Chapter 146: The Nameless Valley

"Ding-dong, ding-dong."

Two crystal-clear mountain springs, one higher than the other, varying in tempo and speed, produced different sounds as they plunged from a height.

Upon hitting the ground, the spring water formed a bright, clear, and emerald-green pool. The water splashing against the surface generated brilliant droplets, clustering and stringing together, varying in size, scattered and shimmering like pearls dropped from the South Sea.

Above the clear pool hovered a faint layer of heat, misty and diffuse.

Where is this? Could it be heaven? Li Sanjian blinked dazedly, gazing at all of this with utter bewilderment.

Before losing consciousness, the last sight Li Sanjian remembered was falling together with Cai Rongxue from the churning, roaring torrent of the precipice, after which he blacked out.

How was he still alive? And how had he arrived in a place of such breathtaking scenery? Li Sanjian could hardly believe his own eyes and senses.

Though soaked in the water, Li Sanjian felt a pervading warmth throughout his entire body. He did not feel the slightest chill or discomfort; instead, he felt supremely comfortable.

"Young Master Li, Young Master Li, are you alright?" At that moment, Li Sanjian suddenly heard a soft voice calling out near his ear.

Hearing this, Li Sanjian turned his head and saw Cai Rongxue gathering up her skirts, walking toward him as she called out.

"Lady Cai, I am fine. How are you?" Li Sanjian hastily stood up from the spring water and asked.

The water here was only knee-deep, which was presumably why Li Sanjian and Cai Rongxue had managed to survive. Li Sanjian silently guessed that after plunging from the raging torrent of the cliff, they had been washed into a shallow area, thereby avoiding death by drowning.

"I am fine too," Cai Rongxue said as she reached Li Sanjian's side. "Where... where are we?"

Li Sanjian glanced at the lush, verdant trees on the bank and shook his head. "Who knows where this is? But one thing is certain: we have come out of the cave."

"Mm..." Cai Rongxue replied.

Li Sanjian then retrieved the King Wu Sword from the water, sheathed it, and looked at Cai Rongxue. "Let's get ashore first. Lady Cai, are you able to walk?"

At that moment, Cai Rongxue was soaked to the skin, her long dress clinging tightly to her body, fully revealing her graceful and curvaceous figure. The rushing current had long since undone her hair bun, allowing her waterfall-like dark hair to cascade over her delicate shoulders. The veil on her face had also vanished without a trace, revealing a celestial visage tinged with the joy of surviving a catastrophe.

After staring in a daze for a moment, Li Sanjian quickly averted his gaze.

As early as their journey to Guizhou, Li Sanjian had learned that Cai Rongxue was the woman betrothed to him by his father in an arranged marriage before birth, though that matter had already been set aside.

After his mother, Fu Erniang, had suffered humiliation at the gates of the Cai residence, Li Sanjian had known that the two of them had no destiny together in this lifetime. Li Sanjian had publicly declared the engagement null and void; thus, it was no longer possible for the two families to forge a marital alliance.

Everything that had happened prior was merely the work of fate, but after this ordeal, the two of them would go their separate ways, perhaps never to meet again for the rest of their lives.

Most importantly, Li Sanjian had already exchanged pledges of eternal love with Li Qingzhao. Since that was the case, how could he be fickle, inconstant, or insatiable? If he were to do so, what kind of person would Li Sanjian be?

Besides, Lady Cai would surely never bestow her affections on someone from a humble background like his, Li Sanjian silently mocked himself afterward. Since that was the case, why bother dwelling on it so much? It was simply making a fool of oneself with unrequited thoughts and needless anxiety...

Li Qingzhao? At that moment, Li Qingzhao's delicate and lovely figure surfaced in Li Sanjian's mind. He wondered if he would be able to escape this predicament and return to Bianjing to reunite with her.

"This humble maiden is fine and can walk," Cai Rongxue said, lifting her long dress and following Li Sanjian toward the shore.

Li Sanjian glanced at Cai Rongxue. Women of the Song dynasty generally referred to themselves as this humble maiden, regardless of nobility or humble birth. Although Li Sanjian had long been aware of this convention, he found it very difficult to get used to, yet he could do nothing about it.

"Our top priority is to find some food," Li Sanjian muttered to himself as he looked at the rapidly approaching shore.

Ever since fleeing the bandits' lair, two full days and nights had passed for Li Sanjian and Cai Rongxue. Having eaten nothing during that time, their stomachs were growling with hunger. Li Sanjian felt his legs grow weak and his head spin, making it nearly impossible to walk.

At this thought, Li Sanjian could not help glancing at Cai Rongxue again. It was precisely because Cai Rongxue had needed to relieve herself that the cave had collapsed, plunging the two of them into the torrent that washed them here.

He wondered if she had successfully relieved herself by now. Thinking of this, Li Sanjian could not help breaking into a smile.

"Mm, this humble maiden sees some fruits on that tree. I wonder if they are edible?" Cai Rongxue noticed the strange expression suddenly appearing on Li Sanjian's face and asked with a puzzled look, "What are you smiling at?"

"Nothing," Li Sanjian said. "Actually, I was just thinking that the fact we managed to escape the cave just now was entirely thanks to your... haha, this humble inquirant is just wondering if everything went smoothly for you?"

"You... you are simply... simply talking nonsense." Cai Rongxue's face flushed crimson with shame at his words. She stamped her foot, left Li Sanjian behind, and ran up the bank, gathering her long dress.

In the midst of the rushing current and sheer terror, Cai Rongxue had indeed successfully relieved herself, but how could anyone bring such a thing up? Cai Rongxue felt utterly mortified.

He was simply a scoundrel! Cai Rongxue wanted to scold him a couple of times, but she could not find the voice, leaving her with no choice but to flee from this shameless man...

"Haha," Li Sanjian laughed, watching Cai Rongxue's retreating back. "Nature calls when it calls; it's a vital human necessity. Why should the lady mind it so much?"

...

"Alas, to think I, Li Sanjian, would be reduced to such a state? Eating raw meat and drinking blood, how am I any different from a savage?" In a nameless valley somewhere in Guizhou's mountains, Li Sanjian sat beside a campfire, sighing mournfully as he popped a sweet fruit into his mouth.

Unawares, another three days had passed. Li Sanjian had wandered around this tiny valley for three full days, exploring every single corner, yet he had found no path leading out.

This valley was a dead end, surrounded by towering peaks piercing the clouds like blades of stone, standing guard around the valley. With no climbing tools in his possession, Li Sanjian had no way to scale the mountains. Even if he had climbing tools, the two of them still could not cross, simply because the rock walls were sheer, precipitous, and slick as ice, rendering them completely unclimbable.

Fortunately, the valley was abundant with trees, flowers, and other vegetation. Thus, Li Sanjian and Cai Rongxue had foraged for wild fruits to stave off their hunger, barely managing to keep starvation at bay.

The valley also harbored wild rabbits, field mice, and other creatures, while birds occasionally swept across the sky, but how could Li Sanjian ever hope to catch them? He could only gaze at the empty sky and sigh.

"Eating raw meat and drinking blood?" Cai Rongxue echoed with a laugh after popping a wild fruit into her mouth. "Where is the meat, and where is the blood? These are clearly fairy fruits, and they taste rather good."

Eating wild fruits and drinking mountain spring water—Cai Rongxue was surprisingly content with such a life.

"Fairy fruits?" Li Sanjian tossed a wild fruit into the campfire and sighed. "It seems we have no hope of escape and are doomed to be trapped in this place forever."

If no one came to their rescue, the two of them truly lacked the means to climb out of the valley. Yet, to grow old together in this place, far from the hustle and bustle of the mortal world, wouldn't be so bad either—especially if she could be with him... Cai Rongxue thought with a shy glance at Li Sanjian.

"Lady Cai, there is something I have been wondering whether I should ask," Li Sanjian said casually out of boredom, suddenly breaking the silence. "Why is it that Lady Cai wears a veil to cover her face all year round? And back in the bandits' lair, what exactly did you mean by what you said?"

Back when they were in the Niangzi Mountain bandit den, Cai Rongxue had been pressured by the bandit chief Zhu Ming. When her veil was removed, she had declared that Li Sanjian was the first man to ever set eyes upon her face, and consequently her husband—a remark that had left a deep impression on Li Sanjian.

Upon hearing this, Cai Rongxue's cheeks instantly flushed crimson, and she lowered her head in silence.

"Oh, you don't wish to answer?" Li Sanjian laughed awkwardly at her reaction. "Though, if this humble scholar were to guess, what the lady said was surely just an expedient measure and shouldn't be taken seriously, haha."

"It was no expedient measure," Cai Rongxue raised her head, looking somewhat indignant. "This was the dying instruction left by my late mother. Mother once said that striking beauty is a curse that brings disaster upon a woman. Therefore, she made me veil my face for life, forbidding me to reveal my true appearance to others, especially men. However... however, Mother also instructed that if my face were ever seen by a man, I must marry him, or else disaster would befall me. This was my mother's dying wish, and this humble maiden dare not disobey."

"This is... simply... ah?" Li Sanjian was left utterly speechless, alternating between laughter and tears. So that was how it was...

No doubt Cai Rongxue's mother had experienced some ordeal to make her daughter swear such an inexplicable vow, Li Sanjian thought to himself.

If the first man to see her face happened to be an octogenarian elder, or perhaps a young child, what then? What if he were a man as ugly as Wu Dalong, or even disabled? And so on and so forth—the variables were far too vast. How would Cai Rongxue handle that? Was she truly expected to marry such people?

Fortunately, that ghostly Zhu Ming had not caught a glimpse of Cai Rongxue's face at the time; otherwise, wouldn't that have been like a fresh flower stuck in cow dung? At that moment, Li Sanjian silently congratulated Cai Rongxue on her good fortune.

"Simply what?" Cai Rongxue shot Li Sanjian a sideways glance. "Do you mean to go back on your word?"

Cai Rongxue had always been a gentle young woman, but the sudden flash of willful defiance left Li Sanjian tongue-tied and unable to respond. After a long moment, Li Sanjian stood up, bowed deeply to Cai Rongxue, and said, "I am deeply flattered and overwhelmed by Lady Cai's favor, and I am truly grateful. However, the lady is the daughter of a prime minister and a lady of a noble household, whereas I am a commoner of humble birth. I truly dare not aspire to such a match. Furthermore, I have already exchanged three-lifetime vows with Qingzhao and dare not betray her. I hope Lady Cai will forgive me."

Having thus explicitly rejected Cai Rongxue, Li Sanjian left her heartbroken. She silently turned away, weeping softly to herself.

Unable to bear the sight, Li Sanjian wished to offer words of comfort, yet he had no idea how to begin.