Green Mountains and Bright Moon Never Fade, Part 3

Having said all this, Mu Hanyuan rose and spoke softly to Yun Yao, “Master, I’ll wait outside.”

“…”

Yun Yao’s voice trembled slightly.

Only when the door closed under her quivering lashes did she slowly turn back, gazing at Mu Jiutian through the candlelight.

“Is what he said true?”

“…”

Meeting Yun Yao’s eyes, Mu Jiutian, despite his knack for deception, couldn’t muster a single lie, though he was usually so adept at it.

Suppressing his emotions, he sighed, “True or false, what’s the difference? Living like this—neither human nor ghost—what’s the point compared to death?”

“Of course there’s a difference!” Yun Yao’s voice rose unconsciously, her eyes reddening. Realizing it, she turned away, her tone hardening. “Whether the grave on the back mountain is empty or full—that’s the greatest difference to me!”

Mu Jiutian laughed, his voice hoarse. “Don’t be foolish. Mu Jiutian died long ago. Do you think I can return to Qianmen like this, playing the role of some grand martial uncle?”

Yun Yao opened her mouth to speak.

“Or do you want me to live forever as a rat in the shadows, never hearing my own name, never claiming my identity?” Mu Jiutian’s sudden anger flared, veins bulging on his neck. He panted heavily, feeling the ruined body that made him want to laugh bitterly.

“I’m no longer that Mu Jiutian… I don’t even dare dream of him.”

“Let me go, Yun Yao.”

A long silence filled the room, broken only by the faint sound of candle wax dripping, solidifying, then shattering as it fell.

Yun Yao finally found her voice. “Then why did you come back?”

“Of course, for those vermin of Fuyu Palace… those hyenas who trampled over our senior brothers’ and sisters’ bones and blood, who fell to demonic ways to harm the living…”
Mu Jiutian turned from the candlelight.
His pale face, blood-red lips, and eyes harboring fathomless darkness stared somewhere distant. “Before I die, I’ll drag them all to hell. I’ll make them kneel before our brothers and sisters, repaying every betrayal with their heads!”

“They will. They absolutely will.”

Yun Yao turned back, letting him see her reddened eyes. “But you can’t die—I won’t allow it.”

The cold light in Mu Jiutian’s eyes dimmed, like a candle about to burn out.
After a long pause, he asked softly, “Do you remember the story of the evil dragon our Senior Brother told us?”

Yun Yao’s gaze flickered with the candlelight. “I do.”

“People can’t slay an evil dragon—only by becoming one can you kill it,” Mu Jiutian said with a faint smile. “That young man despised the dragon most of all. How could he bear to live on as one?”

“No.”
Yun Yao clenched her fists. “Only by growing the heart of an evil dragon do you become one.”

Mu Jiutian froze, looking up at her.

Yun Yao’s voice trembled. “Some people, even if their appearance changes completely, even if they grow scales and claws to protect others, their heart remains warm, soft. They have a fragile, living, human heart.”
“They remain that person.”
“At least in my heart, they’ve never changed.”

“…”

Beyond the door, the candlelight cast Mu Hanyuan’s solitary shadow onto the moonlit courtyard.
The ground, white as water, held his silhouette, swaying in the breeze like a lone boat adrift.

The voices from the room flowed into his ears. Combined with the stories Yun Yao shared today, they turned into vivid scenes, unfolding like a revolving lantern before his eyes.
Like lived memories, they were captivating, almost consuming.

Today, Mu Hanyuan thought more than once how wonderful it would be to have been part of those vibrant, undying memories.
The world she experienced was indeed far broader, far richer than his.

No wonder she cherished and protected it so fiercely.

The voices from the room continued to surround him.

Mu Hanyuan hadn’t meant to eavesdrop.

Lately, his divine sense had been expanding, far beyond the peak of Unity stage, at an alarming rate. Sounds like these, even through multiple soundproof barriers, poured into his consciousness.
His soul felt swollen to a breaking point.

He could even sense the barrier to Tribulation stage was mere inches away.

Within reach.

Yet, for some reason, Mu Hanyuan recoiled from approaching it.
As if breaking that barrier would unleash the most terrifying, unacceptable consequence.

“…”

In the night breeze lifting his robes, Mu Hanyuan stood for a long time, looking down at his heart.

Since the strange dreams at Fantian Temple, that voice had appeared less frequently.
The last time, he clearly recalled it whispering close to his ear.

After a long while, he sighed softly, lifting the Golden Lotus from his sleeve.

The petals of his little Golden Lotus.

“…You said it’s true. A pity it’s not about me.”

Yun Yao finally persuaded Mu Jiutian to seek treatment from the Phoenix Clan after the Immortal Sect Competition.

The Phoenix Clan, like the True Dragon Clan, was born of the heavens, favored by nature, with legends of rebirth through fire. If anyone could cure Mu Jiutian’s demonic affliction and transform his body, it was them—the best hope in Qianmen Realm.

The final two days before the competition passed in a flash.

“Just as you said, Martial Aunt, these past two days, the entire immortal domain’s been buzzing about Lord Hanyuan. Someone’s definitely fanning the flames—how else could it spread so fast?” Ding Xiao whispered through the door.

Yun Yao’s voice came from the corridor. “What about the information I asked you to gather?”

“I got it,” Ding Xiao pursed her lips. “One piece of bad news, and another piece of bad news. Which do you want first?”

Yun Yao: “…”

Sensing the deadly silence from the room, Ding Xiao didn’t dare jest further and straightened up.

“From Jiushi Valley, I heard Valley Master Xiao Jiushi was indeed summoned from the East Sea by Elder Wan. Based on Tianshan Palace’s activity half an hour ago, he’s likely arrived.”
“…”
“And Fuyu Palace—rumors among their disciples say their ancestor, Daoist Bi Xiao, has come out of seclusion. That’s why they didn’t pursue their injured officers the other day; they rushed back to Fuyu Palace to hear his teachings.”
“…”

No response came from the room.

As Ding Xiao pondered how her Martial Aunt would handle this tricky situation, the door swung open.

A lithe figure in a black dress and veiled hat emerged from the center of the parted doors.
Ding Xiao started. “Martial Aunt, what’s this…?”

Before she could finish, a muffled thunderclap roared from behind her head in the clear sky.

“!” Ding Xiao jumped, stumbling forward to kneel, instinctively grabbing Yun Yao’s leg.

Yun Yao, unable to dodge: “…Such a grand gesture so early in the morning?”

“No, it’s not that,” Ding Xiao scrambled up, flustered, brushing off dust while glancing at the cloudless sky. “Martial Aunt, did I see a ghost? It’s broad daylight, the sun’s shining—why the sudden thunder?”

Yun Yao adjusted her veiled hat, coughing lightly.
Anyone who knew her would hear the trace of guilt in that cough.

Sadly, Ding Xiao didn’t notice. Seeing Yun Yao stride down the steps toward the courtyard’s exit without a word, she hurriedly followed.

Jogging to keep up, Ding Xiao rubbed her arms, still shaken. “That thunder was so strange… it felt like it struck right into my mind, chilling me to the bone.”

“…”

Through her veiled hat, Yun Yao gave her a complicated look, unsure whether to call the girl perceptive or oblivious.

“Oh, right, the important thing,” Ding Xiao, mistaking Yun Yao’s glance for impatience, refocused. “Lord Hanyuan was summoned by the Immortal Alliance this morning and hasn’t returned. Could something be wrong?”

“Don’t worry. They’re eager to judge him before the world—they won’t let him ‘meet trouble’ before the competition starts.”

“That’s good then…”

Ding Xiao glanced back several times, hesitating to speak, until Yun Yao finally snapped, “Ask what you want. You’re practically staring holes through me.”

“Hehe, you noticed, Martial Aunt,” Ding Xiao scratched her ear sheepishly. “I’m just curious—why the sudden change to this outfit today?”

“Not good-looking?”

“Super good-looking! Stunning!”

“Pfft, bad luck. I’m here to fight today.”

“Oh,” Ding Xiao nodded halfway, then froze. “What??”

The black-veiled figure walked steadily, ignoring her.
Ding Xiao suddenly realized, “Martial Aunt, you wore black for a fight? Like the legends from a hundred years ago when you always wore black—”

“Maybe because I was fighting every day back then.”

“…Is this some kind of ritual for the immortal domain’s top cultivator?”

“No,” Yun Yao mercilessly shattered Ding Xiao’s heroic dreams. “Other clothes get dirty too easily. After a fight, I might not have enough spiritual energy for a cleansing spell. If Fourth Senior Brother caught me sneaking off the mountain to fight, I’d get a beating.”

Ding Xiao: “…?”

Taking a few breaths to process this, she asked one last question, “And the veiled hat?”

“For them, obviously.”

As she spoke, Yun Yao and Ding Xiao stepped into Tianshan Palace’s open-air plaza, the site of the Immortal Sect Competition.

Yun Yao’s gaze swept forward—

Across the plaza, filled with immortal sects and cultivators, stood a towering white jade screen, dozens of meters high, intricately carved with a hundred birds paying homage to a phoenix, gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight like an unfurled golden fan.
Before it, five elevated platforms arched from both sides toward the center, overlooking the plaza.

Four of the platforms, except the central one—raised a meter higher—were occupied by elders and disciples from the four major immortal sects, excluding Fantian Temple.
The leftmost was Fuyu Palace, the second empty, likely reserved for the absent Fantian Temple.
The rightmost was Jiushi Valley, followed by Xuangjian Sect.

Sect leaders or core elders sat at the forefront.
The competition hadn’t started, and the plaza buzzed with chatter as the leaders conversed. Yet, over half the gazes in the vast plaza were fixed on the white jade screen before the platforms.

The most eye-catching figure was the man on Jiushi Valley’s primary platform.

“…Valley Master Xiao is truly dashing, refined, and gentlemanly,” Ding Xiao marveled, staring longingly.

Yun Yao frowned, glancing through her veil with skepticism. “Is your eyesight bad?”

“?” Ding Xiao turned back, aggrieved. “How could it be? It’s the immortal domain’s consensus!”

“Then everyone’s eyesight is bad. Isn’t Mu Hanyuan better-looking?”

“Lord Hanyuan and Valley Master Xiao are different. Lord Hanyuan isn’t just good-looking—he’s the moon in the sky, an exiled immortal, the Qianmen Daoist acknowledged by his silver-threaded lotus crown. We hardly dared look at him before, feeling we’d taint him with a glance.”
Ding Xiao paused, then lit up. “So, Martial Aunt, you wore the veil to avoid Valley Master Xiao?”

“…Though he’s indeed an acquaintance, you’re not wrong, but your tone makes my hand itch.”

Ding Xiao stifled a laugh, lowering her voice. “Come on, Martial Aunt, everyone knows about you and Valley Master Xiao—”

Clang.
A sword unsheathed in the void.

Ding Xiao instantly shut her mouth, her expression solemn. “I understand. Martial Aunt hid her face to avoid alerting the enemy.”

“Something like that.”
Yun Yao snorted, heading toward Qianmen’s spot in the plaza’s open space.
“Let’s see how these petty villains plan to bully my precious disciple if I’m not around.”

“…”

Ding Xiao recalled the startling thunderclap when her Martial Aunt opened the door, casting a sympathetic glance at the five platforms.

That black outfit…
Who knew which poor soul it was meant for.

Meanwhile, on the rightmost platform, as Elder Wan passionately recounted events, Xiao Jiushi’s smile froze. He raised his sleeve, signaling silence.
Elder Wan immediately quieted.

Xiao Jiushi paused for a breath, then abruptly stood, his gaze trembling as he scanned the crowd below.