CH 29

This time, the billowing, devilish energy slowly disappeared into the earth.

The life energy on Yun Hai was dispersing. His appearance didn’t change much, but it gave off the feeling that he instantly wilted. Perhaps it was because the vines on his body were withering rapidly.

It wasn’t until now that everyone realized that those vines had grown out of his heart.

They should be coexisting with Yun Hai. The moment he died, those vines lost their life source as well. The vines wrapped around Xiao Fuxuan’s sword immediately loosened, retreating along the blade’s edge as they completely shriveled. 

Only that flowering branch remains unchanged. Its stem was still wound around Yun Hai’s neck, its flower still covering the ghastly half of Yun Hai’s face. 

Everyone stood in shock, not expecting that Yun Hai would consider suicide.

Xiao Fuxuan silently pulled his sword out of Yun Hai’s body and stood upright. He was frowning slightly.

Wu Xingxue looked at Yun Hai’s lifeless face and then said, after a long silence, “Any soul fragments?”1

Xiao Fuxuan shook his head and said, “His soul’s completely extinguished.”

He was the one who stabbed his sword into Yun Hai’s heart, so he was the clearest on whether or not there were still soul fragments beneath his sword tip. Since he wasn’t able to detect any, it should mean that not even a fragment of Yun Hai’s soul was able to survive.

The vines all over his body slowly scattered, revealing most of his body. A corner of a waist token was revealed from the folds of his black robe. Just based on that corner, someone was able to recognize it—

Yi Wusheng said lightly, “That’s the waist token from my sect.”

Hua Sect’s waist tokens and sword ornaments were all made of rose quartz jade and carved with peach blossoms. This made them very unique among cultivation sects and hence very easy to recognize as well.

But waist tokens like the one on Yun Hai were only worn by Hua Sect disciples. People with ranks, like the elders and the sect leader, like Yi Wusheng and Hua Zhaoting, wouldn’t need waist tokens to show their identities.

No one could have imagined that this person, who has lived the lives of both an immortal and a devil, would still carry this even unto death.

“Who carved the character there?” Wu Xingxue flipped the waist token over and saw a slender “Hai” character carved on the back. “Previous sect leaders?”

Yi Wusheng shook his head, “No, it’s the disciple’s own carving.”

“So then it must be Yun Hai’s writing,” said Wu Xingxue.

“Yes,” Yi Wusheng replied.

Wu Xingxue gave an “oh,” thinking that it sounded about right.

Previously, when he found out that there were multiple layers of runes in the cave, he already noticed that the upper layer had thin and slender characters, most likely written by Yun Hai.

In the bloody mud underneath his left hand, the suppression array’s array center was found.

There were two array stones in the array center. One of them had already crumbled into pieces. The other one was placed there later on. It had a mark on it, almost identical to the “Hai” written Before, everyone was still puzzled as to why the array center was so straightforwardly placed in the center of the catacomb. Now, upon seeing the array stones, they understood everything.

The one who has been reinforcing the suppression array was none other than Yun Hai himself.

“This…” Yi Wusheng held that array stone with complicated feelings. Perhaps it was grief, perhaps it was something else. In the end, he shook his head and sighed softly, “What a pity.” 

In fact, among everyone present, Yi Wusheng should be the last person to bear such sentiment.

This was because the mark on the back of his neck was Yun Hai’s doing. His pain and struggle for the past twenty or so years were all because of this.

Everyone had an obligation to sign in lament for Yun Hai, except for Yi Wusheng.

Even if he were to draw his sword and vent his hatred on Yun Hai’s corpse, no one would speak a word of reproach. But he didn’t do that. On the contrary, he said, “What a pity” with a sigh toward that devil. 

Wu Xingxue looked at Yi Wusheng’s scarred neck and felt a sudden sense of pity as well.

He wondered how many encounters his previous self had with Yi Wusheng. Probably not too many; after all, one was a sect elder and the other was a devil.

It truly was a pity.

Otherwise, it should have been good to befriend such a person.

Doctor Wusheng squatted down and buried the formation stone back under Yun He’s palm. Due to digging out the stone just now, the bloody mud nearby has turned up a lot. Just as he was about to cover the bloody mud over Yun Hai’s hand again, two fingers appeared and stopped him.

“Immortal?” Yi Wusheng raised his head and looked. The person blocking him was Xiao Fuxuan.

Xiao Fuxuan replied, “There’s something there.”

He swirled his long fingers, but in the thick, bloody mud, no other item appeared.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

Wu Xingxue bent down beside him and asked, “What is it?”

Xiao Fuxuan did not answer immediately.

Seeing that his search was not successful, Xiao Fuxuan decided to slam his fingers on the ground. Yun Hai’s body didn’t move in the slightest, yet the bloody mud around him began to tremble violently. Something hidden deep in the mud was being shaken up to the surface.

It had a touch of white, releasing a hint of warm and bright color underneath the mud. Wu Xingxue was very sensitive to that color. With a single glance, he knew that it was white jade.

Xiao Fuxuan hooked his fingers, pulling the trinket out of the mud. 

“Dream Bell!” Yi Wusheng blurted out.

It was a bell made of white jade. It looked similar to the one from Hua Sect, but was also much more delicate and elaborate. The surface of the jade was coiled with beautiful and complex filament patterns, very similar to the ones on the Spirit King’s scabbard and mask. In fact, they looked like they belonged to the same person.

With this dream bell before them, there was no way the one from Hua Sect previously could be considered “real”.

It was just as Yi Wusheng had guessed. Hua Zhaoting kept the dream bell on him at all times. The only person who could have switched it out was the devil, who had to be manipulating him.

It was within now that they had discovered the dream bell in Yi Wusheng’s catacomb. However, Yi Wusheng still couldn’t understand, “This… What did he need the dream bell for?”

The purpose of the dream bell was to create a dream — to turn the past into a dream or to bring one into a new dream.

Back when Yun Hai was banished, he didn’t even want to use the dream bell. Why would he spend so much effort to go get it from the Hua Sect, then use a fake one to act as a pretense?

Did he change his mind? Did he suddenly feel like his days in the catacomb were too hard to bear? Even worse than when he was banished to the mortal realm? Was that why he wished for a deep dream from the dream bell?

Wu Xingxue thought.

But Yun Hai was already dead. In Xiao Fuxuan’s words, “his soul’s completely extinguished”, so he could no longer answer this question. Wu Xingxue had no way of knowing whether his guess was right or not.

In his daze, he suddenly heard a low voice say, “Wu Xingxue.”

Wu Xingxue lifted his gaze.

Xiao Fuxuan stood up. With his fingers hooked around the bell, he said, “Give me your hand.”

“Huh?” Wu Xingxue inquired, then extended his hand to him.

He felt a sudden chill in his palm as the dream bell was placed into his hand.

He truly didn’t remember anything. Let it be Spirit King or the dream bell. But the moment the bell fell onto his hand, he blinked slightly, and felt a sense of nostalgia.

He stoked the white jade bell and looked at it closely, finding some crackers on the inner part of the bell.

Just as he picked it up to examine it more carefully, an indistinct scene flashed in his mind.

He’d heard Yi Wusheng mention it before. After pulling someone into a dream with a dream bell, the only way to release him or her from the dream would be to use the dream bell again. Otherwise, their souls or memories wouldn’t be restored properly.

This dream bell before him seemed to have taken damage, and he didn’t know how to release anything either. Yet, he was already starting to get a faint feeling. 

Wu Xingxue twirled the dream bell in his fingers, attempting to recall the fragmented memory that flashed just now—

It ought to have been a cold night.

For some reason, he was standing beside a door and holding something behind his back. It was cold to the touch, and the sharp edges were poking painfully into his palm.

Xiao Fuxuan was standing at the doorway, lifting the curtains with his fingers. He didn’t walk in or back out, he just stood there, looking at him with his deep black eyes.

Behind him was a large courtyard, and in the courtyard was a towering tree covered in snow.

He just stood there, holding that object in his hand, and silently staring at the person at the doorway.

After a long while, he tilted his head slightly and said, “Xiao Fuxuan, have you heard of a devil’s deep desires?”

There was a moment of silence in the room.

Xiao Fuxuan still stood there, lifting the curtain with his hand. He replied after a long while, “I have.”

Wu Xingxue was silent for a moment as well. Then he said, “Since you have heard of them, yet you still picked such a day to come. What is it then…? Do you wish to come through the curtains and make yourself the private guest of a devil such as myself?”

After speaking, he turned his head and raised his chin toward the bed.

“……”

This out-of-context scene was, for some reason, extremely clear. Wu Xingxue’s fingers tremble slightly upon remembering himself saying “make yourself private”.

When he looked up, he saw Xiao Fuxuan’s face again, identical to the one from his fleeting memory just now.

Wu Xingxue stood there calmly for a moment, and then silently put the dream bell back into Xiao Fuxuan’s hands.