“The spiders steal twigs and the serpent gossips,” Ren Yizhou murmured. “Spiders…spiders steal twigs and the serpent gossips…”
Wen Yi glanced at Ren Yizhou. “…Shizun, what are you talking about?”
Ren Yizhou frowned before turning their head towards Wen Yi. “Is Bai Qiu and Su Han free today?”
“They’re always quite free,” Wen Yi said.
“Can you call them over here too?” Ren Yizhou asked. “I have a riddle to discuss with you three.”
Confused, Wen Yi left to find Bai Qiu and Su Han. The two men were enjoying their leisurely time, as always, as if there was nothing wrong with the world. Wen Yi tried to school her expression. She bent down and picked up a small pebble that she threw at Bai Qiu’s back.
“Ah.”
“What’s wrong?” Su Han looked to Bai Qiu.
Bai Qiu glanced at his beloved with smiled. “Nothing.”
“Shizun wants to talk you two,” Wen Yi said.
Bai Qiu stood. “What happened?”
“They said there’s a riddle they’re trying to solve,” Wen Yi said.
The two men glanced at each other but followed Wen Yi all the same. When they heard that it was a riddle from Wu Lingtian, the expressions of the three people became somewhat grave.
“Spiders…” Bai Qiu repeated. “This is supposed to help him unlock his memories?”
Ren Yizhou nodded.
Bai Qiu fell silent. “If the spiders deliberately stole the twigs, that means the twigs is something important.”
“Could it be his sword?” Su Han asked.
Wen Yi shook her head. “But his sword was shattered.”
Ren Yizhou didn’t inform them that, in fact, Wu Lingtian’s sword was still on this earth. The less they knew, the better.
As Su Han and Wen Yi discussed, Bai Qiu remained silent. Only after the conversation petered out did he speak again.
“If it’s something to help him unlock his memories then spiders and the serpent has to be something very important to him,” Bai Qiu said. “Something that he felt he wouldn’t forget even if he was brainwashed.”
“An important memory,” Ren Yizhou echoed. They nodded. “Alright. Thank you, you three. I’ll tell him this afternoon.”
When the second meeting came around, Ren Yizhou repeated the suggestions Bai Qiu and them had. The more Wu Lingtian listened to it, the more he felt it was true.
“Is there any memory you have of spiders?” Fan Yi asked.
“The spider demons,” Wu Lingtian nodded. “That’s all I remember. As for the serpent…there’s the hidden realm named where I first dropped Yu Lan into.”
Unfortunately, it seemed that if Yu Lan truly was in the hidden realm, the hidden realm was submerged under water. The direction Wu Lingtian’s soul was drawn to the last time he did a soul separation search ended just before a body of water. To get in, they would have to find a water separation pearl and those were extremely rare.
“Doesn’t Yu Liulin have a water separation pearl?” Tian Xiewen said.
Ren Yizhou nodded. They turned to Wu Lingtian. “She also runs an organization that gathers information. Her family’s emblem is a water serpent.”
Wu Lingtian’s eyes widened. He turned to Fan Yi. “We have to pay her a visit.”
Perhaps the sword wasn’t even in the realm. Maybe it was with Yu Liulin after all.
Fan Yi’s expression looked as if he had just eaten a sour grape. There was reluctance in his face as he nodded. Wu Lingtian raised a brow.
“Is there animosity between you and Miss Yu?”
“Not animosity,” Fan Yi said.
“They just don’t like each other,” Tian Xiewen chuckled. “It’s petty business, really.”
As long as it wasn’t anything serious, Wu Lingtian wouldn’t question it further.
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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When they arrived, there was actually little lead to follow. The brothel that housed the spider demons had been taken down ages ago, leaving a restaurant in its place, but there was no way Wu Lingtian would leave information with someone he didn’t even know. That left the possibility that Xizhou—or the area around it—contained information that the past Wu Lingtian had hidden.
Luckily, Xizhou wasn’t a large city—it was comparable to a large town.
For the first few days, Wu Lingtian and Fan Yi split up to look around where the brothel was, but found nothing strange and nothing that stuck out. After that, they went in the direction of where the brothel pointed and left the city to search in that general direction.
Wu Lingtian pinched his earlobe. He really wasn’t sure where or what he should be looking for, but he tried to ignore the anxiety in his heart.
“How about you go this way and I go this way?” Fan Yi suggested.
Wu Lingtian nodded. He embarked on the path Fan Yi pointed him down, but the further he walked, the more unsettled he felt.
He finally slowed to a stop and looked around. He looked closer at the trees and found that there were tick marks on the bark. He retraced his steps from the first tree on the edge of the path. It was on horizonal line. The next one was on vertical line. The next was what looked like a left-slanting downward stroke and the one after was a right slanting downward stroke.
Wu Lingtian frowned and returned to the very beginning to try and piece together the word that was etched into the tree.
“…Mu?” Wu Lingtian murmured. He frowned. “Wood?”
He shook himself and continued. As expected, there were more markings.
He stopped at the last tree. “Zi?”
Wu Lingtian frowned. What did those two characters mean? Mu Zi? His brows furrowed for a long time until he picked up a stick and wrote the two characters on the ground. Seeing them next to each other, something slowly started to click in place.
“Li,” Wu Lingtian wrote the mu character on top of the zi character.
He ran his foot through the dirt and continued forward. He found the next trees and shakily wrote down each component.
“…Ran.”
The character was stomped out again. Wu Lingtian moved faster down the row of trees. He stopped. His heart hammered against his chest. He had to move backwards from here. If he took a few more steps back…moved a little forward past this bush, then there should be a clearing.
Wu Lingtian followed his instincts.
Though it seemed trivial, these directions were etched into his mind. Once he began to recall them, his body moved on his own until he found the clearing.
There was one spot, although over grown with grass again, seemed to have been moved compared to the surrounding area. When Wu Lingtian drew closer, he saw a twig sticking out of the ground. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was coated with talismans to keep it from moving.
Wu Lingtian’s hands were shaking at his sides. His eyes burned and his chest hurt, but this time it wasn’t from his soul—it was from his heart.
He fell down to his knees and stared blankly at this single twig.
“He’s already dead,” Wu Lingtian heard himself say. “But for how long? How did he die?”
The answer to those questions didn’t seem to matter. A lump formed in Wu Lingtian’s throat. It felt like no matter how much he coughed, he wouldn’t be able to get it out, so he stayed silent. He sat limply in front of the makeshift grave and stared for a long time until Fan Yi found him.
Fan Yi’s eyes widened. He knelt down beside Wu Lingtian. “A-Tian—”
“He’s already dead.”
“…Who? Who’s already dead?” Fan Yi asked patiently.
“My da-shixiong,” Wu Lingtian said, his voice barely above a whisper. “My da-shixiong—the person who always took care of me…Da-shixiong is already dead.”
Fan Yi’s brows furrowed. He turned to look at the makeshift grave and glanced back at Wu Lingtian. “How can you be sure? Maybe this is a mistake and it’s someone else. Let’s dig up the grave first and—”
“There won’t be a body in there.”
Fan Yi froze.
“It’s just clothes…his sword,” Wu Lingtian recalled. With each memory he recalled, his heart hurt further. “There was nothing I could do. I tried…something…I tried anything, but in the end he still…”
Was it more painful to know the entire truth or was it more painful to suffer through fragmented memories? At the moment, Wu Lingtian wasn’t sure. He wanted to know more—to know who killed Li Ran and, more importantly, to know why his heart hurt so much when he found out Li Ran was already dead. But he couldn’t remember. And so he was suspended again, waiting until someone cut the rope that hung him over the truth.
“I negotiated with them,” Wu Lingtian recalled. “They promised me they wouldn’t harm him, but in the end…”
Fan Yi lowered his gaze. “A-Tian, there was nothing you could have done.”
“…That’s right,” Wu Lingtian agreed numbly. “There was absolutely nothing I could do.”
The previously clear skies clouded. Very slowly, faint raindrops began to fall and irrigate the earth. Wu Lingtian remained where he was, staring blankly at a grave, of a person he had no memories of, but he knew he should be fond of. Fan Yi sat by his side silently, his eyes only on him.
The only thing he could think to do at the moment was to unearth the objects in this grave. He remembered vaguely that he hadn’t meant for this to be his final resting place.
After doing so, Fan Yi and Wu Lingtian temporarily returned to the sect.
“Is he okay?” Ren Yizhou asked quietly.
Fan Yi shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
“Well, it would be a shocking blow for anyone,” Ren Yizhou murmured. “Especially since he can’t remember much else. But there isn’t anything we can do for him right now.”
Fan Yi agreed. Other than listening to what he wanted to say, there was nothing else anyone could do for him.
Perhaps everyone in the sect felt that way, so whenever they saw Wu Lingtian they would greet him with a bright smile, as they always did. No one acknowledged the elephant in the room.
Wu Lingtian let out a soft sigh. Since Xiu Lan was still recovering, there was no place for him in her room. He let himself wander, as he often did when he first came to the sect, until he arrived at the large, open lake. He was planning on finding a shaded place to take a nap, but before he could scout out the area, he found that there was already someone there.
The man was dressed in black with a mask covering his hideous scars. When Wu Lingtian approached, his eyes opened and he lifted his head to look at Wu Lingtian.
“Wu-shishu.”
“Bai Qiu,” Wu Lingtian raised a brow. He didn’t bother asking for the man’s permission before sitting down. “I saw your master recently.”
At this, Bai Qiu’s expression became helpless. “Has he been well?”
Wu Lingtian smiled in amusement. “What’s wrong? Why do you sound so exasperated?”
“I’ve been trying to get into contact with him recently, but he ignores every one of my letters,” Bai Qiu explained. It’s not even that they aren’t received—they are purposefully sent back.
Wu Lingtian chuckled. “He wants you to live your life. Is it good to be trapped in Black Scales Palace all the time?”
“I was never trapped,” Bai Qiu said. “I willingly stayed by his side.”
In truth, it was more likely that Wuma Qiongling was free now and wanted to pursue his love, so he had set Bai Qiu free as well.
Wu Lingtian observed the man silently. He was muscular and even a bit taller than Wu Lingtian. Seeing him like this, he was reminded of a large dog who had been left behind by his owner.
“He’s found Lord Xiu, right?” Bai Qiu asked, a slight pout still on his face.
Wu Lingtian nodded. His gaze was focused on the scars on Bai Qiu’s hands and neck and face. For a cultivator to not recover from such disfigurement meant that his body had to have gone through immense trauma.
Bai Qiu glanced at Wu Lingtian and Wu Lingtian looked back.
The two men were normally this quiet. They were similar in that way. The only difference was that, when Wu Lingtian was in a good mood, he would talk more and try to diffuse the awkwardness. However, with the things that have happened recently, Wu Lingtian wasn’t in the mood. He had wanted to sleep, but now that he was with another person, he was almost itching for a conversation. The past few days, everyone had acted like nothing was wrong, but Wu Lingtian had wanted to talk. He just wasn’t sure how to start it.
“I…heard what happened,” Bai Qiu said awkwardly.
Wu Lingtian looked at him.
Only when he saw that Wu Lingtian’s expression didn’t change did Bai Qiu continue. “It’s difficult—losing someone you cared about.”
“…Have you?”
Bai Qiu smiled. Because a part of his face had been burnt, the originally charming smile looked a little horrendous. Still, Wu Lingtian could see the sunny youth from a decade ago, when Bai Qiu was only a member of Screeching Sparrow Sect.
“Has anyone ever told you about Lu Ban?” Bai Qiu asked.
Wu Lingtian thought for a moment before slowly shaking his head. There were brief mentions, of course. For example, he knew that Bai Qiu and Lu Ban had both been under Tian Xiewen as disciples. He also knew that Lu Ban had died and that Bai Qiu had fled Screeching Sparrow Sect.
“Lu Ban…was my shijie, but before that, she was someone who took care of me when I was younger,” Bai Qiu said. “We were both orphans, so she was like an older sister…ever since I was young, I knew that she held a hatred for cultivators. She felt that they were the scum of the earth—that they were given powers by the gods but treated themselves as deities. She was disgusted by them, but at the same time she wanted to be them. She wanted revenge.
“It was our shizun who saved us. He saw us dirty and starving and, without any hesitation, asked us if we wanted to follow him to become cultivators. Initially, I thought Lu Ban would reject, but she agreed and we went along with him,” Bai Qiu said. “For a while, I thought she had dropped those thoughts. But one night, I caught her sneaking into Shizun’s armory. She wanted to steal the Rui Sword.”
Bai Qiu fell silent. He looked at Wu Lingtian with a sad smile. “I was the one who killed her. Maybe if I had told Shizun and the others, I wouldn’t have been so gravely injured, but instead I tried to reason with her. At that time, the Rui Sword hadn’t been purified. She was pouring so much demonic energy into it and…there was no more time left.”
Wu Lingtian shifted his gaze away. “You still trusted her.”
“I did,” Bai Qiu said. “Do you think that was foolish?”
Wu Lingtian shook his head. “I don’t think it was foolish. I’m sure I would have done the same.”
“Lord Wuma said I was stupid.”
“He says that about everyone,” Wu Lingtian said.
Bai Qiu chuckled. “I suppose that’s true.”
There was a brief silence. “Wu-shishu, do you blame yourself for not being able to help your shixiong?”
Wu Lingtian stared out into the lake. “How can I not? I did…a lot of things I probably shouldn’t have in order to keep him alive. In the end, it was all worthless. I didn’t even know when he died.”
That’s right. The death of Li Ran had come as a shock. He had gotten into an argument over it—he had trusted that that person would keep him alive. But in the end, it was all a lie. But even if he had known it was a lie, he would have been powerless to stop it.
“I also blamed myself,” Bai Qiu said. He glanced at Wu Lingtian. “But you know what Lord Wuma told me?”
Wu Lingtian raised a brow. This, he was really interested in. “What did he say?”
“Well, first, he called me an idiot,” Bai Qiu said. “And then he said that if I had time to waste my energy on this, I could make myself useful.”
Wu Lingtian chuckled. His temper and tongue were just as bad as Xiao Xunrui.
“But he also said,” Bai Qiu glanced at Wu Lingtian before looking away, “That it’s okay to blame yourself. However, you have to remember that it’s all in the past. There’s nothing you can do about it now. You can only look towards the future. Don’t make yourself useless over a dead person if you’re not willing to die with them.”
Perhaps, for normal people, they would feel offended, but when Wu Lingtian heard those words, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing. It truly was something Wuma Qiongling would say. He was just that cold and ruthless.
“I don’t know if those words will help you,” Bai Qiu said. “But I felt like it was better than not saying anything.”
“Thank you, Bai Qiu,” Wu Lingtian said.
Bai Qiu nodded, though he didn’t feel as if he had done anything special.
After a few more words, Wu Lingtian left Bai Qiu. He found Fan Yi in the study and leaned against the door, his gaze trained on the concentrating man.
Fan Yi looked up with a light smile. “You’re back?”
“Mn. Yishan, we should get ready,” Wu Lingtian said.
Fan Yi raised a brow. “To do what?”
“To find Yu Liulin.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to rest a few more days?” Fan Yi asked.
Wu Lingtian’s eyes narrowed. He pushed himself from the door and stopped in front of Fan Yi with a tilted head. “What’s this?”
“…What?”
“Why does it feel like you don’t want to come with me?” Wu Lingtian asked with a raised brow.
Fan Yi straightened. “No, my dearest. I would go anywhere with you. As long as you are there, I—”
“Forget it,” Wu Lingtian said. He kissed Fan Yi and straightened, “If you really don’t want to come, you don’t have to come.”
Fan Yi’s grip on his brush lightened. He smiled easily. “Then, I’ll have Yizhou accompany you this time.”
Wu Lingtian shook his head. “It’s fine. I don’t need anyone to come with me.”
Fan Yi took Wu Lingtian’s hand. “You do. You may have the Rui Sword, but it’s safer to bring another person with you.”
Wu Lingtian swung their interlocked hands. “But I think I’m really fine.”
“If you don’t want Yizhou to go, then I can come with you,” Fan Yi said, tilting his head.
Wu Lingtian fell silent. He didn’t want Fan Yi to confront people he was uncomfortable with being around. He glanced at Fan Yi again and finally nodded. “Alright. I’ll ask Ren-jie to come with me.”
I almost feel bad about being so excited about their progress, since it’s hurting Wu Lingtian so much. I am curious about Fan Yi and Yu Liulin too.
definitely hurts to hurt him, but i’m excited for all the reveals >:D thanks for reading!!