Chapter 97: Don't think the void isn't listening

This time, it's not a shock to wake up in the blank limbo between worlds.

Ni Ni's robotic voice rings out through the white expanse. "Congratulations Host, Ni Ni didn't say anything because she didn't want to interrupt, but, Han Yu's admiration maxed out as soon as Host gave him the fan."

Xi Zirui gets up from the white floor with a chuckle. It's amusing that Ni Ni thinks he cares about that.

"However, no experience reward will be afforded due to Host's disciples not maxing out their cultivation skill levels."

"I guess I better not need anything from your stupid shop, next time," Xi Zirui says. Already certain that he's going to tell that cursed Shopkeeper to set him up for another round.

He's like a mouse spinning in its wheel, round and round he goes, with no way of getting out.

At least while the only place he can find Han Yu is inside the damn mousetrap.

"Host also didn't get the bonus experience points for helping Liao Min and Li Siqi get together, as they weren't a couple by the time of Host's death."

He's numb to everything Ni Ni tells him, his own pain takes most of his attention.

There's so much he still wanted to do with Han Yu in that world.

The idea of the two of them wandering through Jianghu with Blood Crane as the home they could always return to, is achingly romantic. 

And now, he'll never be able to have that life back. 

Some part of him had an incredibly easy time settling into that reality, as alien to his own life experiences as it was -- almost like putting on well-worn clothes that were kept away in a closet for a time before being taken out again.

Xi Zirui doesn't know if he's growing numb to the pain, or if some of it is lessened by the fact that he could at least say goodbye, and walk away in his own terms.

He lets out a drawn out sigh, rubbing his tired eyes with his knuckles. 

Sometimes he feels as if he only exists when he's in some fantastic world with Han Yu -- as if his past and all the moments in between are a standby screen.

"There's no use delaying the inevitable, Ni Ni, get us out of here."

"Doesn't Host want to hear what happens to everyone?"

"Do they live good lives, like I told them to?"

She pauses before saying, "it could be said so, yes."

He smiles. "Then, that's good enough for me."

---

It's Han Yu who finds Xi Zirui's body, next to Xi Ming's and Su Xueyi's. He carries him back to Bai Mi, in the hope she'll be able to save him.

She isn't.

Li Siqi offers to feed him the immortality pearl he gave her, but Bai Mi tells her it's no use.

Xi Zirui is gone for good.

She suggests bringing him back, using the same technique Su Xueyi attempted on Xi Ming.

But it only takes a look at Xi Ming's broken body for Han Yu to discard that possibility. He would never subject Xi Zirui to something like that.

They bury Xi Zirui, time passes.

Han Yu wears the hairpin Xi Zirui died with everyday, but it takes him a full year to have the courage to yield Untold Sorrow -- its name never more appropriate than when Han Yu fans it open in front of his face, swearing he can still feel his Shizun's sweet scent.

He dedicates his days to being the sort of person Xi Zirui saw him as. On continuing his legacy, making him proud.

Three years after Xi Zirui's death, he becomes an official Blood Crane disciple, but he continues wearing the white and silver robes of Heavenly Dragon, so that every time he looks at himself in the mirror, or catches his reflection on a lake, his heart can bleed anew with the memory of his Shizun.

He becomes master to his own disciples, at Bai Mi's insistence, he teaches them a mix of everything he learned in Heavenly Dragon, and Blood Crane's own techniques.

His life is solitary, but not lonely.

He never does achieve immortality, demonic cultivation is too corrupting for that.

But he doesn't regret it, there's no point in living forever, if Xi Zirui won't be at his side.

When he dies, he does it with a smile on his lips, and a sense of fulfillment. He did what his Shizun asked, he lived well.

With the weight of his many years bearing down on him, Han Yu closes his eyes, and whispers into the darkness of his room, "Shizun, this disciple will see you soon in the Underworld, wait for him."

---

Li Siqi never quite grows used to Blood Crane, or demonic cultivation.

Unlike Han Yu, who resented the original, she always took their master's words to heart, no matter how harsh or unforgiving.

Hoping she'll let go of the prejudices of a lifetime is asking too much of her -- something she isn't able to do even for the same Shizun who taught her to be that way.

A few months after Xi Zirui's death she leaved Blood Crane, thankful for their hospitality but certain she'll never return.

She and Han Yu say their goodbyes, leaving behind a life as martial siblings.

They never see each other again, from that day onward.

Li Siqi wanders Jianghu on her own, the weight of the immortality pearl Xi Zirui gave her a constant presence in her pocket.

As an immortal cultivator with Heavenly Dragon, immortality has always been the ultimate goal for her, perfect unity with the universe and full understanding of all its mysteries.

An unending life of learning -- everything she's always dreamed of.

And yet, she resists the temptation, it feels like cheating, like a betrayal of everything she believes in.

In the years since her Shizun's death, her beliefs have coalesced into something solid and unshakable inside her, no different than the golden core she started cultivating when she was little more than child.

Blood Crane isn't a good fit for her, but so isn't Heavenly Dragon. Su Xueyi's deception has made that abundantly clear. 

Which is why, after years of wandering and seeing all the marvels in Jianghu, Li Siqi decides to start her own sect.

It's disarmingly easy, everything she needs is an empty piece of land, and people willing to learn from her.

They call themselves the Shadow of the Moon, because they have no lofty ambitions. Just helping those and need, and following the Dao.

One day she's training her disciples on the mountain terrain outside her sect grounds and comes upon an injured person.

The years have been kind to Liao Min, even if her most recent mission for Blood Crane wasn't.

She and Li Siqi reconnect, all those petty grievances long forgotten now.

Liao Min visits from time to time, sometimes spending the night.

In the same way Li Siqi is too attached to her own sect, so is she to Blood Crane.

In the middle of it all, they find room for happiness. 

It's enough to make Li Siqi forget why immortality ever mattered, when a short fleeting life can be just as fulfilling. 

---

Bai Mi and Ji Limei continue in much the same manner they always have.

Both delighting in the transgression of their own relationship, even if Blood Crane isn't really concerned with the nature of the relationship between master and disciples.

They start being concerned when both Bai Mi and Ji Limei turn grey, and still Ji Limei calls her "Shizun!" in that same sweetly cloying tone.

Bai Mi strikes down everyone who dares suggest she's too old to act cutesy.

They die happy and unbothered.

---

The Shopkeeper's frowning face is the first thing Xi Zirui sees when he wakes up in the Transmigrator 4000's chair.

"Rough ride, uh?" she asks, one corner of her lips pulling up.

Xi Zirui looks into her eyes, and asks, "What would you do if I were to get up from this chair, and never return?"

She returns his searching look, and for a moment, it's as if they're stuck in standstill. 

Eventually, she concedes. "I wouldn't let you."

Xi Zirui sighs. "Just answer me this: is there a way for me and Han Yu to stay together? For as long as we both want?"

She nods slowly, her sharp canine digging into her lower lip. "Maybe."

Xi Zirui closes his eyes and settles himself back on the chair. "That's all I needed to know. I can go now."

She starts adjusting settings on the control panel. "Any requests?"

He scoffs. "As if that helps with anything," he inhales deeply, thinking it over. "I want to go somewhere quiet, I want peace, just me and him."

Maybe the time he spent as a cultivator changed him, because he has a new appreciation for the stillness of meditation. He wants to be somewhere that feels just like meditating, somewhere he can empty his mind and just be.

"I can do that," the Shopkeeper says, tapping the button that makes the restraints spring into place. "Safe travels."

Xi Zirui fades like a light, unconscious in seconds.

Ni Ni slithers out form the machine, her tiny nails clicking on the floor.

The Shopkeeper picks her up in the palm of her hand.

"Why did Huan Xuan and Xi Ming show up in this world? It's not like they were sucked in like everyone else," Ni Ni asks.

The Shopkeeper shakes her head. "They weren't like the rest, they were just echoes. It means everyone is bringing more of our reality into the world's, affecting them with their own memories, but it's chaotic, and disorganized, it doesn't necessarily follow the events as they happened."

Ni Ni looks up at her, her reptilian eyes huge in her small head. "Is that a good or a bad thing?"

The Shopkeeper scratches her under the chin. "I don't know."

---

Xi Zirui feels cold metal press up against his cheek. 

With a groan he lifts himself off the cold hard ground. Safe to assume he isn't in the past.

He's standing in a small room, surrounded by tiny nooks and cupboards made of what looks like a dark metal alloy Xi Zirui has never seen before.

It seems to be a kitchen of some sort, judging by the steaming tray of food on top of the table, two finely carved wooden chopsticks placed over it.

Obviously a luxury in this setting.

Xi Zirui's suspicions are confirmed when he approaches one of the darkened windows and attests that he's not looking at a blackout curtain, but instead at the vast expanse of space.

Void, sprinkled with stars.

Xi Zirui lets out a dry chuckle. "I did say I wanted quiet."

A familiar chime sounds. "Welcome Host, to the vastness of space," Ni Ni says, bubbly as ever. "In this exciting new adventure Host is a deliveryman, flying his own spaceship. Instead of a favour or admiration meter, Host will be awarded experience points upon successfully delivering at least 90% of his ship's cargo."

Xi Zirui grins, despite himself. That sounds surprisingly easy and straightforward. 

Despite the thrill of being in space, something that seems to him even more amazing than cultivation, there's still one pressing question on his mind. "Where is Han Yu?"

An extended beat. 

Just before Xi Zirui starts to panic, Ni Ni finally says:

"He's the cargo."