Chapter 40: The girl in the black dress

Looking back at our Song Qingshu, he had been traveling day and night, and finally arrived at the foot of Mount Hua.

"If I can’t get the Nine Swords of Dugu then so be it. Let's first look for the ‘Golden Serpent Secret Manual’ in Mount Hua. The "Golden Serpent Gentleman" Xia Xueyi is a character I admire very much, he is much more likable than Yuan Chengzhi." Song Qingshu muttered to himself.

But Mount Hua was very vast. Was it really so easy to find the Golden Serpent Cave?

Song Qingshu racked his brains to recall the plot of the original book, but still couldn't remember where the Golden Serpent Cave was located.

"Yuan Chengzhi was studying sword art at Chaoyang Peak in Mount Hua. The Golden Serpent Cave was discovered nearby by his pet orangutan. So according to that, the Golden Serpent Cave should be near Chaoyang Peak." Song Qingshu paced back and forth while arranging his thoughts. "However, after the internal conflict of the Mount Hua Sect, it was divided into two factions, the Sword faction and the Qi faction. The Qi faction was headed by Yue Buqun and he basically took over the sect. After they were exiled, many Sword faction masters gathered at Chaoyang Peak. From the beginning, they also called themselves a part of the Quanzhen School. This Chaoyang Peak became the site of the Mount Hua Sect’s Sword faction, and they had many masters. The "Golden Serpent Gentleman" had many issues with them. Thus, It is impossible for the cave to be too close to Chaoyang Peak."

In the next few days, Song Qingshu centered on Chaoyang Peak and began to search outside ten miles away, paying attention to any straight cliffs. He now had powerful internal strength, and with the “Cloud-Ascending Ladder” of Wudang he became even better at jumping up and down. Song Qingshu leapt back and forth between the mountain walls. All that leaping, although thrilling, was also very dangerous.

"Wow haha, I finally found it!" After a few days, a burst of exaggerated laughter echoed in the mountains. Song Qingshu looked at the secret cave in front of him and touched his chin, his expression was quite triumphant, "The Binary search algorithm that our company's software engineer told me is quite efficient. I am also quite talented, and I still remember when he just mentioned it casually."

But when he got into the cave and found an already buried tomb. There was a stone tablet on it, which read "The Tomb of "Golden Serpent Gentleman" Xia Xueyi, Yuan Chengzhi and Xia Qingqing pays their respects", and he couldn't laugh anymore.

I am late again. Song Qingshu sullenly sat on the ground, and didn’t even have the thought of looking around. He knew that "Golden Serpent Gentleman" left a highly poisonous fake secret manual, and now Yuan Chengzhi has obviously taken away the real secret manual. Then what was there left for him to find there anymore?

"Sometimes things have to be fated, and follow the flow of fate. Being forceful just doesn’t work." Song Qingshu turned around and looked at the tomb of "Golden Serpent Gentleman" reluctantly. He sighed and came to the entrance of the cave. He leaped up and finally stood on the edge of the cliff. He climbed on a big tree, found a sturdy branch to lie down on, rested his hands behind his head, and stared at the white clouds in the blue sky in a daze.

"I am so stupid and naive." Song Qingshu laughed at himself. "These treasured secrets were originally arranged by fate for the original protagonist, but I foolishly wished to compete with the original protagonist for luck. The reality is too cruel, and life is so hard."

At this time Song Qingshu finally understood that the idea of ??searching for hidden treasures in the world was unrealistic. Although destiny was an illusory thing, you can choose to not believe it, but you also can't attempt to control or challenge it either.

"I hope I won't become a villain destined to be a stepping stone for the protagonist." Song Qingshu felt a deep sense of powerlessness at this moment, and even felt a little at a loss about the future.

*****

"Yun Zhonghe, even if I have to jump off the cliff, I won't let you succeed." Suddenly an angry woman's voice came from under the tree, even if the voice was full of anger and panic, it was sublime and clear.

Song Qingshu curiously looked down, and saw a curvaceous and slender girl dressed in black, stepping back to the cliff step by step. The wind on the edge of the cliff was so strong that her hair was blowing all around. She…was really pretty.

Opposite of the beauty was a thin middle-aged man in black clothing, holding a rotten silver crane claw, and touching two moustaches at the corners of his mouth with one hand, he looked at the girl with a smile, "Mu Wanqing, are you searching for you dear lover Duan Yu?" He stared at Mu Wanqing's crystal clear eyes. But, sure enough, Yun Zhonghe continued to taunt, "Oh, I almost forgot, your lover Duan has become your brother Duan!"

"You!" After being repeatedly taunted by Yun Zhonghe, Mu Wanqing finally drew her sword and attacked in fury.

Seeing that his treacherous trick had succeeded, a smug smile appeared at the corner of Yun Zhonghe's mouth, and he greeted her with his silver claw. Song Qingshu looked at that lively figure, and noticed that Mu Wanqing's swordsmanship had some foundation, but unfortunately she was still not the opponent of Yun Zhonghe nicknamed "Thoroughly Cruel, Utterly Evil". In addition, Yun Zhonghe was holding back in his moves, and he continued to attack some hidden places of the girl. All this was making her angry to the extreme, and she was being restrained by his every move.

Song Qingshu finally got to see her face clearly. Her face was beautiful and unblemished, like a crescent moon, like a flower covered with snow. Especially her small and delicate chin, with the slim and delicate cherry lips, her beauty was beyond words.

"Is Duan Yu a fool? Mu Wanqing's appearance is no worse than that of Wang Yuyan!" This was Song Qingshu's first reaction after seeing her appearance.

Then the thought of the fact that he was stained with bad luck ever since reaching the Boundless Jade Cave. Song Qingshu got an idea about how to get back at Duan Yu, and produced a wicked smile on the corner of his lips, "Then I shall tease your lover to relieve the hatred in my heart!"

On the ground, Yun Zhonghe's heart became more and more excited. He realized that Mu Wanqing was about to be captured, and after that he was allowed to do whatever he wanted. And, when he thought that he had never touched such a beautiful woman in his life, his heart suddenly became hot.

"Who is making so much noise? You're disturbing my beauty sleep." Suddenly the sound coming from the tree made the two of them startled. When they looked up, they saw a ragged, messy-haired farmer boy sitting on a branch. He was stretching up his lazy waist, and his sleepy eyes looked like he had just been awakened.

"Smelly boy, go away, don't disturb this uncle’s good deed." Yun Zhonghe was terribly annoyed. It turned out that during this period, Song Qingshu had been eating and sleeping on the road, and his clothes had become very dirty and messy. What’s more, the weather has been getting a lot hot recently. Song Qingshu was used to air conditioning in his previous life. How could he stand this extreme heat? So, he also unconsciously rolled up his trousers, and now he looked like a young woodcutter from the countryside.

Song Qingshu pretended to stare at Yun Zhonghe in a dazed manner, and exclaimed, "So you are Jin Yong's cousin."

"Who is Jin Yong?" Yun Zhonghe was confused, but he hadn't noticed the existence of other people at all just now, and he was here for a while too! So, he couldn't figure out the identity of this weird boy.

And, he certainly didn't know that Yun Zhonghe was the pen name of Jin Yong's cousin Xu Zhimo. Reminiscing about Xu Zhimo's unfortunate behavior in his previous life, Song Qingshu secretly praised, "Old man Jin has a good hand at writing!"

"Why do you put on a veil in broad daylight? You look weird." Mu Wanqing looked at Song Qingshu's appearance strangely.

"My mother said that I was too ugly, so she covered my face ever since I was a child, and said that the first woman to unveil my veil and see my appearance, I will marry… Oh no, I will have to marry her to be my wife." Song Qingshu smiled stupidly at Mu Wanqing, and stared at her.

"It turns out to be a fool." Yun Zhonghe sighed in secret.

Mu Wanqing saw him staring at her, and angrily said, "What are you looking at!"

"Sister, sister, you are so beautiful. Why don’t you come and lift my veil? I will marry you as my wife." Song Qingshu said in a naive voice.

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In case you didn't notice yet…yes, our protagonist is somewhat evil. But, he is evil with a bottom line.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay