Chapter 12: Whispers in the Stone Alcove, Unfinished Mortal Ties
The stone alcove was nestled in a recessed section of the rock wall. The space was cramped and damp, with a layer of icy moisture condensed on the rock surfaces, feeling slick and cold to the touch. The air was thick with the earthy stench of stone, the metallic tang of blood, and the warm breath drawn from the ragged panting of the survivors, all trapped within this tiny, enclosed space, making it feel as though a heavy weight was pressing against their chests.
Lao Chai leaned his back against one side of the rock wall, gripping his short blade horizontally to firmly guard the alcove's only exit. The deep, long wound on the outside of his thigh was still constantly seeping blood. The warm liquid flowed down his pant leg all the way to his ankle, soaking the scattered pebbles beneath his feet. He dared not make any large movements; every time he shifted his center of gravity, the wound would send a tearing agony through him. His forehead was covered in a dense sheen of cold sweat that slid down his wrinkles and dripped onto his tunic. His gaze was locked fiercely onto the black-clad figures outside the entrance. His chest heaved violently as he struggled to steady his breathing, desperate not to let the opponents realize that his stamina was on the verge of total collapse.
Xiao Ge stood half a step beside Lao Chai. The wound on his shoulder had been jostled and pulled throughout their arduous journey, causing a continuous, unrelenting pain. He pressed one hand against the wound to try and slow the bleeding, while his other hand gripped his short blade tightly. Leaning slightly forward, he was ready to step in and take over the moment Lao Chai could no longer hold the line. The young man was no longer merely tense and frightened like when they had first infiltrated the valley. After a relentless journey of slaughter and flight, with death always lurking just inches away, the fear was still there, but it was now overshadowed by a resilience stretched to its absolute limit. He remained completely silent, his eyes fixed on every move of the assassins outside, watching for the slightest shift in their posture to anticipate when the next wave of attacks would come.
Outside the entrance, the six black-clad assassins were scattered among the scattered rocks in front of the alcove, making no rash attempts to rush into the cave. They knew the entrance was too narrow; only one person could attack at a time, rendering their numerical advantage completely useless. They split into two groups to take turns on watch. One group kept their eyes glued to the entrance, while the other leaned against the stone walls to rest briefly and recover their stamina. They were in no rush to launch a full-scale assault. Instead, they planned to simply besiege the alcove, waiting patiently for the people inside to bleed out and exhaust their strength. Only when they were completely drained would they calmly harvest their lives.
The wind from the forest swept through the stone ravine and blew past the entrance, carrying the rustling sound of leaves and branches. During this brief standoff, no one inside the cave spoke. There was only the sound of their heavy, labored breathing.
Lin Yan knelt on the ground, guarding Chen Yi. He carefully adjusted his posture to avoid pulling the wound on his left arm, then looked down at Chen Yi, who was lying on the freezing stone floor. Chen Yi's face was as pale as paper, his lips entirely devoid of color. With every faint rise and fall of his chest, blood continued to seep from the wound. The words he had just spoken—“Delivering the token to Jiangnan was only the first part. There is another matter that I cannot let go of”—had fallen lightly within the cramped stone alcove, causing that hazy, unseen intuition in Lin Yan's heart to suddenly resonate.
This was it.
What he had been searching for all along wasn't the superficial obsession of "delivering the token safely." That was merely the escort agency mission Chen Yi bore. Hidden beneath that mission was a burden he had carried in his heart for years, an unresolved matter. This was the true wish that needed to be witnessed and fulfilled.
Chen Yi slowly moved his eyes, his gaze passing over the figures of Lao Chai and Xiao Ge to stare out at the deep, dark stone ravine beyond the entrance. It was as if he were looking through the darkness, seeing people and events from a very long time ago. His breathing was shallow and broken. Every few words he spoke sent a searing pain through his chest wound, forcing him to pause for a long time before he could continue.
"Twenty years ago... at the Jiangnan headquarters, there was a man surnamed Su," Chen Yi whispered, his voice so soft it was almost swallowed by the wind blowing in from outside. "He was the chief secretary, holding the official seal. He managed all the confidential letters and tokens for the escort agency. Back then, someone in the Jianghu offered a massive bounty to seize a secret scroll from the agency, one that concerned the safety of dozens of escort agencies across the north and south. The news leaked, and a large number of elite experts surrounded and slaughtered Secretary Su's entire family."
He paused as a violent fit of coughing suddenly seized him, fresh blood welling up from the corners of his mouth. Lin Yan reached out, carefully wiping the blood from his lips with his sleeve, and waited quietly for him to catch his breath.
"That day, Secretary Su fled with his only daughter, entrusting me to escort the two of them to the border to seek refuge." Chen Yi closed his eyes, a heavy wave of regret surfacing in his gaze. "I was young and arrogant back then, confident in my martial arts, and I underestimated the number of men my opponents had set in ambush. We were intercepted and attacked halfway. I fought to the death to hold off the pursuers, telling Secretary Su to take his daughter and go first. We agreed to meet at a ferry crossing a hundred miles away."
"I fought a bloody battle, suffering severe injuries. Barely managing to shake off the pursuers, I finally reached the ferry crossing. But the crossing was completely empty, with only scattered luggage left on the ground. Secretary Su had been killed. His daughter, only seven years old at the time, had vanished without a trace."
Speaking to this point, Chen Yi's voice trembled slightly. The guilt he had suppressed for twenty years could finally no longer be buried in his heart.
"For the next twenty years, I traveled across all the provinces in the north and south. While escorting goods, I secretly searched for any trace of that girl. I never found her. Secretary Su had entrusted me with his dying wish: to protect his daughter's life. I failed to fulfill that trust. All these years, I desperately protected the agency's token not merely out of loyalty to the Zhenyue Escort Agency. I always felt that failing to protect the young Su daughter was a lifelong debt I could never repay."
"Inside this token is a roster from that year. The roster records the names of everyone who participated in the slaughter of Secretary Su's family. Once the token is delivered to the Jiangnan headquarters and the roster is opened, we can find the surviving murderers from back then, and we can also find the final clues to Secretary Su's daughter."
Lin Yan's mind was shaken. So that was it.
Chen Yi's surface mission was to escort the token to Jiangnan, but his true wish, buried deep in his heart, was twofold: first, to uncover the truth behind the old case and punish the surviving murderers; second, to find Secretary Su's daughter and fulfill the promise he had made to his old friend all those years ago. The safe delivery of the token to the outpost was merely the first step. If, after reaching the headquarters, the roster was sealed and destroyed, leaving the old case forever in the dark, then the knot in his heart from the past twenty years could never be untied. This was why, even though the token was already out of danger, the guiding intuition in Lin Yan's heart had not faded.
"I originally planned that once the token was delivered to the Jiangnan headquarters, I would personally investigate the roster and search for the orphaned Su daughter." Chen Yi let out a bitter smile, his gaze sweeping over his own broken, bleeding body, filled with utter helplessness. "Now, I am severely wounded and on the brink of death, trapped in this stone alcove. I'm afraid I will never have the chance to see this matter resolved with my own eyes. This is the thing I cannot let go of."
Just then, the low voices of the assassins outside the entrance suddenly drifted in, breaking the quiet atmosphere inside the cave.
"They've been worn down enough. There are too many injured inside, and their stamina is already depleted. Attack in shifts. End this quickly." The voice of the leading assassin was cold and hard. "The first man goes up to test them. The moment they expose a flaw, the rest will seize the opportunity to rush in."
Lao Chai instantly tensed every muscle in his body, gripping his short blade with both hands and lowering his center of gravity, bracing himself for the incoming attack. Xiao Ge also took half a step forward, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Lao Chai to guard the entrance.
"They're coming," Lao Chai warned in a low voice.
A black-clad assassin bent over, using the stone wall as cover as he dashed to the entrance of the alcove. Raising his short blade, he thrust directly at Lao Chai's chest. Lao Chai twisted his body to dodge, bringing his short blade up to parry the incoming strike. Clang! The crisp sound of metal clashing echoed within the stone alcove. Seeing his attack fail, the assassin immediately retreated back into the pile of rocks, swapping places for another man to press the attack.
They employed a tactic of continuous, rotating harassment. Instead of fighting to the death with a full assault, only one person would step forward to strike once or twice before immediately retreating and swapping out. This was designed to continuously drain the stamina of Lao Chai and Xiao Ge, repeatedly tearing at their wounds and accelerating their blood loss.
After several probing attacks, Lao Chai's breathing grew increasingly ragged. Having lost too much blood from his thigh wound, his vision began to blur slightly. Xiao Ge's shoulder injury continued to worsen, and his blade swings gradually became sluggish. If this continued, within half an hour, both of them would collapse from blood loss and exhaustion, no longer able to withstand the assassins' attacks.
Lying on the ground, Chen Yi watched the brief, fierce clashes erupting at the entrance again and again, then looked at Lin Yan beside him. With great difficulty, he raised his hand and gently grasped Lin Yan's wrist. His palm was ice-cold, his grip incredibly weak.
"I know... you are different from us." Chen Yi's gaze rested on Lin Yan's face, carrying a vague, inexplicable perception that defied words. "From the first time I saw you, I felt an aura about you that doesn't belong to this world. I don't understand why, but I want to ask you. If... if you can survive and leave this place... please keep a close watch on this token. Make sure the roster is seen. Uncover the truth behind the Su family's old case. Find Secretary Su's daughter."
Lin Yan looked down at Chen Yi's withered, freezing hand. The hazy intuition in his heart suddenly became crystal clear.
This was Chen Yi's complete wish.
Only by fulfilling this would the task be truly finished.
Outside the cave, a new wave of attacks surged in. A second assassin used the rocks as cover and violently rushed to the entrance, his short blade slashing diagonally straight toward Lao Chai's shoulder. Lao Chai desperately raised his blade to parry, but the dizziness from his blood loss struck, slowing his movement by a fraction of a second. The blade was about to land squarely on Lao Chai's shoulder.
Seeing this, Xiao Ge gritted his teeth, stepped forward sideways, and used his own short blade to hard-block the strike.
Shhk! The blade sliced deep into flesh.
Lao Chai leaned his back against one side of the rock wall, gripping his short blade horizontally to firmly guard the alcove's only exit. The deep, long wound on the outside of his thigh was still constantly seeping blood. The warm liquid flowed down his pant leg all the way to his ankle, soaking the scattered pebbles beneath his feet. He dared not make any large movements; every time he shifted his center of gravity, the wound would send a tearing agony through him. His forehead was covered in a dense sheen of cold sweat that slid down his wrinkles and dripped onto his tunic. His gaze was locked fiercely onto the black-clad figures outside the entrance. His chest heaved violently as he struggled to steady his breathing, desperate not to let the opponents realize that his stamina was on the verge of total collapse.
Xiao Ge stood half a step beside Lao Chai. The wound on his shoulder had been jostled and pulled throughout their arduous journey, causing a continuous, unrelenting pain. He pressed one hand against the wound to try and slow the bleeding, while his other hand gripped his short blade tightly. Leaning slightly forward, he was ready to step in and take over the moment Lao Chai could no longer hold the line. The young man was no longer merely tense and frightened like when they had first infiltrated the valley. After a relentless journey of slaughter and flight, with death always lurking just inches away, the fear was still there, but it was now overshadowed by a resilience stretched to its absolute limit. He remained completely silent, his eyes fixed on every move of the assassins outside, watching for the slightest shift in their posture to anticipate when the next wave of attacks would come.
Outside the entrance, the six black-clad assassins were scattered among the scattered rocks in front of the alcove, making no rash attempts to rush into the cave. They knew the entrance was too narrow; only one person could attack at a time, rendering their numerical advantage completely useless. They split into two groups to take turns on watch. One group kept their eyes glued to the entrance, while the other leaned against the stone walls to rest briefly and recover their stamina. They were in no rush to launch a full-scale assault. Instead, they planned to simply besiege the alcove, waiting patiently for the people inside to bleed out and exhaust their strength. Only when they were completely drained would they calmly harvest their lives.
The wind from the forest swept through the stone ravine and blew past the entrance, carrying the rustling sound of leaves and branches. During this brief standoff, no one inside the cave spoke. There was only the sound of their heavy, labored breathing.
Lin Yan knelt on the ground, guarding Chen Yi. He carefully adjusted his posture to avoid pulling the wound on his left arm, then looked down at Chen Yi, who was lying on the freezing stone floor. Chen Yi's face was as pale as paper, his lips entirely devoid of color. With every faint rise and fall of his chest, blood continued to seep from the wound. The words he had just spoken—“Delivering the token to Jiangnan was only the first part. There is another matter that I cannot let go of”—had fallen lightly within the cramped stone alcove, causing that hazy, unseen intuition in Lin Yan's heart to suddenly resonate.
This was it.
What he had been searching for all along wasn't the superficial obsession of "delivering the token safely." That was merely the escort agency mission Chen Yi bore. Hidden beneath that mission was a burden he had carried in his heart for years, an unresolved matter. This was the true wish that needed to be witnessed and fulfilled.
Chen Yi slowly moved his eyes, his gaze passing over the figures of Lao Chai and Xiao Ge to stare out at the deep, dark stone ravine beyond the entrance. It was as if he were looking through the darkness, seeing people and events from a very long time ago. His breathing was shallow and broken. Every few words he spoke sent a searing pain through his chest wound, forcing him to pause for a long time before he could continue.
"Twenty years ago... at the Jiangnan headquarters, there was a man surnamed Su," Chen Yi whispered, his voice so soft it was almost swallowed by the wind blowing in from outside. "He was the chief secretary, holding the official seal. He managed all the confidential letters and tokens for the escort agency. Back then, someone in the Jianghu offered a massive bounty to seize a secret scroll from the agency, one that concerned the safety of dozens of escort agencies across the north and south. The news leaked, and a large number of elite experts surrounded and slaughtered Secretary Su's entire family."
He paused as a violent fit of coughing suddenly seized him, fresh blood welling up from the corners of his mouth. Lin Yan reached out, carefully wiping the blood from his lips with his sleeve, and waited quietly for him to catch his breath.
"That day, Secretary Su fled with his only daughter, entrusting me to escort the two of them to the border to seek refuge." Chen Yi closed his eyes, a heavy wave of regret surfacing in his gaze. "I was young and arrogant back then, confident in my martial arts, and I underestimated the number of men my opponents had set in ambush. We were intercepted and attacked halfway. I fought to the death to hold off the pursuers, telling Secretary Su to take his daughter and go first. We agreed to meet at a ferry crossing a hundred miles away."
"I fought a bloody battle, suffering severe injuries. Barely managing to shake off the pursuers, I finally reached the ferry crossing. But the crossing was completely empty, with only scattered luggage left on the ground. Secretary Su had been killed. His daughter, only seven years old at the time, had vanished without a trace."
Speaking to this point, Chen Yi's voice trembled slightly. The guilt he had suppressed for twenty years could finally no longer be buried in his heart.
"For the next twenty years, I traveled across all the provinces in the north and south. While escorting goods, I secretly searched for any trace of that girl. I never found her. Secretary Su had entrusted me with his dying wish: to protect his daughter's life. I failed to fulfill that trust. All these years, I desperately protected the agency's token not merely out of loyalty to the Zhenyue Escort Agency. I always felt that failing to protect the young Su daughter was a lifelong debt I could never repay."
"Inside this token is a roster from that year. The roster records the names of everyone who participated in the slaughter of Secretary Su's family. Once the token is delivered to the Jiangnan headquarters and the roster is opened, we can find the surviving murderers from back then, and we can also find the final clues to Secretary Su's daughter."
Lin Yan's mind was shaken. So that was it.
Chen Yi's surface mission was to escort the token to Jiangnan, but his true wish, buried deep in his heart, was twofold: first, to uncover the truth behind the old case and punish the surviving murderers; second, to find Secretary Su's daughter and fulfill the promise he had made to his old friend all those years ago. The safe delivery of the token to the outpost was merely the first step. If, after reaching the headquarters, the roster was sealed and destroyed, leaving the old case forever in the dark, then the knot in his heart from the past twenty years could never be untied. This was why, even though the token was already out of danger, the guiding intuition in Lin Yan's heart had not faded.
"I originally planned that once the token was delivered to the Jiangnan headquarters, I would personally investigate the roster and search for the orphaned Su daughter." Chen Yi let out a bitter smile, his gaze sweeping over his own broken, bleeding body, filled with utter helplessness. "Now, I am severely wounded and on the brink of death, trapped in this stone alcove. I'm afraid I will never have the chance to see this matter resolved with my own eyes. This is the thing I cannot let go of."
Just then, the low voices of the assassins outside the entrance suddenly drifted in, breaking the quiet atmosphere inside the cave.
"They've been worn down enough. There are too many injured inside, and their stamina is already depleted. Attack in shifts. End this quickly." The voice of the leading assassin was cold and hard. "The first man goes up to test them. The moment they expose a flaw, the rest will seize the opportunity to rush in."
Lao Chai instantly tensed every muscle in his body, gripping his short blade with both hands and lowering his center of gravity, bracing himself for the incoming attack. Xiao Ge also took half a step forward, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Lao Chai to guard the entrance.
"They're coming," Lao Chai warned in a low voice.
A black-clad assassin bent over, using the stone wall as cover as he dashed to the entrance of the alcove. Raising his short blade, he thrust directly at Lao Chai's chest. Lao Chai twisted his body to dodge, bringing his short blade up to parry the incoming strike. Clang! The crisp sound of metal clashing echoed within the stone alcove. Seeing his attack fail, the assassin immediately retreated back into the pile of rocks, swapping places for another man to press the attack.
They employed a tactic of continuous, rotating harassment. Instead of fighting to the death with a full assault, only one person would step forward to strike once or twice before immediately retreating and swapping out. This was designed to continuously drain the stamina of Lao Chai and Xiao Ge, repeatedly tearing at their wounds and accelerating their blood loss.
After several probing attacks, Lao Chai's breathing grew increasingly ragged. Having lost too much blood from his thigh wound, his vision began to blur slightly. Xiao Ge's shoulder injury continued to worsen, and his blade swings gradually became sluggish. If this continued, within half an hour, both of them would collapse from blood loss and exhaustion, no longer able to withstand the assassins' attacks.
Lying on the ground, Chen Yi watched the brief, fierce clashes erupting at the entrance again and again, then looked at Lin Yan beside him. With great difficulty, he raised his hand and gently grasped Lin Yan's wrist. His palm was ice-cold, his grip incredibly weak.
"I know... you are different from us." Chen Yi's gaze rested on Lin Yan's face, carrying a vague, inexplicable perception that defied words. "From the first time I saw you, I felt an aura about you that doesn't belong to this world. I don't understand why, but I want to ask you. If... if you can survive and leave this place... please keep a close watch on this token. Make sure the roster is seen. Uncover the truth behind the Su family's old case. Find Secretary Su's daughter."
Lin Yan looked down at Chen Yi's withered, freezing hand. The hazy intuition in his heart suddenly became crystal clear.
This was Chen Yi's complete wish.
Only by fulfilling this would the task be truly finished.
Outside the cave, a new wave of attacks surged in. A second assassin used the rocks as cover and violently rushed to the entrance, his short blade slashing diagonally straight toward Lao Chai's shoulder. Lao Chai desperately raised his blade to parry, but the dizziness from his blood loss struck, slowing his movement by a fraction of a second. The blade was about to land squarely on Lao Chai's shoulder.
Seeing this, Xiao Ge gritted his teeth, stepped forward sideways, and used his own short blade to hard-block the strike.
Shhk! The blade sliced deep into flesh.