The next day, the arena matches of the Dao discussion event at Tianwaitian were still ongoing, with each match requiring one-on-one combat on the stage. It seemed it would take at least three or four more days to complete.
Fortunately, both Shang Can and Yun Duan had drawn good luck and were scheduled for the first day, thus avoiding a long wait.
Although the cultivators who had already finished their matches were not obliged to continue watching, Shang Can still attended, hoping to meet up with Wan Shao and discuss the events of the previous night.
“—That’s pretty much it. Do you have any leads?”
“Well, has she completely vanished…?” With her extensive experience and knowledge, Wan Shao stroked her chin thoughtfully. “Did you see her face?”
“No,” Shang Can shook her head. “She was wearing a mask the whole time.”
“Well, that makes it a bit hard to guess,” Wan Shao frowned. She leaned closer to Shang Can and whispered, “It’s highly likely that she’s not a real person, but rather someone just wearing a disguise—there are many such spells. Not to mention the dark cultivators who dabble in crooked paths, even the various celestial sects have some involvement. For instance, Tianwaitian has puppet techniques, and Luoxuanzong has the ability to turn paper into soldiers. Even you Qingyu have your spirit summoning!”
“…” Shang Can sighed and leaned back. “So, there are no clues at all.”
“This is clearly because you didn’t provide enough information!” Wan Shao immediately felt offended, her brows furrowing in protest as she reached out to Shang Can. “Didn’t you say you brought back that outfit? Show it to me!”
“Not with me.”
Shang Can turned her head away, suddenly appearing very interested in the battles taking place on the stage.
“It’s not with me.”
This was unavoidable, as both she and Yun Duan had been present at the time, and given their (apparent) combat prowess and status, it was only natural for Yun Duan to keep such important evidence.
“It’s possible it’s already been handed over to the head of Tianwaitian by now.”
Her casual tone made Wan Shao appear torn, and ultimately she slumped back in her chair, seemingly resigned.
“Fine, fine, if they can figure it out, that saves me the trouble.”
“And also!” Wan Shao suddenly turned her head, her gaze intense as she stared at Shang Can. “Why do you keep running into Yun Duan? Nothing… happened, right?”
Shang Can didn’t answer immediately. She slowly poured herself a cup of tea, not drinking it but instead holding it in her hands, gently swirling the cup while her eyes lowered and flickered.
Nothing happened.
After finishing their roasted chicken the previous night, she and Yun Duan returned to Tianwaitian smoothly. Their parting was just a casual nod before they went their separate ways, as if it had merely been a chance encounter during a normal outing, with nothing noteworthy to mention.
But the fact that nothing had happened seemed even stranger.
Her actions from yesterday were clearly quite suspicious. The second night infiltration into Tianwaitian had been caught by Yun Duan, and afterward, she had directly headed to the outskirts to find the fake Can, plus the two moves she exchanged with the counterfeit Can. Although she had refrained from using her spiritual power with the intention of concealing her strength, reflecting back on it, a cultivator who couldn’t even manage to properly control her sword could still coordinate with the sword moves of the Yun Zhong Jun. That was already enough to raise suspicion.
Yet, Yun Duan hadn’t asked her anything.
Whether it was about Shang Can’s motives or her strength, Yun Duan had never inquired, seemingly accepting everything as a matter of course.
Despite her few words, Yun Duan was known for her meticulous and detailed mind. To treat a somewhat suspicious cultivator, who was practically a stranger, in such a manner… was utterly unreasonable.
Shang Can’s expression darkened slightly as she softly asked, “… The things you overheard, the ones she’s already forgotten—can you confirm they’re true?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t joke about that!”
Realizing what Shang Can meant, Wan Shao’s eyes widened in horror, and she furrowed her brows as she recollected. Then, she nodded firmly.
“There’s no mistake.”
She cautiously looked around, whispering as if sneaking, “It was your master who personally sealed that memory, and there’s a strict order at Qingyu not to mention you in her presence—this doesn’t require me to have outstanding spies from Biluo Huangquan; any disciple from Qingyu at that time would know this.”
“If you’re not reassured, after all, quite a few cultivators have come from Qingyu, otherwise—”
“No need.”
Shang Can closed her eyes and slowly drank the tea in her hand.
“… I guess I was just being overly cautious.”
After all, Yun Duan had mentioned last night that she couldn’t quite remember, so there was no need for her to lie.
As for Yun Duan’s attitude towards this…
Shang Can pouted, suddenly feeling indifferent.
Forget it.
No matter what, this version of Yun Duan was far more convenient for her than the iron-faced one. Since it was a good thing, why dig too deep?
After all, their relationship would only last until this Dao discussion event was over—or rather, until Shang Can obtained the Heart Lotus Seed.
Aside from the current matter with the fake Can, there were only two other things she needed to focus on. One was to obtain the Heart Lotus Seed, and the other was to lift the barrier of Tianwaitian so that Wan Shao could find a way out.
As for everything else… just let it take its course.
Shang Can adjusted her mindset, deciding to handle the current matters with a sense of duty.
However, if she wanted to resolve the issue with the fake Can, she couldn’t bypass Yun Duan. After all, the outfit of the fake Can had been taken by Yun Duan, and Shang Can was still hoping to find some clues on that garment.
With that in mind, Shang Can figured it would be better to be straightforward about it. The sooner she resolved this, the sooner it would be over, so she decided to directly ask Yun Duan.
After all, as one of the parties involved in the fight last night, it would only make sense for her to inquire about the follow-up, right?
Yet at that moment, Shang Can suddenly realized a problem—she didn’t know where to find Yun Duan at all.
… Oh, right. The few times she had encountered Yun Duan had all been when she had appeared without any notice. Now, when she wanted to find her, she had no idea where to look.
With the thought that “perhaps Yun Duan might come to watch the matches,” Shang Can stubbornly sat in front of the arena for an entire morning, drinking three and a half pots of Tianwaitian cloud mist tea, and yet she didn’t even catch a glimpse of Yun Duan.
As the sun climbed higher in the sky and the midday bell of Tianwaitian rang out, Shang Can slowly stood up, stretching her arms and waking Wan Shao, who had been sleeping soundly on the bench beside her.
“Ugh, this arena is so boring,” Wan Shao yawned sleepily, complaining. “If they’re all at this level, you might as well go steal the prize directly—ah, it’s time for lunch.”
She said this with renewed energy, cheerfully heading toward the dining hall of Tianwaitian, not forgetting to call out to Shang Can behind her.
“Let’s go! Free food!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Shang Can rarely felt in the mood to laugh at Wan Shao, the illustrious lord of the Bliluo Huangquan demon clan, who was so happy just to get a few free meals. At this moment, her thoughts were still focused on how to find Yun Duan.
Could it be that she needed to sneak out again at night to give it a try? Actually, that wasn’t out of the question. Even if she didn’t run into Yun Duan, she could take the opportunity to check out the outskirts of Yanyang again—maybe she would find some clues. But she was worried that if she didn’t encounter Yun Duan, she might run into other night patrollers. She certainly didn’t think others would be as easy to talk to as the strangely-attitude Yun Duan.
When she came back to her senses, she was already holding a portion of food. The cafeteria at Tianwaitian was quite spacious, but at that moment, it felt a bit crowded. After all, in addition to the Tianwaitian disciples, there were also those of them who participated in the discussion meeting, and the line for food was long. It seemed that there were very few empty seats in the hall.
Fortunately, Shang Can saw Wan Shao, who had already secured a table, waving her hand energetically. Truly, the lord of the Bliluo Huangquan, who loved to eat, had made impeccable preparations.
She sat down opposite Wan Shao with her tray, picking at the cafeteria’s standard meal with a look of distaste. Compared to her previous visit for studies, there had been no progress at all; the food was still as bad as ever, unchanged for a decade.
Not to mention comparing it to Qing Yu’s food; even the roast chicken she made yesterday was much tastier than this. She couldn’t understand how Wan Shao could enjoy it so much.
Just as she was marveling at how different the taste of the demon race was, a few hushed exclamations suddenly arose in the cafeteria, quickly silencing.
Shang Can couldn’t tell if it was her imagination, but she noticed the monk at the next table eating more delicately.
She exchanged glances with Wan Shao, discreetly perking up her ears to discern a few useful pieces of information from the murmurs of the other monks.
“That’s Yu Shan Jun!”
“It’s my first time seeing the real person… He really is a remarkable gentleman…”
“Is Qing Yu’s feng shui better than ours? Why do they always have such… beautiful monks?”
“Maybe the food in Qing Yu is different from that in Tianwaitian…”
Ah, so even the disciples of Tianwaitian thought the food here was bad.
Shang Can couldn’t help but want to laugh, quickly maintaining a straight face and not thinking about such trivial matters. She glanced around a bit confusedly before asking Wan Shao, who didn’t look too well.
“… Who is Yu Shan Jun? Is there such a person in Qing Yu? Is he new?”
“…”
Wan Shao looked at her with a gaze as if seeing something incomprehensible, her half-open cherry lips moved slightly as she incredulously said, “Y-you don’t know Yu Shan Jun?”
“Am I supposed to know…?”
Shang Can responded in a daze, racking her brain but finding no relevant memory.
After all, apart from being familiar with Yun Duan being called Yun Zhong Jun, she really didn’t know anything about other titles in Qing Yu—
“It’s just an empty title; it’s natural that a fellow cultivator wouldn’t know.”
A warm male voice suddenly came from across the table, causing Shang Can to stiffen. An inexplicably bad premonition surged up. In front of her, Wan Shao had already raised her head, looking quite complicated, and was desperately trying to signal her.
Before Shang Can could decipher anything from that expressive gaze, another person suddenly approached her side. Today, she was dressed differently, no longer in the familiar plain white silk robe, but still wearing white, faintly patterned with green bamboo. A neatly hung green jade tag was at her waist, her figure slender and upright, impeccably arranged.
A familiar cold fragrance wafted towards her, and Shang Can’s throat tightened. She swallowed a large mouthful of food, almost choking.
“Drink some water.”
A cup was pushed towards her, but Shang Can didn’t immediately reach for it, slowly raising her head.
Yun Duan, holding a tray, was also looking at her with an expressionless, ice-sculpted face. He nodded as a greeting, then pushed the cup closer to her again, repeating, “Drink some water.”
Her mind was a bit chaotic; Shang Can silently took the cup and took a sip, only to hear Yun Duan make a satisfied “mm” sound.
“Besides this table, it looks like there are no empty seats around. May I trouble you two for a moment?”
That somewhat familiar male voice rang out again. Shang Can suddenly remembered that there was still this person around and hurriedly pulled her thoughts back from the distraction caused by Yun Duan’s sudden appearance, quickly lifting her head in response: “How could it be a trouble? Of course, you can—”
“That’s great.” Yu Shan Jun nodded amiably, putting down his tray, smiling warmly, “I’m Chu Ming from Qing Yu.”
“…”
The warm, jade-like face in front of her gradually blended with her memory of the friend from Qing Yu who had selflessly helped her with her studies and even copied homework for her. Shang Can barely contained her startled response as Chu Ming and the other person sat down, and she couldn’t completely process it, causing Yun Duan beside her to glance at her several times.
Oh, so Chu Ming’s title is Yu Shan Jun? This was the first time she’d heard of it!
…But not necessarily; perhaps she had heard of it when she was in Qing Yu, only to have forgotten it completely.
At this moment, Shang Can finally understood the meaning behind Wan Shao’s series of strange behaviors. She looked at Wan Shao, who was focused on her food, and roughly grasped that the other was expressing “What have you been doing? I already reminded you. Now I can’t help you.”
Truly, she was making things difficult for herself. Shang Can silently chewed her food, a bit worried that she would have a stomachache after this meal.
Even if Yun Duan no longer remembered her, Chu Ming hadn’t sealed his memory.
Though she was wearing a mask now… she still had to be extra cautious.
Originally, when she learned from the spies of the Bliluo Huangquan that Chu Ming would come to the discussion meeting, Shang Can had planned to avoid him entirely. Now, it turned out that the second round of the discussion meeting hadn’t even finished, and she was already eating at the same table with Yun Duan and Chu Ming.
Shang Can sighed deeply in her heart, picking up a piece of scrambled egg and putting it in her mouth.
Ugh, there’s an eggshell.
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