‘Then let’s catch up,’ the black-robed man said.
Xu Ziqing paused.
He had spoken instinctively, but when the time came to converse, he had no idea where to begin.
Should he ask how Brother Nan Zheng had escaped? What brought him to the prince’s residence? How strong was his cultivation now, and why had even his aura changed so drastically?
Every question touched upon private matters. Asking them so bluntly might sound more like an interrogation than catching up.
Thus, for a moment, he hesitated.
After a while, Xu Ziqing smiled wryly. ‘Brother Nan Zheng, you’re perceptive. You must know what puzzles me, but I don’t feel comfortable asking directly. Why don’t you tell me whatever you can, and we’ll call that catching up?’
The black-robed man chuckled. ‘We met several times in the past. I thought it was merely coincidence, and that our only connection was that you’re Perfected One Yun’s junior martial brother. But seeing you now, I’ve realized that the truth is quite different.’
Xu Ziqing did not understand. ‘Brother Nan Zheng… what do you mean?’
Instead of answering, the man changed the subject. ‘I came to Prince Tiancheng’s residence to borrow its dragon qi and use it to conceal my demonic qi.’
Xu Ziqing remained puzzled, but since Nan Zhengya was finally addressing something he wanted to know, he followed along. ‘I see.’ He chose his next words carefully. ‘Given your circumstances, you really shouldn’t linger in Shengyan City.’
‘I have important business here,’ the black-robed man answered. ‘Otherwise I wouldn’t.’
Xu Ziqing nodded in understanding.
The man studied him and shook his head. ‘You’re so earnest that it almost makes a person unwilling to take advantage of you.’
Xu Ziqing smiled. ‘You must have your difficulties, Brother Nan Zheng.’
The black-robed man sighed. His aura suddenly surged, then was suppressed again in an instant. Thanks to the restriction and dense Wood qi, no one outside noticed.
But Xu Ziqing sensed it unmistakably.
He had felt such power only from Nascent Soul ancestors…
His pupils contracted. ‘Brother Nan Zheng, your cultivation has actually reached that realm!’
When they met on the Savage Beast Plains three years earlier, Xu Ziqing had learned that Nan Zhengya was stronger than an Essence Transformation cultivator. But he had never imagined he was a Nascent Soul ancestor!
He remembered at once that the mysterious bidder had occupied a third-floor chamber at the auction, which was reserved for Nascent Soul experts and people of equivalent standing.
Yet if Nan Zhengya was a Nascent Soul ancestor, there was little reason to train on the Savage Beast Plains. Anyone who reached that realm would have substantial resources and no need to covet savage beast inner cores.
Then why had Nan Zhengya visited the plains at all?
Despite his lingering good impression of the man, Xu Ziqing could not help growing suspicious.
The black-robed man seemed more satisfied when he noticed Xu Ziqing’s expression. ‘Good. At least you still know how to be cautious.’
Xu Ziqing felt baffled and sighed. ‘Senior Nan Zheng, if you have something to say, why not be straightforward?’
‘Don’t worry,’ the man said. ‘I’m pleased to see you exercising caution. Otherwise you might implicate a benefactor of mine.’
Xu Ziqing stared. ‘A benefactor?’
The man’s voice softened. ‘Your senior brother once saved me, and I consequently owed him two debts of gratitude. Because of me, you came into this world, so one of those debts has been repaid. The other remains. As long as you aren’t reckless, I won’t harm you, if only out of respect for Perfected One Yun.’
Xu Ziqing was astonished. How had his senior brother become involved? Nan Zhengya’s explanation was so obscure that he could hardly follow it. If Yun Lie had met this man before, he should have remembered him. Yet Yun Lie had not recognized him at the auction, so surely they had never met.
The thoughts left Xu Ziqing thoroughly confused.
The black-robed man went on, ‘Why is it strange? You weren’t originally from this world, yet you were reborn here and eventually met Perfected One Yun. Haven’t you ever wondered why?’
Xu Ziqing was shaken to the core. Even Yun Lie did not know that he retained memories of a previous life. How could this man seem to know everything?
Seeing his shock, the black-robed man smiled. ‘Long ago, a man endured a terrible calamity and fell into the hands of a treacherous enemy. On the way, a sword cultivator killed that man’s enemy, then, at the man’s own request, ended his remaining life. The man thus owed the sword cultivator a debt. Later, time flowed backward. The man who had died returned to his youth, gaining a chance to cultivate, plan, and take revenge. During that reversal of time, a turbulent current of space and time swept up a wandering soul. It was reborn into a family as a child who otherwise would have died young, becoming someone who would never have existed in the original future.’
Xu Ziqing’s head rang. He murmured, ‘The sword cultivator was Senior Brother. The man reborn was you. The wandering soul… was me.’
The black-robed man nodded. ‘Correct. My rebirth made your reincarnation possible, and your reincarnation enabled Perfected One Yun to reach Golden Core. In that sense, I have repaid half my debt of gratitude.’
Xu Ziqing remained dazed. ‘That’s also why I’ve always felt drawn to you whenever we meet. Your cause brought about my existence.’
The man nodded again. ‘Exactly.’
After a long while, Xu Ziqing sighed.
No wonder he could not feel wary of this man even when he knew he was dangerous. Their lives had been linked by cause and effect from the beginning. That might also explain why Nan Zhengya had been tolerant and had never treated him with the arrogance of a Nascent Soul ancestor.
Apparently, Nan Zhengya was someone who distinguished debts from grudges. As long as their lives did not come into conflict, he should not harm Xu Ziqing or Yun Lie.
Only now did Xu Ziqing feel somewhat reassured. When his instinctive trust toward Nan Zhengya arose again, he could understand it as a connection of karma rather than fear that he was being bewitched.
The black-robed man seemed approving of how quickly he recovered. ‘Now that you’ve understood the first part, I might as well explain the rest.’
He began recounting what had happened before.
Xu Ziqing learned that Nan Zhengya had accepted an invitation from Prince Tianjin Xuan Li to accompany him onto the Savage Beast Plains. That was how they had met there.
When the beast tide rose, Nan Zhengya had obtained the advantage he sought and seized the chance to depart. After cultivating in seclusion for a while, he came to Shengyan City for the auction, hoping to obtain certain necessary items.
Everything afterward was as Xu Ziqing knew. Nan Zhengya won the Thousand-Ghost Banners. Even after he put on the Aura-Concealing Shadow Robe, the Ghost Spirit Sect retained a faint connection to its banners, forcing him to flee desperately. Only when the robe’s full power manifested did he finally shake his pursuers.
But he still had business in the city and could not go too far. Eventually he returned to Shengyan City, chose a nearby prince’s residence, and used its dragon qi to hide. He wanted to recover and prepare for whatever unexpected difficulties might arise later.
The black-robed man chuckled. ‘I’ll rest here tonight. Tomorrow I have business to attend to. Will you offer me hospitality?’
Xu Ziqing smiled. ‘Senior Nan Zheng, please stay. I’ll conceal your presence as well as I can. But my strength alone may not be enough. Perhaps I should invite Senior Brother over; that would be safer.’
The man tilted his head. ‘And do you intend to tell your senior brother about your previous life?’
Xu Ziqing shook his head. ‘My previous life is already past. There’s no reason to trouble him with it. Since you bear neither of us malice, Senior Brother wouldn’t object. Besides, he once mentioned that there might be karma connecting you and me. At the time I thought it only meant we might become entangled in the future. I never imagined it concerned the origins of my reincarnation.’
Then he wondered whether Yun Lie might know the nature of that karmic connection. A moment later, he dismissed the thought.
Surely not. Otherwise, with Yun Lie’s personality, he would have explained it long ago rather than leaving Xu Ziqing to discover the truth now.
‘Then don’t trouble Perfected One Yun,’ the black-robed man said. ‘I still owe him gratitude, and continuing to add to that debt would be troublesome for me. You’re his junior martial brother, and your reincarnation was made possible by an accidental benefit from me. Protect me for this one night, and that debt between us will be settled.’ He paused. ‘And don’t call me Senior. That would place me a generation above Perfected One Yun, as though I were taking advantage of him. I haven’t forgotten what I still owe him. I’ll find another opportunity to repay it.’
With those words, Xu Ziqing had little choice but to agree.
He did not want to conceal the matter from his senior brother. But it involved their previous lives and present existences, would be difficult to explain, and went against Nan Zhengya’s wishes.
Nan Zhengya was reasonably friendly toward him but clearly not benevolent by nature. Moreover, whether he knew it at the time or not, Xu Ziqing really had received an accidental favor from him. If he could repay it now, perhaps that irrational sense of closeness would weaken, allowing him to view the man more impartially when they next met.
After considering everything carefully, Xu Ziqing felt he had overlooked nothing and settled his mind.
The courtyard was now filled with plants and trees. He stood, approached the black-robed man, and extended a hand. ‘I have a technique that can conceal our auras among the surrounding vegetation as long as we’re in contact.’
Naturally, he meant the Wood-Escape Aura-Concealment Art.
The black-robed man considered briefly and stood. ‘This robe has long since fused with my body and is no different from my flesh. I dislike skin contact with other people. You may hold my sleeve instead.’
Xu Ziqing readily agreed. He caught the edge of the sleeve and felt an icy chill beneath his fingers, almost as though he were touching something dead. It reminded him even more strongly that this acquaintance of his truly practiced a demonic cultivation art.
He did not dwell upon it. Circulating his technique, he covered them both in green light. The Wood qi throughout the courtyard grew denser, while the auras of the two men quietly diminished until they merged completely with the plants.
Even a Nascent Soul old monster probing from outside would have difficulty finding them.
The black-robed man sensed the change and laughed softly. ‘It seems I made the right decision asking for your help.’
Xu Ziqing smiled warmly. ‘Of all those wandering souls, I was the only one to receive this opportunity. It does seem that some fate connects us.’
Neither spoke further.
Since they did not need to flee, Xu Ziqing released the sleeve once their auras stabilized. The two settled into meditation facing one another at a short distance.