The moment Chen Weichen looked at him, he suddenly felt all the surrounding sounds fade away, falling into an empty silence.

He saw snow in those eyes.

"You only had a few encounters with him."

"Even a small favor should be repaid with a gushing spring," Ye Jiuya's voice lost some of its usual coldness. "Although our acquaintance was brief, we were still kindred spirits in this life."

"Ye Jiuya, you are truly cruel," Chen Weichen smiled faintly. "If the situation really doesn't allow for both, I would give up your life to obtain the spring water, which would fulfill your wish. But who will fulfill mine?"

That day, before Marquis Youshui arrived, they had mentioned Emperor Yan once. After reaching an impasse, they tacitly avoided bringing up this topic again.

Bringing it up again today, it was actually at a critical juncture of life and death, where the slightest mishap would mean their souls could never return.

"Chen Weichen." Ye Jiuya said.

When he called this name, he was very serious.

Hearing it, Chen Weichen knew he was simply calling out to Chen Weichen, not the shadow of another person under this name.

"When you took the Annihilation Incense and obtained the Jinxiu Ashes, you took on the karmic consequences for me, which I have yet to repay. In Guixu, borrowing your hand to open up the void, and today asking you to retrieve the Nine Nether Spring Water, are all things you are unwilling to do."

"In my life, I have not failed my sect, Emperor Yan, or myself," Ye Jiuya's voice was like an icy lake in late autumn, cold and clear. "I have only failed you."

Chen Weichen felt a sharp pain in his heart. His breath carried a suppressed tremble as he lowered his eyes, not looking at him: "I don't want your repayment."

"If I cannot return this time, I can only repay you in the next life."

"The next life is not enough, it should be life after life," Chen Weichen looked at him again, as if forgetting that he had just said he didn't want repayment. "Swordmaster Ye, a promise is worth a thousand gold. If you enter the cycle of reincarnation, remember, if you can return this time, then wait until next time, wait until truly entering reincarnation to fulfill the promise."

Ye Jiuya: "Alright."

Tonight's promise, a vow worth a thousand gold.

His figure gradually became transparent, turning into glowing specks, like the flickering fireflies in the reed marshes on a deep summer night.

The starlight gradually fell upon the sword body and hilt like drifting snow in the northern lands.

The entire sword emitted a lustrous glow.

If he did not return to the Sword Pavilion in three days, when this glow dimmed, it would be the time his soul left the mortal world.

Chen Weichen leaned against the towering tree behind him, slowly steadying his breath.

The sharp, stabbing pain passed, leaving a dull ache.

His vision suddenly blurred before his eyes.

It was snowing all over.

He came from afar, climbing the nine hundred stone steps of Liuxue Mountain at the Sword Pavilion, arriving at the terrace with green pines, to keep an appointment.

The scene before his eyes gradually became clear. Under the pine tree was a stone table with a sky-blue wine pot and a pair of cups. There was wine in the cups. The falling snow melted into them, inseparable.

Like some memories, lightly etched in time, never to come out again.

Someone was looking at him, dressed in snow-white robes, hair like raven ink, a face that time would not forget. On the table lay a crystal-clear bamboo sword. It was hard to say if the sword was like the person or the person was like the sword.

It turned out that in the world - in the world there really existed such an otherworldly, stunningly beautiful person, and such a transcendent, extraordinary sword.

The path of immortality was a road stretching endlessly.

The white-haired woman's voice was indifferent: "Remember, cultivators fear having no master, no friend, no rival. With no master, one does not know the profundity of heaven and earth; with no friend, one does not know where to return to; with no rival, one does not know where to go. Although I led you onto the path of cultivation, I still cannot be considered your master. As for these three, whether you can encounter them depends on your fate. The great dao is lonely. As we look up to the heavens and down to earth, being able to encounter even one is already the greatest of fortune."

Chen Weichen leaned against the tree trunk, a hint of an inscrutable smile appearing at the corner of his lips.

He blinked, extricating himself from the scenes surfacing in his mind, and looked at the sword in his hand, saying: "Since you trust me, I must find a way for you to have both - for your soul to return and to obtain the spring water. As for life after life, I dare not hope for that much. Only, if one day in the future you remember, just remember there was once such a person. That would be fulfilling my wish."

He remembered many sword techniques.

Although the moves were numerous, all methods returned to one. In the end, it was just a few simple forms.

Just as memories were complex, when the dust settled, what remained was nothing more than the silhouette of a person.

He closed his eyes, vaguely feeling something in the sword resonating with his own soul.

He drew his sword.

-- The path of the sword was nothing more than the intent of the sword-wielder.

-- Where the will was sincere, even metal and stone would split open.

"Naturally, my heart is sincere. I originally should not be in the mortal world, stealing an extra life under the Heavenly Dao. Living is for you, and dying is also for you," he stood at the entrance to the void, silently saying the words that person could not hear. "In the world, there is no one else like me, whose heart is so sincere towards you."