The young monk in meditation suddenly snapped his eyes open.
Not far away, the physician in white, who had risen in the middle of the night, was stingily counting the silver in his small box. Startled by the sudden movement, he looked up, fearing his private thoughts had been exposed, and found himself momentarily speechless.
In the dark of night, within a ruined temple in the wilderness, the two remained in a tense standoff for a long while. Finally, Hao Bai was the first to yield.
"As your traveling companion, besides guiding you, I must also shoulder the responsibility of supervising you. This silver was given by Chancellor Bai, who was acting on the instructions of Attendant Shan, who was naturally following the Emperor's orders. In the end, this isn't your money—it's the Emperor's..."
Yi Kong said nothing. He simply rose, extinguished the fire that still held a lingering warmth, and began packing their few belongings.
Hao Bai was stunned and hurried forward.
"We haven't reached our destination yet, and you're already in a hurry to part ways? Or have you taken a liking to this ruin and want to build a temple here? I advise you not to bring those tricks for swindling incense money here. Wancheng is full of Taoists and monks; someone will surely come to settle the score with you..."
"We are not parting ways. We are preparing to set out."
"Set out? In the middle of the night? Aren't you going to sleep?"
Yi Kong let out a rare sigh and pushed aside the man blocking his path.
"There will be plenty of time to sleep in the future, but right now, I have no such leisure."
Hao Bai looked perplexed, following the monk in circles.
"The city gates won't open for at least another two hours. Even if you rush there now, you won't be able to enter..."
"We are not going into the city."
"If not the city, then where?"
Yi Kong finally stopped his movements and glanced at the other man, a trace of subtle cunning flickering in his clear eyes.
"Does Benefactor Hao not find it curious? If I only intended to go to Wancheng, why would I have dragged you along as a guide?"
Hao Bai froze, and as realization dawned on him, his expression became uncontrollably grim.
"You set me up?!"
It was more than just a setup; it was being bled dry!
From the moment he was captured at the temple to refine medicine, to the appearance of Lu Songping, to his journey escorting the Imperial Jade Seal—every step had likely been within this black-hearted monk's calculations. To think he had believed they were companions in the same boat; in the end, he was merely a passenger being fleeced.
Crossing his arms, he let out a cold snort.
"A place known to no one else but me... where else could it be but Buxu Valley?"
"I heard the Qu family hasn't entered Buxu Valley for many years. I suspect there are some reservations. However, your clan elders should currently be guests in the capital. I imagine if you were forced to do something, you wouldn't encounter much resistance."
Hao Bai laughed out of sheer anger.
"There's nothing now, but that doesn't mean there won't be later! I help you today, and you'll just pat your robes and leave, but I'll be the one facing clan punishment. I won't be able to leave to practice medicine for three to five years."
Yi Kong looked at him and said earnestly, "This monk is willing to take Benefactor Hao's place for five years, practicing medicine to save the world. If five years aren't enough, ten will do. This monk is still young and quite robust..."
Hao Bai's face turned a magnificent shade of red and blue with rage.
"Yi Kong! You... you... how can you be so shameless?!"
Hao Bai's roar echoed through the empty rafters of the ruined temple. After a long moment, Yi Kong suddenly shed his harmless demeanor. He knelt softly and bowed deeply.
"This monk implores Benefactor Qu to show mercy and kindness for the sake of the people of the world. Help me just this once. For this favor, I am willing to repay you with the rest of my life, at your total disposal. Through mountains of blades or seas of fire, through the Shura Hell itself, I shall go without regret."
Hao Bai was completely stunned. He hadn't expected the other man to play the emotional card. For a moment, he couldn't tell if there was genuine feeling in this move or if it was simply another level of shamelessness.
After a moment of silence, he gritted his teeth and asked, "You want me to take you to Buxu Valley? You have to at least tell me why."
Yi Kong gazed at the extinguished fire, his expression tranquil.
"I just had a dream."
"What dream?"
"A bad one."
He efficiently tucked the sutra scrolls into the carriage and took out a sheepskin box that had been placed there long ago but never opened.
Hao Bai leaned in, his tone less agitated than before but still laced with disdain.
"Don't you claim to be an enlightened monk? You believe in such things? I dream every day, and I don't make a fuss like you."
"Since ancient times, there has been the practice of divination through dreams on this continent. For a cultivator, a dream is often a portent." Yi Kong paused here and added with a light smile, "Of course, the dreams Benefactor Hao has are not the same as the dream I speak of."
Hao Bai was at a loss for words. Just as he was about to speak, his gaze was drawn to the opened sheepskin box.
The old, simple box contained only two items.
One was a sutra scroll wrapped in white silk, and the other was a demon-subduing pestle wrapped in black cloth.
"What is this..."
As Hao Bai spoke, he noticed that Yi Kong's gaze had changed in an instant.
It was an expression rarely seen on an ordinary person's face—a cold detachment, much like the half-broken divine statue in this ruined temple.
"My Buddha is merciful, seeking to deliver all living beings. If they cannot be delivered, then we shall meet in hell."
***
Xiao Nanhui woke up in a warm embrace.
the dim oil lamp had not yet gone out, though only a tiny, bean-sized flame still flickered.
Fine droplets of rain drifted down from the small window like dust, accumulating into a shallow trace of water in the small central pool on the floor.
It was raining.
She had actually fallen asleep, and quite soundly at that. She seemed to have had another dream, but the details vanished the moment she woke.
"Awake?"
She looked up at the face so close to her own, and for a fleeting second, something flashed through her mind.
"I just... had a dream."
When she said "just," she meant during the deep intimacy of the previous night.
She was too embarrassed to say it plainly, but he understood.
He rested his forehead gently against her neck, his eyelashes fluttering closed, a faint trace of a smile in his voice.
"What did you dream of?"
Xiao Nanhui thought hard, trying to catch the last remnants of the memory.
"I seemed to dream of you sitting alone in a great hall, wearing a white robe..."
A white robe? Aside from his moon-white casual attire, he rarely seemed to wear light colors.
And then? Then he seemed to have said something to her, but the memory was like shifting sand—the tighter she tried to grasp it, the more it slipped away. In an instant, she could remember nothing else.
A look of confusion appeared on her face—a vivid emotion that required little effort to read.
After a long silence, the man opened his eyes and watched her quietly. A moment later, he reached out and gently removed the hairpin from her head.
Her hair had long since come undone, the resilient strands scattered across the stone floor. He used his fingers to gently gather them.
She came to her senses and instinctively tried to take over, but he gently pressed her hand down.
"Don't move. I've seen your skill at pinning hair."
Xiao Nanhui sheepishly withdrew her hand, feeling a bit awkward as she let him work, making conversation to fill the silence.
"When you lived here, did you only read sutras every day?"
He was focused on smoothing the slightly damp ends of her hair and didn't notice the detail in her phrasing.
"I had to read other things as well, mostly arranged by the Grand Tutors in the palace. The subjects were diverse and numerous. But compared to the sutras, they were truly nothing."
"Why sutras? Is it just because you have an affinity for the Buddhist faith and Grandmaster Wumin took you as a disciple?"
She felt his gentle hands pause for a moment.
"I originally had no affinity for the Buddhist faith. Becoming a buddha or a demon is but a single thought; the scriptures and the sarira are merely restraints. As for Wumin, he simply grew tired of slaying demons and wanted to try a different way to 'deliver' me. Whether I live or die, I doubt he has ever truly cared."
Wumin was a grandmaster, a figure revered by both Buddhist and Taoist circles across the four seas. How did he become a "bastard who doesn't care about life or death" in this man's mouth?
The murals in the Shen family's cave flashed before her eyes. She suddenly felt that the world's understanding of gods and buddhas might not be accurate, and that so-called legends were not necessarily mere illusions.
"If one is without sorrow or joy, without love or hate, will they not become a demon? But as long as one lives in this world, who can guarantee their heart will remain as still as water, never to ripple?"
She blew at a few stray hairs in front of her eyes. He noticed immediately and smoothed them back.
"Before I met you, the 'impossible' you speak of was my entire life."
He gently coiled the ends of her hair and gripped the hairpin, firmly sliding it into place—not a fraction too much, not a fraction too little.
"When we first met, I only thought you were a bit interesting. After meeting again, I thought you were somewhat foolish. And then, I felt you were mostly pitiable. I was heartless, yet you insisted on barging in and causing a disturbance. You carry the sufferings I had set aside for over a decade: the pain of parting from loved ones, the bitterness of meeting the hated, the agony of unfulfilled desires, and the burning of the five aggregates. Half a lifetime of cultivation has been destroyed at your hands. Xiao Nanhui, tell me, how will you compensate me?"
Listening to this confession that sounded almost like an accusation, Xiao Nanhui felt it was harder to handle than the most explicit love words in a storybook.
She had been careless. She thought that after last night, he would have known when to stop.
She pretended to feel the hairpin he had set, but in truth, she lowered her head to hide her face, which was burning with embarrassment.
"Did you bring me to this tower just to tell me these things?"
"I thought that after last night, you would understand why I brought you here."
His voice brushed lightly against her ear. It was clear and upright, yet it evoked a memory of the most intoxicating and agonizing moments of the previous night.
She felt the blood rush from her head to her limbs. The next moment, his cool hand grasped her palm, and he held her as they stood up.
"However, besides that, there are indeed other matters. Luo He said there might be a journal left by my mother hidden here."
She knew it. He always had a reason for what he did. Yet for some reason, she couldn't even take his teasing words lightly. If this continued, what would become of her in the future?
Su Wei suppressed the smile at the corners of his mouth, pretending not to see the distress on her face. Holding the oil lamp, he began to feel along the stone bricks of the wall one by one.
By the light of the lamp, she finally saw the uneven walls around them.
The stone used for the tower was Songjiang Rock, the hardest in Minzhou. The rock layers were mixed with meteoric iron; even swords and sabers could hardly split it. It could only be quarried bit by bit using chisels made of the same Songjiang Rock.
Yet under the firelight, the walls were covered in scratches of varying depths. The fine ones looked like hair pressed into the stone, while the deep ones looked as if a heavy axe had cleaved through. These marks crisscrossed throughout the tower, as if a tragic battle of broken blades and shattered halberds had once taken place here.
In the past, she would have been utterly perplexed, but now it wasn't hard for her to understand. If someone were to return to that cave in Se-Qiu where they had stayed, they would likely find similar marks on the surroundings.
"How long did you stay here?"
His tone remained indifferent, as if he were speaking of someone else's affairs.
"I don't remember clearly. Probably six or seven years."
She was stunned. Although she had expected it to be a long time, she hadn't imagined it would be that long.
"Six or seven years? You never went out?"
"Mhm."
"Not even a single step?"
"Mhm."
She looked at his calm profile and, for some reason, felt a sudden pang of sadness.
"Then your mother... did she ever come to find you?"
"She wouldn't come back here. No one who has stayed here would ever want to return." His expression didn't change, but his fingers tightened around her palm. "In ancient times, the kingdoms of Huo, Chi, and Min all had records of this mountain hollow, and their descriptions were largely the same. They said that when the gods and demons decide to end this world, they will choose a desolate and remote place to descend, and rumor has it this hidden place is within these mountains. Thus, this place has been called the Land of Heaven's End since ancient times. 'Heaven's End' is a collective name for a mountain, a tower, and a plot of land. The mountain is Mount Taozhi of Heaven's End, the tower is the Tower of Parting Sorrows of Heaven's End, and the land is the Burial Ground of Heaven's End."
Taozhi, Parting Sorrows, Burial Ground—none of them sounded particularly auspicious. The path was difficult to travel; no wonder no one ever wanted to pass through here.
"The mountain has been entered, the tower has been seen, and the land is..."
She stopped mid-sentence as realization struck her.
However, he had already heard her and had no intention of avoiding the subject.
"That's right. The Burial Ground. It holds the bones of my mother's clan." His hands didn't stop, still carefully searching the gaps between the stone bricks. "Earlier, didn't you ask me about Luo He and my mother's clan? I'll tell you the story now, shall I?"
She was silent for a moment, truly not knowing how to comfort him, and could only take a step back in her words.
"If you don't want to mention it, I don't have to listen."
Yes, if speaking of those things would make him sad, she would rather spend more effort finding the answers herself.
She didn't state her thoughts aloud, but he already knew what she was thinking.
"Most of them are no longer in this world. Even if I speak of it a hundred times now, no one will rebuke or stop me. You and Xiao Zhun were originally unrelated, but you grew up in the Xiao family, and his obsession has long since seeped into your heart. I am willing to lay my heart bare and tell you everything I know, only hoping that you can let go a little and stop harboring grudges for the sake of others' vendettas."
Xiao Nanhui froze, momentarily speechless.
This was the first time he had mentioned her relationship with Xiao Zhun in front of her. In the past, Yao Yi would also advise her not to be too invested in the Xiao family, saying she was ultimately just a stranger, but that couldn't convince her. How could a bond of over a decade be set down overnight? But now, with just a few words, he had pointed out the root of all her pain.
In truth, Xiao Zhun had never asked her to do anything. It was only her own one-sided weaving of those ties, her refusal to easily step out of the home that had sheltered her from the wind and rain.
In the years past, she had picked up too many things. She put them on one by one, refusing to discard any, as if this could build her own armor. But in the end, it was this very weight that dragged her into the bottomless abyss.
"Go ahead, I'm listening."
Her turbulent heart slowly calmed as Su Wei's voice rose within the ancient tower.
"A long time ago, three families lived in the Stone City on the northern border. Each possessed extraordinary abilities, and they lived a prosperous, quiet life, supporting one another. However, the winds of change blew, and a decaying dynasty was about to collapse. A princess of the fallen state gave birth to a child while passing through the Stone City. Knowing her end was near but unable to bear her child dying with her, she risked danger to knock on the doors of the three families one by one."
"With pursuers approaching the city, everyone was in fear for themselves. The first two families did not open their doors. It was only when she reached the last house that the master, who also had a newborn child, softened his heart and took in the princess's child. The next day, the princess fled into the depths of the marshes outside the city with the Imperial Jade Seal of the fallen state, drawing away the pursuers. This family then moved their entire household out of the city to find a new place to settle."
"During their migration, the family encountered a once-in-a-century drought. The journey was arduous, with heavy casualties. Fortunately, the people of the clan could use dreams to perform magic. In a prophecy, they saw a small mountain hollow with abundant rain and pear blossoms everywhere. Finally, after enduring a thousand hardships, they found that place. They changed their surname to Zhongli and settled there, living a life of seclusion for generations."
"The princess's child grew up and fell in love with a daughter of the Zhongli family. However, no one knew that the blood of the gods and demons of the previous dynasty flowed through the princess's child. Although he grew up like an ordinary person and married and had children like an ordinary person, none of his children could be born safely; almost all died in infancy. He had given up hope, but in his forty-eighth year, he had a daughter."
"That girl was born with a pair of clear eyes, so pure they could reflect all things in the world, so she was named 'Jing'—Mirror. Jing was very beautiful and grew up pampered by several older brothers and sisters in the clan. However, because she spent her time deep in the mountains, she was simple and blunt, born with a bold and reckless nature. Even though she was past sixteen, no one within a hundred miles dared to come and propose marriage."
"One day, Jing went to the village to buy wine and happened to encounter the Emperor returning from an eastern tour. Because Jing kindly offered a bowl of water to the young Emperor, she caught his eye and was forcibly taken as his consort. She brought danger into the mountain hollow that had sheltered her people for decades, witnessing a hellish scene of blood flowing like a river. She once had a chance to escape, but at the last moment, she gave up her resistance to protect her last remaining older brother. She succumbed to her fate, stepping into layers of walls and being trapped in a square high tower. From the moment she entered that tower, she was thinking of the day she would jump from it."
Xiao Nanhui's heart tightened. What flashed before her eyes was the smooth, mirror-like surface of the water in front of Jingbo Gallery.
"My royal father was born with a cold and indifferent nature, the polar opposite of my mother's intense and extreme disposition. When ice and fire merged, it was ultimately my mother who lost her life, ending in a tragic fate. My father loved my mother, but his love was insignificant compared to her life."
"My father imposed a punishment called 'Extermination of Sacrifices' on the Zhongli clan. Not only did he execute all the relatives, he even forbade descendants from offering sacrifices and prohibited any mention of them in historical records. At first, I thought my father was so heartless because of the terrifying, uncontrollable power my mother possessed, but I didn't understand the meaning behind that power until this trip to the Shen family."
"My mother carried the blood of both the previous dynasty and the Zhongli family. The threat from the previous dynasty that my father feared his entire life was none other than the woman he had loved and the child she had borne."
He finally stopped speaking.
The next moment, a slight sound came from the stone brick under his fingertips.
He applied a bit of force, and the loose stone brick was pulled from the mottled wall, revealing a gap about half the size of a palm.
He instinctively looked at the woman beside him, and she was also looking up at him. Their eyes met, and after a moment, they both smiled.
He smiled because he felt relieved after seeing her worried expression, and she smiled precisely because she saw his relief.
He no longer hesitated and reached into the gap to pull out the object inside.
It was a rolled-up, old notebook. On the cover, four characters were casually written in a dark green pigment: *Dream Talk Miscellany*. The handwriting was vigorous and powerful, not at all like the typical diary of a lady in her chambers.
But the next moment, when the notebook was flipped open, Xiao Nanhui was completely dumbfounded.
There wasn't a single word she recognized in the notebook. There were only some horizontal and vertical lines and ink dots floating on the white paper, appearing to follow no discernible pattern.
"What... what is this?"
Su Wei did not answer immediately. He carefully compared the contents of each page before slowly speaking.
"A book of omens woven using the heavens and earth as a canvas. It cannot be deciphered by anyone outside the clan. This might be the method the Weaving Clan mentioned by Shen Shi'an used to record prophecies."
"You mean, what's recorded here are dreams that haven't been woven into ribbons yet, or prophecies that have already been deciphered?" Xiao Nanhui was itching with curiosity but truly had no clue. "But what does it actually say? Not a single word can be understood."
The man thought for a moment and pulled something from his sleeve.
"It cannot be understood now, but with this notebook, perhaps we can grasp the patterns within and decipher the information in this ribbon."
If anyone else had said this, Xiao Nanhui certainly wouldn't have believed them. But when the man before her said it, she felt as if she could already see the day the ribbon was deciphered.
Su Wei carefully tucked the last piece of brocade into the journal. Just as he was about to close it, a gust of wind carrying fine rain blew through, flipping to the last page of the notebook.
"Wait!"
Xiao Nanhui was quick and grabbed the fluttering paper, turning back to the last page stained with ink.
It was a portrait with a few ink smudges. It was drawn with just a few strokes and seemed to have been done in a great hurry, yet it was unexpectedly vivid.
She stared at the drawing for a while before finally voicing the question in her heart.
"Don't you think... the person in this portrait looks a bit like me?"
He also looked at the drawing, but his expression was excessively calm compared to hers.
"Where do you see it?"
"Here, here, and here!"
She pointed at the drawing somewhat urgently, but in truth, the details were very limited. The more one looked, the more it seemed to resemble many people rather than one specific person.
Xiao Nanhui also realized this and couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated, but she still trusted her intuition from the first moment she saw the drawing.
"Don't disbelieve me. Back then, I was the first to notice something was off with Zou Sifang's portrait..."
While she was still immersed in her emotions, he noticed something else.
"However, one thing is indeed strange."
"What's strange?"
She asked casually, her mind still not having moved on from the portrait.
In her view, nothing could be stranger than this portrait right now.
"In my memory, although my mother wrote well, her painting was extremely poor. But this drawing..."
Su Wei paused, his gaze falling back on the portrait.
The handwriting on the cover of this notebook was indeed his mother's, and the contents recorded within were very private. Logically, it was unlikely to have fallen into the hands of an outsider.
But if this drawing wasn't his mother's work, whose hand could it be?
***
After half a jar of cold wine, Luo He had risen several times during the night.
The wine in Baishi Village was truly hard to swallow, but he didn't really care. Some people drink for the taste, while others drink only to get drunk.
He was the latter of the latter.
In front of the stone house, there was a faint trace of the stone path laid long ago. He didn't want to walk that path, so he circled to the back of the house, but behind the house were the pear trees planted all over the mountain long ago.
A sudden, groundless irritation surged within him, and Luo He kicked the chicken coop by the road.
Although Li Yuanyuan's fence looked ugly, it was exceptionally sturdy. His kick didn't budge the fence an inch, but he himself ended up sitting on the ground.
He just sat there in the middle of the road, watching the few hens fluttering inside the fence, panting with resentment. As he panted, he let out a wine-scented burp.
His stomach burned like fire, as if the tears that should have flowed had been held back and were now fermenting and brewing inside.
If that person hadn't spoken, he truly wouldn't have wanted to return to this place. So-called "scenes" are fine as long as one isn't in them; once a person is within the scene, it's hard not to be overcome by grief.
When awake, he was entangled in threads of worry; when drunk, he was haunted by nightmares. His wine was clearly no longer very effective.
He once didn't understand—if the heavens believed that he, who lived on ignobly, was the sinner, why didn't they take him instead of his kin? But now he understood; perhaps this was the punishment the heavens had given him. For a guilty person, death is a release; living is the Infinite Hell.
He sat for a while longer before finally deciding to stand up.
The moment he rose, he suddenly seemed to sense something and abruptly looked up.
Moonlight pierced through the valley, shining on the moss-covered stone path. Vaguely, a woman was walking through the fine mist from under the pear trees laden with white blossoms, her dark hair the color of distant mountains.
That graceful silhouette was so familiar that, in a daze, it reminded him of the days and nights many years ago when he would stand at the crossroads, waiting for his two younger sisters to return with wine.
The wine skin in his hand crashed to the ground. Luo He's eyes were filled with disbelief, his voice hoarse and trembling.
"A-Zhu?"
His voice dissipated into the mist. A gust of wind blew, hiding the woman's figure once more.
He hurriedly rubbed his eyes and unconsciously took a few steps forward, searching everywhere for that silhouette.
"A-Zhu? Is it you..."
The wind stopped abruptly, and the mist covering his eyes suddenly cleared.
The woman stood seven or eight paces away, looking at him expressionlessly.
The wind blew back the long hair that had been covering half her face, revealing a shocking scar.
"Found you."
***
