closest young man in the world because of his mother and these few meetings, and want to stay with a Qing official even on his deathbed.

A Grandmaster, when dying, would naturally want to be with the thirteen disciples he had personally trained.

At this moment, Si Gu Jian was likely inside giving his final instructions, many of which were related to Fan Xian, or rather, to matters that Dongyi City had to coordinate with Fan Xian. It wasn't convenient for Fan Xian to eavesdrop, so he sighed and walked out of the Sword Hermitage.

He didn't know if Si Gu Jian's dying wish would be able to suppress Yun Zhilan's rebellion. Fan Xian had no way to be certain.

Outside the Sword Hermitage, the Supervision Council subordinates and Dongyi City's ceremonial officials greeted him, their faces bearing different expressions of solemnity. Fan Xian shook his head and, accompanied by the crowd, headed up towards the mountain residence.

What was he waiting for? For the fall of a great man, for a shooting star to streak across the sky as a Grandmaster left this world? Fan Xian sat in a chair, resting his chin in his hand, lost in thought. Crickets chirped and frogs croaked around the Sword Hermitage. The breeze was gentle, the moon bright, and the sea breeze in the distance was slightly damp and salty, blurring the moonlight.

He was sitting on the edge of the garden near the cliff of the mountain residence, separated from the thatched cottage by the stone gate, letting the moonlight bathe him, adding a touch of chilliness that didn't quite fit the season. The faint lamplight deep within the thatched cottage remained lit, as if it would burn forever. The dying Si Gu Jian was likely still giving his final instructions to his disciples. He wondered if there would be any disputes or disturbances inside.

The thirteen disciples of the Sword Hermitage deeply revered Si Gu Jian from the bottom of their hearts. Presumably, no one would dare to betray their master, but what about Yun Zhilan?

Fan Xian narrowed his eyes, looking at the faint lamplight deep within the cottage. He suddenly looked up at the moon, noticing a long trail etched across the sky. He realized that he had been sitting quietly in the mountain residence for several hours. The night had grown so deep that there was no turning back.

When he turned his head, he saw a shadow silently approaching him from the flower garden halfway up the mountain, its presence determined by the angle of the moon's reflection.

Fan Xian asked softly, "You're healed? Why didn't you stay in Jiangnan? Why come back?"

Standing in the shadow of the stone gate, Shadow stared indifferently at the thatched cottage below the mountain and said, "No one knows I'm back."

Fan Xian had been worried that His Majesty the Emperor would become suspicious and even want to kill Chen Pingping because of Shadow's relationship with Si Gu Jian, so he had forcibly sent Shadow back to Jiangnan. He hadn't expected him to suddenly appear in Dongyi City. Without much thought, Fan Xian knew why Shadow had come. He sighed and said, "Do you still hate him?"

Shadow was silent for a moment before saying, "I hate him. But when the sword pierced his chest, much of the hatred was released."

"It's just that there are some things I still don't understand." Shadow looked at the faint lamplight in the thatched cottage and said, "Even if Father was distant from him back then, and Mother was harsh on him, and everyone in the manor humiliated him, they were still his family. Why did he have to kill them all? And me? I was the only one in the manor who treated him like a brother. Why did he want to kill me too?"

Fan Xian looked at him and said, "You didn't die, did you?"

Shadow's body trembled slightly. It was obvious that his injuries hadn't fully healed. The internal injuries made his mind less powerful than when he was at his peak.

"He's dying."

"Everyone has to die." Fan Xian sat down at the stone gate, gently patting the rough stone surface and said, "It's already astonishing that your elder brother has lived this long."

……

……

The lamplight deep within the thatched Sword Hermitage was extremely dim, as if it could be extinguished at any moment. The frail Si Gu Jian had already sat up in bed, washed his face, and recombed his hair. A forbidding aura, one that dared not be looked upon directly, resurfaced on his cold face.

Yun Zhilan, the chief disciple of the Sword Hermitage, supported his master's arm, helping him sit up in bed. Wang Shisanlang carried the basin of water outside and poured the dirty water into the sacred Sword Pit, then returned to the house and helped his senior brother support their master. The thirteen disciples of the Sword Hermitage, except for the chief disciple and youngest disciple beside Si Gu Jian, were all kneeling in front of the bed, their faces filled with sorrow. Some even had tears welling up in their eyes.

Si Gu Jian glanced at the third and fourth disciples with his clear and cold gaze, without specifically instructing them about that matter. He asked softly, "Do you remember what I said earlier?"

The Sword Hermitage disciples bowed and responded, "We respectfully obey Master's orders."

The affairs of Dongyi City were thus settled. Although the Sword Hermitage disciples had long guessed their master's intentions from the events of the past few months, none of them had expected their master to place such a large bet and such comprehensive support on Fan Xian. At this moment, however, the disciples were filled with confusion, sorrow, and fear, but none dared to raise any objections in front of their master.

Even Yun Zhilan remained silent.

Si Gu Jian's speech became increasingly slow, and the emotions on his face became increasingly faint, becoming more and more like the Grandmaster who was unpredictable and never revealed his feelings before he was injured. Yun Zhilan supported his master by his side, his mind blank, knowing that this was a final burst of energy. A sense of unbearable sadness began to pervade the room.

Perhaps Shisanlang had already cried enough earlier, for he was especially calm at this moment.

"What time is it?" Si Gu Jian took two deep breaths and asked softly in a hoarse voice.

"It's almost dawn." Yun Zhilan replied respectfully and gently from the side. The passing down of the last words of Dongyi City that night had taken the entire night. No one knew what backup plans Si Gu Jian had set up after handing over Dongyi City.

"When doing anything, once you've made up your mind to do it, you must do it to the extreme. Just like the Sword Hermitage in the future, now that I've chosen him, you must do your utmost to help him. Since it's a big gamble, you must bet all your chips. Any self-reflection or hesitation is a pain that Dongyi City cannot bear. Do you understand?"

Si Gu Jian sat on the bed, his eyes slowly sweeping over the disciples on the ground, finally landing on Yun Zhilan's face.

Yun Zhilan was silent for a long time before nodding.

Si Gu Jian smiled slightly, which was extremely rare. He knew his eldest disciple too well. Once he agreed to something, he would definitely do it.

"Help me go up the mountain to take a look. It's going to be dawn. I want... to see." An ominous gurgling sound suddenly came from Si Gu Jian's chest, sounding like the summoning waters of the underworld beneath the yellow earth. The Grandmaster's face also began to show a strange pallor.

Yun Zhilan felt a pang in his heart and tightly grasped his master's dry and thin arm. On the other side, Wang Shisanlang also supported Si Gu Jian's other arm. The two fellow disciples exchanged a glance and carefully helped Si Gu Jian down from the bed.

The Sword Hermitage's second disciple, kneeling in the front under the bed, moved forward on his knees and, with the fastest speed, supported Si Gu Jian's feet, helping him put on the pair of somewhat tattered straw sandals. However, Si Gu Jian had been bedridden for more than a month, and the toxins and injuries had fully erupted. Both feet were already swollen, and when they were put into the straw sandals, one could see the marks left by the straps of the sandals on the swollen areas.

Si Gu Jian, however, seemed to feel nothing, only sighing comfortably. The second disciple knew that his master's feet were already numb, and gently stroked them, his tears falling onto the stone floor in front of the bed.

……

……

The crescent moon was about to disappear into the faint gray horizon. Most of the sky above Dongyi City was still pitch black and deep blue, with only a fish-belly white appearing in the east. Fan Xian, who had been sitting in the stone gate all night, felt extremely tired. He rubbed his temples to keep himself from falling asleep. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and stood up abruptly, watching the lamplight deep within the thatched cottage suddenly go out. He knew that the last words of Dongyi City had been spoken… However, he then saw a scene that would remain deeply etched in his heart for many years to come.

In the distance, Si Gu Jian, dressed in linen clothes, the thin and short Si Gu Jian, supported by Yun Zhilan and Wang Shisanlang, and accompanied by all the disciples of the Sword Hermitage, emerged from the thatched cottage and walked along the mountain path in front of it, with extreme difficulty and silence, even with solemnity, towards the back mountain of the Sword Hermitage.

Shadow stood behind Fan Xian, also watching this scene, silent and without words.

Dimly, one could seem to see the dying Si Gu Jian, being helped up the mountain by his disciples, turn his head to look, that one glance falling on the stone gate of the mountain residence, not knowing if he was looking at Fan Xian, who represented the future of Dongyi City, or at his youngest brother Shadow, who represented the childhood memories of Dongyi City.

Fan Xian and Shadow stood silently at the mountain gate, watching the group move towards the top of the mountain. The two of them stood straight, perhaps wanting to express their respect for this Grandmaster, standing to see him off, their eyes looking straight ahead, without any other emotions mixed in.

The Grandmaster's body was thin and short, and with the support of Yun Zhilan and Wang Shisanlang, he was almost invisible. The linen clothes on his body fluttered in the morning wind, and his feet in the straw sandals barely touched the ground.

The mountain behind the thatched cottage wasn't high, and it wasn't far from the mountain gate where Fan Xian and the others were. Before long, the Sword Hermitage group had climbed to the top of the mountain.

The rising sun on the eastern sea also leaped out of the peaceful coastline at this time and climbed up.

Fan Xian squinted his eyes and looked, only to see the first rays of light in the human world cross the sea, pass through the residences in Dongyi City, pass through the atmosphere of the human world, pass through the gaps in the green trees, and shine on the small mountain behind the thatched cottage, on the disciples of the Dongyi City Sword Hermitage, and on the face of the frail Grandmaster at the very front.

A faint golden light suddenly appeared on the Grandmaster's face. Although he had reached the end of his life, and although his body was weak and frail, he suddenly stood above all living beings. This wasn't Sword Intent or aura, it was just the feeling of this person's existence.

Fan Xian looked at the top of the mountain, and among the crowd, he could only see him.

……

……

Si Gu Jian stood calmly on the edge of the small mountain cliff, letting the warm and familiar sunlight shine over him from the sea. He narrowed his eyes slightly, smelling the air of Dongyi City, smelling the atmosphere here, silently and without saying a word, not knowing what he was thinking in his heart, not knowing if, at the moment of his death, the past history, everything in the past, had turned into several pictures in the Grandmaster's mind, constantly changing before his eyes with the golden light of the rising sun.

Ants under the tree, friends covered in black cloth, younger brother, rain, dead people, burning the manor, swords, the Sword Pit, rotten cloth and garbage in the pit, disciples, disciples, still disciples, and more swords, big swords, Heavenly Sword, a sword across the world, a sword protecting the majestic city. The city hasn't been breached, the sword hasn't been broken, but the person is about to die.

Si Gu Jian blinked his somewhat dull eyes, dispelling the illusions in the morning sun, trying hard to stand taller and see farther, to see something real, but his feet couldn't muster any strength, and his vision was a little blurry.

Yun Zhilan and Wang Shisanlang noticed their master's thoughts and quickly helped him up.

Si Gu Jian suddenly felt that his vision had cleared up. He saw Dongyi City, which he had guarded for decades, saw the smoke rising from the city, saw the busy merchants setting up their early markets, saw the wealth and silver flowing invisibly between the city and the marketplace, and saw the happy smiles of those people.

At the moment of his death, he suddenly felt that he didn't really want to see these things, so he turned his head slightly and saw the thatched cottage where he had lived for many years, the pale yellow thatched cottage, which many years ago was just a broken straw hut. He had lived here for a long time, killed many people, taught many people, and was very proud.

Finally, Si Gu Jian saw the large green tree outside Dongyi City. Under the rising sun, this large tree, which had experienced countless storms in the East Sea, was still growing healthily and unrestrainedly, sheltering the pedestrians, travelers, merchants, and people of the world passing under the tree.

It really was a big tree.