In the silent mountain valley at night, as far as the eye could see, there were no wild grasses, only a thick, ink-black night sky spanning between two precipitous cliffs. Fan Xian, while adjusting his clothes and tying up the torn left leg of his trousers, said softly:

"That little fairy's surname is Ye, and her name is Ye Qingmei."

...

...

"Ye Qingmei?" Xiao En was incredibly shocked. "What did you say? Could it be that the mistress of the Ye family is the little fairy I once met?"

Xiao En was still a top spy in Northern Wei when the Ye family suddenly rose to prominence. Therefore, he knew the surname and given name of the Ye family's mistress. Fan Xian wasn't surprised. He smiled and said, "Besides the fairy in your words, who else could have allowed the Ye family to change the entire world's landscape in just a few years?"

"So that's how it is, so that's how it is!" Xiao En coughed again. "No wonder the Qing Kingdom could rise so fiercely. It turns out there's the shadow of the Temple behind it."

"Wrong," Fan Xian said. "You're about to die, so I'll tell you. Ye Qingmei, the little fairy you speak of, isn't a celestial being from the Temple. She... like us, is just an ordinary person."

Xiao En hadn't recovered from his earlier shock and didn't believe Fan Xian's words at all. He was immersed in his final questions before death: "...Why...did the little fairy want to capture me to the Qing Kingdom?"

As the former head of the Northern Wei's secret agents, he naturally understood the relationship between the Ye family and the Qing Kingdom's Overwatch Council.

Fan Xian said, "The Qing Kingdom had to kill you back then." He paused and added, "I must admit, you were a very terrifying figure back then… And the reason Ye Qingmei sent Chen Pingping to capture you instead of killing you was likely to repay the favor from back then. After all, it seems she came to this world because you two stumbled upon the Temple."

...

...

"Then... who... cough cough... are you?" In the darkness, Xiao En's eyes stared straight at Fan Xian, like two sharp arrows.

The dying old comrade still possessed such sharp eyes. Fan Xian couldn't help but be slightly stunned. He smiled softly and said, "Me?"

After a moment of silence, he said:

"I am Ye Qingmei's son."

Ye Qingmei's son... How Fan Xian wished he could shout it out loud to everyone in this familiar yet strange, intimate yet out-of-place world. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible at the moment. As the night deepened and the darkness before dawn arrived, Fan Xian spoke those words softly in a cave with only two people.

I am Ye Qingmei's son.

For some reason, as soon as these words left his mouth, Fan Xian felt much lighter. The heart that carried too much pressure broke free from many of the tendrils above it, at least gaining temporary relaxation, gently embracing the taste of freedom in the night breeze.

...

...

The sky gradually brightened.

The memories weren't too many, but Xiao En spoke very slowly. After a day and a half, Fan Xian finally achieved the most important goal of this trip north. He looked at Xiao En and said softly, "Do you have anything you need to confess?"

Xiao En just looked at him with a strange expression. After a long while, he gasped and said, "You are... her son?"

Fan Xian nodded and smiled. "I don't have a habit of randomly recognizing mothers."

Xiao En coughed violently twice, shaking out the last few drops of blood from his heart. He said, as if crying and laughing, "No wonder you know so many things, no wonder you're so interested in where the Temple is..." The dying old man finally saw things a little more clearly and gasped, "It seems this cave can't trap you."

"I also don't have a habit of putting myself in a dead end." Fan Xian had prepared everything and moved closer to Xiao En.

Xiao En suddenly stared intently into his eyes and said, "If you want to live well, don't go to the Temple."

Fan Xian's face was calm, and he didn't answer him.

Xiao En didn't look at him again. He just turned his gaze towards the cliff valley behind Fan Xian, his brow slightly furrowed, as if thinking about something. After a moment, the old man gasped softly and said, "I always thought I was a ruthless person who wasn't afraid of death, just seeking freedom. Now that death is near, I realize that everyone is afraid of death."

"There isn't anyone in this world who isn't afraid of death." For some reason, Fan Xian looked at the dying Xiao En and slowly released his right hand, saying softly, "But... death may not be the end. Maybe you'll go to another completely unfamiliar world."

This was his greatest secret, his greatest feeling.

Xiao En's gaze fell into the distance, and the blood-red pupils gradually softened. "You really are the little fairy... no, Ye Qingmei's son?" Without waiting for Fan Xian to answer, Xiao En continued calmly, "But you are nothing like her at all."

Fan Xian said, "You only saw her at four years old. How can you be so sure?"

Xiao En smiled and said, "Because you are far less beautiful than the little fairy."

Fan Xian subconsciously tilted his head and said, "There really aren't many women in this world more beautiful than me."

"The look in your eyes is different."

"How is it different?"

Xiao En looked at him, saying with a hint of indifference, "I understand now. On that snowy wasteland, the little fairy looked at the vast white earth, and her eyes were still soft, compassionate... I never knew how to describe it. Now I seem to feel the arrival of that darkness, and I understand that all the emotions in her eyes just expressed one thing."

"What thing?" Fan Xian's heart skipped a beat.

...

...

"A deep love and yearning for life." Xiao En smiled and said, "Although there's often a bright smile in your eyes, it's different… Your mother must have been an extremely sentimental person, while you are an extremely ruthless person at heart."

Fan Xian smiled and said, "I don't deny that."

"I've killed many people in my life, so I never expected to have a good ending." Xiao En didn't continue the topic, just staring in a daze at the dim misty sky and said, "Being able to die in this cave, as you said, a good grave isn't bad."

Fan Xian half-squatted beside him, his left hand on the old man's shoulder, discovering that his muscles were gradually softening.

The light outside the cliff was still dim, but through the mist that filled the valley, it revealed a kind of holy light. This light gently reflected on Xiao En's withered face, giving this secret agent leader, whose hands were stained with countless blood and whose later life was lonely and miserable, a feeling of liberation.

"Shouldn't there be those two jujube trees in Danzhou?"

This was the last question Xiao En asked in this world.

...

...

Fan Xian removed the last needle from behind the old man's ear. After a moment, he confirmed his death, tilted his head slightly, looked at Xiao En's corpse, and suddenly said softly, "Although there are no two jujube trees in Danzhou, maybe... maybe there really is a better world waiting for you after death."

Xiao En's eyes had already closed gently, the blood-red color in those pupils no longer able to see this strange world.

Fan Xian exhaled a mouthful of foul air and laid Xiao En's body flat in the deepest part of the shallow cave. As for whether there would be eagles coming to peck at it, it seemed he didn't consider it, so he seemed a bit cold and ruthless.

He walked out of the cave entrance and reached out into the air outside the cliff. The white mountain mist flowed with his fingers, and what he grasped was just emptiness.

———————————————————————

The Imperial Guards should still be searching for the corpses or traces of the old and young men in the valley and at various exits. This Yanshan cliff was as smooth as a mirror. No one would have thought that someone could jump off the cliff and stand firmly, and no one would have thought that someone could climb up these smooth, wet mountain walls.

Fan Xian's entire body was tightly attached to the mountain wall like a piece of paper, behind him was thick morning mountain mist, effectively covering his figure. Even if someone was on the opposite mountain wall, they wouldn't be able to see someone slowly climbing upwards like a gecko.

In Danzhou, from the age of twelve to sixteen, he spent a full four years on controlling his true qi outside his body. This was an extremely stupid way of cultivation, but Wu Zhu didn't care, and he himself enjoyed practicing it. Unexpectedly, it helped him so much later in Fan Xian's life.

Climbing like a gecko, sticking close like a snake, he carefully climbed upwards, upwards, and upwards, expressionless. The effects of the Ephedra pills had long worn off, and his true qi was a little depleted, so he didn't dare to be careless.

...

...

Shallow grass moved slightly, a hand grabbed the stone beside the cliff, and a person shrouded in black night clothes climbed up from the valley like a ghost.

The hat covered Fan Xian's cheeks. He looked back, only to see a quiet valley, as if nothing had happened. After a moment, his heart stirred. He looked towards the mountains and forests over there through the heavy morning mist, but he couldn't see anything.

But he always felt that someone over there was looking at him, that person's gaze staring at him as if it were substance.

Fan Xian lowered his head slightly, turned around, didn't think, and didn't have time to think, and plunged into the thick fog like a black arrow, running towards the direction of the capital.

Outside the Jing capital envoy's residence, Gao Da held a long knife, his eyes round like a tiger, looking at the people in front of the residence. The young master hadn't left the residence for a day and a night. All visits from Northern Qi officials had been rejected, but early this morning, people from the Imperial Guard came to deliver the imperial decree, saying that the young Emperor wanted to summon Fan Xian to the palace for a chat.

Few people knew that Fan Xian wasn't in the envoy's residence. Shen Zhong, the commander of the Imperial Guard, hoped that Fan Xian wasn't in the envoy's residence, but after searching all night, they couldn't find Fan Xian's body. Therefore, the Northern Qi side finally became suspicious, so they urgently wanted to confirm where Fan Xian was.

Who knew that the Southern Qing people would be so rude and unreasonable, using the excuse that the chief envoy Fan was drunk, and forcibly preventing the Northern Qi officials from entering the envoy's residence. A conflict was about to erupt, and at this moment, a rustling sound came from the street entrance.

It wasn't street sweeping, it was footsteps, and the Northern Qi people were overjoyed.