Fatal to Pretend With a Cheat | Chapter 27 | The Buried Truth | Novela.app

I estimated that I had been watching for quite some time; dawn was likely approaching, and I could afford no more delays. Thinking there was probably nothing else of importance, I hurriedly fast-forwarded through a few segments, preparing to exit the records. Unexpectedly, this casual flip through the pages of the past revealed a truly shocking event. A group of people had arrived in the rarely visited poplar forest. There were six or seven men in black, most of them masked, with the exception of Yun Bizhi. He looked utterly exhausted, his eyes sunken deep into his sockets. In just half a month, not a trace of his former elegance remained. The men in black quickly selected a spot and began to dig. Yun Bizhi leaned against a tree in silence, his right hand cradling his left arm; it was clear his left hand was now useless. "Why dig him up now?" Yun Bizhi asked, his voice hollow. "Even if he truly died from 'One Day of Autumn,' after the scene Ye Sha caused, Qin Ling will surely find it suspicious. He might not believe it entirely." The black-clad swordsmen did not answer. They continued their rapid excavation, soon unearthing a corpse that was bruised, purple, and ghastly to behold. As the body was tossed onto the ground, a jade pendant rolled out from the inner robes. Yun Bizhi crouched beside it, staring fixedly at the jade, momentarily losing himself in a daze. One of the men, whose hair was bound with a black-and-gold silk ribbon, gave a wave of his hand, signaling the others to step aside. He knelt to inspect the body thoroughly, ensuring there were no other external injuries, and even reached out to measure the dimensions of the sword wound in the chest. "One inch and two *li*," the leader with the black-and-gold ribbon suddenly remarked. Two men among the group responded, offering up their own swords. He drew them one by one, glanced at them, and selected the first: "This will do." Yun Bizhi’s eyelids twitched, a chill already settling in his chest. The man in the black-and-gold ribbon was incredibly fast. In the space of a breath, his sword had already returned to its scabbard without a single drop of blood clinging to the blade. Only then did Yun Bizhi collapse to the ground. The surrounding men quickly stripped the clothing and accessories from Qin Kezou’s corpse and dressed Yun Bizhi in them. Then, they roughly threw him back into the pit and began to shovel the earth back in. Bit by bit, he was obscured by yellow sand and fallen leaves. His breathing was still ragged; he was not yet dead, his eyes reflecting the shifting clouds and winds of the sky. Gradually, even that light faded away. I desperately wanted to ask him what he was thinking at that moment. Did he regret it in the end? "Was this necessary?" someone couldn't help but ask. "If it weren't necessary, that would naturally be for the best," the man in the black-and-gold ribbon said tonelessly. "But since the Master has decided to put on a play, we must provide the full set of props." He straightened his back and added, "Ye Sha went mad and murdered his own master—from now on, that is the truth. Even for Ye Sha himself, there will be no exception." I cut the record and returned to reality, unable to find peace for a long while. Leaning against the carved railing, I thought of many things, a bitter taste growing in my heart. Gu Ciqu was a man who knew exactly what to love and what to hate, a man of clear boundaries; I liked him very much. Qin Qi had been poisoned by his beloved yet held no resentment; he was a gentle soul. Even Yun Bizhi—seeing him buried in the yellow sand, I couldn't help but feel that he was, in the end, a pitiable man... I remembered Ye Tan saying: *In this world, it turns out that no matter how good my martial arts are, I ultimately cannot save anyone.* Was I not the same? I styled myself a Creator God, yet how could I resolve these conflicts and bring everyone to a perfect conclusion? I rubbed the space between my eyebrows and looked down to see a sword resting on the empty floor by the bed. That crude, clumsy sword was placed with meticulous precision, exactly like the way Ye Sha had performed his final salute of farewell to Master Qin Qi. A sudden chill struck my heart, and I bolted out the door. He was still kneeling upright in that poplar forest. The autumn wind was bleak, and fallen leaves dusted his shoulders, just as the events of three years ago remained vivid in my mind. In that moment, I felt as though I finally understood the weight that life and death carried. My heart held only one thought: *It is enough just to be alive. To be alive is plenty.* As long as one is still breathing, there is always a chance to make amends. I crept up behind him, forcing myself to calm down first. "You were right," Ye Tan spoke first. He said, "I am a blade that cannot distinguish right from wrong, truth from falsehood." "I thought... I thought... I was truly following my master's wishes, saving the person he loved, and sparing two families from a chaotic slaughter. But... if... if Master was never poisoned at all..." He bent over in agony, as if wishing he could bury himself in the endless yellow sand. "The infamy I've carried all these years... it turns out, I wasn't wronged after all." His fingernails dug into his palms, blood spilling onto the ground. My heart leaped in fear. I grabbed his hands, trying with all my might to smooth them open. Ye Tan felt my strength and slowly turned his head. His eyes were a void of dead silence. "Your internal energy has recovered." He paused, then let out a harrowing, faint smile as if a heavy burden had been lifted. "In that case... I no longer need to worry about you..." He really did intend to end his own life. "Ye Tan!" I was starting to get angry. "Have you forgotten who your current master is?" "But I should have died three years ago," Ye Tan said softly. "I never... should have had the fortune of meeting you." "What if you were deceived?" I asked. Ye Tan did not answer, his expression dazed. "A-Tan. I originally thought you had your own reasons, so I never pressed you. But now, I've realized that you were just one of the victims being played." I looked at the bloodstains on his palms, my heart aching. Gently, I licked them clean, bit by bit. This was a body I had spent so much effort to nurse back to health. "Then I can no longer leave you alone to be led around by the nose by others." Ye Tan watched in silence as I cleaned the blood from his hands and tore a strip from my hem to bandage them. I gazed at him and said seriously, "A-Tan, from now on, I will definitely interfere in your affairs. I won't let go of the questions you don't want to answer, either. You mustn't blame me." I thought, perhaps I cannot save everyone. But this person before me—no matter what, I will ensure his safety. *** Glossary Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation ---|---|--- 玄金缎带 | Black-and-gold silk ribbon | A specific identifying accessory worn by the leader of the mysterious group. 一寸又二厘 | One inch and two *li* | A precise measurement of the sword wound. A *li* is a traditional Chinese unit of length (approx. 1/3 mm). 创世之神 | Creator God | The MC's self-perception or role within the story's framework. 阿谭 | A-Tan | An affectionate or intimate diminutive for Ye Tan.