Beitang Ken lifted Ding Xiaocuo by her back collar as if he were holding a chick, and threw her heavily onto the cold, hard ground. Less than three meters away from her was a bottomless precipice.
"Give it to me!" he reached out his hand, looking at the sword box tightly held by Ding Xiaocuo. This kid who appeared out of nowhere had a speed of escape as fast as his actions in grabbing things, to the point that he even had the illusion that this guy's feet didn't touch the ground at all. In fact, Ding Xiaocuo had indeed been riding on the wind just now. It's just that her magical power was too weak and she couldn't "run" fast enough, unexpectedly being caught up by a human.
"No, I won't!" Ding Xiaocuo hugged the sword box even tighter and shouted at the top of her voice, "The Lingxi Sword is mine!"
"I don't want to use force." Beitang Ken approached step by step, moonlight illuminating a cold and indifferent face. It didn't look like he was joking. Ding Xiaocuo's eyes darted and she suddenly rushed forward, grabbing Beitang Ken's legs and bawling with snot and tears, "Hero!!! To be honest, this small one was forced to steal your sword! A gang of mysterious people kidnapped my parents and demanded the Lingxi sword within seven days in exchange, or they'll kill my parents. I never thought that this sword would be in your hands, and I had evil thoughts in a moment of desperation! Hero, please spare this small one. This small one is the only son in my family. If anything happens to me, my parents won't survive!" This display of emotional and tearful pleas slightly softened Beitang Ken's expression.
"The mysterious people found you to obtain the Lingxi sword?" He crouched down and looked at the slender figure of the boy. In those bright and sparkling almond-shaped eyes was a pool of clear and bright moonlight, so beautiful that he didn't look like a boy. He was absent-minded for a moment before turning his gaze elsewhere. "Give me the sword first."
Before he finished speaking, a sudden gust of wind burst from the woods behind him, and a green figure descended from the sky, accompanied by a cold snort. "I didn't expect Beitang Ken to be involved in the shady business of going back on your word!" The green-clothed woman from the inn had finally caught up.
"The Lingxi sword is still yours." He didn't explain, both hands clasping the sword box, gesturing for Ding Xiaocuo to let go. Ding Xiaocuo shook her head desperately, refusing to let go. If she let go, when would she see it again?
The sharp airflow cut through the silent air, and a barbed trilobal dart flew out from the green-clothed woman's hand, aiming directly at Ding Xiaocuo's heart. Ting! With a crisp sound, Beitang Ken raised his fingers and deftly flicked away the trilobal dart.
"The moonlight is beautiful tonight; it's not suitable for killing." He helped Ding Xiaocuo up, or more accurately, lifted her up.
"Beitang Ken, you can't afford to offend the people behind me." The green-clothed woman took out a whistling arrow, poised to shoot. "And don't think that having obtained that letter means you know the whereabouts of Ye Nichang, and all will be well. As soon as I release this arrow, our people will always be one step ahead of you and chop her into minced meat!"
With a slight force from Beitang Ken's palm, the sword box flew from Ding Xiaocuo's hand towards the green-clothed woman. "My sword!!" Ding Xiaocuo screamed heart-wrenchingly.
"Similarly, I hope you keep your promise." He coldly glanced at the green-clothed woman. She opened the sword box, checked it without any issues, and smiled meaningfully at him. "Don't just talk about a mere Lingxi sword; in the future, even the world will be ours. Those who achieve great things naturally keep their promises. Hurry up and retrieve your woman. Hahaha."
Satisfied, the woman's figure disappeared into the night. Beitang Ken took out the letter, read it, tore it apart, and threw it off the cliff without any regard for the guy beside him, who was rolling on the ground and beating his chest. Seeing Beitang Ken's lack of response to his earnest performance, Ding Xiaocuo gritted her teeth, crawled up, and rushed to the edge of the cliff. Facing the night sky, she howled like a wolf, "Dad, Mom, your son can't save you! I... I don't have the face to keep on living! Let this deep cliff bury my indignant heart!"
Beitang Ken turned around, intending to leave.
Ding Xiaocuo was taken aback and quickly raised her voice, "I’m jumping!!"
Beitang Ken ignored her, continuing to walk away. "Hey, hey! I’m really jumping!!" Ding Xiaocuo hardened her heart and took another small step forward, causing some pebbles to fall from the edge of the cliff. Beitang Ken still didn't look back.
"Beitang Ken, you..." Ding Xiaocuo stomped her foot in frustration. At the same time, her expression changed as she felt a lightness under her foot, and with a cracking sound, the ground she stood on split open by her stomp. Crying out in fear, the accidentally falling Ding Xiaocuo grabbed onto a vine at the edge of the cliff, her entire body hanging in mid-air. "Help!" she shouted, looking up. Considering the endurance of this vine versus her weight, it shouldn't last more than two minutes.
"Lies should at least be told convincingly." Beitang Ken's face appeared above her, squatting at the edge of the cliff, looking leisurely like a spectator.
"I... I didn't lie..." Ding Xiaocuo’s body shook uncontrollably, then she roared like a lion, "Hurry up and pull me up!"
"Before this vine breaks, I hope you have time to explain your real purpose of snatching the Lingxi sword," Beitang Ken glanced at her sympathetically.
"I've already said the Lingxi sword is mine! It's mine! I just want to get my own stuff back!" Ding Xiaocuo looked down at the abyss below, the bottomless deep darkness making her dizzy.
"Then continue dangling there for fun. I'm leaving." Beitang Ken stood up.
"Hey, hey! I didn't say that! I've been looking after the Lingxi sword for hundreds of years! My shifu entrusted the Lingxi sword to me! I lost it after watching a movie the other day, and somehow ended up in the Song Dynasty following it. My name is Ding Xiaocuo. I'm a person from more than nine hundred years in the future. Sir, please pull me up!" Ding Xiaocuo was so anxious that tears were about to burst out. What's worse, she distinctly heard the sounds of the vine breaking. Shameful! As a lingxi, she couldn't even fly!!! To think she was hanging alive on a cliff like this and being bullied by this man!!
"Ding Xiaocuo... Xiaocuo..." Beitang Ken muttered this name, looking pensive. Just at that moment, with a loud bang, accompanied by Ding Xiaocuo's scream, the vine snapped in two!
The cold wind swiftly brushed past Ding Xiaocuo's ears. Her body instantly felt weightless, as if her soul was about to float away. The bright moon in the sky seemed not to be getting farther but closer and closer to her. Subsequently, there was a figure with fluttering clothes, dashing on regardless of peril. "Beitang Ken..." Ding Xiaocuo murmured before closing her eyes.
"I saw this fish first!" Ten-year-old Ding Xiaocuo, wearing a pink dress, stood with hands on hips by the river, angrily shouting at the boy who appeared to be about her age.
"But I'm the one who caught it first." The boy lifted the rare multicolored fish in his hand and put it in the fish basket.
"You're so shameless!" Ding Xiaocuo jumped in front of him and glared up at the boy, who was half a head taller than her. She found a stone to stand on, knowing it would give her the advantage of looking down at him. "Whoever sees it first owns it!"
The boy swung the fish basket onto his back and coldly looked at her. "Seeing it makes it yours? So, if you see the sky and the earth, are they yours too?"
"You..." Ding Xiaocuo was left speechless, her little face turning as red as a tomato. The boy left her behind and walked toward the riverbank.
"Vile, hateful!" Ding Xiaocuo was furious. She sat cross-legged, clasping her hands in a spell-casting gesture and silently recited a few incantations. A light pink halo with a fluorescent light formed in her palms, and with a low exhale, she commanded, "Go!" The light shot out like an arrow, passing through the boy's back without leaving a trace, piercing through where his heart would be. After circling him twice, it swiftly returned to Ding Xiaocuo's hands. She clasped her palms together, and the glow disappeared in an instant. Opening her eyes, she smiled smugly.
"Beitang Ken!" She stood up and shouted at his retreating figure. The boy paused, turned back, and looked at her with suspicion; this was their first meeting. "How do you know my name?"
"Hehe, not only do I know your name, but I also know your birth chart[1] and the name of the person you hate the most!" The more surprised he looked, the happier she became. Beitang Ken looked at her triumphant look, shook his head, turned, and walked away.
"Hey, hey! You can't leave! Hey!" Ding Xiaocuo jumped down from the stone, stomping her foot and yelling, "You brat, show some respect! Fine, Beitang Ken, I'll make you regret this!"
Heavenly Realm, Yue Lao Palace, Marriage Hall.
Ding Xiaocuo stood among the clay dolls filling the room, searching. All the men and women in the world who are registered in the Book of Fated Marriage have a clay doll engraved with their names and birth charts there. Men on the left, women on the right, a pair of clay dolls tied together by a red thread, neat and tidy, without a single flaw.
Yue Lao is responsible for matchmaking, and the little matchmakers under him are in charge of tying the red threads on these men and women according to Yue Lao's pairings, forming connections between them. Apart from the Blue Birds[2], the matchmakers are also Lingxi. Blue Birds are skilled in flying, responsible for communication and occasional tasks like delivering love letters and such for lovers in the world; Lingxi, on the other hand, are good listeners, able to hear what is in the hearts of humans, and then take appropriate steps to help resolve emotional knots. Strictly speaking, Ding Xiaocuo was not yet a matchmaker. With her young age and limited experience, she could only discern people's names and birth charts, as well as their obvious likes and dislikes. She was still in the trainee stage now.
However, what she wanted to do today required neither seniority nor much magical power. A male clay doll was held in her left hand, with the name Beitang Ken clearly engraved on the back. In her right hand was a female clay doll with the name Ye Nichang engraved on its back. She placed the two dolls on the floor, took out a red thread she had stolen from Yue Lao, and tied one end to Beitang Ken's hand and the other to Ye Nichang's hand, intentionally tying a tight knot. After finishing, Ding Xiaocuo pulled out a small golden scissors borrowed from another young matchmaker, held the original red thread that was tied to Beitang Ken's hand, and said, "Miss, marrying a nasty guy like Beitang Ken will surely bring you misfortune. Let me help you escape his evil clutches and find a better husband." With a flash of golden light, the original red thread was cut in half! Just as she was gloating over his misfortune, the sound of Yue Lao coughing suddenly came from outside the Marriage Hall. Terrified, Ding Xiaocuo hastily dropped the clay dolls and made a quick escape. Later on, the boy she met when she sneaked down to the Mortal Realm and the tampering she had done in the Marriage Hall were totally forgotten by the playful Ding Xiaocuo.
In her eyes at the time, it was just a childish, seemingly inconsequential prank. It wasn't until much later that Ding Xiaocuo realized that playing pranks on others could eventually turn into a nightmare for oneself.
"Ding Xiaocuo!" Someone called her name, the voice extremely familiar.
"Shifu!" She shouted, trying to open her eyes. However, her eyelids felt as if they were glued together, and she could only manage to open them halfway. In the swaying and hazy light, a figure approached her. "Shifu, is that you?! Is it?!"
"With such a seductive baritone, who else could it be but me!" Jiu Jue’s face gradually became clear.
"Shifu, help me! I've fallen into the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Lingxi sword has been stolen! I want to go home!" She tried to stand up but couldn't move a muscle.
"Find the Lingxi sword and then open it. Otherwise, you'll spend the rest of your life serving dishes in the Northern Song Dynasty!"
"Open it? What does that mean?"
"'Eyes in the heart; heart in the eyes[3].' Remember these two phrases. Only two people can open the Lingxi sword. You better watch out for yourself! You have been warned!!"
"Shifu! Don't leave!" Ding Xiaocuo opened her eyes, abruptly sitting up, covered in cold sweat. After fully waking up, she found herself in a dim cave, with damp moss growing on the walls. Beitang Ken stood on the protruding stone platform at the cave entrance, looking up — luckily, there happened to be this protruding mountain wall for both of them to use. Now, to return to the mountaintop, they would need at least an hour's rest.
Staggering to the cave entrance, Ding Xiaocuo's first question to Beitang Ken was, "Are we dead?" Her second question was, "Who did you give the Lingxi sword to?" Beitang Ken sat down, closed his eyes, and continued to act as if she didn't exist.
The words Jiu Jue passed on to her a moment ago were still ringing in her ears — spending a lifetime serving dishes in the Northern Song Dynasty. This outcome was too horrifying. Ding Xiaocuo finally realized the seriousness of the situation and stopped joking around. "Can you help me? I just... want to go home." Beitang Ken opened his eyes.
"This is not my world." She frowned, bit her lip, and raised her head to look him straight in the eye. "Smart people can distinguish truth from lies in the other person's eyes. No matter how much I explain, it might not be useful. I only hope that you can believe me once, even though we've just met."
Did they really just meet? He suddenly asked himself a question in his mind that even he found foolish. "I will retrieve the Lingxi sword." With that, he closed his eyes again.
Footnotes:
[1] shēng chén bā zì: one's birth data for astrological purposes.
[2] Blue Birds are sacred birds that carry food and messages for the Queen Mother of the West in myths and legends. They symbolize happiness, the pursuit of dreams and hopes.
[3] The original phrase is 心中有眼，眼中有心.
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