Chapter 39: Bewilderment

Natural disasters always come one after another; they are never matters that can be pacified overnight. As the night passed, though Mount Chongdan ceased to spew scorching lava, torrential rain immediately ensued in the surrounding region, and even Jiuzhou, located a hundred miles away, could not escape its reach.

The downpour was fierce and mixed with ash and dust, resembling a rain of mud for a time. It battered the houses and streets into a filthy mire, casting a dreary grey over the entire world as if it were mourning a fallen mountain.

Inside an unremarkable small inn in the countryside of Jiuzhou, a white-haired young woman sat alone before a bronze mirror. Outside the window poured a torrential rain, while the room remained utterly silent.

The burning wings on her back had long since vanished, leaving behind only severe burn scars on her skin where the feathers had once grown. That was the place from which her wings had sprouted.

The Decree of the Phoenix was an art that inflicted severe bodily harm, with strict limits on its duration and frequency of use. If overused, the best-case scenario would be damage to one's fundamental cultivation, and the worst-case, death by the burning of one's internal organs. Compared to the consequences of using the Phoenix Decree, the injuries Ye Minwei currently sustained could only be considered minor.

Following the chaotic night of Mount Chongdan's premature eruption, Ye Minwei and Wen Ci used the Smoke-to-Ash technique to make their escape, arriving in Jiuzhou to rendezvous with Xie Yuzhu and Cang Shu, taking temporary refuge in this remote little inn. They briefly recounted the events to Xie Yuzhu and Cang Shu, and before Xie Yuzhu could even voice her shock and comfort, Ye Minwei had locked herself inside her room.

She still had a more important matter to confirm at this moment.

In Ye Minwei's hand rested a white porcelain medicine bottle, while her golden bracelet closed quietly, dangling from her wrist.

Lost in thought for a moment, she picked up the medicine bottle, poured out a pill, and swallowed it. Reflected in the bronze mirror, her wounds began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye. Starting from the wounds, a blue glow spread across the meridians throughout her entire body.

She blinked her grey-black eyes and murmured softly, "As expected, it works on me as well."

This was the same medicinal pill used when Wen Ci was injured previously. Wen Ci had claimed she made it exclusively for him, effective on him alone. Yet if, as Wen Ci said, she had drunk his blood for thirty years until her constitution aligned with his, this medicine would naturally work on her too.

However, Ye Minwei was not taking this healing medicine to treat her injuries. Patiently, she observed the meridians appearing across every part of her body, committing each one to memory, and slowly pieced them together into a complete human meridian map within her vision stone.

She then produced a Cang crystal, her gaze shifting back and forth between the meridian map and the crystal, her fingers tapping absentmindedly on the table.

Whether out of exhaustion or reluctance, her calculations were not fast, nor was she as enthusiastic and absorbed as usual. After several hours passed, her fingers slowly came to a halt.

A peal of thunder cracked, flashing a pale, sickly light across the horizon. The face of the white-haired woman in the bronze mirror illuminated, and the blue light on the vision stone leaped, reflecting in her grey-black eyes.

Ye Minwei said slowly, "So a person really can be refined into a Cang crystal."

This was the first time she wished her calculations had not yielded a result.

Yet, she had calculated it after all, and the method of refinement even seemed simple and efficient to her.

The room remained silent. Outside, the rain poured relentlessly, and the diagram on the vision stone mirrored quietly in Ye Minwei's eyes. Perhaps because of the downpour, it was unusually cold today. That chill surpassed the bitter northern wind of winter when Ye Minwei left Mount Kunwu, peculiarly breeding within the gloomy summer rain and silently seeping into her bones and blood.

Had she once refined human beings into Cang crystals?

Were those tens of thousands of Cang crystals of hers, enough to fill a granary to the brim, all once human beings?

Ye Minwei lowered her gaze, looking toward the tiny, glowing stone amidst the interlaced rings of gold. It pulsed at the convergence of the golden hoops like a beating heart brimming with spiritual energy.

What kind of people were they, then?

Were they the auspicious children pulling at her skirt during the Festival of the Golden Deity, the passersby bestowing colorful blessings upon her, the youths on the float, the musicians beside it, or the people stretching out their arms to catch the blessed blossoms? Were they people as happy as that?

Or were they like Granny Sun, sorrowful and grieving, holding her hand and weeping about her loneliness?

Or perhaps people as beautiful and passionate as Wen Ci, dancing atop the float?

Had they all now turned into silent, lifeless stones?

***

Yet perhaps there were other methods of refinement, and her Cang crystals were not necessarily forged from human beings.

Or perhaps they were.

Or perhaps not.

Or perhaps they were.

Ye Minwei fell silent for a moment, unable to bear the looping, tangled thoughts in her mind. She removed the vision stone, dressed properly, and walked toward the door, pushing open the tightly shut panels to step outside. As her foot crossed the threshold, a patch of brilliant,藤黄 (gamboge-yellow) fabric caught her eye.

It was Wen Ci, sitting cross-legged and fast asleep against the doorframe.

He wore a gamboge-yellow tunic, customarily adorned with colorful accessories, his head resting against the adjacent red-lacquered pillar, arms folded over his knees. His expression was utterly exhausted, yet he still looked vibrant and warm.

He was always so vivid and passionate, yet falling asleep in such a crude corridor seemed almost to treat such beauty with neglect.

A strange calmness settled into Ye Minwei's heart. She watched him for a moment, then slowly squatted down to examine him earnestly. A head poked out from the corridor corner as Xie Yuzhu whispered, "Grand Master, you've come out."

Ye Minwei nodded. Xie Yuzhu tiptoed over, squatted down beside her, and lowered her voice to explain, "Second Master said you seemed a bit off. He's been keeping watch outside ever since you went in, and I suppose he must have fallen asleep because he was so exhausted."

Ye Minwei nodded again. Although dark clouds pressed low overhead, it was still daytime, which was precisely the time Wen Ci felt most drowsy.

"Did Second Master really summon thirty-odd dreams yesterday? I can barely manage dividing my attention two ways, yet Second Master can split his mind thirty ways and still act completely normal in reality. How on earth does Second Master's brain even work?"

Xie Yuzhu muttered to herself in soft wonder. Mid-thought, a sense of dread gripped her, and she thought her Grand Master would surely utter something terrifying again, such as—"If only we could chop off his head to study it, what a pity that once put back on, the person would die."

Fortunately, Second Master was sleeping soundly and couldn't hear Grand Master's words; otherwise, he'd be angry with Grand Master all over again.

Just as Xie Yuzhu was pondering this, she heard Ye Minwei softly say, "He is indeed very tired."

Xie Yuzhu widened her eyes, staring in astonishment at Ye Minwei.

How had her Grand Master... suddenly grown a conscience overnight?

For a moment, Xie Yuzhu was at a loss, trying to read Ye Minwei's expression. However, the dim light obscured her brows and eyes, making her expression impossible to decipher.

"None of us expected things to turn out like this... Grand Master, if you have anything on your mind, please don't keep it bottled up. Talk to me, or talk to Second Master..." Xie Yuzhu probed cautiously.

After a pause, she continued, "Don't mind how Second Master acts all prickly and contradicts you at every turn, fighting you tooth and nail. If anything were to ever happen, Second Master would undoubtedly be the person in this world standing most firmly on your side."

Ye Minwei gazed at Wen Ci's sleeping face. At this moment, he was in a state of complete relaxation. Unlike his usual prickly demeanor, even his sharp facial contours softened considerably, his eyes closed quietly, and his chest rose and fell evenly, making him look like a picture of serenity.

Though covered in thorns, he had never truly pricked her with them. Instead, if anyone dared utter a single insult against her, he would curse that person a thousand times over.

She said, "I know."

Xie Yuzhu choked once more. Incredulous, she stared at her Grand Master, who was utterly oblivious to worldly etiquette, and repeated, "You know? You said you know?"

After a brief pause, Xie Yuzhu said sincerely, "Grand Master, I'm a little scared. You really are acting strange. What has happened to you?"

Outside the window, the heavy rain continued to pour, its sound chaotic and disorderly, plunging the entire room into gloom. Amidst this unusual dimness, Ye Minwei turned her head and asked calmly and softly, "Yuzhu, if people could be refined into Cang crystals, do you think I would do such a thing?"

Xie Yuzhu froze. The rain outside was too heavy, the sound of water chaotic and muffled, and for a fleeting second, she doubted whether she had heard correctly.

"Grand Master, what are you saying... Is someone telling you this? Did someone say you use humans to refine Cang crystals?"

Ye Minwei only looked at Xie Yuzhu, remaining entirely silent.

This silence made Xie Yuzhu grow increasingly panicked, a powerful sense of ominous foreboding surging in her heart. She immediately reached out to shake Wen Ci. "Let's wake Second Master and ask him! Second Master will definitely know what's going on!"

Instead, Ye Minwei caught Xie Yuzhu's wrist and said, "It was Zhen Yuanqi who said it."

After a pause, she continued, "In fact, you also believe I am capable of doing such a thing, don't you?"

Xie Yuzhu's pupils trembled. She felt a lump in her throat, burning with anxiety, utterly at a loss for how to respond.

"Perhaps Zhen Yuanqi was lying to you!"

"If Zhen Yuanqi can lie to me, then Wen Ci can lie to me too."

"Second Master would never! Second Master is not that kind of person!"

Ye Minwei was quiet for a moment, still not releasing Xie Yuzhu's wrist. She slowly said, "Then I could also lie to Wen Ci. He doesn't understand the principles behind spiritual artifacts and Cang crystals. Back on Mount Kunwu, I could have deceived him just as easily."

"Master... Master, you are not that kind of person..."

"What kind of person am I, then? Do you know what kind of person I am? Does Wen Ci... does he truly know what kind of person I am?"

A flash of lightning on the horizon illuminated the gloomy room. The light vanished in an instant, but in that fleeting flash, Xie Yuzhu caught sight of Ye Minwei's calm expression. Those grey-black eyes resembled glass beads covered in a layer of mist, their luster shifting before plunging back into darkness.

Though she was asking questions, she seemed to harbor no expectation of receiving an answer from Xie Yuzhu.

As if she had already concluded that no one could ever give her an answer.

Thunder rumbled, its roar like the collapse of heaven and earth or the shattering of mountain peaks. At that moment, Ye Minwei finally released Xie Yuzhu's wrist, and Xie Yuzhu heard her voice:

"Let Wen Ci rest. I need to think by myself."

Xie Yuzhu gave a dazed, compliant nod.

***

When Wen Ci woke up in the inn, night had already fallen, and the sound of rain outside the window was chaotic. He remembered falling asleep in the corridor, yet for some reason, he was now lying on a bed. Because far too many events had transpired the previous night, draining his energy, waking from this sleep left him feeling only exhausted, with not a shred of relief.

Groggily massaging his temples, he rolled out of bed, flashes of volcanic fire, Song Jiao, devouring fish rings, the Phoenix Decree, and the Smoke-to-Ash technique darting through his mind, alongside the image of Ye Minwei returning in a daze of abstraction.

Overnight, the political landscape had shifted drastically; both he and Ye Minwei had been exposed to the world.

Ye Minwei had acted exceedingly strangely last night, suddenly seized by the impulse to save lives, her emotions cresting in a wave of joy before plunging into an abyss. Her behavior was far too abnormal—she must have been hiding something from him.

As Wen Ci pondered this, an unusual, piercing sound suddenly pierced his mind, instantly shattering all his thoughts like a sharp blade slicing through his ears, ferocious and agonizing.

Cold sweat instantly broke out across Wen Ci's body as he staggered and braced himself against the table.