Xue Huai made a copy of the files, making sure that not a single stroke was missing, and then destroyed the original files, which were written by Xue Zong personally at Shenhua Terrace.
He and Yun Cuo rushed back to the Murong Immortal Sect overnight.
Since the other party used a strategy to lure the tiger away from the mountain, on one hand he used an imperceptible method, on the other hand he made Xue Huai rush to Dongzhou immediately, and he also used someone to tell Xue Huai “he is not here”, then this just proves that the other party is hiding in the Murong Mountain Manor.
Xue Huai resisted the urge to seal off the manor to investigate every step and calmed down to discuss with Yun Cuo: “Don’t rush. The enemy is well prepared. If we alert them at this time, it will be counterproductive. The enemy is in the dark, and we are in the open. Only by designing a plan to lure him out of the dark will we have a chance of winning.”
Yun Cuo thought about it and agreed with him. He said, “I have sent the news from Shenhua Terrace to the Heavenly Southern and Northern Gates and also to my father. During this period of time, we will calm down and investigate. I will also allocate people to protect Grandpa and Grandma at all times. Don’t leave my side for the time being, alright?”
Xue Huai nodded.
After they returned, they checked the in and out of Murong Mountain Sect overnight. The entry formation showed that apart from Murong Jinchuan, no other people had come and gone recently, which further confirmed their speculation.
However, there were tens of thousands of disciples, cultivators, doormen, and magical beasts in the Murong Mountain Sect. It would be like looking for a needle out of the sea to search for them one by one.
Late at night, Xue Huai closed his eyes and concentrated on thinking about this matter.
He and Yun Cuo now stay in the small house on the top of the mountain. The two people stay in one room, and next door is where Grandpa Murong recuperates. In order to prevent Grandma Murong from getting too tired, they take turns keeping watch at night and staying by the old man’s side.
Who was the first one to tell him that?
Who was the first person to say, “Not here, let Xiao Huai go back to Dongzhou immediately”?
He vaguely felt that he would remember it because he didn’t find anything unusual. The other person was someone familiar to him—although he didn’t know him, he should have seen him somewhere—maybe someone from the next class, or maybe they often met each other.
He checked the roster overnight and looked at the faces of every disciple recorded with magic, but in the end found nothing.
The light in the room went out with a puff, and the whole room fell into a silent darkness. The occasional chirping of insects could be heard from outside.
The smell of blood is so strong.
When Murong Jinchuan was brought back, his whole body was bleeding, and he was almost dying. The old man’s cultivation had reached the level of god, so it was even more difficult to treat him. There were only a handful of cultivators with the level of god in the sect, and there was only one medical cultivator, which is Xue Huai’s master, Cai Yi. After a day and a night of magic and medicine, the old man’s body was barely able to slowly recover.
Xue Huai smelled the blood and felt very upset, and it was even harder for him to fall asleep. Just as he was getting anxious, the door opened, and Yun Cuo walked in with a small lamp.
He sat down beside his bed.
Xue Huai was afraid that he would worry, so he held his breath and turned his back to him, trying not to move. But Yun Cuo still noticed something, and he asked softly, “Xue Huai ge, are you still awake?”
Xue Huai didn’t say anything, but he felt Yun Cuo’s hand reaching out to him. He first felt the temperature of his collar, then tucked the corner of the quilt for him, then climbed up and lay down beside him.
Xue Huai didn’t say anything, so he came over and hugged him from behind, whispering, “Let me be on duty in the second half of the night, you haven’t had a rest for a long time. I’ll stay with you first, and then I’ll go over after you fall asleep. It’s fine.”
Xue Huai turned over and buried his head in his arms. Yun Cuo patiently hugged him, patting his back gently like stroking a cat and coaxing him: “It’s alright, when I become the Immortal Lord, nothing can stop us, and no one will dare to hurt our family. Grandpa will get better, and Father will come back, right?”
Xue Huai smiled: “You are really quick to recognize your relatives. Yesterday you called uncle, and today you called father.”
Yun Cuo didn’t argue with him, fearing that if he spoke, Xue Huai’s sleepiness would be driven away again, so he quickly lowered his head and kissed his forehead: “Go to sleep. You never rest, and you can’t do anything in this state.”
Xue Huai let out an “En.”
After a moment, he said softly, “Yun Cuo, it’s great to have you.”
Yun Cuo held him in silence for a long time. When Xue Huai’s breathing became longer, he gently replied, “Me too.”
Xue Huai fell asleep.
He carefully pulled away, slowly got out of bed, went out and closed the door, then went to sit in Murong Jinchuan’s room. The gluttonous ghost was guarding the bed, curled up and taking a nap, while the little gray cat was guarding the door, and at the slightest movement, it would immediately arch its back with a covetous look.
Yun Cuo used magic to heat the water, wash the silk, and change the medicine for Murong Jinchuan.
He had never served anyone except Xue Huai. But the person in front of him was Xue Huai’s family member and also his mentor. He did not feel any discomfort in doing this—naturally, he took on this responsibility, urged the grandmother to sleep, and watched Xue Huai fall asleep peacefully. He felt that this was what he should do.
The question that had troubled him for two lifetimes seemed to have found an answer at this moment: For some people, if you smile at them and treat them nicely, it is not called flattery.
He just wanted to be nice to them, and they did the same to him. They didn’t ask for anything, they just liked and loved him. Some of them didn’t even have much interaction with him.
He learned how to do it, even if he wasn’t very good at it.
Lover, friend, relative… These familiar words came out easily, but it was the first time for him to say them.
After changing the medicine, Yun Cuo stood quietly beside the bed and felt the old man’s pulse as Cai Yi instructed. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found it was still stable.
He finally had a chance to sit down and rest for a while.
Because of the illness, Murong Jinchuan, the usually majestic master who was called the devil by his disciples, actually looked a little weak and old.
“Shizun, I’ve made up my mind.” Yun Cuo looked at Murong Jinchuan’s face and whispered, “I may not be able to continue to practice under you in the future.”
The old man was breathing steadily, with his eyes closed. These pairs of eyes used to stare at him and Xue Huai, often with a look of exasperation, just like an ordinary old man.
Yun Cuo kneeled down and deeply bowed. “I know you have always wanted to take in a personal disciple, train him to be the successor of the Shengyun Sword Technique, and carry forward the Shengyun Sect in the future. Unfortunately, I am stupid, I have only understood 80% of it, and I have not practiced diligently. I have a bad character, and I often go astray during seclusion. Soon, I will leave the sect and pursue fame and fortune. When I entered the sect, you drank my teacher-respecting tea and made many requests of me. But the disciples did not achieve any of them. The only thing I can pursue now is to protect Xue Huai and everyone’s safety, even in death.”
If Xue Huai let him know what love is and was the person who brought him into the world, then Murong Jinchuan was the person who taught him how to come out of it.
He taught him to be open-minded and sincere. The oath for all sword cultivators was written by Murong Jinchuan himself: “The sword cannot be stained by dust, and the heart cannot be stained by blood. The sword must be stained with blood, but the heart must be free of dust.”
He was naturally gloomy and solitary, and it was they who showed him the direction of his choice.
But he still had to walk the same path as in his previous life. The wheel of fate came to an abrupt stop, and here, it rolled over a repetitive rut.
Outside the window, a faithful crow came in the rain, flapping its wings, and before it landed on the ground, it was swallowed up by the suddenly awakened gluttonous, who then spit it out reluctantly.
The faithful crow shook its feathers in panic and then flew to Yun Cuo and said, “Young Immortal Lord, I have reported everything to the Heavenly Court and the Immortal Lord. The Heavenly Court has not responded yet, and Lord Yun Yan wants to meet with you.”
“I have someone to take care of, I can’t leave now.” Yun Cuo said calmly, “If he wants to see me, come here to talk to me. But there is nothing to talk about between him and me. There are two ways: fight or not fight, let him choose. If he is willing to give up the throne to me, I also don’t want to waste troops and time in his hands; if he is not willing, then I will directly fight to the gate of his city and kill him again.”
The faithful crow fluttered away and no one notice that Murong Jinchuan’s fingers trembled slightly.
Xue Huai slept and had nightmares all night. When he woke up, he was covered in a cold sweat.
He dreamed that he had never come back and that this life ended in the flower in front of the grave of his previous life. He dreamed that he walked across the Naihe Bridge, drank Mengpo soup, and stood in line behind thousands of ghosts, waiting to turn around.
He knew in his heart that he was slowly, slowly forgetting. All the people and events, all the ties he had experienced since coming into this world, were like chains that had been snapped, disappearing without a trace.
Perhaps it was because he was thinking too much and was subconsciously thinking about the matter in his sleep. After he woke up, he suddenly felt that the thousands of clues were slowly being sorted out.
There was something weird about this series of events. Xue Huai had never figured out where the weirdness came from before. Now he understood that this feeling that sent a chill down his spine came from his previous life.
That’s the feeling of being haunted.
In his previous life, his father was tricked by someone in Qingyan Valley, and the same thing happened at the same time in this life.
In his previous life, Yun Cuo finally decided to compete for the position of Immortal Lord at the age of seventeen. Things had changed in this life. They agreed to go to heaven to work as civil officials, but eventually returned to the starting point.
It was as if there was a hand constantly correcting the changes brought about by his rebirth. He killed Mrs. Liu and Xue He, but all this still happened. He and Yun Cuo were together, and they made sense, but all this still happened.
What else?
Was there anything else he hadn’t noticed?
Then what had changed from his past life?
There was a knock at the door. It was his grandmother’s voice: “Xiao Huai, are you awake? Wake up and eat, and then let Xiao Yun rest for a while. I think he is very tired. I advised him to come back to sleep, but he refused to listen.”
Xue Huai responded, and then heard Grandma Murong say, “I’m going to pick some herbs for your grandpa. There’s no shortage of herbs now, but I want to go out and see if there’s any Bianque San. It rained a few days ago, maybe it can grow.”
Bianque San is the rarest magical medicine in the six realms. It takes a thousand years to bloom and five hundred years to bear fruit. If Murong Jinchuan has this thing, he will recover quickly.
“Wait a minute, grandma.” Xue Huai suddenly realized something, and without even having time to put on his outer robe, he rushed out to stop his grandma. “Don’t go.”
“What?” Grandma Murong, who was carrying an herb basket, was obviously frightened by his expression. “Xiao Huai, what’s wrong?”
Xue Huai then realized that he had overreacted. He smiled and reached out to take his grandma’s basket. “I’ll go, Grandma.”
“But…”
“It’s fine. I’m studying medicine. The humidity in the valley hasn’t gone away yet. The road is too slippery. I’m afraid you’ll fall.” After Xue Huai said this, he didn’t give his grandmother a chance to refuse. He went back to the room, grabbed his outer robe and weapon, and rushed out.
The gluttonous ghost heard the noise, let out a roar, and rushed out after Xue Huai.
Grandma.
His grandmother is still living in the manor.
Xue Huai clearly remembered that in his previous life, he often could not go home because he joined the army. The two elders missed him, so Grandma Murong asked for directions to find him but ended up getting lost where the army was stationed.
It was a valley with complicated layers, and there are unique holes in both the top, bottom, left, and right sides. Grandma Murong got lost there and was injured by a Zhu Jiuyin1Name of a huge poisonous snake that lived there. She was found later.
Xue Huai walked in the valley with one step deep and one step shallow, and soon he found that there was fog in front of him.
The gluttonous ghost pricked up its ears alertly, climbed onto Xue Huai, clung to his shoulders, and shrank back.
The fog was getting thicker and thicker, to the point where it was almost impossible to take a step. The deeper they went into this place, the more it looked like the top of the foggy mountain.
The gluttonous ghost was already very scared and whined to get him to turn back, but Xue Huai remained unmoved and continued walking forward.
There seemed to be something huge hidden behind the fog—Xue Huai narrowed his eyes and tried to identify it, and he saw a huge snake shape and a pair of yellow snake eyes.
Zhu Jiuyin, it is said that his eyes lead directly to hell. As a snake, he loves to eat birds, and he feeds on birds and Fengyu people.
Xue Huai, however, walked straight ahead, as if he hadn’t seen it. As he walked, he chuckled and said, “Xiao Tao, do you know how an illusionist kills people?”
The gluttonous ghost howled and looked at him in confusion.
“If the other party fails to see through the illusion, then the things in the illusion world will be real to that person. Those who were deceived actually have their roots and spiritual controlled, and they project the damage equally into reality. For example, there seems to be a snake on the other side right now. If we fail to see through the illusion of the illusionist, we will fight it in our imagination and then get hurt in reality.”
“But,” Xue Huai’s tone sank slightly, “If I can see through it, then the other party won’t be able to hurt me at all.”
He walked towards the shadow, and the white mist gradually became thicker, but the shadow suddenly changed shape. The imagined snake shape no longer existed, and there stood a dark figure.
“Do you know why I discovered this?” Xue Huai asked, “Because the illusion is a world created by the illusionist himself, the illusionist instinctively incorporates everything he identifies with into the illusion. If the mistake is discovered, his trick will fail. Xiao Tao, take you as an example. If the other party has never seen you but believed what I said and said you were a red gluttonous ghost, then you would be red now.”
The gluttonous ghost immediately looked at itself in horror—black was still the best color, so he felt slightly relieved.
Xue Huai looked down at his weapons—those are a pair of dark red butterfly knives, one long and one short, gorgeous and sharp.
He hasn’t used this weapon for a long time.
Yun Cuo bought the knife from him, and except for the time when he killed Mrs. Liu, Xue Huai never touched them again.
He reached out and picked them up—and at the same time, the moment his hand touched it, the appearance of the weapon changed instantly.
The illusion faded, and the butterfly knives in front of him turned into a slender, silver spiritual fire gun. It was exquisite and beautiful, and it even looked like an accessory for some young ladies.
Apart from him and Yun Cuo, no one else knew that he had such a weapon in his hand.
The other party took it for granted that his weapon was still the butterfly knife, so it appeared like this in the illusion. This also became evidence that Xue Huai discovered that he had fallen into an illusion.
Xue Huai suddenly quickened his pace, and in this instant his figure was as fast as the wind, and he instantly moved in front of the black shadow—his magic power was gathered, and at this moment, there was nothing else in his mind except the real face of the person in front of him.
The scorching starlight gathered along with his thoughts, bursting out mercilessly, pointing directly at the person in front of him.
The white mist quickly dissipated, and the opponent’s figure also quickly blurred. Xue Huai heard a muffled groan at that moment, and the next moment, the surrounding scenery faded away, and he hit nothing. But as his anger and hatred gushed out, the power had nowhere to vent and rushed straight to the other side of the mountain, cutting the towering mountain in half!
There was nothing in front of him.
The other party ran away.
Xue Huai couldn’t suppress his anger and hatred at this moment. His eyes were red, and his finger bones were almost broken.
“I want to kill you. I want to kill you.”
“I will chase you wherever you hide. No matter whether it’s heaven or earth, no matter whether it’s the six realms or nine continents, once you die or reincarnate, I want to kill you.”
Xue Huai went back in the afternoon.
He claimed that he had not found Bianque San and apologized to his grandmother. Old Lady Murong saw that he was very tired and told him to go and rest. However, Xue Huai refused and said that he suddenly remembered something and wanted to go to the spiritual cave where he practiced to find something.
He called for the Underworld’s faithful crow.
The gluttonous ghost stood behind the faithful crow. The old faithful crow stood straight and looked at him respectfully. “Young Master Xue Huai, do you have any other instructions?”
“Is the opportunity I didn’t use last time still valid now?”
“It’s valid. We will answer a question for you unconditionally, not limited to the information you already know, but the answer is dead and we may not necessarily explain it to you.”
The last time Xue Huai wanted to ask them who was the mastermind behind the incident, he held himself back.
But this time he asked without hesitation: “I want to ask you, in this world, besides me, how many people have been reborn?”
The only possibility for them to know that he used butterfly knives was that he was an old acquaintance from his previous life.
“Three, Young Master Xue.”
The crow repeated his words clearly, “In this world, besides you, there are three other people who have been reborn.”
