Thanks to spending the past ten days searching everywhere for the array core, Jiang Yin quickly brought Chu Nanci to a secluded little courtyard.
The Lin Residence seemed to have a particular fondness for water features. Within the vast estate, several ponds had been constructed. Now that it was summer, every pond was filled with blooming lotus flowers, their fragrance spreading through the air. Only the pond in this small courtyard stood empty.
Calling it empty was not entirely accurate. It was clear the pond had not been cleaned for a long time. The murky surface was covered with a thick layer of moss and duckweed, mixed with other bits of filth. Shaded by trees, it was impossible to make out exactly what lay beneath, but in any case, it was utterly unpleasant to look at. The smell was not much better, carrying a damp, decaying stench.
The smell inside the house was even worse. Jiang Yin left the door open to let in some air as she supported Chu Nanci and led him inside, saying, “There are simply too many people in the Lin Residence. Only this place is deserted. I will go out in a moment and clean the main hall. Until we find the array core, we can stay here temporarily. It will also make it easier for you to regulate your breathing.”
The room itself was not particularly dirty. Only a thin layer of dust had settled on the windowsill and the table, indicating that servants came to clean it from time to time. However, the windows had been boarded up with wooden planks, causing a faint musty odor to build up. Mixed with the dampness of the water vapor, it felt like a thick, airtight wet quilt pressing heavily down on a person.
Jiang Yin had come here a few times before and always felt that the atmosphere was strange. Outside, the blazing sun hung high in the sky, yet this place was unusually cold and gloomy. Especially those wooden boards nailed over the windows, they made one feel deeply uncomfortable.
If not for the young man’s condition, she would never have set foot here again.
At this moment, most of the damp chill on her body came from the young man leaning against her. After walking only this short distance, he seemed even colder than when they had first entered. Jiang Yin held his hand and felt as if she were grasping several pieces of ice.
She helped him sit on the bed and said, “You stay here and regulate your breathing. I will go outside and keep watch for you.”
But the young man refused to let go of her hand. Pulling her down to sit beside him, his ice-like fingers gripped hers tightly. Perhaps it was the dampness of the room seeping into him, but even his voice carried a trace of moisture.
“Stay here with me.”
“How could that be allowed? Regulating your breathing requires quiet the most…”
Jiang Yin was just about to persuade him further, but the young man turned a deaf ear, already closing his eyes and beginning to circulate his qi.
She hesitated slightly. In the end, worried about disturbing him, she said nothing more and only shrank silently at the edge of the bed, doing her best to reduce her presence.
The room was so quiet that only the sound of their breathing remained. A trace of sunlight filtered through the shadows of the trees outside the window, casting a beam of dusty light in the air that stretched all the way to the young man’s face.
His eyes were gently closed, his long lashes like raven feathers concealing his peach blossom eyes, yet the soul-stirring beauty did not diminish in the slightest. The natural upward curve at the corners of his eyes made it seem as though he carried a faint smile even with his eyes shut.
Jiang Yin truly had nothing to do, so her gaze traced over his features bit by bit, sweeping across his brows and eyes, sliding over the bridge of his nose, and then downward, coming to rest on his lips.
She had been here for ten days, and the marks on her body had long since disappeared. But outside, perhaps only a short while had passed. His lips were slightly swollen, and there was a small cut at the corner, something she had bitten open in the Flower Tower room when she could no longer endure it.
The beam of dusty light fell upon his lips. Perhaps the sunlight made them itch slightly, for his lips pressed together gently. A sheen of moisture appeared on them, and under the play of light and shadow, they looked excessively vivid.
Jiang Yin’s heart suddenly skipped a beat, and she forgot to look away.
Until the young man called her softly, “Ah Yin, if you keep looking like that, it will not only be my internal energy that becomes disordered.”
He had not even opened his eyes, and yet she had no idea how he noticed her staring.
Half her face flushed red, and Jiang Yin hurriedly averted her gaze.
After thinking for a moment, she still spoke, “…How about I go outside instead? I can keep watch for you, or I could go follow Lin Yueying.”
In any case, she could not continue staying in the room.
He was simply too good-looking. She could never resist wanting to look at him.
Chu Nanci neither agreed nor refused. His fingers tightened slightly around hers as he asked, “Why do you want to follow Lin Yueying? Are you worried she will not come to find you tonight?”
“I cannot quite explain it. It just feels a little strange in my heart.” Jiang Yin was immediately distracted, saying, “I ran into her during the preliminary round. She told me then that the owner of Huameng Tower, Huaying, was once her younger sister, but later had her body taken by a flower demon. That flower demon also killed her parents. It is also because of this that the flower demon tried to stop her from participating in the competition. I already found it strange at the time. With such deep hatred, the flower demon only tripped her up and prevented her from entering the finals. That is completely unlike the behavior of an evil demon.”
Behind Chu Nanci, a fox tail brushed lightly against her waist as he said approvingly, “Ah Yin is indeed clever.”
“And also, she said that the Dream Tower was built according to the Lin Residence. But I have searched for several days, and there is nowhere in the entire Lin Residence that exceeds two stories. Lin Yueying’s room does match that room in the Dream Tower, but I have not seen her use any secret passage either.” Encouraged, Jiang Yin continued, “And the strangest point is the wound on Lin Yueying’s neck just now.”
The wound on Lin Yueying’s neck had been caused by the Wuyou Sword. Chu Nanci recalled that she had mentioned carrying a demon-seeking compass. His fox tail imperceptibly drew her closer as he asked, “What about the wound?”
“Although her wound did not look deep, it did injure some of the meridians. But the blood that flowed out was extremely viscous, and its color was also darker. Judging from the severity of the wound, both the color and the texture of the blood do not match.” Jiang Yin analyzed it in an orderly manner, unable to stop for a moment. Only after finishing did she realize that the young man had opened his eyes, his light-colored pupils quietly fixed on her face.
Startled by his gaze, she subconsciously touched her cheek. “What is it? Did I say something wrong?”
Chu Nanci smiled. “You are not wrong.”
His fingers curled slightly as he recalled the information about the Jiang Residence that he had seen in the Flower Tower.
Because the focus had been on Xie Huaian, the Jiang Residence had only been mentioned briefly, described merely as an ordinary merchant family.
How could the daughter of an ordinary merchant family distinguish at a glance that there was something abnormal about the blood from Lin Yueying’s wound? Was it that the Flower Tower had concealed something about this, or was there some other hidden truth?
Jiang Yin did not notice the deeper meaning on his face and said seriously, “So Lin Yueying must have other secrets. I am afraid she might trick us. I might as well go follow her. That way, I will not affect your breathing regulation here.”
She had just stood up when Chu Nanci pulled her back onto the bed.
A thin layer of dust rose from the bed. The damp scent seeped out from the blankets beneath them, only to be replaced by the faint fragrance from the young man. From behind, he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, firmly holding her in his embrace.
“In this way, it will not affect me anymore.”
Jiang Yin did not even dare blink. The cool touch of his fingers at her waist made her voice stumble, “You… are you sure? This will only affect you more…”
It was not just the disturbance that increased. The sensation behind her waist made Jiang Yin tense her back, her mind filled with ‘What should I do?’
At a time like this, should she agree or refuse?
Before she could come up with an answer, the man gently rubbed her stiff fingers and said, “Do not worry about it. It will settle on its own in a while. I will not do anything. Stay here at ease. Do not leave, and do not let go of my hand.”
Jiang Yin wanted to say that this was not something she could simply ignore, but his hands were extremely cold. It was clear that the disturbance of his internal energy was severe.
Biting her lip, she ultimately did not struggle, allowing him to hold her as he began to regulate his breathing in a posture that could hardly be called appropriate.
His cool breath fell lightly by her ear, his solid chest completely enveloping her. For some reason, her heart gradually calmed.
For ten whole days since arriving here, she had not had a single good sleep. Now, lying in the young man’s arms, surrounded by quiet, she unknowingly drifted off.
This sleep lasted until the moon rose to the treetops. In her haziness, she heard Lin Yueying’s voice. When she opened her eyes, she found four identical faces in front of her.
She stared blankly for a long moment, thinking she had not fully woken up. She rubbed her eyes and looked again.
There were still four Lin Yueyings in front of her.
“…”
If not for noticing that the four of them were dressed differently and their ages varied slightly, she would truly have suspected that she had been driven mad by this world.
Among the four Lin Yueyings, three stood together on one side, while the other stood beside Jiang Yin. Jiang Yin saw that there was a wound on her neck.
With her identity confirmed, it became easy to distinguish the others.
The one wearing the lotus-colored ru skirt was Lin Yueying within the array. To her left stood Lin Huaying. Although their appearances were almost identical, upon closer inspection, Lin Huaying carried a faint trace of sorrow between her brows and eyes.
As for the last one, Jiang Yin frowned and observed for a long time before recognizing her.
Within the array, the Lin sisters all appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old, but she looked only fourteen or fifteen, with a few more traces of youthfulness. Compared to Lin Yueying and Lin Huaying, she also seemed more timid and timid.
At this moment, she was hiding behind Lin Huaying, only revealing a pair of eyes as she looked at Jiang Yin timidly.
Recalling what Lin Yueying had said during the day, Jiang Yin asked in disbelief, “She would not happen to be the dream demon, would she?”
“Why does she look the same as you?”
After a pause, her eyes suddenly widened. “Wait, she… they can see us right now?!”
Before Lin Yueying could answer, the seventeen-year-old version of her within the array had already spoken first.
She stepped forward and shouted fiercely at Jiang Yin, “Mengyue is not a demon!”
…That confirmed it. They really could see her.
Jiang Yin was even more shocked.
Within the Illusory Memory Array, aside from the person who possessed the memories, everyone else who entered would have no physical form. For the past ten days, no one in the Lin Residence had been able to see Jiang Yin, including the Lin sisters, who had not noticed her presence at all.
What was going on now?!
Had the array failed? Or had Lin Yueying somehow opened her celestial sight?
It was not only the seventeen-year-old Lin Yueying who could see them. Lin Huaying also frowned and questioned, “Who are you?”
“Uh… well…” Jiang Yin racked her brains for an explanation, then suddenly realized that she had said you, not you all.
Looking again, the three girls across from her were full of vigilance, yet all their attention was directed solely at Jiang Yin.
It was as if they could not see the Lin Yueying standing beside her at all.
For a moment, she did not know how to respond. Lowering her head, she whispered to Lin Yueying beside her, “What is going on?! Why can they see me?!”
Lin Yueying was just as bewildered. “You are asking me? I was about to ask you the same thing!”
“Who are you talking to?!” The seventeen-year-old Lin Yueying immediately pointed into the air. Countless swords condensed out of the void, all aimed at Jiang Yin.
“Who exactly are you?! A cultivator from another sect?! Were you just secretly sending a message to your sect?!”
As she spoke, chains suddenly clasped around Jiang Yin’s hands and feet.
Both the swords and the chains had appeared out of nowhere. Jiang Yin was completely at a loss. She looked at the Lin Yueying beside her and said anxiously, “If your seventeen-year-old self had this ability, why did you not say so earlier?!”
“I do not have that ability… this is the dream of her and Huaying. Within the dream, they can do anything,” Lin Yueying said as she stepped a little farther away, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.
The shackles chafed Jiang Yin’s wrists, leaving marks. Clearly, even within a dream, one could still be injured.
Watching as the swords drew closer and closer, she panicked. “Wait, do not run off! You were the one who brought me in here, what am I supposed to do now?!”
“Who exactly are you talking to?!” The twenty-two-year-old Lin Yueying moved outward, while the seventeen-year-old Lin Yueying pressed forward step by step. She held a sword pointed at Jiang Yin and urgently demanded, “What are you trying to do to Mengyue?!”
At this critical moment, Jiang Yin shouted, “Lin Yueying!”
The seventeen-year-old Lin Yueying frowned at her.
Jiang Yin swallowed, then followed the twenty-two-year-old Lin Yueying’s lead, reciting word by word.
“Lin Huaying, Lin Mengyue…” She imitated Lin Yueying’s tone, even trying her best to replicate her indignant expression. “Do you three even realize the disaster you are about to bring upon yourselves?!”
The three across from her were all stunned. Seizing the opportunity, Jiang Yin continued, “I… I am an Immortal from the Clouds, entrusted by your future selves five years from now to come here and stop you three sisters from committing a grave mistake.”
As Jiang Yin spoke along with Lin Yueying, she felt utterly uncertain inside.
In a sense, what she said was not entirely wrong. Within this memory, there was indeed a gap of five years from reality.
But an Immortal from the Clouds… did Lin Yueying really think her seventeen-year-old self was that easy to fool?
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, the younger Lin Yueying actually lowered the sword in her hand, though her expression remained guarded. “What proof do you have?”
“Ahem.” Jiang Yin adjusted her expression. “I know a secret between you sisters that no outsider could possibly know.”
This time, it was Lin Huaying who asked, “What secret?”
Jiang Yin thought to herself that she was quite clever, but unfortunately, Jiang Yin had a cheat by her side. Not only had Lin Mengyue’s identity been revealed, even the fact that the younger Lin Yueying appeared fierce on the surface while inwardly panicking to the point of near terror had been pointed out.
“You three sisters have shared a deep bond since childhood, always inseparable. Because you were born of the same mother, you have had a secret since you were young.”
Jiang Yin raised one finger. “You can… share dreams?!”
Her voice suddenly rose sharply, startling the three sisters across from her.
Lin Yueying poked her. “Be more composed. You are an Immortal from the Clouds right now. Do not act so jumpy. Everything is under your control.”
Jiang Yin: “…Yes, everything is under my control.” ‘Yeah right.’
Sharing dreams!
She had only seen that kind of thing on her phone before. People said that some twins with a deep bond would share the same dreams after falling asleep, able to chat and play within them. Back then, the comment section had been full of people saying it was fake. Who would have thought it actually existed!
But something even more unbelievable came next.
“Three years ago, Mengyue fell into the water and passed away. After that, the two of you fainted for several days. Outsiders thought it was because you were overwhelmed with grief, but in truth, you were reunited with Mengyue in your dreams. For some unknown reason, although her body died, her soul was able to remain within the dream. And in the future, she will not only exist in your dreams, but also be able to freely enter and leave the dreams of others, becoming what is known as a dream demon.”
The younger Lin Yueying reacted as if her tail had been stepped on, jumping up at once. “Mengyue is not a demon!”
Lin Huaying, though the younger sister, was more composed and cautious. She looked at Jiang Yin and shook her head. “The news of Mengyue’s death is known to everyone. Since you have some special method to enter dreams, it would not be difficult for you to know these things.”
“Do not rush, I have not finished yet.” Jiang Yin stroked the nonexistent beard under her chin, putting on an unfathomable air.
The three Lin sisters, all sharing the same face and the same expression, stared at her, waiting for her to continue.
Jiang Yin also looked toward Lin Yueying, waiting for her to reveal a secret convincing enough to win their trust.
Lin Yueying looked at the young girl hiding behind Huaying. Her gaze lingered for a long time before she finally spoke softly.
Jiang Yin’s expression changed at once. The hand stroking her chin trembled violently. After quite a while, she barely managed to steady her voice as she repeated her words.
“…Everyone in the Lin Residence, even your parents, believes that Mengyue accidentally fell into the water. But no one knows.” Jiang Yin clenched her fingers, feeling her breathing grow uneven. “No one knows that the one who pushed her into the water and drowned her was…”
“Enough!”
Lin Huaying suddenly cut her off. Her voice was sharp, yet her face carried a pleading expression as she shook her head at Jiang Yin. “I believe you.”
“Let her finish!” the younger Lin Yueying said urgently. “If she truly is an Immortal from the Clouds, then she must know who killed Mengyue. Huaying, have we not been searching for the culprit all this time? Why not let her say it!”
Seeing her younger self so anxious, Lin Yueying let out a cold laugh. “See? I knew it. She does not dare let you say it. She puts on this act in front of us, pretending to be a good sister, a good elder sister. How could she possibly allow you to reveal the truth that she is the murderer?”
Taking advantage of the moment when the younger Lin Yueying was entangled with Huaying, Jiang Yin finally found a chance to ask in a low voice, “Was Mengyue really pushed into the water by her?! But three years ago… at that time, had she already been controlled by the flower demon?”
At the mention of this, Lin Yueying’s eyes filled with hatred. “Of course not. My father had not yet brought back that flower seed, so how could she have been controlled by a flower demon? She was simply vicious at heart, jealous that Mengyue received more of our parents’ affection. I saw it with my own eyes in her dream. She lured Mengyue to the edge of the pond and forced her into the water. No matter how Mengyue struggled, she did not let go, until she drowned her alive!”
The hatred in her expression did not seem fake. Jiang Yin pressed her lips together, not knowing how to comfort her.
“…It has all passed,” she said with a sigh.
But Lin Yueying only smiled upon hearing this. “Yes, it has all passed. Heaven has eyes. It actually allowed you to be seen within this array. This time, I will not only expose her outside, but also let everyone see her venomous heart within this Illusory Memory. Jiang Yin, you must help me.”
Her eyes were red, on the verge of tears. Jiang Yin could only agree, “Alright.”
Over there, Huaying had finally managed to calm her sister down. “Did you not hear what the Immortal from the Clouds said? She came here at the request of our future selves five years from now. There must be something more important she needs to tell us. Mengyue has already passed away. If we remain fixated on this and drive the immortal away, what then?”
Only then did the younger Lin Yueying reluctantly step back, allowing her more composed sister to take over the questioning.
Huaying said, “The Immortal just mentioned that the three of us will commit a grave mistake. What mistake could it be, to warrant you crossing time and space to come here?”
Jiang Yin glanced at Lin Yueying and said, “Tomorrow afternoon, your father will bring back a flower seed…”
She frowned slightly. That flower seed should be the demonic flower that later took over Huaying’s body. It would arrive at the Lin Residence tomorrow?
At this moment, since she could be seen by the Lin sisters, if she told them not to plant the flower seed and to destroy it directly, would that be enough to change the tragedy of the Lin Residence?
As if knowing what she was thinking, Lin Yueying said, “This is only a memory of the past. Even if you tell them to destroy the flower seed, in reality, my parents and everyone in the Lin Residence will still be beyond saving… tell them to plant it.”
Lin Yueying said, “I do not want to change an illusory past. I want to use a Recording Stone to capture evidence of her crimes and make it public, to serve as a memorial for my deceased parents.”
“…”
Following her instructions, Jiang Yin told Lin Huaying to plant the flower seed in her room after receiving it tomorrow.
“As for what grave mistake it is, the secrets of heaven cannot be revealed, so I cannot tell you directly. But as long as you follow my instructions, you will be able to avoid it.”
The younger Lin Yueying was still indignant and stepped forward, intending to press further.
But Jiang Yin suddenly covered her waist and crouched down, letting out a muffled groan, her body trembling slightly.
The younger Lin Yueying was stunned. She turned to look at Huaying and Mengyue, utterly wronged. “…I did not touch her at all!”
Lin Huaying frowned and stepped forward to help Jiang Yin up. “Immortal, are you alright?”
Jiang Yin waved her hand. “I am fine, it is just…”
Before she could finish speaking, another numb sensation spread through her waist. She bit down hard, forcing back the sound that was too difficult to utter.
At that moment, a gentle male voice carrying a hint of laughter echoed through the void. The lowered tone was inexplicably enticing as it said, “Ah Yin, if you do not wake up soon, I will go further down.”
Jiang Yin trembled violently and grabbed Lin Huaying’s hand, asking urgently, “How do I get out?”