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The youth’s eyes moved slightly beneath his eyelids. Cool fingers brushed through his hair, startling him awake. The youth’s lashes slowly fluttered as he opened his eyes. He stared up blankly at the ceiling that was dimly illuminated by the candles. His brows furrowed and he slowly turned over.
For a moment, his vision was blurred, but his heart still sprang to his stomach. The person he was searching for wasn’t in front of him. But even scarier than that, he could no longer remember what that person looked like.
The young man beside him smiled. He stood and brushed his hand through the youth’s bangs. “You’re awake? Hold on, I managed to get some medicine. Let me go get—”
“Excuse me,” the youth snatched the young man’s wrist before he could run off. “You…saved me, right?”
The young man paused for a moment, but still nodded. “Yes, I was the one who saved you.”
“T-then, did you,” the youth frowned. He slowly let go of the young man’s wrist. His hand fell to his forehead and he carefully put pressure on it.
“Whoa, whoa,” the young man carefully pulled the youth’s hand away. His concerned face drifted into the youth’s line of vision. “Don’t do that. You hit your head pretty hard. You probably have a concussion.”
“Concussion…?” the youth repeated. He shook his head slightly and looked at the young man. “Was there a child with me?”
“A…a what?”
“A boy. A little boy. He should have been this tall,” the youth quickly gestured. “A-and he had darker skin? I think…”
“You think?” the young man echoed. He showed a difficult expression. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see any boy. From beginning to end, it was just you.”
The youth’s expression pinched. He slowly shook his head. “That’s not right. There was a child. He…was in my arms. T-then I…did I drop him?”
The youth threw the blanket off of himself. He took one step off the bed, but his vision blurred and he flew forward. If it weren’t for the young man, the youth would have collapsed again.
“Calm down!” the young man shouted. He carefully pushed the youth back down. “Calm down. There really wasn’t a child! You were blabbering about it earlier too, so I looked. And there really wasn’t anyone.”
“Really…wasn’t…?” the youth asked, his watery eyes looking at the young man. He pursed his lips.
But he clearly remembered there being a child. And it was a child he knew quite well. The little boy…his name was…
The young man sighed and gently patted the youth. “I’ve been taking care of you for so many days, but I still don’t know your name.”
“Me?” the youth looked at the young man. He flushed slightly and softly cleared his throat. “Thank you for saving. My surname is Gui, um…I don’t have a courtesy name yet. My given name is Yin. Benefactor, may I know your name?”
The young man chuckled. “My name…”
Thunder clapped overhead.
Garbled voices filled Gui Yin’s ears as he charged forward. Hurried hands grasped at him, attempting to pull him back. However, his injuries no longer hurt. His throat had gone hoarse from screaming for his shizun and his martial siblings.
In the past, when he had just called for them, they would answer no matter how far they were. There were even a few times when he had been scolded by his senior martial siblings for choosing the worst places to shout for them, making them have to search the entire Shuangye Peak before they could find him. His shizun had also said something similar: “If you’re the one that needs help, obviously you should come find us! Why are we going to you?” Yet, every time, they would still look for him.
But their bodies now laid on the beach. And others had fallen into the sea.
He had not really listened when the sect master tried to explain it to him, but Kui Wanming no longer had a body? They had only recovered his sword? But how could that be?
His shizun had always been so kind and giving. There was no way he would meet this kind of end.
Gui Yin had somehow managed to claw his way to the side of the ocean. He collapsed into the water as Lin Cangyuan pulled him back. Gui Yin was still reaching for the impossible when a stinging slap crossed his face.
“Lin-shixiong!” Jiu Jingyi shrieked loudly as she tried to pull him off of Gui Yin.
Ye Liuxing stood to the side, his eyes widening in horror.
“Get a hold of yourself!” Lin Cangyuan shouted. “He’s dead!”
Gui Yin shuddered. He slowly turned to look at Lin Cangyuan.
“He’s dead. Qinle, your shizun is already dead,” Lin Cangyuan said, his voice wavering at the end. The anger in his expression vanished. He closed his eyes and pulled Gui Yin into a tight embrace. “Even if you throw yourself into the water, he won’t come back.”
Gui Yin sat limply in Lin Cangyuan’s arms. “He can’t be dead.”
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.
He turned to Jiu Jingyi and Ye Liuxing. “He’s not dead, right? He promised me that we’ll go back to Fuyun Manor in the spring. We still have to clean up Shimu’s grave.”
Gui Yin softly shook his head as he softly pushed away from Lin Cangyuan. “There’s no way. He said he would wait for Shimu to reincarnate. He can’t be dead. He doesn’t break his promises.”
Olc Jjcusejc’r uglq bc Xel Tlc alutafcfv. Lf ofia j tfja ugbk yftlcv tlr fsfilvr, yea tf mbeivc’a olcv la lc tlwrfio ab rjs jcswbgf.
“He’s still alive,” Gui Yin muttered. “He’s just trapped out there…Lin-shixiong, you have to let go of me.”
“Hlcif…”
“Lf’r ralii bea atfgf,” Xel Tlc rjlv. “Qf tjnf ab ub rjnf tlw…Qts jgf sbe jii ibbxlcu ja wf ilxf atja? Qf tjnf ab ub delmxis bg firf atf bmfjc lr ublcu ab vgbkc tlw.”
Lin Cangyuan, Ye Liuxing, and Jiu Jingyi hurried to hold Gui Yin down as he tried to charge back into the water. The four people fell into the roaring waves as they tried to pull Gui Yin back to shore. The struggle lasted for a long time until Lin Cangyuan finally got a proper hold on Gui Yin. He struck down on the back of Gui Yin’s neck and the three of them caught Gui Yin before he fell into the water.
A soft knock on the door drew Gui Yin’s attention upwards.
A kindly woman pushed the door open. “Xiao Gui, are you feeling any better?”
Gui Yin silently lowered his gaze. He turned back to his painting, the brushstrokes not ceasing even in front of the sect master.
Lin Cangyuan pursed his lips as his shizun came back out.
The woman softly shook her head. “It’s no good. He still won’t answer.”
Lin Cangyuan glanced at the door again.
The woman gently patted Lin Cangyuan’s head. “At least he’s eating again. Maybe if you just talk to him a bit more, he’ll slowly respond again.”
“…Yes, Shizun.”
“This kind of stuff takes time,” the woman said. She sighed and shook her head pityingly as she left Shuangye Peak.
Lin Cangyuan hesitated at the door for a second before knocking again and entering. Seeing Gui Yin’s lack of a response, he silently sat down across from Gui Yin and looked at the paper that he was so focused on. His brows furrowed and he tilted his head in minor confusion.
“Is this a new invention?” Lin Cangyuan asked.
Gui Yin, at the age of thirty-one, had been learning the art of mechanics that were passed down by elders in Shuangye Peak. Although he was considered a prodigy amongst his martial siblings, he hadn’t gotten to the point of creating machines on his own. However, the drawing before Lin Cangyuan was clearly a blueprint. It was a small, palm-sized machine, but its functions were unknown. There were scribbles and notes to the sides of the machine, but it was written in a language that Lin Cangyuan couldn’t even begin to comprehend.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and leaned a little closer. The characters writing along the sides had words that overlapped with the language Lin Cangyuan was familiar with. However the longer he looked, the less he understood.
There were some words about “transferring”; other words mentioned universes. In one scrawl, Lin Cangyuan thought he saw the word “soul”, but he couldn’t be too sure. His brows furrowed even tighter and he eventually looked up at Gui Yin.
“What’s this for?”
Gui Yin glanced at him lazily and turned away again.
Although he had fallen silent over the past few months, his mannerisms were slowly recovering. Lin Cangyuan scoffed slightly, but silently accompanied Gui Yin until he finished the blueprint.
A soft drizzling rain accompanied Gui Yin as he fitted the last piece into place.
Lin Cangyuan went out today. Jiu Jingyi and Ye Liuxing had stopped by to keep him company, but they couldn’t stay long. They were still young. They still had lessons to attend.
Gui Yin didn’t mind. In fact, he much preferred the silence.
The silence, like the grim reaper, loomed all over Shuangye Peak. It was a constant reminder of his own faults. A clear reminder that he should be punished.
Gui Yin held up the small object in his hand. After several prototypes, he had gotten it to fit a third of his palm. It had taken many years, but it was better late than never.
The small machine spun steadily within Gui Yin’s palm. It pulsed like a living heart and glowed as brightly as a freshly departed soul.
Gui Yin softly touched the artifact in his hand and watched it glimmer.
When a new Heavenly Artifact was created, the Heavens would show a sign of acknowledgement. On the day he had finished this object, the skies had flashed loudly with lightning as it clouded overhead. For a brief while, the darkened clouds showed an odd sliver of rainbow, before disappearing again. Then, it continued to rain ever since last week.
But Gui Yin, who hadn’t been outside in a long time, had not noticed this phenomenon.
Thunder shook the room. Lightning flashed through the windows as the wind howled louder.
Gui Yin released the artifact. It floated silently in the air, hovering and waiting for its master to command it. Gui Yin closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and performed a series of sigils.
A few minutes later, Gui Yin gagged. He held a hand condensed with spiritual energy and pressed it to his chest. After retching a few more times, he finally opened his mouth. A round, glowing orb fell from his lips. He caught it as his eyes slowly dimmed. The orb was then pushed towards the artifact.
The artifact swallowed the orb, revolved a few times, and then dove directly back into Gui Yin’s chest.
Gui Yin’s eyes widened as his face paled. He fell over in pain. His chest heaved as his body became feverish.
When Jiu Jingyi visited Gui Yin the next day, he had already been running a high fever for several hours. And when he finally recovered, he slowly began speaking again.
While it was something to rejoice over, Lin Cangyuan, Jiu Jingyi, and Ye Liuxing couldn’t find it within themselves to be happy.
Gui Yin had clearly been recovering well. He didn’t speak, but he still acknowledged them. Their jokes were snidely dismissed. He had an indulgent expression as he listened to their nonsense. When they purposely did something wrong, Gui Yin would impatiently correct them. But nowadays, although Gui Yin decided to speak again, his reactions were much slower. His expressions were blanker. His emotions were duller.
If they didn’t know any better, they would think Gui Yin was just a living corpse.
A loud howl jerked Gui Yin back to the present situation.
He sliced through the ghouls and quickly grabbed the child that had been hidden beneath a pile of rubble. The child was sensible for his age and kept his hands over his mouth. He was clearly filled with terror and should be writhing in pain, but he didn’t even tear up.
When Gui Yin saw him like this, he felt a tinge of pity.
He didn’t know what came over him. When they returned to Shuangye Peak, he told Lin Cangyuan that he would take this child in as his disciple. The sect master was shocked. And Gui Yin could understand why.
So many hundreds of years had passed since Gui Yin had expressed his want for anything, yet the first thing he did was to take in a child. How utterly peculiar.
But it happened a second time.
A small girl, dressed in ragged robes that didn’t even fit her stared up at Gui Yin with a mixture of expectance, anxiety, and expectation of disappointment.
Gui Yin felt his heart clench. He reached out his hand, gently rubbed the little girl’s head, and softly declared her as his disciple.
Then, the third situation happened.
An old friend smiled at him with a small little girl in his arms. She was more petite than his own disciples, but she had a loud voice and a big personality. Unlike the last two times, when his heart clenched, he felt a small smile form at his lips. The tiny girl clung to him like a grass burr, unable to be detached unless he manually removed it.
After a lot of begging and a lot of whining, Gui Yin finally agreed.
It was the first time he had sighed in many years. But after that, he seemed to have sighed more and more often. His smiles became more and more genuine. The originally dull, grey world was slowly filled with color. The noises, which had been so muffled before, were suddenly clear of static again.
Gui Yin took a sip of tea.
He set the cup down and looked around at the flourishing landscape.
He knew what this place was now.
It was his mental sea.
A decade or so ago, it had still been barren and rotten, but overtime, grass grew in again. The trees were a vibrant red. And the path that led up to Fuyun Manor had been carefully fixed.
Gui Yin glanced up at the bamboo cabin, but still felt that something was blocking him from going up.
Shui Meng and Fenghua sat by his side docilely, not even attempting to appear in their human forms. Their silence represented Gui Yin’s mental stability. It was a good thing they were acting so obedient now.
Gui Yin sighed softly. He looked back at Fuyun Manor again.
“I’m still forgetting something,” Gui Yin muttered.
His mind drifted to the young man from before. Not only his face, but his voice had also been completely erased.
Knowing his track record in the various lives he had forced himself to live through, that man was probably someone who had broken his heart or betrayed his trust. Gui Yin was just that kind of person. Once he was wronged, he would never let them back in his life. He would prefer to forget about them and erase everything from their past.
Besides…
Gui Yin’s eyes darkened. That man had clearly lied to him.
Now, in the present, Gui Yin remembered some things clearly. There was a child who had been at his side when he was sixteen, but the young man claimed there had never been a child. Why had he lied? And what happened to the little boy?
Gui Yin felt his heart clench in guilt. He snuck a glance towards Fenghua and Shui Meng.
Shui Meng had arrived much later, but Fenghua had been by his side since he stepped into society. He slowly shifted over and softly cleared his throat.
“Fenghua—”
The fan vibrated violently and shot away before Gui Yin could even ask a question. He slowly closed his mouth and turned to the guqin.
“Shui Meng—”
A loud strum, similar to someone slamming down on its strings, interrupted Gui Yin.
His two natal weapons rejected him. There was little else he could do.
Gui Yin sighed. “Is this still not enough? You two look! Everything is bright and flourishing. Isn’t this more than enough? I can handle it. Just tell me.”
“No!” the two weapon spirits shouted until the leaves on the trees shook.
Gui Yin clamped his ears. “Alright, alright! I get it!”
Once the two weapons calmed down, Gui Yin sighed.
He stood and glanced at the now silent weapons. “I’m leaving.”
Shui Meng and Fenghua did not even budge. They were clearly outraged at Gui Yin’s unreasonable request. It had been their master who told them to lock away this secret! So, how could he suddenly tell them to unlock it? Stupid! Idiotic!
Because the two weapons were connected to his soul, Gui Yin could clearly feel their dislike.
Gui Yin awkwardly scratched his chin and sighed.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the real world.
He yawned, stretched, and slowly sat up. He stared ahead blankly and sighed.
“Lord Ninglan, did you not have a good sleep?”
The question startled Gui Yin. He jumped to his feet and turned to the unexpected intruder.
Su Wen stared up at Gui Yin.
Gui Yin stared down at Su Wen.
Su Wen awkwardly cleared his throat and slowly turned away. “It’s breakfast time. You weren’t awake yet, so I came in to wake you up, My Lord.”
Gui Yin slowly settled down. “O-Oh…”
He carefully sat back down on the bed and softly cleared his throat. “Thank you, Su Wen.”
“It is what I should do,” Su Wen humbly said. He turned mechanical to set down the breakfast and began to leave, but Gui Yin’s short mumble stopped him. He turned back around. “Yes, Lord Ninglan?”
“Uh…your master…” Gui Yin awkwardly gestured. “Is he okay?”
Su Wen smiled. “He’s still sleeping. But according to Lord Xun, he should be okay.”
Gui Yin nodded. “Alright. You may leave now.”
“Yes, Lord Ninglan.”
“Ah, wait!”
Su Wen stopped again and looked to Gui Yin curiously. “Yes?”
“Where’s Yankui?”
“Young Master Yankui is staying in the room two doors to the left of this one,” Su Wen said. “He is currently recovering from the detoxing, but he should be well enough to talk with you, Lord Immortal.”
“Detoxing?” Gui Yin echoed with a raised brow.
Su Wen pursed his lips painfully. “This is something Lord Ninglan should ask him about personally.”
Gui Yin has been through a lot, huh……
thanks for the chapters!!
thanks for reading!!!!!!
Thanks for the chapter qwq