Yu Guiya said, “Of course. Would you like plain water or light tea?”
“Tea. It’ll help clear my head.”
He nodded and instructed an immortal attendant to prepare it.
Mei Man continued, “I don’t even know whether the person who wrote these two letters is the same person. If not, wouldn’t that mean we have another enemy?”
Yu Guiya asked her, “What was the handwriting like?”
“It looked like ink characters made from a rubbing.” Mei Man paused. “That letter may have been conjured through spiritual arts. I think it would be difficult to identify the writer based on the handwriting alone. After all, that person was even able to imitate the Immortal Master’s handwriting and seals.”
“That is a fair point.”
Just then, the immortal attendant brought in the tea. Yu Guiya was about to pour it when Mei Man rose first and, with her back to him, poured the tea.
“Senior Brother Yu.” She handed him a cup, her eyes filled with anxious fear. “The Immortal Master is in seclusion now. If that person intends to harm me, what should I do?”
Yu Guiya accepted the tea. “Junior Sister, don’t worry. There are countless eyes watching over this immortal residence. Who would dare act so recklessly? Wouldn’t that be the same as trampling on the Sect Master’s authority?”
“But if it hadn’t been for you that day, I would have died beneath that ferocious beast.” Mei Man stared straight at him. “Qiu Heyang is in seclusion, and Senior Brother Yingling has no idea how many things he has to deal with every day. Senior Brother… you’re the only person I can trust now.”
She gazed at him with such complete concentration, as if entrusting him with all the faith in her heart. Yu Guiya’s heart stirred, and an inexplicable delight swept through him.
He said, “Junior Sister, rest assured. I’m just like you. I certainly won’t stand by and let anyone bully you. Since my master has accepted you as his disciple, no one else has the right to criticize you.”
Just like her?
Mei Man didn’t understand what he meant by that. She only found it amusing.
His words sounded so beautiful, yet wasn’t he himself one of the people bullying her now?
She truly couldn’t understand how he could say something so contradictory. All she could do was thank him before taking a sip of tea.
Yu Guiya drank some as well. The moment he swallowed, he suddenly found the tea somewhat bitter and astringent, and his brows drew together unconsciously.
“Senior Brother Yu, you seem to know so many people. Has anyone ever said anything bad about me in private?” Mei Man asked, drawing his attention away.
“No,” Yu Guiya replied.
“What about Senior Brother Fan? The last time we were at the spirit market, I almost got into an argument with him.”
Yu Guiya hesitated. He didn’t know whether Fan Zilang had written the second letter. If he had, why had he acted without discussing it with him first? But if he hadn’t, where had this other person suddenly come from?
As he pondered, he felt his thoughts growing increasingly sluggish, and drowsiness began to take hold of him.
He blinked slowly. “Zilang… he may be a little impulsive, but—”
“Senior Brother Yu.” Mei Man didn’t want to hear any more and interrupted him. “You helped me last time, and I never got the chance to thank you. I’d like to give you something.”
Yu Guiya felt even sleepier. He could barely make out what she was saying. Forcing a smile, he said, “There’s no need to give me anything. I only helped you out in passing. Junior Sister, you needn’t take it to heart.”
Mei Man shook her head. “No. Otherwise, I’ll feel guilty and keep thinking about this debt.”
She took a small box from her storage pouch and handed it to him.
Yu Guiya accepted it, already so drowsy that he could barely keep his eyes open.
He forced himself to open the box and asked, “What is…?”
Mei Man reached out and rested her hand on the back of his.
“Senior Brother.”
A touch of warmth pressed against the back of his hand. Yu Guiya lifted his eyes and met her gaze.
Her eyes seemed veiled in mist as she quietly looked at him, like a dim, gray lake beckoning him to fall into its depths.
“Give it a shake,” Mei Man said softly. “Then try to guess what’s inside.”
Yu Guiya’s thoughts grew even hazier. He followed her instructions instinctively.
He held the box and gave it a shake.
Clink—
A long, clear sound rang out.
Almost at the exact same moment, Mei Man shook the master bell hidden behind her back and silently recited an incantation.
The next instant, both of them fell unconscious.
After the world spun around her, Mei Man awoke.
Her body felt as though it were floating. She opened her eyes, and all she saw was pure white. Looking around—
She was floating in an endless expanse of crystal-clear water.
Mei Man turned over and began to swim.
Earlier, when she had entered Qiu Yingling’s sea of consciousness, he had used spiritual power to form a small boat.
But Yu Guiya was already unconscious, so naturally there was nothing to support her.
There was another difference, too.
The surface of these waters was perfectly calm, without the slightest ripple.
Qiu Yingling’s sea of consciousness, by contrast, had often surged with waves.
She had previously tested the waters with him, and Qiu Yingling had told her that if she entered his sea of consciousness while he was awake, he would certainly notice.
But if the other person was unconscious, then even if someone forcibly intruded into their sea of consciousness, the person themselves would remain unaware.
The sea of consciousness of someone asleep was a completely still, lifeless body of water.
That was why she had asked her senior sister for sleeping powder and slipped it into Yu Guiya’s tea.
Time was limited. Mei Man quickly dove downward, searching for bubbles in the water.
Each bubble reflected one of Yu Guiya’s deepest memories. She searched them one by one, passing scenes of him cultivating alone, descending the mountain to carry out missions, and laughing with his companions. She paid no attention at all to the scenes of how he and Fan Zilang schemed against others behind their backs.
She didn’t know how long she had been searching. At last, among the countless bubbles, she caught sight of a tiny scene.
It lay at the very bottom of the water.
She vaguely saw Yu Guiya and Fan Zilang standing together. They looked somewhat younger than they did now, and behind them stood the entrance to the Fan residence.
She had found it.
Mei Man gathered her strength and swam straight toward it.
She reached out and thrust her hand into the bubble without hesitation.
In an instant, she heard Fan Zilang’s voice, unmistakably furious.
“Yu Guiya, you did that on purpose, didn’t you? Did you have to make me lose all face in front of my father?”
Yu Guiya laughed. “Why are you getting so worked up over such a small matter? If it weren’t for your uncle, how would I have had the chance to attend the cultivation academy? When he asked me a question, of course I had to answer it to the best of my ability. What if he decided I did nothing but idle around all day? How would I ever get into the Celestial Prophecy Immortal Residence?”
“Couldn’t you tell what was going on? You just had to answer with something I didn’t know, forcing my father to beat me.” Fan Zilang shot him a sidelong glance and sneered. “Since you’re relying on my family for a place to stay, you should know your limits. If you make me unhappy, I’ll still have you thrown out. When that happens, you’ll be nothing but a gutter rat with nowhere to go.”
Yu Guiya’s expression tightened. After a moment, he said, “Zilang, I never meant to compete with you. I—”
Mei Man withdrew her hand. His voice quickly grew faint and indistinct until it vanished completely.
She could only see his lips moving; she had no idea what he had said. Before long, Fan Zilang’s expression softened, and the two of them began laughing and joking together again.
So that was how it was.
Mei Man stared thoughtfully at the two people within the bubble.
She had always found it strange. Fan Zilang was far too spoiled and arrogant, hardly an easy person to get along with, yet Yu Guiya tolerated him at every turn and even helped clean up the messes he left behind.
So Fan Zilang and Yu Guiya were cousins, and Yu Guiya had probably lost his parents and been taken in by the Fan family.
She thought again of what Yu Guiya had said to her moments ago.
“We’re just alike.”
Mei Man’s face darkened as she stared blankly at the Yu Guiya within the bubble.
So he thought that the two of them were both pitiful wretches who had lost their parents, had nowhere to call home, and had to depend on others for shelter?
Had his words of comfort come from a fleeting sense of empathy, from a momentary pity born of feeling they were in the same boat?
Mei Man found the thought utterly absurd.
Those people had been the ones to abandon her first. She had no need of them either.
She pressed her lips tightly together, inexplicably irritated that he had taken it upon himself to lump the two of them together.
Mei Man turned and swam back to the surface. Even after she left Yu Guiya’s sea of consciousness and returned to her body, her expression had not improved in the slightest.
She snatched the box from Yu Guiya’s still-sleeping hand, shoved it back into her storage pouch, and walked away without looking back.
