Snow in the Spring Courtyard - Chapter 1 - Wuliang City

Chapter 1 – Wuliang City

Mingyue Mountain stretches for hundreds of miles, with seven dangerous peaks, each of which contains a sector of Wuliang City. The city itself is hidden deep in the valley of Mingyue Mountain. It is said that there are countless traps in the valley. Everyone in the world knows that it is extremely difficult to break through the Wuliang City. 

But–

On the seventh day of the seventh month, the four great families of Jianghu joined forces to attack Wuliang City and actually reached the gate of the city. 

The city gates were wide open and there was no one inside or outside the tower. 

Everyone, from the leaders of the four great families to even their outer disciples, were extremely shocked. It was rumored in the martial arts world that the new city lord, Ye Lique, was fickle, eccentric and sinister. The empty city plan she set up today must have an ambush in the city. 

Let’s talk about the four great families of Jianghu. Back then, the founders were four sworn brothers. They joined forces to kill the villains in Jianghu and personally led the heroes of the martial arts world to destroy the then-famous Cangming Sect. They beheaded the leader Dongfang Wen in the Demon Sect’s headquarters, forcing all guardians of the Demon Sect to flee or retire. From then on, Jianghu has been peaceful for a hundred years. 

In present day martial arts world, the Demon Cult is showing signs of revival. The few guardians who fled a hundred years ago have re-established their altar in the depths of the Northern Frontier Cangyuan. The disciples of the cult have been training for decades and are ready to destroy the four great families and take revenge. 

In order to prevent the members of the Demon Cult from entering the Central Plains without permission, Quexie Tang, one of the four great families, stepped forward and set up its headquarters on the northern border, always keeping a close eye on the backlash of the Demon Cult in the Northern Border Hell. 

In addition to that, pirates were rampant in the East China Sea, so the Four Seas Gang, one of the four great families, was established on the sea to control the East China Sea. The remaining two families, Tianfo Sect in the west and Sanshan Pavilion in the south. It is said in the martial arts world that if the sons of the four great families guard the four directions, all evil will not invade. 

Young men in the martial arts world are proud to be members of the four great families. Whenever they’re mentioned, everyone gives them a big thumbs up and praises them, saying, “Prosperity to Jianghu!” 

Wuliang City is a killer sect that emerged within the past 20 years. It had no conflicts with the four great families. Although it drabbled in the business of killing people, most of the dead souls under the knife were those who deserved it. However, the new city lord’s butcher knife unexpectedly fell on the family of the leader of Sanshan Pavilion. That night, the new city lord Ye Lique walked into the gate of Sanshan Pavilion drunkenly with a wine pot in one hand and a knife in the other. She was leaking murderous intent all night and ended up massacring the entire pavilion. 

There were a total of seventeen people in the estate, and they all died at the hands of Ye Lique. 

Ye Lique was forever branded with the infamy as the ‘Demon Girl of Hell’, and people throughout Jianghu trembled with fear when they heard of her. How could she, a girl of only eighteen years, have such high martial arts skills that she could kill the son of the leader of Sanshan Pavilion with her sword? 

The four great families prosper together and suffer together. After suffering such a heavy blow, the other three families swore to raze Wuliang City to the ground and demand revenge from Sanshan Pavilion. 

Therefore, the three great families, together with the newly appointed head of Sanshan Pavilion, led the elite disciples of the four great families and fought their way up to Mingyue Mountain. 

The strong and pungent smell of blood filled the mountains and fields. 

Although they avoided many traps with the guidance of their scouts, fierce fighting still occurred. Other than the four sons of the four masters who were not hurt at all, many disciples had bloody wounds across their bodies. 

“Senior Sister Shen, what is the layout of this city? Tell the us about it.” When everyone was resting on the spot, suddenly a disciple in white stood up, looked at the girl in white not far away, and asked loudly. 

If you look closely at the patterns on the two’s bodies, you can see that they both have golden lotus printed on them, which is the emblem of the Tianfo Sect. 

Among the four great families, the Tianfo Sect has the least lethal moves. The sect’s martial arts are divided into three paths: the upper path is medicine, which involves seven pulse-taking techniques, and is only for self-protection but not for taking lives; the middle path is palm techniques, which involves nine flower-picking palm techniques, and can be used for both attack and defense; the lower path is golden needle techniques, which have no fixed moves. Practitioners of this method must be familiar with the meridians and remember the locations of the acupuncture points before using golden needles to pierce the acupuncture points. If the needle enters a fatal point, it can take lives. 

Generally, disciples can only choose one of the three paths to practice. The top three people from each of the three paths will be selected to enter the Bodhisattva Hall to learn an additional path. The Bodhisattva Hall will hold a ranking competition every three years. The top three can become the master’s closed disciples and practice the three martial arts together with the successor personally designated by the master. 

The closed-door disciples have other nicknames. If they are male, they are called Buddha’s sons, and if they are female, they are called Saint girls. 

The girl that the white-robed disciple was questioning was the newly promoted saint this year, Shen Yi. 

She was a scout for the siege against Wuliang City, and the only person in the world who had entered the city and escaped alive. 

At first, the four masters did not completely believe her words, but her legitimacy was confirmed after being able to break through seven peaks and reach the city of Wuliang in just one day. 

So when they heard the white-robed disciple speak, everyone looked over at once— 

The moonlight illuminated her profile and the nine golden lotus patterns on her body. Only the closed disciples of Tianfo Sect could wear white clothes embroidered with nine golden lotus patterns. At just the age of eighteen, she had such amazing martial arts skills. Looking closely at her eyebrows, she seemed as gentle as the snow lotus in the depths of Jinghe River. When she wasn’t smiling, she looked like Guanyin, which made people feel calm for no reason; but when she smiled, her eyes were clear as stars, and there was a small dimple on her left cheek, making people feel a sense of inherent happiness. 

However, Shen Yi rarely smiles. 

During one of those rare occasions, Li Xun, the young leader of the Four Seas Gang, had seen one of them and had been thinking about her for a long time. Even at this moment, Li Xun’s eyes were mixed with a hint of admiration when he looked at Shen Yi. Others didn’t notice it, but Shen Yi had realized a long time ago. 

“There are four palaces in the east, south, west and north of Wuliang City. There are mechanisms connecting the four palaces, and there’s murderous intent everywhere.” Shen Yi spoke slowly, with a hint of hoarseness in her voice, which made it more pleasant to the ear. “If Ye Lique is hiding in the four palaces, it means that we are in the light and she is in the dark. We must be careful to prevent her from suddenly rushing out from the secret compartment…” 

“Hahaha……” 

Before Shen Yi could finish her words, she heard a burst of crazy laughter coming from the top of the city wall. 

Everyone looked over in the direction of the feminine voice. 

On the city wall, a silhouette faced the night wind, picked up a wine jug, raised her head and took a sip, squinting her charming eyes as she looked down at everyone. 

“Who said I must hide in the dark?” 

Shen Yi was a little nervous, her eyes suddenly becoming complicated as she gritted her teeth and whispered, “Ye Lique!” 

“Oh?” 

Ye Lique supported her body with one hand, seeming to be drinking heartily. She chuckled with great satisfaction and shook the wine jug, finishing the whole jug. 

“I was the one who killed Gongzi Ze’s entire family. If you want revenge, just look for me.” She said lazily as she slowly stood up and ran along the brothel to the city wall. “You broke into seven of my halls in a row, used your numbers to bully the minority, and killed hundreds of my waiters. You are truly a reputable and upright family!” Her harsh tone carried traces of sarcasm and annoyance. 

“The murderer must pay with their life!” Without waiting for other disciples to take action, Shen Yi shifted her weight to her toes and rushed towards where Ye Lique was. 

“Come out!” 

As soon as Shen Yi’s toes stepped on the bricks, she shot out a golden needle from the bottom of her sleeve and shot it straight at Ye Lique’s face. 

Ye Lique curled her lips and smiled before gently throwing the wine pot, which hit the golden needle and broke into several pieces. She then spun around and pulled out a shiny silver whip from her waist. 

The whip is four feet long, with thirteen sections in total, and each section is carved with a bird. This is Ye Lique’s weapon, named “Xue Hong”. 

She is a highly skilled martial artist even without her weapon, and rarely uses Xue Hong. 

The last time Ye Lique used it was when Shen Yi was trapped in danger in the Nether Prison. 

After escaping danger, Shen Yi once asked her, “Why do you call it Xue Hong?” 

“What is life like? It should be like a flying wild goose stepping on snow and mud.” Ye Lique just smiled faintly at that time and recited a line of poetry that Shen Yi, to this day, still can’t unravel. 

“A-Yi!” Li Xun saw Shen Yi taking risks alone and couldn’t bear it. He was about to catch up with Shen Yi, but his father Li Boling hooked him back and pulled him back to the spot. 

“Dad! She’s in danger!” 

“Since she’s a scout, she should go and test the waters first. This is what she should do.” Li Boling’s voice was cold. After he finished speaking, he gave a look to the head of Tianfo Sect, Gongzi Sazhu. “As the Buddhists say, if you give, you will gain. I’m sure Brother Sa won’t mind.” 

Sazhu smiled and said, “Of course not. My disciple has always been good at showing off her abilities, so just let her go.” After saying that, he looked towards the top of the city wall calmly, and the two of them were already fighting. 

After hearing what the two masters said, the other disciples naturally did not dare to rush over to help. 

Ye Lique was seen waving Xue Hong, with the forces of wind and snow surrounding her. Occasionally, the silver whip bent towards Shen Yi like a silver dragon emerging from the water, full of murderous intent. 

Relying on the golden needle in the needle bag, Shen Yi was able to approach Ye Lique several times with just a single step, but was ultimately forced back by Ye Lique’s Xue Hong each time. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her calf, and when she looked down, she found that the top of the city was full of poisonous scorpions. 

These were the ferocious creatures that Ye Li Que had raised herself. Now they came out in droves to defend Wuliang City. 

“There’s scorpions!” 

The sharp-eyed disciples had already seen the dense swarm of scorpions crawling down from the top of the city wall and could not help but shout in panic. 

“Everyone retreat!” Sazhu recognized this poisonous creature and immediately gave the order, “This is a soul-devouring creature! If it bites you, you will be in excruciating pain!” 

“There is indeed an ambush in the city! A-Yi, come back soon!” Li Xun shouted anxiously. However, when he looked towards the top of the city wall, he saw that Ye Lique’s Snow Hong had already wrapped around Shen Yi’s neck. 

With just a slight tug, she took Shen Yi and leaped into the city. Using her inner strength to propel the sound forward, she left a message to the people outside the city in a very loud voice, “If you want to die, just come right in!” 

The gate of Wuliang City was right in front of them, and it was wide open. The people outside the city were temporarily forced back dozens of steps by the group of poisonous scorpions. They quickly urged the disciples at the back to light torches and go forward to burn and kill the scorpions bold enough to keep following them. 

In Wuliang City, Ye Lique let go of Xue Hong, glanced at Shen Yi who was slumped on the ground, and asked lightly, “Does it hurt?” Her tone was slightly concerned. As if she knew Shen Yi would not answer her, she smiled again, squatting in front of Shen Yi, and suddenly pinched Shen Yi’s chin, “Do you hate me so much? You brought such a group of people to take my life.” 

“You deserve to die!” Shen Yi shouted in hatred. 

Ye Lique never, under any circumstances, should’ve massacred the Sanshan Pavilion headquarters and killed the people that she cared about the most! 

“She deserved to die too-“ 

“Shut up!” 

Shen Yi interrupted Ye Li Que’s words, brushed away Ye Lique’s hand, and suddenly stabbed the last golden needle in her palm into Ye Lique’s heart. 

She did not dodge or evade but instead took the blow with a smile. 

“Fine- Then I’ll give you everything you want…” Ye Lique covered her hand holding the needle and used her own internal force. The golden needle suddenly pierced through her body, leaving a very thin arrow of blood. 

A golden needle piercing the heart was a guaranteed death. 

Although Ye Lique’s mouth was stained with blood, her smile was like the bright red Lycoris Radiata growing wildly by the Forgotten River. “Is this… enough?” 

Shen Yi stood there, not knowing how to react for a moment, tears rolling down her cheeks. 

The sound of Ye Lique was mixed in with the bleak night wind and Shen Yi couldn’t help but reminiscence back to when they first met, and Ye Lique said to her jokingly- 

Miss, please don’t cry.