After Gui Yin drank his medicine, it didn’t take long before another visitor arrived at his door.
At this time, Gui Yin had already told Shan Yu and Qin Siyi that he had lost his memories. The two little girls took it surprisingly well—in fact, they even seemed a little excited. For the remainder of the morning, the girls tried to help Gui Yin recover more of his memory. Although Gui Linghuo scolded them at first, he soon joined them as they clumsily tried to piece together Lord Immortal Ninglan’s life.
Gui Yin watched them silently with his head propped up against the palm of his hand. A small smile graced his face as their stories ran into each other and clumsily diverged to something obviously untrue. The only thing this session did was confirm Gui Yin’s theory—although Lord Immortal Ninglan was a good and patient teacher, he was not actually close to his little disciples.
When the light knock sounded, the children’s argument didn’t stop. Gui Yin stood by himself and went to get the door.
The moment the doors parted, the person on the other side looked at him in surprise.
“You should be in bed. Why are you up and walking already?”
Gui Yin stared at the other man with a hint of vacancy in his eyes. His gaze roamed from the tip of the man’s head down to his shoes and back up to his eyes.
The man was dressed in round-collared robes that were cream colored and had delicate bamboo embroidery on the front. His hair was pulled up into a half bun by an elegant jade crown. His features could be described as foxlike, carrying a light air of seduction to them. In contrast, he had sword-like brows and a rather defined jawline that added an air of scholarliness and diffused the almost androgynous charm he had about him. At first glance, anyone would call him an upright gentleman, but upon closer examination, the word “sword cultivator” would jump out.
“Qinle?”
“Sect Master-shixiong,” Gui Yin stepped away from the door and walked back into his room.
At this point, the children had quieted down.
“Ye-shidi has told you of my situation, I presume?”
The sect master of Yunjing Pavilion watched as Gui Yin familiarly poured him a cup of tea and set it down in front of him. He sighed and sat down.
“He has.”
“Then, you should also know that my injuries have fully recovered,” Gui Yin said.
“I am aware.”
“And my cultivation is fine.”
“Yes, that too.”
“So, Sect Master-shixiong, there is no reason for you to be pulling such a long face.”
Lín Cāngyuàn looked at his younger martial brother with a hint of helplessness. He rapped the side of Gui Yin’s head with his knuckle.
“Can’t you show a bit more anxiety?” Lin Cangyuan scolded. “Losing one’s memory isn’t something to be easily dismissed.”
Gui Yin held the side of his head and stared at Lin Cangyuan in surprise. The hit didn’t hurt, but perhaps that was the most surprising thing. It was the type of hit Gui Yin would see between either teasing lovers, loving parents and their children, or frustrated friends. It was never something Gui Yin thought he would be on the receiving end of. And, for a moment, Gui Yin was speechless.
“A normal person who lost their memories of everything and everyone would be worried or they would be suspicious. Instead, not only are you just playing with your disciples, but you’re also comforting a stranger like me?”
Gui Yin’s hand slowly lowered. “Then…shall I scream at you to get out?”
Shan Yu and Qin Siyi giggled behind their hands. Even Gui Linghuo had to lower his head in order to hide his budding smile.
“I’m just wondering how you can be so calm even in this situation,” Lin Cangyuan said helplessly.
Gui Yin chuckled. “Well, that’s simple. If I were to throw a tantrum or freak out as you are suggesting, then that would accomplish nothing. Whether I lost my memories because someone was trying to harm me or if it was really just an accident, I will find out in due time.”
Even if someone had lost all their memories, their personality would still be relatively the same—this is what Lin Cangyuan concluded. Perhaps if Gui Yin had lost his memories up until a point when he was younger, his personality would change. But this was definitely still Lord Immortal Ninglan, someone who had weathered many storms in the past already. There was little, if anything, that could shake him to his core.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Shuangye Peak’s sect duties will be split amongst the remaining peak lords. The only thing you’re in charge of is your disciples and your recovery,” Lin Cangyuan said. “I will also send a message to Fengyao Sect.”
“Mfcusjb Vfma?” Xel Tlc fmtbfv meglberis.
“Shizun was supposed to attend Sect Leader Qiang’s birthday banquet in a few days,” Gui Linghuo explained. “You already asked this disciple to acquire a gift.”
“Ccv vlv sbe?”
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Gui Yin smiled slightly. He turned back to Lin Cangyuan. “I can still go.”
“You cannot.”
“I think it would be beneficial for me to go,” Gui Yin said. “After all, Ye-shidi said that my memory will only slowly recover if I see more people. Isn’t this the perfect occasion?”
Lin Cangyuan adamantly disagreed. “Letting you go to a banquet now is like throwing you into a pit of snakes. It’s completely out of the question. You weren’t even meant to go in the first place. It was just a coincidence that you were returning around this time, so I asked you to go.”
“Then, will anyone else be able to go in my place?”
“…This…”
Gui Yin lightly tapped the table. “If you’re sending me, that means that Sect Leader Qiang is a prominent figure that you would like to remain on good terms with. The fact that you didn’t go yourself means that you are busy and since you hesitated, that means the others either don’t want to attend or cannot attend. But let’s say you send a letter to Fengyao Sect; what exactly would you put into it?”
Lin Cangyuan gaped at his younger martial brother. “I…well, I would say you’re feeling unwell.”
“A cultivator of my caliber feeling unwell either means they’re on their death bed or they are politely refusing to attend an event,” Gui Yin said. “Which would you like the world to believe?”
Lin Cangyuan let out a disbelieving scoff. He took a sip of his tea to calm his reeling mind before turning to eye the younger man. “I’m beginning to doubt you truly have amnesia.”
“Sect Master-shixiong was about to make a rash decision and I was only trying to stop you,” Gui Yin said. He supported Shan Yu, who had blanketed herself over his lap, and lightly patted her back. “Don’t worry, I won’t go alone.”
Lin Cangyuan glanced at him skeptically. “What? You’re going to take Linghuo with you?”
Gui Yin’s smile grew. “He’s quite dependable, isn’t he?”
Lin Cangyuan suppressed a sigh. “Still, you can’t go.”
“What we’re afraid of now isn’t that I can’t defend myself or that I will get cheated. Sect Master-shixiong is worried the world will find out I’ve lost my memories, isn’t that right?” Gui Yin asked.
Lin Cangyuan watched him steadily.
“But, Sect Master-shixiong, since the moment you’ve walked in until now, have you thought for a moment that I’m any different?”
Lin Cangyuan had to admit, aside from the fact that Gui Yin had forgotten Sect Leader Qiang’s birthday banquet, if no one had told them that Gui Yin had lost his memories, Lin Cangyuan might not have even noticed.
“All I need is someone to act as a guide for people and places,” Gui Yin said. “Linghuo is enough for that.”
Lin Cangyuan glanced at the stoic boy behind Gui Yin. He turned back to his younger martial brother. “You can go, but you’re also taking my head disciple with you.”
“Deng…Yenuo?” Gui Yin slowly sounded out the name that appeared in his mind.
Lin Cangyuan’s eyes widened. “So, you do remember some things!”
“But if you told me to pick him out in a crowd, then I wouldn’t be able to,” Gui Yin said.
Lin Cangyuan was still excited. “This is great. I was worried about what to do about all your work, but it seems that you’ll be right as rain soon. Ah, my goodness. I was only going to stop by to tell you about a few things, but I lost track of time. I must be going now. I will send Yenuo over tomorrow morning and then the three of you can take the Teleportation Array that goes to Jiumeng City.”
Gui Yin listened to Lin Cangyuan ramble and slowly turned to look at Gui Linghuo behind him.
“This disciple will make the proper preparations,” Gui Linghuo said dutifully.
After receiving Linghuo’s tacit promise, Gui Yin nodded to whatever the excited sect master was saying.
Once the man left, Shan Yu puffed her cheeks, her legs kicking slightly, still refusing to readjust her improper posture.
“Shizun, Sect Master is so rude! Obviously, you said you couldn’t remember anything, but he was still throwing random words at you! Even with all my memories intact, I can feel a headache coming on.”
“That’s because you’re stupid,” Qin Siyi said as she sat down again. “Shizun looked to Da-shixiong for help because he wasn’t sure if going to Jiumeng was the best route. He wanted to make sure. It wasn’t because he was confused.”
Shan Yu immediately sat up, her mind only grasping onto one thing. “Who are you calling stupid!?”
Gui Yin’s hands hovered by the girl’s abdomen as she slid off to keep her from collapsing onto the ground. He retrieved his hands only when Shan Yu was steadily on her two feet and had run over to Siyi for a fight.
A soft sigh exited Gui Yin. He turned to Linghuo behind him. “Huo’er, what do we usually do with these two when we’re out?”
Gui Linghuo lightly cleared his throat. “Truthfully, this disciple has never traveled alone with Shizun. When it comes to banquets and such in the past, Shizun brought both me and Qin-shimei.”
It was safe to assume that, with the addition of Shan Yu, Gui Yin of the past would also bring her along.
Hearing Gui Linghuo’s response, Qin Siyi spoke up. “Shizun, this disciple can take care of A-Yu while you and Da-shixiong are away.”
“Who needs you to take care of me!?” Shan Yu stuck her tongue out and ran back to Gui Yin’s side. She hugged his arm. “I can take care of myself!”
Gui Yin patted the top of the little girl’s head and looked at Qin Siyi. “I don’t doubt you can take care of her, but there’s still the peak to worry about. How about this? I’ll send you two to Ye-shishu’s peak for the time that I’m gone. It shouldn’t take more than a week’s time.”
“That would be the best solution,” Gui Linghuo agreed. He glanced at Shan Yu. “You’ll have to behave while you’re in someone else’s home.”
“Don’t worry, Da-shixiong, I’ll watch her,” Qin Siyi reassured him.
Shan Yu pouted and drilled herself into Gui Yin’s arms. “Hmph!”
Gui Yin glanced between the three children. He patted the back of Shan Yu’s head. “You two, don’t talk like that. A-Yu understands propriety. She’s only acting out because she’s at home. Isn’t that right?”
Shan Yu nodded, the little hairpins in the twin buns on her head flying against Gui Yin’s chest.
Qin Siyi frowned slightly. Her thoughts were written clearly on her face. She felt that Gui Yin spoiled this little young miss far too much.
Compared to Qin Siyi, who was from a common farming family, and Gui Linghuo, whose family had been wiped out by ghost cultivators, Shan Yu had the most blissful life among them before she was sent to Yunjing Pavilion. She was the spoiled young miss of Guiling Shan Clan. Her grandfather doted on her for being his only granddaughter. She was the youngest child with five older cousins, who all equally spoiled her rotten. Although her mother was on the stricter side, she was nowhere near as extreme as the tiger moms that prestigious clans usually housed. In the future, when her grandfather passed away, the mantle of sect master would be directly passed down to her.
In fact, the year after coming to Yunjing Pavilion was probably the hardest time this little girl has ever experienced. Here, no one spoiled her and she had to abide by rules, as well as do chores.
When Shan Yu first arrived, Qin Siyi and Gui Linghuo despised her for being so childish and petulant. The two didn’t understand why their soft-spoken teacher could accept a spoiled girl like this. Even after a year—even after they realized Shan Yu’s talent for cultivation—they still found the child unruly, but their annoyance towards her had settled somewhat.
Qin Siyi and Shan Yu both left after they had a late lunch with their Shizun and Da-shixiong. Shortly after, Gui Linghuo excused himself as well, to prepare for their trip.
After an entire day of talking to and entertaining unfamiliar people, Gui Yin was finally alone again.
He looked around his large, empty room, and walked over to the divan not too far away. He moved aside the arm table and laid down. His robes fanned out and stray strands of hair that had fallen from his loose ponytail draped over his chest. He readjusted the pillow beneath him and propped his head against his knuckles as he looked around the large room.
Honestly, his one-bedroom was probably larger than the small office he worked in; it was most definitely larger than his own apartment. Everything was decorated to his tastes, down to even the patterning on the blankets and the hanging curtains that rested just above.
With everything so perfectly tailored to his tastes, Gui Yin was more and more inclined to think that this was a dream.
He let out a sigh and clicked his tongue. It would be fine if it were a dream, but it obviously wasn’t.
He frowned as he thought about the people he encountered today. The two marital brothers of Lord Immortal Ninglan were the perfect amount of kind and caring. The children were perceptive and sweet. They fussed over him even though he had said he was fine a million times. They were the kind of people that helped make up an enviable family.
Gui Yin couldn’t tell just by the ages of the martial brothers, but since teleportation arrays existed, it was safe to assume that this was a cultivation novel where the possibility of ascending to godhood was within reach. That means, for them to be considered “Lord Immortal”, they had to be at least a few hundred to a thousand years old. A brotherhood that could last for a thousand years was unfathomable to a common man like Gui Yin.
In fact, even something as short as a lifetime was not something Gui Yin could comprehend.
This is why Gui Yin felt that he had to go back even more.
This wasn’t his place. These weren’t people who cared about him. He wasn’t Lord Immortal Ninglan. Occupying a person’s body who had no attachment to the world was one thing, but coming in and essentially stealing away that person’s loved ones felt wrong. And what if one day Gui Yin really became comfortable with this type of treatment but he had to return?
Thinking of his small apartment, where he lived by himself, Gui Yin couldn’t help but shudder at the thought.
No. He had to return as soon as possible.
But how?
He laid on his back and stared up at the ceiling.
Well, he worked as an editor for a famous web novel site. Thinking of a way back should be a piece of cake for him.
“Let’s see,” Gui Yin held up his hands. “Dying,” he lowered one finger, “Fulfilling the original body’s wish. Completing the storyline. Changing the storyline. Hacking into the main system and taking it over. Complete missions until I’ve accumulated enough points.”
Those were six options. Yet all six of them seemed to not apply to him at this moment.
First off, the option of dying. That was the easiest to do. This wasn’t his body, after all. If he were just a bit more cold-hearted, then any qualms he had towards that option would disappear. However, Gui Yin didn’t have a guarantee of what would happen after he died. He could return to his own world, but he could also jump to another. And the worst case scenario was that he would actually just die altogether.
The second option, fourth, fifth, and sixth option were also not applicable. The original body wasn’t dead—he completely healed and was only somewhat injured. Not only that, there was no wish written anywhere nor was it in his mind. Changing the storyline? There was no plot to change. Hacking into the main system and completing missions rode off the fact that he was attached to an all-knowing, AI system. But he wasn’t.
So, was it completing the storyline? But what storyline? Normally, in cases like this, the story would either be half written or was simply full of unsatisfying plot holes. But, in reality, this story hadn’t even been drafted yet. So, what storyline could he complete?
In most transmigration stories, they were thrown a copious amount of information to the point their heads were bursting. Instead, Gui Yin woke up with so little information that his head hurt.
The last and remaining option he could think of was one Gui Yin didn’t even want to entertain.
That option was that, possibly, Lord Immortal Ninglan was him in either a past life or even “Gui Yin” of the twenty-first century was actually the one that wasn’t real, and he had just been sent back to his rightful place.
But thinking this way was, one, far too hopeful, and two, far too horrifying.
He would much rather this unfamiliar place be the thing that wasn’t real. Not the life he had been living for the past twenty-eight years.
“It could be a dream,” Gui Yin murmured doubtfully. He closed his eyes and turned to his side. “Right. It could just be a dream.”
Everything feels vivid now because he was currently a part of it. When he wakes up, it will be the same as it always is. He’ll wake up feeling a sense of loss, and then he’ll go about his day again. Maybe he’ll be trapped in another conversation with his coworkers, or maybe he’ll run into his ex-boyfriend again. He still hadn’t decided what he would be doing for his birthday. Not that it mattered—he had a whole week to decide, after all.
The urgency of the matter passed as quickly as lightning would in a summer rain. For now, he’ll just sleep. And then wake up. And then all will be normal again.
Of course, the abnormality of his calmness escaped him, but that was a topic to be discussed another day.
a dilly of a pickle Gui Yin has found himself in…
i do like the thought that this is like, an alternative universe of him (since he became his exact copy). he seems like a lovely editor, so perhaps the well wishes of the writer(s) he assisted basically manifested this world of nice things for him.
mm Random Thought of Little Evidence: perhaps Gui Yin is stuck in the “this is a novel (outline)” mindset and the world actually is absurd (the “no order or meaning in the universe” definition)! so eat good food, love your friends, and have fun ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
👀👀👀 thanks for reading!!
I love how this story begins, I’m hooked. 😍
thank yoouuuu!!
Another reader now unable to stop reading 🤣. Enjoying his thought process 👀. Loving the little troupe. Thanks ❤️
thanks for reading!!!
☺☺
I’m loving this
lol well transmigrating without anyway out right now sucks
Thanks for the chapter 🙂
“Gui Yin’s hands hovered by the girl’s abdomen as she slipped off to keep her from collapsing onto the ground. He retreived his hands only when Shan Yu was steadily on her feet and had run over to Siyi for a fight.”
You can’t tell me he wasn’t a father (or at least a big brother) in his last life, he’s very throughtful, this is absolutely adorable!!
Thank you for the chapter ^ ^
To dream or not to dream 🤔