Gui Yin abruptly sat up. His forehead glistened with sweat. He lifted a hand to wipe it away but he inhaled sharply at the sudden pain. He paused and pressed down at the small bump on his forehead. His brows furrowed and he looked down at the pebble that sat at his bedside. There was a note beside it, written in that obnoxious scribbly writing.
“You were having a nightmare.”
Gui Yin closed his eyes in irritation and suppressed all the profanities he wanted to spit out. An over stretched smile took over his face.
“Thank you, Huigu Palace Lord. Can this be considered paying off your debt?”
The window, which had been tightly closed, opened again. Another note fluttered in.
“No.”
Gui Yin glared at the window. He stood and pushed the window open. He looked out to the sky and to the trees. “Look at my head! How am I supposed to go out right now looking like this?!”
Gui Yin pulled back in and rubbed at his forehead until the swell on his head lowered. He huffed and glanced at the window. He slammed it shut tightly and sat down at the tea table. He mindlessly poured himself a cup of tea.
…What were those scenes from his dream? Were those his memories? Or were they someone else’s? The answer was clear as day, but at the same time Gui Yin found it hard to believe. If they were both his memories, then who was he? This world…isn’t a novel. Then, what was it exactly?
The door to Gui Yin’s room opened. Ye Liuxing gasped. He sprinted over to Gui Yin and pulled the teapot from his hands.
“Shixiong!”
Gui Yin’s head snapped up. He looked at Ye Liuxing in surprise. “Shidi, when did you get here?”
“I was knocking on the door for the past three minutes,” Ye Liuxing said. He hurriedly set the teapot aside and pulled out his handkerchief. “What were you thinking about so intently? Your thigh’s burnt!”
Gui Yin glanced down. He gradually felt the stinging pain against his thighs. He let out a soft sigh and took the handkerchief from Ye Liuxing. He lightly patted himself before waving his hand to dismiss the tea stain. He stood.
“Can I have some ointment?” Gui Yin asked.
Ye Liuxing stared after Gui Yin as he shuffled through his Qiankun pouch. “I thought you weren’t worried, Shixiong. What’s gotten into you now? No—actually, it is actually fine! You’re right, they don’t have evidence against you, so you—”
“Shidi.”
Ye Liuxing stopped talking.
Gui Yin had closed the doors behind him and turned to look at Ye Liuxing. “When I was younger, was there ever a little boy that followed me everywhere?”
“…A little…boy?”
“Or, at some point, was there ever an event that made soot rain from the sky?”
Ye Liuxing’s hand remained hovering over the ointment container he had just managed to fish out. He slowly retracted his hand. “Shixiong, did you remember something?”
“…So, there was something like that?”
“There was.”
Gui Yin felt the stinging against his inner thighs. His throat felt dry as his mouth opened and closed wordlessly. “What happened?”
Ye Liuxing shook his head. “I don’t know about the little boy you mentioned, but if you dreamt of soot raining from the sky that…must have been the day Kui-shibó died.”
“The day my shizun died,” Gui Yin echoed. His heart clenched.
“Let’s not talk about that right now,” Ye Liuxing said, standing hurriedly. He shoved the ointment container into Gui Yin’s hand. “Here! Hurry and put this on or the burn will get nasty.”
Gui Yin gathered himself again. He nodded. “Thank you.”
“I’ll wait outside,” Ye Liuxing said.
Moments later, the door opened again. Gui Yin fixed his sleeves and glanced at Ye Liuxing on the side. “Why did you come looking for me?”
Ye Liuxing tugged Gui Yin back into the room and closed the doors again. “We found some damning evidence on why it isn’t you.”
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.
Xel Tlc cbvvfv obg Tf Olezlcu ab mbcalcef.
“The wounds on Heiress He contain a concentrated amount of ghostly qi—that’s why she hasn’t healed properly yet,” Ye Liuxing said. “The physicians all know this, so they’re currently trying to detox her of the qi. This reminded me of a way to prove your innocence without having to track down the initiator!”
“Ktja’r j ubbv qijc,” Xel Tlc rjlv. Lf cbvvfv. “Ktfc, tbk vb kf qgbmffv?”
“This is where it gets a little difficult,” Ye Liuxing said. He smiled sheepishly. “Shixiong, you know this shidi is doing this to help you, right?”
“…Tfr?”
“Hehe,” Ye Liuxing sat down beside Gui Yin. “Shixiong…could you get me a fresh Yuntian Flower? It’ll help get rid of the ghost qi faster.”
“…P’w ecvfg tberf jggfra,” Xel Tlc rjlv, rajglcu ja Tf Olezlcu lcmgfveiberis.
“You’re not under house arrest! You just can’t return to the mortal realm right now. The Yuntian Flower grows locally on the cliff sides of the Kunlun Mountain range,” Ye Liuxing said.
“Qts mjc’a sbe ub ufa la sbegrfio?”
“P—ws wjgalji qgbkfrr lrc’a atja ugfja,” Tf Olezlcu rjlv. “P jigfjvs jrxfv Tbecu Zjrafg Djl! Lf rjlv lo sbe jugffv sbe akb mbeiv rfa boo abwbggbk.”
“…Alright. Alright, I’ll go.”
“Don’t look so bitter! This is all for your sake,” Ye Liuxing said, happily patting Gui Yin’s shoulder.
The next day, as Ye Liuxing had said, Gui Yin bumped into Bai Aosun at his doorstep. The dragon spirit glanced over his shoulder and pushed himself from the column he had been leaning against.
“Ready to go?”
“Ready,” Gui Yin said. He let out a sigh as he followed Bai Aosun out of his residence. “Say, aren’t you a dragon?”
Bai Aosun glanced at Gui Yin.
“Can’t you just fly up and pluck some flowers and come back down?”
“I can fly up, but who’s going to pluck the flowers?” Bai Aosun asked.
“So…what are we going to do?”
“You’ll ride me and pick the flowers.”
“…Can you phrase it a little differently?” Gui Yin asked.
Bai Aosun raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
“…Never mind.”
They made it to the entrance of Bai Aosun’s residence and headed for the back mountains. Gui Yin glanced around.
“Young Master Bai, this doesn’t seem like—”
The sudden movement kicked up a storm of dust. Gui Yin closed his eyes and took a step back. When he opened them again, there was no longer a person in front of him, but a long, silver dragon. Gui Yin stared at the beast and awkwardly looked around.
“Get on.”
Bai Aosun’s voice echoed in Gui Yin’s mind.
Gui Yin glanced back at the dragon. “…Must we do it like this?”
“It’s in a dangerous area. If we head up by sword, I fear we’ll be blown away by the wind.”
“So, you want me to ride you in your dragon form?” Gui Yin looked the silver dragon up and down. “This…this feels wrong.”
“Just get on.”
Gui Yin tarried a moment longer before moving forward. He stuck his fan into his belt and raised his hands. He pulled them back down and tilted his head. He tried to move closer towards Bai Aosun’s tail, but there was still no good way to get on. He walked towards his head and thought about grabbing his horns, but he quickly retracted his hands again.
Gui Yin reached out his hand again, but the dragon before him disappeared. A hand grasped his wrist as a voice above him sighed.
“We’ll do it this way,” Bai Aosun said, wrapping his arm around Gui Yin’s waist. “Pardon me.”
“Wait wha—whoa!”
While Bai Aosun had Gui Yin in his grasp, he transformed into a long, silvery dragon. The dragon took to the skies, spinning a few times before Gui Yin could get his bearings again. One moment, he was sure he was in the claw of the dragon; the next, he was suddenly on his back. His hands were tightly clutching Bai Aosun’s horns, but he no longer had the luxury to think about such things. He buried his head into the silvery hair that flew back in the wind and tried to suppress the vertigo he was feeling.
It wasn’t that Gui Yin was afraid of heights—if he was, he wouldn’t be able to ride a sword, after all. He wasn’t afraid of vertigo either! What he was afraid of was the lurching feeling of plummeting and crawling upwards that you get when you ride rollercoasters.
“S-slow down,” Gui Yin said, his entire body tense against Bai Aosun.
“If I don’t travel at this speed, I can’t break through the barrier.”
“The barrier of what?!” Gui Yin asked, finally sitting up.
A gush of humid, hot air rushed into Gui Yin’s face. His eyes widened as he looked at the charred trees below them. From this high up, Gui Yin could see the shifting of a billion resentful souls, weaved together to form the world’s most disgusting tarp. He could see the way even the clouds bent unnaturally. Although they were at the furthest point, if Gui Yin just squinted, he could see the tip of a jagged mountain, peaking out of the burned clouds. Without even straining his ears, Gui Yin could hear the murmurs of resentment, anger, and sorrow.
“Ghost…Valley?”
“The Kunlun Mountain range cuts off here, but a part of it lies in Ghost Valley. This is where Yuntian Flowers are most abundant.”
“I thought Yuntian Flowers were cheap to get,” Gui Yin said. “How come they grow here?”
“They’re cheap to get because they’re easy to grow. In fact, coming here isn’t much of a risk either, since this area is only the basin before Ghost Valley even starts. There’s really nothing dangerous here. It just looks a little horrendous,” Bai Aosun explained.
Gui Yin listened to Bai Aosun’s words, but his gaze remained concentrated on Ghost Valley below. He had heard many stories about Ghost Valley, but he had never seen it before. This place was far enough removed from the Beidou Alliance and even further from Yunjing Pavilion. It was in the most isolated section of the Quanjing Continent because, despite it only taking up a corner of the continent, the pollution of resentment and demonic energy seeped through the soil, making plants unable to grow and making humans go insane even when you were hundreds of miles away from the source.
“Don’t listen to the voices too closely.”
“Why is that?” Gui Yin asked, somewhat dazed.
“They latch onto the darkest part of your heart, slowly making you grow insane.”
Gui Yin found himself shuddering. He had never been someone who was afraid of anything in Heaven or earth. That was why Lin Cangyuan and the other peak lords found him eccentric. That was why he was called arrogant. Yet, for some reason, as they flew past Ghost Valley, Gui Yin felt a chill on his skin.
This was a place that people went to in order to die.
The retrieval of the flower was rather swift, for all the fear Gui Yin was put through. Once they returned to Bai Aosun’s residence, the flowers were given to Ye Liuxing and Bai Aosun took Gui Yin to get some calming tea.
The dragon spirit exchanged a few words with the still shaken Gui Yin before leaving him to his own devices. As Gui Yin got comfortable with a book and as his pounding heart quieted, the window creaked open. Gui Yin glanced over and watched as a note playfully drifted in.
“I almost lost sight of you. Where did you go?”
Gui Yin froze. His heart began to pound again. He glanced at the closed door and slowly walked over to the window. He dragged a chair over and sat down. “We went near Ghost Valley.”
Silence followed Gui Yin’s statement. His fingers tapped at the surface of the wardrobe as he stared blankly ahead. Finally, he sighed.
“I don’t know why, but that place unsettled me greatly. It’s not the same as discovering dead bodies, hidden away behind walls. It was almost as if…I were dreaming. And in that dream, I saw a headstone with my name on it. I don’t know why I had that feeling,” Gui Yin murmured.
A note floated in shortly after.
“That isn’t your final resting place.”
Gui Yin read the note twice and three more times. He glanced out the window and finally laughed. “Such confidence. How do you know? Well, I suppose it is further away from Yunjing Pavilion, but you never know what might happen in—”
The windows slammed shut before creaking open again. A note fluttered in.
“I just know. So, rest assured. There is no need to think about that place.”
In most situations, Gui Yin would find this conversation absurd. In the first place, he had no idea why he was scared of Ghost Valley, but the next absurdity would be the Huigu Palace Lord’s confidence in the matter. The world was vast, time was incalculable, yet this man so boldly claimed that Ghost Valley could never be his final resting place?
Yet, perhaps even more absurd, Gui Yin actually believed him.
“Alright, alright. You don’t have to get so worked up,” Gui Yin said. “Look at you, going around slamming windows. Where’s your dignity as Palace Lord?”
Gui Yin smiled unconsciously as another note floated into his possession.
“I apologize for startling you, Lord Immortal.”
A bright chuckle left his lips. Gui Yin let out a soft scoff and began slowly folding up the notes. “I don’t know why I’m still talking to you. Don’t you have your own business to attend to?”
Another note fluttered in.
“I do. But Lord Immortal seemed like he needed some company.”
“You’re just using me to slack off, aren’t you?”
“No, not at all. However, I regret to inform you that I will be absent for the next coming months. I am, after all, the head of a sect.”
Gui Yin felt a tinge of disappointment. But, at the end of the day, he and the Huigu Palace Lord did not even have a friendship, so who was he to ask for anything?”
“Very well. I hope everything goes swimmingly for you.”
“You as well, Lord Immortal. If you ever need me, please call for me.”
Gui Yin raised a brow at words only lovers might say to one another. What was this silly man doing, flirting with him? Gui Yin didn’t answer and only returned to dutifully putting the written notes away into his Qiankun pouch.
Once Ye Liuxing got his hands on the herbs he needed, everything proceeded as planned. The ghostly qi was removed from Heiress He’s body. Bai Aosun showed it to the group who most wanted Gui Yin’s head to be hung at the peak of Kunlun. Although no one apologized for the misunderstanding, no one demanded justice anymore.
However, even as the conference started, the investigation towards who harmed He Peiyao and framed Gui Yin and Xiongsan was still underway.
“Lord Immortal?”
Gui Yin lifted his head to find that everyone in the conference was looking at him.
“Could you explain the barrier to us please?” Bai Aosun prompted.
“Oh, right,” Gui Yin smiled as relaxedly as he could. He stood, taking the small pellet from his sleeve.
This was a prototype that he had made before. He dropped it to the ground, waved his hand over it and watched as a shield drew up. He turned to a random person in the conference.
“Please attack this side of the barrier with all your might,” Gui Yin said.
The man stood up. He glanced around awkwardly before standing in front of Gui Yin. He did as he was told, but instead of shattering the barrier, he fell backwards.
Gui Yin stepped away from the barrier and smiled. “As you can see, this side is fully protected. However, this side—”
Gui Yin pushed his hand through. “Doesn’t even need to be attacked.”
He picked up the pellet and walked back to the front of the room. “We will be erecting this barrier around the Kunlun Mountain range. The weaker side will be facing in while the barrier is facing out. I understand that you may not trust me, so you can delegate a few people to come with me to try it out as I erect the barrier. I do not require anything in return. Please take this as the smallest token of our apologies. In the future, if any problem arises and you need exterior help, the Beidou Alliance will remain at your service.”
Gui Yin smiled. “This is not a sign of our cooperation either, so you do not have to worry about any obligation to be allied with us.”
The crowd murmured quietly amongst themselves. Finally, someone raised their hand.
“Nothing comes for free. How do we know you’re not lying?”
“Well…you won’t, I suppose,” Gui Yin said. He let out a short laugh at the sudden rise in hostility in the room. “As you may know, humans are never to be trusted. I am being sincere, but if you have your doubts, then I advise you to keep them. I found that spirit cultivators are quite good at reading one’s character.”
The spirit cultivator glanced at each other.
“I am the type of person who enjoys taking preventative measures,” Gui Yin said. “In my mind, this barrier doesn’t only help you, but ensures that no idiot will start a war with you all in Kunlun in the near future. One less enemy to worry about it better for everyone, don’t you think?”
Gui Yin got to ride a dragon…. and a handsome one too…. i am so envious rn akdbakxbs
also Known Note Guy Knows…. oh yea, one of my theories is that he read the finished book that came from the modern world/dream. hm…. i should keep in mind the nightmare about Gui Yin’s shizun’s death. that feels relevant to memory stuff and perhaps even Huigu Palace
👀👀👀👀
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
thanks for reading!
my theory is that when his shizun died he also suffered some kinda injury and thus a part of his soul was shattered and left in a different dimension and the story triggered him to come….back, somehow?
👀👀…(thanks for reading!)
that’s a really good theory 😀
Hahhaa Bai Aoshan not understanding modern talk is kinda funny 😆
Thanks for the chapter 😊