As Zixiu guessed, his dad led them to the cliff.
Silence reigned in the snow-covered mountains. Zixiu recalled the thrilling moment when his dad had climbed on the cliff with him on his back months ago. As if his agitation had come back, he could not help but tremble all over. Actually, he was trembling out of fear and panic! âOMG! Does dad want me to help the sick, the wounded, and the weak climb down the cliff?â
This was what Liu Wuyi meant. He clearly remembered that he had reminded his son a few months ago, but judging from Zixiuâs cowardly appearance, he could tell that he had forgotten what he said!
With a frown, Liu Wuyi walked to a wryneck tree by the cliff, grabbed a handful of dead leaves from the ground which had not covered by the snow, and threw them off the cliff. He then turned around and reminded his son, âIf you want to leave the valley, youâll have to be strong enough! Zixiu, do you still remember what I told you?â
âHuh? Erâ¦â Zixiu wanted to pretend that he did not understand what his dad said, but his pale face betrayed his fright. It seemed his dad was determined to let him get out of here on his own merits!
âDad, I⦠Erâ¦â Seeing his dadâs serious look, Zixiu was even more frightened. He moved behind his sister with his trembling legs and kept shaking his head. âNo! Dad, I⦠Er⦠Liuxu doesnât know how to use Qing Kung!â
Liuxu? Liu Wuyi couldnât help but frown again. How could his son use others as a shield at this critical moment? What a good-for-nothing!
He dragged his son to the edge of the cliff and said, âYou donât have to worry about Liuxu. Iâll take her away! But the three of you have to climb off the cliff on your own!â With that, he shifted his gaze to Nangong Du and Xingyi.âPrince Mu, thatâs all I can do. Itâs up to God if you can keep yourselves out of danger!â
Nangong Du was surprised when he saw the cliffâit turned out that the Cirrus Valley had another hidden passageway to the outside world! It was no wonder that he could not find Liu Zixiu after getting into the mountains! Hearing Liu Wuyiâs words, he came back to his senses and immediately expressed his gratitude for Liu Wuyiâs repeated help. âMr. Liu, Iâm very grateful for your help!â
Liu Wuyi did not care about this, and he had no time to stand on ceremony with Nangong Du for the moment. Next, he tugged at his son, who was backing away, with one hand, and pulled off two hemp ropes from the wryneck tree with the other.
Seeing the stout ropes, Zixiu gradually stopped trembling. He had thought that his dad was going to ask him to climb off the cliff with his bare hands! It turned out that he had prepared the ropes beforehand!
Seeing that his son had regained his composure, Liu Wuyi immediately started tying a rope around his waist.
âAh!!â Caught off guard, Zixiu let out a scream in horror. Although he was less scared with the protection of the rope, it did not mean that he was ready for climbing off the cliff!
âDad, wait a minute! Let me take a breath firstâ¦â Zixiu took a deep breath exaggeratively, trying to hide his embarrassment and buy time.
Liu Wuyi was anxious and he could not tolerate his son wasting time anymore. âIf you linger any longer, you are sure to run over the cliff wall later! Now the wind isnât blowing hard! Hurry up!â he shouted with a resolute look.
After fashioning a noose, he grabbed Zixiuâs swinging arms and was about to put it on his son.
âAh!!â In spite of his grace, Zixiu screamed again with his face turning livid. âDad, I canât do it! Iâm scared! I suffer from acrophobia and I dare not to climb off the cliff!â he finally told the truth.
âAre you a man? How come youâre so timid?â
âDad, donât try to convince me with that! Iâm still a minor and my nervous system is not fully developed yet, so if I get overly scared, Iâll be stunted! Iâ¦â
âZip it!â Liu Wuyi did not understand what his son was talking about, so he just stopped him. âIf you donât want to die, jump off now!â
âDadâ¦â Zixiu even tried to make a scene. Jumping off a cliff was almost like being killed, only the latter sounded a bit scarier!
After hesitating for a while, he continued, âI, Iâll wait a little bit longer. Just let them jump off first!â
He turned to Nangong Du and Xingyi, but the two did not answer. He then shifted his gaze to Liu Wuyi.
Liu Wuyi had his own reason for letting his son go first. Though he saved Nangong Du and Xingyiâs lives, he was still wary of them. Besides, he wanted to take this opportunity to get rid of that asshole with his son and his daughter! However, to his dismay, his son was scared out of his wits. âAlasâ¦â
âYou have to go down sooner or later. How come youâre still hesitating like a maiden whoâs going to step into the bridal sedan for the first time? Can procrastination change anything?â Liu Wuyi was reluctant to make concessions. After all, the current wind speed was the lowest of the day! As he was not sure how long it would take for his son to climb down the mountain, he could not take the risk easily. It would be even more dangerous for him to carry his son down the mountain. Although it seemed easy the last time he had carried Zixiu up the cliff, he was aware of how much energy it would take to climb down the mountain. There was no way he could carry two âpregnant womenâ off the cliff in a day!
Zixiu was embarrassed by what his dad said. He shot an angry glare at Nangong Du, but still had no guts to jump off.
He revealed a look of envy when he saw an eagle flying through the mist. âGod, why donât you give me a pair of wings? Or a chute?â
As soon as the ânew wordâ suddenly popped into his mind, his thinking was interrupted.
âLiu Zixiu, how about I take you down with me?â It was Xingyi who was suggesting.
âTake me down with you?â Zixiu immediately felt displeased and thought that Xingyi was deliberately provoking him. After all, with her injured arm wrapped in gauze, Xingyi had more difficulty in climbing off the cliff than he did!
When he realized this, Zixiu blushed in an instant. It turned out that even an injured woman was braver than him!
âHave you ever heard that men and women are forbidden to have physical contact?â he protested. Whether Xingyi took him down or it was the other way around, people would think that he was even no match for a woman! After all, gossip was a fearful thing, right? Besides, the night before, his dad had repeatedly stressed that the consequences could be serious if a man and a woman were found alone even in the same room!
Liu Wuyi was depressed to hear Zixiu use the words he had lectured him against Xingyi! How did his son turn out to be such a jerk!
Glancing at him, Nangong Du broke the ice. âHow about I take you down with me?â
âHuh?â Zixiu thought he had misheard, but the look on his face gave away what was on his mind. He took it for granted that he was offended. âHow come everyone said they were going to take me down, but notâ¦
âOr you can take me down?â Nangong Du had figured out what Zixiu was thinking about, so he asked with a hint of sarcasm. However, as he did not want to argue with Liu Zixiu, without even looking at him, he walked to Liu Wuyi and asked for the ropes.
Liu Wuyi agreed. Otherwise, what could he do?
Seeing his dadâs sullen face, Zixiu dared not grumble anymore.
Though Zixiu was very unhappy about how to tie him and Nangong Du together and their posture, everything had been determined. A few minutes later, after tying the two of them together tightly, Liu Wuyi pushed them off the cliff without mercy.
âAh!â Caught off guard, Zixiu let out a shriek again while struggling desperately. The sudden feeling of losing weight scared him out of his wits!
âMommy! Help⦠Hmm!â Before he could cry out more words, the one who was tied to his back covered his mouth with his hand.
âYou might as well save your strength to hold on to the rope!â Nangong Du strained his legs as hard as possible and finally made his feet reach the cliff wall. Just now, as Liu Zixiu kept struggling, they almost bump against the cliff wall!
Zixiu was so frightened that he could not make a sound. He looked up while blinking so as to calm himself down! His hands kept shaking for quite a while before he managed to grab the rope.
Nangong Du removed his hand from Zixiuâs lips. He tried to relax his muscles while slipping downstairs along the cliff wall.
âNoâ¦. No hurryâ¦â As soon as he moved, Zixiu could not help but shake again, and his voice was trembling as well.
âAre you going to get to the bottom of the cliff after dark? Doesnât your dad need to come down?â Nangong Du asked back grumpily. He got flustered as well for fear that the two of them might get killed if they bumped against the rock on the cliff wall because Zixiu kept moving. The wind beneath the cliff was much stronger than he had expected. It was no wonder Liu Wuyi was so tense!
Zixiu had never dared to offend Nangong Du easily. Now that he was in midair and his life was on the line, he was even more nervous. From Nangong Duâs tone, he could tell that he was about to flare up, so he immediately stopped moving and straightened up, as stiff as a zombie. He was so scared that he had no guts even to take a look at the abyss beneath his feet!
âHow can we move downwards when you are so stiff?â Nangong Du grew even angrier. Why did Liu Zixiu look like a cat afraid of water?
âRelax your limbs!â Helplessly, Nangong Du patted Liu Zixiuâs âzombie clawsâ.
Zixiu did not struggle, and like a puppet, he moved his hands mechanically.
âYour legs!â With that, Nangong Du bent his knees and gave Zixiu a shove in the legs.
Zixiu made another passive movement.
After quite a while, the two of them, who were sweating heavily, finally adapted themselves to the high altitude and slipped downwards in a harmonious manner.
As the cliff was curvy, plus the mist in the mountain, soon Liu Wuyi, who was standing on the cliff and watching, could not see his son.
He looked calm on the surface, but in fact, he had never been so nervous. His son was the apple of his eye. How could he not be worried? Moreover, there was a river at the bottom of the cliff! When they had just come back in September, there was not much water in the river and he did not think it was dangerous. But now it was winter, and there was heavy snow the day before, he wondered if the river had surged or frozen over!