With a look of utter shock, Su Xueyin asked:
“You’ve been hiding in here the whole time?”
Sang Nian scratched her head. “I was afraid I wouldn’t wake up on time, so I came in and holed up here last night.”
Chuyao: “Then who was it that your maid saw this morning?”
Sang Nian: “She didn’t actually see me; I had my parrot talk to her through the window. It can mimic my voice, so other people can’t tell the difference.”
Chuyao’s eyes lit up as she held out her hands. “Let me see your parrot.”
Sang Nian fished Liu Liu—who was currently playing dead—out of her sleeve. Carefully taking the bird, Chuyao walked off to the side with Su Xueyin to examine it with fascinated curiosity.
Wen Buyu gave a light cough. “Lady Sang, could it be that City Lord Sang did not permit you to come with us?”
Sang Nian rubbed her hands together. “Haha, well about that… My brother isn’t entirely in favor of it.”
Wen Buyu shook his head. “If that’s the case, I have no choice but to take you back.”
Sang Nian: “Don’t do that, I worked so hard to get out!”
Wen Buyu said, “Lady Sang, you are still young. If you do this, your elder brother will worry.”
“I’m not young anymore,” Sang Nian argued. “I’m even a year older than Chuyao.”
Wen Buyu still shook his head.
Knowing that he was quite capable of actually turning the ship around and heading back, Sang Nian broke out in a cold sweat of anxiety.
Abruptly, the flying ship ground to a halt.
Sang Nian asked, “Did you do this?”
Equally startled, Wen Buyu replied, “It wasn’t me.”
From the side, Xie Chenzhou stated with concise brevity:
“Sang Qiyan.”
Sang Nian wailed internally. If she had known, she would have let Liu Liu keep playing dead a little longer.
With Sang Qiyan in front and Wen Buyu behind, she saw no way out and could only brace herself to step outside.
Another flying ship was parked right beside theirs in the sea of clouds, a small bridge connecting the two vessels. A youth in purple robes walked over from the opposite side with his hands clasped behind his back.
Standing firmly on the deck, he looked toward Sang Nian, who was inching forward in small steps, his expression neither sorrowful nor joyful.
“Brother…” Sang Nian peeked at his face, saying weakly, “I don’t want to go back.”
Sang Qiyan stared at her for a long, unbroken moment. Suddenly, he let out a soft sigh:
“Very well, then you won’t go back.”
Surprised and delighted, Sang Nian asked, “You’re agreeing to let me go with them?”
Sang Qiyan reached out to gently touch the top of her head.
“As long as you’re happy.”
Sang Nian nearly leaped into the air. “Of course I’m happy! I’m practically ecstatic!”
“When you’re out there, you must be careful in everything you do,” Sang Qiyan said, weighed down with concern. “Don’t forget what your brother told you.”
“Mm-hmm,” Sang Nian hurriedly agreed. “If anyone asks, I’ll just say my name is Sang Nian. Either way, it has nothing to do with Qingzhou City.”
A trace of a smile returned to his face as he handed her a brand-new storage bag. “Inside are your medicines, your favorite pastries, and some defensive magical artifacts. Keep them on you at all times.”
Sang Nian: “Got it, got it.”
Sang Qiyan produced a lightweight, ethereal longsword, his fingertips brushing over the exquisite patterns engraved on the scabbard.
“This was left behind by your mother. Take it with you today as a keepsake.”
Taking it solemnly with both hands, Sang Nian asked, “Does it have a name?”
“Perhaps it once did, but I do not know it,” Sang Qiyan replied.
Sang Nian attempted to draw the sword from its scabbard.
It didn’t budge even a fraction of a millimeter.
No wonder he said it was meant as a keepsake.
It truly served no purpose other than as a memorial.
Stowing the sword away safely, she stepped forward to wrap her arms around Sang Qiyan, patting him on the back.
“Brother, thank you.”
Sang Qiyan was momentarily stunned before the corners of his eyes curved upward. “Remember to write letters to your brother—whether it’s happy news or unhappy news, tell me everything.”
“Mm-hmm, I definitely will!” Sang Nian released her embrace, stepped back a pace, and put on a breezy, nonchalant front. “Don’t worry about me. If I can’t hack it out there, I’ll come back on my own.”
“Alright, your brother will be waiting for that day.”
He swept a glance over the others standing behind her, nodded toward Wen Buyu, and let his gaze linger on Xie Chenzhou for a few seconds. The warmth on his face vanished in an instant.
“Take good care of my sister. Otherwise, I will make you regret ever being born into this world.”
With that parting threat, he strode back across the bridge. “Let’s go.”
With a dull thud, the small bridge was retracted, and the flying ship set into motion once more.
Leaning heavily against the railing with half her body hanging out over the edge, Sang Nian waved her arms vigorously.
“Take care!”
Refusing to turn back, Sang Qiyan merely gave a wave over his shoulder with his back still turned to her.
The flying ship drifted further and further away, his figure swallowed up behind layers of white clouds until he vanished without a trace.
Sang Nian pulled back her gaze, turning Sang Qiyan’s storage bag over and over in her hands before carefully tucking it into her bosom. Smoothing down her wind-tousled hair, she sat down on the steps leading from the deck to the cabin and drifted into a daze.
Having given up on the idea of sending her back, Wen Buyu simply said, “It’s windy out here. Go inside and sit down.”
Sang Nian replied, “I’ll sit for a little longer before heading in.”
Nodding, Wen Buyu took out a navigation map and headed straight for the helm.
Chuyao and Su Xueyin came over to sit beside her, handing Liu Liu back as they complained with a look of distress:
“No matter how we tease it, it won’t talk.”
Reaching into her storage bag, Sang Nian grabbed a handful of melon seeds and offered them to the pair. “Use these.”
Sure enough, the moment it caught sight of the seeds, Liu Liu instantly abandoned its dead-parrot act, bouncing up to grab at her hand.
“Give me, give me!”
Intrigued, Chuyao and Su Xueyin took the seeds and resumed teasing the bird.
Dusting off her hands, Sang Nian looked left and right. “Where’s Xie Chenzhou?”
Without even lifting her head, Chuyao answered, “Over by the Head Senior Brother.”
Stretching her neck to look toward the second floor of the cabin, Sang Nian indeed spotted Xie Chenzhou standing right beside Wen Buyu.
Whatever Wen Buyu had just said caused Xie Chenzhou’s brows to lock into a tight knot, the veins on his temples visibly throbbing.
“Say that again. Which way is south?”
Carefully raising his left hand, Wen Buyu offered, “Here?”
Noticing the dark expression on the youth’s face, he hurriedly switched to his right hand. “Is it here?”
Xie Chenzhou clenched his fists. “What direction is directly ahead of the moving flying ship right now?”
A light of realization dawned on Wen Buyu. “Directly ahead is north, and behind us is south, right?”
Xie Chenzhou stared in absolute silence at the rising sun ahead.
After a long pause, he drew a deep breath. “Where is your compass?”
Wen Buyu had an epiphany. “Ah, right! I can use the compass to figure out the directions.”
A look of deep gratitude spread across his face. “Thank you for the guidance, Brother Xie.”
Xie Chenzhou forced a stiff, strained smile. “You’re welcome.”
Fetching his own compass, Wen Buyu channeled his spiritual energy to activate it, causing the needle to spin rapidly into motion.
His entire body began slowly rotating along with it, desperately trying to align himself with the needle’s heading.
Xie Chenzhou: “…”
Stepping forward, Sang Nian asked, “What’s going on?”
Snatching the compass away from him and forcefully suppressing the urge to slam it right into his face, Xie Chenzhou gritted out:
“From the moment we set off until now, we’ve flown in circles around Qingzhou a total of twelve times.”
Sang Nian: “…”
No wonder Sang Qiyan had been able to catch up so fast.
Emotions had run away for half a lifetime, only to return straight to the starting line.
With a look of utter bewilderment, Wen Buyu asked, “Could it be that I took the wrong path?”
Sang Nian slapped a hand to her forehead. “No. You never found the path to begin with.”