On the couch lay an identical face; Tongxuan smiled in exactly the same way and said, "Why be so polite?"

Chen Yi drew in a deep breath.

He really was in no state to be polite.

His emotions could not be reined in; Zhou Yitang silently stepped into them, and her Heart Demon rose from the couch, layer after layer of Yun Shang slipping from her body.

It just so happened she had only one hand; to loosen robes and untie sashes, she needed someone to wait upon her.

Night deepened; the tree crowns outside the window looked fuller, silently lifted by the wind, the moonlight gliding over the tips of the forest and meeting Chen Yi.

At this moment he had two masters before his eyes, their authority like mountains; but though rivers and mountains may change, nature is hard to alter. As a rebellious disciple, Chen Yi now could only bully two masters and wipe out two ancestors.

For a time, he knew no fatigue.

The seas surged, waves crashing against the shore; when the first great tide ebbed, there was a deep stillness—which lasted only an instant—then came the slow-flowing, slow-throbbing swell.

They entered the true peak of the affair.

After many things that could not be described in detail, that were hard even to liken to anything, and in the end utterly beyond comparison,

Chen Yi panted hard, made a motion like swinging down from a horse, and lay flat on the bed.

By his ear came her derisive laugh. "Your sword—truly sufficient?"

The words were barely out before Chen Yi could no longer restrain himself and surged up once more.

At once, two rapid breaths beat against his shoulders.

Chen Yi gave a cold little laugh. They talked as though invincible under heaven, but in the end it was more heart than strength. What Yin Sword Mountain Sword Armor— even with two of them together, his sword was more than enough.

Yet Tongxuan suddenly sat up and said, "Wait."

Chen Yi did not understand, thinking only she wanted to rest, but then he saw...

The one-armed woman braced herself on the couch with a single hand and arched up, while Tongxuan shifted to beneath her; in the end the two merged into one, Tongxuan holding Zhou Yitang by the shoulders, propping themselves together.

The tree crowns pressed against each other...

Chen Yi stared, stunned, and after a long moment said, "Truly not treating me as an outsider."

....

The glow of morning surged in through the window.

Zhou Yitang turned on her side to look, and again Chen Yi’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

She had always disliked this—waking to find him outside her field of vision, as though he were about to leave her.

Only, she did not deliberately go searching; instead she changed her clothes, and when she turned her head, Tongxuan too appeared before her, attire neat and proper.

The two women had resumed their former bearing; only the couch remained in disarray.

Zhou Yitang stepped outside the door and surveyed this Cangwu Peak within Chen Yi’s heart; seeing no trace of him anywhere, she simply stopped looking. In the end she could not keep this disciple penned in; he would not live his whole life by his master’s command.

She watched quietly.

Those obsessions he had taken into his Heart Lake were still bit by bit constructing this place. Zhou Yitang watched in silence, when by her ear she suddenly heard Tongxuan say:

"You don’t care for it?"

"I don’t," she paused, then added, "They’re nothing but discarded stone, left unused."

Tongxuan was speechless for a moment; all around was silence. Sunlight floated over the ridges; in the distant forest his figure could be seen gazing out. He saw them too, slowly walking toward him.

There was expectation in his eyes.

Zhou Yitang suddenly asked, "When will you come back?"

"Back where? To your Heart Lake?" Tongxuan asked in return.

Zhou Yitang inclined her head slightly.

"Staying here is quite nice."

"You must go back," she said.

"Why must I?" Tongxuan paused, as though understanding something.

This was his Heart Lake. From afar, Chen Yi already heard the two of them speaking and hurriedly descended to them, asking:

"Tongxuan, you’re about to have Tongxuan go back?"

"Indeed."

"Why?"

Zhou Yitang avoided answering, clearly wanting to consign it to silence.

Yet Tongxuan stepped forward, covered her mouth, and chuckled softly:

"Once I go back, I’ll make her remember how she loves you..."