Chapter 1824 — Farewell in the Snow Valley

"So that is how it is!" Tang Yun nodded. "Then the herbs written on that prescription..."

"They are all ordinary herbs. You can buy every one of them at any pharmacy," said Elder Zhang.

Gu Mengyao nodded at that. It seemed this task could only fall to her. She took the prescription Elder Zhang held out, and solemnly tucked it into the front of her robe. This was the very thing that would save Wei Zhao's life; she could not be careless with it in the slightest.

"Miss Gu, Miss Shen, you may leave the valley now." Having finished all of this, Elder Zhang turned to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. "The Snow Valley's sacrificial rite and the ceremony of taking a disciple are about to begin, and you are not of the Snow Valley. You cannot stay here!"

"But..." Gu Mengyao looked at Tang Yun with reluctant eyes, then at the unconscious Wei Zhao, and for a moment did not know what to say.

"Elder Zhang, may I... see them off?" Tang Yun knew that the decision was made and could not be undone; there was nothing for it but to accept. Still, she could fight for one thing: to walk the last stretch of the road with Yao Yao, Little Shu, and Wei Zhao — and after that, never see them again.

"Well... very well!" Elder Zhang was a kindhearted man. So long as Tang Yun's requests were not too unreasonable, he would grant them.

Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu packed their belongings. It was Shen Yushu who had carried Wei Zhao here in the first place, but now Snow Valley disciples were already waiting at the gate with a stretcher. There was no need for Shen Yushu to bear him on her back any longer; they would carry Wei Zhao out of the valley and lift him into the car.

From the guest rooms to the car outside the valley was no great distance, yet beneath Tang Yun's feet it seemed miserably short.

"However far one escorts a friend, parting comes in the end..." Tang Yun's gaze fixed blankly upon Wei Zhao's face, and a flicker of unwillingness cut across her clear eyes.

Let me look at you clearly. Perhaps this parting will be forever.

And yet, at this moment, I am proud. I am happy.

At last I am no longer that useless ornament of a girl who cannot so much as truss a chicken. Never again will I be a burden to you...

When we meet again, I can tell you proudly that I am finally able to help you. But by then, perhaps you will no longer remember me...

A smile lingered on Tang Yun's face, yet tears welled up in her eyes in spite of herself, and everything before her blurred into mist. It was as if she had suddenly gone back to her third year of high school, to the little path where she had first met Wei Zhao, to the shade of the tree where they had their first date, to that romantic night in Xixing Mountain Village...

All of it would become eternal memory, buried deep in her heart — a memory that belonged to her and to no one else!

And the man in that memory would no longer recall this sweet, unclaimed chapter of the past...

Tang Yun turned the diamond ring on her finger ever so gently, and a trace of hard resolve crossed her face. "Yao Yao, Little Shu, I am leaving Wei Zhao to you. Take good care of him for me... From now on, there will be no Tang Yun in his life..."

Gu Mengyao pressed her lips together and listened to Tang Yun in silence, tears running down her face before she could stop them. Once she had pushed Tang Yun away and set herself against her, but now she truly could not bear to part from her — truly, she did not want to!

"Sister Yun Yun... I am so moved..." Shen Yushu was crying her eyes out at this moment too. She had found that Tang Yun now held a place in her heart no smaller than Gu Mengyao's, and she understood very well that this parting might well be forever. Tang Yun was not like Xiaoxiao: the Heartless Art she practiced meant that she was fated never to return to Wei Zhao's side...

But none of the three said too much aloud; it was enough that each understood the others. There was no need to speak too plainly. After all, the Herb of Forgetfulness potion was meant for Wei Zhao to drink, not for Tang Yun, and so they feared Elder Zhang might notice something amiss.

"'Men know sorrow and joy, parting and reunion; the moon waxes and wanes, now bright, now dim — since ancient times no such thing has ever been whole.'" Elder Zhang walked over and spoke with a sigh. "To gain, one must lose. Let us go back."

Tang Yun nodded, cast one last look at Wei Zhao, then turned and strode off toward the Snow Valley. Elder Zhang sighed once more and hurried after her, leaving behind only Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, Wei Zhao, and a few Snow Valley disciples charged with the stretcher.

"If you would be so good as to return, ladies!" Having laid Wei Zhao in the car, the Snow Valley disciples spoke courteously to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. Yet courteous as the tone was, there was an authority in it that could not be resisted.

"Let us go..." Gu Mengyao tugged at Little Shu, who stood staring blankly after Tang Yun's receding figure.

Shen Yushu nodded, and climbed into the car with Gu Mengyao.

The sound of an engine rose, and the car started without trouble. Feng Tianlong had specially modified this vehicle, so there was no fear of it failing to catch in the ice and snow. But at this moment neither Gu Mengyao nor Shen Yushu had the heart to think of the car. Their spirits were heavy...

Their destination was Xixing Mountain Village. On this trip back they would have to give Old Man Wei some account of things, and once all of that was done, they would return to Songshan City.

Not far behind the car, the Snow Valley was now alive with drums and gongs, bustling beyond measure. The annual sacrificial rite had been moved up, and this time the valley would hold the rite and the ceremony of taking a disciple together, precisely to show how highly they regarded Tang Yun.

Given Tang Yun's constitution, even the Grand Elder would not presume to call herself her teacher, the heir to her lineage. Hers was a path of cultivation unlike any other. Along Tang Yun's road the Grand Elder could only assist and guide her; the greater part Tang Yun must comprehend for herself, for her constitution was one the Grand Elder herself had never possessed.

That was why the Grand Elder had taken her as a disciple in the name of the founding ancestor.

The star of this sacrificial rite, Tang Yun, now stood quietly upon the high platform, her cold face utterly without a smile, as though she were not happy in the least. Yet no one dared question her to her face; even the Grand Elder took it that Tang Yun's change of temper was the working of the Herb of Forgetfulness potion.

To stand in the gaze of ten thousand eyes — what glory was that! At this moment Tang Yun was like the future sovereign of the Snow Valley. Everyone was utterly deferential to her; even the Grand Elder and Xueli spoke to her with great courtesy. And yet Tang Yun could not bring herself to be happy.

How she wished Wei Zhao could see her as she was now — that she no longer needed to hide behind him and let him shield her from wind and rain, that she too could hold up half the sky for him. But that wish could never be granted...

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