For Wu Guanyue, hugging Wenren Ying had long since become second nature.
His chest was broad and firm, and Wu Guanyue had always loved resting her head against it. His waist, on the other hand, was slender, so she liked to wrap her arms around it and hold him close. It made her feel as though she truly had him all to herself.
Even now, she held Wenren Ying just like that. But there was no happiness left in her heart.
He lay there, unaware of anything, like a puppet or a doll. Even when Wu Guanyue took the initiative to embrace him, he didn’t respond in the slightest.
“Brother Ying…”
Wu Guanyue clung tightly to him, her eyes squeezed shut. She called his name as tears soaked her lashes, then buried her face against his chest, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably.
…She was crying.
At first, there had only been quiet sobs in the room. But before long, those sobs turned into heart-wrenching wails.
Just moments ago, she had bitten her own hand as hard as she could—so hard it was almost as if she meant to tear it off. She knew that wasn’t the time to give in to her emotions.
If grief made her cry endlessly, and that ended up killing Brother Ying for good, leaving him beyond saving, then Wu Guanyue… Wu Guanyue felt she wouldn’t be able to go on living either.
But now… at last, she could let her emotions run free.
Wu Guanyue wailed, cursing him through her tears, her words slurred. “Why do you always do this? Why do you always hurt yourself like this? You’re so annoying! You really are!”
Wenren Ying lay there quietly, held in her arms. He couldn’t hear a thing. He couldn’t see a thing.
Wu Guanyue cried even harder.
After a long while, she muttered to herself, “All right… You’re not annoying at all.”
…Not annoying at all.
Brother Ying was so dependable, so gentle. She loved him more than anyone.
She had met Brother Ying soon after arriving in this world of immortals and heroes.
In truth, she couldn’t remember what their first meeting had been like. Back then, she’d been busy selling Sprite, while Wenren Ying was just one of the customers who came and went. It was only because he had three gold stars over his head and was therefore a special customer that she’d treated him so attentively—and given him… a gift of sashimi made from large intestine.
Looking back, he’d received such a ridiculous thing more than once, yet he hadn’t gotten angry…
Brother Ying had a good temper.
He was kindhearted, too.
When Brother Ying smiled, his teeth were dazzlingly white, and he seemed so cheerful.
When he didn’t smile, he had an imposing air about him and could be incredibly decisive.
She couldn’t remember when it had started, but she’d begun paying more and more attention to him, falling for him. Sometimes, even one tiny thing he did would linger in her mind, and she couldn’t stop the excitement bubbling up inside her as she lay in bed at night.
She loved him so much… So, so much.
After they got together, Wu Guanyue and Wenren Ying shared so many firsts. Brother Ying had once admitted to her that it was only after he met her that he began to experience so many of life’s pleasures.
She was the same.
Because Brother Ying was there, because she had him to share things with… she had finally experienced so many joys she’d never known before.
Love turned one person’s happiness into two people’s happiness. Love gave even the most ordinary little things a sweet glow.
For a time, she had loved this world very, very much, and had been deeply grateful to it.
But… the world of immortals and heroes was so dangerous.
Wu Guanyue wasn’t unfamiliar with danger. When they faced the Wonderful Lord, they had been in a truly perilous situation. That time, she had used her quick wits to get them out of trouble.
So Wu Guanyue was… a little arrogant, perhaps.
Quick thinking could solve a problem, but it couldn’t solve every problem. In this world, where strength was revered and the weak preyed on the weaker, she had been astonishingly oblivious to that truth, carrying the naïveté and arrogance of an outsider who thought herself above the world.
But she wasn’t above it.
From the moment she fell in love with Wenren Ying, from the moment she finally found happiness with him… she was no longer able to stand apart from the world.
And at last, the world had forced her to understand that in the cruelest way possible.
Brother Ying… Brother Ying…
Wu Guanyue held Wenren Ying tightly. She didn’t know how long she cried before she finally couldn’t cry anymore. She gulped in breath after breath, feeling as though she’d sobbed herself half to death.
A while later, the room finally fell quiet, save for her faint sniffles.
After letting it all out, she seemed to feel a little better. She no longer felt as though all hope was lost.
—She couldn’t give up hope. Of course she couldn’t. Brother Ying was still alive, and she was the only one who could save him—and save them both. If she gave in to despair and wasted time waiting for Perfected Renhua to come knocking… how would that be any different from killing herself?
Perfected Renhua…
At the thought of those four words, a powerful hatred surged in Wu Guanyue’s heart.
He was the one who had done this to Brother Ying!
They had just been living their own lives. Why had he suddenly appeared and done this to Brother Ying?
Hatred flared in Wu Guanyue’s heart like a fire, making her grit her teeth and tremble. She wanted nothing more than to devour him alive!
Why? Why? Why?!
It was because he wanted to capture… her.
Perfected Renhua had controlled Brother Ying with some strange spell and sent him to capture her.
But why?
In the end, Brother Ying had said one thing: he and Wu Guizhen were old acquaintances.
Wu Guizhen… In the game’s setting, Wu Guizhen was her grandfather. And in this real world of immortals and heroes, Wu Guizhen had opened this inn, once saved Master Chongxu’s life, and traveled to Donghua City to gather soulfire and forge a body for her…
Wu Guizhen was where it had all begun.
If the game had been nothing more than a trick he’d devised to summon her… then why had he gone to all that trouble? What had he really wanted?
He and Perfected Renhua were old acquaintances… Could all of this have something to do with Perfected Renhua?
Wu Guanyue’s mind was overflowing with questions. But Wu Guizhen had already passed away. He couldn’t answer them, and there was no one else who could.
Except…
Wu Guanyue opened her system panel.
Her gaze fell on her main quest.
At that moment, her main quest was: [Uncover the Root of It All]
[Quest Details: You have wondered time and again why you were the one who came down with that strange illness. You have also wondered why you were the one chosen by the game… Your fate is closely bound to the inn, but what is the inn? If you want to uncover the truth, start by upgrading the inn to the highest level: LV.6!]
Seek out the root of everything… Seek… the root of everything…
Wu Guanyue should have undertaken this mission long ago, but she had been so immersed in the joy of being in love that she had no mind to attend to it.
When all was said and done, she had been too arrogant. If she had completed the mission sooner, would things have been different…?
Wu Guanyue’s thoughts once again slipped unconsciously into self-reproach.
When the person they loved most was gravely injured, people always instinctively blamed themselves for not having done enough… But Wu Guanyue soon realized that she was wallowing in self-pity. She shook her head and immediately tried to drive those useless emotions away.
…She couldn’t.
She buried her face against Wenren Ying and curled up in his arms, drawing a little strength from the familiar sensation of him.
***
Early the next morning, Wu Guanyue concealed Wenren Ying using soul-fire, then went to find Master Chongxu. Her objective was—
To get him to spend money at the inn.
That was right. Spend money.
Although Master Chongxu’s spirit residence had been shattered and he had withdrawn from the inner circle of Cuiyun Grotto-Heaven, he was still an extremely wealthy man… Getting him to spend money at the inn was, of course, the fastest way to raise its level.
—Raise the inn to its highest level, unlock its secrets, and search within for a way to break their predicament. That was the only method she had now.
Brother Ying’s final words yesterday had been a warning not to seek revenge, because he knew that she had no way to stand against Perfected Renhua.
Brother Ying was… an extraordinarily resolute person. He was also someone who refused to admit defeat. The reason he had chosen to take his own life so decisively was that he had recognized that he simply could not overcome Perfected Renhua’s… one technique.
If a single technique could be that powerful, then Perfected Renhua himself had to be even more formidable. Wu Guanyue was not the sort to overestimate herself, and she had no intention of claiming that “players are invincible.” The game itself was merely another kind of trap.
She had long since integrated herself into this world. She was already a part of it. She had to avoid both arrogance and self-abasement.
She would exhaust every possible method and pry at everything that could possibly be moved to save Wenren Ying—and to… to take revenge on that damned Perfected Renhua!
Master Chongxu was, of course, willing to help.
Wu Guizhen had once saved him, and Wenren Ying and Wu Guanyue had saved him as well. If he refused to help them at a time like this, could he still call himself a cultivator?
Master Chongxu not only spent a fortune, instantly raising the inn to its highest level, but also returned to the main estate of the Meishan She clan and brought Wu Guanyue an artifact called “Sumeru Heaven and Earth.”
The artifact contained a tiny separate space that could be used to hide people.
Wu Guanyue returned to her room with the artifact and stared at Wenren Ying lying on the bed.
She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. Then, summoning up her emotions and pretending to be relaxed, she said, “Brother Ying, get some good rest. Little Yue is going to save you!”
She placed Wenren Ying inside Sumeru Heaven and Earth.
Then she opened her system interface and stared at the option that had suddenly appeared beside the main quest.
[Would you like to seek out the origin of everything?]
[Yes!]
[Wait a little longer…]
Wu Guanyue chose [Yes].
A cluster of soul-fire ignited before her… and from that soul-fire, a human figure took shape.
“I am Wu Guizhen.”
That was what the figure said.
It’s here. It’s finally time to wrap things up. It’s finally time to wrap things up. It’s finally, finally time.
