Standing on the edge of the cliff, still reeling from the shock of Yongzheng's desperate leap, Cao Yanmei screamed his name into the mist, "Yongzheng…" She turned to the five people she'd hired. "Go find more rope!"
One of the workers nervously spoke up. "Cao guniang, we have gathered all the ropes available in the village."
Cao Yanmei's eyes flashed with fierce impatience. "Go gather some vines!"
The worker tried to reason with her. "Cao guniang, picking vines doesn't take a few hours, but a few days."
Cao Yanmei was beyond reason. "Go! Go! Why are you still standing here? If you can't save him, I will throw you in!"
The five terrified workers quickly scattered. As they ran, Red Mice rushed toward Cao Yanmei.
"Young master is on his way here," Red Mice panted.
"Why did he come back?" Cao Yanmei asked, annoyed.
"Some villagers said you brought a lot of ropes," Red Mice explained.
Cao Yanmei looked at the remaining group: Rao Zhengsheng, Yuan Xiurong, Dong Lanying, and the dazed Dong Shun. "Why are you four still here? Get out of here! If my da ge sees you all still alive, he will definitely kill you!"
Rao Zhengsheng picked the crippled Dong Shun up onto his back. Dong Shun, recovering his wits, gave the command. "Go up to the Rao Manor."
Rao Zhengsheng hesitated. "Dong shushu, but—"
"No 'buts'! There is a secret hiding place!" Dong Shun insisted.
Following the elder's directive, Rao Zhengsheng, Dong Shun (on his back), Dong Lanying, and Yuan Xiurong rushed up the mountain trail toward the Rao Manor.
After they had been gone for some time, Cao Wenyan approached the cliff edge with twenty of his Beixing disciples.
Cao Wenyan asked his sister, "Did you save them?"
Cao Yanmei shook her head, disappointed and frustrated. "I wanted to, but it is a bottomless cliff, and no rope is long enough to reach the bottom."
Cao Wenyan's expression hardened. "Father wants you to go home."
"I don't want to!" she protested.
"You have no choice," he stated, then looked at Red Mice. "Take her back."
Cao Yanmei, defeated, had no choice but to follow her brother and Red Mice back home, leaving the cliff to Cao Wenyan and the Beixing disciples.
Down at the bottom of the cliff, long after everyone had left, Xue Horan sat on the edge of the bottomless pond, looking down at the water. He watched some fish swimming into a trap Dong Shun had set; they would be his dinner tonight. Then, a loud splash startled him. He stared at the pond, and suddenly, Yongzheng emerged, slowly swimming toward him.
With every stroke Yongzheng took, Xue Horan felt his heart beating faster. Yongzheng walked slowly out of the water and stood by his side.
Xue Horan stood up, and Yongzheng immediately held him tightly in his arms. Xue Horan couldn't believe it—Yongzheng, who had just left for freedom, had jumped back down.
"Yongzheng, why are you here again?" Xue Horan urgently questioned. "The person above is Cao Fengge? Are da shixiong and Dong qianbei okay?" Yongzheng didn't answer. "Yongzheng, answer me!"
Yongzheng ignored the danger and the escape, asking softly, "Horan, can you forget him?"
"Forget who?" Xue Horan asked, confused.
"He is not worthy of a person like you. None of us is worthy of a person like you," Yongzheng insisted, referring to Rao Zhengsheng.
"What's wrong?"
Yongzheng pulled away slightly, placing his forehead against Xue Horan's. "Why do you want to stay here?"
Xue Horan pulled away and looked around the secluded stream. "Because I found this place is very suitable for me. I have nothing waiting for me up there."
Yongzheng looked into his eyes with intensity. "I have always been waiting for you."
Xue Horan sighed, recalling Dong Shun's painful logic. "Yongzheng, we talked about this before. You know very well that I can never choose you in reality. Back then and now, it is still the same. Dong qianbei was right. I can't be the reason for you and da shixiong to hate each other. So, I think this is the best place for me."
Yongzheng spoke sadly, offering a heartbreaking compromise. "If in reality you can't choose me, then I will live with you in my imagination. We don't have to love each other. We don't have to like each other, as long as I think you are mine, I am already very satisfied in my heart. You don't need to know what I'm thinking. I will share my thoughts and feelings with the sun and the moon. If you don't want to see me, I will stay away from your sight. If you..."
Before he could finish, Xue Horan's lips found his, and Xue Horan's arms hugged his waist tightly.
Yongzheng finished his thought, his voice trembling against Xue Horan's mouth. "If you don't want us to hate each other, then all you have to do is tell me that you don't feel the same toward me as I feel toward you. I promise I will stay away from you."
Xue Horan pulled back, sobbing openly. "Yongzheng, don't be too nice to me. The nicer you are to me, the harder it is for me to stay away from you."
Yongzheng looked relieved, whispering, "Then don't stay away from me."
Xue Horan's joy was immediately clouded by the trauma. "Yongzheng, you know that Cao Wenyan…he…he…"
Yongzheng pulled him into a tight embrace. "Forget it. Erase it from your memory completely, because I have forgotten it."
"Will you regret it?"
Yongzheng buried his face in Xue Horan's hair. "Meeting you, I have no regrets. We can live here or on Butterfly Island. With you, I have no regrets."
Xue Horan looked up, remembering an old detail. "Yongzheng, before my father died, he wanted to say, 'he likes you', right?"
Yongzheng revealed a long-held secret: "I told him that if one day Rao Zhengsheng does not marry you, I will marry you in his place."
Xue Horan wrapped his arms tightly around Yongzheng's waist and buried his face into Yongzheng's chest. "Yongzheng... you."
Yongzheng placed a soft kiss on Xue Horan's forehead. "We're going to be here for the rest of our lives, so let's go see what is inside this cave."
That night inside the main cave, Yongzheng had made a small fire, and four fish were grilling over the open campfire. They sat side by side, knowing that without help from the people on the cliff, they were stranded. But now, even if ropes hung down, they might not want to leave.
Xue Horan grabbed a fire stick and began to explore the cave walls.
"Yongzheng, there are not much here," he said. He placed his hand on the side wall, and suddenly the cave wall slid inward. Xue Horan stumbled backward, and the wall quickly slid shut, trapping him.
Xue Horan stepped on something. He bent down and picked it up. Trapped in the darkness, he couldn't see what the round object was until he realized it was a human skull. He instantly dropped it.
"Yongzheng!" he screamed, knocking frantically on the wall. "Yongzheng!"
Yongzheng raised his head, immediately realizing Xue Horan was gone but could still hear his panicked cries. He rushed forward, knocking on the stone wall. "Horan… Horan…"
Xue Horan finally calmed himself. "Yongzheng, there is a switch somewhere on the wall of the cave, just like a switch in the Mu cave!"
Yongzheng rapidly searched the cave and found the hidden trap switch. He pressed against the rock, and the wall slid open. Xue Horan immediately rushed out and hugged Yongzheng, trembling.
"There are human skulls inside!" he gasped.
Yongzheng grabbed a lit piece of firewood and walked in. He lit some dusty, old candles by the entrance. As soon as the candlelight flickered to life, they saw the horror: human bones—of adults and children—were scattered everywhere in the chamber. Suddenly, the wall slid shut again.
Xue Horan asked in a panic, "What shall we do?"
"Don't worry about the traps, there are always two ways to open them," Yongzheng said calmly. He noticed a huge stone lantern standing in front of them. He touched the stone lantern, and the wall instantly opened again.
"Yongzheng, that's the switch!" Xue Horan realized.
Yongzheng nodded, his focus already on the mystery.
Xue Horan asked, "Do you think Dong qianbei knows about this? Who are these people? How did they die?"
Yongzheng checked some of the bones. "Some people died from injuries." He picked up a femur and pointed to a distinct mark. "That was left by a sword."
Xue Horan looked toward the smaller bones. "The children?"
Yongzheng looked at the children's remains. "It's the same, some starved to death, some were killed." Walking further, he saw a skeleton dressed in black sitting on a chair. Beside it, he found a piece of crystal-clear black jade with a red tassel. He also saw butterfly swords resting beside the skeleton. He placed the black jade into his robe.
He picked up the butterfly swords and drew the blade. He saw the word 'Wen Jiayi' etched inside. "Wen Jiayi," he murmured.
Xue Horan walked up to him. "This look like my shixiong's butterfly swords."
"The word Wen Jiayi," Yongzheng repeated.
"Wen Jiayi, is that the name of the swords, or is the skeleton there named Wen Jiayi?"
"I don't know." Yongzheng searched the skeleton's robe and found a manual titled 'Butterfly Blade'. He opened it, and a letter fell out. Yongzheng read it aloud: "Chief Yuan, the salt has turned to worm. I don't know which of the Yuan betray our sect. I don't know if this letter will get to you. Fang Gen has been captured, and his fate is unknown. Chief Yuan, Wen Jiayi pays her respect to you. My only regret is that I was unable to find the traitor."
"Chief Yuan, who is Chief Yuan?" Xue Horan asked.
Yongzheng explained the history. "Seventy years ago, there was a sector called Sunset Sect. They were very famous in the martial arts world. This sect was feared by many martial artists because there are many skilled martial artists, especially the five guards."
"If they are here, there must be a way out," Xue Horan concluded.
Yongzheng grabbed Xue Horan's hand and found an old torch. He lit it, and the two men walked into the dark corridor. They found many more skeletons along the way. After walking for two hours, they came to a dead end.
"The exit must be upward," Yongzheng said. He raised the dim torch and spotted a handle high above.
He strained, attempting to push the hidden door, but it wouldn't budge. Gathering his entire internal strength, he focused it and thrust forward. A wrenching groan of grinding stone immediately filled the small space. As the opening cracked slightly ajar, a rush of cool, fresh air flowed in, carrying the scent of damp earth and revealing the chiseled foot of a stone table. Realizing this was the exit, he channeled his remaining energy to the side-handle, forcing the massive table to slide heavily to one side, finally revealing the soft, welcome light of dusk.
Yongzheng climbed out and stood on a burnt-down old pavilion. He reached down and pulled Xue Horan up.
"Yongzheng, where is this place?" Xue Horan asked.
"I don't know," Yongzheng replied.
Suddenly, a man's voice called out nearby, "Turn around."
Xue Horan slowly turned around, his eyes wide. "Zheng ge?"