Omitting some details, Shang Can briefly explained the situation from her battle with Qin Yi the previous night and apologized, saying, “I did lose control back then. I burned many parts of the outskirts of Yanyang. It was my fault.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Yun Duan immediately added, “Qin Yi came with the intent to kill. The fact that Ah Can thought to lure her to the outskirts before fighting shows careful consideration. She shouldn’t be blamed.”
“…Indeed.”
Pei Chen nodded in agreement, with no hint of blame in his tone, but sighed, “Though I don’t know what past history exists between you and Qin Yi, before she started pestering you, she disguised herself as you and infiltrated the Daohui to steal the Dao Heart Lotus Seed. Such actions are clearly the result of someone having lost their way…”
Pei Chen, the acting head of Tianwaitian, was generally reasonable as long as it didn’t involve matters related to Nan Shuang. Yet Shang Can could sense his unspoken thoughts. Every now and then, she felt his gaze fall on her.
… He probably still couldn’t get over why I went out last night, Shang Can thought, deciding to ignore it.
“Don’t worry, the two of you,” Pei Chen quickly straightened his posture and said, “I will handle this matter and won’t let Tianwaitian make a move against Shang Can. As for Qin Yi, I will do my best to send disciples to track her down.”
He paused for a moment, appearing somewhat troubled. “However, she was once the acting head of Tianwaitian. Only we know that she let the ghost clan impersonate you. Without solid evidence, it will be hard to convince others. I’m afraid I’ll have to act discreetly…”
“It’s fine,” Shang Can sighed. “I imagine she needs some time to recover from her injuries. Once she’s healed, she’ll undoubtedly come looking for me again.”
The implication was that there was no need to actively pursue her. Pei Chen chuckled bitterly, saying, “It seems so. Please, take care, Shang Can.”
Shang Can forced a smile and nodded, thinking Pei Chen must have already guessed that she and Qin Yi had some unresolved enmity, but to her surprise, he didn’t probe further. This only deepened her guilt.
Although the day she first lost control of the heavenly fire had caused quite a stir, Qin Yi and her accomplices, who came to capture her, were acting in secret. Tianwaitian likely wasn’t aware of their disappearance or the unexplained fire that spread for miles.
The same was true for Nan Shuang.
Nan Shuang, who often disappeared for months at a time, had vanished again. No one knew where or when she had died—until her sole disciple saw her already dead in the ghost realm.
Even if Nan Shuang clearly no longer loved him as Pei Chen once thought, Shang Can could still feel that Pei Chen hadn’t completely let go of her. He simply avoided mentioning it.
What would Pei Chen do if he ever found out Nan Shuang died by her hand?
Shang Can had hesitated many times over whether to tell Pei Chen the truth, but no matter how she thought about it, she always felt at a loss for words. She didn’t consider herself a good person. The incident that day happened because she lost control, and she didn’t see herself as innocent. However, Nan Shuang didn’t care about any of that. When Shang Can hesitantly mentioned telling Pei Chen, Nan Shuang had firmly rejected the idea.
“Do you enjoy creating problems for yourself?” Nan Shuang’s eyes were filled with confusion. “Don’t tell me you’re feeling guilty now?”
“I’ve already accepted responsibility for what happened. Why overthink it?” Nan Shuang had said, with complete indifference. She then added, changing the subject abruptly, “Besides, what’s the point of telling him? If you do, you’ll have to explain everything, including why I was there that day.”
Stretching lazily, she sighed, “He won’t believe you anyway.”
Strangely enough, that reasoning had convinced Shang Can. She knew that years of obsession could distort memories. It was much easier to destroy a god than create one, but the consequences were unpredictable.
Shang Can pushed aside those unnecessary thoughts and returned to the present, hearing Pei Chen gently ask, “What are your plans now? If you don’t mind, you can stay in Tianwaitian for a while. It seems that Shang Can still needs some time to recover…”
“…That won’t be necessary.”
Feeling a twinge of guilt at the idea of accepting his kindness, Shang Can shook her head. “Given my identity, it’s really not appropriate for me to stay in Tianwaitian any longer. I’ll take my leave.”
“Mm.” Yun Duan gave a soft sound of agreement, speaking as if it were only natural, “I’ll go with her.”
Pei Chen smiled, seemingly unsurprised. “Of course.”
After saying that, he turned to Shang Can and quietly said, “At this point, Shang Can… if you’re willing, it would be best to sever your ties with the demon clan as soon as possible.”
Shang Can froze. Pei Chen’s voice deepened as he continued, “The demon clan is not the same as the ghost clan formed from the dead. They are fundamentally not our kind… You should avoid becoming too entangled with them.”
“Even though you’ve become a demonic cultivator, you’re still a cultivator. It’s not impossible for you to return to the right path.” His tone softened, becoming more sincere. “Please, think it over carefully. If you decide to return, I will do everything in my power to help.”
“…”
His words were full of genuine concern, but Shang Can found herself unable to respond. She opened her mouth slightly but fell into silence.
Luckily, Yun Duan quickly broke the awkward silence, saying, “We won’t stay long. We won’t trouble you any further, Kun Yaojun.”
Before Shang Can could react, Yun Duan took her hand and led her out. As they walked away, Pei Chen’s voice, tinged with a hint of sorrow, drifted from behind them. “I wish you both… never to be separated again.”
As they left Tianwaitian, Shang Can felt a weight in her step, as if something heavy were pressing down on her shoulders, making her feel stifled.
“Ah Can?”
Shang Can heard Yun Duan’s voice, filled with concern as she moved closer. “You don’t need to worry about what Kun Yaojun said.”
Shang Can smiled and nodded but didn’t dare ask which part of Pei Chen’s words Yun Duan meant—the advice to leave Biluohuangquan or that vague final blessing.
Out of Pei Chen’s long speech, it was the last, most unclear sentence that Shang Can couldn’t help but dwell on.
Suddenly, a gust of wind rushed toward them. Yun Duan reacted swiftly, turning and striking before Shang Can even realized what was happening. She heard the sound of stumbling footsteps and a groan—one that sounded oddly familiar.
Sure enough, Yun Duan hesitated for a moment before exclaiming in surprise, “Senior Brother Chu Ming?”
“…It’s me.”
The words were forced out between clenched teeth. Clutching his abdomen, where Yun Duan had hit him without even looking, Chu Ming, who had charged at them too eagerly, was practically in tears. “Did you two forget about me?”
“How could you say that, Yushan Jun?”
Seated in a familiar teahouse, Shang Can solemnly nodded at Chu Ming. “We thought of you often in the ghost realm.”
It wasn’t a lie, really. She had been constantly wondering whether Chu Ming had remembered to burn the talisman to call Yun Duan back to the mortal realm—at least until Yun Duan mentioned that she had lost it.
“Hmph.” The usually steady and composed Yushan Jun huffed uncharacteristically, grumbling, “If you were really thinking of me, why was it Kun Yaojun who had to tell me you two were back?”
“…”
Shang Can was momentarily at a loss for words. She silently turned toward Yun Duan, who said nothing, simply pushing a teacup toward her. In a soft voice, she asked, “Can you drink it by yourself?”
The unspoken warning scared Shang Can into nodding repeatedly. Yun Duan withdrew her hand and turned to Chu Ming. “I forgot to contact Senior Brother. That was my fault.”
…Forgot.
Shang Can was genuinely shocked. The teacup in her hands wobbled, and it was a close call that she didn’t spill the tea in front of Yun Duan. It was unheard of for Yun Duan, who was usually meticulous in her actions, to make such an oversight. But given everything that had happened since they returned from the ghost realm, Shang Can, who held herself responsible for Yun Duan’s unusual behavior, decided to keep quiet.
Completely oblivious to the changed dynamic between the two, Chu Ming, still angry, said with a hint of grievance, “I’ve been worried sick for days! And Yun Duan’s life-saving talisman was even triggered—if you two hadn’t come back, I was ready to tell Uncle Wangyue everything!”
“You mean to say you haven’t told him yet? That’s a relief.”
Chu Ming’s tone was still angry, making Shang Can nervous. After a tense pause, Chu Ming huffed again in frustration. “And Kun Yaojun didn’t help at all! He came up to see me that night but didn’t say anything!”
Yun Duan had mentioned that Pei Chen had gone to explain things to Chu Ming, but she hadn’t known the details. Now, Chu Ming was grumbling about how Pei Chen had rushed off after only saying, “We’ll need to stay in the ghost realm for a while, so don’t worry,” before disappearing. “I couldn’t even catch up to him!”
And to make things worse, Chu Ming continued, “When I tried to use a talisman to contact him, it didn’t work! I later found out he’d told the disciples he was going into seclusion for a month. Unbelievable!”
“…”
Shang Can was momentarily speechless, thinking to herself that Pei Chen had really gone to great lengths to prevent Chu Ming from following them. She awkwardly laughed and said, “Yes, yes, that really is outrageous.”
“And you two as well! Outrageous!”
Quickly swept up in Chu Ming’s anger, he slammed the table and demanded, “Considering all the effort I’ve put into covering up the disappearance of Yun Zhongjun, can’t one of you be kind enough to tell me what really happened in the ghost realm? And also—”
He paused, his tone shifting to one of confusion and concern. “What’s wrong with your eyes? And you look like you’ve lost a lot of weight…”
Subconsciously, Shang Can touched the white cloth covering her eyes and sighed, “…It’s a long story.”
She briefly recounted the series of events that took place after entering the ghost realm, and by the end, her mouth was dry, feeling as though she had spent the entire day telling stories.
But this was something she couldn’t rely on Yun Duan for. Although Yun Duan had been willing to help explain everything to relieve Shang Can of the burden, she wasn’t exactly good at telling stories. Moreover, there were many details they needed to keep hidden, so what she came up with in the end was a simple statement: “Ah Can was swept away by Wangchuan. Kun Yaojun and I were tricked by Shuangjiangjun while searching for her, which delayed us.”
“…”
Even though she couldn’t see him, Shang Can could clearly feel the look of hesitation Chu Ming was giving her. Sighing internally, she took over the explanation herself.
After she finished, Chu Ming was silent for a moment before the first thing he said was, “…You sure have a lot of enemies, don’t you?”
Shang Can said nothing, unable to find the words to respond.
“And the Qin Yi you mentioned…” Chu Ming began hesitantly, probing, “…Is it that Qin Yi?”
“…Which other Qin Yi could it be?”
Shang Can nodded, and she heard Chu Ming gasp sharply, as though facing a great threat. He scooted closer to her and whispered in a low voice, “Are you sure it’s okay to talk about this in front of Yun Duan?”
Thinking that it didn’t really matter anymore, Shang Can suddenly realized that Chu Ming was probably still worried about her identity being exposed. After all, Yun Duan knew who Qin Yi was, which might increase the risk of Shang Can’s secret being revealed—
But at this point, the situation had already changed. Shang Can felt a bit nostalgic and instinctively leaned a little closer to Yun Duan, replying, “It’s fine.”
Thinking there was no harm in letting Chu Ming know the truth now, Shang Can turned toward Yun Duan for confirmation and softly asked, “Can I tell him?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Shang Can felt something was off. The scene suddenly seemed like she was about to announce an engagement to a friend, giving the whole thing an oddly formal air. But before she could think of a better way to phrase it, she heard Yun Duan softly respond.
“…It’s fine.”
“Senior Brother Chu Ming,” Yun Duan said as she turned to face him, her voice soft with relief, “Shang Can already knows that I’ve recognized her.”
“…”
Huh?
A brief silence followed, which was suddenly broken by Chu Ming’s startled exclamation, his words becoming jumbled in his confusion, something along the lines of, “Seriously? Shang Can, how could you figure this out and not tell me?!” But Shang Can no longer had the energy to deal with him, instead feeling a growing sense of doubt caused by the earlier strangeness.
…Odd. Logically, if they were going to explain things to Chu Ming, shouldn’t they have started with Yun Duan not losing her memory? Why did he seem to immediately understand the situation after just one sentence?
As Chu Ming continued to fuss noisily, Shang Can stared blankly ahead, while Yun Duan, appearing unfazed, refilled her empty teacup. Her voice gentle, she said, “Let’s wait for Senior Brother Chu Ming to calm down. He was like this last time too—after a while, he’ll be fine.”
…Huh?
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