Without further ado, the two walked into Tianwaitian together.
Once inside, there was no longer a need for the many precautions taken on the streets. Yun Duan took off her bamboo hat, and under the eager guidance of a reception disciple, they were led to the guest parlor to rest while waiting for Pei Chen.
“…How stingy.”
Shang Can looked at Yun Duan’s table, which was piled high with tea and snacks, then looked at her own bare mahogany table and couldn’t help but sigh.
“I should thank him for not carting away my chair as well, otherwise I’d be forced to sit on the table.”
The news that the Yun Zhongjun of Qingyu and the Can-zhe of Biluo Huangquan were traveling together to investigate the attack on Tianwaitian had likely already spread among the cultivators—though the version reaching their ears was probably something like “Yun Zhongjun is supervising the demonic cultivator Can-zhe.” Consequently, even though Shang Can looked harmless behind her mask, anyone aware of the news would realize her identity the moment they saw her beside Yun Duan, resulting in this very unfair treatment.
Every trip to Tianwaitian seemed to bring nothing but trouble; this place truly clashed with her destiny.
Just then, Shang Can saw Yun Duan push her own teacup over and place it in front of her. “You drink it.”
Shang Can leaned back with exaggerated flair. “That won’t do. If I drink Yun Zhongjun’s tea, that disciple staring at us from the doorway will surely kick me out of Tianwaitian.”
The gate disciple, who thought he was hidden while peeking in, jumped in surprise and resentfully pulled his head back.
“You drink yours,” Shang Can said, pushing the cup back and leaning grandly against the back of her chair. “I’ll just eat some of the sugar cakes your admirers stuffed into my hands earlier. Do you want one? They aren’t as sweet as the ones we had together before, but they’re passable—”
“I have kept you both waiting.”
Before the cake could reach her mouth, Pei Chen’s gentle voice drifted in from outside. Shang Can curled her lip in annoyance and turned to look.
“An acting sect leader must be far busier than an idle person like me—ah, I forgot that I’ve technically been ‘recruited’ to work now, so I suppose we’re equally busy.”
Pei Chen showed no reaction to the sarcasm in her words. He simply offered a polite apologetic smile and bowed with hands clasped. “Pray do not take offense, Can-zhe.”
He even frowned upon seeing Shang Can’s empty table and summoned the disciple at the door to whisper a few words. The disciple reluctantly served Shang Can a cup of tea, which only made her feel more wary.
“…What are you doing? You aren’t plotting something wicked, are you?”
Shang Can didn’t touch the teacup. Instead, she stood up and moved a few steps away from her seat.
“Let’s be clear: I am here to clear my own name. I have no intention of becoming friends with Tianwaitian.”
“Do not misunderstand, Can-zhe,” Pei Chen shook his head. “Demonic cultivators have always had a poor reputation, but I personally hold no prejudice against them.”
“We are all cultivators. Though the demonic path is more akin to the demon race and your combat style differs from ours, as long as one does nothing against heaven or reason, Pei Chen believes it is of no consequence.”
“Though rumors say demonic cultivators are eccentric, ruthless, and fond of strife, judging by your recent actions, you truly do not seem like such a person.”
He then looked toward the silent Yun Duan, his voice warm. “I imagine Yun Zhongjun feels the same.”
The alarm bells in Shang Can’s head were buzzing. She stepped forward to block Yun Duan, creating a barrier between her and Pei Chen, and waved her hand expressionlessly.
“Well, thank you for that. But Yun Zhongjun and I are here today just to inform you of our plans. Kun Yao Jun is a busy man, so let’s get straight to the point.”
Even after being interrupted, Pei Chen remained steady and composed, signaling Shang Can to continue.
Shang Can looked back at Yun Duan and saw she had no intention of speaking, so she briefly explained their plan to investigate the mountain where the most demon sightings had been reported. Pei Chen nodded in understanding, musing:
“That place is indeed suspicious. Tianwaitian disciples have investigated it several times without success.”
“But with the profound cultivation of Yun Zhongjun and Can-zhe, perhaps you may find some clues.”
He looked at Shang Can, whose face was practically screaming, “Is that so? Can we go now?” He hesitated for a long moment before addressing Yun Duan: “Yun Zhongjun, could we… speak in private for a moment?”
Before Yun Duan could react, Shang Can couldn’t stay still. She asked with mock thoughtfulness, “If you two have things to say, should I step out first?”
Despite saying this, her feet were rooted to the spot as if grown there, showing no intention of making way.
“No need,” Yun Duan replied, looking at Pei Chen. “Does Kun Yao Jun have something to say?”
Seeing their behavior, Pei Chen paused momentarily but quickly recovered. He smiled. “It is nothing. I simply intended to ask how Yun Zhongjun was faring with Can-zhe and if Tianwaitian’s assistance was required.”
“It seems Pei Chen was overthinking things.” He raised his hands in a deep bow. “Please be careful. If there is anything I can do to help, do not hesitate to seek me out at Tianwaitian.”
By the time they left Tianwaitian, the sky had darkened into twilight.
Yun Duan put her bamboo hat back on and walked slowly down the street with Shang Can.
“You don’t seem to like Kun Yao Jun.”
It was a rare instance of Yun Duan initiating a conversation. Shang Can paused, then spoke with righteous indignation.
“I am a person of Biluo Huangquan. Should I like the acting sect leader of Tianwaitian who, just a few days ago, brought a mob to my door and nearly started a fight with me?”
Hearing Yun Duan’s faint response of “Fair enough,” Shang Can breathed a private sigh of relief.
…How to put it? While that reason was plausible, in all fairness, Pei Chen’s behavior today had been decent. His attitude was rare among cultivators who grouped demonic cultivators and demons together as monsters.
Although Pei Chen hadn’t given a direct answer when she asked how he knew the location of Biluo Huangquan—merely offering a polite, flowery apology about “not being able to say”—it was reasonable. Protecting a source is a quality any organization should uphold.
But unfortunately, because she had seen that book, The Chronicles of Kun Yao Jun and Yun Zhongjun, before entering Tianwaitian, she found him an eyesore today. Everything he did grated on her.
…It was hopeless. She really hadn’t liked this Pei Chen guy since long ago.
Feeling she was in the wrong, she quickly found a new topic: “It’s getting late. Let’s find an inn to stay at and grab some food.”
Pei Chen had suggested they stay at Tianwaitian, but Shang Can figured her presence would cause many disciples to lose sleep. She had declined out of “kindness,” certainly not because she didn’t want Yun Duan too close to him.
They entered an inn, and Shang Can took on the task of speaking with the innkeeper. She walked to the counter and said, “Two superior rooms, somewhere quiet.”
Fortunately, the cliché of “only one room left” didn’t happen. Shang Can successfully booked the rooms, took out a silver ingot for the innkeeper, and added, “Please send two meals to the rooms later, and we’ll need hot water for bathing a bit later. Much obliged.”
“Understood!” The innkeeper accepted the silver with a beaming face and gestured upstairs. “Right this way, please!”
With no other business for the day, Shang Can spent her time leisurely, eating, drinking, and taking a bath. She wasn’t entirely idle, though; she pulled out the map Wan Shao had given her to examine it closely.
The mountain was very close to Yanyang; flying there would take about thirty minutes. Shang Can’s earlier suggestion to wait until tomorrow was based on the fact that they had traveled for half a day and weren’t in peak condition—caution was paramount.
But as she looked at it, she felt a sudden impulse. She checked the time, caught between hesitation and eagerness.
As she was thinking, she heard the door to the neighboring room open, followed quickly by a knock on her own door.
“…Come in.”
Shang Can sat at the table, looking somewhat blankly as Yun Duan entered the room and closed the door behind her. She suddenly felt a bit guilty.
“Yun Zhongjun… did you need something?”
The Yun Duan before her had clearly just finished bathing. Though her clothes were neat, her long hair was unbound, draping over her shoulders with a touch of dampness that gave her a trace of languid elegance.
“Nothing urgent.”
Yun Duan sat down opposite Shang Can, her gaze sweeping over the map spread on the table. Her eyes flickered.
“I was simply afraid Can-zhe could not wait and would run off there alone in the night.”
The words caught in Shang Can’s throat. She deftly tucked the map away and laughed. “How could I? I’m obviously waiting until tomorrow to go with you, haha.”
Haha my foot. Does Yun Duan have mind-reading powers?
The thought hadn’t been in her head for even two minutes, and she hadn’t even made a decision, yet Yun Duan had exposed it on the spot. Had she been thinking out loud and been overheard? No, surely not.
Deeply intimidated by Yun Duan’s sharp intuition, Shang Can abandoned the plan immediately, acting as if the thought had never occurred to her as she joked around.
However, Yun Duan didn’t seem to fully trust her. Even after Shang Can repeatedly promised she wouldn’t act alone behind her back, and Yun Duan nodded in response, the woman showed no sign of leaving. She even naturally poured herself a cup of tea and began to drink, looking as if she intended to stay for a long while.
Shang Can couldn’t do anything about it. It happened that she had remembered something earlier, so she took the opportunity to ask: “How is Yun Zhongjun’s ‘Spirit Summoning’?”
Spirit Summoning was a technique of Qingyu, somewhat famous in the cultivation world. Its effect was to condense spiritual energy into a temporary spiritual body that could act independently for a time or assist in combat according to the master’s will.
Yun Duan thought for a moment and replied, “It is acceptable.”
When Yun Duan said “acceptable,” it usually meant “quite excellent.” Shang Can nodded with a hint of pride and asked further, “Both the Fake Can-zhe and the demons vanish into thin air after being injured. Does Yun Zhongjun think that is similar to your Qingyu’s Spirit Summoning?”
She knew the answer herself, but she had to go through the motions. Spirit Summoning could indeed create spiritual bodies that followed one’s will and vanished after taking a certain amount of damage. It might mimic the feeling of the Fake Can-zhe they saw that day, but creating the momentum of the demon horde that attacked Tianwaitian was impossible.
After all, even if Shang Can were to perform Spirit Summoning now, she could only manage a dozen or so controllable bodies; any more would just be empty shells—burdens with no combat ability. The demon horde that day numbered in the thousands. No cultivator possessed such terrifying spiritual power, not to mention that overwhelming demonic aura; Spirit Summoning couldn’t produce that.
As expected, Yun Duan shook her head. “It is not Spirit Summoning. That level is impossible.”
As she spoke, she seemed to want to use a practical demonstration to help Shang Can understand. She found a stack of plain paper in the room, took a sheet, and skillfully folded it a few times.
Shang Can propped her head up and watched. Although she could tell what Yun Duan was folding, she had to ask anyway.
“What is this?”
Yun Duan was very practiced; she finished folding quickly. She placed the finished product neatly on the table, her ink-jade eyes shimmering. She said softly, “It is a paper crane.”
On the table sat a paper crane. Shang Can nodded with feigned surprise. “Yun Zhongjun is very skillful with her hands.”
She is indeed skillful. Back then, when Shang Can taught her, Yun Duan had learned it in one try.
It seems the memory seal is quite unreliable, Shang Can thought.
But then again, the time she had known Yun Duan accounted for half of Yun Duan’s life; how could it be sealed away so cleanly?
She didn’t dare think further, shifting her focus back to the present. “Why fold a paper crane? Is it a gift for me?”
Yun Duan did not speak. She raised a hand and gently touched the head of the paper crane. A faint white light glowed from her fingertip, vanishing in an instant.
The paper crane, which had been standing still on the table, suddenly trembled. Then, before their eyes, it tentatively moved its paper wings and suddenly took flight with a rustle. It began to fly in slow circles around the room.
Shang Can’s gaze followed it. The scene was both familiar and piercing, yet she couldn’t look away.
After circling the room a few times, the paper crane suddenly seemed to grow tired and flew toward her. She hurriedly reached out to catch it, and it landed gracefully in her palm.
“Has the spiritual energy run out?”
Neither Yun Duan nor the paper crane answered her. Shang Can held it before her eyes, touching its wings as carefully as if it were a fragile artifact.
The paper crane, which had just grown quiet, suddenly moved again at her touch. It fluttered its wings and flew toward Shang Can’s face. Shang Can instinctively leaned back, and the crane followed, brushing against her cheek either intentionally or otherwise before finally landing gently on her shoulder and becoming still.
This time, the spiritual energy truly seemed spent. Shang Can took it from her shoulder, confirming it had turned back into an ordinary paper crane.
“This is Spirit Summoning by attaching spiritual energy to a physical object. There is also a method of shaping pure energy, but this type is used more often.”
“Can-zhe should be able to feel it; this is likely different from what the Fake Can-zhe used.”
Yun Duan, who had remained quiet throughout the process, spoke up, looking down at the paper crane in Shang Can’s palm.
“It is a gift for you.”
Shang Can was stunned. She nodded in a daze. “…Alright, thank you.”
With no clues regarding the Fake Can-zhe’s methods for now, and seemingly having nothing left to attend to after finishing this, Yun Duan spoke a few more words before leaving Shang Can’s room.
Shang Can heard the sound of the neighboring door closing and unconsciously looked back at the paper crane in her hand.
It was exquisitely folded, much better than the ones Yun Duan folded years ago; one could see the meticulous nature of the folder at a glance.
Spirit Summoning could function in two ways: the spirit body acting on its own, or following the master’s direct commands.
This little paper crane that just kept leaning against her… which method was it using?