Chapter 141: The Specter's Sorrow

As the name implies, the "Ghost's Dread" was a place so perilous that even gods and ghosts would be filled with despair upon reaching it.

The mountain peaks here were towering and precipitous, making climbing exceedingly difficult and fraught with extreme danger.

With the "Ghost's Dread" ahead and pursuers behind, Li Sanjian was momentarily at a loss, staring blankly at the sheer cliff before him without a plan.

"Put me down..." At that moment, Li Sanjian had forgotten that he was still carrying Cai Rongxue on his back, prompting her to gently shake him and speak.

"Oh..." Recovering from his shock, Li Sanjian crouched down and set Cai Rongxue on the ground, though he still stared blankly at the precipice ahead.

It was now early morning, and the sky was gradually brightening. A morning sun slowly rose from among the distant peaks, its fresh rays thinning the mist. Stirred by a gentle breeze, the fog rolled back and forth like snow-capped ice peaks or a celestial wonderland, edging the distant dark-green mountain ridges with gold and casting a brilliant radiance over the earth.

The scenery at this moment was exceptionally magnificent, but the loud shouts of the approaching bandits from the Naizhi Mountains ruined such a wonderful view, while also leaving Li Sanjian and Cai Rongxue with no heart to appreciate the sunrise.

Time was pressing, and Li Sanjian had to make a swift and decisive choice: either take the risk of crossing the "Ghost's Dread" or simply surrender and let themselves be captured by the mountain bandits without a fight.

"Do you trust me?" With the situation critical and no time for careful thought, Li Sanjian turned and stared intently at Cai Rongxue, asking the question.

"Yes." Cai Rongxue nodded heavily. She had already guessed Li Sanjian's decision—she knew he was still unwilling to sit and wait for death, and intended to take the risk of crossing the "Ghost's Dread". At this point, the only choice left for her was to trust Li Sanjian unconditionally.

Li Sanjian nodded, then began stripping off his outer robe as he said, "In that case, quickly take off your clothes."

"Take... take off my clothes? Wh... why?" Upon hearing this, Cai Rongxue was instantly overwhelmed with embarrassment, staring blankly as Li Sanjian removed his long robe to reveal the short tunic underneath.

He... he had taken off his own clothes, and now he wanted her to take hers off too? Cai Rongxue thought blankly, what on earth was he planning? Could it be that he had been driven out of his mind by the pressing pursuit?

"I have no time to explain. If you don't want to die, do as I say." Li Sanjian then hurried to a narrow fissure in the cliff face and extended one foot to test the path.

The rock ledge was extremely narrow, barely wide enough to accommodate a single foot, with the open space less than two inches away from his toes.

On flat ground, such a step would be manageable, but this was a sheer cliff, and beneath it lay a bottomless abyss. The slightest lapse in attention would result in a fatal fall, shattering their bones and leaving no trace of their remains.

"Why aren't you undressing yet?" Li Sanjian looked back at Cai Rongxue, seeing that she was still standing frozen in place without making a move.

No matter how urgent the situation, asking an unmarried young lady to strip in front of a man was truly testing her limits, causing her immense mortification and bewilderment.

"Undress! Do you really think I'd be trying to take advantage of you at a time like this?" Li Sanjian said angrily, his panic and frustration making his words reckless.

With a soft rip, the pursuers were drawing closer, and Li Sanjian, too impatient for further nonsense, reached out and tore a large opening in Cai Rongxue's outer garment, quickly ripping half of the robe away from her body.

"No... don't do that... Ah, I... I'll do it myself." Seeing this, Cai Rongxue turned pale with fright and stammered repeatedly.

"Wait for you? By the time you do it, we'll both be long dead." Li Sanjian said.

Even as he spoke, his hands did not pause for an instant, and with a few swift motions, he stripped the outer garment entirely from Cai Rongxue's body.

A woman of the Song dynasty typically wore a long-sleeved outer tunic over a long skirt, with the garment reaching down to her feet and ties adorning the front and back to connect them. Beneath the outer tunic was a long skirt; at this moment, Li Sanjian could not possibly tear away her skirt as well. After all, it was summer, and people wore fewer layers. Beneath Cai Rongxue's skirt might well be just a bodice and undergarments—her underpants perhaps even being split-crotch trousers...

If he truly stripped away her skirt, Cai Rongxue might die of shame and throw herself off the cliff...

Li Sanjian only tore away the lower portion of her skirt below the calves, revealing the light blue underpants beneath. Yet even so, Cai Rongxue's face burned with such intense crimson that she felt she had nowhere to hide, and she squeezed her eyes shut, not daring to open them.

After removing Cai Rongxue's outer garment, Li Sanjian suddenly noticed a sachet hanging at her waist. The sachet looked strangely familiar, stirring a faint sense of puzzlement in his mind, though he hardly had the leisure to dwell on such memories right now.

As if unsatisfied, his right arm went around Cai Rongxue's waist while his left hand swiftly removed her embroidered shoes. Fortunately, she was still wearing socks, which spared her the hazard of standing barefoot on the ground.

Li Sanjian had no choice; the cliff path was not only precipitous and slick, but the surface was also covered in moss where a single slip could send someone plunging into the abyss. Moreover, mountain gales howled fiercely, blowing both of their garments outward in billows.

The less wind resistance, the lower the danger—a principle Li Sanjian understood better than anyone else in this world.

"Hold onto me tightly." Li Sanjian then took Cai Rongxue's ice-cold little hand, glanced with contempt at the rapidly approaching pursuers behind them, and said, "Press close against the rock face. Don't look down; look at me, look ahead, hold onto me tightly, and follow me."

On flat ground, such a path would pose no pressure at all and could be traversed swiftly. But here, on the sheer face of a cliff, psychological factors were paramount. As long as one's mental fortitude held strong, it was entirely possible to cross this precipice without mishap. Conversely, overwhelming terror would render every step impossible and drastically increase the likelihood of slipping to one's death. This truth was crystal clear to Li Sanjian.

To say that Cai Rongxue felt no fear would be sheer fantasy, but the moment her cold little hand gripped Li Sanjian's warm, damp palm, a sudden sense of calm washed over her, clearing her mind until it seemed that in all the vast universe, only this single strong hand existed.

It was an incomparably powerful hand, one that felt capable of leading her through a lifetime, guiding her to the very ends of the earth.

"Stay close to me, go slowly, and make sure your footing is firm before taking the next step." Li Sanjian hooked several metal clasps onto the vines clinging to the cliff and issued another warning.

These hooks were the golden rings used to fasten the front and back of Cai Rongxue's outer garment, which Li Sanjian had bent into makeshift grappling hooks. Though their strength was far from sufficient to support the weight of two people, they were better than nothing, he thought to himself.

Just as the two were about to step onto the sheer cliff face, Li Sanjian suddenly remembered something. He turned around and tied a strip of fabric securely around both of their waists.

"Now we can truly be said to be bound together." Li Sanjian laughed casually, without much thought behind his words.

What did he mean by that? Was he really just speaking offhand? While Li Sanjian spoke thoughtlessly, Cai Rongxue felt a sudden jolt in her heart as she pondered the deeper implications of his words. Paradoxically, the realization made her feel much less afraid.

The two of them then stepped onto the precipice one after the other, their chests pressed flat against the rock face, their feet crossing step by step as they slowly edged toward the opposite cliff.

The mountain wind wailed mournfully, lashing against their bodies like sharp blades and causing a stinging pain.

"Are you scared?" Li Sanjian asked casually, his right hand gripping a vine on the cliff while his left tightly held Cai Rongxue's small hand.

At this moment, Cai Rongxue's palm was slick with perspiration, feeling exceptionally warm and damp to Li Sanjian.

"Don't be afraid, we'll be across soon." Believing that her sweating was simply a result of tension and fearing she might lose her grip, Li Sanjian spoke in a gentle, reassuring tone.

"I'm not afraid. This humble maid isn't scared at all." Cai Rongxue squeezed Li Sanjian's large hand tightly and shook her head.

"Really not afraid?" Li Sanjian asked again.

His question sounded as much like an attempt to comfort Cai Rongxue as it was a way to reassure himself.

Above their heads drifted smoke-like wisps of thin fog, while beneath their feet yawned a bottomless, unfathomable abyss. Walking along the edge of the cliff felt akin to treading directly through the empty air, enough to freeze the blood in anyone's veins.

In truth, Li Sanjian was also profoundly terrified, his heart hammering violently against his ribs. Yet he had to maintain his composure; otherwise, both of them would plummet to their deaths without a whole bone left.

As Li Sanjian comforted Cai Rongxue, he was simultaneously steadying his own nerves, forcing a slight distraction to quell his rising panic.

Cai Rongxue did not reply, merely offering a faint, silent smile.

If the two of them truly slipped and fell, dying together would mean that she would perish alongside Li Sanjian—a thought that brought a strange touch of happiness to her heart.

"Hey! Stop walking forward! That's the Ghost's Dread ahead! 'Ghost's Dread, Ghost's Dread, nine out of ten who go never return!' Turn back quickly, and I'll personally escort you down the mountain!"

Scarcely had Li Sanjian and Cai Rongxue walked thirty paces when Zhang Bu, Zhu Ming, and their men rushed to the scene. Staring in utter astonishment at the sight, Zhang Bu turned pale with fright and shouted frantically at the two figures.

He had never imagined that Li Sanjian and Cai Rongxue would be so audacious as to venture onto such a perilous cliff. If disaster struck and the pair fell to their deaths, it would inevitably provoke a ferocious retaliation from the imperial garrison.

Thus, Zhang Bu was entirely sincere in urging them to return so he could send people to safely guide them down the mountain.

Yet amidst the howling mountain wind, how could Li Sanjian and Cai Rongxue hear him clearly? And even if they had heard every word, how could they turn back? How could they dare to return?

"Boss, should we loose our arrows? Let's just shoot them dead," Zhu Ming asked, staring blankly at the two figures growing increasingly distant.

"Shut your mouth! Do not shoot!" Zhang Bu was now far more worried about the safety of Li Sanjian and Cai Rongxue. Shoot arrows? In winds this strong, hitting them was impossible, and any missed shots might startle the pair into plunging off the cliff, which would truly spell absolute disaster.

"Someone, go quickly down the mountain and scout the movements of the Guizhou garrison," Zhang Bu ordered after a brief moment of reflection.

*Little bitch, sooner or later I'll have you in the palm of my hand,* Zhu Ming thought darkly as he picked up the garment still carrying Cai Rongxue's lingering fragrance, bringing it to his nose and inhaling deeply.