Cherry Blossoms Upon a Wintry Sword

Chapter 1: Up the Mountain, Down the Mountain

On the eighth day of the first Lunar month, there was heavy snow.

The maid, Fu Hua, carried a large bamboo basket in her hand. She wasn’t that tall and donned a simple cotton dress, trekking lightly on the steep mountain road.

At this time, the snow fall started to intensify, and it covered the Heavens and Earth in a blanket of white. Upon the treetops was another thick layer of snow. The mountain road was steep, and Fu Hua’s pace was not quick. She seemed to be hindered by the heavy snowfall, however, if one were to look carefully, they would see the distance between her footprints were all equal—not an inch farther and not a millimeter less.

There were no birds or animals in the mountains, only the rustling sound of falling snowflakes. Not knowing how long she had walked, Fu Hua expressionlessly exhaled a mouthful of white wisp, and the corners of her mouth curved gently into a smile. She couldn’t help but quicken her pace as she rounded a tall twisted pine tree. Soon a tall pavilion came into her view. 

The pavilion was built on top of a cliff, a direct contrast with the twisted pine trees surrounding it. The pavilion has two levels, and it was surrounded tightly by a bamboo curtain. The bamboo curtain looked ordinary at first glance, but in fact, it hid a small mechanism that shielded the pavilion from the cold, no matter how big the wind or heavy the snowstorm.

Fu Hua walked to the front of the pavilion, her smile gradually widened. She reached out to lift the bamboo curtain, calling out in a sweet tone: “Young master ……” The moment she called out for her young master, she noticed that the pavilion was empty. The smile on her face froze, before turning into exasperation and worry. She stiffly placed the heavy bamboo basket on the ground, then turned around and started to make her way to the mountain behind her. 

Fu Hua held in her annoyance and followed the mountain path all the way up. Finally, she saw the person she was looking for on a large boulder halfway up the mountain.

It was a young man draped in snow-white fox fur. The youth had his back turned to Fu Hua. He seemed to be gazing intently at something in the distance and was unaware of the presence behind him. His long black hair was held in place by a laburnum patterned hair stick with a few strands of hair that swayed along with the cold wind, hanging by his ears.

He does not know how long he has been here. His head and shoulders have already accumulated a thick layer of snow, as if in the next moment he would melt completely into the white scenery surrounding him.

Fu Hua furrowed her brows and softly called out, “Young master.”

The youth turned his head, revealing a handsome face. He had delicate features, thin lips, a fine nose, clear eyebrows, and dark eyes. His eyes should have been black, but the color was lighter than normal. At first glance, it gives people the illusion that his eyes were vacant. Maybe because he was in the cold for too long, his lips started to turn into a faint purple, though not unpleasant to look at, there was a kind of ink-like elegance. However, this elegance, made people feel like he was about to disappear.

“Young master!!!” Seeing the man’s appearance, Fu Hua was annoyed, and without much thought, she quickly stepped forward to complain, “How long have you been out here? With such cold weather, what would happen if you froze to death?”

The man who was originally sitting on the boulder showed a somewhat guilty expression after hearing his maid reprimand him. He hastily stood up and brushed the snowflakes off of himself before saying in a warm voice: “I stayed in the pavilion for too long and got bored, so I wanted to come out for a walk.”

“Young master!!!” The maid wanted to say a lot of things, but when the words reached the tip of her tongue, she forcibly swallowed them back down. Looking at the man’s appearance, she could only whisper a couple of complaints before urging her young master to return to the pavilion quickly.

Her young master responded, but didn’t move his feet. He blinked his pale eyes and said innocently: “Fu Hua, I found something interesting.”

Fu Hua said: “What is it?”

The young master said: “Come over and look.”

Fu Hua pursed her lips and walked to her young master’s side, she looked towards the direction he pointed at. What she saw was a boulder covered in snow. And a small beige flower on top of it. It was trembling and seemed fragile as if the next moment it would be uprooted by the bitter, cold wind.

“How can there be a flower?” Fu Hua questioned, “It’s the middle of winter ……”

“I also felt curious about it.” Her young master smiled, “So I stood looking at it for a while. Come, let’s go back.” He said as he gently caressed the tender petals of the small flower with his delicate fingers. His action was gentle.

Fu Hua saw her young master’s action and furrowed her eyebrows, but she did not say anything. Instead, she quietly followed behind her young master, softly urging him to go back quickly.

The beige flower still swayed in the cold wind, until out of nowhere, a sword Qi came out suddenly and sliced through the air. The flower was cut off at the root before crumbling into fine dust that was carried off by the wind.

Her young master slowly walked back to the pavilion and lifted the curtains. He felt a wave of heat rushing towards his face. In the middle of the pavilion, several pots were burning with charcoal. This kept the entire interior of the pavilion dry and warm. But the smoke from the charcoal caused the youth to uncontrollably bend down and cough a few times. Originally, his face that was as pale as paper suddenly flushed into a dizzy red. Fu Hua looked at him worriedly with knitted eyebrows.

“Young master.” Fu Hua hurriedly said. “I have prepared some pear water for you, it will help with the coughing. These pears are ones that I asked Yu Rui to buy yesterday, they are still fresh. Come, you should drink it while it is still hot.”

The young master waved his hand, “I’ll drink it later.” He sat down on the recliner, casually placed the white fox fur onto the side, and propped his chin up with his hand. He carelessly observed the snowy scene outside through the gaps of the bamboo curtain. Although this bamboo curtain had gaps, the cold wind could not get inside. It was as if an invisible force had separated the outside from the inside.

“Young master.” Fu Hua said softly, “It’s time for you to eat.” She bit her lower lip, her delicate features twisted in concern, “You haven’t eaten anything all day.”

The young master ignored her and asked, “Has the sword competition started yet?”

“It has started.” Fu Hua quietly answered, “Second young master said that if you want to go see it……”

“Not going.” Her young master said, “Let’s eat”

Fu Hua happily agreed and brought out the food plate by plate from the bamboo basket she carried and laid it out in front of her young master. In a distracted tone, she said, “The cherry blossoms at the foot of the mountain have bloomed. However, the vendor, Old man Zhang, who sells candied hawthorn hasn’t opened for a while. I originally wanted Yu Rui to buy two sticks for young master since the young master loves the one from this vendor. And then there’s Chen’s store white rice cake …… young master …… young master ……” she repeated, but only to find that the man in front of her stopped moving his hands. His head was slightly tilted, and his breathing gradually evened out. Even his eyes were closed.

Fu Hua opened her mouth but then closed it again. She didn’t bother waking the man but sat quietly beside him. The food in front of them still scattered off a rich aroma, and the charcoal pots in the room occasionally emitted a crisp crackling sound. She stared at the person in front of her, suppressing the sigh that wanted to escape her chest. In the end, it was replaced with a dull ache.

Kunlun Mountain has jade, which is famously known amongst the world. However, even more famous than the jade found on Kunlun Mountain was the swordmaster surnamed Lin who lives upon said mountain.

Amongst the cultivators who seek the path of immortality, there were only a few elites. But the family surnamed Lin, on Kunlun Mountain, have been able to produce elites far beyond anyone’s understanding, generation after generation, and will continue for thousands of years.

Fu Hua’s young master was the youngest son of the Lin family, named Lin Rufei. When Lin Rufei was born, the skies bestowed upon him a sign— thousands of birds in the evening blaze took the form of a phoenix that encircled Kunlun Mountain until finally scattering at nightfall.

As a result, the Lin family also had high hopes for their youngest son, thus bestowing upon him the name Rufei.[1]

Fei, the king of all jades. They hoped that this child, like the most beautiful jade on Kunlun Mountain, would be as brilliant.

However, things didn’t go as planned.

At the age of three, Lin Rufei was confirmed by the Lin family ancestors that he would be unable to practice the sword. His body was weak and even frailer than the common people. And he barely managed to walk at the age of two. At three years old, his first words were of his parents. Such aptitude, he could only be described as a fool.

Lin Rufei slept lightly. With a tilt of his head, the weight could cause him to nod. As a result, he would wake himself from his shallow dream with a jolt. With sleep still in his eyes, he saw his maid Fu Hua half-kneeling on the cushion in front of the table. She was staring dully at the food that was still steaming. Lin Rufei shook his head to wake himself up from the sleep daze and lazily picked up the chopsticks to continue eating.

Fu Hua also returned to her senses, her face showing joy.

The food was intricately prepared, every dish was Lin Rufei’s favorite, but he ate inattentively and seemed to be lost in thought.

Fu Hua asked, “What is young master thinking about?”

Lin Rufei said, “Now that the cherry blossoms are blooming at the foot of the mountain, are the monkeys still there?”

Fu Hua said in a warm voice: “Naturally, the monkeys are still there. Does young master want to see the cherry blossoms?”

Lin Rufei sighed defeatedly: “Then I won’t go to see them.”

Fu Hua said, “If young master is unhappy, I will go to the bottom of the mountain and drive away the monkeys.”

Lin Rufei shook his head and did not say anything.

The weather was very different above and below the mountain. At this time, it was Spring at its foot and the plants are in full bloom. Near Kunlun Mountain, there is a cherry blossom forest at its most glorious. With the beauty of the cherry blossoms, it would attract a lot of visitors but this forest also had a group of annoying monkeys. The number was quite large and they would often disturb the passers-by. However, this group of monkeys was also very discerning. They would never harass the ones that they believed they could not handle, therefore they always targeted the weak, like scholars and young misses.

“You go ahead.” Fu Hua still wanted to say something, but Lin Rufei waved his hand as a signal for her to leave, “I’m a little tired”

“Young master, let’s go down the mountain.” Fu Hua begged, “This mountain is so cold, and your body is weak. If your health really deteriorates, the second young master would have my head.”

Lin Rufei laughed, “It’s okay, I’ll stop him.”

Fu Hua continued to urge: “If you don’t want to stay in the mountains, we could walk around the area for a change of pace.”

Lin Rufei did not move, but closed his eyes, indicating that he was going to sleep. Fu Hua saw the situation and felt frustrated with tears in her eyes. Only after a long time did she give in and say: “Then Fu Hua will really go.”

“Go on, go on, remember to be careful.” Lin Rufei said, “Next time bring me some more books, I’m almost done with the ones here.”

Fu Hua mumbled an agreement and could only reluctantly get up and leave the pavilion.

Lin Rufei closed his eyes as if he was truly asleep. Only when the figure of Fu Hua disappeared into the wind and snow did he reopen his eyes. What sleepiness did he have in those eyes, it was clearly full of deviousness.

Lin Rufei casually picked up the fox fur next to him and draped it over his body. Without even putting on his shoes properly, he ran as fast as he could all the way towards the mountain behind the pavilion. Only, when he arrived at the place, he didn’t see what he wanted to see.

“Huh, where did the little flower go?” Lin Rufei covered his mouth and coughed a few times, “It was just here a while ago ……” his eyes patrolled the boulder for a long time, but still did not find the small beige flower that was once there. It was strange, but before he could ponder too much about it, his shoulder was tapped gently.

He turned and saw a man donned in green clothes. He had a long sword hanging by his waist and was looking gently at him.

Lin Rufei’s expression froze and only after a long time did he quietly call out: “…… brother.” This person was his second brother, Lin Bianyu.

Lin Bianyu asked, “What are you looking at?”

Lin Rufei said, “…… just looking around.”

“How long will you stay in the mountains?” The man asked again.

Lin Rufei felt an itch at the back of his throat. He knew his current situation wasn’t good and tried to cover his mouth with his hand to suppress it, but his body still shook violently.

Lin Bianyu saw this and let out a soft sigh: “Cough if you want, it’s not like I can blame you.”

Lin Rufei laughed bitterly and when his hand loosened, he coughed until he was out of breath and nearly passed out.

“The scenery at the foot of the mountain is good, and the cherry blossoms are in bloom.” Only when Lin Rufei had calmed down did Lin Bianyu continue, “Go down and take a look, it’s cold on the mountain, so it’s not advisable to stay for a long time.”

Lin Rufei knew in his heart that it was for his own good, so he could only nod his head in solemn agreement.

Men aren’t easy characters to fool. His brother raised his chin slightly, signaling Lin Rufei to pack his things, and then he would personally take him down the mountain.

Lin Rufei had no choice but to slowly walk towards the pavilion. His brother did not urge him but slowly followed behind him.

There was nothing to pack back at the pavilion. Lin Rufei looked left and right and finally only took a volume of “Mountain and River” that he had just read halfway last night.

Lin Bianyu looked at the book in his hand and asked him how much he had read.

“I’ve read more than half of it.” Lin Rufei smiled and asked, “When second brother went on his travels below the mountains, did he go to all the places written in the book?”

“Most of them.” Lin Bianyu said plainly, “There wasn’t much to see.”

Lin Rufei just smiled and did not say anything.

Seeing that Lin Rufei had finally packed, Lin Bianyu stretched out his hand and hoisted Lin Rufei into his arms to carry him. Lin Rufei was about to protest when Lin Bianyu gave him a look, “Would you rather Fu Hua carry you down?”

Lin Rufei was immediately speechless. Being carried down the mountain by a maiden was not any better.

“I am your brother.” Lin Bianyu’s voice was as cold as ice, “Anyone who dares to gossip, I’ll cut off their tongue.”

Lin Rufei could only keep silent and let Lin Bianyu do as he pleased—he knew that Lin Bianyu was not joking.

Back then, because of his ineptitude, gossips emerged on Kunlun Mountain. And Lin Bianyu, who had returned from his travels, found all the gossipers, challenged them one by one, defeated them one by one, and cut off their tongues one by one with his sword, Tianxiao[2]. From then on, no one on Kunlun Mountain dared to say a word against Lin Rufei, even if he was a loser who couldn’t even wield a sword.

Lin Bianyu carried Lin Rufei out of the pavilion. With his toe pointed and steps light, he hurried all the way to the foot of the mountain.

The wind and snow in the air were parted by a slash from a sharp sword Qi. Lin Rufei half-closed his eyes. His long eyelashes cast a faint shadow against his pale skin. The frost that tinged his nose gradually melted, and when he opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by a beautiful Springtime scene.

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[1] Rufei – “like jade”

[2] Tianxiao – “Heavenly Night”