Even though he had grown somewhat immune over the past few days to Shen Yu’s sudden remarks, Song Huaiyan still felt momentarily flustered, fumbling several times before finally managing to slide his phone back into his pocket.
This kid is really good at picking things up on the spot and throwing them right back.
Just as he was about to make a lighthearted comment, it suddenly occurred to him that back at the Cangxuan Sect, it really had been Shen Yu who used to shield and look out for him.
A low rumble of thunder echoed in the sky, and raindrops seemed eager to pelt down.
“Let’s head back to the Affairs Hall first.” Song Huaiyan hastily opened a dark-colored oiled-paper umbrella, sheltering both of them underneath it.
Although the rain fell very abruptly, it was not heavy; yet, even with his black umbrella being of a fairly decent size, keeping two grown men covered still felt somewhat cramped.
“Uhm, lean in a bit closer, or you’ll get soaked,” Song Huaiyan said, noticing that half of Shen Yu’s shoulder was exposed to the outside.
Shen Yu, however, seemed entirely unconcerned, replying with a calm expression, “For someone like me, getting rained on a little bit looks much cooler.”
Song Huaiyan: “…”
Can you please not apply your genius learning ability to such useless, random places? Going into a dream realm once taught you just about every slang phrase a street punk would use?
With my junior brother being this dashing and cool, it makes me, his senior brother huddled under the umbrella, look like a total weakling, doesn’t it?
With no other choice since he really couldn’t afford to look like a drowned rat, Song Huaiyan had no choice but to edge closer to Shen Yu’s side.
The late-spring rain was fine, lingering, and imbued with a thread of chill.
The two walked side by side with their arms brushing against each other, and Song Huaiyan could feel Shen Yu’s body temperature, which was consistently higher than that of an ordinary person. He walked cautiously and nervously the entire way, trying to minimize any physical friction between them.
Sensing something, Shen Yu tilted his head slightly to look at him and unconsciously paused his footsteps.
Feeling the gaze cast from diagonally above, Song Huaiyan finally realized that his junior brother had somehow grown taller than him.
Clearly, we were about the same height back in the day, yet some people actually keep growing in secret even after turning twenty!
Lowering his head and walking in silence, Song Huaiyan involuntarily quickened his pace.
Rainy days are truly troublesome. Not only has my body been aching for days, but it also feels like it’s shrunk my stature.
The distance back to the Affairs Hall was neither long nor short, and the two walked it in close to ten minutes. The bamboo wind chimes at the entrance swayed softly in the rain, emitting a heavy and distant sound.
As Song Huaiyan pushed open the door, a figure stood right in the center of the courtyard, yet not a single drop of the falling fine rain touched him.
“Zhao Bin.” Holding the umbrella, Song Huaiyan tucked Shen Yu behind his back.
Hearing the voice, the man turned around. He had neat, short hair, a relatively dark complexion, and a scar across his left eyebrow ridge that cut right through the peak of his brow.
“I am… Zhao Bin?” He looked at Song Huaiyan, his once brilliant eyes vacant and turbid.
“You should have been dead for over ten years,” Song Huaiyan said in a slow, low voice. “Why haven’t you left yet?”
“I don’t know…” Zhao Bin lowered his head to look at his own hands.
“Do you still have any unfulfilled wishes?” Song Huaiyan’s voice remained calm.
“I don’t know…” Zhao Bin muttered in a low voice. “I can’t find it anymore…”
“What are you trying to find?”
“I can’t find it, I can’t find it…” Suddenly, Zhao Bin’s speech began to stutter like a jammed audio track, and his entire body grew as stiff and mechanical as a wooden puppet, staring blankly at his own fingers.
Sighing, Song Huaiyan stopped speaking. With a flick of his wrist, a yellow talisman flew out and slapped onto Zhao Bin’s chest, instantly freezing him in place and rendering him completely motionless.
Leading Shen Yu into the inner hall, Song Huaiyan watched as Zhao Bin followed them step-for-step like a marionette, ultimately seating himself upon the straw prayer mat in front of the incense altar.
Song Huaiyan pulled a stick of yellow joss paper incense from the rack and lit it. Slender wisps of white smoke curled upward, releasing a faint, tranquil fragrance reminiscent of lotus flowers.
“Junior brother, you must stay right by my side for a moment and avoid using your spiritual power arbitrarily, understood?” Although Shen Yu had been very obedient these past few days and never once used his spiritual power while conscious during the day, Song Huaiyan still felt somewhat uneasy.
Without fully understanding why, Shen Yu simply nodded obediently.
With a flick of his left hand, a red thread materialized around Song Huaiyan’s ring finger, growing like a vine toward Shen Yu’s hand and instantly wrapping around his right ring finger. The section of the red thread between them then vanished as if invisible, leaving only the portion wrapped around Song Huaiyan’s finger glowing with a faint red light.
Seating himself on the prayer mat opposite Zhao Bin alongside Shen Yu, Song Huaiyan extended his left hand. An ancient copper coin appeared suspended from the red thread, swaying back and forth between them. Amidst the blurred motion of its afterimage accompanied by a faint, illusory sound of clinking coins the surrounding air seemed to instantly fill with white mist, growing hazy and indistinct.
Before long, the mist cleared, and the two found themselves back in that familiar alleyway.
They witnessed once more the scenes previously seen within the dream realm: following that initial encounter, Zhao Bin would consistently wait in the alley for Xu Jiachen to pass by, shaking him down for petty little trinkets as “protection money” while casually tossing him some candies and snacks in return.
One day, Xu Jiachen failed to show up for school. After making inquiries, Zhao Bin learned that Xu had been beaten so badly by his alcoholic, gambling-addicted father that he was unable to get out of bed.
Enraged, Zhao Bin took two of his underlings and ambushed the deadbeat father on his way home from a gambling session, beating him soundly after bagging his head. In retaliation, upon returning home, the father beat Xu Jiachen even more severely.
From then on, Zhao Bin ambushed and beat the father day after day until he finally broke the man’s spirit, ensuring he would never dare lay another finger on his son.
“Here… it’s different from just now.” Watching the constantly shifting scenery all around them, Shen Yu suddenly spoke up.
Looking at him in mild surprise, Song Huaiyan thought: My little junior brother’s intuition is truly sharp.
“This place is called the ‘Saha Realm,'” he explained without reservation. “What we accidentally entered earlier is called a ‘Dream Realm’—you could say it’s a kind of dream born from a person’s obsessions after death. The ‘Saha Realm,’ on the other hand, is a microcosm of the three thousand worlds. If one uses a person’s soul breath as a guide, they can enter a Saha Realm and witness that person’s entire life.”
“Why come here?” Shen Yu asked.
“To find Zhao Bin’s obsession.”
“Whom should we follow?”
“Follow the fragrance.” Song Huaiyan’s gaze shifted to the thread-like strands of white mist unfurling before them, carrying the faint, delicate fragrance reminiscent of white epiphyllum flowers.
The yellow incense he had lit earlier was soul-guiding incense, which could lead them to witness memories related to the soul’s obsession within the Saha Realm.
Following the soul-guiding incense, the two witnessed numerous successive scenes, mostly consisting of everyday routines after school. In truth, the two had never shared a deep friendship; topics of conversation between them were scarce, and there were few things they could do together. After the sixth grade—perhaps as both grew busy with their respective studies and “careers”—Zhao Bin stopped daily stakeouts at the alley entrance.
A year later, during the senior high school entrance examinations, Xu Jiachen was admitted to the city’s No. 1 High School, whereas Zhao Bin completely dropped out of school and officially joined the Green Dragon Gang.
“Who is he?” Shen Yu asked abruptly.
“He is my senior schoolmate.” Knowing that Shen Yu was asking about his relationship with Zhao Bin, Song Huaiyan paused, then tried searching for a term Shen Yu might better understand. “You could consider him… my martial brother.”
He could sense a distinct pause in Shen Yu’s footsteps.
“But I didn’t really know him well. Back when I was in school, he was already something of a legend.” Turning his head and noticing Shen Yu’s less-than-favorable expression, Song Huaiyan hurriedly explained, “I only heard stories about him after he died.”
Wanting to say more but unsure where to begin, Song Huaiyan watched as the surrounding scenery shifted right on cue, abruptly transitioning from day to night. The two found themselves standing on a potholed concrete road. The streetlamps were sparse and dim, and the surrounding wilderness was empty and desolate; yet, over a dozen years ago, this had still been considered a main thoroughfare of the small township.
Five or six young men with trendy, bleached-yellow hair some bare-chested and others wearing only tank tops were strutting down the empty road with swaggering, arrogant strides.
“You brothers worked hard tonight! Xiang’s Barbecue up ahead same old rules!”
The tall leader pressed the back of his neck with one hand to loosen his muscles while holding a cigarette between his fingers and taking a fierce drag.
“Got it, Brother Bin is treating!”
“Let’s go, let’s go! We’ve gotta drink Brother Bin under the table today!”
“A-Li, you’d better show Brother Bin some serious respect. If he hadn’t blocked that knife for you last time, you’d be disabled right now, kid!”
“Right, right! A-Li, you’ll have to be a beast of burden to repay Brother Bin from now on.”
As the group began to jeer and banter, they noticed that Zhao Bin, who had been leading the way, had suddenly stopped.
Walking slowly toward them from the opposite direction was someone wearing a school uniform, carrying a school backpack, and holding a plastic bag in his hand. The dim streetlamp dragged his shadow out very long.
“Sorry, brothers, something’s come up suddenly. This round will have to wait for another day.” With his back turned to a streetlamp, Zhao Bin kept his entire face buried in shadow.
“What is it, Brother Bin?” One of the underlings stepped forward, looking with some excitement at the person approaching from ahead. “Is it an acquaintance or an enemy?”
Without answering, Zhao Bin pinched out his cigarette butt with his fingertips.
Another observant underling quickly stepped forward to pull the other guy away, saying, “Since Brother Bin’s busy, let’s fight another day!”
With that, the group hooked arms and strolled off in the opposite direction.
Standing right where he was, Zhao Bin waited for the figure in the distance to draw slowly closer.
“Xu Jiachen.”
He greeted him with a smile.
Xiang’s Barbecue was a fairly well-known late-night snack spot in the township. By now, it was close to 11:00 PM, and the business was booming. The indoor seating was completely full, leaving only a few outdoor tables vacant.
Selecting a small square table near the edge, the two sat down, and Zhao Bin ordered some of their usual skewers and beer.
Xu Jiachen sat down, keeping his school backpack firmly on his back without taking it off.
“What, you can’t even recognize your Brother Bin anymore?” Zhao Bin set the bowls and chopsticks down in front of him, his tone as casual as ever.
In reality, they hadn’t seen each other at all since middle school; by now, Xu Jiachen was already attending the city’s key high school, while Zhao Bin had risen to become a minor leader within the Green Dragon Gang.
Remaining silent, Xu Jiachen slowly shifted his gaze from Zhao Bin’s hands which were unwrapping disposable chopsticks up to his face.
Reaching up to touch his eyebrow ridge, Zhao Bin remarked, “Think my looks got ruined?”
He laughed again. “Scars are a man’s medals, don’t you get it?”
Pressing his lips together, Xu Jiachen spoke up with a hint of awkwardness, “No… It’s just that people always say breaking your eyebrow will affect a person’s fate…”
“An honor student like you believes in superstitious nonsense?” Zhao Bin teased as he sized him up.
Xu Jiachen had grown quite a bit taller. His posture was upright, his facial features refined and handsome, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses now rested on the bridge of his nose. Beads of sweat covered his neatly trimmed hair, and the top button of his school uniform collar was undone.
In his memory, Xu Jiachen always kept himself neat and properly groomed, rarely looking this disheveled.
“Let’s talk about you. How’d you end up like this?”
Feeling somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze, Xu Jiachen lowered his head, finally speaking after a long silence: “I missed the last bus and walked back from school.”
Walking all the way here from the city’s high school took at least five hours—more than enough to leave anyone dripping with sweat on a summer night.
“Isn’t it the weekend? Why did you insist on coming back? That family of yours isn’t—” Halfway through his sentence, Zhao Bin suddenly caught himself.
“Tomorrow is my mother’s death anniversary.”
Lowering his gaze, Xu Jiachen placed his backpack on an adjacent stool, the side pocket holding a bouquet of white paper-folded lilies.
At a loss for words, Zhao Bin was saved when the proprietress walked over carrying a plate of barbecue. He smoothly pushed the plate toward Xu Jiachen and picked up a skewer of grilled meat to eat.
“This place makes good mutton. Try some.”
Picking up a skewer of mutton, Xu Jiachen lowered his head and began to eat. Just like before, he still wasn’t used to staring at people for long periods.
“With you being this shy, how are you gonna find a girlfriend in the future?” Zhao Bin mumbled around a half-eaten bite of mutton. “Still, you’ve gotta focus on your studies right now don’t go getting any ideas about puppy love!”
“Mhm,” Xu Jiachen acknowledged before suddenly asking, “Brother Bin, do you have a girlfriend?”