Yu Guiya said, “But it’s raining. The mountain paths will be slippery, and it’ll be easy to fall.”
As he spoke, he silently formed a hand seal, attempting to break through the barrier.
But the spiritual power forming it was dense and formidable. He could not breach it at all.
Just then, the rain abruptly intensified.
The fine drizzle, which had drifted down like slanting silver needles, became a torrential downpour in the blink of an eye. It drummed against the green umbrella in his hand, making it crackle as the canopy tilted askew.
Mei Man said, “The rain’s getting heavier, Senior Brother Yu. We should find somewhere to take shelter first.”
Yu Guiya hesitated. If they turned back, there was a market several li away where they could escape the rain.
But if they continued up the mountain, there would be a small shrine to the Mountain God before long.
Still, this sudden downpour was too strange. For all he knew, it was Fan Zilang’s doing.
As he wavered, Mei Man had already taken his hand and begun leading him up the mountain.
Yu Guiya tightened his grip on the umbrella handle, suppressing the unease in his heart. “Junior Sister Mei, slow down. Be careful, the path is slippery.”
Though they had an umbrella, the rain was simply too heavy, and they had only one. Even walking close together, by the time they reached the shrine, more than half their clothes were soaked through.
As they entered, Mei Man’s gaze shifted. She spotted a stone outside the door.
It looked utterly ordinary, but several copper coins were pinned beneath it. There were red stains on the coins, like blood.
Without changing expression, she withdrew her gaze and entered the shrine with Yu Guiya.
Once inside, Yu Guiya formed another hand seal and dried their clothes.
As he cast the spell, a warm current flowed through Mei Man’s body. Watching the fine strands of spiritual energy, she asked, “Senior Brother, what is your cultivation level now?”
Yu Guiya withdrew his spiritual power. “Ninth-stage Foundation Establishment, at the peak of perfection.”
“Then you’ll be breaking through to the Golden Core stage soon.”
“Yes.” Yu Guiya set the umbrella upright by the entrance. He glanced at the kindly-faced statue of the local earth deity, then looked away again, his thoughts clearly troubled.
“In that case, your cultivation is far above Senior Brother Fan’s. I suppose that makes sense. After all, you can serve as a deputy among the Exorcist Envoys.” Mei Man sat on a bench beside the statue, hugging her knees. “But before this, I always saw you and Senior Brother Fan together, so I thought your cultivation levels were about the same.”
Thunder and rain raged outside, while the shrine remained peaceful within. Combined with her soft voice, the calm gradually eased Yu Guiya’s tension.
“I’ve only been fortunate. Besides, being an Exorcist Envoy is nowhere near as glamorous as people imagine. We often have to take on unpleasant assignments.” He suddenly paused. A flicker of alarm crossed his face as he hurriedly added, “Junior Sister Mei, why did you decide to come to the Tianyan Immortal Manor? Before you, no ordinary person had ever come here. I don’t mean anything by it, I was only curious. Ah, y-you can pretend I never said that. I—”
“It’s all right. It is rather strange. I imagine that, in many people’s eyes, what I’m doing now must seem like trying to carry water in a bamboo basket.” Mei Man looked toward the doorway, and the gentleness she had affected slowly receded.
She watched the rain plunge from the sky, its silvery curtain shifting and swaying in the wind.
“Junior Sister Mei, you...” Yu Guiya wanted to offer some words of comfort, but none came to him.
Mei Man suddenly said, “To this day, I still don’t know what my parents looked like. When I was little, I heard people at home say that they had both died at the hands of demons. I vaguely remember that, on perhaps two occasions, I seemed to hear their voices while I was asleep. But I suppose it was only a dream.”
For no apparent reason, Yu Guiya’s hand began to tremble.
Outside the temple, the wind and rain raged. His heart, too, seemed to be weathering a violent storm.
That storm had tormented him for decades, year after year. Yet now it had begun to propel him forward, allowing him—after a long, lonely life of drifting without anyone to rely on—to glimpse from afar another little boat, just as lonely and forlorn as his own.
“When I first went to the Qiu family, I secretly tried to find out what was happening with my family. After all, even that ancestor of mine, who had gone years without seeing me, thought it was a good thing that I was going to the Qiu family and had personally come to see me off. So I wondered whether they might finally regard me as one of their own and be happy for me, even if only a little. But I never received the slightest word from them.
“Then, a few years ago, I received a letter from a cousin. He was an unpleasant man who had loved ordering me around ever since we were children. He said that the Mei family had taken in a new child—one who wasn’t their biological child and wasn’t related to the Mei family in any way. A child they had picked up, older than me, but capable of cultivation and possessed of excellent talent.”
Mei Man suddenly looked at him. Her expression was so calm it was almost indifferent. “Senior Brother Yu, even knowing that my efforts would most likely come to nothing, I only wanted to obtain a few things I desired. That was all.”
But after only a moment, she looked away and returned her gaze to the storm outside the temple.
Yu Guiya was rendered speechless. Yet the tempest that had suddenly risen within him only grew more violent, tearing the loneliness that had once filled his heart to shreds.
He felt a kinship with her born of shared suffering and could not help saying, “I—”
A peal of thunder suddenly exploded outside, drowning out his voice.
Mei Man’s eyelid twitched. She rose and said, “Senior Brother Yu, it looks like this rain won’t stop anytime soon. I’ll go gather some firewood. We’ll be warmer with a fire—ah…”
She stopped and clutched her left leg, her brows drawing tightly together.
Yu Guiya hurried over and steadied her. “What’s wrong?”
“My leg. I think I hurt it. It’s a little painful.”
Mei Man sat back down and frowned as she looked down. Only then did she notice that there was a tear in her trouser leg.
She pulled up the fabric and saw a deep, bloody gash across her calf.
“You must have been walking too quickly earlier and gotten cut by something along the way.” Yu Guiya half-crouched, half-knelt before her and carefully took hold of her lower leg. “Junior Sister Mei, don’t move. We’ll rinse the wound with clean water first, then treat it.”
“Mm.”
Yu Guiya took out a Water-Cleansing Pill and crushed it between his fingers.
The water that poured forth washed over the wound, cleansing away every trace of blood and dirt.
Then he formed a healing hand seal and carefully tended to her injury.
“Thank you, Senior Brother Yu,” Mei Man said.
Her voice suddenly came from above him. Yu Guiya lifted his eyes and happened to meet her gaze.
They had never been this close before. Only now could he see her eyes with absolute clarity.
Yu Guiya abruptly lowered his head. Perhaps his face had been drenched by the rain earlier, but now it felt inexplicably hot.
“Why are you being so polite, Junior Sister?” His tone was unexpectedly light. “It was only a single spiritual art.”
Mei Man said, “But if it were anyone else, they might only laugh at me for not healing myself.”
Yu Guiya’s hand paused as he thought of Fan Zilang.
His expression darkened at once. He had not even realized that merely hearing that name now stirred such resentment and disgust within him.
“Senior Brother Yu, I shouldn’t trouble you for nothing.” Mei Man took a pill from her storage pouch and held it out to him. “I don’t have anything valuable, but I previously tried refining some Spirit-Gathering Pills. The Immortal Master said there was nothing wrong with them, but since I can’t draw spiritual energy into my body, I don’t know whether he was telling the truth or merely trying to comfort me. Senior Brother, please have this. If it can be of any use to you, that would be for the best.”
Yu Guiya had intended to refuse, but he knew only too well how alike the two of them were. If he turned her down, she would only overthink it.
So he accepted the pill. To show his gratitude, he even swallowed it immediately.
The instant it entered his mouth, he felt the spiritual energy around them rushing into his body, far more efficiently than usual.
A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes. “Junior Sister Mei, this Spirit-Gathering Pill is indeed highly effective. Compared with the work of professional pill refiners, it could even be said to be slightly superior.”
“Senior Brother, surely you’re not just flattering me?” Mei Man said with a smile. “Still, if it can help you recover your spiritual energy, then that is best of all.”
Yu Guiya was about to reply when he suddenly sensed the spiritual energy around them stirring.
He immediately realized something. Rising to his feet, he said, “Junior Sister Mei, sit here for a while. I’ll take a look around the temple and see if I can gather some firewood.”
“All right.” Mei Man nodded.
Yu Guiya headed straight for the back door, where the spiritual energy was strongest. He had only just pushed open the dust-covered door when someone seized him and dragged him aside.
It was Fan Zilang. With a cold sneer, he said, “Yu Guiya, Yu Guiya—you’re quite considerate, aren’t you? Helping her tend to her wounds and all. I saw everything perfectly clearly. And you still dare claim you haven’t taken her side?”
Had Fan Zilang said nothing, Yu Guiya’s anger might not have risen so sharply. But at those words, his fury only intensified.
A rare look of anger appeared on his face as he rebuked him. “Zilang, what exactly are you planning? If you think Master should not have accepted her, then prove yourself worthy of being accepted by him. Don’t resort to schemes against her. How are you any different from those unscrupulous demonic cultivators?”
“Demonic cultivators?” Fan Zilang’s facial muscles twitched. “Ha... When you first heard the news, didn’t you also think it was absurd? Didn’t you think the Immortal Lord had gone blind, had lost his mind, to take a mortal as his disciple? Didn’t you think it was unfair to all the other disciples? And now you lecture me about unscrupulous methods? Fine, I admit it—I have a twisted heart. I’m petty. But what about you? You’re a hypocrite. Only now do you pretend to be a good person. You’re no better than I am!”
“You—”
“I know what you’re thinking. But let me ask you this—” Fan Zilang advanced step by step, his gaze fixed on Yu Guiya with a hint of malice. “If that Mei girl were an utterly ordinary mortal with no ambition to improve herself, would you still be questioning me like this? Would you only regret it at this point and start preaching all this nonsense about righteousness?!”
“I...” Yu Guiya looked stunned. After a moment, he lowered his eyes and said stiffly, “If she were as you describe, Master would not have accepted her.”
“Didn’t you think of all this from the very beginning?!”
At his words, Yu Guiya’s face went pale, and he fell silent. Fan Zilang was breathing heavily, his cheeks flushed red, the veins in his neck standing out.
“Perhaps you did think of it, didn’t you?” Fan Zilang sneered. “Only before, it was nothing more than some vague, intangible notion—like how you always assume the sky is blue and the water is clear. But after spending these past days with her, your heart softened. You realized that only by seeing it with your own eyes could you know that the sky could be white, or awash in blazing sunset clouds. Water could turn muddy too; and if it was deep enough, it could even look black.
“You realized she was a living, breathing person, rather than merely a ‘mortal’ spoken of by others. So you regretted it. You began judging her by right and wrong, and judging me as well.”
“Yes.” Yu Guiya’s expression was bleak. “I admit it. I regret it. I…”
“But I’m different!” Fan Zilang cut him off, glaring at him coldly. “I cannot tolerate a mortal standing above me. Even if she is alive, even if she has worked as hard as she possibly can, I still cannot tolerate her obtaining something I could never have. Rules are rules. The Middle Spirit Realm has always floated above the mortal world—that is the rule. She ought to be beneath me. That, too, is the rule!”
Yu Guiya stared at him in disbelief. “Zilang, how can you think that way? Isn’t cultivation pursued so that we may protect the mortal world?”
Fan Zilang could not help laughing. “Yu Guiya, what am I supposed to say about you? You are utterly foolish. If I possessed the power to command the wind and rain, would I still care whether some insignificant ant lived or died? I can understand why you oppose me. In my eyes, the two of you are much the same. Even with spiritual power, you are still nothing but someone dependent on others.
“I can tolerate you standing above me, because at least you have cultivation. But her? It’s absurd—utterly absurd! If my father found out, how could I ever face him again?”
Yu Guiya gradually composed himself and said, “I do regret it. From the start, I should have understood that our beliefs were fundamentally different.”
“Then you should have stopped me from the very beginning!” Fan Zilang paused to catch his breath. “Yu Guiya, if you want everything, you’ll end up with nothing. Mark my words: you may think your Dao heart is so admirable, so lofty. But one day, you will surely die because of this very indecision and hesitation.”
Yu Guiya froze for a moment.
Fan Zilang turned away, casting him a sidelong glance. “You can barely be considered my cousin. I can spare your life. Leave Jiyun Mountain now, and you will live. Otherwise, you can die alongside her.”
With that, he turned and walked away beneath his umbrella.
Yu Guiya tried to pursue him, only to crash into a barrier of spiritual power.
Extending his spiritual senses, he discovered that the barrier enclosed the entire Mountain God Temple. Fan Zilang must have set up this restriction in advance.
Suddenly, Yu Guiya felt a burst of yin energy at his back.
He spun around and saw a wisp of ash-gray shadow rise from the ground. It resembled smoke, yet carried a bone-piercing chill, and it let out a faint, shrill cry.
It was a wandering soul.
He immediately understood. Fan Zilang had set up a yin-gathering formation within the Mountain God Temple.
This formation could summon the souls of the dead and vicious ghosts from the underworld to massacre living beings. It was an exceptionally baleful evil array, the sort of thing only demonic cultivators would use to harm others.
It killed without a trace, devouring its victims' souls and dragging even their flesh-and-blood bodies down into the underworld.
Yu Guiya had not expected Fan Zilang to be so vicious. Without a moment's hesitation, he turned and hurried inside.
But the front hall was empty. Mei Man was no longer there.
In mounting panic, he called out, "Junior Sister Mei? Mei Man? Junior Sister Mei!"
No one answered.
In an instant, all color drained from Yu Guiya's face. It felt as though blades were tearing through his heart and flames were scorching it from within.
Certain that Fan Zilang had done something, he spun toward the back entrance. Ignoring the downpour, he smashed through the barrier and swiftly caught up with Fan Zilang, who was striding away. He seized the man by the arm.
"Fan Zilang! Where have you taken Junior Sister Mei?" he demanded sharply.
Fan Zilang blinked, finding the question absurd. "Why are you pretending not to know? Weren't you the one who personally brought her into this mountain god temple? The formation has already been activated. Where else could she have gone?"
"There is no one in the temple!" Yu Guiya roared. Breaking through the barrier had cost him much of his spiritual power, but the Spirit-Gathering Pill he had swallowed was now flooding him with an unceasing flow of energy. His heart began to pound violently, as though it might burst from his chest. "Hand her over. Now!"
"I told you, she's in the temple. She's an ordinary mortal with no spiritual power. How could she possibly have escaped?" Fan Zilang shook him off impatiently and turned to retrieve the umbrella from the ground.
But Yu Guiya grabbed him again. Then fury surged up in his chest, and he shouted, "Mortal, mortal, mortal! Is that the only word you know? Of course. In your eyes, she and I are no different. We're both dogs you can kick around whenever you please, not even worthy of being called people! Fan Zilang, you resent her for climbing above you because you look down on her. And you let me rise above you only because you look down on me too. You were certain I was a servant you could command at will. So no matter how high I climbed, all it would take was one word from you, one mention of the debt I owed you, and I would obey you like I always had. But did you ever consider this? If you died, anyone could climb over your head. If you died, who would those lofty eyes of yours have left to look down upon?!"
Fan Zilang's expression shifted. "Yu Guiya, what are you planning to do? You—"
Before he could finish, Yu Guiya raised a hand and formed a spell.
His spiritual power became more than a dozen arrows that shot straight toward Fan Zilang.
Fan Zilang dodged in alarm, but one arrow still grazed his arm.
Clutching his bleeding wound, he stared at Yu Guiya in disbelief. "Yu Guiya, have you lost your mind? You dare hurt me? Aren't you afraid—"
"Afraid? I'm not afraid!" A deep, savage light filled Yu Guiya's eyes. Then he laughed. "You think you can leave me a way out? You've only just reached Foundation Establishment. What could you possibly use to give me a way out? Fan Zilang, let me remind you of one thing: you'd better have left yourself a way out."
With that, he raised his hand and formed another seal. The spiritual power that had scattered gathered once more, taking the shape of talismans.
Three layers of them, above and below, surrounded Fan Zilang on all sides.
Only then did Fan Zilang realize that Yu Guiya truly intended to kill him.
But how could that be possible?
The restraint he had set was exceedingly powerful. Even if Yu Guiya managed to break free, it would surely drain much of his spiritual energy. How could he possibly have the strength left to deal with him?
Fan Zilang hurriedly formed a hand seal, trying to stop him.
But he had expended too much spiritual energy while setting the formation and condensing the barrier. Panicked and flustered, he could only squeeze out a few wisps of it, nowhere near enough to take shape.
In an instant, the three-turn talisman began spinning at high speed, shooting out countless rays of spiritual light.
Sharper than blades, those beams pierced his body from every direction.
"Arghhh!" Fan Zilang let out a piercing scream as blood began spurting from nearly every part of his body.
The rain poured down in sheets, washing him clean in moments and revealing countless wounds of varying sizes.
He coughed up several mouthfuls of blood in succession, staggered, and collapsed to the ground without a sound.
The scream jolted Yu Guiya awake as well.
He snapped back to himself. The thunder and rain seemed to recede from his ears, until all he could hear was the pounding of his own heart.
He stared fixedly at the person on the ground. His hands began to tremble, and the muscles in his face twitched faintly.
He... what had he done? What had he done?
Yu Guiya's gaze remained locked on Fan Zilang, yet what rose in his mind was the face of Fan Zilang's father: how he had helped Yu Guiya secure the chance to enter the cultivation academy, how he had seen him off to the Immortal Manor.
And he... he had actually...
Yu Guiya took a frantic step forward, but someone called out behind him, "Senior Brother Yu."
He turned to see Mei Man running toward him from afar, holding a crooked umbrella in her hand.
"Senior Brother Yu, Senior Brother Yu." Mei Man rushed up, took his hand, and pressed the umbrella into it. She shielded him from the wind and rain, then wiped the rain from his face, trying to bring him back to his senses. "Senior Brother Yu, wake up. Don't be afraid. You don't need to worry, all right? No one saw. No one saw anything. I'll help you keep this secret. Don't be afraid, all right?"
Yu Guiya stared at her blankly. "A secret?"
"Yes. He may be your cousin, but he was the one who tried to harm you first. I saw those vengeful spirits, in the temple. If you hadn't just broken a hole in the restraint, Senior Brother Yu, I would already be dead in there." Mei Man looked into his eyes and spoke softly. "Senior Brother Yu, you did not mean to kill him. And killing him was also an act of purging evil."
"I... I..." The muscles in Yu Guiya's face began to twitch. His eyes reddened visibly, and tears spilled down his cheeks of their own accord. "What do I do, Junior Sister Mei? I-I killed him. He... how am I supposed to explain this to his father? My uncle, my uncle was so good to me. What do I do? What do I do..."
"It's all right. I'm still here. I'll help you think of something."
"Junior Sister, Junior Sister!" Yu Guiya could not help but pull her into an embrace, his arms tightening as though he could steal even a little warmth from her this way. "He's dead. I killed him. But if I hadn't killed him, he would have hurt other people. I never thought... I never thought he would die... It was me..."
Mei Man rested her chin against his shoulder. Over it, she saw Fan Zilang's finger twitch on the ground.
"He... he's dead." She patted his back, gentle and light. "But no one else will ever know. Do you remember, Senior Brother? I told you before, you are the person I trust most. And you can trust me most, too."
Yu Guiya's mind went blank. Tears streamed down his face beyond his control. Then he suddenly remembered her and asked, "Junior Sister, w-where did you go just now? I called for you, but no one answered."
"I hid in the cabinet beneath the Mountain God's statue. Those wandering spirits were terrifying. I had no way to deal with them, so I thought perhaps the Mountain God might protect me." Mei Man said, "If you hadn't broken through that barrier, if you hadn't used your spiritual arts and frightened those spirits away with the pressure of your power, I would never have had the chance to escape. I might have been killed by them already."
Yu Guiya clenched his fists again, his pupils contracting.
If he had not acted just then, would she have been the one lying dead now?
The rain began to ease.
"Senior Brother, calm down first. Let me go check on him, all right? You shouldn't see him right now." Mei Man released him.
But Yu Guiya was utterly lost, his thoughts in disarray and his heart shattered. At that moment, he had entrusted himself entirely to her. How could he bear to let her leave?
He gripped her arm tightly and stammered incoherently, "Junior Sister, no, you can't go over there. I-I... Junior Sister, stay with me. Don't go, you..."
"Senior Brother, don't worry." Mei Man clasped his hand in return, soothing him stroke by stroke. "Trust me, all right? Go take a look inside the Mountain God's temple first. That formation hasn't been fully dispelled, and there are still some wandering spirits left. Don't let them escape."
Only after he had calmed somewhat and begun staggering toward the Mountain God's temple did she turn and walk toward the person on the ground.
Mei Man crouched down and looked down at him.
Fan Zilang no longer resembled his usual arrogant, overbearing self. His face was white as paper, and his lips had lost all color.
His eyes opened to the slightest slit. His lips trembled, forcing out a few nearly soundless words.
"Save... save me..."
"Save you?" The warmth vanished from Mei Man's face. She stared at him darkly and said softly, "So that you can find another way to kill me?"
Terror flashed in Fan Zilang's eyes. He slowly shook his head in small motions.
Mei Man cupped his face and gently wiped away the tears slipping down his cheeks without his awareness.
"You know how to cry too," she said warmly. "Is it because you know you're about to die at the hands of a mortal you hold in such contempt?"
Resentment and unwillingness entered Fan Zilang's gaze. His hand twitched, spiritual power gathering around his fingertips as he prepared to strike her.
But in the next instant, she rose and stepped on his hand.
The spiritual power collapsed with a crash. He let out a silent cry of agony.
"Unlike spiritual energy, demonic energy is cold. It can even bite to the bone. That's something I learned not long ago." She ground her foot back and forth over his hand until every trace of that spiritual power had dissipated. "It seems it really is true. Even if you can wield spiritual power, you are still only half-demon."
His expression changed again. Soundlessly, he mouthed the words, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter. I'll get the finest apology there is." Mei Man drew a dagger, bent down, and aimed its tip at his abdomen. "When all is said and done, I ought to thank you."
Agonizing pain tore through Fan Zilang. He hurt so badly that he wished he could end his own life.
Yet no sooner had he passed out than the pain forced him awake again.
His consciousness flickered between oblivion and wakefulness. He watched helplessly as she cut out his demon core.
In an instant, his spiritual power and demonic aura began to drain away at a terrifying speed. His fingers twitched as he tried to grasp the dissipating power, but it was futile.
At last, he drew his final breath and reverted to his true form.
"So you're a bird demon." Mei Man nudged the blood-soaked bird on the ground with her foot, unable to tell what kind of bird it was.
She let the rain rinse the demon core clean in her hand as she examined it.
It was beautiful.
A translucent crimson, like a wisp of mist shaped from flame. It felt wonderfully warm in her palm.
Her heart raced. Though she knew she would not damage it, she still placed it with utmost care into the box she had prepared beforehand.
Just then, someone approached from the distance.
It was Xie Xu.
"The formation stone has been put back," he said.
"Did he see you?" Mei Man asked.
"No."
Mei Man glanced at the bird carcass on the ground and thought, What an idiot.
The moment she entered the temple, she had noticed that something was wrong.
Fan Zilang had taken her for a fool. He assumed that because she was not a cultivator and possessed no spiritual power, she knew nothing about such matters.
But back in the outer disciples' courtyard, even though she could not wield spiritual power, she had read through every book she could find on talismans, cultivation techniques, and the like.
During those days, whenever she went to the bamboo grove to practice swordplay at night, she would use a branch to draw talismanic patterns and formation diagrams in the dirt again and again.
That was why, outside the temple just now, she recognized the formation when she saw a stone pinning down a copper coin and, after entering, sensed the oppressive yin energy within.
It was a Yin-Gathering Formation, a formation expressly forbidden in *The Complete Compendium of Formations*.
The book did not teach how to set up the formation, but it did explain how to open its gate and escape: find the formation stone made from yin-gathering stone, then use peachwood infused with spiritual power to suppress the bloodstained copper coin beneath it. That would temporarily open the formation gate.
So Mei Man had first given Yu Guiya a Spirit-Gathering Pill, ensuring that once he broke through the restriction, he would still be able to defeat Fan Zilang.
After Yu Guiya left through the back door, she summoned Xie Xu, who had been waiting outside all along, and sent him to find a peachwood branch nearby.
Xie Xu's spiritual root was damaged, but with a Spirit-Gathering Pill, he could still use a trace of spiritual power, enough to infuse the peachwood and suppress the copper coin.
Meanwhile, before Fan Zilang could activate the formation, she hid beneath the statue, avoiding the wandering spirits as best she could.
At the same moment Yu Guiya broke through the restriction, Xie Xu opened the formation gate. She only had to seize the chance to escape, then wait patiently for the two men to turn on each other.
