ATAVID CH32

The banquet was still going on.

The clinking of cups, the murmur of conversation, and the sounds of goblets striking one another wove together like an invisible net.

It tightly shrouded everyone at the banquet in this false air of peace.

Wei Xun lowered his eyes, his palm cupping that soft little lump of black mist.

Jiang Qunyu was sleeping very soundly.

The black mist rose and fell slightly in his palm. Every now and then, it would move a little, nudging into the gaps between his fingers, trying to find a more secure and comfortable position.

Wei Xun watched quietly.

He said nothing, like a jade Buddha. Around him seemed to fall a thin layer of snow, effortlessly setting apart a small space of his own.

“Jiang Qunyu—”

A most ill-timed voice came from behind him.

Wei Xun’s pitch-black eyes shifted slightly, like a frozen lake suddenly cracking open into a narrow seam of cold.

A trace of killing intent, faint as could be, spread soundlessly from the bottom of his heart.

He tucked Jiang Qunyu into his sleeve, then raised his eyes, suppressing the emotion within them, and looked expressionlessly at the newcomer.

Wen Xingyao had not realized that the person before him was no longer Jiang Qunyu.

He sat down boldly beside Wei Xun, unable to hide his excitement, and said animatedly, “Jiang Qunyu, guess what I saw just now?!”

Wei Xun did not want to deal with him.

Wen Xingyao’s throat felt a bit dry, so he poured himself a cup of wine.

His eyes swept across the wine pot in front of Wei Xun, already more than half empty, and he could not help but stare. “How did you drink so much by yourself? Aren’t you dizzy?”

After saying that, he seemed to remember he had gone off topic, and added, “Just now, in the back courtyard, I saw several humanoid puppets! This City Lord is really amazing!”

“I heard that in the cultivation world there’s a Qianji Sect. Their sect specializes in mechanisms, formations, and puppets. Say, when I enter the cultivation world in the future, do you think I could also join Qianji Sect?”

“I could learn how to make puppets, and then make a few of my own. If I really manage to make them, I’ll put them all in my shop and have them help me sell rouge and cosmetics!”

“What do you think?” The more Wen Xingyao thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. His eyes brightened a few points.

Wei Xun cast him a faint glance and said coolly, “I don’t think much of it.”

Wen Xingyao instantly felt a chill run down the back of his neck.

He blinked, then lowered his gaze to Wei Xun’s wrist. Sure enough, that little mole was gone again.

It was Wei Xun again.

Wen Xingyao’s face instantly turned pale.

Silently, he edged a good distance away, wishing he could press himself right into the corner of the table.

After quite a while, he finally stammered, “J-Jiang Qunyu, where is he?”

“Drunk,” Wei Xun answered briefly.

Wen Xingyao blurted out, “How did he drink that much?”

So now he alone had to face this block of ice, Wei Xun!

Wei Xun, however, was in quite a good mood. The corners of his lips curved into a smile, and the malice in his eyes was not concealed in the slightest. “Oh right, now that he’s drunk, no one’s protecting you. You can just wait to die.”

“You…” Wen Xingyao choked, then tactfully said, “Brother Wei, has Jiang Qunyu ever said anything about the way you talk?”

Wei Xun narrowed his eyes. Rarely, he showed a bit of interest in something Wen Xingyao said. His tone remained flat. “Said what?”

Perhaps out of a slight desire for revenge, Wen Xingyao hesitated for a moment, then pretended to be calm and said, “Just… that your way of speaking is a tiny bit unpleasant.”

The moment those words fell, the temperature around Wei Xun seemed to drop abruptly.

Fearing for his life, Wen Xingyao hurriedly added, “Brother Wei! Aren’t you and Jiang Qunyu that kind of relationship? I’m not saying you’re bad or anything. I just mean, if you and he are in that kind of relationship, talking a little nicer definitely wouldn’t hurt. My mother said that if I ever have a girl or a man I like in the future, I should speak more nicely. That way I’ll be loved by my wife.”

“Heh.” Wei Xun let out a light scoff, his dark eyes fixed on Wen Xingyao. His voice was cold and detached, still carrying traces of unmelted frost. “Who told you he and I are that sort of relationship?”

Wen Xingyao froze, then instinctively asked, “Then what kind of relationship are you?”

At that, Wei Xun paused slightly.

He lowered his eyes, his gaze falling on his sleeve cuff.

There was a black mist dumpling in there.

Afraid of crushing Jiang Qunyu, he had to keep his wrist slightly raised in an uncomfortable posture.

After holding it for so long, his wrist had begun to ache a little.

The black mist dumpling had no warmth.

It was soft, but cool, lying quietly against his wrist.

He should have answered Wen Xingyao casually, but the words came to his lips and simply would not leave them.

He even thought of how every winter, Jiang Qunyu was clearly a soul body, yet was strangely afraid of the cold.

And liked to take human form. When lying on the bed, he liked to drape his legs over Wei Xun’s waist, or wedge his feet between Wei Xun’s legs, trying to steal warmth that way.

Back then, Wei Xun had found it annoying.

Now, remembering it, it did not seem quite so annoying anymore.

“Tsk.”

Seeing that Wei Xun was not angry, Wen Xingyao immediately relaxed. He casually picked up a piece of pastry and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing away as he muttered softly, “And if you really aren’t that kind of relationship, then what are you making such a fuss for…”

When the time came, the whole capital would probably laugh at him, Wen Xingyao, for getting it wrong.

Wei Xun lowered his lashes, his eyes empty and still. “…Friends.”

Wen Xingyao froze mid-motion, still holding half a piece of pastry in his hand, and turned his head to stare at Wei Xun in shock.

He thought to himself that he really hadn’t expected this sort of thing could be played like this in the cultivation world.

He pointed at himself. “Like the relationship between me and Jiang Qunyu? I’m his friend too.”

Wei Xun’s gaze turned cold in an instant. A faint black shadow crept over one of his eyes, and his tone became chilling. “What makes you think so?”

“What do you mean, what makes me think so?” Warning bells rang wildly in Wen Xingyao’s heart, but he still forced himself to continue, “Jiang Qunyu said so. I’m his friend. Aren’t you too?”

The fingers hanging at Wei Xun’s side clenched abruptly.

The black mist dumpling lying at his sleeve cuff seemed to sense the discomfort, and bit lightly at Wei Xun’s wrist with its little teeth as a form of resistance.

Wei Xun froze for a moment, and the black haze in his eyes quickly faded.

The killing intent came quickly, and left just as quickly.

He drooped his eyes and said, “It’s not the same.”

Wen Xingyao really wanted to ask what was different about it.

Weren’t they both friends?

But instinct told him not to ask again.

Unless he truly wanted to die in this city.

Wei Xun seemed to have finally grown bored with this setting. He rose and started walking out.

Wen Xingyao blinked. “Huh? Where are you going? The banquet’s not over yet!”

“Back.”

“Back?” Wen Xingyao was dumbfounded. “Then if those people ask—”

“What does that have to do with me?”

Without looking back, Wei Xun walked out the door.

Behind him, Wen Xingyao hesitated, but still did not follow.

He looked at Cui Mingjin, who sat at the head of the table staring at Wei Xun’s retreating back, then at the Xuanjian Sect disciples filling the hall, and finally at Wei Xun’s departing figure.

“…Forget it, this young master had better stay here.”

Wen Xingyao shrank his neck.

Jiang Qunyu wasn’t here. If he followed Wei Xun, wouldn’t he just be asking to die?

Having figured it out, Wen Xingyao stopped dwelling on it.

The lazy arrogance in his bones surfaced all at once.

He raised his brows slightly and beckoned to the maidservant beside him. “Come pour wine for this young master.”

At his words, the maidservant knelt beside him on the cushion.

Lowering her eyes, she poured for him with light, careful movements.

Wen Xingyao accepted the cup and took a sip.

The liquor burned going down, with a trace of sweetness mixed into the heat.

He set the cup down, and by chance his peripheral vision caught the maidservant’s neck.

There was a birthmark there.

Not large. Dark red, and shaped like a small leaf.

He paused, then turned again to study the maidservant’s face carefully, and then the birthmark at the nape of her neck.

His brows knit together. “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?”

The maidservant raised her eyes, looking puzzled. “Young Master jests.”

Seeing that the confusion on her face did not seem fake, Wen Xingyao was about to think further—

Just then, Cui Mingjin at the head of the table also rose and left his seat.

The thought that had just begun to take shape was instantly covered again in a layer of fog.

He could only suppress that strange sense of familiarity and think no more of it.

Meanwhile, Wei Xun had already left the hall.

The corridor was deep and dim, with paper lanterns hanging on both sides.

When the wind blew, they swayed lightly.

His footsteps were very light; on the bluestone path, they were almost inaudible.

Halfway there, he suddenly stopped.

Then he raised his eyes and looked at the person before him.

Cui Mingjin stood at the far end of the corridor, with Cui Nian at his side, holding his hand.

One tall, one small. Silently looking at him, saying nothing.

It was indescribably eerie.

The corner of Wei Xun’s lips hooked up as his tone dripped with undisguised ridicule. “Putting on airs and playing tricks.”

He continued forward and stopped directly before Cui Mingjin.

With a smile that was not quite a smile, he asked, “What does City Lord Cui mean by this?”

Cui Mingjin smiled gently. His gaze settled on Wei Xun, and then he softly said, “There is a very familiar scent on you.”

“Is that so?” Wei Xun replied.

“May I ask how to address you, Young Master?” Cui Mingjin asked.

“Wei Xun.”

“Young Master Wei.” Cui Mingjin gave a slight cupped-fist salute, his tone courteous. “May I borrow a moment of your time?”

Wei Xun remained as cold and distant as ever. “No.”

Cui Mingjin: “…”

After saying that, Wei Xun turned to continue on his way.

“This matter concerns the other young master inside you as well. Not even then?” Cui Mingjin’s unhurried voice came from behind him.

Wei Xun’s lowered eyes sharpened, and his steps stopped abruptly.

He suppressed the flash of hostility in his eyes before slowly lifting his lashes to look at Cui Mingjin.

Cui Mingjin merely smiled, bent down, and lifted Cui Nian into his arms.

Then he turned and steadily walked ahead to lead the way.

He seemed entirely sure of himself.

A thin layer of frost settled over Wei Xun’s brows and eyes, cold enough to sting.

Not far away, Cui Mingjin pushed open a door. “Young Master Wei, please enter.”

Wei Xun walked in naturally.

The room inside was elegantly furnished. By the window, tea had already been prepared on the long table. The tea was still warm, sending up thin curls of steam, as if someone had calculated long ago that a guest would come.

Wei Xun sat down before the table. His fingertip tapped lightly against its surface, a sinister smile curving his lips. Without the slightest politeness, he said, “City Lord Cui truly has gone to a great deal of trouble.”

Outside in the courtyard, Cui Mingjin had already put Cui Nian down and bent to quietly instruct him in a few words.

The child nodded obediently and stood at the courtyard gate without following inside.

Only then did Cui Mingjin push the door open and enter.

Hearing those words, he feigned confusion. “What does Young Master Wei mean by that?”

Wei Xun was too lazy to expose Cui Mingjin’s deliberate act of blocking his way.

Turning the teacup lightly beneath his fingers, he said coldly, “Whatever this matter is, it had better concern him.”

“Naturally it does.” Cui Mingjin clearly had no intention of circling around with Wei Xun either. He got straight to the point. “I may have something in my possession that Young Master Wei very much wants.”

“Oh?”

Truth be told, from birth until now, there truly had not been anything Wei Xun particularly wanted.

There were, however, quite a lot of people he wanted to kill.

His interest waning, Wei Xun said flatly, “How is it that I myself do not know I have something I absolutely must obtain?”

At that, Cui Mingjin suddenly laughed in a low voice.

Wei Xun looked at him expressionlessly.

After a long while, Cui Mingjin finally restrained his laughter and said with complete certainty, “No. You will definitely want it.”

He paused, and a long, lingering nostalgia flashed through his eyes as he slowly began, “My wife was frail in body and bedridden all year long.”

“One year, her illness worsened beyond saving. I sought doctors everywhere, but to no avail.”

“Later, I heard that in the western desert there existed a strange gu called the Bitter Crossing Gu. It is said that a great monk a thousand years ago nurtured this gu with his own flesh and blood, and that it can ferry others across suffering.”

“The gu comes as a mother and child pair. The mother gu resides in one person, the child gu in another, and the two share the same life pulse. Any pain or injury borne by the host of the mother gu can be completely transferred onto the host of the child gu, while the mother gu’s host remains entirely unharmed.”

He paused, his gaze resting on Wei Xun in a meaningful way. “Even a remnant soul or spirit body can use the blood of a living person as the medium—first dissolving the gu into the blood, then using that blood to nourish the soul so the gu can root itself within it.”

“Unfortunately, by the time I risked my life and brought that gu back, she was already gone. Not even a trace of her soul remained. To me, this Bitter Crossing Gu is now completely useless, nothing more than a lasting regret.”

As Cui Mingjin spoke, he looked out toward the misty breadth of East Mirror Lake beyond the window. His voice was light.

“I heard from Niannian that there is another young man about your age by your side. Others simply cannot see him.”

“Since you go to such lengths to keep him by your side, I imagine… you would never want to see his soul scatter and vanish, nor would you wish him to suffer even the slightest bit more.”

The fingers hanging at Wei Xun’s side curled very faintly.

A breeze passed through the hall from outside the window, carrying a trace of chill.

The room was so quiet that one could hear the rustle of leaves outside in the courtyard.

Wei Xun did not speak. In those eyes that were usually covered in frost, there was now a measure of scrutiny.

Meeting Wei Xun’s suspicious gaze, Cui Mingjin explained, “When Niannian’s mother died, he was still in her womb—only eight months old. Before her death, she made me promise that even if I had to cut him out, I must bring that child into the world and raise him.”

“But I could not bear to cut open my wife to take the child. I was so heartbroken I even thought I might as well go with them.”

“Fortunately, at that very time, an immortal at Mirror Lake underwent tribulation and ascended. By seizing that opportunity, I was able to bring Niannian safely out of the womb.”

“But in the end, he was still only an eight-month child, and he was not born until the second day after his mother’s death. Thus, from childhood, he was born with yin-yang eyes and can see things ordinary people cannot.”

Wei Xun listened quietly, neither affirming nor denying, and saying nothing of whether he believed it.

He merely let out a cold laugh. “If I remember correctly, that immortal’s tribulation and ascension at East Mirror Lake happened twenty-seven years ago. But that child looks to be only six or seven.”

At those words, Cui Mingjin’s expression stiffened abruptly.

But Wei Xun had no interest in this. He had already risen to his feet, looking down at Cui Mingjin, whose expression was shifting uncertainly.

A mocking smile curved his lips. “Though I do not know what you intend to trade that gu for, what makes you think I have any use for it?”

“I have never protected him, nor have I ever gone to great lengths to keep him by my side.”

“As it happens, I do not need it.”

After saying that, Wei Xun lifted his foot and headed for the door.

Just as he was about to step out, Cui Mingjin’s voice slowly sounded from behind him: “No, you will need it. Young Master Wei.”

His tone was certain as he looked at Wei Xun’s back. “Sooner or later, you will come back to me.”