Fu Xi Yan stared at him with eyes still red from crying. He remained blank for several seconds before realizing what Pei Yuan Jin meant, and his entire face turned red. “That’s not what I meant.”
Pei Yuan Jin asked, “Then what did you mean?”
Fu Xi Yan had countless things he wanted to say: his anger, his grief, his ideals… Thousands of tangled thoughts and ten thousand words crowded together until, for a time, he had no idea where to begin.
Heaven and Earth were impartial and treated all things as straw dogs, yet the living creatures beneath Heaven divided themselves into countless ranks and treated their own kind as straw dogs instead. How ridiculous. How tragic!
Elio’s Notes: “Heaven and Earth treat all things as straw dogs” echoes the Daodejing. The line is commonly read as Heaven and Earth being impartial rather than sentimental; Fu Xi Yan turns it back on humans who rank and devalue their own kind.
He remained silent for a long time. In the end, all those thoughts emerged as a single sigh. “I hope you never change.”
If one day Pei Yuan Jin also became like Ban Qing Yu, indifferent to human life and capable of killing without blinking, then for Fu Xi Yan and for this entire world, that would be a genuine catastrophe.
Pei Yuan Jin’s gaze was as unwavering as ever. “My sword path is to advance without retreat. Once I choose something, I do not change.”
Fu Xi Yan had complained plenty of times about Pei Yuan Jin’s straight-line thinking, yet at this moment, that same straightness was strangely reassuring.
Pei Yuan Jin touched his face. “One day, we’ll settle this debt.”
Fu Xi Yan pressed Pei Yuan Jin’s hand against his cheek. “Your body temperature…”
Pei Yuan Jin was about to adjust his true qi when Fu Xi Yan quietly asked, “Is it because you advanced to Martial King?”
Pei Yuan Jin gave a low “Mm.”
Fu Xi Yan seemed to reach a decision. He gripped Pei Yuan Jin’s hand tightly. “I have something I need to tell you.”
Television dramas had taught him far too thoroughly what happened when a villain overheard crucial information and then created endless disasters that made the protagonists suffer horribly. This matter was too important, so Fu Xi Yan decided they needed an absolutely secure place to talk.
Seeing how solemn he looked, Pei Yuan Jin took Yi Jue with them to Taozhu Mountain. Yi Jue remained halfway up the mountain while Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin went to the summit, where they could speak freely.
Evening was approaching. From the mountaintop, half of the red sun still hung along the horizon, reluctant to bid farewell to the bustling mortal world. Below them, Jiyang County lay beneath the exchange of sun and moon, displaying the lazy calm of a town whose busy day was finally ending.
The natural scenery and the smoke and warmth of ordinary life slowly calmed Fu Xi Yan’s agitated emotions.
He walked in a circle around the summit and confirmed no one else was nearby before sitting directly on the ground near the side facing the sunset. Pei Yuan Jin casually produced two wine flasks and handed him one.
Fu Xi Yan looked surprised. “You actually brought alcohol?” The Young Master Pei he knew belonged firmly to the tea faction.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Tea settles the heart. Wine releases it.”
Normally, Fu Xi Yan might have interpreted that in an indecent direction and assumed “release” meant indulging in sensual pleasures. Today, he only silently accepted the flask and tipped back a large mouthful.
Then…
He choked.
Fu Xi Yan coughed violently until tears came out and his entire mouth burned with a fierce, spicy sensation.
“Cough, cough! What kind of liquor is this?”
“Distilled spirits.”
Fu Xi Yan was speechless. Shouldn’t one be buying yellow wine in Jiyang County?
Pei Yuan Jin saw his confusion and added, “Distilled spirits are stronger.” Fu Xi Yan needed strong alcohol right now.
Fu Xi Yan silently took another sip. It burned his tongue, yet that sharp, slightly numbing pain unexpectedly restored his sense that he truly existed within this world.
Human beings could feel pain. They would never become nothing more than cold, abstract numbers.
The alcohol gradually spread through his body. His emotions slowly climbed from the deepest valley toward the clouds. Words that had previously seemed impossible to say appeared to develop wills of their own and began arranging themselves to jump out. Watching the sunset, Fu Xi Yan slowly opened his heart. “You know there’s Gu inside my body.”
“Mm.”
“It’s called the Taotie Gu. Doesn’t that sound particularly appropriate for someone from the Immortal Treasury Palace?”
Pei Yuan Jin corrected him. “Taotie is a ferocious beast.”
For some reason, that sentence struck Fu Xi Yan’s funny bone. He hugged the wine flask and laughed for a while before saying, “Fine. Then I’m a ferocious beast.” He turned to look at the person beside him.
The sunset’s dark-golden afterglow fell across Pei Yuan Jin’s face. His straight nose seemed almost like a physical manifestation of his equally upright personality. Fu Xi Yan asked quietly, “Would the Immortal Treasury Palace still raise a ferocious beast?”
Pei Yuan Jin answered with something that seemed unrelated. “Baize was once used by the Spirit Sect.”
He meant the Spirit Sect had once used Baize as the symbol of its intelligence network. Naturally, his point was that auspicious beasts could be used by wicked people, so a ferocious beast could also do good things.
Fu Xi Yan listened seriously, thought about it seriously, then answered seriously. “Even if Taotie is a ferocious beast, I won’t do bad things.”
Pei Yuan Jin said without hesitation, “I believe you.”
If he did not believe him, he would never have placed Fu Xi Yan in his heart or allowed Fu Xi Yan’s every smile and frown to move his emotions.
Four simple words, yet Fu Xi Yan suddenly wanted to cry again. Probably because the alcohol was too strong. It burned his tongue and somehow seemed to burn his heart too. He asked, “Why don’t you ask what the Taotie Gu does?”
Narrating alone was too boring. He needed interaction.
Anyone else would probably have followed his lead and asked the expected question, but Pei Yuan Jin ignored the script entirely. “How did the Gu enter your body?”
Fu Xi Yan was silent for a while. “I had it before I was born.”
Pei Yuan Jin remembered that Fu Xi Yan had once said he wanted to find the Little Divine Doctor because his mother’s disappearance was connected to him. So…
“The Little Divine Doctor?”
Fu Xi Yan shook his head. One hand held the wine flask while the other unconsciously picked at the soil beside him. “Do you remember me calling Mo Xiao Ran Grandmaster?”
Pei Yuan Jin’s gaze sharpened instantly. Of course he remembered. Circumstances had not allowed him to ask at the time. Later, too many things happened, and there were always too many people around to question Fu Xi Yan properly. But the doubt and unease had never disappeared.
He said skeptically, “I remember. You said your mother was Jin Yuan Xiu.”
Fu Xi Yan seemed to notice his doubt. “That part wasn’t something I made up. My mother really is Jin Yuan Xiu, Mo Xiao Ran’s final disciple. I never expected Tong Fang Yu would genuinely count as one of my elders in the sect.”
So what?
The Fu Xi Yan Pei Yuan Jin knew was simply the illegitimate son of Yongfeng Earl Residence.
Afraid Fu Xi Yan would overthink the matter and trap himself inside some twisted line of reasoning, Pei Yuan Jin said coldly, “People who follow different paths cannot make common cause. Even blood relatives often separate when their principles differ. Mo Xiao Ran and Tong Fang Yu are merely distant sect elders. Refusing to associate with them means standing with the rest of the world.”
Fu Xi Yan had already drunk half the flask and was slightly intoxicated. He narrowed his eyes. “Right. That’s why we have the phrase ‘put righteousness above family.’”
“Your grandmaster and martial aunt hardly count as family. Your mother has no record of wrongdoing in the jianghu. There is no reason to place her together with them.” Pei Yuan Jin lifted his flask and gently tapped it against Fu Xi Yan’s.
“What if…” Fu Xi Yan began. “What if it really is family?”
The clear sound of the flasks touching happened to cover the final four words.
Pei Yuan Jin turned. “Hm?”
Fu Xi Yan fell silent. His head was spinning slightly. His courage resembled a turtle’s head, poking cautiously outward one moment before retreating into its shell the next. The alcohol had not completely stripped away his reason. He still guarded one final boundary.
“The Taotie Gu was put there by Mo Xiao Ran. When he learned my mother was pregnant, he spent an entire night preparing medicine to stabilize the pregnancy for her. By the time my mother realized what had happened, the Taotie Gu had already entered the embryo and begun frantically absorbing her true qi. My mother tried many methods but couldn’t remove it. Her body became weaker every day. Eventually, she simply couldn’t endure the burden and had to feed it spiritual medicines instead.”
After finishing this section, Fu Xi Yan remained silent for a long time. His slightly sluggish brain repeatedly reviewed every word, checking whether he had said anything wrong.
Pei Yuan Jin was beginning to think he had gotten drunk and fallen asleep when he suddenly spoke again. “We know now that true qi, soul, and spiritual energy share the same fundamental origin. So tell me… couldn’t the Taotie Gu consume souls too?”
Pei Yuan Jin patted his head. “Stop frightening yourself. Your soul is intact.”
By now most of the sun had disappeared beneath the horizon. Only a small portion remained, its light already faint. Darkness was returning to Heaven and Earth, announcing that what followed would belong to the night.
Pei Yuan Jin stood to gather firewood.
Fu Xi Yan lowered his head and stared blankly for a while. Then he suddenly covered his face with both hands. In a very quiet voice, he said, “But I might not actually be Fu Xi Yan.”
It was the greatest secret of his life.
And the only secret he carried that had nothing to do with this world.
He had buried it in his heart for so long that even he had gradually convinced himself that he had reincarnated rather than transmigrated. Yet Jin Yuan Xiu’s description of the Taotie Gu forced him to rebuild all his doubts from the beginning.
Was he truly the child who had originally been inside Jin Yuan Xiu’s womb?
The firewood made faint crack, crack noises as it burned.
Fu Xi Yan raised his head. Even less of the sun remained now, only a thin orange glow along the horizon.
Pei Yuan Jin sat nearby, stirring the fire with a stick.
Fu Xi Yan turned toward him and asked hesitantly, “Just now, did you…?” It had been so quiet, without any other noise. If Pei Yuan Jin had been nearby, he should have heard him.
But would he understand what Fu Xi Yan meant?
Pei Yuan Jin looked at him with helpless disbelief, as though wondering where Fu Xi Yan managed to find so many strange and inexplicable ideas. “You think you aren’t Fu Xi Yan?”
Fu Xi Yan had never expected his greatest secret to simply be exposed like this. His mind exploded into complete blankness. His true qi circulated automatically, expelling the alcohol from his body. And then…
His now-sober mind became even blanker. “I… I mean…”
Pei Yuan Jin asked, “Were you swapped with another child when you were young?”
Perhaps it was because he had been drinking, but Fu Xi Yan’s face felt hot and itchy. He scratched his cheek. “Not exactly swapped. It’s more like…” He thought for a moment and finally decided to throw everything away and simply say it. “The Taotie Gu can consume true qi, so maybe it can consume souls too. Maybe the original child’s soul was already devoured, and I’m some wandering ghost who borrowed the corpse to return to life…”
His voice slowly grew quieter. Pei Yuan Jin was no longer looking at him with helplessness or speechlessness. Now he simply looked incredulous. What normal person would seriously suspect himself of being a wandering ghost possessing someone else’s corpse?
Still, Pei Yuan Jin followed his reasoning and asked, “Can you prove it?”
Fu Xi Yan thought, How am I supposed to prove that? Say I remember a previous life? But how do I prove whether that means transmigration instead of reincarnation? Even I can’t tell the difference.
Seeing him shake his head, Pei Yuan Jin relaxed. He might be a little obsessed with the idea, but apparently the illness had not become severe yet.
“By your reasoning, I also cannot prove that I am Pei Yuan Jin. Perhaps some tremendously powerful ghost took over this body and then lost its memories. Every event possesses endless possible explanations. What matters is this: who do other people believe you are?”
Fu Xi Yan looked at him and slowly said, “Fu Xi Yan?”
Pei Yuan Jin disliked the uncertainty in his tone. He asked again, “Who do you believe you are?”
This time, Fu Xi Yan remained silent for a very long time before saying, “Fu Xi Yan.”
People were forgetful. Distant memories gradually blurred until perhaps, at the end of life, they suddenly became clear again in one final flash. Fu Xi Yan was nowhere near the end of his life. So although he had once memorized his mathematics and physics formulas, the longer he lived in this world, the stranger and more distant those formulas became.
If he was not Fu Xi Yan, then who could he possibly be?
…
There was no going back anymore.
Pei Yuan Jin delivered the final judgment. “Then you are Fu Xi Yan.”
Perhaps to ensure Fu Xi Yan remembered the conclusion properly, he even poked him in the center of the forehead.
A burning sensation spread from the place he touched. It was already hotter than a normal human body temperature.
Fu Xi Yan returned from his daze.
The scent of alcohol still lingered in his mouth, but the alcohol in his body was gone and his mind was perfectly clear. Naturally, he understood that unless some miracle occurred, whether he had reincarnated or transmigrated would probably remain an eternal mystery. Obsessing over it would accomplish nothing except create trouble for himself. Still, after saying everything aloud, hearing another person answer, “You are Fu Xi Yan,” brought him a profound sense of comfort and recognition.
It felt as though, at this very moment, the transmigrated man who had always remained tangled up in memories of his previous life, secretly hoping he might receive some protagonist-like golden finger that made him invincible whenever he powered up and stronger whenever he grew angry, had suddenly taken root in the soil and become a true native of this world.
He would stop placing his hopes on meat pies falling from Heaven or secret manuals appearing beneath his feet. From now on, he would stand firmly on the ground and build his own sky one step at a time!
“Back to the subject. The Taotie Gu is currently inside my true essence. I suspect that after I entered the True Essence Stage, the reason I couldn’t sense my true qi was because the Gu was absorbing it. Later, I took Harmonized Yang Pills. I might have eaten… slightly too many…” At this point, Fu Xi Yan cautiously glanced at Pei Yuan Jin. Seeing no reaction, he bravely continued:
“The Taotie Gu got so full that it spat some of the energy back out, which allowed me to advance. Later, after I fought a few times… well, cough… I discovered it can absorb not only mine, but other people’s too.”
Pei Yuan Jin understood. “You’re afraid it will absorb my true qi?”
Fu Xi Yan remembered Chen Wen Ju’s condition. “It can drain someone completely dry.”
Pei Yuan Jin gave him a meaningful look. “You have experience?”
They had already reached this point, so Fu Xi Yan saw no reason to keep hiding things. “I killed Chen Wen Ju. His cultivation was higher than mine, but I absorbed his true qi. After that, he couldn’t beat me.”
Pei Yuan Jin now understood most of his concerns. “Anything else?”
Anything else?
Of course there was plenty.
Fu Xi Yan thought of the Complete Book of the Jianghu his mother had left him and immediately became frustrated again. His mother truly had possessed an enormous heart. She had written so many terrifying secrets openly into a book! If a second person capable of Puppet Arts had ever read it, Fu Xi Yan might not even still exist.
Seeing him sigh repeatedly, Pei Yuan Jin pulled him to his feet. “Your path is to seek the hidden chance of survival. You should therefore remain resilient. When a problem appears, think about how to solve it.”
Fu Xi Yan raised his eyes toward him.
When he first met Pei Yuan Jin, Pei Yuan Jin had maximized his aura immediately, looking down upon the world with unmatched arrogance. Afterward, conspiracies came one after another. Their opponents grew stronger and stronger until Martial Kings and Martial Gods appeared. Yet Young Master Pei remained exactly the same intimidating Young Master Pei he had been during his first entrance. He had never once fallen from his divine pedestal. Even when they encountered Mo Xiao Ran in the imperial palace, Fu Xi Yan considered Pei Yuan Jin’s withdrawal “subduing the enemy without battle.” Definitely not fleeing before a fight.
And when Pei Yuan Jin, while still only at peak Dao-Entry, forcibly inserted himself into the clash between two Martial Gods, Yi Jue and Wu Xuan Yin, that had sent Fu Xi Yan’s blood boiling.
Compared with him, Fu Xi Yan really was too weak-hearted.
He straightened. “All right. Let’s figure out how to solve it.”
“First, test it.”
“Test… it?” The little turtle’s courageous head, which had finally emerged from its shell, immediately froze and swept rigidly from side to side. By now, the sun had completely sunk. Darkness covered the summit of Taozhu Mountain. Only the two of them and a small campfire remained.
Faced with this atmosphere, Fu Xi Yan’s mind immediately produced a whole chain of phrases.
Pitch-black night.
Two men alone.
Dry wood and blazing fire.
…
Gulp. He heard his own throat make the sound.
Pei Yuan Jin suddenly interrupted his thoughts. “What did you do with Chen Wen Ju back then?”
Fu Xi Yan nearly jumped. “Chen Wen Ju and I did absolutely nothing! It was very straightforward! Just… you know… an attacker-and-defender relationship.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “I know. Try absorbing my true qi the same way you absorbed his.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
“Only the true qi?” Fu Xi Yan could not tell whether he had just inhaled or exhaled. Either way, his body shifted uneasily, and his hands even waved around slightly, as though desperately needing something to do with themselves.
“See whether you can return the true qi afterward.” Pei Yuan Jin paused. This time, his gaze lingered on Fu Xi Yan’s face for noticeably longer. When he spoke again, his voice was faintly tight, carrying an almost imperceptible trace of embarrassment. “As for the other part, we should choose an appropriate time. There’s no need to rush.”
“Yes, yes. I’m not rushing. I… This really isn’t an appropriate time. I know.” Fu Xi Yan’s words came out completely tangled.
The fire crackled.
The two stood there looking at one another for a while. Pei Yuan Jin broke the silence first. “Then let’s begin.”
“Mm-hm.” Fu Xi Yan pushed his stomach slightly forward so Pei Yuan Jin could place a hand over the seat of his true essence. “If anything feels wrong, pull away immediately. Before I developed true essence, my uncle tried transferring true qi into me and nearly got… cough… a lot of it absorbed too.”
Pei Yuan Jin placed his hand over Fu Xi Yan’s true essence and quietly released a portion of true qi. Immediately, an intense suction force erupted through his palm. The true qi inside his body surged outward like a floodgate had opened, pouring continuously into Fu Xi Yan. At the same time, because the true qi inside Pei Yuan Jin’s body was being depleted, his Martial King body automatically began absorbing more spiritual energy, completing a cycle.
His expression changed slightly.
The true qi produced by Pei Xiong Ji’s revised Sacred Flame Art formed a natural barrier separating Pei Yuan Jin’s soul from spiritual energy, slowing the rate at which his soul transformed. But now that the true qi was being drained away, that barrier disappeared, and his soul was immediately exposed to the invading spiritual energy.
At the same time, Fu Xi Yan was hardly comfortable either.
Pei Yuan Jin’s true qi was extraordinarily fierce and domineering. Even cultivating it himself carried a risk of his body bursting. Now it poured into Fu Xi Yan all at once, and Fu Xi Yan’s meridians felt as though they had been plunged into fire. Yet the Taotie Gu possessed a miraculous healing effect and repaired him while absorbing the energy. It felt as though Fu Xi Yan were submerged in boiling water one instant and dumped into cold water to cool down the next.
That was precisely the purpose for which Jiang Xiu had created the Harmonized Yang Pills.
The Harmonized Yang Pills could alter the user’s body. When Pei Yuan Jin’s domineering true qi entered the recipient’s true essence, circulated once, and emerged again, it should become much gentler. It sounded impossible, but in a world where martial arts could reach this level, such things were possible.
Thus, the most important step of the circulation process was for Fu Xi Yan’s true essence to release the portion of true qi that belonged to Pei Yuan Jin. That had now become the most difficult step. Whether the problem lay with the Taotie Gu or with the Harmonized Yang Pills, the true essence released true qi twice, and both times it was indistinguishable from Fu Xi Yan’s own true qi. It was obviously not what Pei Yuan Jin needed.
The experiment was brief, but they had learned nearly everything they needed to know. Further confirmation would require other methods.
Pei Yuan Jin removed his hand. True qi instantly circulated throughout his body again, protecting his soul.
Fu Xi Yan escaped the sensation of being boiled alive and bent over, panting.
Clearly, Fu Xi Yan’s fear had proven correct. The Taotie Gu had become a serious obstacle to dual cultivation.
Pei Yuan Jin said heavily, “Once we return to the Immortal Treasury Palace, I’ll have Apothecary Jiang find a way to remove it.”
If only it were that easy. Fu Xi Yan could only explain more clearly. “I’m afraid it won’t be simple.”
Mo Xiao Ran had created the Puppet Path. The scale of his talent was terrifying. After Jin Yuan Xiu discovered the Gu, she had tried every possible method, eventually becoming desperate enough to seek help from the Little Divine Doctor. That alone showed how difficult removing it must be.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “There will be a way.”
Fu Xi Yan opened his mouth, instinctively preparing to disagree. Then he suddenly caught himself. His path was to seek the One That Escapes. He should believe that even desperate circumstances contained a path to survival. So why was he being this negative?
That did not resemble him at all.
Looking deeper, the reason for his pessimism was that somewhere in his subconscious, he believed Mo Xiao Ran could not be defeated. From that belief came fear.
In terms of strength, Pei Xiong Ji, Yi Jue, and Wu Xuan Yin were not inferior to Mo Xiao Ran. So why did Fu Xi Yan single out Mo Xiao Ran as unbeatable?
At first the belief seemed completely irrational. But once he stripped away each layer, Fu Xi Yan understood. His sense of Pei Xiong Ji, Yi Jue, and Wu Xuan Yin’s strength came from looking upward toward Martial Gods from a distance. Even though Yi Jue and Wu Xuan Yin’s battle had been terrifyingly intense, Fu Xi Yan had merely been an observer. He had no particularly personal understanding of what their strength meant.
Mo Xiao Ran was different.
Mo Xiao Ran had saved Fu Xi Yan three times, every single time at the brink between life and death. Naturally, Fu Xi Yan had formed a comparison inside his heart, and Mo Xiao Ran’s overwhelming strength had become something concrete.
Then came the encounter inside Southern Yu’s imperial palace. Mo Xiao Ran’s deliberate mercy had given Fu Xi Yan something almost like the relief of surviving a catastrophe. That only amplified the sense that Mo Xiao Ran was immensely powerful and impossible to defeat.
The more Fu Xi Yan thought, the colder he felt.
So perhaps Mo Xiao Ran had not saved him merely because he wanted to keep him alive. Perhaps he had also wanted to plant a shadow inside Fu Xi Yan’s mind and wait for it to bloom.
Fu Xi Yan explained his theory. Pei Yuan Jin’s expression darkened as well.
It was not only Fu Xi Yan. Because Mo Xiao Ran had deliberately let them leave the Southern Yu imperial palace, Pei Yuan Jin’s own state of mind had nearly shattered. For someone like Mo Xiao Ran, whose calculations seemed engraved into his bones, Pei Yuan Jin did not believe those outcomes had all been accidental.
Fu Xi Yan agreed. He smiled bitterly. “And I definitely don’t believe he put the Taotie Gu inside me just because he thought it would be amusing.” Fu Xi Yan hated that he had watched so many dramas. His brain had already automatically invented several vicious plans for how Mo Xiao Ran might eventually exploit the Taotie Gu.
Now they simply had to wait and see when Mo Xiao Ran appeared.
Pei Yuan Jin looked at Fu Xi Yan’s scrunched-up chubby face. It looked like a steamed bun covered in wrinkles. Unable to resist, he reached out and smoothed them away. “Mo Xiao Ran is still only one person.”
Fu Xi Yan looked at him, then suddenly smiled. “And there are two of us.”
One plus one equals two.
Two is greater than one.
A very simple math problem.
As a man of science, Fu Xi Yan firmly believed in the truth!