"You seem... different lately," Di Nü Feng murmured softly.

Li Xuanxiao paused briefly, contemplating her words. "How so?"

She toyed with the chopsticks between her lips, her bright eyes flickering. Instead of answering, she countered: "Why did you slaughter everyone at that temple?"

"I heard them slandering you behind your back. I couldn't tolerate it."

Di Nü Feng's delicate brows furrowed as she bit down on the chopsticks, turning to stare intensely at Li Xuanxiao. "You're lying to me!"

Li Xuanxiao fell silent again. "They were my enemies."

"Oh? What grudge warrants exterminating an entire sect?" she pressed.

"A blood feud deeper than the sea," Li Xuanxiao stated calmly. "Mount Shushan."

Understanding dawned in Di Nü Feng's eyes. "So... you'll keep seeking vengeance?"

"Yes."

She turned away, presenting her back to Li Xuanxiao. Now it was her turn for silence.

"You deceived me!" Her voice eventually broke the quiet, laced with accusation.

Li Xuanxiao continued eating his noodles. "No deception. I help you, you aid my revenge."

Di Nü Feng's gaze fixed stubbornly on a corner of the room, refusing to look at him.

"I won't ask you or Tian Sha Hall to face enemies beyond your strength," he continued. "Just assistance against minor sects."

Her head tilted slightly, those beautiful eyes finally shifting back to him. "How strange."

"What is?"

"Nothing. It's suffocating here!" She abruptly stood and flung open the window.

Outside, an unrelenting curtain of rain fell like shattered pearls from the sky. Di Nü Feng leaned out, letting the cool wind tangle through her waterfall of hair. She lifted her face to meet the raindrops directly, inhaling deeply before exhaling a breath that seemed to carry all her troubles.

Li Xuanxiao ate in silence.

"............"

"Master, if I establish my own sect someday, will I become as powerful as you?"

The mountain path twisted through drifting clouds. A young disciple bounced along behind Zhu Rong, carrying a basket on his back.

Zhu Rong, his hair streaked with white, chuckled and ruffled the boy's head. "Establishing a sect isn't so simple, child. My recognition came only after participating in... that earth-shaking event long ago."

He puffed on his pipe, lost in memory.

"I know! It's the bone in our ancestral shrine!" the boy blurted.

Zhu Rong smacked his head sharply.

That bone belonged to a female disciple from Mount Shushan - a leg bone. Zhu Rong could never forget the woman's eyes. Surrounded by dozens of cultivators of equal rank, she'd stood fearless despite her broken spiritual sword, exhaustion evident yet her aura undiminished - a bowstring at its limit.

Seizing his chance, Zhu Rong had darted from the crowd and severed her leg.

As she collapsed in agony, the others swarmed:

"Finish her!"

"Kill her!"

"Such a beauty - cripple her first, don't kill outright!"

"........"

Their eyes gleamed like starving wolves. But facing death, the Mount Shushan disciple's gaze held not despair, but grim resolution.

Recognizing that look, Zhu Rong grabbed the severed limb and fled just as she detonated her Golden Core, taking them all with her.

"........."

"Master, how's my 'Lone Monkey Stands' stance?"

The boy balanced on a rock, one leg raised to eyebrow height. Zhu Rong said nothing, merely tapped his back. The disciple wobbled dangerously.

"Whoa! Master...!"

As Zhu Rong ascended the stone steps, his vision suddenly filled with flames. He froze mid-step, face stiffening.

A silver-haired man sat waiting on a boulder, a sword resting across his lap.

"Master, when are we going down the mountain again?" The boy tried darting past, but Zhu Rong yanked him behind protectively.

Li Xuanxiao drew his sword, sheathed it, then repeated the motion, letting sword energy linger each time.

"Master! Our...our home's burning!" the boy shrieked.

Zhu Rong restrained his frantic disciple. "Who are you, fellow cultivator? Why burn my mountain gate?"

Li Xuanxiao regarded him with amusement. "A clean conscience fears no midnight knock, Zhu Rong. Don't you remember your deeds?"

After a heavy pause: "...A Mount Shushan disciple?!" Zhu Rong's voice trembled with shock and disbelief.

Mount Shushan was destroyed. How could any disciples remain? Over the years, he'd imagined vengeful returns, waking from nightmares of his own decapitation. Yet as time passed, he'd grown complacent - never expecting retribution to strike so suddenly, so unprepared!

Shielding his disciple, Zhu Rong secretly formed hand seals beneath his sleeves. Where was his father? Though sect leader, Zhu Rong wasn't their strongest - that honor belonged to his sire.

"Don't look for your father." Li Xuanxiao anticipated his thoughts. "He's already dead."

Zhu Rong's eyes bulged. "You bastard!"

Li Xuanxiao unsheathed his blade. Sword light erupted - honed sharper by his recent battle at Qingcheng Temple. As for Zhu Rong's formidable father? Di Nü Feng was handling that.

".........."

Much later, the forest lay in ruins. Zhu Rong, defeated, hesitated before collapsing to his knees.

"Only I participated in Mount Shushan's destruction! Spare my disciples - they're innocent!"

"And those you slaughtered? Were they guilty?" Li Xuanxiao's voice was glacial.

"I...I had no choice! The mistake is made - take my life if you must! Everything was my doing, my disciples bear no blame!"

Li Xuanxiao laughed uproariously. "Since when are you so naive, Zhu Rong? You exterminated my sect - tooth for tooth, eye for eye! If you rejected Mount Shushan's laws, shouldn't you rejoice in this new era?"