The night was pitch black, with the stars and moon half-hidden behind the mountain peaks, casting a vast shadow over the dense forest.
A hunter returning late, carrying his prey, walked anxiously when he spotted a tall, upright figure approaching from afar.
At first, the hunter didn’t pay much attention, but as the person drew close in short order, he couldn’t help but be startled.
The pale yellow moonlight outlined the man’s handsome face bright eyes, elegant brows, and a dignified aura; he looked every bit like a transcendent immortal.
The hunter looked at him, and before he could even wonder if this was an immortal lord descending to the mortal realm to undergo a tribulation, he heard the young man look down and ask in a gentle tone:
“Excuse me, which province and which city is this?”
Meeting the man’s warm gaze, the hunter’s panic subsided. He replied, “This is Yuyang City in Jizhou Province. This mountain is also called Mount Yuyang.”
Having received his answer, the man smiled. “Many thanks.”
The hunter couldn’t help but smile back. Seeing the man about to head further into the mountains, he spoke up: “The night is deep; there are many wild beasts in the mountains, it’s not safe.”
With a faint smile playing on his lips, the man turned and waved his hand. “No matter.”
As a mortal, the hunter naturally didn’t notice that as the man waved his hand, some fine powder scattered from his fingertips onto the hunter’s body.
It was only after he reached home that he felt something was strange; the road tonight seemed safer than usual, and he could hardly hear the howls of wild beasts.
The moonlight was bright and the mountain forest was silent, with occasional rustling sounds—the gentle sound of the night wind sculpting the ridges and slopes into undulating waves.
After parting with the hunter, Chen Hexuan continued walking along the mountain paths, heading toward the heart of the mountain.
A cold, clear voice rang out by Chen Hexuan’s ear, sounding as if it were whispered right against it; he could even feel the moisture staining his auricle.
“Senior Brother, you really are so kind.”
The voice was lingering and affectionate, like a soft little snake tightly coiling around Chen Hexuan’s neck, hooking onto his Adam’s apple.
Chen Hexuan’s expression remained unchanged as he pushed away the hand resting on his Adam’s apple. He said, “Qi Yu, you are finally willing to come out.”
Qi Yu placed the pushed-away hand back onto Chen Hexuan’s shoulder, sliding it all the way down from his shoulder to his chest.
Qi Yu whispered in Chen Hexuan’s ear, “Why is Senior Brother so gentle even to a stranger, even going as far as to scatter beast-repelling powder on that person?”
He swallowed the second half of the sentence more than once, he had wanted to ask his Senior Brother: Why are you so gentle to everyone else, yet so exceptionally cold only to me?
Chen Hexuan said nothing, but the hand resting by his thigh trembled slightly.
Qi Yu continued to murmur, his voice possessed of an unprecedented calmness: “Senior Brother, do you still remember? On the day of my Capping Ceremony, I waited outside your grotto-dwelling for an entire night. You clearly promised me that you would eat with me.”
Chen Hexuan’s thoughts drifted along with Qi Yu’s words toward those distant memories, yet no matter how he tried to recall, he couldn’t remember what had happened; there was only a void in his memory.
After a pause, Chen Hexuan remembered that his memories concerning Qi Yu were gradually fading.
He didn’t know what he still remembered, nor did he know what he had forgotten.
“I have already forgotten,” Chen Hexuan said calmly.
“But I will remember forever,” Qi Yu lowered his head against Chen Hexuan’s shoulder, his voice sounding somewhat muffled. “I waited for a long time, and finally, I waited until you returned. But do you know what you said?”
Chen Hexuan remained silent, only sensing that the fabric where Qi Yu’s face pressed was being soaked by some liquid.
Painful memories that hadn’t been thought of for a long time resurfaced before Qi Yu’s eyes.
He still remembered how that tall man’s gentle expression instantly turned ice-cold the moment he saw him.
Qi Yu also remembered how he had asked at the time: “Senior Brother, didn’t you promise to accompany me for a meal? You promised me, you can’t lie to me.”
His Senior Brother didn’t even spare him a glance, walking past him coldly.
He didn’t dare grab his Senior Brother’s sleeve, only following stubbornly behind him, saying: “I only have this one Capping Ceremony, and only this one request. Is even that not allowed?”
His fingers tightly clenched his palms. Even though he had already anticipated what his Senior Brother would say, he couldn’t help but hope for his agreement.
However, he never expected that his Senior Brother would turn back with a wooden face and say indifferently: “This is not my responsibility.”
He had made so many requests, and his Senior Brother had refused every single one. Yet only this once, when he had pleaded desperately the day before, his Senior Brother had promised him.
He thought that this time his wish to eat with his Senior Brother would finally come true, never expecting that what he would receive was still his Senior Brother’s cold refusal.
It was like a massive slap to his face, telling him that everything was just his own unrequited passion.
Qi Yu’s fingers released Chen Hexuan’s clothes. He lifted his head, lowered his eyes, and muttered absent-mindedly:
“Senior Brother, you told me…”
“This is not your responsibility.”
Seeming to realize something, Chen Hexuan’s heart wavered for a moment.
When he looked back, he only saw Qi Yu’s figure dissipating in the air, transforming back into the Tai’a Sword.
Chen Hexuan lunged forward to catch the sword.
Looking at the Tai’a Sword in his hand, which still bore bloodstains, Chen Hexuan’s thoughts were in disarray. In his consciousness, an exceptionally fragile face suddenly appeared.
On that white-jade-like, exquisite face, those bright eyes that once showed love were gradually dimming.
Strangely, those beautiful eyes turned black one moment and green the next.
In the world of ice and snow, all was silent.
Chen Hexuan only felt that the soaked fabric on his shoulder was so scalding hot.
In such a cold winter, Chen Hexuan’s shoulder was burned by Qi Yu’s tears until a hole formed, piercing straight through to his heart. The winter wind surged through this passage, where a slender fawn was being gnawed and tormented by the wind until it was bruised and battered all over.
Chen Hexuan could do nothing; he couldn’t even figure out what he was actually thinking. He wasn’t sure if his feelings for Qi Yu were love or hate.
Was it love? But then why could he never let go of those two thousand-plus days and nights, unable to let go of those memories of humiliation, shame, and debasement?
Was it hate? But then why was his heart, which rarely felt waves, so heavy and stifled, as if trapped in a black mist he could never escape, unable to find an exit?
Qi Yu’s words were like a massive boulder that completely threw the pool of his heart into chaos, creating ripples that could not subside.
No matter how chaotic his thoughts were, the road still had to be walked.
Carrying the Tai’a Sword on his back, Chen Hexuan continued toward the heart of the mountain, which was also the place where the mountain’s spiritual energy was most concentrated.
He hadn’t walked many steps before he saw a black speck flying toward him from afar.
As the distance closed, he saw clearly that the person arriving was Mo Mingxu, riding on a celestial crane.
Chen Hexuan retracted the talisman that hid his aura. Watching the crane gradually land on the ground, he walked up and asked tentatively: “Mingxu?”
“It’s me.” Mo Mingxu flipped off the crane, which transformed into a small bird and perched in his palm.
Chen Hexuan walked up, his gaze lingering on Mo Mingxu for a while. He asked, “Did you come specifically to find me?”
Mo Mingxu’s expression was grave as he looked at Chen Hexuan and said, “Someone tampered with the Spirit-Concentrating Incense.”
“What happened?” Chen Hexuan’s expression also turned solemn.
Mo Mingxu took out two sticks of Spirit-Concentrating Incense from his storage ring and said, “One is the stick I took back from you, the other is one I just made. There is no difference in the scent of these two, but the one given to you has an extra scentless herb called ‘Do-Not-Forget’ (Wu Wang).”
Chen Hexuan shifted his gaze to the two identical sticks of incense; in terms of appearance, it was completely impossible to distinguish between them.
“At first, I couldn’t find what use this herb had,” Mo Mingxu said with a frown. “Until I came across an ancient scroll. The scroll records that if the Do-Not-Forget herb is mixed with the blood of a specific person, it will cause the one smelling the incense to gradually lose their memories of that person.”
“Is Qi Yu’s blood inside this?” Chen Hexuan couldn’t help but blurt out the question.
Mo Mingxu frowned in deep thought. “I refined the incense several times. There is indeed a drop of blood inside, but I’m not sure if it’s Qi Yu’s.”
After saying that, he took out a jade bottle and handed it to Chen Hexuan.
Chen Hexuan pulled the stopper of the jade bottle and concentrated on smelling it. He said with a complex expression, “It is indeed Qi Yu’s blood.”
Chen Hexuan had originally thought he had forgotten this scent, but when he smelled it again after many years, the memories concerning the blood resurfaced in his mind.
Back when he had first arrived at the Demon Palace and was still unwilling to obey Qi Yu’s commands, Qi Yu had forcibly fed him his own blood, using blood to control him.
Every time he couldn’t resist the scent of the blood and bit into Qi Yu’s neck or took Qi Yu’s fingertip into his mouth, he felt that he was just a dog being controlled and toyed with by Qi Yu.
Later, because Qi Yu lost too much blood, he had to change the method, using his eyes to control him instead.
The metallic, sweet taste seemed to still linger in his mouth; Chen Hexuan unconsciously pursed his lips.
So, as for the question of why he would forget Qi Yu, there was now an answer—someone had mixed Qi Yu’s blood with the Do-Not-Forget herb.
However, a greater doubt surged into Chen Hexuan’s heart.
He clearly remembered that on the day he killed Qi Yu, Qi Yu’s body had transformed into mist and dissipated into the world, leaving no corpse behind.
And he had asked Mo Mingxu to make the Spirit-Concentrating Incense some time after Qi Yu’s death. Where, then, did those people obtain Qi Yu’s blood, and how did they mix Qi Yu’s blood and the Do-Not-Forget herb into the incense?
One layer of mist had barely been blown away before another layer enveloped Chen Hexuan.
“Mingxu, do you know who tampered with it?” Chen Hexuan asked urgently.
The absurd thing was, rather than knowing who the mastermind was, Chen Hexuan wanted to know even more where those people had obtained Qi Yu’s blood.
He thought that if he could find Qi Yu’s body, perhaps he could find a way to bring Qi Yu back to life.
Meeting Chen Hexuan’s gaze, Mo Mingxu said with difficulty, “The people who have entered the incense-blending room, besides me, are only my Master.”
Chen Hexuan and Mo Mingxu had entered the Inner Sect together. Chen Hexuan had been taken under the Sect Leader’s wing, while Mo Mingxu had been taken under Elder Qingyang’s wing. Elder Qingyang was Mo Mingxu’s Master.
“I hope Senior Brother will not investigate further for my sake,” Mo Mingxu said with a complex expression. “This concerns the Xingzhou Sect. Senior Brother, you absolutely must not continue investigating.”
“Fine, fine.”
Chen Hexuan couldn’t help but take a step back, feeling it was all utterly ridiculous.
He had clearly anticipated long ago that all of this was related to the Xingzhou Sect, yet why was it still so hard to accept when he learned the truth?
Perhaps he was merely a chess piece, manipulated by the teachers he respected and loved the most.
The mist grew thicker.
Yet Chen Hexuan felt that the mastermind behind everything was not as simple as just the Xingzhou Sect.