Shang Can might have been stunned for a full five seconds before finally realizing the situation before her.
Yun Duan continued to look at her quietly, her expression indifferent, yet there was an unyielding stubbornness about her.
To be honest, Shang Can felt that Yun Duan was intentionally saying something to provoke her. But recalling what Wang Yue had just said, Shang Can still felt uneasy. She hurriedly grabbed Yun Duan’s hand and asked, “Are you… angry?”
Yun Duan lowered her eyelids, neither pulling away nor responding.
“If you’re angry with me, I’ll apologize, but what exactly is going on right now—” Shang Can hesitated for a moment, then continued, “What did you do? Why did Master say you have to stay here for a few days too?”
“I just said, I went and hit someone as well. Don’t you believe me, Sister?”
With a calm tone, Yun Duan gently pulled her hand out of Shang Can’s grasp, walked to the head of the bed, and picked up a bottle of medicine from the table. “Sister, take off your outer robe; it’s time for your medicine.”
“Take off what outer robe? That’s a clever way to dodge the question.”
Setting aside whether those five people were on high alert after being beaten by Shang Can yesterday—since they had already been beaten so badly, Yun Duan couldn’t possibly go after them again.
Shang Can didn’t care about this aspect. She had always adhered to a principle of settling scores—she wouldn’t concern herself with whether she was bullying the weak or not. By that reasoning, she was already completely “bullying the weak” when she attacked those ordinary disciples. But Shang Can had no sense of reflection; who told them to provoke her when they were weaker than her?
But Yun Duan was different. She was a thoroughly good child, the most fitting representation of a virtuous and upright cultivator in the eyes of others. Her intentions were pure; even if she were framed, she would only think of responding in a dignified manner, unable to consider attacking someone who was already injured.
With a soft sigh, Shang Can walked directly to Yun Duan, took the medicine bottle from her hand, and placed it back on the table, neither too lightly nor too heavily.
“What’s going on?”
Her voice was soft, her tone gentle, as she slowly reached out to grasp Yun Duan’s fingertips, her movement as delicate as if she were capturing a butterfly.
“Yun Duan isn’t telling me the truth anymore.”
Seeing that Yun Duan averted her gaze slightly but had no intention of pulling away from her hand, Shang Can gently held Yun Duan’s hand again, her tone carrying a layer of grievance, her bright eyes, as beautiful as peach blossoms in March, dimming appropriately.
“Yun Duan isn’t being obedient.”
The hand that Shang Can held noticeably stiffened, and as she felt the person in front of her take a light breath, Shang Can swiftly wrapped her arm around Yun Duan’s waist, preventing her from turning to leave.
The person in her arms was soft and delicate, her slender body trembling slightly. With her arms around Yun Duan from behind, Shang Can couldn’t see Yun Duan’s expression but heard her voice, rarely wavering, as she spoke.
“Clearly it was… Sister who…”
Yun Duan’s usually steady voice trembled slightly, her shoulders tensed, but she was unavoidably held in Shang Can’s embrace. She made a few feeble attempts to struggle, but her movements were weak and easily stopped by Shang Can.
“It was Sister who kept things from me.”
Was she perhaps angered by Shang Can? Yun Duan’s voice was muffled as she finally gave up on struggling, gently lowering her head, revealing her pale neck through her scattered black hair, exuding a fragile sense of vulnerability.
“It was Sister who kept things from me.” Yun Duan stubbornly repeated, turning her head away to avoid letting Shang Can see her expression. “And now you come… to say I’m not being obedient.”
“Yeah, I’m really bad, aren’t I?”
Shang Can nodded openly, and on a whim, she nudged her nose against Yun Duan’s neck, startling the person in her arms.
“I’m quite experienced at being the bad guy first.”
That fair skin almost instantly flushed red, and seeing the opportunity, Shang Can withdrew with a grin. Yun Duan hurriedly distanced herself, instinctively raising her hand to touch her neck but stopping midway, only lightly biting her lip and turning her head away.
“So, Yun Duan is angry with me for keeping it from you, right?” Shang Can asked, bending over and tilting her head to force a gaze with Yun Duan, who was avoiding eye contact. “It’s my fault, don’t be angry anymore.”
“Sisters always want to show off, right?”
Wherever Yun Duan tried to hide, Shang Can followed, sincerely pleading for forgiveness: “Going to take revenge and getting put under house arrest sounds really lame, so I didn’t tell you.”
“…Sister isn’t telling the truth again.”
After a long silence, Yun Duan finally spoke, her gaze slightly annoyed, but Shang Can laughed, “Finally willing to look at me?”
“…”
“Alright, I’ll tell you everything, whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you, I promise not to lie a bit.”
Seeing that Yun Duan seemed inclined to look away again, Shang Can quickly reassured her, “As long as you’re not angry with me, anything is fine.”
“…”
Yun Duan lowered her eyelids, her long eyelashes fluttering slightly, and after a long while, she hesitated to relax her shoulders. Shang Can was delighted and cheerfully leaned forward.
“Not angry anymore?”
“…I’ll have to see how Sister explains later.”
“Okay, no problem, I’ll definitely answer everything honestly—before that, you should tell me why you came here, right?”
“I went to find Master yesterday and said I wanted to come here too. Master agreed.”
“…That sounds so simple. How long did you talk to Master? Otherwise, how could she have agreed?”
“…”
Yun Duan fell silent, and Shang Can had no way to deal with her. While throwing a robe over her shoulders, she readily admitted her fault, “It’s my fault; I shouldn’t have kept this from you. I won’t dare to do it again.”
Surprisingly, Yun Duan gently shook her head.
“I only want Sister to be well.” Her voice was very soft, as if holding back a sigh. “Other than that, nothing else is important.”
Shang Can couldn’t quite remember how she had responded to Yun Duan’s words at that moment.
But she clearly remembered that this matter had a very good ending. Ultimately, upon seeing both her disciples making such inexplicable moves, Wang Yue, sensing something was off, forcefully investigated the entire matter despite opposition from others. Uncertain of what methods she employed, but in the end, she made those people confess their jealousy-driven malice towards Yun Duan. Shang Can also managed to avoid those three months of confinement and left the peak with Yun Duan.
It was indeed a happy outcome. Shang Can thought it was all thanks to Yun Duan.
Looking back now, she felt she shouldn’t have been so stubborn. Even if she had threatened those people not to speak, it would be easy to find out that she had beaten someone. Once Yun Duan found out about the people she had attacked, her reasons for doing so would be exposed. Lying about something so obvious and easily debunked had needlessly made Yun Duan angry.
She wondered, in ten years or so, if she would look back on this moment and think she shouldn’t have acted this way.
Shang Can quietly watched Yun Duan for a while and then slowly blinked.
“When I passed out… did I call your name?”
“Mm.” Yun Duan responded softly, “You called it many times.”
“What did you call?”
“…”
Yun Duan was silent for a moment and then said, “Yun Duan.”
Shang Can secretly breathed a sigh of relief and nodded lightly, smiling as she said, “Looks like I really like Yun Zhong Jun. Did I scare you?”
Her tone was light, and Yun Duan didn’t respond, just stared at her for a long time before finally lowering her gaze.
“That person called you Shang Can.” Even though Shang Can’s evasive attitude was so obvious, Yun Duan stubbornly continued to question, “That’s your real name, right? Do you know that person?”
“I do, he’s my enemy.”
Shang Can answered straightforwardly, sighing, “If we count the years of this enmity, it’s quite a lot; after all, I’ve been so wicked, it’s not strange to have one or two enemies, right?”
“As for the name…” Shang Can paused and laughed, “Compared to that person’s identity and disguise as a demon tribe, was Yun Zhong Jun most eager to ask about my name?”
“Looks like Yun Zhong Jun really likes me too, doesn’t he?”
Her attitude seemed casual, but her hands, hidden behind her back, were clenched tightly, the smooth nails digging deep into her palms.
Since reuniting with Yun Dand, every time Shang Can thought she could continue her ambiguous relationship with Yun Dand, new problems would arise, ruthlessly worsening her situation.
…It seemed that being willful would indeed invite retribution. Shang Can thought that perhaps it was really time to flee; given the circumstances, how much longer could she keep up this charade?
Feeling as if her position was teetering on thin ice, Shang Can was already planning an escape when, unexpectedly, she heard Yun Dand change the subject.
“In that case,” Yun Dand’s voice was calm, as if the previous conversation had never taken place, “let’s listen to Ah Can. I’d like to ask about the Ghost Clan.”
“……”
Her expectations dashed, Shang Can should have felt happy, but for some reason, she felt an inexplicable sense of loss.
However, compared to Yun Dand’s probing questions, this was undoubtedly a much better outcome. She quickly regained her composure and said earnestly, “As I mentioned before, those attacking monsters are not actually from the demon clan; they are merely the Ghost Clan disguised in false skins.”
“No wonder there are so many of them; it feels like they can’t be exterminated.” Shang Can frowned and said in a deep voice, “After all, the Ghost Clan doesn’t have a physical form; that layer of monster skin is more like a confinement for them. Once the outer shell is destroyed, the Ghost Clan will escape through the cracks, and as long as they don a new skin, they’ll appear as monsters again.”
“And the one manipulating this from behind—the one I consider my enemy.”
Shang Can gestured casually, saying, “What she’s really doing is crafting numerous counterfeit monster skins—each more hideous than the last—and then collaborating with the Ghost Clan to create chaos.”
“But how did she and the Ghost Clan suddenly appear in Tian Wai Tian… that still needs further investigation.”
“Ghost Clan…”
Yun Dand frowned slightly, softly repeating the words. Shang Can quickly picked up the conversation again.
“Yes, the Ghost Clan that vanished from the cultivation world a hundred years ago.”
“The few remaining connections between the Underworld and the cultivation world have also been sealed one by one over this past century. The cultivation world hasn’t heard any news from the Ghost Clan for a long time, and it seems their mission was successfully completed—at least it should have been.”
Yun Dand’s gaze flickered as she looked at Shang Can: “From your tone, it seems you already have some ideas about the starting point for your investigation?”
“Indeed.” Shang Can nodded and asked, “Do you know which sect has been entangled with the Ghost Clan over this past century, Yun Zhong Jun?”
“……”
Yun Dand’s breath hitched slightly, and she replied softly, “…It’s Tian Wai Tian.”
“Hmm.”
Shang Can nodded slowly and said, “I guess it’s to be expected—my enemy truly is a cultivator from Tian Wai Tian.”
In the dead of night, Shang Can lay quietly in bed before suddenly opening her eyes.
She didn’t turn on the light; instead, she rolled over, got out of bed, and walked to the door, gently pushing it open.
“Out so late, are you?”
Speaking softly, Shang Can took a couple of steps out and stood in the middle of the corridor, watching Yun Dand slowly emerge from the silently opened door of the adjacent room.
Yun Dand had her head slightly lowered and moved slowly. Perhaps drawn by Shang Can’s voice, she looked up to meet her gaze, her eyes deep like a dark night pool.
Her gaze during sleepwalking would often seem vacant, but at this moment, Yun Dand resembled the one who had left her room right after their conversation about the Ghost Clan.
Shang Can fell silent, reaching out her hand towards Yun Dand. The dreamwalking Yun Dand readily took her hand and obediently followed her back to her room.
However, it was easy to hold onto that hand, but letting go was quite difficult. Shang Can stood by her bedside, looking at the tightly held hand and smiled wryly.
“…I was thinking whether I should just run away tonight.”
Perhaps lured by the oppressive stillness of the night that felt like it would swallow any spoken words, Shang Can said softly, squatting down and looking up at Yun Dand’s calm and delicate face.
Having the rare chance to gaze at her without reservation, Shang Can scrutinized her, suddenly lost in thought.
“But I can’t bring myself to let go… No.”
She chuckled self-deprecatingly, shaking her head and correcting herself: “It’s just that I don’t want to leave.”
Shang Can lowered her head, tightened her grip on Yun Dand’s hand, and softly whispered in a prayer-like tone.
“What should I do, Yun Dand?”
“What should I do?”
Her voice was very low, unsure whether she was speaking to Yun Dand or just talking to herself, as if it would dissipate into the air at any moment, barely perceptible.
“…I just want you to be well.”
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