My Taoist buddy has practiced surrogacy

Chapter 1426 Pressing Down
Zhou Xing confronted his father in court. He produced a secret letter treasonous with the enemy, exposing his father's crimes. As the imperial guards' blades tore through the prefect's clothes, the old prefect suddenly burst into wild laughter: "You think that poisonous woman would really take an arrow for you?"

It turns out that the old prefect already knew that Ling Xue was poisoned. He thought that Zhou Xing would abandon Ling Xue before the wedding, but he did not expect that Zhou Xing would be so devoted.

On the day of the decisive battle, the Turkic army pressed in. Zhou Xing led a suicide squad to destroy the Rainbow Bridge, and Ling Xue fired her last poisoned silver arrow amidst the flames. The fletching was tied with the red rope that had been torn off by the hot spring years ago, and the arrowhead was aimed at the enemy chieftain's brow.

The new emperor ascended the throne and rewarded those who had rendered meritorious service. Zhou Xing refused the title of marquis, requesting only the antidote formula from the Imperial Medical Academy. Ling Xue looked at him, her heart filled with emotion. She buried the tiger tally in the plum grove of the Imperial Garden, then gave Zhou Xing the last half of the antidote pill, saying, "Young Master Zhou, do you know that hibiscus flowers must be crushed and added to the medicine to cure the love poison?"

Zhou Xing looked at the medicine in his hand and understood Ling Xue's feelings. Three years later, news of victory arrived from the border. The lookout in the garrison tower saw faded red ropes tied to the eaves of the governor's mansion, and the fragrance of hibiscus flowers wafted from the windows.

Whenever the tea merchant caravans passed by, a woman wearing a veiled hat would always stop. She would stroke the faint emblem of the prefectural governor's mansion in the wheel tracks, her eyes filled with memories. And Zhou Xing and Ling Xue, after enduring many hardships, finally settled down in this secluded place called Yunqi to live a peaceful and happy life.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, the Marquis's mansion was brightly lit and bustling with activity. Ling Xue was pushed into the icy lake by her elder sister. The frigid water instantly submerged her, and she struggled in the water, looking around in despair.

Just then, a Kunlun slave jumped into the lake and rescued her. Ling Xue choked on some water and coughed. In the struggle, she saw the slave mark branded on the man's neck. It was a scorpion-shaped mark, looking ferocious and terrifying.

Upon learning of this, the stepmother punished Ling Xue by making her kneel in the ancestral hall for three days. The hall was gloomy and cold; Ling Xue knelt on the bluestone, her knees throbbing with pain. Late at night, the Kunlun slave climbed in through the window. He tossed Ling Xue a packet of medicine, saying, "Little lady's knees are more delicate than the snow of Kunlun Mountain."

Moonlight shone on his face, and Ling Xue noticed that his right pupil was a rare amber color, like a precious gemstone. Just then, footsteps sounded outside, and his elder sister arrived with a group of people.

The elder sister deliberately knocked over the candlestick, and instantly, flames licked at Ling Xue's skirt. The fire spread rapidly, and Ling Xue stood frozen in terror. Seeing this, Zhou Xing quickly tore off his tattered cloak, wrapped it around Ling Xue, and then carried her out of the inferno.

As Zhou Xing rushed out the door, an old arrow wound was revealed on the burn scar on his back. Ling Xue looked at the scar and felt a strange sensation welling up inside her.

A delegation from the Western Regions presented a dancing mechanical doll as tribute. The Marquis's residence held a banquet to entertain the delegation. During the banquet, the eldest sister accidentally broke the doll.

Zhou Xing was assigned to repair the dolls overnight. Ling Xue, curious, came to the workshop and bumped into Zhou Xing repairing the dolls. She saw Zhou Xing drawing gear blueprints with a camel hair brush, and the delicate lines and ingenious design greatly amazed Ling Xue.

It turned out that Zhou Xing knew the Kucha script, and he had even filled the corners of the drawings with tiny love poems. Ling Xue blushed as she looked at those poems.

On a stormy night, Ling Xue overheard her stepmother and the steward plotting. They planned to send Ling Xue to marry the Khan of the Western Regions to consolidate the Marquis's position. Ling Xue was filled with despair and anger.

Just then, Zhou Xing suddenly appeared. He held his curved sword to the steward's throat and whispered, "A young lady's tears are saltier than the snowmelt from the Kunlun Mountains." The steward trembled with fear and dared not utter a sound.

Zhou Xing led Ling Xue to the stables and taught her how to use a hairpin to open the copper lock on the cellar. In the moonlight, their fingers intertwined. Zhou Xing's palms were calloused, yet his touch was exceptionally gentle. Ling Xue looked at him, her heart filled with trust and gratitude.

To annul the engagement, the eldest son publicly exposed Ling Xue's possession of her birth mother's belongings. A faded swaddling cloth, embroidered with half of a map of the northern frontier, was thrown in front of the hall. The people in the Marquis's mansion were in an uproar, all believing that Ling Xue harbored ill intentions.

Zhou Xing stepped forward and publicly confessed to being the thief, saying that he had stolen the swaddling clothes from the Western Regions. The family's staff struck him, leaving bloody welts. Ling Xue watched, her heart aching, tears welling in her eyes.

That night, Zhou Xing lay on his bed, covered in wounds. Ling Xue secretly came to his room to clean his wounds. Suddenly, Zhou Xing took her hand and pressed it to the scorpion mark on his chest, saying, "Every time this mark is burned, I will carve Miss's name onto the Kunlun Stone more times."

Looking at him, Ling Xue could no longer suppress the emotions and love in her heart. She gently leaned into Zhou Xing's arms, and the two embraced tightly.

However, happy times are always fleeting. To get rid of Zhou Xing, his stepmother poisoned the wine he was given as a reward. Zhou Xing knew the wine was poisoned, but he still drank it in front of Ling Xue.

When the poison took effect, Zhou Xing vomited black blood, staining Ling Xue's skirt red. He smiled and wiped away Ling Xue's tears, saying, "The life of a Kunlun slave should have been buried in the sand long ago." Ling Xue felt her heart breaking as she looked at Zhou Xing's pained expression.

Zhou Xing was not dead. He faked his death and escaped, then sneaked into a secret chamber in the Marquis's mansion. Inside, he discovered secret letters between his stepmother and the Western Regions. Half of a military tally fell out of the parchment scroll, stained with the blood of Ling Xue's birth mother.

Zhou Xing realized the gravity of the situation and decided to join forces with Ling Xue to expose his stepmother's conspiracy. They set fire to the gunpowder magazine in the cellar, and the explosion collapsed half of the Marquis's mansion.

The elder sister struggled frantically in the sea of ​​fire. She tore off Ling Xue's hairpin and said viciously, "You will always remember who turned you into a vengeful ghost!" Ling Xue looked at her without a trace of pity.

Zhou Xing led Ling Xue to the edge of a cliff. A hail of arrows rained down from the pursuers, and Zhou Xing unhesitatingly shielded them with his own body. Three iron arrows pierced his back, but he smiled and placed the blood-stained scorpion-shaped pendant into Ling Xue's palm, saying, "Now you are my master."

Ling Xue looked at Zhou Xing, tears welling up in her eyes. She knew that Zhou Xing had risked everything to protect her.

Holding the tiger tally, Ling Xue mobilized 30,000 iron cavalry from beyond the Great Wall. Clad in black armor, she stormed into the Marquis's residence. Before her stepmother's horrified gaze, she severed the finger adorned with the jade ring. Jade fragments flew, much like the cold light beneath the frozen lake that year. Zhou Xing, severely wounded and unconscious, murmured the Kunlun Ballad in his high fever. Ling Xue unbuttoned his robes and discovered a star map tattooed on his chest, identical to the one she wore as an infant. It turned out that the Loulan witch doctor whose clan had been wiped out twenty years ago was her birth mother.

When the Imperial Guards were surrounding and suppressing them, Zhou Xing pushed Ling Xue onto the hot air balloon that had been prepared beforehand. He looked at Ling Xue and said, "My little lady, it's time to go and collect the real stars." Ling Xue cried as she pinned her hairpin to his collar and said, "Zhou Xing, I'll be waiting for you in Dunhuang."

The hot air balloon slowly rose, and Ling Xue looked down at Zhou Xing, her heart filled with reluctance. But she also knew that this was their only way out at the moment.

Three years later, a nine-story wooden pagoda stood in Dunhuang. The copper bell at the top of the pagoda rang throughout the desert, and Lingxue became known as the priestess. Every year on the Lantern Festival, she would release sky lanterns, the lantern shades painted with stars bearing scorpion-shaped markings.

The caravan brought a rumor: a man wearing a wolfskin hat ran an inn outside Yumen Pass, always exchanging his profits for silver bells to send to Dunhuang. Upon hearing this, Ling Xue's heart skipped a beat; she guessed that the man might be Zhou Xing.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, thousands of Kongming lanterns illuminated the night sky. Ling Xue saw a figure appear beneath the tower; it was a familiar figure. Zhou Xing's temples were streaked with gray, and the scorpion mark on his neck was covered by a gold chain. He held a wooden box inlaid with a star map, knelt on one knee, and said, "Would Master be willing to take in this runaway slave?"

Ling Xue looked at Zhou Xing, her eyes filled with tears. She quickly walked down the tower, threw herself into Zhou Xing's arms, and said, "I do."

The two embraced amidst the twinkling lights, as if time had stood still. They had endured countless hardships and finally found their home in this vast desert.

In a secluded valley, there lay a frigid pool. Ling Xue would come to this pool every day to fetch water for brewing wine. One day, as usual, she stepped barefoot into the pool, the ice crystals clinging to her skirt shimmering faintly. Reaching for water, she suddenly noticed a piece of iron with knife marks floating on the surface. A thought struck Ling Xue; she picked up the iron and found the words "Mysterious Iron" engraved on it.

Meanwhile, in another blacksmith's shop, Zhou Xing was working hard, sweating profusely as he forged iron. The roaring furnace reflected on his resolute face. Suddenly, the hammer slipped from his hand, nearly hitting him. Just then, a sparrow carrying half a withered wine flag flew into the shop and landed on Zhou Xing's shoulder. Looking at the half-fleshed wine flag, a hint of doubt arose in Zhou Xing's heart.

On a stormy night, Ling Xue and Zhou Xing coincidentally sought shelter in a dilapidated temple. Ling Xue pulled a gourd of wine from her bosom, while Zhou Xing drew his scabbard. They sat facing each other in silence. Suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminated a stone tablet inside the temple, inscribed with the four characters "Swords and Blades Share the Same Origin." Both their gazes were drawn to it simultaneously, and a strange feeling welled up within them.

Beneath the grape trellis, Ling Xue was demonstrating her wine sword. Holding the longsword, its blade trembled slightly, like a nimble snake. With each movement, grapes fell from the trellis, while the sword tip precisely pierced the eye of a copper coin a hundred paces away. Zhou Xing stood to the side, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.

It was Zhou Xing's turn to demonstrate his swordsmanship. Holding a large sword, he swung it with all his might, instantly slicing through eight bamboo stalks as thick as bowls. However, due to the excessive force, bamboo shavings flew everywhere, tearing Ling Xue's sleeve. Ling Xue frowned slightly, but showed no anger.

Under the moonlight, the two practiced swordplay. Ling Xue's swordplay was light and agile, like snowflakes dancing in the air; Zhou Xing's saber techniques were fierce and powerful, like thunderbolts. The sword's edge and the saber's energy collided, sparking bursts of sparks. Suddenly, the wine jar shattered, and twenty-year-old Daughter's Red wine flowed onto the bluestone slab in a Tai Chi pattern. Both of them were stunned, as if they had sensed a mysterious power.

When the flash flood struck, Ling Xue was in the wine cellar. Seeing the cellar about to be submerged, she didn't hesitate to use her wine sword to cleave through the raging waves, attempting to divert the floodwaters into the river. However, the current was too swift, and she was swept away by the undercurrent. Zhou Xing, witnessing this, was frantic with worry. He grabbed his broadsword, rushed into the water, and used his sword energy to cleave the whirlpool, rescuing Ling Xue.

Having survived the ordeal, Ling Xue and Zhou Xing were still shaken. They discovered that the leftover yeast from the flood had formed frost-like patterns on their wet hair. Zhou Xing used the back of a red-hot knife to heat the bottom of the wine jar, which surprisingly produced a smoky aroma reminiscent of a Buddhist seal. Witnessing all this, both of them gained some insight.

At the edge of the precipice, Ling Xue secluded herself to comprehend the Dao. Using frost and snow as her sword, she carved twenty-four sword techniques into the cliff face. As the final sword strike was completed, the accumulated snow collapsed. Seeing this, Zhou Xing immediately hurled his spinning blade wheel, cleaving through the snow wave and protecting Ling Xue. The two exchanged a smile, as if in that instant, their hearts had drawn even closer.

Zhou Xing stayed up for three days without sleep in order to inlay star-patterned steel into Ling Xue's sword hilt. He guarded the iron-smelting furnace day and night, carefully observing the heat. Ling Xue was not idle either; she poured molten metal into plum blossom molds and cast eighteen wine tokens with blades.

On the night of the winter solstice, the two drank together, weapons in hand. With each bowl of wine they drank, they used their weapons to carve a mark on the frozen ground. Gradually, crisscrossing trenches formed on the ground, resembling the Big Dipper constellation. Immersed in this unique atmosphere, they felt each other's affection.

Suddenly, a group of assassins attacked. Ling Xue flung out her wine gourd, her sword energy instantly condensing into ice arrows. Zhou Xing, meanwhile, used the wind from his blade to melt the poison powder, the back of his blade reflecting moonlight, dazzling the enemies' eyes. The two worked together seamlessly, repelling the assassins one by one.

On the day of the martial arts tournament, the sun shone brightly, and colorful flags fluttered in the breeze. Ling Xue tossed wine jars into a flurry, her Twenty-Four Style Wine Sword weaving like a dragon. The flashing sword shadows were dazzling. Zhou Xing, meanwhile, leaped high into the air on wine jars, his Thirty-Six Styles of Saber Technique manipulating the air currents to swirl his opponent's hidden weapons into a whirlwind. Their spectacular performances earned rounds of applause from the crowd.

In the decisive moment, Ling Xue's sword tip deflected off the back of Zhou Xing's blade, causing both of them to retreat three steps simultaneously. At that moment, the silver hairpin in Ling Xue's hair fell precisely to the spot where the fragment of black iron had been discovered in the icy pool years ago. This scene astonished everyone, as if fate had already bound them together.

At the victory banquet, Zhou Xing used the tip of his knife to feed Ling Xue a cup of wine from a shared cup. A drop of wine spilling from Ling Xue's lips was caught by the sword's energy and condensed into a crystal pendant. The two gazed deeply into each other's eyes, their eyes filled with love.

One day after their marriage, the two were cultivating in the courtyard. Ling Xue's sword energy severed a peach branch, and Zhou Xing used his blade's wind to carve the broken branch into a pair of crane hairpins. They gave the hairpins to each other, symbolizing that their love, like the two cranes, would fly wing to wing.

Rumors circulated that when danger struck, the couple would disguise themselves as merchants. Ling Xue carried a bamboo basket filled with wine, while Zhou Xing carried a wooden box supposedly containing ironware. Their seemingly ordinary appearance concealed a secret: they would act immediately should danger arise.

In their twilight years, they returned to the cold pool where they had met before. Ling Xue carved the final sword manual into the stone wall, while Zhou Xing completed the incomplete swordplay incantation. They knew this was the culmination of their life's work, a testament to their love. From then on, their story was passed down through the ages, becoming a legendary tale.

The rain was pouring down. Zhou Xing, dressed in his official robes, was inspecting the streets when he happened to see Ling Xue huddled under an oilcloth awning. She was intently boiling wine lees, and the rich aroma of the wine filled the air in the rain. Zhou Xing's heart stirred, and he walked over, took half a sesame flatbread from his pocket, and handed it to her.

Ling Xue looked up, a hint of gratitude in her eyes, and accepted the flatbread. The silver hairpin in her hair slipped off with the movement and fell into the earthenware bowl. Zhou Xing reached out to retrieve it, accidentally knocking over a wine jar.