I served as Li Bai's page.

When Zhao Rui heard the yamen runner mention Qingcheng Mountain, his heart jumped into his throat. He immediately understood the reason for his panic.

"Twelve, I need to go back to Qingcheng Mountain for a visit. Let's go right away," Zhao Rui said. He quickly walked towards the inn, and Li Bai, Wu Zhinan, and I hurriedly followed.

Apart from the waiter, there was no one else in the inn. Everyone was afraid of another earthquake and had taken shelter outside. Master Shi went upstairs to his room to pack his things, and then we arrived.

"Master, I'll go back to Qingcheng Mountain with you. Yuehua, pack your luggage," Li Bai said, then turned to Wu Zhinan: "Brother Zhinan, you stay here and meet those friends. If they come, explain to them that we probably won't be able to drink today. Tell them I'll treat them another day."

"Alright, you should be careful when you go to Qingcheng Mountain at this time. With such a big tremor just now, there are probably many collapsed sections on the road," Wu Zhinan said.

"We'll be careful. You should also be careful while you're alone in Chengdu," Li Bai replied.

"Young Master, we're all packed. Let's go."

We went downstairs and came to the inn. The waiter had already led our horses to the door. The three of us mounted our horses, said goodbye to Wu Zhinan, and then galloped off towards Qingcheng Mountain.

When we first left Chengdu, everything went smoothly. There were very few collapsed mountains and houses along the way. We rode at full speed and got closer and closer to Qingcheng Mountain. The road became more and more difficult to travel. Landslides were quite severe along the way. In some places, it was impossible to pass on horseback. We had to dismount and lead the horses. When we arrived at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain, it was already four or five o'clock in the afternoon.

We looked down at Qingcheng Mountain from the foot of the mountain. The mountain was severely damaged. Many trees had fallen in large numbers due to the landslide, and some Taoist temples were buried in the ruins. It was impossible to go up the mountain on horseback, so we had to leave the horses at the foot of the mountain and walk up.

The master was extremely anxious, repeatedly chanting, "I hope everything is alright, get there quickly."

The young master also panicked when he saw this situation.

As we walked uphill, we occasionally encountered Taoist priests coming downhill. My master and young master had no interest in greeting them, as they were preoccupied with their own thoughts.

When we reached the halfway point and saw the direction of the Jade Maiden Cave, my master suddenly collapsed to the ground. Li Bai, panicked, ran towards the cave. I helped him up. Zhao Rui, trembling, stood up and stammered, "Why did it collapse? Yuehua, quickly help me up."

I pulled Zhao Rui along with all my might as we struggled to climb toward the Jade Maiden Cave. Luckily, I had practiced some martial arts before, otherwise, I would have been dragged down by Zhao Rui.

When Zhao Rui and I arrived at the Jade Maiden Cave, I heard Li Bai shouting hoarsely, "Xiao Feng!" He took off his sword and began digging furiously into the mountainside. Yu Qing stood beside him, her eyes red and swollen, her hands covered in mud and blood. Zhao Rui's other disciples were also moving fallen rocks. When they saw Zhao Rui, they all cried out, "Master!" and then fell silent.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Rui immediately understood and cried out, "Feng'er!" before fainting. I quickly supported him and laid him down on a relatively flat spot. At this moment, Zhao Rui's wife ran over from the direction of the East Cave, knelt beside him, and wept bitterly, "Why did you only come back now? Our daughter is gone!" She shook Zhao Rui vigorously.

"Grandma, don't shake Grandpa, he's fainted." I helped Grandma up, trying to lift her up, but she clung to Grandpa and wouldn't let go. After a while, Zhao Rui woke up. The couple embraced and wept bitterly.

Seeing that Zhao Rui had woken up, I went to Li Bai's side to help him move the stones. Li Bai's eyes were bloodshot, his hands covered in blood and mud, and he was digging frantically. However, the entire mountain, including Qinglian Cave and Dongyan Cave, had collapsed. The mud and rocks completely buried the three caves. We would dig away one pile of stones and mud, only to have more piled up next to it. The dozen or so of us were doing this useless work. As darkness fell, everyone was exhausted, but we hadn't made any progress. I sat down on a large rock, shouting, "Stop digging! It's no use. This is a mountain; we can't dig it open. Give up!"

"Yuehua, instead of working harder, you're saying discouraging things. Do you want me to slap you?" Li Bai yelled at me.

Having followed Li Bai for so long, he had never yelled at me like that before. I was so scared that I didn't dare to utter a sound. I buried my head and started working again.

It was completely dark, and Zhao Feng's chances of survival were slim. Li Bai collapsed to the ground in despair, his master and his wife wept bitterly, and I also cried sadly.

"Everyone, let's go back to the tents and rest. It's too dark, and it's too dangerous to continue," the sorceress said.

"That's enough, let's go back," the master said helplessly.

Everyone stopped. I walked over to Li Bai, intending to help him up, but as soon as I grasped his hand, he forcefully shook it off. He then buried his face in his hands and began to sob.

"Young Master, please don't do this. Your aunt will be sad if she sees this." I bent down, half-squatting in front of him, and held his hands tightly. The pain in his heart was transmitted to me through his convulsing hands. I could no longer control myself and hugged him tightly.

"Young master, cry it out loud. It will make you feel better."

"Yuehua, Xiaofeng is gone. What am I supposed to do now? I've tried so hard to get into officialdom, but what's the point?"

"Young Master, let's not think about these things now. Get up, let's go to the tent to rest, and we'll think of a solution tomorrow." I helped Li Bai up and walked towards the temporary tent outside the East Cave.

According to the old woman, the tent was only set up in the afternoon, with help from people from several other caves. Because Qingcheng Mountain was severely damaged, everyone from the various caves was very busy. They heard that someone from Jade Maiden Cave was buried inside, so they all came to help with the rescue, but they couldn't manage it because half the mountain was buried under the debris. Jade Maiden Cave was buried too deep, and they couldn't find it, so they left. In the end, only the disciples from East Rock Cave and Yuqing from Jade Maiden Cave remained there.

The old woman cried as she spoke, and the old man also shed tears, heartbroken.

"Yuqing, not only Xiaofeng, but your master and your other junior sister were also buried inside?" Li Bai asked, finally recovering a bit.

"Yes, the three of them were in the innermost cave at the time. Master was teaching my two junior sisters to practice their new sword techniques. When the earthquake struck, I was outside the cave, which is why I survived. At first, I only saw the mountain in front of me shaking, and I thought I was just dizzy. Then I heard a loud bang, and half of the mountain collapsed. The dust blinded me, and when I could open my eyes, I found that the cave was buried, and my master and junior sisters hadn't come out. I searched everywhere for help, and Madam Zhao came too. No matter how hard everyone moved stones and carried soil, they couldn't dig to the cave entrance. I didn't know what to do. I've been an orphan since I was little, and Master raised me." As she spoke, Yuqing started crying again.

Zhao Rui said, "What a pity, my Feng'er, so clever and quick-witted." Then he let out a long sigh.

After listening, Li Bai walked out of the tent and, in the dark, came to the ruins of the Jade Maiden Cave. He lingered there, unwilling to leave.

I stayed with him the whole time, but I didn't dare to persuade him to go back. So I stayed in front of the Jade Maiden Cave all night.